Crow had been surprised to find Rajah leading them to the very pub Unity had days before, popular as it was.

Days ago? Yes, days. A week at most. Fuck.

His mouth dried at the realisation of how little time he’d spent in Udrebam, how quickly events were sprinting past him. Tipping back the flagon in his hand, he proved ale a poor remedy for the overwhelming thought.

“You alright, Crow? Looks like you’ve just seen your own asshole for the first time.”

He snorted into his drink, coughed as the laugh dragged a mouthful down the wrong way and left him spluttering with blurred vision. Rajah’s smile was just visible through the tears, his voice just audible.

“Is that a no?”

Crow smiled as his lungs cleared.

“I’m alright.” He gasped. “Just a bit… well, I don’t know a good word for it. It’s strange to think how little time I’ve spent here.”

“Right. Of course, you’re not even a city boy are you?”

Crow shook his head.

“Town boy. Maybe village boy? The lines are getting harder to decide, these days. What makes a town, anyway?”

“Last I heard, five thousand people and perhaps a steam engine or two.”

I really am from the smallest corner of Mirandis.

“Then I’m a village boy, I suppose.” Crow said. “I take it you’re not?”

Something flashed in Rajah’s eyes that looked as far from a smile as flame was from ice. It vanished in an instant.

“I grew up in a city. Jyptia’s capital, actually, Caktra. Though this was back when Rora Kasta was only just starting to draw people in from the other corners of Mirandis, so it was a completely different place compared to now.”

Crow wanted to ask for more detail, suddenly aware how little he knew about the continent of Dewlz. Unity cut him off by reaching the table, crashing down into his seat and grinning as a tray of fresh tankards sloshed foam onto the wood.

“Never fear.” The artificial grinned. “Unity is here, bearing beer.”

“Actually that’s ale.” Crow noted.

“Actually you’re a prolapsed, dribbling anus. Drink.”

Crow was fortunate to have nearly emptied his first mug, quickly moving to the second. The suds tickled his nose as he drank, warmth seeping deep into him within moments. A splendid feeling.

“Goddess!!” Unity cried, placing his own drink back down. “Why is the inventor of alcohol not as famous as Gilasev Menza? They fucking deserve to be.”

“Possibly because alcohol didn’t build the prismatic spire.” Rajah suggested.

“You can’t drink the prismatic spire.” Countered Unity. “In fact, just being near it when you have causes headaches. Gaudy fucking thing.”

“The prismatic spire is real, then?” Crow asked.

It earned smiles from the other boys, just shy of condescension.

“I keep forgetting how little you’ve travelled.” Unity grunted. “Yes, it’s real. Just off the easternmost coast of Unix. Allegedly built as a great “fuck you” to the entire continent of Arcane, back before Menza moved over and made his home there.”

“What do you mean he made his home there?”

Unity and Rajah glanced at one another, and Crow felt a self conscious sinking in his gut to see both of them so surprised.

“You do know that Gilasev Menza is one of the Heralds right?” Asked Rajah.

“Chosen of the Goddess.” Unity cut in, false sincerity dripping from his tone. “Embodying the spirits of Her chosen few, inherited from those who best served Her during the Shrouded Era.”

Crow looked at them, helpless. Rajah shrugged.

“No worries.” The boy said, smiling again. “It’s just a fancy way of saying he’s one of the Have Empire’s leaders.”

“But he’s Unixian.” Crow said, confusion only growing. “More than that, he’s a Menza. Even teaches Unixian mystics- pit there’s an entire magical institute named after him!”

“Global politics are tricky.” Rajah said, shrugging. “The truth is, when you get as powerful as Gilasev Menza, there’s not a lot anyone can do to keep you from doing what you want. Not that anyone knows why he wanted to become a Herald in the first place.”

It was a sobering thought, that such brazen flirtation between empires was within any individual’s capacity. Enough to almost distract Crow from a more pressing question.

“You seem very knowledgeable about this, Rajah. Why is that?”

“My mentor travelled a lot, and since I couldn’t learn mysticism from afar that meant that I travelled a lot with him. I’ve been to all three civilised continents of Mirandis at least twice.”

Crow hadn’t even seen three Baronies in his life. To hear the difference in their experience demonstrated so plainly left him speechless.

“You’ve been to Arcane.” Unity said. “You. A Jyptian. From Dewlz.”

Rajah winced at that, apparently understanding some subtext that Crow didn’t.

“It wasn’t so bad. Haven itself seems less… extreme. Or more diplomatic at the very least.”

Noticing Crow’s confusion, he quickly turned to him and added. “Kanan Solifates don’t much like Dewlzians. Taiks get the worst of it, but Jyptians look similar enough that many don’t distinguish us.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

A grin touched his mouth.

“Though that usually ended worse for the Kanans. I remember my master hurled a particularly snooty Priestess off a balcony when she said one word too many.”

“Was she okay?” Crow gasped.

“She was fine. The woman was a mystic, most Haven Priestesses are.”

“Most?”

Rajah grimaced.

“My master said he knew who and what she was beforehand. He was lying through his teeth, of course, but she lived with nothing but a grazed knee and torn dress so I don’t think any harm was done.”

“Shame, that.” Unity remarked. “I’ve met a few Priestesses myself. Can’t say any of them struck me as undeserving of a hard fall. Give your master my regards for scaring one of the cunts.”

“Right.” Rajah said, hesitating only a moment before plastering on a wavering smile. “I’ll do that.”

“Who is your master?” Crow asked, finding himself suddenly curious. “He must be powerful, to have taught you.”

And get away with something like that.

He’d grown used to being stared at like a simpleton, yet it still bothered him.

“Rajah.” Said Rajah. “The Demigod. I assumed you’d heard of him.”

“That was a mistake.” Crow admitted. “You’ll usually be right if you assume I don’t know something.”

He took another drink, burying his embarrassment in the rapidly vanishing suds. When he looked back up, it was just in time to see a smile swept from Rajah’s face. Distant, worried. Yet strangely content.

“Is your master with you in Udrebam?” Crow asked, eager to move the conversation on.

“He is.” The boy said stiffly. “He’s actually…”

Rajah trailed off, then swallowed before continuing.

“He’s the one who accompanied me here.”

It wasn’t what he’d been about to say, but sensing that no more would be gleaned from the Jyptian, Crow said nothing else. Unity broke the silence.

“Let me guess.” He began. “You need to succeed in the Sieve, or you’re out onto the streets to fend for yourself, because he has no interest in training a weakling.”

Rajah bristled, hostility filling in his face with a frightening speed.

“No, actually. My master just asked that I win. He doesn’t make threats, definitely not ones like that.”

He trailed off, then stared back down into his drink. Crow got the strangest feeling he’d been about to say something more. It took little thought for him to realise why he’d stopped.

“You really care for your master, don’t you?”

The words came almost unbidden, shooting out like flame from a musket. But they didn’t spark the anger he feared.

“I do.” The Jyptian said, shrugging as he answered. He met Crow’s gaze, something hard suddenly behind his eyes. Daring mockery.

Crow couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to answer it.

Unity opened his blunderbuss mouth again, yet before it could sew disaster he turned to stare across the room. Chaotic grin twisted to a frown, then his eyes widened in realisation.

“Well fuck.” He said, nodding ahead. “Look who’s here.”

Crow followed the gesture, gasping as he saw a familiar face approaching them. Skin so dark it neared blackness, hair even darker. Squared features set stony as days before, and every step no less lithe than in the arena.

Ajoke Balogun reached them just as Crow recalled her name, a giant of a boy stood beside her and a drink clutched in one hand. She looked down at Crow imperiously, awing him with the purity of colour in her chocolate brown eyes.

“May we sit with you?” She asked.

Unsure of what else he could say, Crow gave his assent. The two of them pulled chairs up quickly, taking seats and settling into place. When they did, Balogun looked back at him.

“You are Gemini Menza’s teammate, yes?”

The question surprised him, and he could think of no answer but a truthful nod.

“I thought so. Then let me apologise for what happened to her. It was my idea to form an alliance against the girl, and my idea is what gave that dakaran wretch the chance she needed to…”

Anger flashed, then was smoothed down.

“Well, we all saw.” She finished.

“Thank you.” Crow said, feeling something untighten in his gut.

He’d worried about the reaction other contestants would have had to Gem’s defeat, worried that Unity was right in calling them heartless vultures who’d see only the weakness of it. His teammate being proven wrong so completely was a greater relief than he could put into words.

“If there’s anything I can do to make things easier on you here, just let me know.” The girl continued, touching a hand to Crow’s shoulder. He met her eyes, felt his stomach twist as he did so. Breath leaving them as though he might drown in her gaze.

Fuck, not again. Why do they all have to be so beautiful?

“I’m on the Gemini’s team as well.” Unity cut in, leaning across the table. “And I do have a few things you could do to me-”

“You are a poisonous toad wearing the skin of a man, Unity Eden. My offer does not extend to you, and anything you extend to me will be snapped in half.”

“Don’t threaten me with something I might enjoy, Balogun.” Unity grinned.

By the look of utter disgust across her face, Crow recognised the argument before it even started. He braced himself for its volume.

“Of course, you two know each other.” Rajah noted.

The Írìsi and artificial answered at once.

“We do.” Said Unity.

“We do not.” Snapped Balogun.

An icy stare passed between them for a moment, broken by Rajah’s laughter.

“What was it that happened between you, again? I’ve heard about a dozen stories over the years but can’t begin to say which is the truth.”

Unity opened his mouth to speak, then fell silent as Balogun turned to him.

“I will not discuss this, and nobody else will either.”

It started a round of bickering between her and the artificial, quickly turning to background noise in Crow’s ear. He turned towards the giant boy as it buzzed distantly, forcing a smile.

“Good afternoon.” He said. “My name’s Crow.”

The boy eyed him cautiously for a second, then his own face erupted into a wide grin.

“Alright there. Name’s Fisher.”

Crow felt his smile grow wider.

“Are you from the Rindarth Barony?” He asked, recognising the boy’s accent as easily as his own.

“I am.” Answered the giant. “You are as well, eh?”

“That’s right.”

“Brilliant.” Fisher exclaimed, practically shaking the rafters. His voice was large as his body. “I was starting to worry this contest was all city boys and pampered princesses.”

He voiced a fear Crow hadn’t even named before then.

“With their thousand little social pitfalls.” He added. “And insistence on referencing things that happened a thousand years ago, as though they were there to witness them personally.”

“As if every one of them but us is an Immortal!” Finished the boy.

They spoke for minutes more, and Crow soon found that he enjoyed Fisher’s company. Belied by his great size, the boy had a sharp wit and generously dolled out his humour with every other sentence.

Liking him was easy, and unlike with many others it seemed to grow easier and easier the more he drank. Three empty flagons rested beside him within ten minutes. Enough that Crow imagined even someone of his titanous bulk must have felt something.

Crow was certainly starting to from his own drinks.