Terius has Malo wait outside the inn, called the Crazy Avi while he enters to make arrangements and see how many people are in the common room.

Malo lingers out front with their inu, Chloe. He wanted to wait outside town while Terius resupplied, then camp under the stars another night. The last week, with just the three of them, has been fun. The possibility of repeating his experience in the keep worries him. He wishes he could have seen his Auntie Ge’get one more time, she knew how to fix his curse.

After what seemed like an eternity to the boy, Terius returned and instructed Chloe to sit and stay. The common room was empty, and the Hostel had only one other guest and she’s already eaten and retired for the night. That left their hosts’ reaction to Malo as the only wild card.

Terius takes the lead, “Caitir, this is my new student, Malo. Malo, this is Innkeeper Caitir Gaskell.”

Caitir barley looks at Malo, “Any student of Terius can call me Caitir or if you prefer, Innkeeper will do just as well. Can I get you boys something to eat?”

Terius gets a big grin on his face, “Three bowls of that fine stew you serve, a loaf, and two ales.”

Malo quickly speaks up, “I’ll drink water. My papa doesn’t want me drinking ale, it was a promise he made my mom before she passed. If he found out he’d be mad.”

Terius jovial mood disappears. “Make it two glasses of water.”

“I made some lemonade; would you like to try it?”

Terius looks at Malo for a reaction, he seemed to perk up at the mention of lemonade, “That sounds refreshing. We’ll take two tall ones.”

Caitir disappears into the kitchen for several minutes to scoop the stew and fetch utensils and such. The two travelers opt to sit at the counter instead of utilizing one of the four tiny round tables that crowd the room.

The innkeeper returns with a tray loaded with three bowls of stew, a loaf of bread, and two tall glasses of lemonade. “I didn’t take you for one to spoil your inu, Terius.”

“I’m not, why would you think that?”

“The third bowl, is it not for that inu laying out front?”

“Oh that, just wait. You’ll see. In fact, we’re going to need another loaf in a couple minutes.”

Caitir looks quizzically at the two. Then startled by the zeal in which Malo attacked the bowl and loaf of bread. His startled expression changed to concern because there was clearly something wrong with the boy. The first bowl was empty, wiped clean of gravy using the bread in under a minute.

Terius having seen this magic show too many times is no longer surprised by the disappearing food.

Caitir, afraid of what will happen if he doesn’t get the second loaf soon, disappears into the kitchen to fetch it. He returns as Malo is emptying his lemonade and gasping in satisfaction.

“That is good,” Malo declares as he trades the empty glass for the fresh loaf of bread.

Caitir looks at Malo and then the empty glass and returns to the kitchen. He comes back with a pitcher and a glass and sets them both down in front of Malo.

Malo finishes the stew and bread, has another glass of lemonade before taking a break. “That was the best stew I’ve ever tasted. It was even better than the fancy restaurant stew we had the other night, what’s your secret?”

Caitir smiles at the question he’s heard so many times, “It’s something called seasoning. More people should try it. It makes a huge difference in the level of pleasure one experiences when eating.”

Malo is satisfied with that answer, he doesn’t cook much, his papa did that.

Terius sees Malo looking at nothing and distant at the same time and wants to distract him. “Caitir, do you still allow guests to self-kennel their inu or do you insist on charging for the labor?”

“Do it yourself if you like, the fees are the same either way.”

“Excellent, Malo here has been learning how to take care of our inu.” Turning to Malo, “Why don’t you take Chloe around back to the kennel and get her settled for the night.”

“Ok,” Malo slips off the stool and hurries out the front.

Terius waits until he’s sure Malo is out of ear shot, “That boy would eat everything in your pantry if you let him.”

“I guess you must be right,” says Caitir flatly.

Terius knows this is one of those situations where he won’t be able to pick up the subtext of inuendo and body language, making asking his best route to any answer, “Caitir, what do you think of Malo?”

The innkeeper looks a long time at his old acquaintance and weighs the consequences of being honest and decides the man already paid. If he gets offended, he can leave if he wants to. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think. Why would you take someone like him on as a student? Does he have a rich benefactor?”

That was all Terius really needed to hear. The coin flip went against them this time, that will happen.

“He’s not all bad, he does sometimes make a bad first impression though.” Terius refrains from answering the question about a rich benefactor.

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“I’ve learned to spot trouble when it darkens my door. But if the trouble is kept outside, it’s none of my business, a customer is a customer I don’t have to like them.”

“Are you saying you don’t have a problem with Malo?”

“Problem? Not at all, in fact I liked him from the moment I saw him. But then I saw the body language between the two of you and it was like watching water mixing with oil. You two will hurt each other, and I don’t like the idea of somebody capable of hurting Terius the Terror of Mammatus.”

Terius hates that nickname and hadn’t considered the possibility that some people could resist Malo’s strange influence, perhaps it’s weakening.

Caitir comments, “I hope my kennel-hand, Sam is getting along with your student.”

Alarmed, “You didn’t mention a kennel-hand!”

“You didn’t ask. You also didn’t ask if I hired a maid or a cook.”

Terius leans over to peer into the kitchen, “I don’t. What does it matter if I have a kennel-hand?”

The die is cast, the cards dealt, it is what it is, Terius knows Malo well enough that he can handle one person no matter their disposition.

Terius peers with his senses through the walls but can’t see past the kitchen with all the metal objects in the way. He resigns himself to waiting and finding out later how things went.

“When Malo returns tell him what rooms we have. I’m going to turn in.”

Caitir wishes him a goodnight and begins cleaning up.

An hour later Terius is meditating in his room when there’s a light tapping on his door. “Come in,” he says loudly.

A timid Malo opens the door a little and slides into the room. He has his hood up and head down more than usual.

“I didn’t know about the kennel-hand, did he give you much trouble?”

“No, I’ve dealt with worse, or I think I have. I may not remember. Can you look at something for me?”

Not liking where this is going, “Of course, what’s wrong?”

“I need you to look at my head and tell me if its healing ok, or if it’s like the burns and healing halfway.”

Jumping up and coming to Malo’s side, “What happened?”

I took Chloe into the kennel and attached her lead to a post like you told me to do in a kennel. I turned around to look for some kibble and brushes and then I woke up on the floor and that man was going through my pockets. I think he hit me with a shovel. I found one with blood on it when I was cleaning up.”

Terius listens to the story and realizes there was a lot left out. “What happened to the kennel-hand?”

“You mean Sam? Him and I came to an understanding. He leaves me alone and I’ll leave him alone.”

Terius is listening while examining Malo’s recently split open head. It appears to be nearly healed, with no signs of scaring. “Your head will be fine; you heal faster than anyone I know. How did you manage to turn Sam’s attitude around?”

“I wrestled him and shoved his face in inu-poo. It took four times for him to get the message. The first three times I Iet him up he’d lunge for me. So, I kept putting him into the same pile of poo.”

“That’s impressive. I thought you said all you could do is run fast and see in the dark. You clearly have other gifts.”

“Well, I did make myself strong once to escape a leaper. This wasn’t like that. Sam is a lousy fighter, and I was trained both my papa and by Friar Lash, he’s Brother Lash now so I’ll never see him again.”

“I’ve heard of the Dragon Priesthood fighting style, a derivative of Judo, all about using leverage and momentum. Applied properly you can overcome a much larger and stronger opponent. Well done, Malo.”

Malo is embarrassed by the praise but also pleased. His world which used to fill a forested valley has shrunk to this man, an inu, and an adopted family he barely knows. He doesn’t know it, but his spirit has been starving, this little praise fills some of the empty void.

Terius feels something said earlier needs to be addressed, “Malo earlier, you were afraid your father would be mad if you drank ale. Do you remember what happened to him?”

“I still don’t remember what happened, but I know he died. I could have chosen my words better, but I want to honor his promise.”

“I’m glad you’re the kind of person that honors a promise even when nobody is watching.” Terius yawning, “i-it’s late we should get some sleep.”

Everyone slept well that night except Sam, who couldn’t get the stench of inu-poo out of his nose.

The following morning Malo awoke and found Terius was already downstairs eating some breakfast. He was having eggs and cavi.

“That looks good, but I’d like more stew if you have any left.”

“I can accommodate that. Give me a few minutes and I’ll make you a surprise.”

Malo eagerly shakes his head in the affirmative.

The innkeeper disappears into the kitchen for no more than three minutes before emerging with a piping hot bowl of stew and two egg and cavi sandwiches. The bread was toasted and buttered, the cavi was moist and the eggs fried perfectly. There was also a pitcher of lemonade at the ready.

Words could not describe the happiness Malo felt at that moment. He even took his time to savor the seasoning.

Pushing his bowl away and finishing his second glass of lemonade, he excuses himself to fetch his pack.

Terius is glad to be getting back on the road, they are not more than three days from Mammatus, and he’d like to cut that down by half a day if possible.

“Out of my way you filthy zasskoken,” shouts a woman from the stairs!

Terius only heard Malo’s response because of his gift.

“What’s the matter never seen someone as ugly as me? Look at my face! Look at it. Would you like to look like this? You get out of my way, zasskoken!”

Terius is surprised at the harshness of the boy’s response, up to now he’s been more tolerant of people’s reactions.

A minute later a woman comes downstairs, presumably after yielding to Malo.

Caitir only heard her original outburst and is concerned, “Lady Ishita, is everything well with you?”

“I don’t like the patrons you’ve been catering to of late. These rogues and duelists will ruin your reputation. I don’t believe I will be staying here again.”

“I think there’s some kind of misunderstanding,” Caitir attempts to explain.

“Hmmp, have your boy bring my cart around and I’ll be going.”

“I’ll get on that. I haven’t seen Sam all morning. I’ll fetch your cart right away. Would you like some lemonade while you wait?”

“Not in here,” she plucks up a chair and takes it outside.

Caitir apologizes to Terius with a quick explanation that he needs to mend this rift. She’s a spice merchant and the sole supplier of the seasonings he uses in his kitchen.

He heads outside with a clean glass and fresh pitcher to try and talk her out of her decision. Malo comes down with his pack over his shoulder.

Glairing his displeasure, Terius admonishes Malo, “Did you have to be so cold to that woman?”

“You heard that, huh? It felt like the right thing to do. She already sized me up, I tried to redirect her anger into pity. I know she didn’t know why she was mad at me, that’s how this curse works. While I’ve been running these last few days, I’ve been thinking of how these scars and blisters could be used to my advantage.”

Impressed with the level of thought Malo puts into every interaction, thinking before reacting. How will he do when he doesn’t have time to think? Then he realizes he saw the answer to that question when they first met in the keep. Whatever he does, it will be big.