All pancakes and pancake recipes are banned, punishable by death.

- The first law enacted in the town of Veliki after the establishment of the Council of Five.

“Emer, this place…” Jevi struggled to find the right words. “It’s utter trash.”

“Hm.” I responded, brushing off a strange feeling from standing in the middle of the road, then realised Jevi wanted a reason to even enter this place. “That means it’s perfect.”

Unfortunately, after killing Ratmaker, escorting the hides of his rat to the guild hall for sale, and spending far too long buying fashionably discrete cloaks, time had leaned into night and the sky was darkening, outlining the distant moon that had been absent just two days ago. If Jevi hadn’t been with me, I would’ve set out onto the road during the night, to Hell’s with travelling with a convoy. Since she was with me, however, the annoying girl was able to inform me of the dangers of bandits and monsters.

Bandits didn’t scare me that much. The monsters did. It took a while for me to remember that we were still around Veliki, and therefore strong monsters were congregating in the area. Beither or otherwise, I didn’t want to test the wilderness at night, even with darkvision. And I especially didn’t want to drag a complaining Jevi along with me as I did.

Consequently, we had turned around and found an inn to stay the night. I knew Avien was in town, and he would be averse to anything less than the most comfortable establishment. A result of being pampered his entire life. That meant the Breaking Inn, the best Inn that I knew of, was a place I wouldn’t go, leaving the Gold Biter as the sole establishment in town available to me.

Half the windows were broken and the front door didn’t fit its frame. Inside there wasn’t even that much light or noise. It just felt depressing to even consider walking in.

So walk in I did. Jevi wasn’t far behind, grumbling the whole way.

There were a few patrons, all of various archetypes I recognised. There was the cutthroat, though unlike the unscrupulous rogues of Veliki, this one might actually cut my throat. There were two hooded rangers, each in the farthest, darkest corners. Though now that Jevi and I had walked in, hoods up, there were now four of the archetype. There was also the thug. This was one I wasn’t familiar with, since dumb thugs tended to get sacrificed before reaching retirement age.

Then there were a few depressed peasants. We wove through these characters, the only ones to take up space in the middle of the serving hall, to reach the innkeep.

“Rooms and dinner.” I said as I arrived at the counter.

The inkeep looked me over with their one eye. It was the only part of their face that didn’t have a scar. “Four silver a room. ‘Nother one for dinner.”

I was about to slap five of my silver down when Jevi beat me to it, leaving six coins on the counter. She got a frown sent her way.

“One room with two beds, and two dinners.” She ordered, studiously ignoring my ire.

The innkeeper just grunted and swept the coins into his palm. His one eye peered hard at one of the coins, then he bit it, to absolutely nobody’s surprise. Seemingly satisfied, though there was no nod of acceptance or shift in demenuor, he placed the coins below the counter and placed an iron key in their place.

“Dinner’ll be along.” He grunted as Jevi accepted the key.

“Drinks?” Jevi questioned.

His eye danced over us. “Not for you. Guards on the street tonight.”

Quashing a grunt, Jevi whispered to me, “Let’s find a seat.”

I was pleased to hear she had finally found the sense to keep her voice down. We looked around, but there weren’t any tables that didn’t have at least one depressed person sitting there, so we ended up using two of the stools along the counter and settled in to wait.

Before I left, I picked out another two silvers from my coin purse and set them in front of the inkeep. “We weren’t here.” By the time I glanced back over, the coins were gone. I could only hope that shady, likely criminal inkeeps honoured the vow of money. Avien was likely to do a thorough search of Breach before his mom told him to get a move on to wherever I was next.

Unlike the Breaking Inn, this place didn’t have an abundance of employees. Instead of a wench bringing us our meals, it was a fat woman, though not to the extent of Rockwell, thank the gods. She carried the sounds of foul cooking with her, and the aroma coming from the food was off putting, killing my considerable appetite rather quickly. It was porridge.

Porridge for dinner.

I really wish I ate the damn meal faster than I did. The door to outside opened when I was halfway through and I froze at the feeling of tension on my strings. Avien had just walked in.

Thankfully I still had my hood up, though Jevi had taken her’s down to eat. That was fine, Avien didn’t know her. But I needed to keep an ear on my promised husband while I kept an eye on my irritating leech. I had suspicions about Jevi, and if she had been so sensitive to what little things made me special, then there was no telling how she’d react to Avien.

He had the promised sword, the prophecy, the unmatched arcane tuition, and the omnipresent hovering-mom, after all. That was a lot more significant than my ‘wife’ status.

‘Fiance’, actually. The wedding will never happen.

I watched Jevi carefully as she turned her head to glance at the newcomer. Fortunately for me, a glance was all it turned out to be, though she did make brief eye contact with me to waggle her eyebrows as she turned back to her horrid meal.

I had to force myself to take another mouthful and blend in. It was even more disgusting now. My revulsion multiplied in the instant I felt Avien’s eyes wash past me. It took effort not to sigh in relief when that was all that happened.

This cloak was already a gold well spent.

“Greetings.” Avien said to the innkeep, his voice confirming the source of the feeling that came over me.

There was a moment, then the innkeep grunted. That was all Avien would get with a ‘Greetings.’

“I’m looking for someone who may have passed through here recently.” Avien continued. “She may even be here right now. I’m willing to pay for any information you have.”

And he was just saying that out loud? In easy earshot of the fucking cutthroats? My nemesis was even stupider than I first thought. It irked that this was going to make things harder for me going forward. Suddenly, I was appreciating what Dress had told me about becoming Emer a lot more.

Everyone, and I mean everyone was paying Avien rapt attention after that spectacular opener. Even, unfortunately, Jevi. Thankfully, most people had the sense to be discrete about it. Though the two rangers in the corner leaning forward at the same time was unnerving as all nine Hells.

The innkeep grumbled, giving Avien a long look. I didn’t dare look any further his way and give Avien the chance to make eye contact with me, but I could keep the innkeep in my line of sight. “Depends on what you’re paying.”

Avien didn’t say anything, letting the gold coin he placed in front of the tavernkeep do the talking for him.

“That looker is loaded.” Jevi whispered, nudging me. I didn’t respond and forced myself to take another spoonful of porridge.

It tasted like dirt.

The innkeep, meanwhile, had done his routine of confirming the coin as genuine, and vanished it beneath the counter. He then leaned forward in an intense way he hadn’t for Jevi and me, “What information are you looking for?”

His voice was quiet, likely meant for shady business. That did nothing to change the fact that everyone heard him!

“The whereabouts of a fifteen year old girl named Amber Jewel.” I felt Jevi’s eyes start burning through my cloak. “She has shoulder length brown hair, and is about this tall. She should be carrying two weapons with her, a dagger and a shortsword.”

The innkeep kept a long stare going, waiting for anything more Avien had to say. I was trying to figure out if the innkeep had seen my weapons when I was walking up, and desperately hoped they weren’t visible from where Avien was standing.

“She ran away from home.” Avien continued. “Her parents miss her dearly. I… miss her dearly.”

The innkeep nodded and started shining a mug. He turned my way, but didn’t say anything right away.

Oh. This slimy fucker! Avien’s offer for information was greater than my bid for silence! He was going to give me over to Avien right here and now! He was even making eye contact with me! It was a good thing Avien was stupid, because he might’ve realised that I was sitting right here from Jevi’s reaction and the scarred man’s eyeline if he was more observant.

Wait.

He hadn’t said anything yet.

I had a chance!

Standing autonomously, I fumbled for a gold coin to match Avien’s bid, pulled out two instead, put them next to my bowl, and left for the rooms upstairs. I was the only one moving in an otherwise silent inn, but it had been quiet before Avien anyway. It shouldn’t have been as tense as it was, but then again, it might’ve only been tense for me. I was the only one whose story had the potential to be ended here. Jevi stood shortly after me, pulling up her hood and following me up.

Relief came when I was nearly at the top of the flight of stairs.

“Sorry boy. Looks like your love story is a tragedy.”

I stopped and waited. That sounded like he was about to tell Avien that I died again, which he just wouldn’t buy.

“Haven’t seen anyone like that come through in recent times.”

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief as my strings were relieved of tension. Take that you silver haired fucker.

I had to stop myself from bursting out into laughter when Avien asked. “Could I have that gold back if you don’t have anything for me?”

There was no way the innkeep wasn’t going to be doing business with Avien after that. I was safe so long as I stayed in the Gold Biter.

“So-” Jevi said evenly once we were both in our shared room. “What was that about?”

I didn’t respond, having already removed anything that would make sleeping uncomfortable and claimed one of the beds. She tried to start conversation a few more times, but I was not in a state to respond. My heart was racing like it did when I realised Nikolaj had started chasing me through Veliki. At the time, if that thing had made it ten more steps, I would have died.

If Avien had just looked my way, my escape would have come to a sudden end. It wasn’t quite death, since he’d take me back to Veliki and I couldn’t reliably kill myself there, but all my aspirations would’ve been quenched. The only difference between the ends Nikolaj and Avien would’ve given me was the length. Both were equally bleak.

Thoughts such as these swirled in my mind. Looping back on themselves and shifting with every intake of breath until eventually, I was able to make myself think of other things. I even rolled over and looked around the dark room.

One of the window shutters was knocked off its frame. There were holes in the wall, and a draft was coming through. Time passed. I lay in bed shivering. Then I blinked and it was morning.

\V/

I still hadn’t calmed down when I pulled a sack of what Taranath called trail mix from my bag and placed my favourite dagger where the food used to be. There was a good chance I wouldn’t calm down until I was long gone from this place, ideally having given Avien a false lead to chase me to some end of this strange country. That was just a dream though. The long and short of it was that I needed to leave.

Again.

Were things just going to be this way from here on out? I really hoped not. A cloak could only work so many times.

I was up before Jevi was, so I spent the time to shove my magic into my curved sword, letting what magic was caught in the dagger return to me. It was a serene experience, and allowed me to just forget for what felt like both an eternity and a moment. When I was done and cracked my eyes open, Jevi was standing across from me in the room, all packed and waiting to go as if she had been up first.

The girl was even eating my trail mix.

… I guess I did leave that out for the claiming.

That didn’t stop me from glaring at Jevi and waiting for her to ask the question that was obviously on her mind.

“Feeling better?” She asked through a mouthful, taking me off guard. Was that… genuine concern? While blatantly stealing my food?

I took a moment to centre myself. Ultimately, I decided there was no point playing coy. “No.”

“Hrm.” Jevi intoned as she reached for another mouthful of nuts and berries. “What’ll make you feel better?”

“Leaving.”

“Thought it might.”

“Now.”

“That we can do. Let’s go!”

I held up a hand, wondering if the thought that crossed my mind warranted mentioning.

“Spill it.” Jevi took the decision away from me. Again, her mouth was full of my food.

“Check if Avien is downstairs. Let me know from the street. I’ll leave another way if he is.”

“Avien?” Jevi’s eyebrows furrowed. “That the silver fox cub’s name?”

Huh, that descriptor worked. I just nodded.

“Amber, you’re being dumb. The silver fox cub saw us together last night. If I leave alone, then I become suspicious, and then he’ll question me. Worst case scenario, I’ll lead him back to you, which I have gathered is something you don’t want to happen.”

I processed that. Then I burst out laughing.

“What?” Jevi demanded.

“I’m just surprised.” I admitted between laughs. “You can be sensitive after all!”

“Yeah, well. Don’t get used to it.” Jevi looked distinctly uncomfortable, and it was what I needed to calm down. I glanced out the window. It was a bright day. Cloudy, but no chance of rain going by the feeling in the air and the blue in the sky. Still… I was on edge.

I shook my head. This feeling would end when I left town. There was no point delaying further. “Let’s go.”

\V/

We couldn’t leave yet. I’d been getting a feeling for the past day, and it wasn’t going away. It had even followed me into the inn last night and it definitely wasn’t Avien. This wasn’t scrying either, it was something else. Something I realised I was familiar with and had lived with constantly in Veliki. Thankfully, it was something I had an idea of how to solve. When we were making our way through a crowd I told Jevi to go on ahead to the road out of town that we had agreed to use, then turned to join the flow of the crowd moving the other way and vanished from my spot beside her.

Immediately, the feeling of being watched faltered. I was right, the feeling wasn’t scrying, since I was the only one here that would be scried on so regularly. The sudden relief didn’t make me feel completely better, but now I had a decent grasp on what was going on and how to go about solving my problems.

That is, dealing with a stalker and skipping town.

My pocket burned where I kept my most treasured birthday present, and I grinned as I felt my actions align with the intentions of All. I could even feel a persona start to build up around me as I walked unseen towards my target.

The next thing I knew, I was falling in step with a middle aged man that didn’t look too remarkable. He had minor scarring on his arms, and walked with a deliberate slouch. I wouldn’t have given him a second look if this impulse hadn’t made me start walking next to him, but now that I had, I could see that his entire persona was designed. There were muscles that his slouch hid, and the scarring was not from any farmwork or trade in a small if bustling town like this.

They looked like clawmarks. This man was in disguise.

“The right hand runs silver.” Spilled from my mouth as he noticed my presence and tensed.

If anything, hearing me say that made his tension take flight. “And the left hand runs red.”

I paused, waiting for All to tug at my strings. It wasn’t like when Avien was around, where I felt like a passenger. I was still in control, and could choose to stop if I wanted to. “Together they do deliver.”

But I didn’t want to stop. The reactions I was getting out of this guy were hilarious. I’d really needed something right to go my way.

The man hesitated, but eventually grunted and said the final part of the passage. “Fortune and sudden ends.” He paused. “I was not aware you were already safeguarding the lady.”

“You were too passive in your investigations.” I reprimanded. I had no idea what I was talking about, but I was enjoying this. “And your skills at hiding are shit. The lady almost noticed you several times, to say nothing of how obvious you were to me. I will be drafting a recommendation for you to develop your skills in the area if you do not take the initiative.”

The agent paled. “Please, there is no need to send me back to…” His composure was quite broken. “Her…”

“Her?” I questioned as if I knew exactly who he was talking about. “Oh, no no. She already did her best, did she not? And you were a terrible student.” Every jab made the agent flinch. It was intoxicating. “A more proficient master will be needed. Though I see no problem with her checking his work after he is done.”

“His?” The agent asked, something like hope in his voice.

All left me to flounder for a name to use for intimidation. Fortunately, one sprung to mind before my flailing became obvious. “No doubt the name Casien is new to you. He tends to work alone. The fact that you have never heard of Casien is not a coincidence.”

The poor agent looked as though he was regretting all of his life choice at the moment. I deemed it time to give him a reprieve. “You’re done here. Report back saying that I am in charge of this mission, and will handle it from here. Do not let me see you again.”

“Of course.” The agent bowed, finally breaking the character that was already straining all over. “But how should I introduce you to Envoy Winters?”

“You dare ask such of me in the field?” I demanded, getting another flinch out of him. I was really enjoying this too much, even if I didn’t really get what was happening. My hand placed itself on my hip in such a way that my cloak parted, leaving the badge I’d just attached to my belt was visible to him and only him. I didn’t think it was possible, but he went an even whiter shade upon seeing the badge of the Vitorian Envoy.

“I am sorry Envoy! I didn’t know!” His talent at shouting whispers was commendable, at least. Somehow, that didn’t get overheard.

“I have been using the name Amber for this mission. You may return with that title.” It was a clear dismissal, made all the clearer by how I sped up to leave the agent behind. Ten steps later the heat faded from my badge and I was left to pick my way back to Jevi’s side on my own.

Well, at least it was fun. I’d needed some catharsis after the mess with the cloaks and my near Avien encounter.

Then the pendulum swung the other way. When I caught up to Jevi, she was standing next to Avien. They were talking. I stopped, unsure of what to do. The Jevi made a questionable move as I’d come to understand she always did by waving at me.

“Emer! Over here! You had me worried!”

That made Avien look over, and I immediately pulled my hood further down my face.

No!

No no no! What are you doing Jevi!?

“Where did you disappear off to?” Jevi scolded, interposing herself between me and Avien. I opened my mouth to respond. “No matter, you can tell me later. Do you remember this guy from last night?” She stuck a thumb over her shoulder. “Turns out he’s looking for his girlfriend or something. Girl with two swords, an imperial attitude, and travelling alone. Didn’t we meet someone like that?”

What? It took a few seconds for me to catch up with what Jevi was doing. Oh, I’m definitely playing along. I nodded, not willing to speak and out my voice to Avien.

“Truly?” Avien asked eagerly, stepping closer.

“Where did she say she was headed?” Jevi asked, snatching my attention back.

Again, it took me a second to catch up. This time because I didn’t know all the names of the cities in Kreg’uune. Surely there were more than four cities in an entire country.

I said, incredibly softly, in a way that Avien had never heard me speak before. “juvel.”

“Juvel!” Jevi exclaimed, whirling back around to Avien. “She said she was going to Juvel!” She paused, tapping a finger to her lips in thought. “You know, I heard a whisper the day before. The crown princess is actually missing. Your Amber, I think she was the kind to search for a quest, it’s possible she went to try and help the royal family with that.”

I had to hold in a snort. Yes, I was searching for a quest and knew that the crown princess was missing, but I’d never intended to get mixed up in that mess. It was too grand a scale for what I needed, which was simply an alternative to marriage.

“Yes, that does sound like her.” Avien said with a touch of melancholia. Um, excuse me? What the fuck did I tell you in my letter? Twice!?

“You’d better get a move on then.” Jevi told Avien. “She didn’t look that strong. I’m worried someone like her could get in over her head very easily.”

“You’re right.” Avien said, standing to his full height and strengthening his resolve. Before he left, he handed Jevi a sizable coin purse. “Thank you for helping me. She is more dear than you can know.” I had to stop myself from gagging. Then once more when he turned to me. “And Emer, you are important. Thank you.”

I blinked owlishly under my cloak.

Um. What?

Then it hit me. The elven phrase repeating all across my cloak. I had to stop myself from snickering.

Jevi rescued me by grabbing my far shoulder and pulling me into something of a hug. There wasn’t anything I could do but let it happen.“Don’t worry about Emer. She doesn’t talk much, and is very shy.”

“Thank you again, profusely.” Avien repeated. “But I really must go.”

And then he was gone.

Off to Juvel.

And far away from me.

It was everything I ever wanted. It was everything I ever needed. I could just about kiss Jevi- on the cheek, not the lips- but then I reevaluated when I saw the smug look she was giving me. It was an image that could go alongside the dictionary definition of insufferable. That made me rethink my actions in an instant.

“Well…?” Jevi asked expectantly. “I got rid of your stalker for you. Doesn’t that at least get me a ‘thanks Jevi’?”

“No.” I decided, extracting myself from her grasp. “I got rid of your stalker, and you got rid of mine. I’d say that gets you even.”

Jevi blinked, her gold skin suddenly pale underneath the mess of make up that she still hadn’t cleaned up. “Excuse me?”

“We should get going.” I said, taking the first steps out of Breach.

“Am- Emer!” Jevi exclaimed. “What are you talking about!?”

I sighed and turned to face the thing known as Jevi. “We’ll discuss backstory on the road. Not near Breach, and not near… that…” I waved a hand the way Avien had gone. “Thing.”

My pride had taken many hits in the last few seconds. I needed to recentre myself before I ripped Jevi’s false backstory to shreds.

\V/