“You really think she’ll be back at her room this early?” Niva asked as she strolled along beside Kel.

“If not, you can help me finish unpacking while we wait,” her companion replied.

Niva clicked her tongue. “Ohhhh, so that’s you’re angle. Sneaky bitch.”

Kel rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m the sneaky one.”

Niva didn’t allow the snide remark to break the flow of her complaining. “And after I was nice enough to sit around waiting for you to finish making goo goo eyes at the bartender.”

“He was cute. Besides, it’s been a while.”

“What? Didn’t find any good looking men in Irdishan?”

“No, they were fine. It’s just… the beards.”

Niva raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with beards?”

“Nothing. But those Irdishani guys never shave, just let them grow all the way down,” she said as she gestured from her chin with one hand to part way down her chest with the other to demonstrate the length. “Remember old man Worrack? Imagine a whole country of that.”

Niva reeled back a bit at the thought, groaning. “Speaking of, this girl’s an Irdishani mage of some kind, right? You think she’s any good?”

“If she’s anything like her father, yes, but I told you, don’t get your hopes up that she’ll want in on whatever it is you’re planning. She’s a rich noblewoman.”

Niva snorted and waved a hand at the street they were walking along. “Not if she’s still living here.” Barracuda Street was situated on a long, winding isthmus between two of the city’s canals. The near constant bends were so sharp that the girls couldn’t see more than a few buildings up or down the street before the rest were hidden behind a curve in the road. The buildings themselves were not in good repair, often sporting chipped paint or patches of missing roof tiles. Just at that moment they were passing a gigantic conch shell someone had made into a building, with its windows knocked out and the doors boarded up.

“Barracuda Street may not be as bad as Tidewater or Reeftown, but it’s not the kind of place rich young noblewomen stay if they’ve got other options.”

“Gee, thanks for offering to let me live with you instead,” Kel grumbled.

“Sorry,” Niva said. “But the kind of people I live with wouldn’t be happy about me bringing a knight home as a new roommate.”

Suddenly, Niva stepped a bit to the right, bumping into a man walking the other direction. “Watch where you’re going, asshole!” she shouted back over her shoulder at him. Once he was out of sight, she turned back to Kel and flashed a mischievous grin as she lifted up the pouch she’d stolen from the guy. “The crime rate in this part of town’s real bad too.”

Kel shot her a glare full of disapproval, which Niva waved off as she started digging through her ill gotten gains. “If you want me to stop stealing so much, just agree to help out on my little business plan,” Niva said.

“Maybe I would if you’d actually tell me what it was,” Kel shot back.

“Like I said, little miss Duchess sounds like she might be useful for this too, and I’d rather not have to explain the whole thing all over again,” Niva said.

“Why? Afraid that you’ll mess up your lies if you have to tell the story twice?” Kel said with a smirk.

“Pffft, I’d never do that,” Niva said as she threw an arm around Kel’s shoulder. “I’ve gotten much better at lying since the last time we met.”

Kel broke out into laughter and Niva quickly joined her. “Best friends?” Kel asked, holding out a fist.

“Best friends,” Niva replied, bringing up her own hand for a fist bump as they walked through the doors into the hotel lobby.

“Great, because best friends help each other unpack,” Kel managed to say with a completely straight face.

“Fuck! Walked right into that one, didn’t I?” Niva said as they climbed the stairs. “You remember her room number from last time?”

“Yep. 122,” Kel said as they made their way down the hall. They’d stopped by earlier in the day, dropping Kel’s bags off in her own room, but Duke Abdurk’s daughter hadn’t been in. Frankly, it had been a relief. Kel still didn’t know how she should approach this meeting.

On the long trip to Darazzo, she’d imagined a touching scene where she let the girl know that she’d been in her father’s last thoughts and confirmed that she was doing well, even if Kel herself had to own up to her failures in being unable to protect his life. Now, however, there was a real chance that carrying out the Duke’s last request of ensuring his daughter was well cared for would be a challenge, one she may not even accept Kel’s help on.

But Kel had the chance to work through that doubt the first time she’d come to this room, and so there was only the slightest of hesitations in her knock as she tried again. “Your grace?” Kel asked through the door.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

There was a sound like rustling glass, quickly followed by the door being pulled open.

The woman who answered the door had clearly seen better days. Her make up was ruined, and it was clear she’d been crying. Thanks to the way she slightly swayed as she stood, as well as the numerous empty bottles strewn across the floor, it was equally clear that she’d been drinking as well. “What do you want?” she growled.

“Hello, your grace. My name is Dame Keloran Beriss. May we come in?”

Jazathya grunted in affirmation and backed away into the small room, plopping down into a chair and picking up a bottle that sat on the nearby table. Kel and Niva followed, closing the door behind them.

“You are Duchess Jazathya Abdurk?” Kel asked.

“I guess I am,” Jazathya sullenly replied. “For all the damn good it’s doing me…” She upended the bottle and drank deeply.

“Your grace, I…”

“Your grace… your grace…” Jazathya repeated mockingly before dashing the empty bottle to the ground, shattering it. “Shut up with the ‘your grace’ shit. Do I look like a fucking ‘your grace’ right now?”

“Everyone, even a duchess, has the right to mourn when they face tragedy,” Kel said with a tone of such utter sincerity that it shocked Jazathya into silence. “There’s nothing wrong with how you feel right now. It’s certainly nothing to be ashamed over.” As she spoke, she knelt down and started to pick up the pieces of the broken bottle, depositing each one into the waste bin. As she picked up the last one, she looked up and smiled at Jazathya. “So yes, I do think you look like a duchess right now.”

“What do you want with me?” Jazathya asked.

“I served under your father in the war. He was a pious, talented, and above all courageous man. He was an inspiration to all of us who fought beside him, and there was no finer commander that could have led us in battle. I was with him in his final battle.” Kel began to speed up, as if afraid of being interrupted before she could finish. “Despite my position as his personal aide and bodyguard, I was unable to protect his life. I accept full responsibility for that failure, and I understand I have no right to ask for anything except your scorn for having been unable to live up to my obligations.”

“Why are you dragging all this up again?” Jazathya snapped. She had started to cry once more as she verbally lashed out. “That was months ago! Did you need to track me down just so I could forgive you? Is that it? A man died in war and so you go half way across the continent to ask his daughter to comfort you? Do you want me to pat you on the head and tell you it’s not your fucking fault?”

“No,” Kel said, stoically weathering the onslaught of accusations. “Your father’s final wish was that I ensure that you would be okay, make it through the war, and have a good, stable life no matter what happened. The last words I ever said to him were a promise that I’d do anything in my power to guarantee you were cared for.”

Jazathya was too distraught to reply, simply sobbing into her hands. For several long minutes, her weeping was the only sound in the room. Kel slowly stepped over and wrapped her in an embrace, patting her back. “There, there. It’s all going to be okay.”

“No, it’s not!” Jazatha shouted back, pushing the other woman’s arms off her. “I haven’t made the slightest bit of progress in talking to the nobles here. I have no prospects, no allies, and pretty soon I’m going to be out of jewelry to pawn and get thrown out onto the street to starve!”

Niva cleared her throat, and the other two girls turned to face her. “I’ve got a solution for you there.”

“And you are?” Jazathya asked.

“I’m Niva! Hi!” she happily chirped. Jazathya waited for a more detailed introduction, but one was not forthcoming. “Anyways. Money problems. First question: you any good in a fight?”

“...Yes,” Jazathaya said hesitantly, too shocked by the sudden change of tone in the conversation to even object.

“Second: what do you know about the Diver Guilds?”

“They’re the mercenaries and thugs that go down into the Depths to search for treasure to sell.”

“Great! Final question: how do you feel about a job doing a little recovery of stolen property?”

“I…” Jazathya was lost in thought for a moment, then seemed to clear her head. Her expression brightened just a bit as she wiped the final tears from her eyes. “I suppose it’s better than laying around here getting drunk… Yeah… if I could just get a little bit more money together I could keep trying to ingratiate myself to the local minor nobility for a few more weeks…”

“Forget weeks! With this kind of payout, we’re going to be resting easy for at least a few months no matter how much gold you blow on ball gowns and new tiaras.”

“And why is this going to get us so much money? What specifically is this thing we’re supposed to be recovering?” Kel interjected.

“Long story short: the word going around is that the Twilight Eye Guild got robbed while they were bringing this important, expensive magic cauldron they found back into the city. Trouble is, the Twilight Eye is big. So big that anyone who’d rob them would know who they or their allies are a mile off.”

“So they need someone from out of town, someone the thieves won’t recognize,” Kel deduced. Niva nodded in confirmation. “But you didn’t answer the first question.”

“I don’t remember any other questions,” Niva said.

“The one about how we’re going to profit so much off this.”

“The Twilight Eye’s been asking around for information, and luckily I’ve got a little inside scoop on the whole situation.”

“And that is?” Kel asked.

“I was lucky enough to witness the thieves making their getaway,” she said, smirking. “And then what do I hear but that my friend the big knight in shining armor is coming to town, just in time to get my foot in the door with the Twilight Eye with a competent outsider to help me track down the bad guys.”

“Something about this doesn’t sound right,” Kel objected.

“C’moooooooon,” Niva whined. “Do either of you have a better idea for how to make enough money to keep buying invitations to orgies or whatever the fuck you nobles do to socialize?”

“I admit that I don’t off the top of my head, but we just met Jazathya and we haven’t even spent time considering any other…”

“No,” Jazathya interjected. “I need money, fast. You’re sure that this is going to pay well?”

“Absolutely!” Niva said, beaming ear to ear at the positive response. “In fact, I bet I can talk them into a down payment.”

“I’ll do it,” Jazathya said.

“Are you su…” Kel tried to say, before being drowned out by Niva hopping up and down shouting “YES!” while pumping her arm.

“It’s still early enough that I can set up the meeting for tomorrow if I hurry down there right now,” Niva said as she stepped out the door. “Be ready tomorrow morning and I’ll come get you! Bye!” With that, she was off before Kel could stop her.