Mastery Is Earned

Tessa sat by the window, her slender fingers moving slowly across a page. Soft evening sunlight filtered through the gauze curtains, falling on her long red hair and the pale backs of her hands.

“The accounts are beautifully done,” she said softly. “But the slavers’ dues don’t add up. Their shop has expanded again, hasn’t it?”

The people standing before her desk kept their heads down, none of them daring to speak. At last, a young clerk answered quietly, “Yes, my lady. Their shop has expanded. But you know, that place is...”

“I don’t care whose shop it is. If they’re operating here, they follow my rules.” Tessa raised a slender finger to cut him off. “Just tell him to pay the difference.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Tessa set the ledger back on the desk, leaned lazily into her chair, and stretched, resting her long, shapely legs on the desktop.

The young clerk stepped forward respectfully to collect the ledger. His eyes strayed to her legs, and he swallowed. He knew he shouldn’t stare, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. Then he looked up to find Tessa watching him, her alluring face wearing a faint, knowing smile. He broke into a cold sweat, turned, and hurried away without lingering.

Tessa smiled and thought nothing of it. She knew that look well. Almost every man who met her wore something similar. It neither surprised nor offended her. Men paid more attention to beautiful things, didn’t they?

Once she had finished stretching, Tessa settled back into her chair. She took out a sheet of parchment, dipped her quill in ink, and began to write. Her handwriting was nowhere near as beautiful as she was. Then again, unlike others, she hadn’t received an elite education growing up.

She finished the letter quickly, folded the parchment, and tied it with a thin cord. She pressed warmed, softened wax over the knot and the fold, then removed her ring and pushed it firmly into the wax. Once the seal had cooled, she clapped her hands.

“Someone come in.”

“My lady.” A lean man emerged from a nearby room.

“Deliver this letter to the harbormaster.” Tessa handed it to him, then took out a small purse. “Take this as well.”

“Yes, my lady.” He accepted both and left the room.

Tessa was plainly in a better mood afterward. She rose and looked out over the calm waves of the Old Harbor District. But she knew Brightwater was far more dangerous and complicated than the view suggested.

The threat from the fishfolk was growing. They had even begun launching organized attacks on villages, leaving many villagers injured or driven from their homes. At the same time, others were taking advantage of Brightwater’s focus on the fishfolk. They seized some of those villagers amid the chaos and sold them as slaves.

*I hate those slavers,* Tessa thought.

She could tolerate almost any illegal business in the black market. Slavers alone stirred a deep disgust in her. Of course, that was only her personal feeling. She couldn’t stop their trade from growing. She simply hated them.

Tessa stepped out through a side door. Beyond it lay bright blue water, with a narrow wooden pier extending into the sea.

Born by the coast, Tessa had heard since childhood that mist shrouded the seas all around the continent. No ship could sail deep into it. Even the greatest explorer in history had vanished without a trace after steering his ship, the *Sacred Maiden*, into the deep-sea mist. The waters were therefore called the Sea of Mists, a place spoken of with dread by everyone who made a living at sea.

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As soon as Tessa went outside, two men fell in behind her and followed her along the pier.

Only a few lone wooden boats were moored nearby. At the far end of the pier stood several ordinary barrels. One was wedged into a frame and shuddered faintly from time to time.

Tessa stopped before it and folded her arms. “Open it.”

The two men stepped forward and opened the barrel.

Someone inside drew several ragged breaths. Then a soaking-wet man rose from the barrel, which was half-filled with water. His legs trembled beneath him. His hair and clothes clung to his skin. He coughed up several mouthfuls of water and tried to wipe his face, but the two men bound his hands before he could.

After catching his breath, he finally recognized Tessa. His face twisted with distress as he begged, “Please, my lady. I know I was wrong. I won’t do it again. I swear.”

Tessa sighed. “How devoted you are. But rules are rules. You shouldn’t have sold your employer’s information. In our line of work, there’s nothing worse than taking money from both sides.”

“I’m sorry, my lady. My wife is very sick. I needed the money. I truly did. I shouldn’t have...”

“Ah, a sick wife. A sick mother. A sick child.” Tessa smiled. “Why do you all give the same excuse?”

“It’s true, my lady. All of it!” the man sobbed.

“I don’t care whether it’s true. I don’t want to know, and I’m not interested.” She cut him off. “All I know is that there’s only one end for someone who breaks the rules.”

“No! My lady, no!”

He tried to explain, but the two men beside him had no intention of letting him. A few punches and kicks left him dazed. They dragged him out of the barrel and pinned him to the pier, then bound his arms and legs tightly with rope. Finally, they brought over several stones and fastened them to the trailing ends of the ropes.

“No, please...” Tears ran down his face.

“Shh.” Tessa stepped up beside him and whispered in his ear. “Don’t we all return to the sea in the end?”

Then she kicked the bound man off the pier.

A string of bubbles broke the surface. After a while, the water grew still again.

Tessa dusted off her hands and walked back along the pier. The two men followed her.

Back in her room, she went through the letters that had arrived over the past few days. No matter how thoroughly she searched, she couldn’t find the name she wanted. Her irritation grew, and she asked, “Still no word from Martin?”

The two men exchanged a glance and shook their heads. “Not yet, my lady.”

“Could something have gone wrong?”

She thought of the young man named Raymond whom she had met before. He had happened to have a shipment of Ebony ore. He claimed he had taken it from a group of goblins, but Tessa had never believed that story. And when he left Brightwater, he had bought a kobold from the slavers. She was increasingly certain he was no ordinary mercenary who had stumbled upon some ore by chance.

“Probably not. You know how careful they always are,” one of the men said.

“Careful? They sell women, children, even kobolds. Is there anything they won’t sell? You call that careful?” Tessa’s face darkened. “Don’t they know slavers are what I hate most?”

The men lowered their heads and said nothing.

Tessa sighed, settled back into her chair, and waved them away. “Enough. I’m tired. I want to rest.”

“Yes, my lady.” The two men left.

If no more Ebony ore arrived this month, who knew whether the person she answered to would be angry? That person was determined to obtain the ore. A great deal of effort had already gone into securing it. Craftsmen had even been summoned from the royal capital, and large quantities of materials purchased. An inadequate supply of ore would seriously disrupt those plans. Tessa wanted no part of that outcome.

“My lady! My lady!” An urgent voice sounded outside.

Tessa was annoyed, but she quickly hid it and greeted the worker with a friendly smile. “What is it? Has something happened?”

The worker was in such a hurry that he didn’t even stop to bow. “My lady, another shipment of Ebony ore has come into the city!”

“What? There really is more?” Tessa’s smile froze. She had put someone on watch at the city gate, but had hardly expected it to pay off. “Who owns the cargo? Which merchant company?”

“It’s not a merchant company. Just three wagons. They’ve brought furs, animal horns, and other goods along with the Ebony ore,” the worker said. “One of the people transporting it is a half-orc. He’s huge—the tallest, strongest half-orc I’ve ever seen!”

Tessa stared at him, her eyes brightening. “A half-orc?”

“Yes, my lady. There are several humans with him too.”

“Is one of them a tall, black-haired young man?”

“Yes!”