The dagger entered through the hunter's neck in a spray of blood. His axe still swung blindly at her, the man's improved resilience letting him cling to life even through a slit throat, but Allana quickly Trick Stepped behind him, waiting for blood loss and poison to claim his life.

It didn't take long. Allana eyed the corpse with dissatisfaction. Since she had left Emeston, and the life of an assassin, behind, Allana hadn't had to kill any people. Monsters, sure, she had killed plenty of those. And she had fought Shaw and his men in earnest, lethal combat, but she had always managed to disable her enemies, rather than killing them.

Until tonight. First she had killed Met, the arrogant young leader of Cobble's hunters, in a fight so brief that it barely merited the name. Then this one had been left behind to slow her down, his defensive skill set allowing him to buy enough time for the wagon to get away–with Cadence still inside.

This one had been better than Met, but he still hadn't presented any real threat to a battle-gifted as experienced as Allana. She hadn't even learned his name before she killed him.

Still, Allana was disappointed, in herself as much as anyone else. She had begun to think she was better than she had been, that with the help of her new friends, she had started to grow out of the violent, deadly young woman that Emeston had turned her into. But when it came down to it, it was still far, far too easy for her to kill those who got in her way. Sure, she had tried to avoid it whenever she could–but once it was her friends at risk, she hadn't hesitated to put down the hunters that had tried to capture her.

Maybe she could've let them live. Met certainly hadn't presented any real threat. Could she have just hobbled him? Then she might even have a source of information on just what was going on in the valley.

But that thought hadn't even crossed her mind in the moment, no more than she had considered simply going around the hunter sent to distract her to keep chasing the wagon that had Cadence in it. It was so much easier to kill him–but now, she had no chance at catching the fleeing wagon.

Allana had thought being an adventurer was a way forward, a way to leave behind the lethality of an assassin. But she hadn't changed, and if being an adventurer had her killing just as much as when she was in Emeston, what was even the point?

In recognition of your creativity and sincerity, the Adventurer has offered you [the Gift of the Tinkerer].

You cannot accept a third gift at this time. Reach Initiate with both of your gifts to open up your third gift slot.

The notification now seemed to taunt Allana. Creative and sincere? No. That wasn't her.

She was a killer, plain and simple, no matter what she wished to be.

"Focus, Allana," she berated herself. Recrimination could wait. Things were moving too quickly for that.

She had no way to catch up to Cadence now, but she had a fair idea of where the hunters had taken the celestial. They were on the main road, and the hunters had been from Garol's militia. No doubt they were taking their prisoner back to Garol in Keystone.

Allana could take off right now and keep moving towards Keystone. Even if she couldn't keep up with the wagon, her stamina would let her set a brisk pace. She could probably reach Keystone by the time the sun rose… and then what?

She was just one Apprentice, and one that would be running without sleep at that point. She was good, sure, but Allana had no illusions about her limits. Even if the rest of the militia was closer in skill to Met than the second hunter she had fought, that didn't mean she could take a dozen of them at once–to say nothing of Garol, who would be both skilled and high levelled. She might be able to warn the Mendicant that the sheriff was up to something, but what would they be able to do? Powerful or not, they were a healer, not a fighter. They had said as much themself.

There was still Tenebres to think about, too. She had left the boy behind in Cobble, and while he had been confident in his ability to handle the three hunters he had been facing off against with his new level, there was no guarantee that his confidence was well-placed. He could very well be–

Nope. Allana refused to go down that path. She had to assume that Tenebres was okay. There was no other outcome acceptable in the girl's mind. And if he was okay… then he'd be coming after her, no doubt. Even boosted by his Sacrificial Victim, the boy wouldn't be able to match her pace, which meant she likely had an hour or more before he caught up to her.

She could double back to meet up with him, but that wouldn't help them get to Keystone any faster. So…

I need rest. The voice of pragmatic sense in her head sounded very similar to Geoffrey's, but she knew it was right. One way or another, there would be more fights coming, and she needed to be ready for them, not half-drained from abusing Trick Step. It felt wrong, with Cadence captured and in danger, but… there was nothing else she could do right now, could she?

Allana looked around and saw a tree nearby, something she could put her back against while still facing the road, and she eased herself down into a sitting position with a small sigh of relief. Though she had tried to ignore it so far, her heavy muscles and aching head weren't making her confusion and indecisiveness any better, and taking a few moments to relax was like a euphoric drug for the relief it provided.

While sleep was accepted as the best way to recover spent stamina and focus, any sort of real rest would do. Leading a wary life on the streets of Emeston had long since trained Allana to slip into the twilight state of not-quite-sleep that would let her attributes refill efficiently while still keeping her alert to her surroundings. Even with her brain whirling with indecision and guilt, she was able to slip into that restful mindset easily enough.

#

Allana cracked an eye the moment she heard the scuff of a footstep approaching her.

Around her, the darkness of night had begun to fade into the washed out, colorless gray of predawn. The body of her last opponent still lay, undisturbed, in the middle of the road, and not far from it was Tenebres. The boy was inspecting the twisted body with no small amount of satisfaction, his red eyes impossibly bright in the monochrome world around him. At that moment, he looked very different from the soft, sweet boy Allana had befriended in Emeston.

While it seemed a change in the boy, Allana knew that he had always had a ruthless streak hidden below the surface of his normally friendly personality. She had seen it from him the night he had insisted on helping her kill the chandler, Algus Heston, and it had emerged a few times since. Tenebres was naive enough that he might not even be aware of his own dark side, but Allana saw it clearly. Part of what had drawn her to him as his ability to put that ruthlessness away until he needed it.

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Allana stood up, taking a moment to stretch muscles that had gone tight in the nighttime chill. Tenebres turned his gaze to her, but there was none of the quiet hunger or flirtatious teasing that normally danced in his blood-red eyes. He was all business.

"Are you okay?" he asked. His voice was quiet, but in the stillness of the early hour, it was like a shout.

"Not particularly," Allana acknowledged. "But I can fight just fine. The rest of it can wait until we're clear of all of this."

Tenebres nodded, the harsh mask he wore cracking for a brief moment. Allana knew she wasn't the only one who would need some quiet conversation after all of this was done.

"Cadence?"

Allana shook her head. "They got away with her. This one was left behind to slow me down."

"Not that it did him much good."

"Gave them the time they needed, though," Allana said.

Tenebres nodded a grim acknowledgement. "Now what?"

"Keystone," she said confidently. "With all of these hunters involved, Garol has to be at the center of it all."

"Having the sheriff as her proxy would certainly make the hag's job easier," Tenebres agreed. "But can we take him? Not to mention the rest of his hunters?"

Allana shrugged. "In a fair fight? Probably not."

Tenebres's smirk reflected Allana's own thoughts on the matter, and neither needed to speak the obvious. Like it or not, they were both trained as assassins. Neither of them had any intention of fighting fair.

"At least you managed to get some potions," Tenebres said. "Anything good?"

Allana tilted her head. "What? This guy didn't have anything worth shit on him."

Tenebres responded with a furrowed brow, and gestured to where Allana had been sleeping. "Then… where did those come from?"

"What… the…" Sure enough, as Tenebres had claimed, there was a small, loosely-knotted cloth bundle sitting right next to where Allana had taken her rest. Peeking out through the top of the bundle were a few glass vials, each glowing with their magical contents.

Tenebres had clearly noted Allana's consternation, and approached her cautiously. "What is it?"

"Those weren't there when I sat down to rest!" Allana told him, unable to take her eyes off the cloth bundle. "I wouldn't have bothered taking the time if I could've just thrown back a potion or two!"

"Huh…" Tenebres joined Allana in frowning at the potions, then approached the bundle cautiously. When his proximity didn't draw any reactions, he crouched down and nudged it from a few different points. That, too, drew no reaction more notable than the slight chimes of bottles clinking against each other.

He looked over his shoulder at Allana, who shrugged, as baffled as he was.

"Doesn't seem like a trap," he noted.

Allana huffed and approached him as well, settling down next to the boy. "Then where did it come from?"

Rather than answering, Tenebres tugged at one of the loose corners of the bundle, which rapidly unwound. Inside of the simple cloth was no less than half a dozen different potions, glowing in a variety of colors and tones. They were even labelled, small affixed tags showing both simple icons and neatly written descriptions of each potion.

"Energy potions," Tenebres observed, pointing at the two of the vials. Inside each was a murky, greenish brown liquid. "Just like what Cadence used to keep in her flask."

Allana continued frowning at the surprising supplies. She didn't need much help to identify the others. Two were the bright, bubbling red of concentrated health potions, able to bestow a powerful, long-lasting healing effect, while the last two were a foaming orange that Allana recognized as restoration potions, capable of quickly replenishing all drained attributes at once.

Both youths had made use of such potions occasionally during their time with Geoffrey, but after his death, they were forced to make due without. Such potent elixirs were expensive in the extreme, and even after the rewards they had earned the previous autumn, it made much more sense to invest in cheaper , if less effective, options.

"Can we trust them, though?" Tenebres asked.

"Only one way to find out." Allana reached forward to grab one of the energy brews, trading a look with the boy before she threw it back. Fresh off her brief rest, her quintessence pool was near its max, and she could rely on her Poison Immunity to stave off any potential toxins.

Immediately, Allana realized that the potion was no fake. The normally thick, bitter liquid had a note of sweetness to it, almost like chocolate, and it took effect immediately. Allana jumped to her feet as energy flooded her body, like a river overtopping its banks. She didn't just feel rested, she felt energetic, even after everything she had been through that night. It was more than that, though–a warmth filled her limbs, chasing away the creeping vestiges of predawn chill. Suddenly, the winter air was bracing, refreshing, like she had just stepped outside after a night spent lounging in front of a roaring fire.

"They're the real thing," Allana told Tenebres, her eyes darting around her surroundings, suddenly feeling as if holding still was a waste of time.

"Okay," Tenebres replied hesitantly. "Shouldn't we figure out where they came from, though?"

"It doesn't matter," Allana said confidently, her doubts chased away by the inevitable joy of being warm and rested and ready to move. "We're adventurers–we just need to accept that this is normal and get moving."

Tenebres arched an eyebrow, and Allana smiled at him. A little part of her, previously forced into dormancy by the concerns that had brought them to the valley, was forced awake at the sight of his cute face, and she barely resisted the urge to lean down and kiss him on the spot.

"Take the other energy potion," she told him instead, "and grab the rest of them. We need to get moving."

"To Keystone?"

"Yep. We've got a sheriff to kill, a Cadence to rescue, and a hag to slay."

Tenebres huffed a small breath, apparently amused by Allana's behavior. "I'm starting to think this potion is laced with something."

"Why?"

"I don't think I've seen you like this since we left Correntry."

Allana shrugged, her smile burning away the last of her doubts. Yes, she had killed again. No, she didn't regret it. Both hunters had it coming. But at the same time, she didn't take any joy in it, not even a grim satisfaction. She did what she had to–but that still made her a different person than she had been on the streets of Emeston, when she would've killed without a second thought.

Like Tenebres, she had learned to put her hardest edges away, only exposing them when she needed to. It hadn't been easy to realize that in the freezing dark of the night, ashamed and guilty and worried and fatigued. But deep down, Allana knew that she was still becoming a better person, and that being an adventurer really was different than being an assassin.

"Let's go," Tenebres said, the energy in his voice echoing her own now that he had taken the other potion. The grimness in the boy had vanished as well, leaving behind only a reluctant determination to do what had to be done to rescue their friends, and the rest of Valley Hearth while they were at it.

It wasn't much later that the sun rose, and the first light of the morning saw Allana and Tenebres running towards Keystone, ready to put an end to the plot they had stumbled into.

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