Completing the dee-dee took longer than Kahli would have liked, but she wanted to make sure she was prepared before entering the ruins. But after her training with Sam and Django, the robots in the ruins were nothing more than an annoyance. In fact, she still felt that the bandirats put up more of a fight, but she thought nothing more of it. She had come in for one thing, and one thing only; an engine for the dee-dee transport. And with her hands finally on it, she would be able to finally complete the dee-dee for Mayor Gale.
By now, she had more experience with the engines. She was familiar with how they worked and all their parts. She installed the engine with ease, adding oil and gas to power it, and the engine roared to life when she turned it on.
Mayor Gale was equally satisfied with her work, and as usual, her time and efforts were compensated for. She was really in a routine, now. She had a nearly fully functioning workshop, and when that wasn't enough to keep her busy, the animals were. Her mornings were often spent feeding, then mucking the barn and coop before she lost herself in her workshop for the afternoon. And more often than not, she spent her evenings at the Round Table with Emily, Antoine, Sonia, and Sam. And somewhere in between, she found time to exercise Star, exploring the rolling hills of Portia on horseback.
She made her way into town one morning, eager to see what work she could find for herself, with an unusual scent filled her nose. As soon as she stepped into the plaza, it became clear what the stench was. The fountain in the middle had turned green with pollution, and it caught the attention of several others as well.
"What is going on here?" Mayor Gale asked as he stepped out of the town hall.
"It's been polluted," Merlin said in an obvious tone.
"How?"
"I just checked the river," Sam said. "It's like this, too."
"Well, did you find the source?" Merlin asked.
"I tried," Sam started, "but it's coming from above the Bassanio Falls and the lift's been broken for ages."
Mayor Gale turned to Arlo. "Find out what's going on," he said. "The Portia River is our water source. I don't want our people getting sick from whatever this is."
"Fix the lift," Arlo said. "Got it." He turned to Kahli. "Looks like you've got yourself a job."
"Kahli to the rescue, as always," she said with a grin.
"I'll look into getting rid of this in the meantime," Merlin said.
The crowd dispersed, and Kahli headed immediately to the lift. Fortunately, after a quick examination, Kahli determined it would be a relatively easy fix, needing nothing more than to have a few boards replaced. She returned home to gather the necessary materials and tools, then set to work fixing the lift, completing it by the afternoon. With the lift fixed, the Civil Corps was able to find the source of the pollution.
Kahli stood with Emily outside of the Round Table, just ready to step inside for a couple of drinks when the Civil Corps returned from their search.
"Any luck?" Kahli asked.
"It seems the pollution is coming from a broken pipe inside the WOW Industries building, just above the Bassanio Falls," Remington said.
"I suspect foul play was involved," Arlo said.
"Do you think you can fix it?" Sam asked. "That should be enough to stop any more of that green goo from polluting the river."
"Sounds easy enough," Kahli said.
By morning, Kahli made her way to the WOW Industries building, finding Sam already inside. The building was mostly in ruins, a gaping hole in the center of the room, but most of the pipes - with the exception of the broken pipe - were still in tact and in use.
"Here to fix the pipe?" she asked.
"Yup. What are you doing here?"
"Investigating," she said. "We think someone intentionally broke the pipe. You can see handprints on it." She stepped aside to show Kahli. "I can't imagine who would do this, though."
"Huss and Tuss?" Kahli offered.
Sam's lips twisted to the side. "Maybe," she started slowly. "But they always have a motive, no matter how stupid it turns out to be."
Kahli got on her knees and inspected the pipe. It was easy enough to fix, requiring only a few pieces to be welded onto the pipe, and after a few minutes, she had the hole patched and secured. She got to her feet and admired her work for a moment, but a rumbling sound came from the pipe above them. They looked up just as sewage burst out of the pipe, knocking them both backwards and into the hole in the floor behind them.
They landed on the ground hard, likely only dropping one story, but still, the wind was knocked out of Kahli's lungs upon impact. They took a moment to catch their breaths, then got to their feet, looking around at their surroundings.
"What the hell?" Kahli said. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Sam said slowly. "No one's been in this ruin before. Looks like it might be part of the sewage system." She hesitated. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
As if to confirm her gut feeling, the distinct, angry squeaks of bandirats echoed off the walls.
"Well," Sam started. "Looks like you're gonna be putting all that training to use." She grinned at Kahli. "Shall we?"
Kahli followed Sam through the tunnels until they came across the first hoard of backrats and redrats. Slightly more advanced than the bandirats Kahli was used to, they came at them quickly and violently. But with Sam at her side, they took them out easily, pressing forward until they encountered another hoard.
It took a while for them to navigate the tunnels of the sewage system, many of the passages ending in dead ends or with closed gates which forced them to backtrack to find another way around. But finally, and after several more hordes of rats, they reached a large, open room. Eight more of the rats stood in the center of the room, and among them, a much larger rat.
"Great," Kahli muttered. "Can't catch a break."
"Art thou the one that ended my son?" the giant rat's voice boomed.
"It talks?" Sam said in surprise.
"Are you behind the goo in the water?" Kahli asked.
"Oh, ye doth amaze me to figure that out! 'Tis true! Now prepare thyself."
At that moment, three of the rats lunged at them. Sam stepped forward in an attempt to stop them, but they were far stronger, and they pushed her violently backwards, separating her from Kahli.
Kahli didn't have a chance to check on Sam, however, as the remaining five rats had lunged toward her as well. She quickly drew her sword and used it to block the attack from the first rat. She pushed violently against the creature, throwing it to the side and swinging the blade across as the next two rats closed in. They both stumbled back, allowing the final two to jump forward, and with another swing of her blade, they stumbled back as well.
With them temporarily cleared from, Kahli had a moment to switch to the offensive, and she immediately turned her attention back to the first rat as it returned to its feet. It lunged at her, and she jabbed her blade forward, quickly ending its life. One down, four remaining.
She yanked the sword out as two more lunged toward her, one right after another, and she brought her blade across each one in two quick swipes in succession. They fell to the ground, severely wounded, but they had not quite lost their fight yet. Still, their hesitation to regain themselves gave Kahli another golden opportunity, spinning around to meet the other two attackers just in time. She quickly fended them off of her, then turned back to two injured rats. They were much slower, and with two more swift swings of her sword, their lives came to an end.
The final two rats, without any of their comrades to help, were much easier for her to handle, taking them on one-on-one until they, too, dropped lifeless to the ground. But her battle was not over as the rat king loomed over her.
He was much larger than the rats; much, much larger than her, and far stronger than any of the monsters she had encountered so far. But she used that to her advantage, easily dodging his heavy handed blow and attacking him from behind at every opportunity. Before long, wounded and exhausted, the rat king dropped to his knees. He swung desperately at her, his arms flailing wildly, and Kahli kept clear of them, rolling out of the way of his attacks. And when her opening presented itself, she jumped onto the rat, plunging her sword into his back, and he let out a sharp, piercing shriek. He stumbled forward, then fell face first against the ground as his final breath escaped his throat.
Kahli waited a moment to catch her breath and to ensure that the rat king was, in fact, dead, then dislodged her sword from the creature's lifeless body. She jumped down to the ground as Sam approached her.
"Not bad!" Sam said. She looked around with approval, her hands on her hips. "Good to know you can defend yourself."
"I guess I owe some of that to you," Kahli said.
"Hm. Yeah, I guess you do." Sam grinned. "Come on, let's find a way out of here, yeah?"
They continued onward through the sewage system. With their enemies defeated, the rest of their adventure proved quiet, and they soon came across a room with various pipes. The pipes met in the center where a sort of control panel stood.
"This must be the control system for all the pipes," Sam guessed. "Let's see if we can turn off the goo from here."
Kahli examined the panel, then turned a few of the pipes. The pipes shuttered and groaned, then slowly quieted.
"You did it! Nice! Let's get outta here."
With the polluted pipes turned off, Kahli and Sam left the building, stepping out into the bright, hot sun. They waited a moment for her eyes to adjust, blinking in the light, then Sam spoke.
"Well, thanks for your help! I'm going to stay and look around some more. You should probably let the mayor know what happened. Hopefully that fixed the pollution problem."
As she made her way back into town, Kahli could already see the river clearing from the pollution. In the plaza, even the fountain ran clearer. It would take some time before all the pollutants were removed and safe to drink from once more, but at least it was fixed.
She found Mayor Gale inside the town hall, and she quickly explained what had happened.
"A talking rat?" Gale laughed. "That's great." But his laughter trailed off. "But then again... there are strange tales about monsters from the Periphery, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. But, the goo's gone, and that's all that matters. Once again, I owe you my thanks!"
"And hazard pay?" Kahli asked, crossing her arms, and Gale laughed again.
*****
It was late in the evening when Sam finally returned to town. Kahli spent the rest of her afternoon at the Round Table, venturing out later to check to make sure Sam had made it back safely. She thought of making her way to the Civil Corps building, but instead saw Sam just as she was coming out of the hazardous ruins.
"Find anything good?" Kahli asked.
"Nah," Sam said. "Not much. But your patch job seems to be holding up, and I didn't find any other issues."
"The water already looks like its clearing up," Kahli confirmed, and Sam grinned.
"Excellent. I hope the mayor paid you a little extra for clearing out more of those rats for us." She winked at her.
"I charged her double for the big guy," Kahli said.
Sam laughed. "Well, if you ever decide you want an adventure, it would be nice to have another woman around."
Kahli smiled, then bid Sam a goodnight. She made her way back towards the plaza, but voices caught her attention, and as she rounded the corner, she spotted Arlo and Nora together. She had only spoken to Nora a few times since arriving in Portia. She seemed sweet and kind, and Kahli knew - mostly from Emily filling her in some time earlier on some of the people around Portia - that Nora was serving a two year mission in Portia at the Church of Light. Kahli, never being religious herself, had never bothered to venture up to the church in town, so she very rarely saw Nora unless they were passing in the plaza.
Naturally, it surprised Kahli to see Nora out now, considering how late it was. And hanging out with Arlo, no less. And at this hour. Did she mention how late it was? They weren't exactly easily noticed, especially from the center of town. Were they trying to hide?
Her cheeks warmed slightly as the realization crossed her mind, and she was thankful for the dark night that hid her change in expression as both Nora and Arlo turned to her.
Nora smiled. "Hey, Kahli. I hear you've been keeping pretty busy. Everything going well?"
Kahli hesitated. She looked between Nora and Arlo. "Uh. Yep."
"Did I hear Sam?" Arlo asked.
"Mhm." Kahli cleared her throat. "Um. We took care of the leaky pipes. And some of those rats." An odd sort of chuckle escaped her. "Always those rats," she muttered. She screamed at herself internally; why was she so damn awkward? And always, always around Arlo...
"You seem to have a bad habit of finding trouble," Arlo commented.
Kahli laughed. "Yup. Well. You know. That's me. Doing what I can to keep the peace."
"What would you do without her?" Nora said, turning to Arlo, but Arlo did not answer. Nora turned back to Kahli. "I'm glad you're settling in alright," she continued. Everyone has nice things to say about you."
"Heh," Kahli started. "Give them time."
Arlo laughed.
"Okay, well." Kahli paused, then shot them two finger guns. "I'll leave you to it, then. Don't mind me. I'm just... going home now... this way..." She walked backwards. "Okay. Bye." She spun herself around and hurried into the cover of darkness.
"See ya later!" Nora called from behind her.
Kahli was eager to fall into bed and pull the blankets over her head in a pathetic attempt to hide herself. She wasn't exactly sure why she felt that way. Did she feel incredibly awkward? Sure. Did she have a reason to? Not particularly. Not that she could be sure of, anyway. It wasn't like she had walked in on them making out. That would have been weird. But they were just talking. In secrecy. But talking.
Still, why should she care? She had seen them hanging out before. It wasn't anything new. She suspected maybe they were a thing, though no one else in town could actually confirm that. Not that she was digging for information. Not that she cared.
She nearly walked into Emily as she approached the house, and Emily laughed.
"You always got your head in the clouds," she said. But she read the torn expression on Kahli's face and frowned. "What's wrong?"
Kahli sighed, then met her gaze. "You were right," she said in a defeated tone. "I like Arlo."