The group of seemingly ragtag mercenaries crowded the dimly lit room. Their combined breath and stink made it almost unbearable but they didn’t dare move to leave, keeping their attention fixated on the twin Magistrates. Nyx sat languidly at the table, picking at her nails with a small dagger and seeming bored with the current affairs as Lux spoke to the group of Shadows, rubbing his ears in annoyance from time to time.

“My brothers and sisters, our prey has been chased here to Domov. The Deviant Spirit Blessed and the Light Blessed Summer Elf must be captured alive to be presented for justice. The Tri-mage Winter Elf is a noble that is to be ignored. Should he try to interfere, you may defend yourselves as necessary.”

He took a moment to look back at his notes. “There will be a bonus reward to the one who brings them to us at the time of delivery. I shouldn’t have to remind you all that we must find them as soon as possible. The longer we wait, the colder the trail gets and the more likely we are to lose them.”

Lux raised two fingers to the point of his forehead between his eyebrows while closing his eyes and recited, “May the Light guide us,” His fingers moved to just over his lips, “May the Dark shield us,” then he rested the fingers over his heart, “May we bring Order to this world.” The group returned the gesture just a moment before he lifted an arm, waving them out the door, “Dismissed.”

As the group began dispersing, Nyx looked up at her brother while sheathing the dagger, annoyance clearly visible on her face, “I told you we shouldn’t have stopped to sleep.”

Lux failed to hold back the sigh, having already argued this point with her but he repeated anyways, “The mounts needed water and rest, not to mention the other riders. We’re not all insomniacs like you.”

Her voice adopted that higher pitched whine that drove him a bit mad at times as she complained, “But he got awaaayyy!” she crossed her arms and Lux couldn’t help but be reminded of a petulant child.

Still, he couldn’t stop himself from trying to console her, “Not for long, my sweet sister.” He rested a hand on her head, gently brushing at her hair, “We know he is in the city and making his way towards the center. We will find them soon and I’ll even make sure we take extra time on the way back. We wouldn’t want to risk losing such a dangerous prisoner, after all.”

Her pout broke into a wide grin, “Which means I can play with him even more?”

At his nod, she hugged him tightly before standing up and pulling him towards the door, “Well what are we waiting for, my dear brother?”

He gave a rare chuckle as he replied, “For you to quit wallowing, obviously.”

She stuck her tongue out at him before opening the door and leading him back onto the crowded streets of Domov.

It wasn’t too much longer when the scent hit her as they were passing a small inn. She touched the door almost gently as though fascinated by it before turning to the Paladin that was watching her closely, “He was here, Lux.” She flung the door open without further ceremony and ignored the flustered innkeeper as she sprinted past him and up the flight of stairs, following her nose and shutting out the sound of Lux trying to calm down the dwarf behind her.

She shoved open the door and was ecstatic to find that it hadn’t been tended to yet today. It was only midday, according to her pocket watch since the sun was absent this far below the earth, which meant he must have been here only a few hours ago. She almost dove into the bed, inhaling the smells until she narrowed down which pillow he had claimed and breathed in deeply, filling her lungs with Aster’s scent.

There was that autumn breeze, the warmth of a hearth, the fresh dawn droplets that clung to everything, and that wonderful smell of something uniquely him that she couldn’t relate to anything. There seemed to be an additional scent, the tang of freshly minted metal, that she had confirmed was definitely his but couldn’t figure out why it hadn’t been there before. Perhaps the scent had faded too much when she had arrived the first time? There was also something that tugged at her memory this time but she couldn’t quite place it. In any case, she found it even more intoxicating and didn’t even notice when Lux entered the room, watching her roll around in the sheets as though she had transformed into a cat that found the stash of catnip.

Lux just watched her as she writhed around on the bed. After another couple of minutes he cautioned her, “Careful, you're going to diffuse the scent with your antics.”

She looked over at him languidly and gave a soft smile, “He smells simply divine.”

He shook his head slightly and gave an obliging smile in return, “You know I can’t smell it as well as you can. You got the nose while I got the ears, remember?”

She merely let out a moan in response and he rolled his eyes at her. “Can we continue on or do I need to give you a few more moments to get this out of your system?” He asked, a bit sharper than he intended to.

His tone pulled her far enough out of her reverie to realize his annoyance but the scent was overwhelming her and she barely managed to get out, “I’m definitely going to need a few.”

He gave an annoyed huff and left the room, returning downstairs to arrange for their stay at the inn for the night.

Aster cautiously opened the door to the shop they had finally managed to track down. It was built right into the rocky wall, as most of the buildings outside the center cavern were, but this one was lucky enough to be in the central cavern wall itself so they weren’t far from the charter house and they had a view of the city they were slightly above. He prayed to every deity that the small illusion of the Unblessed symbol Saelak had cast over his newer marks would hold in place until he could explain everything to his old acquaintance.

The shop, A Knight’s Might, seemed empty of patrons for the moment but it was far from quiet as they heard the loud clang of metal striking metal coming through the open door past the counter.

There was a small bronze bell with a button on top of it that Aster felt he recognized as similar to the shiny metal ones he would see in hotels and shops that didn’t get much traffic back on Earth. He cheerfully pressed the little button, hoping for the pleasant little ‘ding’, only to nearly jump out of his boots as a cacophony of what sounded like cathedral bells rang out from the back room, drowning out the metallic clanging. “What the resh was that?!” He asked his companions.

“That, lad, was a Sound enchantment. Let’s me know when someone’s here, no matter how hard I’m hammerin’ away!” The rough, yet higher pitched, voice was the one Aster had been searching for. As he turned to see the beardless dwarf that only sported some impressive sideburns that matched the giant sandy-blonde braid on top of their head, he was greeted with wide brown eyes opening in shock before a grin letting out a jubilant laugh replaced it. “Aster! Lad, what are you doing here?! It’s been so many moons since I last saw you! Does Falakuan need to change his ingot shipments?”

Aster clasped arms with the cheerful dwarf in greeting, “It’s good to see you again, Slava. And I’m not actually here on business, if you have time today, I would like to bring you up to speed on everything that’s happened since we last spoke and beg a small favor, if possible.”

Slava nodded genuinely, “Sure, sure, lad. It’s been rather slow today so I don’t mind closin’ up a bit earlier to have a good chat, ideally with even better drink! Ha! Why don’t you go on down to Ales ‘n Tails, out and to the left a ways, and tell ‘em I sent you ahead.” The dwarf patted Aster on the shoulder jovially, before shuffling back to close up the forge.

The three of them made their way towards the pub and Saelak asked simply, “Aster, how do we address Slava?”

Aster replied simply, “Oh, Slava is a they.”

“Both, neither, or other?” Donoma asked as a predictable follow-up for a bit more clarification on what assumptions would be appropriate.

“Neither.” They both nodded in confirmation and Aster couldn’t help the grin from his face at the simple back and forth that seemed so commonplace here but would have meant the world to him back in the Tutorial he had been forced to suffer through.

The society he had grown up with had been slowly evolving its understanding of gender and sex but it seemed lightyears behind Selesola. With having many different races and cultures, and some of those consisting of entirely intersex beings, the topic had evolved quite a bit differently. He had spent years now among the elves that had such a nonchalant attitude towards gender but it still never failed to catch him off guard, especially when delving into the realm of the non-binary.

Donoma gave an audible laugh as the three of them stared at the entrance that lived up to its name. Those serving weren’t limited to women this time and they didn’t wear cute costumes but they were all Beastkin with impressive tails proudly on display as they poured ale, served food and bantered good-naturedly with their patrons.

Saelak gave a slight growl of annoyance and Aster gave a slightly defeated sigh as they followed Donoma in and waited at a table for Slava to join them. Which thankfully, wasn’t much longer.

After Aster had properly introduced everyone, he caught the friendly dwarf up with the events since they last worked together back when he apprenticed as a Blacksmith. Slava was an attentive listener, giving gasps and exclamations and curses out at the perfect moments. Donoma and Saelak even got swept up in the story, adding bits and pieces and adding some additional perspectives. He was open with Slava about his blessing and the accident that had occured in Ahtil which made him a wanted man, well half-man at least.

At the end of his tale, he had Saelak drop the illusion to reveal his new marks and Slava stared in slight amazement before saying slowly, “That’s an amazing journey, lad, but what do you need from me?”

“We just need a place to lie low at, till the next charter leaves. You know I can earn my keep at the forge, we can help you at the shop for a bit if you can spare a bed or three, abyss, even a dry floor would do as long as we know it’s safe and secure.” Aster said with a bit of exasperation.

“Those trappers on the road really spooked you, didn’ they?” Slava asked in all seriousness. The three of them nodded together and Slava startled them by clapping their hands together and replying, “Well, if that’s all, I can help you out, no problems. I know you do good work, lad, and I’m sure the other two can at least do some cleaning…” The dwarf trailed off slightly, giving Saelak another long look before adding, “Or perhaps some bookkeeping.” The noble flushed a bit in embarrassment and Donoma couldn’t stop the snort of laughter from completely escaping.

“Thanks, Slava. Truly, you are a good friend.” Aster responded sincerely.

“Ha! Just wait till you see the workload waitin’ for you all! I’m sure that I’m the one gettin’ the better end of the deal here!” They all broke into grins and finished their drinks before Slava led them back to the shop and gave them the little apartment nestled in the wall above it. It was a modest size and Slava explained that they used it to house business guests and would be going back to their house outside the city center to be with their family for the night. They’d be back in the morning though and they’d bring some breakfast before putting the group to work.

Slava handed a spare key to Aster, just in case anything happened, before locking up the shop and heading home. They made themselves at home, shedding their packs and taking turns in the bath. The ingenious dwarves had managed to get running water deep within the mountain and magic’d the controls to heat and cool as desired.

The hot water was heavenly to Aster’s sore muscles, who strategically volunteered to be last, and he found himself relishing in the relaxing feeling, staying in long after becoming pruny.

They weren’t positive what time it was down here where the obvious marker of time was hidden from them and the city never seemed to sleep as it was constantly alight with activity and magic lanterns keeping the paths outside the windows visible. Their exhaustion was strong enough to tell them it was late into the night, however.

There was a pair of bunk beds in the single bedroom, so each of them were able to collapse into their own bed and rest in relative safety for the first time in a couple of weeks, which they took full advantage of as sleep claimed them quickly.

Even Aster decided to truly take the night to relax and laid on the couch. After a few minutes of ignoring Rosabella’s teasing he actually met her part way and contented her with resting his head on her lap as she gently stroked his hair and he fell into true unconscious sleep.