“Get me the usual but keep the change for a refill”, said Keela, sliding the silver coin to the bartender.

She looked around her favorite dive. It wasn’t much, as usual. The type of establishment where a woman keeps her hood up and a low voice. A few patrons sat in the booths, a man drunkenly played his off-key violin in the corner, his hat on the ground weighed down by a few coppers.

“What happened to your eye?” asked the bartender, pouring her a strong ale.

“Do you really want to know or is this just small talk?” she replied as the tankard slid towards her open hand, which she accepted with a nod.

“Touché, I don’t give a shit.”

The door opened again, a gust of wind extinguishing the candle on the counter next to her. Snapping her fingers, a faint arc of lightning spiked between her fingers, lighting the candle anew with a small crack. The crack happened to be louder than she anticipated, causing the chatter in the bar to die down as even the violinist slowly turned his attention to her.

“Damn it”, she muttered under her breath.

“Oi! What the fuck was that? You at the bar!” shouted one of the ruffians.

Keela slowly turned around towards him, put her hood down and crossed her arms, showing the bandages and bruises.

“I don’t know what you’re on about mate”, she said, shrugging as casually as she could.

“Naw, I’m pretty sure I heard somethin’ coming from you”, he said, getting closer.

“Not sure what you mean.”

“Well how else do ya explain that noise then?”

“Dunno. Maybe a couple havin’ fun upstairs? Not like it’s uncommon for floors to make funny noises”, she replied, turning back around towards her ale.

The man grabbed her shoulder and turned her around and with a flash, her dagger was pressed on his neck.

“Don’t touch me”, she said intensely, pressing the point in, blood pearling at the edge of the wound.

She knew she was completely bluffing, but acting was one of her few talents. She had had an affinity for arcane lightning since she was young but as mages were strictly regulated under the king, she chose to keep it silent, forgetting that rule she had set for herself when she got to the bottom of that first tankard.

“I’m gonna leave. Innkeeper, keep the change for the trouble”, she said, walking firmly towards the exit, sheathing her dagger while bumping into the fella.

“Don’t fuckin’ come back!” yelled the man as she got outside.

As soon as she was out of sight, she started bolting towards her refuge, choking back tears of stress from welling up in her eyes. After darting through a few odd turns, ignoring the pain in her legs, she got home, slamming the door behind her and slumping to the ground with her back against it. In the room was the full ‘family’; Murph, Velka and the three kids; Tessa, the catfolk girl who was no more than 7 and had frizzy black hair to match her ears, Bea, the human girl of dark skin with a heap of wild black hair who stood proud atop her 4 years of age and, finally, Ethan, the human boy with blond hair and blue eyes who was the eldest at ten years old. The entirety of the mismatched crew looked at her confusedly as she started crying.

“Woah, woah, what happened now?” said Velka, getting up to come to her aid.

“I… I’m not a fighter… I can’t… I…” stuttered Keela, unable to get the words out.

As Velka tried to reach in for a hug, Keela violently pushed her away, scurrying to the corner of the room.

“Don’t touch me!” she screamed, holding her head and burying it in her bunched knees, crying uncontrollably.

Velka slowly got back up and with a nod to Murph made him understand to take the kids up. As they were led out, Velka sat down in front of Keela cross legged, not saying a word.

“Keela, focus. Deep breaths. What happened?” she said, looking firmly at the panicking girl.

After a few minutes of terrible attempts at deep breathing, Keela finally calmed down, resting her head on her knees. Taking in a deep breath of air, she perked her head up.

“I almost got sent to the castle”, she said, looking at Velka with damp eyes.

“What? why?” replied Velka, meeting her gaze.

“I have arcane affinity and I absentmindedly used something in the bar without thinking and then this guy called out to me and…”

“What? Arcane affinity? With what element?”

“It’s lightning.”

To support her statement, Keela made an arc of lightning between her thumb and index.

“Huh. Would it make you feel better if I told you I have arcane affinity too?” said Velka, raising her finger.

At the end of her sentence, a small flame burst out of the air, flickering out of existence a mere second after it appeared. Bewildered, Keela stared at her with a half-cocked head.

“Well I’ll be damned…” she said, patting her pocket from reflex.

After a second of checking, she laid her dagger on the floor next to her. Velka frowned at the sight but didn’t make a comment. The next pocket had a small coin purse in it which was much heavier than expected. She had probably pocketed it from the guy who called her out. The last pocket had a sheet of paper in it, which surprised her mildly. She opened it and then handed it to Velka.

“Can you read this for me? I can’t read”, she said, mustering a smile and wiping away her tears.

“Well, you’re full of surprises today”, replied Velka, smiling back.

She read the note, passing over a few lines twice while frowning.

“Something wrong?” asked Keela, quickly checking if she had forgotten something and steeling herself.

“This person wants you to meet them at the catwalk outside the church tomorrow at dusk”, replied Velka, looking back with a raised eyebrow.

“Don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

“Probably not.”

Keela held a swear and sighed.

“I’m gonna head to bed, today has been a bit much”, she said, going to the stairs.

“Keela”, called out Velka, eyeing the piece of paper.

“Yea?”

“Be careful.”

Keela considered responding with cocky mockery as usual but she instead adopted a somber look and looked back with a nod.

“Yea, I know.”