Seth paused at the entrance and looked around. The place was familiar, homey, and uncomfortable all at once.

The main room was spacious, with a merry fire heating the far end. The bar had a half dozen stools filled with boisterous patrons. Some tables were occupied by locals, and a few more by travelers.

Seth recognized one of the travelers. It was Hugh, Arnold's friend. One of the jerks that Mau had turned yellow during the first Combat Class.

The serving girl rattled off what dinner options were available in a disinterested monotone as she pointed the group to a table.

"Yes! Meat pies are delicious," Duvessa declared as she sat down at the offered table. "Everyone wants some, yes?" Duvessa gazed around at the others.

"Depends on who's paying," Booth said, choosing a seat near the wall.

"Nana is paying."

"Then count me in," Booth said, brightening. "Beer too."

Seth made a face at the mention of beer. "Water for me, please." He had no intention of ever drinking alcohol here again.

"Baby," Booth sniggered.

Seth glared back but didn't want to explain or justify his choice. It would open up too many avenues for questions.

"It's fine if he doesn't like beer. I don't like it either," Duvessa said. "I'll have tea, please," she said to the serving girl who rolled her eyes.

"That it?" the girl asked. "Pies all around, pot o' tea, water, and one beer?"

Owen looked at Booth like he was considering ordering beer too, but the girl walked away before he'd made up his mind.

Seth glanced under the table, but didn't see where Mau had gone. He figured she'd wander back when the food arrived. Reginald the Second stayed outside with Reginald the First.

Duvessa talked about needing a tailor, and Blaise mentioned wanting a look around. Seth tuned them out and watched the people in the inn.

He recognized many of them. The innkeeper was a cheerful old man with no respect for personal space and a fondness for his own brews. He had his arms around two patrons sitting on stools at the bar and was singing off-key with them.

There were two servers. One was the innkeeper's wife, and she was just as fond of brews as her husband. She was chatting with a group of locals and had pulled over a chair to join their table.

The other server was their granddaughter, who'd just taken their order. She was brusque and standoffish a year ago, and by the looks of it, nothing had changed. If anything, she was even more surly and temperamental.

The last time Seth was here, the innkeeper's son was the cook. Seth assumed that was probably still the case, though he could neither see nor hear into the kitchen.

If Benjamin had accomplices here, it was most likely one of those four. Seth nearly snorted aloud. It could be all of them, honestly.

There was also the possibility he and his brother had been taken elsewhere after passing out. That meant it could be someone else, like one of the other patrons.

The people present were most of the same people who were there the night Saben's power theft happened.

The table the innkeeper's wife sat at was populated by local farmers. They came in a couple of times a week, as Seth recalled. Another table had the town blacksmith and a couple of other artisans. Seth couldn't hear the whole conversation, but they seemed to be bashing one of their suppliers.

Another table had the village grandmothers at it. There were six of them and four wine bottles on the table already. Mau was under their table with her ears pointed up, very interested in whatever she was hearing.

Then there were the strangers. There were several travelers present tonight, one of which was Hugh. He was talking with three people Seth thought might be traveling merchants.

Seth hadn't had many interactions with him since the day Hugh caused problems in Combat Class and Mau dumped yellow ink on him. But that didn't mean Hugh didn't still hate him. Like he sensed Seth's stare, he met Seth's gaze with an angry glare.

Seth immediately dropped his gaze. This wasn't the time or place to provoke Hugh into making a scene. It would make finding the truth harder if the locals saw Seth as a troublemaker, even if all the trouble was caused by Hugh. Seth didn't want to jeopardize his goals over something stupid.

Hugh was an asshole, but Seth was glad he was here. It meant Arnold was taking Seth's information seriously. Beyond that, Seth didn't care about him one way or the other.

That led to another uncomfortable thought. If Seth wanted to know what happened here, he needed to talk to these people. And he couldn't just straight up ask 'Hey, do you know if anyone is stealing magic talents?'

What kinds of things could he ask about that would get people talking about magic? Something that wouldn't be blatant or tactless.

The serving girl thunked a stack of plates and a pitcher of water with enough force to slosh water all over the table and startled Seth out of his thoughts. She marched right back into the kitchen without a word and came back a moment later with a teapot, a mug of beer, and a heaping plate of little pies.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Duvessa cheerfully passed out plates and ignored the puddle on the table. Owen dipped his plate in the puddle and flicked droplets at Booth.

"I was thinking," Duvessa said. "Once we're done eating, we can–"

"Stay right here," the woman guard said as she walked up to their table. Her male counterpart was with her. "You are not to leave the thorn hedge without one of us. You are to stay here, and stay out of trouble." She snagged a meat pie from the plate. "You've got rooms upstairs already."

"Ugh. What time do we leave tomorrow?" Duvessa asked.

"It'll be in the afternoon. We have a few things to do here, but one of us will be available to you, always. And Reginald the First will be making sure you don't sneak off, so don't even think about it." She looked at the pie in her hand. "These are good."

Seth agreed, they were good. They were just the right amount of spicy and had been Saben's favorite.

After everyone finished, they split up. Duvessa and Blaise wandered out into the town to 'look for a tailor'. Booth followed after one of the traveling merchants, and Owen headed to the barn to check on the rabbits. Seth headed over to the table with the blacksmith and other artisans.

Seth started by asking about a tailor in town, taking that cue from the girls, and then asked about the ogres. That led to some interesting discussions, with most of the artisans insisting that the ogres would never come near town, and weren't actually much of a threat. One of the grandmothers at the next table started yelling that ogres don't eat drunk people because alcohol was poison to them, and offered Seth wine.

While the conversations were entertaining and lively, Seth left disappointed that he hadn't found out anything useful. And if those grandmothers knew anything, they were all sloshed enough to have told him everything. Seth decided the artisans probably didn't know anything either. If they did, Seth wasn't skilled enough to trick them into telling him about it.

Mau made rounds. She listened and wandered under every table, and even walked along the bar at one point, sniffing everyone's drinks, and letting the patrons pet her. Seth was surprised she didn't steal anyone's meal, including his.

Seth decided to head outside and take a look around town before it got too late. Once outside, Mau jumped up on his shoulder and draped herself there. She was steadily getting too big to sit or stand comfortably on his shoulder, but she could still sprawl.

Outside, Seth was surprised to discover the little village had magical lights. Those were new since the last time he'd stayed there.

There were still people wandering around even though it was full dark, because of the magical lights. There were poles down the main road, and spotlights on the two watchtowers at either end of the town. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough.

The gates were shut for the night. Seth spotted Reginald the First perched on the southern one.

The first thing Seth did was walk around the inn. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he figured it would be nearby.

When he didn't find anything he could point to and say 'There, that's suspicious,' he decided to take a look around the town and see if anything interesting turned up. Seth turned off the main road and walked along the track beside the thorn hedge that circled the outer edge of town. It was darker here, but his eyes quickly adjusted to the gloom.

He hadn't gone far when he saw a teenager, probably his own age, cleaning wooden handled tools in a bucket of water then drying them and laying them on a tray. There were a number of sheds behind the building with racks of hides stretching. The building stank of blood, rot, and chemicals.

The boy continued his chores as he watched Seth approach.

"Yer cat has a mighty fine coat," the boy said. "That a pet, or a familiar?"

"She's my familiar," Seth answered, absently lifting his hand to stroke Mau.

The boy nodded and stared a few more moments as he put the last of his tools on the tray. Then he picked up the bucket and walked towards Seth.

He stopped at a ditch next to the thorn hedge, only a few inches from Seth. "Don't be out alone," the boy whispered as he dumped his bucket in the ditch near the hedge. "It's not safe."

"What do you know?" Seth demanded quietly. "Who's doing it?"

Surprised, the boy shook his head. "I didn't say nothing. Just, don't." He didn't say anything else or respond at all to Seth's questions as he collected his tools and went inside.

Mau hopped down and swished her tail. She looked back at Seth.

"Yeah. That's proof to me it happened here. Not that I really doubted it."

'That?' Mau asked, and tilted her head at the tannery.

Seth was uncomfortable with the idea. On one hand, the boy had warned him, so he couldn't be that bad. On the other, he'd commented on Mau's coat as a tannery employee, and since he knew enough to warn Seth, he could be involved or related to people who were.

"I don't like it, Mau."

The cat scoffed.

"You're going to look around anyway, aren't you?"

She nodded.

"Then why did you ask?"

She signed 'Good do,' followed by her no vocabulary circle, and then a new sign.

"Act good? Manners? Polite? Is that what you mean? Yeah, okay. At least you pretend to care about my opinion. Good kitty. Be careful, okay?"

His familiar sauntered off with her tail high and the tip bent. In seconds she'd disappeared into the darkness.

He should try to meet up with one of the others if he was going to take the boy's advice. As Seth recalled, Owen had stayed at the inn to look after the rabbits they'd caught, the girls had gone together, and Booth was on his own. Instead of continuing along the hedge track, Seth cut back to the main road and looked for his friend.

It was a small village, and it didn't take long to find Booth. He was standing outside a large stone building. The windows were covered with wooden shutters and no lights shone under the door. Seth guessed it was a meeting hall or public building as it didn't look like anyone lived there and it was far too big to be a home.

"You look pissed. What happened?" Seth said as he approached.

"I was fucking robbed." Booth glanced around and continued quietly. "I brought some stuff to sell. This place has lights and shit, stuff the neighborhoods in Rosia don't have, so I figured there's people with money around, you know? And someone fucking swiped it."

"That sucks, man." Seth tried to sound sympathetic. It was hard. Everything Booth wanted to sell was stolen, so someone stealing from him didn't really bother Seth. "What do you want to do now?"

"Nothing left to do. There's nothing here. Anything we'd be interested in is up that road, and Duvessa's babysitters aren't letting us go. I already tried to slip past, too. I'm thinking this is a bust."

"I'm not so sure." Seth gestured to the light pole in front of the meeting house and leaned against a fencepost. "How does a little farming village have the money or magic for stuff like that?" he asked quietly. "The people here are mostly farmers. Sure they get some money from travelers, but they aren't trading here. Everyone is on their way to Rosia or Mariglade. And," Seth turned to look at the meetinghouse again as he dropped his voice even more, "I was warned not to be out alone."

Booth stuffed his hands in his pockets looked around as he and Seth considered the peaceful village. Only a handful people were out. Most were chatting on porches, but a few wandered the street on their way home.

"You're right. There's a couple of people that keep glancing at us," Booth said.

Seth hadn't thought the whole town was involved. He thought it would be just a couple of people. But that opinion was shifting. "I think we should get a better look inside the inn."