Finding our way back to Monem took some trial and error, but even with the lack of roads or trails it didn’t take too long a walk. And as there were no walls or even guards stopping our way, we could walk right in without putting Gia’s acting to the test.

So it was all going well until I walked into Sedum’s inn and saw one more person than I’d accounted for. “Anthurium!” Uvaia exclaimed, the harpy’s wings fluttering as she stepped forward towards me, excitement flooding out the downcast expression I’d caught on her face. “You’re still here! Sedum said you’d left, I thought I would never see you again,” she informed me, visibly drooping.

“Ah, hi, Uvaia.” I shot a look at the orc behind his counter, who smiled back at me with the unshakable calm of one whose problem now belongs to another. How dare he tell her exactly what I’d asked him to? “No, he must have heard me wrong. I had to head out in a rush, but I’ll be here at least through tonight.” Hopefully that would ward off my harpy’s melancholy.

“Oh, well, that’s better then!” Her cheer seemed dimmed by the news I was still leaving, but Uvaia kept a smile on her face. “At least we’ll have time for a proper goodbye.” I felt the lightness of my purse, telling myself I would need to keep goodbyes platonic, as she looked past me at Gia and Crassula. “Are these friends of,” Uvaia’s eyes widened, drool collecting on her lip as her gaze unfocused. “Goblin…”

Sedum cleared his throat loudly behind her, and Uvaia jumped, clarity and sheepishness returning in a rush. “Sorry! Sorry. I’m good,” she told him, and I saw Crassula relaxing her grip on her axe haft, which she’d brought to ready position impressively quick. Gia was eyeing Crassula uneasily, clearly alarmed at what almost unfolded. “Maybe I should get some lunch like you said after all, aha.”

“Maybe should serve up chicken,” Crassula said, giving Uvaia a look carrying all the weight of an obscene gesture.

“Excuse me?” Uvaia quite literally ruffled, feathers puffed out and wings half-raised as she glared back with an intensity I’d never seen on her face. “I don’t have to take that from a grub like you.”

“Crassula, stand down,” I snapped as I saw her eyes flash and her grip tighten on the weapon. “Uvaia, can we not escalate?”

“Ease off, lass. You don’t need to prove anything,” Sedum cautioned Uvaia quietly on the tail of my words. “And you. Weapons away while you’re in my inn. If you want to fight, do it outside or not at all.” He leaned over the counter as he stared down Crassula, muscles clear and defined beneath his open shirt.

Harpy and goblin stared each other down for a moment more before Uvaia looked away, chastened, feathers settling down. Crassula grunted and let her heavy blade thunk against the floor. “Don’t have place to put away,” she told Sedum, gesturing at herself.

“Put it against the wall, then.” He settled back as she did, exhaling a silent breath before blinking as Gia stepped forward.

“Make sure you don’t do that again,” Gia told Uvaia, lifting her chin and crossing her arms. “I am Lady Hydrangea, and I will not have you threatening or insulting my,” she paused briefly, “Goblin.”

Everyone looked at her with the shared awkwardness of someone speaking out of step with expectations. It was good Gia was trying, and it wasn’t like these two would pose a threat, but her manner and timing both needed some work.

As I looked closer, though, Crassula didn’t seem to share our feelings. She was looking at Gia with a strange expression again, but she didn’t seem hostile or displeased. Maybe confused.

“Right! Of course. Sorry, Lady Hydrangea,” Uvaia said after a moment wavering, quickly bowing down and lowering her head. Erring on the side of deference would be safer than not, but I couldn’t help worrying it helped people walk over her.

“So, someone mentioned lunch. Is it still serving? Have we missed it?” I asked Sedum. This was one case where I hoped we were late, as taking leftover food off their hands might be more doable.

“You were the last guest, and you’d left. That, or I heard you wrong that you were leaving,” he told me, straight-faced. “Most come by for breakfast or dinner, so Yaupon and I just had sandwiches. I’m sure we can whip some up for you too, if y’like?”

Damn. So much for a free lunch. “Ah, well…” I floundered for an excuse that wasn’t being broke.

Uvaia looked over then, and caught my eye. Her own widened with the sympathy of the financially insolvent, and she quickly nodded with new enthusiasm. “Let’s eat lunch together! I can treat you, Anthy.” She smiled warmly at me.

“Are you sure?” I asked, face warming slightly, though I dearly hoped the answer was ‘yes’. I didn’t enjoy taking charity, but our current circumstances justified an exception.

“Why wouldn’t I be? I still owe you for dinner the other night, anyway.” She let out a soft laugh. I glanced over my shoulder at Gia and Crassula, and Uvaia followed my gaze. “Oh, and your… friends can join us too, of course.”

I didn’t miss her hesitation, but was grateful she’d followed through anyway. “All right, then. Sedum, can we get a table?”

“We will accept your invitation,” Gia told Uvaia, as Sedum nodded and headed to the dining area. “Did she just call you ‘Anthy’?” she asked me next in a whisper, far less formally.

“It’s not important.” Cheeks hot, I marched quickly after Sedum.

The dining room was empty as he’d said, Sedum giving instructions to his imp employee behind the bar. Yaupon took a look at us and fluttered off as we took seats around a table, Uvaia sitting down next to me and Gia taking my other side a second later. This put Crassula and Uvaia next to one another, and their glare standoff was resolved by scraping chairs around and away.

“So,” I said, casting around for a distraction. “Lady Hydrangea, I hope you won’t mind the food. There’ll be more variety once we reach a bigger town, or city.”

“I’m sure it will be no issue,” Gia said with a stuffy nod. The imp server came over with a platter stacked with pink-red raw meat, and she blanched. “Uh,” she said in an undertone, shooting me a desperate look.

I gave her a slight nod. “Could we get some of this cooked?” I asked Yaupon, as he set down a loaf of bread, a water pitcher, and the plate of most likely pork in the center of our table. The little red-skinned demon huffed, but picked up two cuts and about-faced towards the kitchen.

“And more food. Anything good,” Crassula added as the imp fluttered away. Given the overripe fruit she’d eaten with no ill effects, I did believe she did mean anything.

“Does cooked meat really taste that much better?” Uvaia asked, biting a flank held in her talon, and I started slicing bread as best I could with my right arm. “I think you’ve asked for it every time the inn was serving meat.”

“Really?” Gia’s eyebrows jumped as she looked at me.

“The first place I spent much time was in Hymetos. City like that, lots of foods were common. Guess I just acquired a taste for it.” I shrugged, doling out sliced bread and speaking again quickly. “Crassula, you came from up north. Did you pass through on your way?”

The goblin slurped up a steak-sized piece of meat in one gulp before looking at me. “That the big city with the walls?”

“There are a lot of those. But it is one, yes. It would be the closest one nearby this town, around a league roughly to the north.” At least I hoped my map had been accurate, there.

Crassula thought, then made a face. “That place. Didn’t get inside, just got chased away. Demons guarding had metal armor, like humans. Or short fat humans.”

“Dwarves,” I corrected, though I didn’t expect it to stick in her mind. That jarred a memory free from mine, though. “Armored demons. Did their armor or shields have a symbol on them? A shape?”

She pressed her lips together. “Black bird, Crassula thinks?”

“Ebon Company, then.” A mercenary force of five hundred-odd demons, primarily heavy infantry but with training in various arms. Vicious and disciplined, I had heard they were stationed in Hymetos, but it was good to have that confirmed and up-to-date. “We should make the city our first stop. If you approve, Lady Hydrangea,” I added belatedly. Sue me if the prospect of well-trained soldiers was distracting for a girl.

“Um, yeah, sounds good.” Seemed I wasn’t the only one distracted, as Gia’s attention was on Crassula. “So you’ve met humans before? They’re around here too?” she asked, and I realized that was one major topic I hadn’t yet filled her in on.

“Sure. Lots of humans out there. Good eating on them, too.” Crassula licked her lips.

“…oh.” Gia paled at that. Our server coming back with two sizzling slabs of meat did not seem to help any, and she shot me a somewhat desperate look as Yaupon placed one in front of her.

“It’s fine. They’re really rare around here,” I whispered from the corner of my mouth. That didn’t seem to reassure her completely, but seeing me take a bite of sandwich got her to nibble on her own.

“The goblin’s just trying to sound tough. Humans are really scary,” Uvaia said earnestly, after a scowl in Crassula’s direction. “There’s no way she- oh, I love these,” she cut off with bright eyes, as the imp placed a plate piled with wriggling white grubs, the spawn of Hesperia’s vicious person-sized beetles, between her and Crassula. She picked up a fat grub the size of my head and bit into it with a squelch. “Mm, such a treat. The mature ones are tasty too, but it’s been so long since I snacked on these.”

“What were you saying about humans?” Gia asked, staring with what I couldn’t tell if it was revulsion, fascination, or both.

“Oh, right.” Uvaia swallowed her mouthful, wing wiping some insect juice off her lips. “They killed so many demons in the last big war, you know? My tribe mostly stayed clear, but we’ve all heard the stories. I’m glad they stay away, I don’t know what we’d do if they didn’t.” She shuddered.

“Easy to be scared of stories.” Giving her a scornful look, Crassula swallowed a grub of her own, its legs flailing desperately before it vanished down her throat. “Most humans, their whole towns not strong at all. They run away or hide, cry like they think will help. Some fight back but most don’t, most too weak, makes them easy for picking. Must be a coward harpy to be scared of that…”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“The important thing is, that’s all over and done with. The humans have their lands, and we stick to our own,” I interrupted, putting added force behind my words. Gia was pale now as she stared at Crassula, expression betrayed and despondent, and without thinking about it I reached over to take her hand. If I’d known Crassula took part in the Feast of Blood, I would have changed the topic much sooner.

Extending my arm towards her made my shoulder flare white-hot with pain, but I swallowed it down with clenched teeth as I touched Gia’s hand. If there was a plus side, her eyes went wide with concern as she looked at me. I’d take that over her thinking about massacres. “Everything else is in the past,” I told Gia, holding her gaze. “It’s best to leave it at that.”

Looking back at me, Gia swallowed and nodded weakly. Behind her, I saw Crassula watching Gia with a look that might have held regret.

- - -

The rest of our lunch went more quietly, save for some bits of small talk mainly driven by me. Gia seemed to have lost her appetite, and I admittedly didn’t have much anymore either, but I knew to fill up on food and water when I could. Especially with someone else paying.

Murmuring more thanks to Uvaia for that, I led Gia away from the table, not holding her hand but with Gia not resisting. “Sedum,” I addressed the innkeeper. “My lady could use some rest. Can I have my room’s key back, if I pay tonight’s cost by this evening?”

The orc’s gaze trailed over Gia, and his stern expression softened. “Sure thing. Just make sure to come up with it, I don’t want to have to get my club out,” he told me, handing over the brass key.

I snorted a laugh, though I wasn’t fully sure he was joking. “Won’t be a problem, thanks.” Looking back at Uvaia and Crassula still by our table, I lowered my voice. “And can you make sure those two don’t kill each other while I’m gone?”

“Aye. That one’s on the house,” he muttered back, following my gaze.

With a grateful nod, I guided Gia towards the room. “You okay?” I asked softly.

She let out a shuddering breath. “Crassula… she wasn’t just trying to sound tough, was she. She really did what she talked about.” Her voice was dull as she spoke, questions not really a question. “She murdered people, lots of people. I know you said it’s in the past, but how am I supposed to… am I supposed to just act like that never happened?” Life slipped back into her voice as she spoke, mixed with a rising desperation.

I took a deep breath, stopping and turning to face her. This wouldn’t be an easy conversation. “So, I’m not trying to absolve Crassula of what she did. But she didn’t just decide to go murder humans one day. A lot of demons, thousands, maybe tens of thousands, flooded out of Hesperia to invade. A human hero killed the king, and demons wanted blood in revenge. And they took it, over a year of killing called the Feast of Blood. Crassula may have just… gotten caught up in that.”

Gia was staring at me as I spoke, wearing a look of mounting horror. “How many different demons helped with– is this supposed to make me feel better? Knowing anyone I meet here might be a murderer?!”

“All that I’m trying to do is set your expectations. We’re demons, not angels, Gia.” I exhaled. “There’s been a long history of conflict between demons and mortals. Humans, dwarves, elves… those minotaurs that aren’t demons themselves, somehow…” I shook my head. “Demons killing humans, elves killing demons, it doesn’t carry the same weight as mortals murdering each other. It’s just a part of how it works. Not so much nowadays, with the border wall restored, but no less natural than butchering animals for food. Or demons feeding on one another, for that matter.”

Gia’s gaze fell to her feet. “…I was kind of excited at first to be here. With a new life, in a new world.” She heaved a sigh. “I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.”

“We only have the one world. All we can do is live in it.” That made her lips twitch, when I said it, and she let out a bitter breath of a laugh. “And you’ve heard all about the bad parts just now, but it doesn’t have to be like that. You can live here without needing to kill anyone.” It might not be remotely common, but it was possible.

“I guess that’s true.” Gia was quiet for a moment, before she looked back at me. “What about you? Did you take part in the killing back then?”

I felt a twist in my stomach, words stuck in my throat before I freed them. “I did some things I’m not proud of. And I regret my choices there.” That was the most truthful answer I was prepared to give her. And yet it was so very insufficient.

“You did too, huh.” Gia’s face fell, and I felt a twist of guilt. I knew she couldn’t have the right idea, but maybe a lie to spare her still would have helped. “Well, then, if you regret it… Does that mean you wouldn’t – would you do it again? If demons were angry, and going to kill humans.”

“No.” I held her gaze, giving a hard shake of my head. “And if I ever end up in charge, there won’t be any more massacres of mortal lands. That much, I promise you for sure.”

She let out a quiet sigh, a smile finally touching her lips. “All right. That’s a relief. Thanks, Ann.” Gia paused a moment. “Are there angels in this world, too?”

“Supposedly, yes. I’ve never seen one, though that might say more about me than them.” I smirked at her, and Gia smiled a bit wider. “A ‘new world’, is it. So you’re not just from a faraway country?” Once might have been a turn of phrase, but twice was more telling.

Her expression turned more serious. “No, I’m not. I mean, it’s possible this is just far in the past or future, but – no, wait, you have two suns. Couldn’t explain that,” Gia muttered. “Where I’m from, some people do believe in demons, but there’s not demons just walking around like you – like we are.” That seemed to take her some effort to say.

A whole different world. Then how exactly had Gia ended up here? Could Hesperia be the afterlife of other worlds’ dead, and no one had ever realized it? How many worlds could there be out there? Had anyone ever known there were others? “What was your world like?” I didn’t even know what to imagine.

“If you want me to describe a whole wide world, that’s going to take a while,” Gia said, laughing softly. “Ah, well, let’s see. There were a lot of differences. We only had humans, well, and plants and animals, but nothing like,” She gestured at me with a hand. “We didn’t have fighting and killing and war where I was from. Not for I think at least a hundred years? Though there was plenty in other parts of the world, so maybe that’s not fair to say.”

Gia was quiet for a long moment, but the pensive look she wore now still kept me from interrupting. “I don’t know. We had a lot of things that you don’t, that I’ll miss, I’m sure. But I wouldn’t say it was easier, living there. At least, I can’t say for sure that it was, yet.”

“Things we don’t? Were they useful things?” Having an entire world’s worth of ideas no one here had ever heard of could be an indescribable advantage. “Could we reproduce any of those here in Hesperia?”

“I’m not some genius who could recreate phones or anything, so I doubt it,” Gia said, with an awkward-sounding laugh. “I can still tell you more about Earth if you want, but…” She trailed off. “Right now, I don’t know if I want to dwell on it too much. Like you said, it’s in the past. I’d rather enjoy my life here without making myself homesick.”

“Sure, that’s fine.” I could understand that very well, in truth. And besides, I’d have plenty of time to pick her brain, there was no urgent need of it. “Let’s get back to the room, before someone interrupts us.” I gestured away from the spot we’d claimed in the hall.

“Aha, right.” Gia smiled sheepishly, and I led the way to my room in silence save our footsteps. Once I moved to unlock the door, though, she spoke up. “Um. So, are we… is the plan to share a room together, then?”

I glanced back. Her cheeks were pink, and she wasn’t quite meeting my gaze straight-on now. I opened my mouth and swallowed back my instinctive response. No seducing the pretty new girl who had no one else to depend on. “The plan is for you to stay here and get some rest. I’ll be going to scrounge up money to pay for rooms for the rest of us.” Maybe Crassula’s skills could help us rob some non-humans.

“Oh! Oh, okay, sure,” Gia said, nodding her head quickly with what I chose to assume was relief. The room was unchanged from how I’d left it, small but clean and functional. While the bed did fit two, it would be hard to non-intimately. “I’m not really tired, but I can try to take a nap, I guess?”

“You can do what you like. The important thing is that you stay somewhere safe until you can defend yourself.”

Gia stopped mid-step over to the bed as I said that, face falling. “Ah. I guess that does make sense, yeah.” She winced, but startled and reached out for me as I started to close the door. “Wait, Ann! Hang on a sec, are you still injured?”

My gaze flicked down to my aching shoulder. “Somewhat, yes, but I’ll live with it. We have work that needs doing.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean,” Gia visibly backtracked as I gave her a hard look, “What if you hurt yourself worse? I don’t know if you have doctors here, but are there, I don’t know, healing potions? Healing magic?”

“None that we’d have access to.” I grimaced. “Most clans have their own doctors, but there aren’t many demons with the patience to learn those skills. A backwater village wouldn’t have one, Uvaia's already told me they don’t. As for healing magic…” No. A white lie was called for here. “It does exist, but only among mortals. We’re not going to find anyone who can cast it in Hesperia.”

Gia didn’t need to know the whole story. It was true that demons can’t use restorative magics, with just a few demons possessing Aspects that let them regenerate their own wounds. But that didn’t mean healers were nowhere to be found in the demon realm. Raiding a mortal settlement, while risky even for strong clans, could easily allow capturing an elf or human with useful skills; the loss of a few soldiers would be well worth it for a magical asset that no demon could match.

I did understand the logic, and the pragmatic benefits. But that was one policy I’d never been willing to push for. Defeated demons could swear fealty and go on mostly unharmed, but there was no such convention that made humans be treated humanely. Even with their value, most mortal prisoners didn’t last long, I’d heard. And the ones that did survive probably wished otherwise.

“Well, what about me?” Gia asked, shaking me out of my thoughts. “Humans count as mortals, right? I used to be human, so maybe this is something I can do.” She had a new determination in her eyes.

“A lot of demons used to be human,” I stressed, letting out a sigh. “Doesn’t let them use human magic. Trust me.” But, even saying that, I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind.

Yes, a lot of demons had been human, but demons who actually retained human memories were practically unheard of. I had long assumed it made no difference, but maybe things were different for her. Maybe Gia’s unique circumstances, whatever brought her from another world, would let her do things another demon could not…

It was selfish, in retrospect, for me to push forward with it. But then and there, I had to know. “All right. Try to heal me.”

Gia blinked at my change of heart, but nodded quickly. “Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I’m not quite sure how you’re hurt, so maybe let’s sit down and I can take a look?”

I had no objections to that, so I came inside to sit on the bed. “It seems to still be my shoulder,” I said, pulling up my sleeve, about to say more before a burst of pain knocked the words out of my mouth. “Ow, fuck.”

“Careful!” Eyes wide, Gia reached out for me before hesitating, pulling back. “Just put your arm and shoulder how you had them before, where it didn’t hurt so much. I’ll take off your jacket.”

I resettled myself, and her long fingers brushed over my gambeson’s laces. I couldn’t feel her touch through the thick cloth, but the unavoidable thought that she was undressing me was distracting in its own right.

“Uff, this is heavier than I thought,” Gia muttered, pulling the cloth around and off my uninjured arm first, carefully unwrapping my torso.

“Well, it is armor.” I shivered at the cool touch of air on my shoulders.

“Really?” Gia herself seemed admirably composed, but as she pulled my gambeson off and took a look at me without it, a thin gray undershirt tight around the swell of my chest, I caught her staring, her cheeks reddening.

“Can you do what you need to from there?” I asked.

Gia jumped and lifted her gaze to mine. “Um, yeah! I uh, we still can’t see your shoulder, but if I’m careful I can pull your sleeve off it…” There was a light brush of fabric gliding over skin, and Gia hissed a breath. “Ow. That doesn’t look good.”

Looking down at my bared shoulder, I had to agree. Black-purple bruising covered where the axe had hit me, and angry red crescents surrounded the area above and below. “This may be a good time to ask if you have any medical knowledge,” I muttered, wondering why, over the past ten years, I couldn’t have added that to my own skills.

“Just for a few specific things. Not broken bones or whatever this is, unfortunately.” Her hesitant gaze met my eyes, fell back on my injury, and she took a deep breath. “Well, here goes nothing.” A look of concentration spread over her face. I reminded myself that nothing would likely happen, just like our other tests of Gia’s powers.

Except something was different this time. A sharp tingling spread fast through my shoulder and surrounding parts, and I flinched as I felt something shift under my skin. Gia’s expression was looking more strained, now, sweat beading on her forehead as muscles inside me yanked.

“No, that’s not what I wanted,” I heard Gia whispering, and if I hadn’t been alarmed already, that would have done the trick. “Stop, no, go back… Ann, I need to stop. How do I stop this?” she asked frantically, as pressure and a blinding pain built up in my shoulder. “Stop- STOP!”

Bone erupted through my skin out of my shoulder, and I screamed.