Chapter 8: (BETA) Chapter 7 - Teeth

Glory worried on the day that Deya and her group left on the morning cart. And not only about them and their foolhardy mission. She had an inspector due to stop in at some point that day. It was always a tense time, when the Office went in to make sure the guild was being run well, and that military and taxpayer funds were being used appropriately. The funding had never been of particular issue in Vane/Gloria's. There were times when the budget got a little rough but Miribeth had set the place up well, and profitably.

Besides the audit of funds, the inspections also were a check on the ability of the guild leader, to lead. In the majority of cases, that simply meant making sure that the people who took a job, were of rank for that job; and that the guild was abiding by the guidelines for determining those ranks.

Those guidelines never sat quite right with Glory, or with her mother and grandmother before her. The bare minimum ability that the Office accepted for simple Rank 1 tasks near the heart of the Kingdom, was a low enough bar to get them killed on the higher-end Rank 1 quests out on the frontier. Glory had taken it upon herself to double check the qualifications of the mercs she sent out, doing all in her power to make sure that they came back alive.

That judicious quality – as well as her habit of ranking up jobs before the Scout reports confirmed their maturing lethality – made her a target for new inspectors, who often thought the Office’s Guild by-laws were more scripture than guideline.

Glory sighed and shook off the stress. The Inspector wasn’t even here yet; no point in getting sick with worry now. With her luck, she’d do all that worrying and then Durna would walk in her door for an easy inspection and make that investment pointless.

Making a perfect distraction, Astria entered the guild. She walked to Glory's booth with a forced confidence, face determined.

Glory smiled. Oh, I think I know what this is! Then she forced her face neutral.

Astria went right up to the counter and, voice steady, told Glory: “I'd like for you to list me as available for Rank 2 parties seeking a Healer.” She dropped the line like a challenge, daring Glory to refuse her. Her body was clenched tight, as though she had dragged the hefty weight of her accomplishments to prop up as proof of her competence. She was prepared to fight – to show Glory that she was ready.

“Yeah, sure. Welcome to Rank 2.”

The tension popped. Astria studied Glory's face, looking for some hint of a joke being played. And Glory was smiling, sneaking a glance up at her as she pretended to peer down at her work, nonchalant.

After a moment, Glory broke, laughing as she looked up at her stunned face.

“You really thought I was going to say 'no', didn't you?”

Astria stammered as she tried to get her train of thought back on-track. “I mean, I thought I'd be able to convince you in the end, but, yeah, I really did. I've been working with Geon for so long, and I know you and he-”

Glory waved her hand back and forth in front of her face. “My issues with Geon are with Geon. The whole reason I wanted you with him was because I knew you could keep him alive in Rank 1 stuff.” Of course, she'd also been afraid that Geon might get them both in too much trouble for their combined efforts to deal with – and then she'd be out a Rank 1 lifer, as well as a promising Healer. But Glory's job was always a matter of mitigating risk; it was mostly impossible to eliminate it entirely.

Slowly, glee broke through Astria's mask of seriousness, and she shivered with pent-up energy. She backed up from the desk and sidestepped back and forth, looking a little bewildered in the rush of excitement. Glory watched it happen, feeling her cheeks warm as the pride of a successful tutor filled her chest.

Astria had been looking forward to this moment for about six months. Glory had been waiting since the month after her registration with the guild, a year and a half ago.

When Astria calmed down, she re-approached the desk, and put her hands on the table, her head hanging with relief and a weighty anticipation.

“Glory, I-” She took a deep breath. “Thank you.” She looked up at the woman. “I actually don't know what happens now.”

Glory laughed. “Well, for starters you wait. Most people need to wait a week or so before they get contacted, but for you, that will be about a day. If you come back around this time tomorrow, I'm sure you'll have at least a few requests to meet.”

“What? Why so quickly? Oh, wait, is it a Healer thing?”

“Well, some of it is a Healer thing. But it's an 'Astria' thing, too.” Glory leaned back in her chair. “I know you don't really hang out with Geon and his friends when you're off work, but his stories get around. A lot of them boil down to: 'Some monsters attacked and I couldn't kill them all in time and then Astria saved us.' Or: 'I did something really stupid and made a big guy really mad and the only reason I'm alive is because of Astria.'” She waved her arms around just like Geon did when telling his stories. “My point is: they know you.”

Astria flushed. “Alright. So, they request a meeting? And I... pick one?”

“Well, yes, you can. But ideally, you meet them all – or as many as are worth your time.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Astria's eyes flared. “Oh, no. I know what this is.”

Glory smirked at her. “I hope you have a bank account in town. You're going to have Rank 2 Healer contract negotiations.” She grinned as Astria wilted again. “Don't worry, I promise I won't throw you to the sharks. I've seen a few contract negotiations, and I've heard how intense the Healer talks can be, so I can give you a bit of advice, as well what you should demand from whoever takes you.”

Astria nodded. “Ok, that would be wonderful, Glory. Thank you.” She paused, trying to take it all in. “I knew about the negotiations, but I thought those were for really high-profile Healers. I didn't think I made that cut.”

“Trust me: you do. You aren't 'Alacandra' famous, but you're 'Vane Gloria' notable. You're Astria.” Glory waved her arms again, circling her face with flourishing hands, framing her beautiful face, her shy eyes peeking out from red curls, her chiseled but angeli-

“Stoo-oop!” Astria laughed as she raised her hands, pleading, seeing the mockery in Glory's eyes. She stared Glory down until her hands fell back to the counter. “Anyway, when do you have time to talk? Should I wait to put my name in until after we talk?”

“Nah,” Glory replied. “We put your name in and then we can wait a few days for requests to pile up, then we send word back to whoever you want to speak with. We'll have plenty of time to speak about negotiations before that. I can make sure of it.” The guild owner smiled.

Astria thanked her some more, and then took off back home, glowing.

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It was late morning when the inspector showed up.

The early crowd had cleared, and only a smattering of mercenaries were milling around the lobby, most others either sleeping in on a day off or already departed on missions. The ones that were left were a mix of those looking for contracts for the next day, or those making preparations for the morning rush tomorrow.

When the Official opened the door, his entrance was noticed by the entire lobby, all going quiet on recognizing the man’s importance, or at least his self-importance. He wore the garb of an Official, a lighter version of a military outfit with small pads on the shoulders and straight bold lines of fabric.

Ah, great, Glory thought. This is going to one of those, isn’t it? This man didn’t have a chest full of honors, as higher-ranking Officials often did, but still puffed his chest out like someone displaying their achievements. Without the medals, it looked like he was congratulating himself for continuing to exist.

He marched right up to the quest booth and rapped on the wooden counter. “I’m here to speak with the owner, I believe her name is Glory?”

Glory pasted on a pleasant smile. “Yes, that’s me. I’ll be with you in just a moment.” She looked over to Villara, meeting her eyes and nodding her head at her. Villara put a sign up to speak to the quest attendant for service, and headed over to take Glory’s place at the quest booth. She patted Glory on the shoulder as she passed.

“Remember: you belong here and you’re good at what you do,” she whispered. Glory nodded back in thanks, and set her jaw. Then, she made her way out from behind the booth and up to the Inspector.

She stuck out her hand to him. “I’m Glory. I believe you must be the Inspector?”

He took her hand firmly, and shook it once. “Yes. My name is Dakara.” He glanced around the lobby. “Do you think you could start by showing me around? I fear I’ve never been out to the frontier, I’d love to see what you have, and how it all runs.”

Glory nodded. She heard a variant of that line every year. She pointed to the quest booth at the back-left corner of the lobby. “Well, as you’ve probably guessed, this is the quest boards and booth. I imagine we’ll get into the specifics of quest distribution later on.” That was always a major point of discussion.

Then, she pointed over at the weapon shop, empty now that Villara was covering the quest booth. “That’s our weapon shop. A lot of this stock is made by the blacksmith in town, sold here for a small cut of the price. Other weapons are traded from merchants that come through.”

“No armor sold there?”

Glory frowned. “No, unfortunately. We do have a couple armorers in Vane Gloria, but none of them have agreed to sell their goods through the guild. They take pride in their work, and it’s tougher to make armor for as large a range of people as we get here. Fitting for each customer individually is their preferred workflow.”

Dakara nodded. “I suppose that’s fine. It just seems odd not to have it here when you have all the other bases covered. So,” he motioned to the potion counter by the door, urging her to continue.

“So this is Bes, our amateur alchemist. She runs the potion counter and picks up deliveries from the various shops around town.”

Alchemy was always a huge draw from Vane/Gloria’s, since they were a gathering hub of people that went into dangerous situations where they were likely to get injured. Health potions and mana potions alike were provided in bulk from the various shops, along with a few other specialty items unique to each shop, such as stamina potions, berserk potions, reinforcement potions, and others. Those are typically very pricey, top shelf items, their recipes secret.

Bes herself had taken up the hobby in recent years, with a specific focus towards uncovering alchemical inks for rune inscription. Glory always had a side-eye to the things she was working on, because the payoff would be huge if her experimentation worked out the way they both hoped it would.

Glory kept quiet about those side projects for now, though. The last thing Bes needed was a bunch of Officials breathing down her neck while she worked out her project, or trying to take the discoveries for themselves.

Bes took a moment to acknowledge the Inspector in front of her, making a show of prioritizing the paragraph she was reading, before lowering the book, and nodding in greeting to Dakara, quiet. She let out a mana breath, her pink runes lighting for a second. Dakara looked puzzled, clearly not recognizing the power, but there were plenty of runes kept secret by families, or lost to obscurity, and Dakara wouldn't recognize every one. He said nothing, and hid his expression the best he could, trying to maintain a knowledgeable air.

Satisfied with his tour of the lobby, Dakara started away towards the tavern, waving her on to follow him.

Taking a deep breath, she fell in step behind him. Please, Gloria, let them all be acting normal today.

It was still early in the morning, but the news that the civil war, a war that had continued through the entire lives of most visitors to the tavern, was still less than a week old, and many were still engaging in a revel they might remember for years – or regret forever, as these things go.

A few people were drinking early this morning, Aron keeping a close eye on things to make sure none of them got too rowdy. He looked up as Dakara and Glory entered, then went stiff when he realized who the important-looking man must be.

Dakara seemed to reel back as he walked in. There weren’t too many people drinking this early, but the scent of the alcohol was in the air regardless, enough for a fancy man like him to notice.

Dakara looked down at Glory. “Don’t you think it’s a bit crass to allow drinking this early?”

“No,” said Glory, stern. “The mercenaries coming through here are not children, and I am not their mother. Many of the mercs that come out here do so exactly because we thumb our nose at so many of the rules of propriety common to the big cities, and Alacandra City in particular.”

She waved a hand to the few mercs in their cups. “These are good men, Dakara, good men that heard not too long ago that the war – perhaps a war that killed friends or family – is now over. This is an indulgence, sure, but the celebration is for a worthy cause.”

Dakara looked down his nose at Glory, quiet. He said, “I've come a long way. I'm going to ttry some of your food, and then we'll talk after.” Then he turned away with no comment or expression, and walked up to the bar. Glory had to resist the urge to shiver as he passed her by.

A small meal made by the cook was another Inspector tradition, and Glory knew it would be some minutes before he was done and willing to speak with her again. She walked back out to the lobby for a reprieve from Dakara. He'd gotten so prickly so fast.

He’d only been in the building for about five minutes, and it already felt like it was going to be a long day.t time.

With it distracted for a second, Oren was able to get around and throw the quiver to Deya, who caught it and slung it back over her shoulder. Then she slapped a crystal bolt onto the crossbow and started to charge it as she walked back around to get an angle.

The golem crawled at Geon, slamming fist over fist and dragging his legs to get at him. Geon dodged back the best he could but he took a glancing blow from one swing, sending him tumbling back end over end.

Oren cursed for not getting him under a Shield in time, watched the snow kick up from the impact, saw his body fly backward as though limp.

For a second, it was four months ago. For a second, he watched the boy dying.

Then Geon hit the snow, and flipped over, in pain but alive. Oren shook himself, and threw up a barrier, wincing from mana drain as he did so. The golem struck out, making Geon fling himself backwards as the barrier appeared and took the hit. Oren winced again as his core dried up. The golem struck again, shattering the barrier.

Then a bright yellow streak crashed into the side if its icicle head.

The shot punched through the ice like cheap glass, and the front of its face spun out into the snow. The rest of its body collapsed backward into the snow with a thwump.

The three of them cheered. Geon a little more painfully than the others.

“How's that, Miss Wrong-party-for-this-job!” Deya yelled at the sky, fist raised.

Oren pulled himself up and trudged over to Geon, not able to help looking over the shattered face of the creature they killed. When he got to the boy, Geon was cradling his leg. The shin was bent in a place that doesn't bend.

“Ah, hell. That sucks, kid. At least we have potions.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said though his teeth. He pulled a red vial out of his own belt and held it up for Geon to see – he didn't come completely unprepared. “I just need someone to hold the bone straight-ish for me while it works.”

Oren shrugged and knelt down next to Geon. Then he gingerly straightened his knee out, trying not to shift the break too much, but judging by the short gasping breaths Geon was taking, it wasn't working.

“Ok,” he said, holding the potion. Normally if he had a break like this, he'd pour the potion over the skin where the damage was. But the pain was sending him into spasms, he might spill the stuff.

“Deya!” he called. “Deya, I need you to pour the potion.”

“Yeah, sure.” Geon heard her footsteps running over, and he handed it to her when she approached.

Deya frowned, her face draining of color. She hadn't been on that many contracts yet, so seeing, and treating, this kind of injury was a new thing for her. She knew how the potions worked; she knew that drinking a potion was enough to fix many different types of injuries, but she knew that you could also use it topically, like they were about to do now, as that made the magic seep into the exact area where the pain was occurring, to fix it.

Deya held the potion ready as Oren grabbed both halves of the broken bone, then nodded at Deya, and he pulled the bones straight.

A scream tore out of Geon's throat as his bones ground together, and Deya nearly spilled the entire potion out onto Geon's leg in shock, but she got the flow down to a light trickle to pour a specific measure of the potion out. She stopped as the vial reached half-empty and watched the process take place.

It was as though his bones were struggling underneath his skin, trying to meet back up, and heal properly. Sweat broke out on Oren's brow as Geon shivered beneath him.

Finally, though, the bone came together, and Geon let out a long relieved sigh. He patted Oren on the arm and apologized to him for punching him in the leg. They all lay there a moment as a voice called to them.

“Ha, wow, that was quite the show you three put on.” Nik floated over to the trio, smiling brightly. “That's gonna be a cool report to give later, and a cool tavern story, too.”

Oren chuckled, “Don't tell it in Vane/Gloria's, we get to have the honor after that crazy shit.”

Nik waved them off. “Of course.” He looked over at Deya. “Do you mind if I ask how you-”

“Nope.” Deya raised a hand and cut him off. “Trade secret.”

Nik laughed again. “I guess I can't begrudge you that.”

After a minute, they all got up and glanced up the hill to the open cave. An ice queen's den. Perhaps a golem laboratory?

Deya shook her head, then gazed at the carnage and made her way over to her own prize.

The queen's head lay several yards from the rest of her body, face frozen in an angry scream, mouth wide open. She smiled at the rows of glittering teeth inside. Some of them were chipped, and would be less valuable. But plenty of them looked flawless.

Her face fell for a moment, as she realized she didn't bring any tools she could use to remove the teeth of the queen's mouth. Ah, well, there are worse ways to walk back into Vane/Gloria's after a contract.

Grinning, she turned back to the others, who were already making their way up the hill towards the cave. She dragged the entire head with her, as they explored what other loot might lay within.