“Thank you for that, Keeper Norstan,” Verdan said, sagging as he felt the tension drain away. “That was exactly what I needed.”

  “It was my pleasure to assist, and please call me Selk.” The older man smiled and gave a satisfied nod. “I had hoped that a minor blessing would be enough, and it is always a pleasure to see my god’s influence in action.”

  Verdan dismissed Rocky back to his normal post and shaped the cups and shapes back into the ground. There were thoughts to be had and implications to be considered with what he’d learned today, but that was for another time. “Tell me, Selk. Why help me with this but not heal yourself?”

  “It as I said earlier,” Selk said with a laconic shrug. “I appreciate being pain free and able to see a little better, but it wasn’t interfering with my duties enough to warrant intervention. You told me this issue with your creation was important, and I decided to trust that you meant that. It is as simple as that.”

  “I see, but would one spell really make such a difference?” Verdan asked, unable to conceive of how it could on the scale that a god worked at.

  Selk smoothed his clothes and tugged at his furs with absent motions as he considered the question. Eventually, he gestured to the ground around them. “I saw you creating something at the beginning. Are we warded against eavesdroppers?”

  “We are, so you may speak freely. If someone listens in, I will tell you immediately.”

  Selk nodded and turned to meet Verdan’s gaze directly. “What do you know of Govannon’s worship?”

  “Not much, if I’m honest,” Verdan said, unsure of what that had to do with his question.

  “Something that doesn’t surprise me, as you aren’t Kranjir. Govannon is our patron god, and while others gods are worshipped as well, he is part of our culture. By contrast, he has no reach to the south, and I doubt that his name is even known in the Reaches to the far south.”

  “That makes sense with what I’ve seen, but if it is a question of power, surely the Kranjir are more than enough?”

  Selk nodded. “My people are indeed enough to sustain our patron, and in times past, his Clerics were present in every city. Now, though, there are but a few of us left. Currently, I am the only one not actively engaged in securing our borders and driving off the creatures of darkness and ruin which are forever trying to bore their way in. You know the situation in the Clans, Wizard. My fellow Clerics are one of the very few weapons we can wield against more magical foes. They need every drop of Govannon’s power they can get, and I refuse to waste any.”

  Verdan nodded, not turning away from Selk’s intense expression. “I understand, and I hope that one day, the burden will not fall quite so heavily on your shoulders.”

  “Govannon guide us to that outcome,” the Keeper said, touching his Icon and muttering a quick prayer. “It is my belief that I am here to further that goal, which is why I was so interested in your Sigils. The young Mhorgain Keeper is clearly keeping secrets which I can guess at, but I will not pry. The Gallowan Clan believes in progress tempered by tradition, but not overshadowed by it.”

  “I understand, and I personally approve of such an approach,” Verdan said, sharing a slight nod with the other man. They knew where they stood now. “I’m done with this work for today, but if you were interested from an academic standpoint, I could include you in the future?”

  “I should keep some distance, but I admit to being interested,” the Keeper said, rising to his feet and holding a hand out to Verdan. “Thank you for the offer, and thank you for your work with my people here in the city. I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting, but you have surprised me.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  -**-

  Once the Keeper had left, Verdan took a moment to check in with Ruan. The older man was dealing with some paperwork in a small office space they’d cleared for him in the workshop. Soft white light illuminated the room from a metal globe on the desk. Magnus had made it as part of some testing on the activation Sigils, eventually making quite a useful light source for someone working in a dark room.

  It was quite marketable in Verdan’s mind, but they were holding off on any Sigil sales for the moment. Better that the Brotherhood not have a true understanding of what they could do. Besides, the shadowy organisation seemed to be poor at developing anything new if their alchemy work was any indication.

  The idea of Verdan’s work or Magnus’s work indirectly giving the Brotherhood inspiration for any changes was enough for him to ban any sales for the time being. They could be used internally, of course, just not sold or given out.

  “I hope I’m not interrupting?” Verdan knocked on the partially open door as he leaned in. The room was just big enough for two people with the desk and cabinets, but not particularly comfortably, so Verdan preferred to stay in the doorway.

  “Of course not, Boss,” Ruan said, putting his work aside. “What do you need?”

  “I’m about to go try and have a conversation with Commander Silver, but I need to know a bit more about our finances. We won’t be getting any money from the Guild anytime soon, so will our other income sustain us?”

  “I wish I could say it would,” Ruan said, rubbing at his chest with a grimace. “Since I’ve taken over doing this, I’ve streamlined things a little, but without those windfalls from the Guild, it isn’t enough.”

  Verdan spent a few minutes going into the fine details before bringing the conversation to a close. Ruan was heading off with Adrienne to look at securing more food and general necessities. The attack on the city’s food stores meant that prices were rising, and with their tight budget, they had to act sooner rather than later.

  Verdan appreciated the two of them taking a proactive stance to all these problems. He certainly had enough on his plate already that he was glad to leave the worries on them.

  Thanking Ruan for his hard work, Verdan set off, pausing just long enough for Nikau to assign Barb to him. Natalia had gone to speak to Tobias about arranging for some ingredient deliveries, so it was time he had that talk with Silver.

  -**-

  The guard headquarters had seen better days, but all the obvious damage had been repaired. The patch jobs and repairs told the stories of the battles the city had seen, and at this point, the whole thing would need to be rebuilt to make it look as it once had.

  Nodding a greeting to some of the familiar faces, Verdan walked inside and joined a short queue to speak with the sergeant manning the front desk.

  “Yes?” The burly man asked, barely looking up from where he was scribbling something down.

  “I’m here to see Commander Silver.”

  “Do you have an appointment?” The man asked, sighing as Verdan shook his head, and making an abortive grab for a diary before noticing who he was talking to. “Ah. If you could stand off to one side, I’ll have someone let him know you’re here.”

  The Wizard nodded and did as he was asked, ignoring the stares and whispers as best he could. He was far too occupied with trying to figure out how to fix the hole in his finances to worry about what gossip was being spread about him.

  A small voice in the back of his mind whispered that ignoring it all was a mistake, but Verdan couldn’t bring himself to do it. If he started to engage with it all on a social level, he’d be neck deep in politics in no time at all.

  Perhaps if he’d been more involved from the start, none of this would have happened, but the thought alone was exhausting. Verdan would rather spend his time doing what he wanted and looking after what he cared about. They’d just been unlucky, that was all.

  “Wizard Blacke?” A familiar voice came from off to one side and Verdan turned to see Lieutenant Jenkins lift a hand in greeting. The amiable guard had a friendly smile and an open expression that felt all too rare in the current climate.

  Scars crossed over Jenkins’s left eye and a portion of the pupil had turned glassy and flat, with the rest not focusing properly as Jenkins came in to shake his hand. The Lieutenant’s grip was firm, and his grin twisted a little as he nodded to Verdan’s eyepatch. “I see we match now.”

  The statement bordered on being insultingly rude, but Verdan found it refreshing more than anything. Too many people seemed to walk on eggshells around the subject, or went out of their way to avoid it.

  Hiding his smile, Verdan took a moment to examine Jenkins’s injury before shaking his head. “I’m afraid not, mine is far more fashionable.”

  Jenkins clapped his hands and chuckled as he stepped to one side and gestured back the way he’d come. “Clearly, I’ll have to work on that. For now, the Commander is waiting.”