To Rhial

23

Desmond

I couldn't sleep, so I didn't bother waking Adam up and I just rode out the rest of the night, but fuckin' hell was I tired. Everyone began waking up around sunup, and Simira came out first as I was getting ready to put the fire out. She stood on the other side of it, curiously staring at me.

As casual as I tried to be, I was too drained to really put much energy into my words. "Fair warning, I'm about to piss on the fire. Do with that information what you will."

She turned away. As the fire sizzled and went out, the wind blew the smoke directly into her face. She started coughing and hacking, plugging her nose. She walked a little around the fire, the smoke following her. She countered and walked the other way around the fire, out of the smoke, trying to keep her eyes off me the whole time.

Once she heard my belt buckle, she coughed a bit more and then looked back at me. "You and the bearable woman, Tells, are you in need of work?" She crossed her arms and looked down at me as I sat down next to the dying fire.

"In general, yes. Why? Are you offering?" I sat back down on the log, leaning my elbows on my knees and my chin on my hands.

"I would like for the two of you to serve me directly. I have need of people who are unsullied by the... politics of my city."

"Lady, these people are my best friends that I have known for most of my life. I trust them with my life. You, on the other hand, I only just met you. I respect you, and I am sure you are great at what you do, but it would take a lot of money to get me away from them. And I'd prefer if they were in on it, too."

She sat on the log across the fire. "Serving the daughter of a viscount is no small order. You would be provided a home and coin to support yourself and a family, should you decide to have one." She gestured at my slowly waking and groggy friends. "I mean no disrespect to you and yours, but look at the people you are with. They lack goals, direction, motivation. They'll end up as beggars by the month's end, and the healer will be auctioned off to a sick noble. The others have nothing to offer me currently."

"Apologies, Lady Simira, but as of now, we're a package deal. Weren't you the one who said we all have potential?"

She closed her eyes as if she regretted her own words. "Yes, but I fear bringing in five uncouth individuals would be too conspicuous for my needs."

"Funny thing is Tells and I are probably the worst at being inconspicuous, and our friend who you hate is probably the best, along with Brenden. They got good people skills."

She sneered, not denying what I said. "Perhaps, but you would all need to be educated to the same degree."

"Sure, we need to know about this world, but don't pretend we're unskilled."

"I pretend nothing. I know what I have observed, though, and I need people who are unfaltering in their beliefs and loyalty, not anyone who can be bought or persuaded out of their own minds."

I paused, tilting my head down at her and leaning in. "You sound like you're planning something sketchy."

She narrowed her eyes. "As I said, you're capable and I need trustworthy people."

I read her face as best my tired instincts could. She was intense, but intent. Driven and committed to whatever this was. The thought of having a stable life with money was nice, but I needed to figure some things out first. "Any chance we all get in on it, but only the two of us are actually in on it?"

"Unknowing allies are a dangerous liability, even more so than everyone knowing. They will be used against us. My goal is in sight and I am certain it will succeed once the final actions are taken. Should all go well, no harm will come to any of you, but you cannot know the whole truth of it."