Kavisha had decided that since they still had a full day before they were due to report to Guard Post Tavis for the sewer job, it would be foolish not to take an easy E-rank contract so they could see how they worked together as a team. It was nothing dangerous just gathering herbs and mushrooms for an alchemist.

  They agreed to meet at Kavisha and Lucien's apartment the night before.

  “Good morning, Kavisha!”

  Eleonora’s voice was bright enough to challenge the sunrise itself.

  She stood near the apartment entrance wearing her ridiculous plate armor and looking far too cheerful for a hour during which even birds were still negotiating whether they truly wanted to exist or not.

  Kavisha answered with a noise that could generously be called a greeting.

  She shuffled out of the doorway with Lucien behind her, both of them wearing the same half dead expression that looked vaguely resentful.

  As if they were not yet convinced the world was worth participating in.

  The city streets were cool and damp with a early morning mist coating the ground. Around them the smell of bakeries making their first loaves drifted through the air.

  Annoyingly to the two, Eleonora was not alone in her brightness.

  Isadora stood just behind her lady, immaculate as always, her hair perfectly arranged. Her uniform was crisp and her eyes were alert.

  As though she had been awake for hours instead of minutes.

  She offered Kavisha a polite nod that somehow managed to look both respectful and faintly smug. Damn footstool Kavisha thought taking in Isadora wakefulness.

  “Oh! Kavisha, Lucien, I... uh... brought something for you!” Eleonora said suddenly, bouncing a little on her heels.

  The act giving a gift always making her giddy and full of energy all over again.

  Before either of them could respond, she reached into the small silver band on her finger.

  Her storage ring shimmered, and with the delighted air of a magician producing a dove, she withdrew a ceramic mug of steaming coffee and a plate holding a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.

  Kavisha stared at it as though she had just been handed a divine relic from one the 12 apostles themselves.

  Her and Lucien's eyes lit up at the sight.

  They both couldn't remember the last time they had bacon or eggs. Like most of the empires working class their meals typically consisted of stale bread and stews with unidentifiable bits of meat.

  “Marry me,” she muttered.

  Eleonora blinked. “Oh! I don’t think Papa would..”

  “Not you,” Kavisha said, already grabbing the mug as she gave Eleonora a big happy grin.

  She downed the coffee in one long gulp and shuddered as life reentered her body, and immediately attacked the sandwich like it had personally wronged her. Even better than the sandwich was the coffee, a rare and expensive good normally reserved for the wealthy.

  Kavisha had only had it a few times thanks to Sookesh’s generosity.

  Lucien accepted his own portion with both hands, looking deeply moved. “My lady, this is… incredibly kind.” he said his reflecting his genuine thanks.

  Eleonora beamed getting giddy and excited from the praise.

  “Would you like another coffee, Kavisha?” she asked sweetly as they began walking toward the main road out of the district.

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  “Yes,” Kavisha said around a mouthful of her sandwich.

  She tossed the empty plate and mug toward the side of the street.

  “Oh by the way Kavisha...there's.... um no need for you or Lucien to call me anything fancy. Just Eleonora is like totally fine.”

  “Okay, Eleonora!” Kavisha said grinning and grabbing the girl with her free hand so she could pat her head.

  Lucien cleared his throat. “Eleonora, then. Thank you. For letting us...be less formal.”

  Isadora smiled faintly at her mistress happiness, though she shook her head trying to look stern. “I, unfortunately, will continue to use my lady, my lady,” she said, the faint traces amusement tugging at the corner of her mouth.

  Eleonora sighed dramatically. “You’re totally impossible, Isadora.”

  “Contractually so, my lady.” she said no longer able to hide her grin.

  They set off down the street together, the city slowly waking around them. Carts rattled over cobblestones, shopkeepers raised shutters, and somewhere a bell began to toll the hour.

  For a while they walked in comfortable quiet, Eleonora handing Kavisha a second coffee as promised. The warmth seemed to thaw more than just her mood; the tight, guarded line of Kavisha’s shoulders eased, and even Lucien looked a little more alive as he sipped from his own mug.

  The streets were beginning to fill now with the sounds of bakers shouting prices, carts creaking toward the markets, and the city slowly shrugging off its nighttime drowsiness.

  Their little group moved against that tide, heading for the outer gate and the long road beyond.

  “So,” Eleonora ventured after a few minutes, “is there anything I should know about being an adventurer? Or… about being in your party, Kavisha?”

  Kavisha snorted. “Not much. Listen to my orders and everything will go fine.”

  Eleonora opened her mouth, then closed it again, clearly unsure whether that had been a joke.

  Kavisha smirked. “I’m mostly kidding. Mostly.”

  Lucien made a soft noise that suggested he was not entirely convinced by his friends statement.

  “Though,” Kavisha continued, “do you know how adventurers classify different combat styles?”

  Eleonora smiled sheepishly. “No. I don’t know much at all yet.”

  “That’s fine,” Kavisha said. “You’ll learn quick enough. Most parties divide roles into three types. First is the bulwark, that’s you and Isadora. Your job is to hold the line and keep the monsters focused on you and making sure the rest of us don’t get turned into interesting stains on the floor.”

  Eleonora straightened a little at that, clearly pleased at her role in the party.

  “Then there’s the ranger,” Kavisha went on, nodding toward Lucien. “In our case, that’s the big green lug. He covers our party from a distance with his magic. In other groups it might be a bowman.”

  Lucien gave a small, awkward wave. “I try not to explode the wrong people.” he joked with large grin that showed his tusks.

  “Very comforting,” Isadora murmured with a shudder.

  “And finally there’s me, the skirmisher,” Kavisha said. “I don’t stand in front like a hero. I move around and flank the enemy while you two keep it busy, and take it apart from behind where it isn't expecting a attack.”

  Eleonora listened intently, lips moving slightly as she repeated the terms to herself.

  “I think I understand,” she said at last. “It’s my job to protect the party, just like a knight. Which I totally am,” she added proudly while doing a little dance.

  The group smiled at that. Lucien warmly, Isadora with quiet approval, and even Kavisha with something close to fondness.

  “Exactly,” Kavisha said. “Just remember that protecting people sometimes means not doing the brave-looking thing.” she said not sure why she had said that after all they were so to be conning the girl but what the hell the noble girl was growing on her, Kavisha thought.

  Lucien cleared his throat. “And don’t worry if you get scared the first time you face a monster. Everyone does. Even people who pretend they don’t,” he said from personal experience.

  Eleonora clasped her hands behind her back, walking between them with a content little sway. “I’m not afraid,” she said, but then paused. “Well… no, that’s totally a lie. I am, like, afraid. But I don’t want to be the kind of person who lets that stop her.”

  Kavisha studied Eleonora for a moment.

  “Good,” she said at last. “Fear’s fine. Keeps you alive. Just don’t let it make your decisions for you,” she said offering a bit of advice.

  Eleonora nodded seriously, even if she didn’t fully grasp what Kavisha meant.

  As they walked, she found her gaze drifting toward the older woman more often than she realized, studying the easy confidence in her stride, the way she spoke without hesitation, as if the world naturally made room for her.

  It was a strange feeling that was part admiration and part relief in a way Eleonora didn’t quite know how to name.

  Isadora had always been a constant steady presence at her shoulder. That was firm and protective and Eleonora trusted her utterly.

  However that trust had been shaped by her childhood, thus she saw Isadora as a authority figure and more like a very close aunt.

  With Kavishia, there were no careful restraints to her own behavior and she didn't try to lecture or tell Eleonora what to do.

  The difference left her slightly unbalanced, like climbing the servant's stairs when she was kid.

  She wasn’t used to being spoken to as if her choices mattered, as if she were already something more than a girl playing at being an adventure.

  Kavishia treated her like a person and somehow it made Eleonora feel heard in way none of her siblings or family made her feel.

  Lucien shifted his spellbook under his arm.

  “Eleonora… I can teach you some basics.

  How to stand so you don’t trip when something charges you. And how to breathe when you’re holding a shield.”

  “Oh! Yes, please!” Eleonora said eagerly. “I don’t want to be useless.”

  “You won’t be,” Kavisha replied, surprising herself with how certain she was of that statement.

  Isadora glanced at her, noting that certainty, then allowed a small smile. “She won’t,” the maid protector agreed. “My lady learns quickly.”