Together, the four of us spent another two hours, well past sunset, talking about the benefits of selling to the Guild versus taking the time to explore our options. We didn’t exclude Maggie from the conversation, but neither did we include her. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to mind us speaking around her and just sat backing in the booth watching with well-concealed amusement as we went back and forth.

  At this point I was all for selling to the Guild, with the stipulation that members of the Cult of Weeping Grace got unrestricted access to it. Money was something I’d never really needed, personally, before this trip, so I viewed it more as a resource for the Cult. What made me want to sell to the Guild, however, was the trainers they could provide. The others were more hesitant than myself. Each of them had their own reasons for hesitation, but rather than speaking those reasons aloud, we danced back and forth across the topic. Never speaking anything plain.

  Through the endless listing of pros and cons, I could see that Ellen was the most regretful that we wouldn’t be able to take full ownership of the entrance. She even floated the idea of selling the tunnel to her house, but shot down her own idea before anyone could respond.

  It took two hours of debate, but we settled on the Guild being the best option. Maggie was right; as we were now, we could never hold it ourselves, and even if we sold outside the Guild; the most we could expect out of the local players was gold, some items, and perhaps some training sessions with the house’s [Master-at-Arms] or their [House Guard]. With the Guild, not only was there a divine guarantee of safety and fairness, a massive amount of gold, and possibly magical items or artifacts, but we would also have access to the largest network of trainers on the continent. Not to mention the grace and connections we would build within our workplace for the significant future.

  “Looks like we’re selling to the Guild then.” Nora said to Maggie.

  Her words brought a smile to the older woman’s face, and she almost looked like she might hug Mika, who sat nearest her on the booth bench.

  “Perfect! Nora, me and you will head to see the [Hall Mistress] after we collect from Tia.”

  “Shouldn’t we all be there?” Ellen asked.

  “You can if you want, but Nora’s your face and you’re going to have to get used to her doing your negotiations for you.”

  Maggie was right. At higher Tiers it was pretty rare for a party to remain with one another all the time. Each member gained their own specialties, and occasionally disciples, and spent considerable amounts of time alone seeking to further their own path. Only coming back together for a campaign, or when called in to fight something when we couldn’t fight it alone.

  “I would still like to be there.” I said.

  Nora negotiating for me was something I would have to grow accustomed to, but if the entrance was as valuable as everyone believed it to be then free access could be an immense boon to my people and it was too early into my relationship with the rest of my party to trust Nora with something that could be so vital to my people completely.

  Nora considered me, warm hazel eyes taking in my features, but she didn’t seem offended by my lack of trust. Maggie couldn’t stop the frown that flashed across her face and turned to Mika and Ellen to hide it. Both of whom wanted free access for their families like I did with the Cult.

  Mika was content to allow Nora to represent him, but Ellen hesitated. Hurt passed across Nora’s face, but she smiled brightly at her friend when, after some light prodding by Maggie, she agreed to have Nora represent them.

  “The way I see it, we could probably swing at least three trainers for each of you. I want you all to come up with at least four things you’d like to be trained in, in order of most to least importance to you.”

  ~~~***~~~

  Foremost among my wants was a trainer for aura control. I knew that because [Grove Guard] offered a boost to Aura every level, as I progressed along the class tree, it would become my main resource pool. Next in importance to me would be a trainer who could teach me other martial styles for hammer and shield.

  Now that I had Willow’s Wrath mastered, I could not progress the skill or the style if I didn’t add onto and expand my knowledge and skill with my weapons. As a minor stipulation, I hoped the trainer that got selected for me could also teach me some basics in other weapons. The knowledge of their use might give me new perspectives on how I could use my preferred weapons.

  Outside of martial pursuits, it didn’t take long for me to realize I wanted a tutor for business skill and logistics. I would spend a large amount of time outside the forest until the Grace Mother recalled me to fight in the Sibling War, with my express purpose being to spread the glory and faith of the Grace Mother.

  Both were endeavors that were unsustainable without funds and an organization to support my efforts in the field. I hoped that as I adventured, I would build not only the capital required to launch such programs but also earn enough to build businesses, services, and temples that could support not only myself but the faith.

  For right now, all of that was a pipe dream. For right now, I needed business and logistical skills to not only build my dreams, but to send resources back to the Weeping Forest.

  Lastly, I knew I needed something purely for myself. Combat was my profession, my duty, and my purpose; but ever since I’d been returned, the people around me started encouraging me to become more than a weapon. I wasn’t sure what I could learn that would be for myself. A part of me didn’t know if I could even make that decision.

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  In the end, I decided that my slight to Nora in not trusting her was big enough that allowing her to choose my fourth trainer, as long as it had nothing to do with combat, was good enough repayment. After all, if things went the way I wanted them to, not only would the people around this dimly lit table become staunch allies to the Cult of Weeping Grace, but they would become my closest friends.

  “Everyone ready?” Maggie asked after thirty minutes passed in mostly silence.

  “Alright Nora, we’ll start with your four.”

  “I’m hoping for Aura control, water magic, public speaking, and merchant skills.” Nora replied. “I’m not super sure what ‘merchant skills’ are honestly. I just know I need to learn if I want to last in this business.”

  “That’s no problem, Nora. ‘merchant skills’ are more than enough for the Guild to find someone for you. Ellen?” Maggie said, jotting Nora’s choices in the book she wrote everything within.

  Without the dim lighting of the booth, I wouldn’t have noticed it, but ever so faintly, the steel tip on Maggie’s feather pen glowed with an ethereal purple light that flared minusculely each time Maggie swirled her pen across the page.

  “I want to learn a combat style for my maul, some languages from the outer planes, preferably the Fae Realm, ritual magic. I also want to learn how to cook.” Ellen finished sheepishly, eyes downcast and focused on the table.

  “All great choices.” Maggie said with a smile for Ellen. “Mika?”

  “Above everything else I want to learn more about sculpting, I’d also like to get tutors for runic script and curse magic, as well as a trainer for painting.”

  “Nora will see what she can do.” Maggie said and tapped Nora’s hand with the end of her pen. “Bran?”

  “I’ve got three, but I’d like a little help with the fourth if everyone’s okay with that.”

  “We’d be happy to help.” Nora interjected before Maggie could answer and smiled up at me. “What are the three you know for sure?”

  “First, I need to get better with my Aura control. I’d also like to learn new martial styles with the hammer and shield, and some training in business and logistical management.”

  “Hey! We’re gonna share two tutors.” Nora said and bounced her shoulder into mine. “What about the last one? Is there a category of skill you want to learn?”

  “Some kind of art. I want something for myself, y’know?”

  “I’m biased, but I think you should choose sculpting.” Mika said with a smile. His hand unconsciously reached for his pack.

  “I did when I was younger, wasn’t very good at it, so they shifted me to carvings.”

  Mika snorted and lent back into the booth with a shrug to let others give their suggestions.

  “What about singing?” Ellen asked.

  “Singing?” I asked in return.

  I sang all the time back home, but never as art. We always performed our songs in worship when we spoke in High Grace Chant or as tools to coordinate during battle. It just wasn’t something I’d thought of as an art before.

  “I mean, you’ve got a really deep voice, and you do that weird humming when we fight. I’m sure you’d be great at the low notes, at least.”

  “Ellen’s got a point.” Nora said. “I’ve heard you humming, and I’d kill to know what you sound like when you’re actually singing.”

  I looked at Maggie and Mika for their thoughts. Maggie kept silent, but the smile on her face when she looked at Ellen, Nora, and I told me enough.

  “It’s not sculpting.” Mika teased. “But I’ll admit I’m curious to hear what you’d sound like.”

  “Singing it is then.” I said with a suppressed grin.

  “Fantastic. Now that we’ve got that settled, let’s go see Tia and get paid. Afterwards Bran, Nora, and I will head up to the [Hall Mistress] and see about acquiring your four some trainers.”

  The four of us followed behind like ducklings as Maggie marched across the common room, past the dorms and into the office hallway. The [Bartender] had tried to ask who we wanted to go see, but Maggie paid the man no mind as she passed by. I couldn’t help but notice as we passed by some tables on our way through the common room the looks of amusement that passed across the faces of the older adventurers, and the curiosity on the younger.

  The closer we got to the office, the harder I had to fight down the rapid pounding of my heart. Intellectually, I knew the chances of Tia pulling anything like her test again would be slim to none. My body didn’t know that and as I forced myself to take step after step down the green wooden hallway, prey instincts kept flaring and screaming for me to run while I still could.

  Stood in front of the door frame, I took in slow, shallow breaths to calm myself, one hand clenched itself into a fist against my pant leg, while my other hand pressed against the doorframe for support. I could feel my vision tunnel in and it felt like an autumn wind filled the hallway.

  A hand on my shoulder brought me back to the present, and I gave Ellen a weak smile as she squeezed my shoulder and led me into the room. She kept her hand there until we sat down. The touch helped ground me.

  Attention returned to the present. I noticed Maggie chose not to sit and instead took up a position next to the door like an [Imperial Moon Guard]. A hand lightly gripped her other arm. Maggie looked spring loaded, like one thing could set her off and she’d explode into a frenzy of movement.

  Seated next to where Maggie stood, Nora was flushed like a tomato, nervous and excited to be the one to lead this conversation, given that Maggie clearly intended to take up the role as a guard. It took Nora a couple of moments but a whispered word from Mika was enough for her to marshal her courage, stand, and stalk forward to almost loom over Tia’s desk and the woman hidden behind several mountainous stacks of paper work behind it.

  “We’re here to return the bounty on the Ivory Band.” Nora’s voice hitched at the start, but she finished the sentence with an air of confidence I admired, even if I could tell it was faked.

  “I take it the hunt was a success, then?” Tia asked in return.

  Her eyes went to take the rest of us in, and to my shame I flinched, dropping my eyes to the floor as soon as I saw hers move. All of us were still in our gear, weapons slung over our shoulder on in their holsters. I tried to look up but couldn’t force myself to look at the Elder, so instead I forced my eyes to the wall above her head.

  I could feel it like a physical weight against my psyche when the Elder’s eyes finally landed on me and tried to match gazes. Again, I tried to move my eyes and meet her own, but like a lizard before a wolf, every instinct in me screamed danger and promised pain. No matter what I did, I could not force my eyes any lower. I just couldn’t.

  “It was. Maggie, if you could please deposit the proof.”

  Elder Tia sighed and pressed a small wooden button hidden on her desk. Runic series painted in the same green as the wall flared rhythmically and a hidden compartment opened to raise a slab of slate up from the left side. The stone slab settled into place with a dull thud and Tia indicated to it with a wave of her hand.

  “You’re going soft Maggie. Carrying their stuff around for them.” Elder Tia said with a light smile, trying to interject some mirth into the room.

  “What can I say?” Maggie answered with a smile of her own and stepped forward. “They’ve grown on me.”

  Maggie dropped a pile of twenty-six freshly dead ears onto the stained hardwood next to the stone slab. The pile took a couple of seconds to spill over one another and settle onto the desk. Blood splattered in the drop and left flecks of red across the bone white of the paperwork, while a small puddle of dead blood spread beneath it. Tia looked up at Maggie with a long-suffering expression.

  When their eyes met, Maggie dropped the severed heads of the Band’s leaders onto the pile. Mercifully, she’d faced them so the eyes faced away from us and toward Tia. John’s head was the most recognizable with its long flowing hair that pooled over the edge of the desk, and missing ear. Two of the heads were crushed and dripped fluid onto the elder’s desk.

  “Was that necessary, Mags?” Tia asked with a sigh.

  “I like the kids.”

  Tia sat back and absorbed the comment for a moment before she sighed and brought a hand up to rub at the bridge of her nose.

  “This is all of them, I take it?” She asked, the question aimed at Nora rather than Maggie, who still stood in front of her desk.

  “It wasn’t like we wanted to kill them.” Nora grumbled. “They had plenty of time to run.”

  She sounded petulant grumbling as she did, but beneath that, I could hear the hurt in her voice. The small hitch she forced back down. Taking those lives was harder on her than I’d realized. Silently, Ellen took a step forward and placed a hand on her childhood friend’s shoulder. I watched Tia’s eyes flicker over to the pair before she shifted topics.

  “No matter, either way you’ve all done Dustreach a service and she thanks you for it.”

  Tia followed her words with the grim actions of a death clerk. She checked each ear over to make sure they all came from one side and we weren’t trying to pass off one kill as two.

  “I’ve got twenty-four ears here and the four heads. That brings your payout to six gold and four silver coins.”

  Nora snatched the pre-made coin purse Tia held out with surprising deftness before she spun on her heel and marched out of the room, the four of us following behind in the same order we entered.