II

“Oh, by the way,” she said, “my name is Mai. “It’s just this way.”

Yoreno followed her down the hall of polished wooden floors. “Have you been with the Roaming Lions for very long?”

She shook her head. “No, not long at all,” she said. She had a slight voice that sounded like it could crack easily, but her demeanor was friendly, with just a hint of mischief in her green eyes. “I joined with a friend. His name is Dellwyn. You probably haven’t met him.”

“I’ve only met Kylen, Mistress Dantera and another member called Jorrinius.”

“Oh, Jorrinius,” she said, seeming surprised. “He’s a top-tier adventurer, you know. I’m just a first-tier.”

“What am I?”

She giggled. “I don’t know. Have you gone on any adventures as of yet?”

“No, not if you don’t count travelling from Haven to Aevalin an adventure.”

She giggled again. “Unfortunately that doesn’t count. Jorrinius, by the way. What was he like?”

“Big,” Yoreno said. “His sword was… how does he carry it?”

“What,” she asked, turning the corner down another hall with him as they passed a cat eye member, “you don’t think he lifts that with pure muscle do you? He’s an adventurer. I believe they say he’s a lord as well, speaking outside of the Roaming Lions of course.”

It was very interesting, but not surprising that Dantera had previously recruited others from the nobility into her guild. She herself was a lady after all.

“So Jorrinius uses magic to pick up his sword, then?”

“Hmm,” Mai noised thoughtfully as she put a finger to her lips in thought. “I don’t really know. Perhaps it’s his sword that contains the appropriate magic that lets him pick it up. Would that count?”

“I suppose it would.”

“Well, then, there you go.”

“You don’t have a sword, Mai.”

“No,” she said with a smile. “I’m a mage, but my staff is getting soaked.”

“Soaked?”

“Yes. The mages infuse water with magic, and then it turns into liquid magic. Don’t ask me about the process. That’s high-level alchemy and I’m a support mage. I make berries, I provide buffs and debuffs and I can heal people.”

“Useful on an adventure,” Yoreno said.

“Mmhm. Here we are,” she said, stopping at a door at the end of the hall.

“Thank you, Mai for the help.”

“It’s no bother. If you see me around, say Hi.”

“I will.”

She nodded and turned around. Yoreno looked at the door, then he knocked. There was a pause, but then Kylen’s rough voice called, “Enter.”

Yoreno went in. What he found was not exactly what he was expecting. There was a small anteroom, then the main area. Inside Kylen’s office there were two other doors, probably leading to his bed chambers.

Yoreno strode across the red carpet. “You asked to see me, sir?”

Kylen was searching his bookshelves for something. “Yes. Yes, I did, Yoreno.” He picked the title he wanted, pulled it out and sat it on the desk, then took his seat.

He gestured for Yoreno to also take one of the chairs in front of his desk. “About the drinking…” He sounded remorseful. Was this the part where he told Yoreno that he couldn’t stay in the guild because of bad behavior?!

“What you did—” Yoreno began, but Kylen stopped him when he shook his head and lifted his palm.

“It’s a rite of passage.”

“What?”

“Well, not exactly a rite, but I had to stop you there, son. You’re on the wrong road.”

Yoreno said nothing.

“It’s a point we make with all new Roaming Lions members,” Kylen said, crossing his fingers on the desk. “The point is to show you that you shouldn’t let the other members bully you, no matter their station.”

So he was a member now. “But you did bully me.”

“Ha!” Kylen scoffed. “Stop whining. I got you drunk, did I?”

“Yes.”

“You allowed me to get you drunk,” Kylen said, pointing a finger and Yoreno, “because you were too weak to stand up for yourself. We don’t want weaklings in this guild, and if you can’t hold your own, there is no formal litigation process—you handle it yourself.”

“How?”

“With your fists if you must, but handle it you will, or you may find yourself with your back to the Roaming Lions as you head home.”

“I understand.”

“I hope so. The exercise is not to pat you on the back and tell you that next time you’ll do a little better. I took thorough advantage of you. I could have ripped you off, stole some valuable loot, or even got you to do something that might warrant your removal from our ranks.”

“Is the Roaming Lions really so cutthroat?”

Kylen paused for a moment. He seemed to relax. “No, not really. But there are a lot of members and sometimes things happen when you have a lot of people together with disparate motives for becoming an adventurer. We do have rules, but often no one is around to enforce them.”

“Like when you’re in a dungeon?”

“Exactly. You need to make friends, but also learn to stick up for yourself. These principles will serve you in life as well as in this guild, son.”

“I understand,“ Yoreno said, “and I thank you for teaching me.”

“Don’t try to ply me with your thanks.”

He wasn’t expecting that kind of a response, but Kylen’s disposition was somewhat cranky, so he would be more careful what he said around the man from now on.

“You may go now,” Kylen said. “That’s all I needed to tell you.”

Yoreno nodded. But before he opened the door to leave the room, he asked, “So what now?”

“Study,” Kylen said. “The schedules are listed on the boards. Find yourself some friends and get into the study group for first-tier adventurers. This isn’t some hall of the mages where handhold you. Neither is the Roaming Lions an institution of higher learning. You find your own way—however you see fit.”

“Yes, sir,” Yoreno said, then he left Kylen’s chambers and closed the door behind him. Yoreno paused. That hadn’t been so bad, he thought. So he needed to go to the boards. He made his way back to the vestibule.

The boards were full of notices stating needs for adventurers to undertake various quests. Yoreno studied them for a moment.

WANTED, ADVENTURER THAT WEIGHS VERY LITTLE

We have need of a light adventurer for some sneaking tasks, as well as thievery. There’s a dungeon with a very specific type of monster. We need you to get inside and bring it’s innards to us for study.

It sounded like an ad suited for a burglar, not an adventurer. Perhaps the ones who wrote it were mages. He stopped reading. It was an odd quest to be sure. He continued scanning the board. There were other such quests that made Yoreno frown. Others sounded frightening, like the one about the catacombs in Valach that needed to be explored and cleared of the “horrors” lurking inside.

What was a horror?

This board had nothing about a study group or first-tier adventurers. Yoreno went to the other board on the opposite side of the room. On the left part he immediately found the schedules listing activities by tier.

STUDY AT NOON, First-Tier Adventurers

First-tier adventurers can meet in the study hall for a two-hour session on various monster reactions to fire and ice magicks.

Boring, Yoreno thought. That didn’t seem very suited to his role. What was his role, even? He didn’t know. This session had come and gone and there were no other study sessions for the day. It was too late. Evening was upon them.

Feeling hungry, Yoreno asked a passerby wearing a green tunic and a belt knife where he might get some food. He was directed to the Roaming Lions common room. The food smelled delicious, making Yoreno’s mouth water. The room was large, with tiled floors and rugs. In the wall a large hearth was set and at the tables dozens of members from the guild were eating. He spotted Mai eating with someone, probably the friend she had mentioned, and two others.

He went to their table. “Hello.”

“Oh, hello, Yoreno.”

The others looked up at him. Mai motioned to the seat across from her and Yoreno sat.

“Yoreno,” Mai said, “This is Dellwyn, my friend. And this is Sorika and Lev.”

“Hello,” he said, greeting them. They gave him nods in return. “You have to pay for your food in the common room. Did you bring any money?”

“Oh,” Yoreno said, “no, I didn’t.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll pay for yours.”

“Thank you.”

“So the class tomorrow, are they about magic? Will there be anything related to swordplay?”

“Oh, but it is about monsters,” Lev said.

“In regards to magic,” Yoreno answered. “How does that help me?”

“Well,” Mai said, “when you’re in a dungeon with a party, you have to know what each of your members is capable of, how monsters will react when certain things happen.”

He nodded. That made sense. Because Yoreno hadn’t previously thought of something like that—and that it seemed so elementary now that Mai mentioned it, only illustrated his ignorance.

“You should attend most of the classes,” Dellwyn said.

“Except for the role-specific ones,” Lev added. “That class tomorrow isn’t actually role specific. It will list them.”

“I understand,” Yoreno said.

“Will you be there?” Mai asked.

He nodded. “Of course.”

“So what role are you taking anyway?” Dellwyn asked.

“Whatever role I can use a sword in.”

Lev laughed. “So like Dell, you’re gonna take a warrior class. Mai is a mage, and I’m an archer. Sorika, here is a rogue—she likes knives and sneaky things.”

He regarded Sorika. She smiled, but said nothing in response to what Lev added about her.

“He knows I’m a mage,” Mai said. “We actually met earlier. I told you about him!”

Yoreno extended his hand and Lev shook it.

“It’s nice to meet you, Yor.”

“His name is ‘Yoreno,’ Lev.”

He had never been called “Yor” before, and wasn’t sure he really liked it either. But was he acting too much the noble?

“Its fine,” he blurted. “Call me whatever you want.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you,” Lev said.

“Thank you.”

“So you’re the one the mistress went to visit?” Mai asked. “There have been a lot of rumors.”

“My father went to the new Brendara estate,” Dellwyn said. “I’m a Blackridge, by the way.”

“Oh,” Yoreno said. “I met your father. He seemed interesting. Your mines in the Heffir mountains are bringing in a lot of gold.”

“It pays for the best trainers money can buy,” Mai said, seeming a bit jealous.

They continued to exchange pleasantries and Yoreno got to know the small bunch. He liked them. They all came from good families. Lev’s was a little poor, but that was no reason to treat him differently, and Sorika hadn’t spoken but she seemed fine.

“Oh gods!” Yoreno called among the group after they had all agreed to head outside for some fresh noon air.

“What’s wrong?” Dell asked.

“That was so boring. I think I’m ready to auger my brains out.”

Mai laughed. “I found it to be rather fascinating, actually.”

“Well,” Lev said, “You are a mage in training. I hope you found it fascinating.”

“When do we get to go to a dungeon? And why is Mistress Dantera ignoring me?”

“I don’t know, “ Dell said, “maybe she’s just going through the motions. Maybe she told your father she would let you be her protégé for some favor, but now she’s not coming through.”

Could that be true?

“Don’t listen to him,” Mai said. “He’s always a downer, always sewing discord.”

“I am not. I hold his group together.”

“Sure,” Lev said sarcastically.

Yoreno followed the others out, wondering if what Dell said was true. Should he go to Dantera’s chambers and ask her? Would she even be there? He had caught her on her way out of the Roaming Lions with high-class adventurers this morning. She looked at him, but otherwise said nothing.

What kind of protégé was he, exactly?

The various conversation topics among his new friends didn’t interest him right now. He didn’t even hear what they were saying. If Dell was right, Yoreno’s father would be furious. And then what would Yoreno do? Be a noble lordling and go to parties?

His father wanted to start an adventurer’s guild. He wanted to make money. He was already planning on getting into shipping, but from what Yoreno heard, adventuring was much more lucrative if a team or even a single high-class adventurer went raiding dungeons.

John was an ambitious man. What could Yoreno do if he didn’t follow this path? He supposed he could still learn without Dantera. And if she was stringing him along, that’s exactly what he would do.

Kylen had told him to find his own way.

Father was rich. He could buy the highest-skilled trainers for him. Yoreno could continue studying those boring, dusty tomes to learn about monsters, tactics and role types.

He would become an adventurer.

He swore it to the gods.

Not for his father, though he wanted to impress John, for him to be proud of Yoreno, he also decided he wanted a life of action, of danger and adventure. Books and class rooms and some administrator position in the government or in whatever lands John managed to carve out, would be the death of Yoreno.

Something had changed inside him. He had been fine before, but coming to Aevalin, and even only being here for just a few days, he was now changing. Maybe not outwardly so much, but inside, Yoreno now knew what he wanted.

“Are you even listening, Yor?” Lev asked.

“What?”

“Are you all right?” Mai asked.

“I’m fine. I’m sorry, I was somewhere else.”

“Yes you were,” Dell said.

“I’m ready.”

Mai frowned in evident thought. “Ready for what?”

“To pay attention,” he said. “I know I said I hated those classes, but I want to do this—to become a knight, an adventurer!”

Mai smiled, “That’s good.”

“In that case, Yoreno,” Dell said, “six more classes have been schedule between this morning and now. Didn’t you see the board on the way out?”

“Are we all going to them?” Yoreno asked.

Lev scoffed. “Yes, except I won’t be going to the one about incantations and magic energy types. Larshisa’s taking the first-tier archers out for practice today, so I won’t be able to attend the last two classes.”

“Anything with sword fighting?” Yoreno asked.

“One class,” Dell said. “It’s the last one of the day. “We can attend all the classes except for that one on magic energy and the archery.”

Loreno nodded, feeling bored, but resolute. He was in for a hard summer, it seemed.