It had been nearly four days since Myles Chase and Team Rising Star went dark and began their leader’s road to recovery. Somber though it was, the mood was much brighter knowing he was projected to recover fully in time for the next sponsor day coming up.

  That was cause for a night out.

  Having gotten to know each other over the trial and tribulations of the past few days, Trosana Leea, near-exclusive [Journalist] for Rising Star, and [Royal Librarian] and father to Myles’s lost love Lucas Tallis agreed to go drinking in the dungeon’s city. For one, it was a chance to get to know his new coworker, for the other, it was a chance to get something to really bring in the support for their favorite [Monster Tamer].

  After much debate about drinks, climate, and distance from their escorts, the pair decided the best bet for a great time was the Felkin’s Fumble, a bar run by, funny enough, a bunch of foxkin.

  The bar was small by most standards, but it was close enough that their royal knight detachment frequented it after their shifts in the newsroom, so they had it well under their watchful gaze. Apparently from what Trosana could pick up from their idle chat, they had top-notch privacy wards too, so there was no chance of information leaking that way.

  With that in mind and a protected, silent table all to themselves, they drank, they ate, and they talked.

  Swapping stories was too easy, so just like the Run, a game came into being.

  A game that any dwarf would be proud to call their own.

  “… and then he tried to sneak the book out under his shirt saying that the box shape under his shirt was because he’d just eaten!”

  Drinking straight Dwarven whiskey, telling the best stories they had, and trying to one up one another, essentially, drunken chicken.

  “How old was he then?” Trosana asked.

  The older man smiled. “Ten.”

  Where as Lucas’s smile was warm, Trosana’s was predatory as she steepled her fingers. “You realize I’m going to use that against him, right?”

  Lucas grinned, cheeks red with better times. “I know.” Then, he went very quiet, the red bleeding from his face as he looked at the empty glass between them as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Trosana knew that look all too well and waited as the man’s thoughts slowly began to take on the shape of something she could understand more intimately. “I really was dense about all of this. I thought I was doing him a favor.”

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  Trosana knew full well where he was going, but gave him a confused hum as an answer.

  “When Sellia…” he hesitated, taking another drink as it was offered and making it vanish just as quickly. “When my daughter’s condition became terminal. We talked a lot about what we’d do for Myles. She didn’t want to be remembered that way. Didn’t want his last memories to be of her like that. She always was practical.”

  Trosana nodded.

  “So, we talked, my wife and I that is. We burned through three candles that night before realized that it would be best to tell him and then just stop their communications.” Another drink, and the man seemed on the verge of tears that only professionalism and years of huminity control spells held back. “We were high-grade idiots.”

  “I’ll say,” Trosana said more to herself than him, but he didn’t acknowledge the comment as his hands hid his face.

  “We didn’t realize…”

  “Everything they’d planned?” Trosana finished for him, pouring another cup of whiskey for him before making the bottle vanish. “Didn’t know how far they’d already been willing to go? How deeply they felt about it and one another? Stop me when I’m getting warm?”

  He nodded, taking the drink. “All that and more.”

  “Yeah, you’re on more than one shit list with his fans for that.”

  His laugh was dark and heavy as he went to take another drink, only to realize the cup was empty and he set it to the side. “I can only imagine. Having your dirty laundry put out there for all to see isn’t the experience one forgets.”

  She wanted to say it wasn’t his fault, but then again, she knew that was a lie. She knew her parents had done plenty of dumb things in the name of her safety though. If they had done something like this though…

  “I guess the real question you need to answer for is if you regret it?”

  There wasn’t a moment of hesitation before he answered.

  “Every day,” Lucas said solemnly. “Every time he sent a letter in hopes of a change, of an update, of everything. I thought we were being kind when we updated him the final time, but I can see I was wrong.”

  “Just you?”

  “Just me.” He nodded as his cheeks flushed. “I pushed it. I’m the one to take the blame. Karina doesn’t deserve any of the vitriol.”

  At least he’s taking responsibility.

  As she thought that, an idea formed, and Trosana smiled. “How about we kill two birds with one stone then?”

  “You know I’m against killing, but I think I can see what you’re getting at.”

  “I love working with people that know what they’re doing,” Trosana said, grinning ear to ear. “Should we wait till you’re sober?”

  “Do you want a coherent letter?”

  The Korgan woman looked at him like a dragon looked at a rival’s horde. “That depends on how juicy its going to be.”

  Lucas seemed to consider that and sighed. “We’re going to wait until I’m sober.”

  “Spoiler sport,” Trosana pouted, then through their distortion field, she noticed the sun was setting and lights were starting to change on the stage as the brought out a sound projector and a rack of music crystals.

  Slipping Lucas another drink, the korgan smiled. “Karaoke?”

  He eyed the drink warily, but the smile on his face couldn’t keep his thoughts to himself, a trait that Trosana had learned to read quite quickly. “Oh, you’re going to have to stop me if you want to have any chance of redeeming me.”

  “Oh, I’ll be the judge of your redemption. Manipulation of public opinion is one of my best qualities.”

  “Well then,” he said, downing another shot. “Socket some King’s Guard and prepare to go to the Mists as I drive the masses from the tavern.”

  “Oh, I’ll enjoy every moment of it.”