As the Dragonborn left, Caleb held his head in his hands. He was clearly exhausted from whatever this group had been up too but there was frustration bubbling underneath.

"No notoriety… that's the plan. Keep a low profile… that's what we agreed on."

She wished she could have caught more of his mumblings but the white noise of the tavern was simply too loud. Not to mention the pounding of her heart that was invading her ears.

Caleb Widogast. Of all the people, of all the places, of all the timing… Maybe the Moonweaver was in her favor. True, it had been years since she had seen him but still, they used to be good friends back in the day. Star student, Caleb Widogast. The prodigal Mage, born from nothing. The poster boy for greatness. Her old friend… her old-

She blinked hard, wiping the hopeful thoughts away from her mind. She couldn't get too excited. Just because she happened to run into someone she used to trust and look up to years ago, didn't mean he was trust worthy now. From what she remembered, he was such a talent that he was handpicked by on of the Assembly members to be their personal apprentice. That was such an honor for opportunities like that didn't come around very often, or ever. It had taken her another decade before she was handpicked by one of the Assembly herself but that was only because their old apprentice had died in a robbery gone wrong.

That was the last time she had seen him. Packing his things and boarding a carriage to be taken to their private schooling. He had been beaming with joy and confidence. She still remembered their goodbye. Sure, it had been difficult for her to say farewell. Hell, she had even made a fool of herself for crying. He had been one of the few true friends she had at the academy. But he had hugged her, thanked her for being her and all the great memories, promised to see each other again, and then he left. Left with his two friends who also came from nothing. They had always seemed close, those three. Perhaps it was because they came from the same town. Whatever the case, she knew that, when he had said goodbye to her and his other friends, the next time they saw him, he'd be unstoppable.

Until the news hit.

The town of Blumenthal had discovered and defended against a Xhorhas assassin group that had been making their way to Rexxentrum. Being a small and poor town, Blumenthal had little in the way of actually defending themselves or stopping the attackers. Luckily, the three students of Sir Ikithon had been visiting home that evening and were able to help defend and eventually defeat the invaders, but at a terribly high cost. Half the town was burned to a crisp with many people getting caught in it's flames or had been murdered by the assassin's. They never heard any specifics, but when the Sir Ikithon and his students eventually returned from their private studies with Caleb no where to be seen, she had assumed the worse.

But yet, against all the odds, here he was! At least… she hoped it was him. Perhaps her hope was getting the better of her logic. She needed to stay focused. Tilting her head slightly to left once more, she let his appearance wash over her once more.

While it had been years since she had last seen him, there was no mistaking him. Of course he was older and the unkempt small beard made it a bit trickier to identify, but the more she looked, the more undeniable he was. This was indeed Caleb Widogast.

However, he was different from the Caleb she remembered. When they were at school, he was always bright and had this air of eloquence around him that couldn't be replicated. Maybe that was what drew her to him in the first place. He was so focused, a genius and walked with his head held high. He never boasted but one could tell he was proud of himself. He was inviting and kind hearted boy, the shining sun of the Academy. She remembered he would constantly write home to his parents, telling them of all the wonderful things he was learning. That was the Caleb she had known.

The Caleb that stood next to her was a far cry from her memories. He was dirty, covered in mud and soaked to the bone, but she was willing to chalk that up to him traveling in a storm. His shoulders were hunched, head buried in his hands, his voice apologetic and quiet. No, he might be Caleb Widogast, but she was willing to gamble that he was a different man.

"Can I help you?"

Her body involuntarily took a sharp intake of breath as the Zemnian accent cut through her thoughts. Her eyes darted toward his face and locked into his icy ones once more. He sure was sharp.

Her fingers fidgeted with her water glass as she kept their eye contact. Her brain was racing. She had to come up with an excuse as to why she had been staring at him, twice now. After a few seconds, she shrugged cooly and turned away from him bringing her water glass up to her bottom lip.

"You friends ordered a lot of drinks and, please forgive me if this sounds rude to you, but you don't look like your the type of person who could afford a huge round like that."

She took a sip of her water as she brought her lavender eyes back to his gaze. A small broken smile breached his face as he nodded slightly while looking away.

"It does look that way doesn't it." his voice trailed off in an almost satisfied manner.

That certainly wasn't the reaction she was expecting. Her head cocked to the side as her eyebrow raised. Gods he looked exhausted.

"Long journey?" She asked innocently taking another sip of water.

He didn't answer immediately, instead opting the rub his mouth in thought.

"Hmmmmm ya. Very long journey." The words seemed to stumble out of his mouth as if he didn't care if she caught them or not, "What about you? Long journey?" She could tell he was trying to make some semblance of conversation even though his body language shouted how uncomfortable he was.

She smiled warmly at him as she took another sip, "Ya… long journey to God's knows where." A heavy sigh escaped her once more as she turned fully to him, twirling her glass in a playful manner. She hadn't expected him to be looking back at her. Strands of his redish-nrown hair falling in front of his face as he watched her warily.

"You should go see a medic for those." she pointed to her own face and neck to indicate the spots where he had bruising and cuts. He nodded quickly as he took another swig. He didn't look like he was going to verbally answer her so she continued, "I can help you with those if you short on change."

At this his eyebrow raised in curiosity. She had to admit, having a stranger offer healing after staring at you wasn't the most normal thing but she had to talk to him. She had to talk to him and see if he could help her.

"Are you a doctor or something?" Still quiet tone but she could tell he was now somewhat invested in this conversation. Or maybe that was because he was busy burying his gaze into her features, not unlike what she had done to him a few moments before. There were a lot of half elves wandering around but she was certain that meeting an olive skinned elf at a bar was new for him. He was examining her but the question she had was did he recognize her?

Another sip.

"Somewhat. I wouldn't say I'm a doctor but I do have abilities that will help with your wounds."

He said nothing as a response, opting to just watch her intently. She gave another friendly shrug, "Forgive me for being so forward. I just think that us traveller's have to help each other out."

Caleb's hand returned to rubbing the lower half of his face. It was an old quirk that hadn't left him. "Ah ja, thats true I suppose." His voice mumbled from underneath his hand, "Well, if your offering healing, I, uh, I'm I'm not going to say no. That's uh, very altruistic of you so uh, thank you."

His hand lowered from his face slightly as he continued to simply look at her. Her smile stayed warm as she took another drink of water.

"I can't heal you down here. I prefer not to demonstrate abilities in mixed company."

Another small cracked smile as he returned to his, almost polished off, drink, "I can understand that uh mindset. No need to draw undated uh attention that you uh uh can heal."

The stammer was new. Younger him would have never stammered, especially when discussing a transaction… She needed to talk to him privately, to get him out of this bar! What she had to discuss was too important for others to eavesdrop in on.

She leaned slightly closer to him. Her voice a bit more than a whisper, "I heard you and your group are the recent champions of the Victory Pit. The 'Mighty Nein' was it?"

As her body came closer, Caleb didn't move away but he did cock his head to the side to listen a bit more intently. When she moved, she hadn't noticed that her hood had moved back slightly on her head, release a few wispy strands of her white hair from hiding. She made sure to keep her Lavender eyes fixed on his. His fingers began to stroke his beard.

"So not entirely altruistic then…" he mumbled to himself.

"I might be needing some hired help, and campions of the Victory Pit isn't a bad group to hire in my opinion."

She made sure to keep her voice low, intent and as sincere as she could make it. She just needed to talk to him alone and, as far as she knew, gold was a good incentive to start a private conversation. In truth she didn't actually have the gold to even dream about hiring anyone, nor would she actually want to hire anyone. Just more collateral damage she didn't want on her consciousness.

She held her intense eyes on his as he continued to rub his small beard. He was thinking and he was thinking hard. His eyebrows were knitted together so tightly that it cast a small shadow onto his eyes.

"How much?"

That was exactly the reaction she had been hoping for. Her innocent smile grew a bit as she situated herself back onto her stool. She took the time to polish off her water, keeping him in suspense as long as she could. She knew how to play this game, she had been taught well.

"Now, now. Not in mixed company." As she finished her sentence, she slyly broke their eye contact as she returned to looking at nothing in particular, waiting for his response. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him still staring at, what was now the side of her head. The gears were turning and they were turning rapidly. However, she could tell he wasn't just mulling over her proposal. Something else had caught his attention.

A finally stroke of his beard and his hand finally fell away from his face. He glanced around, presumably looking for his friends, then polished off the rest of his drink. His weight shifted in her direction.

"Room 16, 2nd floor. I will meet you there. My friends are upstairs already and I'll see if any of them wi-"

She shook her head as a means of interrupting him, shooting a steely gaze back to him.

"Just you for now. I don't know if I can trust you or your friends yet. Go ahead and tell them if that makes you more comfortable but it would make me more comfortable to just speak one on one for now and not be surrounded by a group a strangers." He tongue was sharp and automatic. It almost sickened her how natural it was for her to weave lies.

His face was hard to read but he looked lost in thought again. Methodical as ever. He had been taken aback a touch at her interruption but as her sentence sunk in, his eyes seemed more understanding.

"Fine. Meet me there. But be warned," his voice became deeper and more gravely as the shadow over his eyes seems to darken slightly, "any funny business and it won't end well for you."

Instinctually, she recoiled slightly from such a strong gaze. A small flicker caught her eye as she could have sworn she saw a small flame flash from one of his fingers to the was slipping from her power position. Taking a moment to regathering herself, she ended nodded politely.

"Understood." Her voice wavered a touch as it left her mouth, "I'm assuming you and your friends have dealt with 'not so nice people' in the past to warrant such a defensive reaction."

At this, he faltered. The shadow that had been encroaching on his eyes lifted and the fire light once again danced over his face. The hand that she thought she saw ignite a spark, ran through his hair in a slightly sheepish manner. A deep sigh emitted from him and as his hair pulled away from his forehead, it revealed his swollen temple. Empathy began to grow inside her chest.

"Or I'm guessing you've just had a bad day and are on edge…"

A small, half hearted, chuckle escaped his lips as his hand returned to his side, "Ya… my my apologizes… it just- it's-it has been a day."

Her warm smile returned as she raised her water glass to him, "I can drink to that."

Instead of his usual broken smile, a tiny genuine one found it's way on his face. For a brief second, she saw her friend emerge under this battle worn man.

She pushed herself off of her stool so that she was now standing next to him, her stool almost immediately being jacked the moment she left it. He had grown since she had last seen him but that was to be expected. When they had been at school together they were the same height but now, he definitely was at least a good foot taller than her. Looking up at him felt weird to her but she met his eyes again as she place a hand gently on his shoulder.

"Let me heal you first before we talk business. Quite frankly my friend, you look like you've seen hell."

He didn't react to her hand on his shoulder, instead his eyes continued to examine every inch of her. He nodded slowly as he leaned back against the bar.

"Many thanks for that in advance…" his voice trailed off, almost as if he wasn't really focused on what he was saying, instead concentrating on what ever thoughts were swirling in his head.

Another warm, reassuring smile from her before she leaned over the bar to get Wessek's attention. It took a minute but he did slowly make his way over to them, bearing is jovial smile as he came.

"Yes?"

"I'm finished for the evening and just wanted to say goodnight!" She said in a sing song voice as she passed him 5 silver pieces. "Keep the change hun."

As he scooped up the coin, his smile widened back at her.

"You're too sweet hun. I'll see ya in the morning!"

"Oh before you go," She turned her attention back up to the Zemnian man, "Are you sure you can afford all these drinks?" her teasing tone was reenforced by a the playful glimmer in her eyes. At this, she could see the smallest hint of color under the fuzz that was growing on his cheeks. His eyebrow raised slightly in an amused way but nothing else about him gave him away. His tiny smile he hid once more behind his hand.

"Y-yes. I'm good." He voice was a bit stronger as he answered.

"Oh good!" She whipped her head around, bringing her attention back to her bartender friend, "Then I guess it is truly goodnight! I'll see you for breakfast!"

Wesson glanced quickly between the two before grabbing her water glass and the now empty cups in front of Caleb. She almost didn't catch the small wink from the sheer size of the Dragonborn as he turned away and back to his other clients.

With her tab closed, she turned to look across the room. She guessed she could watch the rowdy card game that was happening before she went to meet with Caleb but that seemed like a lot of people work she didn't want to deal with right now. She would go to her room and wait. But then she'd need a way to get into his room without drawing suspicion. She had no guarantees that he or his group of friends were still working with or along side the Academy or the Assembly. She needed to make sure he didn't know where she was staying. The more of a ghost she was, the better. Bird infiltration is was.

She could feel his eyes on her during her thoughts. Indeed when she looked back up towards him, his eyes were on her. His hand still over his mouth and the rest of his face had returned to his regular thinking scowl.

"Leave your window open. twenty minutes." Her voice was low so the room noise would drown it out to unwanted ears but she made sure to point it in his direction. Again, not much of a reaction from him. So she took that as her sign to leave and wait. But, the moment she took a step away from him and towards the stairs, his voice entered her ears.

"Have we met?" Unlike a regular tone for a question, his was monotone, plain. A bit like he was stating a fact rather than asking a question. She stole a glance at him once more. His familiar face brought back so many memories for her. Even if he was still working for them, she knew how to get away. She was hidden from their sight and he looked pretty worse for wear as it was. She could take him if she needed too. Plus she had an escape route and plan. However, something was pulling at her in her gut. Things just didn't add up. People don't just appear back from the dead… She could take this risk. Everything was calculated in her favor even if things did go wrong but still… there was something.

She didn't mean to take as long a pause as she had but eventually she let out a small sigh as her eyes softened. Her face allowing the exhaustion to set it as the fear create back into the corners of her being.

"Classmate #13, needs you're help…"

Her voice was nothing but a breathy whisper and she wasn't even sure if it had reached him. She wasn't about to repeat it.

A full minute past as the two of them stared at each other, one with an inquisitory, harsh gaze and the other unguarded. It felt like an eternity to her but then he moved. Realization was crashing into Caleb faster than he could process. His eyes grew slightly bigger while his hand dropped slightly from his face. Undeniable sadness, nostalgia and a hint of fear were quickly gathering in his eyes. There had been a crack in his uncaring armor.

"Twenty Minutes." She hissed at him as she broke from those newly expressive eyes. Without a single glance or another pause, she quickly and gracefully maneuvered her way through the crowd, disappearing up the stairs.

A/N;

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