{-Noa-}

  His breath came out as puffs, just the sight of it enough to make him feel colder. Not like it wasn’t already snowing, and everything still had a not-so-thin layer of snow from the last time. Noa, when he’d first stepped outside, had to stop himself from marching right back in. Seldir, on the other hand, chuckled—he mumbled something along the lines of “Yeah, this’ll keep us awake.”

  But after a couple of minutes, Noa more or less resigned to it. Maybe it would prove his resolve—show that he wasn’t going to falter.

  “You want the tip to be at eye level,” Seldir said. “You know why? Because if you keep it like you are now, then this”—he twirled his spear around, and poked Noa’s forehead with the dull end of it—“becomes way too easy to do.”

  Noa muttered a quick ow, before replying, “Got it.” He tried his best to replicate Seldir’s stance. “Is this better..?”

  “It’s getting there, yeah. Good enough for now. Let’s get some of the basics down.” He moved to be beside Noa instead. “It’s pretty simple, but you’ve got to start somewhere. I’ll do this with the other hand so you can see what I’m doing. Pay attention to where I have everything.”

  Noa nodded and watched.

  Unfortunately, the demonstration was cut a bit short by someone else entering the area behind the inn.

  “It’s freezing out here! Dunno how the two of you are getting anything done.” Lyrei, who seemed to have thrown on her coat but was otherwise not dressed for the cold weather, walked up to them—stepping in their previous footprints, of course, to prevent having to step into the deeper sections of snow herself. When she got up to them, she gave an exaggerated shiver, then asked, “How do you think you’re doing so far?”

  “We couldn’t have started any more than half an hour ago…” Noa remarked. “That’s not really a lot of time to do something…”

  “Did Kaylin need something?” Seldir prompted. “I thought she’d been paying attention when I told her this morning that I wanted to be out here for a bit. I’m guessing it’s something important?”

  “Rennyn was awake when she checked on him after breakfast, and she caught him up on what happened yesterday. He agreed that we should look into whatever Kharis and Ether were really here for.”

  “And? I’m pretty sure she understands that that alone doesn’t really mean we should be rushing out there. If that’s all it is, then we can start in another hour or so.”

  “That’s what I tried telling her, but she mentioned hearing something from a merchant who came in. Apparently, they’d been asking about something—something that Kaylin seemed to recognize from another life. She’s afraid it means something worse is happening and Rennyn agreed with her, so he wants us to check it out.”

  Noa cautiously relaxed from his previous position. “I’m guessing we’re going to have to come back to this later..?”

  Seldir sighed. “Seems so. I’m assuming Kaylin’s ready to go?”

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  “About that…” Lyrei shrugged. “She said there were more things she needed to talk to Rennyn about. That, and she didn’t want to leave him with a more or less stranger again. She wanted the three of us to do it.”

  “That sounds like just as bad of a decision as rushing straight up to Kharis and demanding answers.”

  “That’s what I tried to tell her, but they were both pretty certain about it. They agreed that, as long as we didn’t cause any trouble, then it was unlikely Kharis or Ether were going to start something, if they’re even still here. But if we could figure out at least a part of their plan, we might be better prepared moving forward.”

  “So they’re probably not going to take any criticism about this?”

  “You can try, but I doubt it’s going to do anything.”

  Noa fully left his position now, acknowledging that they most definitely won’t be coming back to it. “It… kind of makes sense, though, to do what they’re asking. Kharis didn’t seem that interested in starting something in the middle of a crowd. At the very least, we could probably do another job in town, and have some money to show for it…”

  Seldir thought about it, then nodded. “I guess that’s what we’re going to have to do. I’ll go and talk with them, though. You two can go and make sure you’re ready, and I’ll get a clear idea of what we’re going to do. I’ll meet you out front when we’re done.”

  They both nodded.

  “Oh, and Noa. Get both of the spears ready to go, too. We might get some time to practice while we’re out.”

  …

  “We’ll head to some shop down the street from here,” Seldir explained as they walked. “According to what Kaylin said, the merchant mentioned meeting the two of them there. If we go along with the story that we know each other—in a good way, but the obvious bad way—then he’s probably not going to ask any questions.”

  “I’m guessing that means we have some kind of alibi, then?” Lyrei prompted. “Something to tell them when they ask? If they ask?”

  He nodded. “We were all part of a group of merchants. We got separated just before we got to the city, though. As far as they need to know, we’re just looking for them in order to understand where we’re going next, and so that we can meet back up. Rennyn was pretty sure that would be enough to stop most people from asking questions.”

  “How… is Rennyn, by the way?” Noa asked. “I don’t think any of us have really been in there while he was awake…”

  “For the most part, he still seems pretty out of it. Took a long time to respond to some things. Kaylin needed to remind him what they were talking about. He seemed… panicked. I could tell at least twelve different things were going through his head at once. But he definitely didn’t seem interested in running around before he should, so we can deal with the rest later.”

  Lyrei sighed. “Yeah, that’s something we should work out soon, but it doesn’t have to be immediately. We need time to think it all over, anyway…”

  Noa nodded, but didn’t say anything. There wasn’t anything he thought he could say, without bringing up more good points that was only going to ultimately make things worse. They could all use the distraction from this.

  So, he tried bringing things in a different direction instead. “Did they mention what Kharis and Ether had asked for? Do we know what we’re looking for?”

  “As far as I know, they only mentioned one, but Kaylin gave me a whole list.” Seldir shrugged, but it was more cautious than anything. “What they are isn’t really important right now, though—just that we’re able to find them, or at least hear something about them. Rennyn mentioned how they might not be as easy to get, but if we know where they are, then everything else wouldn’t be so hard.”

  “So we’re just checking in on everything, then?” Lyrei visibly eased when he nodded. “Then it really shouldn’t be that hard. Let’s just ask around and see what we can find. It’s probably one of the few things we can do right now…”