Broken Lands

Sophia frowned for a moment, then realized that it didn’t matter. Knowing a Domain was around would tell her that there was something potentially dangerous nearby. Yes, it would help, but not everything would advertise its presence. That wasn’t new. It would potentially make some monsters a bit stronger, but that was no different than monsters with an additional Path or a slightly different one.

In other words, knowing a Domain could be hidden didn’t really change anything. Sophia nodded slowly. “So you want us to see if we can figure out what’s happening there and report back, not take care of it unless we have to, and you’re warning us about what it might be. Do I have that right?”

Rensyn blinked. He seemed a bit startled by Sophia’s summary. She wasn’t sure why; it was always a good idea to make sure you agreed on what a task was before starting it. Was it the way she said it? “Ah, yes. That’s right. If it is corpsevines, you need to wait until well after dark the start searching, since they’re less active at night. Waiting until morning is probably better. It takes a bit of sunlight for them to really wake up, so early morning’s the best time to fight them.”

That was useful information, at least assuming the problem was indeed corpsevines. It was afternoon now, so the only thing they’d lose by waiting until very early morning was time, and it didn’t sound like this was a new problem. Sophia wanted to be mad that Rensyn hadn’t mentioned it earlier, but she had to admit that there really hadn’t been time, especially not if they weren’t going to go during the day.

“How much does it pay?” Dav’s question interrupted Sophia’s thoughts.

Sophia blinked at her boyfriend. She really should have thought of that question, shouldn’t she? They might have a decent amount of cash on hand after the salvage on the monster-maker under Fallen Kestii, but it wouldn’t last forever and might go very quickly if they had to spend it on expensive purchases, like the weapons she wanted.

Rensyn, Amy, and both Quinns seemed to pause to stare at Dav for a long moment, as if they were surprised by the question. Rensyn gathered his wits first. “Right, you’re new to the Registry, you wouldn’t know. All Registry-handled missions have a standard payout based on the expected required difficulty of the task, basically what Level we expect the people fulfilling the task to be at, and the type of mission. Additional prizes based on results are handled after everything is taken care of. Anything you see on the corkboard in the main hall is not an official mission, so it will list its reward. Aimiva handles most missions, but since I’m your mentor, I’ll take care of that for you.”

Rensyn glanced at Sophia, as if to be certain she was also following. She gave him a nod and he turned his attention back to Dav. “This is a low-Level reconnaissance mission into the outskirts of the city, so it’s very low in rewards; it’ll cover food and lodging for the five of you for a day. That’s what you get if you don’t find anything at all. Since it’s a reconnaissance mission, if you do find something, you’ll be on the books for a split of the eventual reward for the extermination mission. If you go on that mission, it’ll increase your cut.”

Sophia frowned. The fact that Rensyn phrased the reward as “room and board” didn’t go over well with her; it sounded entirely too much like getting paid in company scrip. At the same time, for this mission with the promise of potentially greater rewards later, it didn’t seem that bad. “If there is a later extermination mission, how is it paid?”

Rensyn shrugged. “It depends on what we find. If all we get is monster parts, well, corpsevines do actually have some pieces that are valuable once they’re completely cleaned and if they’ve killed any Called, there could be some useful salvage as well. Don’t worry about scavenging the field; we have some Professionals that can handle that part far better than you or I could and this is close enough to town that it ends up being just a small big of extra guard work while they take care of it. The Registry gets a portion of the total value, then the rest is split based on the relevant contributions. I can go over it in detail with you if you want after it’s all over?”

Sophia thought she’d probably take Rensyn up on the offer if Dav didn’t. She wanted to understand how it all worked. The fact that Rensyn was willing to go to that much effort was reassuring. For now, she was willing to go along with it. This was the only game in town, apparently, so she might as well give it a chance.

“They’re fair,” Amy contributed. Her attention seemed to be on Dav, but Sophia could see that Amy’s eyes were actually on Sophia instead. “Not at all generous, but fair. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t be here; I can manage on my own just fine.”

Sophia nodded slowly. “Thanks. That helps.”

Rensyn broke the awkward pause after the discussion of money by clearing his throat. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll see you in the morning?”

Sophia shook her head. She was tired of being inadequately equipped. “I need to visit the armory. I need a sword and a shield and some throwing knives; you said that’s better than trying to find a shop, right?”

It turned out she was right, unfortunately. While they did have enough money to buy what she wanted, as long as she stuck to relatively simple throwing knives with blades of flint instead of worked stone, the knives plus a far better quality small round shield and a slightly curved single-edged sword were almost all they could afford. Dav looked at shields for himself but decided in the end not to get one; he was more comfortable with his current setup. He did end up getting a smaller metal knife in case they ended up in tunnels too small for his current weapon.

Two hours later, Sophia felt exhausted. She knew she needed to spend time with Amy, Moti, and Raevyn, but as soon as Rensyn left, Moti would not stop talking. He had opinions on Rensyn’s clothing (it was apparently understated and staid, something only old people would wear), the Registry (both good and bad), the music at other taverns in Casterville, the fact that the only music in the Registry was what the Called made, and on and on and on.

Dav managed to get him to quiet down for a short time after he asked why Moti wore such plain clothing and he had to admit that it was because he was a Bean Sidhe; apparently any clothing he wore faded quickly; even undyed material would lose their color and become black or white.

It was an effect Sophia had never heard of before, but it was hard to argue against when Raevyn backed her brother up. Sophia wasn’t certain they weren’t just having a joke at her expense, but at least it was a harmless prank at the worst.

It wasn’t until Sophia decided she’d had enough to eat as well as enough of the evening and wished them all a good evening that Raevyn Quinn told Sophia to call her Rae instead of Raevyn. Sophia agreed, of course; it was better to call someone by the name they preferred. The request might have meaning behind it, but if so, Sophia was too tired of dealing with people to try to figure it out.

When she got to the room she shared with Dav, all Sophia wanted to do was sink into bed, but she couldn’t. Not yet. She needed to get clean first, which meant stripping off all of the weaponry she’d picked up at the Armory.

Sophia had carefully unbuckled the thigh harness for her new knives and set it to the side on a framework that would keep the weapons safe and out of the way and was working on her belt when Dav arrived in the room.

“Are you all right, dear?” Dav stepped into the room and softly closed the door behind him. “You didn’t look great when you left the table.”

Sophia tried to shrug and shake her head at the same time. It didn’t work very well. “I just need some time. Alone time or maybe couples time?” That seemed to spark some interest in Dav, so Sophia pushed a little more. “Join me in the bath?”

Dav was not hard to convince.

Casterville’s Vocational Registry had its own set of baths. Like the baths in Fallen Kestii, they were public, with an area where you cleaned yourself followed by a stream feeding small pools that were hot near where the stream started and cool near the far end meant for relaxing and quiet conversation. After those pools was another area where you could do a quick cold rinse or pay for a massage or oil treatment. There were probably other services as well; Sophia hadn’t checked out that section yet. She was certain she would at some point.

Based on the signs Sophia saw forbidding weapons and shouting, there were occasionally issues with the “quiet” part in the pools, but the huge room was fairly empty. Of course, it was still at least an hour until sunset; most people were probably busy outside. Sophia had to be up before the sun in the morning, so she needed to be asleep by the time the sun set.

Dav seemed quiet when he joined Sophia in a warm pool.

At first, Sophia thought he was being polite; she had said she needed some alone time, and she did. After a while, though, she realized that he seemed more withdrawn than relaxed; in fact, he was tense. Her head tilted to one side in concern. “Penny for your thoughts?”

Dav chuckled. “Amazing how phrases like that last even though pennies don’t exist anymore.”

Sophia blinked. Pennies didn’t exist? She hadn’t used one in a while, but she knew they were still made. Of course, he came from a parallel world; maybe they were gone in his world.

Dav gave a long sigh. “I’m just thinking about home. The last time I was out of contact for a long time, my parents thought I died. I really hope they don’t think that this time. Do you have anyone you miss?”

Sophia nodded. “Yeah. My whole family. They - they’ll know I’m fine, or at least probably fine. Hah. They’ll at least know I’m alive. Aunt Amaia would know if I wasn’t. That’s surprisingly nice to think about.”

A smile settled into place at the thought of Sophia’s aunt. She was powerful, but you’d never know it from the way she acted. She was a terrible movie buff and loved every movie she ever saw, which was every single one that came to the theater and many that didn’t. She was also trained in combat and had probably taught Sophia more about how to manage her smaller size than anyone else Sophia could think of. She let out a contented sigh.

“If there was a way to get a message to them …” Dav’s sigh was far less contented than Sophia’s. He shook his head. “They probably haven’t started worrying yet. I told them I’d be out of touch for a month. It’s hard to believe, but it hasn’t been a month yet.”

Sophia blinked, then tried to add up the days. A day or so under Fallen Kestii, a couple weeks there, then the travel to Casterville. Dav was right; they’d been here for less than a month. She wanted to offer hope, but even if she could figure out a way to get a message across the Origin, she didn’t have a way to get it to his parents. She had the wrong Affinities to easily find them, so she’d need very complicated spellforms or a ritual she didn’t know.

“I wonder why they lied to me,” Dav muttered. His voice rose and he looked up at Sophia. “They had to know; there’s a huge difference between a game and sending someone to another universe. Why did they decide to fool someone like me instead of getting someone who was actually trained for it? What was the point in the lie?”

Sophia could only shrug helplessly. “We’ll have to ask when we get you back to your world. There has to be a way."