A Few Months Ago

Vero finally had enough money to leave the city of Whitegate, and to her mind, the moment could not have come soon enough. She arrived in the Most Serene Republic hoping that a city of its size and wealth would give her ample opportunity to gain employment in her chosen profession. That had not been the case.

Misadventure in the Ruby Mountains had left her half-starved, and without her coin purse. She was forced to give her horse to a pawnbroker when she could not afford feed her. The code of Vero’s order forbade her from hunting bounties or hiring her sword as a mercenary. So, she spent the past two seasons selling cures as a cunning woman, and working at a laundry.

Thrice she had taken work as a midwife.

There were less dignified ways to earn money, but she was glad to have seen the last of them for the time being.

The night wind blew cold and she found it very refreshing. Vero closed her eyes and felt the sea breeze pass straight through her thin – actually, threadbare – summer dress. Her weak leg ached from walking, but worse than that was the constant noise. And then worse still was the stench of fish which hung over the city like an ever-present miasma that refused to dissipate.

Every day in the city had been miserable, but this day had been even more miserable than most.

All those problems were inconsequential to her now, however. Vero hated having to earn silver by washing well-stained bed clothes, but she finally had enough money to redeem her horse from the pawnbroker. Now she could leave at last.

Leave towards where? She did not yet know. No destination could be worse than where she currently resided, so it did not matter.

She left her troubles behind her, and walked home with bonny gait in her step.

Home in Whitegate was a cramped little room on the top floor of a large building in the brothel district, near the docks. She shared the abode with a prostitute named Theodora, a very bright-eyed young woman. Vero often worried about her being as naïve as she was, given her profession, but she also found the trait almost irresistibly charming.

The room was cheap, even by the standards of single room hovels. According to Dora, the rent was due to its elevation. It had been very pleasant during the winter. In summer the city was almost unbearably hot at any elevation, but Vero discovered that the higher one’s room, the farther one was forced the stretch the definition of ‘almost.’

Vero entered her building, and climbed up the long and creaking staircase which led all the way to her floor. She walked down the hallway until she found her room. The neighbors’ doors were all open to try and allow some movement of air. The other renters were all women who worked in the district, so they kept very little privacy from one another. A small group of their children played in the halls and on the staircase. It was too hot to even move during the day, so they slept and came out for their games at night.

Vero found Dora preparing a meal of White Sea bass and garum. Garum was itself a sauce made from fermented fish, so one may question the reason in serving it over more fish.

Dora did not. Nor would any other citizen of the Republic, so she was not without company. Vero speculated that it was probably one of the reasons for the city’s distinctive odor.

She closed the door behind her. It made the heat worse, but she was too modest to undress without some privacy from the city at least, if not from Dora.

Dora was raven haired and blue eyed. She was beautiful and innocent looking in a way her customers, or perhaps simply Vero herself, found very attractive.

In many ways they were a study in contrasts. Dora was shorter than the average for a woman by nearly the same measure that Vero was taller. Dora’s skin was darker than Vero’s, but she rouged it to lighten the color, while Vero’s preference for the outdoors made her naturally fair skin look ruddy. Dora’s body was curved and feminine in all the ways Vero’s was not, and sometimes Vero even found herself envying Dora for it- but in all she was very fond of the girl.

“Oh, you’re home early; I haven’t finished with supper yet.”

Dora was stripped to the waist and covered in sweat, frying the fish over a small brazier stove beside the only window. The cooking only made the room even warmer. She was already such a mousey little thing, and seeing her flushed red and puffing from the heat, Vero could hardly resist kissing her cheeks.

Dora was the daughter of a prostitute who had worked in Kitty’s Theater, one of the local brothels. She was adopted by the proprietor, the eponymous Kitty, after her birth mother was gone. The Madame gave her room and board, and provided for her education, even teaching her to read and write. Where her first mother had gone, Dora never said, and Vero had never asked.

According to Dora, when she was a child and still too young to work on the main side of the brothel’s business, she had worked in the kitchen and developed a talent for cooking. All the time they lived together, Dora always insisted on cooking meals every night for them both. Vero was very pleased to leave her the task, although she was becoming weary of garum.

Dora eventually squirmed free of Vero’s grasp. “Well, I see you’re feeling very cheerful this evening.”

“I am.” Vero sat down on the patch of straw which served as the room’s bed, and let out a long sigh of relief. “I’m finished.”

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“You have enough money to leave?”

Vero nodded. She already told Dora of her intention to move on as soon as she collected the finances weeks previous. Dora’s face grew into a wide smile and she rushed forward to belatedly returned the embrace- after stopping short once to douse the stove. Vero laughed and Dora joined her, but after a few moments Vero felt something wet on her shoulder.

Dora turned away and tried to hide her face. Vero took her by the chin and turned her head, and there were tears she had not expected to see. The girl restored her wide smile with effort and wiped away the tears.

“I’m only crying- because I’m so happy for you, Vero.” She managed through sniffs.

“I’ll miss you as well.”

Vero took Dora in her arms and rocked her back and forth. She ran her hands through Dora’s hair and whispered soothing words in her ear.

After a few minutes of comforting, Dora regained herself enough to speak without her voice breaking. “Look at me crying when we should be celebrating.” Dora walked over to the small trunk which contained all her worldly goods. “I have some wine; it was given to me as a gift by a nobleman who fell in love with me.”

“You have an aristocratic lover I don’t know about?”

“He wanted me to move into his palazzo and make me his mistress, but I couldn’t bear to move to Castle Hill and leave all my friends here.”

“Of course not.”

Dora found her wine and Vero had already set out wooden goblets onto the table. Dora poured, and Vero realized she felt a reluctance to leave that she had not expected. Dora was her first real friend for a very long time.

Since you let Antoinette die.

And years later the memory still pained her. Her only companion since then had been her horse Papillion. The animal was her only constant of any kind since she left Jean. She never allowed herself to remain in one place long enough to form a connection to anyone else.

The thought left her feeling lonely.

Vero and Dora sat, ate, and enjoyed a first glass of wine, and then a second, and then began preparing for their thirds. Unfortunately, they found there was no longer enough left in the wineskin to accommodate them both. They poured the remainder into a single cup, and sat close to one another to share it between them.

Dora pestered Vero with questions about all the places she could go next. “Lusitan?”

“It’s beautiful prosperous country, but I’ve only just come back across the mountains from there, so I think not.”

“The Imperium?”

“Only if I have no choice.”

“One of the Oasis Cities?”

“I’ve only just bought my horse back- or I soon will- this heat is making my head spin…”

Dora finished the wine and fetched them some water, while Vero lay down on the straw. The water was lukewarm, but still very welcome. Dora lay down next to her.

“…What was I saying? Ah- I don’t intend to hire a ship.”

“One of the free cities, in the borderlands?” Dora asked.

“Probably.”

“How dull, even I’ve visited some of them before. The near ones I mean. Let us presume you shall go elsewhere. What about the Elf-Steppe?”

“No.”

“Velois? You were born there, isn’t that right?”

Vero yawned; the wine felt very strong. “Perhaps. My brother and sister still live there, I believe. Though I have no wish to see them. I also left my own noble lover there, a long time ago.”

“Really? Tell me about him. Was he very rich?”

“The richest man in the kingdom. Even the king owes him money.”

Dora was too affected by the wine to doubt her assertion, despite how ludicrous it was on its face. Or perhaps she thought they were only playing a storytelling game. “Is his family very noble?”

“One of the oldest, tracing their lineage back to when the Imperium ruled the entire continent. They have lands and titles in Velois, Umbria, and Teutonia.”

“Is he very beautiful?”

“Oh yes. His features are very comely. He keeps his auburn hair long and tied back in a band, but he often shaves his face. He has lots of fine clothes of course, but beneath them he’s broad shouldered and strong. He’s so athletic and tall that most find him intimidating, but his eyes are soft.”

“Is he very kind?”

“He’s very jovial when at rest, very serious and disciplined when at action. But always gentle towards me… turn around.”

Dora did as she was bid, and Vero began to massage her shoulders.

“When we were alone together, he would massage my back just as such.”

Dora relaxed completely in Vero’s hands and she leaned forwards to kiss all along the line of Dora’s spine. Then – when she was sufficiently disarmed – Vero mercilessly tickled her sides, while Dora squealed and tried in vain to elude her.

“Oh, Vero! He sounds just as bad as those fellows who come to visit me! Now tell me, does he have a very large-”

A sharp scream split the night. Dora jumped at the noise and Vero was instantly at full readiness.

“-estate?” She looked to Vero for some reassurance. “Vero, what do you think that was?”

“I don’t know.” Vero was already moving to the window. She stuck her head out and found other residents below her doing the same. Then, all the way down on the ground, in the alley their window overlooked, she could make out a pair of forms. It appeared to be a figure standing over a prone body.

Vero immediately moved to the trunk which contained her own belongings. She did not have time to fully ready herself. She pulled on clothes quickly, and hoped that whores would ask no questions about a woman wearing pants and a chain shirt. Finally, she withdrew her longsword and hauberk. She left the rest of her armor behind, as she doubted there was time to don it.

“What are you doing?” Dora watched her in horror. Vero had always been very careful to make certain that the young woman never looked through the things in her chest before.

“Someone’s been attacked down there.”

“Then we should wait for the Vigil to come and help us!”

“Stay here and bolt the door after I’ve gone. Don’t open it again for anyone who isn’t me.”

Vero left the room and started the long trek down the stairs. On her way she encountered no one else. While a few had been curious enough to look out their windows, it seemed that no one had any intention on investigating in person beside her.

She reached the ground level, and moved around the building to the mouth of the alley where she had seen the form. It was still there, lying face down a few feet away. There were no traces of anyone else nearby, but Vero was not about to lower her guard.

Cautiously, she approached the body. It was a young woman and, by her dress, she was one of the prostitutes who worked in the district. Vero rolled the body over and checked for a pulse, still scanning the environment all around her with her eyes.

There was nothing, the girl was dead. Satisfied that her killer had fled, Vero put down her sword, but kept it within easy reach. She started to examine the body.

“Vero!”

Vero grabbed her blade and whirled around.

She sighed and shook her head before looking up to find which window Dora was shouting down to her from. “Fiend! If the creature hadn’t been long gone that distraction could have killed me, fool girl!”

“I’m sorry! Are you coming back up!?”

“Yes, get dressed Dora! We’re going to meet with your mother, she can help us arrange to burn the body!”

“Body?! She’s dead?!”

Vero smirked grimly, but from her distance Dora would not see it. “For the moment.”

There were bite marks all along the girl’s neck.