Sophie made her way along the path back into town. The Forester had indeed cleared the path to the point where it felt a little safer walking along it. She kept an eye out in the trees for the little dragon creature that she had seen a few times now, but she didn’t see him. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. She kind of liked the little guy, and she wondered if it would be friendly.

She noticed all sorts of other wildlife – mostly a bunch of unfamiliar birds and something that looked an awful lot like a squirrel but was redder than she was used to. But by the time she got to the end of the path, she hadn’t seen the little dragonling. She almost wondered if she had imagined it. Or maybe it had just been passing through.

Once she got to the main road, she headed for the town's gates. The same bored guard was sitting at the gate house and paid her little notice. The plaza was just as busy as before with people going about their day. She felt nearly overwhelmed for a brief moment, trying to get her bearings. She had a lot of things she wanted to take care of today.

The tailor’s, the Crafter’s Guild, the bakery. And of course, the bathhouse.

Tailor first, she decided. That way, once she found the bathhouse, she could change into her new clothes if they were ready.

After popping in the little shop to check, however, she learned that it would be a few more days. Apparently a special request came through that took priority. She left the shop feeling bummed. She really didn’t want to rely on that chest of dresses that Elowen insisted on her wearing…

Maybe she should try the clothing stalls at the market. Especially now that she had more money than she expected.

The market was just as busy as before, with tantalizing smells of fresh food, but Sophie planned on visiting the bakery next, so she withstood the temptation in favor of waiting for some fresh baked goods. Instead, she stopped at a clothing stall. The proprietor had several racks of loose linen clothing on display, and the items looked awfully similar to the style of clothing she had requested at the tailor.

The woman behind the counter looked mostly human, but her skin glimmered with the hint of scales. “What are you looking for today?”

Sophie eyed the racks of clothing again. “Do you think you’d have something in my size? I’m looking for something similar to what I’m currently wearing, but preferably with pants.”

The woman gestured for her to come closer and reached out, her hand hovering above Sophie’s shoulder. “Do you mind if I – ?”

“Not at all! Feel free.”

The woman’s fingers were cooler than Sophie expected as she lifted the strap of the shift dress, presumably investigating the fabric.

“Oh… Wow. No, we don’t sell anything like this here.”

“What do you mean? The stuff on the rack looks just like this–”

The woman shook her head. “This is a specialty item. This looked like it was Tailored for a specific class.”

Sophie was surprised at the revelation – she hadn’t noticed anything special about the dresses, but now she wondered if Tailors used mana as well.

“Oh, that’s okay,” she insisted. “I meant... Well, I just need something to wear casually.”

The woman nodded, looking thoughtful. She went over to the rack and pulled off a few items to show Sophie. Sophie really couldn’t tell what the difference in quality was between what she was currently wearing and the items the woman showed her, but it didn’t really matter anyway.

She selected two of them – the first was a pale green top with long, flowing sleeves and a scoop neck, and the second was something similar in light blue, but much shorter sleeves. Both had matching linen pants. With pockets. Glorious pockets. The dress she was currently wearing did not have those, and so therefore, even if it was somehow a finer quality, it was severely lacking in that regard.

The items she selected were quite similar to what she had picked out at the tailor, in fact, so she was surprised when the woman only asked for a couple of silvers in payment. The ones from the tailor were much more expensive, after all. Could there be that much of a difference in quality?

The woman handed her the items wrapped in a thick brown paper, and Sophie pondered fantasy world clothing as she made her way to the bakery.

***

When she finally arrived at the bakery, another customer was already at the counter. Acacia glanced up from chatting at the ring of the bell over the door and smiled in recognition. “Just a moment, Sophie.”

Sophie was oddly pleased that Acacia even remembered her name. She must see tons of people every day, but perhaps her last visit was a little… memorable. Acacia basically accused her of camping out in a haunted shrine. Sophie stifled a laugh at the memory.

The other customer was already handing over some coins, and Acacia handed them a small bag of baked goods, just like Sophie had received the other day. Sophie’s stomach was already rumbling in anticipation.

She made her way up to the counter as the other customer passed. It was an older woman with curly grey hair, and she glanced at Sophie curiously, but made no comment as she left. Acacia grinned as soon as the door closed. “It looks like you figured out the clothes situation.”

Sophie looked down at the dress and shrugged. “Sort of… I’m using some hand-me-downs until mine are ready.”

“They fit you well,” Acacia noted, and then she leaned forward on the counter. “So you’re really a priestess at the shrine, huh? Garrick stopped by and said that you gave him a class.”

“Garrick? The new bard?”

“Yep!” Acacia nodded eagerly. “The one and the same.”

Sophie laughed in surprise. “Wow, word really travels fast around here.”

“It does,” Acacia agreed. “Garrick said he couldn’t see anything, but my sister scanned him and he totally has the Bard class now. You can really see the spirit? Interact with her and stuff?”

Sophie nodded. “Yes, although she’s a bit translucent at the moment. Apparently that will get better as we get more mana into the shrine… or something. I’m not actually sure when she’ll become visible again, but we’re working on it.”

Acacia leaned back again, looking impressed. “Wow, well, what does she look like then?”

“Hmm, I don’t know? Blonde, pale, about your height –” she gestured to Acacia. “Haven’t you seen a shrine spirit before? When you got your class?”

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Acacia nodded. “Of course I have, but they’re all different, aren’t they? Plus, it’s a little creepy thinking she’s just been there the whole time by herself. What would she have done if you hadn’t come along?”

Sophie shook her head. She didn’t want to think about it. “I don’t know. Shrine spirits have it tough, I guess,” she said.

“Tough indeed…” Acacia said, trailing off. After a moment, she knocked her knuckles against the counter. “Hey, by the way, did you ever find any – what was it – kohfy?”

“Coffee,” Sophie corrected. “And no, it doesn’t seem like the market has any either.”

“Aww, that’s a shame,” Acacia said, and she actually looked disappointed for Sophie. “I can ask around for you, you know? Maybe some of my contacts will have a better idea. But until then, my offer’s still open if you’d like a cup of tea and a side of gossip.”

Sophie found herself smiling at Acacia’s suggestion. “Sure,” she said. “Probably not today though. I’m just popping in to get some of your delicious baked goods to sustain me, since I can’t seem to cook for myself.”

Acacia laughed out loud at the admission. “Well, pick as many as you’d like. On the house this time.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly,” Sophie said. “There’s no need for that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “In celebration of your new position. Everyone’s talking about it. A shrine priestess! How interesting! And Garrick finally got a class. He’s been Level 10 for a few years now.” She shook her head, as if it was unthinkable that he hadn’t gotten around to it sooner.

Sophie’s face heated at the compliments. Was it really that interesting? It didn’t seem like that impressive of a job so far. She hesitantly selected a few pastries from the display. “I’ll take these, but you have to let me pay for the bread, at least,” she said. “I want two loaves of that this time. I’m going to attempt to live off of them, like I said.”

“Sure, sure,” Acacia said, as she began wrapping everything in the brown paper. “You probably need to eat more than bread, though, or you’ll be fading away like that shrine spirit of yours.”

“Hah, well, I wasn’t joking when I said I don’t know how to cook.”

Acacia blinked at her in shock as finished sliding all of the baked goods into a brown paper bag. “What? Like – at all?”

Sophie shook her head, already embarrassed, but soldered ahead anyway. “Nope. Not at all. I can barely boil water. Last night I tried to make a soup, and let’s just say I wouldn’t have fed it to my worst enemy.”

Acacia laughed, smacking her hand down on the counter. “You poor thing. So you’re all alone out there in that creepy old shrine, and you can’t even cook for yourself.”

“Well, I’m really not alone. There’s Elowen – she’s the shrine spirit, like I mentioned – but of course she can’t cook either. It’s not like shrine spirits need food or anything. And she’s not even… well, corporeal.”

“Right, right…” Acacia frowned again at the mention of Elowen. “You’ll have to introduce me to her,” she said softly after a moment. She slid the brown paper bag over the counter to Sophie. “I feel bad – I mean, it’s not like any of us could have known really, but…”

Sophie nodded. She thought maybe she understood a bit. “You’re welcome any time,” she said. “You don’t need to be coming to get a class to visit us.” And then she pulled out the coin purse, fishing out a silver. She set it on the counter, hoping to relieve a bit of the somber mood. “Here. Since you conveniently forgot to tell me how much all of this cost.”

Acacia laughed, pushing the silver back to her. “Oh, this is too much! Sophie, no –”

Sophie picked up the bag of baked goods and stepped away from the counter before Acacia could hand the coin back to her. “I suppose if it’s really too much, you can bring something along when you come to visit the shrine. Elowen can’t eat, of course, but she’d probably appreciate the gesture. Maybe we could like, burn it as an offering or something.”

Acacia gave her an odd look at that, but she eventually smiled. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll come visit your shrine. And I’ll bring something for the spirit. But be sure to get some real food in you before then.”

“I will, I will,” Sophie said, laughing as she turned to leave. She doubted that would happen any time soon, unless she stopped by the market for more of those kebabs. Or maybe she’d check out a local restaurant.

“Hey!” Acacia called out, before Sophie could walk through the door.

Sophie turned back. “Yeah?”

Acacia grinned widely. “Why don’t I give you cooking lessons, then? When I stop by the shrine? I’m pretty handy in the kitchen.”

Sophie laughed again. Of course Acacia would be. She ran a bakery after all. “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think it’d work very well. Everything’s really outdated. I don’t even have a chill box.”

“That won’t do at all.” Acacia shook her head. She thought for a moment. “Well, let’s do this. Why don’t you stop by tomorrow afternoon? Hollis will be working with me tomorrow, so we could do a cooking lesson in the back if it’s not too busy.”

Sophie considered the offer for a moment. Elowen wouldn’t like it, of course, but Sophie couldn’t really just stay at the shrine all day working on her mana channeling. Plus, she was sure she would need to stop by for more bread at the rate she was going to go through it if she didn’t find some real food today.

“Sure,” she said finally. “I’d like that.”

Acacia beamed. “Great! See you tomorrow then.”

Sophie found herself smiling in return. “See you tomorrow!”

***

Her next stop was the bathhouse. It was a few blocks away from the bakery, next to an apothecary, a few small restaurants, and what appeared to be a tavern.

It reminded her of something she saw in an anime – not an onsen exactly, but something similar with bathing areas separated by gender, private showers, and even an attached lounge area, where it looked like she could stay the night if needed. Soaps, towels, and other small items were all available for sale for a few coppers, and there was even a counter that appeared to be some sort of concession area where she could buy drinks and sandwiches among other things.

She rented a small cubby to put all of her parcels in from the market and the bakery, and made her way into the women’s showers. At this time of day, the showers were relatively empty, which Sophie was honestly grateful for. She hadn’t used a public shower since her time in college, and it would take a little bit of getting used to again.

Although Briony had recommended a lot of options for modernizing the shrine, adding indoor plumbing wasn’t one of them. Sophie had initially thought that it was just because it wasn’t available, but seeing how modern the bathhouse felt, she wondered if it was more of a logistics thing since she was so far outside of the town. She might be coming into the town daily or at least every other day if she wanted to take real showers.

After her first glorious shower in days – which honestly felt like months at this point – Sophie relaxed in the women’s baths. She didn’t want to spend too much time here, but it was nice to have a moment to herself, since it was practically empty at this time of day.

A shrine priestess, huh? It was pretty far from what she had been doing at her old job, but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Plus she was quite literally chosen to do it.

She frowned, thinking about her old job, her old routine. It’s not like she was living her dream life before, but it wasn’t so bad. She mainly went to work, came back home too late on most nights, ordered some takeout if she hadn't already ordered it at the office. Maybe had a beer or two or a glass of wine and then fell asleep for the night.

Then she would wake up the next morning ready to do it all over again.

She had considered maybe getting a cat when she first moved into her apartment, but she quickly realized she didn’t have enough time to take care of one.

And now she was really glad she hadn't.

It was Monday there, right? She wasn’t even sure what day it was here. So far, she hadn’t seen a calendar anywhere.

If it was Monday back there, people would definitely notice that she hadn’t showed up for work. It wasn’t like she had tons of friends who would miss her, but her coworkers would probably be concerned.

Her father lived in Iowa still, and her sister was in nursing school, so she didn't see them very often, and she doubted they’d expect her to call any time soon. But her office would probably try to get in touch with them when –

Well, she definitely felt bad at the idea that they would think that she was dead or something.

She sank deeper into the water, trying to melt away her worries. There was nothing she could do about any of that. For now, all she could do was try to survive in this strange situation she had ended up in. And see if she could figure out how to get home…