The next morning, Alice and Bridgette met Colin and Deirdre for breakfast at the local tavern. Persistence had gone through a number of changes, but one thing the friends had agreed on was that having a central tavern for meals was a good thing. It encouraged the community to meet and mingle, for the warriors to chat with the supporters, and for everyone to have their thoughts and suggestions heard. Also, it let them enjoy Becky's amazing cooking without feeling guilty about monopolizing her skills. The tavern was a fairly rge building in the central part of the town, attached to what had once been a bunkhouse.

  As time went on, more of the bunkhouse's original inhabitants had left and set up their own small cottages around the area to get their own private space, but rooms were still avaible for transients, as people were starting to gain enough comfort in the world that they would travel between vilges. The four sat down at a corner table as Becky came over, ying down their favorite breakfast choices. Alice and Bridgette both went for pancakes, though Bridgette added bacon to her pte. Colin wanted eggs and Deirdre went for a breakfast steak.

  "So, you guys almost ready to head out? I figure a maybe another week, week and a half of prep work, and then the town will be ready for us to depart again. I don't want anything bad to happen like st year," Alice began, referring to Warren's attack while the friends were out in Wyoming the previous year.

  Colin nodded his eat, chewing quickly. He reached out and squeezed Deirdre's hand, the other elf blushing at the shameless public dispy of affection. "I think we're just about good to go. I've been working with the militia and helping them level their spell casting, ensuring they have good arm spells in case of attack, stuff like that. Maybe a few more tweaks, just some practice drills, but otherwise good."

  Deirdre quickly squeezed his hand in return and then pulled it back, pcing her hands in her p as she gnced at Alice. "I have been working with Travis, helping him ensure consistent overpping scout patrols. We are confident nobody can sneak up on the town without being detected."

  "Well, that's not entirely accurate," Alice said with a grimace. "That fucking weirdo showed up yesterday and nobody saw her coming. But I guess to be fair, it sounded like she just got teleported straight to Persistence through some weird spell."

  "Uhm, yea," Colin said awkwardly. "Do we want to talk about her?"

  "No," both Bridgette and Alice snapped. Colin raised his hands in surrender.

  "Okay, cool, just making sure. I am curious about the spell, though. I wonder if there's anything we can do to prevent that kind of inbound teleport? I don't suppose she knows more about it?"

  "Fat chance," Alice scoffed. "She's so brainless that her head makes a hollow sound when you sp her. I would be shocked if she had even the slightest clue how it worked."

  "ACTUALLY," Erika's voice startled the friends as the witch scooted a chair over and spun it around, straddling it as she plopped between Bridgette and Alice, "I may know a little bit about how it worked. I spent st night thinking about the spell, wracking my memory, since I was having trouble sleeping. Too much excitement yesterday."

  Alice groaned, resting her face in her hands. "Why?," she pleaded. "Why are you doing this to me, Fi?"

  "I communed with my tentacles about that, too," Erika said with a smirk. Then she frowned, looking thoughtful. "Fi didn't actually tell me anything useful, though. Still, it was fun to try."

  Becky walked over, hands on her hips and gring at the pink-haired witch. "You!," she roared. "I got three noise compints from tenants st night. I banged on your door in the middle of the night and heard the most ludicrous sounds from in there, and you didn't answer. You are being expelled from the tavern, you can't stay here. We have rules, standards, moral values!"

  Bridgette gnced warily over at the witch, realizing that Erika still hadn't bothered to wear any underwear and straddling a chair wasn't the most modest of positions, before flicking her gaze back up to Alice. Luckily, Alice was still groaning into her hands and missed Bridgette's wandering eyes. Deirdre, on the other hand, caught Bridgette's gaze and quirked an eyebrow. Bridgette blushed and shrugged, embarrassed at being caught staring at the witch.

  In the meantime, Erika had been trying to ignore Becky's nagging by dragging Colin into a discussion about the magical properties of the spell and how the sacrifice of the kitsune might have powered it, and whether splitting the targets could have resulted in both her and Victor being teleported to different pces. As the two kept discussing, even Alice had to admit that the frustrating witch seemed to have a rather advanced grasp on some unusual aspects of magical theory. Becky finally gave up on harassing the witch and walked off, throwing up her hands in despair.

  "Look," Erika said gncing at the two elves. "I need you to convince these two to bring me with you. I have to get to Victor and I believe you're going to either find him with Xavier or along the way to him. I can be valuable to you guys."

  "I mean, I don't see a reason to say no," Colin said while gncing over at Alice and Bridgette. "Seems pretty obvious that we'd want to bring another talented caster with us." The healer stared at him with a shocked expression on her face.

  "Are you fucking kidding me right now, Colin?" Alice seethed, grasping the hem of her dress with white knuckles as she tried to rein in her anger. "She is not coming with us."

  "Okay, maybe I'm missing something at a personal level," Colin said, trying to py peacemaker, "But I don't see any practical reason why we'd turn her down? Unless you actually think she's on Xavier's side and working against us in secret, we'd want to bring more people as long as they're strong enough to keep up with us." Deirdre shrugged, not caring one way or the other about the discussion.

  "She's ... no. Just, no," Alice said, stuttering in her anger. "Absolutely not."

  "Do you have a practical reason?," Colin pressed. "Give me an actual, tangible, evidence-based reason why we shouldn't bring her. Otherwise, my vote is that we do."

  "I don't have to, I can say no on personal grounds. And if we force a vote, it would still be two to two and a tie doesn't mean we bring her," Alice replied snarkily.

  "Which of us is voting with you?," Deirdre inquired politely. "Me or Bridgette?"

  "Bridgette, obviously," Alice replied. "You're going to do whatever Colin wants, which is fine, but B is on my side. Two to two means no."

  "Do I get a vote?," Erika asked with a cheeky grin. "That could make it three to two."

  "Fuck off," Alice snapped without gncing at the witch.

  "Babe," Bridgette said with a wary tone. "Can we at least train with her this week and dey the vote until we see if she's all talk or actually a competent adventurer?"

  Alice sighed, gncing over the witch's head at her redheaded lover. "Fine," she said begrudgingly, not wanting to continue arguing with her girlfriend in front of the witch. "We'll dey the vote for a week while we see how good she really is." Alice gnced at Erika and warned, "Don't get your hopes up."

  Erika sprang to her feet and wrapped Alice in a hug, nuzzling into her breasts, "Oh, thank you, bestie! You won't regret this!"

  "I regret everything already," Alice said grumpily.