A week passed. The Grimwater Swamp Dungeon was sealed off to all Guild Activity due to "safety concerns" and we took some much-needed time off. Things were quiet – suspiciously so. But we weren't going to question rest.Kael needed a distraction from furiously working on trying to repair SCRUB, so I spent time helping him further test his prototype, which he was now calling the "Firearm", despite his protests. He acknowledged it was a cooler name, if nothing else. We collected a lot of useful data. The maximum effective range was about one hundred and twenty feet. The firing mechanism had a penchant for jamming if shots were fired too close together. I also found out exactly how hot the barrel got after firing. Tessa and I took our now regular strolls through town – we spent a lot of time at Boil and Bubble and visiting dogs at the park. Our time together was some of the most comfortable moments I had this week. Even then, I could feel there were a lot of things going unspoken between us. I certainly had a few. I figured there was way too much insanity happening right now.
We hadn't seen Alara in a few days. We knew that she had gone to the House of Healing for rest and recovery. Despite the small moment in the cart on the way home, she was still absolutely not okay. But we had heard neither hide nor hair of her since.It wasn't all rest and relaxation, however. Hask doubled my training sessions, which is where I found myself presently. It was a lot of the same. We started, I swung, I got my ass handed to me, I was told to get up."Again," Hask said calmly. I hefted my mop and lunged again. The thunk of wood on wood echoed around the training yard once again. WHACK – into the dirt."Up." Hask ordered.I was beginning to get frustrated. Hask was being even more brutal than usual. Then, as I lay there, face in the ground, I realized something.Hask was trying to push me to use my Skills.I had already shown him Night Step. I hadn't thought to reveal Threat Assessment. I searched my mind, looking for what I needed. I mumbled quietly. "Shadow Art: Threat Assessment. Activate."As I looked up, I saw the same thing in Hask that I had seen in Duran, that night in the courtyard. Swirling and pulsing mana, concentrated in his Core, but radiating outward through his body. But unlike with Duran, I had to squint my eyes to see. His mana was so heavily concentrated and powerful that it made the monk look like a helpless child in comparison.But then I saw it. A glowing patch of light, on the back of the Foreman's neck."Up." Hask repeated.I stood, readying myself, focusing on that one spot on his body."You gonna move?"I grinned. "No.""Fair enough." Hask lunged, mop swinging out forcefully."Shadow Art: Night Step. Activate."I blinked and was behind him. I swung my mop. Hard.
CRACK!
I hit him. I couldn't believe it. My immediate elation was deflated just as quickly as I watched the handle of my mop snap against his neck. Hask didn't budge. He stood stock still, mid-swing.There was an unbearably long silence."Good. You're getting it now. I can stop going easy on you."I sighed. "You've been saying that for months."
I watched, almost in slow motion, as Hask jammed his mop handle under his arm and into my stomach with more force than I had ever felt. I doubled over, fighting the urge to vomit.CRACK!The mop caught me again, in the back. I collapsed."Yes, but now I mean it." He extended a hand to help me up, which I accepted. "Next session will be twice as hard."
I knew that was a compliment, coming from him. I looked over at the entrance to the training yard as I heard footsteps. Kael and Tessa were making their way toward us. I sighed in relief.As they approached, Kael spoke. "You wanted to see us, sir?"Hask nodded. "Yeah. I have news. Let's go sit."We gathered in the stands, all three of us watching him expectantly. The tension was thick in the air. The Foreman had always been pretty unflappable and hard to read, but in this moment it was even more difficult to determine where his head was at. Hask, never one to mince words, told us exactly what he needed to."Alara has been arrested by the Moorhaven Military Police. She's in the custody of the Adventurer's Guild."I felt my stomach twist violently. Kael's jaw clenched. Tessa's eyes went wide.
"Why?!" she cried.Hask sighed. "Because of what she did to Varkas in the swamp."I felt rage well up inside. I had been wrong. Varkas had gone to the Guilds."She was acting in self-defense!" Tessa shouted to no one in particular. "Varkas attacked her! And now he snitches to the government?!"The foreman shook his head. "Varkas actually lied for her."That came as a shock. I asked, "Then why was she arrested?""Varkas claimed his shoulder wound came from a monster. The Guild was going to take his word for it, until they got an anonymous tip. They had a specialist look at the wound. Magical force always leaves traces. Has specific wound patterns.""So…then he confessed?""No, actually. He refused to change his story. The Guild authorized the use of Veritose."I had a flashback to my first time in Boil and Bubble, with Tessa. I had picked up a bottle with a label showing the same name. But something didn't make sense."But isn't Veritose only a mild truth serum?" I asked."The stuff that anyone can buy is. It's heavily regulated, but the government has it in much more dangerous concentrations." Hask grimaced. "Varkas got a full dose."Kael finally spoke. "So Varkas was forced to confess. But he went after Alara. Why did she get detained?""Varkas admitted that he was sheathing his sword when Alara attacked."
I knew it."Alara saw it as aggressive, panicked and used her Skill.""It was still self-defense!""Not in the Guild's eyes.""But, after she used her Skill, Varkas was going to attack her for real!""I know."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.I felt my fists clench. I could tell, under the forcedly calm exterior, Hask was just as upset as we were."Alara has a…unique…past," Hask said simply. "It's more complicated than you know.""So what's going to happen?" Tessa asked, her barely contained panic clear in her voice. "Is Alara going to prison?""Not yet. She's scheduled for a disciplinary hearing tomorrow. All of us are being called as witnesses."We all felt a small amount of relief."But sir…" Kael began. "You and Varkas almost killed each other. Why are you not being charged?""Varkas stated that I attacked him to defend Alara.""But Alara isn't allowed to defend herself?""It's a lot easier to hand wave two ranking Guild officials fighting than it is for a B-rank Janitor to attack an S-rank adventurer. I ain't saying it's right. But it's what's happening. Be ready bright and early tomorrow. Dress uniforms.""We don't have dress uniforms.""The ones with the fewest holes."He held up a hand to stop another interruption from Tessa. "The only thing we can do to help Alara right now is show up. So that's what we're going to do."We all nodded."Dismissed."
As the three of us began to leave the training yard, I found myself grappling with one detail of what Hask had told us. The guild had received an anonymous tip. From who?I immediately knew. I turned and ran back to Hask."What do you need, Callister?"I spoke quietly. "We promised to not keep anything from each other.""Mhm.""Think back to the hollow. In the dungeon. Who wasn't in the fight with the Boss?"Hask looked thoughtful for a second.Then."Stevie."I nodded. "Right."He looked troubled. "So Stevie stayed out of the fight and watched. She saw everything without being involved.""And she's the leader of the Silk Runners.""Yeah…having information on Varkas attacking someone in a rage would be good leverage against him.""But she also made sure the truth about what Alara did came out. She's being punished for that."Hask looked like he was calculating something. "I'm not so sure.""Why?""You'll find out tomorrow."
I fumed inside, but I trusted Hask. "Yes, sir."
I left the training yard, furious, confused and worried. I had no idea what was coming tomorrow, but I was going to be there for Alara for all of it.
I found her exactly where I expected to.
The garden pond, the same flat stone she'd knelt on the day the suspension news broke, the same two fish still doing lazy circles under the water like nothing in the world had changed since then. Everything about the scene was identical, except her.
Tessa wasn't crying.
That was the first thing I noticed, and it worried me more than tears would have. She was sitting at the edge of the garden pond, perfectly still, watching the water without seeming to actually see it.
As I took a seat in the grass beside her, she glanced over at me. "Hey.""Hey," I responded quietly. "You okay?"She shrugged. "Not really. You?"
"Not really."
I stared at her in the magical light shining into the garden from above, and as always, I admired how her long curls flared like fire. Her green eyes were locked on the swirling fish."So much has happened," she said simply.I nodded. "We got stuck in the middle of something insane.""It's beyond insane."She sighed. "We were just a normal Janitor team. Me, Uncle Hask, Kael and Alara. Normal jobs. No corrupted Cores. No conspiracy. We believed the Guild cared. We were doing something good for the world.""Then I showed up," I said quietly.
"Then you showed up."My stomach panged. "I'm sorry."She met my gaze intensely. "For what?""It feels like if I hadn't shown up, you guys would be okay."She shook her head. "Not true. This would all still be happening. I would just be dead."
I sat with that for a second. The dart catch.
She inhaled. "Every bad thing that's happened to us. The Maw, the Cores, the buried reports, the Unnamed City, the suspension…now the Grimwater swamp…now this Alara thing..and everything else… you've been there. Protecting me. Keeping me sane. And you've been there for all the good things too. Like the Swiftfoot festival…it was one of the best days I can remember having, and it's all because of you."My chest was tense as she spoke, but words failed me.
She seemed just fine continuing."Through all the upheaval and all the bullshit, the one constant in my life has been you. Lorne. The boy with amnesia who's probably an assassin.""I'm not an assassin.""You don't know that."
I grinned, but behind it was the knowledge that Tessa was more right than she knew, apparently."I suppose I don't."She brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear and I could see she was blushing."My point is…we've almost died, like, a million times. And I don't think any of this is going to end anytime soon. So I don't want to keep going with any regrets.""What do you m–"
I couldn't even finish the sentence before she leaned over and kissed me. Not the way she did, drunkenly, after the Festival. Her lips met mine with lucid, furious passion. I could feel that she had wanted to do this for a long time.I didn't stop her. I put my hand to her cheek and let my thumb trace the shape of her jaw as fireworks went off in my stomach.When she eventually pulled away, slightly breathless, her eyes didn't leave mine."Lorne Callister. I don't know who you were before you lost your memory. I don't really care. The man you are now is the one I don't want to ever do any of this without."