Tempted to slam the door in the children's faces, and go back to sleep Cronk cursed the pathfinder, ‘I’m not a babysitter!’

Pushing through the swarm of four kids Cronk walked out of his room while waving his hand dismissively, “Yeah sure, just don’t mess anything up, I don’t feel like cleaning up after you 1,2,3,4 children.

“Hey we’re not kids, we’re thirteen,” Mark spoke while stepping towards Cronk with his arms crossed

“Actually I’m twelve,” Ethan quietly mumbled off to one side

Completely ignoring their protests Cronk stumbled down the stairs, “You're not, not kids until you can pull your own weight”

Reaching the ground floor of the guild he looked around to see the place was mostly dead. Only three people were currently down here, and they were all responsible for running part of the guild. Figuring the rest of the pathfinders were still sleeping Cronk payed it no mind.

Hearing his stomach growl Cronk, looked over to the bar, he was tempted to eat something before leaving, but the horrible tasting fish hadn’t treated his tastebuds kindly even when drunk, so he didn’t want to taste it sober. Sighing he went to walk out of the guild when the receptionist called out to him “Cronk, just reminding you, you have your observation test today with Jago in warehouse A2.

Opening his mouth to ask where warehouse A2 was Cronk, remembered when he first tried to ask a random citizen direction, and quickly closed his mouth. Turning to face the receptionist he nodded and spoke, “Thank you Pete,” turning back he walked out of the guild, and down the street, with the children noisily following him.

After walking for a good ten minutes Cronk turned to walk down a back alley which looked vaguely similar to one he had been in yesterday.

“Hey, Mary is there a shop this way or something?” Ethan whispered

Thinking for a second mary shook her head, “Nah, the only thing in that direction is the fishing market.”

Stopping in his tracks Cronk turned to the children “You mean warehouse A2 isn’t in this direction?” Cronk spoke while pointing down the alley.

Shaking their heads in unison the kids looked at him strangely. Feeling his head pulse he pointed to the kid who said the fish market was down the alley, “Can you lead me to the warehouse?”

Nodding Mary turned and motioned for everyone to follow her. Reaching the warehouse 12 minutes later Cronk knocked on the warehouse doors.

Hearing Jago’s voice from inside call out, “One second” Cronk leaned his shoulder against the stone walls.

Opening the door Jago saw Cronk accompanied by the kids, “Wow you’ve been busy since the last time I met you”

Feeling like he should just slam his head into the nearest wall Cronk rolled his eyes, “Not my kids! I’m here for the observation test.”

Waving him off Jago walked towards the back, “Sure they aren’t, anyways follow me so we can get started,”

Following Jago Cronk cursed the pathfinder, ‘What are you doing?”

***

Vigil lazily rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he came back to the world of the living. Sitting up, bits, and pieces from his dream asserted himself in his mind, or rather his nightmare. It wasn’t always the same dream, but they all shared one thing in common, failure to protect his clients. Recounting previous events he stretched his back, and spoke to himself, “As long as I don’t make the same mistake it’s fine.”

Standing he looked down, and let out a small laugh as he realized he’d fallen asleep in his previous day’s attire. Changing out his leather armor for a more comfortable set of linen clothing he opened his door, and walked towards the receptionist desk on the first floor.

“Hello, I’d like to know which room … Cronk was assigned to,” Vigil spoke while thinking to himself, ‘I think that’s how he introduced himself to Jago.’

The receptionist was to absorbed in his paperwork to look up, pointing upstairs he spoke, “Morning’ Vigil, Cronk is room 57. You going with him to the observation test?”

Looking around the guild, and not yet seeing the children yet Vigil spoke, “No, I’m going out today. The children that were here last night should be back sometime this morning, tell them to follow Cronk until I get their lesson’s ready.

Nodding his head the receptionist spoke, “Will do, good day pathfinder.”

‘Cronk will do fine of the observation test, and the children aren’t particularly annoying. It should be fine.’ Vigl reasoned.

It was time for him to pay his respects

Walking down the winding streets of Linden, Vigil found himself in front of the flower shop. Stepping into the threshold of the shop he started mentally listing off names, ‘Charles, Sarah, Mag, Uther, Tel…’

“10” he said out loud as he started looking for the specific flowers.

After grabbing the flowers he walked towards the shopkeep. Showing her the flowers, he picked up a watering pail, and handed her the necessary coins.

The shopkeep had followed the man with her eyes as he walked through the shop with practiced ease grabbing all the usual flowers. She had gotten to know the pathfinder over his many visits, he would always buy the same flowers. Seeing that he wasn’t in a talking mood she gave him a brief smile, and handed him a watering pail.

Returning the shopkeepers smile he grabbed rested the flowers on his arm taking care not to break them. Grabbing the pale he set off to his next destination

Arriving at his next destination he walked past the familiar gray stone, and black gates leading to the graveyard. Walking without delay he arrived at the first grave. Kneeling down he poked a small hole in the bed of the grave, and placed a flower inside.

Lifting up the water canister he began to water the two dozen or so flowers which sprouted from the grave. After finishing that he sat down and began praying. Barely thirty seconds passed before Vigil was interrupted by an angry voice behind him.

“I thought I told you to stop coming here.”

Turning Vigil saw an older woman staring down at him, standing up he gave the women a smile, and spoke, “Nice to see you again Samantha, I was just about to take my leave.”

Walking away he heard the woman's voice called after him, “Stop placing flowers in my sons grave!”

This scene repeated itself 9 more times, with the only difference being if someone showed up, and who showed up. Sometimes it was a friend, others a lover, but in the end it didn’t matter. Vigil wasn’t here to talk to the living.

Leaving the graveyard with pail in hand he walked towards the warehouse, “Now back to the world of the living.”

***

Note: Tried to give a better sense of Vigil's character. If you have any tips, or suggestions feel free to comment (plz do).