* * *

“So why don’t you introduce yourselves?” the strange human asked.

“Ah… I am Zilnek and this is Kilniara, my sister,” her brother introduced them.

Kilniara stayed quiet, keeping herself removed from the conversation and trying to be as unobtrusive as possible. She didn’t understand why this human and his apprentice always came to their help. There was only one reason why anyone kept intruding on their lives. Their happy lives had turned to one of misery as soon as she had gained adulthood. First, it had been her parents dying shortly after her coming of age, then knowledge of her parent’s incredible debt left her and her brother struggling to pay off a loan that they never knew their parents even had.

“Ah, well… it is nice to meet you, Zilnek and… Kelniara?”

“It’s KILniara,” Zilnek replied.

“Apologies, Kilniara. It is nice to meet you both. I am Joe. This is my friend, Garnedell.”

“Friend?”

“Ah, well. I understand that many see us as master and apprentice, but I am … not really happy with… that. I prefer to see us more as friends than master and … worker, or whatever. It’s… just a thing I do.”

The two acokzau stood before the two humans a bit uncertain, confused as they glanced once again towards one another. Certainly a strange human! The two groups stood at the dungeon defense wall entrance, awkward in their silence although Joe seemed completely unaware and unconcerned. They waited another few moments and soon the group of four that had been attacking them before came through the entranceway. Kilniara shrunk behind her brother even as he stood forward to protect her. Joe seemed a bit oblivious to the whole tension and interaction as he stepped forward and intruded on the four.

“Alright, guys. I told you that I wouldn’t let them get away without paying their debt. Now, take me to their debt owner. They will pay their debt.”

The four fighters stopped, staring at the human with a bit of surprised shock. Kilniara always had a hard time understanding the facial expressions of humans but these were exaggerated enough that she was easily able to understand what they were feeling. She had to agree with their feeling, although she wasn’t quite as surprised by his actions. The two that the human had taken down had roused, no longer unconscious while they were held up by their companions.

“You do not have the coin, base. Stay out of this!”

Kilniara sucked in her breath, shocked at the man’s insult. Is he a fool? The human took on two of them easily and wields several weapons! But the human didn’t even respond to the insult, seeming to actually be confused by the whole affair.

“Base? Base… interesting. I assume that’s an insult of some kind? Well, anyway… I have the coin, and I made a promise that it would be taken care of, so I’m going to do it. A man’s word is his bond… ah… a famous saying in my people. Anyway, none of that matters. Take us. The loan will be paid.”

The four simply stared at Joe for a few moments until they finally relented ungraciously, simply turning away and leaving. Joe looked at the leaving group before turning back to his members and shrugging with a smirk, “Well, I guess that’s our cue. Let’s follow and figure out what they want. Mind telling me what this is about, if you would?” Joe asked as he turned to the two acokzau siblings.

As usual, her brother took the lead, “We are in debt to a usurer. We must pay our parents debt back. They had taken a loan for their business.”

“Then why aren’t your parents paying?”

Kilniara dropped her head, sadness shivering through her as her scales rippled. Zilnek did better at hiding his grief as he responded, “They died when our family shop caught fire.”

“Oh! I’m… I’m so sorry! I did not know. I did not mean to hurt you.”

Kiliniara glanced up quickly, surprised by the apparent honest concern for them and their pain. She saw a kind sympathetic look on his face and felt herself flounder. Why would someone so great care for so little?

“There is still sadness, but it is an old hurt. They have been lost for several years now,” her brother continued

“If I may, what was their profession?”

“Tailors and they had made it to cloth armorer for us, sir, although they stayed as tailors as they could not invest enough to gain high enough in cloth armorer, sir. They… they were able to pass on cloth armorer to us, sir.”

“Uh… you can just call me Joe. You don’t need to call me sir.”

“Ah.. right, master Joe.”

Joe seemed about to interject, but stopped himself. Zilnek caught the human’s reaction and quickly bowed himself before the human even as Kilniara shivered in fear, worried about how they had offended the human. Zilnek quickly tried to quell his anger, “Apologies, sir. I had no intention of offending you.”

Joe’s reaction, however, was relieving as the human smiled and chuckled slightly, “You have not offended me in anyway, Zilnek. I am simply uncomfortable being called sir or master. I am simple. Just Joe is more enough to call me. You can ask Garnedell,” Joe nodded towards his apprentice.

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The apprentice, Garnedell, seemed to take his master’s hint and quickly interjected, “Yes, my master… he prefers to be called Joe. He always asks that I call him Joe, especially when I make a mistake and call him master. But he is my master. He is teaching me combat.”

“You are a combat teacher?” Zilnek asked quickly in excited surprise.

“Well, amongst my people, I would be considered too young to be a master… so I just teach a little to Garnedell.”

“But you can use the spear, bow, and shield!”

Garnedell jumped in with more, “And he can use the staff and sword: duelist and soldier!”

Zilnek looked at Joe in surprise even as Kilniara felt a shiver run down her spine at the human’s overwhelming skill. How can one human learn so many weapons as well!

Zilnek turned to Joe, seeking confirmation, “Is this true? You can use spear, bow, shield, staff, and swords as a duelist and soldier? Truly?”

“Well, I’m not sure what it means to use a sword as a duelist and a soldier. There isn’t much difference between the two, but I can use them.”

“My master is a master in these!”

“Woah… woah! I am no master in these weapons… Well, I’ve mastered two weapons and hand to hand, but I am no master in these weapons.”

Garnedell looked to Joe in surprise, “I have seen you use these weapons, master! How can you not have mastered them?”

“Well, I guess that is a matter of opinion; a difference amongst my people. To my people, I have not truly mastered most of these weapons. My master would be… very depressed to see how I am using them. I have only mastered the bo and tonfa… ah… the staff and… I do not know if you have tonfa here, but they are sticks you hold in each hand and use them as weapons. And my mastery of the staff, tonfa, and hand to hand is poor at best.”

Zilnek questioned Joe this time, “But you wielded the spear and shield easily! Even the bow!”

“Well, as I said, I’ve only mastered three. I am proficient in another fifteen… twenty or so weapons. But I’m not really good. I just know how to use them, but I’m still slow with most of them.”

Kilniara blinked in stunned surprise even as Garnedell and Zilnek stared at Joe speechless. The human walked slightly in front of them, obviously confident of this overwhelming news, so said little for a few moments before his pride seemed to overwhelm him and he arrogantly looked back to question them, “Hey? Why so quiet?”

Garnedell was the first to regain his sense of speech, “Right. We are just surprised by how many weapons you can use! I didn’t… I didn’t know!”

“Bah! It’s not that impressive. I’ll teach you what I know, Garnedell, and you’ll be able to do the same soon, too.”

Kilniara looked to the apprentice with envy curdling deep within her but was quickly brought back to the conversation when the human returned to questioning them; Zilnek much more respectful in his responses.

“So. Your parents. Tailors. Did they work in the inner city?”

“Oh, no. Our parents were simple tailors for simple folk.”

“Why did they need a loan? To build a shop?”

“No. The shop has been in our family for generations through our mother.”

“Huh… How much was the loan?”

“Ten cores.”

Joe stopped and looked between the two siblings before looking to Garnedell, “I thought cores were rare and very expensive.”

“They are very rare and very expensive!”

“I … It should be possible to buy several tailor shops with that, right Garnedell?”

The human’s apprentice looked to Joe cautiously, “I think… it would be possible to buy ten?” The boy looked at Zilnek with questioning eyes and her brother quickly corrected.

“It might be possible to buy four or five in the better areas of the outer city.”

Joe squinted his eyes, suspicion flooding his face and Kilniara flinched, settling herself behind her brother’s back in fear. Despite the suspicion, the human seemed kind. “Did your parents have workers or apprentices who could watch the other stores?”

Zilnek cocked his head in some thought, “I do not believe they did. I do not remember it so. My mother was the tailor and my father simply helped around the shop while he adventured.”

“So your family only had one tailor? Your sister would have soon become a tailor, yes?”

“At her coming of age, she chose cloth armorer.”

“Would she have been able to open her own shop?”

“No. She was too young and unpracticed.”

Joe fell silent for several moments before asking another question, “Are ten cores enough for a tailor shop in the inner city?”

Zilnek quickly shook his head, “No. Inner city shops are much more costly. And even if we were to purchase an inner city tailor charter, my mother was not tailor enough to work the inner city. My mother would never be so foolish to seek to expand there.”

“Is it possible to use cores in tailoring?”

“Ah,” Zilnek looked to Kilniara, “I’m not sure. You would have to ask Kilniara.”

Kilniara flickered worried eyes at Joe before responding, “I know of some higher level skills that could use cores.”

“Did your mom have that ability?”

“I… I don’t know. Maybe? I do not know. She did not tell me, but I believe she may have been close? I am uncertain.”

“Would they ask for ten?”

“No! They would ask for one, at most!”

Joe turned away, mind distant in thought. “Ten cores…. Ten cores… that’s…” Joe muttered to himself as they meandered through the various streets. Joe still seemed to be lost in thought when they came up to their usurer’s home and place of work. Kilniara felt her trepidation rising quickly, and they saw the group who’d attack them slip into the usurer’s shop comfortably. Joe reached a hand out to head in before stopping and turning back to the siblings, urgency on his face.

“Does he only want ten cores?”

“How do you mean?” Zilnek asked.

“Does he only want ten cores? Has he not asked for other payment besides ten cores or has he offered a way to be free of your debt?”

Zilnek glanced back at Kilniara before looking back at Joe, his face hardening. Joe jerked his head back away, realization flooding his face. He knows! Kilniara flinched back, fear and shame settling through her. Joe looked at her and his face quickly softened.

“You don’t need to feel ashamed about this. His actions are his. They’re not about you! He’s the bastard, not you. You don’t… you shouldn’t feel any shame over this. You should feel disgusted!”

The human turned away and sighed before turning to head through the door but stopped once again before turning to Garnedell, his apprentice. “Garnedell, what is the normal way to pay back a loan? How do I do it right? I do not want to offend or bother, but I do not want to leave this alone, either. I promised I would take care of it, so…”

Garnedell looked at him for several moments, confusion readily apparent, “I’m… I’m not sure, Joe. I have seen those back in the village paying in the village square, to make sure there are witnesses.”

Kilniara blurted in quickly, “Witness before the god Baldur, god of… justice…” She quickly trailed off, fearful, as she ducked back behind her brother Zilnek. Can never be too careful… he seems nice, but…

Joe blinked for a bit at Kilniara’s interjection before he smiled and nodded his head, “Thank you. I’ll make sure to do that, then.” Joe looked back to Garnedell to continue the conversation, “Should I ask him to meet tomorrow? Should I bring the priest here? Or should I ask him to come to the temple square?”

“I… I am not certain, but I think you can ask him to come to the temple square.”

Zilnek chimed in as well, “He… might not come.”