Eto woke before the sun did, same as always, same as every day since the forest first spat him into it. He lay still for a moment, listening. Mikaela's breathing across the room, slow and even. The city outside, quiet still, but not silent, the far off clatter of a cart, a rooster somewhere losing its patience.
He got up without waking her, crossed to the window, and looked out.
The streets below were empty except for a few figures moving through the grey light, a baker hauling sacks, a stray dog nosing through a gutter. He watched it fill in slowly, shutters opening, smoke starting to rise from chimneys, and tried to fit what he was seeing into something that made sense. It didn't, not really. Not yet. But he watched anyway, arms crossed, until the light turned from grey to gold and Mikaela stirred behind him.
"Up already," she mumbled.
"Yeah."
The Market
The market was already loud by the time they reached it, awnings snapping in the wind, vendors calling out prices in three languages Eto didn't understand and one he barely did. He carried the sag over one shoulder, following Mikaela through the crowd as she scanned stalls with a practiced eye, muttering under her breath about which ones would lowball them and which ones might actually pay fair.
She stopped at a squat stall near the back, run by a heavyset man with ink stained fingers and a scale bolted to his counter.
"This one'll do," she said, and started unpacking.
She did all the talking. Eto stood behind her, arms crossed, saying nothing, and the merchant's eyes kept flicking up to him mid sentence, losing his train of thought, restarting. By the time Mikaela named her price the man barely argued, just glanced at Eto one more time and nodded, counting coins into a pouch with hands that weren't quite steady.
They left with the sag half empty and a pouch heavy with silver.
"You didn't say a word," Mikaela said, "and he still paid full price. Maybe better than full."
"Good."
"You're a walking negotiation tactic. I could get used to that."
The Guild Hall
The guild hall was a squat stone building near the city's center, doors thrown open, noise spilling out onto the street. Inside it was packed, adventurers in mismatched armor, mercenaries cleaning weapons at long tables, a few hunters with animal pelts still slung over their shoulders. Eto looked around and, for the first time since he'd walked through the gates, felt something close to fitting in. Scarred hands. Hard eyes. Nobody here looked soft.
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They approached the front desk, where a woman looked up and smiled wide.
"Welcome. I'm Gwen, I'll be helping you today."
She was blonde, curls falling loose around her shoulders, and her uniform did nothing to contain what was under it, cleavage deep and obvious, and Eto's eyes went straight there and stayed.
A low sound built in his throat before he even noticed it, a growl, quiet at first, and his foot moved without him telling it to, one step forward, closing the distance.
Gwen's smile faltered. She took a half step back.
Mikaela's arm shot out, planting flat against his chest.
"He won't do anything," she said quickly, then rounded on Gwen. "But maybe cover those up a little, hm? You're basically serving them to him on a platter."
Gwen's face went sharp. "This is a free city. I wear what I want."
"Do you, though." Mikaela jabbed a finger at Eto, at the low animal sound still rolling out of him, at his eyes that hadn't moved an inch. "Look at him. Tell me that's a man in control of himself right now."
Gwen looked. Really looked, up at six plus feet of muscle stacked thick as her own head was wide, and whatever retort she'd had died somewhere behind her teeth.
Mikaela turned to Eto next, voice dropping low, urgent. "The orb. Remember the orb. You cause trouble here, they find you, and I can't talk you out of that."
Something in him cooled at that. The growl faded. He blinked, like surfacing from underwater, and took a step back, jaw tight.
Mikaela exhaled and turned back to the desk. "He wants to join. Adventuring."
Gwen straightened her collar, composing herself. "There are requirements. City citizenship, or a permit valid at least three months. Yours is temporary, two weeks. Unless you can provide the proper documents, he can't be registered. He can test today, but he won't be ranked until the paperwork's sorted."
Mikaela translated it low and fast in Keth. Eto nodded once.
"He needs to clear the obstacle course," Gwen continued, "then demonstrate his attributes. After that, he faces one of our officers. If the officer deems him fit, he's ranked. Eight tiers, S down to Unranked."
A voice cut in from behind them, deep enough to rattle the air. "I'll take that one."
The man who approached was massive, close to eight feet, wolf ears flat against a mane of dark hair, a thick black tail swishing behind him with slow, deliberate menace. His nose twitched once, scenting the air, and his eyes narrowed on Eto like he'd already sized him up and found something interesting.
"Maku," he said, extending a hand the size of a dinner plate. "Guild officer."
Mikaela translated, and Eto took the hand, grip firm, testing.
"Tomorrow," Maku said, grinning wide enough to show teeth. "Obstacle course at dawn. Then you fight me."
Eto held his eyes and didn't look away.
Back at the inn, the night settled in slow, the tavern noise below fading to a murmur, and Mikaela sat on the edge of her bed pulling her boots off while Eto stood near the window, watching the last of the light die over the rooftops.
He crossed the room and stopped in front of her.
"We fuck now," he said.
She looked up, startled, then something softer crossed her face, apologetic. "Eto, I can't. I'm still, I'm still hurting from before. It's not, it's not a no because I don't want to, it's a no because I actually can't right now."
He studied her face for a long moment, reading it the way he read everything now, careful, direct.
"Pain," he said.
"Yeah. Pain."
He didn't ask again.
He sat instead, lowering himself onto the floor near the window, back against the wall, and let the quiet take the room, candlelight guttering low until Mikaela blew it out and the dark folded in over both of them, over the bed and the floor and the city outside still breathing faint through the walls. He sat with it. Didn't move for a long while, just watched the dark like it might tell him something, and eventually his eyes closed too, though sleep failed to come.