Aelin was still shopping.

  I’d found four more sets of clothes and two pairs of shoes. Thankfully, Miel let us walk around inside the store instead of being stuck by the dressing room where Aelin was trying on her next outfit. I’d lost count of the number that she’d been trying. I didn’t really see the point. We spent most of our time in the Dungeon, so these were the clothes that we were going to be wearing around the dorm. Grab a couple pairs of comfortable stuff and be done, but I was willing to admit that there were a lot of subjects I didn’t understand and I was filing this in that category.

  The good news was that I was able to get some elemental powder here. It was a one time use item that would give your weapon attacks an elemental affinity for a set amount of time or attacks, whichever timed out first. While it wouldn’t help me or Ether much, it would be able to give Aelin’s magic arrows an elemental affinity, which would increase her damage by a lot. It would also help Rix and Fray, so I felt like it was worth buying a few sets.

  The clothes were almost twice what I’d paid for my last ones, though considering how much I’d put them through when we’d been in Mive, I felt it was worth it. Especially since we were probably spending just as long here.

  I found a bench near the entrance of Andutt Apparel and waited for the others to get done. It wasn’t long until both Ether and Rix were sitting next to me. I chuckled as I heard Aelin arguing with Meil. Ether’s mother had no idea what she’d volunteered for.

  “Bring back any good memories?” I nodded in the direction of the changing room.

  Ether shrugged. “Mom always seemed distracted. Every shopping trip was always full of questions like ‘where are the exits?’, ‘how would you get out if there was a fire?’, ‘who in the room is the biggest threat?’, and…” She paused for a moment, then shook her head. “She was trying to prep me to go to school with Pixie.”

  “At least yours were hypotheticals.” Rix leaned against the wall. She was still glancing out of the store every time someone walked by.

  “Who were they?” I nodded at the entrance. “The person you keep looking for?”

  Judging by the look on her face, I didn’t think she was going to answer me, so I was surprised when she started to speak.

  “One of the other girls.” Rix’s voice seemed almost wistful. “She wasn’t much older than me, so we’d go on runs together.”

  “Runs?” Ether leaned forward so she could look around me.

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  “That was when someone would bring a bunch of us into town to pick up supplies.” The redhead leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. “If we didn’t come back with enough, things weren’t…” She paused as she searched for the right word. “Good for us.”

  “When you mean come back with enough..?” I had a feeling I knew what she meant.

  “Stealing.” Rix confirmed. “Most stores like this have their stuff tagged so you can’t get it through the door, but most Adventurers don’t have the same security on their homes.”

  “Why didn’t you run away?” Ether winced as she glanced in the direction her mother was in.

  “Many of us tried.” Rix clenched her fists. “Nobody really cares about Mundane kids, especially in a godless town. Get someone to show up that looks sort of like you and says all the right things? The Authority is going to write you off as a runaway full of fanciful tales and hand you over to your ‘parent’.”

  “So why didn’t they just let you go?” It didn’t make much sense that the bandits would want to keep the kids around. As Trent once put it, he could make more in the Dungeon in an hour than all of us could make in a month combined. I knew Sipher hadn’t been part of their group, but still. There were plenty of Tier Three bandits out there who could make plenty to survive by farming in the Dungeon. “You couldn’t have been bringing in that much All.”

  Some cities used their own form of currency, but to keep from having to use crystals as a form of money, the All-Temple issued currency referred to as All. Now it was rare to find somewhere that still had its own unique currency as most of the planet used All.

  “You’d be surprised at the things a kid can carry that people will leave laying around.” Rix shrugged. “Lots of expensive stuff is stored in Mundane containers.”

  “Oh.” I remembered the health potion that I’d used on Gesai a while ago. It had been way above my Tier, but I’d had no trouble handling the bottle. I started to wonder what the liquid would have done to me, but that was a question for Trent once he woke up.

  “Did you..?” Ether’s question died as the rest of our group walked out of the aisle and headed for the register.

  “Are you trying to buy the whole store?” I nodded at the pile of clothes in Aelin’s arms.

  “I am NOT getting caught like this again!” The blonde dropped her items on the counter.

  It didn’t take long for them to purchase what they’d picked out. Rix, Ether, and I moved outside the entrance. It wasn’t far enough that Miel protested and It gave the redhead a better vantage point to look for her friend.

  “Now what?” I looked at the four women exiting the store.

  “We could go look at the bazaar.” Miel gestured at the upper floor.

  “We’ve got plenty of gear. I need a shower!” Aelin turned towards the older woman. “Where is it?”

  “Is that okay with everyone?” Miel looked at each of us. None of us objected, which she must have taken as agreement. “Let’s head out.”

  “I thought you said you knew a place for us to clean up…” Aelin was looking around.

  “I do.” Miel motioned for her to follow. “At the Dispatcher’s Station.”

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