As they stood in front of the bakery, the most glaring thing was the looming neon sign.
It depicted an elven man with a goatee and sunglasses, wearing an open button-up shirt as he held a loaf of bread. His face was locked in a shocked expression, bits of bread crumbs flying from his mouth as if he had just taken a bite.
Liora had already gone inside and seemed to be having a cheerful conversation with the owner.
The owner, naturally, was an elven man who looked like a perfect copy of the sign above.
Open shirt included.
That left Selene and Thalia standing outside, waiting for her.
They had gone by the guild, and while Selene and Thalia picked up their obsidian tags, Liora grabbed a quest from the board and practically dragged them here.
"W-What do you think this whole 'it's basically free money' quest entails?" Selene asked, turning to Thalia as they both sat on the bench.
Thalia shrugged.
She made a foot of string and began doing cat's cradle.
"I'm more worried that Liora is taking a quest that's going to rip us off."
As if summoned by hearing her name, Liora came outside with a grin on her face and a large rolled-up length of fabric under one arm.
A new backpack sat on her back as she speed-walked over to them.
"All right," Liora said. "We got the gear. Let's do this quest. We might even be done before we meet up with the others if we're quick."
Liora grabbed both of their hands.
Selene and Thalia exchanged a bewildered glance.
Then they were dragged away.
Liora brought them to another fountain like the one they had seen before.
This one had nobody jumping in.
The portal overhead was only a tiny speck in the sky.
Liora started fitting the backpack onto Thalia, stuffing what Thalia quickly discovered was not fabric, but instead a strange, thick tarp, into it.
The backpack itself was strange too.
It included a belt.
Leg straps.
Even clasps to hold her shoulders.
If anything, it seemed more like a harness than a backpack.
Liora checked over Thalia a few times while Selene made sure everything was snug and set.
Liora had said something to Selene earlier that Thalia did not hear, which made her worry about why Selene was being so thoughtful about the clasps.
"Okay," Liora said, placing a small rectangular handle into Thalia's palm and wrapping Thalia's fingers around it. "Repeat after me. Eight seconds, then pull."
"Uh," Thalia said, "eight seconds, then pu—"
The words died on her lips.
She glanced back to the portal.
It was higher than the one from before.
At least five thousand feet up.
Barely a small blip in the sky.
Thalia looked down at the harness on her body.
Cold sweat broke out across her face.
She tried to dive away.
Selene caught her instantly.
"Liora, wait!" Thalia snapped, squirming as she tried to break free from Selene's grip. "Wait, hold on. Why do I have to be the one to do it?"
Liora checked into the portal before turning back.
"Because the client's normal guy is a dwarven daredevil who loves this stuff," Liora said, "but he's sick today, so I volunteered you."
Thalia stared.
"It was a porcelain quest," Liora continued, "but he bumped it up because nobody wanted to take it. It's, like, five minutes of work for eight hundred gold. That's an almost nine-thousand-six-hundred-gold-an-hour paycheck here."
"Why can't you do it?" Thalia barked. "In case you don't remember, you're the only one of us who can fly."
Thalia used her strings to grab a nearby light and keep Selene from holding her over the portal.
Selene quickly cut the strings.
Then she held Thalia directly over the gate.
People said never to look down.
Saying that did not make it easier to avoid looking.
Below Thalia was a massive sprawling landscape.
And a small city far beneath them.
Thalia clung to Selene's arm like a cat being held over a river.
Then she turned to Liora.
Liora leaned in, a smug look on her face.
"Plus," Liora said, "this is partially revenge for the thing in the trailer. You scared me, so I scare you."
Thalia stared at Liora with bewilderment locked onto her face.
"Oh, you petty biiiiiiiiiiii—"
Before Thalia could finish, Selene dropped her.
Then Selene shook her arm, loosening Thalia's grip.
The wind rushed around her.
A rising feeling filled Thalia's chest as she fell.
Her body locked up.
She spread her arms and legs out as if somehow tensing every muscle in her body would save her.
I will tear out every stitch in all of her clothes if I survive this.
Thalia's eyes locked on the ground below.
The once-small speck of the city grew larger and larger by the second.
Wait.
How many seconds have passed?
Thalia forced herself to check that her hand was still on the handle.
The city was getting closer.
A primal panic clawed up her chest.
She did not care anymore.
She yanked the cord.
The backpack opened.
Above her, a massive parachute unfurled.
A heavy jerk shot through her body as she went from freefall to slowfall.
Thalia's anger simmered in her chest as she looked up.
The inside of the parachute had a massive depiction of the bakery's logo on it.
Thalia prided herself on her stoicism.
And yet, being around Jax, Aiden, Selene, Liora, and Beatris seemed to have softened her normal responses.
To the point that what she thought she was saying internally instead came out as a shout of pure outrage.
"I'M A FUCKING AD!?"
She was now close enough to the city below that she could make out the original portal she had gone through.
Two small figures stood around the fountain, while three others made their way over.
Several people were looking at her now because she had shouted.
In her anger, Thalia did not care.
"Liora!" Thalia shouted. "When I get my hands on you, I am going to tie your heels to the back of your head for a week!"
One of the figures near the main group began to leave.
It took around ten minutes total before Thalia was back on the ground, landing just outside the city walls.
Selene seemed to have broken away from the others to meet her where she landed.
Thalia hit the ground in a heap.
Then she rolled for a bit.
The parachute landed on top of her.
She stared up at it.
Selene began lifting parts of the parachute.
"T-Thalia?" Selene asked in a meek voice. "Are you okay?"
Thalia did not respond.
"W-We got the quest reward," Selene added. "So we only need one more quest for the tournament."
Thalia placed a hand on Selene's shoulder.
Then she stared her down with an intensity that seemed to startle her.
"Selene," Thalia said. "If you want your clothes to not fall apart into sections of fabric because I removed every stitch one by one, I recommend you tell me exactly where Liora ran off to."
Selene looked bewildered by the threat.
Then she jumped back like a cat seeing a cucumber.
After a moment passed with no answer, Thalia sighed and reached into the pouch at her side.
She sorted through her carved dolls until she found the one she had made resembling Liora.
Thalia lowered her strings and activated her soul skill.
The doll rose for a moment.
Then it began mimicking a speedwalking motion before pretending to sit down on an invisible stool.
Thalia grabbed the doll and shoved it back into her pouch.
Then she charged toward the city.
And toward the restaurant where they had planned to eat.