A week had passed since Grey and Willow had enacted her pn. It had been a great success. In a matter of days they had reanimated all the rats they needed and met the required numbers. It took a lot out of Grey, more than she was willing to admit, but she did not compin. What were a few headaches and nosebleeds compared to the fate of the Undercity.

  With the crisis averted Grey wondered the streets back atop Whiskers. His aid required more than ever now. She had never felt so weak but was optimistic it would pass with time.

  Whiskers looked back at her longingly detecting she was getting lost in her own thoughts. She noticed his concerned look and snapped out of it.

  “It`s okay boy. Mommy is just thinking. Where do you think we should go next? Maybe the market? Get some nice rat nuggies?”, Grey enquired pyfully.

  Whiskers shook his body excitedly. Despite being unable to eat, the prospect of food always got him excited. Must have been some feint instinct lingering in the back of his mind or something.

  With that they made their way to the hustle and bustle of the market to grab themselves a much needed bite to eat.

  [---]

  The market was its usual overcrowded self, although Grey felt there was something different. The atmosphere was lighter, less intoxicating. It was the people, they were smiling, ughing, talking to one another. The smell of cooked meat permeated throughout and was sold at a price that anyone could afford. The Goblins had been true to their word and taken care of the distribution. Every stall was packed to the brim with fresh rat meat ready to be fried, roasted or grilled. Rat legs, rat steak, rat tails and the very popur rat nuggies were in the stomachs of the entire lower ring of the Undercity.

  Grey and Whiskers sat out of the way enjoying her meal while she watched the smiling people. Her body was nurtured both physically as well as spiritually as she basked in the glow. She was just about to finish up and wonder back home when she heard a commotion.

  It sounded like a scuffle, bodies hitting dirt and fists flying. Grunts of pain and yells of aggression. Grey gestured for Whiskers to investigate and form a path for her. They wormed their way through the crowd towards the noise and broke through a wall of people to find the source of the ruckus.

  A group of kids had surrounded a much smaller child and were stomping and kicking them. The crowd were too stunned by the violence to intervene, but Grey wasn’t.

  She urged Whiskers to jump in between the children and scare them off. With a show of savagery he pounced forth barking and howling startling everyone in the vicinity. The crowd backed away further and the children split up disappearing into the mass of onlookers. Only their victim remained and Grey was shocked to realise she recognised the child. It was the same girl she had helped just the other day.

  Grey ran in while Whiskers circled them defensively on the look-out for anymore threats. She picked up the girl and cradled her in her arms. She must have been eight or nine years old now that Grey had gotten a better look at her. Fresh cuts and bruises were all over her face and body, one of her eyes was swollen shut. Grey focused and could detect several broken bones and ruptured organs. She held the girl tightly feeling the life leave her body.

  Grey grew cold and the sounds of the crowd faded away. Such a young thing, her life fading out of some inexcusable act of violence. It was an injustice, an injustice she would not allow.

  She took a deep breath and focused her mind. She could sense all the souls around her but blocked them out focusing on hers and the girls. They were both feint, but the girls was slipping, on the brink of fading away. Before it could disappear entirely Grey grabbed onto it and supported it with her own.

  The frail soul clung onto hers desperately not wanting to fade away. Grey could sense the desire to live, a sentiment she could rete to intimately. She opened herself up to it and fed it parts of herself that she could afford giving it strength. The internal wounds of the child began to mend themselves back together. Organs unruptured and bones unbroke themselves whole again. With that the child`s vitals stabilised and Grey took a great sigh of relief. The cuts and bruising remained but they were superficial, they could afford to heal naturally. All that would remain as a permanent reminder of this day was the child`s eye, damaged irreparably. It was a small price to pay she decided, to be given another chance at life.

  [---]

  The child woke up a few hours ter to Grey`s face hovering above her. Her appearance startled them; her skin ashen, features gaunt, looking more like a corpse than a living person.

  “Easy there, I`m not going to hurt you.”, Grey reassured her.

  The child tried to move away from Grey reflexively but stopped when she became aware of her wounds.

  The pain prevented her from making any kind of meaningful movements and she looked at Grey in a slight panic.

  “You were attacked, in the market. I got them off of you before… They could have killed you. Your injured but should be okay in a week or two.”, Grey hesitated for a moment, trying to bring the girl to ease.

  The child looked around scanning her surroundings noticing her vision was slight impaired. Before she could panic further Grey stepped in once more.

  “Your one eye was damaged, during the attack. There was no way to save it.”, she informed her not knowing how to cushion the blow.

  “Where am I?”, she asked hesitantly, putting the news of her eye in the back of her mind for ter.

  “You`re at a farm, my home. No one is going to hurt you here.”, Grey reassured her once again.

  “Why did ya help me? You didn have ta. I was fine. Aint my first scrap and def won`t be my st”, the child muttered in a thick Undercity accent. She rubbed her damaged eye hoping Grey was wrong about it.

  “I`m sorry.”, Grey apologised empathetically.

  “I need to go. I can`t stay here. I gotta get back to work.”, the child decred, trying, despite the pain, to get out of bed.

  “No, you must stay down, rest and let your body heal.”, Grey insisted. She tried to force the child back down but was too weak. The child fought back against her and effortlessly threw her to the ground.

  Whiskers came bsting through the door to Grey`s aid growling aggressively at the child.

  “Down boy, it`s okay. They didn`t mean it. I`m okay.”, she insisted, to Whiskers scepticism.

  The child fell back into the bed at the sight of Whiskers terrified.

  “What the sg is that!”, she yelled scared out of her mind, grabbing the sheets defensively.

  Whiskers growled back at the child and Grey dragged herself between the two of them on the floor.

  “Easy, both of you. His name is Whiskers. He isn`t going to hurt you, I promise.”, Grey insisted, gasping for air. She could feel her body failing her, not having time to recover from all the repairs she had done on the girl.

  The child took a breath and finally noticed just how weak and frail Grey was.

  “Are you okey? You don`t look very healthy.”, the girl enquired thoughtfully.

  “I`m fine. I`m just, very tired. Please, don`t go. Just wait, for a moment. Rest, have something to eat.”, Grey gestured towards the bedside table with what little strength she had. Sat upon it were two bags of rat nuggies. “Won`t you join me for something to eat?”

  The girl hesitantly reached for the two bags and passed one to Grey weary of Whiskers who eyed her suspiciously.

  They both began to eat silently, Whiskers demeanour softened with the introduction of food to the situation.

  Grey was slow to finish her food finding it difficult to so much as chew but once she had managed it Whiskers leaned over and licked the grease off of her face.

  “Stop silly, that’s gross. What will our guest think?”, she giggled too weak to stop him.

  The child giggled too at the pyful interaction.

  Grey looked at her with a soft smile and the girl grew quiet once more.

  “You don`t need to be afraid here. No one is going to hurt you. I just want you to rest and get better.”, Grey assured her.

  “Why though? What`s in it for you? Cos I ain`t got no money. I can`t pay you or anything.”, the girl expined dimly.

  “I don`t want any money. I just want you to get better. No strings attached, I promise.”, Grey reassured.

  “I guess I could stay, if there were going to be more of those nuggies.”, the girl decided somewhat maniputively.

  “Of course, I`ll get you more nuggies and in exchange you rest and heal up. Agreed?”, Grey reached out with her hand.

  “Agreed”, the child shook her hand cautiously.

  “Now then, I think after all that the least you can do is tell me your name.”, Grey asked politely.

  “It`s Mika.”, the child answered with hesitation.

  “It`s nice to meet you Mika, I hope after all of this we can be friends.”, Grey decred with a smile.

  [---]

  Grey sat with Whiskers outside the farm house while Mika slept. She waited for Willow knowing she would have to expin everything that had happened.

  Willow eventually arrived home carrying with her a crate of food; some mushrooms, rat meat and bonemeal. Grey would have gotten up to help her but was far too weak. It was a miracle she was still conscious to be honest.

  Willow could see the fatigue in her posture, the gauntness in her face and dropped the crate running to her. She reached Grey and up close could see just how bad she really was.

  “Grey, what in the, what happened to you? We need to get you to a healer. No wait, I`ll fetch your dad, whatever is going on I know he can help.”, she began in a panic, thinking Grey was on the brink of death.

  “No, no I`m fine really. It looks worse than it is.”, she tried to comfort Willow to no success. All she could do was grip onto her and refuse to let go. “Just sit with me. I`ll be okay in a few minutes.”

  “Sweety, you look like a corpse. What happened? You seemed fine earlier.”, Willow enquired, holding her close.

  “I might have pushed myself a bit far today. There was a kid in the market. She was being attacked. She would have died if I didn`t step in.”, Grey expined, every word moving her closer to unconsciousness.

  Willow sat with her silently taking in what little Grey managed to hell her.

  “So you risked your life to save this child? Why? For what? I`m sure they would have been fine without you. Kids are tough, right? I`m sure it wasn`t as bad as it looked.”, Willow tried to justify in a panic.

  “No… She wouldn’t have... I felt her dying. I couldn’t… She is so young… It wasn`t fair…”, Grey argued weakly, every sentence making her vision grow darker.

  “Where is she now? This child you nearly killed yourself to save. I hope she was grateful.”, Willow spat angrily, her nerves shaken once more by Grey`s recklessness.

  This was the second time she had feared losing Grey and it wasn`t getting any easier. The first time she had been afraid, but now she was angry. Angry at the recklessness of it all. Angry at the ck of fore thought. She wanted to yell at Grey, scream at her and tell her to never do it again. But she couldn’t. Grey`s selflessness was just one of the things that made her who she was. Was one of the things she loved so much about her. In the end all she truly wished for was that it wouldn`t be the death of her.

  “Her name is Mika. She doesn`t know about what I did. I`m not going to tell her. She doesn’t need to know. She is asleep in our bed. I did what I could… But she needs to rest… to heal… just for a few days.”, Grey muttered before fading into darkness.

  [---]

  Two days had come and gone and once Grey and Mika had recovered enough strength Willow had them all sit down for dinner. The two devoured the rat and mushroom stew Willow had served them. Willow sat back in her chair too amused at the speed and ferocity with which they ate. Soon her stomach growled at her and she dug in to her own food with much more civility.

  Grey and Mika licked their bowls clean and both looked to Willow for more like a pair of hungry puppies. Willow had barely made a dent in her own meal.

  She sighed gently and smiled at them rising from her chair and taking their ptes.

  Before she could dish them seconds there was a knock at the door and Whiskers head popped up from the floor inquisitively.

  “I wonder who that could be.”, Willow mumbled to herself, making her way to the door to the disappointment of Grey and Mika.

  It didn`t take long for Grey to realise she too lived in this house and got up to assist Willow with whoever was at the door.

  Stood before them at the entrance of their farm house was a very nervous looking Max.

  He wore his usual mining boots some sack cloth pants and a sack cloth shirt. The shirt looked cleaner than the pants, never worn perhaps. He must have put it on for modesties sake, an attempt to make himself look just a little more respectable. He stood with his hands tucked behind his back and his foot rubbing a hole into the dirt nervously.

  “Max, what are you doing here? How do you know where I live?”, Grey wondered out loud.

  Before max could respond Willow chimed in.

  “So this is the famous Max I have heard so much about.”, she said looking him up and down with a discerning eye.

  This caused him to blush and grow even more self-conscious. A feeling Max was none too familiar with until recently.

  “I just, I wanted to come and apologise. For the other day. I was out of line and it hasn`t been sitting well with me.”, he began.

  “Ugh yes, the uninvited kiss.’, Willow added with a cruel pyful smirk. “Who is it you have come to apologise to exactly? Me or Grey?”

  “Both of you.”, he confessed. “I vioted Grey`s boundaries and disregarded you as her partner. To both of you I am deeply sorry. I want to be better than that. So I travelled from farm to farm until I found you so that I could apologise and give you a gift to help fix what I did”.

  Max removed his arms from behind his back and revealed two items of clothing to them.

  To Willow he offered a pair of rat fur socks, thick and double stitched, clearly high quality.

  To Grey he offered a rat fur scarf, also of a high quality by the look of the stitching.

  “Willow, I know how rough things can be on a person’s feet down here, I thought you would appreciate something to keep them warm and cosy. And Grey you always look like your about to catch a cold, so I got you something to help keep you warm”, Max mumbled, nervously expining the intent behind his gifts.

  They each took their respective gift their hearts swelling at the generosity. Max didn`t need to give them gifts, an apology was enough. But the trouble he went through and the thoughtfulness on dispy meant something important to them.

  Willow was touched by the gift of socks; spending hours in the fields would leave her feet blistered and warn on even the best of days. With these she might actually have a day where her feet aren’t killing her.

  She looked over to Grey and Max the scarf between them and felt something inside her. In this small moment she no longer saw Max as a threat, someone who could potentially come between Grey and her. What she saw now was something more, a person who could give Grey the things she couldn’t. Someone who could help in giving her the things she deserved.

  She jumped forward and hugged Max tightly.

  “You silly boy, you sweet silly boy, you didn`t have to do this.”, Willow shouted, to Grey and Max`s surprise. “But I am so gd that you did, truly”.

  Max said nothing, totally caught off guard. He looked over at Grey who gave him an approving smile and a nod of reassurance.

  He hesitated for a second them hugged Willow back feeling her acceptance wash over his body.

  “Please, you must come in, join us for dinner. Let us get to know each other better. I insist.”, Willow began and insist she did, practically pulling him in by his shirt colr.

  [---]

  Mika was surprised by the introduction of a new stranger but quickly lost herself in the bowl of stew Willow presented to her. Grey composed herself a bit more with her second bowl self-conscious now that Max had joined them. Max sat awkwardly feeling like an intruder despite the forceful invitation. Willow in contrast to all was buzzing. She picked at her food taking small bites asking Max this and that about himself.

  “So you work in the mines. How is it? Good work? Profitable?” ,she enquired inquisitively, knowing strangely little about the Undercities mining industry.

  “It`s hard work.”, Max replied, as he ate slowly. “Dangerous too, but as long as you don`t do anything foolish its retively safe. A little more profitable for me than most others. Being half orc I have somewhat of a natural advantage in the strength and stamina department.”

  “I`ve noticed.”, Willow acknowledged, looking at a blushing Grey. “We don`t get many Orc`s down here. I`ve been told your kind used to be a lot more numerous during the Undercities founding.”

  “I wouldn`t exactly call them my kind, I`m only half orc. You would be surprised at what a big deal that is to full blooded orcs. They tend to look at me as if I were a mistake. Makes me wonder what kind of person my dad was, to be able to charm an orc into bed.”, Max reflected.

  “So you`re Orcish on your mother`s side. Does that mean your dad was human? Sorry for all the questions, im not too familiar with how it all works.”, Willow apologised.

  “I never knew my dad and my mom died giving birth to me. I`m afraid my origins are just as much of a mystery to me as they are to you. I do know she worked in the mines though, it was the other workers that raised me. Said they owed it to her with how many times she had saved their lives from cave-ins and the like.”, Max mented sombrely.

  The room went silent; the silence caused Mika to look up from her pte curiously.

  “Who died?”, she asked jokingly, unaware. The silence persisted.

  Max tried to salvage the mood and looked over to Mika.

  “So the little dy speaks.”, he started, forcing a bit of pep into his voice.

  “I know how to speak.”, she mumbled back childishly.

  “Mika, don`t be rude. Max is our guest.’, Willow snapped back.

  “I was your guest first.”, she replied wittily.

  “This is true.”, Max interjected. “I should probably apologise for my intrusion. I`m sorry if my being here makes you uncomfortable.”

  “It`s okay. Just not used to eating around so many people.”, she admitted, licking her second bowl clean.

  “She sure can eat can`t she. Would you like another bowl?”, Willow enquired thoughtfully.

  “Yes.”, Mika responded quickly.

  Willow gave her a stern look.

  “I mean, yes please.”, she corrected.

  Willow got up to get her another bowl of stew and the silence returned.

  “I met Mika at the market.”, Grey jumped, in trying to keep the conversation going.

  “Yeah, she jumped in an saved me from a bunch of bullies. Not that I needed help. Woulda been fine on my own. I`m tough, proper tough, like a proper Dwarf”, Mika bragged, eating her third bowl a little more slowly.

  “Why were they bullying you?”, Max enquired curiously. What excuse could one have for going after a child the way they did?

  “Just some big kids saying I stole their rat, I didn steal it I catched it myself.”, Mika snorted vengefully, with a mouth full of food.

  “Wait, you caught a rat? Why were you catching rats?”, Grey added confused.

  “Cause I`m a rat catcher. It`s my job. Well it was my job. Stupid market is so full of rat meat, me and all the others are out of a job now.”, Mika crified, accidentally spitting some of her food back on her pte.

  Grey looked at Willow and the two shared a concerned expression.

  Willow sat back in her chair and rubbed her forehead frustrated.

  “I didn’t even think about that. Of course flooding the market would lead to less demand. Stupid!.”, she mumbled to herself out loud.

  Grey reached out and grabbed her hand reassuringly.

  “It`s not your fault. The problem needed to be solved regardless. This is just an unfortunate side effect.”, Grey decided.

  “You heard what she said. The rat catchers are out of a job now. How many do you recon that is? Hundreds?”, Willow wondered out loud.

  “Hundred Hundreds more like.”, Mika chimed in.

  Willow shot up from the table and threw her hands in the air.

  “Great! Just great! We solved the food crisis but created a whole new one. We need do something about this Grey.”, she yelled, pondering around the table.

  “What can we do? Not like we can just make a thousand jobs appear out of thin air.”, Grey argued back, thinking on it herself. “Wait, didn`t you say a bunch of the farms became vacant. Why not get the catchers to manage the new farms?”

  Willow didn`t even give the thought a second to marinate before shooting it down.

  “Impossible. Farming mushrooms is not an easy job, it requires years of training, experience and knowledge. It’s a generational career. Not something you just hop in to.”, Willow informed the room, annoyed.

  Mika finished her third pte and finally let out a sigh of contentment.

  Positively bursting at the seams she lost interest in further consumption and decided to refocus her attention at all the yelling.

  “Why don`ts you just farm something else?”, she enquired naively.

  Willow stopped pacing and they looked at Mika surprised by not just her input to the conversation but the value of it.

  Grey and Max looked back at Willow seeking further confirmation.

  “I mean sure. But what? What could a person farm down here other than mushrooms?”, she replied perplexed.

  “Pity you can`t farm rats. That would be neat.”, Mika added again, stunning everyone for a second time.

  Grey and Max`s eyes darted from Willow, to Mika and back to Willow again.

  “That… that could work actually.”, Willow decided, to the confusion of Mika and the joy of Grey. Max sat with a smile on his face just happy to be a part of whatever it was that was going on.