The next two weeks are fairly uneventful. I work about four times a week, and though my pay stabilized around one and a half gold a day after my initial high production, we still have more than enough to get by and we're well on our way to saving the fifty gold for the fortune teller. We also send power to the goddess every day, which just consists of holding her mini statue and reciting a prayer in a language I don't understand. We also visit her temple from time to time, cleaning up a bit while we're there, though I don't feel any more reactions to her statue.

“Good morning, Lilly~” Cinder greets, snacking on some stewed salted meat from the food counter downstairs. She motions to a bowl of yogurt with berries, which I walk from my cot to the chair to eat.

“So since we both have the day off, I was thinking we should-”

Her next words are cut off by a sudden hard knocking at the door.

“ah, hang on, I'll see who that is.” she says before making her way to the door and stepping through, letting it close behind her.

Curious, I approach the door. Not standing too close in case it opens suddenly, I listen in. I hear a muffled deep voice speaking for a moment before Cinders voice, much louder and more clear, the deeper voice remaining too quiet to make out.

“You can't do that we-... No It's not what we agreed!... But where-... Well I want to talk to him!... He can make the time!... Get back here you blaggard! Tell him he's a coward! Aughh!”

The door swings open with force and Cinder storms back in fuming, slamming the door behind her and chucking her knife which she had been holding into the bare wall. Burying It to the handle before ripping it out and slashing at the chalky material, cursing while reducing a large portion to a crumbling ruin and exposing the timber structure beneath.

Despite my attempts to sink into the background, the devil glares in my direction, her gaze softening when she sees the tinge of fear in my expression.

“sorry I-” she sighs, looking at the mess she's made. “The fucking land lord is increasing rent by ten times. No one here can afford that shit, we'd be waist deep in debt even with the amount you make”

“they can't do that! Can they?”

“he can do whatever the hell he wants, and he has been since he bought every apartment building in town.” she says, sitting on her cot and dropping her head into her hands. “what the fuck are we gonna do, this was the cheapest apartment we could find…”

Sitting down next to her, I speak. “I take it there's no reasoning with this guy, is there?”

“no, definitely not… But we do have to do something…” she says, pausing and sitting back in her chair to resume her meal with a determined and focused expression.

I try to think of some solutions as well, and after finishing our breakfast, I clear my throat and give my thoughts. “We do have a place we could stay.”

Cinder looks at me with an eyebrow slightly raised as I continue. “Rahia's temple is empty, and there's running water.”

“That seems blasphemous. but you're right, we could stay there while we figure out a more permanent solution.” she glances at the ruined wall. “I’m so not getting our deposit back.”

“That lackey at the door said we have until next month to pay or leave, of course they'd do this at the end of the month, fucking parasites. We need to start packing if we don't want them to seize everything.”

We were both silent as we began getting everything together for the move, and though we didn't have much, after disassembling our cots and folding the room divider, the apartment felt vast and empty. I hadn’t lived here long, and I already felt that I was leaving my home, I could only think of how much more it hurt Cinder.

It took several trips to move everything into the temple, luckily no one paid us enough attention to realize what we were doing as I'm sure there's some rule against it. I guess there's just not enough respect for a ‘dead’ goddess to care.

On our last trip from the apartment, while moving our food, Cinder stops in the doorway, looking in.

“Cin, are you alright?” I ask, as I realize she's stopped.

“It's just-” she says after a moment, and it's clear in her voice that she's on the verge of tears. “We worked so hard to have our own place, Thal and I. this was ours, and they took it away just like they did with everything else.” Her words become more angry as she begins to cry.

I set down the bag of fruits I had been carrying, and place a hand on her shoulder before moving into a hug as she turns to me. “We’ll get it back. I promise.”

She seems more determined as we finally lock the door and make our way downstairs. I look back at the food counter, hoping to say goodbye to the kind man who had almost always been there, but he was nowhere to be found. Cinder places the apartment key on the counter, and we leave.

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although we had cleared much of the plant life and rubble inside the temple, it remains damp, and there are still cracks in the ceiling through which light streams into the main chamber. There are several side rooms in the temple which are mostly empty save for the largest one which we had placed most of our possessions in, it also being the cleanest. There's also a small cellar beneath a trapdoor in the cramped kitchen area used by the few priests that stayed here permanently. We stored our food in the cellar which was nicely cool.

“We’ll have to get some cement for those cracks, but once we mop the floors the stone should look pretty nice.” Cinder says, wiping the last of the dust off an old wooden altar and pushing a couple pews up to it to act as a table.

“We should do some shopping today, then. I'd also like to get some paint, and we need coal for the stove.”

“Oh right, the summer market opens today, I was going to suggest we stop by.” Cinder remembers, her face lighting up a little from the somber state she's been in.

“That sounds wonderful! let's head there now!” I exclaim. excited for something to lift the mood, I grab Cinders hand and pull her out the door. It's around midday by now so all the shops should be open.

The summer market is run by many of the same vendors as the normal market, just with a wider selection and with outdoor stalls. I always hated summer, but I'm actually looking forward to it this year. There's still some time before summer properly starts as it's still technically spring.

Some of the outdoor stalls aren't quite set up yet, and they're pretty sparse, but there are enough to explore. We stop by a building materials vendor for a small sack of cement and a couple new locks, which I pay for and store in a canvas bag over my shoulder.

Cinder sees a stall with lots of strange fruit and excitedly buys some, placing most into her bag and breaking one in two, handing me half. “These are dulce figs, they're really popular with mages so they're cultivated here, but they're native to the hells.”

taking the fruit, I smell its sweet flesh which is mostly filled with small white seeds. Cinder just eats the fruit in bites, skin and all, so I do the same. The seeds pop like tapioca pearls, and the flesh is sweet and floral, with the skin giving an almost sour taste, like a plum.

“mmm this is good! why's it popular with mages?” I ask, already finished with the somewhat large fruit in moments.

“It has mana restoration properties, so for people who use lots of magic it's really useful. plus it's delicious. Speaking of magic, did you still want to learn more?”

“Yeah the spells I have are pretty useful for household stuff but I want to be able to defend myself.” I say, conjuring a small flame and moving it between my fingers.

“Then you should get a focus, they aren't necessary for casting but they'll make more advanced magic easier to learn. I remember there being an artisan shop that sells them down the street. they should also have oil paints.”

Cinder looks down the rows of buildings, and we make our way towards the furthest outdoor stall. The stall is empty but the building's door isn't locked so we head inside. The walls aren't visible behind rows of books and boxes stacked against them, but despite the cluttered atmosphere, it's all well organized and labeled. Behind a glass display case counter filled with brass and silver jewelry is a young woman reading a book who doesn’t look up to greet us.

I spot a small labeled box of paints and other art supplies at the far end of the cramped space, and pull it open. There are plenty of paint tubes and brushes, a jar of paint thinner, and a few other things. I also grab a couple canvases off of a high shelf stepping up on the tips of my hooves to reach them.

with supplies in hand, I turn to see Cinder sorting through a box labeled “Magik”. After a moment she pulls out a small wand with two blue crystals embedded in its handle and tip. She finally stands and turns to me, handing me the wand.

“Here, this one's pretty nice. I wouldn't pay more than three gold though.” she whispers the last part to not be overheard by the shopkeep, but it doesn't seem like she's paying any attention at all. as we make our way to the counter, I see that cinder is holding a strange looking file and a pair of supple leather gloves.

I use identify on the wand to get a better idea of it.

common sapphire focus allows for easier learning and casting of mid tier spells.

okay, cool. exactly how it seemed.

setting our items onto the counter, the light haired woman finally looks up from her novel to glance at each of us and then at the items on the counter. she sighs, places a piece of ribbon into her book to mark her place and makes some notes in the ledger in front of her.

“Alright, thirteen silver for the art stuff, twenty for the wand, two for the horn file, three for the gloves. That's three gold, eight silver.” she says quickly, obviously ready for us to leave so she can return to her book. everything seems fine to me so I pay and put everything into my near capacity bag, except for Cinders things which she carries.

We leave the little shop, and after getting a couple other things for the temple, we return to it. the walk back to the temple is in much higher spirits than it was this morning, and we work more quickly than before.

Cinder gets to work mixing up the cement, and after climbing onto the roof with a wooden ladder from the side of the temple, she starts filling in the cracks. Inside, I start mopping the floors. beneath the layers of dust and dirt is pristine marble, and after a couple hours, Cinder re enters the temple removing her boots so she won't track anything onto the newly cleaned floors.

“You know, this place is starting to feel like an actual building now.” she says, taking a drink of water and cleaning off her face in the running water of the small basin in the main chamber.

“it is! I think I'll make some fresh bread and soup for dinner. I'll miss the food counter, but at least I'll have more opportunities to cook.” I say, moving into the kitchen to scrub out the stove and make sure the chimney is clear before trying to light it.

“We should give some to the goddess as an offering, so we should make enough for three.” Cinder says, sitting in a pew and looking up at the goddesses statue, which looks much more elegant and ethereal now that it's cleaned.

After a thorough scrubbing, I throw some coal into the stove and light it. leaving the stove to warm up for a bit, I re-enter the main chamber and take my seat at the altar, across from Cinder.

“Do you think she's okay with this?” I ask

“I don't know, but this is definitely the most anyone has focused on her here in a long time. that must be worth something”

Halfway through dinner, after cinder installed the new locks on the doors, there's a knock at the door.