"Can't say life here is pleasant, honestly. Sure, all them highborn jackasses and them priests keeps sayin' that we should be happy with our lot in life, that all will be rewarded by the godking's hairy arse in the afterlife and all such dogshit.

Maybe they be foolin' some countryside hicks who ain't knowin' any better. Not us city folk. We live here wonderin' what we might get to eat, if anythin' at all tomorrow, while all the noble pigs and priests be eatin' good right above our heads.

And they wonder why we'd oh so happily shank em in the butthole if one of them idiots ever stroll over to our place without their fancy guard boys." - Zyd Creussens, thug and muscleman from the Zefirous underworld, circa 1 FP.

Elfriede couldn't help but remember her former life right in that very city, when the woman beneath her called her with her old nickname. Even after a decade, she still recognized her old friend. The contours of her face had not changed that much in her senses, maybe somewhat harder, with a couple of scars that were not there the last time she saw Nina.

But it was without a doubt Nina. The older girl who had always been nice to her even when she was still pretending to be a blind, helpless girl in her childhood. None of the soft kindness in her childhood friend's face remained, proof of the harsh life she had been through. That they had all been through.

Elfriede knew that Varsha had taken Nina and some others from the batch of children she was part of and groomed them into her trusted enforcers. Some like Annelise - a young, timid girl who had been treated like a little sister by most everyone - were taught and trained for administrative work.

Others were trained to be enforcers and killers, intimidating thugs in the light and blades hidden in the dark. Elfriede knew Nina had been trained to be one such hidden blade, but nobody except Varsha knew about her being Varsha's best assassin.

"All right. Stay calm, all of you. Don't make too much noise, and nobody needs to get hurt," said Elfriede calmly, using the Holy Kingdom's tongue. The thugs stilled and watched the situation with bated breath, though some looked far more nervous than others, namely the ones still with blades poised over them.

"Give them some space, Grün, Nicole," she added in common, at which point both Grünhildr and Nicole withdrew their weapons from the faces and throats they were poised against. Elfriede herself did the same with her other blade. None of them sheathed their weapons, though.

"Okay, you can get up," said Elfriede to Nina, who was still sprawled on the ground beneath her. "Please don't make any funny moves though… you're one of the few I considered a friend in this shithole. I'd hate to have to kill you… but I will if I have to."

Nina rose from the ground slowly, carefully, as she made sure to have her hands out in the open while she got up. A gesture of capitulation amongst the thugs in town, showing that they were unarmed and harmless.

Elfriede nodded as Nina rose to her full height and gestured for the woman to stay close to the wall, which Nina obeyed quickly. Then she turned to face her old friend before she said her next words, back in the local tongue. "Sorry about that. Didn't realize it was you until just now… Either way your being here is fortunate. I assume Varsha still has the underworld securely in her grasp?"

"She does," replied Nina quietly. Nina eyed her old friend all that while, and found that while she definitely looked mostly the same, if more toned and severe, her demeanor was nothing like the quiet, timid blind girl Varsha usually kept around as an errand girl about her. "You… have changed a lot, Reed. We thought you were gone after you disappeared back then."

"You just never saw the real me," replied Elfriede with a slight sigh. Back when she left Varsha had framed her leaving as a "disappearance", which was nothing uncommon in the underworld. "The reaper had stopped killing shortly before I was gone. I guess nobody put two and two together there."

"Huh? But Varsha said the reaper died from their injuries after that final assassination-" Elfriede could almost hear the click as the gears latched on to one another and Nina put the matters to a conclusion. "You were the reaper all along!?"

"When Varsha took you, Jess, and the others for training, I was already out and about, killing people," replied Elfriede with a nod. "It was the perfect cover honestly. Nobody ever suspects the quiet, timid, blind errand girl."

"But how?" asked Nina with obvious incredulity in her voice.

"Same way she got the jump on us?" chimed in Arne from the side, still sweating and looking afraid of the axes in Grünhildr's hands. "Got to admit it, Rennie, she got us good just now. We'd all be dead if she wanted us dead."

"Anyway, we'll have time to talk later," said Elfriede as she cut into their discussion. "Varsha still using the same old hangout? Or has she moved since?"

"She's still in our old place… why?" asked Nina with obvious trepidation in her voice. "Please tell me you aren't planning to harm her."

"No such thing," assured Elfriede to her old friend, at which some tension left Nina's shoulders. "I came bearing an offer for her. An offer that might change this city for the better, once and for all."

"In the meantime, please stay here and remain quiet for the time being. My partners will watch over you, but you won't be harmed unless you force them to do so," she continued. "Grün, Sal, Nicole, keep an eye on them. Share them some of the nice booze and jerky while you all wait here. Hopefully I won't be gone for long."