Frea ran through the streets of Shamut, the guards were hot on her heels. If she could just get to the river she would be impossible to catch.

Between her and safety lay two blocks with several houses. Behind her were two men, a fresh faced young man and an older one, in the polished breastplate of royal guards. She turned and ran down the dirt street as fast as she could.

They gave pursuit and Frea quickly realized that they could and would outrun her. She was a swimmer not a runner, and while she had always thought of the royal guards as both fat and lazy, that was apparently not true of these ones. Her side still hurt from the hit she had taken.

She briefly wondered what would happen if they caught her. She hadn’t stolen anything, but she had destroyed a merchant's wares and, more damning, attacked him afterwards. The exact punishment for that would depend on the standing of the shopkeeper with the merchants guild. She recalled the way her claws had split open the man’s cheek, then his eye.

She kept running, her lungs burning, the guard was getting slightly closer to catching her with every step she took. The other one had fallen behind.

His eye. The shopkeeper’s cheek would be easy, if expensive, to heal right after the injury. But she was an orphan who had attacked a shopkeeper. If the man lost his eye for good, it would mean her punishment would be losing an eye as well. Possibly more.

A hand grabbed the edge of her cloak. Right as the river came into view she was pulled back by the young guard.

The guard dragged Frea towards his breastplate and tried to catch her in a bear hug. If she let him get a grip around her torso she was done for. She spun around and launched a kick to his crotch. Her foot impacted hard metal and she yelped in pain. Codpiece, right. Gods-drowned competent royal guards.

The guard grabbed her wrist and was about to pull her to him when a hairy mass of fur landed right on his head. The ball of fur screeched and punched the guard’s face. The monkey, it had to be the same one she had released from its cage, then took two fists full of the guard’s hair and yanked up.

The guard screamed in pain and dropped the hold on her wrist. Frea immediately turned and sprinted for the river, out onto the stone pier. Her lungs burned, she just had to take a couple more steps.

Before she dove into the water, she turned and saw the monkey leap from the man's head onto a nearby rooftop.

Frea leapt from the pier and hit the surface of the water feet first.

She was safe. The guards could not follow her into the river, even if they didn’t wear metal armor; the water was her domain.

Frea considered staying close to the surface but dismissed that idea when she heard the sound of the enchanted whistle carried by guards. That meant mages would be arriving soon. She dove deep into the river and let herself float there, slowly relaxing and calming herself. Her wounds made themselves known to her again, a deep ache in her side and her damaged finger that seeped blood out into the water.

Still, it had been worth it. The bats were hopefully freed, along with the two other animals. Now she just had to make her way to Theo.

****

Frea found Theo at their meeting place under the western bridge. She surfaced dirty and wet into the earthen banks hidden under the bridge and greeted him.

“Hey. You made it.”

Frea gave him a smile and staggered over, exhausted now that she had to carry her own weight on her tired legs again. Theo looked unharmed, his face hadn’t changed from the slightly goofy grin he wore earlier.

“You too.” Frea gave him a retelling of what happened.

“Let me heal you. Although… what do you want fixed, your finger or your side?”

It was not a difficult choice. While both injuries hurt, she could somewhat ignore the one at her side. Her finger had to be healed before she could use it.

“Finger, definitely.”

Theo placed one of his own fingers against hers and golden light spilled out onto her finger and hand. The heat felt amazing, like a warm meal in front of a fire followed by a warm bed, for the briefest of moments before the light died down. Frea looked down at her now restored finger. She bent it a couple of times and it moved flawlessly.

“You’re a priest?”

The only healing Frea had received before was Mr Miller's herbs. While undoubtedly magical, they worked over the course of hours, not seconds like Theo had just shown her. Frea had heard mages could do the same thing. Could light mages heal? Did light mages exist? Frea didn’t know. Theo being a priest was most likely.

“I’m sort of. Not really… I’m a believer…”

He trailed off at the end and Frea got the impression he didn’t want to say more. His face had the same kind of somewhat scared expression the kids at the orphanage sometimes got when someone brought up their past. Frea took off and started wringing out her clothes one by one, except of course her magic shorts and breast band.

“Where are the bats anyway?”

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“Right there!”

He perked up and pointed into the darkness of a corner under the bridge.

“You can’t tell they’re there at all. It’s so cool. I just put the cage down in the corner because they seemed to prefer shadow to sunlight you know. Next thing I know I can hardly see them”

Frea peered into the darkness and squinted her eyes. The sun was still high overhead.

Even if the bridge cast a shadow it should not have been that dark. It made it impossible to see into the nook.

“Not sure we could move them now. Hopefully they’re happier under the bridge than being stuck in a cage.”

“Yeah. It was unfortunate you caught the shopkeeper in the eye though.”

Frea grimaced. It might cause problems she didn’t want to deal with when they had to break into the Hall of Adventure soon.

“I know. The guards will probably search harder now. Sorry”

“And the shopkeeper might not ever see again.“ Theo had a troubled look.

“Fuck him, deserves it.”

How many animals had the man treated like that during his career. She looked into the unnatural darkness where the bats resided. Had the shopkeeper kept the bats in sunlight solely to make sure they remained visible to customers? Surely he could see their pain. Did he just ignore their suffering or did he enjoy causing it? People like that didn’t deserve their eyes.

Theo gave a grunt and stood up. Frea frowned, then followed and they both made their way back to the adventurers guild.

****

The sun stood high in the sky and the streets were busy. The air held the everpresent scents of the ocean and fish, it was hard to escape the faint smell of fish no matter where you went in Shamut. They made sure to avoid walking anywhere near the place of their crime as they strolled towards the adventurers guild. Now they just had to break in in broad daylight. Easy.

“Theo, why are you helping me anyway?”

Back in the adventurers guild the boy had simply offered his help without question.

“Why do I need a reason to help a maiden in distress?” Theo responded with a smile that would have been charming were it not for his too large front teeth with a gap.

That could certainly be the reason. Frea had gotten some interest from fishermen and sailors she worked with, and a guy simply being helpful for the sake of charming her was not unheard of. Still, she did not think that was what Theo was doing.

He had not looked at her that way once. Granted they had only known each other for half a day, even so she would have caught a single wayward glance. No, Theo seemed more interested in what she was doing. Which still left the question of why.

Frea snorted

“I’m not some maiden.”

“Ah, to me, a maiden most fair.”

“We just attacked the stall of a shopkeeper. Then attacked the shopkeeper as well, then ran and fled from the guards.”

“Fair and interesting.” Theo responded with exaggerated wiggling of his eyebrows.

“Whatever.” Frea paused, searching for a way to change the topic. Theo was clearly just having a laugh. A wagon carrying young people in dirty clothes drove past them. Probably headed out to the nearby fields carrying labor now that the snow had melted. It really was like the city had come alive again after three months enduring the winter.

The sun of the spring equinox melted the snow and ice within a day, and then every hand was needed to sow the fields and catch the fish.The Vynosii river melted, making travel possible again, then flooded and rose enough that traveling upriver was difficult for the first months of spring. The city of Shamut had to make use of their upper docks, the lower ones were underwater.

Ordinarily Frea would have been out on a fishing boat today.

“I was lucky that monkey ended up helping me in the end.”

“I know right? That was amazing, like the Queen of Beasts far west. I read she’s the greatest druid alive. Commanding armies of animals to defend the forest. Oooh I bet that’s gonna be you some day.”

Theo again showed his excitable self. He was built like a thin young man, and indeed from behind with his cloak on Frea had thought him grown. However, When he acted like this it was difficult to believe he was anything but a boy.

“There’s no way I’d make a good druid. Sleeping in the mud and talking with birds isn’t for me.”

“But, you told me you have a bond with Yasha right? You can feel her still, out there”

Frea had always had that. She and Yasha had been together since before she could remember, since before she came to the orphanage. They had always stayed together, and one day Frea woke up and realized she could sense Yasha’s mood. Had been sensing it for months before she was even conscious of it.

“Yes, but Yasha is magical.”

Theo gave her another doubtful look.

“Was the monkey magical too?”

“No, obviously he just wanted to help me after I freed him.”

“Uh huh.”

Half an hour's walk through the busy cobblestone streets of Shamut later and they arrived at the Hall of adventure. Whereas early morning had held only three people, now there were perhaps twenty, standing and sitting around the tables.It was a lively atmosphere, more like a tavern than Frea would have thought, and surely no tavern was this busy in the middle of the day. Some guests were eating a meal, others drinking what looked to be wine despite the hour, and a quick look around revealed a discreet doorway. From it wafted the smell of stew and fresh bread, leading her to believe it was probably a kitchen. Frea saw a group of five gathered around the bounty board. A big man in armor with a shield on his back was standing in front and pointing at the highest paying quest.

“Don’t be an idiot. We can’t kill the trolls.” A woman in the same group said.

“Pff. Jerad gets laid yesterday and now he thinks he can take on the world. We haven't got a chance against them.” Another member said.

Frea had her hood up and went over to stand as close as she thought she could get to the stairs leading to the second floor. The stew and bread smelled appealing, she briefly considered buying some while she waited, then thought better of it. A meal here probably cost as much as her cloak had. The same woman from this morning was manning the reception and was currently looking bored standing at the desk.

Frea watched as Theo walked up to the receptionist and brought out a stone he had picked off the ground outside.

“Hello ma’am. I just found this enchanted stone in a dungeon. Do you know what it’s worth?”

The woman frowned but leaned forward to look closer. Theo had his hands cupped around the stone and Frea saw a bright flash of light. The woman yelped. Frea tried to show confidence and walked up the stone steps.