Work with mercenaries and assassins. For the Sheer of CaSaryn.

Nora was still mulling the idea over when she finished for the day. Dyasen had left shortly after giving her the offer, which she actually appreciated, since she needed time and space to think about it. But by the time she arrived back at her aunt’s house, she was still just as lost as she had been in the seconds following his words.

She walked in without knocking, kicking her boots off on the mat at the entry. It’s not like I love being a farm hand anyway.

“Nora!” her aunt greeted her, that same plastic smile drawn onto her lined face. “How was your day at work?”

“Two silver pieces and change,” Nora half-mumbled, pulling the coins out and dropping them in her aunt’s waiting palm.

The older woman’s eyes brightened. “You must have been working hard! Good girl.” She gave Nora a pat on the back with one hand as the other pocketed the coins.

“I was. But also, one of the new people visiting town offered to help me out in exchange for telling me about the outside world,” Nora explained. “He seems pretty well-off, so he let me keep his earnings.” Which weren’t much, given how long he was there for, she added silently, but she didn’t want to bother with the details.

At first, her aunt looked skeptical, but clearly the coins in her pocket were still on her mind. “Well, he sounds like a nice man. Come in, I’ve got dinner almost ready.” Her voice was kindly, but the fact that it never even asked what information Nora had gotten said more than the warm tone ever could.

I’d probably get paid more, working directly for the Sheer. It seems like Dyasen doesn’t have a problem with money.

But would that money be worth whatever I’d have to do to earn it?

Seeing that Nora was deep in thought, her aunt said, “Well, come to the kitchen when you’re ready to eat.”

She nodded absently as her aunt left the room.

Dyasen wasn’t leaving until the afternoon of the next day, so she had a little time to think about it. Or, more likely, to overthink in circles until she was even more confused. Which seems to be what Dyasen has done to the ERA labeling system, she thought in amusement. There was no way anyone else actually used that system. She would ask his teammate what the ~actual~ labeling system was.

Assuming I’m comfortable talking to someone who kills people. She still was very skeptical on that point.

She sighed, shaking her head. This wasn’t getting her anywhere.

Nora’s aunt was already eating a thick stew when Nora met her in the kitchen. Nora joined her quietly, stirring her stew and looking at it for a while.

“Is there something wrong with it?” her aunt asked finally.

“No, it’s fine, thank you,” Nora told her. “I’m just thinking about something.”

Her aunt nodded in understanding, but didn’t ask what it was.

“That man I was working with offered to take me to ZeSarys,” she blurted. Maybe she was desperate for a second opinion, or maybe she just wanted to break the news before completely abandoning the woman who had taken care of her since her parents had left to work for a richer lord than Lord Leneha.

The woman took it about as expected. “Why would he do that?” she demanded, brows furrowing.

“He works for someone who could make good use of my ER- of my power,” she explained.

Her aunt’s brows sank even lower. “That sounds very, very suspect.” She actually did seem a bit concerned for her niece.

“I know,” Nora sighed. “But I used my power on him some, so he told me honestly what he does for work. And he also told me more about my power.”

“How did he know about your power?”

“He knows a lot about powers in general. He has one too, and he recognized when I used mine. He was pretty grumpy that I’d used it on him,” she added with a slight laugh.

“And he’s offering work? As in, an actual job that might pay more than farm labor?”

So that was all the genuine concern she got. As usual, her aunt was only concerned with the money.

Nora didn’t know if the woman ignored the rest of her life because she was scared of Nora’s ability like the rest of the town was, or because she just didn’t care, but it was really the same either way.

“Yes,” she answered. “And I could send some back to you.” Even though you’ll no longer be supporting me in any way. But she still felt like she owed her something, for taking her in after her parents were offered work by a richer lord than Lord Leneha.

“Well, you have my permission,” her aunt told her. “It’s your choice.”

Nora blinked. She would have thought she’d be pressured toward it once her aunt learned that it might pay more, and that it would get Nora out of her hair. But she seemed to recognize that this was a big change for the girl, and was letting her decide on her own.

Which is really not helpful at all.

Finally, she just ate her stew in silence, cleaning up the dishes and retreating to her small room. Pushing the decision from her mind, she did her best to go straight to sleep. Maybe my dreams will figure it out for me.

But when morning came around, Nora couldn’t remember if she’d dreamed at all. And it was already time to meet Dyasen again.

I’ll just ask him for more information, and decide from that.

Of course, when she went out into the field, the mercenary was nowhere to be seen. Nora quickly got to work, using each stroke of the hoe to clear her mind.

Finally, a pair of high-quality boots appeared in her vision. She glanced up to see Dyasen watching her with a completely neutral expression, like he didn’t want her to have any idea what he thought or what he was expecting.

Nora did her best to give him the same blank expression.

He raised his eyebrows almost imperceptibly. “So?”

“I still have no idea,” she admitted. “I was hoping you could give me some more to base my decision off of.”

He sighed, but nodded. “Okay… what do you want to know?”

“I don’t know… what sort of work might I be doing for the Sheer?”

“It depends. All of us have different roles, but even those are flexible depending on what Miracca needs. Given your ERA, I’m guessing you’d mostly do work similar to Voryis. He infiltrates noble gatherings, sniffs out rumors, sometimes spreads rumors. You’d be very good at learning about what’s going on behind the scenes.”

“Would I get to pretend to be a noble?” She lit up a bit at the idea. That sounded very fun.

“Probably,” Dyasen said, a smile finding its way to his green eyes.

“And I wouldn’t have to… kill anyone, or anything?”

He paused longer than she would have liked on that one. “Almost definitely not. Your ERA wouldn’t give you any advantage there, so someone else would always be better suited.”

She gave him a wary look, not liking that response at all. “You say that as if there’s a possibility.”

“It’s very, very small,” he told her. His voice got a bit quieter as he added, “Especially since I exist. If something needed to be done and Hexis wasn’t available, Miracca would send me.”

He looked so reluctant about that that Nora almost apologized even though she hadn’t done anything wrong. “What if I just told Sheer Zenaryx that I don’t want anything to do with that?” she suggested.

Dyasen seemed to sink a little further into the dirt, crossing his arms and looking to the side. “She’d listen, but she wouldn’t prioritize your wishes over whatever needed to be done. It’s how she works, and we all have to understand that.”

Nora’s stomach sank at that. “So if I come, I’d most likely get paid well for work that’s a lot more interesting than this.” She gestured to the hoe hanging limply in her hand. “But there’s a chance I’d have to do things like… that.”

“Yes,” Dyasen told her finally, eyes moving back to hers. “But the chance is very, very small.” He ran a hand through his brown curls. “Think of it this way. You can come to the capital of CaSaryn, meet the Sheer herself, and make as much as most lords do working for her, or you can continue to do farm work in a small town under the constant watch of a noble.”

“It’s not that bad,” Nora said defensively. “Everyone gets along for the most part, and we have everything we need. And Lord Leneha doesn’t take from us unfairly; she pays as much as any other customer.”

“That’s good,” Dyasen said, looking unimpressed. “But what if someone else replaced Leneha, someone who watched you closer and didn’t pay fairly for your labor? Would you rather work under them, or be in a higher position than them?”

Nora frowned. “That’s a complete hypothetical.”

“It could happen, though.”

For a second, she wondered if he knew something she didn’t, but pushed the thought away. “Okay, but give me an actual reason to come with you. One that’s plausible.”

“The people,” he answered.

“What?” That wasn’t what she’d expected.

“All of my teammates are phenomenal people, and you’d get to work with them. They’d listen to what you say, and they wouldn’t be scared of your ERA because all of theirs are just as scary if not more.” He chuckled. “Not that they’d ever use them against you. We all learn to work together seamlessly, and we always have each others’ backs. You would be a part of that.”

That… did sound really nice. “Will they respect me even though I’m only nineteen?”

“Yeah,” he said as if that were obvious. “None of the rest of us are much older. Hexis is only twenty, and they were nineteen like you when they joined.”

Okay…

Nora met his eyes. “How about this. I come with you back to the capital, meet your teammates, and see what this is all about. But I’m not obligated to stay until I make a formal decision. Assuming the Sheer even decides I’m worth recruiting.”

Dyasen regarded her for a long moment, then gave a slight nod. “I think we can work with that.”

She let out a breath and found herself grinning with excitement. “So when are we going?” she asked eagerly. “Straight to the capital? I'll tell my aunt I'm leaving, and pack up, and then we can start off.”

“Nah, we’re going to Lord Leneha’s keep. There’s a festival going on.” He turned around to start in that direction, apparently immediately.

Nora frowned, hurrying to catch up. “Why? We don’t even have invitations.”

“We’ll get in.” Dyasen glanced back at her for a second, green eyes glinting. “We’re going to go meet my teammate.”