WW Chapter 53: Finding Friends (Patreon)

“You said you knew a cleric. This is not a temple or chapel!”

“And I also said that I didn’t know her that well and that people that actually knew her well were people who I worked with as a soldier. That’s why we are going to headquarters, to see if Georg will be willing to introduce you as a favor to me.”

“But I’m not allowed to go in there,” Tilly shook her head at Ezra. Having to go to a further entry point to avoid the one where Ezra had gotten into trouble, and that after he took the time to take a quick bath, had given her plenty of time to leave her thoughts twisting in on themselves until she was at least partially convinced that Ezra was playing some kind of cruel joke on her. He wasn’t sure why she would think that, as the meanest joke he’d ever pulled on her had been when he’d, very stupidly, he was willing to admit, found a couple of grubs and put them in her bed.

“Yes, you—actually,” he cut himself off before reassuring her on that point. He looked at one of the two soldiers who were posted, one of whom he couldn’t remember the name of and the other of whom was a man named Tulen. “Tulen, is there any problem with her coming in with me? It’ll only be for maybe ten or fifteen minutes. Just long enough for me to introduce her to Lieutenant Georg and ask a couple questions.”

“If you want to get married, that’s your business,” the guard said, a wide grin on his face. “There shouldn’t be any problem if you bring her in right now. Just so you know, in the future, especially if you’re not a known member of the military, you’ll need to get special permission for that.”

“She’s not my wife, she’s my old friend, we’ve known each other forever,” Ezra protested.

“Whatever you wanna call it, I couldn’t care less,” the soldier waved off Ezra’s protests and gestured for the two to enter.

Ezra made the conscious decision to stop arguing about it and instead nodded his thanks and grabbed Tilly by her elbow and escorted her forward. She, meanwhile, kept her face buried in both of her hands, blushing so hard that her ears were red. All told, Ezra could feel his own face darkening with a blush, his cheeks warm. Regardless, he continued forward, looking around the square where the soldiers exercised. A couple people were milling around, but nowhere near enough for there to be any drills happening.

“I haven’t been here in a week,” he said. “I might need to talk to some people to figure out where to find Georg.”

“You’re gone for a week and you come back with a girl?” The familiar voice shook Ezra out of his conversation with Tilly. “Georg said you were in jail, but were you really out wooing your latest conquest?”

“First, yes, Boyd, I was in jail. Second, what do you mean latest conquest?” Ezra demanded, feeling Tilly stiffen at his side. “I haven’t wooed anybody.”

“How about the girl that you were getting all cleaned up for when we first came home from the march?” the tall member of the elite squad asked, smirking as he came over to clasp Ezra’s forearm. “It’s only been a bit over a week since you went and saw her. Did she reject you or something?”

At this, Matilda relaxed, smirking up at Ezra for a second. He shook his head, knowing what sort of teasing he was in for in the future as she elbowed him hard in the ribs.

“So when you showed up last week, your face clean but still smelling like death, that was you getting cleaned up for me?”

“We already had the conversation about why I hadn’t taken a bath up here before I came home,” Ezra hushed her, not hesitating to wrap an arm around her and playfully put a finger on her lips. “Too damn expensive.”

“Ahhh, so this is the girl,” Boyd laughed, reaching a hand out to Tilly. “The name is Boyd, and I’m one of the guys who has served with Ezra. And these two over here who are trying to decide if they’re going to introduce themselves are Cord, my brother, and Leah, the last of the four recruits in the elite squad.”

Ezra felt Tilly’s mouth open and her teeth threaten to take his finger off, so he released her as she shook Boyd’s hand.

“Matilda, but most people call me Tilly. Ezra here owes me one, so he said he’s going to introduce me to somebody before he gets going.”

“Got going?” Boyd asked as Cord and Leah came closer. “You mean, come back in here from jail? You’ll have to tell us that story, by the way.”

“It’s nothing exciting,” Ezra said, shoving down the need to tell stories as he was hit with a pang of regret. Why hadn’t he tried harder to mend fences and apologize? Now, if he did it as he was leaving, he’d look insincere. Even so, there was nothing to do but to say it and to explain himself. “But yeah, I’m leaving. Have you guys seen Chloe?”

Leah’s face darkened at that, and as Ezra realized how that might come across, he shook his head and walked his words back, correcting, “I’m not saying I don’t wanna talk to you. I was using that as an explanation. Have you seen Chloe in here, or did you not know that she was here?”

“She came through here a couple hours ago,” Boyd confirmed.

“Part of the reason why I was kind of a frigid asshole,” Ezra explained, embarrassed to have to do this in front of Tilly but knowing this was probably the only opportunity he was going to get, “was because I’ve been told that the Duke was going to be taking me away. I really wanted to progress, to get as strong as possible as fast as possible, knowing that I was going to be gone for who knows how long. I mean, you can all imagine what would happen if I went into the Duke’s army and not only was I a slum rat from a little village, I also was some weak chickenshit.”

All three of the soldiers nodded in response to that, though two of their expressions weren’t particularly excited either.

Ezra continued, “It’s not a good excuse, because I should’ve said something. I felt like it was kinda... I dunno, off or weird to say that the reason that I wasn’t talking was because I thought I was going to go to the Duke’s. So I didn’t say anything, and instead, I was just quiet and didn’t answer questions. In the end, I don’t think it was a very good decision, but I also don’t know what a good decision would’ve been.”

“Would’ve been a good decision to talk to us,” Boyd grunted, a faint smile on his face. “You chose not to, and I can kind of understand why not. I’m still jealous that you were never able to tell me how to feel aura, but I’m going to try my best to catch up to you, huh?”

“He’s right,” Leah said. “You should’ve just said something. You know, we haven’t known each other forever, but I thought you were my friend, and then you were acting like that? Didn’t feel like a very good friend, and felt like you thought you were better than us.”

“Which is why—”

“Which is why you didn’t want to say it in the first place,” Leah finished his protest. “I get it, I just think that you’re stupid. I guess that’s why you ended up in jail. But if you needed to talk to Georg, that’s why you brought your friend here, he’s meeting with the captain. When you’re done with whatever you’re doing, if you have time, I wouldn’t mind hearing the story you have to tell before you get going.”

Cord nodded, seeming to agree with the woman’s words as he reached a hand out and took Ezra by the forearm. He felt like a real idiot, that he could’ve just done this before and would’ve solved his problems earlier, but at least now it was done, and he’d, at least mostly, gotten himself out of the trouble he’d gotten himself into.

“Thanks. Chloe said that she wants to leave a couple hours after lunchtime, so we’ve probably got three hours at this point. That should be plenty of time for me to answer any questions and be a bit less of an idiot.”

The members of his squad nodded, and Ezra nodded his thanks as he led Tilly towards the captain’s quarters. Once they were away from the members of his squad, Tilly elbowed him again. She didn’t say anything, and he didn’t protest. He just took the implied insult with the feeling it was intended for: that he was an idiot and just needed to talk to people.

Walking up to the captain’s quarters, Ezra held a hand out in front of Tilly and knocked hard on the door twice. They waited for an answer, and Ezra recognized Riyal’s voice beckoning him in. He walked in without hesitation, gesturing for Tilly to follow after him.

“Soldier Ezra reporting after his time in the stockade and being picked up by Captain Chloe of Brayton. I’m coming with a friend of mine, with the hopes of maybe asking for a favor from Lieutenant Georg.”

“Welcome back, Ezra,” Riyal said, nodding at him. Just like the last time that he’d entered this office, the two men were playing a game, the board between them. Georg looked up and, seeing Tilly, pursed his lips in surprise.  

“Welcome back,” Georg echoed. “Chloe only just left and allowed us to get back to our game, and I wasn’t expecting you to come back for a while. You know, since you’re leaving.”

The way he looked at Tilly seemed like he was trying to warn her, and Ezra cocked his head to the side. “I know. That’s why I’m trying to help her before I’m gone.”

“And help her how?”

This was what it all relied on, and Ezra swallowed once, hoping he hadn’t worn all of his commanding officer’s goodwill with what he’d come to ask a week ago. “I know it’s not the same thing, but Tilly had a dream of studying under a sorcerer. You’re the only person I know who has a good relationship with a cleric. I wondered if you would be willing to serve as the introduction for Tilly to meet Mabel.”

Georg’s face twitched through a few emotions all at once before he laughed, not meanly, but in disbelief. “Do you think that all magical people know each other? That they just have magic meetings where they gather from the world over?”

“No,” Ezra said, his heart sinking. “I just figured that if there was anyone that I could possibly talk to to get her an introduction, it would be you.”

Georg’s laughter grew as he continued, “I’m mostly laughing because you just so happen to have spoken to me about the singular cleric who might be able to help someone who’s trying to become a sorcerer. Give me a minute, and then I’ll take you two to the chapel, where it’ll be up to Mabel to say yes or turn you down.”

***

At the doors of the chapel, Ezra and Tilly looked at each other. The entire building was stone, and fancy stained glass windows spread on each side of the doors. From left to right were vague representations of Jibahia the Beast in red, Inkosuza the Watcher in white and gray, Pilar the Stone in black, and Baltisse the Queen in blue. The Beast, as she always was depicted, was a beastkin but completely bestial, the only one of the four that had a commonly agreed-upon appearance. She had her arms spread wide, blood seeming to drip from her claws. 

The Watcher was only a large eye, unfeeling and omnipresent. Inkosuza had always made Ezra uncomfortable. The Stone, more literal than the Watcher but not as much as Jibahia, was a featureless man holding the sky above the world. Then, finally, the Queen was a shadow wearing a golden crown before a royal blue room. 

Ezra hadn’t seen much art in his life, and these four windows instilled a sense of reverence in him that he’d never truly felt towards the gods. Sure, they were powerful and ruled the heavens or whatever, but they never felt like something present or physical. Now? He could feel the terror of something so far beyond him, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. 

When he looked to the side, he could see that Tilly felt something similar, though maybe not as terrifying. Instead, her eyes opened and she… well, Ezra couldn’t tell what she was feeling. Even so, the freckled girl squared her shoulders and nodded as she looked at him.

Regardless of the crisis of faith Ezra was going through, the older, square faced Georg didn’t even look at the windows as he threw the doors open and led the two slum rats in as he called out, “Mabel! Little Georgie’s here to ask for a favor.”