Chapter 7

  "Now, who goes Adventuring, and why?" Zinos said.

  "Lots of people do,", said Tomar. "Mostly people who've have grown all the way up."

  "Quite right," said Zinos. "It tends to be people in their twenties and thirties. Do you know why?"

  "My brother went out," volunteered Aneirin. "He wants to be an innkeeper like papa, but we don't have the money to buy him his own inn."

  "That is the primary motivation. How do you get money from going adventuring?”

  "You learn to identify and take monsters apart, and you sell the parts to alchemists. Or you find stuff from before and sell it to a collector."

  "And some monsters hoard gold and silver, and even if it's not modern kingdom coins, the bank will buy them at a good rate and give you money you can spend," said Vanla. "I went with my uncle once to the bank and saw it."

  "Quite right," said Zinos. "We all want to help the Gods and the rest of the world and clear out the monsters, but no one can work a job for free."

  "That's why there's Adventurer's Guilds and quests posted, right?" asked Alandra .

  "Yes," said Zinos, "It keeps things orderly. The alchemist who needs ten horned rabbit horns to make a potion can post a quest, get the things delivered to his shop, and then take the quest down. That way, he doesn't get a hundred horns, which he doesn't need and can't store."

  Everyone giggled at the image.

  "And if the local town needs some bandits cleared out, they rely on adventurers."

  "Do you know why?"

  "’Cause town guards are for town problems," said Anerin confidently. "It's what my dad always says. Town guards are for people stealing or having a public fight, or tossing their night pot out the window instead of taking it down to the backhouse as they should. They make sure people who don't have any business in the town don't get in."

  "And that's the other reason why there is an Adventurer's Guild. The Guild gives people badges, and that proves that you are a person of good reputation and have some right to be there."

  "But you can still get thrown out, right?"

  "Well, of course. Just because you're a member of the Adventurer's Guild doesn't mean you can break the laws about fire-cover and being disorderly in public, or stuff like that,” said Anerin. You're usually expected to go in, stay at either the Guildhouse or the inn that they work with, and do your business and leave other people alone to do theirs."

  "And that is quite right. You learned a lot working with at the inn," praised Zinos. Now, is it cheap to be an adventurer?"

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  "NO!" said Anerin quickly. "I mean, the starting costs usually aren't that much: you can do small alchemical quests without even getting real armor. But the money's in the bigger ones, and the twisted nodes. And you want armor for that, and a good sword. And good potions in your pocket. Plus, if you're traveling, which they all do, you gotta pay for your food and your stay. My brother said it isn't nearly as expensive to stay with the Guild, but they still need their silvers to pay for the costs of running it."

  "And over time, Adventurers want to be comfortable when they come back," Zinos said. "They want nice beds and a good steam in a bathhouse and someone to wash living rough out of their clothes.They want a nice dinner in one of the more expensive taverns, and they want to take a few days off and get their energy back or learn a new technique. And that all costs money."

  They all nodded. “As Healers, how do we get money?” asked Timos.

  “Taxes, partly,” said Zinos. “And people pay for healing, not much, but we do ask them to pay. It covers things like the bandages and the herbal preparations we use. And anything larger, we have to buy from the alchemists just as they would, and those potions are priced in silvers, if not golds.”

  “Ouch,” said Vanla. “No wonder most people don't use them.”

  “You have to be pretty rich to just pour a healing potion down your throat,” said Anarin. “It's one of the things adventurers spend their money on.” He shook his head. “I'm glad that's not my path, personally.”

  “It's one reason why I'm gonna save my money really carefully once I start my work as a full Healer,” Alandra said. “It may be what I'm called to do, but the Gods help those that help themselves.”

  There was laughing agreement all around.

  That night Alandra inhaled and woke up, gasping. There were tears on her cheeks.

  "It's all right," Namira said, sitting up out of her bed. "You are here and safe and loved."

  "I'm really tired of having these dreams," Alandra said crankily. "I keep dreaming that I wake up and I'm back there, and my mother is telling me..." She inhaled on a sob.

  "That is a dream about your fear that you will be taken away," Namira said. "I promise you that when you were taken in and signed that you would obey and learn. The Abbot became your father in the eyes of the law, regardless of who sired and bore you. Your mother isn't your mother any more in law. She can't come take you away."

  "I...didn't know it was like that," Alandra said. "The others go and visit their families, or their families come here to visit, on the Eighth Day, and the Novices all get to go home over the SunHeight festival later on."

  "Well, you can rest easy," Namara said. "Even if she does come here over the Eighth Day or the SunDark festival, she can't come to you. Novices don't work in the main Temple. Only the professed and the petitioners do. Novices stay behind the walls. They have too much to do to worry about what's going on outside."

  Alandra nodded. They certainly kept her busy!

  "And if she does come and try to get to you, we have a plan."

  "What is it?" Alandra asked.

  "If she does come, we will have you do your next year of training at another Healing Court."

  "That...would be possible," Alandra said. "If she doesn't know where I am, she can't show up when I'm doing my shift as a Healer or helping direct people in the main Temple."

  "Exactly. And by then you'll be better. Not all better, but better enough that you won't need to sleep in my room and talk to me every other day."

  "And I won't have dreams?"

  "Everyone dreams, but you'll be able to tell them, "Go away, silly dream, I have a family and a home!"

  "I do have a family and a home."

  "Bigger than you know," Namira said. "All of us called by the Gods are family, and we all care for one another.”

  “Everyone is really good here. They don't get mad when you make mistakes.”

  “Well, why should we? People don't mean to make mistakes. The best thing we can do is to figure out how to clean it up and go on.”

  “I like that,” Alandra said sleepily.

  "Think you can sleep now, dear?"

  "Think so. Thank you, Sister."

  "Blessed sleep, Alandra," Namira said.