He produced a small purse and held it out, the other half of my fee. It was heavier than I expected.
“Your fee,” he said. “And something additional. For the circumstances.”
“Captain.” I looked at him steadily. “Edran's hand?—”
“Will be watched.” He paused. “He's a good soldier.”
I nodded. He nodded.
It felt awkward.
He turned to leave, then stopped, but he didn't turn back to face me. “The mercenary came north for you,” he said quietly. “I thought you should know. He didn't… think about it much. He just went.”
I said nothing. I didn’t knowwhatto say.
Marson walked away.
I stood in the cold, holding a purse and thinking about what he had just said and what it meant, from a man who had spent weeks watching Nicco think carefully about everything, the same way as I had.
I tucked the purse away without bothering to count. I knew from the weight that it was generous.
The soldiers left midmorning. There was no ceremony, just the practical business of a group parting. Directions were confirmed, hands shaken, Marson's final nod carrying everything he'd decided not to say. Edran gave me a small smile before he walked south to the town, and he never looked back.
I watched them leave, sure that they would make it the last league without me.
Then there were four of us on the trail, with snow stretching out all around us. The wind picked up from the northwest, and I pulled my lodestone from my pack and let it find south. I didn’t want to go into Collharrow, and I wasn’t heading north anytime soon.
But I was a trailfinder. It was what I did, but with the purse in my cloak, for the first time, I wasn’t desperate for work.
Nobody moved immediately.
That was the thing about four people. With the soldiers, there was always noise, motion, and someone doing something, filling the space. With four, there was only the trail, the wind, and the specific weight of a question nobody had asked yet.
Larana was the one who asked it. “So.” She looked at Nicco. “What now?”
He looked south. Then at me. Then back at the horizon, which was his way of thinking without appearing to think. “I’m ready to head south. Get away from snow and ice and see the sun.”
“And after that?” Baxley asked.
“Find work in Florlunia, or Darysia,” Nicco said. “There's always work.”
It was directed at the group, but I felt it was aimed at me.
“What kind of work?” I asked, trying to appear casual and not too curious.
“The kind that pays,” Larana said flatly, and there was something in it that wasn't quite an invitation and wasn't quite… not.
I looked at them. Baxley was watching me with that steady, warm patience. Larana, with her arms crossed and her eyes doing their constant sweep of the terrain, still kept her attention on me. Nicco looked south, offering me something without actually offering it.
“I just got paid,” I said carefully. “I don't need to work immediately.”
“Nobody said immediately,” Baxley said.
The wind came from the northwest. My lodestone was in my pocket. The trail south was familiar for another two days, then new after that, and new was something I was apparently less afraid of than I used to be.
I thought about blue skies.
“Vorn isn't going to stop,” Nicco said suddenly, still not looking at me. “He wants you for more than finding the trail to Iskaeld.”
