“Oh, I remember now,” Brian said, the levity in his voice now absent. I stared at the mercenary, my hand on the handle of my sword. In the corner of my eye, I thought I could see Tasha also realizing my tension. Just as I was thinking about drawing my sword preemptively when Brian’s words trailed off, his expression relaxed again. “Yeah, you were the ones in that bar back in Rettif.” Rettif? I stopped my hand and started to recall my memories.

  “Rettif…” I muttered.

  “Yeah, it was you two who were there when that old man Jim kept ragging on about the glory days. Uh… not a pleasant time. I only stopped by to meet with him because the guildmaster wanted me to check up on him…” Brian’s expression started to drift away again.

  “Wait… were you the one who was talking to that older man about mercenaries?” I asked, vaguely recalling the moment. That seemed to fit, and maybe it was because I just didn’t think it was that important that I couldn’t really remember many of the details about the two men other than one looking a lot older than the other.

  “Ah, you remember me now!” Brian exclaimed, fully swinging back into his jovial tone. Well, not really.

  “Ah, yeah… um… I don’t think we really spoke to each other at the time, though?” Even if I think I remembered meeting him, why would this random mercenary remember me?

  “We did. I asked you if you knew about any of those random mercenary names and you backed me up. Managed to shut him up for at least a few minutes.” I saw Brian roll his eyes a bit. “Unfortunately, I actually had to talk to him some more after that. The guildmaster insisted that I report back to him in detail about how that old man was doing.”

  “Uh… I see,” I responded, barely paying attention to Brian’s complaints. I finally relaxed a bit and turned to look at the two girls at the table. Tasha seemed a bit confused and Whitney was looking between the three of us excitedly, as if she were eagerly awaiting more details about Brian’s fascinating story.

  “Anyways, enough of that,” Brian said, taking a chair from another table and coming to sit with us without any invitation, “How has it been going for you two?” Brian asked, as if we were good friends that were catching up with one another. “Oh, and in case you were wondering, Andal’s still an annoying prick.” Who the heck is Andal? I saw Whitney’s eyes narrow.

  “Who’s Andal?” Tasha asked, with even greater confusion on her face now. Brian turned to face Tasha and beamed a smile at her.

  “Just some rookie mercenary. On his first commission to Rettif, apparently he got into a fight with some guy traveling with his daughter. Apparently, heh, he got his ass handed to him and got his armour busted up too.” I could see the realization dawn on Tasha the same time it did for me.

  “Huh, so his name was Andal,” I said, confirming without really meaning to do so. “Wait…” Hold on, if that guy is a member of the Mercenaries’ Guild, is this going to be a big problem for me, then?

  “Ah, don’t look so worried there, Braith! The Guild wouldn’t get involved with fights like that, and from what I heard, he was the one who started it,” Brian reassured me, seemingly having read my thoughts. “Well, some guys with a lot of pride might want to take revenge. And some of those guys might even rope in some of their buddies to help, but I still wouldn’t worry about it. Andal’s just some rookie who’s been a member for less than a year. His father was a somewhat respectable veteran mercenary, but he’s been retired for a few years now.” Well, honestly, as long as I know the Mercenaries’ Guild won’t get involved, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. If it’s just a bunch of mercenaries at Andal’s level, it wouldn’t be an issue even in my weakened state.

  “Hmph, it wouldn’t be a problem even if a hundred of those losers came after us,” Tasha proudly announced. Well… that would probably be a bit too much. Whitney seemed to completely believe her though, and Brian just laughed.

  “Wow, didn’t know you were that strong, Braith!” Brian said, smiling even wider now. “I’ll be sure to bet big on you if you’re planning to fight here!” Tasha looked at me expectantly. I just shook my head.

  “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not here to fight. Just here to watch.” All three of my tablemates looked at me with varying degrees of disappointment, with Whitney somehow looking the most disappointed.

  “You’re not going to fight?” Whitney asked. “Is that because you need to leave soon?” she asked. I suppose I could understand her disappointment after how much Tasha had been gassing both of us up. All three of them stared at me, awaiting my response.

  “I’m just here to pass some time. Fighting’s not really a hobby of mine.”

  “What about you, Tasha?” Whitney asked, now turning to face my daughter.

  “She won’t be fighting, either,” I answered for her, not wanting to risk what Tasha may wish to say.

  “Am I allowed to fight?” Tasha asked Whitney, disregarding me. “Are there any rules?”

  “Uh, well, outside of the scheduled fights, there is also time between rounds for anyone else to fight, as long as they have a willing opponent. The rules would be whatever they agree to, but since they could be amateurs, the rules are usually to stop the fight at the sight of first blood.”

  “And that’s all very interesting, but we will not be participating,” I declared.

  “Aw, really?” Brian asked. Judging by his tone, I suspected he was only faking disappointment, unlike Tasha and Whiteny.

  “Really,” I confirmed.

  “Even if Andal wanted a rematch?” he asked. In the past, I may have taken the bait, but I just didn’t think I cared about someone as insignificant as him anymore.

  “As if he deserves one,” I answered dismissively. I could see Whitney’s eyes narrow again.

  “Alright, alright, I can see your mind's made up on this,” Brian said. “Don’t want to talk about that guy anymore, anyways. It upsets Whitney and reminds me of Jim again, too.” I was a little curious about Brian’s words, but I also didn’t really want to converse with him any longer. “Let’s move onto something more interesting, instead,” he suggested in direct opposition to my private thoughts. Brian eagerly looked around the table for suggestions. I was about to suggest ending things here, but Tasha spoke up first.

  “You were one of the people who talked about the Reapers. Do you know a lot about them?”

  “Oh, you want to hear about the Reapers?” Even in Brian’s friendly voice I could hear an extra hint of excitement. I could see similar levels of excitement on Whitney’s face as well.

  “Yeah, I do,” Tasha replied simply. For the first time today, I felt like I couldn’t read what Tasha was thinking about. Yes, now that I think about it, I would like to know more about the group as well as well, especially given what happened with Jack Free. However, I didn’t get the impression that that was Tasha’s reason for asking. Was it just curiosity about this legendary group of mercenaries? Her expression, at least, didn’t give me any clear indications.

  “Well,” Brian began, taking some effort to properly clear his throat, “you are in luck, my little lady. Except for some of the veterans in this city, I dare say I know more than anyone else about them in all of Deimos.” I reflexively raised an eyebrow in skepticism.

  “Oh, do you have a new story to tell?” Whitney asked, her face and voice clearly showing that she, at least, believed his claim.

  “Now, now, Whitney, all in good time. First, Tasha, how much do you already know about them?” This time, I spoke before Tasha.

  “All we know about them is that they were a mercenary group that was active during the War of the Nines. As far as what they’ve done, we’ve only heard that Repear’s Pass is named after them.” I didn’t expect her to directly talk about Jack Free, but I also didn’t even want to risk her talking about knowing about any of their individual characteristics.

  “Really? That’s all you know?” Brian asked slightly incredulously.

  “Yeah, we first heard about them from your conversation back in Rettif. After that, we only heard about the other thing before we went through Reapers’ Pass.”

  “Well then, it looks like the two of you are in for quite the lesson today. My, I’m not sure my throat can hold up.” Brian looked over at the other barmaid who was still sitting at the bar counter. “Clara! Can you get me a glass of the usual?!” Clara stared at him for a couple seconds, confused.

  “Ah, right, sorry Clara!” Whitney suddenly blurted out. Apparently, Brian had also forgotten that she was supposed to be working when his eyes turned in the direction of our little barmaid after her sudden exclamation. “Um, right, I’ll be right back. Just one glass for you, Brian?” she asked, blushing a deep red.

  “Ah, heh, yeah, just one for starters. Oh, maybe two? Can I offer you something to drink, Braith?”

  “Me?” He’s the one offering to tell us something, though. “Uh, no… I mean… I should buy it for you?” This would be normal practice, right?

  “Ah, come on. I’m not going to be demanding a treat from a newcomer, especially not from someone interested in learning more about the Reapers!” My curiosity about this group was starting to grow quite a lot now.

  “Well, okay. Uh, thank you.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Braith.” Brian turned to the now-standing Whitney. “You got that?” Whitney hurriedly nodded and ran off. Brian laughed as she did. “Maybe I should wait until she gets back, eh?” I guess that would be polite. “Well, since I need to start from the beginning, I should just start without her. She’s heard this from me tons of times already.” Oh, I guess his question was rhetorical. He looked over at Tasha. “Is that alright, or was there some specific burning question you had for me?” I was also curious to know the answer.

  “... no, you can just tell me everything you know about each of them.” Tasha answered after a moment. Her words seemed to be spoken deliberately. Brian suddenly clapped his hands together.

  “Alright, I’ll start then. As you know, they were mercenaries during the War of the Nines, and, well, at least as far as I’m concerned, they are the most famous mercenaries from that time as well, despite the fact that almost none of their true identities are public knowledge. Oh, but how is that so? Well, they each had an alias and none of them were officially registered as members of the Mercenaries’ Guild. Instead, it was one of them, the Hunter, who acted as their representative or their de facto leader when it came to accepting and negotiating commissions.” Brian looked between me and Tasha, possibly gauging what our current reactions were to his storytelling thus far.

  Brian looked to be slightly disappointed with my lack of a reaction, but just then, Whitney came back with two mugs of some kind of golden-beige drink.

  “I’m back!” Whitney shouted out as she quickly placed one glass in front of Brian. When he looked away to pick up the drink, I tried to pretend to look more pleased since I did want to know more about the Reapers, assuming that Brian was telling the truth. Then, Whitney placed the other mug in front of me.

  “Huh?”

  “It’s my usual,” Brian answered. “You thanked me for it earlier, didn’t you?” What? No, I mean, I did say thanks, but I meant thanks as in- why am I arguing in my own head again.

  “That wasn’t what I- I meant…” I stopped myself when I saw Whitney starting to get embarrassed again, as if it was her fault the order was screwed up. Well, I mean, in a way it kinda was, but, oh, forget it. “Thanks, I’ll try it after I finish my lemonade,” I lied before taking a sip of my lemonade. Tasha mimicked my sip, but her reaction showed that she still thought it was very sour. It was, but I still thought it was quite decent.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Hey, come on, now!” Brian raised his mug and I stared at him blankly for a few seconds. Oh, right.

  “Ah, yeah…” I raised the mug as well, and then he clinked his mug with mine. He took a big gulp and let out a burp before setting it back onto the table. I put down my mug and stuck with the lemonade.

  “So, where was I again?” Brian asked.

  “You were talking about aliases. You just mentioned the Hunter,” I replied.

  “Ah, right. Okay, let’s talk about the others. So, other than the Hunter, there were six other aliases: the Captain; the Knight; the Cyclops; the Wyvern; the Gorgon; and the Hydra. However, that does not mean there were exactly seven members of the Reapers!” Brian stared at us with great expectation after suddenly pausing. I decided to play along after a couple of seconds.

  “Oh, what do you mean by that?” Brian and Whitney both nodded and smiled.

  “Great question, Braith! You see, although these are the only known aliases, there is no great certainty on the exact number of members. For example, Captain was an alias that was apparently heard before, but only very rarely, and there are no publicly agreed upon descriptions of who this Captain was. Some say it wasn’t really an alias, and it just referred to whomever was leading the group. Oh, but why wouldn’t the leader just always be the Captain? Well, I’ve heard some suggest that was because the different members would take turns leading. Personally, I think that theory makes the most sense. After all, each member was known to be individually very powerful, so the idea that all the rest of them would always take orders from only one of them seemed unlikely to me. Another theory, somewhat related to this one, is that although they rotated through leadership, the Hunter most likely became the de facto leader of the group because he was the one who handled commissions and was the expert when it came to gathering information.” Brian paused to take a breath and drink a bit. As he did, I could see him looking at Tasha and I again, mostly expecting our continued engagement. Tasha looked rather stoic, seemingly only focused on absorbing the given information.

  “Oh, that’s an interesting theory, Brian,” I began, “So, in your opinion, you don’t think any one of the Reapers was capable of being the permanent leader?” I saw Brian eye my mostly full glass of lemonade. I drank some more before he answered.

  “Yeah, that’s what I think, Braith. Overall, based on all the stories I’ve heard, it’s hard to say that any of them was definitely stronger than all of the others. However, that did not mean they were similar as far as fighting went. They each had their own specialty. Let’s take the Hunter, for example. They say he is very skilled with daggers and knives. They say he also used a crossbow later on, which was probably smuggled out of Brennan. Overall, he fought more with speed, dexterity, and close combat skills over power, which is not to say he was physically weak, of course.”

  “Really, they say all that about him?” I asked, half doubting the veracity of this. I mean, he just told me that even their true names are mostly unknown, but this sort of description is known?

  “Well, I’m mixing together various stories I’ve heard. The general description of him paints him similar to an assassin. Well, he really may well have been one, but I don’t know that for sure.”

  “Uh huh,” I said, before drinking some more lemonade.

  “Well…” I could see Brian really seem to concentrate on something, as if searching for a way to make up for a lacking explanation. “Uh, do you know about the Harbingers?” I nearly choked on my lemonade. At the same time, Tasha spat out hers, drinking at the same time I was.

  “Ah… uh, sorry, I drank too quickly,” Tasha said, slightly embarrassed about having to suddenly make up such a lie.

  “Ah, so sorry,” I also apologized, “Whitney, could you please bring something for us to wipe the table with?”

  “Oh, um, I can take care of that right now.” Whitney got up and took out a handcloth from some pocket in her apron. She went over to Tasha’s side to wipe the small mess. As she did, Brian continued to speak.

  “So, do you know about the Harbingers?” Brian asked again.

  “Ah… hmmm, not sure,” I answered, feigning my lack of knowledge.

  “Well, they are sort of similar to the Hunter. I mean, technically, I can’t say either are true assassins, but the way they fight is sort of similar. Well, based on what I’ve heard about both of them. It’s, uh, well, it’s not like the sort of fights you expect to see here at Blake’s. Their fighting is a lot stealthier and more focused on efficient movements. It would be pretty cool to ever see a fight with a Harbinger, but, heh, I don’t expect that’ll ever happen. Their captains are technically knights, so I wouldn’t expect to see them down here in Deimos.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense,” I responded, nodding as I did. As unpleasant as I found Sir Decius, he was still a knight of Brennan, so he wouldn’t just drop by some place like this. Well, maybe if it was for some intelligence gathering mission. “Okay, I think I know what you mean about the Hunter now. What about the others?”

  “Ah right, who should I talk about next?” Whitney finished cleaning the mess and returned to her seat. I glanced around the bar again as she did and everything seemed the same. This place really is still quite empty. “How about the Knight? Yes, that’s someone who’s basically the complete opposite of the Hunter. A pure, physical fighter. A man in a full set of scale armor and who always wore a closed helm that covered his face. A tall warrior who wielded a greatsword, oftentimes wielding it with only one hand.” That last comment made me scrunch my face slightly.

  After knowing about the existence of the Battle-Hardened, one may have a differing opinion about such a description. However, having trained in the shortsword myself (albeit a much smaller weapon) and having also heard things from Lars, it is not the absolute weight of the sword that is always the largest factor when it comes to using them. I was also first mistaken, thinking that Lars used the shortsword primarily because it was lighter. The weight difference does have some effect on one’s stamina, but when it comes to one on one fights or small scale battles, it does not actually take significantly more strength to wield a shortsword compared to a longsword, nor to take it a step up from that, because even a greatsword weighed fewer than ten pounds, and for larger weapons, you would fight in a way where you use momentum more to conserve your own energy. However, actually wielding them effectively would take very different styles of fighting. And that is what I found particularly surprising. With enough strength you can hold a greatsword with one hand, but given its length, it would be much less efficient and certainly not optimal to swing it around with one arm, even if one was incredibly strong. Hmmm, and on the opposite end, it probably isn’t optimal to wield a shortsword in only one hand and no offhand weapon or shield in the other. Lars’ skills never led me to doubt his reasons for why, but there should be other uses for the free hand other than just for grabbing and punching. I think Sir Emmerick said something similar to me as well. Did Lars used to use something else? Maybe, before he lost his eye?

  “You really look like you have some burning questions there, Braith.” Brian spoke to interrupt my internal musings. I drank some more lemonade in silence before answering. Despite the earlier mishap, Tasha mimicked me again.

  “Oh, I was probably just overthinking. You say the Knight used a greatsword with only one hand?”

  “Yes,” Brian confirmed with a smile. “Ah, and to be clear, he did primarily fight with it using both hands. However, there are many stories depicting him fighting with only hand.” Was this Knight really that much of a showoff? “And it wasn’t just to show off,” Brian continued, seemingly reading my thoughts again. “Other than the Hunter, the Knight was the one who would wander off or travel by himself most often. In the beginning, he was often attacked by bandits and others looking to rob him. You see, his scale armour was seen as very valuable, and he also wore a purple mantle that was also supposedly made of rare and valuable material. He became known as the Knight because of how he looked, and despite the lack of any crests or brands on his equipment to denote his affiliation or identity, he must have come from some wealthy or renowned lineage, assuming he did not simply acquire his equipment through robbery. Many assumed he was some young knight who forsook his oath or the son of some fallen noble household. Well, tons of knights and noble houses disappeared around that time, so it wasn’t the most unreasonable theory.” Okay, I get it. Yeah, the alias makes sense. “Right, and about the one-handed fighting. Well, sometimes he would be carrying something or someone when he got attacked, so he fought using only one arm. I’ve heard more than one story of him saving some damsel in distress during his solitary outings. Although, well, there may also have been stories suggesting that he also fought like that in the midst of snatching up maidens. I don’t think those ones are as credible, though.” I could hear Brian’s exuberance drain away saying the last couple sentences.

  “Jealous people can make up all sorts of lies.” Whitney suddenly spoke.

  “Ah, yes. That, they do, Whitney.” Brian was easily re-invigorated and I pondered about this spectacle. Whitney was one thing, probably being a naive and impressionable child, but why is Brian so seemingly fanatical about this.

  “Say, Brian…” I decided to probe the matter. “Have you, or anyone you know ever met any of the Reapers before?” Brian’s face froze for a second before answering.

  “Ah, unfortunately, I’ve never had the opportunity. From what I know, the guildmaster has seen some of them in person before, but he doesn’t like to go into details about them for whatever reason. Well… I mean, he says that we’re all better off just avoiding them entirely. And, well, it’s not that I don’t understand. I don’t think it would be wrong to call them ‘dangerous’... generally speaking. And, well, the Hunter, in particular, I really do get it, but I think if I had the chance, I would still want to talk to them.”

  “What would you want to talk to them about?” I asked.

  “Oh, so many things! I would want to confirm as many of their stories as I could. I would want to confirm how many of them there really were, and who each of them were. I would want to ask how they all met and why they decided to form a group. I would ask how they became so strong, and I would ask why they disbanded.”

  “Ah, yeah, I get the picture now.” I raised a hand as I interrupted Brian who was listing one thing after another at twice the speed he was talking at earlier. “You really seem to be interested in them more than I expected. It’s like being a fan of some celebrity. Although, I still think your guildmaster… yeah, your guildmaster probably has the right idea. It could be really dangerous to meet them personally… and even if they weren’t, I doubt they’d be keen on answering many of your questions.”

  “Hey, you can’t know that for certain! Nobody knows where any of them have been for years, so at the very least, we know they haven’t been up to anything bad… well, not anything in recent news anyways.” I was about to keep up my side of the argument, but I decided to drop the matter. I wanted to warn to be more cautious given what Jack Free, the supposed Wyvern, was like, but Brian didn’t look like he could be convinced with just a few words. Besides, maybe, just maybe, I should still give the other members the benefit of the doubt.

  “I guess we can’t know for certain either way.” Let’s just agree to disagree, I guess. “Anyways, is there some kind of theming for the aliases? Three seem to be jobs or ranks, whereas the rest are named after monsters, right?” I could see Brian thinking about whether my descriptions were apt.

  “Well, I guess you could break up like that, assuming the Captain was even a real alias for a distinct member. The Hunter’s alias was one that he made up for himself and it stuck. The Knight’s alias… the stories seemed to suggest it was made for him, and he was probably just some nameless warrior before that. As for the others… hmmm, I think they just fit what we know about them. I’m not sure if it was intentional that they were named after monsters. Well, from what I know most of them were also Farseers, so maybe that had something to do with it. For example, the Wyvern was a wind Farseer, but I guess maybe you could argue that other flying creatures could have fit better?”

  I drank some more lemonade in an attempt to cover up my reaction, but my glass was finally empty. Tasha was still working on hers. Seeing this, Brian chugged the last of his own mug.

  “Are you ready to try my drink now, Braith? I could use another cider myself. Whitney, please get me another one.” Whitney looked over at me, and at first I thought she was also pressing me to drink, but she just wanted to know if she could take away my empty glass. I motioned for her to do so, and she took the glass and Brian’s mug and left.

  “Wait, this is cider?” I finally asked. I guess the golden-beige hue did somewhat remind me of apple juice, but I thought apple cider was darker in colour.

  “You don’t recognize cider?” Brian asked.

  “Ah, no, I just didn’t really think about it.” Come to think of it, the lemonade also does have a slightly different colour to it than I’m familiar with. Well, it still looked and tasted more or less like lemonade, though.

  “Have you never had cider before?” Brian asked.

  “Ah… not in a long time.”

  “So, not a fan, then?” Brian asked, probably probing as to why I still haven’t drank any of what he bought me. I didn’t want to tell him that I just assumed he bought me alcohol and I didn’t want to drink any.

  “... ah, no, I really did just want to finish my lemonade.” I guess it’s fine to drink this if it’s just apple cider. I can drink it with him when Whitney comes back with his second mug. “Anyways, Brian, what kind of stories have you heard about the Wyvern?”

  “Oh, is this the one you’re most interested in?”

  “Ah, no, I’m fine with whatever order you want to tell me things in.”

  “Okay, okay. Well, they say he was a wind Farseer who was so adept with magic that he could fly in the air and use blasts of wind at the same time.” The Jack Free I knew could fly in the air and use wind blasts, but he didn’t do that simultaneously. Well, he probably didn’t think he needed to. “Also, he was also the fastest in terms of speed. They say he could overtake anyone on foot while he was in flight. As for his offensive wind magic, there have even been stories of him picking a person up and tossing them into the air.” Okay, no, Jack Free definitely wasn’t someone powerful enough to do that.

  “Ah, is that so?” Stories, huh? I see. So, it really is just that. I don’t deny Jack Free was strong and I could definitely believe a group of seven mercenaries as strong as him would have been a very formidable force. With the right preparations, I could definitely see how they could fight against over a hundred soldiers, but many of those stories were probably exaggerated accounts. Right, even Decius mentioned something like that when he told me about that account describing Tarras as the Mountain Cleaver.

  “Yes, and since he was a wind Farseer, he must have been an Outlander since none of the existing major clans have wind Farseers. Well, not unless you count certain Luster Clan Farseers, but that wouldn’t really match up. It’s even less likely that he was that powerful because he was an Artifact user.” Artifacts? I remembered that word from An Early History of Enchanting Masterwork Arms and Armours, from Brennan's royal library. It referred to certain enchanted equipment that could allow people to use magic. But they were very expensive and difficult to create, difficult to use for most, and were usually limited in their power.

  “Oh, you started talking about the Wyvern without me!” Whitney cried out as she returned with another mug of cider for Brian.

  “Don’t worry, it wasn’t anything new,” he said while picking up the mug. Then, he looked over at me. Ah, right. I raised my mug and we clinked them together. This time, we both drank. Initially, the taste of apple was familiar, but the cider didn’t taste quite like I expected. My expression gave away how it didn’t quite meet my expectations.

  “Well, that’s why you should have started drinking it right away! It’s best when it’s fresh and chilled!” Well, it was not as cold as I expected, but it wasn’t exactly lukewarm either. Is the temperature the reason for this somewhat off putting after taste? “Drink it up quickly and I’ll order us both another round! Come on!” Brian raised his mug again next to me and started gulping it down.

  Okay, fine. I did as Brian did and started to quickly down the cider. It’s not like it tasted bad. In fact, I would almost say it tasted good. But, I don’t know, maybe remembering how fresh apples or even those potion apples tasted like, it just seemed kind of disappointing. The aftertaste was a bit stronger now and it wasn’t any more pleasant than before. However, I finished it off. Brian smiled and laughed before ordering more cider.

  Brian and I clinked our mugs together again when the next round came and drinking it when it was still cold did actually make a big difference. It definitely did taste better that way, and the after taste was also less noticeable now. Yes, I can kind of see why this is Brian’s favourite. Personally, I still kind of preferred the sourness of the lemonade, but this cider was also unexpectedly good. I wonder if this is Brian’s favourite drink overall, or just his favourite non-alcoholic drink.

  “You know what, Brian. Let me buy you a round as well.” Yeah, you know, I could use some more myself. I’m starting to feel a bit warm now, after all.

  “Ah, well, I won’t say no to that!”

  “Whitney!” I said, much louder than I intended. “Two- no, four more ciders!” Brian whistled.

  “Getting it all out at once now?” Brian asked. Well, I mean, Tasha’s gotta catch up with us too, now. I saw that Tasha almost finished her lemonade now. I laughed, or at least I intended to, but it came out more like a giggle.

  “Yeah, it’s all good… the Merchants’ Guild will cover it anyways. Ah, maybe I should order some other things too?”

  “The Merchants’ Guild? Oh, looks like you have something nice lined up for you?”

  “Dad?” Tasha suddenly spoke up with a hint of concern. “Are you… okay?” I strangely found myself laughing at her question.

  “Ah, Tasha, thanks for asking! I’m great! But, thank you for worrying about me, dear.” I leaned over towards her and draped an arm over her shoulder. Tasha shifted a bit in her seat when I did. “I… am so lucky to have such a lovely and caring daughter like you…”

  “Uh… um, thank you, dad…” she responded somewhat meekly, but looked more confused than embarrassed.

  “Ah, what a sight! I wish I had family like that!” Brian said cheerfully.

  “Ah, Brian, it’s the best!” I said back to him. “You know what kind of life I was living before her? It sucked. It was just awful. Ah, I mean…” I was starting to get my memories a bit jumbled up. “Well, I mean, right before wasn’t that bad, but before that… terrible! I was sad and lonely all the time.”

  “Really, Braith? I guess having a kid can really change the world for some people.”

  “Yeah… it’s just… so nice having a family again…” I almost ended up wrapping myself around Tasha, but sensing what was happening, Tasha broke free and shot me a very concerned look.

  “Dad… are you sure you’re okay?” Oh, she’s so nice to ask twice!

  “I feel great, Tasha. I’m fine!” Tasha did not seem convinced. Ah, I know what’s wrong. “Tasha, you know… I’ve been too hard on you. I haven’t been treating you like you deserve.” Tasha still looked apprehensive. “So, you know what. Let’s do it!” Greater apprehension detected. “This is a fighting bar, so just go wild. Yeah, let’s fight! Show these guys that you are the strongest little girl in all of Deimos!” Yeah, who cares about hiding and holding back? She’s a Battle-Hardened, and I’m not hiding that ever again. I could finally see Tasha’s concern disappear.

  “Really?!” she asked excitedly. Just then, Whitney returned with our drinks.

  “Yeah!” I had to suppress a hiccup in between my words. “Kick their asses!”