Their attempt to purchase a tool for the job ended in failure, but Avery and Timmons were determined to see the mission through. Reed, amused by the activity, followed behind the arguing teens.

As they walked back to the palace from the general store, Reed tuned out their argument in favor of people-watching. Unlike Anytown, USA, Lockton had a strange mash of building styles. The older parts of town were refurbished ruins. According to the history lessons Reed had been given before getting sent to the capital, Mythiric spent an untold amount of time trapped in the dark. Literally. There was stuff called Miasma that had blocked out the sun and choked the planet to the point of near death. Then the Saintess had done some whining and the Goddess decided to give a shit. Now they preached about stealing joy. That would've been fine, except the longer Reed spent in the world, the more he realized that rich people were scum no matter where you went. The high nobles treated Joy like a finite resource and would take it from babies if they could.

Reed's gaze wandered the crowd. Mostly it was Durs. The Durs gave Reed and his companions something might have looked like respect. The oncoming crowd parted around the three. The older Hannish man was different, though. He crossed the street entirely to avoid coming near.

Meeting the man's gaze, Reed tried not to be offended when the old man spat on the ground at him. There was some cultural thing Reed didn't know about, probably. He suspected it had to do with that headcloth. But Reed had no interest in that. It looked sweaty.

"You're too scared. I bet you wouldn't," Timmons said.

"Like you would?" Avery challenged. They were getting a bit more aggressive now. Reed turned his attention back to the teens.

"What're you two on about now?" he asked.

"I bet Timmons couldn't climb the wall like you did."

"Avery's too chicken to do it either."

Reed rolled his eyes. "Pretty sure the whole reason why I was going in first was to see if there was an easier way."

"That's beside the point," Avery complained, turning to walk backward. "Timmons is too heavy to get up there."

"Ain't about weight." Reed shook his head. "It's leverage." He looked at Timmons. "Why you always on Avery's balls about shit anyway?"

Timmons flushed. "I'm not. You're always taking his side."

"I'm just keeping it real, bra," Reed said with a shrug and moved closer to walk between the two. "Don't make me separate you two. Actin' like children. For fuck's sake."

Avery tripped, caught himself, and spun around to walk in the correct direction. "Reed. You say things like that..." he covered his mouth trying not to laugh.

Timmons wasn't trying to hide it; he just laughed. "Why do you keep trying to act like you're older than us?" He caught Reed around the neck in a beefy arm for a noogie.

Flailing helplessly in Timmons' grip, Reed stumbled along with him until the larger boy decided to let him go. "Rude!" Reed objected as he tried to fix his hair. "You trying to make me go bald by twenty? Asshole." He flipped a bird at Timmons, then returned to fixing his hair.

"Don't know what you're trying to do with it. Already looked like a bird's nest," Avery teased.

Avery got shown a middle finger as well.

"Amro!" a woman shouted in disapproval.

Reed had been called that a few times in the past, and he wasn't sure if it was for a reason.

"You shameless boy! You know better than that!"

He looked over his shoulder. The older woman from the riverbank a few months ago was behind them by a few meters, bending down to take off her shoe. She pinned him with a look that promised an ass-beating when she caught him.

Reed immediately ran.

Avery and Timmons caught up with him a moment later, out of breath but still cackling.

"What does that even mean?" Avery asked as they slowed. He tried to isolate his middle finger and had to use his other hand to hold his fingers down.

"Obviously, it's something dirty," Timmons said and tried to do it too.

The chankla hitting the back of Reed's head was more shocking than painful.

He looked back in shock. He'd thought they'd left the older woman in the dust. She was charging up the road toward them, but it wasn't her chankla that had hit Reed. A new woman had joined the older one, stomping toward him with her elbows out and fire in her eyes.

"Fuck!" he groaned and started running again. It looked like town wasn't safe today.

Timmons and Avery ran to catch up, following Reed all the way to the palace. Just beyond the gate, they turned right, slipping past the hedges and into the western gardens.

"Why don't those Hannish ladies like you?" Avery asked, panting for air.

 Reed shrugged, not really wanting to think about it. Instead, he took the lead, heading back to the barracks.

The knights who weren't on their day off were working out with Phil and Xander. Reed gestured for the two boys to hide in the bushes while he slipped around the building and into the equipment storage shed.

Because people were actively training, the door was open. Inside, it was dark, but his eyes adjusted after a moment. The light from the open door and the boarded-up window were enough for him to make out what he was looking for. He remembered seeing something useful in the pile of broken equipment. He wasn't sure what it used to be, but it was in the trash now, and that meant it was fair game. Picking through the webs and spiders, he finally found what he was looking for. He was about to stand when a shadow darkened the door.

"I thought I saw you," Phil said.

Reed looked over his shoulder. "What of it?"

"I need your help."

"It's my time off," Reed complained.

"Then why are you here?" Phil folded his arms.

Reed didn't have a good answer loaded. He chose to be honest. "Look, man, I don't want to help today. Y'all get to throw me around every other day of the week, I need a break."

Phil sighed. "What trouble are you getting into, then?"

Smirking as he stood, Reed said, "That's a secret."

"You're not helping your case."

"I'll tell you if we find anything interesting?" Reed offered.

"Nope." Phil continued to block the door, making it clear that Reed would either need to fight his way out or confess.

"C'mon," Reed groaned, hating how everyone treated him like a child just because he looked like one. "I ain't breaking any rules."

"I'll be the judge of that."

"Have I ever gotten us in trouble with anything I've gotten into?" Reed asked.

Phil wouldn't budge.

"What's taking so long, Phil?" Xander called.

"I caught a sneak," Phil said over his shoulder.

Xander poked his head in, looking past Phil's meaty elbow. He grinned. "A volunteer?"

"No." Reed crossed his arms. "Y'all keep fucking with me and I will make you regret it."

"Oh no. Looks like we made him mad," Xander snorted.

Reed nodded slightly, sucking his teeth. "Okay. Sir Phil, I'm asking politely, let me get on with my day."

"Not until you tell me what you're up to," Phil said.

"Aite. Parkour!" Reed leapt toward Phil. The man flinched, expecting to catch a kick to the chest. Instead, Reed rebounded off the door frame next to Xander's face, caught the rafter, and swung his feet toward the board covering the window. The glass had been removed long ago, leaving an empty hole they'd nailed a sheet of wood over.

The dry rot and rusty nails stood no chance. Reed landed in the bushes outside and rolled. He sprinted away into the garden, Avery and Timmons noisily following behind.

"Damn it, Fish!" Phil shouted.

***

Losing Phil and Xander wasn't easy, since Avery and Timmons weren't very good at getting away.

In the end, they got caught.

Reed stood with his hands behind him in parade rest, waiting while Vice-Captain Davis stared at all three of them. Avery and Timmons were doing their best to mimic Reed's pose, though they were having trouble staying still.

"Squires. What exactly were you doing?" Patrick asked.

Avery and Timmons squirmed.

Reed answered, "Nothing illegal, Sir."

Sighing, Patrick focused on Reed for a moment before he seemed to realize that Avery and Timmons were easier targets. He stepped in front of Avery. "What's your answer, Squire Avery?"

Swallowing hard, Avery stared straight ahead. "N-nothing illegal. Sir."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Sir. I'm sure."

"And why would you feel the need to specify that it wasn't anything illegal?" Patrick asked. Reed took a breath. "Not you, Squire Owen. You will stay silent or stare at the wall over there." He pointed.

Reed shut his mouth. He did want a good relationship with the higher-ups in this place, after all.

"And what's going on here?" a new voice interrupted.

Freezing briefly, Patrick straightened and saluted. "Knight-Commander. Just disciplining some unruly boys, Sir."

"Well. Let me see them," the voice was deep, and one full of the kind of self-centered confidence Reed despised. However, he was a superior officer, so Reed kept silent. The man who came to stand before them could've doubled for a superhero. Reed saluted crisply. Avery and Timmons followed his lead. The Knight Commander looked them over. His attention focused on Reed

I'm gonna have a problem with this guy. Reed kept his expression blank as he stared up at the Knight Commander.

"And what were you planning on doing with them?" Knight Commander Kelvin asked without looking away from Reed.

"Extra training, Sir. They had too much energy..." Patrick's voice wasn't steady.

Blood in the water... Reed didn't break eye contact. This was a stare-down with a bully, and Sir Davis was going to get eaten alive if someone didn't distract him. Avery and Timmons would suffer too.

"Seems too light for what they did," Kelvin said with a slight smirk.

"Sir... they weren't—"

"Are you questioning me?" Kelvin snapped around to look at Patrick.

"They were merely—" Patrick tried.

It made Reed feel a little sick that this was the situation he suddenly found himself in. There was no way to win. Patrick was terrified. Timmons and Avery were staring at the ground.

"Petty asshole," Reed said in English.

Kelvin whipped around to look at the three squires. "Which of you said that?"

Reed stared him down, a smirk curling the corners of his lips.

Stepping closer, Kelvin practically put his chest to Reed's nose. "Was it you?"

"Might be," Reed sneered, waited a beat, then added, "Sir."

Kelvin snatched Reed by the hair, dragging him. Reed's face slammed against a post. "Grab it," the Knight Commander ordered. "Davis. Your belt."

A few minutes of silence followed before the belt slapped against Reed's back. The smack was sharp, but it didn't have that burn Reed's father could put into it. This man had muscles just for show, apparently. Reed looked back and grinned. "That's all you got?"

"Reed Owen!" Patrick gasped.

Kelvin's eyes lit with fire. He slapped the belt against Reed's back like a wet noodle. He held it like a whip instead of folded in half. Reed put his forehead against the post and bit his lip to keep from laughing out loud. His shoulders shook, and occasional snorts got loose, but thankfully, it sounded like whimpers.

After five minutes, Kelvin threw the belt at Patrick. "You keep this one under control." He stalked out of the yard.

"Nyltia Bless, Reed, are you okay?" Avery asked, coming to Reed's side.

Turning to put his back to the post, Reed wiped his eyes and let them see how hard he was laughing. "Good. God. What was that?" he gasped.

Patrick crossed his arms, still holding his belt. "What made you do that? You agreed to respect the people in charge."

Wiping his eyes again, Reed stood up straight. "I agreed to respect you, Sir Davis. That chucklefuck came over here looking to slap someone around. Instead of letting it be one of y'all, I volunteered. Now that he's out of our hair, wanna continue that lecture you were givin us about horsin' around?"

Timmons sputtered, then bent forward, laughing so hard he farted.

The unexpected toot even got Patrick's stern expression to break. He covered his face and turned away to laugh.

After he calmed down, Patrick shook his head. "Fine. Get out of here. Reed, you're going to pay to fix that window you broke."

"Broke? Ah, fine!" Reed waved it off. "I'll fix it." He looked at Avery and Timmons. "Shall we?"