Another afternoon that dragged along like an eternity. Elissa could be boiling some roots or gathering herbs or checking her inventory, but instead, she just stirred her tea absent minded while Faan snoozed on her lap. The three days since Nannade had left had been pure torture. Garrett had moved to an inn in Sosken while he waited for the highest council to approve his change of residence.
Then, like a sip of cold water on a hot summer's day, she heard that whispering by the spirits that told her someone had entered the forest.
She went to meet the person and was surprised to see it was Black Surgeon of Hozorcia.
"What are you doing here?" she asked him when she met him at the fork. She hoped he would bring news of Nannade's safety.
He was wearing a simpler, sturdier woollen vest with regular pants and boots, none of the finery he wore at the trial. "Well, since I'll be staying here until Nannade returns, I might as well have a chat with some people."
"And you came all the way over here to chat with me?"
"Yes. Should I not? Is it a bad time?" He was just now noticing his very slight accent from Hozorcia. It was like a breeze from the sea, promising adventure in distant lands, a desire to travel arose in her for the first time in a long time.
"No, no! Not at all." She accompanied him back to the hut and poured him a cup of tea.
"Truth is," he began after testing the tea's temperature, "Garetas came to me. He offered his services since my familiar is all the way with Nannade. And he also tried to get a few details about the girl out of me. He said, if I could tell him anything, I should also tell you."
"Oh that is so him. He's all tough and gruff on the exterior but he takes good care of the few friends he allows himself to have."
Surgeon smiled. "Well, it's not much, but Nannade is safe. She has been traveling in a wagon the last day and she feels at ease with the people there."
"You can't tell me more?" Elissa was relieved by what she had heard but she still wanted to hear more.
"Even if I could, I am not allowed to divulge too much. Communication with my familiar over such long distances is vague at best. And it will only get worse as she moves further away."
"I understand. Is there anything I can do for you? I can send Faan with you, I have an Arcane Hand so his services aren't critical to me."
"That is actually a thought that had crossed my mind, but so far the Lodge isn't offering to let me do any other work anyway. But I will get back at you. Thank you for the offer."
Elissa felt like keeping a bit of company anyway. "So, you've been around, Mister Black Surgeon?"
"Please, call me Louissos, I'm not really working here. But yes, I travelled far. And did you?"
"Oh me? No. I just settled down here after leaving my teacher's practice. Haven't even been down the Daune all the way. Garrett has always been the traveller. But he came back every time, eventually."
Elissa tried to read Louissos' face, but when his calm demeanour did not betray him. She continued. "I think the girl and I will be the only people to weep at his funeral. If we ever find out that he died. And if there is one for him."
"Our profession does bring that with it. It's not a life for those that need their friends or want to stay in the same place." When he said that, Elissa almost regretted interfering so much with Garrett's regimen to allow the girl to have some friends.
"I used to have a lady waiting for me in Hozorcia. But I could not make any promises, so one day, when I came back her life had moved on."
"Life is cruel like that. Nannade had a boy she allowed to get a bit closer. But she regretted that soon. She tried to keep him distant because she knew that she'd have to leave soon either way. I'm glad they made up. Was your training like this too, always moving away?"
Louissos thought for a moment. "I was in Hozorcia for four years. Then I went to Halonnes for four more years, graduated at the university. Then I went to Southbridge for three years to get my third mark of approval."
"Oh Southbridge." Elissa started daydreaming. "Is it really as grand as they say?"
"Yes, even grander. The bridge itself is amazing. Sitting almost five hundred feet above the ocean? Nothing can compare! I flew before, but actually standing there is greater than flight. I can never forget how the sun rose where land, sea and horizon met and how it set behind the mountains' mass."
"Maybe I should also make a journey there. I want to see the salt river."
"I envy you though. Everyone in town spoke highly of you when I asked for directions. To have so many people to surround you? Having people depend on you? I am only called to eradicate someone's life, clean up other people's messes." For the first time, Elissa could see an emotion pass through Louissos' demeanour, sadness with a hint of fatigue. She wondered how much he had seen, and whether it ever gets any easier. Not everyone could wash it all away with beer and whiskey in the evening like Garrett.
A short silence entered. Elissa had to think of a peculiar case some time back. "Around ten years ago, there were cases of witches and druids being murdered in their homes. The Lodge tried their own investigations, but there were some altercations close to a place of power and the Guardians were out of their league and the murders continued. I went into hiding, lived with a few friends, trying to stay hidden, while Faan held lookout here. The Lodge hired a total of three Hidden Hands. Within a dozen days they had completely uprooted a huge secondary group within the Lodge, they called themselves "The new Sisterhood of Sturreland". Radicals who wanted to take control. They comprised almost a third of our numbers. That's why we're so few today and why we rely on good diplomatic relations with our neighbours. We couldn't defend against half of the city-states. We never found out who financed them. Ever since then, the Lodge tried to place an emphasis on unity. During that trial... I am not ungrateful; I truly am not, but by saving the girl with your plea, you could end up fracturing the Lodge again."
"I meant everything that I said. I know, one day I will end up putting my head on the chopping block for a pactitioner. This felt almost like that. I was sure they'd implicate me in the punishment the way they did with you."
"I don't mind it that much. Of course, now I think of all the places I would want to go if I weren't under arrest. And Garrett was looking forward to be gone from here after five years."
"Maybe a sedentary life will suit me." The faintest smile touched his face.
They talked a bit about their old times. About the people they have met. People Elissa has brought into this world or accompanied to their last breath. About the rivers of blood Louissos had spilled, what blood pacts turn people into.
At the end of the day, she saw him off all the way down the valley. She decided to visit Peterus while he was giving lessons to the children some day soon. She could still travel inside of Sturreland, there was no reason to stay all cooped up in her hut.