“Are you absolutely certain you don’t want to head to the city and have some things made for you?” Vivian asked, her hands folded neatly in front of herself. Joan couldn’t help but notice that the woman’s hands were twitching despite this, just a little bit.

Joan wasn’t truly a seer, but she was still willing to bet there would be more hugs in her future. “It’s fine, really,” she said before glancing back at the neat stack of clothing on the bed. “We might have to leave at any time, there’s no telling when Searle and Bauteut will get back here. So I need to be ready at a--” Her words were silenced by the predicted hug. Eh, at least her ‘grandmother’ was affectionate. It was better than ignoring her or, worse, being openly hostile.

“Oh, you brave child,” Vivian said, almost cooing at her. “It’s okay to be spoiled now and again, you know. You are a member of the Dusklam family now, we can hardly have you traveling around in rags.”

“My clothes aren’t rags,” Joan said into the woman’s stomach. “They’re just well worn. And it’s fine. Once we have the next of the Chosen, we’ll go and have a big shopping trip. Okay? We can go to the city and everything, just for a few days.”

“Very well,” Vivian said before letting her go. “If there’s anything you need, you--”

“I know, I know,” Joan said. “I’m just going to see what fits and what doesn’t, okay?”

Vivian nodded and then, with a great deal of difficulty, let her guide her from the room. She shut the door and then let out a soft sigh.

“Wow, are you sure you don’t want me to burn most of these?” Korgron asked, making Joan jump and turn around. Korgron was sitting on the edge of the bed, an aged tunic that had been haphazardly patched up in her hands.

“When did you get here? How LONG have you been here?” Joan asked.

“A few minutes ago, to both,” Korgron said before tossing the tunic aside and picking up a pair of breeches. “You can’t be serious.”

“They’re fine,” Joan said. “It’s just some old clothes they had lying around. They’re good enough for travel and—”

“And tinder,” Korgron said with a light huff before tossing it aside and grabbing a pair of leggings. “Seriously? There’s more holes in these than the tunic.”

“They’re only temporary,” Joan said.

“If you needed more clothing, why didn’t you have some made while we were in Kazora?” Korgron asked.

“I had some made. Well, Isla did. But it wasn’t like I could haul all of it with me when we left. When we travel as much as we do, we have to travel light. That’s why--”

“That’s why the gods invented magic,” Korgron said, cutting her off. “You should have told me, I could have found a way to store more of it.”

“It’s fine,” Joan said again before walking over and picking up a tunic and then sighing. It would have made a better tent than a garment for her.

“Go ahead, put it on,” Korgron said with a teasing tone.

“They’re just temporary. I should be grateful they have anything at all, it’s not like it’s costing me anything,” Joan said.

“Mmmm hm,” Korgron said. “You should go down to the city, actually get some proper garments.”

“Don’t have time for that,” Joan said before she tossed the tunic to the side and began going through more of them. At least they weren’t all oversized. She supposed she should be grateful that there had been anything, when the lord of the keep’s new ‘daughter’ needed some temporary garments for her travels, apparently there were plenty of offerings.

Not many of them good, but it was better than nothing.

“Searle and Bauteut will be back soon, then we’re leaving,” Joan said. “Speaking of, I don’t suppose that--”

“No, Andreas will let us know once they’re coming back,” Korgron said. “You, on the other hand, need to relax. You’re going to work yourself up into a froth at this rate.”

Joan sighed and then felt a moment of excitement when she found a cute little brown dress amongst the stack. Sadly, it was at least five sizes too large for her. The stains and obvious mending in it probably would have made it look odd anyway. “They were supposed to be back by now. It has been over a week.”

“Deep breaths, Joan,” Korgron said. “Remember, you need to keep calm, no panicking. You trust Searle now, don’t you? So trust that he’ll be back soon.”

“I know,” Joan said. “Shouldn’t you be anxious too? It can’t be very nice just waiting here. You--”

“I am just enjoying myself,” Korgron said. “Before all this you had me running everywhere, then I finally get back and I’m almost dead, only to have to teleport us across the continent a few times. A week to relax sounds positively divine. Besides, I’ve been using it as a learning experience. I rarely see this many humans. You’re all so weird and funny at times.”

“Uh huh,” Joan said flatly. “How are we weird?”

“Very weird,” Korgron said. “I’d always imagined you all to be more fearful. But most people here barely seem to care that the war is going on or how they could be overrun by the Demon Lord at any time.”

“That’s unlikely,” Joan said quickly. “There was a time where that was the primary fear, though. But that was years ago. Now? The line hasn’t moved in a few years and until it does, most try not to think about it.”

“Hm. Was it like this when you were the Hero?” Korgron asked.

“No,” Joan said. “There was actually a time, near the end, where a fourth city was established. Near the border between our lands. It was, to us, supposed to be a symbol of peace. I doubt it would have succeeded, though.”

“Aren’t you just the most optimistic little mouse,” Korgron said. “I think this one would fit.” Before Joan could object, the demon lightly tossed a tunic to her.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“The world was dying,” Joan said. “Because of the Hero. Because of me. I just refused to see it.” She eyed the tunic before nodding. It probably would fit. Albeit loosely.

“You know, you can’t accept the blame for everything,” Korgron said.

“Who else can I blame?” Joan asked. “But I’m working on it. That was then, this is now. And now we’re waiting on Searle so we can go get Neia. Then… well…”

“Well?”

“Chase,” Joan said with a light groan. “I have a few ideas, but nothing I can really say for certain. He could be anywhere, somewhere, nowhere. He’s going to be terrible to find.”

“How did you find him before?” Korgron asked.

“Oh, he tried to kill one of us,” Joan said.

Korgron paused, holding a pair of breeches in her hands. “Wait, what?”

“It’s not what you think,” Joan said quickly. “There was this whole thing, with a fake hero who was pretending to be me. He had this sword that was a gift of… huh. Actually, that might work.”

“Might work?” Korgron asked. “You think this fake hero would know?”

“What? Him? Oh, no, Francis wouldn’t. That was a whole other thing. He won’t even find that blade for at least another decade or so. Possibly. Maybe? I don’t actually know what triggered him finding it. For all I know he already has it. If I waited for that, the world would probably end. No,” Joan said. “But he did mention being part of this thieves guild before he joined up with us, it was how he got all tangled up in this mess. But I don’t know when he joined and it’s not like I can just go and ask.”

“So just a lot of vagueness and hope?” Korgron asked. “Sounds…”

“Useless? Kind of,” Joan said with a shake of her head. “He’s a changeling. Dealing with vagueness and hope is kind of the only way to really do anything with them. Of course, there is one pretty much guaranteed way to find him. But it would depend on a lot of luck.”

“If it’s guaranteed, how does it need luck?” Korgron asked.

“Because it’d find him quickly,” Joan said with a light groan before tossing another tunic into the stack of useless ones with far more force than she should have, cringing when it fell onto the floor. “And then he would disappear once he realized someone was on to him.”

“And what method is that?” Korgron asked. “Or do you intend to talk in riddles the entire time? Oh, do you think I’m him? That this is all an attempt to distract me?”

“As if I would be so lucky,” Joan said with a roll of her eyes. “Chase enjoyed a few things. Massive, wild parties were one of them. A celebration, amazing food, he was there. Not as himself, mind, but he was there. The biggest issue with that was, often, he’d wear someone else’s face. And then he’d often make promises and the like in their name. You’d be surprised the number of…” She trailed off, blinking a few times before moaning and just falling over onto her side. “Oh this is not FAIR.”

“What? What’s wrong?” Korgron asked.

“Oh, Chase gave me a ton of tips on how to find him,” Joan said with another soft whine. “All the time. Because every so often we’d hear comments, like he’d say things like ‘Oh, yeah, I did that,’ when we passed some fountain that was ‘created by this family’ or something. Or if we heard a silly story or all kinds of things.”

“That sounds like it’ll be pretty easy, then,” Korgron said. “Why are you moaning over that?”

“They were off hand comments,” Joan said. “Occasionally little things he’d say, half the time there wasn’t any way to tell if he was telling the truth or not. How am I supposed to remember all of them? How am I supposed to remember ANY of them? I can’t exactly check when a fountain that won’t be made for two years was mentioned at a party before it even happens!”

“Well, there’s no rush,” Korgron said. “For now, focus on clothes. Eventually Searle will get here and we’ll get the sixth chosen. Then there’s only one more, right? We’ll cross this Chase off the list when we need him. Until then, try to relax.”

“I don’t know how to relax,” Joan said.

Korgron blinked a few times before giving a small smile. “That’s true enough.” Her tail reached out and, very gently, began to tickle her stomach.

Joan snickered and swiped her hand out, trying to knock it away. “Stop it.”

“Why?” Korgron asked, before lightly pulling the tail back to avoid another swipe, only to invade again.

“Stop, stop ittttt, this isn’t relaxing,” Joan said, struggling to keep herself from laughing. Unfortunately, the demon refused to be denied and it wasn’t long before she was giving soft, weak little giggles. “Stooooop!”

“Mmmm, no,” Korgron said before moving a little closer. “After all. If you’re not going to relax I’m certainly going to take whatever opportunity I can to help myself relax.”

“You win!” Joan finally yelled before scrambling away and off the bed, hitting the ground and crawling out of reach. “I’ll relax, I’ll relax! Ugh! Maybe I’ll go gamble with Thalgren or something.”

“You’re a little young to be gambling,” Korgron said.

“I have been gambling for years. Do you think mercenaries don’t gamble all the time? Half of what we did was gambling,” Joan said with a roll of her eyes before climbing back to her feet, but keeping out of range of that tail. “I’ll have you know I was very good at it.”

Korgron cocked an eye. “Really? You were?”

“Yes,” Joan said. “And by good at it I mean I tended to stop before I lost too much. Between Chase and Thalgren I learned more tricks than you’d believe. I don’t suppose Thalgren and Hardwin told you when they’d be back?” She wasn’t sure, but she swore she saw Korgron tense up for a moment.

“They’re not here?” Korgron asked before glancing towards the window. “Did they head into town?”

“I assume so,” Joan said, her eyes narrowing slightly. “They left this morning.”

“Are you sure?” Korgron asked. “I thought I saw them earlier.”

“Yes? I saw them leave this morning,” Joan said. Okay, Korgron was definitely hiding something. “My room looks out over the main courtyard. Are you sure you didn’t know they left?”

“Nope,” Korgron said before she got to her feet.

“You’re lying,” Joan said with a sigh.

“No, I’m not,” Korgron said.

Joan just crossed her arms and glared at her.

Korgron gave a soft sigh before nodding. “Yes, I am. It’s fine, though. Really.”

“Why don’t you want to tell me, then?” Joan asked. “Can you please stop doing this? I’m trying really hard to be more open and honest with all of you, can’t you do the same to me?”

“Fine,” Korgron said. “Andreas has been talking with Searle from time to time and he asked for a little help with some things at home. Hardwin and Thalgren agreed to go help him. They’ll be back as soon as they’re done, though.”

Joan blinked a few times before rolling her eyes. “Really? That’s it? Did you really think I’d get upset over them heading off to help Searle?”

“Maybe?” Korgron said.

Joan just sighed and sat back on the bed. “Let’s just finish these clothes, okay? Please, try to trust me a bit more. I’m not going to have a breakdown or anything just because you ran off to help each other.”

------

Oh, how Joan wished she could go back to a few days prior, when she was talking to Korgron over laundry. Because if she knew then what she knew now, she’d have at least prepared for this moment. She stared at the startled faces of Andreas, Korgron, Thalgren and Hardwin, each of which were trying to desperately not meet her gaze. Not that she could blame them, after what she’d just heard. She felt like she was going to burst. It took all of her strength of will to avoid screaming.

Finally, she just gave in.

“What do you mean you LOST a chosen? How do you LOSE a chosen?” Joan yelled, unable to contain her frustration any longer.