Faye stepped into the Administrator’s office, quietly shutting the door behind her despite the noise of the occupants that made it unlikely they would have heard anyway.

The Administrator herself was sitting at the head of her desk, and she noticed Faye as she entered but she only greeted her with a slow nod that Faye returned.

Faye knew some of the others in the room. Maggie, of course, who gestured for Faye to join her. Taveon, who was currently arguing vehemently with a woman Faye did not know, and a few of the Guilders that she had seen around.

“What did I miss?” Faye whispered.

Maggie gave her a look. “Too much to go over, I’m afraid.”

“Get your head out of your arse, you blithering fool!” Taveon shouted, louder than his opponent.

Faye looked over in shock. She was not sure she had ever heard Taveon raise his voice, let alone speak with such disdain.

“It is not foolish to protect the weak, old man!” the woman opposing him said. She wore her hair in a bushy ponytail that was flecked with silver. It gave her an air of authority that Faye liked. She was not backing down from the man before her, despite his explosion.

“It is foolish to sit idly by as the enemy stagger back, injured. If you show one ounce of leniency, they will come back, stronger than before.”

Faye frowned. It was true. The Primalists were summoners, their power lay not in their swarms but in the controllers, the Primalists whose magic brought to life the briar and bramble, thorn, and vine.

“If we pursue them, there is no telling what will happen! They could be lying in wait, ready to chop the head off the snake that strikes them. It is arrogance to assume that we can defeat this larger group with the adventurers that we have. They are not enough. They are too weak.”

Faye stiffened.

Maggie put her hand on Faye’s arm, but she ignored it.

“The adventurers are the only thing keeping us standing!” Taveon shouted.

“Exactly! Remove their support and this whole town will be overgrown within the day, our children’s’ bodies fertiliser for their abominations!”

I do not like the way she’s speaking, Faye thought.

“So, what do you propose?” Taveon asked. “That we sit in our adequately defended square and leave the Primalists to ravage the rest of the town? It’s alright for those of you in the Guild, you don’t have houses paid for with your own effort to protect.”

“My work for the Guild is necessary—”

“Schoolmaster…” the Administrator interrupted, in a voice much quieter than the others, “am I to believe that you think the Guild is not acting in the best interests of the town?”

Taveon slashed a hand through the air. “No, of course not!”

“Then, please refrain from implying it.”

He nodded, jerkily. “Yes, yes, of course… I just— Ah!” He had turned slightly and had noticed Faye’s presence beside Maggie. “Why don’t we ask the opinion of one of those protecting our sorry backsides, then?”

Faye locked eyes with the old man, glaring daggers. He met her gaze seriously but winked when no one else could see him.

“Oh, yes, is this not the youngest one?” the woman said.

Faye’s eyes slid over to her. “Youngest? No, not really.”

“Really? I understand that you crested only yesterday?”

Faye snorted. So, it was to be like that.

“Hardly. Look, if you want my opinion,” she said, glaring at Taveon again but bringing her gaze around to look at the woman. “The Primalists are on their last legs. They threw everything they could at us, and it backfired. We weren’t supposed to be here. They fucked up by underestimating the Guild. To be honest with you, I’m not sure exactly what they want with the town… but the weirdos aren’t winning here. We are.”

“If we are winning,” the woman replied, “can you tell us why we are all gathered in this building, hiding from their forces, when they are sitting in our houses and eating our food?”

Faye pulled a face. Who is this woman?

“In what way are they sitting in your houses and eating your food?” she asked, instead. She looked to Taveon, who wasn’t watching because he was too busy glaring daggers at the woman.

“Why else would they be here, child?” the woman replied. “They were starving, desperate. They attacked out of a last-ditch attempt to survive.”

Faye shook her head. It did not make sense.

“What makes you suggest that? Nothing we have seen makes me think that is remotely true.”

For a few moments, the room was quiet. Taveon had leant forward to place his palms on the Administrator’s desk as he glared daggers. His opponent stood back; her arms crossed in front of her chest. She did not look happy, but she was not as angry or out of sorts as Taveon. Faye gave her the edge in this contest.

“It is the only thing that makes sense. Every person from here to the nearest city knows that Lóthaven is the only bastion of civilisation in this part of the world. How else would a group of people survive in the wilderness without raiding Lóthaven?”

Faye scrunched up her face and shook her head. “But the Primalists have never attacked before.”

“So?” The woman shrugged.

“So… if they needed to raid you to survive, how on earth was this the first time you noticed that they lived out there? They said that we had encroached on their land, or something.” Faye turned to the Administrator. “Wait, Administrator, please tell me you didn’t come along and settle in the middle of these people’s forest or something?”

“No, Adventurer, I do not believe we did,” she answered with a gentle shake of her head. “There are no records of contact with these people before now. But, if these Primalists claimed the forests to the north and west, it still would put them quite far from our borders.”

Faye nodded. “Right, so, no invasion of territory, fine. But this size group doesn’t spring out of nowhere! They had to have been here for years, recruiting, growing, dying, living…”

The woman shrugged. “Administrator, this is going nowhere. If you wish to continue with the support that we have given you so far, I suggest that you do not listen to these… warmongers.” She flicked a hand dismissively at Faye and Taveon, who bristled.

“Warmongers?!” he spluttered.

“Without you, the Primalists would have taken what they wanted and left by now. Instead, we are locked in a bloody fight to the death.”

Faye jumped in. “Exactly. A fight to the death. With people who have the ability to call forth powerful stone monsters at will… oh, wait, I forgot… they can only do that with the blood of a teenage boy.”

The woman flinched as Faye said that — her eyes flickering from side to side momentarily.

The Administrator took that moment to slide into the conversation.

“This was a… somewhat useful conversation. Thank you all for joining. I wish to speak with the Adventurer, alone.”

“Adminis—”

“I have not slept properly in days, and my patience wears incredibly thin.”

All conversation stopped and everyone but Faye filed out of the room. The woman and her follower, who had not spoken a word since Faye had arrived, gave her dirty looks on the way out. Taveon and Maggie both smiled.

When, at least, the room was devoid of cloying anger and distrust, Faye sat down on a chair with a sigh.

“I was not expecting that, I’ll be honest.”

“You are fortunate, Adventurer. Your chosen path does not leave you sitting in rooms like this one for the majority of your time.”

Faye smiled, “I would not have chosen it if it did.”

The Administrator almost returned it. “I am beginning to see why so few actually become Administrators. It has taken some years.”

Before her ghost of a smile could break out, the Administrator coughed and shrugged.

“Well, the Schoolmaster is correct. We have to go after the Primalists hard to put them down. I have sought a peaceable solution, but there isn’t one.”

“No,” Faye agreed. “There is no way these people want peace with the town. I have no idea why they’re here, they wouldn’t tell me, but I know that you need to get them out.”

Something that had been nagging at the back of Faye’s mind for a while now but had not come to the forefront until she had been meditating, needed to be said.

“Administrator, there was something else that I witnessed that you should know about. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, I was tired… there’s no excuse. The assassins. The Black Rose. They said that they were waiting for an insider. When the source did not show, they vaulted the walls and escaped the town.”

The Administrator’s face had tightened at the mention of the group once more, but it devolved into anger at the mention of an insider.

“Did they mention who it was?”

“No, I’m sorry,” she replied.

The Administrator shook her head, looking at the wall. “No, of course not. This is dangerous information, Faye. Please, do not tell any others.”

“Okay. Why?”

“Because it will cause strife, in-fighting. We cannot have that. If there are enemy agents within the Guild, then we shall root them out. But first, we have to secure our homes. Which brings me to what I needed to speak to you about.”

She stood from the desk and moved to a sideboard, taking a decanter there and filling a pair of cups.

“The Guild Leader, Eanraigh, is a strong man. Stronger than anyone else in the town. He is fighting the Primalist leader, and she is fighting back, going toe-to-toe with our strongest.”

Faye gripped the edge of her seat. It was an awful thought.

“The fact that this backwater group have someone this powerful tells us a few things about them, the fact that they were working in tandem with a mercenary group like the Black Rose tells us some others… I know that you are not knowledgeable of these things, Adventurer… but that is why I can trust you. I trust the others on your team as well. They have each proven themselves worthy of that trust repeatedly.”

The Administrator paused in her speech to bring the cups over. She had poured them a while ago, but her words had overtaken her actions for a minute.

“Here, it’s nothing special, I’m afraid.”

Faye took the cup and held it up in a silent toast. The Administrator copied the gesture with a smile.

It had notes of berry in it, which was all Faye got before the liquor burned her throat. She coughed and tasted the berry again.

“Oh, God, that’s strong.” She smacked her chest with a fist.

“I didn’t expect you to drink the whole thing at once!”

Faye looked up, chagrined. “I’ll know for next time.”

“Next time? You just drained an expensive drink in a single gulp. I bet you didn’t even taste it!”

Through another cough Faye held up a hand. “Not true. I got berry.”

The Administrator actually smiled at that, taking a sip of her drink. “It is good, and I don’t have more than this bottle. It’s the last of what I brought with me.”

Faye looked at the bottle, a dark green thing that bore a paper label of some kind that she still could not read. It certainly looked the part of an expensive drink.

“So… special task for me?” she prompted the Administrator.

“Of a sort. I know that the Primalist fighting the Guild Leader is flagging. She may try to leave. Recoup. Return later with more strength, just as the Schoolmaster fears.”

“Not to go against old Taveon,” Faye said, “but we really have bloodied their nose. I’m not sure they’ll come crawling back soon.”

The Administrator took another sip, her eyes hard. “Yes, but how long is it before they do return? I do not want the people of this town dragged through something else without assurances that they will be safe. I am recalling our other Adventuring teams. I have already sent the messages, but it will take some time for them to reply and return.”

Faye nodded. “I’m still not sure that this has anything to do with me.”

“Whilst in public, I have been encouraged to take a backseat in many ways against the politicking of certain groups… I am asking you now to ensure that every chance you get to kill a Primalist it is taken. Without mercy. The fewer there are, the better.”

“Why can’t you tell everyone that?”

The Administrator grimaced. “I was not a quick study for diplomacy. I do know that right now, the only thing preventing some internal conflict amongst our people is the external threat. I need to walk the line between the two factions, one which essentially says we protect ourselves and wait for the Primalists to leave us alone, and the other that says we protect ourselves by striking out.”

“I’m not sure I’m too comfortable lying to everyone, Administrator. They only just started treating me like a real person.”

“I’m sorry, I know. The other Adventurers are doing the same thing, however. I had not had the chance to ask you to carry this out. But know that Arran, Ailith, and Gavan all agreed to this task.”

Faye shrugged. She played with her empty cup a little. “Let me talk to the others, I’m not making this decision on my own. But I will guarantee that any Primalist that attacks someone near me will be put down if I am able.”

“That is all I can ask.”

Except that isn’t all you ask, is it? Faye thought, as she walked away from the Administrator’s office. There was something odd about the way people did things here. At first, they had all alienated her for her low level and dismissed her.

Now, she was being treated like some important piece in a game of chess. The problem was, it was being played with hidden pieces, an invisible board, and a rule set she had never heard of.

She sighed and rubbed her eyes.

This fucking sucks.

At least now she knew where Arran had been sent. Apparently, the Primalists had been setting up a similar stronghold to the one Faye had encountered on the western side of Lóthaven, and Arran had been chosen to remove the Primalists.

Nothing seemed simple.

Ailith was standing in the hall’s massive lobby when Faye reached it. She called out to her.

“Faye! Let’s go, I need you.”

She put aside the thoughts of factions, politics, and whatever else was happening. Protect the people, fight the bad guys. She could do that.

If only everything was as simple as Light versus Dark, Good versus Evil.

Some of what that woman — why did no one say who she was? — said could be true. The Primalists might be looking for something to help them survive. Problem is, they aren’t doing so with money, barter, or trade like normal. They are coming with blades drawn and magic primed.

That’s not okay.

She trotted up to her armoured friend and slapped her on the shoulder.

“Alright, where are we going and what are we killing when we get there?”

Ailith laughed. “I like your style, girl. Saw a group of Primalists heading toward one of the civilian strongholds nearby. They should not be able to get in, but it’s risky enough I want to check it out. Let’s go.”

Right. Protect the people.

Kill the baddies.