For the third day in a row, Fiona found herself hauling up roof tiles–she swore there weren’t this many broken or cracked tiles up here before, but Bonnie claimed they should all be taken care of, rather than rolling the dice on a bad rainstorm. The autumn rains could be downpours in Fiefdala, and she could see one squall line on the north end of the lake, from her vantage point. A few errant leaves fluttered in the wind, crisp red and purple colors drifting down onto the ground.

It was almost as if everything in this world was more vibrant than Earth. The greens felt greener, the sunlight felt slightly more intense. She realized she hadn’t asked much about this world yet. Or, was that just her elven sight?

“Hey, Bonnie, I know we talked about me being from not around here. But, this place has regular seasons, right?” she asked between applications of sealant. using a small corrugated tube. The gross material smelled like pine pitch, and it stuck to her hands when she accidentally smeared a bit on her hand. She rolled her eyes as it stuck to the tile.

Bonnie sighed and handed her a cloth that she soaked in some chemical applied from her belt harness, and the gunk came off in an instant. “Yep. The year is twelve months, each month is thirty days. I don’t know where they came up with this system, but hey, it works.”

“It’s a slightly shorter cycle around the star. Interesting.” Bonnie blinked in surprise. “Eh, that means the planet is a little closer to the star. But, what’s the planet’s tilt, relative to its orbital plane?”

“Oh, that? Um…well, we know that that big ball of fire in the sky is at a distance from us, and we’re not the center of the universe. That’s reserved for you,” Bonnie said with a sly wink and a tip of her ears. Fiona emphasized a fake laugh in response. “Alright real talk, I think it’s inclined about…25 degrees?” She squinted, as if unsure. “I know that Cepalune isn’t the only world in existence, which is kinda funny when you think about it. I mean it has to be. You’re here.”

“Well, I’m glad they got some stuff right here. Man, it’s weird to think about when science and magic cross paths, and beautiful mage babies happen!” Fiona stated with a flash of eyes. She nodded at the finished tile work, and they moved on to the next row. They only had a few more left, and Jake’s crew was painting a small mural from the scaffolding that they had set up for the brickwork on the front wall.

“Girl, you gotta tell me more about this world! I know summoning's exist, but I never met one! You’d think someone would pay more attention to that fact! The fact that mages import people from all the corners of the universe. So, you were an elf there?” Bonnie asked. Fiona made a halting sound, and Bonnie raised a furry brow in response. “You weren't?”

“Nope. Weirdly, I woke up, buck naked, as an elf. Man, that sure made that farmer’s day, till his wife beat him with a garden rake,” she laughed, and Bonnie made a contented sigh.

“You do make a splash everywhere, don’t you, Fi."

“Not always on purpose," she admitted.

Bonnie looked at her in curiosity. "What...did you look like, then?"

"Plain. Flat chested. Mousy brown hair. Green eyes, and a body that never toned out, even when I worked out at full tilt," Fiona answered. "I came into the world with literally nothing but knowledge and my name. And shapely long legs. Seriously, Bon-Bon, I have trouble keeping up with you when you go running.” Bonnie tilted her head back and let out a cackling laugh–she always did that when she got excited!

“Hah! Not many could keep up with me. Kitsune are built for speed, and magic. I have been doing enchantment work since I was eight. We also live three times as long as a human, and my granny? She's like a hundred years old, and still looks young! Kind of awkward, when your granny tries to steal your date!” Bonnie responded with a slap on Fiona’s shoulder, and she couldn’t contain her uproarious laugh.

“Oh my Fates, Bonnie! That is the most cringe-worthy thing I’ve heard!” She just couldn't keep that laugh in, and Bonnie just shook her head, blue eyes glinting brightly in the sunlight. “Seriously, your gran stole your date?!”

“Oh man, that was so awkward when I had to tell Chuck that one. He didn’t call me for a week, he was so embarrassed. He was an alright dude, but man, that wolf is young! It’s always a little awkward when I have to say I’m older than the person I’m dating, ya know? I’m thirty, but that’s like, still almost childhood for a Kitsune.”

They continued the work while they chatted for a while, and Bonnie asked more about Earth. “So, what was it like, on this world?”

“It was more…mundane. Mechanized. The automatons here, are a precursor to what our world had,” she explained. “We built a world on science. You built a world on magic, Bonnie. I don’t even know how to draw a parallel.”

Thinking of what was, left her with a tone of melancholy. “Where I lived, it wasn’t that dissimilar to here. Rolling hills, mountains nearby, a beautiful lake. I love the Autumn, it’s always my favorite season. A last gasp of beauty before the world slumbers through the winter. There’s something fun about cozying up with a coffee, late at night during a fall evening, with a book in my old apartment. Just me.”

“You didn’t…have anyone else?” Bonnie asked. Fiona shook her head.

“I had my shop. As much as I griped about the place I inherited from the lady that used to run it…it was my place. No, it was the community's place to hang out.”

“What about family? A boyfriend?”

“I…” Fiona let out a breath, and set her tools down. “I haven’t slowed down to talk about these things, have I?”

“Well, you are now. That’s a start,” Bonnie proposed thoughtfully. “I mean, you must have a family, friends, an apartment. I know there’s ways people can be sent back–”

“No. There’s no home, Bonnie.” She peered over the horizon, and tried to remember that last moment. “It’s gone, most likely.”

“Wait, what?” Bonnie almost dropped her wand, and the tile she had been levitating fell to the rooftop, and clattered to the street below. There was a shout about being more careful from below, and a less than polite curse. “What do you mean, it’s gone?”

“I’m saying, Earth’s gone. Monsters came up from the ground. They started destroying everything.” She hadn’t wanted to give much thought to this, until Greg had brought up the discussion, and she wished she’d never made that errant comment about her arrival on this world. Because that creeping, heart-freezing end never left her mind. She’d tried to bury it down with heroics, zany antics, and being something she’d always wanted to be: free to express herself.

“I thought you said you were summoned.”

“I was killed by a giant kaiju, Bonnie,” she answered quietly. That admission to Clarke yesterday had stirred up bad memories. But, now, she couldn't hold this in anymore. It been nagging at her, ever since that voice had said her soul was different.

“Wait. You weren’t killed by a truck?” Bonnie pushed back, and her ears tilted in different directions. She found it mildly amusing that this Kitsune telegraphed her thoughts with her ears, and not just her facial expressions. Or, the twitch of her poofy tail.

“No. I was killed by a kaiju–which is like a giant dragon, but waaaay bigger than Doug ever was, and it flung a truck at me.” She laughed nervously at that. “Stupid me. What was I gonna do, with a few tiny weapons against a thing that size? I got hit by an off-brand truck-kun, in about the most messy way to die ever. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t enough of me in any one place to properly bury.”

“Goodness, Fiona. Why did you never mention this?!” Bonnie exclaimed, and put a pawed hand to her face in shock. She rarely was surprised, so Fiona should probably be more concerned than she'd ever been.

“No one asked me, and more importantly, I was sure no one would ever believe me, Bonnie. This whole merchant thing stirred up things I wish I could forget," she replied wearily. "Wanna hear how Fiona Swiftheart met her end?" Bonnie nodded and sidled up closer to her, sitting on the roof tiles. "I had a stint of military training. I was part of the National Guard--it's like a domestic military, like what Greybeard has."

She closed her eyes and let out a quiet breath. The last moments. "When the monsters came, I was on my way to go answer the call. The bus I was on had to outrun one of the big ones and a bunch of smaller ones. People I knew were on that bus. I bailed out, and grabbed the nearest weapon I could find to distract the biggest one. I knew the second I got off that bus, I was going to die. And I did not die quietly."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Bonnie was at a loss, hands held by her side. "I might have bought that bus a few minutes. Maybe they got out. I don't know. I managed to injure that massive monstrosity in a big way. But, I got hurt, I couldn't run in time. It leered at me with all the hatred in the world, picked up a truck to make me into Fiona crepe, and...that was it."

She held her head low, looking out at that squall line, still drifting on the far end of the lake. "I wasn't anyone special back there, Bonnie. I ran a business, I worked long hours, I had a group of people that…that cared, you know? Even if I didn’t think about it, at the time. Then the world started ending. I tried to do the right thing for a few other people, to buy them a chance to live. Next thing I know, I'm in that cornfield. No goddess was waiting for me, no bodiless voice congratulated me on a new life, nothing. I've been so busy with this stuff, I didn't think to ask if that place still exists, or if I could even go back. Or, if I wanted to," she added in a quieter tone.

Bonnie could read the mood, and gave Fiona a loving hug, her cheek resting on the nook of her shoulder. "Oh my gosh. Girl, I've known you since you got into town. You could have told me, Jake, Greg, we would have helped you. Now I understand why you act the way you do--you've been carrying this the whole time."

Fiona, you’ve been kind of an idiot, haven’t you? She thought with a bit of vitriol. Well, better I realize it now, than never. She finally responded to Bonnie, who gave the softest hugs. And not on account of her fur, either.

“I know, Bonnie. I took a good long look at what happened to me, and I figured that life was over. This is why my cheery, bubbling attitude kind of took over, because I knew if I gave too much thought to it, I'd have this grim reality check that everything I knew was gone,” she admitted. Bonnie had a tear drip down her cheek, and it wasn't alone.

"Now I get why you're so dead-set on defending your guild mates, and going at this with this fervor. You didn't want to lose your world again, did you?"

"Never again," she murmured softly. She tried to fight the stinging mist in her eyes...and succeeded. Mostly.

"You've got us, Fi. No one's taking that away," she whispered.

"Thanks, Bon-bon. That...that means a lot to me right now." She took a shaky breath--Bonnie needed to hear this next part. "There’s something else, too, something new. I wanted to bring this up later with you and Greg–and maybe Jake–but I didn’t have a class, either.”

“Goodness. There’s more?” Bonnie asked in sheer shock, and held her tighter. “I know from my studies, that everyone has a class–or some destined ability they’ll get, regardless of whether they make a choice. Even people brought here from elsewhere get one. You mean to tell me, that you were slaying monsters and beating up dragons…without a class?”

“Yep. And yesterday? The Contract went up in flames, after I picked ‘Merchant of Fortunes.’ I don’t know if that’s a good sign or a bad sign, but I scared the crap out of the clerk at the office, who was very concerned about what it could mean,” she added. “Bonnie, I don’t know what it means. I don’t know what the symbol of my class means, either.”

“What does it…what does it look like?” Bonnie didn't shy away, and looked her right in the eyes. Fiona had to let go of her for a moment, to roll up her sleeve. Fiona felt a tingle as Bonnie looked down, eyes gazing at the winged heart. She traced the feathers gently with one claw–which tickled, a little.

She spent a good long minute looking at it, and looked puzzled. “It’s pretty. I’ve never seen anything like it. Most people don’t wear their literal heart on their sleeve, either–”

“I get it. Clarke was saying, that not everyone shares their mark with others. But, I trust you guys. I should have told you guys yesterday–hell, I thought the whole class bit was a culture thing, until I saw Clarke jab his finger with a quill. Maybe I was a little airheaded the past six months. So, I got a lot to catch up on."

“Oh, boy,” Bonnie sighed. “You just assumed that…well, you know now, at least. With you out in the field slaying monsters and not spending too much time in town, I can see why it wasn’t readily apparent at first. And we just assumed you knew. That was my bad. And Greg, surprisingly.”

“I think Greg knew something was up. He was asking me in the office the other day, and kept taking notes. We should talk to him when we have some time, and see if he’s got any leads. I don’t want to be anyone special Bonnie–not to the world. Just to the people I care about, and want in my life, you know? I mean, are they normally this detailed?” Fiona asked.

Bonnie rolled up her sleeve, and parted her fur on her wrist just enough so that she could see the image of a witch hat, with intricate runes stitched into the fabric. “They can be. More intricate, can mean more powerful, but there can be power in even the mundane, so don’t take that to heart too quickly. Do you mind if I…sketch it? I think it’s worth looking at.”

Fiona didn’t hesitate to answer. “Of course, I’d like to know, too.” Bonnie took out her notepad and sketched it, the pen strokes smooth and fluid. “Bonnie, if you–”

“Fiona, I’ll help you. You don’t even need to ask,” she said with a warm smile. “Plus, you’ve got my interest like nothing else I’ve studied! I mean, uh, not studying you, but–”

“I’ve been told kitsune could be forward, but boy, Bonnie, that was bold,” Fiona teased, and Bonnie had to stop from snickering too loudly.

“You know what I meant, Fi. Sheesh. I think you were secretly this exact opposite in your previous life,” Bonnie pointed out observantly.

“You know something, you’re pretty close to the mark. I didn’t get out much, I had a few friends, and my family, but it was a small circle. Despite the short-term struggle with Sir Lack-of-parties, I like it here! I have to work hard, but the payoff is immense, and I’ve got you and Greg to hang out with!” she beamed enthusiastically. Bonnie shied away, and her fur appeared a tinge redder. “Oh, now you’re getting bashful, you loveable vixen?”

“Maybe a little. Oh Fi, I would think anyone in your shoes would want an answer!”

“Nah. It’s not important right now, we still have the shop to worry about, and it’s not like the whole world knows about this,” she assured her. “But uh, we should probably not attract attention, yeah? King Lack-of-hugs doesn’t need more ammunition to fling at me, given that he taxed me for a kingdom’s ransom.”

“You know what? I can understand that one,” Bonnie said softly, and clicked her clawed fingers together loosely. “So uh, I hate segues. But, we could bring this up later, when we have a chance to unpack what it all means. I like the idea of focusing on the store, just for a little bit.”

“Alright. My apartment is probably the best place to discuss this stuff, for now. At least I picked a class that shouldn’t attract too much trouble. I hope,” she added wistfully. “Alright, so, what’s next, indeed? We need to verify the floor plan for the displays! We also need to set arcane security wards around the merchandise, exclude ourselves and any other employees that it should be safe to touch and disarm them, and…”

She slapped her forehead, and groaned. “I just thought of something truly awful. We don’t have any real employees besides ourselves, and Greg! Greg can’t work retail at full tilt, he doesn’t have the chops for it! I need to get over this problem right away!”

“Girl, one problem at a time. With the grand opening, I think we can afford to do this one by ourselves, so that the only cost we’re spending on is just our time and effort. We can bring on employees, as we find out what capacity we’ll need. So, take notes, and don’t burn yourself out,” Bonnie suggested and pounded her hand into her cupped hand. “Remember, anything you can apply business expenses to, you do it because it’s like free money! Or, less money going to King Beardless. At least this problem is easy to solve, unlike the cosmic mystery we need to unravel.”

Fiona sniggered at that, because even Bonnie was leaning into it now, and maybe she’d be even more savage in her critique of that scheming king.

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

After a short while, they worked their way back downstairs and noted that the place was shaping up nicely. Greg and Jake were working on a finished line of paint–though they were cheating a little bit with magically animated brushes that put out long, continuous lines of paint, which made it far easier to do trim work and weird corners. Greg was even chatting with a slight smile on his face. She swore she had never seen him smile before the past week, like he was being an apprentice for Lord Sadface, the dragon. Not anymore, which is what she needed.

“Wow, we’re looking great!” Fiona said with a squeal of delight. Some of the test pieces that she’d picked from the loot pile were already staged on plain-looking displays and short arcane pad readouts. She hoped that people weren’t expecting gilded tabling and plush leather and all sorts of fancy things for this effort.

She clapped her hands together and thought of sticking it to Barry by selling all this stuff within a few weeks. She could totally do it! “Okay, once we finish up here tomorrow, we should be in great shape. The brickwork and the roof are done, the cladding has been fixed, we’re just applying cosmetic touches on a lot of it.”

“I love the cozy shop. I see that someone already got my enchantment bench all setup,” Bonnie said as she sprang over to the themed shop, which had several items on display–including translucent runes that could be glued, soldered, or even stitched onto fabric, depending on the base material. “I already have some clientele coming in that are lined up for my work. I didn’t have a proper place to do this before, I was doing it out of my apartment before. And that, my dear, was a bit too crowded.”

“Well, we have plenty of space here! Maybe more to expand, if we need to. Alright, I need to head back to storage, and grab a few items. I need some easy stuff to move to just pay the bills, let alone that massive monstrosity of an extortion debt that Barry slapped on me. Bonnie, can I use your space bag?”

“I believe we call it the pocket dimension storage apparatus,” Bonnie corrected her. She tossed her a nondescript-looking sack that appeared like it was made of black fabric that shimmered like stars were glittering on the outside. “Don’t stuff it too full, or stuff comes back out violently.”

“So, gently tapping it back in with my hammer is frowned upon?” Fiona asks with a raised eyebrow. Bonnie’s tail bristles at that suggestion.

“Girl, compressed dimensional space is no joke. Don't do it. Even your invincible body won't just shake it off.”

“I'm not invincible,” she shrugged. Bonnie rolled her eyes at this, and her ears. Fiona did ponder if she could roll her ears, too? Wait, she could, with a little practice! It was too cute to not do! “Alright Bonnie, I'll be back!”

She just hoped that dude with the bad haircut and the shady-looking office didn't sneak out a few things from storage. Her hammer was going to get a workout, in lieu of using it on Barry.

She frowned as she headed out the broad doorway. She did enjoy using that thing too much. She wished she'd had that damn hammer back then, to go bash in the teeth of the monster that killed her.