Morning came, and after eating a small breakfast Koyl and I set out to the nearby Steelheart Company office to figure out what Dawpvaol would say about the information we gathered. During the night I had thought about the situation. Though the potential existed to make some quick money working for the Hatchet Crew, the potential problems with the guard made it so that I would likely have a hard time leaving Vehrehr. Even if Dawpvaol didn't give us anything useful or any money, I could still opt into that path at any time so it wasn't like I was making a hard decision by going along with Koyl. Sure, killing Dawpvaol would undoubtedly cause Koyl to become hostile to me, but I knew for a fact that I could kill him as well if I had to.

When we arrived at the office Koyl and I waited in the back for the people inside to finish picking out jobs and heading out before we spoke to Dawpvaol. The entire time we were waiting she checked on us with her eyes regularly, but her usual cold demeanor hid any thoughts she might have been having besides the need to know what we were up to.

“Where did you two get off to after the guard job yesterday?” Dawpvaol asked once the last group of workers had left. She pulled out a small bottle from under the desk and took a swig from it, then stashed it away again. “I have your money here, you can come get it now, or after you're done today,” she added.

“We've got some news that you might not want to hear, Dawp,” Koyl said. I had entrusted the paper to him since he was the one who could read them, so he approached the counter and laid out the requests while I stood a step back from him and watched. Dawpvaol furrowed her brow at Koyl, but then unrolled the papers and changed her expression to shock. When she viewed the one that was for her, her eyes went sharp again.

“Koylzmeyl, where did you get these?” she demanded. Koyl scratched his eyebrow and took a deep breath.

“So after the guard job, Yuwniht here had a plan to go scout the Hatchet Crew's-” he started.

“I had no such plan,” I interjected, “the majority of the plan was Koyl's. I simply floated the idea.” Koyl scowled back at me for my betrayal, and Dawpvaol scowled at me for different reasons.

“Are you suicidal?” she snapped. “If you want to die you could choose a better method than that. Those people are psychotic killers, slave traffickers, and run most of the counterfeiting on this island. I've had personal friends killed by them in the last few months, and I guarantee they are better fighters than either of you. What were you thinking?” At some point during her rant, her attention went back to Koyl, which surprised me even more than the apparent care for his well-being she had.

“It worked out though,” Koyl said, “and we found out about this, so I'd say it was worth it.” Dawpvaol's teeth ground together audibly.

“They're going to be after you now,” she hissed. “You stole from them, they won't forgive that. You shouldn't even be in this building because you're putting us all at risk now.”

“They gave those to us willingly,” I said, gesturing to the papers. Dawpvaol's mouth opened like she wanted to say something, then closed again. She squinted at me, then looked to Koyl, who shrugged.

“How?” she asked.

“Yaavtey likes Yuwniht,” Koyl replied simply, “it's a long story.” Once again I was the object of scrutiny. Maybe I should just tell her what happened, I thought, it's not like she would- As if he was reading my mind, Koyl looked back at me with a look that clearly told me to keep my mouth shut.

“And you?” Dawpvaol finally asked Koyl.

“Pretty sure their administrator wants to rip my nahtay off and stuff it down my throat,” Koyl replied sheepishly, “in fact she told me as much.” Dawpvaol made a strange noise and then covered her mouth. Suppressed laughter? I guessed.

“You do have that effect on people,” she stated in a matter-of-fact tone, “can I assume that neither of you has any desire to fulfill these contracts?”

“Yes,” both Koyl and I said in unison, though I was lying of course. If the counter-offer isn't good enough, I still remember the names and locations, I thought.

“Good,” she said, then Dawpvaol pulled up two pouches of money from under the counter. “These are for yesterday,” she said, “come back tonight so that I can tell you what came of this... situation.” Koyl and I took our money, then were shooed out of the office by Dawpvaol who put a sign on the door saying the office was closed the instant we were out in the street. I couldn't read it, but the red X atop the wooden board was explanation enough that I wasn't surprised when Koyl told me what it said.

“Well shit,” Koyl grumbled, “I guess we just have to wait.”

I helped Koyl sell the knives he stole during the afternoon. As it turned out the east end of the city had plenty of traders who dealt in stolen goods, including some who exclusively dealt in returning them to their proper owners for a fee. Koyl didn't go to one of those because, as he put it, “too many of them know me.” Instead, we found a dingy alley that served as a small black market and Koyl spent at least an hour haggling back and forth with a vendor about the value of the blades while I stayed nearby and browsed.

There was an impressive variety of weapons for sale though many were in poor condition and overpriced. In addition to bladed implements, one particular vendor specialized in plant extracts for different uses, all of which were highly illegal if one was caught with them on their person. Said vendor was a short woman with blotchy skin who was more than willing to entertain my questions about the bottles even though I made it clear that I likely wouldn't be buying any. Some of these sound more like bacterial cultures than plant extracts, I thought as the woman told me about how one of the plants would cause a sickness that rotted muscular tissue if put into an open wound.

“Okay Yuwniht, let's head back to the inn,” Koyl called out. The vendor who he had been arguing with looked exhausted and upset, which I assumed meant that Koyl got a good deal on the weapons. I thanked the woman for her time, as was customary apparently, then headed back with Koyl. “I didn't think you had a thing for spahteyvb,” Koyl laughed as we walked through the streets.

“What?” I asked.

“You know, the spots all over her skin, some people are into that kind of thing,” Koyl commented. Wait a minute, English has a word for that, doesn't it? I asked myself, racking my brain. Freckles? That was the word I think, I recalled, I've never seen them before, I figured that they would be smaller. “You're a man of strange tastes,” Koyl continued, “but at least there's something about you that I can understand.”

“How much did you get for the knives?” I asked. Koyl looked at me with faux-offense.

“Don't you know it's not polite to ask someone that?” he gasped.

“So how much did you get?” I repeated. Koyl laughed through his nose.

“Enough,” Koyl answered, “don't worry about it. I have enough that we can still split that trip evenly. It's fine.”

Just after sunset Koyl and I headed back to the Steelheart Company office to find Dawpvaol waiting for us, along with a very old man in a long burgundy gown. His head was nearly bald, with the only hair on it coming out around the back of his occipital bun, and his red eyes looked faded and sun-washed. Inside the office, a square table and four chairs were laid out with two chairs on one side, one chair opposite to first two, and one chair to the side. Dawpvaol gestured at Koyl and me to sit in the paired chairs, which we did.

“So it's you two?” the old man croaked. He sat down across from us, intertwining his fingers with his elbows on the table.

“Yes,” Dawpvaol replied politely, sitting down in the side chair, “this is Koylzmeyl Zae'ey'yaob and Yuwniht Lihyveyz.” The man grunted when Koyl's family name was said aloud but had no reaction to mine.

“You probably already suspect who I am,” the man began. “If you tell anyone about this meeting, both of you are dead men walking. Considering that you had enough forethought to bring this matter to our attention I can assume that you aren't dumb enough to do anything like that. Now, explain to me in full detail how you managed to acquire these job notices.” I glanced at Koyl with my eyes, and he immediately began the explanation.

I sat in place for around ten minutes while Koyl recounted what had happened the previous night, with some considerable edits for both of our safeties. The mugger who had attacked us outside became a man wearing a hatchet, and the resolution of the fight became a knockout. Parts of the conversation with Taaljheyz were removed. The fight between myself and the mugger was changed into a sword fight with the full approval of Yaavtey, and in the end I didn't kill him but instead merely cut his right arm off after a close duel. The rest was mostly the same, and even though it made less sense for Yaavtey to have taken such a liking to me in Koyl's version of events, the man and Dawpvaol both bought the lie.

“...and then we brought them here,” Koyl finished. “Neither of us felt comfortable executing these contracts for obvious reasons, and since Dawpvaol is someone I know I thought that it would be best to go to her about this.” The room was silent while the old man thought, rubbing a patchy blonde beard.

“You have been a real thorn in my side, Koylzmeyl,” the man said. “I have been apprised of your antics for some time now, and I would like to let you know that I heavily disapprove of them.” Koyl shrank in his chair ever so slightly. “Still, you did show good judgment on this, and ever since you have paired up with the other young man here your work output has improved,” the man continued. “You also did aid Thaajh after he was attacked, though you may not have needed to if he hadn't been so injured. A more suspicious man than I would suspect this to be part of some scheme, but to be frank I do not believe you to be smart or skilled enough to be a double agent.”

“You, on the other hand,” the man continued, turning to me, “I have no idea who you are. Nobody does, in fact. I had a few people look into you after you wounded Thaajh, but nothing came up at all. It is entirely possible that you are some kind of spy given your disproportionate level of combat skill when compared to the rest of you. I simply refuse to believe that a fighter like you has no record to speak of.”

“As you must know then, I washed up on shore after stowing awa-” I began, but the man held up a hand and stopped me.

“Do not lie to me,” the man said coldly. “You do not have to tell me everything, but I will not tolerate such blatant lies, especially from one of the prime suspects for the Suwlahtk massacre.” My body instantly went into a panic at the mention of Suwlahtk, but I suppressed it before the emotion caused any visible physical reaction. “Fortunately for you, nobody is talking over there, so there is no proof that you were the one to kill our lost squad,” the man continued. “I sincerely hope, for your sake, that it was not you who committed such a vile act.”

“I had left the town before any traders arrived,” I lied, “I did pass some people on my way to Frahmtehn who were armed, but I didn't take much note of them and they said nothing to me. None of them looked like Steelheart Company mercenaries or traders.” The man looked at me, then chewed on the insides of his mouth a bit.

“So what about those contracts was unacceptable to you?” the man asked. “You do not look like a man with many moral compunctions, but I may be mistaken. Did you not want to kill innocents? Do you simply not want to work for the Hatchet Crew? Were you not confident you could succeed? What was it?” I looked the man in the eyes, trying to figure out his intentions.

“It was the money,” I replied, “they weren't offering nearly enough. If those contracts had offered twice as much we wouldn't be having this conversation.” To some extent, it was the truth, if the contracts had offered more I would have judged the risk differently. The man smiled, showing me a set of yellowed teeth in his mouth.

“That I can work with,” he chuckled.