#lesbian version

(note: Kabru's internal narration refers to someone who's 15 as nearly an adult. I don't think this, I'm just following Dunmesh worldbuilding with culture.)

'Kabru met the woman and her daughter at just the right moment.

For Kabru, anyway. She was tired - bone tired, the kind of tired that made her wish fervently for Holm. She had no idea where she was - the goddamn tunnels had shifted, and now she could be anywhere. It was no use trying to find her party in this maze. She had to make it back to the surface. She could meet up with them there.

If she made it that far. She was acutely aware of her track record in the dungeon.

The flickering firelight up ahead made something in her stomach unclench. If she found people, she'd be okay; she wouldn't have any trouble persuading someone to let her tag back to the surface with them. A lone woman could be in danger from a party of strangers, she thought, and tightened her hand on her sword. Hopefully it wouldn't be needed.

To her surprise, when she rounded the corner, she was met with only two people.

The first was a kid. That much was immediately obvious. She had a curly mop of yellow hair and a round face - Kabru marked her at 15, at most. Almost an adult, then, but she had a couple of years left. Her clothes were dirty, but mended and looked of high-quality. She looked nervous. Her hands on her short sword were steady, but something in her grip said she wasn't that experienced in using it - maybe not her first time, but her fifth.

The second was - *beautiful*, was Kabru's first immediate, embarrassing thought. Rin would never let her hear the end of that one (the Eastern woman had adjusted better than Kabru had expected to Kabru's proclivities, but Kabru almost wished she hadn't, sometimes - now she had to hear Rin's opinion of her taste in women).

She was tall, with long dirty blond hair in a bun that was clearly falling out. She was maybe thirty, if Kabru had to guess - young, but old enough to have lost the remainder of her baby fat, to have a line or two around the eyes. She was broad - Kabru would be willing to bet that she had some muscles, underneath her green dress. She had armor, but it wasn't fitted well to her. Probably all she could afford.