Heather slammed her hand on the counter, leaning all the way past the desk separating her and Maryan. "What do you mean we can't renew our license?" she demanded, her eyes narrowing into slits. "We have the right balance for it!"

Maryan, who hid behind the glare of her round glasses, flinched. "I'm sorry, Heather," she ducked her head and moved to fix the papers scattered over her desk. She had been doing that for the whole time we crowded in her cubicle. "The system says your points are not enough to be considered for promotion."

Heather slapped the counter repeatedly, each fall eliciting a painful crack and splinters flying everywhere. "What do you mean not enough? We've made it past the quota this month!" she said. "We even helped out with that Dragnasand thing. Shouldn't that be worth—I don't know—a lot? Are you sure we aren't being cheated?"

The receptionist gulped, her throat bobbing. "I...have not been informed of such a case," she said. "But since you're technically not affiliated with Raventhorne, you need to have your attributes measured to be able to skip ahead to being an adventuring party."

She retrieved a slate of glass I could only liken to a tablet from where I came. Her gloved fingers clacked dully against it as she tapped here and there, the glow streaming from the screen setting her glasses alight. She held up the screen to us, bearing all of our names and list of attributes. "Look here," Maryan circled a finger around Trink and Arzo's name. "While you and Revery are somewhat in the acceptable range, these two barely made it past the second tier for all attributes. The minimum requirement for an adventuring party is at least fourth."

"And me?" I piped up.

Maryan glanced at me like she had forgotten I was there to begin with. "Seline...um," she pushed her glasses against the bridge of her nose, humming under her breath as she searched for my name. "Here you are. If you notice, you've barely changed since the last time—"

She paused. "That's strange," she tapped something on the upper right corner of her tablet. A refresh button equivalent, no doubt. Her eyebrows scrunched together. "Your attributes..."

I cocked my eyebrows. "What about it?"

Maryan turned the tablet over to me. Heather couldn't have beat me faster than she did now. Only her uneven locks as well as the corners of the tablet could be seen as she took the glass plate with both clawed fingers. Then, her shoulders shook like she's crying.

"Don't tell me it's so atrocious it made you cry," I frowned. "That's not funny."

Heather turned to me with the brightest smile on her face. "Quite the contrary. What did I tell you, Sel?" she shoved the tablet into my hands despite Maryan's protests fading in the background. There, I saw my attributes. And it was...

All attributes past the fifth. Which made me...

"Lower Artisan, hey!" Heather screamed, slapping my arm with her hand. Hard.

Ow.

"You see, Maryan?" Heather almost threw the receptionist's tablet back to her like a frisbee. Maryan gasped as she fumbled to get a proper grip on it. Even I was stressed as she struggled to avoid the glass plate from falling to the ground. Ugh. Could relate. "We're going to be adventurers!"

"Not so fast, Heather," Maryan's voice sounded like a limp vegetable next to Heather's mirth. It's amazing how she could calm the excitable dragonkin. Must have been dealing with Heather since forever.

Heather clicked her tongue. "What now?"

"The guidelines says that upon the forfeiture of one's license, all accounts associated with Raventhorne must be culled," Maryan reported, her monotone voice sounding like she was reading from something. "So when you lost the tournament, your account as the Crimson Scouts was closed. And that means..."

Maryan blew a heavy breath. "All your merits are gone," she said. "You're back to zero. Including your guild balance as well as any and all incoming wages."

It took a large amount of time for it to sink in. For Heather, it was two seconds. Then, she slammed her hand against the counter again. Heads turned and voices uttered unflattering words. "That's just nutters!" Heather cried. "Who came up with these rules?"

The receptionist blinked. "The...guild masters?"

"Then I demand to meet them. Now!" Heather waved a fist in the air.

See? She's doing the same thing I was doing before—being too rash and challenging all the wrong people. "Heather, it's not wise to challenge the guildmasters," I dropped my voice into a whisper. "Isn't that what you told me not to do?"

Heather looked at me and she pushed me towards the counter. "Then you talk to them!" she said. "It's making me upset."

I turned to Maryan as Heather huffed and puffed. "Okay," I said. "What can we do if we apply for a license now? Can we be reinstated as adventurers?"

Maryan answered with a straight face. "If we're treating you as new registrants, we need your previous records from a guild," she said. "But if you are starting as a rookie party, then it's best to apply as a scouting party first. Guild rules."

I slammed my hand on the counter top. "Guild rules!" I exclaimed. "Who came up with crap like that?!"

"Alright, that's our cue to leave," Arzo said, arms swinging to block my path before I strangled Maryan senseless. It took a lot to remind myself that she's just a staff and was just doing her job. Customer service sucked. The woman didn't deserve our outbursts, but ugh! Guild rules!

Revery and Trink dragged a flailing Heather away and we made for the door. "Call the guild masters!" our leader was spouting as we went. "I demand an audience!"

"And it shall be granted," said another voice—one I hadn't heard before.

The entire lobby froze, as if winter arrived in the last two seconds. Even Heather's screams paled into some sort of fractured whimper. "K-K—"

"Karmi Edelreis. Third Grandmaster and Second of the Triconclave," a woman with pastel pink hair pinned in a half-up bun and the most delicately-carved armor I've ever seen strode past the receptionists' counters, making the green-clad people hunker together and their whispers join the rising multitude around them. She came up to me, being the only one left rooted where I was after Arzo backtracked a mile. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

I watched her place a hand on her chest, tucking her other arm behind her in some form of salute-slash-curtsy. When she drew up, her garnet eyes flashed. Oh. She's waiting for me to do the thing.

"Likewise," I imitated her gesture. Pretty sure I botched it on some parts. What should I even call her? Ma'am?

"It's not everyday I hear such a commotion in the hall," Karmi said, casting a look around the crowd slowly forming. More than one set of shoulders flinched. All at once, the mutterings ceased and the normal stream of people resumed. All that power from a single look? Wow. "What seems to be the problem? Why are they demanding an audience?"

Maryan perked up with a small squeak when the guildmaster turned to her, having picked her out from a liturgy of receptionists. "Well?"

The receptionist adjusted her glasses as she brushed a hand down her indigo hair. "The Crimson Scouts wanted to apply for a new license," she said. I had to hand it to her to have avoided stuttering. "Per guild rules, I cannot allow them."

Karmi raised an eyebrow. She turned back to me, the lower half of her hairdo swishing past her waist. Dear Lord, even her tight-fit breeches looked so pristine. "Why did they lose it in the first place?" she asked, her direction was still towards Maryan.

"They placed it on a bet against the Beast Hunters, Madame," Maryan answered.

The guildmaster glanced at me then at Heather who had been stilled like a statue. "Who's the leader?"

"The dragonkin, Heather Ilkros."

Karmi's hummed, her eyes running up and down my body like she's seeing through me, staring straight into my soul. "That's strange," she said. "Why is the Artisan not the leader then?"

My gaze flicked to Heather whose face slowly fell. I turned back to Karmi. Even if she's the master of whose guild, she didn't reserve the right to mock Heather that way. Heather's a thousand times a leader than I was.

"If you came here to rub your position in our noses, we get it," I snapped. Maryan's face turned ashen as all the blood from her face had drained to her toes. I ignored that, even the small gasps and frantic rustling from my friends behind me. I focused on one person, and one person alone. "We're just about to leave anyway."

"Then how about this?" Karmi said, stopping me on my way to turn towards the lobby's entry and exit point. "I'll give you a chance to reclaim your license."

My limbs turned rigid. "Are you planning something?"

Karmi opened her arms as if she's going for a hug. A gentle smile hid layers upon layers I couldn't even begin to unravel. "Nothing sinister, min khari," she said. "I'll let you gain it in the same way you lost it. Through a bet. A match."

"Against who?" I said.

Karmi's hand tapped the hilt of the rapier sheathed at her side. Wait a minute. That seemed...familiar. Utterly familiar. Wasn't that—

"What do you say?" the guild master's voice speared through my raging thoughts, splintering them into a thousand different directions. "You and me?"

I glanced at Heather and back at the guildmaster. We've been given another chance and I better not let it go. For Heather, Revery, Trink, and Arzo. For my family.

"Deal," I jerked my chin at Karmi. "What happens if I lose?"

Karmi's smile was my only indication that it wouldn't be good. At all.

Being back in the arena brought back unpleasant memories. Still, I focused on the woman in front me, the only one I have to defeat to atone for my mistakes.

"Well?" Karmi drew her rapier with a silent hiss. "Bring out your sword."

I didn't speak but held out my arm, summoning the midnight-black blade. At the sight of it, Karmi whistled. "A shadowblade," the guildmaster sucked in a breath, her grin widening. "You've just become interesting to me, min khari."

"Just attack or whatever," I said, lowering myself to a stance. If Karmi's going to advance first, I need to be ready to receive her attack without losing my footing. I shouldn't expect less from a Grandmaster.

A whiz of air was the only clue I had to Karmi leaving her place. Where—?

Her rapier slammed against my blade. Heavy. Just her mere presence was heavy.

I gritted my teeth and spread my feet wide. I pushed back against her, using both my hands to hoist my blade up. "Amazing how you could still stand after that," Karmi hissed, grunting as I locked her into a stalemate with our swords crossed. She couldn't withdraw or I would touch more than her pretty pink hair. I couldn't either, because that'd just give her enough time and momentum to push me back. "Where did you come from? The North? The Central Empire?"

"None of your business," I hissed.

Karmi bobbed her head, her face showing no signs of struggle. "Fair enough."

She slipped, letting her rapier fall every so slightly. What was she thinking? She'd lose at this point.

The rapier loosened further. Karmi's expression betrayed nothing of her thoughts. Well, fuck it. If she insisted on losing, might as well. With a cry, I twisted my sword, taking the rapier along with it. With a slash, I sent it flying. I began counting. One. Two. Three.

Something whizzed behind me. I turned too late. Shit—

My sword rose up just to block or parry it out of the way of skewering me like rotisserie. A shadow loomed behind me. Before I could react, strong arms wrapped around my throat, knocking the air out of my lungs. The rapier kept sailing towards me. Wait—

"Time's up," Karmi's breath tickled my pointy ears. I opened my eyes, not even realizing I've closed them. Inches from the space between my eyebrows was rapier's tip. And it's hovering in the air. No way...

Karmi released me and sent her sword to float near her flayed fingers. "Well, you lost," she said, not even winded. Her hairdo was still as pristine as ever, not a strand out of place. "You know what that means, right?"

Get lost, the guildmaster's eyes seemed to be saying. I didn't need to be told twice. I bowed partly, like how I would to my parents and anyone older than me. "We'll get going, then," I said. "Thank you for your time."

As I turned to go, Karmi sheathed her rapier. "Do you know why you lost?" She called after me. I turned to find her with a small smile. This time, there were no layers hiding underneath. Might be genuine, but I didn't trust this woman. Not one bit.

"Do tell," I answered.

"You attack the moment you see a sliver of weakness," Karmi said. "Without analyzing why you thought it to be a weakness, you try to exploit it until it gets handed to you that it was, in fact, not a weakness, that it can turn into the greatest strength if you're not attentive."

She jerked her chin at me. "That's what you need to work on in your swordsmanship," she said. "And maybe in other areas of life too. It's been a pleasure having you in Raventhorne."

Before any of us could process what she just said, she strode off, leaving the five of us standing like jilted lovers in an empty arena that had once been exploding with noise, both good and bad. I looked at Heather and shook my head.

Without any more words, we made it out of the arena and into the city. Heather was bummed out so she dragged us into a tavern, thankfully a different one from the one who still has me pegged for an asshole because of a broken pillar that I already paid for. This one was livelier, with a lot more space for merry-making, complete with a live ensemble of stringed instruments being played. It reminded me of a fine dining restaurant I once ate at. Oh, the steak they had there. Superb.

Heather sank into the stool she found, sagging against the table still full of splotches of dried spittle or something else. "Divines, I hate that woman," she pouted. "I can say that now since I'm not in Raventhorne anymore! My, what freedom!"

"You did well, Seline," Revery said, dropping next to Heather and giving our leader a gentle pat in the back. "What's it like, battling with a grandmaster?"

I shrugged just as Trink and Arzo settled on either side of me. "Like life flashing before my eyes," I said, for once not exaggerating things. "I really thought she'd kill me if I lost."

"So what now?" Arzo asked. "Do we just explore all the guilds in the Eastern Tower and hope for the best?"

Trink snapped his fingers. "I can't believe I just thought about this now," he scratched his chin, his snout curling up in thought. "But there is another way we haven't tried when it comes to being an adventurer's party."

Revery cocked an eyebrow. "Which is?"

"Getting an established adventuring party to 'loan' us one of their members," Trink said. "That member would basically be our leader and register us to their guild as another party. It's an easier route."

"I'm sensing a 'but'," Arzo quipped.

Heather exhaled through her mouth. "But there are a few guilds who wanted to spare one of their members for strangers who just happened to show up on their doorstep," she said. "Most adventuring parties are tight-knit. Losing one member could be fatal to them. It's going to be short of a miracle to find an overpopulated one."

"There is one," I blurted before I could think twice about it. It's a route I swore to never go down as soon as I signed the bottom of those papers. I met my friends' curious gazes, dreading the next words lining up to spill out my mouth. "A guild and an adventuring party who are no longer strangers to us and us to them."

They seemed to get the idea now, judging by the grim glint in their eyes and the shock pulling on their faces. I nodded, just to confirm that we're all on the same page. "We go to Dragnasand."