Sleeping on the floor was unpleasant.

Nevertheless, Mau woke up with a good languid stretch when an early morning sunbeam crept across the floor of the room and into her face. It was warm, pleasant, and she wanted to roll right over and sleep some more as a result, but Suvdaa was already awake and jabbing her to get up as well.

"Wake up." The raider girl said while giving Mau a light shake. "We have to head to the Guild today and get our reward for clearing those orcs off the road."

"Five more minutes..." Mau mumbled as she turned right over and tried to drift back off. Suvdaa wasn't having it, though.

Mau woke up pretty quickly, though, when cold water splashed her in the face.

Sputtering and grumbling, she wiped her dripping face, looking about as pleased as any wet cat as she glowered blearily at her travel companion.

"I'm up, I'm up, okay, okay." The catgirl muttered as she sat herself up and fumbled for a nearby towel to dry her face off and huffed. There wasn't much water left to wash up with thanks to Suvdaa, but they made do and cleaned up a little bit before throwing on their clothes and armor to head out for the day. Suvdaa still favored lighter leathers and hides, while Mau now had a newly fitted breastplate and pauldrons to wear over her clothes and under her cloak.

It was a bit of a hike through the city to reach the Western quarter and the Adventurer's Guild, and it was near noon by the time Mau and Suvdaa reached the large brick building that was built against one of the giant tree's thick roots. Mau pushed the door open and they stepped inside.

The inside of the Dorn Adventurer's Guild was as loud and rowdy as the Adventurer's Guilds all across the continent. There were more than a dozen other adventurers chatting loudly and animatedly with one another while eating and drinking at the long mess tables. More men and women were clamoring around the quest board, where jobs and missions had been posted for the day, some even fighting over the various assignments on the wall, and there were a few adventurers on line to speak with the clerks at the long desk that was situated close to the entrance.

The clerks handled everything from assigning special jobs to dealing out rewards for jobs well done, and Mau and Suvdaa slid into line behind the bulky figure of a heavily armored dwarf to wait their turn for a clerk's time so they could receive their payment for clearing the road of orcs and rescuing the elf caravan.

Mau kept her hood pointedly up to hide her feline ears, and no one bothered to give her so much as a second look while her tail was wrapped around her waist like a belt. The Deathdealers had really made things difficult for demi-humans like her, and she didn't want to risk drawing any undue attention even in the halls of an Adventurer's Guild, in case one of the clerks or other adventurers followed the nasty beliefs of the political party.

Suvdaa shifted her weight uncomfortably from one foot to another while the line moved, making faces each time the clerks called someone new from the line to tend to their business.

"I hate waiting in line." Suvdaa complained under her breath, just loud enough for Mau alone to hear. "It's boring and a waste of time. Back home when we wanted something we would just take it or trade for it and be done with business." She huffed.

Mau shrugged.

"This isn't like your home or your people." She pointed out to the archer. "You know the guild likes to keep things as neat and organized as possible, and that means waiting in line." Mau said.

Suvdaa scowled.

"I'm aware of that." Suvdaa said petulantly, "I learned that when I joined the guild the same as you did. It's just... So slow."

Regardless of Suvdaa's complaints the two reached the head of the line quickly enough thanks to the general organized and efficient nature of the guild.

"Name, rank, business?" The girl at the counter asked, smiling politely.

"Mau and Suvdaa. Steel ranks, we wanted to turn in some orc ears from cleaning up the roads to the south." Mau replied while Suvdaa tapped her foot impatiently.

"Oh!" The guild clerk exclaimed as though she had just realized something. "The two of you helped out the elven caravan that just arrived the other day, yes? They actually stopped by and asked to give you something they brought along as an extra reward."

Mau and Suvdaa exchanged a quick glance. It wasn't out of the ordinary for people rescued by adventurers to reward them, so the two weren't going to complain about a gift as they turned in the severed ears they had clipped from the dead orcs and waited for the guild girl to return with their bounty and reward.

"Look at that, we even get a little something nice for helping those elves out." Mau said.

"Mm, mm." Suvdaa nodded in agreement as the guild girl returned.

"It's unfortunate, isn't it?" The clerk asked as she set three small bags of coinage in front of the girls. "That orc activity has been rising so rampantly, recently, I mean. The roads are a lot more dangerous now than they were this time last year."

The two bags were the guild's reward, the third was from the elves; and while individually they were fairly meager, the three combined were more than enough for Mau and Suvdaa to get by for a while now. The girls nodded in agreement, however, with he clerk's statement.

"Yeah." Mau replied. "But if they weren't active then Steel ranks like us would be out work, right?"

The guild clerk smiled, dipping her head in a nod.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"I suppose you're right. It's better for the guild as a whole that monsters are on the rise, but more dangerous for people who can't protect themselves." The clerk said.

It was a grim and bloody cycle. Monsters hurt people. People paid for protection, and then adventurers like Mau and Suvdaa killed the monsters for money. But that's just the way these fantasy worlds al seemed to be, from the very first time the Hero had reincarnated. There were always monsters. There were always adventurers. There was always a guild.

With a word of thanks to the guild clerk, Mau and Suvdaa turned and walked away from the counter. Mau could feel the jealous eyes of other adventurers on the back of her neck as she pocketed the coin purses and left the guild house with Suvdaa.

There were also, always, hotheads who thought they were better than Mau and deserved the gold more than she did. As long as they didn't try anything, though, Mau paid them no mind.

Briefly, Mau remembered an incident from one of her past lives. It was a particularly nasty incident in which a group of brigands had joined the Adventurer's Guild and spent their time bullying other adventurers into giving them their rewards and bounties.

They had tried to do the same with the Hero, who wasn't particularly in much of a mood to humor them. The result was swift and bloody when they drew steel and found themselves hideously outmatched.

The Hero let them live, though. Barely.

Suvdaa nudged Mau's side with an elbow, She must have been deep in the memory because her raider companion seemed mildly annoyed.

"Cat." Suvdaa prodded verbally, as well. "Don't you feel like this reward is even less than the last one? Is the guild trying to... Stiff us?"

Mau shrugged. "There's a lot of work to go around, right now, and the coffers are probably running low. At least the elves were nice enough to throw in a bonus."

Suvdaa nodded, a little placated in part due to the extra reward the caravan had thrown in for their work.

It was past noon by the time the girls had finished their business at the guild and stepped outside into the perpetual shade of the vast tree that loomed over the entire city.

The only thing Mau didn't like about Dorn was how rare it was to find a nice, warm, sunny spot to nap in, but beyond that and the overt fascism of the Deathdealers taking over the city, it was a pretty nice city. It was a cosmopolitan melting pot, only smaller than the capital, and reminded her of the very city that the Hero had first grown up in, in their initial life before being hit by the Summoning Truck. At least, she could remember that it was a large city with a massive mixed population... But the details beyond that were just so hazy now.

Mau flattened her ears back and pulled her hood up once again. The Guild may have been neutral ground in regards to outside politics, but she wasn't in the mood to be hassled by the local guard for being a demi-human on business outside of the Beast Quarter, today. She couldn't help but flinch anyway when she heard a cry from down the street.

"Stop that cat!" A guard called as he came rushing down the sidewalk, dark armor clanking as he chased after a small demi-human boy that had apparently snuck his way out of the Beast Quarter. The boy broke into a full tilt sprint to get away, and that put him on a course right for the Adventurer's Guild, and Mau and Suvdaa by proxy.

"Ah." Mau muttered as the boy took one look at her and shifted his course ever so slightly. He was heading right for her, now. That's when realization set in. In that instant, she recognized the boy just as he had recognized her. He was one of the catboys from the night just before, outside The Cat's Meow Inn.

He nearly bowled right into Mau, and would have knocked her over is she hadn't been ready for him. But a slight shift of her weight as he drew nearer, and she caught the charging kitten easily as he threw his arms around her middle and started babbling and mewling in a panic.

Mau and Suvdaa exchanged a glance as the boy rambled until Mau gave him a small squeeze on the shoulder. It was enough to temporarily calm him down, until the guard drew near. In an instant the catboy slinked right behind Mau to hide as the dark armored figure jabbed a black gauntlet at her.

"Does that belong to you?" The guard demanded.

Mau's lips pursed into a thin line or annoyance at the man's callous demeanor.

"He's just a boy, did you have to scare him out of his wits?" Mau spat back. The fact that someone was daring enough to backtalk him put the guard on the back foot for a beat, giving him a hesitant beat of pause.

"He shouldn't be out of the Beast Quarter without an adult." The guard said, once he managed to rally. "Are you taking responsibility for him?"

"And if I am?" Mau replied in a low growl.

"Then..." The guard fumbled as Mau shifted her stance subtly; just enough to indicate her rousing aggression. Suvdaa glowered and crossed her arms over her chest. Between Mau's tone and her body language and Suvdaa's glare the guard was faltering between his duty and his fight or flight instincts, torn on whether or not he could handle a pair of Steel rank adventurers alone or if he needed to call for backup.

Discretion won over valor as the guard's shoulders sagged in a beleaguered huff.

"W-watch him more closely, next time. And get him back to the Beast Quarter as soon as you can." The guard grumbled before slinking away.

With the guard gone, Mau and Suvdaa turned to look at the boy, who was still quivering behind Mau in the threshold of the Adventurer's Guild doorway.

"So." Mau prompted. "Are you going to explain what that was about?"

Almost immediately the boy started to babble a mile a minute until Mau kneeled down to his level and put a hand on his shoulder once again.

"Hey. Hey calm down. It's alright. Start from the beginning and take it slow. We can't help you if you're rambling like that."

Suvdaa frowned once again- it was a sight that made the boy shrink back a bit, but he slowly began to calm thanks to Mau's gentle tone.

"How are you so good with kids?" Suvdaa huffed.

"Well, I try to not scowl at them, for one." Mau replied.

"They took her!" The boy suddenly interjected, and the pair's focus shifted right back to him.

"Who took who?" Mau prodded for more information, tone still gentle.

"Meu! They took Meu!" The boy whimpered.

Recognition immediately flashed across Mau's face as she remembered the little catgirl that had been playing with her tail just the evening before. Now it was Mau's turn to have her expression harden, much more serious.

"Okay. Who took Meu?" She asked.

"The men in black armor!" The boy said, tone hasty and strained.

That was a heavy accusation to make and Mau knew that if the new regime of city guard had been involved in a kidnapping that the boy's only recourse would be to turn to someone not in the city guard. Of course he also turned to the first person he could think of, and unfortunately that would be the 'cool' pair of Steel ranked adventurers he had met just the night before.

"... Did you actually see it happen?" Suvdaa interjected. Suvdaa may not have been very savvy for city life, but even she knew that one simply didn't levy such heavy accusations against the guard.

"N-no..." The boy answered hesitantly, the panic evident in his eyes. "But I know it was them! They go to the graveyard late at night every other week. Tonight's the night they're gonna meet there."

Mau and Suvdaa exchanged a glance.

"What the hell were you doing at the graveyard?" Mau asked.

"We weren't in the graveyard, we were playing around the graveyard walls. Meu wandered too close to the gate and I saw someone in all black grab her and drag her inside!"

Mau sighed slowly through her teeth. This was tricky.

"What do we do?" Suvdaa asked nudging Mau with an elbow, knowing full well the catgirl would want to intervene. She was right.

"Well. First we're going to let the guild know that a child's been kidnapped. Maybe another adventurer or two will decide to help out." Mau mused. "Then... I guess we're snooping around a graveyard..."