"That was super! I can't believe you did that!" Jisha gushed as she wiped sludgy black blood from Ana's face. "How do you throw a fucking bear?!"

"Grip, the right pivot, and a lot of raw strength," Ana sighed. "And it's not like I threw it across the room. I just flipped it."

She was exhausted, and the healing potion and burn ointment hadn't quite numbed the pain yet. She gingerly ran her fingers over the burnt stubble that was all that remained on the right half of her scalp, strangling a hiss as she touched the burned skin there.

It had been a solid day overall. They'd killed a demon in the forest — a possessed lynx which had eight limbs and teeth growing out of its skin, but which was so far along that it was practically falling apart. They'd let Jisha deal with it pretty much on her own. Then Rayni and Omda had found this Delve. They could tell from the rift that it would be smaller and less profitable overall, but a Delve was a Delve. They'd discussed if the Sentinel would bother messing with it at all, but nobody wanted to back out either way.

Resistance had been light. Four demons at the entrance, all fairly weak, and another three during the short hike — no more than an hour including backtracking from dead ends — down to the Crystal chamber. Ana had taken a few scratches, but nothing serious; they'd finished off the opened healing potion they'd been using, but they had three left, along with plenty of ointment for acid burns.

The accident happened in the Crystal chamber. The two bears there had been stronger than anything else they'd met in the Delve, as per usual, with one of them being higher Level than Ana — 18 or 19 — and the other being her Level or just below. An easy fight, any day of the week. And it went fine right up until the end, when Kaira took out the one Ana had been grappling and almost popped Ana's head like a grape in a microwave in the process.

"Do you need more ointment?" Kaira asked sheepishly from off to the side.

"I'm fine," Ana snapped for probably the tenth time.

"Are you sure? I'm really sorry!"

"I know that you're sorry. You don't have to keep apologizing. And yes, I'm sure. I'm sticky enough as it is."

"What about water? Something to eat? Do you want to lie down for a while?"

Kaira was feeling understandably guilty. She had, after all, nearly taken Ana's head off with a fireball or plasma bolt or whatever it was she liked to throw around — something that Ana's poor, burned hair and scorched skin could attest to. It wasn't like she'd done it on purpose. Ana knew that. But between the constant apologies, the pain, and the near-death experience, Ana's patience was see-through. But snapping didn't help. So Ana swallowed her irritation, sighed, and said, "Let's just grab the Crystals and get out of here, alright?"

"But I—!"

"But you should leave Ana alone for a while." Rayni put her hands firmly on Kaira's shoulders and turned her around, Kaira's head tracking Ana until her neck wouldn't let her anymore. "Let's finish harvesting with the guys, and those two can yap away in their weird language until the burns and all cool off a bit, eh?"

"So, uh, I couldn't understand what she's been saying, but I can tell that Kaira's pretty sorry," Jisha said as Rayni led the Evoker away.

Ana sighed. Again. She'd been doing that a lot in the last ten minutes. "Yeah. She is. Ah, merde, a little softer, please!"

Jisha jerked the damp cloth away from Ana's face, then resumed, a little more carefully. She'd been cleaning near the burns. "So, you two, are you going to be okay?"

"What? Me and Irry? Yeah. Why?"

"You've been pretty cold to her since we finished that fight."

"She burned my—!" Ana snapped, softening her tone when Jisha jerked back. "She burned my hair off, Jisha!"

"Only half," Jisha said with a forced laugh, which died as fast as it came. "Yeah. That would make me pretty mad, too."

"I'll get over it," Ana said, leaning forward so Jisha could continue. "I needed to do something about it anyway. And it's not like mine was ever as long as yours. But it's the same damn side as this!" Ana gestured to her ear, where part of the helix had been bitten off. "Can't even try to hide it now. Kaira needs to watch her goddamn fire!"

Jisha shuddered as she rinsed her cloth with some water from Ana's steel bottle. "She really does. But, ah…"

"What?"

"Sorry, you're the victim here, and I don't want to put any blame on you or anything, but… It would be a lot easier for her to do that if you didn't try to wrestle half the demons we fight. It makes it hard for her to do anything. And she's… you know? She doesn't like to just stand there."

Ana wanted to snap back. She was tired. The burns really stung, and she hadn't actually planned on shaving half her head, but it was that or everything now. And she hadn't seen Messy for four days. But embarrassment held her back from saying anything.

Jisha had, perhaps unintentionally, hit on something: Ana hadn't been doing her job properly. She'd been doing an exemplary job of distracting demons; nobody could say that she hadn't done that part. But that was only half of her role. The other half was to try to create openings for the back liners to exploit, and there she'd failed more often than not.

She really hadn't made it easy for them to be effective. Ana constantly got right up in the face of whatever they were fighting, usually the strongest one if they had multiple opponents. Half the time she actually grappled them in some way. How the hell was Kaira supposed to contribute if Ana was right in the line of fire all the time?

For most of their fights, Kaira's rewards must have been pitiful. She hadn't voiced a word of complaint, either. Was it any surprise that she'd used an opening when she saw it?

Realizing that she herself was partially to blame didn't make Ana's burns hurt any less, but it made her irritation feel at least a little dishonest.

"I should talk to her, shouldn't I?" Ana already knew the answer, but she asked anyway.

"Yeah, probably," Jisha agreed. She pulled the cloth away. "There. At least you won't get that stuff in your eyes and mouth now."

Closing the Delve, setting up camp — the sun was setting already — and splitting the Crystals was a smooth, if somewhat tense process. Everybody felt it; how could they not? Kaira still led the process but could barely look at Ana, her awkwardness and shame bleeding through to her aura no matter how she tried to mask it. Ana did her best to keep her voice and face neutral, but between what she was feeling from Kaira and her own embarrassment over how she'd handled her role for the past several days, she found it hard to talk to Kaira in front of the others.

Well, she could have put on a mask. Stacy could talk to anyone at any time, no matter how she felt. But these were her friends, and Ana was deliberately avoiding being anyone but herself in front of friends. That kind of honesty was a new, liberating, and sometimes scary thing, but something she felt she could do here, and with these people.

She needed to be honest with Kaira.

After collecting her 4000 Experience Points worth of Crystals, Ana looked at her themion friend and said, "Alright, we shouldn't put this off any longer. Come on, Irry. Walk with me."

Kaira was almost trembling as she got to her feet and followed Ana into the trees. Despite that, she was the first to speak. "I'm so sorry, Ana!" she said, her voice raw with emotion. The same thing she'd said, over and over and in various ways, ever since it happened. "I really am! I don't know what I was thinking! I fucked up, bad! I… Gods, Ana, I'm so sorry!"

Ana took her time thinking of an honest, heartfelt answer, but Kaira's nerves had grown too taut to wait and after a few seconds she wailed, "Say something!"

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And Ana, with honesty in mind, snapped.

"You're right! You did fuck up! You almost fucking killed me, Kaira! I'll be lucky if this—!" she pulled her remaining hair to the side and pushed her burns right in Kaira's face, "grows back!"

Kaira's face went crimson as she looked away. "Touanne's—" she mumbled, but Ana didn't let her continue.

"I know Touanne's brilliant! That's not the point! How many inches, Kaira? How many inches closer for this—" she pointed to her burns, not caring if Kaira looked or not, "to not be survivable? What if I didn't have over 50 Vitality? If it had been Tor? Jisha? You think she would've survived this?"

Kaira's whole face trembled, and she croaked out a barely audible, "Maybe?"

"'Maybe'? You think 'maybe's' good enough? Dammit, Kaira! It's enough that I've got a target on my back, that everyone around me is at risk because two gods are fighting! I need to at least know that I can trust my friends!"

By the look Kaira gave her, Ana might as well have slapped her. Finally her face contorted, and her voice broke. "I know! I know, alright?" Kaira said, tears spilling down her cheeks and catching on the corners of her mouth. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! How many times do I have to say it?"

"It doesn't matter! Saying it doesn't change anything! I know that you're sorry! I know that you didn't mean to! What I need to know is that it won't happen again, because we might not be so lucky next time!"

"Well I wouldn't have to if you didn't make me feel so damn useless!"

Kaira had tried to snap — Ana was sure of that — but it came out in hiccupping, blubbering sobs. And of all the things Kaira might have said, that was one Ana hadn't been prepared for at all.

"Useless? What the hell are you talking about, Kaira? I know I've been getting in the way—"

"Yeah, you have! But it's not like that makes any difference, is it?" Kaira was full-on ugly crying now, snot and all. "So what if I can't get a clear shot? You'll just paste whatever it is ten seconds later anyway! And all I'm good for in a Party is killing things, Ana!"

Ana had been ready for a few likely reactions. Shame, anger, or defiance had seemed the most likely based on what she'd seen in Kaira's body language. This complete breakdown of her self-confidence was absolutely not among them. "Kaira—" she said placatingly, but her friend plowed right on.

"What am I even doing here, Ana? Tor was right! You don't need us! You don't need anyone, except maybe Omda or Rayni to find you things to kill! You should just go out without us!" She sniffed and fell into a short coughing fit, which gave her a break in the sobbing at least. "Gods, I thought I wanted a free ride, but we're just holding you back. Just… go back to the others. I'll follow once I calm down, and then we can forget about Partying up in the future. It was stupid of me, anyway."

"Dammit, Kaira!" Ana grabbed her friend by the shoulders until she looked up, then let go and spread her arms slightly. Kaira looked at her blankly for a moment, then her face contorted and she launched herself forward with enough force to fell a lesser woman. She wrapped her arms tight around Ana as she blubbered over her shoulder, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please don't hate me!"

"I don't hate you," Ana said, returning the hug with more reasonable force. Kaira really was a lot stronger than she looked. "I'm not ditching you, either. None of you. You think I have enough people I like to just throw them away?"

Besides, she would have had to be deaf, blind, and stupid to think that Kaira actually wanted to be left alone, or that she didn't want to keep Delving with Ana, no matter what she said.

Congratulations! Your Skill Sense Motive has improved to Level 8! You have been awarded: Growth Crystal (Medium).

Ana read and dismissed the notification without a trace of satisfaction. Was it really necessary for the System to cheapen every important moment by rewarding her?

"Irry, listen," she said. "You're right that I could have finished some of the fights we've been in on my own, given time. But none of you are useless, least of all you. Nobody else in this Party can kill or disable a whole-ass demon before the fight even starts. And none of us can finish a fight as decisively as you can."

Kaira started to protest, so Ana quickly added, "Yes, okay, I can do that sometimes. Not as reliably as you, though. But for you to do that, we need to set you up for success, and I've been failing to do that. I get too into it. I focus too much on what I can do, without thinking about how I can help the rest of the Party be effective. I won't pretend that I'm not an asset, but I have to admit that I've also been holding the rest of you back, and you especially, Irry. I understand why you took that shot. I can imagine how frustrating it must have been. I know that you're sorry. Well, so am I. I'm sorry for not considering how I've been making your role in this team harder. Can we agree to forgive each other for now, and to both promise each other to try to do better?"

"You— you really mean that?" Kaira sniffed, squeezing Ana even tighter. "You still want to Delve with us? Even—"

"Yeah." Ana gave Kaira a couple of firm pats on the back, then gently pushed her to arm's length so they could see each other. The relief and hope and affection in Kaira's eyes was even stronger in her aura and it was… Goddess, it wasn't as good as the love Ana felt from Messy, but it was a close second. A smile came to her face, completely on its own. "Whatever you were about to say, yes, I still want to Delve with you. We're friends, aren't we?"

Kaira sniffed and gave her a fragile smile back. "Gods, I hope so."

When they returned, Kaira puffy-eyed and smiling and Ana at least no longer grim, the rest could finally share a relieved breath.

"So, good talk?" Jisha asked Ana as the others surrounded Kaira.

Ana smiled. "Yeah. Good talk."

"You made up and all?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Great." A last bit of tension left Jisha and she said, "So, I Leveled again. Level 10!"

Ana smiled. The pride that washed off the girl felt good. "Of course you did. Congrats! You're gonna catch up with me at this rate. You're not forgetting to save some Crystals to sell, are you?"

"I have some of the bigger ones earmarked," Jisha said seriously.

"Good girl."

Jisha rolled her eyes. "Beurk! Don't be weird about it!"

"Sorry. So, Level 10, huh? That's a milestone. What did you get?"

Jisha's feigned disgust turned into a beaming smile, her aura brightening even further with pride and satisfaction. Then all conversation in the small camp stopped, and all eyes were on her in amused confusion as the teenager broke into a less-than-perfect and heavily accented rendition of a — to absolutely no one but her and Ana — well known pop number.

Ana gave Jisha about ten seconds to make a fool of herself before she let her own amusement bubble over.

"Aren't you too young for that song?" she laughed. "I think I was a baby when that came out."

"Queen Bey is eternal," Jisha replied piously, before laughing at herself. "And Destiny's Child counts!"

"So," Ana said once their laughter had petered out. "Survivor, huh?"

"You said I was, remember?" Jisha said without a trace of embarrassment. "The System agrees!"

"I think all Fighters get that same Ability, but yeah. I guess it does. What's it do?"

"That's the great thing! You can worry less about me now! I'll get hurt less, and heal faster if I do!"

"Really?" That did sound useful. She supposed that her skyrocketing Vitality did the same for her, but Ana herself really wouldn't mind an Ability like that. I should tell her that, she thought, but along with the pride she could see a hopeful anticipation in the way the girl looked at her. She decided that admitting her envy wasn't quite enough.

Ana smiled, clapping Jisha gently on the arm. "That's great," she said. "And, yeah. Knowing that you can keep yourself in one piece really does help me out."

Jisha looked away bashfully. "It's better than that Campaigner Ability at 7, at least," she said, suddenly dismissive. She couldn't fool Ana though. The girl was as pleased as anything. "I mean, really? Getting a bit less tired from walking? Being able to go without food for a while? What a scam!"

"Spoken like someone who's never starved." Ana knew that Jisha didn't mean to dredge anything up; the girl didn't know much about Ana's past. But there were too many bad memories, too many cold, hungry nights when she'd been too scared to beg. For all her Attribute points, and all her Skill Levels, and all her experience masking, Ana couldn't stop an edge of bitterness from creeping into her voice. "Try going without food for a couple of days. It'll be your favorite Ability."

Jisha looked up, confused and hurt by the sudden shift, but when she looked in Ana's eyes her face fell. "Sorry," she said. "I haven't. But you have, haven't you?"

"Yeah." Then Ana forced a smile, honesty be damned. "But that was a long time ago. What I meant was, that Ability could come in damned handy one day, alright? Don't knock it just yet."

"Alright," Jisha said apologetically. "I won't."

They decided not to look for another Delve. Instead, after breaking camp the next morning, they started on a roundabout path intended to lead them to the road.

They left encounters to chance, with neither Omda nor Rayni ranging too far from the rest of the Party. Even with no fighting they expected it to take two days to reach the road, and then another half-day or so to get back to the outpost, depending on where they joined it.

That wasn't how it turned out.

The first day of their return trip was near its end, and they were looking for a good place to camp, when Ana's heart clenched. She stopped in her tracks, so suddenly that Jisha turned with a look of concern and asked, "Ana, is something wrong?"

Kaira, at the front, turned around and took one look. That was all she needed. Her eyes widened, her mouth falling open, and she said four words: "Oh, shit. Go. Go!"

Ana moved.

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