Ten of Swords (Draft Only)

Chapter 3

The team stopped to eat and settle down for the night. They would be camping out in the woods again, but this time the mage dropped into town to fetch them all some blankets and food. He could have stayed in town by himself, as he wasn't on the run from anyone, but he chose to stay with the group. While Pepper organized their rations, he unloaded his belongings from his back and sat down next to Boss. Clearly, it was time for Boss to make good on their deal.

The mage retrieved several seeing glasses from his bag of tricks, as well as various mixtures in glad vials. There was certainly more in it than that, but aside from some cloths he didn't take out anything else. "Do you remember the moment when it happened?"

"No." Boss held out her arm to him as he rubbed one of the mixtures onto the seeing glass. He took her arm gently with one hand as he put on the seeing glass, then used his other hand to carefully trace the patterns on her arm with his fingers. "I uh, I was unconscious."

"No dreams?" The mage removed the glass, washed it with water from his canteen, dried it, and applied a paste this time. "Sometimes the subconscious can pick up on things and show them in abstract form when we dream."

Boss was hesitant to tell him about what she had seen. She watched as he so very softly pressed and examined the marks, which had now settled into a pale shade of ultramarine. It took her a moment to realize he had stopped and was now watching her in anticipation of an answer. Taken off-guard, she stuttered. "N-no dreams."

The mage hummed his disappointment and returned to his work. Certainly, it was not the answer he had been hoping for, but if she started talking about the Dark Sea he wouldn't would have thought she was mad anyway.

"How old was your son when you took him in?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your son. He's entirely human and you are at least half elf. I know you mustn't have given birth to him yourself, but I was just curious as to how long you have been a family. He seems to completely accept you as his mother."

Cold was starting to set in now. Sniffles got to work starting a fire, and Pepper started handing out the food. She placed meals in front of Boss and the Mage, and left them to whatever they were doing so she could return to her own spot and dig in. Goosebumps were starting to appear on Boss's skin, and she shivered. "I've known him since he was born, but he was three when I adopted him. His birth mother and I were roommates at the poorhouse, so I had already been helping raise him before she died."

The mage didn't seem to know exactly how to respond. Boss realised it might have been a bit much to process and started to regret saying anything. Sometimes she forgot that people who were more fortunate were not so accustomed to death. Her own parents were still alive somewhere, but she had known so many people who had lost family to sickness, starvation, and exposure to the elements. It was the sort of thing that motivated so many to rebel against their country's poor governance, and she knew a lot of those rebels personally.

The seeing glasses and vials were put away. The mage left his things off to the side with his staff, and he got up and grabbed one of the blankets and brought it back. He offered it to Boss. "I'm sorry. About Sniffles's mother. She must have been dear to you. And the others, as well."

Boss sighed but accepted the blanket. "Don't. I don't want to hear condolences or be comforted. People die every day. Usually less violently, but still, much too many die long before their time... DO you know who we are? What we were supposed to be a part of?"

"Honestly, no. Those weren't city guards or crown agents that were chasing you, but they were well equipped. I haven't assumed anything about you or your associates since you likely lost anything that would aid in an accurate assessment before I met you." The mage sat beside her once more, looking alert and engaged. He had been curious, Boss surmised. She couldn't believe though that he honestly didn't have any guesses as to their associations. He would have to at the very least assume that they were not criminals, or he would not have helped them. Yet again, the magically gifted had a reputation for odd behaviour, and she didn't exactly have a firm grasp of his moral compass quite yet.