It was the third hour of the fifth weekday

A man with a square-trimmed red beard and brown hair that was parted from left to right rode up to The Shouldered Burden trading hall and general store. He stopped by the door and dismounted his almond brown, white bellied horse and tied it to one of the posts outside. His grey eyes glanced down before he adjusted the belt around his gambeson to sit tighter agianst his frame as he stood. He grabbed a pouch of coins from his horse's saddlebags before he went inside. A little bell rang as he opened the door.

“Hey there, welcome in!”

He heard some shuffling behind the counter before a short woman with blonde, curly hair, freckles, and a padded vest worn over a faded green dress stood up holding a small crate of wineskins. She began placing them on the counter one at a time in a careful fashion as she looked over to the door he had entered. As soon as she locked eyes with him, she raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

“Well, well, well. Tecovis Shavar IS an honest man.”

“I told you I'd be paying my tab when I saw you next Galilahi.” Tecovis shook the bag of coins.

“So you did.” Galilahi held out her hand as Tecovis tossed the coin pouch to her before making his way through the isles. Catching it, she dumped it on her table and counted out a number of gold and silver coins.

"You're lucky I was still here. I was about to leave for the outreach's weekly meeting. You should come sometime, I think you and the founder would make great friends. You have a lot in common."

"Sorry Gali, being a guard is a full time job. If you'd started the Giving Cart a few months earlier you might have caught me before I signed."

Tecovis grabbed a full leather wineskin off of a shelf and examined it.

“Is this the latest batch?”

“Sure is, ol’ Pingo brought it yesterday around sunset. Rest of it’s right here.”

“I'm gonna have to come back for this. Everyone tells me that Pingo always makes the best mead, and I can safely say I’ve never tried better. I don't know how he does it.”

“Years of practice I imagine. And he knows how to keep happy bees.”

Tecovis put the bottle back on the shelf before walking to the counter.

“Yeah, it's all here, with enough spare for that keg of wine you've been eyeballing all summer. Consider your tab paid.” She slid the coins back into the pouch and tossed them under the counter before grabbing more bottles from the crate to sort. “When are you planning on grabbing it?”

“I've got Zebulon coming by after his shift to get it for me. We're celebrating my last day as a recruit next week.”

“Remember to leave your sword in your room for that, we don't need drunken fools causing someone to get hurt.”

“Please, I'm not that stupid. It'd be a terrible first day as a lowguard if I spent it locked in a cell.”

“Just had to make sure someone said it.”

Tecovis grinned.

“Anybody been causing trouble recently?”

“Nope,” said the shopkeep, “quiet as an owl in the night”.

“Good to hear. Well, now that the tab's settled, I'm off. Keep safe.”

“That's the plan. I'll let my husband know Zeb's coming.”

And with the jingling of the door bell, Tecovis went back outside and continued on his way.

Keeping his horse at a well paced trot, he passed through the gate checkpoint into central Thruf without issue. The building density increased steadily as he got closer to the barracks east of the center of town. People walked through the streets with arms full of goods and carts full of supplies, both horse drawn and hand pushed. The sounds of the blacksmith's hammers rang throughout the town. The voices of the always crowded marketplace carried themselves over the air. Homeless human refugees sat against some of the walls, begging for scraps from the passers by. Tecovis acknowledged a few he recognized as he passed. Guardsmen were patrolling the streets on horseback, with a pair also stationed at every major intersection. It still wasn't enough to handle the influx of the refugees that continued their journeys from the plains.

A chill breeze brushed against his skin as the road straightened out, revealing the fountain marking the center of Thruf. When Tecovis arrived at the fountain, he took a moment to admire the flowing strea-

“HEEE-”

The sound carried on the air.

Did someone just… Maker, I'm not even full time yet and I'm already skittish. Well, it's better to be safe than sorry.

He coaxed his horse toward the alley that he heard the noise from. As he approached the alley another shout came from it.

“HEEEEELP!”

“I SAID SHUT UP! Nobody is coming to help you, you ukitu bastard!”

Tecovis definitely didn't imagine that one.

Without thinking, Tecovis jumped off of his horse and drew his sword. Running into the ally, he saw a large human man, broad shouldered and hairy, holding onto a teenage boy by the collar of his shirt. The boy's skin was olive green with tree bark skin on his forearms and upper forehead. His nose bled onto his face and down his shirt. The boy saw Tecovis as he struggled to get away from the hulking brute, screaming all the while before he was struck again. 

“You never should have shown your face here, boy!”

Tecovis pointed his sword at the man and shouted, “By order of Buruzagi Jormund Skov, stop!”

The man punched the ukitu boy once more.

“I can handle it guardsman, I'm dealing with this trespasser myself.”

“I wasn't talking to him. Let the boy go!”

The man turned around, still holding onto the boy. He stared at Tecovis incredulously. “Guardsman, it’s one of the stricken, they're not allowed inside the city!”

“And you don't have the authority to assault him, regardless of if he's ukitu or human. Now, I'm going to give you one last chance before I'm forced to make you let him go. Drop the boy, NOW!”

The man looked back and forth between Tecovis and the boy. He then relented and released him. The ukitu boy scrambled into the corner of the alleyway out of reach of brute. The man stood to his full height. Standing a head taller than Tecovis, he glowered at him intensely.

“I'll take him from here, citizen. Now," Tecovis gestured with his sword, "go on your way". The man circled around Tecovis, staring with hate in his eyes, while Tecovis circled around to the boy, his eyes fixed and his sword pointed at the hairy man. With contempt in his eyes, the man stopped at the entrance of the alley and spat at the dirt in front of Tecovis before wandering away. Tecovis sighed heavily as the adrenaline wore off, then he stowed his sword in its sheath and turned around to the boy. Spotting a dirt covered cloak, Tecovis grabbed it and shook it out before he took it over to him. The boy cowered as he got close.

“Lose something?” Tecovis asked the boy, holding it out to him.

The boy peeked his green eyes from behind his olive colored arm, the tree bark resembled that of an oak tree, it grew at odd intervals partway up his arms and his face, the top of it blending into his hairline. The boy had brown, straw-like hair that looked like it had previously been brushed back. Both fear and confusion were in his gaze.

“I'm not going to hold this all day kid.”

The boy slowly reached out his hands to the cloak. When Tecovis didn't move, he quickly snatched it and covered himself. Tecovis took a few steps away from the boy and leaned against one of the walls, hoping to comfort him with his distance.

As the boy adjusted his cloak to cover the bark in his skin, Tecovis said “Would you like some water to clean yourself up?” The boy stayed put, staring at Tecovis without so much as a peep. After a moment he nodded. Tecovis then left the alleyway. He grabbed his father's old waterskin and one of his spare handkerchiefs from the bag he left on his horse and then led her to the alley entrance. He tied her up and went back to the boy. Tecovis offered the boy the waterskin and the handkerchief. 

“Thank you,” the boy said, his voice quivering. 

“Oh look at that, he does know how to talk. For a second I thought you were mute.”

The ukitu boy poured some water onto the handkerchief and began to wipe the blood off his face. 

“What's your name kid?” 

“M-m-my name is Olden”

“Good to meet you Olden, I'm Tecovis.” He knelt down to be eye level with the boy before speaking next.

“I don't know how you managed to get this far into the city.”

“I'm s-sorry.” Olden began to cry as the fear began to give way into pain.

“You're alright Olden. Hey, hey, look at me.”

Olden looked up at Tecovis through the tears streaming down his face. “Everything is going to be alright. You're safe now. That ugly jerkwad is gone.”

Olden leapt at Tecovis and hugged him as he broke down into a sob. Tecovis, unsure of what to do at first, hugged the boy back and comforted him as best as he could. After the sobbing quieted down, Olden let go of Tecovis and continued to clean himself up.

“To be frank, I don't want to know how you got here. What I want is to get you back to your camp safely.”

Tecovis then heard the clanking of lamellar coming from the end of the ally. “Good morning Tecovis,” spoke a deep voice. “Slow start?” 

“Maybe by your standards Zeb, but NOT by mine.”

The bronze-armored guardsmen chuckled, the sunlight reflected off of his bald head, highlighting his dark skin. Zebulon held his bronze helmet to his left and kept his right hand resting on his sword pommel. A warm grin filled his ebony face.

“Your section of the field is coming in nicely, I knew you'd manage. Once you set your mind to something, nothing can stop you.”

Tecovis stood up.

“I only pulled it off because of you and Aunt Abby, I never understood how you grew so much food until you showed me that trick with the potatoes and tomatoes.”

“Grafting, yes. It works with other plants too, but it's always funny when people learn that particular combination.”

“How did you figure it out?”

Zeb took his hand off his sword and stroked his pointed goatee.

“It's a long story, and I have rounds to make. Perhaps another time.”

“If you're still on duty, why come here? You take your work too seriously to come this far off your route for small talk.”

“Truthfully, I've was on the way to see the Buruzagi when I saw Sandalwood tied at the ally entrance."

"Ah, that makes sense."

"It's good that I saw you before seeing him however, There is something I wanted to bring to your attention."

"What's that?"

"I need your help to investigate kidnappings."

“Kidnappings?”

“I've gotten the Buruzagi to let me open an investigation, but I can't help them alone. I'm building a team to help me, you're first on the list. You're one of the few in Thruf who show any time of day to the ukitu refugees, and with you doing that as a city guard, trainee or not, they'll see that as one of the few chances at getting resolution to these cases. You have compassion for these people, I need that on my investigation team. Don't worry, I'll be with you since you're still operating on your provisional authority.”

“Zeb, you know the training schedule."

“That's why I needed to talk with Jormund. I was going to convince him to let me bring you when I take statements. If all goes well, you'll be joining me tomorrow.”

“Assuming Riff doesn’t leave me stockaded for being late.”

“A bit of an extreme, even for him.”

“Who else is going to be on the team?”

“There's quite a few I'm thinking about, though I don't know how many I'll manage to get.”

“Are any of my squadmates candidates?”

“They would be if I were allowed more than one provisional guard on the team at a time. I know Rox would do well.” 

“You think you could convince the Buruzagi to make some exceptions for them? We are six days away from becoming full timers.”

“You know how Jormund is Tecovis.”

“And I know how you can get when you need something done. C'mon Zeb, all of us need experience if we're going to be effective!”

Zeb took a moment to think in silence. After his pause, he said “I may be able to make a good argument for them.”

“Yes!” Tecovis said excitedly.

“Hey, I said might, don't get your hopes up. Whether we can even get more than two people on this will require something that gets Jormumd's attention. That's why I'm taking statements tomorrow. I wanted to present them to the Buruzagi when we returned.”

Olden stood up from his hiding place, leaving his hood low over his face, and seeing him stand Tecovis was secretly impressed by how well his cloak covered the bark-skin. The boy stood about a head shorter than Tecovis. Zeb looked down to Olden and raised an eyebrow. 

“Now, who's this?” Zeb asked.

“This is Olden. Someone assaulted him, bloodied his nose. I took care of it, but he's still shook up. I'm just glad I was passing by.”

Zeb's smile turned into a frown.

“It's odd that the guards who were supposed to be in the square didn't take care of this, did you see them around?”

It hadn't even occurred to Tecovis that there were no other guards around besides the two of them. He didn't recall seeing any out by the fountain where they normally stood.

“Now that you say it, no I didn't. Where are they?”

Tecovis crossed his arms as he began to think about possibilities. Zeb chuffed a bit before speaking.

“I guess I'll be seeing their reports soon. Alright, meet me at the river road checkpoint tomorrow at the fifth hour. Bring a notebook and something to write with.”

“You're never gonna let me live that down are you?”

Zeb's smile returned, big as ever. “Never.”

Tecovis looked over to Olden.

“Are you ready to go home now kid?”

“Y-yes sir.”

“Alright, let's get you back.” Tecovis straightened up. “Zeb, can you take young Olden here with you back to your post? His home is outside of town in that direction.”

“Ack, another refugee incident. I hope your squad does as good as you did today, these are getting too frequent.”

“They're already too frequent, Zeb, that's why you're so overworked.”

“Fair point. I'll keep watch over him.”

Tecovis turned over to Olden. Placing his hand on Olden's shoulder, he said, “Okay Olden, this here is my friend and my mentor. His name is Zebulon, he'll get you back outside the city safely. Stay close to him.”

Olden offered the handkerchief back to Tecovis, wordlessly. 

“You can keep the hanky, but I would like my water skin back.”

Olden handed the water skin back to Tecovis, its contents reduced by about a third.

“Thank you M-Mr. Tecovis.”

“You're welcome, kid. I'm just doing my job.” Tecovis smiled at the boy before the group left the alleyway. Tecovis untied Sandalwood and watched as Zeb and Olden made their way across the square to Zeb's strawberry roan horse.

Tecovis could understand the citizens not coming to help the poor teenage boy but the lack of guards was concerning, they may have been short staffed, but not that badly. He informed the next patrol he saw of the abandoned post and hurried to the barracks.