When they got to Doople's shop, the shutter was down and the door was shut, but Welton had a key.

"Hello?" he called in through the door as he opened it.

"Does he normally keep those locked?" asked Rakkel, pointing at the array of bolts and bars attached to the inside of the door.

"I think so. I've seen him latch them all up. He must've left them open so I could get in," he said.

"What's he afraid of?"

"Dunno. Burglars, I assume." He slipped inside and ran up the stairs. "Cousin Doople?" he called out, "it's me, I'm back." He disappeared around the hairpin bend.

Xe looked around the ground floor. It hadn't changed in the short while since xe'd last seen it: The flight of stairs on the right, the narrow kitchen and serving area immediately to the left. The wall just opposite the door had a coat rack nailed to it, with a short, baggy raincoat xe assumed belonged to Doople. Welton hadn't opened the door all the way to avoid catching the doorknob in its sleeve.

Xe went over to the kitchen. Doople must spend a lot of time standing here, xe thought. All by himself. Well, all by himself aside from the customers, of course. But they're on the other side of the serving window, in a different world. They're customers - not people.

Does he get bored, xe wondered? Or lonely?

The metal door beside the refrigeration unit swung open. Startled, Rakkel leapt high enough to land next to the condiments and napkin dispenser on the service counter, if xe'd been just a little bit farther over. Instead, xe landed on the floor, spun around, raised xir arms defensively, and almost fell over.

"Oh," said Doople, "it's you. How'd you get in?"

"Ah," said Rakkel, gasping for breath.

"You aren't here to thieve the place, are you?" He gave xir a suspicious glare.

"Sorry, ah, you terrified me. I didn't think anyone was down here." Xe took another breath. "Welton let me in. He's upstairs. Looking for you."

"Good. I'm looking for him." Doople squeezed past Rakkel and made for the stairs. Then he stopped and turned around.

"Don't go in there," he warned xir, pointing at the still-ajar metal door.

"Sure," xe said. "I won't." But he'd already started up to the second floor, not waiting for an answer.

Xe waited for the footsteps to reach the top of the stairs before xe went to go peek through the mysterious door.

Irritatingly, there wasn't anything to see from the doorway. It just led to a brick-walled corridor, as narrow as the room outside it, that turned sharply to the right and ran parallel to the inside wall of the apartment. At the end, it turned back to the left and out of Rakkel's vision. A row of bulbs hung from a ceiling, connected with thin metal conduits to each other and to a switch by the door. That was all.

Xe wondered if xe dared go inside. Doople hadn't seemed friendly - though he didn't, as a general rule, right up until he suddenly decided to invite perfect strangers to eat dinner and spend the night. Or so xir experiences with him had gone so far. But it was exactly that hospitality that xe didn't want to betray.

On the other hand, xe felt extremely curious.

On the other other hand, look where xir curiosity had gotten xir just yesterday. Maybe xe should take a break from walking down dark passageways where xe'd explicitly been told not to go.

On the other other other hand, xe felt extremely, extremely curious. And xe might not get another chance.

Sighing to xirself at xir own utter foolishness, xe slipped inside.

Welton had expected Doople might be angry at him, or worried. He'd been gone all night without explanation or warning.

He hadn't expected Doople would be angry at him for this. In retrospect, he should have.

"I don't care," Doople said, his voice like steel ropes. "I don't care what history the two of you had. He works for my suppliers, and I need those supplies. They're vital to my business. Vital, you understand?"

"But-"

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Did you think you wouldn't be caught? Did you think he wouldn't realize who'd done it? The truck was parked right outside my place. You stormed out, we all knew where you went."

"I-"

"I took you in, Welton. I trusted you with my home. I fed you. I let you sleep in my own bedroom."

"Yeah, but-"

"Had to pay for the damages out of my own pocket. He threatened to drop me from his route if he didn't."

"I'll pay you back-"

"I don't care about that! I can afford it. I just want you to know what you're responsible for. He drops me from his route, I have to shut down my shop. Shut down my shop, Welton. Do you understand that? Do you know how long and hard I've worked for this place?"

"Yes, sir," he said, immediately hating himself for it. His father had always insisted on being called 'sir' in these sorts of situations.

"Don't give me 'sir,'" said Doople. "I'm speaking to you cousin to cousin, person to person."

There was a breath, an empty beat.

"You're right," said Welton.

"Hmm? Of course I am," said Doople.

"I mean, I'm sorry," said Welton.

"Good. Good first step."

"I didn't think he'd blame you. I don't think he should have. That was between me and him."

"Nah, now you're missing the point. What was between you and him? You ruined his truck's paint. That's all there is to it."

"But it shouldn't have affected you."

"Darn right it shouldn't have - but you shouldn't have done it in the first place, you idiot! What'd you think you were gonna accomplish?"

"I dunno, I-"

"He didn't even do anything to you!"

"No, but-"

"So tell you what," said Doople, "I'll make you a deal. You find a way to make things right with him..."

"But that's not what-"

"...and I'll continue letting you live under my roof. How's that sound?"

"Oh," said Welton.

"I've got my business to think of, but I've also got your character to think of. Thought you were someone else when I decided you could stay with me. Now I'm not so sure."

"Oh," said Welton again.

"You've got until sundown."

"I've got unt- what!? What do you even want me to do, though? Repaint his truck for him?"

"I don't know. That's between you and him. The way this works is, you keep living here if he says you can keep living here."

"What!"

"Seems simple to me. Heck, I'll be generous. Forget 'you've got until sundown.' You're just not sleeping here or staying here or eating my food again until he says you can, however long that takes."

"I see," said Welton.

"You can collect your stuff right now. Then I want you to leave."

"What about Rakkel?"

"What about Rakkel? Rakkel's got nothing to do with this. Is your nose bleeding?"

He touched the end of his nose. "Oh," he said. "Yeah. I got hit in the face. I thought it'd stopped."

"You can clean your nose up, then collect your stuff, then I want you to leave."

"Okay," he said, heavily. "Will you at least tell me how I'm supposed to even find him?"

"I'll write down the address of the delivery company for you."

"Thanks."

Welton trudged to the ladder and climbed up it in slow motion. He reached the top, looked forlornly at the bunk on which his stuff was still spread out - the book he was reading, a towel, a brush for his fur - and climbed into the bathroom to deal with his nose.

Rakkel had been wondering why Doople's apartment was so small. Now xe thought xe had some idea: The space behind it was enormous. Xe hadn't even realized the building was this big. But the brick tunnel opened out into a room xe felt xe could get lost in, with row upon row upon row of huge horizontal cylinders of metal, all interconnected with metal pipes. Everywhere, there was a nigh-deafening sound of bubbles and clanging metal, and a rich, fermented odor hung in the air.

These must be the vats where he grows the vat meat, xe thought. Xe'd seen him as a simple seller of meat buns. But he obviously did a lot more. He couldn't possibly sell all of this meat through his little alleyway food shop. Maybe one vat's worth, xe thought, but not this. It was simply too much. He'd never use it all up.

What else did he do with it? Xe supposed he must sell it to restaurants, or food dispensaries, or something of the sort. Unless something else was going on here.

Xe walked over to the nearest vat. Glancing back at the doorway for a moment, xe climbed up the ladder built into the vat's side and peered through a glass window in the end of the cylinder.

No shocking revelations manifested. It just looked like a bubbling yellow-pink broth inside a rotating inner sleeve. There was an e-paper display set into the side of the vat, displaying some graphs and numbers meaningless to Rakkel, and hanging from the side of that, a clipboard with some unreadable notes jotted on it.

These were bioreactors for growing meat, right? Or was xe jumping to conclusions? Could they be for something else? Xe didn't know very much about the process. Back home, they'd done some small-scale meat growing, but xe hadn't ever paid much attention to it.

Xe decided not to push xir luck any farther and went back through the brick tunnel to the main apartment. Doople hadn't returned yet. Xe pushed the door shut until it was only slightly ajar, just as Doople had left it, hoisted xirself up onto the counter, and waited for him to come back.

To xir surprise, it was Welton who came back down the stairs, alone, carrying his duffel, and with the most miserable expression xe'd ever seen on his face.

"Well," said Welton, heavily, "bye. I'll see you around."

"What? Wait, what's happening?"

"He's kicking me out."

"He's what?"

"I did something ill-advised," he said.

"What did you do?"

"I'd rather not say. But instead of coming back to bite me, it came back to bite him."

Rakkel's face no doubt radiated perplexion.

"Look," he said, "thanks for helping me last night. Here's your handkerchief back." He fished it out of his pocket. "Sorry I didn't get a chance to wash it."

"I don't care, keep it. Where is he?"

"Upstairs." Welton lifted his leg up and pushed open the door with a cloven hoof.

"Wait, don't just leave!"

"I have to."

"I'll come with you. Where are you going?"

"No, stay here. Get your breakfast."

"But you don't have anywhere else!"

"I'll figure something out."

"...and neither do I. We can find another hostel together or something."

He slammed the door behind himself.

Rakkel stared at the door for a moment, then shook xir head.

"First the drinking, now this. Is it just me," xe said to xirself, "or is he kind of melodramatic?"