Tanya was grumbling as she and Lukas made their way back to their new rooms in Meewich Gate. The svartalfars had been so impressed with Lukas’s performance that they’d immediately signed him into their employment. Of course, that was already part of the stipulations of the Trial by Blood, but Tanya wasn’t stupidly blunt enough to nitpick the semantics.

It bore mentioning that Lukas did fall into the ‘stupidly blunt’ category, but a quick heel to his shins had gotten the point across.

That was how Lukas— and herself, though purely by association —had landed their first mission from the svartalfar community. It was a difficult job, if not outright strenuous, even by her own standards. One would think it was out of spite for killing one of their members, but this wasn’t the case for the subterranean race. For the svartalfars, handing out the most difficult missions to outsiders meant sparing the lives of their own warriors.

It was this ruthlessly logical thought process that described svartalfars to a tee.

At least Lukas had the presence of mind to demand partial payment upfront. Thank the gods for small mercies.

“You’ve been looking a little peaky since the fight. Do you have an upset stomach or something?”

Tanya glared at him. “You haven’t realized it yet, have you?”

“That it’s your time of the month?”

Her glare intensified. “Don’t be an idiot. You have no idea how this new situation might affect my standing position with Zuken.”

Lukas hummed at that. “For someone who claims to be happy working for him, you sure do complain a lot.”

“I’m not complaining,” Tanya stressed.

“Then what’s the hold-up?”

“The hold-up,” she bristled, “is that I have a three-year contract with Zuken, which means I work for him. And now, thanks to you, I have another employment contract with the svartalfars—”

“Which makes no difference,” Lukas interrupted, shifting the svartalfar-forged axe from his right hand to his left. Even after seeing him waving it around for hours, Tanya wasn’t sure how one could keep holding such a heavy weapon, let alone carry it around. “It was the outcome of the bet. I defeat the other guy, and we get permanent employment, all year round, from them.” He raised his chin in faux-haughtiness. “Unless you’re complaining about having too many job opportunities—”

“I’m not complaining!”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Tanya resisted the urge to grit her teeth. But she knew that Lukas was not to blame. Well, he was, but he was just acting in his own stupidly-lucky fashion.

“You don’t understand, Aguilar. This is the svartalfars we’re talking about. Nothing about them is ever simple.”

“I impressed them. They hired me. Seems simple enough.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Frankly, I’m not sure there is one.”

“The point,” she stressed, “is that you’re missing important context. Svartalfars hold nothing but disdain for Asukan hierarchy and the restraints that the Guild imposes upon them. It’s why they operate from a private settlement instead of an office in the Guild. Why do you think they jumped at the opportunity when you challenged them to a trial by blood? They thought they’d see an Asukan bleed. Instead they got—”

“Defeated.”

“Stuck to you,” Tanya finished with a scowl. “It’s just like you, causing chaos everywhere you go and upending everyone’s lives.”

“One of my many talents,” Lukas grinned, shifting the axe back to his right hand again. “Asking annoying questions is another. What’s all this got to do with Banksi?”

“Svartalfars never employ the Guild for their errands. It’s an unspoken rule between them.”

“But you said earlier you worked for them in the past.”

If nothing else, at least he pays attention.

“That’s… a little different,” she prevaricated. “I’m a foreigner, and most of my jobs were under the table.”

Lukas paused mid-step, before turning towards her with a thoughtful expression on his face. “I think I see where this is going. Banksi created a private guild, and is now hoping to get a contract from the svartalfar settlements.”

“Yes. And now, I’ll have to deliver the news that he can’t.”

“Because I have it?”

“Because we have it,” she corrected. “We’re in this together. Signatures and everything.”

The Outsider frowned. “And the svartalfars will only hire one group?”

“Are you willing to compete against Banksi?”

Lukas shut his trap. “…A fair point.”

Tanya allowed herself a moment to bask in her victory. “Thought so. What’s worse is that you’re supposed to work for him, but this contract now tilts the scales in your favor. Most Asukan nobles would see this as an act of coercion.”

“It’ll force him to hire me or make me a competitor. Makes sense.”

“And you’re an Outsider. Even if Banksi can be reasoned with, Olfric won’t. How do you think he’s gonna take it? The moment he knows you’re holding the svartalfar contract over Banksi’s head, he’s going to come for you.”

“He’ll try,” Lukas answered with a smile.

Her smile vanished at his response, and her eyes narrowed. “You don’t have an Anomaly to hide in this time around, and neither is he limited like he was. Olfric is a noble, just like Zuken. He has people, resources, coin. And not necessarily in that order.” She put a hand on her waist. “If you think that you can go against all of that, I’d like to see—”

“You won’t see it.”

There was a scary look in his eyes that made her hold her tongue. It was the same look Roffulfet must’ve seen before Lukas had taken his life.

And he’d done it just by standing there.

Not for the first time, Tanya reminded herself that she was in the presence of a very dangerous individual. One who was being affable with her. Not because he had to, but because he chose to.

Her eyes went to the weapon in his hand, which he tossed up and down like it was a feather. The weapon came with a spaulder that he’d torn off of Roffulfet’s dead body.

She flinched at the memory.

“Easy,” she told him. Her words were meant to be soothing, though whether it was for herself or for him was not a question she wanted to ponder. “We still have a truce. Olfric is keeping your secrets. Zuken can be trusted to have a positive working relationship and I… I like working with you.”

“Fine by me,” Lukas said, the darkness in his eyes lightening considerably.

“Just so you know, seven hundred gold is a large amount of money,” Tanya replied, wanting to change the topic. “Even if the job turns into a nightmare.”

“I think nightmares are playful and cute.”

For the love of everything sacred, Tanya wasn’t sure if he was joking or just serious. Or just… being himself. “Keep that attitude. You’ll need it. After we meet with Banksi today and explain the situation, we’ll need to start planning for the mission.”

“Yeah about that,” Lukas asked. “What was all that crap about blobberlands?”

“Borderlands,” she corrected. “Remember what I told you about the world of the yokai? How they exist parallel to this world?”

Lukas nodded.

“During most days, the two worlds stay on different planes, not interacting with one another. But there are times and places during the year where the boundaries between the two worlds thin. To the point where crossing over is possible.”

Lukas’s eyebrows were raised. “You mean you can just walk into a different world?”

Tanya gave him a flat stare. “Who among us is from a different world and ended up in an underground anomaly begging for pants and a shirt?”

He at least had the decency to blush at that.

“These zones are what you call Borderlands, where you might just chance your way into the Other world. The world of the yokai, kami, and spirits both known and unknown. That is where we are headed. Our job is to keep the svartalfar collector safe while she gets whatever she came for.”

“And these… kami and spirits… They’re the peaceful sort?”

“Absolutely. They’ll tear you into pieces before you can intrude upon their peace,” Tanya cheerfully replied.

By the time the two of them were close to their destination, it was already late at night, and the air was saturated with dark, shifting mists, making everything just a bit damp. With the absence of moonlight and their illumination limited to a single lifeforce-torch, they couldn’t see very far in either direction. The street ends seemed to fade into nothingness, like paths into an eternal void. Above, there was no sky, just swirling currents of gray upon gray.

If this was what an average night looked like, Lukas wasn’t surprised the residents shut themselves in their homes after the sun went down.

“It’s not always like this,” Tanya explained as she rifled through her pockets. “Oumagatoki is near.”

“Omega-what?” Lukas asked. The more he heard of this world, the more it felt like a dream.

“It’s a term in Ualbesh.” Her soft voice felt booming in the quiet, empty street. There was a confidence to her voice that he did not share. He’d already seen what a lack of awareness could do to him. And whatever these mists were, they were obstructing his ability to scan or analyze it like some kind of veil. With how they were shifting around, there was no telling who— or what —was hiding behind them, ready to thrust a dagger from behind.

And yet, Tanya looked completely at ease. Was this because she was a yokai, or was there something else at play Lukas wasn’t seeing yet?

“What does it mean?” Lukas asked.

“Oumagatoki is ‘the hour of meeting evil spirits’. It is one of the days when the boundaries between this world and the Other is at its thinnest, which means a lot of the Other can come into our world, and hunters and adventurers can go into their world to seek treasure.”

“You don’t seem affected by it.”

“Because I’m not.” There was a skip in her walk, as if being in the mists was making her more playful. “The Frost in me is singing. It feels the growing connection to that world. The mists are also what allowed me to… escape my family.”

“The Shimizu.” Lukas had heard about it earlier.

“I’ve been running from both them and the yokai for a long time,” Tanya admitted. “These mists, they’re probably the one thing that truly belongs to me. They’re something I can call mine. Bremetans fear them, worrying that some wild kami or spirit will sneak up on them and eat them up.”

She eyed him for a moment.

“And they’re not entirely wrong.”

Lukas reflexively gulped. “And what about yokai?”

Tanya shrugged. “I don’t have enough experience with the yokai to know how they react to it. Though… I’ve often traveled through the mists and hid in the Other World when soldiers came after me.”

“I… see.”

It was moments like this that reminded him he was technically living with a murderer who escaped her prison sentence by running away. And he would probably end up as her adventuring partner soon, too.

Some lawyer he was turning out to be.

“Either way,” Tanya said, extending her hand outward and releasing a tiny gale. The mist around them cleared momentarily, allowing the image of a large gate to appear before them. “We’ve arrived. And…”

Lukas looked towards her, frowning as he caught sight of her pale face. Following her gaze, he regarded the light at the extreme left of the upper floor.

“I think we have guests. And something tells me it’s not a casual visit.”