Chapter 2014: Setting Out

"Then shall we?"

Lord Black stepped aside, leaving the way to the Guild’s doors open for them.

Della tucked the contract into her belt pouch and turned with what she hoped was a perfectly ordinary expression. Several women at the nearest table were watching her. One raised her eyebrows, glancing meaningfully toward the enormous man waiting beside her.

Della smiled.

She couldn’t help it. Her face had been trying to do that ever since he’d offered to come, and there seemed very little point in fighting it now.

"Have a lovely afternoon," Tavi told the table.

"You too," one of the women replied through her gritted teeth.

"We will!"

Della caught her friend’s sleeve and brought her along before she could start smugly waving goodbye to individual people.

Behind them, Brena lingered long enough to look back at the counter. The clerk had returned to her papers, although the pen in her hand hadn’t moved.

"Thank you for making us find work," Brena told her sincerely. "It was the best decision of my life."

"You’re professional adventurers, Brena... It was you who decided to find work, when you signed up for this profession..." The clerk sighed and looked up.

By then, Brena was hurrying after them.

"...Have fun."

Outside, the afternoon sun struck Della’s face while the sounds of the hall gave way to wheels rattling over paving. She moved clear of the entrance, waiting for Unbound to emerge before pointing toward the lane beside the Guild.

"Our equipment is at the inn just there. We can be back in a moment."

"Take your time," Black replied.

Tavi was already looking down at her tunic.

"We won’t," Della promised.

She kept hold of her friend’s sleeve all the way to their lodgings.

...

"You changed."

"I put my armor on."

"Under a different tunic."

"This one was clean."

Brena adjusted the crossbow slung over her shoulder, studying Tavi’s steep neckline as they hurried back toward the Guild. "It certainly uses less cloth."

"It’s a warm day."

"It’s early spring."

Della looked straight ahead. She had run wet fingers through her short hair, checked her teeth, and then checked them again. Her friends had been kind enough to say nothing about that, so perhaps she could extend the courtesy.

"Your staff," she said instead.

Tavi stopped walking.

"Fuck."

She ran back.

By the time Della and Brena finally rejoined Unbound, Della had a shield on her arm, her spear in hand, and a very strong desire to start doing something useful before anyone asked why they’d taken so long.

"The sightings are beyond the southern farms," she began. "The Guild wants us to track the greenskins back to their nest and clear it. The reports only mark where they’ve been seen."

Black listened without interrupting, his red gaze moving to the route she traced with her finger across the contract’s little map.

"We’ll follow the road out, then take the stream path. There’s a place to camp before the wooded hills. Tomorrow we can start at the latest sighting and look for their trail in daylight."

"Do you know the campsite?"

"Yes. There’s fresh water, and the ground stays dry even after rain. It’s short of the reported sightings, though we’ll still need to keep watch."

"As you know these lands much better, will you lead the way?"

"Of course."

Her answer came easily. Then he thanked her by name, and she had to look at the map again despite having finished with it.

Tavi returned with her staff.

Nobody asked why she was out of breath. Della loved every single person present for that.

...

Beyond Sarthal’s gate, the road ran between fields where farm workers were gathering tools before the light began to fade. Carts coming toward the city pressed the adventurers to one side, and Della found herself walking beside Ayame while the rest of the company followed.

The samurai had asked about the stream path. Della was explaining where it left the road when Tavi slipped past them.

"Are you going somewhere?" Della asked.

"I thought Lord Black might want to hear this too."

"He’s behind us."

"Oh."

Tavi turned around with remarkable enthusiasm.

Ayame watched her go, amusement bright in her blue eyes. "Does she always get lost this quickly?"

"Not one bit..."

The samurai grinned, and Della’s pleasure at making her have fun was interrupted by a cart driver craning his neck to look past them.

Black had paused to let the cart through. Tavi stood beside him with both hands around her staff, looking up as though he’d just begun explaining the secrets of the universe.

He was asking whether the fields flooded in spring.

She had never looked that interested in the weather in her entire damned life.

"You can walk with him too, you know," Ayame said.

"Hubby might appear a bit scary at first, but once you get to know him..." Vex smiled softly.

"The panties fly off?" Kitsara asked.

Vex stopped walking. "Foxy."

"What?"

Della brought her attention forward so quickly that the samurai’s grin widened.

"I wasn’t..."

"Mm?"

There was no useful end to that sentence. Della gave up and asked about the katana instead.

It proved a much safer subject. Ayame slid the sheathed weapon forward for her to inspect, answering her questions about its balance while Della compared the grip to her own spear.

By the time they left the carts behind, she had stopped worrying about every word that came out of her mouth.

Then Black joined them.

"Am I interrupting?"

"Not at all," Ayame replied. "Della was telling me which places along the stream we should avoid."

"There’s a muddy stretch below the old crossing," Della supplied. "It looks firm until you put your weight on it. We should keep to the upper bank."

"Sounds good."

He was content with the current arrangement, despite him being so much more powerful. She couldn’t see any expressions, of course, but she was beginning to recognize the sound in his voice.

Her next step landed in a rut.

Black caught her upper arm before she could stumble into Ayame, his glove closing securely around her sleeve.

"Careful."

"T-thank you."

He let go once she’d found her footing. Della continued walking, staring at the road with an attention she should have given it earlier.

Behind her, Tavi made a soft, injured noise.

"Don’t," Brena whispered.

"I didn’t say anything."

"You were looking for another hole."

Della pressed her lips together until she could trust herself to speak.

"The turn is just ahead, everyone."

She led on, with his hand’s warmth still clinging to her arm through the cloth. He’d barely touched her. She knew that perfectly well, and it had done nothing to stop her from wanting to tell somebody about it.

Preferably Tavi.

At considerable length.

...

Before the path reached the stream, Blossom stopped with her nose lifted toward the trees.

"Master."

Black turned to her. The dogkin sniffed again, then left the path, following the scent down toward the water.

"There are animals hiding under the bank. Blossom can smell them through the mud."

Della followed her to the edge. Water ran over flat stones below, gathering in dark pools beneath the roots. She couldn’t see a burrow, much less anything moving inside one.

"Under the roots?"

"Mhm. One there, and another farther along."