Beyond What's Known

Chapter 14

"If you don't mind me asking, how are your methods different from your father's?" Junjie asked. "If he trained you to be his successor, wouldn't you be relatively similar?"

The table fell silent. Everyone glanced at Eli uneasily, unsure if they should step in for him, but the Shane didn't miss a beat. He shook his head.

"No, I wasn't trained by him. Or anyone, really, unless you count these guys giving me pointers," he added, gesturing to his teammates. "I'm mostly self-taught. Which has led to some slip-ups that my dad probably wouldn't have let by, but, it's what the 99 Caverns are stuck with."

"I wouldn't say 'stuck' with, more like 'blessed' with," Sam snorted.

"Yeah, we'd kinda be a mess without you," Trixie agreed. "Even though I think we'll always be a mess. We'd be a bigger mess, I guess."

"I apologize, I didn't mean to assume you were able to be trained by him," Junjie said worriedly. But there was a glint of interest in his eyes. "It is, however, impressive that you are the protector of these caverns without formal training. You must be an exceptional slinger if the Goon- well. I just mean to say, you and your team appear to be very talented, and it was frustrating to see the people you protect act like that."

"Eh, give it a week and they'll forget all about it," Kord predicted. "There's always something else here to worry about. 'Course now they'll be chewing on the fact that there's more caverns out there."

"Yeah that's. Um!" Sam managed, pausing from trying to shove the salad bowl at Kord to try to convince him to eat something green. "That sure is something! Wanna elaborate on that, Alana, or?"

All eyes flicked to Alana, who was of course in the middle of a very ambitiously large forkful of spaghetti. Junjie was the exception - he suddenly seemed to be very interested in his napkin, fiddling with it uneasily. Once Alana finished her bite of spaghetti, she just shrugged.

"I was there, now I'm here," she said simply.

"Right. Well, I figured that much," Sam said, turning her focus back to her plate as if to admit defeat.

She knew that wasn't anywhere near what Sam wanted to hear, but Alana felt the medical student had her world rocked enough today. And Alana couldn't describe why she had to leave the West without bringing up the Dark Slingr, and that definitely didn't feel like a conversation that should happen at a dinner table.

"And I don't know how to get back, so you guys are stuck with me," she added in an attempt to lighten the mood. Luckily she got a few laughs from her tablemates, including Trixie, who sighed dramatically and slumped back in her chair.

"Man, I thought we were home free," she teased.

"Nope, you're stuck with me," Alana smiled, although internally she was trying not to think about the implications of what she'd said.

It was the truth - she had no idea how to get back to the West. She'd never seen a portal frame in the 99 Caverns like her mother had used in Palida Cavern. The closest she'd heard of was the guardian gate, and although she hadn't visited the gate with the gang when they traveled to the Deep Caverns, it sounded like it was only a barrier that wouldn't be able to get her to another realm.

Junjie's arrival had proved that with enough slug energy it was possible, but the only man from the 99 Caverns with the technological knowledge to pull that off was now in the Deep Caverns. And no matter what, going back to the West wasn't worth getting help from Doctor Blakk. It was just another unanswered question to add to what was quickly becoming a library.

"Well, glad you came over. I guess the 99 Caverns just attracts- well, not trouble, I wouldn't call you trouble all the time, at least," Sam noted. "Whatever. You know what I mean."