“To Temporary Commander Shaw Arbutus!” Amalfrieda exclaimed as she lifted up a mug of beer.

“Temporary Commander Shaw Arbutus!” Cried out the other third years, much to Shaw’s complete embarrassment.

They had taken over a corner of a tavern and had rented out rooms at the inn. The plan was to give Shaw a proper sendoff by partying the night away. This isn’t what Shaw enjoyed, but he begrudgingly went along with it because it was what his friends wanted.

Zaniyah and Chickadee didn’t particularly want to be here, but neither of them could stand to be at the barracks at the moment. They didn’t know if Veximarl had intended to betray them or not, and they liked being the gap where there wasn’t confirmation. Neither of them wanted to hear that Veximarl had been working against them for the past few months.

“Beer,” said Naiov as he set down a set of mugs in front of them.

Zaniyah pushed the mug away. “I don’t know, I’m kinda scared that Chi might set everything on fire, and- Chi!” Chickadee was already chugging his down.

Naiov waved a hand around. “It’s weak stuff made for flavor and not alcohol content. One isn’t enough to do anything.” Ice briefly formed around his fingers. “And if he does start a fire, I’ll put it out.”

At least having another elementalist around was somewhat reassuring. “I’d feel better if you hung out with your friends instead of us. I’m only waiting around for Beat to show up.”

Naiov started laughing. “Are you kidding me? See those three?” He pointed to three members of Gildenboot, who were circled around Rebecca. “I don’t even know their names. I don’t think any of us other than Rebecca does. We just refer to them as the Gildies. Speaking of threes, this is the third damn party we’ve held this month. We gave one to both Duxton and Udell.

Duxton went around and said a few words to each of us at his party, and that was the only time I’ve ever directly spoken to him. Trenchall over there,” he gestured to Trenchall, who was nursing a drink by himself, “he only applied to Braytons because he thought the real Patterfall Aconite was coming here. He wasn’t even happy when he found out it was Duxton. Turns out, he just really wanted to beat up Patterfall for some weird reason he won’t explain to any of us.

To the rest of them, I’m no better than one of those Gildies. I scraped by and managed to get accepted based on my skill, but that was only good enough for them to learn my name. You guys? We don’t get along, but at least our blood is from Carapace. I have more in common with you than the lot of them.”

“What a sad, little life you lead,” replied Zaniyah.

“Sad,” repeated Chickadee, right before he stole Zaniyah’s beer.

Naiov narrowed his eyes at the both of them. “Cute.” He sat down next to Chickadee. “Just let me sit here, okay?”

“Avoiding Bitch?” Muttered Chickadee.

“Yeah, so?” Asked Naiov with a tilt of the head. “If Amalfrieda forgets me and takes someone else on her mission in the morning, then it isn’t my problem anymore.”

“Not it,” immediately replied Chickadee.

“I wasn’t asking you,” said Naiov with a squint. He then turned his attention to the crowd. “... Just give it a minute.”

While the third years were laughing and gossiping, Trenchall sat quietly at his table. His eyes were locked on the far wall, his expression distant and unreadable. He quickly tilted his head to the side, popping it with a loud crack, then stood up.

“It is now dance time.”

He moved to an empty spot on the floor, and despite no music playing, began to swing his arms about. His coins loosed from his belt, glowing in a multitude of colors as they flew and spun around him. Trenchall’s feet, firmly planted to the ground, did not move. Only his ever-flailing arms and bobbing head performed his “dance.”

“Yeah!” Hollered out Amalfrieda.

She grabbed Rebecca by the hand and dragged her out. They began to dance together while the rest of the third years, except Shaw, drunkenly chanted a drinking song. It wasn’t long before the group was making an even bigger embarrassment of themselves.

It seemed like this would be fun, but Zaniyah felt distant. A chill ran up her back and she glanced behind her just as Beat and Alton were walking up. Beat gave her a brief nod then began to glare at Naiov. When Naiov failed to notice him, he loudly cleared his throat.

“Hmm?” Naiov turned around and froze in place.

Beat didn’t say anything. He simply glared in a manner that seemed to say, “I know you are working together with Amalfrieda and got Trenchall drunk so that he would agree to join her on her mission.”

Naiov said nothing, but smiled back innocently with a grin that shined with, “Well, I would never plan for such a thing, but I wouldn’t exactly do anything to save him if such an event occurred.”

The expression on Beat’s face darkened, as though he were thinking, “The moment I open my mouth and acknowledge what you’re doing, something very, very bad is going to happen to you.”

“And that’s enough dancing for tonight,” said Naiov out loud. “Come on, Trenchall! Time for bed!” He stood up and left without even bothering to say goodbye to his fellow Carapace natives.

“... Rude,” muttered Zaniyah.

Beat gestured towards his fellow squires as he addressed Alton. “I need to take care of that.”

“I’ll take them upstairs,” replied Alton. He held up a key and wiggled it in front of Chickadee and Zaniyah. “I got you two a room.”

Chickadee stood up and began to follow Alton as he walked away. “... Vex,” he muttered.

“He’s either still with Gwyn or brooding by himself somewhere. I didn’t tell him where Tish was, and it doesn’t matter. Irving and Mila won’t let him see her.” There was a hint of disgust in Alton’s voice as he spoke. “In here,” he said as he unlocked a door.

Zaniyah looked around. It was a simple room with only two small beds. “Oh, was I supposed to share a room with Beat tonight?”

“This room is for you and Chi,” replied Alton. “I’m only supposed to stay long enough to make an excuse for Shaw to come back to the barracks with me. Alder has a lot of work too, so I don’t know if…” His voice drifted off.

“Well, uhm,” muttered Zaniyah. She and Beat had their talk already, and the last thing she wanted was to have him give her a firm handshake and wish her good luck. “Yeah, I guess that works.”

Alton sat down on the edge of a bed. “We need to talk about the upcoming mission. I don’t think the monks were expecting us to do much other than act as muscle and move stuff around, so having a few less people isn’t a big deal. We’ll do what we’re asked of and come back as quickly as possible.”

Chickadee sat down next to him. He didn’t say anything, but gripped onto Alton’s arm.

A tight grip that spoke volumes to Alton. “Vex isn’t allowed to leave the barracks until Lady Blu feels that he is mentally well. Currently, they view him as a victim in this. It could take a few weeks for them to come up with a decision on what to do with him.”

“He betrayed us,” replied Zaniyah.

“I know it’s difficult to understand, but-”

“What is there to understand?” Zaniyah blurted back. “So what if it wasn’t his fault?” She stood up, wobbling as she did so. “I’m going to have to give up and leave because my legs aren’t good anymore! I don’t have anything other than this, Alton! I don’t give a shit about being an Arbutus or nobility, I had my life to live and that was taken away from me because he kept his damn mouth shut!”

“And you don’t think I don’t feel the same?” Alton stood up. His sleeve slipped away from Chickadee’s fingers. “The only luck we have is that none of us know where Sybil is. At least none of us have to worry about him messing that up!”

A gust of hot wind blew through the room. “That’s enough,” growled Chickadee.

Alton sat down in a huff. No Zaniyah, no Gwyn, no Veximarl. He knew this mission was going to be a pain, but now he didn’t even see a point in doing it anymore. “We’re going to turn to our knights for advice and take it one day at a time,” he finally said.

“You’re just saying that because that’s what you were told to say,” spat Zaniyah.

“Yes, but those are my orders. I’m going to follow them,” growled Alton.

The two continued to glare at each other for a moment. Chickadee moved between them and started to wave his hands about. It was Zaniyah that relented first. She remained standing, folded her arms, and tilted her head.

“What are they doing with Tish?”

“They won’t tell me,” replied Alton. “I think they broke some sort of deal with her. She’s not going back to Fogbloom, but they don’t want to risk me telling Vex where she went, so,” he shrugged. “All I know is that those magic bindings are stuck on her until she can find someone to take them off.” He folded his arms and matched Zaniyah’s stance. “Is there anything else I can answer for you?” He asked sarcastically.

Zaniyah let out a sigh as she glanced away from him. “Does Vex know who she’s working for?”

Alton gritted his teeth. “... He probably does, but Lady Blu says I’m not supposed to interrogate him or cause him any stress because blah blah blah, I don’t care. He’s going to go into therapy, and it isn’t my problem anymore,” he said as he threw up his hands.

Zaniyah didn’t like this. The whole situation felt… Incomplete. She didn’t want to go to Fogbloom and know that this whole situation was still brewing at Bratyons. “I’m going to stay here.”

“You’re going,” said both Alton and Chickadee.

“Yeah, but what if we find out something important and, like, we gotta move on it right away?” Zaniyah shifted her weight from her right to the left foot, swaying slightly back and forth. “It’s just gonna be you two doing anything important, since Vex is an idiot traitor and all that. Plus it’s not like those paladins are gonna care. All I gotta do is write them a letter going honor, honor, duty, and they’ll beg me to stay.”

Alton shrugged. “True, and I would love to have you, but I also know you’ll push off meeting any of them forever. Some of them are quite old and they’ll probably be dead by the time you get around to it.”

Zaniyah was half curious to meet this grandmother of hers. She began to chew on her lower lip. “Fine, but you need to send a super fast messenger to me if something happens. I want to come back right away.”

“Deal,” said Alton as he pulled a pouch of coins from his pocket. “Here.” He handed the money over to Chickadee. “I need to get Shaw now. You two order all the room service you can afford and try to enjoy yourselves.”

“Right, whatever, okay,” said Zaniyah with a roll of her eyes.

And that was a vague enough agreement for Alton. He patted Chickadee on the shoulder and went about his way. Neither Chickadee or Zaniyah wanted any food. All they ordered was a deck of cards. They spent their night doing something they hadn’t done in a very long time.

Talking.

Not about Veximarl or Braytons, but about random stuff. Mindless gossip or simple word play. Cards were passed back and forth as they made up their own games to play. In the morning, they returned to the barracks. Chickadee went to the forge, while Zaniyah finished packing.

It wasn’t long before it was time to go. Not a lot of people showed up. Only those in Grimstone and Baron Squad. The exception was Veximarl, who was currently staying in the infirmary. Alton had entered the squad room late the previous night, and had only stayed long enough to inform Veximarl that he would be staying in Stonetoe’s apartment.

Veximarl didn’t want to be the reason why his squad felt uncomfortable in their own living space, and Blu had already offered to let him stay in the infirmary until he was fit for active duty again. She was currently idling by the window, watching as Alton and Shaw hitched the horses to a carriage.

“It’s not too late to say goodbye,” said Blu in a distant tone. “A solid first step in reforging the friendships you have.”

Veximarl replied by unloading the contents of his stomach into a nearby bin.

Blu walked over and pulled back Veximarl’s hair. “There, there,” she said as she patted his back.

His withdrawal symptoms were hitting him much faster than Blu had expected. Not even a full day. She’d have to completely rethink his recovery process. Maybe even have him do nothing but lie down for a few days until he recovered quickly.

The main problem was that she didn’t have access to medicine that would treat the problem. She could put in a request to Grand Temple, but the medicine was only used for treating Eatha’s magic. They would start an investigation if she ordered some now. If only she had ordered some when she meant to last summer, she could’ve made the excuse that she was worried about priestess applicants cheating during the exams.

Veximarl devolved into dry heaving. His mouth was dry, and his hair was becoming drenched with sweat. He hugged the bin to his chest as Blu fetched him a glass of water. “T-thank you,” he garbled out. “Please, allow me to empty this for you.”

“You just sit on that floor and sip that glass slowly. We can’t have you vomiting to much. It’ll rot your teeth out.” Blu set the cup on the floor and pried the bin from her hands. “It’s my job to nurse ill squires back to health, and I’ll be damned if I let a patient try to do my work for me.”

“Thank you,” repeated Veximarl. He took the faintest sip of water. It was ice cold. The sudden change of temperature in his mouth made his throat tense up, and he had to rub at his throat just to be able to swallow.

Blu emptied the bin and set it down next to Veximarl. “Do you want help to a bed, or do you want to stay there for a little longer.”

“... A little longer,” muttered Veximarl in a hoarse voice.

She glanced over to a letter that Veximarl had written. “I should rip that letter up as well.”

Veximarl shook his head, even though he knew it would make him motion sick to do so. “My efforts are better spent on the war. It’ll be safest for the barracks if I leave as soon as I am able to.”

Though he trusted that Tish wouldn’t say anything about his true nature, many others knew about his abilities. Necromancy was illegal in Lustro and he had a lifetime of experience fighting tainted beasts. If he left to join the war effort, maybe he could prove himself a little. Not enough to change Lustro’s impressions on his kind, but it did give him a way to sneak into the Sky Kingdom, where…

Well, Veximarl didn’t exactly know what the laws were for his kind, but he did know enough about their traditions to meld himself into society there. It’ll be fine. He had already written to Stonetoe, asking to join his unit, and he knew his knight wouldn’t reject him. Once he departed, his friends, these barracks, and his own life would be safe. That’s all that mattered.

As he clamped onto his throat again, this time to stop himself from vomiting the mouthful of water, he knew that he just had to take this one step at a time. That was the only way he was going to survive.