"Like this?" Severance held his index and middle finger together and made a circular motion with his hand.

Mouna nodded once. Her face showed no expression, which seemed to be her default state, but he still got the sense that she was enjoying herself. There was a certain brightness in her dark eyes and he couldn't help but glance at them every so often.

"Okay. So that means 'a few'." Dropping the middle finger, he held up just his index finger and repeated the circular motion. "And this is 'one'."

He looked at her, waiting until he received another nod, before raising all fingers to make the same motion. "'Many', right?"

Mouna dipped her head regally. He couldn't help but grin, proud of finally getting them right. It'd taken him a lot of questions and guesswork, and patient repetition on her side, but he'd managed to pick up half a dozen signs. It wasn't enough to communicate properly with her, but at least it was a start.

"Well now, what's this?"

Startled by the sudden interruption, Severance looked up to see Maun standing nearby, watching them with a very definite smirk.

Severance suddenly felt like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, though he couldn't understand why. Both Mouna and he sat on a stone bench against the courtyard's wall, in a nice shady spot across from the Clan House. They'd been doing nothing but talking—well, he'd been talking and she had been signing and gesturing—which was a very ordinary thing to do, right? It wasn't like they were out robbing a bank or something.

Severance eyed Maun warily, not liking the man's expression. "She's teaching me her hand signs," he said, a little defensively.

"I know," Maun said, and his smirk grew into a full-out grin. "I was standing here for a while."

"You were?" Somewhat in disbelief, Severance turned back to Mouna, who seemed completely unbothered. "Is that true?"

She calmly nodded once. Yes.

"For how long?" Just the thought of Maun hanging around, watching him trying to fumble with Mouna's odd sign language embarrassed him to no end.

She held up a hand, fingers spread.

"Five? Five minutes?"

Yes.

Severance twisted on the bench, facing Maun. "Why didn't you say something?"

Maun scratched the side of his nose, almost looking sheepish. Almost, because the stupid grin on his face ruined it. "I was waiting for you to notice me. Your situational awareness is terrible, Sev."

"I was busy! Learning takes focus, you know." Severance glared at the clansman. He didn't buy it for one second. Maun probably just wanted to spy on him for his own strange amusement. It wouldn't have been the first time he did so.

Maun adopted a serious expression and nodded gravely. "Right. Of course."

The urge to punch the man's face was strong, but Severance didn't quite have the courage to actually try it. So, he turned to Mouna. "Can you stab him with one of your arrows? Please?"

Mouna regarded him for a moment. Then she bent to where she'd set her quiver down on the ground and drew out an arrow. Severance blinked. Was she actually going to do it?

Maun seemed to be thinking along the same lines, for he lifted both hands, backing up. "Hey, wait! There's no need for that. I was being serious!"

"So's she," Severance said, jabbing a thumb in Mouna's direction. She twirled the arrow deftly, her dark gaze unreadable. "She takes her teaching job very seriously. And you interrupted it for no good reason."

"I can't believe this." Maun looked between the two of them. "I'm an innocent party here."

Mouna signed something, the motions unfamiliar to Severance. Yet Maun had no trouble deciphering what she said, for he narrowed his eyes.

"I do not deserve it. And just so you know, I actually do have a reason for being here. Olen's got an errand for you, Sev, if you have the time."

"An errand?" That caught Severance's curiosity by the ears, and he forgot that he was supposed to be annoyed at Maun.

In answer, Maun pulled out a small leather pouch from within his clothing and tossed it to Severance. Startled, Severance caught it reflexively. The pouch didn't seem to have much of anything within it, for it had hardly any weight to it.

"What is it?"

"Just the final ingredients for something Olen's getting commissioned," Maun explained. "He asked that you take it to Ser Abelard in Two Bridges."

Quest Received: Deliver a package to Ser Abelard

"Who's Ser Abelard?" Severance hefted the pouch, wondering if it had something like a rare feather inside. It was very light, and his curiosity grew. Would it be bad if he snuck a peek inside? Just to see what it was?

"An artisan and a merchant," Maun answered. Amusement twinkled in his gaze as he watched Severance testing the pouch's weight. "One that's a rare talent. He excels in working with delicate items."

Delicate items, huh? Severance eyed the pouch. Unable to help himself, he asked again, "What's in here?"

Maun chuckled, and infuriatingly, didn't answer. He walked off, heading to the House.

Jerk, Severance narrowed his eyes. He waited until Maun had vanished inside, then lifted the pouch up so he could look at it properly. Maybe a little peek wouldn't hurt. Then he realized it had been tied shut with the world's most complicated knot. Opening it would be a huge hassle.

Stupid jerk! He scowled. It was just like Maun to be so irritating. He tossed the pouch into his Inventory. Might as well get this quest over with. Then he could get back to—

Oh. Right. Mouna was still here. Rubbing the side of his neck, he turned to face her. "So ah, I better get this done. Can we... can we do this again sometime?"

She didn't immediately answer. Instead, she gazed thoughtfully at the main doors of the House, where Maun had disappeared.

He watched, wondering what she was thinking. Like the other Veiled, Mouna was a bit of an enigma. Murderous one second, peaceful the next. She had easily agreed to teach him her signs, and though she didn't reveal much of her thoughts, she'd been calm and patient.

It had been enjoyable, spending time with her. That realization sunk in, and Severance looked away from her. He felt nervous for some reason.

What if she hadn't liked teaching him her sign language? What if she was doing it because she'd been ordered to play nice? She could have wanted nothing more than to shoot him full of arrows the whole time.

He glanced her way again. Now she was watching him, and the second their eyes met, he found himself unable to move. The arrow she'd retrieved earlier still spun in her fingers, an idle, yet menacing motion.

He tensed. Perhaps he'd made a mistake. It had been a silly idea, to try and learn signs just so he could properly talk to a single person. What had he been thinking?

You're a real idiot, Seth.

But then she gave a single nod.

It took a second for it to register. She'd nodded. She had nodded. That meant she'd agreed! The breath left him in a whoosh, an odd mix of elation and relief rushing over him like a dam had burst.

"I – okay. That's awesome. And ah, yeah. I'll see you later!" He ducked his head, unable to stop the stupid grin from spreading across his face. He called up the teleport map, but before he left, he couldn't help but look at her again.

Her expression hadn't changed the slightest. That was okay. She hadn't refused him and that was more than enough.

He gave her a wave that would have made Awkward Anonymous members everywhere proud, then teleported to Two Bridges.

***

"The Merchant's Quarter is in the northeast," the Valkyrie told him. She raised a muscled brown arm, pointing to the direction she had just mentioned. "That's where you'll find him during the day."

This was the first time Severance had heard of a Merchant's Quarter in Two Bridges, but then again, he was only familiar with a small part of the city. It was too easy to get lost in the many branching streets and sky bridges, and one could spend hours exploring the maze.

"Thank you," he politely said.

She hmphed gruffly in response, her gaze dropping briefly to the slender cord around his wrist. Then her attention swept past him, returning to her vigilance over the surrounding area.

Just as it had been last time he was here, the Valkyrie were out in full force. Their presence was seen on every street, every bridge—no matter where he looked, he saw a Valkyrie pair patrolling or on guard.

He frowned, wondering at that. Were the Chosen attacks getting worse? Or was the Fort defending the northern bridge of the city struggling to keep them at bay? As far as Severance knew, the Fort still stood, acting as a barrier between the city and the Chosen clan who'd infested the canyon like cockroaches.

Any Outsiders who passed through Two Bridges often received a quest to help defend the Fort. He himself had spent several hours there.

Severance absently touched the knotted cord on his wrist. It had been his reward for the Fort quests, and although it seemed plain and useless, he still wore it. It was proof that he'd managed to help and make a difference.

He smiled faintly, and then went to find Ser Abelard.

The Merchant's Quarter turned out to be a large courtyard lined with multiple shops and services, with an open-air flea market of sorts in the center. Colorful ribbons flew like flags from light posts all throughout the market, adding color and gaiety to the cheerful calls and chatter of both customers and merchants alike.

Severance took it all in with a sense of awe. How had he missed this place before? He skirted around the outskirts of the market, wary of venturing into its chaotic midst. There were signs posted above each shop, proclaiming the name and type of place it was, but it was in a weird script he couldn't read. Instead, he had to rely on the gray text that appeared above Elionan heads.

As it turned out, it only took him a couple of minutes to find Ser Abelard. He just had to venture into the noisiest part of the market.

The artisan/merchant turned out to be a balding man who was as wide as he was tall, with rosy round cheeks and a booming infectious laugh. He called out to his neighbors, making jokes and comments that drew smiles or laughs from anyone within earshot.

Ser Abelard, Severance decided, had to be generating at least half of the noise in the market on his own. Cautiously, he approached the Elionan man's shop, which was pretty much a series of tables covered in bits and odds and ends with peculiar tools thrown haphazardly all over the place. A forest green tent canopy provided shelter from the sun and rain, while a wooden half-wall fenced everything in.

"Hello?"

Ser Abelard, who'd just sent off a pair of giggling young women, immediately beamed at Severance. "Why hello there, lad! What brings you here this fine day?"

The fellow's voice was so loud that Severance wanted to clap his hands over his ears. Was shouting the only volume of conversation Ser Abelard could use?

"I just came to drop something off." Severance pulled out the mystery pouch from his Inventory. "From Olen. He's..."

He paused, unsure if it would be a bad idea to mention his clan. He didn't know what clan Ser Abelard was affiliated with; there were no obvious tokens or symbols that he recognized. There was also the fact that this place was crowded with people. What if the wrong ears overheard and decided to attack him?

Maybe you're just being paranoid, he told himself, but that didn't help. His own clan members had been targeted and attacked, and one had even lost a hand. Severance clenched his jaw, unable to help himself from casting a wary glance over his shoulder.

No one seemed to be paying even the slightest attention to him as far as he could tell. That was reassuring.

"Aye, I know the fellow," Ser Abelard boomed, his tone loud enough to reach every single ear in the market. Severance flinched, feeling like everyone was now staring his way. "He suggested you might be by. Come, come."

With a gesture from sausage-like fingers, Ser Abelard retreated further into his little shop. When Severance cautiously followed, stepping through the open space that served as a door, the merchant abruptly clapped his hands.

Severance started at the sound but got an even worse start when heavy panels of fabric unfurled from the edges of the roof, dropping down to cover the open sections of the wall. In an instant, they were enclosed in a dark little shop, cut off from the outside world. Whatever the material was, it was heavy and effective at blocking out the sun.

A moment later, light flared, a pale blue glow emanating from four crystalline spheres hanging from the ceiling. It gave the little shop an eerie, almost oppressive atmosphere that was the complete opposite of what it had been a moment earlier.

When Severance looked at Ser Abelard, the merchant had gone through a similar transformation. He still smiled warmly, but it seemed muted somehow. There was an air of seriousness to him that hadn't been there before.

"Now then," he said in a much quieter voice, "Let's see what you brought me."