Adventure of Exiles

Felix and Lisa made it back to the Order of the Ravens guildhall. Felix opened the door.

There was a bunch of mercenaries from this branch milling about talking, joking and drinking.

Senna was at the front desk again, she waved enthusiastically when she saw Lisa.

Felix suppressed the urge to groan as he took a chair and sat down across from Senna.

“Ah! Welcome back. You brought back Lisa too.”

“I have some things that need taken care of.”

“Felix, you have blood on your face.”

“Do I? Oh, that’s just my blood. Did you realize that the murder case from before was still unresolved? It had a possessed vengeful spirit of an ancient bygone kingdom try and kill us.”

“Oh my. Well, that’s good.”

“What’s good? The fact I could have died.”

“No, silly. The fact you were there. I knew Jan would never let that one go.”

“I suppose. Yeah, Jan was really upset about the whole affair. Anyways, is there a healer among the ravens here?”

“Why of course. Alicia! Come up here we need your skills, girl.”

After a moment a towering, battle scarred dragonborn with the white ranger’s cap came over with a mousy looking girl with brown hair hiding behind him.

“Come now, girl. He’s not going to bite. We are all on the same team here.” The dragonborn said. He held out his hand to Felix.

“Name is Justin Jankowski. I’m one of the more senior members and quartermaster of the branch here. Emphasis on senior, I’m a pile of old bones guiding some of these young ones like Alicia here.”

“Well, you know what they say. Beware of an old man in a profession where men usually die young. Felix Ruhle, with the Breslow branch.” Felix replied as he shook Justin’s hand.

“Well, well that crowded urban shithole. I been there a few times in my time. Never liked the city, too detached from nature.”

Felix chuckled, “Crowded urban shithole is definitely one way of describing it and not necessarily wrong.”

Justin motioned for Alicia to go over to Felix. She sheepishly went over and took a chair to sit beside Felix.

She started working on Felix’s wounds having pulled out a kit and her hands pulsing with the gentle warmth of healing magic.

“My next order of business. Did you ever receive a commission from an Alvar?”

“Let me check.” Senna said as she leafed through a book.

“Ah, Alvar Schafer. Yes, he wanted to know what happened to Ingrid. His sister-in-law...I’m guessing from your wound not good news.”

“No. Not really. Ingrid was possessed, having been tempted by the same spirit that possessed her daughter as well. I have this to be delivered to Alvar.” Felix said as he reached into his bag.

“Um, excuse me sir. Try not to move too much.” Alicia said.

“Ah right.” Felix said as he careful took out the jar of ashes and gave it Senna. “Her ashes.”

Senna sighed as she examined the jar, “such a tragedy. I suppose not every story has a happy ending. I’ll make sure he gets these so he can mourn for her and lay her to rest properly.”

She then pulls out a coin pouch from her desk, “your payment for the commission.”

Felix accepted the coin purse and counted, ten gold crowns. He pulled out and pushed over half to Lisa.

“Eh? What’s this for?”

“You helped. Only fair you get a cut of the reward.”

“Are you sure, Felix?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry about it.”

Justin laughed. It was a deep bellowing laughter from the dragonborn, “don’t be shy, girl. Take a reward well deserved. How does it feel? Completing a mercenary commission? Feels nice right?”

Lisa took the coins and sighed, “it’s nice. I feel accomplished and...well, a bit dirty.”

“Dirty? Why is that?” Justin asked.

“Because...” Lisa hesitated.

Felix shrugged, “go on.”

“It feels like we are profiting off of others suffering.”

“Hmm.” Justin nodded and rubbed his scaly chin, “yes. The nature of our business really. But you did good work. Helping to bring peace and closure. The family can finally put her to rest and be done with it. Still, you could join our ranger corps. t’s not all about killing and fighting. We brave the frontier and explore the unknown for our commissions.”

“Don’t join them. I would never see you again. What he doesn’t tell you is you get the all the fun of being out in the middle of nowhere shivering cold or sweating your ass off. Eating starvation rations and being stalked by random dangerous creatures.” Felix said.

Justin laughed again, “such is the life of an adventuring raven.”

Lisa giggled, “thanks. I’ll consider it.”

Alicia finished bandaging Felix, “there you are. You should be ok. The cuts weren’t too bad. Still, you should eat some meat and drink plenty of water. You lost a bit of blood. I’m surprised you haven’t been woozy.”

“Thanks, Alicia. Don’t worry I used being wounded. I’m a veteran.”

“That just makes me more worried about your health after hearing that.”

“I’ll be fine. I need some food it’s been a long day.”

“There is a great food stall if you walk down the south along the street. Has a big dragon on the side of the stall. Steak stewers and grilled vegetables.” Justin remarked.

Felix’s stomach rumbled, “sounds good to me.”

“Sounds delicious.” Lisa agreed.

She got up and bowed at Senna, “Thanks for everything! We will be going back home soon so I want to tell you when I have the chance.”

Senna waved, “oh my how polite! You are welcome back anytime.”

Lisa and Felix walked out with Senna, Justin, and Alicia waving goodbye.

“That was nice. Not what I expected.” Lisa said as they were walking.

“Oh yeah? What could you possibly expect out of a roost for a bunch of ravens?” Felix asked.

“I don’t know. My grandpa Jakob made it sound much more intimidating.”

Felix laughed, “it’s a world of difference being out in the battlefield and campaigning. The guildhall through it’s nice.”

He thought of back in the day at Breslow. Before they were sent off to the Republic of Anzio. Felix smiled and kept going,

“Those back in the guildhall are a tight knit group. There is a shared sense of purpose. Yeah, there are a bunch of mean assholes, some dirty motherfuckers, and some lazy guys. You will fight for each other and come back to drink to make up. A lot of laughter, banter and sometimes even crying...like a family.”

“You miss it, don’t you?”

“Yeah. I guess. But I’m glad I’m here through.”

Lisa smiled and nudged him, “so am I.”

Felix and Lisa found the stall being run by a dwarven couple. They got the steak skewers and grilled vegetables. They found a spot to sit down at the fountain at the town center.

“So why are you here? Why didn’t you go back to Breslow?” Lisa asked as began aggressively feasting on her food.

Felix sighed and looked out into the streets, the hustle and bustle of the crowds from earlier in the day was replaced with the steady rhythm of the day ending. This city felt like Breslow. Nothing like the quiet country town of Kurkenburg.

He thought back to the last time he was in the city, “after our contract was completed with the Republic of Anzio ended, I did go back to Breslow for a short time. But I couldn’t stay, too many dead. Too many friends who never came back. Elk company was a shadow of itself. Dog, cobra, badger companies were in bad shape too when we got back. I couldn’t get used to the new guys. So, I ended up transferring up to Svarostadt Order of the Raven branch and was recruited by Edwin on a commission.”

“I see...was that what you saw back down at the basement?” She asked gently.

“No. Lyndis showed an illusion of the deepest regrets. What about you, what’s something you regret, Lisa?”

Lisa didn’t answer for a bit and thought about it.

“I’m not sure. Maybe, being so busy with studies I missed out on spending time with Claudia.”

Felix laughed, “well I guess it’s a lot better to be not sure what your regrets are over which one is your biggest regrets.”

He ate some more of his food.

“What I actually saw was something I couldn’t change. I was back home at a kid. She worked so hard for me and saved aggressively so I could go military academy at the capital. Become a military commissioner for the Military Grand Council and have a comfortable life. What I saw was the day before...my mom died. That day I should have told her that I loved her, and I was grateful for what she did for me. But I didn’t. I went out that day to get into trouble like I always did. I had the chance to go back, and you shook me awake from that dream.”

Lisa frowned, “sorry…I didn’t realize.”

Felix leaned back, “I mean how can you known? Still thinking about my mom has reminded me of something.

“What’s that, Felix?”

“…I wanted to be a farmer once. When I was a kid living the cobble streets of Breslow. Not much for green in the big city. We wouldn’t need for anything my mom and I. Just live a good simple life and a place to call home. Take the money my mom would have spent on my education to buy a plot of land."

Felix let out a hollow chuckle,

"If I only worked hard, I would get my chance I thought. People are rewarded for their hard work. Didn’t take me too long to realize how fucking stupid that was. Here was my mom one of the hardest workers I knew yet we were still dirt poor. I guess that is why my mom was always so angry at me when I got in trouble or was out late. She knew what was going to happen to me if I kept on going on the path I was."

He looked out into the distance. Envisioning those distance fields,

"When my first kill came on the battlefield. I hesitated, nearly got me killed instead. As I had my sword at his throat…I could only think of my mom. This is not what she wanted to me to be. She wanted me to live a good and honest life, she worked to the bone so I could. What the fuck was I doing here? I thought. But I didn’t get a chance to dwell on it, I had to keep moving.”

After Felix finished talking. Lisa looked at Felix curiously, “you know what, Felix?”

“Hmm...remember when you were getting drunk?”

“You are going to have to be a bit more specific than when I was getting drunk.”

“Oh, come on, on the boat when I asked you about opening up more.”

“I’m kidding. Of course, I remember.”

“Well, here you are talking about your emotions and opening up.”

“A lot of things changed. Got into another near-death experience. And you know back at the festival...”

Lisa had a wide grin on her face, “oh yeah? What about the festival?”

“Oh, come on don’t make me spell it out you were there too.”

“Is that how you are going to describe it?”

“You know...we kissed.”

Lisa smiled and rested her head against Felix’s shoulder. “I know, Felix.”

“So, you remember when I told you how I don’t want to get attached to people?” Felix asked, breaking the silence.

Lisa nodded, “yeah, what about it?”

“I said it because I thought the mercenary life was for me. That is was all I could be.”

“Is that not the case now?”

“Not sure myself anymore. I’m coming around to the idea that these attachments, these bonds are important. The fact they hurt so much when broken. Means something, right?”

“It does, dummy. It’s a weakness or a flaw. It’s proof that you care and can love. What gives meaning to this life.”

Felix chuckled and leaned back a little, teetering on the edge of falling into the fountain.

“How can you talk about this stuff without skipping a beat?”

“What do you even mean Felix?”

“You know emotions. You have no problems expressing yourself. It doesn’t feel right to me talking about this stuff. To be vulnerable.”

Lisa shook her head, “really thing I have everything put together? I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“Come on, you are a smart cookie. Smarter than me anyways.”

“That’s not saying much.”

“Ha! I suppose not. Maybe it’s because how you were raised. I’m jealous you know?”

“What makes you say that? The cool, handsome, rich man you are.”

Felix smirked “You had two loving parents. Loving grandparents. Friends. You know what it is like to have a family. You grew up with people who had your back, who loved you.”

“that’s not...”

“No. Sorry I said that.” He then paused and then leaned forward away from the fountain. “I thought my life was going to be miserable anyways. So, what’s the point? After my mother died, I got out of Breslow, I ran. I made friends in the Order of the Raven. Comrades forged in war but soon they were lost. Not in a glorious battle, but the slow choking out by disease and attrition. When I got out from war I ran. Then Edwin. He encouraged me to find a purpose to my life, I could do more. Make a better world for the next generation. I didn’t believe him at the time...and then he left me. Edwin...he left me carry his memory in this stupid fucking heart. Not only his memory in my heart, Ranulf, my mom...so I kept running. Moving forward, carrying them in my heart because I have to. I have to stay strong for them. So, it’s weird for me to say and I know it’s selfish...I really don’t want to be left behind again.”

Lisa wrapped her arms around Felix’s shoulders and held him close, “I’m going to stay with you. I promise you.”

Felix couldn’t help but to chuckle.

“I’m not sure if you are a blessing or a curse. Maybe both. You sure you want to promise that?”

“I do. I’m a confident girl.”

Felix sighed, “you know what Lisa?”

“What?”

Felix let that moment linger for what felt like an eternity.

“I love you, Lisa.”

Lisa tilted her head, “hmm what was that?”

“Oh, come on. Don’t make me say it again.”

Lisa began poking on Felix’s arm, “what’s this? Big bad mercenary Felix fears saying the L word?”

“Don’t be such a child, Lisa.”

Lisa stuck out her tongue, “say it.”

Felix sighed.

Lisa’s eyes widened, “wait a minute are you blushing? You are so cute when you are blushing!”

“Lisa...”

“Say it.”

Felix hesitated.

Lisa looked at Felix’s eyes, her gaze serious.

“Felix, say it.”

Felix swallowed and sighed,

“I love you.”

Felix could feel the warmth on his cheeks.

She leaned in and kissed Felix, “it’s as simple as that. I love you and you love me.”

Felix and Lisa finished their dinner. He stood back up.

Lisa hopped on Felix’s back, “come on let’s get back.”

“Jeezs. Have no shame? People might be watching us.”

“Ah, who cares? Not like we will see these people again. We are going home soon.”

“Fair enough. Let’s go.”

Felix started walking, carrying Lisa back to the inn.

Lisa was smiling the whole way.

Felix couldn’t help but to smile as well.