Violet gave the visual scanner for the dark worldlet a confused look. "Do the people around here not know about cats and purring? Maybe they are not domestic on this world." Violet shrugged. Something tugged at his mind, something half remembered. He tapped his chin as he tried to remember something about... bonded creatures.


    "Oh, right!" Violet said. "He can''t leave! I mean, he shouldn''t leave. Let me see..." Violet summoned another one of his school textbooks and flipped it open. The class about general dungeon creatures hadn''t been so bad, and the book was reasonably sized. He quickly found a section that mentioned delvers bonding dungeon creatures. "Yes, he could leave, but the cat will probably eat him if he severs the bond. Cat has to be released by the dungeon... blah, blah, blah... mental damage." Violet shut the book and caused it to disappear.


    Violet looked up at the human on the scanner. The young man was using both hands now to scratch the cat''s cheeks. The cat looked ridiculously pleased. Motion on the acid rain scanner drew Violet''s attention. A group of bandits was approaching the bandit camp from the direction of the stony worldlet. Two of them were clearly injured, and one of those was a troll. Violet''s heart sank at the sight of the troll. He checked the stony worldlet and was unsurprised to find it was empty of the several dozen red jellyfish that usually haunted the space.


    "Dammit, that troll could probably kill everything in this dungeon by itself, unless the big snake swallowed it." Violet hesitated. "Maybe. I guess it might survive that too." He sighed. "Should I just wait for the hill lord to come take care everything? He will probably come running as soon..." Violet frowned as he followed that thought. Why was the hill lord not already here?


    Violet looked again at the bandits near the dungeon entrance. The bandits might have been in the dungeon for a couple of days already. The man in the dark worldlet was a frequent harvester and never ventured further into the dungeon. Had he been attacked by the bandits? He was alone with no supplies, so what happened to the rest of his harvesting group? Violet decided to get some answers.


    <hr>


    "Hello, human." Violet tried to make his voice sound impressive, but his fairy race gave him a fairly high pitched voice that lacked a certain gravity. Violet nearly summoned a globe of light to shine in the human''s eyes for intimidation, but he remembered at the last moment that the moon cats couldn''t stand bright light.


    The human snatched up a large metal hook and tried to jump to his feet, looking around wildly. He managed to get to one knee quickly enough, but it seemed he needed to wait for circulation to return to his lower limbs before standing. Violet took one step forward to draw the human''s attention to his location. "Calm yourself, human." He said. The moon cat shifted in irritation at the human''s sudden movement, but it had been aware of the fairy''s presence as soon as Violet had arrived and so was not surprised.


    The human pointed the hook at Violet. "Who are you?" He demanded. Violet didn''t have an impressive answer ready, so he turned the question back on the human. "Who are you?" He asked.


    "I''m... Chaney." The human said. "What''s your name?"This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Violet scoffed arrogantly at the question. "Foolish, to ask the name of a fae." Violet felt a little silly at that. Fairies were only potential fae, and usually not very powerful when they evolved into fae.


    "Fae?" The human, Chaney, had eyes wide with amazement. "Like the elves?"


    Violet regretted taking this approach with Chaney, but he had finally thought of a response to Chaney''s first question. "There are no elves." He said. "I am an advisor to the Terse Elements dungeon, and-" Violet stopped and gestured impatiently at the metal hook. "Put that down!" Chaney sheepishly dropped the hook to his side and sat back on the ground. Violet sighed. He didn''t want to stand while the human sat. After a second, he summoned a simple stool and took his own seat. The moon cat began grooming its ears.


    "To start over," Violet said. "I am an advisor to the Terse Elements dungeon. I have a few questions for you about recent events. Will you answer them?"


    Chaney nodded slowly. "Yes, I will."


    Violet began with the most relevant question. "Why has the hill lord not arrived in response to the bandits in the dungeon?"


    Chaney scratched the back of his head. "He left. He took most of his burning fighters with him, but a few stayed behind so we could keep harvesting. What happened to the other harvesters? Did the blighted bandits kill them all?" Chaney''s eyes were full of worry.


    Violet decided to skip over a rebuke or a negotiation of answers for answers. "The other harvesters are no longer in the dungeon. I don''t think they were killed. When will the hill lord return?"


    Chaney sighed in relief, then shrugged. "I don''t know. He left in a hurry, so I expect he won''t be back until whatever goblin business took him away is resolved. Can you get me out of the dungeon without the bandits seeing me?"


    "He''s dealing with goblins?" Violet asked.


    "No..." Chaney said. "That''s just something we say. He''ll be back after everything is dealt with, whatever that is."


    "I see." Violet answered flatly. "It is not my role to assist dungeon intruders, so I cannot sneak you past the bandits. Will anyone come to try and save you, or avenge your death?"


    Chaney looked very uncomfortable at that question. "Maybe..." Violet raised an eyebrow and waited. Chaney sighed. "Probably not."


    Violet closed his eyes and considered the situation for a time. When he arrived at a decision, he opened his eyes and spoke. "You are an intruder with no special standing in the dungeon. The dungeon permits you and others to kill and harvest in the dungeon, but you have decided that you deserve more. Bonding a dungeon creature is generally viewed as a bad idea. Did you read the System messages you got after this cat accepted the bond?"


    "Uhhh." Chaney said.


    "I didn''t think so." Violet said. "Unless you sever the bond voluntarily, you cannot leave the dungeon. The cat cannot leave the dungeon at all. Do you want to sever the bond?"


    Chaney looked at the cat with a heartbroken expression. "What? She has to stay behind?" Chaney slouched in disappointment. "That''s too bad. I was really excited, but I guess I can bond some other creature." The cat ignored her human.


    Violet frowned at Chaney. "Would you choose to leave her behind? It doesn''t sound like you would be a good companion to any creature if you would give up so quickly." This conversation wasn''t going at all like Violet wanted. The human was supposed to ask for help or for a way to free the cat from the clutches of the dungeon, then Violet could dangle a tiny bit of hope for the human to jump at.


    Chaney looked confused. "What else can I do?"


    Violet lost his patience and skipped to the end with a growl. "Help me get rid of the bandits and I''ll ask the dungeon to release your cat so you can both leave." Violet was fairly certain he could ask the dungeon eventually.


    "Oh!" Chaney looked hopeful for a moment, then uncertain. "I''m not much of a fighter outside of harvesting dungeon creatures."


    Violet glared at Chaney. "In that case, I suppose you will have to learn."