Siobhan definitely knew her audience. Alana shouldn't have been surprised, given that Siobhan hosted a bed and breakfast. She definitely would have to be able to handle the 'breakfast' part. But still, Alana was impressed at the sheer volume of food on the long dining room table. There were a couple large bowls of pasta, several jars of varying kinds of pasta sauce, several baskets of breadsticks, and two bowls of salad.
"This is enough for me, but I dunno about the rest of ya," Kord laughed, even though they all knew that even Kord wouldn't be able to clear the table.
"Thank you, Siobhan," Alana laughed, taking a seat. She was between Eli and Trixie on one side, and the other side hosted Pronto, Kord, and Junjie, with Siobhan at the head of the table next to Eli and Pronto and Sam at the other end of the table between Trixie and Junjie.
"It's no problem, I've been wanting to get some good cooking in for a while now," Siobhan said nonchalantly, smiling as the slingers began loading their plates. Junjie eyed the others carefully, looking like he was making sure these caverns didn't do anything notably different from his at the dinner table. "Not the best I ever made, but not half bad when you're just trying for a large volume."
"It's perfect," Eli assured. "Thank you for being such a great host. We really appreciate it."
"Stop thanking me," Siobhan grumbled, but her smile didn't fade. "Just givin' back a bit. Don't amount to much compared to what you slingers give. Sorry the rest of this town can't see that. They're all riled up. In a few days, they'll calm down, and be rightfully ashamed."
Trixie scoffed, taking a pause from devouring a heaping plate of spaghetti.
"Good. They should be," she said.
"You sure showed them, though," Kord laughed, glancing up at Alana. "You looked real mad, all glowy like that."
"I felt real mad," Alana sighed, breaking off a piece of breadstick and handing it to Ash, who blew some flames on it to toast it nearly to char before chomping into it. "I hope I didn't make things worse. I knew we talked about being transparent about the whole caverns thing, but I don't think that's what any of us had in mind."
"Pronto would have made an excellent figurehead to this new era of knowledge, but you did the best you could!" Pronto exclaimed. "Perhaps next time we drop a bombshell, you should let Pronto, though. I am very talented at talking to the masses!"
"I will keep that in mind," Alana laughed. "I'm not planning on doing that again, though. The videos on the SlugNet better do their job and circulate so we don't need to have that conversation again."
Junjie cleared his throat, speaking up from his corner of the table.
"I do not have any experience with the people of these caverns. Are they usually so... rattled?" he asked carefully. "It certainly was unexpected behavior, given that your group protects them."
Eli, who had already somehow eaten three breadsticks and half a plate of spaghetti, shook his head. Luckily he took a moment to actually swallow before talking.
"It's not usually like that. Some people hate us, don't get me wrong, but usually people are either neutral or like us," he said. "The people who hate us are usually trying to do something bad, so it was a little weird to get so much hate from townspeople. Usually civilians who don't like us are super rich and in tight with the bad guys, or older people who are mad that I don't do things just like my dad did."
"Which is a load, nobody's Will Shane 'cept for Will Shane," Siobhan noted. "You're doing great, kid."
Eli just smiled, and even though it was hinted with sadness, Alana knew he appreciated hearing that, especially when just a little while ago he was being shouted at for not living up to his father's reputation.
"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."
"No, no, I'm trouble, I get it," Alana lamented dramatically. "I'll just show myself out. Just start walking West. I'll get there eventually."
She'd been expecting any conversation about the West to feel like pulling teeth, but it was almost nice to be able to just casually talk about it like the part of her history that it was.
"Pronot could probably dig you there," Pronto said thoughtfully. "I once braved the tunnels of Low Rock Cavern to escape a group of slug bandits!"
"Here we go," Kord groaned.
"You're about to get your first Pronto story," Trixie told Junjie, but the Eastern slinger was already avidly listening to the molenoid, unaware that most of what he would hear would be a near-criminal exaggeration of heroism. "And we've lost him. That's a shame."
Siobhan laughed, but leaned back to listen to the story as well. Alana smiled to herself, glad that the group was able to calm down after the confrontation with Gateway's townspeople. The adrenaline of standing up to them was only just now starting to fade, and Alana was almost embarrassed at how quickly she'd snapped and summoned her energy, but she would've done it again, even for someone she just met.
Well, maybe not just met. Maybe someone she'd seen over a decade ago, but was truly meeting for the first time, and trying to work through her previous mindsets about. It was always complicated, wasn't it?
One of the breadstick plates had ended up on Eli's left with one piece left, and Alana certainly wasn't about to be wasteful, so she turned to Eli to ask him to pass it over. But he had his eyes closed tightly and his head resting in one of his hands, his elbow propped up on the table. His whole body looked tense, like he was a spring ready to pop up.
"E? Are you okay?" Alana whispered. No response. Unwilling to poke him and risk scaring him out of whatever state he was in, she scooted closer in her seat, trying again. "Psst, hey, Eli?"
The Shane opened his eyes and raised his head, blinking a few times before squaring his shoulders.
"Yeah, sorry, what's up?" he asked.
"Are you okay?" she asked quietly, glancing around the table. The others were all enamored by Pronto's story, either taking it as gospel or as a comedic routine. "You don't need to stay, you can go back to bed if you want."
"I'm okay," Eli said, quickly picking his fork back up and poking at his salad. "I've just been getting headaches."
"Since the Goon? We should tell Sam," she said worriedly.
"No, it's not- it's nothing she can help with, probably just stress," he assured. "I don't want to get poked at anymore today. I just want to eat dinner and go to sleep."
Alana wanted to argue, but she knew she'd be feeling the same way in his situation. She'd want to just try to have a hint of normalcy after so many terrible things.
"Okay. Let me know if it gets worse?"
"Promise."
~~~~~~~~
Eli didn't say anything for the rest of dinner, but he didn't seem to be in pain anymore. Alana couldn't tell if his headache was lightening up, or if he was just pretending for her sake. By the time Pronto was done recounting his certainly very real journey through Low Rock Cavern, the group had finished dinner.
Siobhan tried to tell the group they didn't need to help her with the dishes, but the Shane Gang was nothing if not polite, and even Pronto helped clear the table. Siobhan was left to stand aside and just direct them where to put the dishes. Even Sam and Junjie pitched in, and the seven had everything cleaned up in only a matter of minutes. They all stood in the dining room, arms crossed and looking proud of their quick work.
"Wow. If any of y'all are ever looking for a job, just let me know. Place is spotless," Siobhan said, crossing her arms and peering down at her near-sparkling dining room table.
"We'll keep that in mind," Trixie said. "But you should know, this is a guest special. The hideout's usually a wreck."
"Speaking of the hideout," Eli said, leaning against the doorframe between the kitchen and the dining room. "We're heading home tomorrow morning. Doesn't have to be at first light, but once we get up and around, we'll move out."
Alana raised an eyebrow. She knew everyone was itching to leave town after the issue before dinner, but
"Are you sure everyone is up to traveling?" Sam said worriedly, looking particularly at Eli and Junjie. "You don't need to rush back into things, you should take more time to rest."
"Trust me, we'll definitely rest, just not here," Eli said. He glanced in the direction of the front hallway warily, as if the front door might burst open again with angry citizens. "I think the townspeople would feel better if we left, and I know I would, too. I think we need to just go rest in our own beds."
Sam nodded, sighing and running a hand through her curly hair.
"We don't really know if anything here will cause, say, an allergic reaction until it happens," she admitted. "Alana, did anything in the 99 particularly bother you?"
"Dark water," Alana said instantly, then covered her mouth to try to hold in her laughs when Sam just rolled her eyes.
"Okay, funny. I don't see any problems health-wise keeping you all here, even Junjie. I'll need to head back out to Bonnie Springs tonight anyway. The rest of the crew got dinner in town, but they're getting ready to head home. Just keep me in the loop if anything happens, okay?" she pleaded.
"We will," Alana promised. "I agree with E. I think heading home and laying low for a little bit would be good for everyone."
"You're welcome to stay as long as you want, but if you want to go home, I'll have breakfast ready in the morning," Siobhan said, stretching and yawning. "This has been too much excitement for an old cave troll. I need to get to sleep. Can you lock up behind you when you leave, dear?"
Sam nodded, and Siobhan took that as her cue to leave, walking down the hall to her room.
"Thanks for your help today, Sam," Trixie said, giving the medical student a quick hug. "You're the best."
"Anytime," Sam assured, smiling softly. "Alana, walk me out?"
"Mhm," Alana hummed, skirting around the group and following Sam out of the bed and breakfast. The two stood on the front porch, shutting the door behind them.
Darkness coated Gateway Cavern, turning its signature tans and golds to purples and blues. The air was cool, and the town was silent. After the excitement of the day, Alana was sure everyone would be sleeping hard.
The duo stood together in silence for a moment, looking out at the expanse of Gateway Cavern in front of them facing outside of town. Sam finally broke the silence.
"I don't suppose you made up that Western Caverns bit to take the heat off Eli and Junjie?" she asked, sounding like she already knew the answer.
"No," Alana laughed. "Although that would have been a good idea. No, Sam, it's the truth. I came here when I was five. That's part of the reason Will took me in. I wasn't just some random kid off the streets."
"I get why you wanted to keep that a secret. I'm... I'm sorry if I was being pushy, trying to get you to talk about stuff," Sam said, her voice wavering. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes. "And now I know, and it's just some other terrible thing you've gone through. And on top of it all, telling the rest of the caverns about it... I just want you to know I'm here for you, okay?"
Alana nodded, pulling Sam into a tight hug.
"Thank you. Don't apologize, you're always just trying to help, and sometimes I can't tell you everything," she said. "But it always helps to know you've got my back. Thank you, Sam."
After a few moments, Sam pulled away, sniffling and wiping away her tears.
"Hang in there. Keep me updated. Now I get why you feel connected with Junjie and want to help him, but still, if something goes wrong, you put your safety first, okay?" she asked.
"I will, I promise," Alana assured with a smile.
Sam nodded, giving Alana one last quick hug before stepping off the porch and walking down the sidewalk. Alana stood at the doorstep, watching as her friend rode her purple doe Mecha back into town to meet up with her coworkers and go back to Bonnie Springs.
Not everything was out in the open, but Alana still felt lighter knowing she had one less thing to keep to herself. She didn't exactly want everyone to know every detail about her life thus far, but it was nice to be sitting on one less secret.
She heard the front door carefully open behind her, and she turned to greet her visitor, expecting Eli or Trixie. But her greeting caught in her throat when she instead saw Junjie. He hadn't even spoken yet, but he already looked on edge just being near Alana. His hand stayed on the doorknob, and he was still halfway inside.
"I wanted to speak with you, but if you would rather not, just say the word and I will leave," he said, the words spilling out of his mouth quickly, as if he was worried he'd take them back. "I think at some point we need to talk, but if now isn't the time, we can wait."
Hesitance almost led Alana to ask to talk later, but her earlier burst of bravery won out. She nodded and stepped down, sitting on the edge of the porch and patting the wood next to her. She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, bouncing her leg.
Junjie nodded and sat next to her, much more still and obviously leaving a few feet of space between them.
For a moment, they just sat in silence. Pale green lightning bugs lazily drifted around Siobhan's yard.
"In the Eastern Caverns, those are pink," Junjie finally said, a small smile forming when a lightning bug landed on him. It flashed a few times before taking flight again.
Alana thought back to Palida Cavern, trying to mentally sort through an archive of battered memories. Finally, one surfaced, just barely. An evening in Palida Cavern, when her father was watching over her when her mother was on a mission. He'd held Alana up so she could cup one of the fireflies in her hands.
"They're blue in the West," Alana said softly.
Junjie nodded thoughtfully.
"You seemed familiar to me when I first saw you, but I didn't realize who you were until I saw your powers and you admitted you're from the West," he began. "Your family name is Caelum, right?"
Alana stared at the ground in front of her, trying to focus on the angles of the small blades of grass. She nodded.
"I met Evanlyn Caelum once," he said, and that shocked Alana enough for her to raise her head and look at him incredulously.
"You... you did?" she breathed. So the 99 Caverns weren't the only ones her mother had visited.
"It's difficult to remember. I think my head is still a bit scrambled," Junjie admitted. "But I know she visited my caverns to introduce herself. Are you her sister?"
"Daughter," Alana corrected. "She was my mom."
That seemed to slightly confuse Junjie. He looked like he wanted to ask more about that familial relation, but instead he opted to ask the question Alana had been dreading.
"Was," Junjie echoed sadly. He glanced over at her. "Why are you here, Alana?"
It wouldn't be fair to lie to Junjie, or to give him a half-truth. He was just as involved in this as Alana was, but he clearly was unable to remember what happened because of the Goon. From the tone of his voice, he clearly already knew the reason wasn't a happy one.
"I was sent over here for safekeeping. My mom knew I'd be safe with these caverns' protector, Will- Eli's dad."
"Safe from what?" Junjie asked miserably, though it sounded like he knew the answer. Alana ran a hand through her hair, looking away from him again.
"This isn't the first time y- the Dark Slinger- attacked a different set of caverns," she admitted. "The West came before the 99."
"This isn't the first time I attacked a different set of caverns," Junjie corrected bitterly.
"No, I meant what I said," Alana argued. "There's a difference."
"What did I do?" Junjie asked, ignoring her comment. She bit back a retort. That clearly wasn't going to be a battle she'd win tonight.
"The Dark Slinger invaded the West. Unlike the 99, they'd never dealt with ghouls before. They were taken totally by surprise," Alana explained, recounting the utter confusion she'd seen her parents experience when they fought the corrupted slugs. "It was a larger invasion, more planned than what the Goon had for the 99, I think. He didn't just want to conquer the caverns, he wanted to take my mom and I to the East. Something about our energy. I'm not quite sure what he wanted here, though. He seemed surprised to see me, so I doubt he knew I was here."
Junjie put his head in his hands, but didn't speak, so Alana continued.
"There was some kind of gateway in our home cavern that my mom used to send me here. We've known traveling with slug energy is possible, but. I don't know. The Goon just seemed so interested in my energy that I didn't think he'd want anything here," she admitted. "And I have the energy, sure, but I don't know how to make a portal back. I'm not sure there's anything to go back to. I know that my parents and their team are dead, though."
"And I'm sure I know who killed them," Junjie whispered, not moving his face from where it was covered by his hands.
"It's not your fault," Alana said softly, blinking tears from the corners of her eyes. "It was the Goon. I know that."
"It is my fault!" Junjie exclaimed, raising his head. Alana could now see the tears swimming in his brown eyes. "I failed to protect my own caverns from the Goon Doc, and because of my failure, other realms are suffering as well. I understand why you were so hesitant around me before. I- I-"
He got to his feet, pacing in front of Alana with his arms crossed.
"I destroyed your home. I killed your friends and family. I cannot stay with you and your friends, I am a monster."
"What, so Eli's a monster, too?" Alana challenged, getting to her feet. "He was possessed too. He attacked his friends and his people and he could have killed someone. That was all his fault, then?"
"No, no, of course not-" Junjie stammered, but Alana interrupted.
"Then the same goes for you. You lost one fight, Junjie, and if you let the Goon make you forget that you're the Eastern Champion, then you let him win."
She held out her hand, a smile on her face.
"So stay with us. We'll track the Goon down and stop him, and we'll get you back home. We'll try to make it right. I'm not gonna lie, it'll take me some time to get used to being around you," she confessed. "But if we weren't comfortable letting you stay with us, we wouldn't have offered. Forget meeting you as the Dark Slinger. Let's just... start over."
Junjie laughed, taking a moment to wipe tears from his face before carefully shaking Alana's hand.
"I should have guessed who you were before," he noted. "You speak like a realm's champion."
"I try," Alana laughed, gesturing toward the front door. "Let's get inside. We've got a solid day of travel tomorrow, and you've just signed your life away to living with us, so get ready for more stories from Pronto."
"He is a very interesting person," Junjie said, following Alana up the porch. "And I have never seen anyone like him in the East."
Alana frowned and paused, her hand hovering over the doorknob. Did she remember seeing any molenoids in the West? She thought for a few moments, thinking back to traveling around the small 100 caverns, and of the different Paladins.
"Huh. I don't think the West has molenoids either," she laughed. She shook her head as she opened the front door. "Maybe don't tell Pronto that. It'll go to his head. Being a king does enough to his ego."
"He is royalty?" Junjie asked incredulously, following Alana inside and locking the door behind him.
"Of a sort," Alana clarified, lowering her voice as the two carefully walked upstairs. All the lights were off and the house was silent- the others must have retreated to their rooms. "If you're bored tomorrow, ask him about it. He could go on for hours."
"Fascinating," Junjie remarked. He paused in front of his door and bowed his head. "Thank you, for telling me what happened. It couldn't have been easy, but I appreciate learning what I cannot remember. And I am honored to have been saved by such an amazing group of slugslingers."
With that, he silently entered his room, shutting the door behind him. Alana smiled and turned to her own door. The exhaustion of the day was definitely catching up with her, but she was glad she'd found it in herself to end the day on a good note. Things certainly wouldn't be perfect moving forward, but she had started to make amends with Junjie, and that was something.
She expected Eli and Trixie to be asleep, but when she entered the room, she was met with the lights on. Both slingers were on their respective bed and couch, but they were staring up at Alana expectedly, wide awake.
"How'd it go?" Eli asked worriedly.
"Fine, thanks for the privacy," Alana retorted sarcastically. "You two should be asleep."
"We weren't, like, eavesdropping, but we wanted to stay up to make sure you were okay," Trixie explained. "We saw Junjie walk outside and figured he was gonna talk to you."
"Well, you figured correctly," Alana confirmed, flipping the lightswitch off and feeling her way over to her comfy chair and collapsing into it. "It went good, I think. I told him some stuff about the West, so he'd get that I wasn't acting distant for no reason. I think things are gonna be okay."
She couldn't see Eli, but she could hear him sigh in relief and flop back into his pillows and blankets.
"That's good to hear. And you're sure you're okay with him living at the hideout?" he asked.
Alana threw her fluffy blanket over herself, curling up and letting her muscles finally relax. She thought of the look in Junjie's eyes when she'd reached out, ready to shake hands with the body that had done so many horrors against its will.
"Yeah. I'm sure."