Part 1
Part 2
Ashan 30, Arc 720
On the 30th of Ashan, Devin Thorn, thief, conman extraordinaire and recently initiated Becomer was pacing back and forth in his living room – or rather hobbling back and forth. He held a fancy black and golden cane with a handle that looked like a crow’s head in his left hand. Using it made walking marginally less unpleasant. It had been two trials since Adeline had cut one of his toes off, and his foot still hurt – and would probably do so for another little while. Unfortunately, amputated fingers and toes took some time to heal.
“Becoming is useless without totems”, he muttered and moved towards the window in order to briefly look at the apple tree in the garden before he abruptly turned around and walked towards the door again. “Where will I get a totem though? I can’t just go around murdering people. They’d lock me up in Slag’s Deep, and although that junior warden was rather good in bed, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life there!”
“Maybe I could join the Order of the Adunih, offer my services as a surgeon and keep the limbs I amputate rather than burning them”, he mused and looked at his roommates Aidan and Talieson that sat on the sofa, next to Adeline. The blonde mage and swordswoman had decided to just move in for the duration of her stay in Scalvoris – without asking him. She looked as if she was already feeling at home, he observed, and she had a rather smug look on her face.
“It might be a while before someone whose injury is severe enough to warrant an amputation shows up though”, he realized and shook his head before he looked at Adeline again. “Aren’t you supposed to be my mentor?” he complained. “Say something! Help me! How will I get my first totem? I want to learn to shapeshift – right now!”
Adeline grinned as if his frustration amused her, and then she remarked somewhat cryptically, “You don’t necessarily need a bone. A tooth will do.”
“This isn’t helping”, he retorted and made a face. A moment later, he stopped dead in his tracks, and his eyes lit up. “Actually, this is helping! Lots of people on this island have problems with their teeth. I’ll just offer tooth extractions – for free!” he decided. Normally, Devin didn’t do anything for free, being a greedy follower of Delroth, but this time he would hopefully get a nice totem out of it which would be even better than a bunch of nels.
With that thought in mind, he raised his cane and abruptly pointed it at Aidan who looked at him in confusion. “You’ll play the part of my assistant”, he told him in no uncertain terms. “Every dentist has an assistant. The rest of you will move the furniture out of my second bedroom and put a dentist’s chair into it!” he decided.
Adeline opened her mouth as if she wanted to complain, but then she closed it again and nodded. If she refused to help him, Devin might try and practice magic without her guidance, and then he would inevitably overstep and mutate horribly. Whatever he thought, he was definitely not ready to practice magic alone – and unlike her teacher, she wouldn’t lose an initiate!
Besides, she needed him if she ever wanted to exact revenge on the people that had taken their treasure!
