Chapter 51

Lunch rolled around, and Natalie found herself seated with Jordan and Sofia.

Liz didn’t join them. Despite having made quick friends with them, and hanging around during spars and class, that was because, well, she made friends with everyone. She did the same for other groups. She was a social butterfly to an astounding degree. Likely, Natalie figured, that girl could make friends with a dungeon monster.

So, just the three of them. Weird how that sounded normal. ‘The three of them’. Sofia did not belong in the group. The seamlessness she was integrating was unnatural.

“So. You met Ana at the party, right?” Jordan asked Sofia.

While Natalie’s adventures the night prior had been of a much less productive sort—or productive in an atypical way, considering her class—Sofia had attended the semester-opening party with Liz, hoping to get to know some of her classmates, and more importantly, find potential delving partners.

“I did,” Sofia said.

“And?”

“She’s...” Sofia paused. “Well. She’s hard to read.”

“Meaning?”

“She’s cold,” Natalie said, cutting in. She’d met Ana, briefly, with Liz, when they’d first broached the idea of teaming up. “Her face is made of stone. She doesn’t inflect her voice. It’s creepy.” Natalie chewed her lip, not liking how she’d put it. “Well, that’s a little too harsh. She’s just...”

“Odd,” Sofia said, agreeing. “Non-emotive. But,” she said, emphasizing the word, “apparently competent.”

“Then that’s all that matters, right?” Jordan asked.

Sofia shrugged in a way that said she mostly agreed, but not wholeheartedly.

Natalie had mixed feelings on it, too. It was looking more and more that their first delving team had been organized. The three of them, plus Liz and Ana. Liz, Natalie had no problems with, besides maybe the way Natalie would inadvertently be aligning herself to the Beaumon house.

Ana, though, Natalie wasn’t sold on. Again, she’d only briefly met the girl, but Sofia had agreed with her assessment, having spent more time together—and in an ostensibly casual setting, the party. If the girl remained stone-faced even hanging around in an easygoing environment, drinking and chatting, then Natalie found herself dubious it was a matter of ‘warming up’. That might just be Ana.

But Jordan’s viewpoint was a hard one to argue. If she was a competent mage, who cared? Natalie wasn’t marrying the girl. In fact, a detached, perfectly composed demeanor—even to the point of being unnaturally so—was likely a good thing in the dungeon.

Just, she’d always imagined her adventuring party would be ... friends? With her?

Way too sentimental of a view. Natalie frowned at herself for even formalizing the thought. Professionals. That was what her delving team should prioritize being, first and foremost. Maybe even if it was a bad thing she and Jordan were such close friends. Would it affect her decision making, down in the dungeon? Would Natalie, the team’s tank, guard Jordan more than appropriate?

It could be a problem. Jordan was Natalie’s highest priority, bar none. She hadn’t even considered the issues that might cause.

“Hello? Nat?” A hand waved in front of Natalie’s face, and she blinked her thoughts clear. An amused Jordan was peering at her. “Lost in thought, much?”

“Little bit. What’s up?”

“Sofia asked if we wanted to join her to the Exchange, after spars.” Jordan gave Natalie a scathingly potent look, one which made it clear she didn’t have a choice in the matter. “Want to?”

Surprisingly, the idea didn’t appall Natalie like it should. Spending time with Sofia after class? In a casual, non-necessary setting? It should have her stomach turning.