Faye and Gavan both gave the man, Perth, a look. He grimaced and held up his hands.

“I know, it’s a lot to ask after what just happened.”

Faye folded her arms.

“Are you sure ‘a lot’ even covers the enormity of what you’re asking?”

Perth had the good grace to look abashed. But he tried to wave it away and instead he carried on, quietly.

“I already said, I know. But, well, you heard Old Man Srúta… if any kind of trouble arrives here, after he’s given me and mine succour, he’ll throw us out. I cannot let that happen.”

Faye scowled at the man, and said, “You were lying? There is trouble coming after you?”

It was Perth’s turn to scowl. “Now, I wasn’t lying. I did not steal anything I should not have. But, there were some former associates that might have taken… offence at my leaving the city.”

“Who are these former associates?” Gavan asked.

Perth looked like he’s smelled something rotten for a moment. “Others of the trade,” he said. “And not my locksmithing pals. There were some of us that would meet up regularly, compare conquests, trade keepsakes… you know?”

Gavan just stared the man down. When Perth looked at Faye, she gave him half a shrug.

“Alright, some former associates. We get it. Now, why would they come after you?”

“As I said, I did not steal anything that I should not have… except that the group had an… exit clause. If one of us were planning to leave, the others were to vote on it to determine how dangerous it would be for the others.” He shrugged. “It seemed like something we wouldn’t ever do…”

“Except, now you’ve left, you’re worried what they’ll do, or say?” Faye guessed.

“Pretty much,” he said, nodding. With a grimace, he looked directly in her eyes. “I would be in your debt if you were to check in on my former associates and convince them not to do anything rash.”

Gavan shook his head.

“Adventurers are not your personal problem solvers.”

“I know that” Perth said. “If it were just me, I would not bother you with this. But, in truth, it’s my daughter I’m concerned for. None of the others had much in the way of family, or, if they did, they were much better at keeping their existence hidden from the rest of us…”

He shook his head and fell silent. At first, it looked like Gavan would continue to refuse the man. Faye had a little more sympathy for him, but she did not want to undermine Gavan’s word so… obviously.

Perth spoke up again. “Well, let’s just say that I was definitely a naive fool to believe that the others were as like-minded as I first thought.”

“What happened?” Gavan asked.

“It was after one of our meets,” Perth said, a note of bitterness entering his voice, “normally we would gather in a random tavern. It was part of the game, you know? Which watering hole would we choose next? High end, exclusive bar or a dockside drinking post brimming with drunk sailors? Well, this particular month, the tavern of choice was actually in my home district. I should have told them no, or arrived in a mask, or something other than what I did — turning up as if nothing was wrong.”

Perth sighed and hit his fist into the palm of his other hand.

“Someone recognised you, then?” Gavan suggested, quietly.

“Aye,” Perth said, “that they did. They were a few beers in already and drunkenly gave the whole bloody group my full name, asked about my wife and daughter, right in front of them all.” His face had become haunted. “The moment the words were out of his mouth, I knew that I had made a huge mistake. Until then, I had kept my real life separate from the group. They only knew the basics.”

Faye shuffled and looked around. There were no other ears nearby. She was not sure if it was the story itself, or something else, but suddenly she felt as if she were being scrutinised.

“Well,” Perth continued, “the game was up. I managed to get the drunken fool outside, with orders to his friends to get him home, and I vanished from that meet.”

“Might have been better to stay,” Gavan said, “play it off?”

“Might have been, could have been, it’s all useless now. I’ve played it through a thousand times in my head. It doesn’t matter now. That was six months back. Since then, I tried pulling away. The others would make comments, things that let me know they knew and were now keeping tabs on my private life. They would mention a room we were decorating, or a particular delivery we had received. Nothing threatening. But it would only take a small step for it to go from being a game to something worse.”

“So,” Faye said, into the gap, “you got yourself in with an unsavoury group, thought you were having fun. What made you realise that it was not just fun for the others? What if they are all like you? Those comments some kind of joke?”

Perth looked up. “I wish. I started paying more attention. Before, I had assumed the others were as respectful of each other’s privacy as I had been, but now I needed to know what they were like… what they might do. I quickly realised they were more than capable of what I feared, or worse.”

“Okay, how many of them are there?” Faye asked. “Please don’t say a dozen.”

Perth shook his head rapidly. “Oh, no, no, there are only six.”

“Six?” Faye said, with a sigh. “That’s almost as bad. Why couldn’t it have been three?”

“Thieves always meet in groups of seven,” Gavan said with a murmur. “Tradition.”

Perth blinked. “I did not think that was common knowledge.”

“It isn’t.”

Faye looked at Gavan, he was no longer completely dismissive, but she knew he was still considering whether they would actually do anything for Perth. She pointed to a nearby chair.

“Perth, go take a seat, give us a couple of minutes.”

The thief, former thief if he was to be believed, nodded and moved away. Faye gestured for Gavan to join her a few steps in the opposite direction.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“It’s not our mission.”

“I know,” she replied.

“But it does not sit right with me to leave the family without options.” He grimaced. “Especially the daughter.”

“Good. I hoped you would say that” Faye replied. “Listen, how about we compromise? We tell him that we can’t promise to personally solve his problems, but what we can do is take the information to the Guild and post a mission for it?”

“What about the posting fee?” Gavan asked. “If he has nothing to give us, I doubt he has to coin to pay for it.”

“Then we will pay for it, and get payment from him later. Or, he owes us a big one.”

Gavan looked over his shoulder. Perth was sitting in the chair with his head in his hands. He looked up to see them but did not move from his seat.

“I don’t fully trust his story, either” Gavan said.

“I know, I can tell,” she replied, with a grin. “I think it’s worth investigating at least.”

“I—,” Gavan started, but just then they heard the high-pitched voice of a child.

A young girl had walked into view and had seen Perth sitting on the chair, before he could see her, and she squealed and ran towards him. With a jerk, he got to his feet and crouched down to open his arms as the young girl ran for him.

“Daddy!” the girl cried out.

Perth picked up his daughter and pulled her to his shoulder, burying his face into the hug. After a few moments, the girl pulled back to look at her father’s face. They were too far away for them to hear what she said, but the high-pitched squeal and celebration from the young girl gave them some idea what it was she had asked.

“Oh, gods,” Gavan muttered.

Faye grinned and elbowed her friend. “Right, looks like we’re helping the guy. Should I tell him, or will you?”

“You should,” Gavan muttered with a dark look. “I expected some time to take us away from the journey to the city, Faye, but I’m worried we are taking too long.”

“I’m not sure about you, Gavan, but I don’t think I can just watch as people need our help. It would feel wrong.”

Gavan sighed and nodded. “I know.”

Faye nodded and approached the man and his daughter. She could not remember a time that her dad had picked her up in the same way. She wondered what it would be like to have someone like Perth, a caring if somewhat stupid man, for a father instead of a hateful, angry person that blamed everyone around him for his own faults.

She assumed that little girl would grow up to be much more well-adjusted than she was.

“Perth?” she called.

He looked over and set his daughter down on her feet before Faye approached.

“Yes?” he asked. She could see he was nervous, though he tried to hide it. His hands rested protectively on his daughter’s shoulders.

“We can’t promise to solve this ourselves,” she began, and though it was not what he must have wanted to hear, she could see the hope ignite in his eyes. “But we will do what we can to get a real notice posted at the Guild when we arrive. We will cover the fee, but it goes in our accounting, and you’ll owe us.”

The man just smiled, and he grabbed his daughter’s shoulders. “Thank you.”

“Who is this, daddy?”

Faye looked down to the girl. She was openly curious, a happy, bubbly child whose rounded cheeks made her look like some kind of cherub.

“I’m Faye,” she said, and pointed to Gavan, “and he’s a grumpy mage.”

The kid giggled.

“How do you know my daddy?”

“We’re adventurers,” Faye said, “have you heard about us before?”

“I’m not sure,” the kid responded, seriously. “I have heard about Ystwyl, and Thoran, and some others.”

Faye smiled. “Well, we are not as famous as those, yet! But we do the same thing. Your daddy was just telling us about a job he knows about. We were going to help him.”

“That’s good,” the girl said, “my daddy always says that you should help people if you can.”

Faye looked up at Perth and nodded. “Exactly.”

“Stár?”

A woman emerged from between two of the buildings and looked around but calmed down the moment she saw them all.

“Oh, Perth, you have her.”

The woman, who Faye assumed to be Perth’s partner and the girl’s mother, approached with a stern look and cast a somewhat disapproving gaze over Faye and Gavan.

“Who are these, Perth?” the words were accusatory, but not overly so.

“Adventurers,” Gavan said, “passing through.”

“Hmm, I’m sure,” she replied. “And what are you doing bothering my husband and child? What has he done to warrant you two coming asking questions, eh?”

Faye was not sure if the woman was distrustful of adventurers, or of her husband. Either way, it seemed like a running theme in the area and she wondered what the Guild had done to earn such disrespect amongst the locals.

“I assure you,” Gavan said, “your husband has not done anything. We were simply asking for news of the region, as we have asked others in the area, and of your hamlet’s master. We were on our way.”

“Right, then,” she replied. “Good day to you. Come on, Stár, I have told you a hundred times not to run off like that!”

“But I found daddy!”

“Yes, found him where he wasn’t supposed to be!” she said, with a significant glance over her shoulder as she led the girl away. Their conversation faded the further they went, and Perth turned back to them.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “But thank you. Let me get you the information you’ll need.”

They noted down the rest of the information from the former thief before making their way back to the road. This time, they were ignored completely as they walked past the fields. Gavan was pleased about that.

“We should make good time, the next few days.”

“How much further do we have to go?” Faye asked.

“About a week,” Gavan replied, “longer if we take more unplanned detours.”

Faye shrugged. “I am sure we won’t take more detours. Not at all.”

Gavan rolled his eyes.