Loosely Lawful | 13

Kyle’s condition sat over them at breakfast the next morning, as big and heavy as the man himself. He wasn’t on the verge of dying, certainly, but it was more injury than Sera had ever seen on him, and they all knew he’d suffered it to protect them. Sera tried not to imagine him wailing about missing protein as she nibbled at her granola bar and sipped her pine needle tea.

“You all look like someone died,” Avon complained, tapping a finger against the table. Dark circles hung like ballast bags under their eyes. They’d stayed up all night to let everyone else recover from magic exhaustion. “I tore two limbs off not three months ago.”

“Maybe if you weren’t so cavalier, people would actually feel sorry for you,” Sera spat. She took a long, nauseating pull of her tea before slamming the cup down.

“When’s he going to be ready, anyhow? I’d like to get back up there as soon as possible.”

Sera gaped. She ignored the way Kali and Benvolius’s eyes darted back and forth between her and Avon. “Are you joking? We’re not going back there until we figure out what’s in that spell.”

“Oh please,” Avon said. They leaned forward over the table, sneering. “You and Kyle and Ben have brought this job down to less than two hundred gold for each of us. We don’t have time to waste sitting on our asses.” Then they glanced at Kali and straightened out. “Besides, if we don’t finish the job within the week, the North Wilds Company is going to start offering it to the general public instead of on invite. We can’t let all this expense go down the drain.”

“This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t taken on a bollocks job anyway.”

“No,” Avon said, voice low, “this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t barged in.”

“Oh? You think you could have taken a thing like that on your own? It pummeled you,” Sera said, “while you were an elephant. I’ve never seen you forcibly de-transformed from being an elephant.”

At that, Avon clenched their jaw. They glared, eyes turning gold and catty, flashing in the single beam of sunlight that managed to snake its way into the room. “You know what? With some time and effort and a few magical traps, I bet we could have taken it. You’re the one who tired Kali out with this stupid contract-whatever”-

“It’s not stupid!” Sera fired back. “It was a vision! From my goddess! Besides, the monster literally came out of that “stupid contract,” so I’m almost positive you’re never going to defeat it until we figure out what’s really going on.”

Avon groaned. “Oh, please. It came out of that mist, not the spell.”

“No! It came out of the spell. I saw it,” Sera said. “You fucked off to Librata knows where, and the rest of us were playing catch. Kyle accidentally stepped over the line, and the monster was there in seconds. I saw the spell activate with magic-sight, and I saw the monster come out of it.”

And that, finally, caught Avon’s attention. They blinked at her, quiet, silence roaring around them in the shadowy expanse of the hostel dining hall. “So it’s your fault the monster even showed up in the first place? Because you three idiots decided to goof off?”

“I– Well.” Holy Librata did Sera want to go off. But… Avon wasn’t wrong. And if she thought about it for any length of time, Sera was really more upset with herself than- Okay. Not thinking about that. Quivering with her misplaced rage, she bit her lip and grit out the admission. “Yes.”

Technically, the catch had been Kyle’s idea. But they should have all been more aware of their surroundings when they played. They should have given the line more space, or kept the tosses safe. Sera shifted in her seat, looking anywhere but at Avon, who she was sure had the smuggest, most infuriating face on. She’d be willing to bet they’d even turned a little cat-like. Maybe they had whiskers poking out of some of their freckles.

“Savidge’s balls. Did you just admit to being wrong?”

“If you’re going to be an ass about it, then I’ll just take it back”-

“No, no,” Avon said, waving dismissively. For a split second, Sera saw the glitter of mirth and satisfaction behind their eyes, and then they closed up, professional and polite and wooden. “I uh. I actually appreciate it. Um. I mean, it’d be nice if you hadn’t fucked it all, but. Well.”

“We did learn something, at least,” Kali pointed out. She scooped up the empty cups and stacked them inside each other. Then, with a tidy flick of her wrist, the stack floated over to a trash bin across the room. “I’m positive we can locate definitive proof that the monster is an undefeatable aspect of a spell, which will be an easy win on the standard half-rate suit. And if the North Wilds Company knew about it”-

Sera could see where this was going. She crossed her arms and tried not to balk. “Nope. We are not going there.”

Avon pounced immediately, picking up right where Kaliko had trailed off. “Come on, Sera,” they said. “What have we got to lose?”

“Many things!” she squawked. “Our dignity? A hell of a lot of time and money? Our good standing with every other high-paying customer out there?”

Kali tapped a finger against the table, her face sliding into a glittery smile. “Come now, Seraphina. We possess enough evidence to win the easy part. If we’re going to take the risk of suing the North Wilds Company at all, we should be ambitious and aim for some real money.”

Sera gulped. “Punitive and compensatory damages, you mean.”

“Precisely.”

The sparkle in Kali’s eyes danced brighter. Avon sat straighter, curling a contemplative hand around their chin as they considered the idea. Punitive damages could rack up. The only thing was-

“You know we only get some of that payout, right?” Sera said. “Most of the punitive damages will go to the government. And we’re not going to get a ton in compensation, just the money we’re spending on the case.” Which, now that she thought about it, would include the market rate for legal fees that, due to Sera’s temple affiliation, they wouldn’t have to actually pay.

“Sera,” Avon said, with so much emphasis, so much intent, that she felt a shiver run down her spine. “Aren’t you a servant of the law goddess? Didn’t she literally send you here on a quest? For her?”

“Don’t do this to me.” Sera could already feel her arguments falling apart. She lifted her gaze in a silent plea to Librata, and then shot Benvolius a look. He, of course, just cowered.

“And as a servant of the law, isn’t it your duty to pursue entities that might not be playing fair?” Kali added. “I’d wager this is exactly what Librata intended. Perhaps there is some grand conspiracy at the heart of all this.”

Avon’s face turned cheshire-wide. Their eyes grew to slits, and they tented their fingers in a long, devious ripple. “Besides,” they said, “you wouldn’t want anyone else to get hurt, would you?”

This was awful. Avon was in it for the money. Kali was in it for the research. Sera would bet real money neither of them cared much for the justice of it all. But damn, if that last point wasn’t the nail in the coffin. She sat back down, landing with a thud on the bench, and glared. “Fuck you both. Fine. Let’s do this.”