I had too much free time. Pretending to be a normal person when I had to sleep only twenty minutes a day was tougher than I thought. To keep my sanity, I worked on some low-capacity storage rings during the night, doomed to probably rot in the item box for all eternity.

I was almost thankful Helger knocked on my door to wake me up. “Haru, get up. Today is your enrollment day! Breakfast is ready.”

My dwarven godfather’s voice came from the other side. Godfather. The dwarves don’t use this exact name as the custom wasn’t a religious one, but that’s what it is all the same. Helger was supposed to help Fuckor Bitchhaven raise his kids as some cross between a godfather, a best man, and a nanny.

“I’m up, master. I’m coming down as soon as I’m decent,” I shouted back.

I heard the dwarf snort at something I said and walk down the stairs. Guess that’s it. Let’s go to [Wizard] school. Maybe I can learn something to impress Marlowe. At least I won’t be lacking in lich-authored textbooks. I decided to wear the dark green velvet dress I bought a few days ago from Fat Felix with a light pink sash tied into a bow across my back.

No better tailors for beastkin existed outside Windemere. The clothes I bought from the cat-kin [Broker] had a hole right over the tailbone wider than my thumb’s length for the tail. Two flaps of stretchy, soft fabric overlapped over each other, sealing the hole shut. To put my tail through, I poked my hand through the hole, grasped the appendage, and pulled through. I would finish by pulling all the tail fur through the hole and adjusting the two flaps to wrap around the base. Even the rat-kin’s hairless tails, no skin would show past the flaps.

That meant Kin skirts showed all the contours of the butt. Nothing like the ballooned skirts human ladies liked to wear and that was sort of a point of pride. Using the tail as a point of balance added more sway to the kin women’s hips, and some liked to flaunt their sashaying rear guard.

Or the hats with ear slits in the right places. I was lucky to find a premade one for cheap but fox-kin were common enough to warrant it. Some species needed custom-made hats with elaborate schemes to allow ears, horns through.

Happy with my trendy outfit, I went downstairs.

----------------------------------------

Helger’s critical eye seemed to disagree with my choice of couture. He was sitting at the table waiting for me. Our breakfast was oatmeal, fresh fruits, and bread.

“How do you like my new dress, master?” I spun around to show him all of it. The skirt flared and lifted a bit.

He grunted and finally spoke his mind. “It’s lacking a few petticoats underneath that skirt. I can almost see your thighs underneath. I fear what damage a moderate breeze may cause.”

“I’ll be fine,” I brushed away his worries. “But if you could get me some small metal rods, I could sew them in the skirt’s hem. It should weigh it down enough to keep the skirt from flipping.

It’s not like I was going to walk over a vent blowing an updraft like some blonde bombshell back home. The dwarf stood up and went to the smithy, grumbling. I didn’t mean right now but I wouldn’t argue more than necessary. Helger quickly hammered some lead scraps into rods at the anvil and I sewed them into the hem at even intervals with my threads. I lost some flair but gained some dignity in my master’s eyes. A fair trade? Maybe.

“Haru,” he gently held my wrist. “We have to go, but we’ll eat first. Sit down, we need to talk.”

We sat at the table and ate our breakfast while we talked,. “Yes, master?”

He took his time before finally opening up, “I need to set a new rule. No flirting with the customers.”

That surprised me. I raised an eyebrow and gave him some good old disbelief with a dash of outrage. “I beg your pardon?”

“I saw how you were almost drooling over the Lycan warrior, Haru. Don’t take me for a fool.”

That surprised me even more. “Was I? I didn’t…”

He raised a hand to stop me. “Look, I know Zacheia is the Goddess of love and she doesn’t mind when people express that love in more physical ways at the temple. We know the orphanage creates almost as many children by itself as those they take in.”

I set my foot down and glared, “That’s slander. We don’t have that many pregnant girls in the orphanage, master Helger. Yes, one or two but not all of them. The rumors envious people weave, goodness! And for the record, I’ve never been touched by a man.”

He lowered his head slightly, “I’ll believe you. Your words rang true in my heart.”

I leaned forward, keeping eye contact. “Good. And I wasn’t flirting with the Lycan. I was just being nice to him. If you want, I can treat them like garbage and make them like it too. But you’ll be the one to deal with the consequences.”

“Whoa, girl. No need to set the house on fire. I was just telling you what it looked like from an outsider’s perspective. You’re too young for them, Haru. But you’ll soon be a woman, and...”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The metaphorical anvil hit me. Goodness, I was having “the talk”. I felt so awkward once I realized that. I wanted to vanish and almost rifted myself into the Ethereal.

“Helger. Master Helger. Stop right there. Okay, I understand your worries. Let me ask you a few questions.”

“Sure,” he sighed with relief, probably because he didn’t want to have “the talk” either.

“You know what kind of nightly activities are okay in Zacheia’s faith. I told you I didn’t participate in those activities. Ever.”

“Right.”

“You do believe me, right?”

He considered this talk more awkward than me and was answering with only small words. “I do.”

“It wasn’t for a lack of invitations. Do you know why I never indulged?”

“Surprise me.”

“I don’t like men. Surely for some idiots out there a woman giving them the time of the day might feel like a confession of true love, but the truth is that. I don’t like men.”

The prejudice against homosexuals was weak but it existed. The specter of death that loomed over everyone, either from disease, violence, or an attack from godly monsters, caused everyone to worry about having an heir, a successor. For some, their legacy was more important than their lives. I understood that very well, having literally killed myself several times to guarantee such a legacy survived.

Some viewed a union between people of the same gender as a waste of perfectly good genetic material. For tightly knit groups with a tribal structure like the dwarves, a woman that refused to breed was viewed with the same bias as a man that willingly cut off his own genitals.

After a long and pregnant (ha!) awkward silence, he reached a decision. “I’ll respect your choices. However, don’t be too friendly with the customers.”

“As you wish, master,” I vowed. I tried to stand up but he remained seated. Sensing there was more, I straightened my back. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

“Thank you. Another rule. No more enchanting in the shop. That will only attract trouble. I told the customers you gained a boon from the [Saintess] and it manifested as those enchantments. I also told them you’ve squandered what energy the boon had, and you can’t do anymore. We both know that’s a scalding lie.”

I raised two placating hands, “Your rules, master Helger.”

With a sigh and another stream of grumbles, he continued, “Which leads to my third point. You have the System already, don’t you? And [Enchanter] as a proficiency.”

“True on both accounts. Will you let me explain it later?”

Firmly staring into my eyes, he demanded, “I’d rather have it sooner.”

“Wanna know how I survived the chasm too? The explanation covers both and much more.”

Now he was suspicious, “Out with it, lass. What are you?”

“Whoa, stop right there, Helger Stouthammer. I never lied to you about who I was. I’m Haru, daughter of Nozmizla, half-dwarf-kitsune. Since that fateful day I was born, that didn’t change.”

“Explain,” he said curtly. The master blacksmith was at his wits’ end.

“I have two familiars since before I was born. I relied on them to survive and escape the chasm. Pandora. Nenandil. Introduce yourselves to master Helger Stouthammer.”

The fairy and wisp appeared next to me. Nenandil bowed before landing on the table. “Well met, master blacksmith.”

Just a sphere of light, Pandora shone a bit brighter than dimmed her light.

“Well met, Elder Water Fairy,” the dwarf said with respect and the clear intent to keep some distance. He nodded at Pandora. “Miss [Wisp of Creation].”

Ominous, Nenandil said, “I know you, Stouthammer. I’ve seen you struggle with Battlehaven when Haru was born and I share her feelings. You’ve failed Nozmizla. Redeem yourself by treating our Haru well.”

Let’s be honest. Nenandil was fae Royalty if they ever had such things. She didn’t have a title (something to think about later) but most people knew not to mess with fairies and definitely not with something that had “Elder” in the species description, regardless of level. Nenandil packed a respectable 72 next to her description. I spent a lot of time thinking of how I should reveal my true self to Helger. The best I could come up with was to have a third-party vouch for me. Nenandil was the perfect choice for the reasons above.

Disarmed by the element of surprise, Helger was on loose footing. He took the last sentence from the fairy as his way to regain his composure. “Aye. Lady fairy, Haru is like a daughter to me. Not a day passes where I don’t regret what I did back then. You have my word, Haru will be always welcome here, or I’ll shave my beard.”

Our rehearsed speech didn’t go too far from there, but I wasn’t expecting a critical hit with a rebound. Two constants followed me in all my lives. The need to have a place to fit in and my search for family.

My mothers could be considered cursed by an outsider observer. Flayed alive by hunters. Petrified by a monster summoned by a deity. Enslaved and forced to whore herself. Sacrificed to summon a Demon Lord.

Eirana Honorcoin was a refreshing break in this long string of tragedies. She lived happy, proud of her daughter, and died peacefully of old age.

Then I had a long string of sixteen mothers I never met murdered by Bundeus’ fanatics right after birthing me. Eathelin had it easy, compared to the others. She was “only” captured, tortured, and left to starve by the fish-mermaids for a couple of months. Callatea, enslaved and sent to die in the humans’ war. And now Nozmizla, murdered by the man she loved because of a one-night affair. It was too much. More often than not, I longed this warmth.

“Helger,” I was already holding back the tears. “There’s a lot about me I would like to tell you. But I can’t right now. I fear it would strain the faint bonds we both try to create. I’m Haru but there’s more to this Haru than what meets the eye,” I couldn’t keep the smirk from forming as I heard in my mind the gear-grinding sound of transforming and rolling out.

"Secrets are the very thing that destroys relationships, Haru," his voice harbored no doubt. But I wasn't sure I could trust him yet.

"I can share a bit, I think. It's not the first time I live in this world. I remember the other times."

He seemed to believe me. But his face remained dour.

"We dwarves have a saying. When we die, Labraid, God of Dwarves, Metals, and the Subterranean World will smelt us into his heavenly furnace and forge us anew."

I nodded. "Yes. It's the same with me, but I am not smelted down. I'm just reforged and hardened, to come back sharper than ever."

He finally smiled and nodded. "That I can understand. You were a mighty enchanter in your previous life, eh!" He didn't make the gotcha gesture but the intent was the same.

"Yes. That among many other things. Nenandil and Pandora are my companions from other lives." I noticed I'd reached for his hand.

The fairy giggled, "That's true, master [Blacksmith]. This girl and I have been through thick and thin together."

Our eyes met and I knew by his kind gaze that I'd won him over. "Aye, I'll trust you, Haru. Fairies are part of the natural world. I'm honored if you can trust me back and tell me the truth."

I squeezed his hand. "At most one year from now, Helger. I'll tell you the whole truth in less than a year."

"I 'spose I can live with that," He said, pensive, before grasping my hand back. “Haru. Would it ease your heart if I adopted you?”

I blinked happy tears. “I would love to have you as my father, Helger.”

He had just a wee bit of manly dwarven moisture building up. “Right! Finish your food! We'll visit the academy, finish your enrollment, buy the uniform and supplies, then pay a visit to the civil registrar.”