Row was on the cusp of snapping at Rhea. Vanessa suddenly stops to see the drama unfold before her eyes. 

“Why should I help this plundering maniacal Kroliq reach her ship so she can inflict more of the suffering she has on me to the outside world?! Are you insane?! Rhea! I’ve told you what she’s done to me, and you’re still choosing to help her?!”

“I don’t wanna help her either,” Rhea grips her staff. “But the lives of the villagers in Miasto are at stake! If we hurry then maybe we can stop them from taking any more!”

“Augh! And that’s another thing,” Row snapped. “How in the hell are we supposed to accept this as if she’ll honor her word? For all we know she could lead us straight into a trap in the caverns and kill us all! This wench is not to be trusted!” 

Row snaps his attention to Lucerna, who hears both of their points, but is struggling to decide on her own. 

“Right, Lu?!”

Lucerna is twiddling her thumbs; her eyes bounce from one end of the hut to the next. Her apprehensiveness quieted Row’s rage and sent him spiraling into straight confusion. 

“R-right… Lu…?” He asked softly. “Y-you don’t think we should help Fujiko… do you…?” 

Lucerna clasps her hands together, fidgeting in her seat from left to right. She swallows the fear in her throat and sends it to her stomach; finally finding the courage to answer her friend. 

“...I don’t,” She answers softly. 

Relief fills Row’s heart, but her jittery nature promptly brings back his anxiety. 

“I don’t want to help Fujiko… but… I wanna help Rhea and the villagers. If she goes, then I’ll go with her.”

Rhea felt her heart skip a beat. She wasn’t expecting Lucerna to take her side. Rhea’s gaze softened at the nervous Kotka. 

“Lu…”

“N-no way…! There’s no way you said that to me! TO ME?!” 

Row does his best to control his anger. He arches his head low and bites his lower lip so hard that he cuts it open, and blood trickles down his chin. 

“Screw you people…” 

Row marches out of the hut, his shoulder banging against Fujiko’s arm. Fujiko’s body turns slightly upon the bump, watching the angry Kotka stomp further in Fiolet and disappear. 

“Now that the family drama is over,” Fujiko says, parting some of her hair. “We should get going. According to Karta and anyone within several feet of me, I’m unwanted here, so let me return to my ship so I can be out of everyone’s hair for the rest of eternity.”

Rhea is still looking at Row walk away through the cracks of the curtain. Her heart aches, feeling great disappointment in herself. 

“Right… let’s get this over with…”

Later, venturing outside the boundaries of Fiolet, Karta, and Fujiko leads the other two towards the Hollow Hollows. The two Kroliq pair together, leading the pack, while the Kotka and the Human trail some ways behind. 

Rhea and Lucerna were rather quiet the entire walk there. Each woman wanted to say something, but neither could find the heart to do so. That was until Rhea felt the need to speak up. 

“I’m sorry…”

Lucerna looks up at her. 

“You’re sorry…?”

“Yeah…” Rhea replies, looking away. “That must’ve not been an easy decision for you to make. Especially for a friend that you’ve known for that long.”

“Y-yeah…” Lucerna says, timidly churning strands of her hair. “It was pretty tough… on one hand I understood Row, and I wanted to back him. At the same time, if we let Fujiko have her way, then who knows what’ll happen to the village. Actually, I have a pretty good idea of what would happen. All those people, my home, all his stuff, gone.”

Lucerna eyes the tall woman in front. 

“If there’s even a chance that she’ll honor her word, I wanna take it. Other people outside Miasto might be in danger, I know, but for right now, I need to protect what’s closest to me. And if that means Row walks off for the time being, then so be it.” 

Rhea lays her hand atop Lucerna’s luscious white hair. Her Kotka ears are twitching while her bright yellow eyes beam toward the housewife. 

“Thanks for standing by my side, Lu.”

Lucerna is blushing. 

“N-no problem…”

Rhea retracts her hand from Lu’s head. 

“After we’re done, we need to find Row and apologize. Hopefully, by the time we get back, he’ll have cooled off…”

Karta calls to them from the front.

“We’ve arrived, you two.”

Rhea and Lucerna look up, face-to-face with the other side of the Loot Cavern, the end leading to Fiolet, the start of it beginning by Miasto. The darkness within is just as intimidating as the entrance near the village of Kotka. 

Fujiko looks over her shoulder, seeing Rhea and Lucerna gawk at the cavern. 

“Hurry up! We have no time to waste!” 

Rhea and Lucerna frown simultaneously, stepping forward, reluctantly moving to Fujiko’s side. Karta turns his back to them. 

“This is as far as I go. I must return to Fiolet. Be safe, you three.” 

“Thanks Karta…” Rhea said. 

“Hmph,” Fujiko scoffed. “Be sure not to get in my way, Human.”

Rhea sighs. 

You’re the one who needs our help…

As Karta departs, Lucerna peers into the Hollows. 

“Man,” Lucerna is squinting. “How did you navigate through all this from Miasto? It feels darker here than it does from the entrance over there!”

“Are you saying you’ll struggle to keep up?” Fujiko asked. 

“Hold on,” Rhea interrupts. “I have an idea.”

Rhea steps closer to the cavern. She holds her staff out and shuts her eyes, concentrating on her emotions. It takes a few moments, but the red sprite on her staff begins to glow. 

“Hmph…!” 

Poof!

At the tip of the Trickster Staff, Rhea kindles a small flame; a heat strong enough to act as a torch. 

“Wow…!” Lucerna gasps. “That’s so cool!”

“You like it?” Rhea snickered. “I thought of it just now! Looks like magic can be pretty nifty!” 

Fujiko walks past Rhea and enters the cavern. 

“Great party trick. Are you done fellating yourself? Let’s go. And don’t you dare fall behind!” 

“Augh…”

I hate this lady… 

Fujiko leads the pack, and Rhea and Lucerna travel behind her. 

The Hollow Hollows held a different structure than the entrance from Miasto. While the start from Miasto held a horizontal, maze-like framework, the start from Fiolet adds some verticality to its design. 

At first, the new trio navigates through the Hollows with ease. With Fujiko as their guide and Rhea to light their surroundings, they found little to no difficulty traversing the foreign grounds. Having light within the cavern seemed to be more harmful than helpful. The light from the flames revealed creepy crawling critters across the walls and ceilings, their pattering feet straying away from the light that gradually covets the Hollows. 

Lucerna sticks close to Rhea, a bit frightened by the new animals. 

“G-gross… we’ve gotta get outta here as fast as possible…” 

“Less talking and more walking would do us wonders,” Fujiko spat. “And stay alert. The monsters from the Hollows are a different breed than those of Miasto.” 

Lucerna is looking around. “Then I guess I can consider us lucky we didn’t find anything crazy then, huh?”

Splat

Lucerna’s right foot crash lands on a puddle. She looks down and pulls her foot back, a sticky substance following her sole, breaking apart as she pulls back further. 

“Huh…? A puddle…?” Lucerna murmurs. 

“LU!”

Rhea’s frantic call snapped her attention upward. A dark shadow casts over them. Lucerna sees Rhea and Fujiko’s attention dart skyward, to a monstrosity that towers the two of them. 

A monster, some feet taller than Fujiko, with the body of a bear and the head of a wolf. 

AWOOOOOO

It lets out an ear-rattling howl, petrifying Rhea and Lucerna. Although tense, Fujiko holds her ground. 

“Tch, a Bearwolf,” Fujiko groaned. “Now of all times…!”

Fujiko takes a closer look at the Bearwolf. It too, is rather hesitant on attacking. Upon closer inspection, it was eyeing the burning flame with its arms out and open, refusing to attack. 

“Human!” Fujiko exclaimed. “Hold the flame closer to it!”

“Wh-what?!”

“DON’T QUESTION ME,” Fujiko yelled. “JUST DO IT!”

Rhea sucked her teeth, reluctantly following Fujiko’s orders. As Fujiko surmised, the monster started backing away. 

“Th-the Bearwolf is scared of fire?” Lucerna questioned. 

“Oh, it’s scared of fire, huh?” 

Rhea starts to concentrate her emotions to form a fireball. 

“How about it gets a little taste of-”

Suddenly, Fujiko leaps into the air. 

“RRRAAAAAUGHH!” 

She lunges straight at the Bearwolf with her arm cocked back and hand balled into a fist. While the Bearwolf was scared and distracted, she unleashed a devastating fist straight into its nostril. 

POW

Fujiko’s attack breaks the Bearwolf’s nose, tilting it to the side. The monster freaks out, falls on its back, and flails on the ground. It starts whimpering uncontrollably before getting on all fours and fleeing out of the room. 

Rhea was astonished by Fujiko’s strength. Her spell begins to die down, returning to a flame atop the staff. 

“U-uh… we could’ve maybe shooed it away with the fire instead of…” Lucerna blinks twice. “Doing that…” 

Fujiko pulls her bloody knuckle to the side. 

“You’re too soft,” Fujiko scoffed. “The monsters in here won’t leave you alone until you show who’s more dominant! Remember that while we traverse the Hollows. Keep your eyes and ears open at all-”

Twitch

Fujiko’s sudden ear twitch startles her. She looks around the room frantically but sees nothing. All of a sudden, a large tongue wraps tightly around her waist. Rhea and Lucerna do know not how to proceed, and they simply stand there.

“Times?” Fujiko gasped. 

The big tongue whips her forward. 

“YAAAAAAAAAAaaaah…!”

Fujiko’s lady-like scream sends her into the abyss of another dark corridor. Rhea and Lucerna stare at the direction she was pulled. 

“What the heck was that?!” Lucerna squealed. 

“A very big… slimy… gross… tongue…” Rhea felt herself become more ill the more she spoke. 

Lucerna rubs her chin. 

“Should we… leave her behind?” Lucerna asked. 

“As much as I’d love to, she’s the only one who knows how to get through this place,” Rhea points her torch in the direction of the tongue. We’ve gotta go after her.” 

“Darn… lead the way then, Rhea.”

Rhea now leads the charge, holding her staff out in front of her, her flame growing a bit brighter. 

“Don’t worry, we can do this!”