<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/KV72Q5h.jpg)</div><br/>Bo nodded and headed through the doors.  Ayeir, for her part, did her pointed best to ignore Zerxel as Shugar handed back the drow her gear and clothing, then suggested,<strong> "Lets go outside for a little air while we wait.  It should be safe enough if we stay right by the door I'm sure."</strong>Her pointed smile and glance towards Ayeir let Zerxel know that the bugbear had something to say that she'd rather only Zerxel heard.  So she followed Shugar back out onto the street and realized by the height of the sun that she'd spent longer talking to Skie then she'd originally thought.  It was still only afternoon, not yet evening, but the sun had dipped well below it's zenith.<br/><br/>Shugar sat down on the stone stair outside the door as Zerxel dressed and said,<strong> "So we figured out why Ayeir took a disliking to you.  She's a celestial, maybe even an angel.  Apparently she owes Skie something, but that explains her distaste for any contestant who sides with a fiendish counselor.  I just thought maybe we should wait out here instead of inside the cramped vestibule.  I don't see waiting with the two of you in a small space as being especially pleasant.  In fact she was starting to get on my nerves a little bit before you came out."</strong>She sighed and added,<strong> "I really hope Bo doesn't take quite as long as you did, because I'd like to ask Mistress Skie a question as well.  But..."</strong><br/><br/>She hesitated and Zerxel had to prod her to continue,<strong> "Well, it's just this.  I want to make it to the reaping level and get out of here."</strong>She looked up at the eyebots that were buzzing around and shrugged admitting,<strong> "I don't have any interest in trying to defeat the dungeon, trying to go into the labyrinth of Cyril.  Maybe that makes me a bad contestant, I don't know.  But I do know that I want to survive and get out of this place.  I've already gained more magical knowledge then I would have in a year or more training under my clan's shaman, and who knows what things will be like if I can make it out alive.  But I've also realized that I'm never going to get out of here alone.  I'm not strong like you or Bo.  I'm not sneaky or cunning like you are.  I'm not as hardy and resolute as Bo is.  I've got my magic, but it's very supportive.  I'm never going to last by myself, I know that after my experiences with the dogmen.  Maybe another monster race that wasn't as dishonorable I might have been able to manipulate with sex.  But one slip up like with the dogmen and that's it, im done."</strong><br/><br/>She looked off into the distance, not meeting Zerxel's gaze,<strong>"I know you and Bo are friends, and you two are quite strong.  But I worry about what the start of the third level is going to be like, especially if I'm all alone.  Maybe I might meet up with someone I could group up with, but the number of contestants is going to thin out each level.  I talked to Bo, and she was hesitant to say, but I've gotten the distinct impression that at the end of this level the two of you will be heading into one of your resting rooms together, leaving me alone.  It's kind of terrifying to me, and I'm worried about what will happen."</strong><br/><br/>Shugar looked at Zerxel then, her eyes big and wide, and with her high pitched voice asked,<strong>"I need to know Zerxel, I think I've been a good companion to both of you, but is that what's going to happen?  Am I going to be left behind at the exit to this level?"</strong>