“Well sir,” the blacksmith said, gesturing to Pavel’s armor, dressed over a wooden manakin. “looked everything over, hammered out a couple o’ dents, and I made sure all that metal was bolted down. Can’t see anything else to do, so ya should be alright.”

“Fantastic!” Pavel said, with a grin that reached from ear to ear. “And what do I owe you for your services?”

The man glanced up at the filthy ceiling and tugged at his beard.

“O, nothing too much. Just needed a bit o’ service. Say…three silver pieces? That sound fair to ya?”

“Of course! Here, I’ll give you five instead, for having it all done on such a short notice.”

From the corner of the workshop, Cruck’aa rolled his beady eyes.

“Seems a bit too much if you ask me.” He grumbled.

“Well, it’s good that you’re not paying then.” Pavel said, as he handed over the coins.

The blacksmith grinned and bowed slightly.

“O’ you’re too generous sir. Now,” he gestured towards the armor. “if ya like, I can help ya don this so ya not having to carry it like ya did earlier.”

“Yes, please!” Pavel said, stepping up to the manakin. He glanced back at Jo and Cruck’aa. “Sorry, I know you two have been waiting a bit, but this shouldn’t take long.”

Jo, still standing next to the front door, waved a hand before Cruck’aa could speak.

“It’s fine. What’s another ten minutes?”

Cruck’aa opened his beak, but a quick look from Jo caused him to snap it shut.

It had been almost an hour since the three of them had stepped foot in the smithy, though to Jo, it didn’t feel like it. Ever the connoisseur of well-made weaponry, she had managed to entertain herself the entire time by gazing at the arms that hung along every inch of the smithery’s brick walls; everything from longswords and great swords, to short swords, rapiers, and daggers stood out from the soot-stained walls, each one reminding Jo of her marching days. Every weapon had a place within her ranks, and she remembered each vividly.

Cruck’aa, however, immediately found things to complain about. He had planted himself down on a stool that sat in one of the corners of the sooty workshop and set to work complaining about how filthy the place was, citing the amount of dust that coated his feet from barely walking over to the stool. While the owner, a bearded man well past everyone but Jo’s age, had taken the complaints in stride, Jo, to remain cordial with the owner, tried to reason with Cruck’aa, stating that, with the nature of the work, he’d sooner find a hole in the walls around the city than a clean smithy somewhere within Waterdeep.

With a rather ugly looking glare, Jo knew that their conversation had run its course.

She shook her head as she watched the owner begin to adjust the splint mail against Pavel’s chest.

Cruck’aa had remained in a foul mood after their brief affair with the Griffon Riders, one that continued all the way back to Werond’s. It seemed to darken further the moment they saw Pavel and Serena out on the patio.

They had been back for almost an hour by the time Jo and Cruck’aa had returned. Pavel had laid out his armor on one of the patio chairs, examining it carefully, while Serena sat asleep in the same chair that Werond had passed out in the previous day; Jo figured that, if Serena was with Pavel, Werond must not have been home yet.

Before Pavel could greet them, Cruck’aa had loudly demanded that they all needed to discuss what he and Jo had found regarding their job; he had stalked past a bewildered Pavel and tried to shake Serena awake. Upon waking up and hearing, briefly, what Cruck’aa wanted to discuss, Serena had waved her hand, rolled onto her side, and quickly fallen back asleep.

Undeterred and thoroughly annoyed, Cruck’aa turned his attention towards Pavel and launched into an explanation of the day Cruck’aa and Jo had suffered through. Pavel’s eyes immediately glazed over as Cruck’aa began to loudly berate the Griffon Riders; he snapped out of it, however, when Cruck’aa moved to explaining their findings regarding the hole in the walls, stating that he wasn’t in the mood to discuss their assignment. Despite his and Jo’s protests, Cruck’aa continued with his explanation, deeming it too important for Pavel to remain in the dark, though Serena would have to be filled in later.

It was at that point, almost half an hour later, that Pavel had yanked his armor from the chair it was on and cut Cruck’aa off, loudly proclaiming that he needed to see a blacksmith regarding his armor. As if on cue, Graham had stuck his head out the front door, and politely informed Pavel of a smithy he could go to, down Sword Street. Before Cruck’aa could protest, Pavel loudly thanked Graham, turned on his heel, and marched towards and out the front gate and onto the sidewalk. Cruck’aa, annoyance etched across his narrow face, quickly followed him; with a sigh, Jo followed them both, after quickly thanking Graham for the information.

She was glad that she’d decided to come with them. Cruck’aa had pestered Pavel the entire time on way towards the smithy, demanding his attention at every intersection. Pavel, to his credit, ignored the Aarakocra each time, refusing to give Cruck’aa so much as a glance. It was thanks to Jo that Cruck’aa hadn’t tried to forcibly pull Pavel into an alleyway, though she suspected that he’d be unsuccessful had he tried.

By the time they’d finally found the smithy, Cruck’aa had seemed to accept that he wouldn’t get a word out of Pavel, and thankfully had given up for the time being. Instead, he silently sulked the entire time Pavel spent with the blacksmith, much to everyone’s relief.

Jo shoved her thoughts away as the blacksmith tightened the last of the straps on Pavel’s armor.

“There!” he said, patting Pavel on the back. “Should be good to go! Thanks for stopping by!”

“Of course! And thank you for your help!” Pavel said. He wiggled his body around and, satisfied that everything was in place, waved at the owner, and began to head towards the door.

“Aren’t you just going to take all that off once we get back to Werond’s?” Jo asked as he walked towards her.

He shrugged.

“Sure, but I’d rather wear it than carry it. Besides, taking it off is a lot easier than putting it on.”

“True enough.”

Pavel walked past and pushed open the door, Jo quickly falling in alongside him. From behind, she heard Cruck’aa jump off his stool, grumble, and began to walk after them.

The sun had already set when they had stepped back out into the city, the sky now a mix of orange and purple. The sidewalk remained as busy as it ever was, forcing Jo and Pavel to squeeze together as they shoved their way through the crowds, and back towards the way they came. Smells of freshly baked street cuisine mixed with the harsh stench of coal dust, molten iron, and other metallic smells that clung to the street, causing Jo’s nose to wrinkle in irritation.

Beside her, Pavel raised a hand to his face. Jo grinned.

“Getting to you too?” She asked.

“It’s worse now for some reason.” Pavel replied through his hand, as they wove their way around a stalled group of dwarves. “Completely fine an hour ago.”

“Bet it’s the food. Don’t know why they’re selling it here though.”

“Probably because –”

“Okay!” Cruck’aa suddenly said, shoving his way between Jo and Pavel. “I’ve been waiting long enough! Pavel, can we please –”

“Are you still on about this?!” Pavel suddenly yelled, causing Jo, Cruck’aa, and the people around them to jump. “Really?!”

“Yes!” Cruck’aa shouted back. “This is our job Pavel! Why wouldn’t I want to discus this?!”

Pavel halted, then stepped towards the buildings, pulling Jo and Cruck’aa with him, out of the way of the foot traffic.

“Cruck’aa, this isn’t something that we need to discuss right now! I have no energy for it, can we just save it for tomorrow, please?” His shoulders slumped and he spread his palms towards Cruck’aa. “I just really don’t want to discuss it today!”

“I honestly don’t care Pavel; problems don’t worry about whether or not –”

“God damnit!” Pavel yelled again, throwing his hands up, drawing looks from the bystanders around them.

With barely restrained anger, he turned on his heel, and marched towards the nearest alley; the people around them quickly leapt out of the way and went about their business, as though nothing had happened.

Jo shook her head as Pavel disappeared through the alleyway.

“Nice one.” She grumbled.

“It’s not my fault he’s irritated.” Cruck’aa shot back. “Had we been able to talk sooner –”

“Oh, shut your beak and follow him.” Jo said. She pushed off the wall and began to walk after Pavel, refusing to check if Cruck’aa was behind her.

Jo almost walked into him as she stepped into the alley; Pavel had barely walked past the threshold before turning and leaning against the wall, rubbing his face with a mailed hand. She shooed him further in, as she felt Cruck’aa bump into her from behind.

“Let’s move in a bit more. Pretty sure the general public is sick of us by now.”

Cruck’aa grumbled as he stepped past Jo; Pavel pushed off the wall and moved further into the alley. After a few paces, he turned to fully face them, his jaw locked in annoyance.

“Alright,” he said. “you’ve got a minute to tell me whatever else you need to tell me. Anything beyond that, and I’m gone.”

“Are you serious?!” Cruck’aa yelled as he stepped towards him. “This is im-”

“Stop rambling and tell me about the fucking hole!” Pavel raised his voice.

“I would have earlier if you’d just stopped and listened –”

“Oh my –” Pavel pulled at his hair, as his eyes went wide with fury. “I’ve stopped! We’re talking! I’m giving you the chance to talk to me, right now when I’ve got a bunch of other things I could be doing, and you want to start ragging on me?! Really?!”

“What other things do you have to do?!”

“I need to prepare for the tournament Cruck’aa! Why the hell do you think I came here in the first place?!”

“What?! That is the least important thing you could be doing –”

“It’s important to me!” Pavel yelled, smashing his fist against his armored chest.

“Well, it shouldn’t be! We’ve made enough coin from Larion –”

“I’m not doing it for the fucking money!” Pavel bellowed. “I’m doing it because I have to! Something like this is the only way I can get better – and I need to get better!” He clenched his fists. “I’m not letting what happened on the caravan happen ever again and the only way, the only way I can do that is with this tournament!”

Jo’s heart shot into her throat.

Cruck’aa narrowed his eyes in confusion; before he could speak, she shoved in front of him, almost pushing the Aarakocra into the wall.

“Do not talk like that.” Jo said firmly. “What happened on the caravan was no one’s fault. None of us could have known that we were walking into an ambush. None of us. That entire situation was completely out of our hands, and you blaming yourself isn’t going to help matters.”

Pavel’s face darkened, causing a wave of anxiety to tighten in Jo’s chest.

“It doesn’t matter who’s at fault for it.” he said, voice steady. “What matters is that if I were better, I could have done more. I should have been able to save more people, but I couldn’t. Had I just gotten through that giant faster, I could have –”

“Stop it.” Jo said, stepping towards him. “Stop it right now. Pavel, we both know that you can’t focus on the ‘could ofs’ and ‘if I had justs’, it’ll kill you. I’m pretty sure you said that yourself, awhile ago.”

“It’s different this time.”

“It’s not.” Jo shook her head. “It’s the exact same situation, and you know it.” She crossed her arms. “What happened on the caravan was a tragedy, we all know that, and I can’t fault you for wanting to prove yourself in something like this tournament. But you can’t blame yourself for what happened. You just can’t. The moment you get bogged down like that, you’re never going to improve…and you know that.” She pointed at him. “Participate in the tournament, have your fun. But don’t believe for a moment that this is something that you need to do. It isn’t. Don’t blame yourself for things that happened outside of your control. You’re better than that.”

Pavel grimaced, and bit his lower lip; the anxiety that settled in Jo’s chest began to recede as resignation flashed in his eyes.

She’d seen this before with the greener men that joined her platoon; that haunted look in their eyes as they sat in front of bonfires, the spark of life deserted from their bodies. Always doubting, always blaming themselves. They were the first to break, the first to charge, and the first to die, in every single fight after the fact. Jo had buried too many of them, and she refused to let Pavel fall into that same hole.

“Hey!” Cruck’aa yelled, shoving past Jo; by now, he was only a few paces away from Pavel. “Jo has a point! You can’t focus on what happened back there. It’ll poison you worse than alcohol will.” He shrugged. “I mean, think about it. The most important thing that happened was that us,” he gestured towards the three of them. “and Serena made it out in one piece, and that’s all that matters. The rest of it was bad, sure, but –”

Jo lost focus on Cruck’aa’s words as her heart sunk; before she could speak, Pavel’s face darkened once more.

Without a word, he shoved past Cruck’aa, sending him into the wall. Jo stepped out of the way as Pavel marched past her, with no acknowledgment that she was even there.

He exited the alley, turned on his heel, and walked out of sight.

With a sigh, Jo leaned her head against the wall, grimacing as it began to pound.

“Foehammer’s Breath.” She mumbled.

“Really?!” Cruck’aa spat, stepping beside Jo, staring at where Pavel had been. “He just walks off? Why –”

“You’re right.” Jo said. “As much as I hate to say it, you’re right about what you said. But Pavel isn’t cold like you Cruck’aa. I know you didn’t give a rat’s ass about anyone else on that caravan, but Pavel did, and it’s dragging him down. And until you get it in that thick skull of yours, you’re not going to understand why he got so mad at you.”

“Oh no, I understand perfectly well why he’s angry with me.” Cruck’aa said. “It’s misplaced anger, I know that much. He knows I’m right, after all.”

“And therein lies the problem.” Jo sighed, before pushing off the wall and taking off after Pavel.