Six wolves and a Frennir lay dead around them. Their Blood soaking into the forest floor and staining the fallen tree leaves. Steam curled from the Frennir’s scorched fur, which was remarkably still intact despite taking an inferno spell head on.

  Eleonora dropped to her knees, shaking now that it was over. Lucien slumped against a tree, clutching his spellbook. Isadora wiped her blade and scanned the treeline out of habit.

  And Kavisha let out a slow breath.

  “…Good work,” she said. “All of you.”

  “Now begins the hard part,” Kavisha said, dusting her hands as if the battle were already a distant memory for her.

  Eleonora blinked at her. “What do you mean?” The surprise showed plainly on her face.

  Kavisha laughed softly and reached over to pat Eleonora on the head the way one might soothe a nervous child. “Oh, my dear na?ve girl. Since you so graciously offered the use of your storage ring, we’re going to process the wolves and the Frennir so we can squeeze every shilling out of them we can.”

  “Oh.” Eleonora frowned, still not quite following. “Process them… how?”

  Lucien winced in sympathy, clearly understanding far better than she did.

  “Lucien, help Isadora get the bodies lined up,” Kavisha continued briskly. “I’m going to show our young associate here how to skin a Frennir properly.”

  The color drained from Eleonora’s face. “Skin it?”

  “Welcome to the glamorous life of adventuring,” Isadora said with a perfectly straight face, though her eyes sparkled with poorly hidden amusement.

  The next hour was, in Eleonora’s opinion, the single most unpleasant experience of her entire life.

  She had imagined adventuring would involve heroic duels, noble quests, and perhaps the occasional dramatic speech like in the stories. She had not imagined kneeling in the dirt while Kavisha calmly explained which parts of a monster were worth money and which were not.

  The smell alone nearly defeated her and caused her to vomit on the bloody mess before her.

  Every time Kavisha reached inside the Frennir to remove something “valuable,” Eleonora had to turn away and focus very hard on not embarrassing herself. She swallowed repeatedly, determined to prove she was tougher than she felt, but when the organs were finally set aside for later sale, she had to excuse herself to take several very steady breaths behind a tree.

  To make matters worse, absolutely no one in the party showed her any mercy.

  “Your turn,” Kavisha announced cheerfully once the first wolves had been dealt with. “You’ll learn faster by doing.”

  Eleonora stared at the final carcass as though it might leap back to life out of spite. “Me? By myself?” she said incredulously. As a highborn girl she had never killed an animal to eat much less set foot in a kitchen. So, this new experience was quite overwhelming for her.

  “By yourself,” Isadora confirmed, folding her arms. “Think of it as character building my lady.” Isadora said cheekily, somewhat enjoying Eleonora's discomfort. Although she sympathized with her. She had been a lot younger than Eleonora was now though the first time her father had shown her how to butcher an animal.

  “You’re supposed to be my maid,” Eleonora muttered. “Aren’t you meant to protect me from things like this?” she complained to isadora a frown on face at the bloody work ahead of her.

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  “I protect you from swords and threats to your life my lady. Not from responsibility and you wanted to be an adventurer,” Isadora responded as she chastised Eleonora a bit.

  Betrayed by her own servant, Eleonora had no choice but to endure the lesson. Her hands trembled at first, and she had to ask Kavisha to repeat the instructions twice, but little by little she managed to copy what she’d seen. By the end she was exhausted and slightly traumatized. But even though she would never admit it especially to Isadora, she was happy she had proven to herself she could do it.

  When the last of the usable parts had been packed away into Eleonora’s and Isadora’s storage ring, Kavisha stretched her arms and surveyed their work with satisfaction.

  “Well, done, all of you. That Frennir pelt alone will pay for a month of decent meals.”

  Lucien looked longingly toward the road. “So… lunch?”

  Kavisha laughed. “I know we haven’t eaten yet, but let’s call it here and head to the guild to drop this off. The sooner we turn it in, the sooner it becomes coin instead of… that.”

  Eleonora glanced at her ring, suddenly very aware of what was inside it. “I don’t think I’ll be hungry for a while anyway,” she mumbled as she was suddenly reminded of the butchering process which caused the rest of the party to laugh.

  Isadora clapped her on the shoulder. “You did well, my lady. “

  Kavisha and Lucien walked home from the Adventurers’ Guild beneath the warm glow of the evening lamps. The streets were quieter now, the usual clamor of merchants and hawkers fading as shutters closed and taverns filled. Their boots echoed against the cobblestones in an easy, unhurried rhythm.

  Tomorrow they would have to be up before dawn to meet their new party members at Guard Post Tavis for the sewer job, but for the moment it was just the two of them like it had always been.

  The day had turned out far better than either of them had expected.

  The simple herb quest had become something much larger, and the payout reflected it.

  Between the standard bounties for the ordinary wolves that were always open as well as the monster reward for the Frennir, and the special quest posted for the entire pack, the guild clerk had counted out a sum of shillings that made even Kavisha blink. It was nearly as much as the sewer contract promised with them making in total a half and a quarter guinea.

  Lucien adjusted the pouch holding his spellbook and smiled to himself. “I enjoyed today,” he said at last, breaking their comfortable silence.

  Kavisha glanced at him, lips curling in agreement. “Yes… the girl and her shadow performed much better than I expected.” She tossed a coin in the air and caught it again. “And giving us their share to split? That was almost suspiciously generous,” she said though it was said less cynically than she might otherwise have said.

  Lucien laughed softly. “I don’t think Eleonora knows how not to be generous.” He was already taken with Eleonora and thought that it wouldn't be too long before Kavisha would also fully warm up to the girl as well. He also wondered if this might be a step up for him and Kavisha, but he hadn't said anything yet and would continue from framing his thoughts to Kavisha for now.

  They walked a few more steps before Kavisha shook her head, still half in disbelief.

  “And Isadora…can you believe what she's paid? Real estate. Stocks. The woman is richer than half the merchants in this city and she’s working as a maid.”

  “I thought your jaw was going to hit the floor,” Lucien teased.

  “It almost did,” Kavisha admitted.

  He glanced sideways at her, a mischievous grin spreading across his tusked face. “Admit it you like them, little sister.”

  Kavisha shot him a glare. “Don’t start with that ‘little sister’ nonsense just because you’re a big orc. We’re the same age.”

  “Emotionally, perhaps,” Lucien replied, far too pleased with himself.

  She elbowed him in the ribs, though not hard. After a moment her expression softened. “You’re right, though. I don’t feel like I can con them the way we originally planned.” She sighed. “Besides, they’re already doing what we wanted anyway”

  Lucien nodded, more serious now. “I feel the same. Even if Eleonora is a na?ve noble girl, she’s just… too pure for that sort of thing.”

  “Annoyingly pure,” Kavisha muttered, but there was none of her usual bite to it.

  “Exactly,” Lucien said. “It’d be like stealing from a child who was going to hand you the pastry anyway just because she thought you looked hungry.”

  Kavisha snorted. “That is a disturbingly accurate comparison.”

  They turned down a narrower street where the lamps were spaced farther apart, leaving pools of warm light separated by stretches of gentle darkness. Somewhere a cat darted across a rooftop.

  “So what now?” Lucien asked. “Do we stick with them? See where this goes?”

  Kavisha was quiet for a long moment, thinking it over. Finally she shrugged. “For now, yes. They’re useful and they’re capable. Plus, god help me they’re actually pleasant to be around.”

  “You’re getting sentimental in your old age,” Lucien said.

  “Say that again and I’ll push you into the canal.” she said before muttering, "I'm only 28 the same as you”.

  He laughed, raising his hands in surrender.

  Still, as they walked the last stretch toward their rented rooms, Kavisha couldn’t quite shake the image of Eleonora terrified but refusing to run. Or Isadora calmly stepping between danger and her lady without a second thought.

  Maybe, she admitted silently, this partnership wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.

  Lucien seemed to read her mind. “Tomorrow should be interesting.”

  “That’s one word for it,” Kavisha replied. “Let’s just hope the sewers have fewer surprises than today's job did.”

  “Unlikely,” Lucien said cheerfully.

  Kavisha groaned. “Don’t remind me.”