There was a huge bear with black stripes and green claws. He saw a fox that seemed to blur when it moved. There were several smaller animals such as mice that were made of smoke and a raccoon that from this distance he couldn't tell what was special about it. Gilbert noticed how interested Austin was " So you've never seen a Kindred before have you " Gilbert commented. Austin shook his head "Well I got someone for you to meet then."

He reached his hand out and a large white wolf appeared. It stood five feet at its shoulder and was wider than Gilbert's shoulders. A gray stone the size a fist lazily orbited its head. "His name is Alabaster. He is a Moon Wolf." Austin was so enamored his mouth hung open as he stared at the giant wolf that was right next to him. "Wow. He's amazing. How long has he been bonded? What can he do? What does he do for you? How long have you been a Kindred?" A flood of questions left Austin faster than anytime would be able to answer.

Gilbert interrupted Austin "This is all it took to get you over your fear and taking? What do I need to do to get you to stop? Hold on…" Gilbert walked over to a vendor and bought an item. "Here." He handed the item to Austin. It looked like an oversized clear marble. As Austin was looking at the item Gilbert said to him " It's an Idea Sphere. You speak an idea to it and it remembers the concept for you. It can only retain a little bit of information, probably around 5 questions or so depending on how complicated they are. Go ahead and try it out. Pick one of those questions you are asking me and speak it into the Idea Sphere."

Austin held this sphere in front of him and said " How long have you been Kindred? " The image of a man next to a beast seemed to shift around inside the marble as the concept was stored inside the marble. " Now all you have to do is touch the image and you will be reminded of the question you put in there. This is so you stop asking me all of your questions. Store the most important ones in the Ideas Sphere. Every once in a while I'll let you ask the one you feel is the most important. Don't think I'm giving this to you for free. You're going to have to earn this with hard work once we leave the city. "

After a few minutes of walking the idea sphere was full of questions that Austin wanted to ask. They came up to the city gates on the west side of the city. " All right. Before we leave I'll let you ask a question. " Gilbert said to Austin. Austin stared at his sphere intently and you pressed one of the images with his fingers as it disappeared he asked " How long have you been Kindred?"

"Ahh. Well, I wasn't lucky enough to be able to bond when I first turned 10. It took quite some time after that so let me think. I've been Kindred for 23 years. Now let me ask you, why did you ask that question? "

Austin replied to Gilbert " I don't know anything about you. This seemed like a good way to start getting to know you. "

Gilbert's stern face softened slightly. " That is a well reasoned response. I was going to disparage your choice of question when it was wide open for interpretation of what you are allowed to ask. You were able to adequately explain your decision making. If you're able to keep this up, you're going to go far in life kid. One more question, where do you think your strengths lie? "

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"I don't understand." Austin said. The three walked out of the city gates and few people were coming in and out of the city. A couple of guards stood watch, not really doing much.

"Let me put it a different way. What can you do for me that I can't do myself, or have Alabaster do. " "Ohhhh. Ummm. Can I think about it for a minute? " Gilbert nodded as they started the track towards a forest area.

After about 5 minutes Austin turned to Gilbert and said " I'm small. Smaller than you and Alabaster. So I can get into places that you can't get to. Also, I know a lot about plants. I help my mom in the shop all the time, so I can help you with plants. "

"I was thinking pretty much the same things. It's also safer if we try to avoid wild animals instead of seeking them out. It changes my original plan but as long as I can make some money out of this that's okay"

All three of them walked around the forest for some time. Austin would point out plants that he knew his parents sold in the shop. Each time Gilbert would shake his head and tell him that those plants weren't worth the effort.

"Ooo! I see something!" Austin excitedly shouted, startling Alabaster who started to crouch in anticipation of an attack. The rock orbited his head faster. After a second of nothing happening the giant wolf started to relax and stood back up into a normal posture.

Gilbert shook his head and motioned for the child to show him what he was talking about. He walked up to a thorny vine that stretched between a few trees and wove in and out of itself. There were small black fruits that grew on the vine. Austin took a pair of gardening gloves out of his pockets and put them on his hands.

"This is Corrupting Huckleberry. It's got to be worth something. My dad was very excited when he was able to get one for my mom. She was unable to get it to grow in our garden and my dad got really mad because he said the fruit was going to make us all money. So I don't think we should try to take the whole plant, but we can pick the fruit and keep coming back here for more. Just don't let the thorns scrape your skin and you'll be okay. "

By this time Austin had picked all of the fully ripe Corrupting Huckleberries off of the vine and both of his hands were full of them. "Here Mr. Woodley." Austin said as he extended his hands towards Gilbert.

Gilbert unslung his backpack and dug in it as he walked towards Austin. When Gilbert was in front of Austin he kneeled down and pulled a leather pouch out of the bag and opened it in front of the boy's hands. Austin tilted his hands forward, dumping the Corrupting Huckleberries into the pouch. "Mr. Woodley, try not to crush these berries. The juice can corrupt anything they touch." His words began to falter as he saw that Gilbert was staring right at him. "...and they will be worth more, the more you have uncrushed…"

"Kid, you can call me Gil. You're pretty resourceful for only being five. You have a decent sense for what people want. Let me give you a bit of advice. No one is going to let on exactly what they want or who they are. Especially when you first meet them." Gil lifted the pouch of Corrupting Huckleberries and flicked it with his finger. A hollow thunk came from the bag as it was struck. "Just like this bag. It changed from a soft pouch that's easy to store, into a hardened container that can protect what's inside it. People change depending on the situation they are in. So yes, I want to make money, that's why we are out here, but don't think that is the only thing that's important to me."

Austin blankly stared at Gil, not knowing what to say and not fully understanding what he was talking about. People always seemed pretty simple to him. His mom loved plants, his dad was out trying to find deals to make the family money. His older sister was aggressive and best avoided most of the time. His oldest brother was his best friend and always played with him when they were together. This all seemed obvious to the little boy, it's just the way things were.

The only other people that Austin regularly came into contact with were customers, and that was just for brief periods of time. Those strangers frightened Austin so he avoided helping them when he could. He thought maybe that was what Gil was talking about. Maybe he should try and figure out customers better.

Austin nodded, confident that he figured out the lesson Gil was giving him. He was feeling proud of himself as Gil looked up at the sun and scratched the back of his neck. "Looks like we have a bit more time before we need to head back. You can ask another question while Alabaster leads us to another area."