Your Worth

“What do you mean the money is gone?”

The finely-dressed woman in blue yelled, her face now red with anger rather than exhaustion.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. But when we came to, the chest was gone, as was the cyclops.” The stocky, yet stubby Dwarven, heavily armored, carrying a tower shield on his back and a sizeable hammer at his side, spoke with his eyes downcast.

After recovering from the devastating magic blast, the Dwarven paladin found his allies were knocked out for a time. Vael was quick to help them recover, only to come up short of their charge’s possessions. The group had collected themselves and made their rendezvous in Ralefort’s town hall, which resided up the hill of the town, where meetings were usually held. Now it served as a place for the standing adventurers and their charge to reconvene and discuss the situation, with Reginald clearly present.

“I cannot believe this!” The finely dressed woman shouted aloud. “This close to our destination, and you idiots lose everything! You people are supposed to keep me safe. I was supposed to have an entourage of knights to protect me with my standing, not a bunch of expensive, useless mercenaries!”

She continued his tirade, face hot with anger. Vael watched at the threshold of the building.

“Who is that female?” Vael asked, watching from afar with Ethan.

“It seems this group got hired by the Kingdom’s central banking conglomerate.” He stated with familiarity. “They show up to collect our harvest and offer payment around this time of year. Usually, this is done by knights from the city to collect the harvest, pay us, and stay at the Inn before leaving the next day. But now it’s a group of high-ranking adventurers and a noblewoman as their sponsor.”

“Knights.” Vael thought the idea of using adventurers to handle something this important was honestly a desperate move from any government. “Something must have caught the knight's attention if a change in guard needed to be issued.”

“Either way, this is trouble.” Ethan turned to face his instructor. “Without that money, we can’t request supplies for upkeep of our homes, among other things.”

“True, and outside of me being paid, that still warrants the investigation into who exactly is behind all of this.” Vael thought back to the bandits and their convenient escape route.

“That shadowy stuff again?” Ethan asked, and Vael nodded.

“You, Elf!” The finely dressed woman pointed at Vael, who was approaching her frantically. “Were you not able to stop this?” She cried, searching for any form of answer to his predicament.

“This is an ongoing occurrence that I’ve yet to resolve,” Vael stated, telling what she knew. “I’m here regarding some unseen threat plaguing Ralefort. I am unsure of who, but someone is using monsters and bandits to attack the town in recent days.”

“And the Guild sent a damn Dark Elf?”

A voice approaching the hall came up behind Vael. Another Elf, a woman dressed in mossy green robes, bearing markings still aglow with blue light, stood before those gathered inside. Near her shoulder, an illuminated form hovered with two pairs of radiant wings, taking a humanoid shape near her; a Fae.

“A Dark Elf?” The rich Human woman stepped back, eyeing Vael fully this time.

The Dwarf took his position in front of the woman and her assistant, shield held before him. Ethan moved as well, standing between both the Dwarf and Vael, holding his hands out defensively.

“Whoa, hey. Vael’s here under Guild contact.” He reminded them.

“That is irrelevant!” The Elf woman snapped. “This exile is clearly playing some trick, possibly having orchestrated this whole debacle.”

The Elven woman held her staff firmly, a coiled stick with a gem at its top. It glowed with a natural amber light, solidifying her power as a druid.

“That’s impossible.” Reginald chimed in, speaking up. “She has a Guild plate.”

The Elf woman and her Fae companion looked at Vael, who produced the metal plate. She snatched it and examined the contents.

“She’s just a Bronze class.” She scoffed in amusement, tossing the plate back at Vael, who caught it.

Their eyes met, both blue and green hues fueled with undisguised contempt for one another.

“A Bronze class fighting a cyclops.” The Dwarf questioned the validity of both her status and intent. “She protected us, Layshale; I saw it.”

“Then explain the shadow magic you saw!” She snapped, eyeing Vael again with an accusatory stare.

“That is what I’m looking to figure out.” Vael countered. “First dire wolves, then bandits, and now a cyclops, both escaping with shadow magic. Someone else is behind this.”

“And expecting a lowly Bronze, a disgraced Fallen, to handle this is not ideal.” Layshale spat. “Clearly, your worth is not enough to keep you in anyone's favor or capable of protecting others, Vaelara. Especially your beloved.”

Vael’s blood started to boil at the insult. Her heart ached, cracking slightly. “Don’t you dare mention him!” She hissed.

“I have every right, unlike you, who failed your charge in the worst way possible,” Layshale whispered out of spite. “And yet here you are, half the woman you used to be. An exile, a failure brought low; and you’ve become so robust and filthy.”

Ethan watched as Vael’s fist gripped hard enough to turn her knuckles white. He reached out, grabbed her wrist, only to be met with a flickering blaze of her green eyes as she jerked away, denying him. Vael brushed past Layshale, her larger frame knocking back, her heavy footfalls retreating away from the hall.

——

She slammed the door to her room, unbuckling and throwing her sheathed weapon to the ground to release what anger she could that swelled inside of her. Her heart hammered, eager to let her fury out. Her vision blurred not just memory, but with tears of truth.

Vael’s knees hit the floorboards as she faltered under the weight of her failure. She seethed with anger, hand gripping around her heart as if to tear it out. She blinked the tears away before they fell, as a knock on the door broke her sorrow, with Ethan’s voice calling her back.

“Vael, are you alright?” He asked through the door.

“Go away!” Vael yelled, her bark carrying little weight as she attempted to catch her breath and regain some composure.

“No.”

“I don’t need your help.”

There was a silence for a long moment. Vael didn’t hear footsteps leading away from her, just a voice that returned, persistent as ever.

“But what if I need your help?“

“What do you honestly need me for, boy?”

“You’re my teacher. And right now, I’m relying on you to do just that.” Ethan stood in the hall of the Inn, uninvited and unmoving.

“More archery lessons?” Vael scoffed, then laughed in his face. “You’re fine. In fact, go with those adventurers. I’m sure they’ll get you somewhere to find you someone better.” She waved her hand, disregarding his concerns. “You’ll do better with someone more upstanding, honorable, and willing to put up with you than some Dark Elf.”

She moved from the door and threw herself down onto the bed. Lying on her back, Vael took a breath, staring at the ceiling before Ethan stood over her, blocking her view of nothing.

“Get out.” She sneered.

“Why are you a Fallen?” He asked, curiosity ignoring her demands.

“Boy, I said leave!”

“Why are you so set on doing things alone?”

Vael sat up. “I’m warning you!”

“Or what?” Ethan challenged, voice rising, refusing to move as the Elf stood, towering a head and a half over him. “Why are you so against people, yet so eager to help others still?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“And yet, you’re doing so much for others’ sake when they hate you.“

Vael reached out, slamming Ethan’s back against the wall. Her grip was firm on his shoulder, but not harmful. The wooden carving on the nearby table shook enough from the force to topple over. It grabbed Ethan’s attention for a moment before Vael pointed to the top of her chest. There, her runic markings remained dim and lifeless.

“This is all I am, Human!” She shouted in deep anguish. “I lost everything. My Fae, my name, my home!” Her eyes blurred and flooded again before she blinked them away, refusing to cry. “I became a failure.”

Ethan let the silence hang between them for a moment. He reached up and took the hand she pinned him with, not to remove it, but to touch her. Vael’s eyes shifted to the contact, but didn’t push it away, seeing someone else’s.

“Why are you still here?” Ethan responded with his own question. “Most of the people here avoid you, still cautious of you, slightly fear you. What keeps you here? What makes you hang onto bad woodcarvings?”

“And keep a persistent Human as a pupil?” Vael added, her tone lessening with her grip that now settled on his shoulder.

She looked away from Ethan, staring at the woodcarving of the elk. Vael reached for it and set it right.

“It’s so crooked.” She stared at it for a moment. “I used to be a protector, like a knight. It was my duty, and simply because it was what I could do. I made a mistake, a grave one, losing the trust of everyone, and paid the price. Now I’m broken and lost.”

“Lost? You’re still you by what I see, Master.” Ethan moved to pick up Vael’s sheathed sword, examining it for a moment before offering it to her.

“I’m not your Master.” She corrected, taking the blade.

“But you’re still protecting people,” Ethan added. “Just without the fancy titles and no sparkles. You’re still Vaelara—whatever your clan name used to be.“

Vael scoffed at his words, but realized her anger was no longer raging. His words had an effect, a truth to them.

“Just leave for now.” She sighed, her shoulders sagging, sitting on the bed again.

“Yeah, I’ll leave you be for now.” Ethan finished, stepping to the door to take his leave.

“Ethan.”

He halted, nearly closing the door.

“Our session was interrupted earlier. Keep practicing on your own for now.”

The words resonated with Ethan, allowing him to take them to heart.

“Will do, Master.”

Vael nearly corrected him again, yet the door slammed shut before she got the chance. Her brow frowned for a moment in annoyance before softening. She had already accepted something, someone who had begun to accept her. Vael tried to find a reason to reject it, but she couldn’t.

“Ugh, what the hell. It’ll only be for a little while until I leave here.”