The building was no grand thing, although perhaps better than some would imagine. That had been of no comfort for Frea when she huddled together with the other children in front of the fire during the winter months.

Still, twelve years earlier Mr and Mrs Miller had agreed to take in both Frea and Yasha.The two kind souls had raised her along with a dozen other children out of nothing but their own pocket, even allowed Yasha to eat as well during winter.

Frea pushed open the wooden door and looked around the dark entrance. She headed to the girls room, if no one was awake she might just grab her coat and coin and—

“Frea, there you are. Is that blood?”

Mr Miller's balding gray hair and caring green eyes had always been a comfort, but today they did nothing to calm her.

“Don’t wake the others, come with me.”

They walked into the large kitchen and sat down at a wooden table for two. It was almost pitch black in inside, but a single lit candle carried by Mr Miller let them see enough to not stumble.

He flitted around despite his age, and even though Frea could not see his green eyes or the rough skin of his face she knew it held concern.

“Salve to heal your nose first. I’ll have to set it. Does it hurt? Here, have some brew for the pain”

As soon as Mr Miller had closed the door Frea told her story about how Yasha had been taken.

Frea downed the mug of earthy tasting herbs in one gulp and kept talking as they both waited for the numbing. She had never had her nose broken before and dreaded the next part.

Closing her eyes as Mr Miller approached, she barely felt his hands on her face and then the uncomfortable sensation of things in her nose shifting when he pushed on it. She opened her eyes and gave him a hesitant smile.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. Don’t scrunch your nose like that. Now for the salve.” He smeared a green paste from a jar on a piece of cloth and applied it to her nose.

“Can you help me find Yasha? I don’t know what to do.”

“Looks good. I gotta check on the moonglow.”

He stood up and walked out of the room. He would not help her or Yasha and Frea hadn’t expected anything else. There were a dozen other children he had to care for, not to mention his garden.

Frea grabbed the candle and snuck silently into her room. Three girls were quietly sleeping in their bunks. There was a trunk under her bed containing everything she owned. Orphans did not get to save up much coin, and lately Mr and Mrs Miller had required she pay for room and board as well. Twelve years of living stuffed into a trunk.

A shirt, a pair of trousers, a coat that couldn’t keep her warm in winter. Together they all cost less than the swimwear she currently had on. She had saved up a gold coin and four silver coins. The most out of any of the kids. After she showed captains what Yasha could do to corral fish into nets, getting paid well was easy.

Frea was gonna get her back.

****

Frea walked towards the shore of the Vynosii river. The town was split in two between island and shore, with two large bridges connecting them. She sat on the shore near one of them and dipped her feet in the water.

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The need to go and do something useful nagged at her even as she tried to relax. She didn’t have a clue where Yasha was, the only small comfort was that she was certain she was still alive. What were the adventurers doing? If they hadn’t killed her yet it meant they had a plan for her, but Frea didn’t know what someone would want with a juvenile sea serpent.

Maybe they wanted to sell her to some rich noble as a pet. Except that Yasha wouldn’t just take that willingly, she would fight and try to escape if they let her. They would have to keep her in a cage. Not a pet then, a trophy to be displayed. Frea wouldn’t let that happen.

She saw her palm was bloody again, then felt the pain of the wounds her claws caused. That was starting to get worrying. She had learned early to not make tight fists, her claws were usually a good deterrent anyhow. Now she had stabbed herself twice over the course of a day.

She decided to walk over to the Hall of Adventure early; if she was lucky there might be hints of the adventures.

The hall was a rare stone building, light gray and two stories tall as befit the guilds in the city. No people could be seen in the hours before dawn. Frea found a brick wall to lean against while watching the front entrance out of the corner of her eye.

She looked down at her dark-purple claws, still coated in her blood. She had never hurt anyone with them, not really. She got in fights as a kid, as all kids do, but even then she hadn’t felt a willingness to harm. They would see more use soon enough, she told herself.

Dawn approached and Frea could see people moving around. Most of the people out on the street this early were bound to fishermen and women. They looked like peasants, the same as Frea in her rough cloth outfit.

She made sure to tug down the collar of her shirt, to make sure her gills were visible. In the adventurers guild it would help to have signs of beast blood.

She saw the door open and immediately strode inside. She was surprised to see there were already a few people in the hall. A man and a woman were chatting at a table, on which lay a gleaming metal bow. They both had human torsos and spidery lower halves.

“You got the ring last time. Besides, you’re much better at traps, I need it to keep up.”

“We should bet on it. Whoever scores higher at the archery range should take it.”

A man in a worn green cloak stood watching the bounty board.

“Hi hon. Wanna sign up to be an adventurer?”

An auburn haired woman sat at the receptionist's desk.

“My friend was taken captive by a bunch of adventures. I need help to find them.”

An annoyed look crossed the receptionist's face.

“Flaming idiots, causing trouble this early in the morning. Who took your friend dear?”

A quick explanation later and her look turned to pity.

“I’m sorry girl, I can’t help you. We don’t just give out information to anyone who asks, and if the bounty for magical creatures was approved then the guild wont do anything about it.”

“Do you know who they are at least?”

The receptionist hesitated

“No”

Frea looked at her with a mixture of despair and disbelief. Not a single gods-drowned person in this city cared about others at all. They seemed helpful right up until she told them Yasha was a serpent, then they made some excuse and went about their day.

Her one lead had turned out to be useless. If the woman knew where Yasha was she didn’t tell her. Frea briefly considered jumping over the counter and screaming at the woman until she gave her the answers.

She turned around instead and went over to the bounty boards. At the top was a prominent bounty promising fifty gold to anyone who cleared out a family of trolls that had set up too close to a village to the west. The rewards went down from there.

Dozens of bounties over several boards. Serving as guards on ships or with caravans. A standing order from the alchemist guild for herbs found in the wilderness far north, smoldering pinecones, yeti tongues and more. The city guard paid for help clearing a rat infestation from one of the outlying lighthouse islands. At the bottom was a bounty paying coppers to kill slimes in the city.

The man in the green cloak turned to her after a minute. More a boy than man she saw, with a gap in his teeth and unkempt brown hair.

“I heard you talking with the lady over there. Sounds like you have a quest.”

His face split into a wide smile towards the end, like just saying the word made him excited.

“No, I don’t. My friend’s missing and—”

“That sounds like a quest to me.”