18 Panic Room (2/2)

Anger. Rage. Guilt. These were common emotions for people dealing with anxiety. Luca was just better at holding it in than most people. But he certainly wasn't holding it in now. It was like a dam had burst inside him and he couldn't stop himself from spilling his guts out now that he'd begun.

Luca was shaking his head. ”You almost died fighting Azuma... and that was because you're here risking your life for me!”

I sighed, knowing there really was only one thing I could do to turn things around. Now, what I was about to do to Luca wasn't something I recommend trying with other people who had anxiety. I just knew my brother best.

Before Luca's anger could intensify any further, I smacked him hard on the head with a karate chop.

”Enough of that now, you here?” I said, in an authoritative tone.

Luca looked scandalized. ”W-why did you do that?”

”So you can focus...” I placed both hands on his shoulders. ”Why are we fighting, Luca? What are we fighting for?”

It was in the seriousness of my eyes and the intense look I sent him that made Luca's breathing stabilize.

”We're fighting to rack up as many accomplishments as we can to attain a wish from the clan leader,” he answered, calmer now.

And just like that, he was all better. Sure, he was still claustrophobic and looking paler by the minute, but at least he'd taken back control from the anxiety playing tug-of-war with reason inside his brain.

”Aww, you guys are so close,” Varda said cheerfully. There was a sparkle in her eyes when she said, ”Bromance is so cool!”

Not only did this ruin the moment, but it really made things weird.

”Geez, Varda... I didn't know you were interested in that kind of stuff,” I complained.

”W-what?” Varda protested. ”I-I meant nothing weird by it, okay? I was simply saying that having brothers is cool and I wish I had one... Mine are all dead...”

If the mood could get any weirder, Varda's last statement certainly turned it up a notch.

”Want to talk about it, Varda?” Luca asked.

Although his fingers were grasping tightly against the hem of his cloak, he gave Varda an encouraging look.

It was times like these when he would offer someone his help despite his earlier outburst that I really appreciated having him as a little brother. Although I will never ever tell him this. Wouldn't want him to get a big head.

”Well... if you guys really want to know,” Varda mumbled.

”Sure,” I answered while inwardly thinking that this was the exact thing I asked her to do earlier.

Varda's tale was very dark and tragic. So heavy in fact that I promised myself to buy her something nice when we left this place and finally got to do what we came to do which was to shop for new gear and get the Foolhardies some new recruits.

Varda, who was thirty-two and only two years out of her pebble years—the dwarven term for a teenager—was the youngest of nine in a dwarven military family belonging to The Hermitage, one of the strongest and only dwarf-exclusive clans in the entire Fayne. Like most fairy clans, their internal struggles were bloody and very brutal, leaving a lot of bodies in its wake. Varda's father was a dwarf who had been in line for the patriarch seat but a rival faction killed him and eight of Varda's older brothers in an effort to cull the competition. Varda and her mother, who had gone to visit her mother's brother, Commander Vardoom, were the only ones spared. Thanks to Vardoom's connection to Great General Darah, Varda and her mother were allowed to become members of the Trickster Pavillion as they would have been killed if they returned to the Hermitage.

I don't know how long Luca and I were quiet after Varda finished her tale, but we both spoke at nearly the same time when we tried to comfort her. This made her laugh.

She wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. ”You humans are so emotional...”

”You realize you're the one who's teary-eyed, right?” I corrected her.

”Dean... so are you,” Luca was giving me an exasperated look.

”Leave me alone,” I dabbed at my eyes with a piece of my brown cloak. ”I'm a sucker for tragedies...”

This made Varda and Luca laugh. Eventually, I joined in on them, and we laughed and laughed until our stomachs hurt as this was always the result for those who indulged in hysterical fits of laughter.

In the middle of our hysteria, the thick stone door slid up and all three of us quieted down.

The female who walked in to greet us was no dwarf. She was at least a head taller than Luca with an even brighter shade of red hair than ours. Also, it was burning at the tips. With her soft, round eyes, perfectly straight nose, and pouty lips, her face would have been gorgeous were it not for the fiery scale markings on the sides of her cheek and around her violet reptilian irises.

”You're a salamander,” I realized.

The salamander's eyes narrowed.

She placed a sharp-nailed hand—also covered in fiery scale patterns—on her curvy hip. ”And you're Dean Dapper. The human who stopped Azuma's rampage in the Calmlands.”

At the mention of my rival, all thought of wanting to get to know this beautiful fire elemental vanished from my teenage-boy-brain. Instead, a bright warning sign of danger appeared in my mind's eye.

”How do you know who I am?” I asked.

”Azuma's a fairly popular human around these parts,” the salamander answered. ”It would be our business to know who defeated him.”

”Who's we?” I pressed.

The salamander pointed to the sapphire symbol pinned to the front of her rather revealing breastplate. It was proof that she was a clan member of the Lover's Embrace.

”What do you want with us?” My hands grasped on nothing but air as I'd forgotten that we'd surrendered our weapons.

I sensed Varda and Luca stiffen beside me.

They readied themselves for a fight that wasn't coming as the woman simply turned around and strutted toward the door. Before she crossed the entrance, she turned her head so she could cast a sidelong glance at me.

”We want nothing from you... yet,” she answered, almost playfully. ”You're free to go. Enjoy your stay at Broken Sellsword's Canyon.”

Just like that, we were free.