9. Ifnan

**

It began with a memory from some time ago.

Early morning. He’d fallen asleep with the window open, and the dew-cooled dawn breeze had seeped into the blankets.

When Tarmin woke, he sat on the bed instead of getting up and tilted his head. He looked around, then easily recalled where he’d fallen asleep.

It was unmistakably that ruinously expensive inn in the crime-ridden city of Sebik.

The night before, while they wandered around looking for an inn, the two women had insisted—with remarkable vehemence—that mixed-gender lodging in crime-ridden Sebik was dangerous.

Tarmin alone had objected to the very end, but the Hero’s Party had ultimately spent the night in a luxury inn, dealing a major blow to the travel funds they’d need for the rest of the journey.

Tarmin sat alone in the room the men were using. The prince had apparently already gone down to the inn’s hall.

Just then, Enya came in, dressed in a black maid uniform.

“Taal, you’re awake?”...