Memories tumble, like stones down a mountain.

“Come on, get moving.”

“H- hey, come on. Wait a bit. Please?”

“Noble I swear to god I’ll-”

A blade, black-silver, pointed at his throat.

“Look me in the eyes.”

“Brother, wh-what are you-”

Airborne. Weightless.

He tumbles, like stones down a mountain.

###

“Why aren’t we going to Markaz-amn?” Saila asked. She was looking at the map, having finally realized she didn’t actually know which way they were headed.

“Samudr-tat is closer,” was Noble’s answer, clear and simple.

“It’s also a dingy coast town. And south-east of Dehali. Pretty sure the soldiers said-”

“They said he went north-east. Likely to Markaz-amn. But it’s not a good place to bunker down in- Felisia has their eyes set on it next. He’d get there, realize it’s about to be a war zone-”

“Aaah.” Saila nodded. “He’d run scared, and the next closet place is Samudr-tat. Clever thinkin’ soldier-man.”

The horse- Matchsticks, Saila had insisted, and there was no world where he called it that- grunted in agreement.

“While I wouldn’t say run scared, that’s close enough to true.”

Saila thought a moment. “Wait, but doesn’t that mean he might take a boat out? Could make a run for Exova, or anywhere alone the Trestarian coastline, yeah?”

“Unlikely,” Noble said. “According to what I’ve heard, Felisia’s put boots in along most of the coastal cities connected to Zarrhdad. Cut Trestaria in two, and given them access to the sea- and if you own the sea, a coastal like Samudr-tat isn’t going to risk sending any boats southward, just in case they’re being watched.”

“Hm,” Saila said. She stared intently at the map again, as if she was plotting out their next move. “So… if he’s not there, then what?”

“North,” Noble said. “Though if we’re lucky, he won’t have moved on.”

“Why?”

Noble scanned the horizon. He could make out the faintest edge of Samudr-tat in the distance. All around them was desert wilderness- sand and dirt, stone bluffs that marked the rougher terrain, scrabbly grass and desert flowers. It was a lovely place, if a little worn down, and he imagined Samudr-tat itself would be much the same.

“Always been a fan of fish,” he answered. “Figured we could get some.”

Saila scoffed, and went back to studying the map.

The three continued their way down the rocky path.

###

Samudr-tat did not disappoint. The simple mud-brick style of Dehali was mixed with less traditional stone and wood buildings. The decorative painting was less faded than ole Dehali, with gorgeous arabesque depictions of desert flowers in reds and golds and purple. Stone ornamentations carved in the guise of wind and water graced buildings where simple foundations would have sufficed, every-flowing power frozen in place. Where Dehali’s streets were worn dirt, Samudr-tat’s was paved with even-patterned limestone- a benefit of being a coastal. The Mineral Sea was at Samudr-tat’s beck and call, and it answered beautifully to the dredging vessels that mined it.

The people too stood apart, in finer silks and cottons that bespoke of the small city’s wealth. The people here were not as hard-faced, not as worn by sand and sun. Those that worked hard looked the part of course, but there was room for people to live, not simply be.

“Whoa…” Saila said, swiveling in the saddle to get a better look. “I uh… take back calling this place dingy… this is a bit more impressive than I thought it’d be.”

“It’s not that bad,” Noble admitted. He was glad she was taken in by it.

Stopped her from seeing the flaws of it.

While it was all in better condition than Dehali, there was wear and tear. The stone was not quite so even, the paint not quite so vibrant, the road not quite so sturdy. It felt like something crawled beneath the surface, and at any moment it could burst.

And the people? Noble could see it- not in everyone, but enough. An uncommon fatigue, a concern for the future worn plain to those who felt that self-same worry. Noble had the right of it, he was sure; Felisia’s stranglehold on the waves meant the bounty Samudr-tat so enjoyed had been kicked out from under them, and they were left hanging.

What sort of hunger would he find here, he wondered.

“So, what’s the plan soldier-man?” Saila asked, only paying half attention.

“We find a place to set our boots down.”

“Sounds good, sounds good… camping’s fun and all, but I’d love a proper bed.”

“You know, I never asked- where’d you live in Dehali?”

“Uh, wherever. Had a set up in an alleyway.”

“Never used any of that coin to rent a room?”

“Naw, I jus…” Saila’s eyes caught on a passing group of young women in sheer, vibrant silk scarves and low-cut, sleeveless dresses, bare arms adorned with gold bracelets. They gawked and chittered among themselves as the three of them rode by. “… just, books. Food, mostly.”

“That it? Not even clothes?”

One of the girls looked back and waved, and Saila just about fell off the damn horse.

“Y- yeah, not unless I, uh, needed… just, never saw anything I liked.”

“Hmm… well, we can look around some if you’d like. Course, we don’t really have much in the way of money…”

“Money…?” Saila’s voice was a little far off.

“Well, I seem to have misplaced my wallet, not that I had much more left in it, and-”

Suddenly, Saila did fall off- with an intentional spring that had her tumble through the air before landing on all fours. She sprung up to her feet and started rummaging through the packs loaded up on the horse.

“What are you-”

“If we need money I can get it- sorry about your wallet by the way- but I’ve got an idea hold on just-” she pulled the brass rod from where it had been stowed away, “ah, here it is!” and pointed it at Noble.

“You find a place then get back here on the double, soldier-man. I’ll have us the cash!”

Her dismount from the horse, not to mention her sudden shouting, had already drawn eyes. As she dashed off towards the girls, the stares followed. Noble only left once he saw the flames start- and heard the girls shouting in excitement at the little lady’s performance.

“Alright, that’ll do,” Noble said under his breath. The horse grumbled in response.

“Quiet, horse. Now let’s find us a hotel or something.”

###

It didn’t take long to find a hotel- coastals like Samudr-tat often had a need for empty rooms, and with the sea locked down they were empty indeed- but Noble meandered his way back on foot, scoping out anything in the market that might fit her, to keep in mind for later. He didn’t quite know what style Saila would like, of course- the girls that had caught her eyes served as a good example- but even then, he wouldn’t put it past her to have a different taste for herself.

One purchase he did do, on the promise he’d be back tomorrow with money, was a dime-novel he happened to spot. The cover was of two women holding each other in a passionate embrace- and taking aim over the other’s shoulders at black-clad bandits.

Something told him she’d enjoy that.

It was an odd thing for him, window shopping for another person, but there was a certain kind of warmth to the activity that mixed well with the faint salt-smell in the air. There was a tension in Samudr-tat, a boiling pot cracking at the edges, but despite it all… Noble felt nice and calm.

He allowed himself that calm, and took in the sights himself.

When he finally got back to Saila, she was still in the midst of a fiery performance. The brass stick swirled with a gold hue, amber flames flaring like wings at each end. It spun and twisted, and Saila danced, shoes off to the side for better grip.

The brass stick was not the only flames. Little streaks of ember sparked from her hands as well, adding to the spectacle- though even at a distance he could see the matches clenched between her pointer and middle finger. All part of the act, after all.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

But the crowd ate it, even those up close. Noble had heard the cheering, a mixture of awe and amazement, before he’d actually returned to see it. It wasn’t a grand crowd- maybe fifteen to twenty people, but it was impressive none the less. Fire-dancing was not so common a thing it couldn’t draw a crowd, and seeing it out on the street was an addition that added a bit of wild flare, but there was more to it. Like they could feel the energy radiating from her.

Noble certainly could, and it put a smile under his mask.

Her performance reached its crescendo- with a sudden strike to the ground the flames all died out, and Saila dropped to one knee, head knelt down. As she lifted it, a stream of flame billowed forth from perched lips and shaped into a heart that lingered in the air before burning out. No matches to accompany it like in Dehali.

Heh. Show off, Noble thought.

The loudest cheers were from the gaggle of girls Saila had scouted out. Saila wished them- and the crowd- well, and some conversation broke out as the crowd dispersed, returning to their business. From the distance Noble was watching he couldn’t make out was said, but after they left, Saila seemed to wear a melancholy face as she set about fetching the coins and bills that had been thrown to the ground for her.

Noble chose then to approach, tipping his head in a nod.

“Looks like you cleaned up nicely. Looks to be nearly fifty dollars here.”

“How’d you count that fast?!” Saila asked. Despite the look on her face, she still held a bit of flame in her. “But, yeah, it was a good show- great even! Way more than even my best day back in Dehali.”

How much should I pry… “I saw you were talking to some of the crowd at the end there. Like what you see, little lady?”

Saila tensed, a nervous glow rising to her cheeks. “Ah- I mean, ye- a little. I’m- I mean, I gotta be professional and all, but like, uh…”

“I meant clothes. A lotta local styles here. Any suit your tastes?”

“Pffth! Yo- you ass!” The tension bled out of her like a faulty pipe. “That- that is not what you meant!”

“I haven’t the foggiest what you mean,” Noble said in the most deadpan voice he could muster. “Though I’m not one to judge; there’s no problem in having interests.”

“W- well, what can I say- there’s some uh, interesting folk here in Samudr-tat,” Saila grumbled as she continued her collecting and counting. “… very interesting.”

“How so?” Noble asked, adding gently “if I may, of course.”

“O- oh… you know. They uh…” Saila made a vague, twitchy gesture with her hand. “They’ve got a look, you know? Other ladies, I mean. They’re… I mean, you know, right?”

“Can’t say I do.”

Saila raised an eyebrow. “You into dudes, Noble?”

The bluntness of her question struck him like a hammer.

“… can’t say that, either,” he managed. “That sort of thing doesn’t come to me.”

“Huh…” Saila thought a moment, a faint breeze blowing her tangled hair about. She pulled a hand through it to clear her vision and said, with all the sagacious wisdom a sixteen-year-old could muster; “girls are hot.”

Noble gave her a small laugh. “Suppose so. Like I said, nothing wrong with that. Just be careful- I’m not sure how long we’ll be staying.”

“True, true.” Saila plopped down on the side of the road. “You uh, don’t have to worry about that though. They made for a good signal-fire for the show, but eh… they saw me as a guy. Makes sense and all, we’re new in town.”

The dip in her tone suggested it stung a fair bit more than she let on, but that she’d shouldered this sort of thing before.

Noble let her count in silent. Some things he just didn’t know how to help.

Finally, Saila finished- fifty dollars and roughly thirty cents by her count. She handed Noble the coins before pocketing the bills herself. It was only then that Noble next spoke up.

“Well little lady, my question still stands; want to pick yourself up some clothes?”

Saila hopped to her feet with a grin on her face- but to Noble’s surprise, shook her head.

“Noble I was dancing for who knows how long, I am sweating harder than a candle in a forest fire. I need a bath something fierce. You did find us a place to stay right?”

“Course I did,” Noble laughed. “They’re holding the horse as collateral till we get them the pay.”

Saila punched him in the side as they walked off. “Hey, Matchsticks is a friend, you can’t very well sell him like that.”

“Not sold, just held till we got our pay ready. I- and the horse, trusted you.”

“Hehe… never doubt the salamander, Noble.”

“I don’t,” Noble said, a simple smiling gracing the inside of his mask.

Truthfully, he didn’t. Even in adversity, she had a confidence about her. She lived her life, no matter what judging townsfolk or fang-eyed soldiers turned bandits or stuffy, mask wearing wanderers had to say. There was something noble in that.

Saila would be okay, in the end.

That thought calmed him as well.

###

The Samudr Hivali presented itself as a fancy place, with fine carpets and oil paintings, but the reality was that it did have a stable in the back for animals, and did have an open bar in the lobby. The candles burned with a gentle glow and the seating had faux gold lining, and the name suggested the private lodgings of the upper class, but in the end, little separated it from the nameless tavern in Dehali.

What did separate it was the size. Even with empty rooms to fill, the bar held many a patron, eating and drinking and living. This suited Noble just fine.

Meant his brother would have been drawn to it.

“Ah, Mister Walker,” the clerk- a portly gentleman in a fine, long dress shirt with a neat and orderly vest- greeted him as they entered. “I take it you’ve returned with your payment?”

“That I did,” he said simply, handing him the cost- even accounting for the fact that he was only given coin, there was enough there for it.

“Walker?” Saila muttered.

“The man needed a last name,” was Noble’s explanation.

“And you went with Walker?”

“What’s wrong with that? We walk, don’t we?”

“I- I mean I guess.”

The clerk cleared his throat.

“Will you and your daughter be needing the key now or-”

“Daughter?!” Saila just about buckled over laughing.

“E- er, is she not…?”

“It’s complicated,” Noble said simply. “But yes, the key please. You know how to run the bath, Saila?”

“Haha… hahaha, y- ye, yeah, I do. God, that’s a good one. Daughter. I’m gonna get a drink first, Dad.”

She beat feet to the bar side of the lobby, dashing past patrons- a few evening drinkers looking a little peeved at the energy she had.

Despite himself, Noble laughed at that- laughing a lot more lately. Funny to think about- and turned to the clerk. “My apologies for the noise, and the potential confusion.”

“It’s fine, we get all sorts here, Mister Walker.”

“About that…” Noble said, leaning in a touch. “You remember our conversation earlier?”

“About the uh, ‘man with a smile in his eyes’, I believe you phrased it? Not a lot to go on.”

“Maybe so.”

“Well, I thought about it- I don’t believe we’ve seen anyone like that, but… I will keep an eye open. If you’ve any other descriptors, it would be nice.”

“I’m afraid I don’t- but trust me. If you see it, you’ll know.”

“I suppose I will, Mister Walker.”

No disrespect was intended, but the doubt in his voice was clear.

Noble let it slide, took the key, and turned to check on Saila.

She was sitting at the bar counter, a glass of water in one hand, her brass stick resting against the counter. Nearby, well within earshot of the clerk’s desk, was a table of four men deep into their cups. Each was dressed in the fine golden dress-uniforms of the Trestarian military, with sun-red sash and cuffs and a metal pin on the collar shaped like a scimitar. Each of them, drunk though they were, held themselves with the baring befitting a soldier- well-kept hair, a fine moustache, and a kindling gaze.

And one of them, the quietest of them, had a sharpness to him that Noble recognized.

Somethings you just see coming, and there’s just no stopping them.

Noble approached with a “What’s he got on tap, little lady?”

Mutterings of “Exovan pig…” raised from the table as he passed.

“Well, a whole bunch,” Saila said, a grumble in her voice. “For adults. Only water for minors. Tch.”

“Come now, you should have expected that.”

Their muttering increased- choice words in Trestarian Noble only caught in pieces. Their staring felt like the sun at noon.

“Oh, sure but I was expecting like, juice or something.”

“You drink juice?”

“Yeah! The friar back home makes this kinda, peach tea and-”

Someone behind Noble stood up forcefully- their chair fell with a crash.

Best you can do in a situation like this, Noble thought to himself, is to minimize it.

He swiveled on his heel, human nerves steeled for it, to face the quiet man. There was a thought, small but present, to draw on him. Could stop the fight there- or make it worse. Instead, he pointed his finger out like a gun barrel, thumb like a revolver hammer. A joke, sure, but to a couple of drunks scary enough to-

The quiet soldier hadn’t moved from his seat. The sharpness in his eyes was just that- the harsh gaze of an old soldier.

There was a resounding shattering as a beer bottle smashed across Noble’s face, as one of the other soldiers went in on him.

“You foul Exovan!” he shouted. As his voice rose, the others rose with it.

“Hey what the hell are you doing!?” Saila yelled, hopping from her seat. Her glass nearly tipped over in the commotion.

“St… stay out of this, little lady.”

Noble’s vision was blurred, his head cloudy from the sudden impact- his face and right shoulder were damp with a mix of alcohol and blood.

Blood…? Damnit…

“Pig! Fool!” the soldier continued. “For years we have been fighting out here, slowly but surely falling to those Felisian devils, and what do your forces do when you come in to help? You take and take, offering assistance. And what comes of it?!”

His hat and mask, thankfully, stayed on- disheveled and damaged though they might have been.

Noble, smooth and gentle, reached up to fix them back into place.

“What comes of it,” he said, calm and careful, trying to center himself, “is… a waste of life, truth be told. I do apologize, o- on… Exova’s behalf.”

Saila grabbed her brass stick, defiance in her eyes. Noble threw a hand out at her, waving her down. They exchanged the briefest glance- and in that moment, she sensed the danger.

“Bastard waste of skin…” the man scowled at him like every word had been an insult. Frustration built, and delayed the man just enough for Noble to look into his eyes. Even with the fading pain that was spreading through him, he saw it.

His left was a normal, musty brown.

The right was fanged and hungry.

The rest of his face was a mirrored match.

“I’m looking for a man with a smile in his eyes.”

The other patrons of the bar shouted as they ran, a few stopping short to watch from behind tables or stone decorations.

Noble felt his heart beat.

The hungry-eyed soldier came at him first with a wild drunken swing. Noble ducked it, and kicked the man’s legs out from under him with a sweep. He fell backward, crashing to the table, mugs shattering and wasted booze staining the table and the fine rug underneath.

The next two charged him before he could straighten up- one hooking his arms from behind, and the other punching him in the gut with all the force he had.

“Aagh!” The poor man recoiled, hand throbbing. “H- he’s got some kinda metal plate under the-”

Before he could finish, Noble lashed out with a kick, cracking the man in the jaw. He fell to the bar floor with a heavy thud. So shocked was the third, he was able to squirrel his way out of the arm lock, twist on his heel, and sock the soldier in the face. He too fell, along with a handful of teeth.

The fourth man- the quiet one, the oldest, the one with the stern, sharp eyes, took up a practiced fist-fighter’s stance. For the briefest moment Noble stopped to think, to consider his options- and he was on him. Each blow flew by with a blistering speed- it was all Noble could do to dodge, let alone respond.

Drunk or not, he was a professional. Skilled.

Skill in hand-to-hand was not a thing Noble had. Other advantages sure, but not skill.

This… will be tricky, he thought.

Till a brass stick dinged the poor old soldier between the legs. He keeled over, revealing Saila behind him.

“S- Saila!?”

“What! I thought you wanted me to help?”

“That- Saila, get back!”

The first man had pried himself up from the table, sopping with alcohol- and drawn a curved knife from his coat. He swung at Saila, who let out a yelp and leapt backwards, bounding over the other unconscious men.

“Get… back… here!” the soldier roared, so lost in his drunken rage and want to lash out that he’d become a twisted, grinning beast.

Noble interjected, catching the man’s wrist in his hand.

Their eyes met.

With a sudden strike to the elbow, Noble dislocated the soldier’s arm. The knife fell, and moments later the man followed as Noble socked him in the right eye. He felt a crunch through his glove, of something breaking against his knuckles- with luck, he’d keep the eye. The man slumped to the floor, a heap of booze, meat, and clothing.

Noble took a breath, deep and calm, his mask echoing through his filtration mask.

His breath was cut short as he whinged, his body remembering it was injured and bleeding as the adrenaline faded.

“Barkeep,” Noble started. “I’d like to apolo… giiize.”

Noble pitched over, the world going black.

######