Eos woke to rapping on her door. The room would be dark, if not for her eyes. Neither sun was in the sky, and the unmoving moon was barely lit against the astral abyss. She was still exhausted, but roused regardless. She clicked the handle of the door open. Volken was the one who stood outside. She wearily eyed him, before shutting the door. She made her way over to her wardrobe, expecting the rapping that would be coming. I need to put on clothes, she thought. I don’t know why he’s here, but today is going to be tiring. What she didn’t expect, however, was the patience demonstrated by Volken. No knocking on her door was done after she opened it originally.
Fully dressed in her usual training gear, she opened the door once again. Volken was leaning against the wall, still waiting. “Ready?” He asked.
“For?” She responded.
“Follow me. You’re not going to class today.”
Eos’s flight or fight response immediately activated. She cowered away from the door slightly, instinctively. “What?”
“Oh Ayailla-” Volken said, “Not like that. I’ll get approval for it later- I’m registering you with the Guild.”
Eos looked at him. “I was going to-”
“We can just do it today; I have a task I want to do anyways so I might as well bring you along.”
Eos nodded, and followed him down and outside the dorm building. They went through main roads, across crossings and through the streets to end up at a street that looked eerily similar to Eos. She scanned the nearby buildings, before realizing where they were. Our church is nearby, about a block and a turn away? Eos thought, looking in the direction of the now-rising suns. Her eyes naturally adjusted to the dawnlit sky.
They stood across a large building, inset into the block slightly. It was four stories, about the highest most buildings in the city grew, and it was only adjacent to roads, no other buildings dared touch it. It was, however, lit gently on the first floor. It looked like some sort of hostel or hotel to Eos, but from Volken’s posturing, she concluded they had arrived at the Guild. They moved towards the building, entering without knocking.
The main room was mostly empty, with some drunks at a nearby table and the rest cleaned as clean as wood gets. It looked more like what Eos imagined a tavern would look like than a guild hall. There was a flight of stairs up to an indoor balcony which overlooked the main hall. Barrels of, presumably, liquor were behind a bar, where a bulky man sat behind, not even pretending to look busy. The sidewalls on the main floor and balcony were occasionally punctured with doors, and the sidewall on the main floor had scratch marks, writing, notes, daggers and more litter across its finish.
“Who’s the lass?” The man behind the bar asked as soon as the two entered the building.
Volken refused to respond until they were at the counter. “Still got that job?”
“Sure do. You sure as hell know everybody who could do it is out, and everyone else ain’t touching it. So, who’s the lass?”
“Where’s it at again?” Volken asked, heading over the wall where the rough man indicated. This area was the most vandalized- raised wood beams made it look like it was intended for a picture board, but it was difficult to see the wood underneath the notes-pinned to the wall by nails or daggers- but it was clear there was nothing but bare wood hidden. Volken fiddled through them for a few moments, interrupted with the man saying where it was on the board. Volken read the papers before nodding, and heading back to the counter.
“Details are the same.” The man commented before Volken said anything, “We still got 90% of the deposit. So, who’s the lass?” He once again asked.
“We’ll do it.” Volken responded. Before he could turn, a knife implanted itself on the counter. Eos unconsciously jumped back, but Volken was unphased. The man was very clearly irritated.
“Ya know I can’t let you go without answerin’ my question. Particularly cause I’ve ain’t seen her befo’, and she looks like she’s 8- tryin’ to ge’ another party membe’ killed?” The man’s speech clearly slipped and degraded as his anger rose.
“She’ll be safe.” He said, “This job isn’t particularly dangerous.”
“My arse!” The man shouted, “We already fuckin’ lost one, the last party to take it on dropped out ‘cause of it!”
“They were ill prepared. It’s a scouting job, not a fighting job.”
“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared to fight!”
“It does if I’m prepared correctly.”
“I still can’t let you go with a random lass! You mi-”
“She’s my charge.” Volken interrupted.
“No way!” A drunk from the corner interrupted them, “She’s your prodigy? Volken’s got a prodigy!” Raucous laughter spawned from the group, “How long is she gonna last?”
“My money’s on a month!” One of the drunks replied.
“I’ll take three weeks!” A third piped in.
“I thought I’d have the lowest!” The second replied.
“I’ll take 2 months before she calls it quits!” The first one continued.
Volken was clearly ignoring them, but the barkeep pulled the knife out of the counter. “Shut up ya lot or I’ll close out ya tab!” The drunks stopped outright laughing, but their muttering and chuckling was still apparent.
Eos looked at Volken. “You’ve got a bad reputation, eh? Dead party members, people quitting on you…” Her voice dripped with disappointment.
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The knife flicked from the drunks to Volken, “You haven’t even told he’ your history?”
“Didn’t think it was relevant.” He responded.
“I can’t let her become your prodigy..”
“Good.” Volken said, clearly taking the barkeep back a bit, “I didn’t want her as my prodigy. She’s a party member.”
“But she’s not registered, she’s… 8?” The barkeep said, looking at Eos. She abstained from correcting him, gently shrugging.
“8. I don’t even know her name. I don’t know what she does. You’re a champion, sure, but I don’t know if you’d be able to protect her.”
“I don’t need to protect her if she’s my party member. That’d be up to her.”
“She’s a kid!” The barkeep shouted, looking at Eos. She just nodded. I am a kid technically. Eos thought. I guess not even technically.
“Fine, fine.” Volken said, “I’ll put her back and go do the job myself.”
“No way. You’ll just take her along.”
“Nope, absolutely won’t.” Volken said, “Promise.” At this point, Volken had a sinister smile, as if he was enjoying the interaction.
“No no no.” The barkeep waved his hand, “Absolutely not.”
“Awh come on?” Volken said, “I’ve made worse decisions before.”
“My answer isn’t go-” He was interrupted by a cough. However, it came not from the drunks but from the other side of the room. A door near the entrance had swung open, a figure standing in the doorframe: Sigurd.
“Thank Ayailla. Sigurd, could you tell Volken we don’t support child trafficking?”
Volken sighed, but it was Sigurd who spoke next. “Stand down Gerrard.” Sigurd approached the pair, his characteristic flowing water being absent. “Volken, Eos.”
“Sigurd!” Eos said, hugging the demon. Sigurd and Volken exchanged handshakes.
“Which task is this concerning?” Sigurd said.
“C-1103” Volken said, before the tavernkeep could respond.
“From the castle.” Sigurd said, thinking, “Oh this is the recon mission for the hideout?” He glanced at the barkeep, who nodded. “I think Volken and his prodigy would be capable, particularly if Volken is the one pushing for it.”
“He is-” The barkeep started.
“She’s not my prodigy.” Volken said.
“Then she’d have to register and be found satisfactory.” Sigurd said, “We’d no longer be able to rely on your account of her being… capable of magic. It would be necessary to assume she isn’t primarily learning but practicing.” Sigurd eyed Eos’s student outfit. “Fortunately, I know something about this child. Based on you bringing her here and what I know, she would not be fo-”
“But she can c-”
“But not to a satisfactory level. Not to one where she can protect herself. Less than a week-”
“But she is capable.”
“But not to protect herself.”
“Is that what this is about, Sigurd? Her protection?”
Sigurd looked Volken dead in the eyes. “Yes. I want you to be responsible for her. So you can’t shrug off if she's bruised or cut or broken or scarred. If she’s going to be your charge, then act like it.”
“You know I would-”
“I don’t care to trust you when I don’t have to.” Sigurd said, flatly. “She’s not been put under pressure like this before.”
Volken glared at Sigurd. “I’m not f-”
“If the choice is between protecting her and finishing up the contract,” Sigurd said, “and you chose the contract? You’d be lucky to set foot in the city and live. I’m just making that legally binding.”
“Illuminati strong arming me…” Volken whispered, “You know I wouldn’t do anything to her.” He raised his voice.
“It’s not doing something to her.” Sigurd said, “It’s letting someone else do something to her.”
“You’re putting more responsibility on my head for her than Valen has.”
“Well then you can blame Valen for this as well.”
“You know as sure as hell I will.”
“Good choice.” Sigurd said. “Gerrard, let the champion and his prodigy complete the quest.” He began to walk back to his office.
Right before Sigurd entered his office, Volken yelled to him. “Why didn’t you have anyone else protecting her if you cared so much?”
Sigurd turned with a cunning smile. “Because there’s not another person in this Guild I’d trust with her as much as you. She’s a handful, so be careful.”
“I am not!” Eos shouted back. She looked at the ground for a small stone to throw at him - he’d interpret it as playful, she hoped - but was disappointed to remember the floor was made of wood.
“Well… you know the details, right?” Gerrard asked them. Volken nodded. “On your way then.”
“Eos, sit there.” Volken pointed at a table. Eos pulled out a chair and sat on it. “No no, on the table.” Eos looked at him confused, then sat on the table. Volken brought his face up to the side of her head. She felt his breathing down her neck and his pointer finger prodding and tracing around the soft spot behind her ear, between the jaw and skull. She could tell by the gentle light radiating onto his face and the muttering under his breath that it was some form of air spell. Eos expected the spell to highlight itself in her vision in the venomous green- as almost every spell she encounters does- yet nothing popped up by the time Volken retracted himself.
“What spell is that?” Eos said, rubbing the slightly warm area behind her ear.
“‘Tracker’, it’s an air spell.” Volken said, “Utilize the air to tell me the direction you are. If you're underwater or somehow in a disconnected pocket of air, I can’t find you.”
“Can you teach me?” She asked.
“Later, later. We should get going.”
Eos hopped off the table, and followed Volken out. Right before they exited, Volken shouted back at Gerrard. “The expectation is 1-2 days.”
Gerrard shouted confirmation, and the pair left the building. Rather than returning to the dorms, they headed down the street more. Ending up at a stable a block away, Gerrard looked at Eos. “You know how to ride a horse, right?”
“No?!” Eos said, “Why is that assumed!”
“I should’ve asked beforehand…” Volken said, scratching his chin. He went into the stable, taking out a horse but the reins. “This is Esmerelda. You can call her Es.”
“Do you have a cart or something?” Eos asked.
“Nope, you’re gonna learn by fire.” He saddled up the horse, before getting on. “Give me your hand.”
Taking it, he pulled Eos up onto Esmerelda, sitting behind him. She wrapped her arms around him, and he moved them to the proper position. “Hold tight, and move with Es. We’re not going to be going at any notable speed until we leave the walls.”
Eos nodded, and with a slight flick, Esmerelda began her walk.