Navigating Rheonnik at sundown means weaving past noisy stallholders desperate to make one more sale for the day, and children playing obliviously in the pathways as their parents try to call them in for supper. 

For Yvette it also means hugging the side of the pathway, head down and hood up. She moves quickly like a shadow along the walls of the townhouses lining the streets.

The Exterminator’s Guild was housed in a skinny timber building wedged between a locksmith and a cobbler. Their profession lacked the glamour of the main plaza guilds, but it was also one of the oldest and had been here as long as anyone who noticed it could remember. 

A bell chimes as Yvette walks through the main door, but nobody is there to greet her. The entrance is as small as it looks on the outside, with only a single counter and a small wooden bench to wait at. Hadrian’s usual chair was empty, and the office door behind it was closed, though she could hear his voice faintly. 

The wood of the room reeks from decades of tobacco smoke, and seeing that she may have to wait for Hadrian, Yvette forces a window open to let in some cleaner air before taking a seat at the bench.

It was unusual for Hadrian to be meeting with someone privately. Most quests came in on simple dockets of paper that he stacked behind the counter to hand out to his small list of guildmembers.

Yvette wondered if the meeting was somehow related to the low rat counts lately. 

She listened to his voice through the walls but still couldn't make out any words.

‘No, he can’t.’ She couldn’t afford that. She’d spent over two years building up a reliable track record in this job, and she wasn’t ready to give that up. 

The sound of a riotous laugh snaps her thoughts back into the room. 

Was that a woman’s voice? Hadrian isn’t laughing but he doesn’t sound annoyed when he speaks. The doorknob turns slightly and Hadrian’s voice spills out. “That’ll be her, let me sort this.”

“Should I come out?” The woman’s voice again. 

“No wait there.” Hadrian replies.

“Yvette.” Hadrian calls her name as if it were a greeting, and takes his spot behind the counter waving her over.

She stands up for him and quickly hands him the bounty tickets, hoping to avoid whatever conversation was about her and go home. 

“Six. That’s less than half the traps this time… Strange.” Hadrian slowly looks over the ticket and scratches his bald head. They’d had low catches before, but the reason for this one seemed to stump him.

He signs the ticket, placing it in a box behind the counter, then hands Yvette her silver coins in payment. She hopes to take them quickly, but he holds her hand to stop her from leaving. He always knows when she’s ready to run. 

“You in a hurry?” He asks her quietly so that his guest can’t hear, and she shakes her head. “Good, I’ve got a job for you and someone to meet.”