To Finn's immense surprise, Hugo was a good guy.

When she initially followed him into the alley, she had expected that he was going to try and rob her. What he actually did was take her to the backdoor of a butcher's shop and introduced her to the butcher. The butcher was a thick-armed woman with a mean look to her. But, somehow, she softened after Hugo chatted her up for a while. The woman happily paid Finn a fistful of silver coins for the venison.

Finn and Hugo sat on the woman's back step as they listened to her expertly cut and divide the meat from the bone.

"You won't get as much this way," Hugo explained, nodding toward the coins Finn still held in her hand, "It's better to do the butchering yourself and sell the meat already cut to the butcher. She took a cut for the labor. But, still, it's better than nothing," he said with a shrug.

Finn looked at him while Hugo was not looking at her. He was staring out across the scrubby little yard behind the butcher shop. There was a fairly nice herb garden tucked into one corner and a much less impressive vegetable garden in the other, and a very narrow path between the two leading up to the back door.

After a much shorter break than Finn expected, the woman returned with the buck's skin and antlers in her bloody hands. She handed them to Finn and gave her a curious look before Hugo diverted her with effusive thanks. She waved him away and closed the door, and they were on their way again.

Hugo led her again through twisting alleys and the narrow spaces between houses until they reached another building. This one had a very strong and distinctive stink to it that Finn immediately recognized as that of a tanner.

The tanner wasn't in, but there was a weedy young man with a bad haircut that talked to Hugo. He spent much of his time trying to steal a look under Finn's hood, which made Finn consider putting her boot to his balls more than once. Thankfully for the boy's future fertility, the interaction was brief. Hugo bartered for a few minutes and the boy retreated to the small wooden building for a moment and returned with a small handful of coins that he handed to Hugo, who then pointedly handed it to Finn. The boy blushed in embarrassment, but Finn didn't care. She was ready to leave.

By the time they finished with the tanner, the sun was setting. The golden light of sunset turned the muddy brown streets an attractive gold.

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"You look hungry, my friend," Hugo said, a little bit of the false cheer he had used with the old man creeping into his voice. "Perhaps you might agree to keeping me company during dinner, since I helped you to sell the spoils of your hunt?"

Finn frowned down at the pack still strapped to her front. It was likely that it was *this* that was the trap. Hugo had been incredibly kind to her. She wasn't really sure how much her coins were worth, but it was surely more money than she would have been able to get on her own. Hopefully there would be no need to steal supplies before they moved on. That was all thanks to Hugo.

But Finn understood better than most that sometimes kindness was its own kind of trap.

She dared a glance up at Hugo. His gaunt face looked sallow in the gold of the sunset. His eyes were dark and deep set and seemed to be able to see right through her. But, she didn't see any malice there. Only a kind of pity and understanding, maybe.

It was a gamble to trust him, but maybe a gamble was what Finn needed.

Finn gave a small nod and Hugo's mouth twitched up at the corners. "Thank you, friend. I know a good place for a fair meal."

As good as his word, Hugo led the way, still going by backstreets, to a much bigger building than the previous two. Delicious smells wafted out through the open windows, and the sounds of people talking and laughing nearly drowned out the faint melody being played on a flute. Entering again through the back door, Hugo led Finn into a crowded tavern. She could tell that it was still just beginning to fill with hungry and thirsty patrons, but it looked incredibly full to her. Humans of all shapes, sizes and ages were everywhere, laughing, talking, leaning into each other. More than a few threw Hugo and her curious looks as he led her to a dark corner and bid her sit in one of the well-worn wooden chairs at the beaten table.

"Wait here and I'll return with dinner," he said before disappearing into the steadily growing crowd of people.

Finn fidgeted with her hands once she was left alone. With Hugo gone, more and more curious looks were turned in her direction. Finn had put her pack down on the floor between her feet, and she quickly started to miss its presence against her chest. She felt a little too exposed in front of all the strange humans, who were making no effort to hide how much they were looking at her. She tried to pull the rain cloak closed over her front, but it didn't make her feel much more secure.

After what felt like an age but was probably no more than five minutes, Hugo returned with two plates and two mugs. The plates each held half a small chicken, cut clean down the middle by what Finn assumed was probably an impressive cleaver. Arranged around the chicken was an assortment of roasted root vegetables: pumpkin, potato, turnip and beets. The mug was full to the top with a foamy golden yellow beer that might as well have been ambrosia after so long living and eating only what they could steal and scavenge from the woods.

Hugo waited until Finn had stuffed her face with chicken and vegetables before casually asking, "So, do you want to tell me why you're carrying my backpack?"