The next day saw us back in the Guild again. We could technically afford to sit on our laurels for a bit now, but neither of us really wanted to, no matter how much Cassie insisted otherwise. I think she was struggling with the wait, since it put us entirely at the Revenant’s behest.

  We’d both learned from the day before, so not only had we gone later to miss the early rush, we had both agreed that Cassie would be picking out today’s quest. It was just a bit too much pressure for me.

  While I waited for her to pick something out, I absentmindedly fiddled with a tentacle I’d shifted under my sleeve. I still couldn’t figure out what I was missing though. I was getting more and more certain that I would need to just wait until something prompted that same reaction again, which was rather frustrating.

  I sighed and sat back in my chair. I’d chosen one in the far corner of the room, because it maintained line of sight to the quest board and queues, but it wasn’t immediately visible from the entrance. It made me more comfortable to let my guard down, so I was fully in Lia Prime rather than manually altering my skin to look more human.

  Even with my positioning, I had already gotten a few odd looks from passing adventurers. As much as people that had at least begun the Changing were more common here than they were in most other parts of the city, changes as extensive as showed even on Lia Prime were fairly rare. After all, the Changing was normally a gradual process, with large scale alterations coming late into a mage’s career.

  Normally, even somewhat advanced mages would have minimal physical changes. A slight glimmer when the light hit them just right, or a weird texture to their hair. Or sometimes it would be a conditional thing, like Mildred’s changes appeared to be. Permanent, large scale enhancements were limited to mages of Ren’s calibre and above, which tended to get looks no matter where they went.

  Speaking of mages above Ren’s calibre, I wondered what Almon was up to. After the revelation about his potential identity, I’d found myself questioning more things about him. Not that there was too much to question, at least for me. Cassie might have known more, but I only knew the basics of his history.

  I kind of hoped that he’d taken on another apprentice. I’d seen how happy it had made Cassie to get the opportunity to learn from him, and now that she was capable of progressing without constant supervision he would have the time to tutor another rising star.

  “Miss Weaver,” a voice announced to my side. I turned to see none other than Ren himself, standing in front of me.

  “Ren?” I asked. “Hi. Uh… how long have you been standing there?” I was fully aware of my propensity to zone out, so I was a little worried I’d held him up rather a while.

  “Oh, just a few minutes, nothing you need to concern yourself with. What you do need to concern yourself is an encounter I understand you had not long ago. I received a personal complaint from a lesser noble about your conduct.” Ren spoke with a weary voice, like he’d been working through the night.

  “Excuse me?” I exclaimed. “Who?”

  Ren sighed. “One Master Gerald Fairworthy, the eldest son of a local merchant family. Far from the most influential man around, but even a lesser noble’s complaints must be taken seriously.”

  Gerald? As in Simon’s lost puppy?

  “What does he say I did?” I asked.

  “Well, not much, thankfully. Actually, that’s not true. He uses a lot of words, but the accusations all essentially amount to mild disrespect towards himself and another noble, who remains unnamed. That’s why I’m here, at all, talking to you. If it were more severe than that, my hands would be pretty much tied,” Ren explained. “May I sit?”

  I shrugged, so he took a seat beside me. Strangely enough I didn’t feel his weight at all on the seat. “Listen, Julie. I recognise that I don’t really know you that well, but you don’t seem like a bad person. Then again, you do seem like you aren’t exactly… socially conscious, so to speak, which is why I can’t simply dismiss these claims.”

  “Kind of rude, but do go on,” I commented.

  Ren frowned. “Exactly like that. Not too many people would speak to someone with our relative influences the way you do. Don’t get me wrong, many people likely wouldn’t mind. Some may even find it refreshing. But others don’t.”

  I didn’t get a chance to respond before Cassie returned, quest sheet in hand. “I’m back! Oh, hey Ren.”

  “Ah, Cassie has returned. Excellent timing.” Ren stood and put his hands together. “The upshot of it is as follows: Master Fairworthy and the unnamed aggrieved party are expecting an apology before tomorrow is out. Preferably early. When you give this apology – and you will, trust me – I need you both on good behaviour, understand? Your actions reflect on me, and on the Guild as a whole.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? What are we even apologising for? Not uprooting our day to get brunch with a guy we don’t know?”

  “Wait, what’s happening?” Cassie asked.

  “Simon and his lackey complained about us,” I explained to her.

  “Actually, it was just Julie,” Ren corrected. “Now, I’m not going to dole out any punishments on the Guild’s behalf, because I am painfully aware of both Master Fairworthy and his accomplice, no matter how concealed he is on the paperwork. However, you two still need to deal with the consequences here.”

  “Hold on,” Cassie insisted. “We’ve got to go to them and apologise, just because we had better stuff to do? And why is it just Lia that’s getting complained about?”

  Ren smiled sadly. “That’s just the way of the world, ladies. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have more paperwork to do. I simply wanted to warn you personally, as well as impart a little advice.”

  Cassie stood in front of him, blocking his path of escape. “Wait just a second, Ren. Could you like… I don’t know, help us how to get out of this somehow?”

  Another sad smile. “I’m afraid not, Cassie. As an organisation, the Guild only works if we are politically neutral. That means staying out of matters large and small, so we can’t pick sides here. I represent the Guild, so my hands are tied. Yours are, too. If either of you make a fuss, we all look bad. You two both have potential. Don’t waste it.”

  With his piece said, his entire body seemed to just dissolve, like it was made up solely of light.

  Huh. He was never really here, was he? I guess he doesn’t have time to just wander around whenever he likes.

  “Damn it,” Cassie muttered. “What do we do here, Lia?”

  I shrugged. “Go and apologise, but make it quick.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “Sure, because we’ll definitely be able to get out of there quickly. Those two will be on home turf. We barely avoided ‘the finer things’ when we were here!”

  “Okay, so we stall them out. Politely stonewall them until they get bored.”

  Cassie huffed. “They don’t seem like the kind to just back off.”

  “Well, what do you suggest then?” I asked curtly.

  Cassie thought for a moment. “Hmm. Aha! Okay, so back when Mum was dead-set on setting me up with ‘proper village boys’, I used to have this tactic that always worked. Basically, if you call in some authority figure to give you an excuse that makes it appear like something bad just happened, barely anyone will want you to stick around. People hate being around sad strangers, after all. Almon got so many herbs out of me because of that strategy, let me tell you.”

  I considered the idea. “Didn’t we already try that last time? You know, meeting with Ren and all that.”

  Cassie shook her head. “No, no. You aren’t thinking big enough. I mean a real emergency. Like, ‘Oh, I’m terribly sorry to interrupt you two, but I am afraid that the young lady’s mother has just broken her spine’.”

  “Oh,” I said, taken aback. “And that works, does it?”

  Cassie grinned. “It did in Vernal. Although I think people started figuring it out after my conspicuously healthy mother broke a bone for the third time that month.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, that’ll do it. But who do we get to come in, though?”

  “Hmm,” Cassie hummed. “We do have all day, why not ask around?”

  If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “What about the quest?” I asked.

  “Oh, right. Maybe we split up? One of us does the quest, the other finds someone we can use,” Cassie suggested. “Like, for example, if I were to do the quest. Just a thought.”

  “What even is it?” I asked.

  “Oh, never mind that. I just think that I should do it, is all.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Why do you want to do it so badly?”

  “No reason,” she said a little too quickly.

  I reached for the quest sheet, but she moved it out of my reach. I stood and lunged for it, but she danced away. It took me sprouting a tentacle from my shoulder and tripping her to get my hands on it.

  “Aha!” I announced as I shuffled away. Cassie was already scrambling to her feet, so I had to read quickly. “Ingredient collection… an eye from a salamander affected by mana mutation… blah blah. Hold on,” I muttered with a growing grin as I read who posted the quest, even when the paper was snatched from my hands. “Posted by Serena Silverwind. I think I’m starting to understand why you’re so excited now.”

  “Okay, fine. I just wanted to have the chance to meet her. Is that so bad?” Cassie declared.

  Serena Silverwind was, by many metrics, the most famous Archmage Althea had ever produced, as well as one of the more powerful. She was a living legend, to the point where even people in Vernal had heard of her. I was actually rather surprised that she was in Meria at all.

  She was known for many accomplishments, ranging from defeating an elder dragon in single combat to founding and later running the Verdant University in the capital of Althea. More importantly than all that, she happened to be a personal hero of Cassie’s.

  “Not at all,” I answered. “In fact, I think it’s rather cute.”

  Cassie squinted at me. “Why do you say that like it’s meant to be a win?”

  I shook my head. “Oh, nothing. I just think it’s nice to acknowledge that you can be cute too sometimes, not just bouncy or snarky.”

  Cassie stared at me for a moment before straightening up. “...Anyway. With that out of the way, it sounds like we both agree that I get to do the quest.”

  “I don’t remember agreeing to that,” I taunted her. Of course I was going to agree, but I couldn’t resist using this while I could.

  Cassie, however, simply shoved her hands over her ears, the quest paper crunching against her head. “So glad you agree!” She announced. “I’ll be going now! Good luck!”

  Before I could respond, she turned on her heel and sped out of the Guild. I just sighed as I ran through a mental list of people that I knew. The list ran empty pretty quickly, especially when I factored in that they needed to be impactful enough to make Simon back off.

  I did have a couple of ideas, though. After a moment to reset my skin to more normal human appearance, I swivelled and made my way to one of the front desks. Specifically, the one being manned by the receptionist that had helped out before.

  “Hi,” I said simply when I reached the desk.

  “Hello, welcome to the Meria branch of the Adve- Oh, it’s you. What do you need?” He answered.

  “I was just wondering if you knew where a certain Neil… I actually don’t know his last name. Early thirties, has the whole professional adventure thing down to an art form,” I tried. I couldn’t believe I didn’t know Neil’s second name, but I still came up empty.

  The receptionist raised an arch eyebrow. “You didn’t need to describe him. Everyone knows Neil. Everyone.”

  “Huh. Okay, well where is he?” I asked.

  “I can’t tell you. Confidential, you see.” The receptionist tapped his desk impatiently.

  “Really? It’s for a good cause. Come on… Wow, I don’t know anyone’s name, do I?”

  “Jeremy,” the receptionis- Jeremy huffed. “And yes, ‘really’. It’s in my contract.”

  I sighed. “Oh. Damn. Not even a hint?”

  “No. Now move along, you’re holding up the line.” I glanced behind me, only to see a whopping zero people waiting for this desk. I turned back and shot Jeremy a flat look. “You would be surprised how often that works,” he supplied.

  “Well, what if I- oh, nevermind. He’s right there. Thanks for the help,” I offered hurriedly as I broke away from the desk and moved over to where I saw Neil sat with a few other adventurers. I had to applaud Jeremy’s dedication to his contract, at the very least, given that he was concealing the location of somebody he was probably glancing at while we spoke.

  About halfway to the table Neil’s group were at around, my approach was noticed. Not by Neil, though. A small horned figure, about a third of my height and covered from head to toe in scales, easily fell into step beside me as I walked.

  “And who might you be?” The sly creature asked, its tail waving lazily behind it.

  “Why are you asking that?” I said. “You approached me?”

  The little creature grinned. At least, I think it did. Its face was pretty reptilian, so I couldn’t exactly read its facial expressions accurately. “And yet you approach others. Curious, isn’t it? The cycle of life.”

  I shrugged and stopped turning to it. “Not really. What have you got against me going to see a friend?”

  Another grin as it smoothly stepped between me and my destination. “Nothing at all, young fey. I am simply curious, as all should be.”

  I huffed. Another mysterious entity that inexplicably knew about what I was. Great. “Good for you,” I grumbled as I stepped to the side. “I’m going over there now.”

  “Are you?” It asked, moving in my way again. “You haven’t answered my question yet.”

  I tried the other direction, getting blocked again. “Yeah, because I feel like giving whatever you are my name is a terrible idea.”

  “Why, me? Not at all. I am perfectly innocent.” The scaly little monster put an offended hand to its chest.

  “Sure you are, buddy. What do you want?”

  It said nothing, simply chuckling. I was about to ask it somewhat more forcefully when I was interrupted. “Julie! Over here!”

  It was Neil, who had finally noticed my approach. There were three other people sat with him, two women and a man.

  At least his team is balanced, I guess.

  I trudged over to him, shooting the monster a dirty look as I walked past. It didn’t try to get in my way this time, simply dissolving into violet smoke. When I turned back I saw it perched the shoulders of one of the women.

  “Neil,” the woman nearest to me said, her voice full of reproach. “Introduce us to your friend here.”

  “Yes, I would have thought she’d be a little young for you, old chap,” the man joked. I only then noticed that he had a monocle on, for some ungodly reason.

  Neil shot a look at the man, but said nothing to him. “Julie, this is the team. Everyone, Julie. Happy now?”

  “Ecstatic!” The man said cheerfully. “Pleasure to meet you. Julie, was it? I’m known around these parts as Winchester.”

  “Known around these parts as a fool,” the creature muttered, to which it was smoothly ignored.

  “You may call me Ara,” the woman nearest to me declared. “Please don’t mind Mepha, he’s just grumpy.” She took my hand daintily, to which I did my level best to remove it again without being rude. Honestly, so many people tried to just touch me for no reason, I found it rather frustrating.

  “Nice to, uh. Nice to meet you both,” I said, a little hesitant. “I’m Julie, as you already heard.”

  “Several times,” Mepha murmured. He was once more ignored. His perch was completely silent, staring at me unblinkingly. I waved at her, but received no response.

  “Bah, don’t mind Whisper. She’s a lovely girl, so long as you don’t expect her to talk much,” Winchester announced. She sounded like my kind of girl, at least compared to the rest of Neil’s overbearing team.

  Neil clapped his hands together to draw everyone’s attention. “Alright guys, enough. I think you’re overwhelming her.”

  “No, it’s fine,” I tried to attest, even though he wasn’t wrong. Still, it felt a bit weird to be anxious over meeting three people, only two of which were even talking, after what I’d been through recently.

  “See! She said she’s fine!” Winchester declared loudly.

  Ara waved a dismissive hand. “Neil’s right, Winny. Come on, Julie, take a seat with us.”

  “Oh, actually I was only here to-” I began.

  “No, we insist. Sit!” Winchester ordered. “There’s a seat next to Neil, there.”

  I turned to see that, sure enough, Neil and Whisper had both shuffled up a bit so that there was just enough room for me to perch on the edge of their seat. After a moment of awkwardly trying to fit onto the seat, I managed to finagle myself into a very uncomfortable position that was more of me squatting than it was actually sitting. Still, it seemed to satisfy the group I had inexplicably found myself dealing with, so that was something.

  “Now, Julie,” Ara started. “I assume that you’re the same Julie that Neil’s been gallivanting around with for the last while, hm?”

  I nodded. “I guess so.”

  She clapped her hands. “Well, isn’t that wonderful! It’s lovely to put a face to the name. I feel compelled to ask, though: Where’s your counterpart?”

  I tilted my head. “Counterpart?”

  Ara smiled. “Yes, the wizard. Neil made it sound as though you two were positively inseparable, if you catch my meaning.”

  Ah. Of course he tells these people everything.

  I sighed. “She’s… off on another assignment.”

  “In that case, what are you up to at the moment, Julie?” Neil asked, giving me an easy out from these uncomfortably interested people.

  “Um. I was actually here to ask you a favour, Neil. I didn’t expect to meet your entire team.”

  Neil leaned forward. “A favour? Alright, I’m game. What do you need?”

  “Well, it’s a bit of a situation, actually. See, there was this nobleman, and-”

  Neil raised his hands. “I’m going to stop you right there. Let me guess, some random noble took a shot at you, or he insulted you, or you insulted him. Things happened, now you need to make some kind of recompense to the guy. Am I right?”

  “...Yeah, pretty much,” I said, the wind thoroughly taken from my sails.

  Neil leaned in further. “And you’ve been an adventurer for what… a week and a half?”

  “Right again. Why?”

  Neil sat back, a huge grin on his face. “Great! Cough up, guys.”

  The rest of his team sighed, except for Whisper who didn’t seem to emote much. Her scaly monster was aggrieved enough for two though, so it all added up.

  I watched as everyone dug out varying numbers of coins from whatever pockets, bags and satchels they had. Mepha just conjured one in a cloud of violet smoke, and Ara somehow had one in her hand by the time Neil was done talking.

  I started putting the pieces together. “...Did you bet on how long it would take for us to get into trouble?”

  Neil’s grin somehow widened further. “Yep. Don’t take it personally, we do it whenever we meet a newbie. Trust me, it always happens eventually.”

  “Neil always wins,” Ara groaned. “I swear he’s been setting people up for the last five years.”

  “Great,” I sighed. “I assume this means you aren’t helping.”

  “Afraid not, Julie. I’d love to, but every young adventurer needs to deal with their first political scandal on their own. It’s character building,” Neil explained.

  “Wonderful. Can I at least have some advice?” I asked.

  “That depends,” Winchester decided. “We can probably help, but only if we’ve experience in what’s wrong. So. What did you do, friend?”

  “Some nobleman made up a complaint about me, now I have to ‘formally apologise’ or whatever,” I explained.

  “Oh, I think that happened to Whisper once. What did she do again?” Ara turned to her group.

  “Was that the one she tormented?” Winchester asked.

  Neil leant in again. “Oh, I remember. The guy gave her a week to show, so she just kept him from sleeping for the entire week’s grace period, only apologising on the final day. By the time she was there, he was barely holding on. Poor man had to have a dedicated healer for a month just to deal with the aftermath.”

  I stood, deciding that Neil’s team were slightly mad. “I’ll... keep it in mind, I guess. I do need to find someone that actually will help, though.”

  “Of course. Lovely to meet you, Julie,” Winchester announced.

  “Quite. I hope we can meet that friend of yours soon, hon,” Ara said. “Do pop by if you see us.”

  “Sorry about these guys, Julie,” Neil said with an almost straight face. “Good luck, though. Tell me all about it next time we see each other.”

  “Sure. See you, I guess,” I responded.

  As I wandered away, I considered Neil’s team. I decided that they seemed like a pretty good fit for him. He certainly seemed happier, anyway.

  Regardless, I had to find somebody else to deal with Simon now. Unfortunately, I could only think of one person, and I didn’t even know where to find him.

  way more than usual this chapter, so sorry about that. I just had a lot to say. As always though, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! ;D

  Patreon!