Though none of us who fancy ourselves prophets can agree on what lies beyond these knots, we are always in alignment on when one will occur. The next turning point was supposed to arrive in two and a half years, during a Tempest. That was, until a week ago. Something has happened, though I know not what. Now, the next one is in less than a week’s time.

  Evran, Lerrum, and Narro exited the Spellblade hall and walked down the old cobbled road to the harbor city. Where the path to the castle hugged the wall of the preserve, the path to the city hugged the northern coast of the island. A manicured row of edge-hedge separated the path from the cliff and the abyss below it. Inland sat the ruined stone foundations of the many buildings that had once housed the residents of Westtown. Deeper still, in the triangle of land between the city, the castle, and the training hall, bloomed a massive orchard of talonfruit trees. Their soft pink petals blanketed the ground as far as they could see.

  “Damn, this stuff is heavy!” complained Lerrum, as he shifted his portion of monster hides from one shoulder to the other. “I get a fee for carrying this for you, right Narro?”

  “You can have the amount we agreed upon.”

  “But we didn’t agree on anything,” responded Lerrum.

  “Exactly!”

  Evran laughed while giving Narro a congratulatory elbow to his ribs — a difficult maneuver with several lengths of pitcher plant vines coiled in his arms. While they had shaved off most of the thorns, a few remained to torment Evran’s every movement. At least they’d neutralized the poison during the reification. Lerrum feigned disappointment at the slight, but Narro mistook it for the real thing.

  “Fine, I’ll buy you guys dinner, but we should definitely sell this stuff first. I’m thinking we sell to Yorna, since she’s right next to the Adventurer’s Guild. I have an assignment to turn in.”

  “Me too!” Lerrum added.

  “I’m guessing you two went there last night?” Evran asked.

  “Yup!” Narro responded. “There was a posting for some slime. I figured I’d run into some while training, and sure enough!”

  On every civilized island of importance, one could expect to find the four pillars of Sygelic Culture: the Temple of the Ascension, the Merchant’s Guild, the Navigator’s Guild and the Adventurer’s Guild. These decentralized institutions provided a common thread that joined many islands together when distance and displacement kept them apart.

  The Adventurer’s Guild primarily regulated the exploration of virgin islands that would appear after each Tempest, but they also served as a hub for posting various odd jobs. Occasionally, farmers had monsters digging up their fields or killing their animals. Merchants needed skilled warriors to escort a delivery, often to other islands. And sometimes, craftsmen need a specific monster part that they can’t acquire through traditional means. Whatever the job, the Adventurer’s Guild would serve as an intermediary between people with needs and adventurers ready to fulfill them.

  “And yours?” Evran asked, quickening his pace to catch up to Lerrum. “You didn’t get back until pretty late last night.”

  “Guard duty.”

  Evran raised an eyebrow. Lerrum never willingly accepted guard duty assignments, and when he did, he made sure to complain about it. Loudly. “Where at?”

  He didn’t respond. Evran glanced back at Narro. They met eyes and nodded to each other in agreement. “Ah, so that’s it. How is Daughter Amelia doing these days?”

  “You know Risen Daughters take vows of celibacy, right?” Narro added.

  “Shut it!” Lerrum responded sheepishly. He stopped and turned to face his friends. “I already have a girl. Besides, she wasn’t even there — out performing some blessings for the Tempest. Someone had to look after the kids with her gone.”

  “Considering the job you do with Evran here, I wouldn’t be surprised to find the whole orphanage burnt down!”

  Evran hadn’t considered himself an orphan when he first arrived on Aldea. Not everyone had the luxury of knowing if their missing loved ones were dead or simply stuck on the far side of the world. Two years before the death of his mother, Evran’s father and elder brother left on a mission to Sygel East, one of the four islands inhabited by the avatars of Sygelion. There, Evran’s eldest sister Leyta stood trial for murder.

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  He knew his sister to be rebellious, prone to violence even, but he hadn’t thought her the type to kill without a good reason. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t get to hear what that reason was. His father and brother never arrived, and a Tempest sent the Sygel islands to the other side of the world shortly after. A few years later, a missive arrived informing the only two surviving members of the Wright family that their older sister had been convicted and executed.

  His father simply wouldn’t have allowed it. Buron Wright was the strongest knight Evran had ever met. Nothing would have stopped him from rescuing Leyta. But apparently, something did. He never returned from that journey, nor had he sent any word of his whereabouts. He was gone, and Evran accepted that.

  Lerrum had a sheepish grin on his face. Evran knew him to be a devout follower of the Risen Faith, much like his mother. The faith commands its followers to perform their philanthropy in secret. Evran understood its purpose in eschewing vanity, but he found a strange pleasure in the simple, scandalous joy of catching a friend in the act of charity.

  Lerrum updated his friends as to the goings-on at the orphanage. He spoke of the adoption of one of the younger girls who had recently lost both her parents to the Gnashing. A few had aged out as well, and they had secured modest jobs thanks to the tutoring Lerrum gave them over the years. Hearing this put a smile on Evran’s face that briefly made him forget about the thorns poking him with every step. The group drifted between various other topics as they continued on their journey to the city.

  After an hour and a half of walking, the three students arrived at the city and made their way to the business district. They stopped under a ragged wooden sign that read Yorna’s Curiosities. Evran wondered if there was indeed a better way to refer to monster parts. He perused a few interesting articles in the display window — griffon plumes, carbuncle gems, and a large shell he couldn’t identify. Evran mostly sold items here. However, the occasional alchemy assignment required him to become a customer as well.

  They walked past the main entrance and into the alleyway between Yorna’s shop and the Adventurer’s Guild. Yorna had a covered patio with rows of wooden counters where adventurers could conveniently drop off their goods for inspection. There, a middle-aged beastkin limped alongside a counter inspecting the goods of another adventurer. One of the Nekothi, Yorna possessed the tail and the ears of a cat, as well as some of their peculiar mannerisms. Otherwise, she was indistinguishable from a normal human. Her cat-like ears twitched when Evran set foot on the wooden stairs to the elevated porch, though she did not glance up to see her new guests.

  Evran found an empty spot on the nearest counter and relieved himself of his prickly burden as quickly as he could. His friends did the same. Lerrum began organizing the various goods, while Evran set to work repairing his punctured uniform. The academy uniform was a brilliant thing. Its restoration enchantment was a godsend. One simply needed to provide it with a small amount of mana, and it would slowly rid itself of any stains or tears.

  With everything sorted, Narro approached Yorna right as she finished with her previous customer. “Hey Yorna, I have some loot for you!”

  “I thought I smelled idiot,” she replied with a frown. “Training in your favorite swamp again?”

  “Hey, no one else does, so be grateful!” Narro escorted Yorna over to his haul.

  “Let’s see… basilisk fangs, leech sacs, mud elemental cores…” Yorna listed off each item one at a time in her dullest monotone voice. She picked a few items up and inspected them more closely as she went. Eventually, she arrived at the hides. She scowled as she looked through each one, poking her fingers through many of the holes she found. Her face mutated into a fiendish grin when she reached the blue-gray hide at the bottom of the pile. “Oh, is this a bog troll hide? You didn’t happen to harvest any of its mucus, did you?”

  “Huh?” Narro replied, confused as to why a second person was asking him about this. “No, it’s not listed in our field guide, so I didn’t take any. Is it worth something?”

  Yorna chuckled. “No, not at all. Forget I mentioned it! Anyway, these hides are in terrible shape, as usual. Overall, I can offer you one gold and an even six silver for the lot. Another gold if you throw in that slime you set aside.”

  “Damn, all that’s worth a gold?” Narro exclaimed. “I got it for a guild assignment, but they aren’t paying me nearly that much.”

  “I figured,” Yorna replied. “Don’t even think about canceling your assignment. The Guild would make trouble for me, too.”

  “Price seems fair to me,” Lerrum offered, then turned to Narro. “You really should learn how to skin hides better.”

  “Damn it, Lerrum!” Narro said as he put the bottles of slime back into his now empty pack. “You can have half of whatever increase you negotiate.” Narro raised a hand and gave a permissive wave, signaling his friend to attack.

  “Ms. Yorna!” Lerrum stepped forward, intruding on the beastkin’s space. “Are you trying to defraud my good friend, Narro? This excellent quality haul is worth at least two gold pieces!” Lerrum began clapping the back of his one hand into the palm of the other.

  “One gold, seven silver,” Yorna replied, unimpressed.

  “Nine!”

  “Seven.” Yorna folded her arms in protest.

  “Eight?”

  “Seven! It has a falling hole right in the middle!” Yorna pointed to a large void in the center of the hide, which limited the usefulness of the article to potential buyers.

  “That’s where I stabbed it!” Narro added.

  A defeated Lerrum shrugged his shoulders and accepted the generous offer of one gold and seven silvers. Factoring in the cost to launder his uniform and treat his friends to dinner, Narro still managed an impressive profit for a day’s worth of monster hunting. He thanked Yorna for her business and left along with Evran and Lerrum for the Adventurer’s Guild next door.