Lewis was usually one for a sense of punctuality, however there were far too many factors that night that seemed dead set on delaying his arrival back to the tower. The first, and most annoying in Lewis’ honest opinion, was the argument in which his client decided to short half of the silver that Lewis had earned on completing his job. This was not the first, nor would it be the last, that someone would dare try to stiff an assassin.
It was a relatively easy problem to fix. Most of those who threatened to withhold payment soon found themselves blacklisted in areas frequented by assassins and mercenaries. For Lewis, though, he preferred a much more direct approach. So, instead of losing out on half of his pay, Lewis gained a hefty sum of silver that night.
Finding himself running behind, Lewis stopped by a merchant on his way back for a small gift to get Snowball and Simone for being late. Snowball was easy; a bit of unique birdseed. Simone, though, ended up taking even more time than he wanted. In the end, he chose a few new fruits…one of them called a sugar-apple, and the other a guava. Neither of them were anything that Lewis had any interest in, but for her…
The assassin stepped into the tower using his gate ring, and looked around. It was dark, and Lewis assumed that Simone had gone to sleep. He paused, wondering if he should wake her up, but decided against it. Moments later, he opened the door to his room, and started to remove his gear. There was a slight stirring, and he drew a dagger, ready for-
“Simone?” he whispered. Surely enough, the girl was sleeping peacefully in his bed, snuggling his pillow. “…but why?” He finished putting his gear away, and sat on the edge of the bed, slowly running his hands through her hair. “Why did you fall asleep here?”
