—{Calira's Place}—
Just behind the tavern stood a modest house. In the top room, Calira leaned by the window, dressed in the same black T-shirt and loose grey trousers from behind the bar. A smoke trail curled from her lips, a cigarette held between her fingers, one arm crossed over the other.
Looking down at the street with her dull eyes she took a drag of her cigarette and let out another trail of smoke. Her messy hair clung to her face and her bangs pointed in a random direction.
Calira: She takes in the long breath of the same smoke she had let out. "..." She tilts her head. "... Thanks to them I could get out of there." She muttered to herself.
As the cigarette came to its last end and was about to inflict a burn on her finger, she dropped it. Just right at the flower pot at the window.
She looked down and noticed where the cigarette had fallen, she quickly picked it up and threw it at the ashtray. "Hadn't realised the flower pot was here. Mom would've killed me if she had seen this."
She walked to her bed, and picked up a hair comb from the bedside table. She calmly sat on the edge of the bed and started to comb her messy hair.
Just then the door opened and a woman walked in. She seemed to look somewhat similar to Calira. With the same black hair and black eyes. Though, she was much shorter. Maybe, 5'5.
Her hair was tied in a bun, wearing a white blouse and a green skirt she now stood in front of Calira looking down at her with her hands on the hips.
Calira who wasn't done fixing her hair lowered the comb and looked up at the woman, "Mom…? You want something?"
Mrs. Rustwood: "A sick child, Calira. They need that Lotus for medicine. You're going to help them get it." Her voice was sharp.
Calira: Sighs, "But i—"
Mrs. Rustwood: "I want no buts from you and don't you dare deny my young lady."
Calira: Drops the comb on the bed and tilts her head. Not a word came out of her mouth to which her mother raised an eyebrow, then she leaned back a bit, on the bed, "Why do you care?"
Her mother's eyes twitched the moment Calira asked that and Calira's jaw clenched as a frown appeared on her nonchalant face.
"I—I mean… You never forced me into a mission, did you? So why now?"
Mrs. Rustwood: leaned forward a bit, "Did you hear what they had to say?"
Calira shook her head, and her mother continued "That's it. You don't know. They are here for a medicine that a kid is in need of."
Hearing that Calira's eyes widens a bit but still doesn't speak a word. "And…" Her mother stopped between her words, she looked around the room and pinched her nose.
"Were you smoking again?"
Here her tone was a bit softer than before. Though Calira still hadn't said anything and only looked down.
"A child is sick. They need a Lotus. They came to the one place in this city they thought might have a hunter with both the skill to get it and the heart to understand why." She paused, letting that dig about 'heart' sink in. "You showed them the door."
Calira: Looked away, jaw tight. "It's not my problem."
Mrs. Rustwood: "You're right. It's not." Her voice changed, becoming quieter, more final. "Your problem is right here. It's the roof over your head that your father and I maintain. It's the food you eat, the stock you drink, and the back room you fill with smoke."
Calira finally looked at her, a wary tension in her shoulders.
"You want to live here as my daughter? You contribute. Not with crowns from jobs you won't take, but with the skill you refuse to use. This isn't a Guild contract. This is a house chore. A difficult, dangerous one. You will do this chore. You will help those children. And you will do it without complaint."
"Or what?"
Her mother's smile was thin when Calira asked that. "Or you live by the rules of a lodger. You pay rent for your room. You buy your own drinks. And you find somewhere else to smoke." She leaned in. "And I tell your father to stop saving the good whisky for you."
A long, heavy silence. Calira looked from her mother's unwavering face to the cigarette butts in the ashtray, to the familiar, comfortable mess of her room. She was being outmaneuvered on the only battlefield that mattered: home.
She let out a long, slow breath through her nose, the last of her resistance leaving with it.
Calira: "...Fine. One contract."
Mrs. Rustwood: Nodding, already turning to leave "See? Was that so hard? Now fix your hair properly. You look like a startled owl."
She opened the door to walk out but then stopped on her tracks, and then turned back to Calira. "And a reminder, it's not the brewing season. That Lotus they need isn't for our stock. It's purely for the medicine. So get it for them, and this is done."
And without much further conversation, she left.
"... Fuck."
Drops on the bed.
—{Back at the Tavern}—
Mr. Rustwood was cleaning a glass, with Jude who still had his head on the counter, Shirin, who now had a beverage in front of her but untouched. And Riven, hands on his lap, quiet, no drinks. And eyes looked like they were drained of life.
All of a sudden a voice came from behind the door that connected the tavern and their house. "Honey, she said she'll go." The voice wasn't too loud nor too low. But enough to be heard properly.
Jude, Riven and Shirin. The three of them had their eyes widened and mouths hanging. And Mr. Rustwood noticed it.
Mr. Rustwood: The corner of his lip curved upward when he noticed their reaction, he got his eyes back on the glass on hand, "That's a surprise isn't it?"
The three of them nod. "Well, it is for me as well." Mr. Rustwood said. "... Any drinks?"
Just then the door swung open and Calira walked in. Still in the same outfit as before, but something was different. Her hair. It was combed and her face was visible. Just by the appearance it was clear that she was old. Much older than the three. Maybe in her late twenties.
Calira: Stands beside her father with her arms crossed and head lazily hanging to look at a mop, "I'm in. What are the details?"
Jude was the one to speak out the details of the quest.
"That's it? I believe you can do it yourselves. Ain't that hard is it—"
"Your mom will be mad."
"..."
Sighs
"Tomorrow morning. Before the sunrise. Be present here."
"Now get out."
She said calmly.