"You have a stray with you tonight," the innkeeper said the moment Rune and Kathryn walked in.
"She is not a stray. She is looking for a room," Rune replied, already annoyed.
"Oh, I am sorry. One second. Let me put on my receptionist hat."
The innkeeper dug around in a box behind the counter and pulled out a dusty, circular blue hat, setting it on his head with deliberate care.
"Hello, madam. Welcome to my inn. We have a special going on at the moment. You can book a week in the VIP room for the low price of 2 gold coins."
He coughed, straightening as his voice took on a more wondrous tone.
"It has a magitech heated bath, a king size bed with pillows and blankets made from the rarest and fluffiest wool, as well as full air temperature control."
Rune fixed him with a hard stare.
"My room has a small wooden bed, one lumpy pillow, a thin throw blanket, and no temperature control."
"Yeah," the innkeeper said flatly. "And you did not book your room. Someone else did it for you. Be grateful. Now shush, I am working here."
Kathryn laughed, shaking her head at the banter between the two of them.
"That sounds perfect. Let me reserve it, then. Thank you."
The innkeeper took her coin and began scribbling lines into a large, gold trimmed book, the writing little more than an organized mess. Rune and Kathryn moved off to a nearby table, sitting across from one another.
"Sorry about getting you involved in that, Mister Rune. They just would not leave me alone."
"It is fine, really. I would have stepped in for anyone. If anything, I should be the one apologizing for causing you that pain the other day."
She hesitated, fingers tapping lightly against the table.
"Yeah. I was meaning to ask. What did you say to cause that? I couldn't make it out."
"I feel like if I explain any of it, it would only cause more pain. Let's leave it at this. I think you are like me. There are things about what that means that I can't share with you yet, but I am working on it."
"I am like you, huh? Things in this world feel off, but familiar to me." She brushed her hair from her face, rose red coloring her cheeks.
"When I first saw you the other day, I felt like I had to follow you. I did, all the way to the dungeon, and then…"
"Then you saved my life by firing those 2 arrows. I knew it was you."
"You knew it was me?"
"More things I cannot explain without causing that pain."
The innkeeper barged into the conversation, his voice more serious now, the usual madness stripped away.
"She would need to earn the qualifications too, just like you are doing. But she should wait until after you finish the first one."
Kathryn looked up sharply. "Qualifications?"
"I am not too sure myself," Rune said. "I just know the more I get, the more I am supposed to be able to remember and that they come from finishing the dungeons."
The topic lingered between them as they continued talking late into the night. Eventually, the hour grew quiet, and they parted, each heading to their own room.
Shortly after, the inn's door creaked open.
An almost 7 foot tall human stepped inside, his frame so wide it nearly filled the doorway. Thick red plate armor covered him from the neck down, the metal scarred and worn.
Above it, a scruffy white and black beard framed his face, and medium length hair hung loose and unkempt around his shoulders.
"Old man, I heard the one she was looking for may have been found."
"Shh. Grey. They are upstairs. He is not ready yet. Talk loud again and I will beat a lesson into you like old times."
"They are upstairs?"
The innkeeper lowered his voice further, all humor gone. "Yes. He has already found one of the others."
"Then that really means she found him," Grey said quietly. "If he is already collecting the others."
The large man fell silent, thinking, his brow tightening as the weight of it settled in.
"If that is the case, I should train him a little. I have some things to do with the faction for the next 2 weeks or so. After that, I will come back and see if he is who you think he is."
"Your faction, they all still think you are human, do they?"
The large man opened the door. Moonlight spilled in behind him, stretching his shadow across the floor. It was not the shape of a man, but that of a member of the beast tribe, a wolfkin.
"These humans are easy enough to fool, are they not? Thinking we are both human, just like them."
Then he stepped out into the night, the door closing softly behind him.
*****
Rune lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, his thoughts circling back on themselves.
He remembered telling himself that if Miri, or Kathryn, was meant to be part of his time here, then he would find her again. And just a few days later, she had been placed directly in front of him.
"Aurea. Goddess of Fate," he murmured quietly. "Are you pulling some strings up there, or is this all just one coincidence?"
He covered his face with his hands, letting out a slow breath.
"Whatever it is, I know now that I lived in this world once. I had family. I had friends. I had a life."
His fingers tightened slightly against his skin.
"I am going to find out who I was, even if it means putting my life on the line and making everyone my enemy."
He sat up suddenly, a sharp realization entering his mind.
"Crap. I am a landowner now. I completely forgot I claimed that manor next door." He blinked, then groaned. "Wait. I do not have any furniture. I cannot even sleep there yet."
"Now these are the important problems!"
After a few minutes of letting his thoughts drift, picturing where he would place a bed, how a table might sit near the window, what kind of chair he would want by the wall, Rune's breathing slowly evened out.
Sleep took him without resistance.
Where most people would have lain awake, weighed down by thoughts of death and failure, Rune's mind lingered on simpler things.
That was what followed him into sleep on the night before he would face the boss of the spider wing.
The Matriarch.