The outside of the guards’ barracks was polished, clean and professional. It was a stark contrast to the color that surrounded it, but not so much that it looked out of place. Indeed, it made the building easy to find in the cluttered main street.

The interior was none of those things. Paint chipped off the walls, wood splintered and creaked everywhere that Belle stepped, and water dripped from the ceiling. The last point was the most concerning, since it wasn’t raining outside. Making sure that she stepped around the small puddles on the floor, Belle made her way towards the Lieutenant’s office, where the man himself was shuffling papers around, as though trying to make the place look tidy.

‘Tidy’ was not the word that Belle would have described it with. Papers were in neat piles, but there were dozens of piles, some of them stacked so high that she was worried that a light breeze would send them toppling to the ground. The room itself was claustrophobic, not particularly small, but with most of the floorspace being taken up by paperwork, it gave the impression of a storage closet more than an office.

“Please, take a seat.” As Belle entered the office, the Lieutenant gestured towards the small wooden chair that sat opposite his desk. Very careful, being sure that she didn’t knock anything over, she stepped over to the chair and took a hesitant seat. The chair creaked and groaned, and her anxiety spiked. If this was an interrogation tactic, it was working.

To her surprise, as the Lieutenant sat down, his chair creaked as well. “Pardon the mess. Filing all of the incidents in the city has been… troubling.” The Lieutenant’s brisk smile broke into a grimace. “Tell me what happened.”

Belle paused, thinking about how much she was going to say. She decided to err on the side of caution. Putting on the impression of a naive, innocent young woman, she said, “Well, I was just making my way out of the tavern, when a small boy ran towards me asking for help. Being the good person I am, I--”

“Cut the bullshit.” The Lieutenant said matter-of-factly. “You didn’t become a Burner to help people. You apparently didn’t do it for money, either. If you did, you would have tried to capture some of the stragglers from the Market.” He stood up and looked down at her. “I don’t know what your motive is, but it doesn’t matter. What I do care about is that you know the meaning of restraint.

“See, the vast majority of these files,” he gestured around them, “come from collateral damage. Damage caused by Burners.”

Belle blinked as she processed that information. “Oh.”

“Oh, indeed.” Lieutenant Slater’s expression grew grim. “Now, I am a pragmatist. I focus my effort on running a functional city, but the church insists on taking down every trinket holder in the entire city. At any cost, apparently.” He started pacing across the room, trodding through the stacks with ease. “To be perfectly honest, I don’t care about them. We have larger issues that a force of mercenaries could certainly help with. But instead of giving funds to the lawmakers, ruffians of the area are given every resource available to the Empire. It’s a disgrace!” Belle leaned back as the Lieutenant barked that last line.

She wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that tirade, or what any of it had to do with her. Belle had better things to do than provide therapy to an overworked officer. “Wow, that’s awful. I suppose that I’d better let you get back to your work, then.” With a nod, she rose from her seat, and started towards the exit.

“Don’t leave.” His command had obvious authority and a latent threat behind it. Sighing, Belle sat back down. She seriously hoped that he would get to the point soon.

“I have a very special task for you. See, this town has problems that the church doesn’t even know about.”

“Really?” Belle gave him a skeptical stare. From his rant it seemed like the church was practically running the entire city.

“Yes. Because I’ve been hiding them from the Burners.” The Lieutenant leaned against the desk, and in a more confidential tone, said, “There is a group of mages in the sewers. Not petty enchanters or salesmen, but proper magicians. Good enough to hide from us, no matter what we do. And, as I’m sure the priest has told you, there has been quite a bit of magical interference in the city.” He gave Belle a look. “It’s clear that they’re up to no good.”

“So? Do your job and get rid of them.” Belle was becoming increasingly annoyed at the Lieutenant. None of this seemed to relate to her in the least, although she was a little curious about the source of the magical interference.

“Ah, but that’s where you come in.” For the first time in the conversation, he gave a smile. It sent shivers down Belle’s spine. “As far as I can tell, the priests of the church have their own ways of finding magicians. Even Priest Damian, as much of a pest as he is, has his own positive attributes. So, this is what I propose. You accompany the priest, find out where these magicians have made their nest, and we take them out discreetly. Without any collateral damage. Or, Lady forbid, more paperwork.” The Lieutenant stared at her expectantly.

Belle hesitated. “And what’s in it for me?”

“Whatever you need.” The Lieutenant spread his arms. “Whatever it is that you’re looking for in this damned city, I’ll do everything in my power to help you.”

It was a tempting offer. A very tempting offer. With the help and approval of the Empire’s army, and their information network, she could probably dig into the background of every Burner in the city. One of them knew something about the witch who stole the Grove’s ritual. Not to mention, she was curious about the interference. She didn’t know of any spell that had this sort of build-up. If this was truly the work of the rogue magicians, then it could be more dangerous than the Lieutenant thought.

But this plan had its downsides as well. The largest being that she would have to work with Damian for an indeterminate amount of time. The very idea made her head spin.

A decision had to be made, and as much as she disliked it, it was too good to turn down. Belle gritted her teeth, and said, “Get me the priest. I’ll look for your magicians.”

Lieutenant Slater gave her a firm smile, and said, “Wonderful. Don’t worry, I’ll have one of my finest guardsmen accompany you.”

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door, and a lazy voice yelled out from the other side. “Lieutenant, I’m ‘ere for my punishment.” It was vaguely familiar to Belle.

“Come in.”The guard entered, and Belle recognized him. It was the guard from earlier today, the one who had punched Damian. Her heart sunk as she realized that he wasn’t going to be particularly helpful.

The guard, Belle remembered his name was Alan, stared at her suspiciously. “What’s she doin’ over here?”

Slater smiled with predatory glee. “Ah, Guardsman Alan. This woman is your punishment for assaulting a priest. You will be accompanying her and Priest Damian on their journey.”

Alan groaned. “You’re makin’ me do more work? I’ve been haulin’ damn buckets all day!”

“And you’ll be hauling them for the rest of your life if you don’t do as I say.” The Lieutenant pointed at Belle. “Follow her. Do as she says. Keep your job.”

“Fine.” Alan scrunched up his face, as though he was about to spit on the ground, but quickly reconsidered after a glare from Slater. Instead, he fixed Belle with a glare. “Don’t think ya can just be bossin’ me around, though.” He sauntered out of the door before Belle could respond.

She sighed. “Nice to meet you, too.” It looked like the Lieutenant had just put another burden on her shoulders. This job was getting worse by the minute.

A deep chuckle came from within one of her many pockets, quiet enough that only she could hear it. Belle discreetly slapped the dragon, and stood up. “I’ll get your job done, but you better hold up your end of the bargain.”

The Lieutenant shrugged nonchalantly. “Like I said, everything within my power. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to write up paperwork for at least a hundred fines.” He turned his gaze towards one of the stacks of paperwork and sighed.

It made Belle feel a little bit better that he wasn’t going to have a good day either. Not a lot, but a little bit. She made her way out of the office, and then the barracks. As she left, she noticed how fresh the air outside felt, unaccompanied by the distinct scent of mold and sweat. The red sun shined on her with vigor, determined to make sure that the last gasps of day would be as strong as the rest of it.

To her left, Damian sulked next to the wall. He let out a lethargic sigh. “I didn’t realize that even the guards hated me.”

To her right, Alan was leaning against the barracks, snoring softly. How he had managed to fall asleep in the minute it took her to get out here, Belle didn’t know, but seeing him made her realize just how tired she was, too.

She stretched towards the sky, every bone in her body aching with exhaustion. “Let’s deal with the magician problem tomorrow. I’m going to find a place to sleep.”

###

Karla pecked at Boggy’s armor with worry. “Wake up! Come on, wake up!” She’d been doing it for the past five minutes, with no response.

“It’s no use. I think he’ll be out of it for a bit.” Edie said in a resigned tone. “He’s had to do a lot. He’s had to clean up after your messes.” There was a bit of edge to her tone.

The Kanmi looked at her, offended. “My mess? I’ll have you know that it was my jewelry that even got us the magical artifacts in the first place!”

“And it was your greed that got Darkness burned up!” Edie’s voice got more heated.

Karla paused for a second. She did feel a little bit of guilt for the weird monster, but she pushed it down. “It’s not my fault that he’s so fragile. He’s the one that left the Grove, he should have known the risks.”

“He didn’t realize that one of the risks was going to be you. You’re the one that ripped the cloak, and put him in light. In fact, you’re the entire reason that any of us are being chased!” Edie's voice pierced through the air.

Karla physically recoiled from the words. She stood speechless for a second; the words had stung, and left her stunned. After she regained her ability to speak, she said, “My fault? You think all of this is my fault? I’m not the one who wanted to go outside in the first place! If you want to blame somebody, you might as well put it all on the monstrosity inside the cloak.” She gestured towards it with one talon, disgusted. “It’s the one that wanted to see color in the first place. If you ask me, it doesn’t even deserve these.”

She held up her bejeweled wing, beautiful magical aura emanating from it. Necklaces and rings adorned it, creating a beautiful rainbow effect that lasted about an inch above it. To be perfectly honest, Karla didn’t care too much for them; they were more glowy than shiny, but her anger made her want to keep them for herself.

A voice popped up that she hadn’t been expecting. “...Really?” The cloak rustled a little bit, as though the being inside had just started waking up.

Edie started, clearly just as surprised as Karla. “No, Darkness. Karla is just being stupid.”

“Stupid!?” The Kanmi screeched, the word echoing off the narrow walls of the alley. “You just think that I’m stupid, that nothing that I’ve said matters, don’t you? You all wouldn’t have made it out of the Grove if it wasn’t for me!”

“And we’re not going to make it out of here alive because of you!” Edie yelled back.

“Oh, so you don’t need me? That’s how it is? Well, let’s see how well you do without me, then!” With that, Karla flapped her wings and took off, flying just below the buildings. She was angry and frustrated, but she wasn’t stupid enough to be seen. At least that’s what she thought. Apparently her so-called ‘friends’ didn’t think the same.

She fumed down the alley, flapping her wings as though they were slapping the moronic fish in the face. The further she went, however, the more her anger faded, and she was left feeling… complicated.

It wasn’t her fault that Darkness got caught in the light. And even if it was her fault, it wasn’t like that abomination died or anything. If she got in trouble every time that somebody got hurt, then she would have been in trouble all the time in the Grove!

And yet, there was still a nugget of guilt hidden in the back of her mind, nagging at her. She did what she could to push it back, to refute its very existence, but it stayed, a persistent pestering pimple on her conscience.

Letting out a soft cry, she flapped harder than she ever had before, trying to lose herself in the flight. The relief was almost immediate. Her emotions faded into the background, all that inner pain ignored for the time being.

Then she flew into a wall.

Stunned, she stumbled backwards, or the bird equivalent. There was nothing in front of her but thin air. She tried to back up, only to have another wall behind her. Another to her right, another to her left. Just as she realized that she was surrounded, gravity intensified.

Karla was pulled to the ground with a crash. She tried to retreat back to the skies, but only managed to twitch the tips of her wings. Her screeches for help went unheard, muffled by the invisible walls.

In front of her stood a human. A particularly old human, wrinkles covering his face, his eyes cloudy from age. He was wearing robes, blue and extravagant, yet covered in dirt and mud, as though he’d been crawling through a battlefield.

The human crouched next to her. With a smile that was more teeth than kindness, he said, “Well, if it isn’t a Kanmi. I haven’t seen one of your kind in a very long time.” One of his eyebrows raised. “And covered in magical artifacts too? Interesting."

With a start, Karla realized that she could understand what he was saying. “Who are you?” She growled. “I’ll kill you!”

He gave a small chuckle. “Oh, we’ll have enough time to learn about each other, don’t worry about that.” With a snap, the air around Karla lit up with sigils and symbols that she didn’t know the meaning of, glowing with the same radiance as her bejeweled wings.

The weight on her body evaporated, but despite her best attempts, she was still immobilized. Completely immobilized. The human strolled down the alley with magnified nonchalance, and Karla floated behind him, helpless.