"Indeed, to go out and bend one's own might to the glory of Rome is worthy service. But to swell and ripen, to bear a hundred who might also serve is service a hundredfold." - High Priestess Faustina. The highest Calling, 473 AUC.

  It was absurd just how much you could get away with by saying the word "Adventurer". Carrying a limp body covered in blood through guarded city gates might have posed a challenge. But when Aurelia had said the magic word, the poor guards on duty had simply nodded as realization dawned on them, and then waved her through.

  That they had both obviously been non-humans of little renown also might have also contributed to their ck of overt care, she admitted.

  Aurelia had searched the woman's body for any signs of injury, but other than a few bruises, there didn't seem to be anything obviously wrong with her. She wasn't trained in any healing arts, or any specific knowledge of the human (or non-human) form, but Aurelia figured it was mostly over-exertion and exhaustion which had caught up with her. In the brief glimpses she had seen of the woman as she had been falling, it had looked like she had been running for a while.

  Falling on top of her probably hadn't helped either.

  Aurelia's wings had snapped out moments before she would have hit the ground, which had arrested most of her downward motion. But she might have still impacted the poor woman at least moderately. Even if she hadn't felt anything in the moment.

  Her thoughts turned to her wings, and the fact that she'd actually managed to fly for a moment... or at least stop falling so fast. Her face twisted into a giddy little smile, and she ruffled her feathers in delight. She had actually flown! Her wings weren't just bulky inconveniences, or pretty decorations, she could actually use them!

  It had been worrying her for a while, she had been concerned that they were just vestigial like Tauren horns, or the tails of the Felis.

  In the present, Aurelia emerged from a short doorway, she had to stoop over dramatically to fit through the small entrance. She had been talking with Brann about what to do with the still unconscious woman now in their care when he had suggested that they should clean off all the blood first. She had sheepishly agreed, and to her surprise Brann had led her to a small courtyard behind the tavern.

  She had been ashamed to admit that in the weeks that she had been living in the tavern she had never explored the areas around and behind it.

  Behind the front, street facing side of the bar, there was a small courtyard with a few small buildings. One was a stable, one was a rder, the st was a bath. It was the tter that she now emerged from.

  She dabbed the st few drops of moisture from the tips of her wings with her woolen Sudarium. She'd had to have an extra rge one made specifically for her. Her long hair took a lot of effort to dry, her wings took even more.

  She sighed. Maybe one day she would have a small army of servants and attendants like those noble dies. It must be so nice to have someone do your hair all nice and fancy. It took her almost as much time drying afterwards as it took her to clean herself.

  She dressed herself in the small cubicle outside the entrance to the baths. The sun was beginning to set, it had been an eventful day, and it was high time to check in on their newest resident.

  Thessa felt as though she was floating. It was weird to know you're dreaming while you're still asleep. She was being chased through the forest again, and her limbs just didn't seem to work right. No matter how much she tried to run she just never felt like she was moving at all. Bloody faces swam back and forth across her vision, and demented sounds resonated from behind her no matter how she turned or twisted.

  Slowly her dreams began to fade, and she began to be aware of her body once more. Her head was resting on something soft. A pillow? She could feel all her fingers and toes, and tried wiggling them. With herculean effort, she began to open her eyes.

  The thin slits of light which pierced her eyes as she began to open them felt like daggers stabbing into her skull. It was worse than the time she had been hungover after having gotten way too drunk on Lora st summer. She babbled something incoherent, and tried to roll over. Even though it was light out, which meant her flock would be out and about grazing, she just couldn't bring herself to get up in that moment.

  She closed her eyes once more, shutting out the ouchie light which had cruelly intruded upon her rest.

  As she twisted and settled, she became aware of just how comfy her head was. Had her straw pillow always been this soft? Or this warm? She could feel someone stroking her hair, just like her mother used to.

  With a start she remembered the previous day. Bodies falling broken and unmoving. Her desperate flight through the woods. The st thing she remembered was that she had nearly been within sight of Rome itself, almost within the protection of it's walls.

  What had happened?

  Was she dead?

  She bolted upright, her eyes opening in a fsh.

  She tried to rise from her reclined position, but her head collided with something rge, soft, and a little bouncy. At first she didn't know what she was seeing, only that it was rge and blue. After her first attempt to get up failed she began to fil wildly, not recognizing any of the sights or sounds around her. She could hear the voice of a woman she didn't recognize.

  Two enormous hands picked her up by her shoulders, and raised her from where she had been squirming.

  This was it. There was no give in the bronze-cd grip of her captor. She would follow the others into the cold unknown. Her mother would have been so upset to learn that she wouldn't leave any calves behind.

  She squinted her eyes shut, and waited for the inevitable.

  Would they cut her to pieces? Oh how she hoped it would be quick.

  She hung there, held in the air for long moments. When no pain of death came, she began to slowly creep open her eyes once more.

  Two rge eyes stared back at her. Clear and radiantly blue, and set into a face so, so much rger than her own. She didn't recognize the woman, but there was an odd feeling of familiarity that she couldn't pce.

  They were indoors, with wooden walls surrounding her and a ceiling nearly brushing the top of her head, raised as she was in the woman's arms. She began to hyperventite, air rushing in and out of her lungs so fast she couldn't breath. Couldn't think. There were stories of foul creatures which could steal the skins of those they slew. And she knew all about wolves in sheep's clothing. Though the face in front of her was beautiful, surely it was just a trick. Just a guise to lead the unwary to their dooms, no one could really be that pretty.

  One rge eyebrow raised at her, and a small smirk formed with a twist of too-luscious lips.

  "Am I going to have to swaddle you?" The woman said in a rich, melodious voice.

  The question startled Thessa so much that she forgot to panic for a second.

  "...Wh-what?"

  A little while ter, Aurelia sat with the excitable Tauren woman in the kitchen. Two rge bowls of mb stew rested in front of them, and though she usually ate enough for three men (much to the dismay of her former priestess caretakers), the woman next to her was currently demolishing her meal like a woman possessed.

  Thessa, that had been her name. Well, Thessa was currently trying to start a fire with how furiously the spoon and bowl were scraping together. Aurelia on the other hand, was as graceful and measured as any Patrician dy at a feast. Absolutely... Hmph!

  "So..." Aurelia began with one hand rubbing the back of her head. "How does a shepherd end up in a... situation like this?" and how did she end up alone, and covered in blood that wasn't her own? She wanted to ask, but Thessa seemed quite skittish for the time being.

  "Hey! I'm not just a shepherd! I'm a super strong adventurer!" is what Aurelia thought she said. What came out of her stew filled mouth (along with a little dribble of soup), sounded a little more like "Huehg! Yam noh ust ah shrphrd! Yam ah upah ronhg awehturuh".

  With an audible gulp, Thessa finally swallowed.

  "Th-thanks for the stew." While looking down a little embarrassedly. When she raised her head again, her eyes stared into a pce far away.

  "Uh, I'm a mighty and strong adventurer... but I'm also new." She started a little abashedly "A few days ago, me and some other adventurers who were just starting out took on a job with a couple more experienced people. In exchange for a bit of our cut of the job, they were supposed to show us the ropes and help us out." She exhaled slowly and paused for a moment before starting again. "The first two days went great, we were able to collect these rare flowers, which was the point of the job in the first pce. Apparently, there's this Equites dy who really wants them. Anyway, things were going great until the third day." Thessa paused again, and adjusted herself in the short stool she was resting on. "On the st day, we found signs of orks in the area. And even though we had collected enough flowers for the contract to be fulfilled, the more experienced adventurers wanted to take a detour to clear them out." Then her voice began to shake slightly as she recounted the next part of her tale. "We thought it was a small group, easy enough to clear out for the seven of us... but... things just went so wrong so quickly. Before I knew what was going on, the experienced adventurers were gone, and we were running for our lives."

  "I-I was the only one to make it out" her expression was sorrowful, then it turned sour. "We didn't even get the flowers, in the end."

  She fell silent after she had finished her account, it was the kind of silence that didn't feel right to break with reassuring words. Not that Aurelia had any to give, she herself was just a baby adventurer, and she certainly hadn't faced greenskins and lived to tell the tale.

  That one time didn't count.

  Instead, she reached over and began to slowly rub Thessa's back. Trying to show her support even though she had no words to give.

  Thessa sniffled a bit, then began to sob.

  Everyone is entitled to ugly crying every once in a while, and this was definitely an appropriate time.

  Aurelia picked up the crying woman in her arms, and brought her into her p. The size difference meant that even though Thessa wasn't exactly a small woman, she fit into the curve of Aurelia's body easily.

  She rubbed the smaller woman's back, and slowly ran her other hand through her brunette hair. She coo-d softly, and began to gently rock back and forth.

  Aurelia hadn't known Thessa long, but she knew that she liked being the one to comfort her.

  SarcasticMisfit