Rachel didn’t expect the girl to flinch at her question, though given the situation, being intimidating was a good thing, as the Giant could attest. Guess she learned something from her Ascendancy ‘squadmates’ after all, even if it was just barking at others. Then she spewed out something about looking for allies and her name, followed by a passphrase straight from a book of poetry. “Whatever happened to the good old days when passwords were pseudorandom strings of alphanumeric characters?” she sighed.

“Wait wait, are you seriously suggesting we implicitly trust two people that literally wandered out of the sodding woods?” she asked John, her gaze now shifting between Narvia and the Giant. The latter’s unique method of approach left her a more than little worried for her safety, which only amplified the general distrust of other people she has developed during her days as a full-time thief. “Ugh, you’re the leader,” she groaned, then addressed Narvia and the Giant, “but I’m not turning my back to either of you.” [i]For foreman’s sake, John, now you’ve made me volunteer for a rear guard!’[/i] she thought.

And what was that about ‘Secret regiments’? What was John going on about? Then it hit her. Shortly before the start of the mission, he mentioned he could see all magic. Damn it, another unwelcome variable, one that could potentially make this girl even more dangerous than the Giant. Rachel was feeling more and more out of her element with each passing second. At least Narvia claimed she didn’t want unnecessary bloodshed. It was a shred of good news, whatever her word was worth. She turned to the giant. “Alright, that’s three claiming peace. What about you, Tiny?”