Finley watched as Valerie explained the situation to Sonya. He was entirely sure that none of them knew what was going to happen. Just because the Goat Lord had seen fit perform a miracle once. Didn't mean that he was going to go out his way to do a second one. Finley had half a mind to ask Sonya to see the card that that had given her such an ability.

The other half of his mind wanted to party. After fighting a dragon, a sea monster, and a port city full of zombies, he felt like they deserved it. True, he wasn't a front line fighter, but support roles were also important in the never-ending fight against the undead.

That's how Finley found himself rummaging through his secret spice rack. If there was one thing that Tinkers would always share with other Tinkers, it was their regional spices that they had accumulated. Finley had about ten years worth of spices just sitting there that they had brought all over Novaria. It was time for him to power up Stella's cooking.

It was time for him to power up his own cooking and make a festive atmosphere.

"Would you mind if I took over cooking?" He said, tapping Stella on the shoulder.

She looked at it blankly as if she was a goat viewing an advertisement for the first time. She shrugged, and passed a spatula and her apron. The fact of those had been his spatula and his apron recently did not bother him in the slightest.

Everyone was called to lend a hand in whichever way they wanted for the family.

Humans are weird. On one hand, they were very territorial about their food. On the other hand, when Finley took over all of a sudden everyone was interested in what was going on.

"Hey Finley, what are you doing?" Stella said. "Are you going to make us something tasty?"

She opened up the tray that held sixteen pounds of the northern spices that he loved. She gave it a big whiff, inhaling his moment of success.

"Where have you been hiding this? She said. "This isn't listed on any of the official inventories."

"That's because I make the official inventories," He said. "And this is my own supply. I just remembered that perhaps we need to let loose a little bit and I figured that it was the right time to introduce you guys to some of my favorite flavors. I hope that's okay."

"Finley, first off, Bravo on hiding a secret stash. Second off, we will always encourage you and thank you for coming in to experiment. I guess things kind of went to the wayside when we started moving in earnest. Like there was no time for little things like..."

She held up a jar of green pepper flakes.

"What do you call this?"

"Those are sweet peppers. They're very common up north. They would do well with somebody to stew dishes that you put a little bit of extra salt in."

Instantly she was giving him the eyes that meant that she wanted to use it. Someone had told him that the humans called them puppy dog eyes, something that horrified him for a fair bit. He obliged her, nodding once.

He saw that she was a woman of culture just like he was. He appreciated that kind of thing.

"Is there something special you do for this one? Or can I put it on something I've already made?"

"This one's not going to be marinated by any means. So yes."

"I was stuffed, but now I am totally ready to try your sweet peppers."

She handed him the bottle. Half a dozen balls raised in front of him before he had any idea what was going on. He dutifully doled out the spices that they were all looking to eat.

In that moment he felt like he was once again among his people. He felt whole and rejuvenated. He realized that his arm had fully healed and he was actually using it without being in pain for once. He silently congratulated himself on the little victory.

He remembered all those times Old Gran used to cook for their caravan. It felt like a warm hug that you could eat.

Every time that she cooked something, you looked forward to it.

Right now, with the expecting eyes on him, all he could think was that he hoped the sweet pepper was still good. Because he did not know how to get anymore of the damn spice.

It didn't take long for everyone to start complimenting how much better Stella's cooking tasted with his help. That was a line of inquiry that he could support.

The questions about why he took so long to dig out his box of spices was not a line of inquiry that he wanted to go down. He decided that it was probably good enough for him feign ignorance.

Stella did it so well that people would try to give her criticism and she would pretend that it was the highest compliment she'd ever received. To an outsider, it seemed silly but right now? He was liking her ingenuity even more. She quickly diffused a situation that would have proven problematic for him to deal with.

Zombies? He could deal with.

Work accountants? They were scary but you can fight them.

Someone commenting on your cooking. Not saying it's the best thing they've ever ever had? Finley was at loss as to what he would do for that. Probably punch them.

Finley considered Stella with new eyes. Perhaps she had the right idea after all.

----------------------------------------

Sophie woke up. The nap had been a pleasant one and she was ready to tackle whatever the rest of the day presented her with. When she saw the roaring fire and the dwarf girl sitting next to her, she realized that perhaps it was a bit later than she thought.

"Have you been sitting there for a while?" Sophie said.

"I was sitting here for a bit."

"Are you waiting for me or something?" Sophie said. "What did I miss?"

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Well, you missed some of the best spices that I've seen on this Caravan for sure. Finley decided to finally break out the good stuff."

She couldn't believe it. That elf had waited until she was asleep to bring out the good stuff. She was going to give him a piece of mind later. Because she was a spice fiend and the spice must flow; preferably into her mouth. She didn't know the circumstances but she was going to raise hell.

She looked around for him before returning her gaze to Valerie.

"He's sleeping. Most of the fighters did stuff today and are also sleeping. We expected you to sleep a little bit longer," Valerie said. "Sonya? Over there. She's sleeping."

"Well, she carved out a river and caused an earthquake so let the girl rest."

Valerie's eyes twitched.

"We are letting her rest. But Anthony has an important message for you."

"God, I hope he's not finally coming out to me. But if he is, I do support it. That's a lot to put on somebody."

"Coming out to you?"

"It's a thing in my world. Actually, wait, do they have same-sex couples here?"

"Same sex couples?" Valerie said, snorting.

"That was probably too much of a stretch then I guess. All right. If he doesn't want me in some polyamorous threesome or to be a part of his new polycule or is coming out to me then I suppose I'll hear what he wants me to know."

She was joking, of course. She was trying to figure out what Valerie knew about being an ally. It sounded like not much based on her body language. But that was okay. They had time to work with her. To think that Sophie would join any polycule where she wasn't a founding member was absurd to her.

"All right. What does Anthony want me to know?"

"Those goats? The ones that you were using animal handling on? Anthony thinks that they are sentient."

The air sucked out of the room.

"Go on."

"We have reason to believe that the goats, who are still here by the way, used to be zombies who used to be dwarves."

And just like that, Sophie felt the weight of the world crashing down on her. The card that she had used. She flipped it out again and looked at it.

It was nearly 100% illegible.

She was very confused. She used one hand to display the card to Valerie.

"Are you getting anything out of this card? Because I was given this as a gift for my patron and I'm not sure what the heck is going on here."

Valerie examined the card. She looked even more confused than she had before.

"I-it just says goat a lot."

"Exactly. You wouldn't expect a card that says got a lot to actually mean it. It's just that what goats around comes around," Sophie said.

"What goat's around comes around?" Valerie said. "You humans are so strange. I find myself finally agreeing with Finley on something. Well, something besides his spice choice. He always makes great choices with his spices. But he keeps the good stuff all locked up."

"The way that you're talking about his spices is like the way you talked about your fire inspector book series."

"No, it's not," She said, her cheeks turning a bright red.

"Sure. Whatever you say. All right. So Anthony wanted me to know that somebody goats are sentient? Are they still here?"

"They are still here," Valerie said. "We are making some inroads with them."

"So what what? Why did Anthony want you to talk to me?"

"Because he wanted you to think about the Caravan before you went off and tried to convert more zombies into goats."

Her eyes widened as she finally thought about the implications of having a card that would convert zombies into goats. This would change everything.

She could save them.

She would save them all.

But she needed to stop the bleeding.

----------------------------------------

"Sophie! Stop!" Sonya said.

The sparks of mana coming off of Sophie choked the air around her. The raw power of Sonya stepping into her circle of control gave her pause.

Below her were the mangled corpses of dozens of zombies, some still twitching. None of them had turned into goats, despite her efforts.

She stood on top of the furthest wall of the maze. This is where the largest remaining group of undead outside

"Why. Won't. This. Work!" Sophie cried.

"Sophie!" Sonya said.

Sophie kept pushing to activate her card. Sonya could see it in her face. It wasn't working. Sophie dropped to the ground, sobbing.

"It's not your fault!" Sonya said.

"It really isn't," Finley said, coming up behind the both of them. In his hands was a hot cup of tea. He held it out with a purpose.

Sophie had yelled herself hoarse. She accepted it, taking a sip. It tasted refreshing.

If there was any way to save them, she would destroy this entire continent. She would find who did this and hold them accountable.

No one deserved to be turned into a zombie.

She raged against the injustice of it all, beating her fists into the dirt. Finley knelt in front of her.

"A long time ago, my old gran raged like you," he whispered. "She had lost her only grandson and..."

He gripped both of her hands. She raised a tear streaked face to meet him.

"I'm here now. She lost who he was, but eventually she gained me," he said. "Not really a great trade but I was welcome and-"

He wrapped his arms around her. She invited him in. He felt warm, like home. She melted into his arms. He was solid and she was a messy broken egg.

The sky opened up right then, rain coming down as if to taunt her. She wasn't going to give in. Her patron had given her that ability for a reason. She was going to do her best to actually use it. If she couldn't use it anymore, then she was going to have a few words with a goat.

"Why would he give me this power and then be out of work again?" She whispered.

"He doesn't have a sense the way that we do. He has desires but he doesn't. He's not conscious in the same way. You have to build up your own understanding of him. I don't know what he does. It's going to make any sense to you and that's okay. That card? That was ruthless. To give us such hope that we could restore these people."

They sat there for a while. He smelled nice and she wanted to say so. But she held her tongue.

"Thanks."

He felt relaxed. Then as if he was trying to feint, he brought her in closer. She never wanted to let him go. She wasn't looking for a boyfriend on this trip but she could deal with a helpful partner that knew when to come around and talk to her about the Goat Lord.

They could all work with that. Finley had done some much for them.

She sobbed into his shoulder before backing up to wipe her face. The rain made it feel completely unnecessary. She was still holding his hands. In that moment it was just the two of them trying to do their best to save the world. They might just save each other if they tried but she didn't know she could.

She didn't know that she could try though. If all she could do we'll save about three dozen goats. Then that would be okay. She will get over it someday soon. The disappointment would last forever.

"All you have to do is honor his legacy a little bit by turning me undead into mulch for beautiful flowers like yourself," Finley said." Of course, if you'd rather be a different type of mythical beast instead of a flower like a dragon or a griffin, those are also acceptable."

"Are there changelings in this world?" Sophie sked. "Species that can change their form based on what they want to look like?"

"I have never seen one. We should ask Valerie later."

She hated them being correct about that. Why couldn't it be correct? How about something else like her face or her shoulders? Or if she had acne or something like that. That would have hurt a lot less.

And then she was feeling almost normal again. Her mama had returned to her, her friends had comforted her and she even cracked a bit of a smile. She wasn't going to be done with this for a long shot but at least she was back to an okay place. Soon it's going to have to face this head on and she didn't like what she found.

So she was going to have to find something new.