Fiona rested her chin on the counter, irritable and moody. The late fall snow was, of course, slowing down foot traffic into the store, to an extent. Fat, lazy snowflakes drifted outside. Greg was ever the gentleman and kept the walkway clear of snow with a notebook-inspired paper shovel. Which strangely, didn’t get sopping wet.

He had a cool power set, even if he didn’t showcase it very often. An elderly couple greeted him politely with a wave and a smile before coming inside, brushing off the snow. Bonnie already had an enchantment to dry the sopping wetness before it became a slip hazard, with a mechanical device running on arcane power. She also forgot to walk around it, and her fur was frazzled in every direction. She looked distinctly nonplussed about it, but still waved to the couple now looking at the just-in baked goods for the morning. Doug also helped with a low-level blast of soothing heat, and a gentle aeration of the room with his wings.

It was almost adorable, with the way people thanked him, though he would only grumble a ‘You’re welcome’ now and then.

Kali sat by the counter, running the register after she’d given him instructions. “Boss–I mean uh, Fiona, you look down. What’s up?”

“Eh, it’s complicated,” she grumbled. She lifted her head to give a customer a wave, before turning to the avian teen, now counting the tills. “All set?”

“I believe we have the correct count, yes.” He ran through it seemingly memorized, with no hesitation. “Gold transfers using arcanist cards are preferred, cash we change out once we hit five hundred or more in the register. We deposit into the time lock safe in the back every four hours, or more, depending on traffic.” His scalp feathers ruffled a little as he held his hand hesitantly over the register buttons. “Uh, what else? I think I’m forgetting something. I’ve done this enough times, I should know it.”

“If someone breaks change, hold onto the coin they give first. There’s a racket where they’ll try to add coins to throw off your count. Classic scam.” Her mood broke a little bit as Kali nodded, and smoothed his feathers, looking composed. An elderly couple came to the counter after a brief run, to grab the delicious croissants that Darla had gotten fresh this morning.

She watched Kali greet them with a smile, rang up the bill, and followed instructions correctly. But he was missing something. “What’s the last part?” she asked.

“Uh…I missed something?”

“The receipts.” She pointed to the faint trace of mana darkening into letters and numbers on the tiny, tightly round scroll coming out of the cashier. “We keep the records, Greg tallies and indexes them. What I wouldn’t do for an Excel spreadsheet, but the arcanist pads are all we have for now. They work well enough.”

“Oh! I’m supposed to…” he opened the till, took the completed notes, and put them in before securing it closed. “Sorry, I missed that step.”

“Nah, you’re doing fine. I figured we have security well covered, I wanted you to learn something new.” She leaned back on the counter, smiling faintly as a young pair of teens walked in, a long-haired boy and a short-haired girl, giggling and brushing snow off of each other. Bonnie’s enchantment left them with their hair askew, but they laughed it off.

“Hey, Fi, you got that elvish mischief look.” Kali leaned in, beak pressed into a smirk, and attentive eyes focused on the pair, who browsed through the shelves. “You know, there are advantages to colder, snowier days. The people that come in, stay longer, to avoid going back out. You said it yourself. People who stay long enough, become paying customers. Right?”

“Oh, you were paying attention to my ramblings, were you?” She let out a contented sigh before focusing on him. “Kinda weird how some things don’t change, between worlds.”

“Or, above or below ground.” Darla sauntered over, a cup of coffee in each hand–and one on her tail, that she delicately handed to Fiona. She smoothed her apron and adjusted her tie, looking sharp and sweet, her hair draped partially over her face. She handed the second mug to Kali, who took a sip. “Hmm. Am I feeding a bad habit by giving our energetic avian caffeine?” she mused, her tail swaying slowly and curling like the smoke from a campfire.

“Pssh. Let the young bird get a taste of the subtle things of life,” she responded with a sly smile. Kali had no issues with the hot beverage, eyes slightly dilated after a minute. He let out a slight squawk of excitement.

“Yes, please! I’ll have more of that!” Darla laughed heartily at Kali’s enthusiastic response, and Fiona cracked a smile. too. “You have no idea what it’s like to live in a crap-sack orphanage for a good chunk of your life. The food is terrible. The staff is decent, at least, and it’s a place to rest my head at night.”

“I’m sure they’re enthusiastic that I’m teaching you something useful,” Fiona posed, while taking a sip of the coffee, delighted to find a hint of elfberry notes, with a dash of cream and mint. Darla knew what she liked, better than she did, in retrospect. “Hey, uh, if you don’t mind me asking something, Kali? I know things have been busy since you started, but…”

“You wanna know how I ended up there?” He picked up on her intended query quickly, his voice no longer cheery. “There’s not much to tell. My mom and dad came from Vale. It was during one of the power struggles after Greybeard laid waste to the slave houses, years later. I don’t blame him, personally. He did the right thing, defending his Kingdom and people against that kind of incursion. They always had more waves of slave soldiers to throw at problems. But, it’s a repeating cycle. As soon as they lick their wounds, they’re back at it, and tormenting their citizens.”

“So, they were alive, when–”

“Yeah. But Vale tends to track down escapees. The slave houses will go to extreme lengths to ensure no one gets a happy ending.” He rubbed the coffee mug with his free hand, as if the warmth could soothe that icy chill emanating from him. “My parents, uh…got jumped by muggers. Officially. Unofficially, they got the ultimate punishment for daring to dream of freedom.”

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“And Barry wants to make a deal with that country.” She gripped her mug tightly, her teeth clenched tightly. “Lucy knows it’s a bad idea, and is willing to let me burn her brother on this front. Even Rikkard expressed hesitation on this one. There’s something else going on. I can feel it.”

“Lucy cares about this country, and she’s worried about her brother making a really bad choice. I doubt Greybeard approves of his son doing this.”

Fiona shakes her head, the taste of coffee in her mouth turning bitter. “He doesn’t. Barry is one screw-up away from his father yanking back that throne from him. I just worry what that screw-up will be, and what it will cost everyone. I really wonder what his angle is. We’re going to the tax office in a few days to ‘officially’ pay off every copper I owe. The math is going to be close.”

“You could take care of that problem the easy way, you know. You’re a hero, Fiona. You beat up dragons, lay waste to monsters–” she put a hand up to halt Kali. “Fiona, why won’t you do that anymore?”

“Because I think we have more than one player in the field looking to wreck Fiefdala. There’s always more than one guy, like all my movies and books tell me! Dealing with Barry that way, while likely a lot of self-indulgent fun, will earn the ire of countless guards–and probably won’t get all of them. The more we dig, the more we find something rotten.”

Darla took the moment to put up a soft hand wave. “Hey, it isn’t all shadows and gloom out there, you know. Despite our prickly appearance, the darklings have a networked kingdom that, by and by, runs pretty normal. So do the Unifed Kingdoms. Vale is an outlier that no one quite frankly wants to deal with. Maybe with some trade and peaceful relations, and the slave houses in disarray, there might be a chance to put someone in power there that will make it better for many people.”

“Except, someone did take power there recently. I hope it’s not someone from Earth. It would be…” Fiona trailed off, concerned at the implication. “It would be awful to find a fellow survivor, only to see they’re busy repeating history, tearing lives apart. Darla, real talk, my world dealt with slavery a long time ago, though some forms of it persisted. At least, without chains you could easily see. Greybeard must think there’s hope, or he’d throw Barry’s ass out of the throne in a heartbeat.”

“You know, you could just take the throne. I love the idea of having a ruler named Queen Swiftheart,” Darla egged on, all sharp teeth and smiles.

“That would be more work than the store!” She harumphed to make her point clear. Even Kali jumped on it, beak creasing into a smirk.

“All hail our future ginger-haired, feisty elven ruler! Ya know if you were dating Lucy–”

Fiona laughed and slapped her hand on the counter for emphasis. “Kali, pretty sure monarchy doesn’t work like that! Lucy hates the throne! She’d rather dump it on Edward. Hell, even Dave might be a decent choice, now that he's back in mage school. I need way less drama, and something a little less anxiety-inducing! Like a date. I haven’t been on one in forever!”

“Ahem,” Darla coughed, her eyes little slits of golden light.

“Tell boy toy that you know a crazy redhead elf, and that she’d be a package deal,” Fiona grinned evilly.

“I worry that he might go for that,” Darla grinned as she leaned into the idea. Kali gulped beside them.

“And that would be the last of boy toy. They’d find him torn in half by morning.” Fiona relented and gave the poor boy a break.

“Yeah, I’m not that kind of girl. I only date one person at a time. You know what bothers me slightly? The last guy I dated, chose to run off with the dragon who tried to eat him.”

“Called it!” Doug stated from across the room, one claw saluted in the air.

“Just because you were right, doesn’t make it cool to boast about it!” She shot a glare at the kobold, who just couldn’t stop looking cocksure.

Darla’s edged smile turned into a frown. “Seriously, I highly question wanting to date someone who tried to eat you. That sounds…unsettling.”

“Billy apparently had no hesitation. Alright, the point is, I need a date! I doubt they have Tinder here on Cepalune, so, I need to like, know people, who know people, and so on. You know that lady Elaine who is going to put the whole La’teur section on display? She had that vibe.”

“You’re a flirt with everyone,” Darla pointed out.

Fiona waved her hand lazily. “Not true! There’s being a flirt, and testing people’s reaction! I don't know, maybe I’m a teeny, tiny bit anxious about what would happen if I started dating Lucy, and she definitely gives off that feeling she would like that. Except Barry’s tiny little blonde head might explode if I did.”

“This would be a bad thing…why?” Darla posed with an arched eyebrow.

“Dead enemies can’t be humiliated and taught the error of their ways,” she stated with a twitch of her ear.

Darla rubbed at one horn errantly, before she made a low sound of surprise. “Hey, Fiona? I know a guy. He’s a little shy, super smart, and very single. You might like him.”

“That sounds suspiciously like Greg, and there’s a cute vixen who cozies up next to him,” Fiona retorted, even as she failed to hide a smile. “Sorry Darla, that one isn’t happening.”

“Oh no, I had someone else in mind.” She flashed a glance in Doug’s direction. Fiona gave her the glare of death.

“I’d rather get roasted by Doug than date him.”

“Nah. I was making sure he wasn’t scaring off people. Quite the opposite.” Two children, a boy and a girl, tapped his tail and ran off, and he let out a startled protest, and snarled at them with shiny teeth. They did nothing but giggle, and he shot them a glare while they scurried back to their father, currently browsing by the potions and giving his kids what Fiona called ‘the parent petrification gaze’ where their antics stopped the second they made eye contact.

Fiona pursed her lips. “You really think I could ever date Doug? We tolerate each other, at best, because we have a shared nemesis. Or nemeses? I think that’s the plural?” she pondered aloud, before giving a dismissive wave. “You were thinking of someone else though, right?”

“Look, just say you’ll give the guy a chance first, and not overwhelm him with your manic elven energy, please?” Darla did that smoldering look and a slight kissy face, while Fiona tapped a finger on her arm.

“Okay, I’ll give it a go. Who and when?”

“Tomorrow, six-thirty, after work.”

“Awesome!” Fiona declared with a cheer, and Darla gave a nod.

“Five gold says he runs away screaming,” Kali chuckled.

“I’ll take that wager, and double it,” Greg leaned in after finishing with a customer. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“No gambling in the store, Greg. He’s young and impressionable, and we must not corrupt him more than is reasonably necessary for him to soar through life.”

“It’s not on the rule board, Fiona,” Greg said with a chuckle. “You already had to cross one out.”

Her eyes wandered to the sign, where she’d crossed out ‘No dragons with pretentious titles’. “Rules change,” she growled.

“Oh, by all means, they do. Now, I do have one question for you, Miss Swiftheart,” he asked, folding his arms and looking smug. “What are you wearing to this date?”

She opened her mouth to speak, and it sounded like a sand-choked pipe of her voice. She felt her internal panic machine kick-start.

He’d asked the forbidden question. She had nothing to wear for this blind date.