It was a relief to learn that Town Guards were just normal people, at least when one let them be. Glenn was ashamed he’d never really thought about that until recently, but he’d been busy Leveling every day out in Grassea, or helping his mother around her shop, or spending time with Becka.

It wasn’t like the Town Guards were anonymous. All of the adults in town had known them at one point or another, and Glenn knew they traveled the town and ate at the Beast and did the things other people did when not on duty, but that didn’t mean Glenn knew them well ... or at all.

He’d been fairly focused on his own friends, and his own adventures, more than anything else.

Meeting Logain in the town square after turning in his rescue Quest had opened his eyes to the fact that the towering pillars of Strength he saw standing guard every day were good people, genuine and kind. Perhaps he’d bring the Town Guards a snack tomorrow, if they could eat on duty. Or he’d find out when Logain or Joanne would be in the tavern, off duty, and buy them a round of mead.

By the time he returned to his home, the moon had begun to descend. He’d been out until the town gates closed, which was later than he’d intended. He might get in trouble if his parents were still up, but he’d told them he might be out late, hadn’t he?

He peeked in through the window looking into Tania Redwood’s Enchanting Shop—all dark inside, with a plethora of colored crystals on the back shelves softly glowing—and breathed a sigh of relief. His parents must already have retired for the night. He walked to the door, pulled the key from his trouser pocket, slipped it into the lock as quietly as he could, and turned.

The click was loud, like normal, but not a complete betrayal. Glenn eased the door open as quietly as he could, slowly, to minimize the creak of the hinges. He slipped inside like a Shadower, gently pushed the door closed behind him, and then, quietly, turned the lock once more.

“How was supper?” Tania Redwood asked calmly.

Glenn spun so fast his back slammed into the door with a clatter. His mother sat on her enchanting counter now, lips quirked and legs crossed at the knee. She wore her modest gray nightdress as if she’d just risen from bed.

Glenn blinked hopelessly. “I ... uh...”

Tania raised an eyebrow. “Did your food get cold?”

“I was talking with Logain!”

Tania’s smile grew. “He’s always entertaining. When did you two become friends?”

“Yesterday. Mayor Coleman called him to act as an escort during my Quest turn-in. Logain congratulated me after. Us. I mean ... he said we did a good job.”

“You and Becka,” Tania prompted.

“Yes,” Glenn agreed, wishing he could absolutely sink into the floor.

Tania hopped off the counter and clicked her tongue in amusement. “Hal’s right. They do grow up so fast. It seems like only a few weeks ago, you were out wrestling pigs. And now, I imagine, you’re learning a whole new kind of wrestling.”

“Mom!” He did not need to hear this tonight.

Tania walked over to the table. “Didn’t you hear your father? ‘Glenn’s trial age now, and that’s straight from the Gods!’ Should I worry once again about your sensitive ears?”

Glenn groaned and looked between the table, then the stairs to his room. “Can I go upstairs and bury my head in a pillow now, alone with my shame?”

“In a moment,” Tania agreed, and settled into the chair nearest the stairs. “Come sit with your doting mother. You may be sixteen at last, but I deserve one last night to embarrass you before you escape my grasp forever. You robbed me of last night with your heroics, after all.”

Glenn grumbled a little, to himself, but walked over and sat down in the other chair. His mother did, it seemed, intend to rib him mercilessly, but at least she didn’t seem mad. And she was up awful late, so she’d likely been waiting awhile. He owed her a chat.

He glanced past her toward the stairs. “Dad’s?”

“Sleeping upstairs,” Tania said. “I’m afraid I wore him out earlier tonight.”

“I don’t need to know that!”

“It certainly will be nice having you out of the house.”

Glenn raised both hands. “Please, if you must punish me, do it in a way that’s both merciful and approved by the Gods.”

Tania laughed merrily and eased back in her seat. “I suppose you’ve suffered enough, for now. And for what it’s worth, I think you and Becka will make a fine match. I quite like that girl. She reminds me of me in a number of ways, some of which you’d prefer I not venture into.”

“Please no,” Glenn begged.

Tania tilted her head curiously. “So have you two talked about it?”

Glenn gave it a moment, just to be extra cautious. “About ... what?”

“If the Gods choose you both to become Adventurers,” Tania said. “Or if they don’t.”

“Oh,” Glenn said, and understood at last. This really was a chat he might want to have with his mother, given she had close personal experience with this very topic. “Yes. We’ve ... I mean, we’re both hopeful. We have a plan for every outcome. But if it doesn’t all turn out the way we both hope, we’ve both prepared.” He remembered his and Becka’s agreement. “We have an accord.”

“Good,” Tania said approvingly. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my thirty-six years in this world, it’s that the Gods are rarely sensible or even fair. The church might talk a good game, but if you ask me, too much of our fate is up to whimsy and blind chance.”

Glenn frowned. That sounded blasphemous, but it wasn’t like anyone was around to hear or complain. Other than the Gods. And he had found himself wondering about how the Gods made decisions recently. Such as why they’d allow their Safe Stones to fail, or a little girl to be ensorcelled.

Challenge. That was what it call came back to. Without the Challenger Gods and the Monsters they created, humanity could never grow stronger. Humanity would stagnate and die, no matter how much the Nurturer Gods did for them. That was the story, anyway. It was what everyone believed.

Yet his mother would have made a fine Ranger, one of the best, and the Gods had stuck her running an Enchanting Shop for the past eighteen years. Glenn knew this life, pleasant as it might seem, was nothing like the life his mother had desperately wanted. Yet she suffered without complaint.

Or, perhaps, she’d simply hidden her complaints for her only son. Until today.

“Here is all I really wished to tell you,” Tania said, as her face grew quite serious. “I’m proud of you. I’m proud of how you decided what you wanted to do so early in life, how you worked yourself to the bone every day across Grassea to Level as fast as any Unclassed person I’ve ever seen, and of everything you’ve done since. And most importantly, I’m proud of what you and Becka did for Azalea last night.”

Glenn had never been comfortable with praise. “Mom, please.” Yet his plea was much weaker now, and was really more to keep his composure than out of discomfort. She meant every word.

“Your father and I both worry about you, obviously. You’ll remember your father never wished for any life other than Townsfolk. If you get your wish you could meet the forever death in a ditch, in a zone neither of us can visit, and we might not know for weeks. That terrifies us both.”

Glenn leaned forward in concern. “That won’t happen.”

“Regardless, both of us support your goals,” Tania said calmly. “We’d rather see you chase the life you dream about than trap you here with us. So if the Gods give you the life you’ve always wanted tomorrow, go. Don’t even give us another thought until you’re rich and Level 30, and you decide to pop back in your aging parents to see if we’re not dead.”

“I’d never wait that long!” Glenn protested.

“Also, you could shower us with treasure,” Tania said. “I could certainly use some more treasure around the shop.”

Glenn sighed and smiled. “Mom, it’s just...” He stopped. “Thank you. For all you and Dad have done for me. I don’t know if I’ve said it enough, but all your help has been amazing.”

“And if you aren’t chosen,” Tania continued, “you need to understand that it has nothing to do with you. You’ve more than proven you deserve to be chosen as an Adventurer.”

Glenn nodded.

“Now go try and sleep,” Tania said. “Tomorrow is going to be a rather exciting day.”