The day, during one of Fern's naps, Ember felt a geap on her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes - it could only be one person, after all.

  "Would you e with me for a moment?" Ravenna asked softly, her teher more serious than normal. Wordlessly, the healer rose from her seat, and the two of them quietly left the room.

  The inn's ary noise was well in the distance as usual. Ember hadn't left Fern's room except for her own food and drink, keeping a close eye on the progress of her recovery, so she didn't fully expect the other woman to stop at the room just door and unlock it.

  Inside, what little light made it through the shutters and the curtains illumiwo traveling packs, a variety of small parcels - Ravenna's various purchases from the port's merts - and, quite uedly, a musclebound man with a short beard sitting in the chair o the window. He was clothed all in bck, most of it leather, and the eye without a patch over it had a dull greenish gleam in its depths.

  "I don't believe we've met," Ember murmured, palms itg slightly. There was something off about him.

  The man didn't react; it was as if he hadn't even heard her at all.

  "I should expin," Ravenna began quietly, barely above a whisper, "since I've been hiding him in the shadows until now. This is the bandit we... met. The one who stabbed Fern."

  "And what did you do to him?"

  She hesitated. "This is perhaps going to sound a little harsh."

  Ember rolled her eyes. "I promise you I've heard worse."

  "I broke his will and made him my servant." Ravenna paused for a moment. "I don't like doing it, and I'm sure Fern would be upset with me if she knew, but I had to figure out some way to take care of her. That's how I ko trust you with her - he's the one who told me about the poison, and where it came from. By the time we crossed paths, I already k was from the western ti."

  "Mm. Yeah, I've heard worse. Seen it dooo." The healer gnced over at her. "So what do you want from me?"

  The dark mage was taken aback, but only for a moment. "I'd, er... like you to question him, so I find out who put him up to the job. And past that - use him yourself, however you see fit. He's certainly good enough with a bde, and he won't protest no matter what you tell him to do, if I say so." She sighed quietly. "I wasn't sure what to do with him, to be ho, and I don't like leaving Fern alone for long in case anyone else gets ideas about finishing the job. But she should be alright to travel soon enough."

  Ember mulled this over for a moment. "That's probably true, but it depends on where you're headed and how yetting there."

  "We were just going to visit the marine library after this, and then head home, but it'll have to be a much slower trip with her on the mend," Ravenna admitted, the worry creeping into her voice.

  "Don't you have vehicles? Animals or anything, instead of walking?"

  The question gave her pause. "I wasn't pnning on it. The only vehicles around are used by merts, and those tend to get targeted pretty heavily, even if they are a little faster. We didn't see any on the way here si's not really imp season just yet, but they're mags for trouble. There's always a guard tra them when they go out of town."

  "So," Ember returned, folding her arms, "you're saying we could hitch a ride a paid, if we bargained well."

  "... That is a very good point," Ravenna murmured pensively. "But I'll be ho, if Fern's not up for it - you're a healer, aren't you? Would you be okay in a fight?"

  She grinned, and there was something dark and a little foul in it. "You don't have to worry about me, I promise you that. Though something with se on it would be nice so I don't have to get my own hands dirty; bastards wouldn't let us have ons on the boat over here and I didn't have the money for a bribe. Speaking of which." The grin fell off as she jerked a thumb in the silent man's dire. "You're n to pay what you owe me by putting this sad sa my p, are you? Hells, I don't even know if he's funal, much less if he'll be useful."

  "I would hink of cheating someone so valuable," the dark mage returned a little huffily. "But if you io stay with us for a while, as you said, I might as well wait and pay you off all at once, instead of potentially incurring additional debts ierim."

  Ember shrugged. "Eh, fair enough." She stepped over and took a seat on the bed, staring at the unily still and silent man. "So like... how do you activate him or whatever? Guy's stiff as a board."

  "Bernard," Ravenna said quietly.

  The man's head, which had been tilted down slightly, snapped up to look at her. Tension squeezed into his muscles, which before were at rest. Ember could feel the ge from where she was sitting, like a light switch had been turned on - like... no, don't think about that. He's not like one of them. I hope.

  The dark mage gestured at the bed, and Bernard turned his head woodenly to look. "This is Ember Grace," she began. "Your new mistress. Every and she gives you, treat it as if it were from my lips. You will obey her; you will follow her orders without question; you will never lie to her. From now on you are bound to her, unless she dies."

  "Uood," he said. His voice ainfully dull; like a knife you never sharpened and only used to poke or pry things open, but never bothered to throw out.

  "Would you rex already?" Ember half-sighed, vaguely disgusted. "Yonroy your body treating it like that. How much of you is eve in there?"

  Bernard's body slouched, a little, the tension slowly melting out of him. It wasn't quite natural, but it was an improvement to her eyes. "All of me," he returned in that same emotionless voice, "apart from my free will."

  "Then act like a human instead of a doll," she almost spat. "If people clock you as a fu' zombie or... whatever the hells you are, then you're definitely no use to me. You do that, right?"

  "As you wish." He crossed his arms and leaned back, and that at least looked natural.

  "Better," Ember pronounced. "And stop being so stilted, too. 'Yes ma'am', 'no ma'am'. Try that instead."

  "Yes ma'am."

  She smirked. "Well, it's a start. How'd she break you anyway, Bernie?"

  Bernard stiffened slightly in his chair. "She looked me in the eyes. Said the guild would be more merciful than her. Then..." He shook his head. "I... don't know. I don't uand it."

  Ember gnced over at Ravenna, who half-smiled. "Well, what did you expebsp; He 't tell you what he doesn't know, truth or otherwise."

  "A good thing to remember." She stretched briefly, taking a deep breath and sighing it back out. "Well, why don't you get back to yirlfriend? Never know when she might wake up and miss you, and I've got some interrogation to do here that's gonna take me a while."

  The dark mage nodded, with a tiny little frown at 'girlfriend'. "Anything you get out of him would help, even if it's just to make our travels a little safer." She stepped over to the door aated for a moment. "... I'm sorry fing you into this mess."

  Ember just grinned lightly. "I've had worse. Off you go, now."

  The door shut, and she sighed deeply. "Of all the things to put on me, and was the st one I wanted..." She looked up. "Guess you're my responsibility now, Bernie."

  "Ma'am?"

  There was a surprisingly human fusion in his expression, Ember noted curiously. Apparently he hadn't been pletely mied, just sort of... locked away. e to think of it, this might be better than she expected.

  "Tell me, do people over here use... firearms?"

  The m after breakfast, Fern finally got out of bed, stretched, and didn't feel fatigue immediately setting in. Ember's examination satisfied her that everything was as ready as it could reasonably be, so the three of them started discussing pns.

  "Most of the shopping is already done," Ravenna expined, "and the heavier items we're saving for the return trip so we don't have to carry them up the cliff to where we're going. I don't want to leave anything here; an innkeep would charge full price for the room, and the ste houses... well, let's just say I'd rather not and leave it at that."

  "Still worried about the guild?" Ember inquired, with half-lidded eyes as usual.

  "I was rather hoping you could enlighten us in that particur quarter, dear."

  A crooked grin twisted the healer's lips. "As a matter of fact, yes, I . The new bodyguard's been quite useful in that regard." She leaned back a little. "So, the problem lies with the guild - not the Pinsgate guild, I should specify, which is a part of the whole. There's a rger colle of awful people that inates in somewhere called Bckgss Bastion, which I'm told is a familiar name for you two."

  Fern's expression turned sour at the mention. "Regrettably, yes," she grumbled, Ravenna just nodding grimly.

  "Good, because I've never heard of it. Anyway - the Bckgss guild has known about our dear dark mage here for a while now, and has been trying to bait her into a frontation. I guess because they think they have some way to take you on and kill you, and some good reason to do it." Ember's gaze flicked betweewo of them. "Fern was the bait t you out of hiding. And when it turned out she didn't just survive, but also crossed from light to shadow - or whatever dumb garbage they tell themselves to justify this shit - they called in a favor to make sure she wouldn't ime. All just to piss you off."

  The look on Ravenna's face could have melted iron. "They have succeeded at that much," she murmured, finally.

  "But it's not like you just go to Bckgss and murder everyone," Fern protested.

  "You don't think I do it, darling?"

  Ember just grinned.

  Fern frowned. "I just think it'll end up causing more problems than it solves if you, um, paint the town red."

  The dark mage sighed quietly. "You're still like this, even after nearly dying?" A half-smile tugged at one er of her mouth. "You really are too mubsp; If it was the old me I would have gone charging off without a sed thought, no doubt. Gotten into all sorts of trouble, just like in my younger days. And frankly, part of me still wants to - they did this to you because of me, after all."

  "If it's an anization you want to take on," Ember edged her way in, "there are ways to do it without open warfare, as long as you're willing to take the time for some necessary... support operations, first. Who knows, it might even be worth my time to help you out; get a better look at things on this side of the world." She shrugged nontly. "But before all that, why don't we just do what you came here to do in the first pce, and make sure everyone makes it back safely? That seems like the best pce to start, if you ask me."

  Fern nodded firmly. "I get behind that idea." She paused for a moment. "So, um... where are we going?"

  "Try not to get too excited, darling," Ravenna began, her eyes twinkling with anticipation that her partner's expression soon mirrored. "But up along the cliffs to the west here, there's a sort of... research boratory, I suppose you could call it. An old friend of mine runs it; I haven't seen him in years, sihe maids usually hahese trips."

  Ember raised an eyebrow at 'maids', but said nothing.

  "More importantly for you, I think," she tinued, her smile getting wider, "the building is only partially for researbsp; The rest of it... is a library. More extehan even Bckgss's own."

  Fern's eyes went wide with delight, their starry depths rivaling the night sky. "Oh wow!"

  A library, huh? Ember smiled faintly. Well, if nothing else, at least it'll be nid quiet.

  leftoverfelix