Esmi prayed for a miracle, but she hadn’t expected it to arrive in the lumbering form of Bogdi.

As she sat in the chilly snow expecting oblivion, the giant emerged out of the nearby woods and came shuffling towards her. She could still remember the short interaction they had back when she had her money stolen and returned, and put him on her list of good people ever since. Plus, he was friends with Manu, so how bad could he be?

“I was wondering where you were,” he said.

Esmi lifted her sad face. “You were looking for me?”

“I doubt Manu would like it if anything happened to you, so I figured I’d try to find out what’s going on. I heard you stole. Is that true? Manu won’t be happy about that.”

She frowned. “You guys steal all the time.”

“Not from people that we need to trust us.”

Esmi explained the situation to him in detail, from how she had stolen the brooch to how everyone accused her and how she had been assaulted in her sleep. Bogdi stood by quietly and listened as the cold winter winds threaded through the snow-laden canopy above. “Why’d you steal it? You know you could’ve come to one of us for money. What’d you need it for?”

“I didn’t, I told you! They’re lying.”

“You stole the brooch. That’s theft.”

Esmi clicked her tongue.“It wasn’t really for the money… I just hate that foreigner.”

“That doesn’t mean you can just steal. You don’t pick pockets where you’re employed. Hasn’t your dad ever told you not to shit where you eat? Anyway, get that brooch. We’re going to resolve this.”

“You can’t…”

Bogdi scooped her up. “We’ll try, at least. Come on.”

Reluctantly, Esmi led him to the hidden stash near the wagon. She took the brooch out and reluctantly surrendered it to him. “What are you going to do now?”

“Now we’ll wait and see who comes looking.”

They returned to her wagon. Bogdi instructed to go in, act normal, and be quiet. He would wait outside at a distance, and when the guy threatening her came back, they would settle the score.

Esmi was so tired that she not only was happy to get in the bed of her wagon, but actually drifted into sleep. She was woken up by the sound of scraping boots, and then she saw a dark silhouette filling up the threshold. “Wake up, you gypsy bitch. Did you have it now?”

The guy hardly had the chance to take another step towards her. Bogdi grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, pulled him back out, and slammed him down savagely against the ground. By the time Esmi jumped out of bed, his hand gripped the vagabond by the throat and choked him so hard that the his eyes bulged. “Is this him?” Esmi nodded.

Bogdi slammed a closed fist into the man’s face. Esmi shuddered, not from the gruesome noise, but from the lack of it. There was blood pouring out of the bastard’s nose, but all she could hear were his muffled cries and the wild thrashing of his body kicking up snow. “Who asked you to do this, huh?” Bogdi demanded to know. “Tell me or I’ll take the one tooth you have left and use it to carve your face up, you disgusting, vile, filthy piece of shit.”

“N-Nohbohdy, man, noh-noh-nohbohdy!” the man cried out, stammering incomprehensibly. “I’m just… tr-trying t-to help… the la-lady…”

“Who? The foreign whore?” Bogdi’s eyes narrowed suspicious. “Did she put you up to this?”

“No… but… but I can’t afford… I can’t afford to go see her…” Tears came to his pained eyes.

Bogdi scoffed darkly. “By the gods, you’re a pathetic cockroach. What, did you think you were going to get your member tickled because you took back something that was stolen? Thought this brooch and that toothless mouth was gonna win her over and get you a freebie?”

“Noh, noh, noh!” he screamed. “N-Never! Lady Ottillie is a go-goddess. I just wanted to muh-muhkhe her hap-peh”

“I’ve never seen her, but I can tell you in confidence that your lady is a whore first and foremost, factually speaking.” Now that Bogdi had understood what was going on, he seemed more amused than worried. “You whimpering shit. Look at you. You’ve barely got any hair, you’ve got no teeth in your mouth, and you’re dreaming of a whore. If I were you, I’d kill myself and stop bringing shame to my family. You got a family?”

The defeated bum wiped the blood coming out of his nose and swallowed. “Noh, sihr…”

Bogdi looked up at Esmi. “Well. It’s you he threatened. What do you say? Want his remaining teeth? Or maybe an eyeball for safekeeping?”

The fiend that had seemed so terrifying to Esmi just a little while ago seemed less threatening than a little boy now. He was weeping like a baby with his mouth open, the two blackened stumps that were his teeth dripping with hot saliva in the cold air as the blood and snot mixed and bubbled at his nose. He was so pathetic. No one to love him, no one to care for him, and no family.

This could be me someday, thought Esmi, realizing that she had no real family either, not anymore. Her tongue ran instinctively across her healthy teeth, and then she sniveled. “Let him go.”

“You’re sure?” Esmi thought about it but nodded in confirmation. Bogdi lifted the bum off the ground. “You hear that, you vile piece of filth? This little lady is your real savior. She’s asking me to spare your life. That whore would probably ask those guards to stomp your face in if you even looked her way.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Thank y-you…” he said pathetically, hot tears streaming down his face. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking… I wouldn’t have ever hurt you, muh-muh-miss… I just wah-wa-wanted to do… to do the right t-thing…”

“Well, all you did was scare her half to death,” said Bogdi.

The man scampered off as soon as he was allowed to walk. “Poor miserable fuck,” said Bogdi, looking at the way he dragged a bad foot. “Killing him might’ve been a mercy.”

“He’s got nobody,” said Esmi bleakly.

Bogdi glanced at her and chuckled. “What, you think you’re like him? Don’t be stupid. You may not have a mother, but you’ve got a father. And you have the clan. Besides, each person has the family they’re born with and the one they make for themselves. That guy had thirty years to get himself a family, or more. It’s no one fault but his own he ended up alone like that. You might feel pity for these sorts of fool, but the truth is, they probably deserve to die alone, for some reason or another.”

Like Razlan, maybe, thought Esmi. If her father kept acting the way he did for the last few years, then she would soon depart forever and never seek him out. But she wasn’t entirely sure that’s what happened to this bum. Not every person chose their fate. She could easily see now after this brooch-incident how quickly one bad decision could lead to things spiraling out of control. Did somebody deserve to suffer in their fifties for choices they made in their teens or twenties? Who knows what might’ve happened to her now if Bogdi hadn’t shown up when he did…

I’m lucky. Esmi spared a glance at the wintry sky above and whatever gods dwelt there among the sun and stars.

To make things right, Bogdi insisted they go to the Red Bear and put an end to the dispute before things got worse. Esmi was reluctant, especially since it meant that she would have to face up to what she had done, and she could not bear to look Martin or Orlon in the eyes. “They’re going to hate me.”

“No, they won’t,” Bogi insisted. “You’re just a stupid kid. You should see what I did as a kid.”

“What?”

“Worse.” He licked his lips thoughtfully as if he meant to continue, but then just shook his head and sighed as if to bottle up a bad memory. “Much worse.”

The guards at the Red Bear refused to let them in given that she was now banned, but Martin was nice enough to come out in the chill and talk. By now, it had become almost dark, and their breaths steamed in the cold air. Bogdi handed over the brooch. “Is this what you wanted?”

Martin frowned and glanced at Esmi. “So you did take it.”

Esmi looked up at him and noticed the crushing disappointment in his eyes. “I—”

“I made her do it,” said Bogdi quickly.

“You?”

“Listen, my boss is in trouble. We need all the help we can get. The little bitch can’t be a part of the camp if she doesn’t contribute. But she wouldn’t stop talking about wanting to return it to you. Feels guilty, I reckon.”

Martin put the brooch in his pocket and shook his head disconsolately. “You people…”

He’s lying for me, thought Esmi. Not only that, but Martin seemed to have bought it. You shouldn’t lie for me. I deserve it…

“Well, I’m sorry to say, Esmeralda,” said Martin, sounding genuinely apologetic. “but whether or not you were forced into doing this, I regrettably could not in good faith allow you to return. Truth be told, you were probably too young to be working in here anyway, I just hadn’t thought it through when I agreed. But while I don’t mind you, the other staff act distrustful, and the clients don’t feel comfortable seeing a gypsy prancing around.”

Bogdi snorted derisively. “Like they’re any better.”

“They’ve got the money,” said Martin pointedly.

Esmi glanced at the open door of the Red Bear, seeing the warm and fuzzy light streaming from the opening, remembering the heat inside and the sound of the patrons. Even the demanding women didn’t seem so bad now. More importantly, Orlon was inside her. Still waiting for her. All this time, and she hadn’t even told him she liked him. Now if they couldn’t even talk, he would just always think of her as a thieving gypsy… “But—”

“No buts, sorry,” Martin said firmly. “That’s the end. No hard feelings, of course, but business is business, my dear. And you”—Martin surveyed Bogdi’s striking figure up and down, though there was a smile and playful hint of interest in the way he eyed the big man—”don’t come near my establishment again. Clear?”

“Near those girls? No thanks.”

Martin rushed in without so much as giving her a real goodbye. Esmi and Bogdi turned away from the Red Bear and made it to the end of the street when they stopped again. Esmi stared at the ground glumly. “They won’t take me back.” What was she going to do now? All day by herself all over again…

“Well, I suspected as much. I tried, as you saw. But you should take this as an important lesson.”

What lesson was here? That she shouldn’t steal? Esmi knew that. It was just so stupid to think that she would lose everything while that redheaded witch would get to stay at the Red Bear. It’s not fair! All the bad things always happened to her.

Bogdi saw how sad she was and patted her on the head. “It’s not the end of the world, kid. Why would you want to work in a whorehouse anyway? You can read palms and make triple that. Or you know, learn to steal things that actually matter, if you think that’s your calling. I wouldn’t recommend it if you feel attached to your limbs, but if you want to practice, hey, now’s the time to do it: people will be a lot less lenient when you stop being cute.”

“But I don’t like to read palms. And I don’t want to steal. This was just personal.” Or was it? She wasn’t even sure anymore. It just didn’t seem right for a woman like Ottillie to have something so beautiful when she was such an idiot. She didn’t even know anything about this place. And kept disrespecting Esmi for being a gypsy when she hadn’t even done anything. Why was she surprised I stole if she always called me a thief anyway?…

“You don’t do it because you like it, you do it to earn. These two very different matters you should never get mixed up.”

Esmi sighed. “I guess…”

“Well, look, kid, I’ll be seeing you. The boss might have my head for losing time all over again.” He sighed. “So much to do, so little time.”

“Wait! Where? And where’s Manu?”

Bogdi glanced around at the passing crowds, then grabbed her by the arm and pulled her aside into an alleyway and spoke quietly. “Manu’s lying low for the time being. I’ve gotta go check out something for him. And if that works out, well, there’s a chance things might go back to normal.”

Esmi blinked. “Let me come with you.”

He snorted. “You barely know me, kid. Besides, you need to stay here.”

“Why? I have no one here. I have nothing to do!”

Bogdi pursed his lips as he thought it over. “I guess that is true. But I’m going quite far. Maybe a few days ride. You better not complain.”

“There’s worse things that can happen to me here.”

“What about your father?”

“I haven’t seen him in days.” That part wasn’t even a lie. Esmi had no idea where Razlan was, and given how she had almost been killed without him showing up, she didn’t much care. Right now, with the Red Bear off limits, Razlan absent, and Manu gone, Bogdi was the closest remaining to a parental figure. Even Rika had apparently gone home for the holidays and left her stall.

“Fine,” he said at length, sighing. “Fine. Go make a travel bag. I’m going to get some food and then I’ll come get you at your wagon.”

That sounded like bullshit to her. “No,” said Esmi. “I’m going to stay with you to make sure.”

Bogdi smirked. “You’re sharp, aren’t you?”

Esmi grinned. “Or maybe you’re just very stupid.”

“That tongue is going to get you in trouble someday, kid. Fine. We do need to actually buy some food, though, so let’s get going…”

As they started walking, Esmi remembered the weapon salesman in the stall and thought maybe he could get something for her. “What about a sword? I need a sword!”

“A sword? I don’t even have a sword myself. We’re not going to war, kid.”

“Then there are we going?”

Bogdi snapped a large icicle hanging from an eave and then tested the sharpness of the tip against his palm. “We’re gonna go spy on some people.”