“You ready for this?”

Shaar looked up, all the way up, until her eyes met Myona’s.

“Don’t worry.” She assured her friend, patting the toe of Myona’s shoe. “It can’t be any more dangerous than living on the streets of Talos by myself. The chances of being stepped on are much smaller, at any rate.”

Myona snorted. “Wow. That almost sounded like a joke, Shaar.”

Shaar shrugged and shouldered her bag of tools and equipment. She then turned to face Nick, who would be her guide through Atlantis. “Okay. I am ready to leave.”

“Okay then.” Nick nodded. “The tram’s waiting.”

“I will contact you when we arrive at this… tavern.” Shaar told Myona.

“Good luck and please be careful!” Myona called out as the two of them boarded the tram.

The two of them rode in silence for the majority of the train ride. Nick had, at first, attempted to engage Shaar in small talk, but after his first few attempts proved fruitless, he gave up and they passed the rest of the ride quietly.

“All right, here’s our stop.” Nick said as the tram pulled itself into the station below Atlantis. “Of course, at the moment it’s the only stop, but we’re hoping to add more track as the city stabilizes.”

Shaar made a noncommittal sound and picked up her equipment bag, before heading to the door of the tram. Behind her, Nick sighed and shook his head.

They stepped out of the underground station by what remained of the Temple of the Goddess and out into the streets of Atlantis itself.

Shaar’s eyes widened as she beheld, for the first time in her life, a city built for people her size.

It was actually somewhat disorienting. For a moment, Shaar felt like she had expanded. Like she had somehow shot up to Titan size without realizing it. In fact, she absentmindedly checked the ground at her feet, as if some part of her mind expected to find a finger-sized Nick on the ground by her shoes.

“It’s not much. Not yet.” Nick, (who was still taller than Shaar was) said as he sidled up beside her. “Not compared to an Archavian city, anyway; but we’re building it up. Someday, it’ll be a great city.”

“It…” Shaar cleared her throat. “It’s very nice.”

Nick grinned. “Come on, Rixie’s is right down this way.”

Shaar nodded moved to follow after Nick, when suddenly she lost her footing and plummeted to the ground.

“Oh man, sorry!” Nick quickly turned around and helped Shaar back to her feet, dusting her off apologetically. “I forgot that you’ve never walked in human-calibrated gravity before. You’ll have to take smaller steps until you get used to it. You can’t bounce along like you do on Archavia.”

“I don’t bounce!” Shaar grumbled.

“Right.” Nick smiled. “Of course not.”

Shaar scowled and pulled away from him, somewhat petulantly. She shouldered her bag again, noting that it did feel somewhat heavier. Cautiously, she took another step, and it felt like she was walking with a weight strapped to both her ankles.

“It’ll probably take some getting used to.” Nick said as he fell into step beside her. “But believe it or not, this is the level of gravity you were designed for.”

Shaar didn’t say anything, merely nodded. She was too busy taking in the sights and sounds as they walked down the street. The feeling of suddenly being huge persisted.

“Can you spare a coin?”

Shaar suddenly stopped as she felt a tug on the hem of her shirt. She looked down to find herself looking into the eyes of a bedraggled old man.

Shaar’s first reaction was to tear herself away, to yell at this man to find his own… but then a second thought intruded. She remembered the way the girls at the dorm house had tried to help her, especially Fara and Myona.

“I… I am sorry.” She told the man instead. “I don’t have any… any coins.”

“Here.” Nick pressed a small silver disk of metal into the man’s hand.

“Thank you, sir.” The man muttered before wandering away from them.

Nick, rather than looking pleased at the act, instead sighed and shook his head. “Alex must have closed the doors to Rixie’s for the night. Otherwise that man would be heading in the other direction.”

“Why does that matter?” Shaar asked.

“Because at Rixie’s Alex would have given that man something hot to eat, and more importantly would have refrained from giving him any alcohol. Instead, he’s heading for one of the seedier taverns where they’ll let him drink himself into a stupor, instead of trying to help him.”

“So why did you give him that… coin?” Shaar asked.

“Because I’m hoping he’ll make a better choice with it.” Nick shrugged. “And maybe he still will. Those taverns sell actual food as well, after all.”

Shaar’s eyes narrowed as she seemed to consider the matter, then she shrugged.

“We should probably keep moving.” Nick said, glancing up at the sky. “Looks like a pretty intense storm moving in.”

It didn’t take long for that ‘storm moving in’ to turn into a sudden and torrential downpour.

“Come on!” Nick shouted over the roar of thunder and the pounding of the rain. “Rixie’s just a few blocks away!”

Shaar nodded and, shielded her eyes from the downpour. She was struggling to keep up with Nick as her body hadn’t gotten used to the way the increased gravity forced her to move.

After a few minutes of walking, both were startled by a sharp thud followed by a muffled scream.

Nick stopped and turned towards the noise. Peering through the gloom of the storm, he was able to make out a figure laying on the side of the street. He quickly rushed over to find an elderly man splayed out on the ground.

“Are you okay?” Nick asked as he knelt by the man’s side.

“No.” The old man groaned. “I think I hurt my arm.”

Shaar watched over Nick’s shoulder as he gently felt the old man’s arm, noting the way the man winced away from the touch.

“It looks broken.” Nick muttered. “There’s a hospital not far from here.” He looked up at Shaar.

“Rixie’s is only a few blocks straight down this road. Do you think you can make it there on your own?”

Shaar shook her dripping wet bangs from her eyes and nodded. She’d survived on her own in a city of giants. She didn’t think walking a few units further would be too much of a challenge for her.

“Good.” Nick said. “Help me get him back on his feet.”

Shaar helped Nick to lift the old man back into a standing position, then watched as the two of them hobbled away towards the location of the hospital.

Shaar, meanwhile, quickly made her way towards where Nick indicated her destination was. After running for a few blocks, Shaar spotted a large building with a sign hanging out front. The writing script was odd, but it was close enough to standard Archavian that she was able to read it.

Rixie’s.

Shaar walked up to the front door and tried to open it, finding it locked. She growled in frustration and considered calling Myona when she noticed that one of the windows on the side of the building was slightly ajar.

Vastly preferring to solve her problems herself over asking for help, Shaar crept closer to the open window to investigate.

The window far above her head. Under normal gravity it would have been easy enough for Shaar to jump up and grab the lip of the window, but with this heavy Avalonian gravity, Shaar wasn’t quite as sure she’d be able to accomplish the feat. However, there was a pile of crates nearby that she was able to stack into an impromptu and only-slightly unstable ladder.

Shaar pulled herself up a little bit at a time, wincing at every slight wobble and shift of her precarious stack. Eventually, she made it to the top. She pushed herself through the window feet first, pulling her bag behind her.

It was a tight fit but eventually Shaar made it through, landing lightly on her feet on the floor inside the building.

Outside a crash was heard and Shaar winced when she realized her stack of boxes must have fallen over.

With a weary sigh, she shook the water out of her hair and tried to brush her soaking clothes free of excess moisture. It didn’t help much.

Shaar looked around warily. She was in a large room filled with tables and chairs. She figured this must be the main dining area. On the far wall was a long bar top.

Shaar brushed her hair out of her eyes and decided to get straight to work. She and Myona had looked over the layout of the bar and had plotted out the places to put the projectors in order to get maximum coverage of the whole room.

First, though, Shaar needed to plant the power sources before she could start to link the rest of the hardware.

She moved through the tables and planted herself behind the bar, quickly removing equipment from her bag so she could get started.

Shaar quickly began to connect the power batteries and hooking in the input and output wires for the projection. She inwardly cursed the being able to hook into an external power grid. It would make her job so much easier if she could just-

“Who are you?”

Shaar was so startled by the unexpected male voice that she jumped, letting out a startled yelp and banging her head on the underside of the bar in the process.

She quickly climbed to her feet and rubbed the lump that was quickly forming on the back of her head. She turned to find her unexpected inquisitor was a grizzled face man who looked, by her estimation, to be at least seven years old if his haggard appearance was anything to go by. He held a knife at the ready and leaned heavily on a cane.

“Slag it all old man!” Shaar grumbled. “You about scared me half to death!”

“I scared you!?” The old man grumbled. “Who are you and what are you doing in my bar?” He scratched his chin and shook his head. “And I am not that old! I’m barely twenty-seven… at least I think I am. Hard to tell anymore…”

“Twenty-seven’s pretty old by my reckon.” Shaar rolled her eyes and leaned back against the bar before crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m not even four, myself.”

The man’s eyes widened. “You’re from Archavia!” His posture seemed to relax a little bit. “But that doesn’t explain who you are or why you’re here.”

Shaar relaxed a little when she saw the knife lower. She figured this must be the Alex who owned this tavern. “My name’s Shaar. I’m here to do a little work on your place. A friend sent me. The purple haired one.”

Alex scratched the back of his head. “Purple hair…? Pryvani?”

“That’s her.” Shaar said with a shrug. “Called up a friend of mine. Asked us to do a little work for her. Said the fact I was human would be a big help. Oh, speaking of… Do you mind if I get out from behind here, or are you going to stab me?”

“What?” Alex looked at the knife in his hand as if he’d forgotten he’d been holding it. “Oh. No. Go ahead.”

“Thanks.” Shaar muttered as she hopped over the bar and landed on the other side. Little by little she was getting used to Avalon’s heavier gravity. She made her way to her supply bag and unzipped it. Before long she pulled out the metal disc that was a portable hologram projector.

“What are you actually here to do?” Alex asked.

Shaar bit her lip. “Well, it’s better if I let her explain it. Lots of technical type stuff involved.” Shaar pressed a button on the side of the machine and waited while it booted itself up and connected to the holo suites up on the mountain. Myona was already waiting in one of them.

After a moment, the projector shot a column of light into the air which quickly formed into an image of Myona. This was the first time Shaar had ever seen her friend at the same size that she was. She was rather shocked at how short she was.

“Hi!” Myona chirped, ever cheerful. “My name’s Myona!”

Alex didn’t seem terribly impressed. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned forward. “And what exactly are you here to do? Why did Pryvani send you?”

Myona’s image turned to face Shaar. “You didn’t tell him?”

Shaar shook her head. “Nah. I figured I’d let you handle all the techno-babbly stuff. Plus, I wanted to see how many times I could get him to ask before he got mad.”

“And why wouldn’t I be mad?” Alex huffed. “You did break into my bar!”

“You broke in?” Myona asked Shaar curiously.

Shaar shrugged nonchalantly. “He was asleep. I figured I’d be in and out. No problem.”

“You can’t just barge in though!” Alex growled.

“Sure I can.” Shaar responded. “I do it all the time.” Deciding she’d had enough of the old man’s grumblings, Shaar bent down to her equipment bag and began removing the tools and components she’d need.

She heard Myona giggle. “Well, anyway… As I said before, my name’s Myona and I’m a holographic engineer. Your friend Pryvani asked us if we could install some holographic emitters here in your bar.”

“Oh.” Alex muttered. “She could have told me this.”

“She could?” Myona said curiously. “How?”

“I… well…” Alex scratched the back of his head. Then his head shot up as if something had occurred to him. “Say, wait a minute… How do I know you both are who you say you are? It’s not like Pryvani isn’t well known or anything.”

Shaar rolled her eyes and snorted derisively. She wondered sarcastically how many thieves on this moon had access to holographic technology.

Myona, however, nodded. “Okay I suppose that’s a fair point. Hold on a second, give me five minutes.”

With a click, Myona’s hologram vanished and Shaar and the bartender were left alone in the darkened tavern again. Shaar decided to pass the time by getting straight to work, whether Alex liked it or not.

After several minutes, that felt much longer to the two humans, the hologram projector whirred back to life and Myona’s image appeared in the room again.

“Pryvani says to mention ‘the watermelon incident.’” Myona said.

Shaar was desperately curious as to what that might refer to, but based on the sudden embarrassed look on Alex’s face, she doubted she’d get the answer out of him. She made a mental note to ask Pryvani about it later.

Alex coughed and cleared his throat. “Right… uh… Okay then. I guess you’re really who you say you are…”

Shaar snickered quietly as she worked.