As the wind picked up, whistling through the silent street and making the old inn sign let out strained creaks as it gave way to the breeze. The four men stared at Lan. Three of them doing so as if they had drunk themselves into oblivion while Sorel looked like he was holding back tears as he let go of Corbin and rushed up to Lan.

‘It’s so good to see you, Master Landrin,’ He said, wrapping his skeletal hands around Lan’s. ‘I was worried about you after what happened.’ The smaller man said in his melodic accent that seemed to have some words flow into others as he looked up at Lan with happy yet sunken eyes.

‘I guess I didn’t get to say goodbye,’ Lan laughed. ‘But I must say, I didn’t know you and the others were this close.’ Lan asked, looking at the three others still staring slack-jawed at him.

From the day Lan hired Sorel, the others treated him as if Lan had given him special treatment, which led to Lan having to shield the man, often by making himself the target.

‘Well.’ Sorel shrugged sheepishly. ‘Strange bedfellows and all that, no?’

Before Lan could ask what he meant, someone else spoke.

‘Lan?’ Corbin asked, the very sight of Lan seeming to have sobered him up enough to speak without slurring his words.

‘What happened to you?’ Doddie asked as he blinked hard to clear his sight. ‘You look… different.’

‘Well, let’s just say that being away from Dell does the mind and body good.’ Lan grinned.

‘Well…’ Doddie smiled as Corbin and the last man gawked at Lan. ‘If I needed proof that it was you, then that look in your eye is enough.’

‘Look?’ Lan repeated.

‘From the day you took over the warehouse, you had a look in your eye like you had a goal, and everyone and everything was just an obstacle in your way. I always admired that about you.’ Doddie said with a smile that Lan could see was forced even in the dark.

And although he didn’t believe a word, it was still surprising.

Except for Sorel, Lan knew that none of the people who worked for him had admired anything about him.

Even if Doddie hadn’t been the worst of his lot, the man had never once done more than he needed to get by without a talking to, and whenever the others would give Lan a hard time or when Dell’s goons would work him over. Lan would, on occasion, catch Doddie as he was looking away.

Despite that, Lan had always been a little jealous of the man. Short brown hair crowned a strong, dependable face, which, along with being the type of person that could get along with anyone, meant that all the other workers liked him, and he had even made Dell let out a grunt, which was the closest thing to a laugh the snake could manage.

‘I owe you an apology, Lan.’ Corbin said, lowering his head.

‘Ahh, what?’ Lan laughed. If Doddie saying he admired Lan had been surprising, then Corbin apologizing was akin to a dog standing on its back legs and doing a jig.

Half of Lan’s day had been him trying to trick Corbin into working, and the other half was taken up by making sure he wouldn’t get bored and abandon it.

Corbin winced at Lan’s words and shrugged, ‘and I need to thank you,’

Before Lan could say anything, the large man went on.

‘All these years, I thought that I was doing you a favour by working for you, but I now see that you were the one who did us a great deed.’ The moment the words left Corbin’s mouth, Doddie’s expression turned bitter before he hid it with a practised smile.

‘What are you talking about?’ Lan frowned before looking to Sorel, who said nothing.

‘The day after you… left.’ Corbin started without meeting Lan’s eye. ‘Dell took over the warehouse and changed everything you had set up. Changing the work allocations to things that we had never done, and a week later, he said that none of us should have been hired and fired the full warehouse.’ Corbin spat on the street.

‘Four years under you, we did our jobs well, but a week under Dell and we are “too incompetent to even shovel muck”.’ Corbin laughed bitterly. ‘“Incompetent”, what a way to learn a new word.’

‘I am sorry to hear that.’ Lan said, finding that he meant it. Although mainly for Sorel’s sake. While at the same time, he understood why. Those who had worked under him would not have found work anywhere else.

Corbin was strong but in the way of an Earth Eater Ox. Strong but not coordinated. On the other hand, Sorel had contracted the Within as his family travelled to Shildegrave, which, despite the man being only ten years older than Lan, left him looking far older and even weaker than his appearance.

But he was meticulous in his work and treated everything entrusted into his possession like a robin’s egg.

No one in their right mind would hire either of them but Lan. Not only was he not spoiled for choice, but Dell was an opportunist merchant. Buying anything he thought he could profit from. Meaning that there was always a need for an ox and a robin’s egg to be looked after.

But one would have to be a fool or vindictive to mix them up.

‘You have nothing to be sorry about. It was our fault for not seeing who we were really working for until it was too late.’ Corbin shrugged, which was the closest thing to respect the large man could manage. At least, that was until he straightened and met Lan’s eyes.

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‘Sorry, Lan. We should have been better to you and everything you did for us.’

‘Don’t mention it.’ Lan said back; although it had been the worst time in his life, he had tried his best. Lan had known the moment Dell left him in charge of that warehouse that he was being set up to fail, and yet he had kept it going as well as the other warehouses. Which made it better than all of them combined in his eyes. Even still hearing that was validating.

‘All is forgiven. But what will you all do now?’ Lan asked, looking from Corbin to Doddie, then Sorel.

‘What else? Look for more work. But first, we are going to get drunk on Dell’s coin.’ Corbin grinned.

‘You didn’t.’ Lan said agast.

‘We didn’t do anything, boss,’ Corbin said sweetly. ‘But you see, you always checked the locks before leaving for the night. Especially that tricky one at the back of the warehouse that sometimes slips open if, I don’t know, a rock or something is stuck in the catch. Dell didn’t.’

‘You did,’ Lan said with a sigh.

‘Oh no, boss, I swear by the Light that I did not lay a finger on anything inside the warehouse.’ Corbin said, placing a hand on his chest.

‘And what about when those items were taken outside? Did you lay a finger on them then?’ Lan asked, knowing the answer from the look in the man’s eyes.

‘Well, that's between me and the Light, Boss.’ Corbin grinned. ‘Oh, you might be interested to know this. Do you remember that Gnorg flesh shipment?’ the large man asked, getting a nod from Lan.

‘Well, it would seem that someone stole the door to the cold room, leaving all of it to go off.’

‘That’s enough.’ Lan raised a hand. To say that Gnorg was one of the worst things he had smelled would be an understatement. The idea of rotting Gnorg, which would happen at an alarming speed outside of a cold room, was a thought truly beyond the grace of the Lords of Light. ‘I don’t need to know any more.’ Lan laughed.

The thought of Dell walking into a warehouse that smelled like the rotten aftermath of his favourite meat made him smile, even if this technically gave Dell some ammunition against him.

Lan looked and found Corbin and Sorel smiling at him while Doddie had a pained look on his face, but the moment he noticed Lan looking at him, he tried to smile.

‘Master Landrin?’ Sorel called, and when Lan looked down to remind the man he didn’t have to call him that, especially not now, Lan found the man with a contemplative look on his face. ‘I think I have something that you should have.’

‘Ah, that can wait.’ Corbin cried. ‘Come on, what you say we buy you a round on Dell.’ The Large man grinned. ‘If anyone deserves it, it’s you.’

‘Next time. My night is not over just yet.’ Lan laughed, finding that he meant it, but there was something else he wanted to have done today if he could.

‘I’ll keep a little just for you.’ Corbin half shrugged.

‘Don’t try too hard now. What about you? Can this wait, Sorel?’ Lan asked, willing to wait a little longer for his sake.

‘Hmm, best it not, sir.’

So with that, Lan said an unexpected goodbye to Corbin and the other two and followed Sorel back to his home. A small cottage that the man seemed awfully proud to show off.

‘Why?’ he asked when Lan tried to apologize about not being able to pay him more. ‘I could only get this place because you gave me the chance and hired me. And because of this place, I will be going back home with enough saved to buy a farm.’ He smiled before vanishing into the one-room building.

Somehow, that made what he had gone through seem a little more worth it. Lan thought as he listened to the quietness of a sleeping village.

A moment later, Sorel returned with a book that, even in the dark, Lan would not mistake for anything else.

‘How?’ Lan asked, tracing his finger over the leather bindings. ‘You didn’t!’ Lan said, thinking the worst.

‘Oh no, sir!… well… that day…’ he looked up and knew he didn’t need to say more. ‘You dropped this, and I thought it was important that you have it back, so I picked it up when no one was looking.’

Smiling gratefully at the man. Lan opened the ledger to the last page he had written in. It was still his handwriting, meaning no one else had touched it. Lan quickly flipped to the end of the large book and found the tamper seals still intact.

‘This…’ Lan started, ‘is incredible, thank you.’ he said, making Sorel’s face light up.’

‘Thank you, sir.’

Although even this didn’t change Lan’s plan, it would go a long way towards making it sting for Dell just that bit more.

‘As Long as it helps, sir.’ Sorel said with a proud grin.

After a farewell and a promise to check on the man before he left for his homeland, Lan headed to the inn, feeling better than ever, and was almost expecting the next thing to go better than well, but as he stepped into the inn.

He was greeted by a smile that could chase away the night from Leah, which took on a cheeky edge as she nodded over to their table before shrugging.

Looking over, Lan found the table empty, much to his disappointment.

Wondering where they might be and not having the courage to take a whole table to himself, Lan headed for the bar just as Leah took her place behind it.

‘So how did it go?’ she asked triumphantly.

‘How did what go?’ Lan smiled, not wanting to give her the perceived victory so easily.

‘The conversation with your family about being an adventurer.’ She said in a tone that would have been smug if anyone else had tried it, but coming from her just made Lan want to admit defeat.

‘Better than I hoped.’ Lan sighed before smiling. ‘Turns out that my father was an adventurer and my mother too… well, sort of.’ Lan shrugged, enjoying getting the upper hand for once as Leah’s head snapped over to him.

‘That!... makes sense.’ She finished as her surprise turned to acceptance even before she had finished turning.

‘That’s it?’ Lan laughed.

‘What? I already knew there was something special about you. but now I see that we are even more alike.’ Leah smiled as if happy with the information.

‘I guess you are right.’ Lan smiled back, finding the thought not so bad.

Someone called for a round before either could say anything else, and Leah shot off to get it.

With a moment to himself, Lan looked over to the table. No one looked like they would take it, even though a few looked like they could use a seat.

‘Don’t worry, little pup, the rest of the pack is on a job for the Guildmaster.’ Leah said, placing a mug in front of him.

‘Huh? Oh, right.’ Lan said, remembering their last conversation. ‘Not part of the Pack just yet.’ He smiled, getting a look from Leah that said, “If you say so.”

‘Did you say they were on a job for the Guildmaster?’ Lan asked as a thought came to him. ‘They seem to do that a lot.’

‘You could say that.’ Leah said thoughtfully. ‘Although most of the established parties get calls occasionally, they might tell you that they're the only ones that get singled out.’ she said before darting off to another table.

Watching her work, Lan was thinking about asking if she wanted a hand when he overheard another group talking about… him.

‘He’s on his own now, shouldn’t we ask him?’ the voice wasn’t familiar, and the attempt to whisper and be heard in the loud hall made the voice carry to him.

‘No, Lock’s lot are already too close with him, plus if we bring him to the party, one of us might lose a spot to him,’ a new voice said to a round of agreement.

Which left Lan stunned for a moment. He hadn’t even considered that. Lock’s group had every role filled, and it was one of the larger ones. Although he didn’t dare think he could replace one of them, would they think he was trying to?

Before he could let the thought sink in, Leah walked past and smiled at him, and as he smiled back, Lan decided he would take her advice for now as it hadn’t led him wrong yet’.