Coming to I heard knocking. Raising my head from the pillow it was resting on I looked towards the door, “What?” I shouted.

  Seeing the door begin to open I got startled, got off the bed, and stood. However, when it was fully opened I could see a small white-scaled Kythraxian girl, she must’ve been five or so.

  “My dad sent me to get you,” She mumbled, often stumbling on some of her words.

  Sighing, I let myself relax a little. Walking over to her, I put my hands on my knees and brought myself to head level with her. “Is your father Gurnag?” I asked. She certainly resembles him, and I remembered he told me something about her last time I was here.

  “Yeah,” She mumbled, “He wants you to come down,” She looked nervous, her fingers picking at the ends of her dress.

  “Well, we can’t be letting him down can we?” I said, pushing myself off my knees. She looked up at me and started to nod, “Lead on… I don’t think I know your name, mind telling me?”

  “That’s easy, it’s Kylie,” She said, grabbing my hand before turning around and leading me by my hand, “Come on mister.”

  Chuckling I said, “Lead on Kylie, let’s find your dad,” We were already outside of the room by now, and someone passing by gave us a weird look. Looking down, from the balcony she was leading me through, I could see the main door and that it was still dark outside.

  She led me down the stairs and then directly into the back of the Galleon, somewhere I hadn’t been before. “I brought him, Dad,” Kylie said almost immediately after going through a swinging door.

  We entered into a kitchen and I saw Gurnag behind a counter chopping produce with a female Kythrax, one covered with red scales. They weren’t really paying much attention to us, even letting their shoulders touch each other.

  Kylie turned and I gave her a wink, “I believe this gorgeous little bundle of excitement is yours?” I said in a loud voice startling both of them.

  “Oh, Arthur it’s you.” Gurnag said after taking a second to collect himself, “I found out what you wanted to know,”

  “Gurnag, who’s the teenager? You usually don’t let people back here, especially not people so young.” The red Kythrax said with a bit of skepticism.

  “Right, introductions, Arthur, this is Zavira, my wife, and you’ve already met our daughter,” Gurnag said as he embraced her with his right arm, “Zavira, this was the boy who stayed here three weeks ago while you and Kylie were working at the guild.” Seeing this I noticed Zavira’s stiff body relax a little.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Gurnag do y-” I started.

  “Woah, you are the one who saved the inn from the bad guy?” Kyliee asked with amazement.

  “Kylie, what did we say about interrupting people?” Zavira asked.

  “It’s bad and it’s rude, and that I shouldn’t do it,” Kyliee said with a pout.

  “Well Kylie,” I said, leaning down a bit I continued, “I did do something like that a few weeks ago. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Looking at Kylie I saw her face light up, “Now you should go hug your mom and tell her how sorry you are for pouting like that.”

  Kylie nodded, and with a fierce look started to run toward Zavira, jumping at her and hugging her. Zavira managed to catch her with her one arm, and giving Gurnag a kiss she started to walk off. “I’ll let you two finish up, and Arthur, thanks for protecting our home.”

  After giving a wave to Kylie I turned to Gurnag, “So, did you find where Jolis is?”

  “She should be staying at Drum Tavern, I sent Kylie as soon as I found out,” Gurnag said, picking up a knife he resuming chopping the produce.

  I could find that with the map I was given, maybe I’d get this done on time, “How long has it been since I went up to the room?”

  Gurnag hummed to himself and eventually said, “It’s only been a few hours, so the morning bells should ring in a few hours.” I felt a pang of relief, I still had plenty of time to complete the trial.

  “If you could keep your ears open for any more information while I am gone I would appreciate it, just in case she isn’t there.” I started, I didn’t want to go down the same path and end up lost again.

  “Just make sure you buy a drink every now and then.” The Kythrax said.

  “Gurnag, thank you, if you or your family ever need me for anything, just ask.” Turning away I sped towards the doors, as some tears pricked at the corner of my eyes. I heard Kylie say goodbye as I opened the main doors to the Galleon.

  They were a kind family and I wanted to repay them one day.

  Grabbing the folder from inside my coat, I looked at the map I had been given. I started trailing my finger across the map, looking for the Drum Tavern.

  It was east, almost directly east. I could make it there before it turned to day.

  Walking through the empty streets of Willowdale I noticed how different the town felt at night. The unlight alleyways and pale moonlight made all shadows look deep and large. The creaking of wagons and the distant sounds of horse-beasts hooves striking the ground, their neighs breaking through the silent night.

  The only people I passed were either guards or adventurers, both usually covered from head to toe in armor. Their weapons were also different, while some carried swords and shields, others carried quivers and bows. Some carried spears, and others carried axes or daggers.

  However, there was one person who stood out during my trek to Drum Tavern, a human with sharp ears and red hair that was in a bun. He looked strong, and his eyes burned orange. Honestly, he reminded me more of a Kythrax than a human. What I found odd was his ether, it felt more like a beast’s than a man’s. I would’ve stopped to ask him questions, but I had business with another that night.

  It took around half an hour to get to Drum Tavern, I spotted it from a distance, a sign hanging from the roof. I could hear the celebrations before I even came close to the inn, but I only had one question on my mind; Was Jolis here?

  Seeing a drunkard stumble out of the inn I approached him, “Do you know if Jolis Marsone is inside?”

  “Jolis?” He slurred, “Nope,” He continued, hiccuping and barely managing to stand straight. Useless.

  Seeing that he was wearing a big black cloak, I decided that I needed to cover up what she saw me in earlier. He was very happy to part with it after I paid him.

  Wearing it overtop the brown coat, I walked inside Drum Tavern. As soon as I opened the swinging doors I felt a wall of noise hit me. Shaking off the initial disorientation I made my way towards the bar.

  “Can I have an Alta?” I asked the barkeep.

  “Payment first.” This is the first time I have heard of it, but I gave him the coins regardless.

  As soon as I did he was happy to oblige, handing over the drink immediately. Thanking him I moved to join one of the tables.

  My plan was very simple: I would wait to see if she was here and come out for anything. If she didn’t come out within an hour, I would steal the resident ledger. If that failed, I would have to come up with something else.

  All of the people here seemed to be in high spirits, shouting and singing along with the music being played from the corner of the inn.

  “Welcome to the table, don’t think I’ve seen you before,” A human man said after I took an empty seat at the round table.

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  “I’m new to town, just came from Abartil and I needed a drink after the move,” I remarked, taking a drink of my Alta.

  “You seem a bit young to be drinking, but eh, you won’t see me telling,” The man exclaimed loudly while laughing, “So, what should I call you? My name is Andrew,” Should I tell him, or say something else? I didn’t know what I was going to be doing tonight, so a fake name was probably for the best.

  A smile came on my face as I came up with a name, “The name is Ghezin, a pleasure to meet you, Andrew,” Raising my mug to his we tapped them together and started drinking.

  “Ghezin huh, pleasure to meet you, so do you know her?” Andrew asked after putting down his drink.

  “Know who?” I asked.

  “Jolis, Jolis Marsone,” He answered, “You know, the whole reason this many people are here tonight,”

  Interesting news, “I just got to town, I’ve never met her before, so what's the celebration about?”

  “She pissed off Ingratus, so she wanted a few capable people here before she skipped town, apparently someone was chasing her today.” He remarked, before finishing off his drink, “Another two!” He shouted.

  Almost instantly he had another two drinks in front of him. “Nasty business, how did she even manage to piss them off?” I asked, the folder I had didn’t actually tell me.

  “Well, Marsone is a part of the slave trade, decently well known too. Supposedly she sold off a slave but decided to keep him soon after. She returned the coin and even offered replacements, but Ingratus was set on the boy. Anyway, she ended up smuggling him out of town and she is going to follow after, Ingratus will probably get over it in a year or two, but I’m not sure why Ingratus wanted that slave so badly,” Andrew explained. It didn’t make sense to me either, why would they want the slave so badly?

  Another thing, I couldn’t fail today, if she was skipping town today, then this was my only chance.

  “There’s the host herself,” Andrew said, pointing up to Jolis. Following his finger I saw Jolis, wearing the same grey cloak as earlier. It was her. She stood on top of the balcony, leaning on the railing and watching all of us.

  “So why are you here Andrew?” I asked, still keeping an eye on Jolis.

  “Most of us are here for the free drink, some are here because they owe Marsone for one thing or another. Me personally? I’m a part of that first group,” He said, as he started on his drink.

  I continued to enjoy Andrew’s company for a while, keeping tabs on Jolis who mainly hung around the balcony. However, she would sometimes come down to the floor for a while, only accepting drinks from servers and mingling with the crowd.

  Eventually, I noticed that Jolis entered a room, and a smile etched itself across my face. Sure, it was guarded, but I think I could get past them.

  “What’s with the smile Ghezin?” Andrew said.

  “It’s a good night, why wouldn’t I smile?” I answered loudly, but then I lowered my voice, “I’ll be right back.”

  I realized something interesting as the night stretched. Jolis would only talk to two separate types of people. The first was the people I’m assuming she trusted, the other group was servers who would hand her drinks.

  Another thing I noticed was that servers often went up the balcony, and sometimes went into rooms.

  So getting up I made my way to the place where I assumed the servers got dressed, as they always exited the door with a server’s outfit.

  Entering I found a room with a stack of server’s clothes, and then sets of various clothing put in slots in the walls.

  Changing I exited the room and went into the back. Following another server I grabbed a tray and some drinks. After getting them I went up to the balcony and made my way over to Jolis’ room, offering drinks along the way.

  Coming up to her room I came up on the guards to her room, the biggest problem with the plan, but I had an idea.

  Coming up on them I made sure that I had almost completely stopped imbuing ether, causing a little bit of a limp. However, I also made sure to keep cycling ether. “I’m here to deliver to Miss Marssone, may I get by?” I made sure to sound as meek as possible, which wasn’t hard without the imbuement, I felt weak.

  I kept my head down, looking at the floor so I didn’t know how they looked. I was worried after standing there for a while without hearing anything back.

  “Sure kid, just don’t interrupt whatever she’s doing,” The guard on my left said, opening the door for me. Nodding, I entered, keeping my head low.

  The room was dimly lit, smelling of a few candles. Still, I didn’t raise my head, or enter any farther, just standing at the entrance to the room.

  “You need something boy? Come in, I won’t bite.” She said, beckoning me farther into the room. Raising my head a bit, I took it all in. Packs of supplies were spread throughout the room, food, clothes, and different tools. She was ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

  Walking forward I made my way over to her, “So, how is the celebration outside going?” She asked, “I supposed you’ve heard why I did it, word usually spreads to the servers first, so what have you heard?”

  Continuing my act I swallowed the saliva in my mouth, “Well,” I stammered, “It’s still going on, but I’ve heard more people are here for the celebration, compared to only a few who are here to help you,” I made sure to talk slowly, and even stiffed up my body at the bad news I told her. Though, why was she asking what?

  “Look at me,” she commanded, raising my head slowly I looked at her. She was sitting on a bed, taking off her shoes, with the cloak she wore beside her. However, her eyes seemed to be studying me. “I appreciate the honesty boy, the last server I talked to didn’t tell me anything helpful.” She seemed grateful to me.

  “It’s my pleasure,” I mumbled.

  “What’s the story out there?” She asked, leaning her hands back on the bed and staring at the ceiling.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You can put the drink down on the table here,” Gesturing to the bedside table, as I brought it over she asked again, “What’s the story about why I’m doing this?”

  “They said it’s because you took a slave under your wing, even though you already sold him to Ingratus, and that you are fleeing the city tonight to meet up with the boy at another city,” I said, placing the drink on the table.

  “Well, they’re mostly right,” She said, pushing herself up she sat straight. Grabbing the drink she took a sip. “Though I never sold him, actually I refused to sell him as he was my property.”

  I stood there for a while, watching her drink, and did nothing. “Is that all Miss?” I asked after a while.

  “I suppose it is boy…” She seemed sad, “I appreciate your honesty tonight… and I’d like to repay it, anything catch your eye?” She said, gesturing throughout the room

  Looking over the room I saw many things, but only one kind of thing caught my eye, the tools and weapons.

  Eventually, I turned back around and asked her directly, with some stammering, “Do you have any kind of dagger?”

  “A dagger?” She questioned, looking a little interested, “Why a dagger?”

  “I can hide it in my uniform and I can use it to protect myself, drunkards aren’t kind” I muttered.

  Looking at me, she noticed how set I was on the idea of a dagger, and she laughed, “Well kid, I can certainly give you a dagger,” Humming to herself for a while, she started to kick her feet. When she stopped she started to undo her belt and pulled off a scabbard with a dagger, “This is what I use, well used to. If I ever come back to Willowdale I’m going to ask for it back, but I’ll also take you under my troup. You seem like a good kid, but I don’t have the room for you at the moment.” Trying to catch it, I fumbled the empty tray in my hand and ended up dropping both to the ground in my act, which caused Jolis to laugh again.

  Picking them both up I turned the dagger over in my hands, it was made from a monster, meaning it was better than most common materials and might even have unique properties.

  “Thank you, and I’m sorry for disturbing you,” I said, bowing my head.

  “Get out of here kid, and keep that dagger safe, it’s my best one.” She said, shooing me out.

  Putting the dagger in my outfit, I opened the door and walked outside the room. “I figured you were dead kid, guess she liked you, now get going.” A hard hand patted my back and pushed me along.

  Nodding, I waved at the guards and made my way downstairs to the changing room.

  Throwing the uniform back in the corner, I changed into my clothes and tucked the dagger into my black cloak.

  After leaving the room, I made my way to the bar, picked up an Alta, and went back to Andrew.

  Andrew saw me come up, and he seemed to be a lot more drunk than before, “Where’d you go Ghezin?”

  “Don’t worry about it Andrew, I just had to talk with someone,” I waved him off.

  I stayed talking to Andrew and some other people for a few hours, and I told Andrew that if he wanted to talk to me at a time he could go to the Galleon and ask for someone named Arthur. He was a little confused but he waved it off, after that I took my leave towards The Galleon.

  During my walk, I brought out the vial I got from the Ingratus folder and flipped it over in my hands. It used to be full, but now I could see right through it. I suppose they would find out in the morning.

  “You didn’t seem that bad,” I whispered while pocketing the vial and bringing out the dagger I was given, its previous owner fast asleep. It was slim but very sharp, and it was about as long as my forearm. Its handle was wrapped in dark blue leather, and the blade itself looked like it was carved from bone. The guard of the dagger was small and looked like it wouldn’t get in the way. “I’ll make good use of this. Thank you for the gift,” I said, looking up at the sky as the morning bells started to ring.