"I need a moment," said Lacrie, fleeing from the blood- and slime- splattered room.
The remaining three adventurers looked at each other.
"Could you please go comfort her, Brunhild?" asked Kaergat.
"Why me?" asked Brunhild, a little panicked.
"Dandelion is the one who threw the drugs," said Kaergat. "Maybe she doesn't want to see her at the moment."
"What about you?"
"I'm... not good at feelings..."
"You think I'm... eh... fine then. Whatever I guess."
Brunhild shoved her hands in her pockets and went out.
Lacrie was sitting in the shadow of the huge, pink battleship, crying quietly.
"Uh, hi," said Brunhild, sitting down beside her.
"I just wanted to help people!" wailed Lacrie.
"Um... okay," said Brunhild awkwardly.
"I never thought it'd be so hard to see blood and guts and bones and shapeshifters having identity crises!"
"To be fair, I never thought I'd have to deal with that last one either," said Brunhild.
"You know what's really hard?" continued Lacrie.
"Uh... no?"
"I just don't know if it's going to be worth it! Other people are after the Draconic Spheres, and we might never find seven!"
"Right, yeah, we could fail and stuff," said Brunhild, kind of bewildered about what to say.
"I really want Cassandra to ascend to divinity. She's so... special!"
"Are you... like... in love with Cassandra or something?"
Lacrie blushed. "I just worship her platonically!"
Brunhild thought about this.
Lacrie sighed. "I guess I'm just stressed out. I'm not really made for this, you know what I mean?"
"Uh..." said Brunhild, unsure whether to answer in the affirmative or the negative.
"I feel a lot better now. Thanks," said Lacrie.
"You're welcome," said Brunhild, still out of her depth. "So... uh... why did you become a cleric in the first place?"
"Oh, this old thing?" said Lacrie, holding out her starburst symbol. "It was kind of because of my brother, actually."
"What, really?" said Brunhild. "Did you want to like, holy smite him?"
Lacrie laughed, as if Brunhild had meant this as a joke. "No. Kind of the opposite. I wanted to protect him. Melindan was always going out hunting undead. He said, dead things should rest. He was very intense about that."
"He used to think that way?" said Brunhild. "What changed?"
"I have no idea," said Lacrie. "He was away in Aqua Profunda while I was still living in the Havens; I only saw him every couple of years. Slowly, he changed."
"Pretty drastic change."
"Yeah... I have no idea what happened for him to... associate with those creatures... it's just so strange."
"Yeah."
"Oh, I'm getting sad now. Let's go back. I don't want to start crying again."
"Sure."
They walked back.
As they arrived, Dandelion was examining the chest with an eye lens. "There's nothing, Kaergat. I didn't think there'd be anything, and, surprise! There isn't."
"Any what?" asked Brunhild.
"Booby traps or whatever," shrugged Dandelion. "Why booby trap a chest which you locked up in your cellar?"
"This place is kind of a dungeon," shrugged Brunhild.
"No matter," said Dandelion. "Let's look inside!"
She opened it. "See, Kaergat? Noth—"
A shark leapt out of the chest and clamped down on Dandelion's face.
Dandelion screamed, desperately grasping both sides of the shark's mouth in an attempt to stop its teeth going deeper. The shark thrashed its body violently.
"Brunhild!" commanded Kaergat.
"Right!" said Brunhild, drawing her sword.
"Get it – off – me – aghhh!!" screamed Dandelion, rolling about on the ground.
Another shark flew out of the chest and dived at Kaergat. Brunhild caught a third one in mid-leap with her sword, slicing it in half. She slammed the chest's lid down and ran for Dandelion.
"My face, my face!" yelled Dandelion. She slammed the shark against the wall, drew her dagger and stabbed the creature. Brunhild sliced it in half.
Kaergat was rolling and diving out of the way of his shark. Somehow it was flying – or swimming in the air – and it moved fast. As it went in for another lunge, Lacrie caught it in the head with a lucky swipe of her mace. It fell.
Lacrie dropped her mace and ran to Dandelion, who was curled up and nursing her wounds. "My goofy and loveable faaace..." Dandelion wailed.
"Light heal you!" prayed Lacrie, her holy symbol radiant. Dandelion shuddered for a moment, then calmed.
"I'll lay on hands now," said Lacrie, kneeling down in the blood and slime and placing her hands on Dandelion's cheek and chest. A pale glow radiated from her hands, and all was quiet for a while.

YOU ARE READING
Draconic Sphere Ω
FantasyBrunhild came to Aqua Profunda to escape the suffocating confines of dwarven clan and family life. There she found the adventurer's guild Feenschwanz, and new friends: Kaergat, also a dwarf and more to the point, an overly sober runic mage; and Dand...