Lenna wore her casual street clothes for their trip to the Adventurers' Guild, as did Isaac, though she wore them for the sole reason of not wanting to look completely worn out by the time they got there. Isaac and Lenna's walk to the Adventurers' Guild was uneventful, for them anyway. Almost everyone knew who Isaac and Lenna were, and could point them out in a crowd, and also knew that they were away for an undisclosed amount of time. They already knew that Isaac was back, nearly everyone in the city could feel whenever Isaac was meditating, and they had heard him in the orchestra hall for the previous few days, but his lack of public appearance and the lack of Lenna's accompanying playing, had led to a rumor of something having happened to her to start to float around. There was plenty of staring, pointing, and whispering surrounding them but none of it was hostile so they more or less ignored it.

Alice, Isaac and Lenna weren't sure which one of the twins was behind the counter, stood up in her stool when she saw the duo enter the Guild Hall. "You're here!" She exclaimed which caught the attention of a few adventurers who were having either a late breakfast or an early lunch, knowing adventurers, it was probably a late breakfast.

Isaac gave her a smile, though it lacked a lot of the 'up to no good' energy that it usually had. Lenna gave the young woman the same slight but warm smile that she always gave her, even when her helmet was on. "A bit earlier than planned." Isaac told her. "How have you been?"

"Fine, until a few days ago…" Alice replied and her face suddenly lost almost all of its excitement. "The most recent raid was the worst one yet. Electrum level adventuring parties are no longer enough. In the old days, raiding parties would sometimes take a few people here and there, it was awful but the powers that be considered it 'acceptable losses'. Not anymore. With a caravan being taken to the man, the Guild Master has decided that no one short of gold rank is allowed to escort caravans and the total group strength must be platinum level threat capable. Now there are requests for escorts piling up but no one is able to take them." She seemed to realize how long she had gone on and her large eyes widened even further. "Sorry, I was rambling. How about you? How was your honeymoon?"

Isaac barked a laugh and Lenna just shook her head. "Way too much walking, way too many things not going our way, way too many noble issues, and way too much time spent recovering from said things that didn't go our way. The sights were pretty grand though and the money was good. In all, it felt like normal adventuring, not a honeymoon." He explained.

"Adventuring on our level." Lenna added just so it was clear that their problems were not just bandits, wolves, snakes, and the occasional bear.

"I gathered that from the things that Isaac told me to look into for him." Alice told Lenna. "Necromancers and nobles being replaced by wizards, the only thing normal was the Heidenburg tournament date."

"Oh?" Lenna asked. "Isaac didn't say anything about that."

Alice turned to look at Isaac who was giving her a flat look. He had tried to signal her without Lenna noticing but Alice had been too focused on Lenna to realize it. "Oops." She offered Isaac with an apologetic look. "Sorry."

Isaac sighed. "It's fine. I wanted it to be a surprise, when I was absolutely sure that nothing was going to be able to keep us from getting there, so it's not like it was a big deal." He explained. "The date is the first of summer and it is held at the base of the mountain range, right below Nualt."

Lenna nodded in acknowledgement of the information. "That is far enough away that we should be fine. As long as something new doesn't pop up to give us trouble." She added the last part with a frown. Knowing how things tended to go with them, she doubted their futures would be that simple and easy.

"I just had an idea." Isaac said with furrowed brows in concentration. "What if we send Shamesh to escort some of the caravans, at least as far as Ben's End and back?"

"People would have to get real okay with their main and/or only protector being a sentient bone golem." Lenna pointed out.

Isaac waved her off. "That's fine as long as people agree to him being their escort beforehand."

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"That could work." Alice said with a thoughtful frown. "It would at least help food get to Ben's End. They have already started rationing and the population is getting restless. Some want to join caravan protection duty but most of them are either guards, guards' families, or people who opened up shops to supply the guards and their families. Those who are capable of helping guard caravans are few and far between and are also guardsmen who need to keep the town itself safe."

"I mentioned it before, but Outpost Charles is a monument to human arrogance." Isaac told her. "It needs to be closed down and the people need to be moved to Ben's End. Even with Shamesh protecting caravans seven days a week, they will barely be able to get food back and forth for so many people. If he had to take another week per trip because of Outpost Charles, people are going to starve to death."

"I know this is presumptuous," Alice began. "But what about you two? Each of you is strong enough to protect a caravan from almost anything."

"We are currently unable to do that." Isaac replied but did not elaborate further. "When that changes, sure, we can probably run a few caravans here and there. But the V'Nova Wexler house cannot be solely responsible for keeping Ben's End and Outpost Charles afloat."

"We have the team Thrice, formerly of the Crimson Coins, working basically nonstop. They just got back with the Guild Master and were instantly sent to escort a caravan to Ben's End. There are a few other gold rank people and parties in the area who have banded together and made larger teams. There are two teams, other than the solo party Thrice, which should be just barely enough." Alice explained. "With Shamesh guarding one, and eventually with some extra assistance from yourselves, and if the Flame Ravens respond to the call for aid, we should be able to make it work for the next little while."

Isaac frowned. "Escort duty is supposed to be for lower level adventurers to get the feel for being outside of town without a supreme risk to their lives, correct?" He asked her.

Alice nodded. "Yes. But that is on the surface. We are in the Innerworld. Even the air would be lethal without divine intervention." She countered. "You are right, the kingdom over extended when they made Outpost Charles, and even Ben's End. And I don't have any power to tell the nobles to just bring everyone back and cut their losses, but the Guild Master, Alexis, and I all believe that we can make it work, even without your help, at least until we can get soldier reinforcements from central."

Isaac shook his head. "We'll see what we can do, but we are still going to expect more than an escort will pay. The money needs to come from somewhere and I think the bill should be sent to the capital until they pull back the border to the edge of Safeharbor's cavern." Isaac went on. "I'll say something to Izen when I see him next. He's going to actually have to do something about this. Relying on the people to sort it out isn't going to work this time around."

"I think we should test how far apart we can be from each other." Lenna whispered into Isaac's ear. "I know that you can escort a caravan perfectly fine, I am the one holding us back. Just promise me that if it comes down to you or the caravan, you'll choose yourself."

Isaac raised an incredulous eyebrow at Lenna. "Not until you have proven that you can beat Edward." He told her. He did not see it as her holding them back but he did see her as vulnerable in her current state. She would have to prove to him that she was no longer vulnerable if he was ever going to leave her alone. "If you can prove to me that you are able to do that, then I will think about taking on an escort mission solo. And you don't have to worry, I am not the kind of person to trade my life for someone else's, unless it is yours."

Lenna nodded. "It might also be a good way for you to work off some of your energy." She added. "I'll agree to spar with Edward, in a little while. I think I might be stronger than him now. But we are getting ahead of ourselves, we are here to give the twins something, aren't we?"

"Oh! Yes." Isaac said and pulled a pair of mirrored dolls out of a wall of shadows. "These are for you and Alexis. We got them from the only toy maker in the capital of the high elven kingdom to the north of Altia. The city's name is Material de la Celestia and the dolls are probably older than anyone here. They preserve them with magic so they don't degrade until a child comes along and takes them home."

Alecia's eyes looked like they were going to fall out of her head as she gingerly received the pair of wooden dolls. Her eyes somehow got even wider when the dolls' limbs went slack and dangled freely as Isaac let them go. "Woah…" Her voice was barely louder than a whisper. "How much did this cost?"

"You better not be thinking about selling it." Isaac told her flatly.

Alecia's face turned to a look of pure horror. "Oh gods no!" She exclaimed. "I would never! I'm just wondering if this is something that we could actually purchase with two receptionist salaries."

"I actually wasn't as bad as you are thinking." Isaac told her. "Each one was five hundred gold. It takes the couple that makes them somewhere around three to four hundred hours for each one."

"That's a lot of money." Alecia said, her eyes still wide with horror though this time at the price and not the thought of selling it. "One of these is worth a year's salary for one of us. If it was the only thing that we were saving for, we could buy one of them per year."

"Not counting commission." Isaac reminded her.

Alecia tilted a little side to side as she thought. "I was still thinking about last year's commissions. This year was strange because you're here. But I was counting commissions. You just happened to drop a very large amount of rather expensive things into my lap."

"Well, that was the first reason why we came. The other is a lot more somber." Isaac told her with a forlorn look in his eyes. "We are also here to go through Aria and Claus's things."

"Oh." Alecia whispered. "I'll show you to them. We are keeping everything organized in one of the storerooms." She looked down at the dolls in her hands. "What do I do with them?" She asked herself and looked around before she decided to stash them on a shelf behind the counter where they would be mostly safe. They were small enough that they were able to sit up in the corner of the shelf, so it wasn't like she stuffed them in a drawer or anything, but she still looked a little uncomfortable at where she was forced to leave them. Once she was done, she stood up straight and looked directly at Isaac. She gave him a soft nod with an accompanying consoling frown. "Right this way."

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