Having returned to the church I made my way down the stairs and then carefully down the ladder into the passageway. The goblins wandered over to me and Scout was the first to speak up, “Leave?” he asked.

I shook my head, “Not today at least. Maybe we could try tomorrow… but I don’t know.”

Scout frowned considering me, “Need hunt.” He explained.

I nodded, “That is true. I’ll try to come up with something.” I said, though I really didn’t know what I was doing.

He just nodded and I left them to whatever it was they were doing. I walked slowly down the passage and made my way to where Gerl was sitting.

I glanced around expecting to find Kosue but instead, I found no one. I guess I’d missed her up top. So I just sat down across from Gerl in the soft light of the mushroom light that seemed to be placed here for Gerl's benefit.

He didn’t speak, he just sat there. I didn’t really know what the hell I was doing anymore. So I just sat there. The moments ticked by as I considered everything. After a bit of wasting time doing nothing, I was reminded that I was more or less in charge of this shit show. If I didn’t make progress or make decisions then nothing was going to happen. While I was tempted to mess around with trying to figure the whole mana and magic thing out, the reality was that It was pretty low on my priority list. As far as things went I needed to deal with the goblin food problem. The simplest solution was to just send them out at night and have them camp in a cave nearby. Deep down I really didn’t want to send them away, plus that put the Gerl situation into a weird spot.

The Gerl problem was that I needed him to make a decision. So far he seemed content to just think and sit down here. I didn’t want to press him yet, but I couldn’t exactly watch him without the Goblins. Plus I couldn’t feed him without their hunting. Though there might be a way out of that if I considered the cards Naan had to play.

“Naan.” I spoke into our shared head space.

“Yes?”

“We need to solve some problems. Bringing the goblins into town was probably a bad move, if they weren't here they could hunt. But I can’t exactly leave Gerl with them either or they will probably starve him before he makes a call either way.”

“Then what?” Naan asked not helping in the slightest.

“What about the other soul? Could they watch him? Actually… this is probably a bad idea too. They will do whatever they want and only make this more complicated.” I sighed. I tried to think of another solution, but I kept going back to the same old issue.

“Why do you continue to ignore the easy solution?” Naan asked.

“Which one? You're not talking about the same old argument we had before are you?” I asked back.

“Regardless of if you want to hear it, we could easily kill him and send the goblins back into the woods. You could easily send him out with the goblins. Your concern for him is the issue.”

Naan wasn’t wrong. In fact, it was pretty much dead on. My issue was that I gave a damn. If I just up and stopped right here, and right now, then half my issues would just go away. That was also what had gotten us into the situation we now found ourselves in too. Why I was even still thinking about this was the real question. I'd made this decision, and I'd make it again if I were honest.

I glanced over at Gerl and saw him glance away from me and down at his hands again. Gerl wasn’t a bad person. He was innocent and naive certainly, but I’d put him into this position. Our survival was potentially pitted against his. Still, I could sit here and claim I was trying to be a good person, but the first man I met in this world died for little else. I didn’t really know anything about that man, he died because the Dungeon said so. Because Naan said so. In a lot of ways, Gerl was in the same position. I could blame Naan. I could kill him because Naan said so. It would be the same.

I knew that Naan could have killed that elf without me. It had plenty of goblins, that whole scheme had just been Naan trying to mitigate losses.

Was I looking for the easy way out? Trying to convince myself that it was fine if Naan said so? I'd already decided this! What the hell is my problem?

I took a few breaths, I was pissing myself off just thinking about this all over again. I made my choice. That was a fact. It didn't matter what Naan said, I didn't care if it said to kill him. I'd been willing to go as far as I did because I'd already decided.

Naan finally broke into my circular reasoning, “You've made your choice, that is clear. Is all this going to be worth the effort?” Naan asked.

I couldn't help but feel like Naan had ended up privy to some, or all of my private thoughts somehow. I didn't think I'd directed those thoughts at it, but who even knew what the rules were at this point.

I shrugged, “I don’t know.” Even if this path was more difficult, I was the one choosing to walk it. This wasn’t just about not wanting Gerl’s blood on my hands. The truth was that if Gerl stood up and charged at me, I’d defend myself and kill him if I had to. I’d done the same with Naan. As long as I saw a way to work together, then there was a future where we could co-exist. It only broke down when Naan attacked me. Who had really thrown the first blow in that exchange? Me? Naan? Naan had resorted to physical violence, but I’d not only undermined its authority I’d actively destabilized the whole group's hierarchy.

“Naan?”

“What?”

I didn’t know what to say. I had to find a way to work together, there needed to be a way. But how to even approach it. Just up and say, “Hey, sorry I tried to kill you, want to team up?” What utter bullshit that would be.

Perhaps because I wasn’t forthcoming Naan spoke up again, “I’ve been thinking a lot today. I’ve had little else to do.”

“No collecting mana?” I asked.

“I could have… but I found the task too… pointless.” Naan admitted.

I nodded my head at least understanding that.

Naan continued after a moment, “In a lot of ways our situation isn’t that different than the way it was before. In others, it's fundamentally so.”

“I agree.”

“We were creatures with our own interests, thoughts, and values. We each evaluated our positions, and acted accordingly.”

I nodded.

“Today, however, we are a creature, singular, with the same thoughts and values.” Naan continued.

“Which really shouldn’t be possible, because between us there will be contradictions.” I pointed out.

“In some cases, you are not wrong. In others, I disagree.” Naan explained. “Your primary function for instance in my eyes used to be that of a mana collection apparatus, but today you are a dungeon.”

I frowned at that, “Wasn’t that sort of the case already? I mean considering that whole contract we made?”

“My point of view has shifted. Has yours not?” Naan asked.

I considered. After all, I wasn’t concerned about Naan harming me anymore, that wasn’t going to make sense. I’d been living today expecting that. I’d even found his sense somewhat useful or insightful if between moments of nausea.

“Alright… I get what you are saying.” I admitted, I doubted it was so pronounced as Naan, but it was there.

“I believe it would make the most sense if instead of thinking of ourselves as we used to be, we start thinking of ourselves as we are. I don’t see any way we’ll be going backward at this point. My body as it was is no more, because of this your body’s mana capacity and conductivity has increased as a result of the absorption of my gemstone.” Naan explained.

“So instead of thinking that I need to solve some problem, we should be thinking about how we are going to solve a problem?” I asked.

“Yes. I don’t think that this will be easy.” Naan noted, "Or permanent..." it added somewhat distantly.

“Not quite sure what you mean, but I do agree that we probably have a long way to go to really work together.” I agreed. Still, I saw the merit in it. The reality was that this was what I wanted from the beginning. It just took attempted murder and accidental mind melding to achieve it.

“Alright, so I’ve given you the reasons why I think the easy options are bad. What other options haven't we thought of because we were too busy focusing on those?” I asked, I intentionally used we at each point rather than placing blame. The truth was maybe I had been fixated on those options as well.

“We have yet to investigate the rest of the tunnel. Through it, we might have a better way in and out of this location.” Naan offered.

“You mentioned something about that? About a door and a dungeon?” I asked barely recalling what it was it had said among the anger and hostility of the previous night.

“Quite. Beyond this river… If you look upon my senses I can show you.” Naan said.

Just the idea of having another bout of motion sickness made me leary of that, “I think I’ll pass for the moment on that. If we are going to investigate it let's just move ahead, I think that finding an alternative way in and out of this place would solve most of our problems. Besides, maybe it will give us an excuse to pull out those souls you have.” I said standing up and considering the dark mirror-like surface of the deceptive river.

“Why?” Naan asked.

“More eyes are better than not? We can’t keep them locked up forever, and all that. Maybe not…” I shrugged, “I guess let's get the goblins and find a way over?” I asked.

“Split our focus? I’ll build a path. You get the goblins?”

“Sounds good.” I agreed and turned to head up the passageway.

“Miss Anna.” Gerl spoke softly from where I’d practically forgotten about him.

I paused glancing over at him, “Yes?”

“Are you alright? I just… You’ve been over there just quietly nodding and making faces for a while.” He said.

I smiled just picturing it, “I’m fine. Just discussing plans with myself.” I mused.

“With yourself?” He asked a bit concerned.

“You’ll see. In a bit.” I offered vaguely and headed up the passageway. I couldn't help but feel like Naan had suddenly become overly agreeable. Then again it had seemed maybe a bit down? Maybe even depressed? Maybe I was overthinking things?