‘Am I meant to just… stay here?’ Marshal Bck thought, trying to uand his position within the group.

  ‘So they’re going to just… pay me to hang around with them now?’ Jahought. ‘A gold a day, my food and housing taken care of, and I don’t eveo defend them?’

  “How much I spend?” Lucy asked.

  “On what?” Adam replied.

  “Gifts.”

  “As long as you write the receipts, as much as…” Adam paused. “A hundred gold, but if you want to spend all of your own mohat’s fioo.”

  ‘A hundred gold?’ Jahought, her eyes wide. ‘That much?’

  ‘A hundred gold?’ Lucy thought, her eyes narrows. ‘He’s holding back that much?’

  Adam joined Lud Mara, with Jaygak tagging along, to buy the gifts for the children. They were in North Amber, meaning they could buy bdes made of amberite.

  “Adam,” Jaygak warned.

  “e on, Jaygak.”

  “You were the one who wished to stop being se, just for this season.”

  Adam inhaled sharply. “ I buy one for myself then?”

  “Of course you buy one for yourself, and not for any of the children.”

  Jaygak’s words stabbed through Adam’s heart, causing the half elf to frown, and he decided against buying amberite items.

  'They’re only about oo five hundred gold each, it’s not like I’m spending that much.’

  ‘Should I tease him more?’ Jaygak thought, however, Adam had been so well behaved retly, and she didn’t want to disce him. ‘Is that what it felt like for you, Elder Zijin?’

  Eventually, Adam made his way around the town by himself, needing some time to himself. He had been dehe right to spoil his children much, and though he could have started throwing gems worth hundred gold pieces, he o behave.

  ‘Just for this season. One season. I do it. I’m only pretending to be ge, I’m not actually ge, but why does it feel so difficult? Did I ingrain the habit of being ge and now it es naturally?’ Adam frowned.

  “You there!” shouted an older woman, with greying hair, the bck dye beginning to fade, and dark grey eyes. Her skin held rivers of wrinkles, streams of marks of those who have lived far too long, and a simple neckce, which had been gifted to her family lifetimes ago. She carried a small dagger at her side, that was as bck as death. She huffed, holding a sack over her shoulder. “Are you going to watch this old dy do all this work?”

  “No, of course not, miss!” Adam replied, swiftly approag the woman, reag out for the sack.

  “What? Do you think this old dy ’t carry a sack? Carry the rest, boy!”

  “Right, right, of course, miss,” Adam said, lifting the two sacks to the side he hadn’t seen. It wasn’t so much they had been out of sight, it was that the woman’s presence had filled his sight. “Where to, miss?”

  “Finally, a boy with manners,” the woman said. “Just follow me, we’ll be there sooner or ter. Are you in a rush?”

  “No, miss.”

  “Lost in your thoughts, were you?”

  “I was. I was thinking about-,”

  “Did I ask?”

  “Ah, no.”

  “What were you thinking about.”

  Adam blinked. ‘Is she a noble?’ “I was just thinking about my children. I thought…”

  “Yes?”

  “I thought, if I’m their father, won’t it be too difficult for them? I’m so… awkward, and I’m not strong enough to be as awkward as I am.”

  “If you’re w about something like that, you’re det enough. Boys these days, they don’t think of their family. There’s a brat, a foolish little sword dropper who ended up killing his own brother to take his house. Atrocious! If I had my way, he’d have his neck cut.”

  “His own brother? What a wicked bastard.”

  “How could he do such a thing? A man should never draw his bde against his own family.”

  “I couldn’t imagine ever swinging my bde at my brother, even as a joke,” Adam said, giving up more to the woman, who thought about bullying him more, but since he was volunteering all this information, she decided to let him tinue yapping away. “He’s scary, sure, but… I’d rather point my bde at the world than him.”

  “If only we had more Northerners like you.”

  “I think you have enough Northerners like me, you’re all so… I wouldn’t say polite, polite is for the Southerners, who will smile when they poison your tea. Northerners? You guys are ho, but I know you’ll at least tell me before you stab me.”

  The woma out an approving grunt. “Is that puthral?”

  “It is.”

  “You close to the Iyrmen?”

  “My brother is an Iyrman, but I’m not.”

  “A half fae Iyrman would be a sight.”

  “Right?” Adam chuckled.

  “The King hates the fae.”

  “I hear there’s another King that’s rather sweet to them.”

  “There’s only one King of Aldnd.”

  “Yeah.” Adam smiled. “I haven’t been here long to uand the politics, nifice, of what’s been happening.”

  “Where are you from?”

  “A very far away nds.”

  “That doesn’t answer my questions.”

  “The… Greynds, but uh, it’s not really…”

  “Destroyed?”

  “Something like that,” Adam said, feeling a siear drop down the side of his eye, leaving a chilly trail.

  “You’re no Iyrman, so you’ll o obey our ws.”

  Adam smiled slightly. “I have heard they have a deal with Aldnd so they ’t be punished.”

  “No, but some of the Southerners, they’ll try it. Have you heard of the Southke family?”

  History Check (Intelligence)D20 + 3 = 5 (3)

  “’t say I have,” Adam replied.

  The woman grunted in agreement. “A hundred years ago or so, around the time my father had been born, the small family was falling out of relevancy. An Iyrman fought a duel against one of their boys. It was a duel, a proper duel, and the Iyrman won through the only means. The family arrested her.”

  The aused, recalling what her father had told her, and even after all these decades, she could remember his words. “The Iyrman stated her rights.” It was one of the only terms which chilled even her froze. “She was let go after the family was reminded of the deal, but she was found dead, along with her panions. She had been… mutited quite terribly, almost unreisably so, even her head had been scalped, tattoo and all.”

  The old woman needed a moment to gather herself. “The Iyrmen had heard of what happehe Chief went to speak with the t, who told them they could speak to Baron Southke himself. The Baron refused to submit himself for questioning, never mind the Iyr’s request of submitting himself to a spell to see if he was lying.”

  “…” Adam could see where this was heading, si was the Iyr.

  “The estate was burnt to the ground. Many were killed. Nobles and servants. Men and women. The t spoke with the Iyrmen at the time, but instead of the Chief, it was Elder Peace who met with him.” She gowards the half elf. “I’m sure you uand what that means.”

  Adam slowly bowed his head.

  “She was a younger woman, ihirties, I recall, but she spoke with the older t. To say he was tempestuous, is to say the Iyrmen like to partake in fighting. The t wahe Iyr to admit to their crime.”

  Adam’s face remaiaut, though he wished to smile.

  “Do you know what the Great Elder said?”

  “No.”

  “Retribution has befallen the Southke family, perhaps it would be best for them to give up their name. She sipped her tea politely, with the same politeness as the Southerners. The Iyrmen refused to admit to their guilt, but everyone khe family go by Southfair now. It was a great shame to them, but they should not have killed the Iyrman. One might have thought that burning the estate would have been enough for the Iyrmen, or perhaps sying the family pletely, but the family ged its name, and they found little trouble. One must never fet what a name means to the Iyrmen, for it is more precious than the piles of gold they hoard within their mountains.”

  “Yeah.” Adam smiled, though it was a sad smile. ‘A name…’

  “Here,” the woman said, to a small manor which had been built he outskirts of the town, and the half elf spotted the number of guards in the distarolling.

  Adam pced down the sacks, noting the way the woman reached into her pouch, pulling out her gold s. “Ah, no, it’s alright miss. If anything, would you mind pointio the Grand Duchess’ estate?”

  “Why?”

  “I have some business with her.”

  “What business?”

  “Well, you see, I work for a business. The United Kindom, not to be fused with kingdom, we’re not a try, yet.” Adam winked. “We work he Iyr. I have some business with the Grand Duchess to speak with her about… magical ons, a friend of hers, and a sponsorship for the tour.”

  “A sponsorship for the tour? The preliminaries have already begun, aren’t you ashamed you’re b an old woman like her this te?”

  “Yeah, well, there were certain matters I had to deal with. Actually, we ended up deg to joiour about half way through the st month. My brother and I, we both… well, our wives had children, and they gave birth, actually on the same day, and my brother…” Adam wasn’t sure what he should say. “You see, my brother’s an Iyrman. He grew up in the Iyr, and when it es to showing affe to his child, well, he’s a little shy. He wants to wiour back glory for his son, even though he already gained first p the Noonval Tour, while I mao gain third pd… my daughter, she always bullies me about ing in third pce, and this time, this time, I want to show her that her father is strong too, so I’m going to wiouroo.”

  “You wish to pce first in the magical segment, and your brother wishes to pce first in the martial segment?”

  “That’s right.”

  “e inside, and I’ll pour some tea, and you tell me your story. Bring in the sacks you were carrying, there’s a fresh batch of ice leaves that make the most wonderful tea.” The icked up her sad carried it within, without even firming with the half elf.

  ‘It’s not like I’m going to refuse tea.’ “Thank you, miss.” Adam stepped in, noting the woman taking off her boots before entering the home.

  “Take off your boots.”

  “Should I take off my armour?”

  “I’m too old for you, boy.”

  “Not a day over forty.”

  The woman’s eyes sowards Adam. “Tongue like an Aswadian, you.” She then shuffled away, stepping through the living room to the kit, the manor a long room, with a door oher side of the wall half way within. It was built of wood, but not any kind of wood, for this wood was grey, a deep grey, ohat was certainly befitting the North. The furniture was all wooden too, with long bs over them, knitted by a woman with all the free time in the world. Adam he ons strewn all about, all within arms reach, and all which were made of everything but steel.

  Bronze. Brass. Silver. Gold. Jagite, and not just normal jagite, but true jagite. The amberite on, which was e, with a blue hue when the light struck it, was the most impressive of all.

  History Check (Intelligence)D20 + 3 = 17 (14)

  ‘Hey, isn’t that-,’ Adam jolted as he noticed the two heavily armoured statues beside him, his heart beating wildly in his chest. One wore a bde, the other held a gve, rested across its shoulder, which probably ore than Adam’s armour sidering the runes across the bde. He could have sworatues were moving ever so minutely, as if breathing, but before he could check, the woman’s voice broke the silence.

  “Hurry up, boy! The left sack has the leaves, and I ’t make the tea without the leaves!”

  “Ah! Yes, miss.”

  Adam didn’t notice the eyes through the visor following him.

  I'm sure nothing will g.