"Outnumbered more than four-to-one, and you came through without a single significant wound," Adeline said, her golden eyebrows raised with a tinge of praise. "Any survivors?"

"A handful of their grunts got away," Oli explained, chagrined. "Allana and Cadence went after them, but they only managed to take down a couple, and we didn't want to risk walking into any traps."

Adeline nodded, mostly to herself. "Caution is understandable, I suppose. I'll pass word to the wardens to keep an eye out for the stragglers."

The two knights were sitting alone in the front room of the small house Adeline had taken for herself over the winter. Between the Battle of Keystone and the hag-driven disease that had precipitated it, there were nearly as many unoccupied homes as occupied in Keystone, a situation the adventurers had, after some urging from the populace, decided to take advantage of. While the four youths had taken a mid-sized, three bedroom home for themselves, Adeline had instead occupied a small, two room cottage by herself.

A table sat between the knight and her squire, reinforcing the invisible line that had begun to grow between them.

Over the course of the winter–since Adeline had given Olivia her new clothes and gear, in fact–that immaterial wall had begun to be cobbled into place, strictly dividing knight from squire. Adeline insisted that it was a matter of simple preparation, as following winter, they both expected to begin heading towards one of the more rigidly hierarchical bastion cities. In those places, the relationship between knight and squire was expected to be one of subservience–a habit Adeline had rarely followed through on in the past.

"And how did you fare on your own hunt?" Olivia asked. The words felt clumsy and awkward as they came out of her mouth, a year of independence having begun to erode the etiquette her childhood mentors had drilled into her.

While the four young adventurers and their friends had attacked the gnoll battlepack, Adeline and Farris had been off in the far reaches of the Valley, hunting a ravager–a massive bear, warped by rage and frost magic into a living disaster.

"Simple enough," Adeline said. "Farris has come a long way since she hit Adept. And we got the totem Cadence was hoping to see."

"Good to hear," Olivia said. Pausing awkwardly, she looked around the room, and hesitantly offered, "We're going to be having a few rounds tonight, if you…"

Adeline frowned and simply shook her head. That was another stark change in Adeline's behaviour over the past weeks. Oli had rarely seen the knight-gallant turn away a drink after a job well-done, but ever since things had begun to change between them…

"I appreciate the offer," Adeline said, offering Oli little more than a grim smile. "You're welcome to get to it–I'll let you know if I have any other requests for your cadre. Otherwise-"

"Patrols, patrols, patrols," Oli said. "We know the drill."

Adeline's smile flashed to something a shade warmer and deeper for a brief moment–then vanished, like a cloud obscuring the sun. "We need to work on your tone," Adeline said.

"I used to be polite," Oli told her, unable to keep a hint of resentment out of her voice. More and more, she found herself not exactly fond of this new, restrained Adeline. "A silver knight talked me out of it."

Adeline's frown cracked, revealing a look of intense regret under the surface–but Olivia had little time for it. She knew it would earn her a scolding from the knight-gallant, but she turned and stormed out of Adeline's little cottage without a look back.

The knight didn't call out after her.

#

"I'd be surprised if we got another storm this season," Cadence was telling Rose and Beryl, as Olivia took a seat next to them.

Rose gave the obviously upset girl a soft smile, while Beryl continued her conversation with Cadence. "It's not unheard of for a late storm to come in–but the air does seem to be warming by the day. I expect the roads are open again, by this point."

"Which should mean word from Arsilet, or at least Correntry, soon," Tenebres pointed out. "The disease has been handled at this point, as has the worst backlash of the fetter withdrawals. I suspect the Apothic mages are only here because they're waiting for permission from the Highminds to return."

"They have to be waiting on the King at this point, right?" Cadence suggested. "I mean, even with the worst of the aftermath handled, Valley Hearth is crippled. At this rate, they won't be able to manage their usual output for the spring and summer."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Have you heard anything, Oli?"

"Hmm?" Oli looked up, only to find that the rest of the table had joined Rose in looking closely at her–though only Cadence matched the healer's obvious concern. Tenebres and Beryl were just watching her with impatience. "What did you say?"

"I asked if you heard anything about the Crown's response," Beryl repeated with a brief roll of her eyes. "You just met with Adeline, right?"

"Oh." Olivia shook her head, the motion causing a few strands of dark curling hair to fall across her face. She lifted a hand and pushed them back reflexively. "No, she didn't mention anything."

"We'll definitely know soon," Cadence said, in a tone that implied she had made the claim earlier in the conversation. "If winter's breaking, then the Crown will need to act soon if they want to salvage the first harvest."

"At the very least, Correntry will," Tenebres said.

Beryl snorted. "Don't put any scepters on that," she suggested derisively. "Last I heard, the city's still in an uproar from the Avery investigation. I doubt they have the resources to make any real difference here. In fact, they'll probably have to withdraw us soon, too. Open roads mean open trade ways."

"Things are too strained," Oli found herself observing, quietly.

"Hmm?" Rose arched a delicate eyebrow.

Olivia blinked at her. She hadn't realized she had even spoken aloud. But, since she had…

"There's too much going on," she said. "These hag attacks are getting too far along. They're straining the Realm's resources to their limits. The militias in Keystone and Jellis have been gutted, Correntry's wardens are spread thin, Emeston's can't be trusted. We have knights holding things down in Elliven, mages sent to Hearth by royal decree… I heard the Aurul order had to send cadres to reinforce Terast and Westerlen, too. There's just… not enough hands to go around."

"Especially when we have no idea who can be trusted, and who's gone to the hags," Tenebres added glumly.

"That just means it's that much more time for us to step up," Cadence said. Her tone made it clear who she meant by "us," not just the four of them, but the whole network of adventurers, the small but powerful number of travelers who considered it their duty to protect those who needed help. "You're not wrong–but don't forget the other people in play. Juniper and Flint are down in Emeston, Tobias is haunting the heartlands, and Kenton's cadre is in Elliven, along with Sir Toren."

"But…"

"No, Oli," Cadence said, shaking her head firmly. "You're scared, and tired, and angry, and I can't blame you. But I'm not letting your head go down this route, either. We'll get through this."

Oli couldn't bring herself to agree with the celestial, even if she didn't have it in her to argue with her either. Instead, she tried to change the subject.

"Where are Allana and Aton hiding?"

"The usual," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Practicing."

The mercenary swordsman and the rogue adventurer had struck up a swift friendship, as the two had found they had more than a little in common, not just in their similarly blunt, straightforward personalities, but in their shared criminal backgrounds and their attempts to rise above what they had been.

"I'm surprised you're not with them," Beryl pointed out. "You're the only person I've met as dedicated to training as they are."

Olivia huffed a small breath, and felt a smile fight its way onto her face. The brawny girl wasn't wrong–especially over the winter, Olivia had thrown herself headfirst into training, dueling whoever she could any day that she didn't have any monsters to fight, and ruthlessly drilling herself whenever she couldn't find an opponent.

After the Mendicant had finally helped her physically transition, Olivia had to retrain herself with her new body. She was nearly as strong as she had been in her old body, but the muscle memory she had cultivated over years was suddenly clumsy and awkward when used by a body several inches shorter than it had been, and she had to adjust to the new lines, balances, and weight distribution of her true body.

But over long months her efforts had borne fruit, and now Olivia considered herself just as good as she had been before her transition–if not better. Adeline had certainly approved of her more confident, reckless fighting style, calling it the correct way for a vanguard to fight, without the hesitance that had plagued her prior to her transition.

"I don't need it as much anymore," Olivia said simply, shrugging shoulders so much thinner than they had once been. "Don't get me wrong, practice is still important but… it's coming to me more easily now. I'm fine with taking a night off–occasionally, at least."

Cadence arched a slender eyebrow, and Beryl snorted an indelicate laugh.

"What?" Olivia demanded.

Through a grin, Rose explained, "I think we're all just wondering if you're really you or if you got replaced with a clone or something."

"I said occasionally!" Olivia said, glaring at the entire table.

"And we're all proud of your progress, aren't we?" Cadence said, drawing a round of condescending nods from around the table.

Olivia frowned at them, and promptly stood up. "Fine. See if I care."

Come to think of it, she decided, a little extra practice did sound like a good plan…

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