“This room is so nice!” Elsie Stormrider said in surprise as she and Lyric Thistlewood entered their shared dorm room. It was slightly larger than she had expected. The stone floor was covered in a plush rug, and drapes covered the otherwise gray walls. Two large beds took up most of the space, set on either side of the room. Half of the room was covered in clothes and other belongings, so Elsie walked towards the side that was clearly hers.

She had a large four poster bed with sheer canopied curtains. Next to the bed stood a chest of drawers as well as a clothes rail with several variations on a school uniform hanging from it. She could see a few different pants and skirts, with several button-up shirts, a formal jacket, and a fancier dress gown as well. A freestanding wooden dressing screen was set next to the clothes rail and dresser.

An open door was set in the wall between their two beds. Elsie could see the bathroom complete with a sink, tub and shower. On either side of the door to the bathroom near the beds were two vanity desks with mirrors. It was difficult to see the surface of Lyric’s vanity desk due to all the clothes, brushes, makeup products, and random items she kept there.

“If I had known someone would be coming here tonight I would have cleaned up a bit!” Lyric said. She walked around picking up clothes and either tossing them into a clothes hamper or hanging them back up on her clothes rail.

What happened to Diviners knowing everything? Aeric thought. She clearly knew you’d be here tonight.

I’m pretty much assuming everything she does has some other purpose behind it at this point. Also maybe try not to look through my eyes when I’m in my dorm room.

Elsie quickly looked away from the particular clothes Lyric was picking up at that moment.

It's not like I can actually stop. You know how this works. Besides, aren’t you basically a boy’s brain in a girl’s body? If it’s not right for me to look, then is it even right for you to be there in the first place?

I don’t feel like a boy’s brain in a girl’s body. I feel… different than how we felt when we were Eric Smith.

But Eric Smith was male. And we’re both some sort of derivative of his mind.

I’m not sure that’s exactly how it works. I feel like I’m female, and I’m obviously in a female body. Somehow it just feels right to consider myself as a girl.

I guess if I’m being honest with myself there are plenty of times I’ve already thought of you as my sister. Which is still mind-bending since I know you’re also part of who I am at the same time.

I’m still working it out, I guess. It’s complicated and is something that will take time for me to truly understand about myself. Regardless of who I am though, the more important thing is you, Aeric. It just feels wrong to hide the fact that I’m basically wearing a GoPro webcam live streaming everything to you at all times.

I’d still prefer not to tell people about our Twinborn nature. We’ll have to establish rules with our roommates about modesty in the dorm rooms.

I guess that’s a good way of approaching it. I really don’t want to make things awkward for Lyric though.

Just try your best. I’ll try to have a conversation with Amos about it too.

“Lyric, I was thinking--”

“Before anything else I think we need to address the elephant in the room,” Lyric interrupted.

“Oh? What’s that?”

“That you used to be a boy.”

What?

How?

“Excuse me?!” Elsie said, trying to cover her surprise with forced indignation. “Why would anyone even say something like that?”

“Because it’s true,” Lyric said.

“And what makes you think that it’s true?”

“Well I first suspected you were male on Earth because of the personality substitutes you gave yourself,” Lyric said. “Not a lot of girls would customize themselves to look like that. You know who would? A guy who hasn’t learned the meaning of the words back pain.”

“So what if I chose to look like this? It doesn’t prove that I used to be a guy. It only proves that this is the way I chose to appear.”

“Luckily for me, I don’t just have to go on suspicion alone. I know you used to be a boy because you told me,” Lyric said. “Or rather you will tell me eventually when we get to know each other better. And what you’ve told the future me essentially becomes what you’ve told the present me.”

We’re committing right here right now to never tell her about being Twinborn.

Agreed. From now on we keep our lips as zipped as we can.

“That’s ridiculous,” Elsie tried to deny it. “I would never have told you something like that.”

“You did. Or you in the future did. You and Aeric are different than how you appear now.”

Uhoh. Future us didn’t already tell her, did they? Even after we committed not to?

“You used to be identical twins, not fraternal,” Lyric finished. “Twin brothers, that is.”

Oh. Good cover story, future us.

“Ah… We told you that, did we? In the future? Your class is downright unfair in what it can do,” Elsie complained.

“Right?! And Amos was over there saying I’d picked such a useless class. I’ll show him who’s useless when I help you win every single point in this stupid competition. Regardless, given the fact that you decided to change your body’s gender upon being summoned, I think it would be best if we tried to maintain a high standard of modesty while in our dorm room. At least for now.”

“R-right,” Elsie said.

Does the Diviner class have a mind reading skill or something? That’s almost exactly how we were going to phrase it.

I certainly hope not. It is uncanny though. Lyric? Hello? Are you reading my thoughts right now?

“That being said, I’m actually very excited for the opportunity you’ve given me,” Lyric said, giving no indication that she could hear what Elsie was thinking.

“And what opportunity is that?”

“To teach you what it means to be a woman, obviously.”

“And in all your years of wisdom you are now an expert on what it means to be a woman, I suppose?”

“It’s more experience than you’ve ever had,” Lyric countered.

“I think I’ll be fine figuring it out on my own,” Elsie said. “Not to mention I’m not exactly brimming with confidence that we have the same definition of what that means in the first place.”

“Oh don’t spoil the fun,” Lyric said. “We’ll start with the most basic of womanly needs: a bubble bath.”

“See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about,” Elsie said. “I don’t think bubble baths are what most women would define as the most basic of womanly needs. In fact I’d assume most women would say that anyone who tries to define what a woman needs is trying to sell you something.”

“Who says I’m not going to try selling you something? Also don’t knock it until you try it. Here, take a look in this drawer. I keep all my pajamas in here.” She pulled open a drawer. “Pick something out while I get your bath ready.”

“This really isn’t necessary,” Elsie said. Though she was still feeling slightly weak from her recovery in the medical ward. “But I suppose just this once I could be persuaded to take your advice.”

“Hooray! Afterwards I can teach you the proper way to wrap your hair in a towel, since it was clear from earlier that you haven’t learned that skill yet,” Lyric said. She entered the bathroom, and Elsie soon heard the sounds of the bathtub being filled up.

Why does she have so many pajamas?

I’m definitely not going to ask. She’ll probably spout something about womanly needs again.

Eventually Elsie picked something out that looked like it would fit her. Lyric came out of the bathroom and gave a thumbs up to her selection.

“The academy provides a laundry service that comes through once a day. You just have to leave your clothes bin in the pickup nook down the hall and they’ll take care of them. Then they’ll be ready for you sometime the next day.”

“That's convenient,” Elsie said.

“Isn't it?” Lyric gestured towards Elsie's stained dress. “Why don’t we get you out of that and see if it’s not too late to have it be collected for the evening rounds. You might be able to wear it when we go out tomorrow instead of one of those stuffy school uniforms. Do you need any help?”

“Do I need any help undressing myself?” Elsie asked. “I thought you were just talking about maintaining modesty!”

“Oh, I will be staying modest around you, don’t worry. I don’t want to make things more confusing for you as you get used to your new life as a girl. But I bat straight, so helping you with this kind of thing isn’t going to be awkward for me at all.”

“Rules for me and not for thee, much?” Elsie said. “But no, I’m perfectly fine taking care of myself.”

Lyric shrugged. “Suit yourself. You’re usually more relaxed about it all though. Or rather in the future you’ll be more relaxed about it.”

“Can you just… not?” Elsie said. “It makes me uncomfortable that you have these unknowable future memories of things that I’ve never done. I honestly have no idea how much of what you say is even real.”

“That’s one of the biggest problems people have with Diviners. We can basically say whatever we want and other people don’t have any solid way of knowing what’s real. My class has a reputation of being manipulative for some reason.”

“I think I’m beginning to see why,” Elsie said through gritted teeth. “Now if you’ll excuse me.” She took the pajamas into the bathroom and shut the door. She leaned back against it, closed her eyes, and just tried to calm herself with deep breathing.

“Toss out your dress if you want me to take it to the laundry room,” Lyric called out to the closed door. A brief moment later the door opened a few inches and Elsie tossed out the stained dress.

---

“How much experience do you have with archery?” Amos Eagleye asked. He and Aeric were looking at the rack of academy provided projectile weapons. There were longbows, recurve bows, crossbows, throwing axes, throwing knives, slings, and javelins.

“I shot a nerf gun that was shaped like a bow once,” Aeric Stormirder said. “It was actually pretty cool.”

“So no experience, got it. We should start you off simple then. This world doesn’t have compound bows, so the best starting point is the recurve.” He selected a recurve bow from the rack and handed it to Aeric. It was already strung. “These school-issue bows are maintained by the staff here, so you can just get right to practicing without the usual setup.” He grabbed a quiver of arrows as well and clipped it to his belt.

They walked out into the archery yard. The sun was mostly set behind them. Aeric’s shadow stretched across the field towards the targets: concentric rings ending in a red bullseye circle in the center. They started with a target that was only ten yards away.

“Why don’t you just start by trying to fire an arrow at the target. We’ll work on your form once I see what you’re naturally trying to do.” He plucked an arrow from the quiver and handed it over.

Aeric slid the arrow onto the bowstring.

“Wrong,” Amos said, then turned the arrow along its axis so the feathers were oriented correctly.

Aeric grabbed the bow’s handle.

“Wrong,” Amos said, repositioning his hand so that it was in a slightly different place.

Aeric pulled on the bowstring.

“Wrong,” Amos said, nudging his fingers so that the index finger was making light physical contact with the arrow itself, then adjusting his elbow up.

“Look if you’re just going to keep telling me I’m doing it wrong then why don’t you tell me what I’m supposed to be doing right in the first place?” Aeric snapped. “I thought you said you’d let me fire a shot before giving pointers.”

“Fine,” Amos said. “But you had it wrong before you even touched the bow: let’s start with your stance.”

---

An hour and a half later Aeric was walking back to the castle with sore arms and a bruised ego. After it had grown too dark to shoot, Amos had made Aeric practice readying up his form and drawing the string over and over again. He had gone nearly ballistic himself when Aeric had dry fired the bow without an arrow loaded on the string.

I could really use a bubble bath myself right now.

You should take one! It was way better than I thought it would be.

I know. I could feel it.

I bet Amos would be happy to get one started for you: you should totally ask him and see what he says.

I’ll pass.

Did you hear when Lyric told me that she sells little bubble bath sachets? I think they must be magic or something because baths don’t usually feel that good.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I must have been too busy doing pushups to pay attention to your little spa party. I dare you to focus on feeling how sore my arms are right now.

Ouch. Poor you.

Amos said it will be even more work tomorrow since we’ll have more time to train.

Hey, want to try something?

Sure, what is it?

Why don’t you try focusing all your attention on Elsie right now? Focus on how relaxed I feel right now. Feel the softness of the robe around me. Let your muscles relax the way mine are as I’m lying down.

That’s… actually quite nice. I could get used to this. I don’t think it’s actually relaxing Aeric’s muscles on a physical level, but focusing my attention on just one of our bodies is helping at least.

Aeric tripped on the front steps leading up to the castle.

“Did I push you too hard, new guy?” Amos said.

“Just got lost in thought,” Aeric said, picking himself up from the ground.

“Make a mistake like that when fighting the Enthralled and you’ll find yourself without a head attached to your shoulders.”

“Have you fought them?”

“Four times,” Amos answered. “And plenty of non-enthralled monsters as well. There are voluntary excursions every month you can sign up for to fight Enthralled on the frontlines. You have to participate once per year to stay enrolled in the academy, but they let you go with other rotations of students if you want. I haven’t missed a month since I was first summoned.”

They walked through the entrance hall. Amos glanced at the noticeboard. “Sparks,” he swore, looking at the forecast. “Rain again tomorrow. We might have to change our training plans. You can warp your bow and string if you get them too wet, so that’s a no-go. Throwing axes aren’t quite as affected by it though, so we could at least practice those.”

Amos moved over to another section of the noticeboard where something caught his attention. Under the Help Wanted section was a collection of red and yellow colored papers. One green paper stood out amongst them. Amos pulled it off of the board. It had a crudely drawn picture of a giant rat standing on two legs holding a small spear.

| Contract Hunt - Beginner Level |

| Restrictions: Minimum Party Size - 3 |

| Recommendations: Firefin Magic |

| A minorat infestation has been spotted in the basement of Shaun’s Watermill, 11 miles northwest of Brightglen along the Serpent’s Fang River. |

| Offering 75 notes for their eradication. |

| Contact Shaun Westman for more information. |

The bottom line of the page was crossed out, and a handwritten note was in its place.

| Please contact the local Slayer Office in Brightglen to accept this contract. |

Amos held up the green paper with the first genuine smile that Aeric had ever seen on his face. “I think I just found the perfect training opportunity for tomorrow.”

---

“Come on, Desmond,” Amos said. “We can't take this hunt without having a third party member.”

It was early the next morning. Aeric and Amos were in a dorm room belonging to two brothers named Desmond and Cameron Tillman. The conversation was not going well, mostly due to the fact that Desmond was barely conscious.

“S’not ‘nough,” Desmond said into his pillow.

“Money?” Amos asked. “You can have half of it all. Aeric and I will just take a quarter portion each.”

Aeric frowned at this, but to be honest he wasn't sure how much a note was worth anyway. For all he knew this job could be paying pennies.

“Sleep, Amos,” Desmond groaned. “Not enough sleep. Come back later.” The last part was barely audible as Desmond resumed his descent into unconsciousness.

His older brother, Cameron, looked up from the book he was reading at his desk. “You might have to wait until this afternoon before he's coherent,” he said.

“How late did he stay up last night?” Amos asked with a sigh.

“It’s not that… I think he was up doing a little dance with Sylvie last night.”

“You're kidding me, right?” Amos said. He looked with disappointment at his friend. “Fine. When he wakes up, tell him we won't need him after all.”

“Sure,” Cameron said.

“I don't suppose you're up for a hunt today, are you?” Amos asked. “It's a green.”

“Nah, I've got other plans already. Sorry, mate.”

“Figured I'd ask anyway. See you around.”

While walking to the dining hall Aeric finally couldn't help but ask. “Is Sylvie his girlfriend?”

“What?” Amos asked.

“When Cameron said he was dancing with Sylvie. Does that mean he and Sylvie… you know.”

“Oh that. No, Desmond doesn't have a girlfriend. They're all too smart to date a guy like him. Cameron was just saying that Desmond was hitting the Sylvan wand a bit hard.”

“And is that another euphemism for…”

“Sparks I forgot what it's like to be so new,” Amos said. “No, nothing involving any of that. When Sylvan magic is used too much it can give a sort of high to humans. It’s supposed to be used as anesthetic for surgeries. It becomes downright addictive when abused though.”

Aeric thought of the bliss coma he had experienced as Elsie during her class selection trial.

“That kind of magic pays pretty well in certain crowds, but it's not legal in this kingdom. For obvious reasons,” Amos explained.

“I can understand why,” Aeric said.”

“Sylphwood, way out to the east of the Kingdom of Astraeus, doesn't have any laws against it. It's actually an unspoken part of their tourist economy. Along with the fines they make those tourists pay when they inevitably break other laws while all drugged up.”

“I'm guessing Sylphwood is some sort of Sylvan kingdom?” Aeric said.

“Was it that obvious? Anyway I knew Desmond had messed around with that stuff a little, but this is just disappointing. He's going to get himself kicked out of the academy if he keeps it up.”

“Are we supposed to tell someone about him?”

“No, it's fine. Most people probably try it at least once out of curiosity. I haven't, and I don't intend to: no time to mess around with stuff like that when there’s training to do. You'll only get kicked out if it becomes a real problem though.”

They arrived at the dining hall. It was on the ground floor of the castle, set in the back. They got into the queue for the breakfast buffet.

“Speaking of problems, we can't take this hunt contract without one more person,” Amos said.

I’ll come. I bet Lyric would too.

“We could bring Elsie and Lyric,” Aeric said. “I’m sure my sister would want to come with us.”

“Out of the question,” Amos said.

“Why? We need a third member and we have at least one, maybe two easily available.”

“Listen to me, Aeric. Until this competition is over you have to think of those girls as the enemy. Consider them as if they were already Enthralled.”

“You know you're talking about my sister, right? Also I don't even know what an Enthralled is in the first place.”

Some of the students in line around them glanced in his direction for a moment.

“You'll find out soon enough. But listen, if we invite your sister then we won't have any advantage of doing this hunt anyway. If she's there then anything I teach you will be as good as teaching her as well.”

“You know, I don't think that's something we'll really be able to avoid in the long run,” Aeric said.

“Sure, sure. But the point is as long as the competition is going we should try to avoid giving her any advantages.”

They arrived at the buffet tables and grabbed their plates. Aeric was pleased to see what looked like bacon and eggs as available options. He eyed a platter of some sort of fried dough that could possibly have been deep fried pancakes. There were also bowls of fruits, carafes of juices, and a large pot with something resembling oatmeal. The boys got to work loading up their plates.

You should tell him he’s a jerk for not inviting me. I want to come!

No.

“I still just think it would be better to bring my sister along. She’ll probably be jealous if I get to do this without her. Not to mention that we can’t go at all if we don’t find someone else to join.”

“It’s Sixthday, no one has classes and there are plenty of people who would be interested in a little combat training.”

“I don’t know,” Aeric said, looking around. “This dining hall sure seems a lot emptier than it was at dinner yesterday.” There were only around fifty people in the room at the moment.

“A lot of people will be sleeping in. But there’s still plenty of time to find someone. It’s a decent hike out to Shaun’s Mill though, so if we want to get back at a reasonable time we should leave early.”

Amos stood with his plate of food and scanned the room for a moment. His eyes locked onto someone and he made a beeline toward her. Aeric followed him, arriving just after Amos.

“Hi, Nadia,” he said. “Do you mind if we sit with you?”

A girl with light brown skin and black hair looked up at Amos and then at Aeric. “Hi, Amos,” she said. “Yeah of course, go ahead and sit down.” She studied Aeric curiously.

Amos sat down and promptly started eating his food. Aeric stood awkwardly for a brief moment, and then determined that Amos wasn’t going to introduce them. He placed his plate down next to Amos.

“I’m Aeric Stormrider. I’m new here,” he said, holding out a hand. Nadia stared at it for a moment.

“Oh! This is that thing you do on Earth, isn’t it!” She slapped Aeric’s hand as if she was giving him a sideways high five. “I’m Nadia Sunti. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Aeric said as he sat down. His bacon and eggs were calling to him.

“So Nadia are you doing anything today?” Amos said with a mouth full of food.

Nadia raised an eyebrow. “It depends. Why do you ask?”

Amos held up the green hunt order paper. “We got a green hunt. Want to come with us?”

“What are you hunting?”

“Just some minorats. Should be easy. We have to have three people in our party though.”

“Minorats? Not my kind of target. I’m a Catalyzer, not a Firefin mage. Are you bringing someone with energy magic?” Nadia asked.

“No need. I could probably handle the hunt solo, but I figured I could teach the new guy a few tricks. But we’ll still have to bring three for the requirements, you see,” Amos said.

“Riiight. You really know how to make a girl feel special, Amos,” Nadia said. She turned to Aeric. “Do you mind if I ask what your class is?”

“I’m a Nullifier,” he said.

“What’s that?” She asked.

“I don’t fully know myself. I guess I can disrupt magic or something.”

Nadia glared at Amos as if this proved her point. “You’re taking an archer and someone who is primarily focused on dispelling magic, magic that your foes won’t even have, to fight a horde of fast moving angry semi-intelligent rodents. Amos when you told me you thought the new summons were going to die on their first encounter I didn’t realize you meant you were going to be the one to make it happen.”

“What?!” Aeric asked.

“Wha-” Amos tried to say, but choked on the fried pancake in his mouth. He coughed a few times to clear his throat. “Nobody is going to die. Are you joking? It’s just minorats. They’re little bipedal rats with spears, how hard could they be?”

“You’ve clearly never encountered them before,” Nadia said.

“I’ve faced worse,” he countered with a hardened expression. “And besides it’s just a green hunt. It’s for beginners. There’s barely any risk in it.”

“I’m disappointed in you, Amos,” she said. “Out of all our classmates I would have expected you to have done your research before jumping into things. The easiest way to deal with minorats is to bring a Firefin mage who can just burn the nest out. Not to mention their magic is highly effective at clearing out their tunnels as well: the smoke makes all the ones you missed come crawling out.”

“But it’s not required! There’s nothing to stop us from just thinning their numbers at range and then cleaning things up in person once we’re ready. It’s a recent infestation in someone’s basement, so they wouldn’t have had time to dig a large network of tunnels yet. Also we wouldn’t want to set the whole place on fire.”

Aeric suddenly found himself doubting whether or not he wanted to go after all.

“You know maybe we should just go shopping with my sister and her roommate instead,” he suggested.

“Oh, I heard there were two summons. Isn’t that like, super rare or something?”

“From what I hear, yes,” Aeric said.

“Who is your sister rooming with?”

“Lyric,” Amos answered.

Nadia looked concerned at the news. “Oh. I hope that works out okay for her.”

“I think she’ll be fine,” Aeric said. “But really I wouldn’t mind going with them today to pick up a few different outfits myself.”

“The school uniforms are fine; no need to waste money,” Amos said. “And we’ll be fine too. Don’t let Nadia get in your head. It’s literally a green hunt…” His voice trailed off with less confidence.

“Green doesn’t mean there’s no danger at all. It means there’s less danger than the yellow or red hunts,” Nadia said. “But also, why are you asking me to join your hunt? Can’t you just invite Aeric’s sister?”

“She’s still getting ready for the day,” Aeric said. Amos and Nadia didn’t question his clairvoyance.

“She’s not invited,” Amos said. “But it’s okay, we can find someone else.”

Aeric shrugged and took another bite of his scrambled eggs.

---

“Please,” Amos said in despair. “We couldn’t find anyone else; you’re our only hope for taking this contract.”

“Not happening,” Elsie said.

This is just mean. We both know you said you wanted to come.

I did, but it’s fun to make him squirm a little.

The two pairs of roommates were in the entrance hall after breakfast. Elsie and Lyric were about to leave on their trip into Brightglen, whereas Amos and Aeric had been trying to find anyone interested in running the hunt with them. It turned out Amos didn’t know very many people that well: mostly having kept busy with his intense personal training and study regimes. None of the other students they had approached were willing to join up with random strangers.

“Too bad, looks like you don’t get to go on your hunt today, Amos!” Lyric said in a voice that sounded way too happy.

“I’m begging you,” Amos said. “It’s either you or no one.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you really know how to sweep a girl off her feet?” Lyric said. “Why didn’t you lead by saying we were your last possible choices? That would definitely have convinced us to come.”

“Actually you were my first choice,” Aeric said.

Lyric smiled sweetly at him. “Oh, Aeric. I’m really touched. We barely know each other and you’re already thinking of me first.”

Oops. I meant you.

I know. She’s misunderstanding on purpose, I think.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Elsie said. She swept her hand down at the baggy gray sweatshirt she was borrowing from Lyric. It seemed out of place with the nicer looking pleated school issue skirt she had on below it. “There’s no way I’m going to go fight monsters dressed like this. Not to mention I’d be sweating buckets if I had to hike over twenty miles round trip in this outfit.”

“We’re going to drop off all her uniforms at the tailor while we’re out today,” Lyric explained. “They just need a sliiight adjustment to fit properly.”

Elsie glared at Lyric, but didn’t say anything.

“It’s supposed to rain though! You won’t be sweating because you’ll be soaked,” Amos said.

“Oh yes,” Lyric said. “That makes it so much better. Amos, you never cease to amaze me with your amazing reasoning skills.”

I’d rather have both Elsie and Aeric there together.

I know, me too. Honestly I think it could be fun. But I do think I’d rather not hike in a sweatshirt.

I mean I would still feel what you’re going through. Hiking in a sweatshirt would feel gross to me too, but I understand what you’re saying.

I’ll see if I can find anything good to wear in town. Then we can go after.

I guess I might as well come with you. We do have these allowances from Professor Ashdowne to spend anyway.

Amos and Lyric had grown increasingly argumentative while the twins were tuned out, having their mental conversation.

“You’re so frustrating, Lyric,” Amos was nearly shouting. “You act like you know everything when you really don’t!”

“Whoa whoa,” Aeric said, laying a hand on Amos’s shoulder. “How about this: we all go shopping together and pick up a new outfit for Elsie and some umbrellas or ponchos to make the hike bearable in the rain? Then we can just all go on the hunt together.”

“Aww, Aeric, did you just invite me on a shopping date? Very well then, I accept,” Lyric said.

“What, no I--,” Aeric began saying.

“I like that plan,” Elsie interrupted.

“Fine,” Amos said. “As long as we don’t take too long in Brightglen.”

“Now hold on,” Lyric said. “If we’re buying supplies specifically for your hunt then I think you should be the ones paying for it. I’d say a little cash advance of fifty notes ought to cover all our expenses.”

“Fifty?! That’s more than half the reward,” Amos exclaimed.

“Congratulations, you just made the cost go up to fifty-five notes because you reminded us we’ll have to deal with your little temper tantrums along the way,” Lyric said.

“No way--” Amos started.

“It’s a deal,” Aeric said. “I’ll pay the advance from the allowance Lady Ashdowne provided.” He started digging into his pocket. “You can pay me back with the hunt earnings.”

Lyric smiled and held out her hand for the money. “Aeric, I think you and I are going to get along very nicely.”