FSE

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The room was fairly large. Not surprising, given who it belonged to. Along the floor was a rather expensive rug, which I only knew was expensive because I'd attempted to steal one just like in sometime in the past. It was part of some job. Similar to the hallway outside, the walls were adorned with paintings of various styles. Landscapes, portraits, historical imagery; all in glorious colors and such. The desk was rather quaint, one might call it. No larger than was needed, every pen and paper on top in a neat orderly row, nothing sticking out of the drawers or anything of that fashion. There were, however, no windows in the room. Not even a clock. Strange.

As I was taking in my surroundings, the short, old kalrin woman cleared her throat for attention. All eyes turned to her, even mine.

She spoke in a soft, yet commanding tone, "Rin, your men may leave us now."

The bored faced man nodded and every last one of my escorts, save for this Rin fellow himself, shuffled out through the door and away from sight. The sound of their boots hitting the floorboards faded, and then all that remained was the empty air between the four of us left.

I had the thought to say something to break this silence, but my inner genius broke through to tell me that would be a poor choice. I actually decided to listen to him. Tanno took a long time to speak again. It felt like minutes, but was probably just an odd second or two. Her glare never left its position on me, however. She just stared, so long and so unblinkingly, it actually made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Eventually, the agonizing silence dissipated when she took a short breath and spoke.

"I'm sure you know why you're here."

A hard shrug, followed by, "Haven't the foggiest." I had some suspicions, obviously, but not like I would just announce them. Especially not to the guildmaster herself.

The old kalrin let out a grunt. "You saw the sky earlier, did you not?"

Arms folded across my chest as I scoffed with much indignation, "Stop beating around the bush, you old windbag. What's this all about?"

The bored faced Rin turned to me, his face scrunched up into an ugly scowl. Lips barely curled back to show off just a hint of teeth, eyes like knifes, even a tint of red entering along his neck and cheeks. How cute, the dog taking offense for the insult to his master. I met his scowl with as innocent a smile as I could muster. This only seemed to upset him more, as his hand shot to the dagger at his side. Before he could pull it free, Tanno snapped her fingers.

"Enough, Rin." And just like that, the man returned to his uninterested look, turning away from me and gazing at the wall. From there, the guildmaster replaced her focus onto me once more, continuing our conversation. "I'll get to the point. Where's the dragon scale?"

My attention instantly moved to Ursh. That son of a bitch talked. I knew we shouldn't have trusted him. All the rage inside me was threatening to boil out and straight at Ursh, and I was so very tempted to just let my body move without thinking and just finally give that bastard what he deserved. But, a hand gripped my shoulder, squeezing hard. Too hard. Looking over, I saw Rin had returned, and was eyeing me cautiously while the red hot anger inside me began to churn more. Oh, if this ass wants some too, I'd be more than happy to give it to him.

"Graham," chided the old furred woman. My breathing was hard as I shot back to her, seeing her face had a look like that of a scolding grandmother. Surprisingly, seeing that actually calmed me somewhat. Couldn't explain why, though. When I let out a long sigh, Tanno spoke once more.

"Yes, Ursh told me about the scale, and about what you and Twi witnessed." My brows furrowed at the mention of his betrayal. "I know you probably see this as an act of treason," she continued, "but do know Ursh here is merely worried for the safety of all. Including you and Twi."

A laugh came from deep within. The kind of mocking laugh everyone knows is nothing but sarcastic. It actually started to hurt I kept it going for so long. When I finally elected to stop, I snorted out, "Bull. Shit." Jabbing a finger in the scaly idiot's direction, I said, "If this piece of absolute garbage wants to pretend he's doing this for the 'greater good,' fine. But don't you dare look me in the eye and tell me you buy his story. I know you're not dumb or senile enough to fall for that crap."

Without even blinking at my words, Tanno completely side stepped me. "Be that as it may in your eyes, Ursh is a trusted member of our guild. I'd like you to hand over the scale." She wasn't having any of my arguing, it seemed. But, I had an idea.

"And why would I give it to you?" I took in a breath, puffing up my chest and standing a bit taller. "Your guild is nothing but money hungry power grubbers who'd sooner sell the scale to the highest bidder than ever worry about whatever harm it could bring. And on top of that-"

"I did not bring you here to debate," she cut me off. The suddent interruption stopped me in my tracks, leaving me slackjawed.

"You are here for one and only one reason: to turn over the dragon scale." Tiny, but loud steps brought her increasingly closer. The rustle of her clothes, the flick of her tail, and faint bobbing of her fur, all of it was a sight to behold. This short frail woman was inching upon me in a manner so threateningly, I didn't even know how to respond. She continued, "If you do not turn it over to me promptly, I will personally see to you getting a nice cold cell in the town's dungeon."

She was now directly before me, he head craning up to keep eye contact. Despite the difference in height being in my favor, I felt a lot smaller than I actually was. I tried to justify to myself this was only because she was an old woman, and had nothing to do with her position of authority or even the half crazed look in her eyes, the kind of look that said she'd stab me in the throat and watch me bleed out just because I looked at her wrong. And boy, had I looked wrong at her since entering the room.

A lump formed in my throat. I swallowed it down and put on a mask, complete with a smile to light up my face as I explained, "Sorry, but I don't have it anymore. Gave it to Twi, and she flew the coop, so to speak."

Tanno's eyes slowly moved over to my right, towards Rin. He backed up my account by telling her about Twi's sudden departure from my 'arrest site,' and how no one had seen her since. An annoyed groan came from the guildmaster as an initial response, followed by her eyes shifting back to me yet again.

"Alright. I have a proposition for you, Graham."

I couldn't help myself. "Sorry, kalrins aren't my type, plus you're a bit too old for my liking."

She began to say something, but cut herself off and paused. I wasn't sure if she was thinking over my dull joke or just trying to find some new retaliatory words. At one point, I even saw a smirk rise up on her lips, but her eyes kept their hard and narrow look, so the fact she smiled even a little was a bit unnerving. One small hand came up to rub at her chin as her large round ears flicked, likely in annoyance if I had to guess.

Off to the side, I saw Ursh, realizing he was noticeably absent from the entire conversation. Little emotion was on his face. Barely could tell what was going on his mind, if anything at that. His hands were resting on his hips as he watched the guildmaster and I, silent judgement oozing out of his very being. Maybe. Perhaps I was reading him wrong. Regardless, he hadn't spoken a single word since I entered. Didn't even let out a peep when I mentioned him earlier; not a single breath almost. It was actually more annoying that he was silent. I could handle his usual attitude, but him being quiet was aggravating.

Preparing to get his attention to finally stir up some kind of argument, mostly out of irritation at his silence, I cleared my throat, only to be interupted by Tanno.

"The proposition I have is simple," she began, a finger pointing up as she made her statement. "You find Twi, bring the dragon scale back to me, and you don't have to deal with the guild anymore."

"Anymore?" I laughed sarcasticaly again. "I don't deal with you idiots now." My lips curled into a wry smile. I was going to turn thing in my favor. "How about I make my own proposition?"

She returned my smile with that same slight unnerving smirk, her eyes never faltering from their hard stare. "Oh?"

"Say I bring back that stupid scale. When I do, you cough up some nice coin for me and Twi, and we'll just...leave." I accented my bargain by making my fingers do a simulated walk when I said 'leave.' "Pack up our things and wave New Serrak goodbye, never to be seen again."

From the corner of the room, I saw Ursh actually look up at that. It seemed I finally grabbed his attention. His body visibly vibrated in anger for just a second.

"Hm." Tanno thought about my offer. For about a second. "How much?"

"Guildmaster, you can't be serious!" The guild dog Rin nearly shoved me aside to speak to his master.

Ignoring him, I named my price. "Two thousand." It was rather high, to be honest. But, combining that amount with what Twi and I had saved up, we'd be able to afford to move anywhere we pleased, and could even live off that coin for a decent time.

Rin demanded his master not to take my offer. "This is insane. There is no guarantee he even knows where Twi left to."

Also choosing to ignore her own dog, Tanno ordered him aside to continue her dialogue with me.

"That's a hard bargain. Shrewd, even. You'd make a good guild member."

This got a genuine smile from him. To think after all these years, the guildmaster was this easy to deal with. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble had I known I could just talk to her like a normal person. "Flattery will get you nowhere, ma'am. I'm not lowering my price. Take it or leave it."

"My my. Undoubtedly the type of thing I'd expect one of my own to say." A soft chuckle lulled through the air. It sounded warm, almost like a doting grandmother. "Fine," she concluded with a nod. "Bring me that scale and you have yourself a nice stack of money to get the hell out of here with." She reached out one of her small hands to shake on it.

However, I needed just a bit more.

"Actually, there is one more thing," I noted. When she raised a brow, I explained. "In order to make this all official and above board, I'd like you to write up a formal contract on the matter."

The chuckle from earlier evolved into a small bubble of laughter. "Oh dear, you really would have been marvelous in my guild. Shame you never joined." She walked over to the large desk, pulled a fresh paper and pen, and began to write up our contract.

As she busied herself writing, I decided to finally address my biggest concern. Ursh.

"Can't believe you actually betrayed your own sister." I didn't directly look at him, but I think he got the point. "She trusted you. More than you deserved, considering our current situation." I chanced a peek over, and saw him giving me a cold look. It wasn't quite that intimidating, but I could feel the hatred radiating out of him. Seeing him like that, all pissed and ready for a fight, it made me want to keep going.

Yet, despite how much I'd likely enjoy doing so, I didn't. If I really wanted to twist the dagger, in a manner of speaking, I could have told him how he was the only one Twi trusted about this skystone business, and how hurt she'd be that he went behind her back this way. But, I just didn't feel like doing that. Maybe I simply wanted to get out of the building without having to deal with an altercation with him. Maybe I simply wasn't as in the mood for an argument as I thought. Whatever the case was, I decided to continue smiling at him as he snorted out and took a step forward.

"You have no idea what you're doing," he snarled out the accusation. "Whatever this thing is, it's far above your head. I should have taken the piece you gave me to the guildmaster right away. Maybe then we might have some information to work on." As he talked, he pulled forth one of his cigars, lighting it up and taking a few odd puffs between words. "You and Twi shouldn't have kept it in the first place. You should have just left it where you found it, not gotten yourselves involved in whatever mess this might bring. I only hope I was wrong about it being a dragon scale. Heavens help us if such a monster was actually out there." The smoke poured out of his mouth and nostrils like from a chimney, and by the time he was done talking, he was already finished with the first cigar and produced a second.

Interestingly, the moment Ursh plopped the second cigar between his thin lips, Tanno stood upright once more and announced the contract was complete, asking for me to look it over and sign. After handing it over, she silently watched as I carefully read her writing, even taking it all in a second time to ensure she wasn't trying to hide anything in the fine print. Scanning thoroughly, I found nothing suspicious, but did make sure to read it over a third time just to be safe. When I still saw nothing out of the ordinary, I was more than happy to put my name down and shake the guildmaster's hand.

With the deal out of the way, Tanno nodded and said, "Now then, you'll be needing a way to track down Twi and the scale. I assume you only had the one horse?" When I gave her a nod in the affirmative, she snapped a finger at Rin. "Prepare a wagon and some supplies." The man then left to do what was ordered.

"Really going all out for lil ol me, eh?" I was actually impressed. Granted, she was willing to drop a hefty sum on this deal, so I probably shouldn't have been surprised.

Ignoring me, she turned to Ursh. "As punishment for not coming clean right away, you shall accompany Graham in the search."

The cigar threatened to drop from the scaled man's lips as his jaw almost hit the floor. He recovered fairly quickly though. "With all due respect, Guildmaster, I can't just up and leave. I have my shop to run, and besides that-"

She cut him off with, "You shall do as you're told, Ursh." That shut him up fast, and he took a step back, giving a submissive nod as he did. Tanno moved closer to him, her small steps bringing her right up to his chest, just like she did to me earlier. "This is your chance to redeem yourself in my eyes. Do well, and I won't demote you or force you to face a harsher penalty. And as for your shop, we'll send someone down to take care of things while you're gone. I'm sure that assistant of yours would be glad to have a face other than yours to look at all day."

With another submissive nod, and with his eyes to the floor, Ursh begrudgingly agreed. "As you wish, Guildmaster."

What I wouldn't give to have that kind of authority. Thinking on it, if Ursh was going to be my partner in this, I could see a number of issues arising, however. I decided to voice these concerns.

"If I may, Tanno, Ursh and I aren't exactly...agreeable at the best of times. Would it not be wiser to send someone else in his place?" The scaly idiot himself looked up at me, an almost thankful look about him. Neither of us really wanted to spend any time with the another.

However, Tanno rejected the suggestion. She waved a hand my direction, saying, "If you aren't 'agreeable' as you say, then I'll just have one of my own go with you to make sure you don't kill yourselves." Seemingly finished with the topic, she grabbed the contract out of my hand and placed it in a drawer of the desk, mumbling to herself about who to send with me and Ursh. She rattled off several names, always saying something about if they were busy with more important matters or if they were the right pick.

As the furry guildmaster continued her rambles, Rin reappeared with a loud, "The wagon and supplies will be ready soon, Guildmaster."

Tanno snapped out of her little mutterings, turning to her loyal dog and smiled. "Ah, Rin. Just the man for the job."

The bored faced man took on a look of utter confusion. "Um, what job, ma'am?"

"You shall be traveling with Graham and Ursh as they locate the scale."

"And Twi," I added.

She clicked her tongue at me. "Yes yes, her too, I suppose."

I had half a mind to spit fire at her, but a small nagging voice, quite similar to Twi's in fact, told me that would be very unwise considering we just signed a contract and all that. The other half of my mind decided it best to listen to this psuedo-Twi and I let it go.

Tanno's loyal guild hound seemed to be finding the right words to say, probably trying to think up an excuse. Rin's eyes darted to me, then to Ursh, and finally back to his master. His mouth moved, possibly as if to make an objection, but rather than do that, he sighed. "Of course, Guildmaster. As you wish." Similar to Ursh before him, Rin gave a small submissive nod when he answered.

"Good," she responded with another annoying click of her tongue. "Now, all of you, leave. I don't want to see any of you again unless you have that scale with you." She waved us out of the room, nearly pushing us as she shooed us away.

As soon as we were out, the door was slammed behind us rather rudely. It was then I made my true mood known, at least to my unwitting companions.

"Kind of a bitch, isn't she?"

Rin's face contorted as if he had been physically hit by my words. He pushed me up against the wall, a hand on my shirt collar. With fire in his eyes, he spat out, "Watch your tongue, or I'll cut it out myself."

Like was typical of me, I met his anger with a smile. "Geez, didn't realize your leash was that tight."

"Excuse you?" He punctuated this by tightening his hold on my collar, pulling it slightly so the back end dug into the nape of my neck. I could just tell the fabric was going to be stretched out from this.

"Your leash," I repeated. Letting out a sigh, I felt a bit sad for the man I even had to explain this. "I'm saying you're a dog. Tanno's your master and you do anything she says."

A sharp pain shot through my spine as he pulled me back only to slam me against the wall. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh really?" My hands reached up to pry his fingers off my shirt, and I noticed the frabric had indeed been stretched out. Wonderful. I looked at him, with his angry eyes and slight reddish tint to his cheeks, and I told him what I saw. "You didn't want to be our little guild escort. You wanted to refuse. And you could have. But ya didn't." A lone finger poked at his chest as my next sentence poked at his ego. "And why? Because you're nothing more than a loyal pet, wanting to do anything to make his master pleased. I bet she could have told you to follow us into hell, and you'd stumble out a 'yes ma'am' like the good boy you want her to see you as."

Oh, the look on his face. The mixture of confusion, anger, and that tiny bit of hidden shame. It was a thing of beauty. And the best part? The best part was that deep down, he knew I was right. He had the opportunity to say no, to even assign someone else to the task.

"Anyway," I decided to switch topics, "why would you even wanna refuse? Can't be because of me. We just met, I doubt you'd hate me that much so soon. Usually takes people a day or two."

From behind me came Ursh's voice. "It's because of me."

My head swiveled around so I could look at the scaled man, then back to Rin. Both seemed to be avoiding eye contact with the another. "Oh, so you guys have a history?" This was shaping up to be a joyous journey for all three of us, then. I could only hope wherever she was, Twi was having a better time of things than me.

~~~

We left town almost immediately after we walked out of the guild. Waiting for us right outside was the wagon Rin had ordered. It wasn't fairly large, but it definitely was enough for our needs. Two strong stallions were to be our transport, and on the wagon were the supplies we needed; food, water, a map, etc. Some guild goons were just about finished up with loading on the supplies as we made our way up to the wagon. They said nothing as they put on the last few things, even when I tried to strike up conversation. Once done, they exited the scene and then it was just the three of us.

"I'll take the reins," Rin blurted out, and hopped up onto the driver's seat. Not surprising, considering I now knew he and Ursh had some issues. But, this only meant that I'd be alone in the wagon with the scaly son of a bitch.

How inticing. Just what I wanted to do with my days.

The moment Ursh and I jumped in the back, Rin got the horses moving, almost causing me to bowl over in the back. As the sound of hooves on stone became less and less noticeable, I began to wonder on all the places Twi could have gone to. We saw that blue streak go off to the northeast, so I decided to check the map to remind myself what was off that way. After unfurling the cloth and reviwing the local areas, I then traced a rough estimate of where the blue streak went. It went over the horizon, so it could have theoretically ended up anywhere. If we were to find Twi, we'd need to find out where the new object from the sky ended up.

An idle thought entered my head. If we went looking for the new object, we'd likely need to talk with locals in the area. Someone was bound to see something. But how to ask? Sure, having the two guild morons with me would prove helpful; just tell people the object was some guild's experiment. No one would really quesiton it too much if we pushed the lie hard enough, nor would they ask which guild. People generally don't give much thought to the inner workings of whichever organization is doing what, so long as it doesn't bother their daily lives.

While I was concocting the perfect lie for such an occasion, Ursh decided to clear his throat. To think, I had almost completely forgot he was there. Shame. Looking up, I was greeted to the delightful sight of his cold stare.

"Where's my sister?"

A brow raised questioningly as I tried to piece together his question. "I already told Tanno I didn't know." Did he think I was lying?

He scoffed at that. "You expect me to believe that?" A cigar was pulled free from some pocket and he quickly lit it up and started puffing away. "You must have some idea where she went."

"How about I answer your question if you answer mine?" That got his attention, as he nodded in approval to the request, but only after a few seconds of thought. "Why did you bring your guild in on this?"

I watched the cigar slowly burn away and the remains fall to the wagon floor as he took one long final drag before finally speaking. When he did so, all the smoke poured out from his mouth at once. It was almost mesmerizing the way it all flowed.

"The sky opening up once is worrying enough," he answered. "But two times? And within a week of one another?" A second cigar was brought forth and swiftly ignited. "Who's to say what might happen next week? We need to get a handle on things, any way we can. We need to find the dragon scale Twi has, along with whatever fell off to the north-"

"Northeast, actually," I cut in.

A low growl escaped his throat at the interruption. The throaty sound, combined with the sight of the smoke snaking out between his lips, made him seem like a dragon from old. "...northeast," he repeated. "Whatever that thing is, we should find it, bring it back, and study it. Maybe we can come up with some explanation for these events." His yellow eyes stared me down hard, a silent demand that I uphold my end of our little bargain.

I came clean. No sense lying about this. "I have no idea where she is." Another growl emanated from the saurian, so I explained further. "I told her to take the scale and find this new skystone or whatever it might be. She could be anywhere up that way."

The green scaled man sighed and put out the cigar. He hadn't even taken a single puff of this one. "Don't you have some people you know up there? I'm sure you two made friendly with some low down fools not too dissimilar to yourselves."

His question struck a nerve. "Just because we're not guild sanctioned doesn't mean we hang around with criminals."

"But you do," he accused. It seemed his talks with Twi were more revealing than I'd assumed.

My shoulders came up in a shrug as I explained, "Only when we need to."

"And you don't think that would be a time like this?"

Thinking on it, he had a point. If Twi would go anywhere, she'd go somewhere we both knew, probably leave a message for me in some way, then move further on. After checking the map again, I surmised the best place to start our search would be a small town named Falk. There was a tavern we'd done some work for a while back, and I figured Twi might have stopped there. It wasn't much to go on, but it was better than nothing.

From the front of the wagon, Rin called out to us. After poking out heads out to see what he wanted, we were informed we were just leaving the city, and Rin asked me where we were heading.

Handing over the map, I showed him the rough path I'd traced earlier. Pointing out Falk, I stated, "We're gonna make our first stop here. I know some people there who might have seen Twi, assuming she passed through." After he nodded in the affirmitive, Rin snapped the reins and the horses took off at a full gallop.

As I settled back down in the wagon, a very strong ordor seeped through the air, so I turned to see Ursh smoking up a storm. One, two, three, four cigars one right after the other.

Hesitantly, I wondered aloud, "You, uh...you doing ok?"

As he flicked out a now useless cigar onto the ground outside, he snapped back at me. "My sister is off who knows where, the sky has torn open a second time, and I'm forced to be with two people I very much dislike."

"You think I'm any happier about this?" I unsheathed my dagger and began cleaning the gunk out from under my fingernails. "Like I wanna be around you for longer than a minute. Honestly, I bet that damn guildmaster of yours knew exactly what she was doing, setting us up like this. Probably hoping we'd strangle one another at some point, save herself the aggravation."

"What's your problem with the guild, anyway?" His question came in the form of a snarl as he lit up a fifth cigar. "Tanno's association does good work. All the trade deals we make help the country and her people. And the other guilds do equal amounts of good. Craftworks, hunters, blacksmiths, all of them are fine groups."

"Yea, but you gotta follow strict guidelines and rules. Barely allowed to have any real freedom in how you operate your own business." I flicked the dirt off the end of my dagger, attempting to hit Ursh with it. "It's why I prefer the market in the lower district. No guild croneys hiking up prices, no uppity rich types prancing about like they're better than anyone, everyone sells how they see fit, and the buyers are free to choose whoever they want to get their goods from.

"And not only that," I exclaimed with a boast, "but they don't force an excessive tax on anyone. The guilds take a part of your profit from you as 'guild fees' despite said fees doing nothing for you." When I had finished cleaning the fingers of one hand, I tossed the dagger into that one and began cleaning the other. "Tell me, what do the Trader's do for you with all the money they take from your shop? You ever see any sort of improvements to how things are run? From where I sit, all I see is the guild hall being decorated with more and more expensive artwork and such."

The saurian seemed to be taking this to heart, or at least it appeared to be that way. He thought over my words for a while. Long enough for me to notice the sky beyond the wagon's covering had shifted a bit. The clouds had moved, covering the sun and dimming the land just slightly. For what felt like a long time, Ursh sat there, contemplating his answer. I was begining to wonder if he was ever going to reply, he took so long to form a response.

Rather than sit and wait like some kind of idiot, I took to scanning through the map some more. Seeing the small number of towns Twi and I had actually been to in the northern regions of the country, I began to realize it might be easier to track her down than first thought. The fewer places she'd stop at, the quicker we'd be able to get a read on her whereabouts. Of course, this was all under the assumption she'd even stop at any of these places. But, knowing her as well as I did, she would, if only to leave some kind of message for me.

The saurian across from me had chosen to remain quiet, so I took his silence as a victory. If he couldn't properly defend his guild, maybe he'd start doubting them. Perhaps he'd even start to come around to my point of view and see them as the greedy organization they really are. I almost felt like pushing him a little on the issue, maybe boast about how he'd yet to come up with any sort of rebuttal. However, seeing him deep in thought, I actually felt like holding back. It would probably feel better to shoot down whatever refutation he'd bring up if or when he does it later, I told myself.

Without much to do but wait until we arrived, my eyes slowly began to droop down. The sheer boredom was getting to my head, and soon enough I didn't have the energy to resist the allure of sleep.

At nearly the exact moment everything went dark and sound was exiting my ears, I could feel the wagon stop and Ursh barked out an order. Groggily, I sat back up, and the light from outside the wagon's opened covering burned my sight, the suddenness of it sweeping away what remained of my slumber.

"Good, you're up," the saurian snorted as he moved the covering to let in yet more light. "We're here, time to find your people."

~~~

After some stretching to get the blood flowing in my limbs, I exited the wagon and my eyes drank in the sights. All around the town, there were kalrins going about their business; nothing but kalrins. No humans or saurians to found, save for the small group of three who just arrived by wagon. Despite standing out as we did, none of the townsfolk bothered to even give us a second glance.

Rin nudged me and asked, "You sure this is the place you mentioned?" His eyes shifted to and fro as he showed off an uncharacteristically non-bored face, instead electing to look perplexed. In one hand, he held on to the cloth map, and in a swift motion he pulled it open to, I supposed, double check our route.

Pulling the cloth back down and away from his face, I assured him, "This is it. Now come on, we gotta get moving." From my side, I could hear Ursh lighting still another cigar. How much did this reptilian bastard keep on him? With all the smoke he inhales, it was a wonder his voice didn't sound scratchier than the courier's back home. With confident steps, I took charge and led my two 'escorts' towards the tavern.

Falk was a nice place, all things considered. Sturdy homes and shops, people who minded their own damned business, no guild offices to deal with. If it wasn't for the abundance of the furred, mousy kalrins, I'd probably have suggested to Twi we move here. The dirt roads weren't particularly barren, but it wasn't hard to notice the natives were avoiding us. When you come into a guild-free town with someone like Rin, dressed in the brown and black of a guild dog, it only made sense the people wouldn't be exactly welcoming.

Our boots made little noise on the path towards the tavern, and the lack of any idle chitchat from the people around us only served to highlight the silence. It was as if the people of Falk were just waiting, keeping a close eye on us as we moved. Likely, they sizing us up for how best to take us down if need be. A hand crept towards the hilt of my dagger, just resting there, but I hoped it wouldn't have to come to that.

Despite the eerie atmosphere, no one made a move, and our path wound its way to end at the entrance to the old tavern. Before we walked in, however, I turned to the two guild idiots. In a lowered, hushed tone, I ordered, "Sit down, don't talk to anyone, don't do anything, don't even look up. I'll handle everything."

A high pitched intake of breath sounded out as Rin sucked in through clenched teeth. "You will do no such thing," his words came out in one long huff. "Need I remind you this is a guild operation?"

A rolling of the eyes and an exaggerated sigh came first, and I noticed the dog seemed none too pleased with that. When I yawned over his comment, that only seemed to piss him off more, his face going a slight tint of red. "Look, I don't give a damn if this is some 'guild operation,'" I said, even adding little air quotes for emphasis. "I'm only in this for finding Twi and getting the money. And, since I'm the only one who knows where she'd be, that means until the job is done, this is my show. We play by my rules, or we don't play at all. If you don't like that, you're free to continue the search on your own. I don't imagine you'd do very well without my knowledge, but hey, it's your call."

More red seeped onto his face, until his complexion was similar to an apple. I almost broke and laughed at the sight, but I was able to push down the bubble enough for Rin to slowly come to the realization I was right. With a reluctant nod, the red faced guild dog brushed past me and into the building, only to pick the nearest table and sit down quietly. I tipped my head over to Ursh to see if I needed to give a similar talking to, but found he was already on his way inside.

In my mind, a short victory tune was playing at the sight of two guild goons being almost entirely under my command. I could think of plenty of ways this could make the trip more fun, but a swift knock to the back of my brain in the voice of Twi reminded me this was still a job. I could have my fun some other time, right now I needed to focus on the task at hand.

From the open door, I peered into the tavern and found it the same as the last time I was there. Same broad tables, finely crafted wooden support beams, the bar over in the corner complete with a few bottles of assorted booze. Even the decorative deer and boar heads along the walls were the same, though some did show signs of age.

With the ego boost I was having, I strode in with sure footing, right up to the bar's counter, behind which sat a kalrin lass. She wasn't much older than perhaps sixteen summers, and her sleek black fur was near reflective in the way it shone. Her small hands were busy wiping glasses clean, the dampness of the towel she used darkening the fur around her hands. When she gave no indication of acknowledgement, I loudly coughed, which snapped her focus up to me.

"O-oh, sorry, sir," she stammer out. "Welcome to--" The pause went on for a few odd seconds. It was an uncomfortable pause, even, as during the time, the young lass examined my face, her gaze moving about my features strangely. It was like she was searching for something. What, I had no idea. But then, her eyes narrowed and she met my own gaze. Her deep emerald green eyes locked onto mine for barely a second when she shot them back open and smiled so wide it almost reached up to her temples.

"Graham?"

At once, I was taken aback and wondered if we'd met before. Her face didn't really ring any bells. Sure, she was cute enough for kalrin lass, I supposed, but if she knew me, we must have met sometime. Yet, no matter how hard I tried, this girl's furry little face just wouldn't surface in the back end of my mind.

In the time it took me to go through my thoughts, the smile on her face wavered, but only just so. Both palms were placed onto the counter as she leaned in, urging, "It's me, Hannah. You don't remember me?"

Mentally, I repeated the name and delved into my memories. The last time we'd been in Falk, Twi and I had been tasked by the tavern owners to deal with some pest that had been stealing from their storeroom. No one had been able to even figure out who or what the thief was, but after some careful planning on Twi's part, we managed to learn it was not one thief, but a group of them. Fairies, to be more specific. I tried searching my memories of that time more closely, hunting down the name Hannah. The only black furred kalrin with that name was the tavernkeep's daughter, but that couldn't be right. Hannah was a tiny thing, barely even reaching up to my waist last time we were here.

Wait, how long had it been since then? Three years? Five?

My eyes scanned her once more, trying to compare her to the Hannah from my past yet again. Her shining eyes did seem to be the same bright shade as the girl I knew, and the way her ears ended on a slight point unlike most kalrins was oddly similar. A small white blemish among the black fur on her face drew my eyes to her chin, and I could recall the young kalrin I once knew also had the same spot of white fur there, too.

With my mind still finding more and more similarities, I decided to just be as upfront as I could. "Lamont's daughter?"

A sharp noise sounded out as she slapped at the counter in glee. "I knew you'd remember!" Her smile widened once more, it threatened to fly off her cheeks. She gave a few happy little hops as she repeated, "I just knew you'd remember."

"Ok, ok, settle down," I ordered as I tried to ease her off this little victory high of sorts. When she finally stopped being so damn giddy, I flashed a small grin. "You certainlly changed some. No longer that little ankle biter I last saw."

"'Course," she affirmed with a nod. "I been eating all my meat and greens like Ma and Pa tell me. No wonder you didn't recognize me." One almost glossy black furred hand waved over her body, as if to present herself like an item. "I've been growing so much the last few summers. Soon enough, I'm gonna be all grown and take over the tavern."

That immediately brought back my reason for being here. "Right, the tavern. About that. I have a couple questions I need to ask."

Sher shoulders slumped forward a bit and the ears on top her head drooped ever so slightly. "So, this isn't a nice visit?"

Sighing, I mumbled, "Sadly, no." It would have been nice to just stop and chat, but there were more important matters to attent to.

Before I could ask my question, though, Hannah blurted out, "Is this about Twi and the weird thing with the sky?"

My eyes went wide and I reached out, grabbing the young lass by her shoulders. "You've seen her?"

My sudden reaction caused the girl to freeze up, her body tensing fiercly under my grip. It was like her whole body had turned to stone. I let my hands drop back to my side and apologized for the outburst.

After assuring me it was fine, she finally answered my question, "Well, I didn't see her, but Pa did. Said she popped in for a second or two, handed over a letter, then left town."

Speaking of her Pa, I couldn't see Lamont nor his wife anywhere. Perhaps they were busy trying for a second kid somehwere in the back rooms. Regardless, Twi didn't have too great of a headstart on us when she first left New Serrak. The time from being picked up from our house to leaving the guild hall was barely less than an hour. Twi had only just recently been here to Falk. However, given Vox's usual speed and stamina, at best I could assume we were at least two hours behind. That damned horse was far too fast.

Getting back to the matters at hand, I skipped any formality or small talk. "Do you have the letter?" There wasn't any point beating around the bush and wasting time.

"Yeah-huh," she exclaimed and pulled out a small white envelope from underneath the countertop, handing it over for me. "Pa said it was supposed to be for someone important. Don't know why he didn't tell me it was gonna be you, though."

Using my dagger to cut open the letter, I reached in and unfolded the note within. According to her writing, Twi was going to be making her way to the town Proslin, where she'd rest for the night before moving on. Proslin was quite a ways off. For that mare of hers, it would be easy enough to make it there by nightfall, but for our wagon, things wouldn't be so simple. Taking account of the weight of the three of us, combined with the wagon iself and all our supplies, we'd be lucky to see Proslin by midnight, and that would only be if we could manage to push the stallions all through the night. Not exactly an ideal situation.

Without giving much thought, I crumbled the letter up and stuffed it in a pocket. Before I turned to leave, I waved to the furred girl and said, "Tell your folks I said hi." With that, I stepped over to the table where my guild 'friends' were still waiting.

Ursh was the one who perked up. "I take it you got Twi's message?" I noticed a lack of expended cigars on the table or along the floor near his seat. Perhaps he'd finally run out.

Nodding, I responded, "She's planning to stop at Proslin."

"We can't get there before night," Rin spoke up.

"Right. We're going to need to stop along the road somewhere. Might even need to camp out, depending on how far we can get." Rin and I then began discussing relatively safe locations for the three of us to rest at, both in terms of towns and just random spaces of open fields.

While I was going over things with Rin, my eyes spied Ursh pulling a loose thread from his vest and watching intently as it drifted down to the floor. Either he was much more bored of this than even Rin's face looked, or...no, probably just boredom. If he'd run out of his precious smokes, it wouldn't be unreasonable of me to assume he didn't have much else to occupy his hands. Maybe being a craftsman made his fingers used to constant motion, which might have explained his huffing down cigars like they were a necessity. Or maybe I was just putting too much thought into the random actions of that asshole. Likely the latter.

Eventually, Rin and I worked out a decent place for us to doze off for a few hours. Our destination marked, we got up from the table, with Ursh lazily following after, then headed on back to the wagon. Just like our original trip to the tavern, the one from it was watched carefully by the townspeople. Funnily enough, I couldn't recall any such treatment when it was just Twi and myself a few years back. Then again, we didn't have a guild dog like Rin with us then. Thankfully, no one decided to interrupt out path out of town, and the wagon was soon rolling along the road once more.

Since we now knew exactly where to go next, I had managed to convince Rin not to make any unneeded stops during our little talk, and so I took the driver's seat. I was a bit surprised Rin knew so much about the area, as I had assumed he was a Serrak boy through and through. He was the one who eyed our camping spot on the map, noting it would be in a secluded spot among thick trees. With a boast, he claimed we'd be perfectly safe from any danger there, so long as we didn't make a fire. I wasn't so confident. Even the safest places could be compromised. I'd be sleeping with one hand on my dagger and the other on my crossbow, just to be sure.

The stallions pulled us towards our intended goal, but something seemed off. Slowly, our speed lessened. The poor lads weren't used to pulling this much weight, it seemed. Knowing the guild bastards, they probably just picked two random beasts and not some that were familiarized to such a task. It would certainly explain just how quick they were able to get things together before we left. Well, this wasn't part of the plan. If things kept up this way, I imagined we wouldn't even make it to the campsite.

I called out to the back for the guild dog. "Rin! Get up here!"

The bored face appeared on the edge of my sight. "What?"

I explained our current predicament, and made sure to place the blame solely on his fellow members. "Honestly, how could you even let this happen? Aren't you supposed to be a captain or whatever?" My chastisements finally finished with those two pieces, and the man went momentarily silent.

The few seconds of quiet led me to reflect. My thoughts drifted to the blue streak and the tear in the sky. Once more, I'd been a witness to something unbelieveable. And once again, I was inserting myself into a situation clearly beyond me. Yet, I still desired to learn the truth of this. For that matter, what in the world could the Traders do about it? They were merchants and craftsmen, what did any of them know about objects from the heavens or whatever this all was? It all bothered me something fierce, but I wasn't afraid. Sure, the thought of a still living dragon was terrifying in and of itself, but at least there was a possible answer in that. The sky opening up still remained a mystery, and then there was the new object. The gold streak turned out to be a golden stone, or scale is Ursh's theory was correct. Did that mean the blue streak was going to turn out to be a blue stone-scale? Or would it be something else?

From beside me, Rin finally countered, "Had I known my men would fail in such a simple task, I would have just done it myself. I'll be sure to reprimand them once we return."

I snickered. "Ah yes," I spoke between little chuckles, "reprimand them. Talk down to them and act all big and scary and say how disappointed you are in them. That'll surely teach them a lesson."

"Oh? You have a better alternative?"

I thought he'd never ask. "Sure, put some fear in the bastards. Get the ones who you assigned the job and maybe break a finger or two as a warning to not fuck up next time." As I said this I mimed the action as I desribed it. "You'll definitely see results." He might also see one of the runts attempt to fight back and possibly put him into a sick bed. My advice was a double-edged sword that way.

He gave it no time to stew in my mind. "That's absurd. Why would I assault my own men that way? It'll only end up with them requesting positions under a new captain or even defecting entirely."

Damn, he saw through it.

It was a bit later, after the sun had fully sunken beneath the horizon, when our noble steeds had gone as far as I was willing to take them. They needed a good long break, and I didn't have the time or patience to scout the best location. I simply pointed out an empty stretch of grass near a small hill, and we quickly got a little camp set up. As we unpacked a few odds and ends, I noticed more failings in Rin's men. We lacked the crucial tents. Bedrolls, yes, but no tents.

I relayed the info to my 'companions' and they took it rather well. Rin cursed his men for their incompetence, while Ursh just took his bedroll and positioned it to a space of his liking in silence. This new quiet side of his was really annoying. Where was the saurian who pulled a knife on me on our first meeting? Where was the guy who damn near spit fire every time he so much at looked at me? I couldn't believe I was actually missing that, but I had grown so accustomed to it.

Shaking my head clear, I grabbed some flint and steel and sparked up a small fire. The soft crackles and pops were a soothing noise, bringing a wave of relaxation over me quite similar to the kind I felt after a nice rainfall. Across from me, Rin and Ursh were both searching through some packs for food, coming up with some dried meat and nuts, respectively. Not a bad meal, but also not a very hearty one. Beggars can't be choosers, though.

During the light meal, I risked finally asking the question that had plagued me since first hearing about it. I waited for the right time, which was when Ursh was taking a sip from a canteen. "So, why do the two of you not like each other?"

The saurian coughed mid-drink, spilling some of the water onto himself. Just as planned. Rin was in the middle of chewing on a bit of meat, and was the first to answer me.

"Couple years back, he fucked my fiance." He said it completely monotone. Not a single ounce of emotion in his voice.

I could feel something trying to escape me. Something big, something I could not hope to contain. So I didn't. I let loose a deep, belly laugh. On and on I went, tears even stinging my eyes I kept at it so long. It got to the point I wasn't even letting out a laugh at all, merely making high pitched wheezes as I ran out of air. This was just too delicious. My face burned red with the sheer amount of joy I felt now having this knowledge.

I managed to choke back enough of the laughs to get out, "So you mean to tell me, some woman decided to leave you for 'that?'"

Stone faced, Rin answered, still monotonous, "It's fine. Clearly she never cared for me if she was going to sleep with a goddamn lizard."

At the insult, my laughs subsided. The pain in my sides became numb. My sight went over to the saurian, who was staring daggers at Rin. Ursh's chest rose with a deep breath, then a second. Calmly, he got up from his spot on the ground, took a few steps over to Rin, and slammed a fist into the side of his jaw. Oh, this would be fun, I told myself.

Rin fell backwards at the sudden impact, his head twisting to the side from the strike. A moment passed. He did nothing but lay there. Another moment. Still nothing. On the third and final timeless second, Rin shot up and tackled Ursh by the waist, slamming them both to the earth below with a loud thud. I watched in glee as Rin brought a fist up to return the favor to Ursh, bringing it crashing down onto a spot beneath one of his eyes. He brough his hand up, preparing for a second forceful hit, his arm almost shaking at the ready, when a sound like thunder froze him.

From my position, I had grabbed my crossbow and fired off a shot over Rin's head to stop him. Both men turned to see me and my weapon.

"Alright, you both got a good hit in," I snapped out. As much as I wanted to see the ensuing brawl, I didn't imagine Tanno would be very forthcoming with the payment if they both didn't return. "Time to shake hands and go to bed happy you didn't beat each other to death."

Well, they didn't shake hands, but they did at least give one another a small nod of acknowledgement, as if silently agreeing they each got what they wanted out it. Maybe.

~~~