Firmament

By Candelight

Mico finishes setting up the fire, and notices the time.

"Hey. Um. My shift ends soon and I should probably..."

"Oh, of course. And thank you, Mykolai. You're a real life saver."

Mico smiles, for once. "Um. You're welcome."

---

Twenty minutes later Mico arrives back to the guardhouse, opening the door as quietly as possible. The light in here is a sickly yellow, and uncomfortably warm on Mico's skin after coming in from the cool, dry night.

The clerk isn't there and the lantern's out. Mico sighs and heads past the corner, where the house crew are sitting around the table playing cards. The candle between them smells of beeswax and urine.

"Um. Symeon, sir, could you clock me out? Leszek isn't-"

"Eh?" the senior guard looks over.

"Leszek isn't here and I need-"

"Ah, of course you do, lad," he says, and heaves himself up with a groan.

Mico follows politely behind the man as he ambles to the clerk's desk, writes his signature next to Mykolai's name, and then heads round to the strongbox.

"What d'you say to perhaps joining us for a round of Black Lady tonight, lad?" Symeon slurs his words while fiddling with the key.

"Um, not tonight, sir. I just had a long shift."

Symeon mutters something else, and Mico nods noncommittally, not making out a single word. After a while, he gets the thing open and delivers Mico their ten silver Libra.

"Thank you, sir."

"Anyways, Y'sure you won't be joinin' us tonight? We were just fixin' to open the third bottle now." His teeth are yellow, and his breath is sour.

"No thank you, sir."

"Your loss." He smiles and trudges back to the table. Mico sighs and leaves.

---

How's Mico feeling?

Back at the inn, the very first theing they do is lock the door. The second is throw themselves on the bed.

It's late. They're tired. They're uncomfortable. The headache didn't go away all night and now they can't get the smell of piss and alcohol out of their nostrils. They're regretting the things they said to the kid, the awkward way they defused the situation with the thugs. They reach down to the satchel bag slung at their bedside, rifling through it for a moment...

They can't find it. They can't find it. Their medication isn't there.