She's just sat there… staring into the void.

I sat at a table with Sabine across from me. We spent a good fifteen or twenty minutes in silence, waiting for one of the guards to return. A shiver came over me, possibly from a sense of exhaustion forcing me to drop my boots from the table. I leaned forward against it as I relaxed for the first time in over a week, savoring the rest. With the tension of the wilds discounted and a chair under my rear, I felt little actual anxiety at the moment. All I could do until they returned, though, was play over the strange experience of the test. With how close it was to the experience of the ultraviolet lights seemed so familiar, so intimate to me.

Why? For fucks sake, I’d like to pin this answer down myself.

I rubbed one of my hands across the back of my neck, sweeping my ponytail over my shoulder as I did.

Does she hate me that much? That she can't even kill the boredom by bantering?

I looked up from the table’s surface to the girl across from me, Sabine.

“What do you think about the test?”

She was unresponsive for a moment, still staring into the void, before jolting slightly and shaking her head.

“Sorry, I– oh.”

Her mask of annoyance dropped for a moment, sounding utterly disappointed at my question.

“What was it?”

She asked, tilting her head like I'd asked her something dumb.

“The test, what do you make of it?”

She looked at the roof a moment, sighing to herself before looking back down at me.

“Not sure. For each of us to be here? I have not talked to anyone I do not know unless you have been injured on the way here?”

I nodded to myself, looking down at the table.

At least she’ll give us the time of day there. It's not like I've anything to hide, I'll show her.

I opened my gambison, sweeping the right side behind my hip.

Ah shit, my chest wrap…

I looked down at my breast, protruding slightly more than usual, thanks to the lack of support. The holes in the bodysuit lined along my side with holes roughly an inch in diameter. The skin underneath was unblemished but white enough still that it was clear I’d taken a hit or two. Letting the gambison flop back down, I raised my opposite hand and revealed the still freshly healed hand. Sabine appeared to cringe for a moment, possibly thinking over the experience that led to it.

“Got a nasty mark from a wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing. Was one of those self-sufficient ones? Read up on them?”

Sabine shook her head.

“Only a tad, our team has not dealt with many of the seasonal endemic monsters.”

Silence, still and lasting. A few minutes passed as we read each other's reactions.

“You?”

I asked, leaning to the side of my chair as I swung an arm over its back. The other remained on the tabletop, pointing as I posed my question. Sabine shrugged, looking away as she did.

“Stalker got a fair bite on my left leg. Nearly gnawed it off. I do not care to show skin so carelessly.”

The answer is better than ignoring me.

I raised my brow, nodding to myself from a sense of contentment. Finally getting used to a somewhat uncomfortable tolerance instead of her usual, flat-out disdain, I sighed and rolled my shoulders to let out some of the pent-up tension. Being stuck in this room with Sabine, for the time being, I’d take not being hated for simply breathing.

“Wouldn’t be a far guess then, at the contact with monsters.”

I nodded again.

“Still weird, we’re the only ones injured?”

She stayed silent, ignoring the sight of me.

“We can’t be like this forever.”

I sighed.

“I’m not one to shrug off returning your treatment. I dunno, just rather not decide on that when we could just smooth things over.”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Regardless of my misgivings, this is for Kiyomi. She needs allies, and Sabine seems like one to at least have on acquaintance terms. My own aggravation with the brat be damned.

Silence, again, but she seemed to shuffle awkwardly in her chair. She was still thinking something through, though I couldn't precisely land what she seemed stuck on.

I shouldn't pry too much. I’m being too demanding. It could be personal, or it could be something normal. Things seem fragile enough without me shoving my words where they don't belong.

Sabine shrugged once more, sighing as she unfolded her arms. Placing her hands flat on the table, apparently attempting to relax, Sabine looked at me blankly before beginning to speak.

“You do not know the half of what exactly is happening, so do not pretend to be understanding of it. You want us to not be at each other's throats? ‘Hollowpoint?’ Then do your best to prove me wrong and struggle against it. As long as we maintain that professional understanding, then I will extend a professional respect.”

She gritted her teeth as if the words were a struggle. If I looked any closer into her body language, I could've sworn she shuddered at some point, but her words didn't tremble with it.

We’ll take what we can get here, professional courtesy… I can work with that.

Leaning back, I buttoned up my gambeson.

“We’re at an agreement then.”

Sabine nodded.

She’s sure of herself. Funny, the last time I had an agreement with someone like this, it was… Hell, that was Lucas… when I first met him…

I thought once more about the ultraviolet light tests. They were used to spot something. A bacteria? Some kind of involuntary reaction as the eye began to perceive something? Did It search for inconsistencies as the subject's body reacted?

Go figure it’d take someone I don’t like to make me feel a tinge of nostalgia. Hmph.

Whether I intended to or not, I zoned out, and a lopsided smile seemed to take hold as I stared at the wooden surface.

“Hello?”

A knock at the door seemed to take us both out of the moment, drawing our attention as the door cracked open. Two men, a human in robes, possibly a priest or alchemist somewhere in his forties, and one of the guards, also human and around the same age, each entered. A female guard followed behind, though her age and race were indeterminate at best, wearing a well-polished helmet with its face shield raised. The male guard spoke first.

“Apologies for the crowd, but after some recent events, we determined that three or more personnel were prudent. And for when the determined infected are women, well-”

The female guard coughed, eyeing the elder as she leaned against the wall.

“We’re here to make sure the job gets done, and only that.”

Krakow’s city guard has some deeper issues? Noted.

Sabine and I looked at each other for a moment, both of us evidently picking up on the hint. The man in the robes spoke next, laying a rolled-up leather bag across the table. Unfurling it, it revealed a series of small magnifying glasses and what appeared to be a rod with a crystal embedded in its end.

“My name is Elder Weislaw, an officiate of the church of Myr. I’m specialized in determining diseases and infections and, of course, healing and minimizing their effects.”

He looked at each of us with his hands clapped.

“I may not look it, but I’m just shy of sixty suns at this practice. I will not steer you astray. If you’re determined to be unfit for entry, we will inform your teams and allow you sufficient quarters here to facilitate resupply before returning to your place of departure. Am I understood?”

Well, at least they are lenient. At least from what it seems.

We each nodded.

“Good.”

Weislaw smiled, searching through the tools for an appropriate magnifier, and then raising the small crystal-bearing rod. The male guard grabbed a chair from the wall, bringing it to my side.

“You first, being as I can vaguely sense a flow of mana bleeding off of you. I fear It's a more pressing matter to confirm first.”

I nodded, doing my best to relax my shoulders for what came as Weislaw sat down. It was like getting a check-up, weirdly enough. A check-up I was sure to have received at least once before, down to the fine details. Checking my pupil's dilation, my pulse from my wrist and under my jaw, my teeth and the back of my throat, and the keratin near the base of my fingernails and my horns.

I think I’m gonna be sick— shit. Why is this getting to me?!

I swallowed, trying to calm the sudden rise in anxiety. It went like this for roughly five minutes before Weislaw began running the crystal and rod around my hands. It glowed, coaxing a reaction from him as he moved to check my eyes once more. The crystal glowed faintly the same blue as the candlelight.

“Girl, are you able to use magic?”

He asked, placing the tool down.

“No, never have been. My mana veins are frayed. I passively bleed it. My recovery rate is a little slower, too. It’s not something that's crippled me, though.”

I did my best to remain earnest, not wanting to give the impression of a drowning person trying to hide their condition. He raised his brow, muttering something along the lines of ‘You say that in your line of work?’ He looked to the older guard.

“She is clear. Her mana output is high for her condition, but it's nothing to worry about.”

The guards nodded between each other.

“I’ll walk you out.”

The female said, handing me Wyrmstooth as I stood. I looked at Sabine once more, her eyes following me.

More of this creepy shit?

I furrowed my brows at her for a moment, caught off guard. Apparently, she was observant enough to understand I’d recognized this because, in the next moment, she made an overtly obvious movement to turn her head away. Weislaw nudged her, asking her to turn her head back to him to check her eyes, teeth, and pulse.

“If I may.”

I stopped at the doorway, my right hand posted on its frame.

“I’ll wait for her, considering both of our teams will be waiting. Having each other will expedite things.”

I spoke, drawing a glance from the older guard and Weislaw. Sabine slanted her head, squinting at me in confusion.

“I will be fine of my own accord.”

She said flatly. I tilted my head, looking between Weislaw and her.

“I’ll stay, I wanted to speak further anyhow. Neither of us know where the adventurers guild is as of yet anyhow.”

Sabine grit her teeth, tilting her head forward some to frame her eyes in a more intimidating light. The guards seemed stuped for a moment, the female placing a hand on my shoulder about to tell me to walk just as Sabine reluctantly consented.

“Fine. Do not expect anything past that. When we arrive at the guild, that is it.”

Aye, girl, I just want to get what further a look I can into your thoughts.

The same test ensued, Weislaw taking a few mental notes as he went along with the flow of his inspection.

“It’s odd; you have a similar mana bleed. However, it seems to be controlled, like a candlelight just on the edge of being extinguished. Is there any cause as to why?”

He asked, placing an elbow on the table. Sabine responded by opening a palm and summoning a small wisp of fire.

“I am not one crippled with ‘frayed’ veins like her; I’ve just got a rather unfortunate charge from my family.”

She closed her palm, the wisp dissipating before she reached for her spear. She tugged at the knotted cloth, unraveling it as she turned it within her opposite palm. The blade of the spear was exposed first, then as she opened it further, a more glaring fact made itself evident.

The metal… It’s forged from the same material as Wyrmstooth. That’s– it’s the only other one I’ve seen with that appearance.

I glanced at my sword in my left hand, its blade still hidden by the sheath, yet a few exposed runes served to drive home the similarities. It was black and mottled metal, holding a strange sheen under light. The spear glistened along its edge, and the shaft seemed to be the same material until half its length, when the metal sheathing finally fully transitioned to leather-wrapped wood.

You are noble… both of us. Does she know? Is that why she doesn’t like me?

Sabine didn’t seem stupid by any means, especially given she understood something of Aethelwulf looking over Wyrmstooth.

“I have been bonded to it for only a short time, so the weapon is asking a bit more of me than I anticipated.”

Weislaw nodded, placing his tools down and nodded.

“That seems to be it, then. You are each free to go.”