Digging a Hole Ch. 03

"No, wait!" Ivy cried. She reset her posture, smirked, and added, "It's about time."

"No more do-overs," Kay groaned, through clenched teeth. "This is cringy enough as it is!"

Ivy gave Keileigh a coy smile, and came around the counter with her arms spread wide. "Someone's grumpy." The demon was tall, taller than Kay, and every curve of her was as absurd as the excuse for a dress that covered everything in the technical sense but nothing in the figurative sense.

"I'm not!" Kay whined. Her voice was more muffled when she continued, her face buried in cleavage. "I'm really, really not."

Van and Mad shared a look and shrugged, and joined in the hug from either side.

"You guys," Ivy said. "I heard you were all here but I've been so busy!"

Keileigh, muffled near to the point of inaudibility, said, "I hate you all."

"How long has it been?"

Van said, "Most of a decade?"

Ivy leaned over and kissed the top of Van's head, then did the same to Maedwynn. "Too long."

"We're 'ere now," Mad said. "Van thinks we need yer 'elp."

"Well of course you do. You guys were always lost without me."

Kay made a sound that reminded Mad of a dying goat, which in turn prompted Ivy to hug her more tightly and kiss the top of her head too.

"You're right," Ivy said, very matter of factly. "We need drinks."

"Not you," Van said, when Maedwynn was the first to cheer.

"Like Ah'm not gonna drink," Mad said, irascibly, as she backed into the door.

***

The best bar on the station was, in fact, one Mad had not yet visited, but it took her all of fifteen seconds to feel the pounding through her feet. One floor below, in the reactor sector, was the forge. There in that bar, for the first time in years, Maedwynn could feel the folding of iron in her bones. Of course, it was only a matter of time before she'd be in the room herself, doing a bit of upkeep on her hammer, now that she knew where it was.

When she looked over, Van was giving her a familiar smile.

"Of course there's a bar righ' above it," she muttered, leaning in close enough to nudge her sister with her shoulder.

"Every inch of this station is ten feet from a bar," Keileigh said, striding between them on her way toward a booth. "And they better have wine."

"I know what you like," Van said, giving her girlfriend a playful swat on the ass as she passed. Then she clapped Maedwynn on the shoulder and pointed toward the bar. "C'mon."

"I'll have whatever you two have," the tall demon said, as she moved around them. "Kay! Wait!"

The bar was a little thinned out so late, House Three according to the clock on the wall, but they still had to shove their way through the crowd to get the attention of the keep. Even though it was louder there, the clear peel of each hammer strike was much more audible. Ductwork behind the bar, Mad thought. Smart.

The smell, too, was incredible. Maedwynn closed her eyes and breathed it in. All of it. The sweat. The exhaust. The fumes. The dwarves. This was not the first time she'd had the oh my gods, I'm home sensation, but it still hit like a number ten jackhammer every time.

"Five ales," Van yelled, "and a chardonnay."

"I'm gonnae boke. Wha' mannera numpty," grumbled a heavyset, mohawked dwarf, from his stool next to where Van had pushed through, "ordersa goble'a piss?" He turned his head just enough to sweep a ferocious, if short, beard over his shoulder.

Van, for her part, was grinning as wide as Mad had ever seen. "Caz, I swear to fuck, you get uglier ever time I see you."

"The old maern cannae save ye now." He tilted a little to the side and spat at Van's feet. "Stockin' piss? 'ere? At the Anvil? He'd've been up to high doh."

Van planted an elbow on the bar and looked down at her boots for just a moment. "Well, he's dead now, so I don't think he cares."

"Shut your gob ye ned prick," Caz snarled, turning even more toward her.

Van kept her cool, and passed two and then two four mugs over to Maedwynn's waiting hands. The angry dwarf followed the motion, leering back at her from under the bristliest mohawk Maedwynn had ever seen.

Mad looked at her sister and smirked, saying, "Ye know, Ah hear i' now. Ah hear it. It'sa bi' much."

Van got the last ale and her glass of wine, and Maedwynn turned to head back. She knew, immediately, that this was a mistake. In the blink of an eye, right behind her, there was the scuffing of a stool across smooth plexcrete, the hiss and awe of onlookers, and the meaty thud of a fist, followed very shortly by two glasses crashing and the sound of her sister hitting the floor.

Mad half-turned, and held up the mugs for a moment. "Come take these? Van'll be wantin' 'em when she ge's up."

Ivy bit her lip as she wiggled through the crowd, her eyes as big as saucers. She reached over another dwarf entirely and slipped her fingers through the wide handles of the mugs. She towered over the various maern and wae quickly forming a circle, but took great care to maneuver around them, saying, "Oops!" and "Excuse me!" with every step.

There was a small half-circle around where Kay was turning Van over but the one she'd called Caz was between them and Mad, giving her a look that seemed ludicrously hateful given that they'd just met.

Mad held her arms out at her sides, and said, "Why—" and got no further before Caz took a swing at her too. She made a rookie mistake, merely leaning back out of range of the punch, and instantly regretted it. Her center of gravity was behind her feet, where it was doing her no good against the half ton of pissed off that was bearing down on her. He was torqued all the way to his right, which probably meant that he was about to come back the other way with his off hand, so she did the only thing she could think to do, out of position where she couldn't leverage any kind of strength; Maedwynn slapped him.

The room went completely silent, except for the echo of palm on cheek and the crystal-clear ring of iron on an anvil.

Caz looked stunned. He touched his cheek and then looked around at the crowd, stupefied. "Wha' mannera—"

And then she slapped him again.

Judging by the response from the rest of the room, which was a lot of shocked gasps, more of them than she'd expected had spotted the way she'd clapped his ear. Caz's jaw hung wide open as he touched his middle finger against his ear, and the tip came away red. This had the effect she'd been going for, getting the big maern to take a half step back and give her some space, but at the cost of making him so mad that he wasn't even looking at her anymore, but through her.

The kind of mad that wasn't going to hear her no matter what she said, regardless of the fact that she'd partially deafened him for a little while.

Ah well, she thought.

What followed, ironically, bore a stronger resemblance to actual boxing than what she'd done with her sister on arrival at the station. Caz was so furious, so out of his mind, that it seemed like moving his arms was all he could manage, and Maedwynn made him pay for every single throw. She showed him shoulder rolls, a high guard, a high cross guard, and a pawing long guard that took the steam out of more punches than got through cleanly.

Finally, after nearly half a minute of letting the bull swing at her, after letting him tire himself out a bit and riding through a slew of glancing blows, Maedwynn struck back. She stayed low, hitting him with a left, right, and left to the sides of his belly, and when he finally tucked down low enough to get his elbows to cover his sides she put a right across his cheek hard enough that his nose was sideways when his head snapped back. He did the thing every puffed up maern did when she got a good shot in and gave her a showboating leer, but he was so focused on trying to pretend she hadn't hurt him that he didn't see the uppercut coming until it was too late.

She put everything she had into it, the cleanest, sweetest, textbook-iest example of an uppercut that she'd ever thrown. She had that full chest expansion, smooth footwork right on the line, and all the torque her hips could muster, and she knew the moment her fist connected that it wasn't enough.

It might have been, once upon a time. When she was still on her regimen, and keeping up with the runes on her shoulders, she could have knocked this cheap-shot-taking, dollar-store-Gotrek clear off his feet. Instead, months away from her prime shape but still sharp enough between the ears to recognize how much she'd lost, she could only watch as his head bounced off the ridge of trapezius muscles lurking over his shoulders until he was glaring at her again.

"Oh fuck this," she growled.

Before he could get any kind of reaction going, Maedwynn went low. Real, real low. Her knuckles were practically scraping the decking as she came around to strike the inside of his knee. His leg buckled, making him look like a newborn deer trying to take its first steps if it was possible for a newborn deer to weigh north of four hundred kilograms. He hit the ground, bleating, and the crowd went wild.

She'd barely gotten her fist up into the air, the victory roar still pouring out of her mouth, before there was a mug in front of her.

***

—filled the room, to near deafening levels, as they sang in unison, nearly a hundred strong, chanting, "Forge and stone, steel and bone! We'll build our halls, and"—

***

—Caz slammed down his mug first, a hair's breadth before Maedwynn slammed down hers, and when he roared at her it was like he was the one who'd won the fight, not—

***

—with only one good leg, the other one by this point held in place with a metal brace, and even still he was giving her trouble. Years of swinging a pick had given him a ferocious grip, but grip strength was a battle she was going to win no matter how many legs he—

***

—three of them, and all of them were blurry. In a last ditch effort, Maedwynn put her left hand over her left eye, and raised her last dart for her final—

***

"—stirring."

"I mean, she's not snoring anymore. That's an improvement."

"I always liked her snoring. She keeps a good rhythm."

"No," groaned Keileigh. "No more beatboxing."

"Fine," Ivy said, shrugging easily.

"Ever."

This drew a long, happy sigh out of Ivy. "I've missed you guys."

Maedwynn kept one eye pinched shut and looked around. "Wha'sat noise?"

The others all looked at each other for a moment before Van said, "The engines?"

"Ah though' Deepwatch ran on reactors?" she said, as she pushed herself up from where she'd been laying. Across a bench seat.

Van frowned and slammed her fist against the bulkhead behind her. A moment later, the speaker above crackled to life. "Five minutes out, eh."

"Sounds good," Van shouted back.

Ivy came over to sit down here Mad's head had just been, and said, excitedly, "We're going to a death trap!"

Kay, leaned up against the bulkhead, rolled her eyes.

"Issat a nice deathtrap?"

Van said, "It's D94. We're going back."

"Ah've still got stitches in me," Mad said, hiking up on the side of her jacket.

"If you're well enough to tie one on," Van fired back, "you're well enough for this."

Maedwynn cried, "Come on!"

"No, you come on!" Van stabbed a finger in her direction. "I needed you resting, but you wouldn't. I needed you by my side, but you started picking fights!"

Mad twitched like she caught a foul odor. "Tha' motherfucker 'it you first!"

Kay looked over her shoulder, and then touched the display on the wall. "We're coming in fast," she said.

Van whipped around on her heels and headed for the cockpit, and Kay gave Mad a wink.

"Don't worry," Ivy said, as the door to the cockpit hissed shut. "You did great."

"Damn righ' Ah did," Mad said, digging her thumb into her temple like she could fix a hangover with a bit of pressure. "Ah bea' the piss ou' of 'im."

Ivy laughed and patted her lap. "Oh, no, that was terrible. Do you not know who Caz is?"

Mad reluctantly laid back down, though her reticence melted away the moment Ivy's fingers touched her scalp. "'e punched mah sister. Wha' more d'Ah need ta know?" She had to tilt her head slightly to be able to look up at Ivy, around Ivy's boobs, and found that she did not like the way Ivy was wincing.

"He's the head of the union," Kay said, absently.

"Ah bea' up a union man?"

"And an asshole," Ivy added, helpfully. "He contains multitudes."

"Ah shit!'

Ivy continued, saying, "There's at least two bars, where Caz is banned, that I bet you'll drink for free now. That's a plus!"

"This is why Ah stayed away! This is why Ah wanted no par' o' rulin'." She pressed the palm of her hand into her eye, trying to will away the pain. "Ah don' remember aenythin'."

"That's a new pronunciation," Kay said, chuckling.

Maedwynn, under different circumstances, had a slew of responses ready to go, but drew on her trusty middle finger to handle this one.

"You did great," Ivy said, soothingly. Her fingers really were quite magical. "I've never seen you get so drunk, so fast, and every time Caz kept trying to bring up his grievances you'd challenge him to something else. I've never seen Caz so happy."

"I've never seen Caz happy," Kay added.

"'e was 'appy?"

"Thrilled," Ivy said, excitedly. She bit her lip and looked up in thought. "He said..."

"He said," Keileigh said, cutting in, "it was the first time an Ironfist ever put some fucking skin in the game. Old Foreskin was many things, but... by the end? And Grundhill, no." She shook her head. "He's a planner."

"Grund'ill's no' an Ironfist."

"Will you quit being so fucking hostile," Kay said, lashing out. "I'm serious. It worked out this time, by sheer dumb fucking luck, but you are messing with Van's plan!"

"Was 'er plan to get knocked the fuck out?"

"I'm with Mad on this one," Ivy said. "Caz has always complained about the leadership lacking backbone. Maedwynn showed him some backbone."

"You talk to 'im?" Mad said, tilting slightly to look up again.

"He comes to the brothel too," Ivy said, easily, "like everyone. They all talk more than anything else. He's always saying, all business, no balls! They need to sack up! Except, you know, he'd say it like you do, without some of the consonants and with extra vowels in other places." Then she smiled brightly. "I don't know how it works, but it sounds pretty!"

"Both things are true," Kay said, as she glowered at the floor. "Van's plan was for you and her to take more than your fair share of front line work. Her plan was to show strength in the new leadership you two were initiating."

"Ah dunnae feel like Ah've done much leaderin' since Ah got here."

"You absorbing Caz's thicker accent is adorable, by the way."

"Wee cunt," Maedwynn mumbled.

Kay stuck her tongue out. "There's a lot to learn. It's a lot of logistics, and it's boring, and it takes time, but she wanted to hit the ground running and rally the troops. That's what this"— she held her arms out at her sides and turned slightly —" is all about. D94 is a lead on the Ironhold. She wants symbols, you know? It's a small thing, but it'll have a huge impact on morale."

It felt like some of the fog was clearing, the more Ivy's thumbs worked over her scalp. "Tha's why she dragged me out here like 'is. To take charge. Rein me in."

Kay tapped her nose.

"Will ye tell 'er later? Tha' Ah'm sorry?"

Van's voice came over the speaker above, saying, "Do you three not understand how microphones work?"

"I do!" Ivy said, excitedly.

"That's why you're the best. One minute."

Keileigh bounced off the bulkhead, and moved toward the hatch. "You almost fucked some things up, but you didn't. You might have even made them better, but you need to get in formation. Her plan is good. Stick to it."

Mad took a few slow breaths. "Ah'm havin' a hard time adjustin'. It's different to be back, around family." When Ivy patted the top of her head, she rocked up onto her feet, and she really did feel quite a bit better. "Thanks, lass."

"It's what I do," Ivy said, simply.

Kay turned to her, and leaned in close. "She's not asking for your undying loyalty. You don't have to pledge to obey or anything, alright?"

"When'v Ah no' been on 'er side?" Maedwynn asked, a little defensively.

"How about the last time we were here," Van said, as she came back through the hatch. "You just strolled into that encampment like you were hot shit. Like you were gonna fight 'em all yourself."

Mad pinched one eye shut, looked up for a second, and said, "Ahlrigh'. Tha's fair."

Van took her shotgun and turret from the mounting, strapped them to her back, and moved to stand next to her at the hatchway. "Something else you wanna add?"

Maedwynn chewed on her lip for a moment, and when the light above the hatch turned green she slapped the big release bar. "Jus' tha'..." She moved down the ramp, stepped onto the dert, and paused. "Ah never palled around wi' the 'ead of the House, but Ah've been around low folk plenty. If'n ye go' a union, somethin' else went wrong firs'."

Van rolled her eyes as she moved past, taking the lead, and said, "Tell me about it. I think a lot of it predated Foreskin, but he certainly didn't make it better."

Maedwynn turned around and looked at where she was, immediately recognizing their landing zone. "Hang on a minu'."

Van looked back over her shoulder as she marched, and gave Maedwynn a flat stare.

"Are we jus'—"

"Yes and no," Van said, as she turned to face forward again.

And then Kay turned and gave her a look too.

"I think," Ivy said, leaning over and whispering, "they're saying that you should trust them."

"We're three feet away," Kay said, irritatedly.

"Should Ah trust them?" Mad whispered back.

"Oh yeah, the plan is good." Ivy put a hand across her mouth and turned, adding, "It's a coordinated attack on two fronts. Big distracting force, small main force."

"An' we're tha main force?"

Ivy nodded and smiled hungrily, an expression that would have been chilling on any other demon with curled horns and long, wavy hair. Ivy, though, had grown up around them. Orphaned and raised by the House, almost like a sister at this point. Loyal to the House. She was as fervent as any of them; definitely more so than Kay.

Mad unhooked her hammer and got her fist right below the head, carrying it one handed as she strode along through tunnels she had fled through not so very long before. It might just have been her imagination fucking with her, but she thought she could even make out her own blood trail.

The cavern they moved through was wide, and probably natural. There were too many imperfections to have been carved, even crudely. Certainly not by dwarves. It lacked the support beams and pillars any self-respecting dwarven engineer would have put in place. Van had called the demon they fought together a Borer, which implied some amount of demon excavation, but she had a hard time extrapolating that into what she was seeing.

It made more sense as a lava flow, with a vein of some element having reached a superheated temperature. Her mind had a little trouble with how heat dissipated in space, tracking how long a hunk of rock several tens of cubic kilometers in volume would stay hot after a planetary impact, but if the starting temperatures were high enough then a molten salt flow seemed possible.

This thought process bubbled away in the back of her mind, slowly condensing into a question that had been bothering her for a while. The question was shy, however.

This time, when Van snuck ahead, Maedwynn hung back and watched behind them. She still felt the urge to run up and be right there with her sister, shoulder to shoulder, but the talking to was still ringing in her head. She could find different ways to contribute, like covering their asses.

They slowed to a crawl much earlier, owing to some periodic patrols. Demons were moving around ahead of them, agitated even to their untrained eyes. Skittering from tunnel to tunnel. They ran when Van said run, and they stuck to the shadows when Van held up a fist. Even Ivy was doing an excellent job of staying in formation, and this was an ill omen.

The closer they got to the shed, the more obvious the sounds of distant combat were. On top of that, it was more and more obvious that they were distant. The echoes distorted and blurred everything almost to the point of incomprehensibility, but so much sound, so much shouting and shooting, could only mean fighting.

"Something's wrong," Van hissed.

Mad turned to look, and it was only because her eyes were trained in the wrong direction, focusing for detail on her sister, that her peripheral vision caught subtle movement behind them. Her skin started to crawl.

"They know," Van hissed again, just loud enough to hear. "This is a trap."

Keileigh leaned over to whisper in Van's ear, something Mad was sure she must have misheard but that sounded an awful lot like, "I want to carry your babies," and then she started moving forward.

Van froze for a second, her eyes wide, before she tossed her turret down and unslung her shotgun. She moved to stand next to Kay, barrel barking loudly as targets materialized in front of them from behind every imaginable concealment. The turret banked up, firing at the ceiling, and even though Mad couldn't see into the room ahead enough to know what it was aiming at, she knew that was a bad sign.

"Watch out for that one," Ivy said, as she hovered behind Kay and pointed. "And that one!"

"That's not helpful!" Kay roared back. Both arms extended, palms spread, with solid red beams emitting from both. Everything those beams touched, died. Horribly.

Maedwynn stepped out from her own concealment as a slow moving throng emerged behind them, cutting off their retreat. Some of them were even heading back toward the shuttle, and it wasn't long before she heard the thirty millimeter cannon on the shuttle reporting for duty.

"There's a lot of them," Ivy said, her voice suddenly very loud in Maedwynn's ear. Speaking from right behind her. "Aren't those the same kind of demons that cut you up last time?"

They were. She saw now that their swords were made of bone, like extensions of their hands, and that made the wounds, still so fresh on her batch, itch like mad.

Ivy gave her a pat on the shoulder and said, "Don't get hit."

And then she was alone. Ivy's boots retreated across the dert, back toward where Kay and Van were unloading on whatever was advancing toward them. There were so many, coming from several corridors. Seemingly endless. Maedwynn saw that her role here was to slow down what was coming from behind to give Van and Kay as much time as possible, so she leapt forward to engage the front line and made them pay for every meter, every step.

She fought defensively, spending as much time smashing arms and swords as she did skulls. She felled them two at a time, getting each swing damn near perfect. She made them pay, dearly, and it wasn't enough. How could it be, when they were legion?

All the while, behind her, came the fizzing crackle of Kay's magic, the eardrum-shattering blast of Van's shotgun, the constant pop-pop-pop of Van's turret, and a metric ton of the worst advice Mad had ever heard. Everything Ivy said passed in one ear and out the other, for Mad. As if she didn't have enough on her plate, she caught sight of one of those ghastly things Kay had been fighting last time much further down the cavern in front of her. She did not have the breath to say anything, and in the space between one swing and the next, it advanced twenty meters. Then fifteen.

And then it was on top of her, right beside her. It grabbed the haft of her hammer and fought her, pinning her in place, and when Maedwynn turned to roar at it, its eyes did... something.

She swayed backwards, hands pressed to her eyes, and called out. The cavern had gone as black, more black than any dark she'd ever found herself in, and yet those two empty sockets had left a stinging flicker on her retina that refused to die out. White and violet and blue and red, all flickering faster than she could comprehend. The space around her sounded wrong too. There, far and then near, and then far again, came the heavy thump of her hammer being tossed aside into the durt. The shadow of that face haunted her, like a waking nightmare.

She was exposed, disarmed, and blind, and she could not make her throat or her lungs do anything she wanted them to do. Her feet carried her, but her map of the space around her was woefully lacking in details. Things were happening, there was sound all around her, but her senses were so wildly overstimulated that she couldn't tell up from down.

"Hey," came Van's voice from just beside her. Mad lashed out, on pure reflex, and hit nothing, but Van's voice remained close all the same. "Hey, hey, whoa there."

"Wot's 'appening?! Ah'm blind!"

"I know, I know," Van said. Her voice was low, and oddly calm. Disturbingly calm. "It's okay."

"'ow can eht be okay?"

"Maedwynn." Her sister gripped her shoulder, which made Mad twitch fearsomely. "You've gotta stop screaming."

"'Ow can ye be so calm?!"

"I'm not," Van said, though her voice was steady. "I don't really understand what's happening, but at this point I'm just... trusting Ivy."

"We're fucked," said Kay, from Mad's other side.

Maedwynn swallowed air as fast as her throat could manage but it was never enough, and it got worse when she could feel Van and Kay right next to her, touching her, but the sound of their voices faded to a faint echo. She barely noticed when she fell, and through it all her vision was full of that ghastly, gaunt face.

Little by little, Van's voice got closer. "You okay?"

"Ah'm still breathin'," Maedwynn said, panting heavily.

Van's voice was not steady when she said, "You had me worried."

"Wot's 'appenin? Why're we talkin'?"

Kay, on her other side. "The second you went down, Ivy did..." She sounded like she was having to chew through her own tongue to get the words out. "... something."

It didn't matter if her eyes were open or closed, Maedwynn was still seeing nothing.

"Come on," Van said, lifting Mad's arm. "Let's get you up."

"Ah cahn' see."

"Gods," Kay said, grunting, as she tried to help from the other side. "I can't..."

"Just baby steps," Van said, finally having steadied her voice a bit.

Maedwynn used the toe of her boot to explore each little bit of space before planting her feet again. "Where'r we goin'?"

"Wherever Ivy is going," Kay said, sourly.

"'re we... 're we surrounded?"

"Let's not worry about that right now," Van said, at the same time Kay said, "Yes."

She swore she could hear the look Van was giving Keileigh.

"Wot d'ye mean Ivy did somethin'?"

"I dunno," Kay snapped. "Something demon-y. She started talking, but it was louder than it should have been, and all the demons just stopped advancing, stopped attacking, I don't...."

"One of the other demons responded, and then another one, and then all of them just... made way."

"Made way fer wot?"

"Us," Kay said, "I think. Step up."

The tip of Maedwynn's boot clanked off of a bit of exposed rail, and she gripped tighter on the two supporting her. "Ah'm alrigh', Ah can bloody well walk on mah own." Keileigh let go, and despite her protestations Maedwynn kept a death grip on her sister's shoulder. "Ah'm serious, one'a yew two needs te star' fillin' in some gaps."

"I don't know what you—"

Kay cut off with a frustrated groan, and a moment later Van's voice returned. "I think Ivy challenged one of the demons."

"Challenged 'em ta wot?"

"Your accent changed again," Kay said. The sneer was audible.

"Never change," Maedwynn said, "bitch."

"I don't know," Van said, "but I can feel... something. Something's coming."

"Giggity," Kay added. "Do we know if she can fight? Have we ever seen Ivy fight?"

"She's standing alone in, like..." Van cleared her throat. "There's like a circle of them around her."

Kay's voice again. "How old was Ivy when she was found?"

"She won't betray us," Van said.

"That's not what I asked."

"Yes it was."

Next to her, Kay grunted.

"How's your vision?"

Mad didn't respond. She just stared, open-eyed, into nothingness.

"That's what I thought." Then, at a deep rumbling that filled the chamber, Van added, "Here we go."

"Wot?"

"It's... bigger. I think this is what we were waiting for."

"Ivy's gonna fight a big one?"

"Huge." Her sister tapped her shoulder lightly. "Bigger than that borer? When you first got here?"

"D'we like her chances here?"

"She's got no weapons," Kay said.

"Her claws are weapon enough," Van answered.

"She can't do magic."

"Don't let her hear you saying that."

"What?" She can't. It's not a—"

Kay cut off, and both of them gasped. Sharp inhales.

"She heard you."

"Not from all the way over there," Kay hissed. "No fucking way."

"Then why did she give you that look?"

"I'm sorry," Kay said, now in a full-on petulant tantrum mode. "Now it's my job to understand why that bitch does or says anything?"

"Kay," Van said, in her most patient voice, "I love you, and I want to be with you, but right now I need you to fucking can it."

"There's no walking away from this. Look at them all."

"Yew two are paintin' quite a picture."

"That cavern we were in before?" Kay said, from her left. "It's wall-to-wall in here, right now. When they're done with her, they're gonna turn on us."

"It's not gonna come to that," Van said.

It sounded like Keileigh was gearing up to say more, because Keileigh always had more to say, but the space around them filled with a terrible and awful sound that Maedwynn recognized as Daemonspeak. She couldn't imagine the kind of lungs it would take to make a sound like that, but she felt it in her chest the way she felt the engines of some of the larger ships she'd traveled on going between solar systems. Interstellar craft.

Immediately, in Maedwynn's mind, she recalled conversations from her childhood, at big family get togethers, where some of her oldest uncles had used the word elder demon. This was not a phrase, before that moment, that she could put to an experience. The borer had been large, but not large enough. The thing paused, here and there, to great chanting and cheering from the demons around the room, and the echo of it was terrible. Truly terrible.

And there, moments later as the echoes faded, Maedwynn felt such a chill up her spine to hear Ivy come right back. The demon tongue was complex and grating. Even blind, it made her eye twitch. It was not meant for mortal ears.

"Throdog ehye," Ivy said, her voice high and clear. "Y' ymg' mgr'luh! Y' mgep fthn'arg ot ah'lloigshogg ymg', ng ymg' mgah'n'ghft grrlblth! Y' drytmai ymg', l' dance naIIII, llll ya plthngrn, Keileigh!"

"Did she just say my name?" Kay said.

"She's looking at you."

"Why did she say my name?" Then, slightly louder, "Why did you say my name?"

"Go," Van said, harshly. "Go! She's signalling you to..."

At this point, though, the sound Kay's footfalls were telling enough of a story on their own.

"Wot is happening?!"

"Honestly," Van whispered back, "your guess is as good as mine."

The demon spoke again, but Maedwynn couldn't place any of it. Each word looped around and around, melding with the echo of the word before it, and all of it felt like nails piercing her brain.

"He's gesturing toward Ivy. I think... I don't..."

"Ye don' wot?"

"Kay," Ivy said, loudly. "Give me a beat."

Both Kay and Van said, "What?!" nearly simultaneously.

"A beat," Ivy repeated. "The most important beat of your life."

Van said, "Oh, we're definitely gonna die."

But Maedwynn just smiled, because she knew something that Van didn't; Keileigh was an excellent beatboxer, if not quite so good as Ivy.

As soon as Kay began, and it took a good long minute during which Maedwynn was sure that Kay was on the verge of exploding, Van started stuttering. "How is— where did she learn to— Why is Ivy dancing?"

"Dancing?"

"Is she just stretching? Is thi— No, that's part of one of her routines."

"Li' a pole routine?"

"Bend, grab heels, hair flip," Van said. "Climbing back up, hip twirl, legs straight and kick."

All the while, a little distant but no less audible, Kay's vocal percussion was precise. Gutteral ejectives on top of crisp frictives, layered and alternating, kept a rhythm that had even Maedwynn nodding her head.

"Lotta... Lotta twisting."

Suddenly, all at once, around the room, demon voices came in over the beat. Playing off of it, and building on top of it. An infernal choral, and then the vibrations began again.

"Okay that's... That's unsettling."

"Is the big one—"

"Yes," Van said, cutting in. "Ancestors, it's... It's bad."

"Wot's happening?" Mad was so frustrated, so agitated. Even the flickering remnant of the thing that had blinded her in the first place was gone, leaving her with only darkness. "When ye say bad, d'ye mean—"

"Not good," Van said, and the shape of her frown was evident in the pronunciation. "Not... not good. It's... It's trying to get low, I'll give it that."

Maedwynn could not imagine what kind of dance routine would work on top of what sounded an awful lot like a dirge, but her sister's descriptions were oddly fitting.

"Oh... Oh that's real low. That's... Nobody wants to see that."

Just as her sister was saying that, Maedwynn started to hear some indistinct grumblings from around the cavern.

"Around the world, right. Okay. Okay, now we're just... it's running in place."

"Ah kin feel tha'," Mad said, nodding. "Doesn' sound good though, eh? The crowd?"

"It looks exactly as good as it sounds."

As the crowd noise died, Keileigh's beatboxing ramped back up until it was only competing with the sound of Ivy's heels. She couldn't be sure that Ivy hadn't been dancing the whole time.

More shuffling. "Wot's 'appening?"

"I think..." Val kept a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know what it means, but they're gathering around Ivy. It might mean they're about to kill her, or it... uh... no... No, I think she's won. Oo, the big one is not happy."

More of that unholy tongue, delivered angrily, and then little by little with what Maedwynn could only guess was an increasing tension. Or pain. Maedwynn knew the sound of flames well enough from growing up around forges, well enough not to ask for clarification, and the elder demon's continued rantings grew in agitation until it all culminated in a kind of attenuated snap, a quick and acute sound that seemed to stretch out into nothingness.

And then there was quiet.

"Wot's 'appening?" When Val didn't say anything, Mad repeated, "Wot's 'appening?"

Finally, from across the cavern, came Ivy's voice again. "Okay, then!" Then she snapped her fingers, and Maedwynn's vision returned.

Everyone started talking. Van was saying, "That's incredible!" at the same time Kay got her hands in her hair, fists clenched around the roots, shouting, "NO!" Ivy was talking to herself as she walked over to the only other demon Maedwynn could see, and Maedwynn herself said, "Ah can see!"

Van yelled, "The shed!" and dashed off.

Maedwynn rubbed at her eyes, which were still quite blurry, as she moved toward where Kay and Ivy were arguing.

"—yours! All of them! And you just dismissed them?!"

Ivy stood proudly in front of some kind of magma demon, looking like a doll left to sit too close to the forge. She said, "I only need the one. How many demons do you think it takes to warm up stones for massages?"

Keileigh's face dropped into her hands, and she shook her head. Her voice was a little muted when she shouted, "That's not the point!"

Ivy turned back to the demon and smiled. "I think I'll call you Melty."

The demon, Melty, burbled like a stew on low heat, and moved to follow her when Ivy started walking.

Maedwynn, having just caught up to Keileigh, nudged the human and said, "If no one else is gonna say it, Ah'll say it. Ye kept a good beat."

Keileigh just shook her head. "Two hundred of them, at least! We could have used them as cannon fodder! And she just dismissed them!"

"They would have found a way around that," Ivy said, over her shoulder, as she walked. "Demon contracts are tricky."

Kay and Mad shared a look. "'ang on," Mad said. "They were 'ere on contract?"

Ivy moved up to lean against what remained of the aging shed, and beamed at her underling. "You're so cute. They're gonna love you."

It was hard to be sure, but it looked like the magma demon was blushing.

"Ivy!"

"Hmm?"

Kay cut in, shouting, "Did you say those demons are here on contract?"

"Of course," she said, laughing. "Why else would there be so many of them here? Were you not listening to the challenge I issued?"

Kay shrugged indifferently, saying, "My demonic is rusty."

"That worked because there's a clause in his contract about hierarchy and settling disputes, not because demons love to dance." Melty wobbled a little, its arms moving in little circles, and this drew a delighted cheer from Ivy that put the fabric at the center of her dress at critical stress levels.

"I've got it," Van shouted, from inside the shed. "I got the terminal routing to a satellite, and we're tracking it! We're tracking Ironhome!"

"Oh who cares about that," Kay snapped. "On contract with who?"

"First of all," Ivy said, "it's with whom. And second, obviously, it's Scalar Automata."

"Did you know about this?" Mad asked, leaning in without getting any closer to the magma demon.

"Not until I got here," Ivy said, unperturbed.

"You were with us the whole time," Kay said, her eyes narrowed. "How did you find out?"

Ivy's grin grew impossibly wide as she said, "Demon magic," and Kay looked like she was going to actually explode.

"Ivy," Van said, when she emerged from the shed, "You did great."

Kay tried to lean in, to intercept Van's gaze, and said, "Did you know about this?"

"It makes sense they're here on behalf of Scalar. I mean, we've always had demons in the belt, but not like this. Were you able to get anything else about their reason for being here?"

Ivy held up her index finger and tapped it with her other hand. "One, interfere with House Ironfist. Two," she said, extending her middle finger and tapping that as well, "extract resources when it doesn't conflict with One."

"That's good!" Van said, eagerly. "We can work with that!" She stepped through the others, on her way back toward the shuttle.

"The stunt I pulled won't work again," Ivy said. "Right now, Scalar will be rewriting their contracts to prevent any non-grata from challenging status, restricting challenges to physical combat only, yadda yadda yadda."

Van and Ivy moved ahead, talking rapidly, and Melty moved along in Ivy's shadow, which left a furiously brooding Kay and a still very bleary Maedwynn bringing up the rear.

"Tha' was... naugh' 'ow Ah saw this goin'."

Kay said nothing, but the heat coming off her head was leaving a vapor trail.

"Ah don' care much fer bein' sidelined like tha'. Takes all the fun ou'tuv it."

"Uh huh," Kay replied.

Ahead of them, Ivy and Van started laughing.

"At leas' ye had yer wits abou' ye the whole t—"

"I forgot I have to go have sex right now," Kay snarled, as she stormed off, leaving Maedwynn stammering in the back.

The tall blonde stormed up, pushed between the other two, and dragged Van forward at a much faster pace.

Ivy looked back and smirked while she waited for Maedwynn to catch up. "Some things never change."

"Aye," Maedwynn said.

"Wanna know a secret?"

Maedwynn frowned and looked up.

The curvy demon leaned over and whispered, "I made your sister laugh because I knew it was the only way I'd get you to myself for a minute. If I tried to just talk to you, Van would hover."

"She always liked i' when we'd all get t'gether."

"I've missed you!" Then Ivy leaned over to give Mad one of her trademark hugs, the kind that every other dwarf in the Long Belt wanted and many had paid money for. "You're not allowed to go away for a decade anymore."

"Ah know, Ah know." She gave Ivy a polite back patting, but that only resulted in the hug reaching near-strangulation levels. "Ivy! Ivy!"

Ivy popped out of the hug and started walking again, with Melty maintaining a safe distance on the other side. "I heard about the wae on the ship."

Maedwynn groaned. "Does everyone know?"

"Honey," Ivy said, transitioning smoothly from her normal gait into a strut, "this is what I do. It's my job to know who gets with who and why."

Maedwynn sulked a little as they moved into the tunnel where she'd been blinded, and did not trust the quiet or the calm. "Lass, Ah know ye have yer ways, but..." She trailed off and shook her head. "What'd ye hear?"

"That she was a bit much for you."

Mad frowned, briefly, and then shrugged. "Accura'."

Ivy pressed her lips together, and her strut turned into a prance. Even Melty seemed to be getting excited, though it was hard to be sure.

"Wot are you on about?"

"I have someone in mind for you," Ivy said, conspiratorially.

They rounded the corner, angling up toward the shuttle, and picked their way around the bodies without missing a beat. The pilot was yelling from inside the ship, and banging on the cockpit door.

"Oy," Mad said, as she started up the ramp.

The pilot, a maern with just about the bushiest moustache Mad had ever seen, was quivering with rage as he said, "They just threw me out!"

"—emme know when yer ready and we'll take off," Van said over the PA, over the unmistakable glulp-glulp of Keileigh going down on her.

Behind her Mad heard a sizzling sound, and turned to find Melty reluctantly trying to put a foot down on the ramp. Ivy said, "Can you bring it down to, like, a seven?"

The magma demon looked at her quietly for a moment before darkening, and this time when he put his foot down there wasn't much of a reaction at all.

"We're gonna need to roll a window down on the way back," Mad said, frowning.

***

On some level, Mad was proud of her sister. It had been, perhaps, the worst short flight she'd ever taken, and certainly the only time she'd ever encountered turbulence in space, but there was something impressive about having managed it at all while having sex for roughly two hours straight that she couldn't deny.

After about thirty minutes, Maedwynn started to feel uneasy. It wasn't clear if she was suffering from the after effects of the spell she'd been hit with or if it was the fumes coming off of the magma demon huddling in the corner, but the working solution was the same either way. Mad laid her head down in Ivy's lap, and Ivy's fingers worked at her temples until she could see straight. Again. Ivy herself seemed blissfully unaffected, and Melty had little to say either way.

When the ship landed, Kay strolled out of the cockpit looking more than a little cumdrunk, with a smirk a mile wide and giving absolutely zero fucks about what was going on with her hair. Despite the sheen of sweat on her, Van looked completely unphased, and when she caught up to Kay on the ramp she grabbed the blonde's arm and started pulling.

"More?" Kay said, as she was unceremoniously dragged away.

"I'm so glad those two found each other," Ivy said, watching them go. "There was a time when I thought I'd be the only one who could keep up with Kay, and your sister came out of nowhere."

"You were never with Kay," Mad said, with a helping of side eye served along the brim of the plate.

Ivy sighed and shook her head, her long hair drifting in waves. "I would've made her happy."

"Yeah, but..." Maedwynn blinked, and was surprised by the look she got in return. "Ah mean..."

Ivy arched an eyebrow at her.

"Ah mean, Ah know that," Mad said, retreating, "but Kay woulda been hard ta convince."

This seemed to smooth out any ruffles, and when Ivy got to her feet she had every ounce of her usual bounce. "Alright, Melty, you're gonna need to stick with me for a bit until we get everyone used to your presence."

A low rumbling came from the area around Melty, that Mad's ears told her had come from the magma demon, though she couldn't quite figure out how.

"You too, Mad. Keep up."

Mad, tired and willing to admit that maybe she shouldn't have hopped out of her hospital bed straight into two devilishly draining fights, offered no resistance to the succubus' suggestion. She said nothing, and as she still had not quite gotten her bearings on the station quickly found herself completely lost. This was fine, as far as she was concerned, because she trusted Ivy.

Right up until they walked back into the brothel.

"Heeeey," Ivy said, as she strode through the door.

The waeri behind the counter brightened significantly when she recognized Ivy, and she came around the corner with her arms thrown wide. "Heeeeey!"

After a brief but intense hug, Ivy turned and gestured behind her. "Can you show Melty here to the steam room? She's gonna be working with the hot stones."

After the Wae led the magma demon down the hall, Mad said, "Melty is a she?"

Ivy shrugged and said, "That's what she said. I certainly wasn't going to go looking."

"Look, Ivy," Mad said, leaning against the front counter, "Ah know ye said ye had someone in mind, but—"

"Tut, tut," Ivy said, tapping Maedwynn on the nose and turning past the desk to move toward the back. "You haven't even seen her yet."

Mad toddled after her, fighting off some wild exhaustion with pure grit. "Tha's what Ah'm sayin', lass. I' almos' doesn' ma'er."

Ivy smirked over her shoulder. "Of course it matters. She's your type."

"Ah don' even know what mah type is," Maedwynn grumbled.

"And that's why you have me." Ivy winked as she stepped through some jangly bead curtains, and that left Mad alone in the hall.

She could leave. If she was going to, this would be her best chance. Ivy would understand. She could be back in her bunk in less than ten minutes. Asleep in five minutes after that. Maybe less.

She didn't leave. It was a young woman, a human, on the bed, in the room behind the bead curtain. She had long hair up in a bun, with two wooden picks stabbed through it to keep it up from her shoulders, and when she smiled there was the most adorable gap between her front teeth.

"Hello," the young woman said.

Maedwynn's mouth went very dry, but she was pretty sure she did a good job of keeping her cool. "Hello."

She was sitting on her hip, one hand planted in the bed beside her with her legs curled up on her other side. She said, "My name is Fyra."

"Mad," Mad croaked, as she took a few steps deeper into the room. Then she cleared her throat and said, "Maedwynn, bu' everyone calls me Mad."

She hadn't moved, and yet she was now somehow sitting on the edge of the bed. Her long dress fell between her parted knees, pale legs extending through slits on either side. She placed her hands on her thighs, and tilted her head very slightly. "Are you?"

"Professional hazard," Maedwynn said, as she took another step forward. She felt invited. It was an invitation, wasn't it? "Mos' figh'ers have a nickname, an' folks wet on ten cred beer don' want a nickname tha' challenges 'em. Makes 'em think."

The young woman's eyes were hazel, more green than anything else with some brown near the center and hints of blue at the edges. She said, "You played into their expectations, because it suited your purposes," as she reached up to loosen the neck clasp on Maedwynn's armor. Fyra had a way of speaking to Maedwynn without always making eye contact, which was nice. She couldn't say why it felt so nice, but it did.

And then Fyra did make eye contact, and it was so personal that it made her blush.

"Ah mean, it's no' like Ah don' have a temper."

"Of course you do," Fyra said smoothly. "Everyone gets angry sometimes." Maedwynn's armor slipped from her shoulders, leaving her in her banding and shorts, and Fyra's hands roamed. "The world gives you cause, and not all of us have the strength to be able to fight back so openly." Fingertips along the swell of her biceps. The hard V-shaped lines below her tummy, where her abs showed through. "I bet you've made them pay."

She leaned forward, laid her tongue just above Maedwynn's belly button, and dragged it straight up.

Maedwynn felt such chills, and she found herself giggling nervously despite herself. "Ah'm sorry," she said, "Tha' wasn'—"

Fyra's arms were around her, drawing her in, and silenced her with a long, slow kiss. She had never felt so held, so cradled, as she did in that moment. In that safe space. She locked eyes with Fyra as the kiss wound to a close. Arms settling over the woman's shoulders. One hand in her hair, while the other drifted down Fyra's back.

She said, "Is this alrigh'?"

"If you touch me?" Fyra's eyes sparkled in the low light. "Yes. It's alright, Maedwynn."

She brushed aside one of the straps of the woman's dress, and leaned in to lay a gentle kiss there. The woman had soft skin, and very deft hands; Maedwynn hadn't realized her wrapping was coming off until half of it was pooled around her feet. Her chest was a little sore, having been so tightly bandaged for maybe as much as a couple days, and she couldn't help the moan that escaped her lips when the woman touched her.

"You poor thing," Fyra whispered, as she ran her fingers along the ridges and lines etched into Maedwynn's skin. "Come. Lay down on the bed."

As she moved, Fyra hooked a finger inside the waistband of her shorts, and by the time she had her knees on the bed the shorts were gone. Forgotten. Maedwynn crawled around the woman, found her way near the middle of the bed, and laid on her back with one arm up. Using her forearm as a pillow.

Fyra leaned across the bed, and opened a drawer. "Let's see," she sang, running her fingertips along several bottles stored there. "Yes. Perfect." She turned back, rubbing two pumps of something clear and shiny between her palms.

"Ooo," Maedwynn said, squirming at the feel of Fyra's hands. "Warm."

"Your skin is drinking this souv oil up. When was the last time you had a massage?"

"Ah'm usually the one given' 'em."

"A beauty like you?" Fyra said, with an arched eyebrow. "And no one to take care of you?" Her hands moved in circles around Maedwynn's breasts, gathering them and spreading the oil with meticulous care. "No wonder they call you Mad."

After a few steadying breaths, Maedwynn said, "Ah guess... it's easier to... put others first."

Fyra made a little sing-song sound in her throat. "Sometimes, yes," she said, "but you can't come last all the time. You deserve better than that." All the while her hands were working. Gathering, scooping, squeezing, and pressing, and when she gave both of Maedwynn's nipples a gentle tweak the wae gave a soft little cry. "You deserve to be taken care of."

Maedwynn found it easier to respond with her eyes closed. "Ah've 'ad to be hard."

"We do what we must for survival." The woman's voice took on a hypnotic tone, coming through in waves. Perfectly synchronized with the ebb and flow of her hands, one of which had made its way to Maedywnn's tummy. Lower. "Out there, you be as strong as you need to be. As fierce as you need to be." Lower. "But we all need this." Lower. "This place to retreat to, to be vulnerable."

"Yes," Maedwynn moaned. Her whole body tensed involuntarily, the middle of her back arching up away from the bed.

Fyra's voice went lower, and slower. "Relax," the woman whispered. "You're safe here."

When Fyra said it, Maedwynn believed her.

One lone, roaming finger pushed through her pubic hair, searching for and then finding the spot. Maedwynn let out a soft coo, a little bit of wordless verbalization that meant more than anything else she'd said for the entire day. All the subtext was in the quiver, in the way her breath halted as Fyra leaned low over her, and watched her.

Maedwynn had never had anyone watch her while she was fingered. She opened her eyes to find the human woman drinking in every squirm, every muscle twitch, and she felt exposed. Naked in ways that redefined the word. It was scary, even, but she didn't look away. She couldn't. Fyra just kept going, kept touching her, fingers working slowly but steadily, and Maedwynn didn't stop her. Couldn't stop her. Would have killed anyone who tried. There, all over Fyra's so-close features, was an appreciation, a deep and joyful admiration for the blossoming that was happening inside of her.

Fyra planted her elbow just above Maedwynn's shoulder, and hovered there, millimeters away, while Maedwynn grew hotter and wilder. She felt fear, real and genuine, but there was no malice in the face above her. Just eagerness.

Why was that so terrifying?

There were no answers to be found, not while the frenzy overwhelmed her. Maedwynn cried out, emptying her lungs, and those devilishly red lips above her spread wider and wider.

She fell back against the bed, as spent as she was out of breath, and let her muscles turn to water. Nothing tensed. Nothing held. It was the first time in her adult life that Maedwynn had received an orgasm without giving anything, but any thought of guilt was chased away by the grin on Fyra's face as the woman settled onto the bed beside her. On her side, head propped up in one hand.

For a moment, the span of a breath, Maedwynn let herself simply be. This was all the room she was able to give herself before the self-awareness kicked in, but it was a spark.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"My pleasure," Fyra replied archly, "but really you should be thanking her."

"Oh no," Ivy said, from the corner of the room Maedwynn now saw she'd been sitting in the whole time. "No, you were both amazing." Ivy was flush with color, nearly maroon compared to her normal candy apple red. "Thank you!"

Maedwynn sat up, and threw an arm across her chest. And then, reluctantly, put her arm down. Whatever was going to happen had already happened, and Ivy must have seen everything. She was a succubus, after all. "Thank ye, lass."

Ivy gave her a knowing smile as she stood, and crooked a finger. "Come," she said, as she strode back through the bead curtain and out into the hall.

A little bit more of that self-awareness started to creep back in, as well as an awareness of where she was, and Maedwynn blushed as she squirmed back into her clothes. "Ye were... well... amazin'."

"Come back any time," the woman purred, as she moved slowly toward the head of the bed.

She got her pants and her undershirt on, scooped the rest of it into her arms in a lump, and gave one more grateful nod of her head as she darted through the beads...

... only to very nearly collide with Ivy there in the hall. The demon was looking every bit of nearly double Maedwynn's height, and when she leaned forward her dress very nearly failed to bend with her.

She said, "You need someone to take care of you."

"Ah don'," Maedwynn said, defensively, lips curving into a frown. She didn't know why she was fighting. Ivy had seen everything. Little by little, her frustration grew until her lips were closer in shape to an S than a line. Eventually, her pride let her say, "No' all the time."

Ivy smirked at her and started walking ahead, rounding two corners and passing a warren of rooms that all sounded full of sex. Maedywnn couldn't help blushing, and kept having to juggle her load so as not to drop any of it.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't give back," Ivy said, one hand tossed casually in the air. "I'm sure your sixty-nine game is peak. All I'm saying is, you need someone who you can do that with. Take off the armor." She rounded one final corner and settled in behind the counter. "You should never have been a healer. You, today, up there on the front line? That's what you were born to do, and you shouldn't have fought it for so long."

Maedwynn paused at the counter, setting her things down and taking a moment to start slipping some more of it on. Like her boots. "Ah managed."

"You were doing everything, and that didn't change when it was just you and Adam. After you two went off on your own, and left us behind. You just kept... doing all of it." Maedwynn only got as far as opening her mouth before Ivy was waving her hands. "I know, you don't want to talk about it, and I certainly don't want to try throwing any punches. I mean, I just got my nails done and they could cut diamonds, but that's neither here nor there."

Maedwynn shrugged into her armored jacket and rig, leaving her hammer until last.

"All I'm saying is, you don't need to be everything. You don't need to do everything. You can just do the things you're good at, and that will be enough."

"Hi," Maedwynn said, extending her hand. "I'm Maedwynn. I don' think we've ever me'."

Ivy's laugh was like a silver bell. High and melodic. "Fyra's good, but Fyra doesn't do what you do. What we do. Go out and fight."

"Do you fight?" Maedwynn said.

This earned her a very, very sly grin, but when Maedwynn turned to leave Ivy cleared her throat very sharply. "Hmm-hmm!"

"Wot?"

"You. Need. To. Pay," Ivy said, her eyes wide.

"Oh!" Maedwynn slapped her hands against her chest, and then her hip. "Uh."

All of the playfulness, all the camaraderie, was gone. Ivy arched one eyebrow very, very sharply. "Three hundred credits."

"Three hun..." Maedwynn's shock trailed off to nothing when the other eyebrow rose to join its twin. "Ah... Ah don't..." She thought for a moment, and then reached over her shoulder. "Ah'll just... Ah'll leave this 'ere, and Ah'll be righ' back."

"See that you do," Ivy said, looking very unimpressed as Maedwynn took her first step toward the door.

Before she made it out into the rest of the station proper, though, one of the wae came hurrying up the passageway. "Ivy! Ivy!"

"What?" Ivy said, leaning out from behind the counter.

"Melty is eating the hot rocks!"

Just like that, Ivy's indomitable laugh was back. She raised her voice, calling, "Melty, that is not how we respect others' property!"

"She ate my favorite set!" The wae whined. "They were perfectly smooth!"

"Don't worry," Ivy said.

There was more, but they were heading in opposite directions and the rest of it was lost to Maedwynn. When she returned to pay another wae was there to take her money. She could hear a commotion going on, and the urge was definitely there to interject herself, to be on the front line of solving every problem, but Ivy's words were still fresh in her mind and Maedwynn walked back out into the station with a smile on her lips and a song in her heart.

If only she could remember where that forge was...