“Dev?” Aida asked faintly, not entirely displeased.

  It was him. He was dressed in a hooded cloak and carrying several bags full of supplies, but that was certainly his mana signature and eyes peering at her.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m gathering supplies. Why are you here?” Suspiciously enough, being in Dev’s presence seemed to mitigate the discomfort Aida had been feeling. Knowing it was better to not accept his convenient arrival at face value, she kept her guard up.

  Maybe this is how destiny intended for me to lose control.

  “I’m waiting for Levi.” She decided it would be better to keep Dev talking so he didn’t have time to ask her questions. “I didn’t peg you as the type of guy to shop for supplies yourself.”

  He shuffled uncomfortably before setting the bags down carefully. “Yeah. I had some free time, so I thought I’d get a head start for the Talonwings.

  “That’s what we’re calling ourselves,” Dev added, sitting beside her. “Kind of a play on the Gullbeaks’ name, since they’re helping us get started. But also a little more intimidating, to get people to take us seriously.”

  “That’s neat,” Aida said noncommittally, shifting over slightly to put more space between the two of them. “I know Sue’s at HQ today to get her own logistics with them sorted, too. Do you know what your first mission is going to be yet?”

  Dev shook his head. “Probably a guided local patrol. Arryn said we need some training as a unit, so it sounds like he’ll be leading us for a while. What are you and Levi doing here?”

  Aida balked. She never anticipated needing a cover story for her cover story research. “We had some free time today as well, so we thought we’d get together for a bit… who knows when we’ll be in the same town again, you know?”

  Pale blue eyes narrowed suspiciously at her. “Meeting with him alone?”

  She nodded innocently.

  “But… why would you be hanging out at the Market?”

  “Oh, you know, it’s fun to browse what’s new, and see how the prices have changed,” Aida invented wildly. She was straining the limit of her mental capacity in trying to come up with a viable explanation for her situation, but Dev’s eyes remained narrowed.

  “But… you’re out here, while he’s in there?”

  He’s too smart for his own good.

  “It got a bit too stuffy in there for me,” Aida said stiffly. “I needed a breather.”

  Dev’s gaze relaxed. “Ah, I understand what you mean. I had to hold my breath for some of the snacks they were cooking.”

  Aida nodded along, relieved.

  They sat in awkward silence, Aida careful to look anywhere but at Dev. Where is Levi? He knows to look for me outside, right?

  Not for the first time, she wished there was a phone equivalent in this world.

  “So you said before,” Dev started casually. He also wasn’t looking at her, but was instead watching the crowd. He was leaning casually on his knees, with his fingers loosely knitted together, as if he was just waiting for his friend to meet him. “That you and Levi were just friends.”

  “Yep. He’s a good friend,” Aida agreed adamantly, surreptitiously pressing a knuckle against her temple. Unfortunately, that did nothing to alleviate the spiritual pressure she was feeling.

  “Right.” Another awkward silence reigned between them. Finally, Dev inhaled. “So, about what the Professors said—“

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “There you are!” Levi called, materializing from the exiting crowd. He raised an eyebrow as he noticed who Aida was sitting with. “Yo, Dev. Fancy seeing you here.”

  “Likewise.” Dev’s nose wrinkled at the strong herbal scent emanating from the small paper pouch in Levi’s hand. “You like that stuff?”

  “It’s medicinal,” Levi retorted as he handed the bag to Aida. “Here, eat all of it. That will help you with your headache.”

  Aware of Dev’s suspicious gaze on her, Aida didn’t take the time to perform the due diligence she would normally do in inspecting whatever new substance she was about to ingest.

  Dev’s eyes narrowed again as Aida upended the pouch’s contents into her mouth. She coughed at the strong earthy taste, but managed to swallow it as Levi handed her a flask. Almost immediately, the pressure on Aida’s senses lightened by half; oddly enough, everything around her seemed brighter, as if she had just removed a pair of sunglasses.

  “That’s the stuff,” Aida sighed. She turned inquisitively to Dev. “You were saying?”

  Surprisingly, Dev looked irritated, though his expression smoothed over quickly.

  “It was nothing important,” he said shortly as he stood up, hefting his bags into his long arms easily. “I’ll see you around.”

  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  After Dev departed, Aida had a wonderful time in the market. There were fascinating stalls—all with a myriad of foreign smells—selling dried herbs, ingredients, and low-grade potions priced at what Levi informed her was equivalent of one month’s worth of tuition money at a respectable school for nonpractitioner students.

  “This was also where I got the crushed Tranquilwort for you,” Levi said, pointing at a stall where a matronly woman was pounding something with her pestle. She winked cheekily at Levi without breaking rhythm.

  “How does it work?” Aida asked. Contrary to its name, Aida felt much more awake than before.

  “As you said, your senses were getting overloaded,” Levi explained. “So you needed something to relax you. The amount of Tranquilwort I got you would be enough to sedate a normal person for seven hours, but since you’re a practitioner it just shuts down some of your senses so that you can function more normally. It should wear off in about an hour or so.”

  “Wow! Is this a common ingredient in potions and poisons?” she asked keenly.

  “Quite common,” Levi agreed. “Not a very effective poison in general, though, given how much you need in order to actually knock someone out. By the way, what were you doing with Dev?”

  “He found me sitting outside,” Aida replied breezily. She inspected a stall selling knives with oddly-shaped blades with avid fascination before adding, “He said he was shopping for his Adventuring group—the Talonwings, they’re calling themselves. What a coincidence that we ran into each other in such a crowd, huh?”

  Levi looked wary as Aida laughed loudly. She didn’t know why she was so worried before; coincidences happened in life all the time. “Right… Speaking of coincidence, how are you feeling?”

  “I’m feeling great!” Aida gasped as she pulled haphazardly on Levi’s sleeve. “Hey, hey! Is that a good price? Can I get that? Would my parents like it?”

  Levi looked doubtfully at the stand’s price list, but before he could talk her out of it the stall owner beckoned to Aida. She skipped over, smiling brightly.

  “Heya, missy! What kinda charm are ya lookin’ for? I can make a custom charm if none o’ these suit!”

  “How much do you charge for a pair of health, wealth, and protection charms?” Aida asked confidently. “I’m moving out soon, so I want to make sure my parents are taken care of while I’m gone.”

  “Very filial daughter, ain’t ya?” The charm seller consulted a small book. “Tell ya what, since I wish my own daughter would think of me the way you think of your parents, I’ll cut ya a deal: five silver baen for a set of two.”

  “That’s too much,” Levi objected as Aida dug haphazardly through her bag for her coin purse. “Come on, Aida, you can find something else for your parents.”

  “But I want them to be safe,” she whined. “I don’t know how often I can come home, so I want to make sure they’re taken care of!”

  “You don’t even have five silver baen,” he hissed in her ear as he pulled her away. He raised his voice to call apologetically to the charm seller. “So sorry, she can’t afford these prices.”

  “Why don’t ya just buy it for her,” he called back, his deep voice cutting through the crowd. “Make a good impression on yer future in-laws!”

  “Yeah, why don’t you?” Aida laughed along with the charm seller’s joke before the meaning of his words percolated through her mind, making her stop abruptly. “Oh, that wouldn’t be right at all.”

  “I regret helping you,” Levi muttered as he continued dragging a forlorn Aida away.

  “Excuse me, you dropped this!”

  Aida spun back around as someone else pulled on her other arm, ripping her from Levi’s grip. Before she could let out her best terrified screech, expecting herself to get stolen away in this thick crowd of strangers with Levi unable to rescue her in time, she was confronted by a gleaming, jeweled medallion resting on a thick, coarse palm.

  “Oh, thank you!” Aida reached for her badge, but gnarled fingers closed over it, drawing it just out of her reach.

  “You’re a fresh graduate from Maglica Academy?”

  Aida smiled as she reached for her badge again. “Yes, thank you!”

  The badge retreated from her grasp yet again, forcing Aida to look into a pair of hopeful, crinkled eyes.

  “Please, if you don’t mind, can I ask a favor of you?”