Calestre was a pretty city, but so far Nannade hadn't gotten to enjoying it yet, she and Garret had either been busy sitting in their room at the inn to plan their heist, sitting in a different inn to make deals for information with disgruntled servants, or sneaking through dark alleyways to get to their destination.

It was deepest night and only the huge bulbous vials that served as streetlamps bathed the city in soft white. Right now, Nannade sat under a bridge spanning the river Celbre, on the fundament of the last arc, just about two hands' width above the water line. This was where they had planned to meet with their contact, hand over the evidence, and get their payment. She had done that long ago. Now she was waiting here for her Teacher Garetas. He'd get out of any situation, given enough time, she just had to wait. So far, she had been waiting since midnight and probably three hours had passed since then - she couldn't see the university's clock tower very well from under the bridge. If she leaned out from her hiding place, she could see the city on the other side of the river. Its spires reached into the sky, illuminated by the lights of the university. The central tower was the council's. There the faculty, the guild masters and the elected representatives of the mundane commoners would meet to discuss their plans for the city and the surrounding lands. One of those representatives' house was broken in tonight. By Nannade and her Teacher Garetas. She was never told what they found and handed over, but she did use the opportunity to peek on the small scroll before handing it over. Huge volumes on heavily rolled wares. Furs, spices, various alchemical and magical ingredients, possibly stolen goods. Nannade didn't like being left in the dark, but she had to trust her Teacher in most aspects, she was in no position to question him, she didn't even have her own call sign yet. But even if she did, he was vastly more experienced and skilled than her, she had seen as much today, when the situation got sticky and wild. Nannade had panicked, but her Teacher had kept it together and reacted just right. His speed during combat was awe-inspiring. She was used to him being collected and vigilant during their sparring fights. Tonight, she saw he could take on two trained fighters. He even correctly considered the force he needed to apply to the Invisible Fist to not hurt her but still get through the protection of her mother's last wish. She looked at the vial that hung from her neck. All the blood in it had drained, to protect her from the effects of Teacher Garetas' spell. She thought about refilling it with her blood. But not now, maybe later.

Teacher eventually showed up. He sighed in relief when he saw her. "My goodness am I glad to see you." He sat down and came to a rest.

"That took long. Does it always take this long to shake them?"

"Most of that time was hiding. I tried to so many times, but they always found me in my hiding spot sooner or later. Which meant I had to escape again, find a new spot and yadda yadda yadda."

She handed him his palm book. "Are we clear?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure. Until the evidence is through with the Magistrate and he clears us, we can only hide or bounce."

"I don't want to bounce yet."

"You'll have enough time sightseeing later."

"When? When we take another contract here? I want to spend my share." She had waited for this moment for a long time. Calestre might not be Halonnes or any of the Bridges, but it still had many things Nannade couldn't get anywhere else.

"Before you talk about your share, hand over the money."

Nannade got out a bag the size of two fists – Garetas' grown man fists – and handed it over to him. "It's all he promised, in Halonnes silver, as agreed."

Garetas looked in the bag, then nodded. "Looks about right. We can't count it here."

"Back to the room?"

"Yes, let's go."

The inn they stayed at was on the other side of the bridge from the city. It wasn't luxurious but the stench of shit wasn't just so bad there. Nannade would often complain, associating it with the dark hole she had inhabited for most of her life.

Back at their room Garrett had confirmed the pay and was happy with the night's earnings. He gave Nannade her share, an eighth for her free use, plus another eighth for her equipment. Most apprentices made less in two dozen days than she just made in a single night. It was a five day's journey each way though. It wasn't very cost-efficient to live so far off the roads and rivers, but considering Garrett did it to keep her safe and unknown, it was a worthy investment.

"I really want to go into the city tomorrow, teacher."

"Please stop pestering me. I told you, it's dangerous."

Nannade pouted. She had gotten good at it.

"We can ask some of the traders on the road, they'll be full of stocks from the city."

"But it's not the same!"

"You'll get plenty of opportunities later. Why don't you save up your pay a bit more? Then you can get something really big, like a blade breaker or new boots."

"I want to look at fabrics and flutes."

"You still want to learn playing those? The one thing neither of us can teach you and yet you still go for it?"

"I CAN." she stomped her feet. "Carsten had already taught me a bit. But I need a new flute, the old one broke and it was badly made. Maybe I can get one out of brass." Her desperation became apparent in her voice.

"Didn't one of the druids offer you one made from bone? If a medium makes them, I heard they can be used to charm spirits."

"Not everything in my life revolves around magic and fighting."

Garrett, who had been going through his notes, slowly looked up from the table. "Excuse me what? I'm your Teacher, until you learn everything I teach you right and pay me back for your education, those two things should be your only concern."

Nannade bare her teeth and hissed. Garrett blamed Faan for teaching her that. "Now now, we don't want that escalating again, do we?" He demonstrably stuck his dagger into the table. She had lost this sort of discussion before.

She bottled her anger and for the rest of the evening, they didn't speak.

========

A beautiful morning broke and Garrett got out of bed quickly. He checked the room. Nannade was nowhere to be found. Of course, she would try to get out before him to sneak back into the city. At least she had left a little note.

I'll meet you at the piers outside the city. I promise, I won't be long. -NND

They had to catch an early boat upstream to get back to Sturreland soon. At least she was considerate enough to stick to the planned steps.

Garrett had gotten all his things ready. Nannade had packed everything she had so she was serious about waiting at the piers. He could go there and wait for her, but that would give her exactly what she wanted. But entering the city could mean a higher risk for him to be recognized. And she also carried a tiny risk of being recognized or picked up for some other reason.

He was walking the market streets while hastily eating breakfast. Most shops and stands were only opening, but she would surely pester the keepers until they let her see everything early. And that would be her trace he could follow her by. Most keepers said they didn't see the girl, but two or three remembered her and said she went along without buying anything. He asked for shops that sold musical instruments. At the second shop he got to, the keeper told him "You just missed her."

"Which way did she head?"

"Out then left."

"I just came from there!" He yelled at himself and quickly got back outside.

He hadn't seen a single shed hair of her so far, but she had to know he was hot on her trail. He returned through narrow passageways and further into the city. He would soon get into the campus district, with its numerous high towers. That's when Garrett had the idea of the high ground. He tried looking for an easy way up, but even in the narrow alleys, he had problems getting to a point of easy access.

He eventually found a spot where two buildings were close enough together to allow him scaling up by pressing between the two walls and slowly inching up. With different equipment, he could have scaled almost anywhere. He finally made it to the roof. Now he just had to make sure no one on any higher floor would spot him. Five stories above the streets, he finally had a sizeable view of the city.

Garrett had been looking for a while when he heard a weirdly familiar noise. He turned around. But whatever had made the sound was gone already. He ran to the edge of the roof and looked down into the alleyway, just in time to see the corner of a dark green cloak disappearing around the corner. He knew he had heard it, the scraping of claws on stone.

That's how she was able to disappear seconds after leaving the stores; she just scaled up the walls like she did yesterday. Raising her in a forest was a mistake, or a blessing, at least she would have no problems getting out of trouble like he did yesterday.

He only knew of one last store she could head to. And he did not want to give her the satisfaction of winning by getting to purchase what she wanted. He started sprinting across the roof. With a leap of faith and a bit of flux, he managed barely to cross the main street and arrive on the roof on the other side. He could hear her running in the street below.

The two raced through and above the streets. He saw the building in which the store was supposed to be. He had to hurry. The girl had a slight disadvantage as long as he could cut the path over the roofs, but he also had to get down somehow, there were times when he knew the weavings of the Feather Fall by heart, but that time was long over, he had become bad at improvising. He saw no easy way down, but the house next to the one he was on didn't have an overhanging roof and windows with window sills. Quickly he jumped over the narrow gap and got hold of one of the sills. Now it was just a matter of dropping from one window to the next. At the second to last window, he suddenly saw himself face to face with an angry pair of eyes, as he was dangling from the sill above. It was a young man's who was just holding a tea pot. Without thinking, the man threw the can at Garrett's face, hitting him squarely on the nose. Garrett managed to hold on, but a moment later, the man placed a fist where the pot had just hit. Garrett heard his nose crack and lost grip of the sill. He arrived on the ground with a loud THUD.

He was rubbing his behind and tried to get back to running, but his bones and muscles protested. With a bleeding nose he moved across the busy street, drawing quite a few looks. He headed around the building towards the entrance to the last store.

Nannade noticed him coming in. She turned around and, with a triumphant "HAH!" presented a flute of brass sheet with a fipple carved from horn and engraved with straight, red painted lines. "I even had time to choose a pattern and scale!"

Garrett stood in the doorway. Out of breath, beaten, broken, bleeding. There was only one thing left to do.

Nannade would not shut up the entire way up the river, annoying most of the other passengers of the boat. An old lady next to Garrett asked him nicely "Why won't you give the girl her flute back?" to which he only replied. "Learning has to hurt."