Yours and Garroth's faces matched in perplexity as Brendan scaled the column of your town home and climbed onto your roof, propping himself up there.

"What's going on up there?" you called out, wondering if it had to do with the intruder.

"I'm fixing a leak!" he answered matter-of-factly.

What? How did that happen? And how did he know?

"I'm already doing some patch work, so I might as well finish while I'm up here." Brendan gulped.

"Speaking of being up there, how do you plan on getting down?" Even peering around the side of the house, there wasn't a single ladder anywhere in sight.

"I can handle it. Like a real man!" He was a little far away, but by the looks of it, he had his chest puffed out.

"I'll go get Corey." You turned around, before stopping in your tracks. You didn't know where he lived. Any time you'd ever seen him, he was at the plaza. You stared blankly down the pathway. Since you knew where the plaza was, you decided to head there.

***

Past the trading posts, you crossed your fingers you'd run into Corey. Instead, someone else who could be of use was basking underneath the shade of a tree: Katelyn, her back against the bark and her eyes closed.

"Do you know where Corey lives?" you asked, slightly embarrassed.

She opened one eye. "Nope. Couldn't you just ask Garroth? He's always around you. Where is he anyway?"

"He had something to take care of in one of the outpost towers and left Laurance in charge of me. Laurance isn't hard to convince—he's way more laid back than Garroth. He let me check out my house on my own, but I'm not supposed to let Garroth know that."

Katelyn stifled laughter, the corners of her mouth stretching out. "At least Laurance isn't a helicopter parent. Come on, I can show you where Corey's house is." She stood up from her relaxed spot on the grass. "What do you need him for?"

You turned around, rubbing the back of your neck. "Brendan . . . He's . . . Kind of stuck on my roof. He doesn't want to admit it though."

At this point, you were ready to drag him down yourself. And Katelyn was even more so.

***

You found yourself at the bottom of the watch tower, climbing up the wooden ladder. "Garroth? Can I borrow a ladder? It's for Brendan."

"Why does he need it?"

You had hoped he'd respond with a simple 'sure' or an 'okay,' but no such luck. "He's stuck on top of my house." You made your explanation as short and sweet as possible so you could get out of there.

He blinked back in astonished surprise. "Why is he up there?"

"Fixing a leak in my roof." You kept reminding yourself to keep it short and sweet, short and sweet.

"There shouldn't be a leak. It hasn't even rained recently." He shook his head, then placed his helmet back on the rack. "This doesn't make any sense. I'm coming with you."

There goes the small taste of freedom you had.

"Alright, yeah." You kept a level tone, but it almost felt like a blow to the stomach. On the bright side, at least you didn't have to carry the ladder by yourself.

You both climbed down the tower, grabbing a spare ladder from the room at the base without knocking it into the array of empty armor stands.

***

At your house, you and Garroth were greeted by Katelyn and Corey, both of them negotiating with Brendan.

"Look—____ and Garroth brought a ladder for you," Katelyn said, throwing her hands towards where you entered in exasperation.

He placed his hands firmly on his hips, then crossed his arms over his chest and looked away in contempt. "I already told you, I can handle this myself."

"Nope. Too late. I'm coming up." Katelyn leaned the ladder up against the wall while Corey held it steady at the bottom. When Katelyn reached the top, she practically yanked Brendan down.

It seemed all the commotion caught Laurance's attention as he strolled down the pathway, stopping at your front door. "Dude, how'd you even get up there?"

Brendan obviously heard the question, but turned his head, continued walking, and ignored it.

"Yeah... How did you get up there?" Garroth pressed.

"I don't wanna talk about it . . ." Brendan gazed longingly at a place where the ground had been ruptured, then shook his head to clear the thoughts.

Now Lord Aphmau entered the scene. "What happened here?"

"Brendan was stuck on ____'s roof!" Laurance sold him out in no seconds flat, shouting above the rest of the voices.

"Brendan! What were you up there for?" Not even the Lord had assigned him to work on your house.

"Patch-work!"

"You? Doing work?"

"Why is everyone so surprised? I make a great handy-man!"

"Uh-huh . . . Sure . . ." Katelyn sarcastically muttered in the background.

"What were you even patching up?" Laurance lowered his volume.

"A leak!" Brendan seemed so put off about having to tell the story more than once.

"How would you know it was leaking? You haven't been in there, and I doubt ____ said anything to you about it." Corey put his point across the table.

"That's exactly what I thought!" Garroth contributed, matter-of-factly.

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Sorry for another late chapter, I just watched Frozen for the tenth time today... You guessed it, with my little sister... I was babysitting her and one of our cousins...