___

  “I don’t need your food, or your clothes, or your nice gestures. I do just fine on my own.” Getting up, I was suddenly angry for reasons I couldn’t quite name, and I set my bowl on the table beside him.

  “And I think it’s time I left.” But Adrian grabbed my arm, stopping me.

  ___

  “Don’t” He said softly. I jerked my arm away from him and stood up straighter.

  “Adrian, thank you for your hospitality. But I think I’ve overstayed my welcome.” Speaking harshly, I walked towards the door. I felt his hand on my shoulder this time, and it surprised me. I hadn’t even heard him get up. Jerking my shoulder, he easily let his hand fall.

  “Stop,” Adrian insisted, his voice louder now, but he didn’t seem angry, only adamant. “You and I both know that you’d be stupid to go out in broad daylight. You’d get pinched in five minutes and you’d be walking the gallows tomorrow morning instead of someone else’s house. Don’t.” He sat back down this time, and didn’t try to stop me. “You don’t have to join the guild.” He added.

  I hesitated, but his words had calmed the rage inside me. That was what I had wanted, a simple decision of not joining, and while I wanted to leave… I sighed. He had a point. There was no sense in taking those kinds of risks. I’d just have to wait until nightfall. There was no chance of me being able to blend into the crowds. After being a thief for so long, you forget how to act around people.

  You become too cautious and forget how to walk normally, or make noise like regular people. I had seen too many kids when I was younger get caught trying to pretend that way.

  “Fine.” I conceded, “but as soon as it is dusk, I really am gone. I will not join in your band of murderers.” Facing Adrian again, I watched him hold up his hands in the same innocent gesture he had shown when I had the knife to his throat earlier.

  “Fine. But since we’ll be here for the day, can I at least know your name? Since you somehow know mine?” I considered it. Names mean little as a thief anyway, and even less so if you work alone.

  “My name is Isabel.” I reluctantly sat down on his bed again.

  “Isabel.” I looked up as Adrian tested out my name. He smiled. “I like it.”

  “You can call me Izzie, if you’d prefer.” I looked around his room again, amazed by the personality I saw. There were trinkets and small tokens I hadn’t noticed at first. At once, I wondered what I could learn from him, and that he probably took his objects and space for granted.

  “Well then, Izzie, would you like to try some skill practice?”

  He led me down again to the floor and this time we went into a far back hallway and then through a trapdoor that opened to a passage. I didn’t feel completely safe following him down there, but he hadn’t tried to kill me yet, and he had been given lots of chances. My cheeks turned red in the darkness as I remembered giving him a knife. Foolish.

  After Adrian jumped down into the tunnel, I did the same. There were no lights down here, and when he closed the door above us, we were completely sealed in darkness. My hair moved as Adrian spoke directly beside me.

  “It’s alright, I know where I’m going. Here.” He took my hand and normally I would’ve pulled away, but I didn’t see any other option, and his hand was warm, even through my gloves. I let him guide us through passages I couldn’t see and was about to ask how much farther when I saw a light in the distance. Walking closer to it and then climbing up through another hole, it took a moment for my eyes to adjust as I felt Adrian slip his hand from mine.

  Once the blindness cleared, all I could see were wood structures. Scaffolding type constructions everywhere and many people racing through them. To the right side of the large room lay targets, with people throwing knives and a few people even holding bows and arrows. On the opposite side, there were chests with locks to practice picking. It was an entire set-up surrounding the main attraction of climbing in the middle. And no matter where you looked, there were people sparring with each other, too.

  “Quite the number of us, isn’t there?” Adrian laughed and then asked what I would like to try first. Surprised at hearing him laugh, I smiled back at him, and then reminded myself I would only be here for the day. Despite that, it seemed like a waste not to at least try out the resources they had here. I looked up at the tall beams criss-crossing over each other. It was at least as tall as most 4-storey buildings. I could barely make out the top from where I stood.

  “That.” I jerked my chin towards the structure.

  “Alright.” Adrian laughed again before running and jumping, catching himself on one of the nearest wooden hand holds. I followed and quickly caught up to him, following the same path he traced on the way up, then I thought of something, and I stopped, easily holding myself steady on two beams.

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  “You just took a knife to your side, and you’re climbing up here? Shouldn’t you at least rest for the day?” Most thieves didn’t have the luxury of resting, but here it seemed like it could be quite safe. His only response was a shrug before jumping to a different part. I kept up with him easily, taking in the feeling of the climb.

  Soon we had reached the top and while it did not have the view of the rooftops I was used to, it still felt good to be up high like this. Sitting down on the edge of one of the beams just above the people target practicing, and wondered how they could house a structure this tall, and not have people in the streets see it. I looked more closely at the walls and saw that unlike the previous old church we were in, wherever the passage had led had taken us to a place made of stone. I asked Adrian about it.

  “Well, the passage I took you through connects to an old outbuilding. As you can see, the only windows are.” He motioned to the walls beside us. “At the very top, but honestly, I don’t know what this building is. I’ve seen it from the outside, but it seems like everyone else just ignores it. The rumor is that it’s an old watchtower.” I started to speak again.

  “Why would-”

  “Why would a church need access to a watch tower?” I nodded for him to answer, but he just shook his head. “I have no idea. But the church is old, so I’m guessing this city maybe wasn’t as populated before. Maybe the watchtower was on the outskirts of the town’s limits.” We were silent for a while after until I realized something. I was just sitting here, watching the people down below like it was normal. Like it was just an everyday occurrence to have the time to sit and relax. I couldn’t help it, I shook my head and laughed out loud at my realization.

  “What?” Adrian asked, giving me a puzzled look.

  “It’s just,” I shook my head again, trying to find the words. “You all are so privileged here, you take it for granted. I mean, do you really need to actually practice these skills? You have such a luxury. To have too much spare time where you forget how to thieve. Where I’m from, you either have these skills, or you die. It’s that simple.”

  “That’s not really it, you know.” Adrian shifted one leg so it was tucked up under his chin, with the other dangling over the edge of the beam we sat on. “We only use this when we’re not—“ He paused, picking up on my aversion to the word as I tensed. “Doing work.” He finished, offering me a small smile. “We can sometimes go a long time between jobs. I learned a good deal of the skills I have before coming here. I’ve just had the—luxury—as you put it, to refine them a bit here.”

  “Oh, and do those refined skills of yours involve running over someone in the middle of the night?” I smirked at him. Adrian frowned and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.

  “I admit that may have been a slight oversight, but you also weren’t looking, or else you would have seen me before I hit you.” He smiled slightly, as if to soften the words.

  “Well,” I gently nudged his side, and then remembered his injury as he winced. “Sorry. But you’re lucky that I was paying attention, or else I would have fallen from the roof.”

  “Okay, okay. Enough for now. We both made a mistake. Fair?” He looked at me as I crossed my arms.

  “No.” I answered, and Adrian rolled his eyes as I remembered that I hadn’t slept yet. I could feel the tiredness of my muscles. Apparently, the same thought crossed Adrian’s mind too, because he started climbing down and asked me if I wanted to get some rest before leaving.

  “You can sleep in my room. It’s the best bed and I’ll sleep on the floor. Don’t argue, there aren’t any other beds and at the moment you are my responsibility. There’s about 8 hours until dark now, with the days getting shorter. You should be able to get some sleep.” I looked at the sunlight from the windows at the top and realized a lot of the morning had already passed. I didn’t have a response to that, and so I merely followed him.

  I found it odd when once again he took my hand to lead me through the dark passage back, as I could’ve probably made it on my own. But I let him guide me through again. He let go at the other side, to open the trapdoor. Back again through the hallways, the main area, and then climbing once again. If I hadn’t spent my life running and climbing, getting up to his room again would have been impossible on this little sleep, especially after a night of hitting houses.

  He let me have the bed, putting on fresh sheets and a blanket, while moving his own things onto the floor. And I was surprised to find that I felt bad. The floor wasn’t comfortable and with his injury...

  “You really should stay in the bed. I don’t belong here. I’ll take the floor, your stitches might come out-” I started to protest, but Adrian cut me off.

  “All the better, then. If my stitches do come out, I’ll have less bedding to bleed on. Now, get some sleep.” And with that, he rolled over so his back was to me, leaving me with nothing but the sound of his breathing and my thoughts. I couldn’t sleep. It was a new place, and Adrian could kill me without even trying, I thought. That was when I noticed his desk.

  He had laid out all of his knives, tools, even his lock-picks. From the amount that was there, I doubted there were any weapons left on him. Adrian had disarmed himself—for me. So I would feel safe knowing that he would have to get up to retrieve his weapons, and I slept so lightly I was sure I would hear him. I felt a smile crease my face before quickly changing it into a scowl. A few hours of rest, I told myself, then I was gone.

  I woke up a few times to the sound of Adrian turning over, still asleep. When I actually woke up, Adrian had sat up and was rubbing his eyes. Yawning, he looked over at me.

  “Hey, you sleep okay?” I nodded, fixing my hair back into a ponytail and making sure I had all of my things before standing up. Adrian nodded understandingly. “So you really are leaving. I thought maybe you would stick around a bit longer. Well, I’m sure you’ll be back soon. Goodbye then.”

  I turned to leave, and as I reached out to pull back the curtain, I heard the blankets move as he stood up. “Thanks for stitching me up this morning—Izzie.” I didn’t stop the smile from showing on my face this time as I swung myself down, found my clothes, and left the guild for good.