The League's stone hall was quieter than usual as Kai pushed the heavy doors open.
Behind the long front desk, Tiff, the yellow-haired receptionist, glanced up from her parchment with a mix of surprise and exhaustion. "You're back," she said, not unkindly.
Kai gave a tired nod and gestured over his shoulder, to the man stepping down from the cart. "This is the hunter we saved in the-"
He didn't even get to finish.
The moment the hunter crossed the threshold of the League, everything shifted.
A murmur started.
"Wait-" someone whispered.
Another gasp. "Is that...?"
Baird strode through the hall like he had never left it. His cloak was still tattered from his adventures and time spent at the ravine, his face pale and lined with fatigue, but there was no mistaking him now. He moved like a man who had walked these floors for decades.
"True-Shot. That's Baird True-Shot."
"No way... He's alive?"
"Didn't he vanish a week ago?"
"I heard he was killed on a job."
