"Go on, now," The priestess attempted to spur Nessa, "I don't have time for you to delay and stand there slack-jawed."
Nessa couldn't help but feel a bit starstruck at the adventurer's presence before her. Despite this, she gathered up her rummaged belongings back into her satchel. Though as she worked, another individual stepped into the alley beside the priestess.
Nessa turned her attention to focus on the new arrival. She immediately noticed the woman's black shiny horns that poked out from their short orange hair as well as her silver skin and hulking set of armor. She dressed neck to toe in cold black plate armor with her face peering out from the chestplate like a kitten peering out of a basket.
Though both of the adventurers looked older than Nessa, the knight's scarred and rugged features put her apart from the priestess who instead seemed to hide behind a mask of makeup to hide what little aging she had experienced.
"Clair," The armored woman ran her hand through her hair as she spoke, "What's the hold up? Don't tell me you're tired already. We just— Wait what happened here?" She took a look around the alley at Nessa and the now unconscious thief.
"In your fury for exercise, you passed up an obvious scene. Am I to believe you were running this whole time with your eyes closed?" Clair retorted, "I was just telling this civilian to gather her things and leave." She shot a glare back to Nessa who nodded and continued to pick up the supplies that fell out during the struggle.
"Perceptive as always, but how about you take the culprit to the guards while I help clean up." The knight walked forward accompanied by the sound of her armor clanging together. The priestess scoffed and haphazardly dragged the thief away out of the alley to disappear around the corner. The knight approached and stood over Nessa, holding out a tattered book with a smile on her face.
"I believe this is yours, I'd hate to lose a tome of this size." The knight told her. Nessa smiled back and took the offered book to put it back in her satchel which she carried gripping on the top of the bag with the broken strap hanging off to the side.
"Oh, thank you ma'am, I'm surprised you could tell it's a tome for magic at this point honestly," She laughed it off as she stood up, standing far shorter than the knight in front of her.
"Well, I only assumed. Given your wand is still over in the corner as well." The knight pointed to the wand still fizzling with purple flashes.
Nessa whipped her head and swore under her breath, rushing to pick it up. With the wand in hand, she made a dialing motion with her finger to make the light dim until it returned to a normal state.
"I'm really sorry for troubling you and your friend with this," Nessa went on as the two stepped out into the street, "Is there anything I can do to repay-"
"Nonsense, really it was nothing on our part. Now then, how about we head back to the guild and put this behind us." A moment of silence passed over the two of them briefly.
"Oh. Well, uh," Nessa stammered in response, "I'm not a guild member actually, ma'am."
The knight's silver face was washed in a wave of red, "Oh right, sorry. Guess I just assumed you were one of the new recruits this year with you being a mage an' all," She spoke quickly and struggled to come to a conclusion, "Well the offer is still there, kind of. I can escort you home for all the trouble you've been through. It's the least I can do."
Nessa considered her options. There was probably work to do back at the shop, but she knew Ava would scold her for taking so long without even asking for her side of the story. Not looking forward to that interaction, she decided it was best to just rest for the day and just make up for the lost time.
"I guess I'll take you up on that offer then, but you haven't told me your name even," She chuckled and eased up after the knight's accidental assumption. Even if for a moment, it gave her a flash of joy to have been mistaken for an adventurer in any capacity. Nessa began to head home with the knight at her side.
"Oh my apologies, I'm Hela." The knight politely raised her hand to her plated chest and bowed her head slightly, "I'm a guild member for Hidden Star, which you could probably tell. And you are?" As Hela finished speaking, Nessa noticed the familiar comet emblem pinned to the shoulder of a cloak that Hela wore over her armor.
"My name's Nessa. I'm just a simple paper girl honestly, nothing too exciting going on with me," She sheepishly responded with her attention seemingly darting around as they slowly ascended a towering set of stairs that led out of the lower districts.
"Nessa?" Hela repeated and pondered for a moment, "I could've sworn I heard that name somewhere before." Nessa's heart stopped for a moment as a nervous shock passed over her.
"Well um, you might've seen me from time to time updating the quest boards. Heard gossip because I screw it up all the time? Something along those lines?" She desperately tried to cover up any recognition that Hela might've found in her.
"No that's not it," The knight appeared oblivious to Nessa's paranoia as they both scaled the stairs, "Oh now I remember, this explains everything!" Hela snapped into recollection which paralyzed Nessa in embarrassment, "I recall seeing an admission form back at the guild for a Nessa just a few weeks ago. The portrait looked a bit like you, and even shared your name. No wonder I thought you were a new recruit." The situation clicked slowly in Hela's head as Nessa appeared clearly distressed, "So many similarities, but you said you don't apprentice at the guild, right?"
As the two reached the end of the stairs that put them back on the main district, Nessa's pace slowed and her gaze turned away from the seemingly piercing glare of the knight. Despite her attempt to respond she couldn't come up with an excuse fast enough before Hela broke the silence.
"Sorry, I really shouldn't have dwelled on that. I just thought—"
"It's alright, you didn't mean anything by it I know." Still refusing to keep eye contact, Nessa interrupted, "The truth is, I did sign up for an apprenticeship at Hidden Star. I ended up not showing up to the entrance exams though. I just chickened out of the process because I didn't think I'd get in." She looked up to see a tower connected to the ceiling of the cavern and began to lead through the residential district towards it.
"Excuse me for being brash Nessa, but that's some nonsense if I've ever heard it," Hela retorted which surprised Nessa into turning around to look the knight in the face once more, "Nobody, not even my team and I, started off working for the guild with the experience we got on our backs now. If you don't put yourself in danger of failure, you can't succeed. I bet you'd do great as an adventurer if you put your mind to it, same with anyone really." Hela kept a genuine and reassuring smile on her face through her encouragement, the contagious smile spread to Nessa quickly.
"I guess you do have a point, Hela, but I kinda still missed my chance this year, and with every year, I'm just gonna fit in less and less. I feel like I just missed out on it completely." Nessa sighed as they both stopped at a grand fenced area.
The fence housed an old dilapidated manor. Several stone towers protruded from the manor, though one of them stood above the rest as one of the few that wasn't utterly deteriorated. Nessa pushed open one of the gates on the fence and walked through without issue.
She shook her head and whispered under her breath, "When is he going to learn to lock this stupid thing," Nessa looked back to Hela who still stood behind the gate, "Thank you again for the escort and back there with the thief, I really appreciate it."
Hela looked past Nessa in awe at the sheer size of the manor, though she eventually snapped back to attention to the conversation, "Oh, of course. Wow, I hadn't realized folks moved back into this old place. I thought it was still abandoned."
Nessa gripped one hand onto the gate and leaned into it, searching for the right response to give, "Well, I," Her eyes darted from the floor, her hands, and back to Hela again as she struggled with what to say, "It's still technically abandoned. My little brother and I just sort of hide out here ever since the original owners left to the surface about a decade back. I know you're a guild member and all, but I was hoping you'd keep this a secret between us if you could."
Hela took a long look at the manor. It slowly faded into darkness as the crystalline sun slowly dimmed with the coming of night hours. She then looked back to Nessa but not with her usual innocent smile and instead with what Nessa could only understand as a determined gaze.
"Of course I won't tell anyone. What you're doing isn't bringing any harm to anyone, but I wouldn't be doing my job right if I didn't do something about it. So I'm going to cash in a favor with my guildmaster and see if he can open up another apprenticeship spot. I'm not going to force you to come or anything like that, but the guild can provide a better life for the both of you than this. Feel free to stop by if that interests you." Hela stepped away from the gate and gave a friendly wave to Nessa as she departed.
"Stay safe." Hela concluded, making her way away from the manor.
Nessa was nearly left speechless, the offer and kindness stuck in her mind like a pin on a board as she watched the knight leave. With those words still playing over and over in her head, Nessa wandered towards the tower and pulled a rusted key from one of the pockets on her uniform. She jammed the key into the beaten up door and eventually opened it up. Nessa stepped inside and locked the door behind her.
Climbing the spiral stairs up the dark and dusty tower, she eventually reached a well lit room. It was split down the middle with a clear divide of messes and piles of assorted objects on one side, and neatly organized bookshelves and unlit candles on the other.
"You forgot to lock the gate again, Mair." Nessa said drearily as she hung her satchel on the back of a chair, leaning against a wall with her arms crossed looking over at the other side of the room.
Lying on a rickety bed with his face buried in an unlabeled book, the full blooded dusk elf teen jumped slightly, but remained hidden behind his book, "Oh sorry sis, completely slipped my mind." Mair responded casually.
Nessa simply sighed while stepping cautiously onto her brother's side of the room, dropping some of the candies she received earlier on his nightstand. Before his hand reached out to swipe the sweets she cupped her hand over them to halt his advance, "On the topic of mind slips, did you finish your school work this time around?"
"I did," Mair elongated his admission in annoyance, "I miss one assignment and suddenly you go mom mode." He snarkily added in while keeping his face hidden behind the book even as Nessa was standing right next to him.
Without even a retort, Nessa pulled the book down out of the teen's face, causing him to wince after being removed from his disguise. Though the discoloration was faint on his already dark violet face, his swollen eye was a clear indication of a bruise starting up.
"Shoot," Mair whispered under his breath and smiled with his usual disarming grin, "I can explain."
Nessa walked off back to her side of the room, rubbing her temples as she began to pace, "I don't get how you even manage to find more people to fight at this rate. Did you start it? Did you get in trouble? Are you going to bring home another letter about this crap?"
"No, kinda, maybe. In that order." Mair sat up on his bed and seemed to spring to life, "It was that one guy again, he was pushing around my friend and I had to intervene. I taught him a lesson though. You totally should've seen the look on his face. It was priceless. That one professor that I'm cool with backed my side of the story so it's a total win win." He told the story by acting out punches and dodges. His curly white hair shifted in tandem to his movements, and his bright orange star patterned eyes shone brilliantly with his excitement.
Nessa simply watched and kept silent through his explanation before finally giving her case, "Just be more careful in the future please, you don't know when someone might carry a knife or some magic on them. Then suddenly a little brawl is a trip to the infirmary, or worse. I don't need you getting suspended over this either. I know you plan to enlist at the guild after this year, but that doesn't mean you should completely ignore your studies." She sat down at her desk and placed her satchel on the desk in front of her. Gathering a mass of sewing supplies, she began to work on mending the broken strap.
Mair thought over his sister's words before taking notice of her side of the room, "Alright alright, I get it. Hey, what happened to your bag?"
"Some thief slashed it up earlier today. Luckily some adventurers from Hidden Star helped me out." She answered casually.
"Woah you actually got saved by some adventurers. That must've been awesome, but uh, how come you didn't just zap the thief with some magic or something? That would've been pretty cool."
"I wouldn't call an attempted mugging awesome, rocks for brains. Besides, the bastard got a hold of my tome so it's not like I had anything useful to cast on hand." Nessa rolled her eyes and slouched over her desk.
"Ah, just another piece of evidence that warriors trump mages in every avenue. Don't need no dumb book to beat up a lowlife." Mair jokingly flexed his arms to annoy his sister and then returned to his side of the room.
"Keep telling yourself that buddy," Nessa laughed off the remark but silently paused her work. She then turned around in her chair to face her brother, "Speaking of those adventurers, I talked to one of them and she said she can try and open up an apprenticeship spot over at Hidden Star. Thought you'd want to sign up since you just barely missed the age requirement a few months back."
Mair's eyes lit up with excitement at the offer, "Seriously, no way! I wouldn't have to waste the rest of the year just waiting around. That'd be so cool!" He calmed down a bit and looked to Nessa with a confused stare, "But wait, wouldn't you want to take that spot too? I mean, you've been waiting longer than me, it'd feel a bit unfair, honestly."
Nessa stood up and walked over to the northern edge of the room where a rickety ladder led up to the roof of the old tower. She stood just beneath the ladder and smiled at Mair, "How about you just think it over for now. If you're interested, we can see if both of us can go in together and try out from there. If not, I'll be fine waiting another year. The wait won't kill me," She put a hand over one of the rungs and began to scale the ladder, "I'll be back down in a minute, how about you actually start on your schoolwork now." She remarked on her way up, which only led her brother to groan and rummage through a pile of his books.
Nessa climbed to the topmost floor of the manor's tower, looking out at a view from the shattered stone wall that led out to the entire city in the ravine. She slowly approached the gap in the wall to look at the dimly lit web of stone connecting the ravine together. The crystalline sun had dimmed to only the shine of a moon, with several more crystals making their debut as stars on the darkened ceiling.
The artificial stars reflected in the cold black waters of the ravine back up below the streets as if the sky surrounded the suspended world. In the middle of the city, a grand hall remained lit as a bonfire. It stood as the beating heart of the night city, the lone spider to tend to the web of bridges. Nessa's view could only barely capture the hall behind the hundreds of bridges weaved over it's lights. She stood there, staring in thought, basking in false starlight.