There were no gates into Athir, but the city limits were marked by three rings of trees that fortified the area. While it wasn’t as big as New Frausta, it wasn’t some small town and the amount of time and effort it had taken to grow such a wall wasn’t anything to sneeze at even for an Elf.

We stopped the carriage outside of the furthest line of trees and disembarked. I made a show of stretching and taking my time after such a long trip. The last few hours of travel had been awkward for Masatera as we Inspectors worked in silence, and I made sure to keep him on edge with a few frowns and disapproving grunts his way.

“I really should go,” the Elf said the moment his feet touched the ground.

“So soon?” Ferrisdae asked before glancing at me. She cleared her throat. “I mean, of course. We’re on the job, after all. It was still good to see you, Masa.”

“You, too, Ferry,” he replied stiffly. “Good luck with everything.”

“Thank you.”

Masatera looked at me and quickly bowed. Instead of saying goodbye, he opted for a swift retreat. The rogue stopped at the last treeline and looked around before apparently finding what he was looking for. He raised his hand and started running.

“No doubt to warn off the welcoming party,” Ferrisdae muttered. There was a hint of amusement in her voice.

“Enjoying the subterfuge, are you?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

“A little,” she admitted. “He used to have a complex about the Anne Runelaras being the main family and the Dav Runelaras only being a branch, and he took it out on me a bit. I wasn’t even sure if he knew he was doing it, honestly, but it drove him as an adventurer.”

“Seemed kind of nervous for an adventurer,” I stated.

“That must be where the pottery comes in,” she said with a shrug. “I’m glad he’s doing his own thing now; it’s a much better look on him.”

“He adventured because of his family. I understand it but, yeah, it’s good to do your own thing. Support’s the way to go, not getting into the family business just because you’re one of them,” I offered before giving her a sideways look. “Glad you figured that out early.”

“Yes, you’d be in shambles without a junior like me,” she teased.

“Sure, that’s the word for it,” I scoffed. Hesitating for a moment, I shook my head. “Come on, let’s go ask these guards if they know about a… damnit, a moose.”

While there wasn’t a gate protecting the city of Athir, there were guards. Plenty of them, too. They wore mostly matching uniforms though they were separated by rank and purpose. Those in green and brown leather armor wielded halberds with short swords on their belts and quivers on their backs. I didn’t see any bows, but figured they were out of sight.

The mages wore the same patterns as the soldiers, though their uniform consisted of bulky robes. As we got closer, I could tell that it was quilted for extra protection. The weaponry here was more varied between wands, staves, and rods. A few spellcasters had none of them, but instead stood with small animals such as birds or stoats.

Our approach was immediately noticed, and a Forest Elf soldier with two silver leaves on his collar approached us. “Welcome, travelers,” he greeted, his eyes on me first as I walked in front of Ferrisdae. “I am Captain Deligrae. What brings you to Athir this fine day?”

“Good day, Captain Deligrae. I am Dungeon Inspector Badger,” I replied. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my Department of Dungeon badge. He looked it over before nodding. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Masatera dragging two other Elves away from the treeline. I pretended not to notice. “If you have the time, I have a few questions for you.”

“Of course, Inspector,” he said jovially. “If it’s in my power, I’m here to help.”

“I appreciate that,” I said with a small smile. “I was wondering if there was a Human man and a moose named Moose in town.”

A grin appeared on the Elven captain’s face, and my heart dropped. “You’re talking about Cojisto Finnigan and his trusty companion!” he exclaimed.

“These guys know Cojisto and Moose?” one of the other guards asked from the group the captain had been a part of.

“We do!” Ferrisdae answered cheerfully. “We worked with him not too long ago.”

“Yes. I suspect that he’s our Consortium contact for our mission,” I added.

Captain Deligrae’s grin slipped a little. “Is there something going on in Athir that requires both the DoD and the Consortium?” he whispered.

“It’s just something annoying that my boss is making me deal with,” I said, waving my hand. “It’s the executives trying something new by throwing teams together in the name of unity and efficiency. You know how it goes. It doesn’t seem fated to work out, but that’s the job.”

“Now, don’t say that,” Ferrisdae huffed. “Working with Cojisto and Moose was a lot of fun. It’s nice to know there’s such reliable adventurers out there.”

“Working with Moose was eye opening, for sure,” I countered, leaving it at that.

“And now we get to do it again! Destiny sure has a fun way of working things out,” she laughed.

“Yeah, destiny. That’s what this is,” I replied with a scowl.

Our banter seemed to put the captain at ease, and his smile became less strained. “I’m glad that there’s nothing to worry about,” he said honestly. “But anyone who’s a friend of those two are more than welcome here.”

“From the sound of it, they’ve made quite an impression,” Ferrisdae stated.

“They have,” he confirmed. “We put out a call to take out a corrupted Treant that was wrecking havoc on our outer treewall. Though we could have handled it ourselves, we wouldn’t have been able to do it without casualties. They come in, get the job done in minutes, and they helped us start fixing the damages. Not for long, Cojisto was really apologetic about having to get out to do some dungeon diving for some job, but their work was appreciated.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Yup, that sounds like the Coji we know,” Ferrisdae said with a smile.

“Sure does,” I agreed. “Do you know if they’re in town? I wanted to meet up with them sooner rather than later.”

“I haven’t seen them leave through this gate today, but I’m not sure if they’re in town,” Captain Deligrae said, looking towards the cloudless sky in thought. “But they should be at… hold on. Barronson! Which place was it that you recommended to Cojisto and Moose?”

One of the mages turned from his conversation and called back. “He was looking for a place that hosted some trivia events but also had a stable, and the only one that fit was the Tall Tree Tav.”

“Aww, look at that,” Ferrisdae crooned as she elbowed me. “Trivia night. He’s thinking of you.”

“Spectacular,” I muttered. As much as I didn’t want to, I did feel slightly touched at the information, even if I was still feeling blindsided by the fact that Brackenhorst didn’t deem it fit to mention we would be working with Cojisto and Moose again. “Could you tell us how to get to the Tall Tree Tav?”

“No problem,” Captain Deligrae said as he began giving us directions. Soon, we were on our way.

“You see Masa pull those guys away?” Ferrisdae asked as we walked down the wide path that would lead us to the center of the city. I nodded affirmative. “Also members of my family.”

“I still don’t like that they use divinations to keep track of you,” I said. “To make sure you're alive? Okay, I can see that, but anything more is just creepy.”

“It’s not so bad, I don’t think,” Ferrisdae countered defensively. “I mean, I can see why you’d think it is, but you value your privacy over everything except your family. This is normal for any adventuring family of our size. I may not be like them, but I’m still diving into dungeons. And it’s not like they’re getting any concrete information out of it, just general areas and stuff.”

“Still too much,” I said. “But I don’t want to talk about that here. We’ve got our destination, let’s get there.”

“You got it.”

The walk through Athir was peaceful. Most of the buildings here were made by Elven Treesingers and still retained their leaves on the tops and sides. Nature and civilization merged here in a beautiful way, culminating in a quiet dignity that we would be hard pressed to find in any other city of this size. It didn’t feel busy, even though it was.

Ferrisdae lagged behind as she stopped to listen to some of the Treesingers, and I did the same. The plot of land was large and the trees, while old, had recently been transplanted there. Whatever they were planning was going to be large. Based on where the taller ones were, it almost looked like it was going to be some kind of cathedral.

For a moment the cult of CC passed into my mind, but I shook it off. Hopefully, that was just good old-fashion paranoia and not what was actually happening.

My junior gave me a warm smile when she caught up with me. “I love listening to the Treesingers,” she said wistfully. “Their voices are always so beautiful.”

“Now you sound like my daughter,” I said. “Willow wouldn’t leave the tavern’s main room when they were singing the wooden walls up.”

“Your daughter has good tastes,” Ferrisdae stated, grinning.

I could only nod to that as we continued on our way. The Tall Tree Tav was easy to spot due to it living up to its namesake, and we managed to get there after only ten minutes or so of walking. It was a wide building about as big around as a tower back in New Frausta, and had to be at least six stories tall. The canopy of leaves was wide enough that most of the blocks around it were shaded, too.

We walked inside to see that it was mostly empty aside from the staff and a few Elves that appeared to be getting an early start on drinking. It was a cozy place with the ground floor consisting of places to sit and eat while there was an open grill in the back. Plants hung from the walls instead of trophies, and there was even a sign with the nightly events.

A wine tasting event with representatives from Bhumi Vineyards that cost a surprisingly moderate amount had taken place earlier in the week. Tonight was for painting. As I was scanning the events, Ferrisdae tapped my shoulder excitedly.

“Tomorrow night is trivia night,” she said excitedly. “That’s going to be fun. I want…”

I arched my eyebrow as I watched her energy dim. “You want?”

Ferrisdae put her hands in her pockets. “I had a lot of fun at the one back in Crystal Snows, so I was looking forward to teaming up with you again,” she sighed. “But, based on the time, it’s going to cut into something else I’ve got going on.”

“What else could you have-“ I stopped myself once the answer hit me. Therapy. “Oh, I’m sorry. There will be plenty of chances for us to team up together, I promise. That’s way more important than this is.”

“I know,” she agreed dejectedly. “Still sucks.”

“It does, but it’s obviously helped you out a lot,” I offered. “You can cast spells now. That’s huge. And you’re smiling like you did when we first met. Do you… want to talk about it?”

“Thanks, Badger, that means a lot coming from you,” she said, offering me a thin smile. “I’m okay for now. Later, maybe, but I’m okay. Especially with you looking out for me, you big softie.”

“I’ll let you get away with calling me that once to make you feel better,” I huffed, holding up a finger. “Once.”

“Softie, softie,” she sang quietly. “Big ole softie.”

“Alright, I’m trading you in,” I said, throwing my hands up. “Going to call the chief and have him send a new rookie. Don’t care who it is at this point. I’ll even take one of those adventure class murder hobos.”

“Over me?” she asked, trying to sound appalled but far too amused.

“In a heartbeat,” I lied.

“Excuse me, can I help you?” the bartender asked, and we turned his way. “You’ve been standing in the doorway, is all. Is there anything I can do for you?”

I cleared my throat. “We’re looking for Moose and Co-“

“Ferry! Badger!” came a boisterous voice from behind. In an instant I was lifted off of my feet and pulled into a hug with Ferrisdae.

“He’s right there,” the bartender said helpfully.

“Yeah, I got that,” I said, squeezing out of Cojisto’s bear hug to fall back onto the floor. I rounded on him, finger raised and pointed at his face. “No hugging.”

“No hugging,” Cojisto repeated. “Got it.”

“I’ve got you, Cojisto,” Ferrisdae said, turning to give the man a proper hug. She could barely see over his shoulder, but she waved behind him. “Hi, Moose! You’re next.”

Moose, who was standing outside, stamped the ground. Once Ferrisdae pulled away from Cojisto, she ducked under his arm and went to hug the large animal.

“I’m glad you’re here, Badger,” Cojisto said, squatting down to be on my level. “Truth be told, something horrendous has happened. Truly awful.”

My eyes narrowed at his statement. “You’re the one the Consortium sent ahead of us, right?” I asked. He nodded, and I started taking him more seriously. “What’s going on?”

The grown man began to pout. “That mean Dark Elf lady in the quarry broke my crossbow,” he said. “It's lost in the line of duty, so the Consortium won't do anything about it. Since we're working with the DoD, will they reimburse that?”

I stared at Cojisto before looking down and pinching the bridge of my nose. “Yeah, Cojisto,” I said, ignoring my oncoming headache. “Yeah, they will.”