Fiona caught a whiff of fish scent, and glanced at the nearby harbor. Fiefdala sat on the coast of Galahein Lake, and as such, the lake was an excellent shipping lane to the various settlements strewn throughout the large valley. It emptied into a river further down south, all the way to the Cistera Sea, and up north, she could make out snow-capped mountains. Steam barges lit with magical lights bobbed in the slight chop of the wind coming from further along the valley, and little sailboats scurried about, with people milling about and enjoying the late afternoon spectacle.

She’d love to walk along the commercial walkway, seeing as it was bustling with activity at this late afternoon hour. But they had business to attend to, first. Bonnie waved to them with her cute mage-threaded vest, sleeved shirt and leggings, with her poofy tail given ample room to roam. Her hat had tiny holes that allowed her ears to go through the brim, and screamed ‘cute’ to Fiona.

“Bonnie, you are a divinity of fashion, you know that?” Fiona gasped as she gave her a hug when they grouped up. Greg set the pace and was already talking to an older gentleman with short gray hair and glasses, their voices carrying in a low tone.

“Girl, it’s just regular fashion for me,” Bonnie replied with a warm smile, and peered at the converted textile mill. The structure was wooden trusswork, light tan brick, and some occasional stone paneling. A rusty sign that read ‘storage’ swung in a light breeze, just out of grabbing range, and Fiona and Bonnie looked up at it.

“It needs a little work, but look at the size of this place!” Fiona declared, in awe at the scale. “A coat of paint, a little dazzle, maybe some renovations to fix some stuff, but it’s huge! How’d you hear about this place?”

“My dad was going to give me some money to open a shop, and said my enchantment skills were out of this world. He always wanted me to succeed, and he said they could subdivide the space.” Bonnie let out a slight purring sound–foxes were weird, but Bonnie was cool to have as a friend. “This location is great! I can’t believe no one ever used this place!”

“I think it went bust a few months ago, they weren’t making much money, and the issue with the dragon lord was the last straw,” Fiona said while narrowing her eyes, looking for some kind of lemon or issue that could be a problem. The location was great, with a lot of foot traffic for sure, and the business attire of the populace indicated mid-range or high-end clientele were here. Either on their way to and from work, or due to the cozy local eateries, which Fiona had frequented quite a few times. A few couples were having a picnic in the shade of a large pair of autumn-tinged trees, laughing and looking joyous.

Fiona examined the exchange between Greg and the older gentleman, and came back to them looking tense. The guy was balding, and his nose was a tad red, and he had this skeevy look to him. Like a vulture, almost. Which was ironic, because she’d seen the avians fluttering around nearby, and they didn’t look quite so off-putting. “So, Greg, when can we start putting ink to paper?” she asked with a smile. Greg, however, was not smiling.

“There’s a problem. Someone decided that they wanted to buy up the whole place. So now this guy wants to start a bidding war. And given our current gold status, this may become problematic.”

“What? That’s bogus, I called dibs. Dibs!” Fiona shouted out, and a few people stared at her, looking puzzled. “When you call dibs, it’s yours. It’s the rule from where I came from, it totally should be the same rule here!”

“Fiona, that’s not how it…you know what, sure,” Greg responded while putting his palm to his face. “If this isn’t the place you’re looking for, there’s no issue. We can walk away, without a single copper spent.”

She straightened her posture and tightened her snazzy green tie. “Fine then, let’s give this place a good look-over, and then we’ll go from there. Bonnie, think you can peer into the walls, and make sure there’s no rotting, or shady arcane wiring? This building is older compared to the ones surrounding it, the wood shows more weathering.”

“I can, yes. Good pointers,” Bonnie responded and reached into her satchel with her claws, and pulled out a small scope that glinted with blue light emanating from the eyepiece. “Try not to look through it for too long, it causes eye strain.”

They walked inside, and the sound of distant waves echoed in the cavernous mill. The rough-hewn wooden supports with metal cladding and bolts connecting the joints looked sturdy, but it was dusty inside. Fiona coughed on the dust that kicked up as they walked through the dark space, and a few arcane lights flickered on in proximity to them. It was a little messy, and she saw the remnants of some old encampment on the stone floor.

But to her trained eye, this place was perfect. There was plentiful floor space, and an old, rustic feel that gave whispers of intrigue, something to catch the eyes from the outside. She could picture it now: A few coats of warm paint on the front facade, a little brick repair work, and a swinging sign made of bronze that read ‘Fiona’s Emporium’ flapping in the breeze ever so gently. She rubbed her hands together as they surveyed the place, with a small echo of footsteps disappearing into the volume above.

“I mean, it needs work,” Greg offered quietly as he pointed to a rat-chewed arcane cable. Fiona had a different response, and she peered through the arcane device, and heard a wind-up of energy. In a second, the lens activated, and the world was awash in blues and purples, with warmer red notes next to the arcane wiring. She peered around, looking at the chewed console. But elsewhere, the wiring looked intact. A minor deficiency, but repairable.

“Doesn’t look like the wiring’s bad. Man, that thing’s a trip,” she added as she winced, and pulled the scope away. “Bonnie, what are your thoughts?”

“I’m not a super expert, but the structure looks good. One second.” Bonnie set her equipment down and tucked her hair behind her ears, before springing up along the support columns with her springy digitigrade legs in a display of natural acrobatics. She dug her claws into the structure and ascended with incredible grace, parkoured over a connecting strut, then sprung to a wooden rafter, and peered around. Fiona couldn’t help but look at her nervously.

“You have magic, Bonnie! Why are you jumping around?” she called out above them, and she saw a pair of blue eyes peer down, with the silhouette of her ears perked up in the darkness.

“Because I’m stretching my legs, Fi!” she responded with a heartfelt laugh, before craning her neck around. “Okay, the structure looks good. I’d have to take a look at the roof tiles, but this place is in great shape, there’s some broken tiles that I saw from outside. I’m looking for a real lemon, but I’m not finding one!”

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“We can call an inspector, no need to overdo it,” Greg pushed back lightly, but even his doubts had melted as they observed the vixen bound down, and slowed her descent with a flurry of feathers that seemed to materialize on her back, for a few seconds. They poofed outwards like someone exploded a pillow, and Fiona tickled her nose at this irritation, before they faded into motes of light.

“Show-off,” Fiona said with a coy smile, and Bonnie set her hands on her hips and grinned.

“Hey, Sigmauta Academy shows us how to do stuff, but they don’t show you how to do pragmatic things. Luckily, transfiguration doesn’t take too much energy, when you’re only doing it for a few seconds. Now, about this place, I saw some things in here that’ll give us an edge on the bids." Bonnie pointed upwards to a dimly lit strut. “Some of the cladding on the joints needs a rework. We can drop the bid price that way. The wiring, too. I think there are a few cases for brickwork, it’s very expensive to hire a contractor, but super cheap for us to do by hand. Have you ever done home construction, Fiona?”

“I swing a giant hammer, and the world is filled with nails looking for a home,” She asserted with an edgy smile. “But yeah, I’ve done a little repair work before. So what do you think Bonnie, you mind sharing a retail space? I got a title, ‘Fiona and Friends Emporium’. It has a nice ring to it.”

“Might still be a bit spacious with just the two of us, but sure!” she said proudly.

“Three,” Greg interjected. Both of them turned to look, and he smiled politely. “While I do question some of Fiona’s personal decisions, I do know that she had a penchant for applying herself, having observed her for this long. And Bonnie, I’ve known you longer. I think we’ve got this.”

“Actually, just how much loot did this dragon have, anyway?” Bonnie asked as she grabbed her gear, and they proceeded to the main door.

“A lot,” Greg responded with a grunt. “But no gold. That still bothers me. Why would a plotter like the dragon lord just have no gold on hand? It makes no sense.”

“Maybe he had bills to pay, like me,” Fiona grumbled. “There’s a twist of irony. He was raiding this kingdom to pay his taxes.”

“Fiona, I don’t think you can tax a dragon,” Greg chuckled. “Barry might, though.”

“I only wish he was dumb enough to try, that would save me a lot of trouble.” She glanced at the elder man in the suit waiting outside, and shook his hand eagerly. “We’ve given it a thought, we’d like to start some paperwork on this place.”

“Splendid! We’ve got a few applicants, and fortunately for you, I think their bids were woefully short of our expectations,” the man said with a smile. That too-polite smile. He was going to scam her, she knew it in the way he looked at her. It’s like he didn’t realize he was dealing with the hero of Fiefdala, who had the brains to back up the brawn. “Now, Miss Swiftheart, between yourself and Miss Revere, we do expect a deposit to hold the place while we finalize the papers. If your deposit is adequate and we can agree on terms of the lease, we can have it ready in a day or two.”

“Bonnie, you in on this?” Fiona called out, and the vixen didn’t even hesitate before nodding with a smile.

“I’ve seen you at work, Fiona. You got that gleam in your eye, like you have a goal, and you know how to get to it,” she added with a toothy smirk. Greg nodded, and held out two fingers. A subtle nod to…two thousand? He gave another signal, and she almost groaned out loud.

Twenty thousand?! That was a massive stack of her reserves, but she also knew she had that kind of cash on hand. It paled to the debt owed, but if they moved this merchandise at cost, it would be peanuts compared to the potential payoffs. “Alright, Mister Grimore, how much of a deposit are we talking about?”

“Oh, just a paltry sum of…say, forty thousand gold.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

Scammy scammer, I knew you were going to do that! She took inventory of everything Greg and Bonnie had mentioned, plus her assessment, and smiled.

“Nah, too rich, and I’ll tell you why. The building needs work, and some arcanist circuitry isn’t up to code. I have to pay for that out of my pocket, and there’s an infestation of rats chewing the cables, the tiling needs work by a licensed geomancer mage, and I could keep going. Some brickwork needs fixing, and my goodness, I think someone was sleeping in there. They left a mess,” she added, while the man squirmed.

She loved it when they squirmed, like they figured she’d pay the asking price without doing her homework. She always got her gold’s worth, this life or the last.

“Well, ah, uh…I’m sure some of those can be concessions, but what are you–”

“Seventeen-five, and not a single copper more,” she offered while standing tall. “I know my values, Mister Grimore. I still have to pay for staging, and I know the monthly on the lease won't be cheap for a place this size. It’s prime real estate.” Bonnie made a silent fist pump in the air, and Greg smiled. But, the old guy wasn’t going to take this lying down.

“Twenty-two thousand, and we have an accord.” She frowned, she could push for more, but Greg silently lowered his hand, just a little, out of the man’s vision. She tightened her cheeks and narrowed her eyes.

“Twenty thousand, even. I’ll go to the bank tomorrow and have it ready, in cash.”

The man didn’t look particularly happy, but glanced over his shoulder to examine the building, examining the papers with the silent number of what the place was truly worth. After a moment, he returned a hardened smile. “Alright, Miss Swiftheart, you and your friend Miss Revere have a deal. We’ll call this the deposit for the first and last month, plus clerical fees. Make sure that you have your licenses and registration ready by the time you open your center of commerce, yes?”

“Oh of course!” Thank you so much! Can I hug–”

“No, I don’t desire a crushed rib cage,” Grimore sighed and upturned his nose at her look of delight. “Please bring the payment to my office with a gold voucher, and make sure you have capital to enact any repairs.”

“We’ll ensure it’s to code, we know some people that can help,” Greg stated while jotting on his arcanist pad. “And, I believe one of us will need to be a merchant class?”

“Correct,” Grimore stated. “Usually it’s the leaseholder, but any designated signer can do it.”

“It’ll take care of it,” Fiona replied. It must be just like applying for a license, which wasn’t a big deal. Once they parted ways, she gave a high five to Bonnie and Greg, all of them elated that this place was good enough for their next steps.

“So, the hard part is, we still need to do a fixer-upper,” Bonnie sighed.

“Have you seen my work? I can do a job like this. Besides, I know a few guys in the guild who can help. I’m sure if I tell them it’s a chance to put egg on Barry’s face, they’ll come running!” Fiona declared as she clapped her hands together. “Greg, make sure we get a guy to properly check the arcanist circuits. That was the one thing I worried about.”

“A licensed inspection is a few hundred gold, not a problem. Shall I meet you at the bank tomorrow?” he asked, and she nodded enthusiastically.

“Sure thing!” She hugged them before they departed together down the commerce walk, and she leaned on the railing, looking out at the setting sun.

Even though this wasn’t the long-term plan she anticipated, it was fun to get back into making something bigger than herself, and solving problems with number crunching. And if those failed, her weapon could do the crunching for her, she thought with a lopsided grin.