Jin found herself pacing again, and she was well aware it was out of avoidance this time.

After informing the others that she had a Shell and Territory Spirit Gem available for the group to divvy out, Liraz pointed out that she had the Ironhide Spirit Gem still on Basima's body. She promptly handed over the Spirit Gems she didn't feel would be a good fit for her, letting the others decide who would be best among them. After Alim offered to help Liraz prepare Basima for burial, Jin quickly made her way outside. She had no intention of watching that.

Pacing probably wasn't the right term either for what she was currently doing. She was basically running laps around the edge of the island, trying not to think about needing to bury Bas while also looking for a suitable place to do so. After seeing what this floor actually consisted of, she found herself wishing they had taken the time to bury her back at the forest cabin. At least that place had been full of happier memories and solid ground, with some sunshine and wildflowers they could have used to decorate her grave with.

Here, there was nothing but mud and murky water with plants that were more likely to kill you than look pretty.

It was on her third circle around the small island when Jin noticed Liraz sitting on the stone stairs leading up to the front door of their new home. Jin slowed down her jog and approached as she signed, "Were you waiting for me for something?"

Liraz shook her head, the blue slime witch hat jiggling slightly with the movement. "No, just waiting for the others to finish. Alim is using the Shell gem, Hadia took the Ironhide one, and Kar was told by Hadia and Alim to use the Territory one."

Jin chuckled as she sat down beside the smaller girl and asked out loud, "Are you upset you didn't get that one? I thought it might help spread out your slime more or something."

"I'm sure I can find something better on this floor," Liraz quietly replied with a shrug, squeezing the blob of slime that seemed to have become a permanent accessory lately. "I know everyone else doesn't like it, but this biome actually matches my powers pretty closely."

Jin paused for a moment before giving a rare, softer smile. "I guess that's actually a nice way to look at it instead. I've been so caught up in how Basima would have hated this as much as I am, with no warmth or sunshine, even when we didn't always get some, that I didn't stop to think how we might be able to use it to our advantage."

A comfortable silence fell between them for a long moment as they both looked around at the small part of the swamp that offered them shelter from the rest of it. The vines swayed slightly as a living reminder that their new Guardian would protect the group from harm as well.

"I think Basima would have liked this home," Liraz softly said while looking up at the emerald canopy. "It might be dark and gloomy, but she would have made it brighter and named our new friend."

Jin looked from the vines to the Slime Witch, easily able to imagine exactly what Liraz was describing. With a chuckle and a shake of her head, she replied, "You're totally right. She'd probably name it something way more adorable than it looks and try braiding its vines like hair. Probably be able to find some kind of swamp blossom to tie into it, too."

She sighed and leaned back slightly before admitting, "And I know she'd want us to keep moving forward, even when I want to go back…" She paused for another breath before resigning herself to the next step she needed to take. "There's a small hollow on the east side of the cabin that the roots of the tree still protect… I think we should bury Basima there so her memory will still be protected even if her soul has already left."

Liraz nodded and smiled as she added, "I'm sure everyone, including Mister Snuggleroot, would like that."

Jin burst out laughing at the ridiculous name for their new Cultivating Guardian Home. "Mister Snuggleroot? Oh, we're definitely keeping that now."

Pax narrowed his eyes at the cave entrance that once had a magical sheet of darkness covering its entrance. He had scouted it out before while traversing all over this first floor of the tower, searching for his assassination targets, and knew the little dragon boss had been waiting within. Now that darkness was gone, and in its place was the entire team of Fighter Champions hovering around the corpse of Jilani that was lying on the ground, naked and half-rotted away already from being magically looted, while arguing with one another.

"I told you already; I can't say anything about how she died, so use your eyes and figure it out!" Nawal yelled at Antoni as she gestured to the corpse with very clear stab wounds.

"I can see that the Wayfarer stabbed her with some kind of blade. I'm asking how that happened with both of you here against a handful of Servants. Are you trying to tell me that they somehow unlocked actual combat abilities? You must have seen the fight, and you're leading me to believe you hid behind a magic shield to gather information, then made an Oathbond that prevents you from sharing that information! Why didn't you just help Jilani kill the rest of them?"

"Because you know that I was already at a disadvantage. I took the Wand Aspect because our team agreed before even entering the tower that land navigation would be my job, and I knew the rituals for that. You know I was unarmed, and I wasn't about to try choking out five—" Her voice cut off suddenly as a hand flung up to her throat as if a leash had been yanked and tightened around it.

"This is ridiculous," Abrar sneered as he leaned against the cave entrance's inner wall. "We're wasting time bickering about something we can't change. Just hurry up and pick if we're camping here or going on to the next floor. Those bastards are already three days ahead of us, and we haven't even stopped in the completion room to spend our points and get the clue yet."

"Going to get our final Aspects and information from the Lovers and Workers first was a good strategy," Farideh argued from her spot on the opposite side of the cave. Sitting down with her back leaned against the wall, she added, "They told us about that Worker who joined them. The little slimy blue girl. Forgot what her name was."

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Pax felt his heart drop into his stomach at the mention of his sister. He knew she was probably still safe for now on the second floor—well, as safe as anyone can be in this monster-infested tower—but he didn't like the idea of the Fighters knowing more about her and gaining their attention.

A tug on his sleeve had him turn to look at Zendri, who carefully signed, "Are they talking about Liraz?"

He simply nodded, and she asked, "Why would your little sister be with the Servants?"

"Because I told her to," Pax silently replied directly into her mind. "She's not only safer at Jin's side but can help convince her to join ours. Also, I've told you to stop signing and just use the telepathy when you're close enough to me like this."

He had been surprised at first when he summoned his new Familiar and gained the telepathic power. While he had initially been worried about gaining some sort of pet companion he'd have to either keep track of or end up underutilizing, he was relieved to discover that his was a rarer sentient object instead of a creature. Zendri was still teasing him about the brilliant name he gave the thing, though, after showing her the informational display after summoning it.

Name: Shush

Species: Mask of Whispers (Familiar)

A magical item that has gained a soul and limited sentience. It is attuned to Covenant, Song, Wind, and Void magic.

Caste: Crystal

While in contact with the summoner, they are considered merged even while manifested.

Can return to their summoner at will, no matter the distance, though other effects may interfere with this form of teleportation.

When merged within the summoner:

The summoner's mouth is covered by the [Mask of Whispers], hiding their lips from being read. Abilities or rituals with incantations have an increased effect. Abilities without incantations now have an optional one that can be spoken to increase their effectiveness. The summoner has limited telepathy with nearby targets.

He had been just as caught off guard by the [Mask of Whispers] attacking his face after he completed the summoning ritual before they left the Trial. Now, however, Shush happily covered the lower half of his face with a mask that was a metallic matte black normally, but blended into the rest of his surroundings thanks to his blessing from Chameleon.

It was odd to sense some minimal emotional feedback from his mask, but the Familiar at least seemed happy in its role of keeping him silent. Pax, for his part, enjoyed the benefit of not needing to risk his words being taken out of context anymore for Fox's Illusion Network to twist for their own propaganda efforts.

"If the Servants have already gone to the second floor, and we've agreed not to kill off the Lovers and Workers while they continue to support us, then what's the point of even camping at the entrance?" Dannie asked in obvious frustration as he kicked at a rock near Jilani's corpse, a large two-handed ax slung over his massive shoulder. "There's only a handful of Speakers left that we're not supposed to touch, and the Whispers—"

"What about that traitor Whisper? You think he's worth waiting around to kill, or do you think he already went to the next floor?" Farideh interrupted, looking towards Antoni. "Honestly, we have no idea where any of the Whispers are. Their base is still unclaimed and abandoned, it seems like, and Pax has killed off quite a few of them."

"I can't tell if he's actually doing us a favor or not," Nawal said, gesturing towards the forest where Pax and Zendri currently hid. "It's usually the slips in here that give us the most trouble during the climb, and four of them are already dead."

"It can be a favor, but that doesn't mean he's an ally," Antoni retorted. "If we see him in here, don't hesitate to end him before he gets even more deadly."

"We don't even know what he looks like," Abrar pointed out with a bark of laughter. "All those sneaks wore masks on the way in and looked exactly the same. How will we know it's him?"

"When the rankings update announcing his name on the death list," Antoni coldly replied without missing a beat. "You don't recognize them? Then kill them. Don't leave it to chance."

Pax silently shared a look with Zendri before mentally saying, "So I'm voting that we wait a bit for them to go to the next floor first. You know… for health reasons."

"They'll recognize me," Zendri pointed out, finally speaking in his mind, and it left him momentarily stunned to hear the sound of her voice, even if it was in his mind. It was a lot softer than he had expected. "They said they won't touch the Speakers. Do you think they'll let me pass if I claim you're some other Whisper who agreed to help me?"

"I think they'll ask why you're not with the rest of the Speakers and trying to sneak up to the second floor on your own," Pax replied with a pointed look. "I've read up about Antoni, and while he might have a temper, he's not what I'd call an idiotic brute. That label belongs to both Dannie and Roxana over there, showing off the fact that they chose the Axe and Hammer Aspects. They do know they can unconjure those ability weapons, right?"

"I could come up with some kind of story. Tell them my mother told me not to trust the others and that you were chosen as my bodyguard instead."

Pax thought about that for a moment, weighing the option. It had some believability to it if people didn't know the true reason behind Zendri being in here. If they did… well, he didn't like their odds of surviving against nine other Fighters.

"How about we wait them out a bit longer, and if we run into them after thinking they'd already gone to the next floor, we'll try that?"

Zendri nodded in agreement just as they heard Antoni yell, "We're moving forward. We need to keep up and start making progress on the next floor's challenges. We'll get more points and better loot too from the Crystal Caste monsters there, so there's little benefit of staying without a guarantee of Champions to catch."

The group of Fighters seemed to all move as one then, responding to the orders their leader had doled out. Pax looked back at Zendri with a smug grin hidden behind his mask and said, "See? We're moving forward without risking death and dismemberment. We're being smart little rebels."

Zendri rolled her eyes at him and said, "You're just glad I don't need to heal you after getting stabbed while killing all of them."

"Hey, you might technically be a healer, but I still feel pain, you know, and you just make that part worse, Sadist Rose."

"It's Sanguine Rose."

"I said what I said."

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