I let a deep sigh escape from within my soul. Despite knowing this would come up one day, I still felt ill-prepared. So, I reached deep within my soul and mustered up as much courage as any husband could when his wife is tapping her foot underneath crossed arms.

“Okay, so what happened was-“ I already could see the life in her eyes dying from annoyance. “So, you know when we were dating, and I went to the mountains with the boys? The hunting trip when I brought back the eight point?” I gestured to the mounted head above our fireplace.

“Well, Danny showed up.” I froze when Alivani’s hand shot out to stop me. She strolled over to the liquor table. The mouth of the bottle did not but kiss the rim of the glass before she chucked the latter behind her and gulped heavily.

“Continue.” she said.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds.” I assured her with pumping hands. “I know Danny doesn’t always have the best ideas, but this one was solid.”

“You mean like the time he blew up half a mountain?” Alivani reminded. “Or the time he pressed you all into being military conscripts? Ooo! Ooo! Or, was it as good as when you kidnapped a crime boss’ wife?”

“That last one was Vortre’s idea, actually.” I corrected politely. “No, so Danny caught up to us, and, as it turns out, we were camped near some ruins with supposed treasure.”

“It sounds crazy, but I knew for a fact it would be safe because a group of adventurers had cleaned out the goblins the week prior.”

“Wouldn’t the adventurers have taken the treasure?”

“Well, the hope was that we could get the scraps.” I responded. “So, we get there, search a bit, and then we get attacked by a shade.”

Alivani’s eyes didn’t blink as she took a hearty swig. “A shade?” She took three more. “It took your soul?”

“No.” I said. “I took its soul.”