Extricating myself from the Bard’s pleasant company, I rejoined my companions for the evening meal and placed my heavy helm on the table. Taper served us a delicious-looking stew in wooden bowls. The stew was spicy and was filled with a wide array of tender meat and fresh boiled vegetables with a peppery aftertaste. It was very filling, but we all still ordered seconds as it was a true gastronomic delight.

  Feeling rather pleased with myself, I decided to act on a whim and do something spontaneous. Cillis' words echoed in my mind, her voice haunting my thoughts. The time I had spent with her had been a rare comfort in my life of relentless struggles. Driven by a burst of youthful recklessness, I resolved to do something wild, consequences be damned.

  I turned to my companion, Elwin, and mentioned that I needed some fresh air. He looked at me with surprise, but his cheerful mood prevented him from probing further. It also helped that he was drinking like a fish.

  Leaving the inn and filled with the heady optimism of youth, I made my way to the Soot-Stained Pig. Despite the late hour, the rhythmic sounds of labor at the forge reached my ears.

  I entered, and seeing that the smith was busy, I waited patiently near the entrance like a petitioner.

  Once she was done with her work, she finally noticed me.

  “What brings you here at such a late hour?” she asked with a quizzical smile.

  “I… I… was wondering if we could see more of each other,” was my weak and banal response. I cringed inwardly.

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  She crossed her arms, sighing as she did so. “You speak as if you want to court me? Me, a happily married woman?” she laughed, inadvertently smudging her face with soot as she covered her mouth. To my ears, her laughter seemed joyous yet tinged with condescension.

  “...but I thought… you and I. I thought we had something, or could have something together,” I continued lamely, cursing myself even as I did so.

  “You’re serious aren’t you?” she said, her eyes widening in astonishment. “Now there, young Gilgamesh,” she stated in a patronizing tone. “All we did was have a little fun. I’m sure you… we… both enjoyed whatever it is that you think happened. But that was all it was… just a little thing. And that will all it will be. Now… I have things to do, if you could please leave. I would be most grateful,” she stated sweetly, hanging up her leather apron up on a peg.

  “Who’s there?” came the distant voice of her shrewish husband.

  “No one important, just sorting out a bit of business,” she answered. “Gilgamesh, you're a young man, and it's flattering that you think so highly of me, but there can be nothing between us," she concluded firmly, leaving no room for argument.

  Like a scolded child, I excused myself and quietly closed the door behind me. Dejected, I made my way back to the Twisted Boar, the walk back feeling like a hundred leagues. Mechanically, I ascending the stairs to our room, my spirit as heavy as my footsteps.

  There I found my companions beginning to settle in for the night. Voice hollow with defeat, I volunteered to take watch, taking my customary position by the shutters to stare out into the night streets. Practicing my magic, I cast Drain a few times during the long hours of my watch, when my Mana allowed for it, at some passersby who were making their way back home. A perverted joy came to me as I released some of my frustration on random strangers. I realized that rejection was a bitter thing, made ever more so by a small dose hope.

  The voices of my magic. I hardly noticed the dark voices anymore, their promises and threats falling on deaf ears, but I did notice that, with my spell having increased in power, there were now more threads of darkness made with each cast. Progress in the dark arts, I grinned ruefully, who would have thought? My body was thrumming and jittery with stolen life energies before I was snapped from the training by a heavy hand on my shoulder.

  Kidu relieved me from my watch, and I, too lazy to care, simply fell into the large bed. Despite feeling mysteriously tired, I also felt strangely stimulated. With my Rest skill, however, I was able to quickly fall comfortably asleep to the embrace of familiar nightmares that stalked me in the night.