Chapter Text
Taigon slowly came to, the bright energy of the world around her entering her senses first. “Ugh… My head.” She put a hand on her forehead as she sat up slowly. Fortunately, other than a headache and a growling stomach, she was not injured. A swishing of cloth was heard as one of the priestesses noticed her and walked over to her bedside.
“It’s good to see you awake finally.” Taigon fully opened her eyes, squinting against the bright sunshine coming in through the windows. “Where am I? What happened?” she asked, tugging on her hood that still concealed her hair and her eyes. The priestess helped her to her feet slowly and replied, “You were injured when the elemental exploded. Thankfully it just knocked you off your feet and unconscious with a small head wound so you weren’t hurt too badly.”
Taigon swayed for a minute, her headache intensifying for a moment. The priestess steadied her and continued with her explanation. “Captain Thackeray brought you here personally. You’ve been unconscious for three days.” Taigon rubbed her hands over her face to help before looking to the priestess who had stepped back. “You had a lot of visitors: villagers you rescued, some Seraph, and even a tavern keeper from the city and his daughter. She came by every day, as did a little girl from the village with an older boy.”
Taigon smiled at the mention of them and stretched her arms above her head. “That’d be my friends, Andrew and Petra. I’ll have to go see them once I feel better. Any advice on what I should do now?” The priestess gave her an amused smile. She had had the feeling that this wouldn’t want to stick around more than was necessary. “Fresh air and exercise are the best medicine. The goddess Dwayna helped you. Perhaps you could help others?”
Taigon nodded, “Thanks, I will. By the way, do you know where that little girl went? I’d like to check up on her and see how she’s doing.” The priestess walked her out of the front of the inn and pointed, “The girl mentioned she was staying with the boy and his mother in one of the farmhouses. It’ll be across the bridge and towards the very end of the path.” The hooded girl traced the path with her amber eyes before turning them on the priestess with a grateful grin.
She saluted her with two fingers as she went to leave. “Thanks once again, for taking such good care of little old me.” The priestess waved goodbye to the small woman, “Bless you. You'll find plenty to do out in the valley. May Dwayna protect you.” The priestess stood there for a moment as she watched the cloaked lady run down the path with her bare feet. She was the most interesting patient she had had in a while.
Taigon dodged a pack bull and its owner as she slowed the running to more of a trot as she kept her eyes peeled open for Melanie. Being day time, she should be running around playing or doing chores. “Miss Tai! Over here!” A young male voice beckoned off to her right. The cloaked woman turned toward the source of the call when she saw Johnny waving at her. She smiled at him as she approached. “Johnny! How did you know it was me? Oh, and how’s your Mom?”
“You're the only one I know that wears a blue cloak like that, Miss Tai. As for Mom, she’s alright. She goes to help out at Edna’s orchard, while I was hired by Rancher Mepi as a farmhand. A couple of his Moa handlers got caught in the attack, Grenth rest their souls, so he was short of some help.” He replied, shifting his weight on his feet. Taigon nodded sympathetically, before asking, “What about Melanie? I was told by the priestess she was living down here.”
Johnny scratched the back of his head with a frown. “Well, while she was with us in the Inn, Mom was curious why she was all on her lonesome and who you were. Melanie told her that she was told to run for the town by her mother and lost sight of her. Later we learned that she and her mother lived over by the water tower. The Seraph found her mother dead on the side of the road with an arrow in her back. Instead of letting the Seraph take her to the Orphanage, Mom decided to take her in.”
The blond-haired boy pointed towards the north, “There are a few kids she plays with over by the Orchard Waypoint. If you’re looking for her, she’ll be somewhere in that direction.” Taigon grinned and gave the blond a mock two-finger salute as she walked off in that direction. “Thanks, Johnny! By the way, it’s just Tai. No ‘Miss” or the like.” The blond, though confused at the improper salute, nodded and waved at her back.
Taigon padded through the grass to where she remembered the Orchard Waypoint was, humming as she went. Children laughing rang out through the field as Taigon rounded the bend around the mill. The small woman stopped atop the hill as she spotted the kids running around. A few kids were playing out in the field right before the waypoint. Orange-amber eyes quickly spotted the little brunette-haired girl running around behind another girl a little older than her.
Taigon sat down on the small crest of the hill with her legs hanging over the sudden drop off as she continued to watch as the children ran around playing what looked like tag. She leaned back after a few minutes with her arms crossed behind her head and swung her feet lightly as she soaked up the sun’s rays with her eyes closed.
A terrified scream rang across the field causing Tai to shoot up from her sunbathing spot. The children and some of the nearby farmers had scattered as a big black bull went charging across the field. The poor beast was in a panic. Not bothering to stop as it bulldozed through fences and even the beehives. Tai leaped to her feet and immediately ran across the field to where she had seen Melanie run to hide. “Melanie!” She shouted. The little girl poked her head out from behind a tree where she was hiding in the orchard.
Her face lit up at the sight of her hooded hero. “Miss Tai!” she yelled happily. The Váltó quickly picked her up and started making her way back across the field towards the mill when the rogue bull charged right for them. Tai quickly jumped out of the way with Melanie held tightly to her chest. She made a swift retreat to the ridge she had been sunbathing on and set the little girl down.
“You best get to a safer place. I’ll take care of the bull before it does any more damage.” Tai said as she turned to jump back off into the field. “Wait, don’t hurt him!” Melanie shouted as she ran back to cut the Váltó off. Tai raised an eyebrow at the teary-eyed child. “He belongs to my friend Clara, he was a present from her mother who passed away. It's not his fault, one of the boys scared him.”
Tai’s face softened at the girl’s watery eyes and gently ruffled her brown hair. “I’ll do my best to not hurt him. Now, go get someplace safe. It’s too dangerous here right now.” Melanie nodded after vigorously wiping at her eyes with an arm and a sniff. Giving her a gentle push towards the road, Tai watched as she took off at a jog towards the direction of the bridge. A loud crash and angry bovine scream caught her attention again.
Orange eyes turned back to the rampaging bull and carefully took in the situation. The bull had destroyed a cart of apples by the orchard and was still in a blind panic and only getting worse as the giant wasps from the hives it had destroyed were attacking it. First things first, to get rid of those wasps. Tai jumped from the overhang and darted towards the destruction.
A quick flick of her right wrist caused a long leather whip to shoot from its hidden coil on the bottom of her bracer and hit one of the three giant wasps attacking the bull. It sliced through part of its wing and it fell to the ground without both appendages to hold it up.
The other two wasps stopped and turned their attention back on her as she manipulated the whip to snap back to catch the first wasp across its abdomen which left a nasty gash that started sluggishly bleeding. Tai spun on her toes with the grace of a ballet dancer as the whip came back to her and traveled with her twirl to wrap around the body of the second wasp that charged at her. A calculated half-turn later and it was swung over her shoulder to slam into the ground where it no longer moved.
The bleeding wasp tried to jab at Tai with its stinger, but she was able to sidestep just barely missing the swipe. The whip retracted with a crack into its hidden coil, a trio of claws making an appearance seconds later to skewer the remaining wasp on its sharp points. The dead wasp slid off the blades as Tai shook it off them as she turned her attention back to the bull just in time to leap to the side and landing on her side hard as it charged past her, trampling the bodies of the wasps she had defeated.
Tai hissed under her breath at the bull with narrowed eyes as she got back to her feet. The damn thing was starting to annoy her, but Melanie had asked her not to hurt it if she could. Orange amber eyes roved over the debris scattered across the field in hopes she could find something to accomplish this, settling on a long length of coiled rope where the destroyed cart laid on its side with missing wheels. Her face lit up as a plan came to mind.
Tai moved to the cart quickly enough that any onlookers would have only seen a blue blur. She snatched the rope up as she passed and continued to catch up to the bull, which admittedly wasn’t very hard for her. As she ran alongside the mad bull she deftly tied a sliding knot in the rope with agile fingers before throwing the loop around the bull’s horn, pulling hard and digging her heels into the ground. The bull let out a bovine scream as its head was roughly jerked to the side and forced to make an about-face.
Tai grunted as she was nearly flung forward by the large bull’s momentum, but stood her ground as she siphoned some of the energy off the movement to both slow the bull down and give herself more strength. She huffed as the resistance lessened as the bull charged at her from its side of the rope, and as she hopped to the side she looped the other side of the rope around the bull's other horn and swung herself onto its back.
The bull let out another raging scream as it tried to buck the small woman off its back, but Tai held firm as she gripped her makeshift reins tight. Slowly as not to change the bull’s energy drastically, she started to drain its energy to tire it out more quickly than it would have taken had she just stayed on. The bull was still kicking strong, but after a couple of minutes of Tai hanging on tightly, it started losing steam and slowing down. About 10 minutes later the bull stopped trying to get rid of its surprised wrangler and came to a halt, panting at the exertion it had put itself through.
Feeling no more fight or panic from the bull, Tai slid off its back cautiously, just in case it decided it had more to give. Bare feet made hardly a sound as she moved from its side to stand in front of him. The poor bull was completely worn out, panting heavily and its chest heaving to pump in more air. It gave her a wary look as she offered her hand out for a sniff, but complied anyway. Tai hummed a gentle tune as she gave the bull a small comforting pat on its head.
The bull suitably content nudged her shoulder causing the small woman to huff with amusement. “Bill!” A little voice rang out across the field. Turning her head, Tai spotted the young girl Melanie had been playing with earlier running towards them. The girl skidded to a stop next to them giving the bull a worried once over. Tai unwrapped the borrowed rope from the bovine’s horns to simply tie a loose collar around its neck.
She handed the girl the length of rope she was holding before saying, “Here. I was able to get him to calm down for the most part without hurting him or anyone else, but he’ll probably be pretty tired for a few days. Nothing that some rest and some love won’t cure.” The girl, Clara, nodded with a brilliant smile. “Thank you so much, Miss, Bill is one of the only things I still have of my mother.” Clara tilted her head to observe the blue-cloaked woman. “You must be the one Melanie has been talking about a lot lately. She won’t stop talking about you.” Tai gave her a wide smile, something a little like pride and flattery curling up through her chest at the mention of Melanie. “Yep, that’d be me. Now, about those boys that keep trying to mess with Bill…”
Clara scowled and patted her bull on his shoulder when he gave her a worried prod. “Those boys won’t stop no matter how much I chase them off. Now look at what they’ve done now, making Bill panic. It’s always Jamie Forks that starts it, that - that- stupid head! He always pulls my hair too!” Tai smothered a giggle with her hand as she watched the girl fume. “You know, my big sister told me that boys messing with you all the time mean they like you. He probably has a crush on you, but doesn’t know how to get your attention.”
Clara made a funny face, scrunching up her nose and eyebrows. “Then why doesn’t he just tell me that?” Tai shrugged her shoulders in response. “He’s a boy. Boys can be stupid about things like that.” Clara just nodded sagely as if it was the wisest thing she had heard. “Thank you again for calming Bill down. Hopefully, it won’t take too long to clean this mess up.” She said as she gestured to the field with a hopeful face. Tai smiled and nodded, “You’re welcome. I’m just glad no one was hurt.”
Tai gave Bill more pat on the head as he gave her calf eyes [ *pun most certainly intended* ] and waved goodbye to Clara before making her way back to the dirt road leading the Divinity’s Reach. With a glance up at the sky, she noted the time. “Well, if I’m gonna see Petra and Andrew today I better waypoint over there.” She muttered to herself as she pulled out her waystone and paid the fare to Salma Waypoint, closing her eyes.
When she opens them it's to the bright bustling market of Divinity’s Reach and the singing of the Waypoint Stone above her head. Tai shakes her head to right it back to sorts and moves from out under the Waypoint so that she was not ported on top of. Blinking her eyes once more, her vision loses the sparkles that were an unfortunate side effect of her porting. For some reason porting made her senses go haywire for about a minute and made everything brighter, the damper she normally put on her already enhanced senses not helping any.
Tai turned to the right of the Waypoint where the Salma’s district's large wooden doors were propped open for the moment and started walking along the main street. She smiled as she passed the orphanage where a group of children chased each other and laughed without a care in the world. Continuing, she reached the small Salma market where a few people were shopping for their dinner, no doubt. A few people gave her friendly smiles as she passed, long since used to seeing the hooded barefoot woman walking around now.
Tai thought back to when they would shy away from her, wary of a barefoot, lone wanderer - even if she was female- that always kept her hood up and was clearly wearing armor if the edge of her skirt and the twinning bands of gold curling up her legs from under her hooded robe were any indication. It was understandable after all, seeing as strangers in this day usually meant trouble.
Over the past couple of months since her departure from the Grove, Tai had explored most of Lion’s Arch, down to the secret hidey holes, before deciding to explore the human city, Divinity’s Reach. Before her being sealed within her ark, she remembered the humans of her old land. Tai figured perhaps if she learned more of the humans here then maybe she would have clues to where her siblings had been sealed away.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t had any luck within the city library, as most of what it had to say was stuff Trahearne had already taught her. So, she decided to take a break and explore the city. The first time she had come to the Salma district it was a grey and rainy day, dirt and mud coating the bottom of her feet. Even with the gloomy conditions, the people of Salma were still going about their day. It was supposed to be a quick loop around the district to familiarize herself with the place, but she ended up coming across a young blond woman being harrassed by some thugs.
Tai wasn’t one to turn a blind eye, especially as she watched the woman try to leave and was seized by one of the thugs harshly. She was quick to intervene and grabbed the thug’s own wrist and applied some of her own force, just shy of bone-crushing. He was quick to cry out and let the woman go, the other two quickly backing him up as he snarled a threat in her direction. Tai snarled her own back, sounding much more threatening as she let her vocal cords shift into something more basey and growly.
When they seemed to not take her seriously, she unsheathed her claws and sharpened them along one another to create a metal shaving noise with a sharp ring. The sight of the six blades seemed to rattle them more than her growling, and they scoffed and quickly beat a hasty retreat.
She huffed out of her nose at the cowards, before turning to the blond lady to make sure she was okay. The woman, Petra, introduced herself and thanked Tai for the help as she had left her trusty wood bat behind the bar in her father’s tavern. Petra asked her back to the bar to get her a warm drink in repayment. To which Tai smiled kindly and replied as long as she didn’t mind the pawprints she left. Petra then glanced down at her bare feet and waved her off, before grabbing Tai’s hand and leading her back to the street towards a large building. That was how she had met both Petra and her Father, Andrew.
Speaking of the tavern, Tai rounded the corner of the Salma Orphanage and let her feet carry her to the entrance of the Inn and Tavern. A shifty-looking guy was standing next to the door with his arms crossed and a red mask obscuring the bottom half of his face. “Keep walking. If you ain’t a friend of Big Nose Ted, you ain’t welcome here.” He sneered at her, as she entered the door. Her lips curled up into a wordless snarl, teeth shifting to her sharp fangs just for a second to show him what she thought of that threat.
Amber eyes narrowed in satisfaction as he reluctantly stood down and she passed him without a second look. There sure were a lot of thugs in the tavern at the moment she thought as she glanced around the room. One of them, an ostentatious-looking blond man was currently harassing Barbara, the barmaid.
“Come on, sweetness. Just one dance? Let’s see where it takes us.” He flirted with a charming smile. Barbara scowled at him, one hand holding a tray of ale, while the other was propped on her hip. “Only if you get a job, a haircut, and a clue, Johnny. Maybe not even then.” She blew a strand of her dark hair out of her face before turning to take the tray to a table at the far end of the bar. “I need to start bringing a big dog to work if only to warn off any other dogs.” Tai’s sharp ears caught the muttered grievance of the annoyed barmaid even as she got further away.
Tai snorted lightly at the witty comment as she watched Johnny give her backside a roguish look before straightening the lapels of his jacket. As she walked past him to where Petra and her father were standing at the bar, he gave her the same charming smile, before saying, “This might be your lucky day, darling, ‘cause I’m thinking about taking you home with me.” He punctuated the end of the sentence by wiggling his eyebrows at her.
Rolling her eyes, she spun on her heel to answer him with a sharp, “Keep looking, Casanova. Your barking up the wrong skirt.” As she turned on the ball of her foot to face front again, she nearly collided with a big dude with a gnarly-looking mug and an unfortunate-looking nose. His ale sloshed at the sides of his pint and he staggered slightly.
“Hey, watch it!” A rude finger was pointed at her face, as he continued, "You almost spilled my drink, and I almost had to mop it up with your face.” A hoot came from behind her as the same guy who had threatened her at the door shouted across the floor, “Yeah! Mess that clown up, Ted! Let’s see some teeth flyin’!”
Tai ignored them as she sidestepped the big guy and padded across the floor to the bar where Petra was. Petra put down the tray she was cleaning on the bar, to grab Tai in a tight hug around her shoulders.
“I’m so glad to see you! I heard that you were up and around, but I was still worried.” She said as she pulled back to let her hands rest on Tai’s petite shoulders and look into partially hidden eyes.
“I’m fine. Thanks for coming to see me. You know I love you and your father, but you both worry too much. I’m a big girl that can handle a few bruises just as much as she can give them.” Tai replied with a grin, perhaps too sharp due to all the thugs in the Inn at the moment. Her eyes continued to side glance the room to catalog how many threats were in what she considered her territory. Too many for her tastes at any rate.
Petra huffed at her and gave her a mock scowl. “That’s because you take too many risks. If I didn't know any better, I’d think you were out to give my father and I heart attacks.”
She looked to be gearing up for a speech when a rude voice cut her off. “Hey! Girl! Stop gabbing and bring me a drink!” The same big-nosed thug that had a problem with her was glaring at Petra when a plump-looking man with a dishrag draped over his shoulder stepped out from behind the bar to stand in front of Petra and Ted.
“I think you’ve had enough, buddy. You’re cut off. Now get out of my tavern.” the man, Andrew firmly said, crossing his arms over in front of his chest. Ted, growled low in his throat, “Don’t make me cripple you, old man. Give me more ale, and this time, it's on the house.” Petra took to stepping out from behind her father with a threatening, “Leave my father alone, you ugly goon, or I’ll call the Seraph!”
The big man snarled at her, “Ugly? I’ll show you ugly, honey!” Grabbing his large hammer from its holster on his back, he turned back to the now defensive group. “Hope you're looking for a fight. Cause now you got one. Boys? Get in here!” He brought his fingers up to his mouth and whistled loudly.
Three more thugs ran in from outside, one with dual pistols and the other two with daggers. Petra reached behind the bar and grabbed her bat, Ms. Timber, and took a swing at the thug that got too close to her and Andrew. “Get away from my dad, skritt-kissers!” She yelled.
Ted managed to get Andrew in the chest with his hammer as Petra swung again at the goon she was engaged with. Tai body slammed the big guy, sending him careening into the floor. Ted wiped his hand across the speck of blood on his lips as he sneered at the hooded girl that just knocked him to the floor. Bright orange eyes glowered at him from under the hood that hid most of her face in shadows.
He staggered to his feet and made a break for the stairs, pissed off as he yelled, “Let ‘em have it boys!” He’d let his dogs tire them out and then take the bitch out when she came for him. Blaize, Dead-eye Della, Twitchy Jake all followed him up the stairs.
The three thugs from earlier were ganging up on two of the bar patrons that had stuck around to help keep them off Andrew while Petra tended to him. Tai immediately tried to help but was cut off by Uptown Johnny swinging his blade at her. “I’m gonna knock you out and look good at doing it.” He smirked at her and slicked his hand back over his blond hair, sword held out towards her in his other hand.
He took a jab at her and she hopped back to dodge before leaping at him with her right set of claws unsheathing. Johnny blocked the first swipe of claws with a dagger he pulled from his sleeve and she parried the sword swung at her head with a hard backhand of her left gauntlet which broke his guard. Johnny took a stumbling step back, but that was all she needed to drop to the floor and sweep his feet from beneath him with her leg.
He hit the hardwood floor with a thud and a groan of pain as the back of his head smacked right into the floor with a crack. Tai quickly snatched the dagger held loosely in his right hand and jabbed it right into the crook of his shoulder and neck to pin his jacket to the floor. “Don’t move too much. Wouldn’t want to scratch that pretty face now would we?” She cocked a malignant grin at him, fully satisfied she had gotten him back for hitting on her earlier.
“I can’t believe it.” The blond rogue wheezed out a cough, a dazed hand coming up to cradle his most definitely smarting head. Tai glanced over the bar to where Petra was gently holding her Dad’s head off the floor. “I’m here, Dad. It’s Petra. Help is on the way.” The unconscious man groaned and shifted uneasily.
Tai sprung over Johnny’s prone body and bull-rushed one of the other thugs from behind to send him crashing into the last thug. She turned to look at the two patrons who had been helping as one helped the other up off the floor. About to ask if they were okay, she had to roll out of the way as she sensed a bottle being thrown at her and it broke where she had just stood.
She whipped her head around to the source, Blaize, was standing at the top of the stairs, guarding it. She growled lowly in her throat before turning to the two men. “Hopefully the Seraph is on their way, but you should sit the rest of this out and flag them down. I’ll deal with the rest of these clowns.” With that last tidbit, she gave the two a toothy smile before leaping up the stairs in a blur of motion, catching the pyromaniac off guard.
Tai attacked in a flurry of violence, Blaize’s coat ripped as she grazed him across his chest. She wanted them incapacitated, not dead, so she was holding back. A swipe of claws raked across his ribs cutting straight through the leather coat into his flesh with a splatter of blood on the stairs. He hissed and fell to the ground, balking at the deadly claws aimed at his throat. “Alright, I surrender!”
Tai sniffed delicately at him and removed her blades from his jugular. Turning from the now incapacitated man, she rounded the corner at the top of the stairwell only to step back into it quickly. Deadeye Della reloaded her rifle as the petit hooded woman stepped calmly into the corridor to the other set of stairs. Della cocked her gun and yelled, “I’ll pound you into the ground like a big nail!” She took another shot at Tai, who quickly turned to where the bullet just missed her cloak skirt.
Tai kept light on her toes as she avoided the bullets as she twirled around the room, getting closer to Della with each dodge. Della ran out of ammo all too soon and attempted to roll back to reload her rifle. Tai was faster though and was on her before she could get too far away. Della raised her rifle to block the downward strike of Tai’s claws but shouted in surprise as the gold and silver blades cut it in half like butter. With her weapon disposed of and the deadly blades pointed directly at her eyes, she yelled her surrender, “That’s enough! I yield!”
Tai watched as the coward scrambled aside to let her pass and onto the next flight of stairs. With a glare, she swept up the stairs after the brute that started this whole affair. “Hold this position.” Big Nose Ted called as he made his way to the back of the room. Tai grunted as a fist grasping daggers collided with the floor and the explosion of fire knocked her off her feet. Twitchy Jake immediately attempted to take advantage of her opening but was met with a foot to the chest as Tai launched herself back off the floor feet first. He stumbled back as she landed on her toes crouched low. Shifting her weight she popped back up and charged right into Jake with her shoulder. He hit the wall with a slam, winding him and sending him straight to the floor with a wheeze of pain.
“Okay, okay! I surrender.” He managed to gasp out between breaths and curled up on the floor with a fit of coughing. Tai might have put a bit more energy into that charge than she should have, but he was no longer a threat and that’s what counted in her book. Tai turned on her heel to pursue Big Nose Ted. He stood ready in front of a table and sneered at her with his ugly face. “Let’s play ‘Who Can Hit the Hardest.’ I’ll go first.” He pointed at her with one hand and pulled his giant hammer off his back with the other.
Tai jumped back from the first wide swing and then rolled around the second. Ted rounded on her for another swing when a swipe of claws aimed at the side of his head broke his guard. Tai was able to grab the pommel of the hammer with her other hand and pull it at an angle just so. With a lunge, she was able to send the flat top of the hammer back into the thug’s face with a sickening crunch. No doubt she managed to break that nose he was so famous for. Ted fell over with a dazed look, nose crooked and bleeding along with a split lip and a couple of small gashes on his face.
He scowled but immediately winced in pain as it pulled on his nose and cuts. Ted thumbed at the blood coming from his nose and looked up at Tai whose amber eyes were glowering at him from under her hood. Tai sneered at the brute, “I think I won unless you still want to play?” Ted spat out blood and a tooth into his palm before answering her, “I give up.”
Tai scoffed and turned to leave the goon on the floor to go check on Petra and Andrew. As she passed through the rooms back downstairs, she noticed that while Blaize was still on the stairs, Della and Johnny were nowhere to be found. She scowled, knowing that both had probably made tracks while she was busy with Jake and Ted. Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, three soldiers marched into the bar. Clad in chainmail with crimson and gold overlay the three quickly barred the entrance.
Tai’s eyebrows furrowed as she glanced at the brunette in the front. From her memory, the gold hammer on the front of their armor declared them Ministry Guards. What were they doing here for a simple brawl? “Bandits, thieves, and brawlers: by order of the Ministry Guard, you’re all under arrest!” The brunette announced as she placed her hand on her sheathed sword threateningly and glared at Taigon.
Taigon crossed her arms over her chest with a suppressed growl. “Hey, they started it. I was just defending my friend and myself. Last I checked, that wasn’t a crime.” The brunette was about to open her mouth一no doubt to retort 一 when she was interrupted by a deep voice. “Commander Seretine. What’s the meaning of this? What are you doing here?” Captain Logan Thackeray stood at the doorway as the two other Ministry Guards stood aside to let him through.
Serentine looked like she had eaten a lemon as she answered him. “Nice of you to show up, Captain. I’m here keeping the peace, something you and your Seraph can’t seem to do.” Logan narrowed his eyes at her before smoothing out his expression, “Thanks to your interference. There’s no way I’m letting you take the hero who fought beside me at Shaemoor Garrison. I’ll vouch for this one.” He gestured to Tai with his thumb as she shifted from one foot to the other.
The commander scoffed, “Now who’s interfering. And on behalf of a mere commoner一what foolishness,” she turned to her subordinates, “Guards! Take the rest of these maggots to the prison. We’re done here.” With that last sentence, she turned on her heel and forcefully moved past Logan with her shoulder and a sneer.
Logan took a moment to shake his head and turned to the Hero of Shaemoor who had moved towards him at the door, now with a blonde shadow behind her. Petra nodded in quick greeting to him before continuing, “Captain? Please, that ugly goon hurt my father. Can you help us?” Petra gave a scorching glare at Big Nose Ted and his crew as they were led out of the tavern in cuffs by the guards. If looks could kill, they would have been dead three times over. She gestured over to where her father was being led up to his rooms by a regular. He was very slow and there was a bad head wound that was still sluggishly bleeding down his temple.
Logan hummed consideringly, “Hmm. That looks nasty. It could take weeks to heal without the right medicine, and that medicine is expensive.” He put a thoughtful thumb on his chin as he thought about it. Taigon spoke up from where she had been keeping a close eye on Andrew's progress up the stairs. “I hate to call in a marker, Captain, but I did help you when you needed it. Mind if I ask if you return the favor for my friends?” Taigon put her hands on her hips and tilted her head up to look the Captain in the eyes from under her hood.
Logan nodded sharply at her, “For the Hero of Shaemoor? Done. Talk to Lieutenant Francis at the Ninth Company’s base camp. Tell him I sent you, and he’ll give you all the supplies you need.”
Taigon nodded gratefully at him and turned to put a gentle hand on Petra’s shoulder. “I’ve got this. Go and take care of your Ay- your father. Won’t take but a little while.” Petra gave her a look and then jogged to catch up to the pair on the stairs to help them go up. “Let’s get you to bed for rest, Dad. I’ll find a way to help you no matter what.” Tai caught the fading end of that sentence before turning her attention to Logan. He sighed and said aloud, “If Serentine keeps swiping our low-level prisoners, we’ll have to start arresting a better class of villain,” he looked at Tai before continuing, “I’m glad you were here. This could have been much worse. Thanks for doing the right thing.”
Tai shrugged indelicately at him with a chuckle. “Doing the right thing needs no thanks, usually. I’ll take the confidence you put in me as thanks though.” She tapped her hip with her fingers and asked, “How is it these bandits are so widespread?”
“Unfortunately, the Seraph are stretched thin across Kryta. We simply can’t be everywhere at once.” He answered.
“Well, I’m no Seraph, but I’m willing to help,” Tai said with a grin. Her eye caught on the three captured goons in the distance as they were led out of the Salma District and scowled at the back of Serentine’s head as she disappeared through the district gates. “What’s with you and the commander? Don’t the Seraph and Ministry Guard work together? Not that I blame you with that personality.” Tai snorted.
Logan gave a wan smile, “Let’s just say that Commander Serentine and I don’t see eye to eye on how our nation should be governed.” The smile turned genuine as he turned to her with a simple salute, “ Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get going.” Tai returned the smile and gave her own two-fingered salute as the Captain departed from the front of the bar. She glanced up at the sky from his back and huffed out an unamused sigh. So much had already happened today and it was only an hour afternoon.