Ranvir grabbed the drunkard under his arm trying to hold him still, so Grevor and he could get a closer look at his hand. The drunk, smelling of sour alcohol, struggled against them for some reason neither of them were very clear on. Other than the man being very persistent.

“Goddess…” Grev murmured looking at the smashed finger. It had been bent backwards all the way flush against the back of the drunk’s hand. It was visibly broken in at least two additional spot, one of which bone protruded against the skin.

Didn’t break it, though. Ranvir shuddered and the man succeeded in struggling free of their grip. “U’m finne…” He swayed on his feet, head rolling dangerously before straightening. He ran his smashed hand through his beard hissing out in pain and he turned to look at his mutilated appendage. “Whu… why?”

He turned accusatory eyes on Ranvir, then stumbled, nearly falling into the tent canvas before they caught him.

“My…” He gestured vaguely with his hand. “Hurts.” He mumbled, trying to scratch at his head, though both students were holding onto his arms.

“Sir, we’re going to find you somewhere to sit.” Grev started guiding the man towards the operation room, where they had multiple slabs for him to lay on. “Then we’re going to get someone to look at your finger.”

“Lookit?” The man fought to bring his hand up again, nearly pulling Ranvir off his feet.

“See, follow the lights.” Grev said. Balls of red, blue, and green light started hovering a few feet in front of the drunkard. He paused looking at them skeptically.

“Those?”

“Yes.” Grev said with a pained expression, as he tried to stop the man from jostling himself, in case he had other injuries. Together, the two tethered managed to get him onto one of the slabs and to lie down on his side. No sooner had he found somewhere to sleep than he was snoring away.

Ranvir grabbed a towel to wipe muck better left unexamined, off his hands. As he wiped his hands, he took a few steps away from the drunkard. He was muddy, hair greasy, and clothed stained by things Ranvir would struggle to describe. Needles to say, the clinic didn’t appear to have been his first stop for the evening.

Ranvir offered the cloth to Grev, as they got some distance. He looked at the light tethered, still new to his recent power with sympathetic eyes. Grev had spent most of the evening they’d been at the clinic tending to children and young teenagers who were scared and injured. His powers, especially after gaining his first stage, were well suited for distracting the young and impressionable.

That meant Ranvir and Sansir had dealt with the majority of drunk and disorderly folk and his uniform displayed as much. Vomit covered his left boot and part of his pant leg from an old woman who’d been intermittently offering both he and Sansir a ‘trip in the hay’, and puking her guts out.

He’d been punched in the face once by accident and then again on purpose by angry drunks. This area, it turned out, was a quiet marketplace during the day and a drinking square during the night. It hadn’t taken more than half an hour before Yngvar had agreed to send Iri home, seeing that this was no area for a child to stay.

Together, they walked out of the operation room, entering the busy waiting area. Well, it was busy, but it didn’t feel as busy as when Sansir and Grev had been managing it. Probably, because the new administrators did a far better job administrating than they’d done. Ranvir nodded to them, as Grev stopped at his seat next to their desk.

Continuing out through the entrance, Ranvir nodded to Herlu. “How’s it going?”

The second year looked worriedly out across the line of injured and drunks. There were more than a few people swaying enough to strain the rope and posts demarcating the line. Riotous yells and cried also filled the night as some people weren’t finished drinking though they did accompany their injured friends to the clinic.

It had been a quick realization that told them only the injured from a group could enter at a time. It was their first night shift and it was a whole different beast than the day shift.

Herlu tapped his foot against the box he was standing on. “Kalf said they’re getting more unruly, a few have been causing issues.”

Ranvir couldn’t look out over the crowd, like the redhead could from his perch, but he could still see the two poles carried by Kalf and Sansir. Kalf’s was stationary, a dozen meters down the line, though he would regularly patrol the area, and make sure people were behaving.

Sansir’s, on the other hand, was patrolling and he would regularly use it to get people to remain within the guideposts. Currently, Ranvir could see the tall tethered’s pole making it towards the back of the line, where a mass of bodies were starting to gather.

“Maybe I should go help Sansir.” Ranvir said, grabbing his own pole. He shivered to think what this would’ve looked like just a week prior, before the administrators had arrived and they’d done some restructuring with the guideposts. Even though the thin cloth strung between each post was a weak barrier, its sheer presence bolstered the order and control over the situation.

“Vejka’s luck.” Herlu said, waving him off.

Ranvir smiled over his shoulder, before striding off. Grevor had told him to never run, unless it was absolutely necessary. If it wasn’t a matter of life and death, then a busy walk was way better than a run. Human’s were pack animals, like wolves. And like wolves, if they first heard one wolf growl at something, the rest would join in as a matter of course. If one human was running, there must be a reason worth running for. It could trigger panic in the people, at least according to Grevor.

“Anything to tell?” Ranvir stopped briefly next to Kalf.

“Always.” Kalf said with an easy smile under his well groomed mustache. “Things pertaining to tonight? Less so.”

Ranvir nodded and moved on, continuing towards the bulging back of the lines. Cries, laughter, yells, and drunken whoops were emanating strongly. Loudly enough, that Ranvir wondered if they’d accidentally dragged a drinking house into the line.

Sansir stood on the outskirts telling people to back off and create some distance, but the drunks just angrily swatted his pole away when he prodded them.

“Why are we even here? We don’t need help. We’ve been recovering fine for centuries.” Ranvir heard a strong voice cry out from the middle of the pack. He stopped next to Sansir, who exchanged a worried glance with him.

They both tapped their poles against the cobblestones three times, the bronze caps on the ends ringing out loudly. Then they dropped the poles, letting them clatter to the ground.

Having signaled for the rest of their team, Ranvir debated waiting but the press wasn’t that bad, only a dozen or so people, and it would take a while for everyone to arrive. He saw Sansir coming to the same conclusion as rime started covering the drunks’ clothes. Puddles of water from this morning’s rain froze along with the mud in a five meter circumference around Sansir. Accordingly, the temperature fell too.

Ranvir pulled his hammer out the holster on his hip, as he extended his tether-sense. He hesitated for a moment, before he sent ideas of calm through his sense. Targeting the people on the outskirts, he dragged them away or pushed them aside. Using both his hammer and his tether-sense. Most of the people took it quite amicably, letting him see into the core of the gathering.

At the center of the group, was a muddy man with an unshaven, sour face, that more than anything reminded Ranvir of a rat. He was yelling loudly about mistreatment from the academy and the students.

“Is this really something to be lauded?” The man yelled. “That the nobles and United Alliance take our tethered from us, then offer back morsel of their skills like it’s a boon? Should we be happy that our children are allowed to help us?”

The man spat on the ground, before his eyes caught on Ranvir. “Look! Even now, they try to break up this meeting! They’re afraid of what I’m telling you. They know it’s true. Their loyalty is no longer with the people of Elusria. It’s the nobles and the Alliance!”

“Scum!” Someone yelled, shoving Ranvir against the rest of the mass.

Ranvir blanketed him in calm as he pushed away, extending his hammer to make them keep their distance.

“Him too!” Someone else yelled. A group of them split off towards Sansir, causing Ranvir to curse. This was going south quickly.

He noticed a few were stepping away from the group, taking distance from them. Among them the one he’d hit with his tether-sense, after getting shoved. “Keep your distance!” Ranvir called, shoving someone else away with the head of his hammer, while hitting him with his tether-sense, trying to calm him, though this time it seemed to have little effect.

More and more people were starting to converge on Ranvir. From the distance, he heard Sansir’s angry yells and saw lights rising into the sky. Grevor had sent a signal-

The rat-faced man stood before Ranvir now, the group pushing out to surround him. “Look at how he fears us!” The man yelled, as Ranvir shoved another away. Ratface kept just out of reach of the hammer.

An old man, weather worn features and tired blue eyes, lurched forwards and Ranvir hit him in the sternum with a thrust of his hammer, stopping the man in his tracks. Movement raced towards Ranvir as iron caught the moon’s light.