Lander spoke in a reserved tone as if he were nervous to go in. “Their beds of steel hold Children of Iron in divine comfort, as the Archangels intended. They are still comfortable for other folk too, I hear.”

Lander pushed the door aside and stepped into the long common room spotted with steel tables. Each was surrounded by three heavy steel chairs. Some were padded with thick cushions for softer folk. Lyrua marvelled at the different ways Children of Iron expressed themselves through their expansions. Luckily, there were not many patrons, likely due to the Highest Tide looming on the horizon, but all of them were Iron.

An Iron who was almost thinner than Ove, and towered over Lander, waved her barman away and curled over the bar like an argent flower to greet them. “Lander. Come to pay your debts?” She gazed into his eyes, her head gently tilted as if she wanted to wink at him, but they did not have eyelids.

“Yes, Setthorn, as a matter of fact, I have.” He handed Ove to Lyrua, and spun his hat off his head so it rested facing up on the bar.

She straightened her back, leaning her head quizzically. “Is that so? You didn’t even visit last time you were here. I thought you were trying to hide.”

“I was working,” he grunted, pulling a folded paper out of the lining of his hat and handing it to the wiry innkeeper. “How do you expect me to pay you if I’m sitting around here playing tooth-the-rings every day?”

Setthorn took the note pensively. Lyrua could tell it was a banknote, but the innkeeper did not seem to recognize it. “Well, you might try actually winning for once.” She unfolded it carefully. After running her eyes over the page, they fell to Lyrua, as if whatever she saw on the note was so odd that she expected the explanation to come from somewhere other than Lander. “You don’t owe me this much,” she said to him.

“No, but now you can’t complain about having to go all the way to the Guild District in Manataklos to collect it. More importantly, I need a room. The big one. Bird here is silverstale and needs to rest.”

“I’ve already rented that one. You can have two good rooms though.”

Lander replaced his hat. “To who? It better not be that damn silken with the ugly helmet.”

“That’s right,” she said. “How did you know? He hasn’t been back in awhile… but he has paid for one more day.”

“He keeps turning up. Now he’s knocked out in jail, but they’ll probably release him today. Ask him about it if he comes back.” Lander rapped his fingertips on the bar. “Can we get one double room with an extra bed? I don’t care if it’s cramped.”

She nodded and took them upstairs. She unlocked the door to a room, then walked further down the hall to open another. The room was fairly common, it looked like maple made up most of the inn. The floor had a thin rug on it, and there was a small table with two wooden chairs against the wall near the door. Only the beds seemed remarkable, they were framed in steel, and were much larger than she expected for an inn. The mattresses looked heavy and soft. After a moment Setthorn returned with a mass of metal rolling before her. She sculpted it into the middle of the other two, creating a massive wall to wall frame, and Lander hauled the mattress in. When he was done setting it in the middle Lyrua laid Ove carefully on the bed to rest.

“Thank you Setthorn,” Lander said. “I’ve been hired to guard Sermeledy and her son, so it seems best to keep them together.”

“Not following the Queen around these days?” Setthorn asked, giving Lyrua a polite bow that bent her frame like a heavy dahlia.

“I am, just not today,” he replied.

Setthorn rubbed her chin with her fingers thoughtfully. “I see. Well… I don’t know if this will be useful, Lander, but I know of something that can help your friend there.” She cocked her head towards Ove’s motionless form cradled in Athen’s arms on the bed.

Lander folded his arms and his voice took on a sarcastic tone. “Anything short of two days' rest or an Empyreal Elixir would be nice.”

“Ah,” she shrugged, and then let her shoulders slump in disappointment. “so you know about it already. I just thought if Sermeledy here can afford to hire you, she might be able to afford one. If the coin was worth less to you than the time, anyway.” She said the last bit to Lyrua.

“They are not exactly readily available,” Lyrua said. They were not more valuable than their unmixed components, so few bothered to make one without having immediate need for it.

Setthorn nodded understandingly. “Aye, but all you need is a Dew of the Moonflower Tree and an Oil of the Sunflower Tree to mix together. The Oil being the bigger challenge since the Sunflowers don’t harvest it for market. A merchant named Braheem has one in town. He is staying at The Royal Chamber of course. The Mayor will have the Dew. He always does.”

“That is actually very useful information, thank you Setthorn,” Lyrua said, beginning to feel hopeful. That Elixir could release Ove from her suffering instantly, and then they could be on their way. If only she could think of a way to get what she needed without revealing herself. Or drawing too much attention.

Pounding footsteps announced a man jogging down the hall from the stairs and they all turned to watch him approach. Lyrua had not paid him much mind, but she recognized him as the barman. “Setthorn, more patrons.” He spoke urgently. “Good few of them.”

“More than I expected today,” she said, a cheerful smile crossing her face. “Archangels judge you kindly.” She gave the room key to Lander and gracefully followed her barman away.

It could be the Spellwards, she thought. Lander’s taste in inns might be something Fourstaile would know. She tossed her bag on the bed. “Stay here with Lander and Ove,” she told Athen. He nodded, but his frown betrayed his grievance.

“You aren’t leaving here alone,” Lander said, his heavily armoured frame shifting before the door with a couple of loud thuds to block her path.

“Yes I am,” she stated firmly, with her fists planted on her hips. “There are things I need to get done, and we cannot be dragging Ove and Athen all around town. Anyone after me will know what we look like and expect us to be together. I may not stand out so much on my own.”

“I can’t allow it.” He crossed his arms defiantly. “If something happens to you, then this was all for nothing.”

“Nothing will happen to me,” she insisted, but she feared her lack of confidence came through in her voice. “Those may even be the Spellwards and Fourstaile downstairs.”

“We’ve only been in town for an hour or two. Skoverdant tossed us hours ahead of them.” He started rolling his head to hide his frustration, as if stretching muscles his neck did not have.

“Mother,” Athen said, rummaging up to his elbows in his bag. “If you want to go on your own, you should take this.” He withdrew a long white and blue dagger from his bag.

Her eyes shot open, and she slammed her foot down. Her arm tensed, poised to snatch it away from him, but she stopped herself. She took deep breaths, and reminded herself he was trying to help her. She would never scold him for trying to help. As she looked over the dagger a spark of recognition reignited the memory in her mind. “You brought the silkite dagger?”

“Ove said to,” he cried meekly.

She took the dagger from him. Whether or not she wanted to use it, she did not want him to have it. She tied the scabbard around her waist. “Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?”

“Yes, that is why it is in my bag and not in my hand. Or in my hand. Ove told me to be careful. And Lander tells me to be careful every time we train as if I forget every day.” He wiped a tear from his eye with the back of his hand. “I wore it all the way through Manataklos and you did not even see it.”

She took another deep breath. “Thank you for the dagger, Athen.” She took his hand. “It will keep me safe, just like having you with me, but the next time you have something dangerous, no matter how careful you are, please let me know. Even if it is from Ove.”

“Ove gave me chocolate cake with blueberry frosting, you know,” he admitted.

“I know.” She kissed his forehead. “If we were not travelling I would punish you both, but right now it matters little.” Athen seemed satisfied she was not angry with him, so she turned to Lander. “Now you can let me out.”

“At least that will act as a deterrent.” Lander growled, still displeased. “Better than nothing I suppose. If you insist on going, remember to watch out for pickpockets, or people following you.”

“That will be simple,” she waved her hand to dismiss him, and he finally stepped out of her way, huffing with reluctance. She stopped half through the doorway, and turned around. “Why did you not tell me you were in debt? I would have paid it for you.”

He dropped to the bed, his head hanging, and she thought she sensed a hint of embarrassment from him. “That would have been convenient,” he said bashfully in his low, rumbling voice. “But then what would I have learned? I like to think I was built better than that.”

“Good,” she smiled. “Good for you. I like to think so as well.”

She left the room, closing the door behind her, and returned to the common room. Four more Irons were sitting at the bar who were not there before. Her heart sank. She had been holding out hope that the Spellwards had arrived, but they seemed to be mercenaries. She took a deep breath, and left the inn on her own.

Without her friends around her, the world felt suffocating in its enormity. Streets that had seemed quaint and comforting intimidated her with their throngs of strange folk and sudden sounds that could come from any direction. Her only comfort now was that it was not a tall city like Manataklos. West Eddy was low and sprawling, so the sun reached every corner in the afternoon.

She immediately turned to go back inside, stopping with one hand on the door. She would have to admit she could not do anything on her own, and that might be even worse than facing the crowds of strangers. She thought of finding Lander’s father, but travelling with him would draw eyes and raise questions from anyone not used to seeing him with a human woman. She took another deep breath. She knew where the town hall was, at the centre of town. Excuses would pop up endlessly in her mind if she stood there and thought about them, so she did the one thing she could to overcome them; she ignored her own thoughts and marched towards the town hall.

The crowds passing every direction on the roads were chaotic and she made great effort to step wide of other folk when they came close. She was afraid it would be suspicious, or come across as rude, but after a while she began to realise no one was concerned with what she was doing. Still, many folk did not seem to be watching where they were going as they bumped into her or nearly flattened her with wheelbarrows.

She noticed a smithy, where a blacksmith was using tongs to dip a piece of metal into a barrel of water. She did not really believe Kraesten had a silver sword. If he had been verified with the city already, he should not have been tossed in a cell.

There were many shops all around, and she felt drawn to them. She wanted to look at what they had. Especially the bakery. She knew that aroma; they were baking apple pies inside. She might just have to ask Ove to have pie for supper. Athen would certainly like that.

She just had to cure Ove first.

When she reached the town square, it was a little more familiar. Round, with a fountain in the centre. That was like Manataklos, although there was no statue. It was crowded with stalls, and people buzzed around in between, fetching the goods they needed. A normal market was comforting as well.

Her attempt to slip through the crowd without bumping into anyone was pathetically unsuccessful. She tried not to sneer too obviously every time someone touched her. Common folk seemed to have no qualms about rubbing shoulders with strangers if they had to to get where they were going. To prove her right, a muscular woman nearly knocked her out of her boots with a massive pumpkin, and she had to back into three other people to avoid it. The three folk sent rude words after her as if it were her fault. If she were still in Manataklos that pumpkin lugger would have been on her knees apologising. She may even have got a pie out of it.

She held the hilt of her dagger as she wiggled through the west end of the square, over her cloak, only to ensure it remained there. It was the only thing she carried that a pickpocket could snatch, unless they wanted the mud in her pocket or the bruise on her arm. They could have both, courtesy of Skoverdant.

She finally broke free into the westward street and did not have to travel long on the clean road to reach the large town hall building. She had never been inside before. The Mayor had always been made to travel to her at The Royal Chamber, so he could tell her about how important Kraken’s Boundary was while she pretended not to hate him all evening.

She hesitated to enter. He would likely recognize her, even through the mud and sweat. It would be best if she quickly found a way to separate him from any guests before getting to the important topics. Or perhaps he was not in and she was wasting her time.