The sea guild was on the main pier, between two fish warehouses and a tavern called "The Last Gulp". The building was low, of dark stone, with a wooden sign reading "Guild of Monster Hunters and Mercenaries – Founded in 7153". The letters were faded. The door creaked as if it hated whoever touched it.
I entered with Mira by the hand. Inside smelled of sweat, beer, and dried blood. Long tables, wooden benches, and at the counter a grey‑bearded man cleaning a sword with a dirty rag.
"What do you want?" he asked without looking up.
"Work."
"Age?"
"Eighteen."
"Do you know how to fight?"
"I do."
"Have you killed before?"
"I have."
He raised his head. His small dark eyes assessed me from head to toe. They paused on my hair – half gold, half blood – and narrowed.
"Where are you from?"
"From far away."
"Far‑away folk bring trouble."
"So do local folk."
He almost smiled. Almost.
"They call me Goran." I asked, "Is the guild master you?"
"The master is his father," said a voice behind me.
I turned. A girl. Dark brown hair, almost black, pulled into a messy ponytail. Green eyes, large, with a gleam I could not tell was curiosity or weariness. She wore a faded blue tunic, leather trousers, worn boots. A dagger at her waist. A rolled‑up scroll in her right hand.
"Fenísia," she introduced herself. "I work here. You are?"
"Zirinos. This is Mira."
"Hello, Mira," said Fenísia, crouching to the girl's height. "Do you like to draw?"
Mira nodded, shy.
"My little sister used to like it too. Before…"
She did not finish. She stood up.
"Goran doesn't bite. He's just ugly."
"I'm listening," the man grumbled, but without conviction.
Fenísia pulled me to an empty table.
"Do you really need a job?" she asked quietly.
"I do."
"Then you'd better talk to the master. He's in the middle village, settling a dispute between fishermen. He'll be back tomorrow."
"And until then?"
"Until then you can stay at the inn. And I can show you around the village. If you want, of course."
I looked at her. She did not seem dangerous. But dangerous people rarely do.
"Show me," I replied.
---
Fenísia showed me the village as if she were showing a body.
"This street is the tanners' quarter. It smells bad, but that's where the most money is made," she said, pointing to low houses from which a nauseating smell came. "Over there is the fish market. In the morning it's full. By the end of the day, only seagulls and drunks. That tavern, 'The Last Gulp', is where mercenaries drink before they die. The owner is called Martim. He's bald and married to Goran's sister. Don't ask why."
Mira laughed at every sentence. I did not.
"Are you always like this?" I asked.
"Like what?"
"You talk as if you were describing an accident."
"It's the gift of the villages." She shrugged. "You learn to laugh at what hurts. Or to cry. Those who cry don't last long."
"And you? Did you last?"
"I'm still here."
---
At the end of the day, we sat on the pier.
Our legs dangling over the water, the boats swaying, the brown sails flapping in the weak wind. Mira ran after a seagull, arms open, her laugh free.
"She likes you," said Fenísia.
"She does."
"Is she your daughter?"
"Sister. Ward." I did not want to explain. She did not insist.
"I had a brother," Fenísia said after a few seconds. "Younger. He disappeared two years ago."
"What happened?"
"I don't know. He went into the forest. The Forest of the Three Warriors. He never came back." She looked at the horizon. "The guards said the Contraranures took him. Or the monsters. Or famine. You never know."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. He's still alive. I know he is."
I did not ask how she knew. Perhaps it was the only hope she had left.
"I have a brother too," I said. "Older."
"Where is he?"
"I don't know. He disappeared too."
"And do you believe he's alive?"
"I do." The lie hurt less than the truth.
Mira came back, out of breath, her eyes shining.
"Zirinos! I saw a fish! A very big fish!"
"What fish?"
"I don't know. It was big."
Fenísia laughed. Her laugh was light, like running water.
"Tomorrow I'll teach you how to fish," she said to Mira. "If you want."
"I want!"
Mira jumped for joy. I thanked her with a nod.
The sun began to hide behind the houses. The sky turned orange and purple. The sea shone.
"The guild master," I asked, "is he your friend?"
"He's my father."
"Alice Mare‑vil?"
"Yes." Fenísia looked at me. "Do you know my mother?"
"She was my teacher."
"Is she well?"
"She is." I hesitated. "She said to tell you she misses you."
Fenísia looked away. Her hands, resting on the pier, gripped the wood.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
"You don't need to thank me."
"I do. People don't usually bring good news."
We fell silent. The wind blew. The sea shone.
Mira, in the distance, shouted at the seagull.