“How can I help you?” The innkeeper asked as soon as Callida and Erkunden walked through the doors. “A couple’s suite perhaps?”

“Oh, no,” Erkunden blushed hard. “We’re looking for our friends? They were supposed to get rooms for us.”

“Names?”

“Our names or theirs?”

“Theirs.”

“Buhne. Schakern Buhne.”

The innkeeper checked her book and nodded. “Follow me.” Callida and Erkunden were led up a flight of stairs and down a long hallway to the last two doors on the right hand side. She knocked firmly.

“Who is it?”

“Your friends are here.”

Buhne cracked the door, swinging it wide upon seeing Callida and Erkunden. “Thank you, Ms. Wirtin,” he smiled warmly at the innkeeper who blushed slightly and excused herself.

Callida followed Erkunden into the room. The inn was cozy and the room small with beds for three people and rustic finishes that matched the log cabin-style architecture of the building.

“Glad to see that you made it back! We got two rooms, this one and the room next door, and we can get a third if you feel we need it, Beta,” Buhne informed them.

Callida shook her head. “You guys just pick one room to dress in in the mornings, and I’ll pick the other.”

“Fair enough,” Buhne agreed. “So! How did it go?” Around the room, the rest of Squad 14 paused whatever they were doing to gather around and listen to the report.

“Uh,” Callida shrugged, “we didn’t screw up.”

“That’s… good….” Buhne encouraged her. “Anything else?”

Callida smiled sheepishly at Erkunden and sat down on the bed next to Bern. “Stag?”

Erkunden sighed. “Well, she could stand to work on what to do when things don’t go to plan, but otherwise, she did great.”

“Cut the riddles, Stag,” Spahen grouched. “Just tell us what happened and what you learned.”

“Well, Papa was right. The arena is wary of recruiters. Beta’s stubbornness got us past the guard named Rohling, and her expertise persuaded the owner, a man called Gierig, to let us come back tonight. We met Stark, a veteran fighter, and got some good tips about the other recruitment operations from Rohling. I think Rohling is looking forward to seeing Aria again tonight,” he smirked.

“What did you learn about the recruitment operations?”

“They pitch the job as a position in a private army. Apparently fighting for a cause and making a difference appeals to some of these guys. And recruitment generally happens after hours, catching the fighters as they leave the arena.”

“But they probably have people in place to watch the fights and scout out potential new hires,” Spahen nodded. “I think we’ll still need to proceed as planned.”

“Oh,” Erkunden grinned, “Beta got us backstage passes tonight.”

“How’d you manage that?” Buhne was impressed. Callida just shrugged.

“She beat Stark in a fight.”

“Wait, what?! Didn’t you say Stark was a veteran brawler?”

“A good one, by the looks of it,” Erkunden nodded. “But this was my original point: Beta needs to work on what to do when things don’t go to plan.”

“So what happened?”

“Gierig didn’t trust her pitch and told us to get lost, so she said…” he paused trying to remember her exact words. “How did you put it, Beta?”

“Try me.”

“That was it. And then she wound up in the cage with Stark.”

“And she won?!”

Erkunden grinned. “Stark couldn’t touch her.”

“I got lucky,” Callida stated dryly. “He had a bad knee, and I managed to find a way to take advantage of that before he pinned me down. Had his fist made contact, we’d be having a different conversation right now.”

The boys looked around at each other trying to decide how to react to this report. “Well,” Buhne cleared his throat, “we’ll work on alternative solutions to ‘try me’ sometime, but well done, Beta. I guess we just need to get you dolled up for tonight.”

“Yeah,” Callida sighed and slouched back onto the bed. “I’ll go change into my dress, but I’m not putting the heels on until we get there.”

“Fair enough,” Buhne chuckled. “Once you’re dressed, let me touch up your makeup. We’ll go a little darker, sultrier.” Callida dragged herself to her feet and snatched her bag from Ablenkung on the way to the next room over.

“She might need a nap,” Bern suggested thoughtfully once the door latch clicked behind her.

“She can doze off while I fix her makeup,” Buhne nodded. “She didn’t even have the energy to glare at me the way she does when I say things like ‘sultrier’.”

“Stag, how was her acting? Give us the full report. You said Gierig didn’t accept her pitch,” Spahen returned to more pressing matters.

Erkunden nodded. “I think he’d have been slow to accept any recruitment pitches, but Beta doesn’t handle the unknown well. It’s not that she can’t think on her feet. It’s more that she really is a terrible liar, so she fell back onto what she knows she’s good at. She has three things going for her. One, she can deliver what she’s rehearsed, and she’s tenacious. She will pester you until she says what she came to say. Two, fighting, which is why she was picked for this job. And three, the girl knows how to work lesson one.”

“Lesson one came into play?”

“Like I said, Rohling is looking forward to seeing her tonight.”

“He’s the guard at the front door, right?”

“Yeah. The really big dude. Beta flirted information out of him on our way out.”

“I met him when I went to get the fight schedule,” Buhne said, distracted by whatever was going through his head.

“Rohling seems pretty loyal to the arena,” Erkunden continued, looking pointedly at Ablenkung. “Someone to maybe keep in mind should things get out of hand.”

“The enemy of our enemy kind of thing?” Spahen clarified.

Erkunden nodded. “He was pretty bitter about recruiters taking fighters away from the arena. He only warmed up to us after we’d made it clear that the jobs we were recruiting for were compatible with a fight schedule, but even then, it took Beta’s flirting to get him to relax.”

“What about Gierig?”

“What about him?”

“What’s he like?”

Erkunden pondered his answer for a moment. “Tough. Proud. A little older, in his fifties maybe. The impressions I got were that he’s a true businessman-- lives by a ‘what’s in it for me’ attitude. He’s used to people obeying him and doesn’t have much patience for people he considers to be wasting his time. He was pretty quick to dismiss us.”

“So how’d you get him to listen? And give you backstage access tonight?” Spahen pressed.

“Beta.... I think, as a businessman, Gierig respected the hustle. She would not take ‘no’ for an answer, and she had the skills to back up her claims. It didn’t hurt that, after their fight, Stark put in-.”

“I’m back,” Callida hurried through the door wearing her dress and clutching her bag to her chest self-consciously. She looked tired.

“Come have a seat,” Buhne ushered her into a chair. Callida sat down, still holding her bag to her chest. “I’ll take that for you.” She hesitated. “Is everything ok?”

“Uh. Yeah.” She surrendered the bag, and Buhne watched her shoulders slump.

“Hey, Beta, what’s wrong?” he asked awkwardly.

“Nothing. I think I’m just tired.” She leaned back into the chair and draped her hair over the back so Buhne could access it. “If it’s alright, I’m just gonna close my eyes while you work.”

“Go ahead,” Buhne said, but once her eyes were closed, he glanced around the room, shrugging at the guys to ask for help. None was offered. On his own, Buhne got to work. Fortunately, Belle had kept things really simple for him. Brush the hair, part it cleanly, add products that give the hair shine as it falls and control frizzing. Fill in the scar through the left eyebrow, line the eyes, paint the lashes, dab some color on the lips and barely across the cheekbone, and then, for ‘special occasions’, darken the eyelids. Obviously, practice and experimentation from the last week had improved his application of the various products, but Callida had clear, even skin and naturally silky, wavy hair that made his job as easy as possible. “All done…. Beta?” She didn’t respond. “Beta?” Cautiously, Buhne nudged her shoulder, repeating her name in a lilting, sing-song voice until, “hey, Animo!”

“Huh? What?” She jolted awake.

Buhne snatched her wrists as her hands lifted to rub the sleep out of her eyes. “Don’t smear your makeup.”

Callida settled for blinking a few extra times. “Sorry. ‘Must’ve dozed off.” With her eyes less sleep-clouded, Callida looked around, taking in her surroundings. Right. We’re at the inn. She looked down and her lips curled in disgust, her hands unconsciously trying to figure out how to cover herself up more without making it look too obvious. She looked around the room again. Professor, Stag and Shield were working on something quietly in a corner, Parrot was putting the beauty products back into the bag, and Papa… she blinked. Papa was studying her, not in a creepy way though. She stood up to stretch and clear her throat, trying to shake off the feeling of being stared at.

“Beta, can I have a minute?” Bern didn’t wait for her to respond and simply took her hand, leading her through the door and into the next room.

“Can I help you?”

“You’re uncomfortable.”

“Ok?”

“You hate that dress.”

She sighed. “Your point?”

“If you don’t feel beautiful and confident in that dress, then what’s the point of wearing it?”

“Uh…. Where is this coming from?”

“I have an older sister.”

Callida waited for him to elaborate until it became clear that he wasn’t planning to. “You have an older sister…,” she prodded. “And?”

“She says that the way your clothes make you feel is the way they make you look. So if you don’t feel beautiful and confident wearing this stupid, slutty dress, there’s no point in you wearing it.”

She blinked, weirdly trying not to cry. “You-you think so?”

“I know so.”

“So, what should I do?”

“What don’t you like about this dress?”

She looked down, feeling awkward and somewhat ashamed. “My biggest complaint is the neckline. It’s just so low.”

Bern nodded, thoughtful frowns lining his forehead. “Where’s your bag?”

“Uh, Parrot took it from me in the other room.”

“I’ll be right back.” Bern left to return moments later holding her bag. “I’m not very good at this,” he mumbled mostly to himself as he rummaged through her clothes, eventually pulling out the white button-down shirt of her military uniform. “Here, put this on under the dress.”

“Turn around, please.” Bern excused himself to stand outside the door and Callida did as instructed. The skin-tight nature of the dress made even the fitted shirt beneath look kind of silly, but she had to admit, she was definitely less uncomfortable with sleeves, a back, and a neckline that covered her cleavage. She shrugged and opened the door to let Bern back in. “It doesn’t look right.”

“Loosen the lacing at the front of the dress.”

“Like this?” Callida fumbled.

“Would you mind if I helped you?”

“Uh, sure.”

Bern knelt down in front of her and carefully unlaced and then relaced the front of the dress so it was still fitted but not so tight, making the shirt underneath look almost like it was supposed to be there. “How’s that?”

“Better.”

Bern stood up and indicated for her to spin around. She obliged with a small smile. “Much better. How do you feel?”

“A lot calmer.”

Bern smiled gently. “Maybe unbutton the top couple buttons of your shirt. You don’t have to go lower than you are comfortable, but it will help you look more relaxed.” Following instructions, Callida unbuttoned the top few buttons to her comfort level, and Bern smiled approvingly. “Do you feel beautiful and confident now?”

“I feel more like myself, yeah.”

“Good. You look more like yourself.”

Feeling an overwhelming sense of relief and gratitude, Callida wrapped her arms around Bern’s neck in a giant hug. “Thank you.”

Nonplussed but certainly not complaining, Bern eventually figured out how to hug her back. “Shield has some equipment for you to wear under your skirt.” She nodded and followed him into the other room.

“Whoa!” Buhne grinned. “Now that’s a look.”

Callida winced. “What does that mean?”

“You look good, Beta-- classy, and still a little sexy,” he winked.

“It suits you,” Ablenkung added, walking towards her with a strappy leather contraption. “Now we get to find out if this fits.” He knelt down in front of her and made eye contact with a small smirk. “Lift your skirt for me.”

“Excuse me?!” she grinned, and Ablenkung laughed. She hiked the skirt so Ablenkung could strap the belt onto her thigh. It fit almost perfectly. One strap required him to punch an extra hole into the leather.

“There,” he said, looking over his handiwork. “So Beta, I designed this belt to hold a dagger, and this.” He pulled out a small leather pouch and opened it to show her the contents.

“Needles?”

“Sedation needles. They are already tipped with the drug. To use one, just pull it out and poke someone. Just make sure you don’t poke yourself.”

“Yeah, that would be bad,” she chuckled.

“The dagger and needles need to sit between your legs so you can grab them quickly through the slit of your skirt, but, more importantly, so they don’t make your skirt bulge, giving you away,” he continued. “I’ll let you place the equipment in the belt yourself though. You should feel a narrow loop for the dagger’s sheath to sit in, and a similar, smaller loop and a clasp for the pouch.”

“Got it,” Callida grinned and let her skirt fall to the floor. “It’s clever. Thanks, Shield!”

He nodded and stood back up. “You can wear your sword belt over your dress. The other stuff is mostly for emergencies, but it’s better to be over-prepared for this sort of mission.”

***

Patrons arrived nearly an hour before the fights even started. Minus the odd waitress, Callida was the only girl in the arena, but she was definitely the youngest and the only girl with long blonde hair and a slit in her skirt running through her upper thigh. If Buhne was to be believed, she was the best-dressed and best-looking girl in the room, but Callida wasn’t prepared to trust his overly generous assessment. She was garnering a lot of attention though, most of which made her feel extremely self-conscious. Thank the Primordials for Bern’s suggestion to add a shirt under this dress.

“Aria,” Erkunden materialized to her right, “Gierig waved us back.”

“It’s time?”

“Nervous?” He grinned and took her wrist to guide her through the crowd to the back doors.

“Yeah. You could say that.”

“You’ll be great. Just remember to be confident.”

“Right,” but even with the reassurance, Callida’s fingers started fiddling with the rings on her necklace.

“Hey, Beta?”

“Huh?”

“That necklace....”

“What about it?”

“It’s unusual. I’ve seen the chain but not the rings before.”

“Oh,” Callida acknowledged and moved to stuff the chain back down the front of her shirt.

“May I?” Erkunden held out his hand.

“Uh, tell you what: let’s get out of this in one piece, and I’ll tell you all about my necklace back at the inn tonight.”

Erkunden’s expectant hand took hers in a shake of agreement. “Deal.”

Callida was so distracted by the stress of getting through her recruitment pitch that she almost didn’t notice who was guarding the door. Erkunden had to nudge her. “Oh! Rohling! Hi!”

“Hi, Aria,” Rohling said with a bare hint of bashfulness. “Gierig told me to lead you through.”

“Personally?!”

“Is that alright?”

She smiled up at him, leaning in close so her head had to tilt back to meet his eyes, and took Rohling’s arm, even though he hadn’t offered it. “That’s perfect. Thank you.”

Erkunden had to consciously bite back a snigger as a flustered Rohling opened the door for them, a touch of pink kissing his ears. “Erm. Just through here. I’ll check to make sure that the men are all, uh… decent for you.”

“So thoughtful,” Callida cooed and squeezed his bicep gently before releasing his arm again.

“Just one minute?” Callida nodded encouragingly, and Rohling blundered through the door in front of him. Alone with Erkunden once again, she exhaled some nervous energy.

“Poor Rohling, “Erkunden chuckled.

“Not helping, Stag.”

“He’s so sincere.”

“And I’m not?”

“Well, are you? I just figured you were hamming up lesson one.”

“I dunno. He’s cute,” Callida grinned impishly and rounded on Erkunden. “Just because it’s lesson one doesn’t mean I can’t genuinely enjoy it, does it?”

“Uh, I guess that’s true,” he stammered.

The door swung open again, and Callida smiled readily at Rohling. “They’re ready for you.”

“Thanks, Rohling.”

The room was musty with dim lighting and the strong smell of sweaty men mingled with a hint of rust-- the old, blood-stained towels tossed in a wash bin seemed a probable source. A few fighters off to one side whistled when Callida walked in, and Callida shot them a burning glare that seemed to at once silence and excite them.

“Who’s the princess?” one of them jeered, testing her boundaries.

“She’s hardly a princess, Drucken” a familiar, gruff voice silenced the obnoxious chatter. “She beat me in a fight earlier today.”

“You?” Drucken scoffed at Stark. “Were you drunk?”

“Watch your mouth, boy!” Stark growled, and Drucken’s expression soured as he swallowed his snark. “It’s Aria, right?”

Callida nodded with a small smile directed at Stark. “My name is Aria Mendacium. Gierig gave me permission to meet with you all to present a business opportunity for your consideration.”

“Rohling, you let a recruiter in here?!” someone interrupted, their tone annoyed and confused. “I thought there was a no tolerance policy.”

“Gierig approved this one,” Rohling shrugged, “so listen up.”

“I run a bodyguards-for-hire business. Hours are extremely flexible, jobs are always optional. You get paid upon completion of a job, and you will receive personalized training. I want to make it clear that this is a side hustle, not full-time employment. But it pays well, and if you are looking to improve your fighting in the arena, a little specialized training wouldn’t hurt.”

“What sorts of training?”

“Martial arts, bladed weapons, fight analysis… you have experience fighting with your fists. I will teach you how to maximize those assets and develop new fight strategies that apply to real world fights. Obviously, there’s a lot of crossover, but there is also much to learn.”

“You’d be teaching us?” Drucken asked suspiciously. “A woman? Not even! You can’t be more than, I dunno, twenty?!”

“Eighteen actually,” Callida allowed her mouth to curl in a small, unconcerned smile. “I assure you, I’ve been honing my craft for a long time.”

“Like I said, Drucken,” Stark spat, “she beat me. I didn’t land a single hit.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Are you calling me a liar?!”

“What is she, your daughter, Stark? Or perhaps a side girl?” Drucken antagonized him. “Did she promise to cut you in or something?”

Stark’s fists balled up in anger as he moved to physically confront Drucken. Callida found the anticipatory energy in the room suffocating, the rivalry between Stark and Drucken likely not new. She reached under her skirt to grab the dagger tucked into Ablenkung’s utility belt and flung it across the room between Stark and Drucken, hitting the wall mere inches from Drucken’s face. Everyone froze, and Callida moved to collect her dagger and snarl at Drucken.

“A side girl?”

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” he mumbled.

“No? I suppose that impugning my honor in such a way was only intended to provoke Stark?”

“Well-”

“A word of advice, cub, before offending someone you don’t know, check to see how sharp their teeth are first.”

Drucken started laughing, and Callida glared at him. “You’re calling me a cub? You’re a little girl.”

“A little girl with sharp teeth,” Callida replied coolly, though her eyes were spewing fire.

“Mm. Fiery, aren’t you?” Drucken smirked and reached a hand out to snatch at her hips, or maybe a little lower. In the blink of an eye, Drucken’s body twisted, his face and chest slammed into the wall, his arm wrenched behind his back. Callida’s high heel struck the back of one of his knees, and Drucken crumpled, his face sliding against the wall as he dropped. A weak attempt to throw her off was countered by his face hitting the ground, bloodying his nose, Callida’s knee digging into his back.

“I dare you to try that again,” she hissed, and Drucken winced as her knee dug harder into the small of his back and his shoulder twisted even more horribly.

“I yield.”

“Not good enough. Have you learned anything?”

“You little b- AGH!” His shoulder popped in warning. It wasn’t dislocated, but one more jerk from Callida, and it would be.

“Did you learn anything?”

“Check the teeth,” he grunted.

“Anything else? Maybe about how to treat women?”

Drucken glowered at her out of the corner of his eye. “Like a princess.”

“Wrong answer.” Her grip around his forearm tightened.

“Wait, wait, wait!! Respectfully! I meant respectfully!”

Callida released his arm and stood back up to rejoin Erkunden by the door. “I’ll be watching your fights tonight. If anyone is interested in signing on with me, I should be pretty easy to spot in the crowd.” She turned to the door to leave. “Oh, pro tip for anyone going up against Drucken tonight, his left hook is going to be a little sloppy.”

Erkunden managed to keep a neutral expression until they made it back into the main room of the arena, at which point he was fit to burst. “Beta, what the crap?!”

Callida’s adrenaline was making her feel shaky. “I overdid it again, didn’t I?” she grimaced.

“No! That was….” Erkunden narrowly saved himself from saying “hot”. He cleared his throat and tried again. “We needed you to make a statement, make yourself look like serious competition. You just showed everyone that you mean business. But we still need to work on alternatives to fighting when things don’t go to plan,” he added with a small smirk.

“Yeah. Did you get what you needed at least?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re the scout. Did you see anything useful?”

“It was good to observe the dynamics between the fighters. Some of them, that Drucken guy for instance, seem to be dissatisfied with the status quo. They’d be ideal targets for our private army recruiters.”

“I probably didn’t help things by pounding his face into the floor,” Callida grumbled more to herself than anything.

“He deserved that.”

“You think so?”

“Definitely.”

“Well, what’s next? I’m just supposed to observe the fights and feed tips to Parrot while you wander and mingle?”

“Yeah. Find a table to sit at that gives you a visual of both Parrot and the stage and order something to eat. Be a presence. Let people come to you, and when you have a good tip, let Parrot know. I’ll occasionally join you.”

The tables were all occupied. Callida eventually found one that met her requirements with only one guy sitting at it. He was exceptionally tall with legs that claimed most of the space under the table. He was also quite tan, weather-worn like he spent a lot of time outside, a trait that tried to hide his youth. By Callida’s estimate, he was maybe in his mid-twenties. “Is this seat taken?”

“Uh….”

Regardless of whatever excuse he was working on, Callida sat down anyway. “Thanks.”

“... Sure.” He sighed in resignation and leaned back in his chair, his legs extending even further under the table, with his arms crossed to glance around the room and avoid eye contact with her.

“I’m Aria, by the way.” The man grunted a distracted acknowledgement. Two can play that game, Callida rolled her eyes and turned her chair to face away from him and nod at Parrot a few tables away. Buhne made eye contact with her briefly and then resumed working his table, chatting up his fellow gamblers. “Do you have a copy of the fight schedule?” Callida asked her unwilling table mate.

The man silently produced a copy from an inside breast pocket of his jacket. The paper was marked, each name had a small symbol next to it.

“What do these symbols mean?” Callida asked curiously and was surprised to note a small flicker of panic cross the man’s face.

“It’s nothing.”

“Does it have anything to do with gambling?”

The panic faded as quickly as it had appeared to be replaced by a small shrug. “Something like that.”

“Hm.” She studied the names and accompanying markings more closely. “The names with stars next to them, are they your favorites?”

“Yeah.”

She breathed in through her teeth. “You may want to reconsider Drucken tonight.”

“Why’s that?”

“Left shoulder injury.”

“How do you know?”

She smirked. “I gave it to him.”

For the first time, the man looked at her with interest. “You injured Drucken? Like, in a fight?”

“Not exactly. I just taught him a lesson.”

“What kind of lesson?”

“Not to underestimate the blonde in a black dress.”

The man chuckled. “What did you say your name was?”

“Aria. Yours?”

“Razvedchik, Raz for short.”

“That’s an unusual name.”

“Not where I’m from.”

“And where is that exactly?”

He ignored her question to instead lean forward against the table and look her squarely in the eyes. “You’re wearing a sword belt.”

“Obviously.”

“Do you know how to use that?” He glanced down at her sword, his eyes glinting with something she couldn’t identify.

“Better than most.”

“Indeed?”

“Why?”

“I’d be curious to see just how badly Drucken underestimated the blonde in the black dress sometime.”

“To what end?”

“Don’t tell the proprietor because he’ll kick me out, but I’m a talent scout. These men are wasted on brawling for entertainment.”

“And you think I might be the type of talent you are looking for?” Callida’s eyes narrowed with new suspicion.

“Quite possibly.”

“Who do you represent?”

“A private army. People these days are… anxious about the state of the world. I represent people looking to hire fighters wanting to make a difference and fight for a cause that’s bigger than themselves.”

What are the odds that I just happened to pick a table with a bandit recruiter? She snorted to herself. “Sounds like a bunch of vigilantes and troublemakers looking for a fight.”

Raz smiled vaguely. “Something like that. Would you maybe be interested?”

“Maybe. What’s the catch?”

“No catch. There’s an informational meeting in a couple of weeks. If you’re interested, I can give you the time and location.”

“Alright. It never hurts to get more information.”

Raz smiled and pulled a small paper out of another pocket to hand to her. “Tell me about yourself, Aria. Where are you from, what brings you here, how’d you learn to teach someone like Drucken a lesson?”

Ah, crap. I’m not prepared to make stuff up on the spot like this. She smiled and hoped it didn’t make her look nervous. If it did, Raz didn’t seem to notice. “Well, I'm originally from the Lion Tribe. Business opportunities brought me to the Bear Tribe…. I happen to be in a similar business as you, actually.”

“Oh?” Raz prodded. “What do you do?”

“I started a bodyguards-for-hire business, taking advantage of people’s fears. You could say that the arena is a popular headhunting location for muscle.”

“Is that so?” Raz frowned. “So you are competition?”

“In a way, though I don’t know that our goals are mutually exclusive.”

“How so?”

“Well, my business is a side hustle. Yours sounds like full-time employment. I’d imagine that men would be able to work both.”

“If you are running your own business, why did you say you were interested in mine?”

Callida smiled, genuinely this time. “Come, now, Raz. I’d have thought that was obvious! You are my competition, after all. It’s always good to understand your opponent.”

“You played me?” his frown deepened.

“Don’t take it so personally,” she laughed, suddenly having fun. “I’m an opportunist, Raz. I’ve made it my business to play people. That said, we might actually be useful to each other.”

“How so?”

“Well, I’m a trainer. I recruit men into the bodyguard business and train them up personally. I’m not exactly interested in being one of your vigilante fighters, but I’m not opposed to being hired as a trainer.”

Raz’s eyes narrowed. “You’d be interested in training men other than your own?”

“I don’t see why not,” Callida shrugged. “My bodyguard business doesn’t take up so much of my time that I couldn’t.”

Raz leaned back in his chair to survey her. “You seem awfully confident that we’d even want you.”

“Don’t underestimate the blonde in the black dress,” Callida smirked, mimicking his posture, draping an arm over the back of her chair casually.

Raz chuckled and leaned towards her again, his posture relaxing significantly. “I look forward to seeing you at the meeting then.”

She nodded with a slight smirk, and Raz leaned back into his chair as an announcer took the stage to introduce the first pair of fighters. Callida’s eyes narrowed unconsciously as she studied the hulking pair of men. The one was young and especially huge. The other was a little older with a bushy mustache and seemed to be approaching the fight more intelligently, sizing up his opponent while the youth waved to the cheering crowd. Callida rotated toward Buhne and casually drew an imaginary mustache on her face. Buhne winked at her and placed his bets.

The arena was so loud with all the shouting and cheering. She wasn’t sure why there were chairs when everyone insisted on standing to jump and yell at the contestants. It was a tight match, but Mustache Man, as Callida began to call him in her shouted commentary to Raz, came out on top.

“Can I get you two anything?” a waitress checked in on the table.

“Uh, yeah, actually,” Callida said. “Do you have a menu?”

“Not exactly. We have fried fish and potatoes, some sandwiches, stew-

“The fried fish sounds good.”

“Anything to drink?”

“Just water for me.”

“Alright, anything for you, sir?”

“I’m good,” Raz brushed her off.

“Come on, Raz. I can’t eat by myself,” Callida teased. “Tell you what, it’s my treat. What would you like?”

Raz looked at Callida and rolled his eyes. “I’ll have whatever she’s having.”

“Anything to drink?” the waitress asked.

“He’ll have a beer,” Callida ordered for him before he could answer, and Raz shrugged. “Make it a tall glass of your best stuff,” she added conspiratorially.

“I’ll be right back,” the waitress smiled and disappeared.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Raz grumbled.

“You could just say ‘thank you’. Besides, it’s never fun to eat alone.” The next fight was announced, and Callida sized up the opponents and gave Buhne her best guess with a small shrug as the food arrived. “Whoa! Now that’s a beer!” Callida laughed at the expression on Raz’s face. The glass, which was really more of a medium-sized pot, was filled to the brim, the foam off the top oozing slightly down the sides.

“That is what you ordered, isn’t it?” the waitress asked Callida who grinned and paid for the meal.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“What is this?” Raz finally asked once the waitress had moved off.

“Beer,” Callida sniggered into her water.

“What did you order?”

“I told her to bring you a tall glass,” she shrugged. “Apparently, that’s a tall glass.”

“It’s bigger than my head.”

“I’m not here to judge,” Callida lifted her hands in mock surrender. “Is it any good, at least?”

Raz slid the overfilled tub to the edge of the table to take a sip, his eyebrows raising in surprise. “Yeah, actually. It’s nice.”

“Then, to our unlikely friendship,” Callida smiled and raised her glass of water in a small toast. ‘Unlikely’ being the operative word.