Sitting in her cell in Loterre, Wade was relaxed. She reclined on her firm bunk, back to the hardwood walls, one foot on the floor, the other tucked underneath. They’d taken her necklace, and with it, almost all of her equipment. That was fine, she knew from experience that they’d safeguard it for her.
She’d been by here many times, usually on assignment or to help out one of the others who’d been put away for a night after one too many glances at the bottom of a tankard. Not all, but at least most of the guards knew her. It had caused quite the stir three days back when they’d brought her here.
It took the guards a good ten minutes to understand that wade was the one being locked up, in what had been an almost comical series of misunderstandings and disbelief. It didn’t help that Mouley had been one of the two assigned to bring her in, and he couldn’t explain tree’s were to an aggressive squirrel, much less that Wade herself was to be locked up for a crime they didn’t know or understand.
Gods dammit but she loved Mouley. He was such a… unique member of their company. She couldn’t hold a conversation with the man without shuddering inwardly or laughing her ass off, but he was a good soldier most of the time and tried his best.
She cracked a smile now, thinking back to that moment, and then sighed.
She felt restless, she hated being in such a confined space. It wasn’t an issue with claustrophobia, she just hated being confined at all. Not only was there absolutely nothing to do in between meal deliveries, but it also brought back… memories.
Hearing a crocodoo’s cry, she shook herself and rose from her bunk. She jumped up to grab the wooden rungs that made up the ceiling to her cell, and proceeded to do as many pull ups as she could before muscle failure.
However, after only her fifteenth one, she was interrupted by the opening of the cell door just beyond the reach of the actual bars. Each cell in this place was a stone room with an iron door, inside of which was a thick wooden cage built from enchanted wooden beams. The entire structure could collapse around her, and the wood itself would likely stay unblemished, and without a doubt would stay unbroken.
It wasn’t a catch all solution, but in a city of primarily earth users, one couldn’t simply have a stone cell, or metal bars. Wade knew they had different accommodations for users of higher stars, not trusting the simple cells to hold them, but wasn’t privy to that sort of information. She had expected to make 2-Star while on the latest excursion, but… well, she’d found herself instead back here in this cell, so close to the next rank she could practically taste it.
Dropping from the ceiling of the cell, and placing her hands slowly but deliberately at her sids, she looked across the room at the greasy, unkempt sight of Aldrin, her lieutenant.
“Sir.” She said curtly
“Relax Wade, please. That won’t quite be necessary any more.” he said the last part with a sigh, idly scratching at the back of his head.
She dropped the stance she was holding, and placed her hands on her hips before asking “What’s the news? They wouldn’t have let you out, or let you see me if there wasn’t something.”
Wade had been fed regular gossip and updates from the guards that knew her. That and an extra ration or two at meal times had proven once and for all in her mind that it paid very well to make friends wherever she went.
Thus, she knew that Aldrin had been locked up, same as her, in a different part of the prison, but had been let out some hours earlier and taken for a court martial. The fact that he was back now, not bound in chains, boded at least somewhat well for him. She could only hope the same for her.
“Well, for starters, you don’t need to call me sir or Aldrin anymore.” He said, tapping his foot idly, then sitting as a chunk of the floor molded up to meet him.
Wade took in a breath, genuinely shocked “They demoted you.” It was said as a statement.
He nodded glumly, the scruff on his normally clean face and haggard looking eyes had been enough on their own to give a sharp contrast from the man she’d known just days earlier, but couple those with this air of defeat and she was almost convinced this was a different person all together.
“I am back to simply being Alder. They can’t do anything about my second star, but they’ve stripped me of my title as officer for the next three months. I’m to go on a punishment detail for the guild. I’ll be doing contracts for them, and forgoing payments, instead offering them up to Loterre as recompense. If I earn enough back, they’ll restore my commission after I retake the officer course.”
Wade sat down heavily on her bunk. There was a lot to unpack there. A hell of a lot. If this was to be his punishment, harsh as far as an officer went, what would hers be?
Looking up from his contemplation of the floor, he met her eyes, and she saw that she’d been wrong before. He wasn’t defeated, but stunned. Like a man who’d been going about his day, when he was out of nowhere struck in the stomach. He was confused and he was mad. Furious even, but keeping it contained… for now.
Wade found that she liked this fire infinitely more that a broken one. She understood and was compassionate enough to empathize with soldiers broken in battle. But empathy and understanding did not mean the same as respect. A man who took a blow and dealt it back ten times over was a man of will, of strength. It was what Wade would do, and it was why she could appreciate it so much in Aldrin… or Alder she supposed.
“What does that have to do with me though? Will I also be taken before a magistrate? Are they going to bump me back down as well?” Her deluge of rapid fire questions let slip the anxiety she’d been harboring over the whole affair.
Though she was still a 1-Star, as was common for one who’d unlocked all three abilities, she’d been made a sergeant. Significantly more responsibility with hardly better pay.
“Well,” Alder said “that’s actually why they sent me in here first. I requested that in place of any demotions or hearings that might hurt your record, you simply accompany me on the guild detail, and serve out your sentence that way. They said we’d have to take on higher difficulty contracts and owe a larger amount back, but if you agree, we can set out before the suns rise.”
If she’d been caught off guard before, now Wade was fully in open water. Apart from whispered news from the guards, meals, and working out each time she heard the crocadoo, she hadn’t done much else. This meant that in the last three days, and going now into the third night, she had had lots of time to think.
She’d thought about stabbing Sayrin through the eye several times, cutting off his hands and stringing him up to rot. She’d get back at him eventually, when she was more powerful. She’d also thought about everything that had happened, everything with that woman, Kya.
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She didn’t regret a single action she’d taken. She respected the woman for her tenacity and for killing a 1-Star rare while still a zero herself? Hell, that did more to get her in Wade’s good graces than almost anything else.
She had also thought about the future, what was to come and what would happen to her after all of this. She knew, no matter what, Lord Sampson wouldn’t tolerate one of his own being punished too harshly without at least sending a representative to look into it. But that just meant she wouldn’t be executed or something like that, it did not mean she wouldn’t be forced into a bad deal to sweep her under the rug and effectively halt her upward momentum.
However, this… this wasn’t bad. Not at all. She didn’t care about the money from doing contracts, and she could feel how close her second star was. It was just there, out of reach but so so close. Going with Alder and slaying beasts while also gaining experience and likely helping the populace all in one?
She knew there’d likely be minders, soldiers sent to oversee and keep track of their progress, or at the very least some minor noble or official or whatever. But fuck it, this sounded like a perfect chance to get away from all of the politics surrounding their current kerfuffle.
Wade had been silent all this time, Alder staring intently at her through the wooden beams as she contemplated all of this. Finally, Wade stood and approached the door to her cell and stuck her left hand through.
“It would be my pleasure to join you, Alder.”
Just as she’d expected, Wade's necklace and gear were all returned to her in rapid order, and the guards all wished her a fond farewell. The feeling of that gate being opened and seeing the open air again felt euphoric to her, matched closely by the feeling of her armor returning to her skin and her weapon back in her hand.
She silently followed Aldri-er. Alder out of the containment building in one of the lower terrace districts of the city. They could just barely off in the distance see the water of the harbor, water glistening in the moons’ radiant light.
They walked silently through the main market streets, crowded even at this hour of the night. Alder turned as he walked to Wades right and just ahead, and asked “Are there any supplies you need before we head out? We likely won’t be back here for the next several months and while we can requisition supplies through the local guild branch, it would take time for any specialized equipment.”
This actually came as something of a shock to Wade, and she studied his face for a moment. “Where will we be performing our probationary tasks, Alder?”
He smiled mischievously, the first sign of genuine mirth she’d seen on him that night. “Well, the contract actually says we are to work for the guild closest to the arrest location. For all intents and purposes, that means here. But if you think about it…”
Wade too, cracked a grin. In her black armor, maroon accents running throughout like slashes of dried blood, the otherwise innocent sight looked almost malevolent.
“We’re going back to Lyra”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sayrin sat alone in the office of the magistrate. It was a lower magistrate, overseeing lesser disputes of 1 and maybe 2-Star users in the city's sub-terrace districts, but in a capital city like theirs, that meant he was at least a 3-Star Peace user, likely with a knowledge subclass. This particular office was that of an old friend, one whom Sayrin had come to rely upon quite heavily in the recent years.
The office was nice, if on the smaller size. The enchanted windows currently displayed what Sayrin knew to be the man’s hometown, a glazed white marble colonnade with trees holding rich golden rustling above.
Sayrin sat in one of the plush chairs on the visitor side of the ornate wooden desk, chin resting on his steepled hands, as he silently contemplated the scene.
What felt like hours passed by, though they could have mere moments. Sayrin was so deeply ensconced in thought that it was an almost meditative experience. The office chambers were all soundproofed and enchanted for privacy, meaning the only sound he heard was the far off trees through the farseer windows.
Finally, the twin doors clicked open and swung inward with a soft creak, before closing again with a gentle click.
Sayrin stood as the shorter man made his way around and behind the desk, Sayrin only sitting when he did.
Though, physically, he was shorter in stature, Sayrin could never quite grasp that he was the taller of the two. Sayrin, as with most citizens of Loterre, were elven. Long pointy ears and olive tan skin with raven black or starkly bright hairs were the most defining traits of their people.
Filrin, though, was a Naiad. HIs skin was very pale blue, almost sickly looking. Like an elf with frostbite. They had shorter ears than was proper, though still pointed at least, unlike humans. The odd markings on their bodies, like pale white sickle scars, danced and moved. Some people found them fascinating, even alluring to look at Sayrin was of a more… apathetic opinion on them. For Sayrin, it was rather the natural crowns the Naiad possessed that most drew his attention. Filrin had, emerging from either side of his forehead and curving back smoothly to closely follow the shape of his head, two void black horns with bands of pale silver wrapping them in decoration. They weren’t thick or spiked or all that useful in combat, but they did lend a certain air of lethality to the Naiad, which was why again… he never felt he overpowered the man in front of him.
That could also, Sayrin thought idly, be a byproduct of the man's class. Peace was an oft overlooked, and even more often underestimated class a user could have, but Sayrin knew from experience that Filrin had utilized it extremely well to garner his own amount of power.
Filrin was the first to speak, breaking the reverie between the old companions.
“They took the deal. Even spotted and are planning to use the loophole as intended. They’ll be out of the city for the next several months. You can even use them as an excuse to go back and find that spacial woman.” He said, his accent faded, but still easily detectable.
Sayrin sighed an enormous breath, a very small amount of tension easing from his shoulders.
“Good. This will propel both of them forwards, and be better for them in the long run.” Sayrin leaned back in his chair, dragging one hand across his face.
Filrin took a moment before asking “How have the episodes been recently. I heard about the arena-”
“Not good.” Sayrin interjected, “They haven’t been good at all.”
“Does Mata know what’s going on? When’s the last time she played you a song?”
Sayrin chuckled softly to himself, not a single trace of humor on his face. “She hasn’t played for me in… in a long time Fil. Not since before Carcello.”
“Then you need to find someone or something else that can help you. This today” He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a file with several documents “This was a close one. And I only managed to get it through because that Aldrin took the plea deal. That, plus these rumors from the arena with your son… again…” Filrin trailed off, not needing to continue.
“I know, I know, I just need to clear my head. I can usually control it, and usually things are fine. But after Car’s leg, things have just been… strained.”
“The nightmares?” Filrin asked quietly.
Sayrin simply nodded, not needing to respond more than that.
“As your friend, and as your legal counsel, Sayad, go talk to Mata. If for no other reason than a song. You need to get a grip before this next wave. I’ve been hearing things. Lots of things.”
Not taking the bait, Sayrin just looked at Filrin for several moments before finally, the Naiad relented and said something that caused the river behind Sayrin’s eyes to flow a little more quickly.
“No one is happy about the emergence of a Spacial user. Word is spreading around the guild association, and soon people will begin to act. I heard that Lord Cain has been recalled, he;ll be arriving in the city in the next month or so.”
“Cain!?!” Exclaimed Sayrin, bolting up out of his chair “Cain is coming to Loterre?”
Also standing, Filrin leaned forward over his desk, “Which is why I say again: Go to Mata. I don’t care if you need to beg and bribe, make up with her. Do something to get her back on your side. Sooner rather than later.”
They talked a little more, but it was clear they had said what they were going to for today, and Sayrin soon excused himself.
He took his time getting home, lost in thought. Cain would be arriving in the city? That alone was portentous enough, but the mere thought of it set his mind whirring.
He would… Deal with the other issues tomorrow, he decided. For now, he needed rest. Before things became any worse.
He didn’t want to exhaust himself now.