Aya pulled off the head set just in time for Mars to come through the door wondering why the girl wasn’t yet at the table to eat.

  “Long quest?”

  “You wouldn’t believe how long.” Aya said sitting up on her bed with a sigh. All that laying still had made her a bit stiff. Her joints cracked as she stood up making her blush in embarrassment.

  Mars only shook her head from where she leaned against the door waiting for Aya.

  “Tell me all about it.” She said.

  Dinner was vegetable stir-fry noodles that once again had Aya wishing she could import the food into the game to take with her during these long fights.

  “Corrupted Great Serpent huh? I’ve fought one of these but it didn’t give me any loot. Was yours an Obsidian Snake?” Mars asked as she dished out Aya’s dinner from the smooth china bowl she was holding.

  “Yeah!” Aya said swallowing a mouthful of noodles. Mars winced at the girl’s table manners but found it amusing all the same.

  “Did it happen to drop a pair of Snake Tooth Daggers! I really, really need some to trade.” Mars said hopefully.

  “Yeah! Now that you reminded me I haven’t put anything up on the auction house in a while. I’ll trade you the daggers when I’m done. Do you need them for a quest or something?” Aya asked.

  “I need them as leverage.” Mars smirked. “I’ll give you a bunch of gold for it too, I know that battle wasn’t a damn cakewalk.”

  “Tell me about it, one poison spray and I would have been done for.” Aya said leaning back into her seat. She checked her phone to see if there were any missed called but found only a message from her uncle asking if she had arrived in Mericross and if she needed help with rent money.

  Aya smiled, a few months ago this wouldn’t have been possible. Now she had someone she could call if she was in a pinch, several people she could call in fact.

  “I need to spend tonight getting back to everyone’s messages.” Aya said.

  “You better, I already told Atlas we arrived safely, you know he asks a lot about you.”

  “He asked me if I could meet him at the Solstice Crossing but it’s going to be a while before I feel like leaving Bloom Haven is necessary, I’m about to encounter my first town outside the goddess’s protection.” Aya said.

  “Wow you are so deep into the lore.” Mars snickered, she wasn’t deep into the lore of the game, she knew enough of the story to know what quests would yield valuable results but it didn’t interest her as much as the rare items she could get from knowing the lore. “But I get it, some people play for a good story, now hurry up and finish your dinner I need those daggers.” she winked.

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  Aya laughed.

  “Alright, alright.” Aya said stuffing her mouth with more delicious pasta.

  “You’ve gotta teach me how to cook like this so I can replicate it in the game.”

  “You might want to look up some simple recipes first, knowing you, you’re probably at the boiling meat stage hell I’ll give you some credit. Let me guess, Rabbit Meat Soup?” Mars said.

  “You don’t have to sound so smug about it.” Aya laughed, taking the teasing lightly. “But really I have been trying to improve my cooking skills a lot lately, they’re core parts of being the Harvest Guardian I can’t neglect and they come up one way or another.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Take my crafting for example, I’ve needed to weave silk for so long but it’s low. I’ve spent some time trying to level it up and I’ve even gotten more spider silk.” Aya said.

  “I totally get that, seems these skills are necessary for you instead of just being a bonus. If you weave some high quality silk make sure to save some for me.”

  “Mars!”

  ----------

  After dinner was over, Aya helped Mars clean up the kitchen while they chatted some more about the new apartment.

  “Have you been thinking of exploring Mericross a bit more?” Mars asked. Aya hesitated, dropping a fork and cursing as she did.

  “Uh…” Aya turned away from Mars, taking extra care to look for the missing fork in a bid to avoid the question. Mars wasn’t having it.

  “Aya, the fork is right there.” She said folding arms, as Aya purposefully missed the fork laying on the clean kitchen tile.

  “I know.” Aya mumbled, finally picking the fork up and dropping it in the sink.

  “Look, I’m not ready to leave the apartment.” Aya said bluntly, Mars held back a gasp of surprise at her roommate’s expression. Aya had a solemn look on her face, she grabbed her arm anxiously and lowered he gaze towards the floor as if ashamed.

  Mars’s gaze softened.

  “Oh Aya.” She sighed pulling the girl in for a hug. “I wasn’t going to force you or anything, I’m just worried about you. A lot of things have happened over the past few weeks alone. I thought a walk would do you some good. I’ve been out, it’s beautiful here.”

  “I know.” Aya said, her voice muffled against Mars’s chest. “I guess I just haven’t fully accepted it, the new place, family and everything.”

  “Take it easy, but take it, you know? Don’t miss the real world around you.” Mars encouraged.

  Aya finally give her a tired smile in response.

  “Maybe we can go for a walk sometime.” Aya suggested.

  “Just let me know when you’re ready for that, there’s a park close to here. The fresh air would do a couple of gamers some good.” Mars said.

  Aya trade Mars the Snake Daggers for 500 gold despite the girl’s protests that she would just have given her the weapons for free.

  “I need to pay you and besides you should be looking for the cash to change out your pack book, I think you’ll be able to afford it.” Mars said.

  “True, I guess I’ll just have to find a junk shop or whatever they’re called around here.”

  “Why? You couldn’t probably order brand new.” Mars said.

  Aya blinked, taking a few moments to process Mars’s words. She took out her phone to check her balance in the Moon Valley companion app. To her surprise, she had about 1000 gold she could exchange for real money, combined with the help Atlas had given her.

  She didn’t need to buy a laptop from a junk shop, she could just walk into a store now and purchase one. A wave of dizziness hit her, Aya’s head spun causing Mars to rush over in concern.

  “Aya!” Mars called, helping the girl steady herself. “Let’s get you to bed, I don’t think you have the strength for a late night session.”

  It wasn’t so far a walk to Aya’s room, Mars took her time to help her in her PJ’s then pulled the blanket over her as she fell asleep.

  “What am I going to do with you?” Mars said tenderly, she brushed a few curls away from Aya’s face and took a moment to stare at Aya sleeping face. The dark haired girl sighed deeply, hoping E.C. would never find out about her attachment to the girl.

  Aya already uprooted her life for her which was more than any of her pasts friends could say they did. Impulsively she pressed a kiss to Aya’s forehead and turned around to leave.

  “Good night, Aya.”