"Read that list back to me, if you would be so kind."

There was some shuffling from behind Saul before his pupil responded.

"Okay, then. I've got Prefect Chelbun's The Initiated's Guide to Adventure, Of Myths and Monsters by Farral, and Advanced Leading for the Up and Coming (Leader). Did I miss anything?"

Saul turned back to gaze upon his studious niece. He hadn't even started to speak, yet she had never stopped her quil from scrawling on the parchment.

"Make sure Advanced Leading is the first edition. Any book after that will be categorized by enviornmental conditions, and you aren't going to need to know about terrain navigation until we leave Tarnsbed."

Vug nodded at Saul, even as she continued to scrawl on the parchment. Saul admired her dedication, even if he didn't have a clue what she could be writing. Saul turned back to gaze farther down the road. There were going to be many more stops like this one before they even reached their first inn, let alone Tarnsbed. Saul could only hope he would be able to prepare this new (Leader) before any real dangers reared their ugly heads.

"Well, I suppose that's all for the introduction. Why don't you open up your adventurer's scroll for me?"

The constant sound of quill hitting parchment slowed. Saul waited for the rustling of parchments to follow, but it never did. Curious, Saul turned to find Vug staring at her systrite penadant. Saul could tell that it had started glowing when he had mentioned the adventurer's scroll.

"It appears," Saul commented, "that your scroll is attempting to get into contact with you."

Vug started to reach over toward the pack she had brought with her, then stopped short, keeping her eyes fixed on the pendant all the while. Saul wanted to let out a sigh at her antics, but kept himself composed.

"You haven't opened your sroll yet, have you?"

Vug's sheepish expression was all the confirmation Saul needed. Of course she hadn't opened her scroll yet. She was probably worried that 'inadequate' would be printed in bold right across the front. In truth, something similar had happened to Saul when he had started out, but there was no way he was admitting that to his niece right now.

With some coaxing gestures, Vug finally moved to pick the scroll out from her pack. With carefull, deliberate gestures, she rolled out the first few lines, then stopped.

"What is it?"

Vug shakily passed the scroll to Saul, who rolled out more lines of text.

Harold (Leatherboots)/ {Shieldbearer}

Class: Novice

0 messages

1 notifications

Robern (Dusk)/ {Systro}

Class: Beginner

1 messages from ^Council of Scrolls^

2 notifications

Vugulis (Dangersbane)/ {Twinblade}

Class: ERR; No scroll data found

1 messages from ^Doenvale^

1 notifications

View progress report? Y/N

View quests? Y/N

"What does it mean, uncle?"

Saul scrolled over the text a few more times. He was all too familiar with the term 'no scroll data', and he really hoped his suspicions would be left unfounded.

"Vug, how much practice do you have with your blades?"

Vug sputtered for a bit, then just hung her head in defeat. Saul was torn. The first time he had seen this, it was with Clive and Levin. He was pretty sure they had swapped positions at the last moment just to spite him. This was not like like last time.

"Vugulis...?"

Saul did his best not to sound enraged, but that left the question hanging in the air, asked but unaswered. The awkward silence continued for a while, neither side quite sure how to breach the next topic of conversation.

"I don't like crafting." Vugulis said finally. "Originaly, I was thinking of becoming a {Systro} like you, but Robern was so passionate about learning from you and then Harold was talking up {Twinblades} so much and I just kinda-"

"The Initiated's Guide to Adventure, Chapter 2, line 5! Quote: 'Encroaching on another team member's role is heavily frowned upon, only to be used in situations where said member is unavailable.' So explain to me, then, why you know so much about how Systro works!"

"Oh, come off yourself, Harold. This really isn't that big a deal-"

"You'd like me to believe that, wouldn't you!?"

Saul sighed. "We will finish this conversation later. Wait here while I-"

"Saul! Are Dwarf bites infectious!?"

"Clive, if you don't shut that mouth of yours right now, I'm going to give you the answer you're asking for!"

"-deal with that..."

***

Vugulis sighed. Adventuring was turning out to be a lot harder than she thought it would be, and she hadn't even fought any monsters yet. Learning to use a blade without prior experience was already going to be hard, but the look on her uncle's face had made her want to give up right then and there; go home and salvage what she could from her old life.

Vugulis looked down at her parchment, where a sunny landscape was starting to take shape. Mother had tried everything to get Vugulis into a 'womanly craft'. Once sketching had been found to be of even the slightest interest to Vugulis, her mother had put immense time and money into making Vugulis the best artist Southward had ever seen. That wasn't really saying much, but Vugulis still found that a good sketching session could do wonders for her focus.

"Hey, Vug. You doing alright?"

Vugulis turned to glare at Robern, who had sat himself next to her in the grass.

"Don't call me Vug."

Robern started at the response. "S-sorry, I just thought that it was a thing now..."

"It's fine."

There was a moment of tense silence before Robern leaned over Vugulis' shoulder.

"Your latest masterpiece?"

Vugulis creased her brow. "Kinda. I was going to finish it, but now I'm just not in the mood."

When Vugulis looked back at Robern, he ws staring intently at her forehead. She tried to wait a moment for him to explain, but he just kept staring. It was honestly a little unnerving

"Is something wrong with my head?" Vugulis asked warily.

"Hm? Oh, no it's nothing." Robern averted his gaze to the frayed ends of his shirt. "It's just... been a long day..."

"You can say that again."

Harold landed on the other side of Robern, limbs spread across the hill like sunbathing snakes.

"You know," He continued, "I'm starting to think I'm not cut out for this adventuring thing."

Vugulis sighed. She could relate.

***

"Why is it always you, Clive? Can't we just have one uneventful day with you in our presence?"

Clive seemed to consider Saul's question, then turned on his knowing grin.

"I'll stop doing my thing when you stop doing yours."

Saul raised an eyebrow. "What in Systrem's name are you going on about?"

Clive met the raised eyebrow with one of his own. "Don't play that with me, Saul. By now you would usually be on about ruts in the road or a particularly large bush. Where'd that guy run off to?"

Saul grabbed one of the straps on Clive's chest, pulling him in with a fierce whisper.

"Listen, pal. You might not care if people think you've gone senile, but I'm gunning for an actual future on this plane of existance, and we all know how the smallest adventurers have the biggest mouths."

"Oi! Since when have I gone blabbing!?"

Saul turned to face down Agnes, where she was tuning up the main control disc for their cart.

"We've got a M.A.D. agreement. You don't count."

Agnes huffed. "You really think 'mutually assured destruction' would stop me from talking if I wanted to? Old Doen would probably pay more than a few barrels of Tarns just for a hint of the dirt I have on you three."

"Dirt that you had your hands in, too." Clive countered.

"I know that, Clive. Why do you think we have M.A.D?"

"To stop Saul from talking about his-"

"See!? This is what I'm talking about! I do my best to pull off the 'refined gentleman' thing, and then you all start dragging me through the mud!"

"I thought it was dirt?"

"Don't change the subject! Look, I know you're planning something with all this, and I'm prepared to cover for you. All I ask is that you try to act responsible for once. Please?"

Clive seemed to sag a little. "Alright, but if that kid doesn't stop preaching I'm showing him stonefire..."

As Clive walked away to find Harold, Saul turned to glare at Agnes.

"And how in the three afterworlds did you get Robern up to beginner in less than an hour?"

"Wasn't me," Agnes replied, "Clive gave him this disk and he just went to town,nearly triggered a self-destruct too."

Saul considered that for a moment. If Robern was an actual prodigy, then that might help divert suspicion from the /Solaris Company.

Ah, but then everyone would be talking about the /Sparks of Solomon. Vug really doesn't need that pressure this early on. Maybe I can call in a favor from the Prefect, postpone whatever Clive's doing long enough to get the quest canceled. No, that would just cause more suspicion. Maybe if I-

Saul was shaken out of his musings by a whack to the head.

"Ow! What was that for!?"

"Kids are coming back." Agnes replied. "You should get back into character before they notice."

Saul sighed. "Not yet. I'm going to go check out that cave for a bit. Could you send Clive in if the rain hits?"

"Sure thing, (Leader)."

Saul scowled at the sarcastic delivery. As he strode into the cave's gaping maw, he started to consider just how his life had gotten to this point. When he had started out, he thought things were going to be simple. As long as he did the quests he was given, he could be just as sucessful as Brashful Bill. The reality was a lot more bleak. As it turned out, the four-to-a-team setup hadn't just been a suggestion. Saul learned in those first few weeks just how important the rules were to some people. For the longest time, Saul had been the punch line to every joke, and even after pulling himself together, his ragtag crew was always there to remind him of how foolish he used to be.

They probably prefered me that way too. Much easier to make a guy go along with crazy plans when he was always on the edge.

As much as he wanted to despise his team for all the rule-bending they did over the years, he couldn't deny how effective it had been. Soon enough, he was being invited to fancy dinner parties and appearing before the Big Three on a regular basis. He would never forget the look on their faces when Clive turned the pages of Prefect Chelbun's book into puppets.

And that was exactaly the problem. Every member of the /Solaris Company was from the outskirts of society, and only Saul could ever truly fit in with those at the top. Everyone tried to do their own thing to ignore it; Clive became the rebelious fool that the whole group used to be, while Agnes went into buisness. Levin had it the worst off. He tried to climb up the ranks of the Guard, but his fighting style was just too different from the rest of the {Twinblades}. When the scroll suggested an early first retirement, everyone had just fallen apart. Now Clive was trying to put the team back together, and Saul wasn't sure how to feel about it anymore.

The cave wasn't very wide, and it was only getting smaller as Saul continued walking. Eventually, he was able to calm himself to get his mask of proffesionalism back together. Saul decided that he better start getting out before Clive really did come in after him.

The old Saul that Clive loved so much was still in there, but it wasn't getting out any time soon.