Other soldiers showed up shortly after that, having been alerted when Bel burst into the tavern to get her component pouch. Xerxes felt a sting of humiliation that they were seeing him like this, but there wasn’t anything he could do. He kept his head hunched down and forced himself to stop crying.

Captain Ishki arrived eventually, then the town constables and even the mayor. There were interviews and paperwork. After all, multiple individuals had been killed, and the matter needed to be investigated. Operating on the authority of the Mage Parliament, there was virtually no chance that the local constables would defy Captain Ishki’s decisions, unless they were flagrantly unlawful. The captain was the type who did everything by the book anyway. She was beyond furious that one of her soldiers had been killed. The mayor and the constables reacted like chastened schoolchildren as she unleashed her rage on them, berating them for allowing such lawlessness in their streets, and demanding full cooperation in bringing the surviving accomplices to justice.

Xerxes heard Bel’s account when she reported to the captain. As it turned out, she was the one who killed the other fallen woodsman. A blow to the temple from a Seer could do that.

Gem got blindsided. It was as simple as that. He was a soldier away from the battlefield, with no armor and no shield. A sharp blade would bite as easily through his skin as it would through any other person’s. Perhaps if he had been one of the legendary martial adepts, who spent lifetimes turning their bodies into weapons, he might have performed some superhuman feat and single-handedly taken down multiple attackers in a matter of moments. But he wasn’t a martial adept.

When Bel finished her story, Captain Ishki nodded and sighed. A quiet moment passed that seemed to last forever. Then she spoke, her voice soft but firm. “Seer Bel… why didn’t you have your spell component pouch with you?”

Tears welled up in Bel’s eyes as she took a shuddering breath. “I… I….”

“It was my fault,” Xerxes jumped in. “She was going to go back and get it when we left, but I dragged her out of the tavern.”

“I see,” Captain Ishki said, the muscles in her jaw tightening for a moment before they loosened. “I see.”

Xerxes told his side of the story, leaving out nothing. He explained about what happened at the weapon shop, and how he and Bel had gone out of the town limits to do some training.

In the end, Captain Ishki seemed angry, but at the same time, understanding.

During the initial flurry of activity, Xerxes didn’t see Gandash. But he caught sight of him sometime later, after the crowds built. There was no chance to talk with him, though they shared a nod from a distance.

As might have been expected, word traveled quickly through the town, and by mid-afternoon, any soldier who took to the streets was the subject of odd looks by the townsfolk. In many cases, people crossed the street to avoid them.

On the one hand, Biru and his fellows were woodsmen who didn’t call the town home. In fact, they didn’t even identify as Isinians. They were essentially foreigners. What was more, they had a reputation for causing trouble. That said, they were familiar faces to many people, and they had connections to numerous businesses and individuals.

At best, the town’s reaction was mixed.

A few hours later, after things calmed down a bit, everyone returned to the tavern with Captain Ishki.

“I’m going up to change,” Bel said.

“Me too,” Xerxes said.

As Captain Ishki and the other soldiers took seats, Xerxes and Bel headed up the stairs. At the top, Xerxes was about to turn right and head to his room when he sensed hesitation on Bel’s part.

He looked back to see her standing there with a blank look on her face.

“You okay?” he asked.

She turned, and though her eyes were blank, they came into focus when she realized he was standing in front of her. She stepped forward, threw her arms around him, and buried her face against his neck.

Surprised, he took a moment before putting his arms around her.

Seconds turned into about a minute, then she released him and stepped away. “Sorry. It’s just….”

“I get it,” he said. “Same here.”

She nodded and looked toward her feet.

“We’re gonna be fine,” he continued. “I think.”

She nodded again, then turned and walked away.

He watched her go, then went in the opposite direction.

About twenty minutes later, he came back down to the common room, free of mud, and wearing his only other set of clean traveling clothes. Captain Ishki was nowhere to be seen, but other soldiers were present, in two groups, one in a booth, the others at a table. Gandash was there, and he looked up as soon as Xerxes appeared.

Their eyes met, and Gandash quickly got up and hurried over. They stood in front of each other at the bottom of the stairs for a moment.

“Sorry for being an asshole,” Xerxes said.

“Don’t say that,” Gandash replied. “I wasn’t thinking. I just… got excited and… I don’t know what—”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“So we’re all good?”

“Yeah.”

Gandash chewed at the inside of his cheek for a moment before continuing, “Are you okay, Xerk?”

“I will be.”

“And… what about Bel?”

“I don’t know. But… I think she needs someone to talk to, Gandy. Or maybe… someone to just be there with her. Hold her hand maybe.”

An awkward, stricken expression overtook Gandah’s face. “Uh… you mean…?”

Ya dummy, Xerxes thought. “I mean you should go up, knock on her door, and ask if she’s okay.”

“Me? B-but—”

Xerxes threw an arm around his friend’s neck, leaned closer, and lowered his voice. “Brother, she just went through a big ordeal and needs some comfort. Got it? Go talk to her. Or just let her talk, and you listen.”

Gandash’s mouth opened, then closed. Then it opened again as he said, “What am I supposed to say to her, though? I mean….”

“I already told you. Go up, knock on the door. Say, ‘Are you okay?’ Simple.”

“‘Are you okay?’” His brow furrowed in thought.

Xerxes removed his arm and pushed his friend toward the stairs. “Go.”

Gandash started up hesitantly, but his stride quickly became more confident as he got closer to the second floor.

Maybe this will finally be the tipping point between the two of them, Xerxes thought.

He joined the soldiers at the table, and they immediately drew him into conversation. Rihan was there, and Goran too. Even Sergeant Aniskipel. Not every soldier present was a grizzled veteran like Gem had been. But they were soldiers nonetheless, and they knew what it was like to live through a deadly combat situation for the first time. For weeks now, Xerxes had been doing everything to impress the soldiers and get them to like him. Now, he felt like a fool in their presence. And he was also worried they would blame him for Gem’s loss.

At first, he tried to put on a boisterous front. But almost as soon he started telling the story to them, he found himself swept up in emotion. At one point, tears leaked out of his eyes. They didn’t blame him. Instead, they treated him like an equal. They nodded gravely, joked, slapped him on the back, and offered sage bits of advice.

Before long, Xerxes was stable again, his emotions in control. He still felt a heavy weight on his shoulders, but was confident that he would be able to move on from the ordeal without turning into a basketcase.