--- FORA ---

Tatch Vespin, the magistrate of the City of Starlight, was a horrible person.

I hadn’t really expected that at first, given that Eliax knew his father and everything that she said made it seem like he was a great guy. It was hard to believe that someone so sour could come from a devout priest who had a very guilty Kinthek gather stems for him for ten years as a means of paying off an impossible debt.

It was hard to believe, but that didn’t make it any less true. I squinted up at Tatch and my nose wrinkled in disgust at his noble bearing. As if the whole world was at his beck and call. He wore ivory buttons, silk clothing, and a large headdress that outmassed his skull five times over. He sat in a chair that was just barely not a throne, and he looked down his nose at everyone in the room, but especially at me.

“So?” I asked, spinning the shackles I’d phased through around one finger absently. “What exactly do you want?”

Tatch grimaced at me, but ignored the question at first. “Can you not do that?”

I shrugged and petulantly swung it faster.

“You…” Tatch sighed. “You’re from Arendi, aren’t you? The world in the sky?”

I regarded him for a moment, “So? Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not. Where are you going with this?” I tossed the shackles to the ground and started inspecting the gold leaf on the walls. Sparking corrupt local governments… Parts of it weren’t even leaf, some was actual solid gold. That was worse in every way.

Tatch narrowed his eyes at my attention to his wall, but didn’t comment on it. “The Emperor has an interest in going there in the near future, you see, Arendi is more prosperous and green than our lands. It can support more people.”

I paused in my examination and met his eyes across the distance. Even his soul felt gross, it was perfectly ordinary for a Larborak, but in this man every part of it made me want to look away again, and so I did, once more focusing on the gold in the wall. “Don’t people already live there though? They wouldn’t be very happy with plans like those.”

Tatch grimaced, but didn’t answer my question. “The Emperor or Nelfourne himself requested me to look into your… people. Once he heard you were here he looked into reports of people like you, people with gray skin and hard shells instead of bones.”

I hesitated slightly, wanting to ask but more willing to correct him than anything. “I have bones. What kind of person doesn’t have bones. That’s like the sky not being blue or people in power not abusing it.” I smirked at him, “But that’s just life there. What do you mean, ‘people like me.’ anyway?”

“The Alanerea.” Tatch said impatiently, ignoring my earlier jibe somehow. “The people from the stars who appeared hundreds of years ago. They found their way to Arendi after many wars. Is that not what you are?”

I blinked at him, remembering the name that first Turste and then Netun had claimed. “I’m… related to them.” I finally said after a long and arduous pause. “But I didn’t even know there were any on Arendi, so I’m not going to be of much help here.”

He was silent for a long moment, staring down at me with annoyance and hatred, two emotions that I’d come to associate with nobles. Well, most nobles. I couldn’t imagine Hivren or Raia expressing either of those. Even Steris hadn’t been that bad. But this Tatch… sparks I hated him. “Are you in need of something to… remind you.” He waved a hand, and one of the guards pulled out a sack. It looked like it was filled with gold or something.

I gave him a baffled look, but I’ve always been too curious for my own good. “How much is that?”

“Seventeen hundred golden castings.” Tatch replied smugly. I wasn’t sure how much that really was.

I gave the bag a dubious look, “What, how much bread could I get with that?”

He hesitated, sending a scholarly-type man nearby a panicked look. The scholar considered something for a moment before making the Nelfournian sign for two hundred and twelve.

Tatch looked back at me, triumphant, “Two hundred and twelve loaves of bread.”

So that wasn’t much more than six hundred bigger coins from back home. I sighed, “No deal.”

The nobleman seemed baffled about something, “not even-” he stuttered for a moment, “How about three times that amount. I was expecting you to see through me.”

I picked at my ear.

“...four times?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I sighed.

“Alright alright, ten thousand golden castings. That’s nearly six times the initial amount!”

I gave him a look again. “How much is that in bread?”

The scholarly man sighed, “One thousand, two hundred, and forty-seven loaves of bread.”

I tilted my head at him, “You’re sparking good at math.”

The man who I was increasingly certain was a tax collector simply shrugged, “It’s my job.”

Tatch stood up, angry, “So? You’re bleeding me dry. Is ten thousand golden castings something you can agree with?”

I yawned. “Ah… nope, I got nothing.” I grinned at him, “It’s not like I need that much bread anyway. Can’t think of anything else I’d even buy with it. Besides, it’d all go bad before I could eat it anyway.” I shrugged helplessly and started casting a gate.

Everyone in the room grew defensive the moment I dropped to my knees and started drawing a circle, sparks, I needed to learn how to make a circle with just my feet, that sounded like it was something useful. Maybe I could put chalk in the toes of my shoes…

“Wait!” Tatch yelled, growing panicked, “Wait! Wait! I’ll do anything! What do you want! I can pardon you! I can give you land! I can get you a thunder crystal!”

I felt my expression sour, people like this irked me. “I’ll pass.”

I was gone before he could offer anything else.

--- FILFINDE ---

Filfinde lifted her dainty nose into the air, turning to the side with confusion as Taenseva returned to the camp.

She never stayed nearby when they were unpacking. She said it was because she always tried to organize people and it made half the traders anxious when she did that. Flame, who had been with the Leftbite’s longer than Filfinde and back to when Taenseva didn’t do this, agreed that it was necessary.

But she was coming back today, which meant something was different about today. That was good, Filfinde liked different things.

She bumped Flame with her elbow slightly, getting his attention off setting up the tent. “Taenseva’s coming back.”

He grimaced slightly, he’d been having a good day so far, no unwarranted anger or even wrestling with Talf. But if Taenseva was about to start micromanaging, he would be making himself scarce. Flame was like a cuddly animal on the inside, whenever he was himself he’d rather choose peace in every single case.

In fact, that was most of the reason he’d left his family, his temperament had been so vastly different from theirs before the bloodbinding. He glanced around the area before giving Filfinde the look. The one that said, ‘I’m so terribly sorry for this and inconveniencing you brings me pain.’

Like a cuddly animal.

“I’ll… go then… can you… finish this?” he gestured at the tent, and Filfinde could tell that even asking it was painful to him. Stars above he was too much of a gentleman.

Filfinde pushed him in the direction of the gate, “Go on, mister! Don’t get distracted by the water this time.” She teased.

Flame smiled, “It’s just so pretty from above.”

So cuddly. It was truly a travesty that no one else got to see him like this. “Then maybe you should take me one of these days.”

His smile fell slightly, “I don’t know if I… but if you really-”

Filfinde tapped him lightly with her fist, reminding him of the time she’d punched him to prove this very point. “Squalls Flame, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’d like to see it one day, but if you aren’t comfortable now, I suppose I’ll just have to wait then.”

His smile returned. It was like a warm hug, inviting, happy, relaxed. Flame turned and finally made his way out of the camp and toward the city gate. Filfinde never wanted to, but every time she would always watch the sky for a glint of wings. She hadn’t spotted it yet, but hopefully one day he would finally let her see it. All she had for now were two red scales as large as her eyes that he’d given her the first time. He only did this when he was worried he would get angry. She felt like it was more often lately. Too often.

Filfinde turned toward Taenseva finally, her eyes widening in shock as she spotted a young woman walking with her. She looked like she was in her early twenties, and the way her eyes moved about was adorable, like she was some kind of princess surveying her kingdom.

Filfinde felt a genuine smile, another stray then? She looked like a stray, she had that way about her that Taenseva always managed to pick up. Like she wanted to blend into a wall but didn’t think it was possible. Most strays only stayed for a few months, eventually finding a place to belong, but Filfinde loved meeting them, making them feel welcome. At least… most of them. She now regretted never having done that with Kinthek.

Filfinde reached them, waving politely as the woman began the inevitable staring. The face, the hair, the perfectly dainty nose… Filfinde really should have asked for just a regular nose in retrospect, but it had felt wrong to only do things halfway. After all, why leave even a chance that the old one kept its shape? “Another stray?” Filfinde asked.

Taenseva nodded, “Seems that way, certainly. This is Alafaya, she’s deaf.”

Filfinde blinked at that one, “That’s a first!” She turned her smile toward Alafaya, who was shrinking slightly under her gaze. Now that wouldn’t do. “We all have our thing.”

“Some more than others.” Taenseva muttered.

Filfinde rolled her eyes before fixing her gaze on the young woman. She was clutching a notebook with a deathgrip, that was probably her only mode of real communication. Filfinde stood up straighter, holding out a hand for it. Reluctantly, Alafaya passed it over and Filfinde wrote a greeting. “Alafaya, Right? I’m Filfinde, it’s great to meet you.”

She smiled when she read it, “You too.” Her gaze tracked to Filfinde’s hair, “You’re a bloodbinder?”

Filfinde nodded, still embarrassed about the reason for that. At least now she could say she had a very cute nose. She wrote one last sentence and then stood up, Alafaya read it and then followed, “Come with me, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”