Grey met up with Max in the market early the next day. She walked on her own two feet having regained some of her strength. Whiskers stood beside her vigintly, ready to step in if she needed his support. This early in the morning the market hadn`t yet become the hustle and bustle of commerce it usually was. Some of the vendors had begun setting up their stalls unpacking their goods and preparing their cooking instruments for another busy day.

  “Did you have any luck?”, Grey asked Max.

  “A good morning to you too.”, he smirked. “As a matter of fact, yes. I had plenty of luck. I spoke to some of the guys at the mine and they have already begun setting aside some of the unused hard rocks for you.

  I then spoke to some of the scavengers, as we speak they are gathering what metal bits they can. I have to ask again, are you sure you can afford all of this?”

  “Well, I mean no. But I`m not the one who is going to be paying for it. Willow has gone to speak with the other farmers. They are going to arrange what money they can as well as offer food vouchers to those with the means to invest.”, Grey informed him.

  “A well put together pn then.”, Max teased. “Here`s hoping it’s enough”.

  “It`s better than doing nothing. If something goes wrong along the way I`m sure we can find a way to fix it. Worst case scenario we will just have to cut a few corners and hope to make up for it ter. The ends justify the means after all, don`t they?”, Grey wondered out loud, to herself more than Max.

  A shadow of uncertainty creeped into her mind. What if this pn didn`t work? What if she couldn’t help all the kids left unemployed by her actions? More kids would get hurt, some might even die. She couldn`t let that happen, she couldn’t be the cause of it. She would do whatever she could to make things right. But what if what was required hurt someone else? Could she do that? Could she hurt someone to help someone? How would she justify that? Taking from those who have something to give to those who have nothing. Would that really make the situation better? She didn`t know, but she had to do something. Action was better than inaction, she decided. At least in the end, no matter what happened, she could say she tried.

  Max snapped his fingers in front of her face, “Hello? Anybody home?”

  “Sorry, I got a bit lost in my own head there for a minute.”, Grey apologised.

  Max looked at her and noticed an opportunity. An opportunity he wasn`t going to blow like st time. An opportunity to do right by Grey.

  He took a step back and id out his hand.

  “Most beautiful Grey. Would you do me the honour of joining me for a breakfast date?”, he requested most chivalrously.

  Grey, as had become customary, was caught off guard once again and became flustered. Colour drifted into her cheeks and her body became warm.

  “What are you talking about you idiot? I don`t have time for breakfast dates. I have a lot of work to do!”, she decred childishly.

  “Really?”, Max looked at her confused. “If I`m not mistaken everything is sorted for the moment. You spoke to me, I spoke to my guys. Willow is speaking to the farmers and Mika is speaking to the other unemployed kids. All that’s left is to let the time pass until they are all ready, no?”

  Grey raised her hand, getting ready to correct him, then froze.

  The handsome fool was right, there was nothing left for her to do. She was in this moment entirely free to go on a date with him.

  “Don`t you have work to get to?”, she questioned, leaning into the idea.

  “I only have to be in a few hours from now. I`ve got lots of time.”, he informed her.

  “Then… Yes, I would love to go on a date with you.”, she decred, blushing at the formality of it all. She preferred their previous engagements where things were more instinctual. But this was nice too she had to concede.

  [---]

  She took a deep breath and moved her head side to side loosening up. She had been tense and on edge for so long she had forgotten what it felt like to be rexed. Hopefully Max would help her with that.

  “Can I interest you in a rat steak? I know a vendor that does them real juicy.”, Max insisted warmly.

  “I`ve never had steak before.”, Grey responded excitedly.

  “Well there`s a first time for everything.”, Max decided with a teasing smile that sent tingles throughout her body.

  Max led them to a vender that bordered the market, where it became just a bit more spacious. Small chairs and tables held together with rusted wires, nails and rope were scattered around the makeshift grill. Grey took a seat, her body screaming thanks as she finally gave it some rest. Max took his time talking to the cook and passed him a few coppers before joining her, probably to have him open early. Grey looked for Whiskers, who had shadowed them very successfully to the point that even she didn`t know where he was. She found him eventually, sat like a sentinel in an alley keeping eyes on her. A clever boy, giving her the distance she needed to feel independent.

  Max took his seat opposite Grey and gave her a charming smile.

  “I take it I`m not the first girl you`ve taken here.”, she guessed, no fool to his obvious proclivities for seduction.

  “Honestly, you`re not the first. But it`s not as regur as you think. I`m not usually the type of guy to see a girl more than once. Unless she is really special of course.”, he admitted with a confident wink.

  “Tell me about these other girls. I want to know what kind keeps you interested.”, Grey enquired curiously with a teasing bite of her lower lip.

  “Strong girls mostly, some of them fellow miners, some I met at the bar, some I would just pass in the street. None of them liked to share though, that doesn`t work for me. I like variety in my life, I cannot be satisfied with just one woman. What can I say, I have a voracious appetite.”, Max took a minute to consider his words. “It`s a curse, sometimes. I don`t really have any friends. The dies come and go and the men, well they don`t like me around the dies, for obvious reasons.”

  “Sounds lonely.”, Grey offered, extending a hand pcing it on his.

  “It can be. Would be nice to have a friend.”, he confessed, looking at her with a gentle smile.

  Grey blushed a deep red and looked away sheepishly pulling her hand back.

  “You said you like strong woman. I don`t exactly fill that criteria you know.”, she observed. “What about me caught your eye?”

  “A girl like you, frail and sickly looking. To be wondering around the Undercity alone at night. That takes strength. To talk back to a half-orc that’s eyeing you like a piece of meat. To stand up for yourself and Willow the way you did. That takes strength in spades.”, Max insisted, both proud of her and reflective of his past actions.

  An awkward silence descended upon them as Grey had no idea how to respond. Max was honest, brutally so. He clearly felt guilt for some of his actions but he did not hide from them. He was open, willing to learn and change. He wanted to be better than he already was. He was confident, but not arrogant. He was admirable.

  Fortunately for both of them the cook had just finished their steaks and brought them over on two sheets of roughly polished metal with accompanying mismatched utensils. Max looked at Grey with hunger in his eyes and they both wordlessly began to dig in. They tore at the soft tender meat unceremoniously, as was the Undercity way. Not a single morsel went un-eaten, spiced and cooked with such care. Grey had never had anything like it. Her composure deteriorated as she dug in deeper almost becoming borderline feral in her consumption. Max did not judge, in fact he obliged her and tore into his steak with just as much passion. By the time their ptes were empty the awkwardness had subsided and the two looked at each other satisfied.

  “That has to be, the best thing I have ever eaten in my entire life.”, Grey decred to Max`s joy and surprise.

  “Now that really is a shame, to live so long without experiencing such pleasures. I couldn`t.”, Max commented, licking the pte clean.

  “It wasn`t so bad. My dad did the best they could. I might not have eaten the best but I never went hungry.”, Grey informed him defensively.

  “Sounds like a good father you have there. What do they do?”, he asked, sitting back satisfied with a full belly.

  “They grind bone meal fertiliser for the farmers, among other things.”, she hinted not so subtly.

  “What kind of other things?”, he enquired, taking the delicious risk free bait.

  “They`re a Necromancer, well at least they were. They stopped but now they are practicing again… teaching me in fact. I`m full-timing as his apprentice.”, she confessed, a bit uneasy talking about herself.

  “A necrowhater?”, he asked, looking for an expnation.

  “It`s someone who practices Necromancy, it`s a type of magic.”, she informed him.

  “Magic? Hold up! You know magic? Like actual magic? Can you show me?”, he requested enthusiastically.

  “Not really, it`s very intense. It takes a lot out of me. I wouldn`t want to end our date early, not when I`m having so much fun.”, she admitted, looking at him with a new hunger in her eyes.

  “I see, in that case. I was wondering if I could, kiss you?”, he enquired politely, his confidence giving way to something timid and genuine.

  “I would like that.”, she admitted with a fttered smile.

  Max leaned over the table between them and gently touched her chin guiding his lips to hers. They were soft and warm, inviting him to proceed further. Their lips parted and his tongue started caressing hers a gentle moan resonating between them.

  Max began to pull away considerately until Grey grabbed him by his hair wanting more. He obliged, ecstatically.

  [---]

  After their steamy date had simmered down and Max had to leave for work, Grey wasn`t too sure what to do with herself. She was riding high on the adrenaline and endorphins coaxed out of her body by him. She wanted more but knew she couldn’t have it. It was so raw, so primal, so animalistic. But she wasn`t an animal, she knew that, she needed to control herself. She couldn’t lose herself to the pleasure, she couldn’t lose control. It took her a few minutes to calm herself down, Whiskers was there with her. She stroked his fur gently grounding herself, she cleared her mind and slowly repoputed it with all the things important to her. Willow, Whiskers, her Father, Max and Mika. Mika. She had grown fond of the girl, shy as she was. She wondered if she would return to the farm or if she would run off like the first time they met. It couldn`t hurt to go back and check.

  [---]

  When Grey returned home she was surprised to find Mika had returned and was fast asleep in the cot Willow had made up for her. The girl slept with a defensive posture, curled up in a ball. She tossed and turned a little muttering under her breath. Grey felt an invisible pull and moved closer slowly moving her hand to stroke her head reassuringly.

  “It`s okey. Your safe.”, she whispered to her.

  This seemed to calm the girl down, she kept still and went quiet.

  Grey could only specute at the life she must have lived. Running around the Undercity streets, hunting rats, fighting off bigger kids and sleeping in dark cold pces constantly under threat. It sickened her to her core. Grey was determined to make sure she didn`t have to go back to that life.

  A pn was in motion; using the abandoned farms and the materials organised by Max they were going to construct rat farms. Create a permanent, reliable supply of meat for the Undercity and employ thousands in the process.

  The Goblin council had agreed to support them both in man power and finances. Grey was certain that once it was all constructed the other kids would jump aboard. Why wouldn’t they? An opportunity to work, get fed and have a safe pce to live, all without fear. It might have sounded too good to be true but with time, it would work, it had to.

  [---]

  It had been a few days since Grey had st spoken to her father. They had taken her recent independence with a quiet grace, proud to know their little girl would be okay without them. Grey could not help but feel a little guilty however. To have someone do so much for her only to leave when she no longer needed them. It was a strange thing parenthood, to so selflessly love someone unconditionally until they no longer needed you. She wondered if she would take to it as well as her father one day.

  She hopped off of Whiskers back and wondered through the front door of her father`s shop, her home. Sat behind the counter was her father grinding away with their mortar and pestle. All around them were rge piles of rat bones with just as much bone meal to compliment them. They had clearly been very busy.

  “Do you ever think of doing something else with your life? You don`t need to take care of me anymore. Why not quite this business and do something else, something more exciting.”, Grey enquired, skipping the hello and getting straight down to business. She had always thought that her father had stuck with their line of work in order to take care of her.

  She no longer needed taking care of so why did her father remain in such a boring job?

  “I know I raised you to have better manners than that my dear.”, Thanatos commented, continuing to grind bones into powder.

  “Hey dad. I`ve missed you. Your looking well.”, Grey responded, feeling a little awkward.

  A feeling of guilt wormed its way into her stomach. She hadn`t exactly been the most attentive daughter tely.

  Thanatos stopped grinding and got up from their seat. They dusted themselves off and walked over to their daughter embracing her. They gave her a small kiss on the forehead before releasing her.

  “You too are looking well my darling. I have missed you but please do not let that guilt you. Your independence fills me with pride and I find spontaneous visits like these a pleasing surprise.”, Thanatos moved to their daughters side and supported her weight guiding her to the back room of the shop.

  Grey took no time in recounting her recent activities with her father wanting him to know all she had done necromantic or otherwise.

  Silently he listened, in-between serving her a cup of water and some porridge, nodding his head in recognition.

  “You certainly have been a busy girl. I must say I never would have imagined you to have advanced so far in your necromancy in such a short time. Clearly you are a natural. You haven’t been experiencing any ill effects have you? Necromancy can have a few if you are not careful.”, Thanatos enquired, able to sense all was well but wanted to ask none the less.

  “I feel great dad. Occasionally I get a bit tired if I try to do too much but I would say I have the whole draining and re-animating thing down.”, she decred proudly.

  “Wonderful my sweetheart, I guess I have little to worry about then.

  You seem more than capable to pursue your studies on your own, without my aid.”, they decred out of nowhere.

  “I wouldn`t say that. I doubt draining and re-animating is the entirety of Necromancy.”, Grey protested, hurt by her father`s decision.

  “Of course, don`t get me wrong. I am very proud of you my darling but this is where I must step back. Remember I told you that necromancy would have to survive on its own merits. I have taught you the basics, with that knowledge you should be able to relearn everything I did. For me to teach you anymore would make me more responsible than I am willing to be.”, they expined.

  “I understand. I guess I need to be more careful then. If I mess up now then that’s it. It`s kind of nerve racking, I mean that’s a lot of responsibility”, Grey agreed anxiously.

  “A responsibility you asked for. A responsibility I trust you with. A responsibility you can drop at any time if you so feel inclined”, Thanatos remarked pinly.

  [---]

  Grey returned home, the day nearing its end. She and Whiskers made it through the tunnel entrance and saw Willow by the farm house talking with another Goblin, most likely someone from the council. Grey kept her distance not wanting to interfere. She watched as Willow carried herself with confidence in the conversation. No longer did she fidget nervously or mutter shyly. She stood at her full height and spoke to be heard. Grey marvelled at how much Willow had changed, how much she had grown.

  Willow finally finished her conversation and the other Goblin departed.

  “You know, this is why I prefer not to speak my mind. You have one good idea and all of a sudden everyone wants your attention”, Willow bemused.

  “Poor Willow, so smart, so responsible, if only she were a fool. Then people would leave her alone.”, Grey teased her. “Compin all you want, I see how you carry yourself, you`re enjoying it.”

  “You`re one to talk my lil Necromancer. First you solve the food crisis now you see fit to take on the job crisis. What would we all do without you.”, Willow chided back moving in close to kiss Grey on the lips.

  “You would all be fine without me I`m sure. I`m just one person.”, Grey confessed modestly.

  Willow gave her a small smack up side her head, “If you really believe that then you are the fool. Now then, stop tempting me with your wily ways, I have lots of work to do. These fields aren’t going to manage themselves you know.”

  Willow began walking amongst the mushrooms and Grey felt something swelling up inside her. It was a warm feeling, it radiated from deep within her core and compelled her to speak. To say the words had that been spinning in circles in the back of her mind.

  “Will you marry me!”, she blurted out to the woman of her dreams.

  Willow nearly tripped over herself and turned back surprised.

  “What?”, she questioned back, unsure if she had heard her correctly.

  “Will you marry me?”, Grey said again, firm with purpose.

  “Wha-why would…”, Willow started before Grey cut her off.

  “Because, I love you. Do I really need any more reason than that? I want to do something, to show the rest of the world how much I love you. I want to marry you. To give my heart to you, only you.”, Grey decred passionately, her heart beating in her chest powerfully.

  “Yes.”, Willow muttered unclearly. “Yes!”, she said again this time with passion and confidence. “I will marry you.”

  Grey colpsed into Willow, the tter picking her up in her arms spinning her around excitedly. Their lips united in a passionate embrace, their bodies colpsing into the dirt together. Whiskers danced around them unsure what was going on but jealous that he was being left out of it.

  “Easy boy! Easy!”, Grey barked at him before he could kick up dirt and damage the mushrooms around them.

  Grey and Willow got up and moved to the front of the house where they continued to kiss, caress and giggle with each other. Basking in the glow of the moment, Whiskers stood close brushing up against them wagging his tail frantically.

  Then he stopped and looked off into the distance towards the tunnel entrance.

  Grey and Willow took a while to notice the change in his demeanour.

  “What`s up boy? Is someone coming?”, Grey enquired casually, keeping her eyes locked on Willow.

  Whiskers began to growl uncertainly, this grabbed her attention.

  She looked away from Willow at the tunnel entrance and saw a shadow dancing amongst the light. She strained her vision and thought it might be Max. The figure was simir in shape but its stance was uneven. It moved towards them slowly stumbling as it went. Confused Grey and Willow wondered forward through the field to see what was going on, calling out as they went. As both sides neared closer it was Grey and Willow who stopped first, Max still stumbling forward. Willow gasped and cupped her hands over her mouth. Grey looked on in horror and uncertainty her legs growing weak. Max finally stopped a few feet away from them and muttered something unintelligible, blood dripping from a poorly wrapped stump where his left arm used to be.