Only minutes after entering the club, Maria led us right back out of it. Surprisingly, though, we didn’t leave from the front door. Instead, she led us further into the building and through the staff quarters. In moments, we had entered what looked like a sizable kitchen. Liora and I stood off to the side while Maria bent down to whisper in the ear of a shorter-than-average, portly-looking Dwarven Chef. Whatever she said to him caused his eyes to flicker our way consideringly, before he nodded back to Maria and got back to work looming over the other staff in his domain.

  Once back upright, Maria jerked her head to follow her, and opened the back door of the kitchen along the far wall. The other side led to the back alley behind The Aviary, and I was expecting her to follow it back out onto the main street, presumably where she could lead us to wherever Sparrow was.

  Who…Maria was apparently keeping up with?

  Instead, she led us further down the alley, in the direction that led deeper into the maze of alleys that defined the heart of the Blutstein business district.

  Following a distance behind Maria, I leaned closer to Liora. “What’s this about?” I whispered to her. “Is there something up with Sparrow?”

  To my surprise, the Gnoll woman shrugged, a slight note of frustration evident in the gesture. “I don’t know. Most of our comrades I discovered through my business with Isolde, but not Sparrow. I never found where he had gone.”

  “The answer to that question,” Maria piped up smugly, somehow overhearing our conversation. “Is underground. He went underground. Well, figuratively. You’ll see. It’s not that much further.”

  Liora and I separated, a little embarrassed. In retrospect, it made sense that someone with just as much, or even more, espionage training would be able to hear us, even when we were trying only half-heartedly to be quiet. I coughed into my fist awkwardly and just resumed following Maria quietly.

  She led us out of the alley behind The Aviary and into another, connecting one. And then another, and another, until it felt like we had traveled in a spiral here in the business district. Eventually, though…

  The final alley she led us through opened into something unexpected.

  A massive empty lot, somehow hidden right in the heart of Blutstein. It was honestly big enough that I felt you might be able to fit the entire main hall of the Academy inside of it, and that wasn’t a small building. And compared with the general propensity of Blutstiniens to build upwards, the surrounding walls of the space were certainly quite high. But empty didn’t mean unoccupied.

  This…almost looked like a camp. A homeless camp.

  The entire lot was packed with tents of all shapes and sizes, shelters thrown together through shattered masonry and splintered boards, or even simply lean-tos made of driftwood stolen from the harbor. They were so densely packed that it felt like there was an actual maze inside these four walls, meant to lead the unwary astray. Long rolls of cloth and blankets were stitched together far overhead and nailed into the walls of the lot, stretching from one end to the other to create scattered patches of shade. Somewhere over the tops of the shelters, I could see many different curls of smoke drifting up into the sky, to join the innumerable others streaming from the myriad towers of the business district. Smaller lamps, and even some outright torches, helped illuminate the dark parts of the camp. Perfectly camouflaged, really.

  And scattered all throughout the densely packed lot…were the homeless. Hundreds and hundreds of ragged, hopeless homeless. The light from so many caught flames caught on their eyes, shining out of the dark. Some, I could tell, were lean and dangerous-looking discarded veterans. Others simply looked like they had nowhere else to go, either down on their luck or bereft of it. To my quiet dismay, I saw more than a few distressingly young faces peering out of the shadows of the shelters. I was a bit ashamed to be relieved that there were more teenage younger residents, than those who were Aveline’s age or under. But those still existed, and it broke my heart to see them.

  This…must be where the lost of Blutstein congregated. I had to admit, it was surprising that it was here in the middle layer, and not the lower.

  “Welcome…” Maria said softly, jolting me out of my observations. “To the Catch. Sparrow is inside. C’mon, I’ll lead you to him.”

  Sparrow was in here? Why? The man had been one of the highest-level Classers in the Nocturne Division. Next to Hook, Serpent, and Crook, he might have been number four among our little group of assassins and spies. Perhaps even as high as his three hundreds. What was someone as strong as that doing in a homeless encampment? Even in a worst-case scenario, the man would have been able to just go Core hunting and make more than enough for a comfortable living.

  As I followed Maria into the camp, I was aware of more than a few hostile-looking eyes following us through the maze. I winced as I realized just why that was. I was still in my poofy noble disguise I had shown up at the Aviary in, and Liora was still in her maid outfit. The result was that I could almost feel the bloodlust being directed my way by the unfortunate of the Catch, and I didn’t blame them. There were few people you could directly point the blame toward, for the circumstances they found themselves in. The nobility were certainly part of that group.

  I think if Maria hadn’t been recognized by the residents, then I probably would have been torn to pieces. Maybe even thrown into a pot.

  Liora probably would have been fine, though.

  The path through the Catch eventually led into what seemed to be a larger space in the center of the lot. It almost seemed to be the equivalent of a town square, with many different tents and shelters ringed around a decently sized fire pit, lazily crackling through what looked like a pile of driftwood. There were quite a few different vagrants sitting around the fire, either talking quietly or cooking simple meals over the flame. However, when Maria stepped into the circle with Liora and me in tow, the conversation abruptly died. I fought the urge to squirm in place under the weight of their eyes, as someone broke away from the fire and approached us. They looked to be a female patterned Sculpted, hewn from a wood that would normally be a pale blonde. However, they looked a bit…stained, overall, leading to a somewhat grimy exterior, and to top it all off, they were missing their left arm. I tried not to stare.

  “Maria,” The female Sculpted said quietly, nodding to my old comrade. “Is something wrong? We weren’t expecting you for a few days, and certainly not with two…others along.”

  It really wasn’t hard to read the quiet hostility in her gaze.

  Maria just smiled at the Sculpted woman and shook her head. “Oh, don’t mind them. These two fools,” She said, nudging me in the ribs with an elbow. “Just haven’t changed out of their disguises yet. They aren’t actually nobs.”

  Well…I was a Knight, which was fairly close. But I’m not sure she knew that.

  The tension in the air ratcheted down a bit as Maria kept speaking. “I’m just bringing them here to see Sparrow. We’ve got some stuff to talk about. Is he in? I know he likes to wander, some nights.”

  The still unnamed Sculpted woman opened her mouth, but didn’t get a chance to speak, before a voice called out from one of the surrounding tents. A familiar one that I hadn’t heard in quite some time.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “I’m here, Maria.”

  A tall, ragged figure stepped out of the tent, ducking their head as they entered the flickering light of the circle. The man was tall, with a few inches on me, sporting long, unruly blonde hair tied back in a sloppy ponytail. And when I say ragged, I mean that literally. He was wearing a loose collection of stitched together coats that formed a patchwork whole, over a simple, grimy set of equally frayed trousers and tunic. The man wasn’t even wearing any shoes as he approached us.

  Still, I was happy to see him, despite the unfortunate circumstances it seems he had fallen into.

  I met his pale brown eyes as he smiled at us wanly.

  “And I know these people,” Sparrow said quietly, a tired smile visible through the patchy beard covering his lips and cheeks. “After all, we were comrades, once upon a time.”

  ………………………

  I accepted the bent tin mug that Sparrow-

  No, Alex.

  -handed me, over the weakly burning iron stove in his tent. There wasn’t much in here other than the stove itself. Just a frayed cot, a pile of dirty clothes, and the various small stools we all sat upon.

  Strangely, I didn’t see any of the animal companions that I knew Alex had back in the Division. To the best of my knowledge, the man had pursued the path of the Beast Tamer subset of classes, with a focus on avian companions. He’d had a small flock of his own birds, and typically had at least one of them that followed him around. I didn’t see a single feather in the entire tent.

  I politely took a sip of the tea in the mug and did my best to hide the resulting grimace. This was really cheap, foul tea. I bet at least half the grounds were sawdust, from the taste of it. Still, literal beggars aren’t choosers, so I bore with it.

  Alex saw through me, though. A short laugh escaped his lips, but it didn’t last long. “Sorry about the poor fare, but we don’t really have anything better.”

  I rapidly shook my head. “No, no, it’s fine! Really, I don’t mind.” To prove it, I took another sip of the wooden tasting water and nearly gagged on it.

  Liora had more sense than I did and simply set her own mug down on the grassy floor of the tent. There was an unusually concerned expression on her furry face as she stared at our old comrade. “What happened, Alex? I thought you were working with the Bluebacks.”

  To our surprise, a scowl sprouted on the faces of both Alex and Maria at the mention of the naval intelligence branch. “He was, and that was the problem,” Maria muttered darkly.

  “I’m guessing you didn’t hear,” Alex said, shaking his head.

  “Hear what?” I asked, ping-ponging my gaze between the two of them. “Was something…wrong with them?”

  A short, bitter laugh escaped the man’s lips then. “You could say that.” Alex sighed. “The problem was…the Bluebacks were…” He seemed to grope for words for a moment, looking supremely frustrated.

  Maria finished his sentence for him. “Assholes. Complete fucking assholes.”

  I was surprised at the level of sheer bitterness she packed into one word, especially when I don’t think she had ever worked for them.

  “Yeah, that,” Alex said with a wan smile, shrugging his shoulders uncomfortably. “They didn’t care about us at all. Of the four of us who joined up with them after the Division was dissolved, I’m all that’s left. Everyone else…they died. Us Nocturnes, we were just too…valuable, I suppose. We were better trained, higher level, and we had more experience in actual fieldwork that wasn’t out on the open sea. The result of that was they used us, and they used us often. For months, the four of us were in and out the door, doing whatever was asked of us, at a rate we’d never experienced. We…weren’t even typically assigned together when we were on a mission. There was just too much that needed to be done, too far apart. The exhaustion got to us. We got sloppy, and because of that…”

  “You died,” Liora said quietly. I grimaced at the implications.

  In the Division, you were never asked to be constantly working the way he was describing. Not even when you were in deep cover in a populace were you meant to be always ‘on’, so to speak. You always had days between missions and assignments, just so you could relax and decompress. The leadership of the Order, and more importantly, Hook, had always understood that espionage was a very mentally taxing job. If you pushed someone too hard in such stressful conditions, they broke. And it was hard to replace people with the specialized training that made them capable Agents. It was why it had been outright impossible to reform the field team of Nocturne Division Agents when we’d been devastated.

  It seemed like the Bluebacks hadn’t understood that.

  “We died,” Alex confirmed, soul-deep exhaustion evident in every line of his body. “One by one, until I was the only one left. And then, I broke too. I lost everything.”

  I took a deep breath. “I noticed that none of your companions are around.”

  “They’re all-” Alex’s voice broke momentarily, at the same time his composure did. Maria laid a comforting hand on his and squeezed. The other man clung to her like a lifeline as he took a shuddering breath. “They’re all gone. All of them. Without them, I’m…nothing, really.”

  “Stop,” Maria interjected firmly, squeezing his hand again. “You know that’s not true.”

  Alex was quiet for a moment. “Maybe,” He whispered, before shaking his head. “But my entire build is defined by having…companions. Familiars. Without them, I’m not much of a combatant. Even if I’m higher level, everyone here could dispatch me with ease. So, when the war was over, and there was none of the backpay I was promised, and I couldn’t make a living even as a hunter…I had nowhere to go. I somehow ended up in the Catch, and the rest is history.” He looked away. "And I just...don't have the heart to train anything...new."

  Maria snorted, shaking her head before gracing Liora and me with a wan smile. “The actual history is that Sparrow is the heart of this camp nowadays. Everyone here looks to him as their unofficial leader. He may not have his familiars anymore, but he still has more reconnaissance experience than maybe a handful of people on the continent, and the level to command respect. The Catch was way smaller before he came along, because Alex has been working to draw everyone he can find who really needs help to the lot. Funny enough, they heard me call him 'Sparrow' once, and now they look up to him as that name. Unfortunately…” Her smile dimmed. “Resources are thin on the ground, trying to help this many people. I help as much as I can, and some of the staff at the Aviary do too. But it’s not enough.”

  “We’re getting by,” Alex chimed in, with a surprisingly stubborn note in his voice.

  Maria just ignored his protest, pinning me in place with her gaze. “And now we’re back to my question to you, Nathan. You said you want to build a new Martial Order, something that doesn’t want to fight people, so much as help them.” At her words, Alex drew back in surprise. “So, I ask you. Are these people deserving of your help?”

  I took a deep breath…

  And nodded.

  “Yes,” I said strongly, trying to treat this moment as seriously as she was. “They are. My, no. Our goals would involve helping everyone in the Catch, just as much as they would all of the people I started this for. There are funds to get things off the ground, both from me and other sources. There are people with both specialized skills and the will to help make this work. I have a firm enough position in the court, both as a Knight, a crafter, and as Grey’s apprentice. There’s a possibility of getting a royal remit to found this new Order, courtesy of Princess Isolde-”

  More than anything, that caused Alex to outright goggle at me.

  “-and we all know just how rare official royal support for new Martial Orders is,” I continued, drawing from a lecture on Martial Orders via Professor Altaburry a few weeks ago. I’d actually toyed with the idea ever since then, entirely because of him. There just hadn’t been the impetus for it until now.

  “In point of fact…” Liora said with a sly smile. “There have only ever been two. The Eclipsed Dawn and the Solstice’s Flame. All other currently operating Martial Orders are privately founded. And with the exile of the Solstice’s Flame, and how they’re not looking to return to Herztal, there’s a gap in the power structure of the Orders. But with Isolde’s backing…”

  “Comes a great deal of legitimacy,” I finished for her. “So, yes. If we do this together…there’s a lot of good we can do for a lot of people. More than you even know, in fact.”

  “That’s…crazy…” Alex whispered. I noticed his hand was clenched tightly enough around his own mug handle to be shaking. But I don’t think it was from fear.

  It was anticipation.

  “Perhaps,” Liora said, in a more peaceful, gentle tone than I’d heard from her in a long time. “But bold, as well. And bold action is needed.”

  Maria nodded slowly, a genuine smile growing on her lips. “If you’re telling the truth, Nathan…then I’m in. And I know more than a few people who would be willing to contribute. There’s more will in the business sector to solve our growing problems than you know.”

  “And…” Alex said slowly, looking like he was exploring things mentally already. “So, so many people who need a livelihood, even if they don’t want to actually fight and grow as a Classer. A proper Order, even one that’s aiming to be different… there are so many background roles needed to keep it running. An entire bureaucracy, really. Jobs, stability…” He shook his head, set down his mug, and met my eyes. “I’m in too. If you’re serious about this.”

  “I promise both of you I am,” I said with a wide smile, before leaning forward conspiratorially. “But now that I've caught your interest, let me fill you in on the real reason I started this…”

  As I started to explain the task that had been dropped on my shoulders by Bleddyn, I could just tell.

  They were totally on board with it.