Chapter 13: Bath
Mara's office door was still open when he returned. She didn't look up from her paperwork as he hovered in the doorway.
"Back already?" she said, voice dry. "Did you forget how doors work?"
Fin scratched the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah. About that. I kinda... don't have a place to stay. Or food. Or, you know, money."
Mara's pen paused. She lifted her head slowly, eyes narrowing. "You're telling me you spent your entire life in the slums and still haven't learned basic survival skills?"
"Uh, I had money," he muttered. "But...you know, I got jumped and hospitalized. They took all my money."
She exhaled through her nose, like he was a particularly frustrating math problem. Then, with deliberate slowness, she opened a drawer and pulled out a small pouch. It landed on the desk with a heavy clink.
"Five hundred credits," she said. "Enough for one night at the Sleepy Boar hotel and a meal. Don't waste it."
He blinked. "You're just... giving me money?"
She looked up at him annoyed, "Isn't that why you are here?" She looked back to her papers.
He stared at the pouch of credits on her desk like it might bite him.
"Uh," he said intelligently. "Thanks?"