“The Swift-Wind Ambushers are a mercenary company renowned for expertly executed archery when their foes least expect it. Split into around fifty shield brothers, a hundred dual purpose bowmen, and a hundred crossbowmen. Their range heavy formation allows for ambushing foes from afar and firing before disappearing back into the tree line. Having the stopping power of crossbows in their arsenals allows them to engage even heavier targets such as the Traxian Minstorian super heavy cavalry formations. To date, their most famed achievement is the repelling of the Traxian Eighth Legion in the Battle of Mar’s Crossing. A victory so brutal that many said the rivers flowed red with blood for days on end. At least, that’s how the story goes. Mar’s Crossing is actually a bunch of different hills, the only ‘river’ being a few leagues away, and that’s just a lake. ”

- Captain Kieran ‘Sharp-Claw’ Tanner, Skull Crackers Company Captain, “On Famed Mercenary Bands: The Swift-Wind Ambushers”

“Bweh… eh? Sophie!” Aryana sleepily beamed as she wiped some drool off her face.

The redhead had evidently been napping at a desk, a somewhat exasperated looking Jun having roused her to attention. Sophie cocked her head at them and Jun gave an exhausted wave. Sophie smiled at the two of them and almost forgot about her two strange tagalongs.

“Oh my. Humans.”

“Of course, the halfie has no elven clan, remember?”

“You could stand to be a less venomous sister.”

“And you a less pig headed idiot.”

Thalnor and Maylesa began bickering once again, their chittering almost eliciting a groan from Sophie herself. Their somewhat childish behaviour contrasted greatly with their elegant and regal forms. Sophie ignored them and turned to the two others currently relaxing at their desk.

“Aryana! Jun!” Sophie smiled back.

“Sophie! And, it seems you’ve made some friends.” Jun joked, pointing at her two followers.

“Friends?” Maylesa raised an eyebrow.

“Us?” Thalnor gave his sister a strange look.

“How peculiar!” Maylesa bobbed her head.

Sophie felt strangely ill at ease with the notion but brushed it off and approached the two weary girls. Aryana tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, to fully rouse herself but Sophie just shook her head and gave her a warm smile, satiating the redhead for now. Jun also flashed her a small wink, the outlander shuffling two small canteens on the table. They must’ve been here for a good hour or two, damn.

She did feel a small moment of respite from the taxing day, the appearance of Aryana and Jun injecting a small sense of normalcy that told her, the exams were over.

“Ryo and the others found her almost dozing off at the cafe, so I dragged her over here to wait for you.” Jun chimed in, preempting Sophie’s questions.

“Not… that tired… geh.” Aryana yawned.

Sophie allowed herself a soft chuckle before realising all eyes were in fact, on her.

“Ah… right. Umm, first off thanks for watching over her, that’s really kind of you guys.” Sophie thanked Jun who gave her a thumbs up. “As for everyone, well… these two are siblings, Thalnor and Maylesa. I met them… about an hour or two ago. Turns out elves have a separate exam to take and I got roped into it.” Sophie groaned, her head now aching once more thinking about the exam.

“Indeed, we’re from House Calnodel!” Maylesa declared proudly, “Our family helps ensure the city’s magitech requirements are always fulfilled.”

“Alongside the other houses of course.” Thalnor added.

“Well, you didn’t have to take away the spotlight that soon.”

“Just wanted to make sure they don’t expect too much.”

“Fair enough.”

“Hold on.” Jun interrupted, “So you’re the guys that keep the clocks running? Across the whole city?”

“The clocks? Oh no, that’d be the dwarves.” Maylesa replied, “They’re the ones responsible for all the clockwork, mechanical and runic creations. We handle magitech, like the magefire torches in the academy, or the grand palatium elevator in the Chamber of Stalwart Justice.”

“Grandfather is quite proud of that.” Thalnor agreed.

“As he should be, it is quite the impressive feat of engineering! All the sigils are casted just right to be self-sustaining.”

“Huh, the more you know.” Jun muttered.

“Right. And these two are Jun,” Sophie continued, giving the girl a nod, who in turn dipped her head at the elves, “And the sleepy one is Aryana. She’s the one-”

“Who finished the exam remarkably quickly.” Maylesa exclaimed, with what Sophie could only describe as a hint of admiration in her voice.

“That’s me!” Aryana cheerily agreed before her eyes slowly refocused on the world around her.

Sophie met her gaze and just stared in amusement for a few moments as the redhead’s face morphed from tired, to friendly, to curious, to absolutely baffled.

“Ahhh! Vaettagh! Ahhh! Hatires!” Aryana squeaked.

Sophie then watched as Aryana pinched her own cheeks, testing herself before squinting at Sophie, then back at the others. “Are they real?” She asked tentatively.

Jun raised an eyebrow and Sophie couldn’t help but guffaw at the redhead’s incredulous statement. The elves meanwhile seemed absolutely delighted by the strange display.

“Geh! Hi! I mean… I-I mean uhh… yes, hi!” Aryana’s boisterous attitude faded into a fearful shyness.

Sophie felt the two elves looking at her, their inquisitive eyes searching for some explanation. Unfortunately for them, Sophie was doing all she could not to laugh at Aryana’s current misfortune.

“She’s so…” Thalnor began but paused.

“So lively.” Maylesa finished for him, “Also hello! You are quite the strange human.”

“Ahh! Sophie! The Hatires talk!” Aryana scrambled for help.

Jun finally lost control and let out a small snort, the outlander quickly rushing to cover her mouth with her hands. This then led to Sophie audibly releasing a few chuckles, leaving the poor redhead mortified and frozen in fright. The two elves, for their part, just watched with increasing curiosity and some good cheer at this disastrous exchange.

Eventually, Sophie calmed herself and gave Aryana a reassuring smile, “This is Maylesa and Thalnor, they’re well… they’re elves. They were the two you saw me get taken to the secondary exam with.”

Aryana seemed a bit awestruck, her emerald green eyes widening at the sight much to the amusement of the siblings.

“We are indeed quite corporeal last I checked.” Maylesa added with a smile, startling poor Aryana even more.

“Ah, that does remind me.” Thalnor nudged his sister.

Maylesa looked markedly annoyed before the glow of curiosity sparked between their eyes before they collectively turned to Sophie.

“Would you, that is, would it be alright if we spoke to you privately afterwards? It would only take a moment.” Maylesa questioned.

“Uh… sure?” Sophie agreed.

“Sorry to interrupt, but what the heck’s a hat tire or waiter supposed to mean? I mean I can make a good guess what they mean and that waiters are not actually… well… you know, a waiter in this context.” Jun asked.

“Ah! She’s from the Frostwinds in the north of Melton.” Sophie cocked her head at Aryana for the siblings,”Hatire means elf, and Vaettagh means spirit chosen, it's like umm… someone powerful?” Sophie caught herself, unsure if she should be outing Jun’s origins to the elves.

“Huh, different dialects and languages I guess. The more you know.” Jun hummed.

“A traveler from so far away.” Thalnor acknowledged.

“And so academically brilliant.” Maylesa acknowledged.

“Or so she seems.”

“I very much think she is.”

Aryana shuffled uncomfortably under the attention placed on her, the redhead looking to Sophie for support. Sophie offered a reassuring smile, prompting Aryana to muster up a soft anxious smile.

“So… you’re done?” Aryana asked.

“Mmhmm.” Sophie nodded, “Tired but done.”

“Indeed! And we are now friends.” Maylesa agreed.

Jun let out a small chuckle and the outlander got up from her seat, giving everyone a quick wave, “Well, it’s good to see everyone doing well. But I’m running late as it is.”

“Oh! Are we being a burden?” The sister asked.

“Nah. We were meant to have a team meeting pretty soon, we’ll be off on another job soon so it’ll be a bit before we see each other again.” Jun gave Sophie a nod.

“Team meeting?” The brother queried.

“Ah. I’m part of an adventuring team. The Dragon Wagon.” Jun exclaimed as she struck a pose, pumping her fists into the air.

Everyone fell silent for a moment, just staring at the adventurer who almost immediately seemed to blush and regret her actions. “Umm, Ryo came up with that.”

“I think it’s cool.” Aryana half heartedly supported the outlander, making the others also nod in response.

Jun snorted, disbelieving if appreciative of the support. “Anyways, before I embarrass myself further. Have a good day everyone! Aryana, Sophie.”

The group waved and saw her off, leaving the four of them staring at each other. Aryana still seemed a little bewildered but Sophie noticed that at least the redhead was calming down. The siblings shared a glance between themselves before cocking their heads at the duo.

“You two are not from the city, yes?” Maylesa asked.

“Uh-huh.” Sophie grunted.

“Have you been to Hiromi park yet? Oh, or Selmora Boulevard?”

“They’re outsiders, I doubt they’ve been to Selmora, much less allowed to enter, sister.”

“I suppose that would be an accurate assumption.”

“Umm, no?” Sophie answered half heartedly, turning to Aryana who just mindlessly nodded along.

“Oh!” Maylesa gasped, “Then we’d be delighted to at least show you the park. Ah and perhaps the museum if the curator would let us in again.”

“We would?”

“Of course we would, brother. Father would also be quite intrigued by the new acquaintances we made.”

“And mother?” Thalnor sarcastically asked.

There was another brief silence, Sophie stole this chance to trade glances with Aryana who seemed now excited at the prospect of hanging out with Hatries, but also terrifically frightened at the same time. The redhead’s leg shook nervously under the table.

“Well what mother doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” Maylesa replied, her lips pursed.

“True enough.” Thalnor nodded his agreement.

“But I digress. Please, we’d be delighted in having you two tag along in… perhaps two day’s time?”

Sophie looked to Aryana but before she could, the redhead already spoke for the duo.

“Okay.” Came Aryana’s soft whisper.

The siblings seemed satisfied and bobbed their heads in sync, a little too elegantly and in sync for Sophie’s liking. But, at least they seemed to have happy expressions on their face.

“Terrific! We’ll see you then!” Maylesa beamed until her brother nudged her in the ribs, “Ow! What was… ah! Right, may we speak to you… privately?”

Sophie frowned for a minute before feeling a bit uncertain. “I mean sure, but I trust her.”

The siblings narrowed their eyes but shrugged at each other, as if to say ‘oh well’.

“We couldn’t help but stare at you-” Thalnor began before Maylesa rapped him on the head.

“That is horrific. Don’t start off with that!” Maylesa scolded.

Thalnor rolled his eyes and tried again, “Ugh, fine. Ahem, what I meant to say was,” he lowered his voice, “in elven culture. That is, pureblood culture, I have no idea if other halfies believe this. But in elven culture, there is the belief that certain physical characteristics can help determine someone’s magical potential.”

“Such as many of our archmages, lectors, magitech artificers, and leaders. Both here and especially back in the Adonar have heterochromatic eyes. That is, a person has irises of different colors.” Maylesa added.

“That we sadly don’t have.”

“That we don’t have. But one of the rarest such mutations or indicators are well… jewelled eyes… much like yours.” The elf pointed at Sophie.

“And so we watched you quite intently, if you’ll forgive the intrusion.” Thalnor half apologised, a bit too late now. “But, we don’t think we see anything special.”

“Ahem, what my brother meant was aside from your terrific fighting skills, especially for an outsider and halife. We didn’t notice anything particularly… too unique.” The elf tried to diplomatically hide the implication, “So I was wondering, do you truly not know your lineage or who you hail from?”

“No…?” Sophie answered, still unsure where they were going with this.

“In elven culture, it is rumored that only the most powerful of mages would have such a change done to their eyes through the overuse of magic.” Maylesa barrelled forward without stopping, “Thus, their eyes would morph to have a jewel-like appearance such as yours, but reflective of the elements they used the most. So ruby eyes for someone who utilised the power of flame, or citrine and opal eyes for someone deeply involved with the power of storms or the earth. But, yours seems perfectly natural, or rather, perfectly pristine without any flaws. So we were wondering if perhaps there’s a way of activating your potential, that perhaps if you met your progenitors then… oh… you really don’t know?” Maylesa finished as her mind finally processed Sophie's answer.

“I really don’t.” Sophie chuckled, “ In fact, one of my reasons for coming here was to see if there were any records that could help me… I don’t know… remember something? Recall something? Just anything really that could help me understand.” Sophie answered honestly.

“Oh! So that’s why you were researching!” Aryana suddenly chimed in excitedly before immediately freezing up, “Ah… um… s-sorry.”

“Researching?” Maylesa’s ears perked up, higher than they already were.

“I don’t know, just stupid stuff. I was reading up on the… well, the Myndiri, seeing if maybe there was some experiment gone wrong or something. I don’t know.” Sophie clarified.

“Hmm.” Maylesa stroked her chin, “Could the Arneathians really have performed some ritual that carried through a bloodline?” The elf turned to her sibling.

“I wouldn’t know. But I suppose it couldn’t hurt to check or ask around.” Thalnor shrugged.

“Fascinating, imagine if you had some distant relative linking you to the time of the Arneathians. That would cause such an upset to those traditionalists that it happened to be a halfie.” Maylesa let out a grim chuckle before noting the blank look on Aryana's face, “Ah, Arneathians are our name for those you call the Myndiri. Anyways, thanks for humoring our questions, we’ll see if we can render some assistance to your search if we can.”

“She’s saying we’ll tell you if we find anything when we meet up in two days.”

“True, that much I can say we’ll do. So how about… we meet after lunch, in two days time, right outside of here, the grand library.” The elf clapped her hands.

“Sounds…” Sophie looked at Aryana who was looking back at her, “sounds fine to me.” She agreed for the two of them.

“Splendid! Though, the two of us do have to go now. Mother will throw a fit if we’re late on a day like this. Or miss the celebrations.” Maylesa bowed.

“Indeed, it was a pleasure though. To meet the two of you. Our new human and half elf… friend.” Thalnor bowed as well.

“Farewell!”

“Bye!”

Sophie and Aryana waved until the siblings finally walked out of sight. The duo then turned to each other, Sophie looking curious and amused whilst Aryana appeared more stupefied than before, though not entirely unexcited.

“S-sophie.” The redhead whispered.

“Yeah?”

“T-those were Hatires.”

“They were indeed elves.”

“They wanted to… hang out?”

“That’s what it sounds like.”

“With us?”

“In two days.”

“But they’re Hatires.”

“They are.”

“Ahh…” Aryana let out a dry croak of astonishment before a gurgling noise ruined the moment.

Sophie gave a single chuckle before she patted her own stomach. “Hungry?”

“Maybe…”

“Wanna go get some food?”

“Yes…” The redhead gingerly agreed.

“Oh, and Aryana.” Sophie added as the duo finally started their own departure from the library.

“H-huh? Yeah?” The redhead nervously responded, like some guilty kid afraid of getting into trouble.

“Thanks for waiting.” Sophie flashed a warm smile.

At once she saw Aryana’s face almost blossom back to life, the simple words reinvigorating the sleepy girl. That’s almost refreshing enough to make me forget about the exams, almost.

The exam results would be announced in a week, once everyone gathered back at the library. Until then, Sophie was left to just stew away in her worries. She thought of Annalise and Mila, the two now likely having already made landfall back in Melton, I hope they're fine. She worried about failure and not being able to enter the academy despite being so close, of letting Eva down. Most of all, her current worry lay with the redhead who followed her like some overly excited puppy.

Evidently after they left the library and began eating dinner. Sophie had caught Aryana more than once looking at her the same way she imagined a small puppy would follow its master around. Now that they were back in the room, Sophie was finally able to relax, the hectic exam filled day was over. She had been eager to go bathe in the thankfully relaxing facilities within the All Hogs Arms, but Aryana was persistent in not letting Sophie out of her sight. A little miffed but still supportive, Sophie had somewhat half heartedly agreed to bathe together.

That was where the problems began. She was aware that Aryana was a rather frail figure, if still more muscular than Sophie herself, much to her chagrin. What she wasn't aware of were the multitude of freckles that dotted the girl’s bodies, and just how much they seemed to make her look more adorable. What was even worse were the stranger emotions Sophie felt inside her, slowly building up another wave of stress as she struggled to comprehend. Is this how I see Eva as well? This is the same emotion as back then, with Anna. What is this?

Her concentration was shattered when the girl slid down into the water beside her, the girl’s pale light pink skin drawing Sophie’s eyes to them amidst the dull dark brown tavern walls. All at once Sophie’s own fears bubbled to the surface, the sight of such an unblemished and almost untarnished person stroking the doubts within. She seems, no, is, so innocent. Me? I’m nothing like that, not anymore. But she reminds me of myself sometimes, finding such simple joy in friends, foods and books. On the path that I’m likely to have to tread… if the inquisitors are right, if Markus… if the bastard had some truth behind his words… then I can’t take her with me on that path. She’s an innocent soul, there’s no need to expose her to Arantos’s corruption, or the cult’s evils… Sophie sighed, or mine. If I am Myndiri…

“Sophie.” Aryana’s voice dragged her out of her thoughts once again.

“Y-yeah?”

“Thank you.” The redhead’s blurbles barely comprehensible as she kept her mouth half submerged in the water.

“What for?” Sophie asked, her own mind running through a multitude of possible responses.

Aryana shrunk a little, sliding a little deeper into the bath. “For being such a kind friend.” The redhead spoke, swaying a little in the path.

Sophie felt a second wellspring of guilt rise up within her, she didn’t have the heart to push away a friend, to let her doubts out to so kind a soul. I’m horrible, horrible.

“Mmm.” She murmured.

“I…” The redhead paused, sliding a little closer until their arms touched.

Sophie stealthily gulped as she felt her body grow warm, the touch of bare skin electrifying her nerves. And I thought the exams were stressful. Her own somewhat smooth arm looking oddly pale compared to Aryana's softer but slightly fuzzier ones.

“I-I know I’m needy… and childish… and stupid... and-and insecure sometimes… all the time. But I… I just don’t want to lose any more friends.” Aryana solemnly stated, unconsciously resting her head on Sophie’s shoulders.

Sophie stiffened and froze, too nervous and tense to do anything.

“I just… I just wanted to say thanks for sticking around.”

Sophie could practically imagine the puppy’s ears drooping, its tail falling in sadness just through Aryana’s voice alone. How did Anna do it again? She slinked herself behind the other girl and prayed that the water would wash away her guilt as she reached out and wrapped the redhead in a quiet embrace. I can't push her away, not now.

“Sorry for being such a bother.” Aryana whispered.

“It’s fine.” Sophie spoke at last with a whisper of her own, “I’m your knight after all. I did say I'd protect you on your travels.”

"Promise?"

"Promise."