It was nearly evening when they returned to the city, but Rayne wasted no time. After agreeing to split the spoils from the kobolds together the next day, they assigned Syra to report their findings to the guild while he and Leon took the injured adventurers to the healer’s hall. Then he wished him goodbye, and sprinted off in the direction of the Academy where he had promised to pick Issa up tonight.

  Fortunately, the healer was located near the Noble District, not far from the guard’s mess hall in fact, and Rayne made good time. Only five minutes later, he skidded to a halt, taking a second to ensure he looked semi-presentable before making his way to the academy gate.

  “Halt.” The guard on duty lowered his halberd, blocking Rayne’s way. “What business does an adventurer have here—” He blinked. “Wait, is that you, Rayne?” Receiving a nod in response, his jaw dropped. “What’re you doing in that get up? I thought you were a clerk!”

  “Time’s change,” Rayne replied with a shrug. “I needed more coin, and clerking doesn’t really pay the bills all that well. How are you, Red?”

  Lifting his halberd back into a neutral position, ‘Red’ grinned. His name wasn’t actually Red, but everyone had called him that for as long as Rayne could remember due to the man’s bright red hair. These days, there was a lot less of it than he’d possessed in his youth, but Red had compensated by growing a rather impressive beard of the same color, and he ran his fingers through it now.

  “Can’t complain. The missus just had another little one, so we’re pretty busy at home, but I’m just happy that she’s fine. After the scare with Tammy, I think this one is gonna be our last. Already made an appointment with the healers to make sure of it.”

  Rayne made a sympathetic face. He’d gotten to know the various academy gate guards fairly well over the years, first as a student and then later as Issa’s guardian, and Red’s wife’s struggles after the birth of their second child was common knowledge now.

  “Well,” he replied, “I’m glad to hear that they’re both okay. For your sake, I hope the healer you get is solid.”

  This caused Red to guffaw, and from the corner of his eye, Rayne could see Red’s guard partner smiling as well.

  “Me too!” Red responded. “I’m done having kids, but not with everything else if you catch my drift.”

  Rayne did, and having indulged in adequate small talk, turned the conversation to the matter at hand. “Anyways, the matter of your bloodline severance aside, I’m here to pick up my sister. Is that okay?”

  A slight frown creased Red’s face. “Honestly? I’ll let it slide this time, but try not to come here looking like that again, okay?” He made a face. “You haven’t even washed all the blood off of yourself. Tell you what, I’ll let you in, but you’ve gotta promise me you’ll try and stay out of sight. Most of the students should be gone for the day, but any of them see you looking like that and I’m likely to get a call about a serial killer being loose on the grounds.”

  Rayne snorted. “Will do. Thanks, Red.”

  “Take care of yourself, Rayne.”

  Waving the gate guards goodbye for now, Rayne entered the Academy grounds, and headed for the main door. Issa tended to wait for him here, or at the library if she was grappling with some problem or another. Today she was here, which was a relief for Rayne as he could not enter the Academy proper in order to find her at the library. He would have needed to get a staff member to do it, and given how he looked at the moment, that was not a prospect he relished.

  “Brother!” Issa called, running up to him. Her expression quickly changed as she got close enough to properly take in his appearance.

  “Don’t worry, it’s not mine,” Rayne assured her. “I just didn’t have time to get changed.”

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  She nodded, though she still had an unsure look on her face, and Rayne took her arm, turning her around as he escorted her back towards the gate he had just passed through. Only once they were outside the Academy grounds, and he’d bid Red goodbye for a second time did he initiate conversation.

  “How was your night?”

  “It was fine,” Issa responded, clutching her bag with one arm as they walked through the sparsely packed streets of the Noble District. “I stayed with Yanitha in her servant’s quarters. Their cook gave me a leftover roll for my troubles, which solved my dinner problem, and I just studied while I was there, so it was no big hassle.” She turned to look at him, her eyes wide. “But forget me, how was your trip? You’re covered in blood, Rayne!”

  “I am not covered,” Rayne retorted. “There’s some on my chestguard and a bit more on my bracers. That is hardly covered.”

  “You’ve got more blood than leather in some places. It’s like you’ve tried dying the entire chest piece crimson, and, oh gods… Rayne, is that viscera?”

  Issa made a disgusted face as she poked at a spot near his left hip. Looking down, Rayne quickly wiped away the offending bit of flesh. “Maybe?” He winced at her expression. “In all fairness, the majority of it isn’t mine. And what little bits are aren’t from yesterday’s mission.”

  This was not the correct thing to say, and Issa’s expression immediately grew frosty.

  Realizing his mistake, Rayne let go of her arm and lifted both hands in surrender. “Listen, I know it looks bad, but this is just the reality of adventuring.”

  There was a challenging look in Issa’s eyes, and she looked up at him, her eyes wavering slightly due to the wetness that rimmed them. “When we get home, I want you to tell me everything.”

  With a heavy nod, Rayne agreed, and they walked the rest of the way in relative silence, speaking only occasionally to discuss mundane matters such as what they should buy for dinner tonight, and the city’s recent construction projects.

  Half an hour later, they locked the front door behind them, Rayne making sure it was properly secured as Issa moved to set the slightly stale bread and overripe fruits they’d purchased on the table. Then she motioned for him to sit, which he did, and he began to talk, starting from the beginning as he relayed their journey to her in its entirety.

  Having recently committed to honesty, Rayne did not skip over the corpse they’d found, nor the six other dead adventurers in the kobold camp, and to her credit, Issa did not interrupt.

  Once he was finished, she took a long breath, then laid a hand on his bicep. “That must have been hard for you. But I’m glad you made it home safe.”

  Rayne nodded, suddenly mute. It had not hit him in the woods just how much danger they’d been in. Sure, he had been scared, terrified even, but it was only now that he was back home that he realized just how close to death they had come. Had Leon been slightly weaker, or his and Syra’s response to the plan being discarded slightly slower, then all three of them would be dead now.

  The thought sent a shiver down his spine, and Issa must have sensed it, for she took his hand and gave him a small, forced smile. “Well, my day was a lot less eventful than yours. I managed to meet with the noble sponsors for the scholarship I’m setting up, and we talked about how much will need to be set aside in order to pay for the perpetuity. It’s going to cost quite a bit, but…”

  She continued to talk, and Rayne listened, her hand never leaving his as the sun set outside their dirty kitchen window.

  ~

  Splitting the loot was less straightforward than Rayne had expected, owing mostly to Leon’s insistence that the proceeds from the sale of the dead adventurer’s gear go to their families. Since he was not a heartless monster, Rayne agreed to a cut, but surprisingly, it was Syra who argued that the entire thing should go to the surviving family members.

  “These people have lost their lives, and their families no longer have anyone to provide. The least we can do is give them their loved one’s stuff back,” she argued.

  Unable to argue with that logic, both Rayne and Leon had agreed– one much happier than the other–and as a result, their take-home from the mission was a good bit smaller than it would have otherwise been. It was still a good chunk of coin, Rayne gained nearly twenty-five silver when all was said and done, but it could have been even more had they simply abandoned their pesky morals and taken it all for themselves. Ah well.

  Having just gone through one heck of a trial, they all universally agreed to take the day off from adventuring to focus on recuperation, which meant training. None of them wanted to come as close to death as they had the day before, and so Rayne asked Leon for an impromptu training session, and Syra tagged along, the three heading for the training grounds in order to distract themselves from thoughts of their own mortality.