Over the past few weeks, I had woken up in a variety of places.

  I’d opened my eyes to see the stars gazing down on me while travelling, or more often to see the sun glaring at me instead. I’d slept through the permanent sunny day of the Arena. I’d even fallen asleep underwater, which had been surprisingly comfortable.

  Yet, of all of those many and interesting places to wake up, I had to admit that the best of the whole lot was Cassie’s arms. There was just something… fulfilling, in a way. Comforting too.

  Sure, it was exciting too. A whole new stage of closeness between me and my favourite person, how could I not be excited? But hidden underneath all of that, veiled by hormones and lingering looks, there was a deep seated satisfaction to just… existing, cradled in her arms. I nestled in closer, tempted to just go back to sleep. Not that I needed her nearby to want to sleep, but it certainly helped.

  Still, all good things had to end. Despite my best efforts to just enjoy the moment, I wasn’t the only one due to wake up soon, and it didn’t take long for her to open her eyes, disentangling herself from me to stretch languidly as she dragged herself from her rest.

  “Morning,” she murmured as she flopped back down to the bed again.

  I watched her for a moment, saying nothing.

  “What?” She asked, her eyebrow raised.

  “Just looking,” I said. “Now that I don’t have to hide it anymore.”

  She chuckled. “What are you, the lead of a romance novel? Also, you only had to hide it because you were scared to act on your desires. Not that I can talk, but my point stands.”

  I sat up against the headboard, shaking my head. “Ah, the youth of today. No appreciation for romance.”

  Cassie shot me a mock-offended look. “Youth? I’m like four months younger than you. But hey, if you want to be a relic then that’s on you.”

  I grinned. “I’m supposed to live forever, didn’t you hear? What’s your solution, kid?”

  She snorted. “Please. Give me half an hour and Almon’s library, I can probably figure out the secret to immortality.”

  “You’d better,” I shot back, the unintentional weight of the statement hitting both of us the moment I said it. I didn’t know how to respond to my own statement, and it was clear that Cassie didn’t either.

  It wasn’t really something I’d considered until this moment, but I could potentially live until I was killed by something. Cassie would live longer than many, by merit of her magic use, but unless she got incredibly lucky during her Changing she would still have limits, albeit far beyond the natural.

  I didn’t really want to face up to the reality that was implied by that train of thought, but it was something that would need to be considered at some point. Preferably several hundred years from now.

  “Anyway,” Cassie said as she also sat up, clearly trying to change the subject. “What do we have to do today?”

  I considered this. Everything with the Revenant was kind of on boil until Dusk was dealt with, since the Revenant didn’t seem like the kind of guy to suddenly change projects. Since we couldn’t really help with that, the whole deal was delayed, at least for us.

  There was visiting Noren, but I still didn’t know where to actually find him. I also wasn’t in a huge hurry to see him again, if I was totally honest. Not for any good reason, I just couldn’t quite wrap my head around liking him, for whatever reason.

  That left us with… nothing, really. Nothing urgent, anyway. “Not much, honestly,” I answered eventually.

  Cassie grinned. “Great. Day off it is.”

  “I mean, we could probably afford to take another quest from the Guild. We can only afford like two more days here, and that’s without counting food,” I pointed out. This room was four silver per night, and we only had about eight silver left to our names. If food was four copper each, that meant that two nights was a bit of a stretch.

  Still, if our mission with the Observers was anything to go by, we could outpace that so long as we were actively adventuring. We’d made six silver total for that, and it had only taken one day.

  “Only if you’re feeling up to it, though,” I added. I still didn’t know what she’d done facing Matthais, but it had really taken a toll.

  “Nah, I’ll be fine. I just need to take it easy for a bit, that’s all,” she responded.

  I narrowed my eyes. “How easy?”

  She tilted her head. “Hmm. Hold on, let me test something.” Without any further warning, she raised her arm and, muttering a brief incantation, she filled her palm with flame. I recognised the cantrip as Minor Flame, the same one that had given her the silvery scars on the very same hand she now cast it flawlessly with.

  After a few seconds she raised her other hand and cast the same spell again, holding it for a few seconds before dropping both. Then she twisted around and reached under her pillow, drawing her wand from where she’d kept during the night.

  Another incantation later, she was waving her shirt around the room with reckless abandon. She seemed to be fine, so I just sat back and watched her enjoy herself for a bit.

  Eventually she dropped the spell and turned back to me. “Yeah, I’ll be fine if I stick to the first circle. One at once, though.”

  I smiled, glad that she was recovering. After all, she’d been in a bad way yesterday after just casting a few cantrips. Albeit simultaneously, but still.

  “Great. In that case then, we should probably head down there at some point,” I said, rolling out of bed. It pained me a little to leave behind such a comfortable place of rest, but I knew from experience that the longer I stayed the harder it would be to leave.

  Cassie looked like she was about to respond, but was interrupted by a yawn. Once she regained control of her mouth, she gave me a pleading look. “Really? Can we go after lunch instead?”

  In response I gathered up her discarded shirt and tossed it at her. I did wish she were a little less messy sometimes, but it was fine. “Nope. You want a fun quest, right? We’ll be left with the leftovers if we don’t get a move on.”

  Cassie groaned as she dodged the shirt. “Ugh. Why do you have to be so enterprising all the time?”

  I just grinned as I found my own clothes, which were stacked much more neatly. I was going as Lia Prime for now, so as not to lose the potential anonymity of my bug-like form. “Eh, you love me really.”

  “Someone’s gotten more confident recently,” Cassie commented over the sound of rustling fabric.

  I did my best to shrug as I tugged my boots on. “Yeah, well life is good right now.”

  I turned around to see that Cassie hadn’t even started dressing yet, just staring longingly between me and the bed. “Come on, get dressed already. Unless you’re secretly hoping to spend the day picking herbs…”

  I dodged the projectile she sent at me with a laugh, ducking just outside the door. I was feeling good about today, really I was.

  --------------------------------------

  The Guild was, as I had expected, bustling already.

  People of all shapes, sizes and creeds gathered to either complete tasks and get paid, or do the opposite and give someone money to create a task. Truly, an ouroboros of service and expense.

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  As it turned out, most of those people were here for the latter. There were a lot of things that needed doing, to the point that we ended up in the lounge area again, just waiting for the queues to clear up a bit.

  Since nobody was paying much attention to us, I’d settled comfortably back into Lia Prime. Despite it’s quirks, it was still the most comfortable of my various shapes most of the time. Besides, Cassie still definitely liked the swirling patterns, and I wasn’t going to deprive her of that.

  “Alright, what about him?” I asked, pointing to a man in full plate armour. This, on its own, wouldn’t be out of place in the Adventurer’s Guild. However, the man couldn’t be more than five feet tall, and the plate armour was gilded. Fully gold, at least on the outside, which made it completely useless as armour.

  “Hmm,” Cassie hummed, squinting at the eyesore who was about to make it to the front of his queue, one of three functioning simultaneously. Each of them was packed to the brim. “Well, his first name is Richard, obviously.”

  “Of course,” I nodded along.

  “He has a wife- no, he had a wife, who left him for a taller man. He has two kids, one is estranged and the other one hates him but sticks around for the inheritance payout, and he’s definitely compensating with that armour,” she finished, throwing in a wink with that last comment.

  I clapped. “If that isn’t his life, then it is now. Sorry, man. Okay, my turn, point someone out.”

  Cassie scanned the room, settling on a younger man with a rapier strapped to his side. “Him,” she ordered.

  “Okay, give me a moment,” I responded as I looked the man over. His clothing was well-made and fashionable. Combined with the rapier, which wouldn’t do much against a monster, gave me the impression that he was more focused on aesthetics than function. He was chatting to a younger fellow, who had that round kind of face that made him look like a child even though he was likely in his early twenties. His companion was looking at him with stars in his eyes, like he’d just met a childhood hero.

  “How about… Ah, I’ve got it,” I exclaimed. “That, of course, would have to be an Evan. He’s a local celebrity, having been the bastard son of a local lord who made a name for himself by being generally helpful. In fact, he was so beloved by the people that his father reclaimed him. However, the wealth and acclaim went to his head, and now he hangs out at the Adventurer’s Guild looking pretty and speaking to oddly large children.”

  Cassie giggled, which had me laughing too. Unfortunately, in my humour, I didn’t realise that the man must have noticed us looking over at him. Both he and his companion had started making their way over to us, which was bad news.

  Oh, that’s a comeuppance if I’ve ever had one slap me in the face. Gods damn it.

  I tapped Cassie on the knee and gestured to the approaching duo, who were almost halfway across the hall. “What do we do!” I hissed.

  Cassie looked at me and shrugged helplessly, which was all she got a chance to do before the pair made it within conversation range. “Hello there, ladies,” exclaimed the man I’d named Evan.

  “Sir,” Cassie greeted politely, nodding her head slightly.

  The man waved a gloved hand, the other resting casually on his rapier as he aimed a smile at Cassie. “Ah, no need to be so formal. I, as you may know, am Lord Simon, although a lady as lovely as yourself is, of course, welcome to omit my title. Me and my dear friend Gerald here saw you looking over at us, and we decided to come and say hello. It’s only polite, after all.”

  Shit, I was right? I can’t believe this guy’s nobility. Although… I guess he does kind of fit the stereotype.

  Cassie was on the ball with her responses. “Oh, we meant no offence, my lord. We were just looking at your rapier. It’s very well made.”

  Simon laughed. I had no clue why, and I was slightly afraid to try and figure it out. “You were? I see that your… exotic companion here has a blade, but you don’t seem so well armed. Strange to have a good eye for weaponry, yet no arms to call your own.”

  Dear gods man, just speak your mind already. Do you have to make everything a speech?

  Cassie laughed politely, but she was clearly uncomfortable. I felt terrible for bringing this guy over here. “No, no. I prefer magic, my lord.”

  Gerald spoke up, his voice rather nasally. “I am of the mystical persuasion myself. Which school did you attend?”

  Another small gesture and polite smile from Cassie. “I didn’t, I’m afraid. I was tutored one-on-one.”

  Gerald’s face twitched for a moment, but he got it under control pretty quickly. Simon took over again, shooting an incredibly unsubtle glance at his companion as he leaned on the back of Cassie’s chair. “Oh, really? I’m sure he was a great mage indeed. Although, perhaps we could invite you to experience some of the finer things in life. You can even bring your strange friend here.” He gestured vaguely at me, but not once did he look at me.

  I’d had rather enough of this guy and his horrible speech patterns, so I gathered the courage to speak up. “I’m sorry, my lord. I’m afraid that we were about to go and check the quest board. We’ll be leaving before long.” I hated how I had to talk to him to come across as respectful, but everyone knew you couldn’t anger the aristocracy. There weren’t many better ways to get run out of a city, arrested or killed.

  Simon finally turned to me, his face carefully neutral. “Come now, I only seek a quick meal with your friend here. Half an hour, an hour at the most, just to get to know her. Maybe tell her about some of my Feats. You are, of course, welcome to occupy yourself with Gerald here while you wait. We wouldn’t dream of taking up your entire day, after all.”

  Gerald peered over Simon’s shoulder, his eyes gleaming with something unpleasant. He was looking at me like I was a prized reagent for a valuable elixir, which made my skin crawl. Still, I supposed it was arguably better than the way Simon had been looking at Cassie when he thought that the attention was off him.

  “Again, we’re very sorry, my lord. Unfortunately, we’re incredibly busy. We actually have a meeting with the Branch Manager Ren. We can’t afford to be late to that, you know how it is.” Cassie jumped in with another excuse, this one far more watertight. After all, Ren alone probably held more influence than the bottom half of Meria’s local nobility combined, given how important the Guild was. It was a good move on her part.

  Essentially, even if he thought we were lying, he wouldn’t couldn’t risk it. He did think we were lying, too. I could see it in the way the corners of his smile seemed a little more plastered on than before. Just because he was right didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to feel vindicated by his displeasure, though. Something about this guy just rubbed me the wrong way. He seemed a little too used to getting his way.

  “Really?” He inquired politely. “Well, who am I to stop you, then? Please, head on through.” He pointedly stepped away from where we were sitting.

  Ah, he’s trying to call our bluff. Yeah, that’s not going to work. I’d rather deal with Ren than you.

  I stood first, making a show of taking Cassie by the hand and helping her up. It was maybe a little showy, but I got a smile from her with it, so I’d take the extra time and attention. When I moved to take my hand from hers, however, she grabbed it tighter. Getting the message, I kept it where it was as I quickly grabbed my sword and we both made our way into the door that lead to the Arena.

  I was pretty sure that Ren had an actual office somewhere in the building, but I also knew from my week stuck inside that he liked to practice in there. He complained several times about not being able to when we were there, after all.

  With that knowledge, it probably wouldn’t seem to strange to head for there instead of his office, which neither of us knew the location of. Once we walked confidently through the door that lead to the empty room where the portal to the Arena was often set up, Cassie closed the door behind us and we both stopped.

  After a moment of silence, she finally spoke up. “What a dick.”

  The sudden, unexpected profanity hit me like rampaging dragon, and I couldn’t help laugh. I almost had to catch myself on the wall from the intensity of my reaction. Apparently it was infectious, because soon she was laughing too.

  The next couple of minutes were spent with us laughing way too hard at those three words, resulting in us both leaning on the cold walls of the cramped passageway. It really wasn’t that funny, but it did the trick of siphoning away most of the tension from that brief talk.

  We decided to just stay in the corridor for a bit. We still needed to wait for the queues to die down a bit anyway, so it wasn’t too much of a hassle. However, that plan didn’t work as well as we were hoping.

  The receptionist from the day we’d joined up casually opened the door and walking in, closing it behind him and leaning against it like he’d been bearing the weight of the world. It took him a moment to even realise we were here, at which point he jumped like he’d seen a ghost.

  “Nature preserve me!” He half yelled, pressing himself up against the door. “What are you two doing in here?”

  “Ah,” Cassie started. “There was this guy out there. He was… being persistent, so to speak-”

  The receptionist held up his hands. “Hold on. Was he called Simon? Minor nobility, has that cute wizard that follows him around like a lost dog?”

  “...That sounds pretty accurate, yeah,” Cassie admitted.

  “Okay, then you’re fine. We get like five complaints a week about the guy, he’s a menace. We can’t do anything about him, though,” the receptionist complained with a sigh.

  “Why not? I thought the Guild was politically untouchable?” I asked. Now that he wasn’t putting on the customer service voice, I kind of liked this guy. Even if he seemed incredibly stressed.

  “It is, on a national level. But nothing gets nobles more riled up than taking away their ability to do whatever they want, and unless we want to deal with all of them bearing down on this branch at once, we can’t stir the nest too much. They can’t touch us, we can’t touch them.” The receptionist spoke with the deep-seated disdain of a man who had personal experience with the subject matter.

  “Wait, why are you in here?” Cassie asked, which was an excellent question.

  The receptionist gave Cassie the most unimpressed look I’d ever seen. It was a work of art, truly. “I have to deal with a hundred Simons every day. I come in here for some peace and quiet every few hours.”

  Yeah, that’s fair.

  The receptionist pulled out a stopwatch from his jacket. “Look, girls. Let’s cut a deal. You both stay quiet for the next… say, five minutes. In return, I’ll pop in when Simon’s gone. Deal?” He stuck out his hand to the empty space between us.

  Cassie and I shared a look. I tilted my head and she shrugged, so she turned back to the receptionist and took his hand, giving it a single shake. “Deal.”

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