The sun was just beginning to touch the edge of the horizon when Finn finally made it to the gate into town.

As she expected, she drew a lot of attention. Much of it was probably due to the stag slung across her shoulders. It hadn't occurred to her until the guard at the gate asked uncertainly, "Isn't that heavy?" that it was possibly not normal to be able to carry that much weight, but it was too late to reconsider by that point.

It was a fairly warm early autumn day, but Finn still had her pack slung across her front and a rain cloak pulled low over her head. The hood hid most of her face from anyone who tried to look, and the pack obscured the line of her torso. Even so, many people tried to get a look at her. Possibly she had miscalculated how useful hiding herself was compared to how much attention looking strange would get her.

"Where do you come from?" the other guard had asked her at the gate.

"The woods," she had answered shortly.

The guards had shared a concerned look between the two of them, but stepped aside all the same. Finn's disguise, for all its faults, at least got her through the gate.

Once inside the town, Finn walked confidently forward. People stared and whispered as she went by, her ragged clothing and tall stature marking her out as different from all the humans she walked by. The building were all low and square, composed mostly of weathered logs and thatched roofs. Finn kept walking, but quickly started panicking as she realized that she had no idea where she was going. She knew going in that the plan was going to be short on details for this bit, since she had no idea what the inside of the town looked like, but it was nerve wracking to be in the thick of it and have no idea what to do.

Did she try to sell the deer first? Yeah, getting rid of the deer felt like a solid idea.

But, where?

Finn continued into the town, down the big, wide street in the center that seemed to be the main thoroughfare. The whole way, people stared at her and crossed the street to get out of her way. She definitely wasn't going unnoticed, but at least no one had stopped her.

After only a short walk, Finn found herself in a large open area with a little circle of anemic looking grass in the center and three more wide roads branching off in different directions. It must have been the town square, but that didn't help her much. Finn was in the dead center of town and had no idea what to do.

She was just about to pick a random direction and start walking when a voice calling out to her.

"Quite the beast you have there, lad!" an old voice called out. Finn turned toward the voice to see an old man with a bent over back, twinkling eyes and a smiling mouth that looked like it was steadily sinking into his wrinkled face. "What is it you intend to do with it?" he asked, something keen and calculating edging into his otherwise friendly face.

Finn opened her mouth, but when nothing came out, she promptly closed it again. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do with the deer, so she wasn't sure how to answer him. Should she sell it? Barter it for information? She had already used it as a prop to get her into town, so maybe it had already served its purpose. Finn suddenly felt that she had no idea why she had this giant dead animal on her shoulders.

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If anything, the old man's smile grew wider at Finn's silence. Whatever sharp edge of intelligence Finn had caught a glimpse of before was peaking out more intently between the old man's friendly wrinkles.

"Well, if you're not sure, why don't I take it off your hands?" the old man asked, approaching Finn at a slow ponderous pace, helped along by a well finished and polished wooden cane.

"Uh," Finn mumbled, as she cast around for a way out of the conversation. She was no fool, and she knew the old man was a shyster. The question was, did she care? The deer had done its job and gotten her through the gate and into town. If it avoided trouble, it was probably best to let it go to the old man. But, it felt like a shame to let the deer go for less than it was worth. At least she might be able to buy better supplies for Adi and herself with it. On the other hand, if she made a scene in the town square while people were still staring at her, then would she gain the wrong kind of attention?

Luckily, Finn was saved from having to answer by another shout.

"Old man Adelbert!" came a deep voice from just behind Finn. She turned to see who was joining the conversation and froze.

Approaching her was a tall, lanky human man with greasy black hair pulled back into a tight ponytail at the nape of his neck. He had whiskers on his chin and cheeks, and keen dark eyes. He was wearing a simple leather jerkin and bracers over a plain linen shirt and pants. On his back was slung an attractive and beautifully carved bow.

There was no way Finn could mistake him. It was the dark haired man she had so rudely spied on in the forest, the one that was having an affair with a priest. And he was looking at the old man with a smile that looked more like a wolf baring his teeth than anything friendly.

"Hugo!" the old man exclaimed. His smile became fixed, freezing on his time-worn face. "What a surprise to see you! Do you know this young lad?"

"Hm, can't say that I do," Hugo said as he came up beside Finn. He gave her a very visible up and down assessment, his eyes squinting with each new bit of her that he saw. "But, I do know that is one impressive buck he has there. It would be a shame if he didn't get it's worth."

"Oh, certainly! I very much agree," the old man enthused, but if anything his expression looked even more stiff than before.

"You weren't planning to buy the whole thing, were you?" the man, Hugo, asked. He feigned surprise in such a melodramatic way that even Finn felt a little insulted on the old man's behalf. And she was the one who was about to be ripped off.

"Haha," the old man forced out, not a lick of humor in his voice. "Of course an old man like me couldn't eat a whole deer, nor butcher it like it would deserve," he admitted.

Hugo nodded in satisfaction. He moved to clap a hand on Finn's shoulder, but paused when it seemed he couldn't find a spot to do so with the deer still draped across them. Hesitating, Hugo frowned down at Finn as she did her best not to tilt her hood up high enough that he could see her definitely inhuman colored eyes. Hugo eventually transitioned the pat into a wave.

"Follow me, uh, young lady?" he said. Finn didn't give any indication if his address was correct one way or another, but she did turn toward him. "I'll show you a good place to sell that buck."

Hugo set off at a fast pace, his long legs eating up the cobblestones as he loped off toward a small alley heading east toward the edge of town.

Finn glanced back at the old man, but all pretense at friendliness was gone. He scowled at her and snorted a prodigious ball of snot and phlegm at her feet before turning and slowly wobbling away while muttering under his breath.

Finn turned to follow Hugo, hoping that her next interaction would go better than that one.