A knocking in the door wakes her up. She opens her heavy eyelids. She is tired, feeling like even now she hasn’t caught up on her lost sleep.
“Sanora get up, we are about to open.” She hears Kera from the other side of the door.
“Be right out.” She replies and hears Kera walk off again. She sighs and rubs her eyes. She gets up and dressed, checking her gear once before heading downstairs.
“ ‘Evening.” She greets Kera who is sitting behind the counter.
“You didn’t fall asleep again. Good.” Krea nods satisfied. “Alright, job’s pretty simple. You stay down here with me until something comes up that I can’t handle myself at which point you will throw them out.” Kera gestures at a chair and a small table standing in the corner left of the counter. It’s a bit darker than the rest of the room. Whether that is intentional Sanora doesn’t know, but she doesn’t really care either.
“I can do that.” Sanora nods and takes a seat. “I forgot to ask earlier, but what’s my pay?”
“We did forget about that. It comes to 10 gold a saint. Not the world I know, but in a good week you won’t have a lot of work either. And you also don’t have to pay rent so I think it’s pretty fair.”
’10 gold a saint… is that really not a lot?’ Sanora thinks, not having a sliver of an idea what the average wage around here is.
“Fine by me.” Sanora just shrugs. The whole point of working here is to keep a low profile while she gathers herself, sorts out her feelings and her thoughts to make an acual plan for the future. Now that she knows that the guards won’t come looking for her, things already weigh less on her. But she still isn’t overly eager on roaming around yet. Now that she knows Vadia, the real Vadia, she isn’t inclined to believe that this is not just a ruse again to make her feel safe, to make her slip so they can catch her after all. Even if she were to leave the city now, she has no idea where to go, no supplies for the road and not even a map. Besides the road that leads from here to River’s Rest she doesn’t know how the Valley looks, where other settlements are or where any of the other roads lead. All she took with her was what she picked up in a hurry. And that isn’t a lot. While being in Deepvalley grates on her nerves she’s already familiar with the city at least. Until she’s somewhat steady again, staying here seems to be one of the best options she has. Especially since she can just leave whenever she wants to.
This place would find a new bouncer even if she leaves. That aside, she has little emotional capacity to care for anyone but herself right now.
As night rolls around the girls working here start to show up as well. Except for Sanora and Kera, they don’t seem to live here. They all muster Sanora who sits in the corner with crossed arms. The last one to show up is Elle. She smiles at Sanora briefly before heading up to her room.
“Alright then, time to make some coin.” Kera says and gets up, walking outside with the sign.
Not five minutes after she put it up the first customer comes in.
“ ‘Evening Kera. Giera free?” the man asks.
“Early as usual.” Kera says with a smirk and the man laughs while putting a small stack of coins on the counter. “You know the room.” Kera takes the money and the man heads upstairs as Kera scribbles on a clipboard.
“He comes here that often?” Sanora asks once the man is out of earshot.
“You’d be surprised how many regulars we have.”
“Huh. Whatever, not that’s it’s any business of mine.” Sanora shrugs and doesn’t pry any further.
Kera wasn’t lying. Over the course of the night a lot of the men coming in have a similar conversation with Kera, knowing exactly what they want, or rather who they want. But there are also plenty of people who don’t really know their way around. Kera has a scary way of knowing what they want, be that intuition or experience from working in this business for so long. Aside from that most of the night passes by boringly. People come in and leave looking a lot more refreshed and exhausted at the same time. Oddly enough no one seems to really notice Sanora in the corner. Maybe that’s why it’s so dark to begin with. If things are usually this calm, then ten gold a saint really is easy money. But as the next man comes in Sanora curses herself for jinxing her luck. A big man with a bruised face and busted lips comes in. Sanora immediately recognizes her work. It’s the man she threw out when she first came here. She tenses, her hand already gripping her sword as she eyes every single move the man makes. Kera gets a little nervous too but keeps her usual face as the man approaches.
“Good evening. How can we sweeten up your night?”
“I actually just need to ask something. I think I have been here yesterday, probably. As you can see, I got a bit roughed up and mugged by someone, but I have no idea where that rat went. You don’t happen to know anything?”
Sanora swallows.
“Mhh yes, I do remember your face. But alas I don’t know where you went after you left.” Kera shakes her head, lying through her teeth.
“Tch, figures.” The man mumbles before stomping out again.
The door closes and Sanora lets out a relived breath.
“You robbed him?!” Kera hisses at her.
“Of course not. Must’ve been someone who found him in the street.”
Kera looks at her with narrowed eyes for a moment before she sighs. “Well then let’s hope he keeps thinking that too.”
After the small hiccup business resumes as normal for the rest of the night. Only one time a hooded person comes in, places some coins on the counter wordlessly and Kera tells them a room number. Probably just another regular who wants to keep their identity secret. Once the first rays of dawn fall onto the city Kera takes down the sign outside and Sanora’s first shift ends. All of the girls come down to have a short discussion about the day. They look worn to say the least, ready for bed to actually sleep there rather than sleeping with someone there. Nothing noteworthy happened in the private rooms either and they all leave before long, save for Elle.
“So, how was the first day?” She asks Sanora. An odd smell wafts off the girl. A mix of sweat, a lot of perfume and something Sanora decides not to think about.
“Aside from the man from yesterday showing up, nothing noteworthy happened.”
“Mhh yes, those are the best days.” Elle nods and stretches. “Good work, see you tomorrow.” She says and leaves as well. Sanora is a bit surprised at how little the girl spoke this time, but she knows better than to question it. Elle can be taxing on one’s nerves.
“Good work indeed.” Kera nods, happily sorting the giant pile of coins into drawers with names on them.
“I’ll head out now. See you later.” Sanora gets up and leaves.
“See you, don’t forget to sleep.” Kera says as Sanora leaves the place to get Breakfast.
The city is still quiet, most people slowly waking up. For once the streets are not full when Sanora walks down to the market. She gets some food from one of the few stalls that are open already and finds a quiet spot to eat in peace. But as she eats the last bite, she realizes that with the whole day ahead of her, she has nothing to do, which is a great opportunity to catch up on some training she has been missing out on. She heads back to her room. Running around the city in full gear might draw some unwanted attention so she sticks to whatever she can do indoors. No one has come for her yet, but the thought of trying to get through the guarded gates still makes her nervous. She puts that off until she is sure that some more grass has grown over the whole affair.
But even after she is done with that there is still plenty of time to kill. For the rest of the day, she cleans the still dusty room, making it a bit more liveable. It’s still sad but at least clean. After that she just lays into bed. She rolls around for a while, her thoughts spiralling down more and more into how awful life has become until she drift off into an uneasy sleep.
Again, a knock on the door wakes her. She pulls herself out of bed and gets dressed, heads down and starts her shift. The night passes mostly eventless again except for a man who is a bit too clingy for his purse. It only takes some insistent persuasion for him to leave though.
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And like this the days pass. A night of work followed by breakfast, training and falling asleep to the storm in her head. It’s mundane and repetitive. Every other person would be bored out of their mind after a week but despite that every day feels like a drag to Sanora. She can’t even work up the energy to smile anymore. It’s as if the world around her which used to be so interesting and colourful has dulled. Nothing catches her attention anymore; her drive is close to zero. Aside from training she has nothing she is looking forward to. And she only does that because it reminds her of the Bawarag drills, giving her a sense of nostalgia, of home.
Over the course of the next weeks, she gets to know the other girls as well. They were a bit reserved at first, seeing Sanora as competition of some sort. But sooner or later they get used to her being around. After all, Sanora is the one looking out for all of them should things get out of hand, which they do from time to time. It’s as Elle said. They only have each other here at this pit of disparity called the Dancing Vixen. Well at least except for Fira. She’s just here because “she really likes sex”.
Sanora has gotten used to daily life as it is. Slowly but steadily, she is managing to get back on track, her energy coming back little by little every day, her thoughts getting calmer and more collected again.
“Hey Sanora come over here really quick.” Kera says on a particularly slow day, waving Sanora to the counter.
“Something up?” Sanora asks as she walks over.
“Nothing bad, I just need to make a small errand. You need to take over the reception while I’m gone, think you can handle that?”
“Depends. Do I get paid extra?” Sanora raises an eyebrow.
Kera snickers. “Glad to see you’re feeling good enough to be sassy. Sure, you’ll get some extra pay for it. Here, this is the protocol.” Kera hands her clipboard with the rooms and names of the girls, explaining her what she has to do. It’s not overly hard. Write down the name of who comes in, how much time they paid for and who they go to.
“Yeah, I’ll manage.” Sanora nods as Kera finishes her tutoring.
“Great. I’ll be back before long.” Kera puts on her coat. “Don’t burn the place down while I’m gone.” And with that she is off, leaving Sanora alone to hold the fort- or brothel in this case. There aren’t a lot of customers today which is probably one of the reasons Kera picked this day to run her errand to begin with. Sanora sits there, playing with the quill until her first customer comes in. The big, familiar bull beastkin walks in without looking at Sanora, busy finishing around in his coin pouch as he whistles a melody.
“Good evening, what can we do for you?” She asks Serantis.
He finishes taking out his coins and looks up about to speak but freezes when he sees Sanora.
“Something the matter?” She tilts her head, but Serantis just turns around and walks out of the door.
A few seconds later his head peeks in again.
“Does your girlfriend know you’re working here?”
“We broke up.”
“In that case I’ll have Anne.”
“Anne it is. She’s free, room 7.”
Serantis places the money on the counter and Sanora writes it down as he heads upstairs.
‘That was… something.’ She chuckles to herself. Serantis’ choice does surprise her a bit. Anne is a bit older, a very curvy woman mostly known for how sensitive and gentle she is. But given what the Adventurer must have seen on his many quests Sanora can’t blame him for wanting some tenderness from time to time. She has been on only one quest, and she still shivers when thinking about that bag filled with chopped up human. She quickly banishes the thought and resumes her shift. Luckily everyone leaving causes no extra work since people are written up and pay before they get any service. She just idles around, writing up one more person who comes in before Serantis comes through again eventually.
“So, this is where ya been holed up huh?” He asks, leaning onto the counter. “You know we’ve been really worried about you. Mari’s really sad too.”
“She is?” Sanora blinks a bit baffled. After all they hardly know each other so what’s there for Mari to be sad about?
“Sure is. She finally had someone on the same wavelength as her. To the girl we’re all old geezers after all.” He chuckles. “Speaking of it, Corvina asked about you as well. Quite a few times at that.”
‘Ah shit, of course she’d be worried after the whole metal magic thing.’
“I see.” Sanora sighs. “I’m sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have just disappeared like that. I’ll come around again. I guess I did make a contract of sorts after all.”
“I’m sure the others would love to see you again.” The tall man grins at her. “Guess I better head home now.” He adds with a yawn. “Was nice seeing you alive Sanora, don’t be a stranger.”
“Likewise. See you around, Serantis.” She waves at him as he leaves and sighs once he is out the door. “Go ahead, ask.” She says, turning to Elle who tried to sneak up on her from behind. She just stands there, her smirk wiped off her face.
‘Damn I like flesh magic.’
“Forget that, how did you know I was here?” Elle asks, baffled at being discovered so easily. Sanora understands her point. She is quiet when she wants to be. If it wasn’t for her magic, she wouldn’t have noticed her at all.
“Just a feeling.” Sanora shrugs.
“Just a feeling?” Elle narrows her eyes.
“Yep.”
Elle musters her for a few moments before pouting.
“Alright then, keep your secrets. So, who was that anyways?”
“An acquaintance of mine from the Adventurers guild.”
“You have ties to those folks?”
“Yeah. I am a member after all.”
“Wait, you’re an adventurer?” Elle asks sceptical.
“Is that so weird?”
“Not weird, but It makes we wonder why you work here if you could just work there instead.”
Sanora opens her mouth to reply but closes it again. It’s like someone just threw a brick in her face.
“No way.” Elle starts grinning. “No way you literally forgot about this.”
“…Huh.”
Elle breaks out in laughter.
“Gods, I can’t believe you!” She leans onto the counter, barely able to stand from laughing.
“That makes two of us.” Sanora pinches the back of her nose. She has really forgotten that she could have just gone to the guild for work in all of the chaos. Especially after she found out that she is likely not being hunted by the guard. The only silver lining is that she was less likely to be found here.
After a minute Elle finally manages to get a hold of herself again and wipes the tears from her eyes.
“So, what now? I assume you’ll bid your farewells to this place soon.” A tinge of sadness is in the girl’s voice.
“I don’t think so. It’s not like I hate it here. But I have been a little bit bored lately and I’m getting rusty. Guess I’ll just do both.” She shrugs. After all what’s the hurt? She can spare a few hours a day to go out and work for the guild. Lurchers and Trerchers are still roaming the surroundings of the city aplenty, and she still needs to see if leaving the city will give her any trouble with the gate checkpoints.
“You think you can handle that much?”
“Yeah. If I don’t keep myself busy, I’m just sitting around moping all day anyways.”
“Well whatever rocks your boat.” Elle shrugs. “Just be sure to not slack off here. My safety kinda depends on that you know?”
“Thanks for your heartwarming words.”
“You’re most welcome.” Elle snickers and goes about her night again. Sanora doesn’t mind her attitude anymore. She got to know Elle quite well over the last few weeks and knows that’s just her way of telling Sanora to not overdo it. Under all that sass and teasing she does worry.
Kera comes back about an hour later and relieves Sanora of her counter duty. The rest of the night passes as usual and soon her shift is over, freeing her to get some much-anticipated breakfast. She walks through the street to her favourite vendor.
“Morning Sanora. Here’s your usual.” The man behind one of the few open stalls at this time already hands Sanora a small, in paper wrapped package.
“Thanks Jim.” She hands him the coins.
“Exhausting shift again?”
“As usual. Thanks as always, see you.”
“See ya ‘round lass.”
Sanora walks off again, savouring every bite of her breakfast. The streets are blissfully quiet this early in the morning and the air is always so chilly, dew still sits on the few trees and plants growing around the city. It has been over a saint since she left behind her home in River’s Rest now. In the meanwhile, she has learned what people mean by saints as well. They are the segments of a year, each thirty days long. She woke up in Sanoris, the saint which she derived her name from. But as it turned out Bawarag was working with an old calendar and that saint, the first one of the year, is actually named Bawaris, after the old hero of the ancient war Bawarag himself. The face Sanora made when she learned that was quite a sight to behold. To think Bawarag was important enough to have a saint named after him. But that’s not the end of things as the second saint is Amnis, named after Amni. Sanora had never imagined that those two airheads are such figures of legend. The saint they are in now is named Trantis and it’s about to end.
It's weird how much time has already passed. But despite that the aching in her heart has barely gone down. Even after getting to know everyone in the Dancing Vixen and settling in there she feels more like a stranger to this world than ever. A cold sense of disconnection always lingers in her mind no matter what she does, always dragging her down. Only when she has work to drown herself in, she can ignore it somewhat. That is the reason her feet carry her to the familiar building this morning.
Even at this early hour there are already a few Adventurers at the guild, preparing to head out to earn their keep. She doesn’t even have to search to find the black, feathery head she is looking for. Corvina is standing at the counter, discussing something with the woman behind it.
“Heya.” Sanora greets her nonchalantly as she walks up from behind her. The crowgirl turns around, about to answer but stops with her mouth hanging open. Her eye twitches.
“You disappear for more than three weeks without saying a word.” She starts quietly. “And now you just ‘heya’ me?!” She shouts at Sanora. “Are you out of your mind?!”
“Sure feels like I am lately. Sorry, a lot of things happened.”
“Oh I’ve heard.” Corvina scoffs. “Like the lord getting assassinated and you, his daughter in law just disappearing.” She says with her hands on her hips and a less than amused expression.
“Previous daughter in law. Broke up with Vadia some time ago.”
“Is that so? You know a heads up would have been nice.”
“I’m sorry. I just had a lot of things to process lately and needed some time alone.”
Corvina musters the girl. Sanora’s cheeks are a bit fallen in, dark rings are under her eyes and that cheerful air she used to have is gone.
“I see that. Guess life caught up to you huh?” Her expressions softens. “At least you’re still alive.” She sighs. “Well then, here for some work I assume?”
“That’s right. Was hoping to speak with Bullwind as well. I think I should say hello.”
“You really should. Alright then, just take a seat. They should be around soon. And one more thing.” Corvina takes something out of her pocket. “You’ll need this.” She hands Sanora her new guild card. This one without colour. Just plain metal, a magic crystal worked into it to act as an activator for the censored lines. “Welcome back, Sanora.” She smiles at her.
[https://i.imgur.com/fbYfcvV.jpg]
art made by @masyhurizal on Fiverr! (also added it to the Art chapter, but it's here as well for convenince)