Calista placed her jeweled circlet on her head. She looked at her reflection and was happy with her appearance. The accessory was to dampen her overhearing every thought harbored. It was a means to make the overwhelming psychic ability livable for her. She had already chosen a task to complete for extra money, but she needed to return to the room to ready herself. Calista scrawled a note and left it with Wish.

“Who is it for?” Wish asked.

“If any of my friends want to know where I am and what I’m doing,” came Calista’s nonchalant answer.

“Alright. No problem,” Wish said. The fae then went back to entertaining herself with her latest read.

Calista looked at her armor in the mirror once more before she departed. She needed only to find the thieves that had taken the items the town’s merchants had been expecting. Everything else would work itself out.

***

Glyph, Aenaes and Vahlatok went about their daily chores. It was a necessity, but more importantly, it was a convenient means to avoid extensive interactions with Calista. Whether or not Wish was lying to them, each of the three still felt ineptitude around her. Part of that was rooted in the group realization that the others harbored feelings for Calista as well. It was not something any of them had openly discussed, but it was now something that could and would affect their continued interactions. Since they each had different schedules and obligations they managed to avoid one another until early evening when the supper food was being prepared for the inn’s residents and staff. They had a pleasant meal with Rune blissfully unaware of their discovery. Rune entertained them with explanations of recipes that could be easily prepared while they were living off the wilderness. That was likely to happen again in the coming weeks.

***

When Calista missed dinner, despite the strenuous and stressful feelings that lingered, Vahlatok approached the room Wish and Calista shared. After being invited inside, The orc ineptly rubbed the back of his head. “Please tell me you’ve heard from Cali.”

Wish grinned. “Oh, right.” She produced a note. “She said if any of you ask to give you this.”

After reading the note, Vahlatok frowned. “Why wouldn’t she ask one of us to accompany her? This seems dangerous to do alone.”

Wish smirked. “Maybe she was embarrassed?”

“Why would she be—oh.” Vahlatok hissed. “Damn. She may be avoiding us.”

“Oh, yes.” Wish watched the mixture of anxiety and embarrassment on the orc’s face. “So, shall I hold down the fort?”

Vahlatok folded the note. He groaned. “Yes. We’ll be back for you.” After he left the room, “Maybe,” he added under his breath. With a rough idea of Calista’s whereabouts now, he rallied the others, then readied the wagon.

***

Calista sat in a cell, hugging her knees. “Where are they?” She could tell it was nightfall from the limited view outside, but she had expected a rescue long ago. If they were all captured together they could easily plot an escape.

Time continued to slip by; hours and hours were gone in a blink. Calista took off her circlet, hoping she would overhear their thoughts. Maybe they were on the premises, but were held up by the bandits? It was possible.

Who is that?

The psychic voice was unfamiliar to Calista. She got to her feet. “Uh, hello?” She squinted and peered into the torch-lit darkness of the chamber.

Shadows seemed to spring to life. The form of a person emerged. Then after a few seconds of metal scraping metal, the shadowy figure opened the cell door.

Calista stepped out of the cell. “Hello, I’m Calista.”

“Minerva,” the shadowy person answered. “We need to stick to the shadows to get out of here without a fight.”

“What about the items stolen?” Calista asked.

“What now?” Minerva asked.

“I let myself get caught so I could walk through some of the compound to learn the layout. I saw their cache of stolen goods.”

Minerva grinned. “That sounds promising.”

“There’s a reward for returning the items,” Calista explained.

Minerva took Calista’s hand. “Let’s get this cache, then! I can always use more coin!”

Sticking to the shadows, Minerva and Calista crept through the darkened hideout. There were few guards wandering the grounds with it being a dark night. Who expected their trespasser to break out of the cell then steal back their treasure room?

***

Calista and Minerva sneaked sacks filled with food out of the storeroom. They hid them in the brush, then returned to gather more small items they could easily carry and bury beneath the overgrown grass. They made several trips, then they decided to move their removed items closer to the outskirts of the camp. “Too bad we can’t sneak and carry those cumbersome boxes,” Minerva remarked.

“Not yet, anyhow,” Calista said with a grin.

Their sneaking was disrupted by the distant sounds of screams. They were too far away to discern exactly what was being shouted. “About time,” Calista groaned. The chill of night was heavy. Each breath, each word she spoke was punctuated with a visible puff of air.

Minerva, ducked beside a building, called out to Calista, “Hey, what are you doing?! Where are you going?!” After Calista didn’t stop nor answer her, Minerva reluctantly chased after the heavily armored woman. They walked down an incline and Calista stopped. Screams of pain roared, following a brilliant light attack. Then the sounds of weapons bashing armor, groans, footfalls and people falling. Calista conjured a flame. “See? Now we’ll be good.”

“You knew this was going to happen?” Minerva asked. She winced when another ray of light tore open the darkness.

“I did,” Calista confirmed. “Come with me.”

Now curious about the stranger, Minerva shrugged. She hopped down from the incline and followed the glow of Callista’s flame.

Rune squinted when he saw a flame approaching. After a moment he beamed, then he rushed to the faint light. “Cali, you’re okay!” he shouted. He rushed Calista, then lifted her into an embrace.

Calista extinguished the flame, then hugged Rune. “Yes, yes. I’m alright. Thank you for coming.”

Glyph, Vahlatok and Aenaes froze when they heard Calista’s voice. “None of you told him?” Glyph whispered.

“I thought you were going to,” Aenaes replied.

“He is your brother,” Vahlatok said.

Glyph groaned. “Well, she can hear every thought about her.” His face was flushed. “And my brother is completely unaware of that.”

“Imagine what embarrassing things he’s letting slip,” Vahlatok said.

“Does he know anything about any of us?” Aenaes asked.

“Probably,” Glyph replied. Fighting his apprehension with the situation, Glyph strolled through the darkness to meet up with Calista.

“No. What could he know?” Aenaes asked.

“I dread to wonder because if he doesn’t know, paranoid flowing of thoughts may be overheard giving us away,” Vahlatok muttered. He swallowed hard.

Aenaes became tense. “Damn, damn, no. Bad. Bad thoughts. Think about anything else.”

“Good luck with that,” Vahlatok murmured. The orc then reluctantly approached Calista. Aenaes trailed behind him.