“Illegal Operation Dismantled: Outriders Saved The Day

Last week, turmoil within the eastern city state of Arteria reached a boiling point. Under credible information provided by partners within Arteria, and with orders straight from the League Counci. Our brave outriders set out with a contingent of adventurers to investigate the information they received. There, they heroically faced down an illegal slave mining operation rumored to be headed by the Arterian trading house of the Braveskull Company.

Commencing a daring raid in the waning hours of the day, our brave lads managed to rescue an estimated five hundred prisoners, slaves, and other victims of the Company. Resistance proved to be fierce as League forces suffered casualties during the assault, but our brave lads stood firm and carried out their orders with skill. With this recent development, trade minister…

- The Ascalonian, Front Page, “News of Our Neighbors/ Main Story.”

She didn’t mind her ‘prison’. It had been spacious, roomy, and quite well stocked with books. Yet no matter the amenities that had been present, nothing could quite compare to the feeling of freedom she felt being back out in the city. The only, tiny, little thing that soured her mood somewhat, wasn’t even the trinite guardsmen escorting her to the adventurers guild. It was the thousands of citizens currently cheering or jeering her and her fellow soldiers on.

She was partly embarrassed but partly amazed. Whatever Elaria had done, the city was invigorated, almost overly energetic as people turned their anger into other emotions. Perhaps the only sign of things had been amiss were how tense the bluecloaks were, and the copious amount of redcloaks assisting their brethren in controlling traffic. It was strange to think that just a few hours ago, the city could’ve thrown itself into complete anarchy on the verge of an outright rebellion.

Despite all that, Sophie felt herself smile. Her message had reached Sophia after all. We can still mend things.

As the others were led to their respective postings, Taurox nodded approvingly at Sophie. It was a small almost imperceptible nod, but it was one that made her heart swell with pride. Within his gaze, she could sense the tiniest hint of pride. Perhaps not in her martial skills, but most certainly in her commitment to rescuing the people from the kolonia. I won’t let you down, Sir Taurox.

The guild itself was abuzz with activity, similar to the first time she had entered the city. Insulated from the outside world, many of the adventurers seemed to care little about the new arrivals, though she supposed the two awkward looking trinite’s next to her were more than eye-catching enough. As they got closer to the reception counter however, Sophie could feel her mouth starting to dry up. The day’s events are finally catching up.

She was a criminal, in a legal sense. Though she had done what she had to, the city had seen fit to sentence her anyway. Elaria did come to her rescue, but more concerningly, so had a priest who she had seen take a great interest in herself and especially Elaria. The last she saw of them, the man had led Elaria away. Something which bothered her greatly as it was her own failure which led to Sophia suffering heinous acts. If Ela gets hurt too because of me…

“Name please?” The guild clerk got her attention.

“Ahh! Oh, Sophie Kastiane.” She squeaked.

“The guards have explained the purpose of your visit already. To register as an adventurer, right?”

Sophie nodded.

“Might I inquire what specialisation or preferences you have in regards to combat?”

“Errr…”

“Like do you prefer fighting up front, backline. And stuff like if you think you’re more of a warrior, a defender, better with swords or bows, something like that.”

“Oh! I’m an alright fighter with a sword. More of a dueling style though. At least, I do better then, I think.”

“Alright, and don’t worry about it. This is so if we ever need to pair you up we’ll know what deficiencies we need to cover and how you can augment other teams.” The receptionist hummed as she wrote a few things down onto a paper.

“Understood.”

“Well then, please proceed over there to Clerk Amara, she can get the rest of the procedure set up. We’ve heard bits and pieces about you so we don’t doubt your skills. But you’ll still have to go through basic assessment. That's alright with you?”

“Of course.” Sophie confirmed.

“Excellent. See you around.”

With a polite curtsy, she and her guards moved further into the building, now attracting the attention of proper adventurers as they stared at the new arrival like hawks. Even the guards seemed to be a little rattled, unsure if they were meant to even be here beyond escorting her to the guild. They’re committed to their work, at least. It did, however, have the unecessary side effect of drawing everyone’s eyes onto her. After all, not every new adventurer registers under the watchful eye of the city’s Trinity Guards.

“For the record. Thank you for what you’ve done.” One of the Trinite’s whispered.

Startled, Sophie looked over to find the man’s cowl-covered face looking back at her, a kind almost respectful expression in his eyes. Deciding to reply in kind, she dipped her head.

“Thank you.” She replied sincerely.

The other Trinite grunted, seeing no need to interject.

Sophie managed to hold onto a half smile. While it was nice to be appreciated, she still felt uneasy about everything.

At the counter for the guild’s administrative officer, a stern looking lady looked up and down. The way her gaze narrowed and seemed to calculate everything about Sophie from just a glance sent a small shudder down Sophie’s spine. She’s far too much like Hilda, seeking only flaws to improve.

“Well? What do you need?” The lady tersely greeted them.

“Here to finish registering for the guild and the assessment.”

“Wait here.” The lady gave her one last once over before shuffling to a stack of papers and scribbling things into it. She fished out more papers and stamped a few things before thrusting a messy stack into Sophie’s hands. “Read through these. Sign at the bottom. Then come back to me when everything’s in order, alright? Good. Use the desks over there.” The lady pointed vaguely to another part of the hall.

Dismissed and a little clueless, she awkwardly trotted over to the seating area and found a spare table. The guards with her looked even more uncertain than before when one of them finally broke rank. The man tapped her shoulder, feigning a small cough to emphasize his point.

“Yes sir?” Sophie queried.

“Well uhh, we’re just supposed to make sure you sign up and well, you’re here. You aren’t planning on escaping from town, are you?” The kinder guard asked.

Sophie frowned, a tad baffled still. She just shrugged and shook her head. “No point running now anyways.” She answered, “‘specially not when my sister broadcasted my name to the whole place.” She snickered, trying to lighten the mood.

Seeing her more casual demeanor, the guard chuckled, “Nowhere to hide, eh?”

“Something like that.”

“Heh. Well, uhh, my partner and I are going to head back to the Chamber. You stay safe, alright?”

“I’ll try.” She grinned.

"Blessed by the stars." The man bid farewell.

"Blessed by the stars." She echoed.

The second guard grunted his own acknowledgements as well. Watching them walk away felt surreal to her. The day’s events had been one of the slowest she’d ever had to endure yet was simultaneously the fastest that had passed her by.

She had been in court. Confirmed that Sophia was at least still active thanks to Elaria’s presence. Been accused then had her sentance lessened. Now she was becoming an adventurer, or at least on the way to. She grimaced, and I’ve got all that work to catch up on too, heh, Ary must be worried sick.

As she finally had some space to herself, she turned her focus to the forms splayed out across the table. Rules and regulations, liabilities, commissions, information about the guild, codes of conducts, a whole mess of documents to basically say that she knew she would be placing herself in danger and that unless it was a guild assigned commission, they would only handle body retrieval at most.

Sophie chuckled to herself, putting myself in danger, pfft.

She leaned back as she pursued them anyways, taking the time to steady her emotions and thoughts. For a split second, she felt a sense of disquiet. The last time I was here… stars above, that was a while ago.

She thought back to what was now a year ago. The last she’d seen of Annalise and Mila as the two had simply spirited themselves back to Melton. It was also then that she herself had seen, felt, the call to action. When Aryana had been taken, they had already become fast friends. Outcasts that bonded through extraordinary circumstances. She still remembered the punch in her gut that she felt when they realized the girl was taken. Fearing both a repeat to what happened to herself or worse, she practically threw herself solely to the task of rescuing her. Heh, and with Sir Taurox too.

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Only now did she come to the sobering realization that although for her, that night had been etched into memory. Having seen the scale and depravity which the Braveskull company had wrought upon those taken to the kolonia, she was more certain than ever that she had to do something. What, she still wasn’t sure, given that her good deeds only resulted in her immediate albeit brief incarceration and trial.

With the final stroke of her pen, she signed her name the only way she knew how. The way that Eva had taught her back in the estate. Seeing it evoked a tingle of nostalgia within her, the distant memories of a lifetime ago. I hope Eva’s doing well.

She leaned back in her chair, the hard leather doing little to ease her worries. Sophie closed her eyes and sighed. She knew that such moments would be hard to get from now on, the punishment of service heaped upon her would take up the time she usually allocated to friends and Ary. But it was one thing that she didn’t mind, that much.

Pushing herself up off the chair, she organized the documents into a neat pile and carried them over to the counter. The lady perked up for a moment only to realize it was just Sophie. Her measurable disappointment was not lost on the girl, Sophie having to force herself to hide a growl of her own.

“You done?”

Sophie nodded and handed the papers over. The lady gave them a brief annoyed glance before processing them and sticking them into a cabinet under her desk.

“Well everything should be in order. Head round back down the right hallway, tell whoever’s on duty that you’re here to sign up and need to do your physical assessment.”

“Rignt now?” Sophie inquired, a little surprised at how quickly she had been ordered to move.

“Well you don’t look busy, so yes, today.” The lady rolled her eyes.

Sophie grunted, a little angry herself at the poor treatment. But without being integrated into the guild, all she could do was follow the instructions given.

A few adventurers kept their distance from her, but most remained curious about the girl that had been brought in by trinite guardsmen. Already, she could hear the occasional whisper about the ‘scandolous’ half elf. Whatever they were saying ranged from benign guesses on what happened, to the accusations of high level crime. Thankfully, there was also a small minority that had probably heard Elaria’s announcement, taking a moment or two to simply smile or acknowledge her. So this is how gossip and rumors spread so fast about the outside world. Heh.

Only now did she have time to appreciate the guild hall properly. Like most of Arteria, many parts of it seemed to have been designed to maximize functionality and utility. Wide, easy to access stairs around the sides of the building. The cafe still functioned as it did when she had previously met with Karzan and Ary. Despite her own concerns about life, the atmosphere in the building was positively bustling with conversations.

Making her way through the people and into the side hallway, she found herself standing at a crossroads. Up didn’t seem to be the answer, but there were also doors to her left, right and straight ahead. Building up her courage, she caught the gaze of a nearby adventurer.

“Umm, excuse me.” She tried to keep her voice down.

“Aye?” A tall bearded man answered her.

“Ummm, which way is it to the assessment hall?”

“Assessment hall? You a newbie?” The man snickered, elbowing his colleague to point at her. The other adventurer just grunting, seeming a little annoyed by his compatriot’s antics as he rolled his eyes.

“Err, kinda?” Sophie answered. To adventuring, no, to the guild, probably.

“Lemme tell ya something, kids like you think this is all fun an’ games. But this is dangerous work ya hear?” Kids like me?

Sophie would’ve felt offended if she didn’t just feel annoyed. “I know, but I still need to take the assessment.”

“Tch, kids these days.” The man grunted, “Tis down that way.” He pointed to the door straight ahead, “Try not to flunk out.” He chortled.

“Will do.” Sophie tersely replied.

What a welcome. She growled to herself. Now for the assessment, I wonder what they’ll try to do.

Ignoring his snickering in the background, she forged on ahead. With one sweaty palm on the door handle, she pushed it down and swung the door open. Time to make it official.

“Bit late to start training.” A toned, muscular man with a scar on his face chuckled, “Just make sure you tidy up after you’re done.”

“Uhm…” She was caught off guard at his sudden words. Taking a few seconds just to understand what was happening

“Traynor’s boys got the front half reserved though. So if you want to use it, ask nicely.” The man continued.

Looking him up and down, her eyes were quickly drawn to his neck. His guild tags dangled freely, Sophie catching sight of a word beginning with a capital ‘G’. A gold ranker, that’s pretty high up. Hmm… wasn’t Anna also gold? Or was she silver? No matter.

“Um, sir?” She tried to ask.

The man spun to face her, his body physically looming over her through no fault of his own. Sophie naturally shrunk back a little.

“What’s the matter, lass?” He cocked his head in curiosity.

“Umm, the administrative staff said I should come here to get my assessment.”

“Assessment? What assessment?” He scratched his head. Oh dear.

“Uh, for joining the guild?”

“Joining the… you?” The man looked stunned, he then cast his gaze over her shoulders and around them. Finding no one else, he looked just as confused as when he began, “Just you? Where are your friends?”

“I… huh? Yeah? It’s just me.” Sophie was now confused too.

“Oh, uh… it’s just people usually apply only after they’ve formed a party or have a group try out to see who’s actually capable. But ya doing this on your own? Are you sure?” He seemed skeptical, even a little disdainful of her decision. That's fair enough.

Sophie did not falter and just nodded, “Yeah, just me.”

“That’s… odd. Are you sure?”

“I am.” Sophie grew a little more annoyed.

“Huh… ballsy, I’ll give you that. Why don’t you come back around in half an hour? It’ll be dark by then but I’ll need to set up the training programme for one person since it’s usually designed for groups, duo’s at minimum.”

“That… sounds fine.” Sophie agreed. Dammit, I just want to get back to campus to see Ary.

“Right. And I hope you don’t mind, usually we do sparring and things of that nature later on. But since you’re on your own, I’ll have you sparring against someone. Properly. Need to make sure your bravado ain’t just a quick ticket to die, I hope you understand.”

“I do.”

“Good. I suppose I’ll see you then… “

“Sophie Kastiane.”

“I’ll see you then, Sophie.” He dipped his head, “If you can’t find me, ask around for the Wraithblade's Hayden, they’ll know to send you to me.”

“Got it. Thank you.”

Brushed aside, Sophie suddenly felt extremely fatigued. Unlike when she would expend her body to the point of physical exhaustion, she was mentally a wreck. More things to remember, more things to do, more things to prepare for. Slinking back out into the hallway and pointedly ignoring the snickering of the rude adventurer as she passed by, she walked back into the main guild lobby.

Noises assailed her from every which way. Bright lights and the sea of people made her vision grow blurry. Others passed by her, brushing past with polite apologies or some more rudely pushing through. Her mouth suddenly felt dry, only now realizing that throughout the trial she had barely anything to eat or drink, her stomaching joining in with a soft gurgle. Sweat and iron dominated the air around, irritating her nostrils and bringing back unpleasant memories. And yet…

Something softly wafted into her nose, a tantalizing brush before it was gone once more. Floral hints, lavender, vanilla… Sophie immediately perked up and every facet of her body now refocused to identify the source. She tuned out all the people, scanned each and every corner. She hugged the wall, avoiding distractions as she took stock of the room. Suppressing her other urges, she turned her attention to the most likely area visitors would be. The cafe.

Within the guild there were countless other redheads. Though most wore armor or uniforms of the staff. Yet there, on the far side of the room, a head bobbed up and down. From behind, she could only see the singular braid. Gathering her wits, she hastily made her way towards it. Please.

Her breathing grew more rapid as her anticipation built. Until a potential opportunity had gotten so close, she could hold back her longing. But what if it’s not her? She froze and stilled, what if?

“Sophie!” A familiar voice called out.

Her head snapped directly over and she saw Elaria waving at her. The girl had risen from her seat just past the redhead. Caught off guard, she could only sheepishly wave as she tried to collect herself. Then, she was there. The figure across from her stood up.

A pleasing if worried smile on her face, the little twinkling in her eyes, the nervous hand fidgeting with her braid, only pausing when she finally caught sight of Sophie.

“Sophie!” Aryana’s delighted voice squeaked.

“Ary! Ela!” Sophie cried out in joy.

She practically flung herself at the poor girl, falling into Ary’s arms with a loving sigh.

“Eep!” The redhead squeaked as they embraced.

It was a soft, warm, comforting feeling that soothed the ailing soul. For amidst the chaos of the past few weeks, here, she had returned to a haven of stability. Ary giggled and pet Sophie, the girl running her hands through Sophie’s hair and giving her a few pleasant scritches. Sophie revelled in the momentary pleasure offered by the experience, unable to tear herself away.

“Sophie…” The girl let out a whisper, more of a whine than anything.

Understanding her tone, Sophie smiled and turned her head, the two locking their lips in a soft kiss.

Their exploration of each other was cut short by a low snickering that sent the two blushing scarlet at the display they just put on. Elaria was smiling widely, her sister gently elbowing Raylani in the sides as she pointed at them.

“What?” The dark elf jokingly shrugged, “Would you enjoy that in public as well, mistress?”

“Eheheh, mayhaps.” Elaria chuckled.

Ary and Sophie broke away from their intimate moment, the two effortlessly sliding their hands to their sides and holding onto them.

“Ela. Hey. Thanks for helping out. Really.” Sophie grew a little more meek in her presence.

Her sister had shown up in her hour of need. Though she had all but given up hope, Sophia had heard her and called for aid. Elaria’s appearance at the courtroom was a surprise, but a most welcome one. Beyond that, Sophie was even more astounded when Elaria had practically dominated the courtroom floor. Though those moments did also elicit its own fair share of guilt within Sophie.

After all, whatever career or work that Elaria had been doing on her own was now going to be subject to scrutiny by the city. Without consultation, the girl had pushed the boundaries of what she could do and essentially coerced the city’s elite into a more lenient sentencing for Sophie and the others. While the appearance of the priest sealed the deal and allowed for what one could argue was a more precise and polished plan of action. Sophie had no doubt that her sister genuinely would’ve pushed the city to riot in pursuit of her goal.

To know that someone else who was so close to her had been on the verge of sacrificing so much for her once again added a heavy burden upon her soul. She was still trying to find ways to honor Sophia’s pain, to win back what little relationship that the two had shared after she had been thrown to the fire. For that, Sophie was just glad that this turned out remarkably better than that.

“Don't mention it.” Elaria grinned, “Good to see you doing well, or at least in good spirits, relatively speaking anyways.” The girl chuckled.

Sophie joined in with a chuckle of her own. I've missed you guys.