Erina's cheerful greeting died on her lips as her gaze dropped to the small, trembling girl clinging to my hand. The half-eaten bag of honey-cakes in her grasp was momentarily forgotten, her adventurous spirit eclipsed by a sudden, sharp concern.
"Kael," she said, her voice dropping the playful, chipper tone. "What happened? Who is this?"
I kept my voice low, conscious of the little ears beside me and the hundreds of people milling around the plaza. "Ran into some trouble in the Neutral Sector," I explained quickly. "Three thugs had her cornered in an alley. I stepped in. They didn't want to listen to reason, so I… discouraged them."
Erina's eyes flickered with a new understanding. "'Discouraged'?"
"Lightning enchant. Non-lethal," I clarified. "They'll be twitching for a while, but they're alive. I couldn't just leave her there, so I brought her here. It's safer."
Erina's focus snapped from me to the girl, Nara. The concerned friend was gone, replaced by someone else—a gentle, protective warmth I hadn't seen before. She immediately knelt, bringing herself down to Nara's eye level, her expression softening into a disarming, friendly smile.
"Hey there," she said, her voice soft. "My name's Erina. Kael's right, you're all safe now." She glanced at the bag in her hand, as if just remembering it. "You look like you've had a rough morning. Want a honey-cake? They're the best in the city. Guaranteed to make bad memories disappear."
Nara, who had been hiding behind my leg, peeked out. Her large, frightened eyes locked onto Erina's kind face, and after a moment's hesitation, she gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod. She shyly took the cake Erina offered, her small, grimy fingers brushing against Erina's.
"See? All better," Erina said with a gentle warmth. She stayed kneeling for a moment, her adventurous spirit all but forgotten. "Those bad men, sweetie… do you know why they were after you? Did you know them?"
Nara took a small bite of the cake, her gaze dropping to the pavement. She shook her head, her voice a tiny whisper. "No… I... I was just walking. I was on my way home. I live… I live in the Sector."
A shadow passed over Erina's face. The simple, innocent statement, "I live in the Sector," seemed to land with the weight of a physical blow. The air around us felt suddenly colder. The change in her was immediate and absolute. The gentle, protective warmth vanished, replaced by a cold, hard glint in her eyes. It was the look of the Adventurer, the pragmatist, the soldier who had just had the harsh realities of her world confirmed.
She stood up slowly, her gaze no longer on Nara, but on me. Her face was a mask of sudden, grim seriousness.
"Kael," she said, her voice low and tight. "We need to talk. Now." She gestd with her head to a spot a few yards away, near the base of a large fountain. "Over there. We'll keep her in sight, but she doesn't need to hear this."
I had no idea what was happening. I'd just saved a child. I'd brought her to safety. I had expected a 'thank you' or a 'good job'. Instead, I was getting a look that made me feel like I had just made a terrible mistake. I nodded, a knot of confusion and unease forming in my stomach. "Nara, we're just going to be right over there, okay? We can see you, and you can see us. You just finish your cake. We'll be right back."
Nara just nodded, her attention focused on the rare, sweet treat in her hands, seemingly oblivious to the sudden, heavy tension between the two adults.
I followed Erina to the fountain, the sound of the splashing water doing nothing to ease the chill I felt. "What is it?" I asked, keeping my voice down. "What's wrong? Why the sudden doom and gloom? The girl is safe. The thugs are down. Isn't this a good thing?"
Erina let out a long, heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. She looked exhausted, a deep, weary frustration in her eyes. "Kael," she said, her voice a near-whisper of pure exasperation. "You've been here for weeks. You've fought a Fallen Founder. You've met the city's leaders. You're wearing a Builder's cloak and carrying a city-wide map… and you are still so, so oblivious."
"Oblivious?" I shot back, stung by the accusation. "What am I oblivious to? I just walked into a part of the city I've never seen before and found three men attacking a child. What did I miss?"
"Everything!" she hissed, her eyes flashing. "Did Krauss… did any of his silent, stone-faced summons… even bother to tell you how this city actually works? Did Lyra just hand you that map and that new cloak and just… point you at the door? Did no one give you a single word of warning?"
I shrugged, feeling a familiar sense of defensiveness. "My job was repairing walls with Fen," I said flatly. "Now it's this. No one gives me a history lesson, Erina. They just give me the task."
Erina sighed again, this time a sound of pure, unadulterated frustration. "Of course not. Why would they? You're just a tool to them, right?" She ran a hand through her orange hair. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. But Kael, you don't understand what you just walked into."
She leaned in, her gaze intense. "The Neutral Sector. Think about the name. It's neutral. It means it doesn't belong to any faction. It's not Admin territory, so there are no laws. It's not Merchant territory, so there's no official trade. And it's not Adventurer territory, so there are no patrols. There are no guards, Kael. None."
Her words began to paint a dark, grim picture. The cold stares of the residents. The bold, daytime attack. The thugs' utter lack of fear of any "rules."
"It's the one place in this entire, perfectly ordered city where the rules do not apply," Erina continued, her voice low and urgent. "It's where the deleted characters who can't, or won't, join a faction end up. The lone wolves, the outcasts, the people who are too weak, too poor, or just too anti-social to fit into the system. And, because there are no guards, it's also where the predators go to feed on them." She gestured back in the direction we'd come. "It's not a district. It's a pressure cooker. It's a chunk of the wasteland, just with walls around it."
I processed this, the full, horrifying reality of the situation. The city, which I had seen as a perfect, safe haven, had a dark, festering wound. A place where its most vulnerable citizens were left to fend for themselves.
"So," I said, my mind connecting her words to my own mission, "is that why it's falling apart? The buildings, the infrastructure… it's all crumbling. If no faction controls it, does that mean no one... not even the Builders... bothers to maintain it?"
It was the most critical question I could ask. It flew in the face of everything I thought I knew about Krauss and his faction, whose entire purpose was to build and maintain.
Erina looked at me, her expression grim. She opened her mouth, the answer to this deep, central mystery of the city right on the tip of her tongue.
"Kael?"
A tiny, trembling voice cut through the air. We both turned. Nara was standing just a few feet away, the half-eaten honey-cake in her hand, her eyes wide with a fear that had nothing to do with thugs in an alley. It was the fear of being alone.
"Can I… can I stay with you?" she whispered. "Please? I don't want to sit by myself."
The conversation died instantly. The heavy, political reality of the city's structure evaporated, replaced by the small, immediate reality of a terrified child. Erina's "Adventurer" face melted, her expression softening as she looked at Nara. She then glanced at me, a silent, shared look of frustration. The city's secrets, it seemed, would have to wait.