Dhanur groaned loudly, slamming her hands into the table with more force than she realized. The northerners jumped in unison as she stumbled to her feet and shakily grabbed her bow, hoping to wave the annoyances away.

Both of Ilanlan’s compatriots threw their arms out, rushing past Janurana and yelling “sorry” to both her and the entire inn. The second they touched her, however, Dhanur’s eyes instantly shifted from a drunken glaze to a sharp focus. She leapt back and knocked into her table, but did not stumble. She easily leapt onto it instead. Before they realized she wasn’t in front of them anymore, Dhanur struck. The spiked notch on her bow sliced into the flesh of their legs as she swept it under their outstretched arms. She leapt over them as they screamed and struck again as she did, thrusting the spike into her nearest enemy's shoulder, and pushed them both back. They slumped over her table and knocked over the cups.

Dhanur slowly released the breath she had been methodically inhaling as she moved. But the focus faded from her eyes. She grimaced at her fallen foes who were apprehensive to begin with, then shook her head at the pang of headache, and drunkenly drew an arrow to aim at Ilanlan.

He threw up his hands as if to swat away the arrow. As he stepped back, he didn’t even glance at his fallen allies. His eyes darted to and fro, trying to find something for a shield, only to bump into a southerner who smashed a cup over his head. Ilanlan barely flinched, unable to look away from Dhanur’s eyes. They were heavy again and her sharp focus was fading back into a drunk dullness, but he didn’t dare say or do anything to provoke that look again.

“We’ve got him!” two southern brickmakers yelled, grabbing one of his arms.

As a southern mercenary went to bury his ax into Ilanlan’s leg, the northerner snatched it mid-swipe and wrenched it from the mercenary’s grasp without a second thought. He slashed at the brickmakers, who both leapt aside just in time, one taking the smallest cut on his hand.

“Just go already! You wanna die here?” Dhanur groaned, her head still throbbing. She struggled to keep her arrow drawn.

Until the Clan Fish northerner groaned particularly loud. Dhanur flinched in surprise and accidentally loosed her arrow right into Ilanlan’s leg. He collapsed, shouting a myriad of curses. The rest of the inn didn’t make a noise, half expecting him to rip the arrow out and use it as another weapon. Dhanur curled her expression into a pained wince and sighed, then jogged over. She was about to kneel and help Ilanlan up, but he swatted at her with the ax.

“Go to a temple, get Light to heal.” She stepped back, grimacing at the arrow lodged in his leg, which she’d rather lose than an arm.

“Your Light. It burned … Borderlands.” Ilanlan spat at her.

Dhanur’s eyes flared. “That was not—” she stopped herself.

“Spirits… provide…” Ilanlan tried to get on his feet, but his leg refused to move.

“Ugh. Fine.” Dhanur nodded to the other Uttarans who were about to be seized by other patrons. “Let them go.”

“What?” scoffed a woman with a larger right arm than her left, marking her for a dhanur as well. “Are you dowsing crazy?!”

“I said let ‘em go… They’re just… Drunk. Angry.” Dhanur couldn’t say another word. Her head pounded again, less than before but still too much.

Janurana had leapt away right when the fighting started, gripping her parasol while she focused on the maimed people at her feet, and more specifically, the blood. It leaked between the bricks, oozing slowly towards the carpets. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t take her eyes off it.

The clanking of bronze on bronze rattled through the windows as the city guards rushed to the commotion.

“Sorry,” Dhanur said to the northerners who were failing to peel themselves off the floor. She took hold of Janurana’s arm and dragged her towards the exit, stopping only to dig a small fistful of cowrie shells and precious jewels from her belt’s satchel to toss them to the cowering innkeeper.

As the pair fled the inn, a pair of bronze capped city guards rushed past to apprehend the ones who’d caused the disturbance. They did their best to stem the bleeding and wipe up any spilled blood before dragging Ilanlan and his compatriots away. Dhanur pulled the silent Janurana by the upper arm, leading her down the maze of side streets to the main way, dust kicking up behind them.

“How long do you think it’ll take them to clean that up?” Janurana asked. She still fixed her gaze in the inn's direction and what would be staining the floor inside.

They stopped right at the edge of the paved road.

“I don’—Well—That’s your first question?” Dhanur sighed and went to rub her head, only to clonk her bow into it. Frustrated at her own clumsiness, she squeezed its grip for a quick moment, the throb in her head subsiding. “Since you were at the inn, I guess ya need someplace to sleep? If ya want, you can stay at my house.”

Janurana wormed her fingers into Dhanur’s, who still held her arm. She let out an awkward chuckle and hissed lightly through her teeth, not knowing for sure if she had fallen into the fire from the pan. She, again, caressed her parasol, keeping it close and low to her person. “I thought you and people like me weren’t on the best of terms.”

“You're not one anymore, right?” Dhanur pinched her nose.

“Obv—No.” Janurana awkwardly stiffened.

“Then, it’s fine then,” she sighed. “I maimed three people who’re definitely gonna, ya know, and I think…” Dhanur put one foot on the main way and tapped it, the sound of her heavy boot echoing through the city.

Janurana smiled, even if the loud noise made her flinch almost instinctively. “You’ve showcased your gallantry?”

Dhanur sighed, her more opaque skin keeping her blush in check. “You need somewhere to go and I’d be a dowsin’ terrible person if I left you there so, y’ know.”

Janurana responded with a giggle and bow. “Then I suppose I owe you my gratitude, madam warrior.”

“S’what I should do. Couldn’t sleep otherwise. Just… Come on. Sleep in my guest room. It’s safe and soft, um, Clean. Yeah.” Turning again to lead the way, she paused, raised her arm behind Janurana to motion her forward, and give a semblance of protection.

From atop the charred husk of a tree, still tall even as its last few leaves fell away, a translucent, silvery blue figure watched the pair. Between flickers from the wall’s bonfires, it vanished again as quickly as it appeared.