"That’s a kind thing to say." Don looked at him directly. "But you know what I was. You know what the class system in this game did to that. I’m a thief now. Human racial restriction pushed me into physical classes and I picked thief because it was the closest fit. I’m not what I was at peak. I’m not going to walk into Skyrise at half my former capacity and call it coming home."

Victor’s jaw tightened. "I have good thief players. You’d catch up inside a month,"

"It’s not about catching up."

"Then what is it about?" 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Don was quiet for a moment. When he spoke, his voice had the quality of something that had been held carefully for a long time. "I don’t want to be a laughing stock. Whatever I was before, that version of things is done. I’m not rebuilding it under someone else’s roof." He paused. "Brother Star and the others would understand. Let me have my dignity."

Victor looked at him for a long moment, jaw working slightly, and then sent a friend request.

Don declined it.

Victor’s expression did something complicated. "You stubborn, you know I’m your brother, right? That’s not a title I use loosely."

"I know." Don’s voice was rougher than he intended. "That’s why I’m asking you not to push. Please."

The silence between them had the texture of something old and unresolved and fundamentally mutual. Victor had known him long enough to understand when the door was closed. He didn’t look happy about it. He also didn’t push again.

Don turned and found Lily, who had apparently been watching him from the edge of her peripheral vision while continuing to bicker with Faye.

"Lily, stay and catch up. Come find me in the city when you’re done. I’m going to log off for a bit." He produced a return scroll. "Not feeling well."

Victor caught his arm. "Brother,"

Don unwound the fingers from his sleeve one by one, carefully, the way you handle something breakable. He looked at Faye when he spoke next, keeping his voice light. "That girl actually forgot about me. What a relief."

Faye’s face did something. The bright, performative quality of it shifted, and underneath was something quieter and less managed. "I’ve had selective amnesia for two years," she said. Her voice was even. "It’s not just you. I’ve lost a lot of things."

"Good." He held her gaze. "I wish I had the same condition."

Lily’s expression had been moving through several stages and arrived at something close to anger. "Sister Faye," she said, with the careful diction of someone choosing their words, "why are you making him feel like this? He’s a genuinely good person."

Faye looked at Lily for a moment, something gentle crossing her face. "Maybe he is," she said quietly. "Take care of him, then."

She tore the return scroll open and disappeared in silver light. In the half-second before she vanished, Don sent a friend request into the dissolving animation.

Her acceptance came through immediately.

Then a message: That brat really loves to perform.

Victor exhaled, the long, slow kind that meant he’d been carrying it for a while. "Four years," he said, mostly to himself. "And she still can’t let it go."

Don said, "Faye is worth taking care of, Brother Vic. Whatever else is happening, she’s worth the effort."

Victor was quiet for a moment. "Maybe I shouldn’t have brought her back from England. Maybe my brother really should have been the one," He stopped. Shook his head. Produced his own return scroll. "Take care of yourself, Don."

He was gone.

Don stood on the beach with the return scroll in his hand and didn’t use it. The water moved at the edge of the sand. The light was doing the thing it did in the late afternoon in this game, long and amber and precise.

He put the scroll away.

Lily appeared beside him a few minutes later and hit him in the arm with moderate force.

"You and Faye planned that whole thing, didn’t you."

"You know too much." He drew the Huron dagger from his belt with theatrical slowness.

She took one look at it and adopted an expression of tremendous gravity. "Are you going to silence me."

"I’m going to go kill more mermaids and see if there’s a Mermaid King spawning anywhere." He started walking. "Try to keep up."

"Daydreamer."

They walked back toward the others. After a moment, Don said, "How do you know Faye?"

"Our families have business with Dionysus Industry. We’ve met a few times over the years, not often. It’s been several years since the last time." Lily kept pace beside him, her tone easy and curious. "Were you close to her? She was acting like she didn’t recognize you, but it felt like a performance."

"Not particularly close. Different circles." He left it there. "Don’t overthink it."

Lily gave him a look that suggested she would think about it precisely as much as she wanted to, but let the subject drop. "What are we eating tonight?"

"Lamb spine hot pot."

Her entire demeanor transformed. The investigative intensity vanished, replaced by something approaching genuine joy. "Let’s finish quickly then. I want a proper feast."

"You’re supposed to be a rich girl," Don said. "Rich girls are meant to be restrained about food."

The look she turned on him carried several years of genuine grievance. "I spent years in Australia," she said, with great feeling, "eating hamburgers and pizza while my body was physically aching for real food. Years, Don. You have no idea what that does to a person." She pointed a finger at him. "You are a well-fed man who has never once understood hunger, and I will not be taking food criticism from you tonight."

He looked at her for a moment, the genuine indignation, the history underneath it, the way being the daughter of a wealthy family had apparently meant freedom from everything except the freedom to choose her own life, and felt the weight of what she wasn’t quite saying.

"Fair enough," he said. "Let’s finish the last hour and go eat."

Lily nodded, satisfied, and raised her crossbow as the next spawn appeared at the waterline.