Valis wandered the market for a long time, drifting through side streets and narrow alleys where the scent of cheap beer still lingered. With every step, his frustration grew.

Reggie was nowhere to be found.

"Did something happen to him?" he muttered under his breath. "Or maybe..."

The thought stung like a thorn.
"No... impossible."

But the darker possibility whispered anyway.
'Did Reggie sell us out?'

The boy didn't know all their secrets, but he knew enough to bring them trouble.

Valis walked the streets with fingers curling into fists. His nails bit into his palms as he weighed every possibility of betrayal, or was someone else pulling the strings?
'No... surely not.'

His gaze drifted back to a familiar sight: the same shoe stall they'd passed earlier. Before he realized it, his hand was already reaching for a pair of brown leather boots, the very ones that had caught Reggie's eye.

"Ahem," the shopkeeper cleared his throat. "Five gold coins, sir."
"Ah, right. Of course." Valis fumbled the coins into the man's hand, startled by his own actions. 'What am I even doing?' he scolded himself silently, before turning away and striding toward the guild hall.

He returned home completely alone, clutching the bag with the neatly wrapped boots. His footsteps echoed down the empty corridor, another reminder that Reggie was still gone. He needed to occupy his mind, quickly, before his thoughts began to spiral again.

The letter.

Yes, he still needed to answer that letter.

"Adam, please fetch me some more paper."

He sat down at his desk. For a long moment, he simply stared at the blank sheet before him, as if expecting the words to appear on their own. His fingers drummed against the edge of the ink pot.

"Fine," he muttered. "They send me potions for... that, I'll give them thanks."

Valis dipped his quill into the ink and began to write. The first letters came slowly, with every word weighed carefully, but soon his hand moved on its own.

"To the Esteemed House of Ladven..."

He paused, a crooked smile tugging at his mouth.
"Yes, esteemed, very esteemed indeed."

"I thank you for your thoughtful gift. Surely, your remedies will bring relief to every imaginable... discomfort."

He glanced toward Adam, who was leaning casually against the doorframe.
"How's that?"

Adam didn't blink. "Sounds sincere enough."

Valis snorted. "Sincere? It's a miracle the ink doesn't burn through the page."

"May fortune favor your house as generously as you have favored me with your concern.

With all due respect and gratitude,

Sir Valen"

He set the quill down a little too hard.

Adam's lips twitched. "Beautiful. Almost makes me want to get sick next."
"Out," Valis snapped, though there was the faintest trace of amusement behind it.

A day passed. There was still no sign of Reggie.

"Valen, should I go and look for him?" Adam asked at last. Normally calm and composed, his tone carried a flicker of unease. "Surely he didn't go far..."

"Go," Valis sighed without hesitation and didn't notice the brief spark of gratitude that crossed Adam's eyes as he turned to leave.

...

Adam began his search where Reggie had last been seen, walking through the alleyways near the town market square. He stopped to ask a washerwoman if she’d seen a red-haired boy. She straightened from her work, water dripping from her hands, and squinted at him through the rising steam.

“No,” she said after a pause. “Not today. Haven’t seen any young men around here for a while. I wish I had, though.” She gave him a teasing smile, but Adam only nodded politely and moved on.

No one at the stables had seen him either. 'It could take weeks.' He sighed; no sign of him in the woods, nor in the old barracks.

And by the time he reached the tavern, the sky had already begun to dim. He pushed open the heavy door, and the smell of the fireplace washed over him as he entered.
From the corner of the room, as he asked his question again, a woman's voice called out.

"A young man called Reggie? There used to be a kid like that. His family ran a little shop near the market... but that was ages ago. Haven't seen him in at least two years..."

Another voice replied, low and uneasy, "Best not to meddle. Folks who hole up usually have good reason to stay hidden."

Adam left a coin on the counter and stepped back into the chill air. His strides were calm, but his thoughts ran quickly. 'That must be him, Reggie is hiding something.'

He pulled his coat tighter against the wind and turned down a narrow, crooked lane leading toward the north of the city and wandered through the alleys, checking one building after another. Dusk was already setting in. The very last place he decided to search was the cluster of crumbling buildings near the edge of town: what was left of a chapel, and a few abandoned houses.

Adam pushed the old church door open and stepped inside. The last rays of sunlight spilled through the stained glass windows. His every step echoed, bouncing off the stone walls and the cold floor, and the air carried dust and the musky odor of rats nesting in the walls.

Then he heard something, a sound from the other side of the hall. He quickened his pace. "Reggie?" he called.

For a heartbeat, he could've sworn he heard a human voice coming from the opposite room. He approached the wall. The door to the chamber was completely bricked over, but there was a narrow gap along one side, just wide enough to slip through. Adam stopped mid-step and listened.

A faint whisper reached him: "I'm sorry..." The young and fragile voice trembled on the other side.

"Reggie? Please... come back with me," Adam asked through the thick stone wall. No answer. Only the echo of his own voice. 'What else am I even supposed to say?' he thought.

"I can't, you don't understand..." came the quiet answer at last. He could've gone through the gap and faced the boy, of course, but he was afraid he might scare him off. Instead, he pressed his ear to the wall and waited. A couple of minutes had passed. Still nothing.

"Then make me understand. Valen is looking for you..." Adam muttered, then sat down on the cold floor, trying really hard to start some kind of conversation.

Reggie’s voice softened. “He’s angry, isn’t he?”

“He’s worried,” Adam corrected. “Which is worse. You should have seen him, pacing through the corridors.”

“I didn’t mean to…” Reggie’s voice cracked. “I thought I could handle it.”

Adam sighed and leaned his forehead against the wall. “Reggie, you don’t need to handle things alone. None of us do.”

"I'm scared," Reggie said at last. "I saw them. And they saw me."

"Who?" Adam asked. "No, wait. Whoever they are, you've probably figured it out by now," he continued, "Valen and I... we're not just traders. Let's just say we used to serve in the army together. Even the whole Ladven army doesn't scare us anymore."; That much, at least, was true.

After a long pause, Adam spoke again. "You know, Reggie... I'm not much of a talker. Every time I try to say something, it comes out wrong. But I want you to know... I want you to come back too." There was a faint rustle from the other side, then silence again.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. "Reggie?" Adam called again.

Finally, a whisper:
“...All right.”

Adam lifted his head. “What?”

“I said all right,” Reggie repeated, louder this time. “I’ll come back.”

The sound of shifting stones followed. Reggie’s hand appeared through the gap first, then his face; it was pale, dirty, and his eyes red from crying. He hesitated, halfway through the crumbling wall.

Adam stepped forward and reached out a hand. “Come on.”

Reggie gripped it tightly, almost desperately, and squeezed through the gap. His clothes were torn, streaked with dust, but the worst of his fear seemed to melt away once he was standing beside Adam again.

Neither of them spoke. They didn’t need to. The sound of their footsteps filled the empty chapel, echoing through the vaulted dark as they walked side by side toward the open door, like two shadows slipping quietly back into the city’s cold night.