Book 2: Chapter 40 (Patreon)

“Madi, can I talk with you real quick?” Daniel grabbed her arm and steered her away from the elf. “Why do you keep bringing up Orrin’s village?” he hissed at her.

Orrin had to jog to keep up with them. I really need to work on my dexterity more.

“I- I don’t...” she stumbled then paused. Taking a breath, she turned to Daniel. “I didn’t mean to overstep.”

Daniel raised an eyebrow at Orrin.

Do I have to keep lying to her?

Orrin dropped his shoulders and tilted his head.

If she knows that I’m not from here, it is going to be a whole big thing. I would rather avoid that.

Daniel closed his eyes and huffed a breath out through his nose. When he opened them again, he rolled his eyes at Orrin.

You are being ridiculous. We can trust her.

Orrin crossed his arms in front of his chest and planted his feet.

It is my choice.

Daniel smirked. Orrin frowned.

“Madi, I’m not dealing with this. You and Orrin can talk. It’s up to him what he wants to tell you but if he doesn’t want to talk about something, I think it would be in everybody’s best interest to let it go.” Daniel abruptly left, walking back to Leanthun.

Madi glanced sheepishly at Orrin. “I’m sorry I keep bringing up your village. It’s just… you are one of the only friends I have.”

When Orrin didn’t respond, she rushed forward, stumbling over her words. “When I was twelve, an ambassador from Veskar brought his daughter with him. I guess he wanted to show her the world a bit. She was a little older than me but my father thought it would be a good learning experience for me, so he gave me a job. I was supposed to show her around, keep her entertained, that sort of thing.”

Madi wrung her hands and wouldn’t meet Orrin’s eye. “We spent the entire day together. We laughed and talked about our parents and what they demanded of us. I thought we were becoming close. We went to my favorite salon and got our hair made up. I even brought her to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner.”

Orrin had no idea where this story was going, but he was glad she wanted to talk. He was weaving together a new piece of the elaborate lie that had become his past. His village was going to be located near the mountains. They were self-sufficient and rarely talked with the elves. Why were we targeted by Odrana, though? They didn’t stay only in one place and were attacked on the move? Maybe… herders of some sort? Orrin had never watched a documentary or read a book on farming practices, so anything she asked would need to hold up to further questions down the road. I’ll need to talk with someone who is an actual herder of… sheep? Maybe cows?

“I didn’t know that in Veskar certain foods are taboo to eat. I ordered for us… It was a disaster.” Madi’s eyes went distant as she remembered the night. “Her father was shouting at my father that I had tried to do it on purpose. My father had to give concessions for a trade route because of me. I failed in the task he gave me, but I also lost a potential friend. All because I didn’t know something that I should have.” Madi raised her head and captured Orrin’s eyes with hers. “I know the villages further from Dey have customs and traditions that we don’t practice. I’m scared that I might offend you in some way and lose you. It’s one reason I tried to investigate where you came from in the past.”

She raised a hand when he opened his mouth to ask more about that. “I found nothing. Nobody knows anything about you or your village beyond what you’ve told us. I said that was one reason but I’m going to be completely honest with you. You are a mystery, Orrin. You have a class that nobody has ever heard of. You can do something to change the [Hero]’s Quest rewards. I’m not stupid. There is some secret that you have. A secret that you don’t want to share. I don’t know if you are the grandchild of a [Hero], if you have a relic, or perhaps your village has some lost knowledge from ages past but I won’t ask you to share your secret. I won’t ask about your family anymore. Trust me, I know how touchy that subject can be and all I can do is apologize.”

She held her hand out. “I really hope I haven’t messed up too badly. Still friends?”

Orrin took her hand.

All his life, he’d only had one friend. Daniel looked past his quirks and stuck around but he’d had partners for school projects that forgot his name before they turned in the assignment. After his dad left and his mom started working more, the only attention he’d gotten was from Daniel and his family. Half the reason he had been in love with Daniel’s sister was probably because she knew he existed. He’d realized that in the dungeon when Garret’s shine had started to wear off.

In this world, given a new chance, Orrin was starting to find himself a bit more. Sure, he was still just the sidekick to his best friend, the [Hero], but he’d saved Daniel. Hell, he’d saved him a few times. He’d made new friends. Tony, Amir, and Brandt.

Madi.

She wasn’t the perfect friend. She’d threatened him and Daniel, played with their lives, and treated him as expendable. But she was doing her best to make up for past acts. She valued his opinions on strategy, came to him to help curb Daniel’s more annoying habits, and stuck by his side when shit hit the fan. She’d stood up to the Hospital for him. She was out here with them trying to stop a war with no real plan or ideas, just the blind faith that they would figure it out. She wasn’t the perfect friend but she was his friend and she was trying to do better by them.

Maybe I should do better too.

When Madi grasped his hand, he pulled her closer into a hug. It was awkward and quick and he let go as fast as he could.

“I’m going to trust you,” he started, gesturing for her to shut up this time. “I’m going to trust you and I don’t do that often. Daniel is the only one who knows.”

Orrin double-checked that Leanthun was far away, talking with Daniel. “When Daniel arrived in this world, he wasn’t alone.”

“How much did you tell her?” Daniel asked, sitting down close to the heater box. The little device was keeping up quite well. It warmed a small area like a fire without the bright light to give away their position. Orrin appreciated the lack of smoke drifting into this face every few seconds more.

“That I’m from your world but definitely not a [Hero].”

“That it?”

Orrin watched Madi flip in her sleeping bag. “I don’t think she could handle more than that right now.”

After the initial laughter at his ‘bad joke,’ Madi had asked him questions about ‘Daniel’s world.’ She’d grilled him for five minutes before abruptly walking away and berating Daniel. Orrin realized that she was trying to catch him in a lie.

“I think she wanted me to be from here. She complained that there are no records of two [Heroes] ever coexisting at the same time. I tried convincing her that I’m not one and somehow just hitched a ride with you but…”

“You know, sometimes I think you were meant to come too.”

Orrin spun to see if Daniel was joking.

“What? I’m serious. I would have died right away without you here. I don’t know who or what brought us here, but it’s like they knew I’d need you.”

Orrin rolled his eyes. “You’d have been fine.”

“I’d be stuck in a tree, getting eaten by a tentacle monster.”

“Like I said, totally happy and fine.”

Daniel tried to push Orrin over. “Asshole.”

They sat in silence. Leanthun had left after a quick dinner, promising to keep any Odrana forces away but the boys still decided to keep watch. Daniel was supposed to be sleeping but had wanted to talk first.

“You think she’ll be okay?”

Orrin scratched at his hair. He needed a haircut. His hair was starting to curl at the ends and tickle his neck. “She didn’t try to hit me and she did say thanks for finally telling her. Although, there might have been a touch of sarcasm in her voice.”

Daniel chuckled. “She is snarky.”

Orrin nodded. “You going to sleep? Leanthun thinks we can make the forest tomorrow. You and Madi are going to have to talk with this council of theirs and figure out if we can help.”

“You think I’m taking another middle shift? You go to bed.”

Orrin laughed and used Daniel’s shoulder to push himself straight. “Worth a shot.”

The night passed and morning arrived without interruption. Orrin had completed his set of decrease stat spells overnight and eagerly awaited the chance to try something new. The twenty-four-hour timer for his {Decrease Intelligence] spell taunted him.

“Morning Madi.” Orrin squatted by her mat and handed her a cup of coffee.

She glared at him but accepted the peace offering.

“I just wanted to check and see… I mean, how are… are we good?”

Madi sat up and sipped her coffee. Orrin decided she wasn’t going to answer and straightened up. His back was already turned when she huffed.

“We’re good.”

He smiled and sat down again. He pulled a few of the berry jam pastries she liked the most out of his storage and handed one over. He winked. “Don’t tell Daniel.”

She snorted. “He’ll smell them soon enough. Eat fast.”

Orrin asked her about elven culture and listened to her answers. They settled back into their old routine.

“If you’ve known Daniel for so long, why did you leave him that time?”

Coffee burnt his nose as he coughed. “What?”

Madi sighed and rubbed coffee off her blanket. “After you two started doing quests for the Guild, Daniel came back into town alone. My father recruited him and got him to agree to let me in his party. You had disappeared. You know when. It was right before you broke into my house.”

Orrin cleaned himself up, tossing an extra blanket to Madi to use as a towel for the mess. “We got into an argument and I stormed off. I came back for him.”

Madi poked Orrin in the arm. “I’m not blaming anyone. I just don’t want you two to split up again. Being in a group with the two of you is… liberating. I was so envious of how close you became with him in such a short time but now I know that you’ve both been friends for years. It makes so much sense, I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. It’s just such a weird thing for two people from another world to be here. I’d need to ask my father if something like this has ever happened before to be sure, but I’m almost certain… what?”

Orrin crunched his nose as he tried to find the words. “We trust you. We… don’t fully trust your dad. That’s a shitty thing to say to a friend but… it’s true.”

The look on her face shifted between angry, amused, and disappointed but her voice didn’t betray any emotion. “He’s my father. I’ll always trust him.”

Orrin looked into his empty mug. “Can I ask you to not tell him about me? Would that be a problem?”

He waited for her to answer but she waited for him to steal a glance.

“I’ll keep your secret unless I think it would be dangerous for you or Daniel. I know he’s hard to… deal with… but he is a good man.”

Orrin felt the weight of the unknown lift from his shoulders. “Well, now that you know I’m actually an alien from another planet, guess what skill I bought the other day?”

“What did you get?” Madi asked, taking the last sip of her coffee.

“[Merge].”

Madi spit her coffee all over his face.