Dirk coughed into his elbow, smoke buffeting from his nostrils as he did so. Harris, the asshole, laughed as he plucked the cigarette from Dirk's fingers. He took a couple puffs from the cursed thing, expression relaxed as he watched the young guardsman cough his lungs out.

"Who smokes this crap?" Dirk asked between huffs of air.

"Half this town apparently," Harris responded. "If that Arenian trader is anything to go by."

"The weird one with the Azurvalian name?" Dirk asked. Harris nodded.

"I'm half sure he's some kind of scammer," Elaine spoke up, the Bard inspecting her drink as she sat across the guardsmen. "Kiwil Samir Law does not sound like a real name."

"He's harmless, if a bit annoying," Kate butted in, her head resting against the wall nearby.

They were all sitting at a table in Gladis' Tavern, their spot by the corner thankfully vacant for the group of friends.

"Once you get used to it, it's quite relaxing," Harris said with a puff. Dirk frowned as the Hokako smoke reached him. He wasn't sure why, but that repugnant stench actually seemed a bit alluring now. He decided to steer clear of the guardsman's smoke the next time he took a hit.

"I'm still not trying it," Dirk said. "And you should stop as well. Hele–Marshal Dunn, told me that it rusts the lungs. Said if she caught even a whiff of it, she'll demote the both of us back to rooks."

"Sounds like dung," Harris responded with a sigh. "I'm leading my own squad. Who am I going to follow if she demotes me?"

"Kate probably," Elaine answered with a shrug. "You two used to serve under her leadership before, no?"

"Squad Four," Kate mumbled. "Harald let us keep those old patches, even after we were split into different squads. Said it would help us remember where we started."

"Squad Four," Harris groaned. "I remember those days."

"You're acting as if those times happened ages ago," Dirk said. "It's only been a year since."

"Lots happened in that year," Harris shot back, raising his nub where his hand and forearm had once been. "You know I was vying to be an archer back then. I was just grasping the basics and…"

"The Battle of Yorktown happened," Kate said softly.

Harris nodded solemnly. Dirk didn't say anything. He recalled that day, the blood and the bodies. The taste of acrid smoke and copper mixing into the air. The cries and shouts of battle. His home, desecrated. He shivered, hands clenching his mug of cider. Those horrible times. Would it come to that once more? With the orcs?

"Whatever happened to Elizabeth?" Harris asked suddenly. "She was in Squad Four, too, wasn't she?"

"Only after the Lumen Knight incident," Kate said. "Even then, I don't think she really did much. I recall her running with us during the Midsommar Incident. Beyond that…" she blinked. "I really don't know. I saw her last during Holter's departure, when she was helping Thorkel's squad offload Frostbite."

"You haven't seen her since?" Dirk asked.

"No…"

"You don't think…" Harris trailed off as he processed the implications. He sat back in his chair, ash flakes falling from the tip of his lit cigarette.

"I'm sure she's alright," Elaine said, her hands shuffling a deck of cards. "Especially if she and her squad are around James." A small smile drifted on her lips as she straightened out the cards. "Knowing him, he's already on his way to wipe out those orcs from the face of Azura altogether."

"As much faith I have in the man," Harris admitted with a sigh. "He's been gone for way too long, no? Half a month, if I remember correctly. And not a single message or indication that he's coming back."

Dirk frowned. "We were also cut off from Vindis, too, remember? Haggard and the rest of the Ravens are over there. Who's to say that Jarl Holter hasn't convened with them? Maybe they're cooking up some plan."

"Still, half a month? That's three weeks, Dirk, I don't think—"

"Can you stop for one night?" Kate interrupted with a mutter. She was staring at her mug, eyes watching the mead swirl. She barely took a drink out of it. "We know that the situation looks grim, Harris. We're not blind. All of us can see the mess we're in. Let us, for one night, have some hope for Freyja's sake."

The table went silent at that, both Harris and Dirk avoiding eye contact with the disgruntled guardswoman. After a moment, however, the sound of shuffling cards caught their attention. Elaine was still playing with the deck. The Bard hummed lightly, hands moving with dexterity as the cards fluttered between her fingers.

"Let's change up the topic with a song?" she suggested, one eye opening as she peeked at the guardsmen.

"No songs," Dirk groaned, just as the Bard tried to reach for the lute that leaned against the wall nearby. She gave a dejected look as she went back to the cards.

"Shame, I've been meaning to practice my new Illusion spells in a song," Elaine murmured. "How about a game then?"

"As long as it's not that stupid Idiot and Carper line trick," Kate said as she sipped her ale.

"That wasn't a game. And it was called the Idiot and… oh what am I saying," Elaine sighed as she set the deck down on the table. "Do you fellows want to get your mind off the depressing topic or not? It's not much of a game, but it's something fun at least."

Dirk shrugged and Kate gave a half-assed nod. Harris on the other hand, leaned into the table with a noticeable excitement. He put out his lit cigarette—thank Freyja—and focused all his attention on the young bard.

"A game, you say?" he asked, a goofy smile on his face. "Like Deckers? Or Regicide?"

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Dirk couldn't help but feel a sense of second hand embarrassment. It was painfully clear that the guardsman was infatuated with Elaine, ever since her first arrival. The worst part was that it wasn't like his other infatuations with the women of the island. At least with them, he could take a hint and properly back off, not unlike he did for Kate when she started courting Seamus. No, Harris was obsessed with getting the bard's attention, whether she cared or not.

Surprisingly, it seemed like Elaine was none the wiser. Every compliment and clear attempts to flirt washed over her like water on a gull's back. Either she did note them—and ignored them—or she was ignorant to the advances. Dirk wasn't sure which was worse.

"Nothing like that," Elaine admitted. She flipped the top card over to reveal a small drawing. Dirk leaned in, eyebrow raised, and saw a drawing of a court jester. Just like the stories he heard, the man wore a silly multi-colored hat and matching clothes. He had a big grin on his face, hand raised to hold up a coin. Scribed underneath were some fancy looking words. Dirk frowned and wished that he took more time to learn reading.

"I call them Soul Cards," Elaine said with a small flourish from her fingers. "Back at the academy, I used to play with these with my fellow classmates and teachers."

"How do you play these?" Kate asked, eyebrow raised.

"Well, I shuffle them," Elaine said, her hands picking up the deck. "And I ask one of you a couple questions. Then I draw a few, and you have to pick. The card revealed, describes both you and your future."

"Alright…" Kate said slowly, a curious expression on her face.

"Here, we'll start with you first," Elaine started, gesturing toward the guardswoman. "Pick a number between one and seven."

"Uh, four?"

"Alright." Elaine drew a card and placed it face down on the table. "Now, pick a month."

"Yovendam."

Another card, face down.

"Now, tell me what day of which month you were born on."

"The thirty-eighth of Jöntuhn."

Elaine finished with a final card draw, this one coming out after a few shuffles. She placed it along the other two and stacked them. She did one last shuffle—out of sight—and presented them to Kate.

"Pick one. Remember, use your intuition and heart to make the choice."

Kate nodded, brow creased as she pondered a moment. She then drew the middle one. With a flip, the entire table leaned in to see the result. It displayed the image of a kindly old man with a pointed hat, its tip crooked in a way that was familiar to Dirk.

"Ah, you got the Wizard," Elaine whispered. "This is a great card. It means you have a soul of strong will. It also means creativity and even hints that the near future may hold an opportunity for you."

Kate looked at the card with some suspicion. "You get that from the card?"

"Well, they all come with a meaning," the Bard explained. "The thing is, fate usually plays into what card you eventually choose."

"You believe that?"

Elaine gave her a flat stare. No words were needed for the Bard's message to get across. A lot more crazier shit had happened before. Fate being revealed in playing cards was the farthest from the strange. Kate sighed in defeat before she handed back the card. Elaine moved to Dirk next.

"Alright, your turn." she said with some renewed excitement. Dirk answered the questions quickly, with some eagerness. They were the same as Kate's, like what number he would choose and what month he liked.

"Fifteenth of Calent," Dirk said finally, stating his birthday. Elaine shuffled the chosen cards and presented them to him not unlike she did for Kate. Dirk pondered for a moment, eyes closing as he focused.

'Follow your heart,' he thought absentmindedly. Eyes still closed, he reached over and randomly chose a card from the bard's hands. He opened his eyes after he set it face up on the table. Everyone leaned in again—Kate included—to see the image of a shining star. It had six points, and seemed to be part of a constellation judging from the lines that led to two other stars that sat on the edges of the card.

"The Star of Garus," Elaine read aloud. "It means you have great hope in your heart, Dirk. Your optimism will one day bring out great change to your life and probably influence others. A great one, indeed."

Dirk stared at the drawn image, wowed by the card's meaning.

"Do me!" Harris butted in, leaning in closer to the table. Elaine nodded, a smile still on her lips as she picked the card up.

"Wait!" Dirk called. "Can… Can I keep it?'

Elaine blinked at the question, clearly not expecting it. She thought for a moment, hand rubbing her chin as she examined the card. With a sigh, she nodded. "You know what, you can keep it. I'm sure the deck will work just fine without that one."

Dirk grinned and reverently accepted the card. He tucked it into his pocket right after. As he did so, Elaine began to draw Harris' Soul Cards. He answered with eagerness, excitement clear in his eyes. For the first time in a while, Dirk actually felt happy for him. Harris, as much of an ass he could be, was getting better with time. He was clearly still grieving over the ones he lost during last year's raid, and his training slacked at times due to his missing hand, but he was still trying. Dirk almost felt for the man.

'You feel bad for him, because he's close to you,' Dirk realized slowly. 'He's always been there, hasn't he? Why else do we drink together, talk together, and even spar together?'

At that moment, when Elaine presented the cards to Harris, Dirk came to a realization. All the time, he accompanied this man for everything. From training to off time, they had always spent the time talking and sharing with each other. Jonas Harris, the guardsman who signed up for the glory alone, the man who once thought Dirk to be a child, was his friend. His only friend outside of Kate.

"Huh," Dirk muttered. He wasn't sure how to feel about this.

"What is that?" Harris asked as he held up the card he chose. Dirk blinked and looked at the image on it. At first, he believed it to be upside down. That was until he saw that the text was at the right place and the numbers lined up with it. The drawing, apparently, was meant to be seen upside down.

Elaine looked at the card with a surprised look. She gently took it from Harris' hands. "I think this is a dunn card."

"Dunn?" Harris asked.

"It means defected," Elaine explained. "There's not supposed to be any reversed cards in this deck."

"What did he get?" Dirk asked.

"The Knight of Embers," Elaine said, her face mixed with concern. "It uh… It means that your soul is that of a great warrior, Harris. That you're willing to put yourself on the line to save the ones closest to you."

"Really?" Harris asked, a grin forming on his lips. He took the card back, turning it so that the drawing was rightside up. Drawn on the card was a knight clad in smoldering armor, embers swirling around him as he raised a simple sword.

"What's that word Jarl Holter once used?" Harris asked as he examined the card. "The one he said when he got his sword during Harvest?"

"Badass, I think?" Kate answered.

"Right! That's the one!" Harris held up the card with clear excitement. "This looks badass!"

"Well…" Elaine started, her hand reaching for the card. "We should redraw, since this one came out dunn and all."

"No way!" Harris said, holding the card to his chest. "You told me that fate guides the cards. Perhaps I was meant to pick this one out. Besides, if it is a dunn, then you don't mind me keeping it, right?"

Elaine hesitantly gave a nod. "You're right, of course."

"Great!" Harris said. He looked down at the drawing of the knight, which glittered in the candlelight. Dirk watched the guardsman tuck the card into his coin pouch, safe and soundly put away. While he did feel a little happy for Harris, he couldn't help but notice the look of concern that flashed in Elaine's expression.

It was gone a moment later.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.