"Gods dammit." I remarked loudly as I left the Sundial with a foul temper. Why now of all times did things have to change? Everything was going fine! I was learning how to defeat him and I was...

Not getting anywhere.

"To throw a man down a mountain..." I grumbled as I went off somewhere that at least looked quiet. Or, rather, a place that would at least be quiet enough for me to think. So, I brought myself up onto a nearby roof and I collapsed onto it. And I grumbled all the while.

A claw was planted against my face and I thought it over. For five years I have been essentially trained by the monster himself in how to fight him. There has never been a night where I have come out on top, admittedly. Though, it was rather obvious and yet, despite that, it still came to the forefront of my mind.

"Because I cannot escape the fact that all I have ever done is fail." I pointed out to myself drearily as I took my claw away from my face. Then, with a click of my tongue, I stood up once again.

If what Inerish proposes can help me, shouldn't I at least try to accept it? Our goals were the same, so it didn't make much sense to be in a state of conflict with her. In fact, I really should've heard her out as much as possible. Clearly, there was something that I was missing.

But then came the reminders of the contradictions I had spoken of came to the front of my mind. She and all of her resources had nothing to show for it. They were at this for years longer than I had been, and, again, nothing to show for it. With all of this in mind, what point was there in trying to work out something with them?

"Gods dammit..." I sighed before I pulled out the communicator I had borrowed. I could make it clear to Inerish that I was willing to listen to what she had to say. But did I need a moment to consider it all? Maybe I just needed to get some proper rest.

So I put the communicator away and figured out my position. And once I had ascertained where in the city I was, I started to move. Without wasting a moment, I shot into the air with the aid of my magic and breathed in as I passed through the suction of everyone else's high above. Revitalised by it a little, I began to pick up the pace.

The moments went by and the wind blew in my face. Then, letting go one final time, I landed in front of Liadanann's shop. Initially, I looked at the shop and considered heading inside, but I did nothing. I just stood there and stared at the shop with a blank mind.

"Nin! Oh, Nin!" a jolly man sang from the side of the road. I did not intend to initially go to him, but, as I wanted to clear my mind, I went over.

"Up so early?" I asked as he turned around and brought me into his shop.

"Of course, everyone loves a bit of Abbspri in the morning!" he chuckled as he pulled a cloth from his front pocket to wipe the tables with as he seemingly continued to put stalls and chairs down. At first, I just stood there, but following some friendly gestures from him, I at least helped bring the chairs down.

"Even I can understand why." I told him as I clasped onto the legs of two stalls to bring them down. With a loud bang, they hit the floor, though, I did not slam them down intentionally.

"Quite the bit of praise coming from you!" he happily accepted before a spare cloth was thrown my way.

"I don't work here." I reminded him after I caught it.

"No, but I'm going to lose track of the tables you have done." he chuckled as he went through more of his singer's pub to get it ready for the customers.

"It can't be that hard to recall some tables." I remarked as I retraced my steps, running a cloth along a table each time I went by one.

"You'd be surprised at what you miss even after doing something for so long." he explained as he finished up on his side of the pub. And, unsurprisingly, I discovered that he had given me a greater amount to do.

But, what he said interested me and my work came to a halt, "How can you miss something when you have done it for so long?"

"You get used to things being a certain way, one slight change is all it takes for you to lose track of where you have gone wrong because everything else is going so well. At least, hopefully, it is." he explained with a smile as he heaved up the countertop and hooked it to the wall.

"I see..." I muttered as I thought about what he had just said.

Could I apply this to the past five years? It was one of the main reasons why Smiling Jhurack always seemed to get the jump on me, now that I considered it in this light. I understood what he could do, and I was capable of stopping him at times, some shorter than others. But, thinking about how my skills came about, and how he spoke to me, it just made sense.

"Well, anyway, you are certainly talkative this morning." Abbspri pointed out as he started to prepare the bar for service. And, once again, I found myself roped into helping him.

"The morning has been different from usual." I explained as I carefully used individual claws to clean out the glasses he sent my way. After a certain point, he switched it up and set me metal tankards and other thicker kinds of cups. He seemed to quite enjoy the awkward way I handled it.

"Knowing you, this could mean anything."

"Inerish, the Grand-Guard, she wanted to try and get involved with what I do at night." I explained as a claw began to tap rhythmically on the bar.

"I take it you said no?" he guessed correctly.

"Yes, I... I told her that I did not want her help, because they have done worse than I have."

"Dropped your brain down the Spiral Road, Nin?" he asked as he leaned forward with a raised brow.

"Not this day, not today." I told him, largely ignoring the well-meaning jab.

"Help helps, Nin, you should take her up on her offer."

"But they have failed at this for... How long? Thirty years if you take off my five?" I recalled to him, utterly confused as to why he would push me to go to them.

"It is when we do badly that we learn to do better."

"Thirty years is pushing it, seriously, Abbspri?" I let out in a rather exasperated manner.

"That's Publican Abbspri to you." he chuckled before the sound of sharp scrapes filled our ears. After a couple of pulling motions, he then presented his foam cutter to the open air and the lights of his establishment. He reflected an equally fine ray of light at me until I reacted.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I'll never get over how you need a sharp blade to cut the foam from your brews." I remarked as I recalled a time long gone.

Back when I was a child, living in the middle sections of Tobaballe like all the other children. I remembered when my grandparents would take me to a restaurant not that far from their home. Granddad would take me to the bar, and I'd watch them cut the foam off his beer. It would force bubbles with it or it would leave them at the top of the glass, ready for his moustache.

"Having trouble with things like that suits you." he commented as he made sure he had all the tools he would need for later.

"So about the fools in the Sundial?" I grumbled as I brought us back on topic.

"Go to them and accept their help." he told me without a moment's delay.

"Down the mountains and into the water with their history?"

"Down the mountains and to the very depths of that water." he mostly repeated with a firm nod.

"Abbspri..."

"What's on your mind, Nin?" he asked as he moved closer.

"Do you think I can do this?" I asked him as my insecurities began to show through a quieter tone and slight quivers.

"You know I trust in the fact you will save your bird."

"No, do you think I can defeat him? Saving Lari is one thing, look, I know the two are linked in their entirety. I wouldn't be able to pull one away without dragging the other with it... I just..."

"Look up at me, Nin." he ordered softly as the rustle of a stone panel filled the air. Then, with a dull thud, he pushed a news tablet towards me. But, I ignored it and did as he asked.

"Can I?"

"You can, you hear? Yes, you can. You of all people should know that you can handle a bit of pressure."

"Not having the backbone to hurry along to Undwote or Waionr is hardly being able to handle it." I mumbled as I turned away from the bar.

"Nin, not many, very few people are able to keep going after something after having it spat back at them for so long. More so when you consider that this isn't just the worries in your head." he explained as his eyes went forward a bit at the injuries that were still left all over me.

"A bit of blood means nothing while Lari is losing so many precious moments." I darkly remarked.

"Look, if one publican's words mean nothing, then read that news tablet, at least the headline."

"This is from Suhurlodst..." I commented as I saw how I was on the front page story. That interview exam had gotten a little out of hand if this is what was now happening. It was enough to even make me grumble with displeasure.

"Even if you aren't succeeding, people appreciate the effort."

"Yeah, the person who spoke to me even asked to talk some more after the fact yesterday, though I suspect her reasoning for it goes beyond my nightly attempts at Smiling Jhurack."

"Take her up on the offer, spend some time doing something else."

"No, I need to prepare for him..."

"You won't need to prepare as much if you accept Grand-Guard Inerish's offer, will ya?"

"Fine, if it'll get you off my backside." I let out as he began to laugh.

"Oh, my front is too big for me to comfortably fit there." he chuckled just before a bell began to ring.

"From the kitchen?"

"Yes, baking some fresh bread for today's breakfast period." he explained before he disappeared out back. And with that said, my stomach grumbled violently. Even with my efforts to replenish my magic on the way here with what Thrurstradtur took from everyone else, my stomach still demanded more. But, it did have a point, eating would help.

"Has the work I've done been enough to justify a loaf of that bread?" I asked as I went around the bar and through its gate so I could reach the kitchen.

"Oh, go on then. But, on one condition, you deliver something for me to that landlady of yours."

"Liada? She's my friend."

"Could've fooled me." he commented as he hastily picked up a scorching hot loaf. The heat of the crust only helped him pass it over to me and he gestured over to a money sack as he flicked his hand rapidly.

"You are placing an order?"

"Yeah, she makes some lovely puddings." he explained as I pulled my mask up to crunch down on the bread.

"Understandable." I said after I swallowed my first bite.

"I'll never trust you again now, eating before you did the task!" Abbspri dramatically joked as he made sure to sort out the rest of the bread properly this time around.

"She'll bring it around on her own?" I asked as I picked up the money.

"No, I'll pop over for it and leave the place to the merry band for a few." he explained as he started to pull out various kinds of fruit, veg and meat.

"Alright, another time, then, Abbspri." I told him between bites and subsequent chewing as I departed.

"Make sure to remember what I said!" he called out just as I left through the front door.

"I'll try." I muttered as I crossed the road towards Liadanann's sit-in bakery. And when I got inside, I placed the money down by her register as I assumed she would need to log it.

"Is that you, Nin?" a tired voice asked as other noises came from deeper inside.

"Yes, it's me." I answered as a claw found its way to the counter.

"What's that?" she asked after she made a point of averting her gaze on her way to the counter. I suppose that meant she didn't like the blood. I couldn't really blame her for that, but, I was not particularly bothered either way.

"Abbspri asked me to bring it over for you."

"I see..." she muttered quietly as she used her sharp nails to cut through the cloth and get to the contents of the bag. As the name of the bag implied and the jingle I heard on the way over, it was money. But there was also a note on top of it all which she wasted no time in reading.

"I'll be upstairs if you need me." I told her as I turned for the stairs. Yet, before I could leave the counter, her hand suddenly grasped my claw. So I looked back at her and waited for her to say something. But all she did was look at my claw quietly, her grip would tighten, but she was otherwise withheld.

"Nevermind..." she eventually muttered as her grip loosened completely to the point her hand slid off.

"Make sure to not work too hard, you look tired." I told her before I went on my way upstairs. At the halfway point, I pulled out the communicator and fiddled with it. And as I got upstairs, whimpering followed me up them. However, I kept my attention focused on the communicator and I went into my room.

I closed the door behind me and then let out a long sigh as I started to undress. My mask hit the ground with a hollow thud and my hat floated down gently as it caught the possibly stale air. Like a combination of the two, my cloak then came off. With bandages exposed fully, I then began the process of taking them all off, hissing slightly as I went by the still-open wounds.

"No, not this time." I told the draw that I kept my magic concentrate in. My magic was depleted, yes, but it wasn't so bad that it necessitated such an extreme boost. I had time to just soak in what I could from the city around me, it would hurt a lot less, too! But the pain I was dealing with at the moment was getting to me, minor as it might've seemed, really.

So I started to look around for a cloth and a half-used flask of magic concentrate. Once I found both, I opened up the flask and folded up the cloth, placing it on the mouth right after. With some reluctance, I stared at the metal container before I turned it over so it could soak into the cloth. I then kept my claw up with an increasingly firm grip before I turned it right back over.

"Here we go..." I muttered anxiously as I applied the soaked cloth to the open wounds that I could see. With a wince each time, I slowly went across each of the wounds until I just had enough. I was nowhere near done, but I just couldn't stomach much more of it at the moment. Winces had turned into withheld growling and I just needed a moment to get used to the burning.

Trying to keep my attitude in check, I started to rapidly tap my foot again and again against the floorboards. And to make sure I didn't squeeze the cloth dry in my attempts to manage the painful sensations, I put it down on my bedside table. A long blast of air soon left my mouth and nostrils and I reached for the cloth once more, though I came up short. More moments then passed by until I started to laugh at myself.

"How is it I can even manage going night after night like this?" I asked myself after letting out a long sigh at the end of the laugh. It really did perplex me as I continued to show reluctance before that soaked cloth. Being cut up by that undulling sword every night should've established quite the tolerance for pain within me. But, no, all it took apparently to get me fed up with the sensation was some first aid.

So, in an effort to distract myself, I started to fiddle with the communicator some more. Slowly and carefully, I set it up properly using the details I had been given years ago. In a few moments, a noise started to leave the small device and I waited for a response. As that happened, I considered some details that I wanted to talk about.

"What is it, Dark Crow?" Inerish asked me mockingly.

"Your offer from earlier, I want to talk to you about it." I told her as I brought my foot to a stop so it wouldn't interfere with the call.

"Come tell me in person." she offered as a smile most likely appeared on her face.

"Grab an airship and meet me out by the Worm Rider's farmstead when you can." I told her before I turned the device off. With a groan, I then walked over to my bed and collapsed onto it. She was probably going to be busy for the moment, so it was a good idea to catch up on my sleep.