7 Conditions

"C-c-co-managers?!" Graff choked from his pipe's smoke but stabilized with Frina's pats on his back. His beady bourbon eyes were a field wide. It was something unheard of, an unusual trend these days, he thought. He ran his fingers on his ginger beard. He glanced with a bowlful of distaste at Athalos. "So me and the blind one work together?"

Athalos furrowed his brows. He simply didn't understand. "So what Lady Maya said wasn't a spell to kill the dwarf?"

Maya shook her head and explained, "Graff got it right. You two will work together. I trust you, Athalos, I really do, but Graff here knows the business. So if you both want to help me, compromise and teamwork will be key to my path."

"Hmph." Athalos crossed his arms like a child but his defenses soon melted away. He groaned, "Fine! But only because it is what Lady Maya wishes! And don't blame the sightless if I prod the dwarf with my staff!"

"That's a start but that's good enough for me." Maya smiled. She knew that while Athalos had his difficulties, he had a good heart. If didn't have one, he wouldn't have helped her from the wolf.

"This path yer talkin' about…" Graff leaned in and his shiny nose twitched. He had a knack for sensing hidden truths, especially when he evaluated talent. And his nose twitched immensely. "Praise, fame, and coin… I know when one's after 'em but something's tellin' me yer not just runnin' furnace-aflame at 'em. Yer also after a whole different game, Lady Maya."

"Heh. Looks like you do know what you're doing, Graff." Oh how Maya wished she had a pair of glasses to press on the bridge. She raised up two fingers. "That brings me to my second condition."

"Do tell," urged Frina. Not only did the manner of business intrigue her, she thought why didn't she place conditions before she signed up for the troupe.

Maya kept her voice low. "I want to take down Io Hara. That part's non-negotiable."

Graff was stunned and Frina, who was at his side, dropped her lute and banged it up even more. The dwarf knew there was a fire in his new found talent but he didn't expect it to rage like a monsoon. He knew, seeing her blue eyes that didn't blink, she was as serious as a calamity. And his nose didn't twitch once. "Yer a lion, Lady Maya. That's an order taller than all the dwarves sittin' on each other's shoulders."

"Lady Maya." Athalos was unusually calm but his eyes looked even greyer than they were. He clenched his staff with both hands because the words he spoke were tortured. "I might fight you one day but I would not, dare not, fight thy- your wishes. If you would have me, I am steadfast in assisting you so."

"Thank you, Athalos. As for the fight, we'll get there when we get there." Maya patted him on the shoulder. She knew it was a tough ask for Athalos who earlier in the night expressed his admiration of her rival. The thought of a physical fight frightened her but she had to say it earlier than later. She turned to Graff and asked, "Are you in?"

"I'm in." Frina's decisive voice took them off guard. Unlike the two men, she didn't need a second of contemplation.

"Frina?!" Graff was taken back the most. He had known her for more than a year and he was certain all she cared about was her experimental music which he thought was the odd bad egg that she could do without.

"For the sake of music, she must go." Frina churned the strings of her lute. "She fills this world with too flowery, sappy songs. It casts a shadow on my art. Those cries of animals will be heard."

Maya wasn't sure of Frina's reasons but she saw her in a different light other than a weird bard who desperately needed a bath. But if the animals needed a voice through Frina, she gladly accepted another comrade.

"Io Hara…" the name escaped from Graff's dry mouth. Living in the brutal business of song, he knew about dreams all too well but also the risks. The crushing of a dream equalled the crushing of the soul. He feared that for anyone, especially those he took to his guidance, such as Frina.

Graff spoke in the most sober voice he'd spoken all evening. "I always tell those under my wing to reach for dreams by the tree and not the skies. It's painful but it's grounded. The fall hurts less if the stars refuse to align. But maybe, seeing ye with the passion of the sun… Maybe I've been too used to plantin' me feet on the soil. How can I dismiss a powerful emotion like that?"

"Graff…" Maya resonated with what he said. For the longest time, she kept her head down for too long. With a trip to another world, with a night of acceptance from others, with a moment of realizing that it was okay to be herself, she knew something changed in her and she wouldn't let that go. Not anymore, not ever.

Nobody realized that Graff was already seated cross-legged on the table in front of Maya. Back straightened, he extended his small hand to her and spoke with an earnesty rarely found in a small tavern in Dernham. "It'll be a hell of a ride and back but ye got me, Lady Maya. I say let the path to greatness open."

Maya, teary-eyed, gladly shook Graff's hand. She knew that along with Athalos and Frina, this was a partnership worth valuing.

Graff crawled on the table and retrieved the parchment he brought out earlier, the notice of salutation. He spread it before them and urged Frina to huddle with them. He took out a quill of ink and grabbed the mangled rooster feather from Athalos' hat. He flipped to the clean slate of parchment behind and signed his name. He handed the inked feather tip to the others with a smile on his smooth face. "Come on ye boot-slackers! We gotta get this show on the stony path!"

Frina nabbed it before Maya could. She thought nothing of it but a senior's privilege. As she signed her name, she said with a rare smile, "May the ravens be heard not only at night and in death."

Maya went next and said, "To take a bitch down."

All three of them looked at Athalos, who smiled aimlessly at the momentous gathering. Graff cleared his throat, "So…"

But then Maya knew exactly what to do. She grabbed the quill, a little splattered on the parchment. To Athalos' pleasant surprise, she took his thumb and dipped it in. She ignored his 'What manner of hole is this?' comment and pressed his inked thumb by their names. "There."

Graff shouted across the tavern to Miss Maple for drinks around the table. Frina went into a trance of strumming her lute. Athalos jived his shoulders but then picked his nose with his inked thumb; What an odd choice of finger thought the other three who decided to keep silent. Maya was ready to commemorate the moment and go all out and dance like a frenzied cat- as she had been told before- but the dwarf had more to say that had to get out of the way.

"Yer not a bard yet are ye, Lady Maya?" asked Graff. "Me thought you were a jester with yer garments but whew! Dodged a poison-spiked arrow there!"

Maya shook her head. She thought about telling him she wasn't from this world, that somehow she and Io Hara arrived here, but it was a truth too heavy for that night. She admitted as much as she could, "I'm not from around here."

"Ah…" Graff nodded and scratched his nose. "Well. Seems to me the basic necessities are called for."

"What do you mean?" asked Maya even when she was afraid to.

"A license!" exclaimed Graff like it was an obvious truth to all who wished to tread the path of song. "Don't ye shake like a tree in a storm now! We head for the nearest guild hall, a little scribble on fresh tax-paid parchment, we take a dungeon quest and before ye know-"

"D-Did you say dungeon?" Maya blinked once with dramatic effect. She thought she didn't hear but in truth, she didn't want to hear that word at all. Cold sweat dripped from her temples.

"A dungeon?! " Athalos was thrilled. His fists shook in anticipation like a pair of maracas. He shouted at the ceiling, "Salvation! I've been banned for so long! You lot have no idea how sweet those words glaze upon my soul!"

Miss Maple arrived with their drinks and food. She leaned into Maya's ear and whispered, "Blind ones aren't really prohibited from dungeons. Those with the skill can go alone just fine! But Athalos here… Let's just say he joined a party once and it was his last. …And I wouldn't leave a bow with him."

Maya entertained the thought of trading Athalos for Miss Maple. As she watched the owner leave to tend to other tavern matters, her confidence waned even more. With a worried look, she gulped the ale like a fish.

"Aye!" Graffed raised his pipe like a sword. Embers went to their signed parchment but he quickly stomped the fire out. He noticed Frina's glare but ignorance was bliss. He wiped his forehead, "Whew! I almost burnt our- But aye! We'll be back for supper and song before ye know it!"

Maya felt queasy. It was the one certain thing she wanted nothing of: fighting monsters. She recalled how she let go of the rusty sword and how she barely left with her life in the encounter with the wolf. What kind of monster would try and take a bite out of her rear this time? A goblin? A manticore? A dragon? A King Ghid— "Oh god."

Whatever drove their desires in their partnership, everyone got plastered in ale, song, dance, and, solely Athalos, ink. The joyous night continued until glorious stupor. Maya soundly dozed off with her hands sprawled over the table with the smile of a nice dream. And while the rest of the troupe slumbered in drunken safety, nobody could have foreseen the peril they would soon face.