Elbert rarely brought patients home.

He would treat them where he found them. There was no reason to do otherwise. Carrying someone all the way back over to Merchant Road would take twice the time and strength - both of which Elbert did not have as a busy book-seller in his late fifties. Which was why when he came back one day carrying a half-dead looking girl in his arms, Sophie took notice.

As he stepped through the front door his hold on her was overly gentle. It was as if he feared he might break her if he handled her too recklessly. On closer look, it really wasn't hard to imagine, being that as he turned to walk towards the sofa, she observed she had broken at least two limbs already.

“Bring me a bowl of water and some clean linen.” Elbert requested as he laid his patient down, setting her broken leg on a couple of pillows he'd stacked one atop the other.

Sophie nodded, but not before trying to steal a closer look at the girl.

“Sophie. Now.”

The teen stomped off in the direction of the kitchen, nose held defiantly in the air.

Elbert let out a tired sigh and turned to face his patient. She was mottled with injuries from head to toe. The fall she took accounted for most, but some of her wounds were clearly inflicted by fists and the soles of particularly pointy shoes. The sort the clergy was so fond of, though he took no enjoyment from arriving at this conclusion, being a man of faith himself.

But he’d learned long ago that people had vastly different ideas of what it meant to be religious. Some people used their piety like a compass, some wielded it as a sword. Others wore it like a shining ornament - blinding those around them to the ugly truth of their true natures.

His patient must have known that all too well.

He didn't want Sophie to see anyone in that condition. That was his first thought. His second, however, was that there was no utility in shading her from it. This was part of the world she lived in, even if the part she knew faced blissfully away from the shoddy, decrepit buildings that housed the less fortunate down in Lower Lakeside.

‘This is extreme though. Elbert thought, frowning as his careful prodding uncovered yet another wound he missed when he examined her earlier.

“Here.”

Sophie’s voice startled him out of his thoughts. She peered over his shoulder, bowl of water pressed to her stomach, strips of fabric laying over her right arm haphazardly. The look on her face was merely curious.

He felt himself frown. Even after a whole year, Sophie was still a mystery. Her memory loss didn't leave them enough clues to piece together a story of any kind, only moments like these that left him wondering if either of them really wanted to know the details of her past in the first place.

Choosing not to linger on the subject, Elbert nodded to the small table to his right and Sophie placed everything down.

“Is she going to be ok?” She asked, dipping the cloth into the bowl. She squeezed most of the water out, then placed it in his open palm.

“Too soon to know,” he replied.

The girl twitched in her sleep, stirring. Not a good sign. He thought he gave her enough Yinroot to keep her under for at least another hour.

“Yinroot?”

For a second he thought he had spoken his latest thought aloud. He looked at his young helper with surprise. She gave him a self satisfied smile, then scuttled over to the herb patch on the opposite side of the room, her short unruly curls jumping up and down with the movement. She returned a short moment later with Yinroot in hand, grabbed a wooden set of mortar and pestle off the nearest shelf, and set it all down on the table.

“Thank you Soph,” he said, picking a handful of leaves and setting them down inside the mortar after clearing the table of some pamphlets that were passed around during the last Veilbreakers meeting.

There was going to be a raid on the granary soon. If it wasn't for his age he wouldn't just be reading about it. Instead, it seemed every new day now he discovered a new part of himself that began to creak and groan like a rusty door.

He worked at a brisk pace, worried Helena might wake too early. The girl needed all the rest she could get.

“Where did you find her?” Sophie asked.

“Near Saint Serenity.”

His young helper walked over to stand behind the sofa Helena lay on, crouched beside it and rested her cheeks on her hands. Her eyes glued themselves to the patient’s mangled arm, her expression betraying nothing.

“Why is that place called Saint Serenity anyways?”

Elbert furrowed his eyebrows. He didn’t spend so much of his free time teaching the girl about the holy five for her to ask a question as basic as that. He opened his mouth to reply, but Sophie caught him off.

“I’m not stupid, Elbert. I mean,” She brought her eyes up to meet his. “Why did someone make the decision to name that place of all places after Serenity? Endurance fits much better, don’t you think? Seems like a cruel joke naming that shit-hole-” Elbert gave her a warning look. “-that hole, after something none of its residents have.”

Elbert picked up an empty glass bottle and drained the ground Yinroot into it, before diluting it with water and shaking it around to get the contents to mix. Once the water turned a murky greenish hue, he held the bottle over a brass strainer and transferred the liquid into the barrel of a syringe

“Perhaps Serenity is what they aspire to,” he said, carefully inserting the needle of the syringe into Helena’s unharmed left shoulder.

Sophie frowned, clearly dissatisfied with the answer. “Do you truly think that?”

Elbert removed the syringe and set it on the table. He considered Sophie’s question for a while, then shook his head.

“No. I think we have a tendency to pin good or evil on things when more often than not we make decisions based on convenience.“

Sophie tilted her head in confusion, so he elaborated. “Merchant Quarter has Patience, Noble Quarter has Wisdom, the barracks have Volition and the clergy has Endurance. Serenity was just the one left over after everyone had their pick.”

“That makes Serenity sound like the least important virtue to aspire to,” Sophie pointed out.

“No, just the hardest one to grasp.”

Before either of them could say anything else, a loud knock on the front door made them turn around.

Elbert got up first, his back aching from being hunched over for as long as he had been. Carrying Helena all the way from Lower Lakeside wasn’t easy on his muscles either. He cast one last look towards her - at least she seemed peaceful now - and hurried towards the door.

Despite his rapid pace, Sophie still beat him to it, gliding past him to open it with an enthusiastic pull.

A soldier stood in front of them - a highly decorated one, wearing the showier armor of a higher-ranking officer and holding a commander’s shield in his right hand. His expression was solemn, making his young face look older and more authoritative.

“Elbert Humphreys?” he asked, his voice lacking in emotion.

Elbert felt himself stiffen. He caught Sophie’s gaze and wordlessly indicated that she should go back inside with a brief movement of his chin. She looked annoyed, but nevertheless did as he asked of her. If he could convey more complex wishes he would also add that she hide the Veilbreakers’ pamphlets, but since he couldn’t, he closed the door behind her and tried to appear calm.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“What brings you here so early in the morning, Commander?”

“I am,” A second, cheerful voice came from behind the statue-like Commander, and Elbert watched in surprise as Ollie pushed his way in front of him. The well maintained composure of the soldier broke.

“Ollie, I told you to stay behind me! Why do you always have to do exactly the opposite of what I tell you?” the commander scolded, looking at his subordinate with annoyance, then he took a half step in front of him. Ollie rolled his eyes.

The young man was a frequent attendee at Veilbreaker meetings - and against all sense if he was friendly with a decorated warrior of the crown. Elbert always thought there was something a little off about him. His reckless nature only fit the stupid or the mad, and he was neither. Maybe his knack of talking himself out of trouble gave him a false sense of security.

“He’s not what they’re making him out to be, haven’t I explained that already? Besides, look at him! Do you really think he could hurt me? even if he wanted to?” Ollie asked.

Elbert tried not to look offended. When he was in his prime people were afraid to come within ten feet of him.

“Anyone can hurt you if they wanted to.”

The quip seemed to irk Ollie, and he glared down at his superior, making thorough use of the single inch he had on him.

“Are there any misunderstandings I should be clearing up for you gentlemen?” Elbert asked, putting on a pleasant, polite smile.

‘Nothing out of the ordinary here.’ it said. ‘Just an old man preparing to go to work.’

He prayed to the five that Ollie’s presence meant nothing serious was on the table. Something like an arrest. He tried thinking back to all interactions he’d had over the past week or so that may have given him away, but he couldn’t think of any. He had only been to one meeting, and he made sure he wasn’t followed, he was certain of that. The Crown might’ve been harsh in dealing with rebels, but they didn’t arrest anyone off of rumors alone.

And besides, talk of him being the once feared Soren the Merciless was considered by most to be nothing more than conspiracy theories. It did help him sell books though - which was nice.

“We’re not here on official business, Elbert. I just needed to visit you, and Commander Maxwell over here heard about it and insisted on tagging along,” Ollie hurried to explain, having noticed Elbert’s discomfort.

The two young men were clearly close. Perhaps they truly didn’t come here to drag him off before a judge. Perhaps this really was just a man concerned for his friend’s safety.

“In that case, what is it I can do for you?” He asked.

“Well,” Ollie started, looking slightly anxious. “I’m on the lookout for reposeweed, and you’re the only one I know has some in stock,”

His eyes kept flicking back to his friend. Commander Maxwell on his end didn’t seem to notice anything unusual with the squire’s words.

‘He’s quite dense.’ Elbert thought.

‘Reposeweed’ was a commonly-used nickname for the emotion-numbing drug so popular in the poorer sections of Giria. It was outlawed because the side effects could lead to mania and even death.

Some of the younger members of the Veilbreakers were known to use Reposeweed right before going through with one of their ‘patriotic’ suicide missions. The finer intricacies of reconnaissance and subterfuge were lost on the newer generation.

Elbert observed the young commander silently for a long moment. Upon closer inspection, the man might’ve been a bit tense after all. He was, however, quite adept at hiding it. Elbert promised himself to not underestimate him.

“Would you mind waiting outside for a moment? I apologize, but my house is in complete disarray,”

“Can’t be any worse than my men’s tents. Ollie can attest to that,” Commander Maxwell was quick to reply.

“I must insist,” Elbert said firmly.

“I took in a new patient yesterday. She’s been through a lot and is quite skittish. It took a while for me to settle her down and I’d rather not have to go through that again,”

The squire laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Come, Max. Let’s go wait over there. I can tell you all about the argument I got into with the cook before we left. You won’t believe the way she spoke to me!”

The commander thwacked Ollie’s hand away as one might brush off a stubborn bug.

“Dear Serenity, no. You will not subject me to another one of your insipid stories, they always end the same way - with you at fault.”

Ollie took a step back, mouth opening and closing in indignant shock.

“How could you say that? And after I told you about how that brute of an innkeeper nearly did me in yesterday?”

“You lay with both of his daughters, Ollie. And they were already promised to someone else. What on earth did you expect?”

“That’s unfair, I didn’t know they were sisters at the time, they looked nothing alike!”

Commander Maxwell pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“It didn’t seem odd to you that they both had a key to the Innkeeper's private rooms?”

“Well since you brought it up - no. Lillian’s room was on the complete other end of the building, and Jannika was bragging about how much money she'd made on her last gambling excursion. I simply assumed she had the means to lease the guest room. You should’ve seen it,”

He sighed dreamily. “Velvet everywhere, and those sheets!”

“Ollie, I don’t have all day. Finish your business here and let’s take our leave, you have chores to attend to,”

The squire seemed to find his friend’s annoyance amusing.

“Yes mother,” He said in a drawn out, petulant tone.

The commander’s eyes widened, then flickered nervously to Elbert.

“It’s Commander to you,” he corrected.

Ollie’s thoughts were easy to read. Something along the lines of: ‘Should I torment him further?’

Surprisingly, he chose not to, obediently lowering his eyes and repeating his friend’s title in a rather convincing show of remorse. Maxwell breathed a sigh of relief, to which Ollie reacted by biting down a smile.

“Right,” Elbert cleared his throat. “As I mentioned earlier, I’d ask that you wait outside while I fetch the reposeweed. Would you like me to whip you a cup of tea while I’m at it?”

“That won’t be necessary.” Said the commander, shooting Ollie a warning look when it seemed he was about to protest.

Elbert turned towards the door. “I’ll be right back."

He pushed the front door open again.

As he re-entered his home, he noticed that the window he'd closed the previous night was now open. The wind that came through it made a mess of the papers on his desk.

"Sophie?" He called, slightly miffed.

A yelp, then a loud crash came from the pantry.

"What did I tell you about the honey buns? They're for guests only!" Elbert scolded.

Sophie appeared at the pantry door, sheepishly brushing crumbs off her skirts.

"And don't open the window near my desk, the wind always ends up scattering my work."

Sophie looked confused. "I didn't open it,"

As if to underline her words, a suspicious thud, followed by a rustle of leaves came from outside the window.

Elbert caught a glimpse of dirty blond hair from the corner of his eye, but by the time he got the chance to look out the window there was nothing but his now crushed dandelions staring miserably back up at him.

"Give the gentleman outside some reposeweed and let them know I had an urgent matter to attend to." He said, then awkwardly maneuvered himself over the window sill, taking great care not to trample any more of his precious plants.

“And hide the pamphlets,” He added over his shoulder in a hushed voice.

In the back of his mind, he recognized that jumping out of his own window with a commander outside his door would look all kinds of suspicious to anyone who might be looking. Unfortunately, he couldn't seem to order his body back inside the house.

He scanned the streets in front of him.

It was the usual hustle and bustle of the Merchant Quarter; booths being set up, baskets of fish and vegetables brought out of carts, and the occasional yawn of a tired salesman arranging his wares. He made his way through the crowd, ignoring the suspicious looks some of his fellow tradesmen were giving him.

An elderly woman in a knitted shawl stepped out from behind her booth. Mary - an old friend he'd made when he first opened his bookshop twenty years ago.

"Elbert, is everything alright? Why is there an army official at your door?" She asked.

"I don't have time to explain. Did you see a young girl pass through here? Tall, blond?"

Mary nodded. "Injured, right? One of your patients? She went that way."

She pointed towards a side alley, and Elbert quickly walked in its direction.

It didn’t take him very long to find his wayward patient. She was leaning up against a wall, taking in big gulps of air and looking like she was on the verge of passing out.

He was shocked she was able to stand, much less walk.

When she noticed his presence she tensed. "Leave me alone. I don't need your help!"

The bandages on her injured leg were gradually turning red. All that hard work cleaning her wounds and sewing her up - she was very close to undoing it all.

He tried to temper his anger. He didn't want to scare her into taking off again. She'd only end up injuring herself more.

"Child," he started, trying and failing to soften his tone. "If you don't let me help you now, your leg will end up rotting and you'll have to have it amputated,"

Of course that was a complete lie, but the horrified look on her face told him it was a believable one. She wiped cold sweat off her forehead, but still gave the other end of the alleyway a desperate look.

"Believe me, you don't want to know what that feels like when it starts. Your skin will become black and stiff and-"

"Ok, ok already! I'll come back with you," She snapped, big, horrified eyes darting to her injured leg, as if to check that the rotting process hadn't already begun. He tried not to feel too guilty about it.

"You better lean on me. Direct pressure won't do you any good,"

She nodded. Once he reached her, he offered her his shoulder.

"Why are you so keen on running?" He asked, keeping a slow pace.

She shrugged. "I have long legs."

"Yes, and one of them is badly injured."

She didn't reply, busy staring at the ground and trying not to look miserable.

As they neared his home again, he could see the townsfolk murmur and gesture surreptitiously in their direction. It wasn't unexpected, but it was unpleasant.

Mary looked up from her work - a single friendly face in the crowd. Good friends were hard to come by, he would need to invite her over for some tea someday soon.

Miraculously, Ollie and his commander friend were gone by the time they set foot at his front door again. There was, however, a note. It was hidden clumsily under his entrance mat - further proving his suspicion that the young man was sorely lacking in survival instincts.

‘You should come to the next Veilbreakers gathering.

They’re choosing a new general.

P.S. You should bring some of your famous honey buns. Just because you’re old doesn’t mean you can’t contribute in your own way.’

Elbert’s hands itched to hold his old sword again - and perhaps sink it into something substantial and human-shaped.