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The scream echoed in Alja's head.

As she dashed after Graves at full speed, heedless of Glacier Chain smacking into walls, she could only think of Luci—the woman that she might have loved, before everything went to absolute shit—screaming instead. Cold sweat ran down her face, and all she could hear was her heartbeat. And the scream. As they eventually emerged after what felt like several eons layered on top of each other, she should have been both worried about the other adventurers' well-beings and exhausted from the sprint in full armor, but she could only feel a blazing relief: [i][color=d1fffc]thank God. Thank God they're okay.[/color][/i]

Then, a moment later, her mind roared back to combat mode. 

[i][color=d1fffc]Step one: make sure the kids are safe.[/color][/i] 

With a grunt, Alja stomped on the floor in lieu of space to swing her flail to its full extent. As she did, a wall of jagged ice crystals sprang up in front of the group of less experienced adventurers, cornering them, but keeping them as safe as she possibly could. Then, with that taken care of—at least for the moment, depending on how quickly a big rat could beat through her ice (not very quickly, she thought)—she turned her attention to the rat. It was...[i]big.[/i] Gripping her flail halfway down the chain, she spun it in tight circles, warily approaching while at the same time talking to the adventurers behind it, trying her best to keep them calm. Her face was clenched in a tight smile.

"[color=d1fffc]Hey, sorry it took us so long. We ran as soon as we heard the scream. Have you out of here in no time, alright?[/color]" She recognized one of them: a low-level ranged DPS that she'd partnered with on a dungeon guide a week or two back. Her heart clenched. What was he doing down here? She kept talking. Kept trying to keep the three of them calm. As tense as she was, her voice was light, conversational. "[color=d1fffc]How's your build been developin', Yasmin? Any good drops recently? If you want, I could make you a new sword or somethin' after we get outta here, hey?[/color]" Her hand clenched tightly on Glacier Chain's haft, and a shell of Frost Armor enveloped her. Good. They were safe, and she was as safe as she could get. Now:

[i][color=d1fffc]Step two: hit something.[/color][/i] 

Giving her flail one more whirl for good luck, she slung it forwards like a whip, doing her best to work it through the tight space. There was a satisfying wet smack as it slammed into the rat's shoulder, and a grin formed on her face. It felt good to be protecting people again. "[color=d1fffc]Happy for you that you found yourself a group. Just got one myself.[/color]" She struck again, missing the rat by a hair and grimacing as she wished she could use offensive Tundra Glass safely again. "[color=d1fffc]Wish I'd gotten one a long time ago. You're ahead of the curve![/color]"