“So what’s our cut after taxes?”
Beryl pulled out her coin purse.
“Four hundred even, that's not accounting for rations on the way back out, but it might be an easier trek. The market here sells dried stews that are easy enough to rehydrate. The staff mentioned Brenton should also pay out on any jobs we take before leaving.”
“Twenty percent?”
Beryl waved my concern aside.
“It's on account of our first visit and all the first-time registrations for the city.”
Stepping off of the massive lift, Beryl and Vaughn led the way ahead of me. I hadn’t gotten as good a look as I managed the first time around with Sabine, attempting to prod at her for the majority of the walk down. It was a far cry from Brenton’s childless streets as kids ran and played along vacated corridors and sections of stone with trickling water, man-made ponds, and the occasional lush bed of grass. Adults mingled at cafes, free of the sun or the dirt of the streets above ground. Lamps were lit at every corner, either by oil or crystals charged with mana. Some of the citizenry lounged on porches with wooden foundations built atop the older stone steps to their front entrances. I got a better view of Tyr’s supposed appearance at his shrine, the fountain carved from the rock walls. He was portrayed as a young man, an elf, shy of maybe fourteen suns himself. The statue was decorated with moss and the occasional weed feeding off of its water. The statue was overgrown to a degree, making me wonder at Lorn’s descriptions if it was a lack of care or reverence.
“Dearie, you’re back! Is that the girl you two were missing on the way down?”
An old woman, followed by what must have been her daughter in her forties, waved to us with a broom in hand.
“Miss Jagoda!”
Beryl quickened her pace across the stone street, meeting the elderly woman on the porch.
“That’s her.”
The woman patted Beryl on the shoulder before moving down a step. She seemed to squint at me, her brows furrowing a moment.
“She’s buttoned that gambison up mighty loose. Y’sure she’s not a boy?”
This again?
I slumped my shoulders in feigned disappointment.
“Sorry, Vaughn, I guess you’re officially prettier than me now. Be sure not to let it get to your head, okay?”
“Shit, that's quite the competition to set yourself up for.”
Vaughn leaned in a moment, whispering into my ear just loud enough for me to make out what he said amongst the clamor of pedestrians. I prodded him in the side just hard enough to make him take a step to the side.
“Steel yourself for the stay, though. These folks are the hospitable type; we spent all of our budget on lodging here for a reason.”
Miss Jagoda walked up to us, her daughter now occupying Beryl in her place.
“Boy, don’t go putting any ideas in her head now. Let me get a better look at you here.”
She met us halfway, reaching her arms out to greet us.
What, does she want a hug?
I leaned back slightly, trying to avoid the contact.
“Sorry, I kind of st–”
“Oh, come here, you're hardly the filthiest hellion I’ve welcomed into my home.”
Grabbing my collar and pulling me forward, she kissed my cheeks on either side.
“They said you were cute as a jumpin' ewe, and now I believe I can say they were right.”
I looked over her shoulder at Beryl, the snake holding in her, snickering alongside Jagoda’s daughter.
“Cute as a jumpin’ ewe?”
Vaughn patted me across the back.
“I embellish a bit, but somewhat close to that.Come now, I want to get you all acquainted with the house once more before I set to dinner. We’ll be having hunter’s stew, and I’ve been baking fresh bread to go alongside it.”
Jagoda turned on her heels, motioning for us to follow as she hobbled back up the steps.
“So, for names, I do believe a stranger in one's home is one no longer with as much of a simple introduction as ever.”
She clasped her hands.
“I am Jagoda, Jagoda Wanik, and this is simply my home.”
Jagoda motioned through her doors. The front of the house's stone face was decorated with chiseled decorations below the four first-floor windows. The second floor seemed relatively barren, save for the additional four windows. They were all open, and the smell of baking bread wafted over potted plants and decorative cloth. Next, she motioned to the woman I assumed to be her daughter.
“This is Sylwia Wanik–”
Sylwia pulled at the hem of her dress, performing a light curtsy.
“My daughter, through these doors, you will meet our husbands respectively. Marek is the old surly coot glued to his chair at the fireplace, though Jozef, the work-a-holic the boy is, is out most of the time. He’s come back tonight to share in the stew.”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“It’s that good?”
Vaughn asked, smiling with raised brows.
“Good enough I’ll guarantee to put a couple of pounds on you by the time you leave, son. Speaking of which, it now falls to you three.”
Jagoda held her hands out.
“Beryl Halkias.”
Beryl twisted within her coils, constantly shifting them to give the appearance of an endless flow without really moving her body from where she stood. I’d never really seen her give the greeting before, but it seemed to be reserved for true introductions.
Still, I keep forgetting that she’s learned most of her manners from her mothers. Where’s that from? Imperial based itself?
Next was Vaughn.
“Vaughn Baros.”
Vaughn seemed to lower his head, more accustomed to ingratiating himself with seniors in his line of work as well as the occasional official. His posture straightened as he bore his shieldless arm ahead to the side. Jagoda seemed to smile, softening a little at his gesture.
I’ll have to see if I can join him for any of his meetings. If not to play ‘bodyguard,’ to at least see him in that element. He doesn’t seem like he’d carry the same demeanor when at work.
I was next, and I actually found myself frozen.
Ah– shit, uh, should I copy one of them? But- Oh Jesus, I don’t know how to greet people with that level of politeness… Fuck it, here goes.
“Kiyomi Jormanr.”
I spoke my name dryly, attempting a slight curtsy without grabbing at the sides of my gambison. I couldn't see the best out of my periphery, but I could've sworn Vaughn raised a brow in amusement.
“Don’t worry about that, girl. I can see the frays on your back, we'll help you with that yet. Beryl here told us roughly how long you’d be here, just over a week, was it?”
Beryl nodded, and Jagoda motioned for us to follow inside.
“We have a few staff here to help, have you with any need for it. Myself, Sylwia, Evelyn, and Mizzell. Though they’ll be occupied in chores and preparation for meals, you’re our only tenants on the second floor. The last group was several strong, so they’d cleared us out of rooms for a while.”
We walked through the entrance of the home, its main room wide and decorated with hanging plants, as a series of mirrors shone sunlight against them through some unseen hatch to the side of the home bordering the main shaft. A deep blue rug framed the center of the room, two couches covered in hides and woolen blankets placed along its edge. An old man sat in an ornate chair to their side, the furniture decorated in the same manner. He looked to the fireplace, the soft crackle and the smell of soot wafting through the room as the coals glowed intermittently. Lowering a pipe from his mouth, a gentleman roughly Jagoda’s age, with a trimmed beard reaching his collar, greeted us.
“Ah, the new guests. I’m sure my wife’s informed you of us already?”
Beryl nodded.
“Mister Marek, I presume?”
The old man smiled.
“I heard your introductions through the front door, hearing’s exceptional for my age.”
Tapping at his earlobe with the pipe, he pointed the spout towards each of us.
“Beryl?”
He asked, receiving a slight bow.
“Then you two must be Vaughn and Kiyomi, yes?”
We each nodded respectfully.
“I’ll stay out of your ears, so don’t mind me. I sit here most of the time.”
He waved a hand down to his legs, one in what looked like an ancient cavalry boot and the other a nub as the pant leg was folded in on itself.
“Forgive me if I have to ask for assistance to stand once in a while.”
He motioned to a crutch leaning against the fireplace.
“The living room is free to reign. This way, we’re not done just yet.”
We continued following, the best we could manage at least, Beryl’s tail occupying most of the halls. She did her best to bunch herself up, but I still wouldn’t want to compete with her in the middle of the night to reach a toilet.
“Here’s the kitchen.”
Jagoda showed us through the bottom floor, directing us through one room at a time. The kitchen was nice, spacious, and, most of all, traversed by two of the workers. Evelyn, a beast woman, similar in her cat-like appearance to mother, and Mizzell, a lower Demon.
“Oooh, another demon! Is she one of the guests, baba?”
Mizzell asked, picking her head up from a tray of vegetables she'd been preparing.
“Calm your whip-tail now, she's a guest, so don't go haranguing her dear.”
Jagoda waved a hand, chuckling as she spoke.
“Mizzell may have been born here, but her grandmother brought her up Va’renian.”
Mizzel rolled her eyes.
“Baba, Kooo. Y'know, Gratti would've loved to go home.”
“Aye, and now she's damned you with that homesickness of hers.”
Jagoda waved a hand at her, Mizzel took to the same liveliness I did with my tail when being teased.
“Her grandmother and I were friends, met when they came here some years after when there was a spat between a few of the Earls down south. I've known this'n since she was a glint in her Da's eyes.”
“Babaaa, the guests, you don't need to tell them our life's story. They'll have plenty of that at supper.”
I never took much note of it, but—
“Are demons that rare this side of Morus? I thought it was just Brenton.”
Mizzel and Jagoda looked at me, then each other.
“Pardon, miss-“
“Kiyomi.”
Mizzel blinked a moment in surprise.
“That’s awfully Shinrisian for this far north.”
I was about to reference Kiyomi’s memories of her father before the context came to mind, and with it, the same remorse.
It's been years, and that still hurts to think about. I'll have to confront that, all the same.
“My-“
“Her mother is Shinrisian, she was adopted.”
Vaughn? Uhh, thanks for the save.
Vaughn spoke up for me, probably seeing my hesitation.
“Where from?”
My turn to take the reins again.
“We’re from Brenton; this is our first real job in another city proper.”
Mizzel nodded, resuming her dicing of an onion.
“Well, miss Kiyomi, demons, lower and exceptionally higher? More on the rare side north of Va’ren, and east of Francia. Sorry to get stars in muh eyes to meet ya.”
I waved it off.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all the same. It's my first time meeting another demon unless I count the old goat at Brenton's temple of Solah.”
“We’ll have to get acquainted then.”
Mizzel said with a laugh.
“Ah, gods dammit, burns my eyes every time.”
Andrea suppressed a giggle.
“Baba, you should go while you can. The moment she stops the whining the two whip-tails will be talking and never give us any peace.”
Jagoda turned around once more.
“Aye, aye.”
Next was the study, passing underneath the stairs as they did a one-eighty twist to the second floor. It was the furthest lower-level room from the front door, situated against the outermost wall, connected to the city’s main ventilation shaft. Across the desk, a grand view of the city was on display, framed by a massive window, reaching to the ceiling. Books lined one side of the room, while the opposite was covered with drafting tools and shelving decorated with various nick-nacks or surveying instruments. Atop these shelves, the series of mirrors that lit the plants in the living area revealed themselves. Other than that, two oil lamps hung from chains above the desk, providing ample light, as the sun got closer to setting.
“That's pretty much it to the downstairs. The other group we discussed only laid claim to the first floor rooms, so the upstairs bedroom and bath we discussed is all yours.”
The second floor wasn't cramped by any means. The staircase came just to the side of the main floor and presented a hall large enough for Beryl to stretch her tail freely. It was similar in setup to the first-floor living area, minus the fireplace, as metal piping came up through the floor and took a forty-five-degree angle to spill into the main shaft. We were shown to the first room on the left, overhead of the study.
“Apologies if the door seems rather cramped for you, Beryl dear. But it isn't often we really have Lamia as guests, the renovation wouldn't benefit the cost.”
“That's fair. Besides, I'm not inclined to complain about such. My home in Brenton is similar.”
“All well, a patient woman for your age, no wonder you're traveling with these youngsters..”
Beryl pulled at the neck of her robes.
“Actually, she’s–”
Vaughn went to correct Jagoda before Beryl raised her tail, shoving the tip against his mouth to shut him up.
Do I sense ego inflating?
Vaughn and I looked at each other as Jagoda continued. In the corner, our packs and belongings sat waiting, flanked on either side by bed twin beds, while another was placed against the wall closest to the door. Opposite all the beds, were three more separate doors: one, a restroom. The second, was a walk-in closet sandwiched between the first and the third. Lastly, a room dedicated to bathing, as well as a–
“A shower? I haven't seen one of these in so long!”
It was a welcome luxury, having only the same-sex communal baths at the adventurers guild in Brenton.
“Thanks to the gravity feed from wells up top, Krakow is one of the few cities other than the Imperial capital to have running water free of magic. Those mana stones are clean and can do some work, but they're not too generous when it comes to water pressure and are expensive to boot, so we have very few. Just be mindful that it's much colder at night.”
Jagoda clasped her hands together.
“Now, I hate to leave you all from here. But I'll have to go downstairs to help the whip-tail and the cat finish dinner. The guests downstairs will be joining us as well, so they'll need all the help they can get.”