Me and Gunther sat around her desk for four long hours. I hated math, but it gave me some time to think, even if some of those thoughts were things like, ‘I forgot to carry the one,’ or, ‘Why am I still here, oh gods above.’

That was the worst part about sitting still for ungodly amounts of time, it left you with nothing new to see, which got me thinking about stuff.

None of it was particularly important; I wasn’t contemplating the universe or anything, but I was thinking about Anna some of the time others I was wondering how I might deal with the fog or help with the food shortage.

Each was a tough question, not equally tough, but each was tough in its own way. I also thought over Sophy’s words to me.

Her suggestions, her [Guidance], was the kind of thing that wasn’t a one-off, it was the kind of thing you had to form a habit for. They were also the kind of thing that once you were aware of it was hard not to think about or beat yourself up over.

But I was going to follow it as well as I could.

I had no idea if she was right for some of it, but if the worst following it would bring was a bit of a headache on my end, and possibly give me quite a lot of good in return, I would take it to heart. No, I wouldn’t, I would engrave it on my heart if it would make my life better.

Sophy had never done me dirty, not yet, and I wasn’t going to take her words with a grain of salt.

And hey, look at me now. I’m rubbing shoulders with a [Merchant].

Gunther had spent the better part of an hour, futzing about her abacus with a scowl. She looked pissed, but she also looked a little like me when I was doing math. I just wasn’t certain if it was at me, or at the paper.

I kept my mouth shut, which was the only way I knew how to keep a scary person like Gunther from going off until I finished my work.

Right up until…

“Finished, I do believe that was four hours, well a little more than that maybe… It’s hard to tell without a glass to tell time, but by the sun it's about right. Do you want me to bring these somewhere? Because gosh there are a lot of them.”

Gunther let out a sigh and leaned back in her chair. She lifted her arms and gave a good stretch, the type where you got clicks out of your back, and your arms and legs suddenly felt like you had just sucked down a thing of Kindly tea and felt like you had the energy to move after the chair had sucked all of it out of you.

I stood up, my legs wobbly from disuse.

Partly to show off and partly because I felt as stiff as a board, I, too, gave stretching a go.

I leaned back with my hands above my head, then chest forward with my arms behind my back.

“Mmm, that’s good,” I said, more to myself than to Gunther, while my back gave its pops of release.

I looked over at her, only to be met with a grim look.

“Show off,” she huffed.

I blinked down at her, confused, but instead of staring me in the eye, she was staring at my chest.

I looked down at her but picked up on it fast enough. I raised my eyebrows, my ears turning to face towards her. It took me a second to really break down her words from annoyed at me to annoyed at me. But once it did, I smiled a little, though if I were honest, it was more of a smirk.

“What? Jealous? They're not that good, if it helps, imagine all of the back pain I’ll have that you won’t,” I told her, almost dryly.

Her look turned bitter, though she didn’t fall for my pokes, “With udders like yours? I’ll hold out hope that you go saggy while my youthful appearance never fades. Just keep them tucked away around the men… It's hard enough competing with humans.”

I wanted to raise my eyebrows, but they were already up, and I didn’t feel like working out the muscles in my forehead.

“I’m not interested,” I told her, waving the idea off like a fart, “they're all yours.”

She looked at me, not understanding what I was trying to say. But she just shrugged. She didn’t get it, but she had the spirit.

“Good, I assume you want to look through my wares now? You wanted to buy some food, so we might as well take some time before I need to get back to it. Here take these to Beatrice, shes-”

“Your receptionist, yeh, I know,” I told her, cutting her off. She shrugged as I got around the desk and picked up the papers full of numbers that me and her had been vomiting out onto paper with very little in the way of down time. She went over to a drawer in her desk to get something, but I was already delivering the paper to Beatrice.

The look on her face when I walked up and got her attention was so caustic I felt a pang of genuine fear when I looked at her, but when she looked at the papers, her face wound down to tired instead.

She held out her hand towards me, and I gingerly gave her the sheaf of loose paper. She accepted it, bringing it in closer to give it a look.

“Wait a moment, is this… is this all from Gunther? You didn’t grab any random pages?”

“No, that’s all from Gunther, I just helped out,” I told her, not bringing up why I would help or how many coins I saved for it.

She started leafing through it, muttering to herself.

On instinct, I paid attention to her mana, and while I couldn’t see inside of her, but I could see the wispiness that I had thought was a skill. Deciding to double check I paid attention to myself and engaged some of my passive skills, extending my nails, and noticed that my hands gave off a wispy trickle of mana.

That was as close as I was going to get for now in terms of confirmation. Notably, the mana was coming off of her head, while mine was coming off of… well, I was leaking a bit out of all over me, but one of them was from my hands while I used my tool proficiency.

That was good to know, maybe it will come in useful. No, that was the wrong way around, it will come in handy if I find a way to use it. That’s the spirit, anything can be useful if you know how to use it. Too bad I can’t tell what kind of mana it is… Though, I suppose I probably could when I get back. Maybe there’s something in the book about it… Something to think about later, though those are piling up.

“Not bad, a few mistakes, though you have as many as Gunther, so no problems there. I might be able to go to sleep today. Well done,” she said.

I looked at her, and sure enough, she did still look tired. Too tired.

I decided not to weigh in on it, not try to stick my nose where it didn’t belong. Being nosy would probably just annoy her.

“Good to hear we did you a solid, I’ll be helping tomorrow, too, just for a few hours, but I hope that makes the difference.”

“It just might, now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to analyze these, I’m sure that Gunther can see to any paperwork she’s created with you. Good day, miss…”

“Saphine, my names Saphine.” I told her, raising my hand to shake hers.

“Well then, good day, miss Saphine,” she told me, raising her hand to shake mine.

We shook, though it was nothing special, just a few moments and it was gone.

“Yes… Well, I’ll get out of your hair. Good day, Miss Beatrice.”

There was nothing left to say, so I headed back to Gunther, only to walk in on her finishing on what she was doing.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

She was dressing up.

She looked then more like the child of a noble than any I had ever seen.

She was dressed up, not like someone going to church, with fancy but simple clothes, but like a young noble would to please a parent, or like they were going for a family portrait. It made her look like someone out of a storybook, a little noble scion before they lose their finery and have to slum it with the rabble.

Stranger still, she dressed like a man, a young man’s garb that made me confused for a second on whether or not she was, in fact, he and if I had been wrong. But that wasn’t it, she had a chest. It was small, nearly non-existent, but it was there. She was every part a girl, even in the way she stood.

“What's with the getup, wait… None of the others called you a girl either…”

“Keep your wet nose out of that, and try not to go spreading my dirty laundry around. And unless you’re going to help me get dressed, which I do not want nor need, I would ask that you simply wait.”

I shut my mouth for a minute while she, he? While Gunther finished getting dressed up.

I wonder why she does it. Now that I think about it, there’s no way her real name is Gunther, either. No one has given her a hard time about it, but she, or he… or whatever, would have a last name too. Maybe it’s a ploy? But if it is, it’s a weak ploy… unless the ploy is to take people confused to give her an advantage… I’ve never been good at this.

I waited while she… While Gunther finished dressing up like the child of an overenthusiastic [Noble] and started walking, little shiny black shoes think-thunking on the wood floors and what notable traits she had packed below a man’s coat.

“Come on then, follow me,” they called, walking confidently out of the bare halls of the building and into the streets.

I followed, blinking a bit from the light and sound, but kept following her towards her goods, presumably. I gave a quick check but found no followers, no pre-historic cat perusing from the shadow.

“So,” I started, “I’m guessing that I’m getting ‘paid’ for my work with… what is the word…”

“Credit?” Gunther weighed in.

“Sure, that. Where we just skip the paying part, and you lower the cost of my expedition thingy.”

“Yes, Credit is indeed me stating you have money you can take at any time. It’s make-believe money that makes lending and borrowing easier. You don’t even need to give me four coins, you can just make the transaction through the guild, which makes more sense for big transactions. No coins means you can’t get robbed. But you have part of it wrong, the money isn’t discounted, I’m getting paid ten gold, but six of it will be in credit from you, that you get from me.”

“Mmhm sounds like the same thing to me. Say, I don’t suppose you would have the sandals ready today? The streets are a bit dirty.”

“The sandals? I don’t see why not, most of it will already be ready, they just need to fit it a bit. Come on then, this way.”

Gunther started moving, her little legs moving quickly and mine moving at normal stride to keep up with their brisk jog.

We made our way through side street after street, getting closer to the distant, though reduced bustle of the market streets, until we came out in an area blocked in by merchants with the green cloth that marked them as Gunther’s company.

They were bustling quite hardily, compared to earlier, they were practically in a frenzy of activity, with most of the people coming up to their stands instead of the blue stands across the street.

Gunther started chuckling under her breath as she looked out at it.

“Ahh, you smell that?” she asked.

I didn’t, but I decided to try and figure out what she was talking about.

I could smell glues, cooked food, spices and herbs, leather and metal polish, sweat and emotions running high.

“I just smell normal human stuff or market stuff, I guess.”

“It smells like people hustling… and it smells like victory. I couldn’t have done it better myself, but you managed to close the competition for the day. Well done.”

I sighed, “Of course, you were just talking about money.”

“Come now, let’s get going, time is coin,” she said, bustling off.

I followed Gunther around, finding a few things in the process. I got a basket, of all things, and some fruit and even a handful of spices, though just a few, some chillies, which I was surprised about, and some tomatoes, which I looked forward to using. Eggs, and soft bread... I even found some good maize, both dry and on the cob, though they didn’t look as good as some of the other stuff I had seen, they still looked well, and I was coming up with some ideas on what to cook.

We got to the shoemaker and I got my sandals. They were rather bulky compared to my old ones, more bulky than I was expecting, but if they were for Beastkin, they would be built differently.

And speaking of Beastkin, I saw a few for the first time. Oddly, most of them were doing guard duty and in Gunther’s colours, but they were odd all on their own.

I could see, in a way, why I might be confused for one, even if only halfway. We were far more alike than Goblins. They were animal-like for sure, several of them based on different animals with different heights. Some were more wolf, while others were cat-like, though different from the cat I had seen. Notably, however, they were all the way towards animals, where I looked like I might be part human with some animal features, but they looked like they were animals with human features.

Bipedal with fur and hands that split the difference between mine and honest-to-goodness paws. Tails and whiskers, and very little clothing. The clothing they wore looked more like it was for holding things and for style rather than to cover themselves for modesty. Most only wore what looked like a pleated piece of cloth, folded around them in a kind of skirt and sash on the men and what looked more like a bib on women.

I could see why they would, though, all of that fur would leave them sweating, or I supposed, probably panting with heat.

Some of the shorter-haired amongst them wore more human clothes.

I had never seen one in the main streets, but here they were, sticking in with humans, talking, bartering, and generally being around.

A few of them looked at me, but they seemed disinterested, several paid more attention to Gunther than me.

I got my sandals on. They were a bit stiff, but that was expected, I thanked the shoemaker for her quick work and finished up my shopping.

“Gunther, which way are the temples? I need to go pick up some books for Anna.”

Gunther almost tripped, “Hmm? Books? Oh… I suppose those would be over in the temple district,” she said, rattling off a few directions to me that I tried to remember.

“Well, thank you for your time, Gunther… I’ll come back tomorrow to finish my work,” I told her.

She nodded, seemingly confused by something in my voice or the situation. I stood there waiting for a ‘goodbye’ or maybe a ‘see you tomorrow,’ but it never came.

So awkwardly, I nodded my head at her and made my way off and into the streets.

On my way out, I got a few merchants who tried to call me out, but those who did realized it was me and rocked back like they had been slapped. And I made it out without being harried by them.

I got back onto the main streets just a bit after, back to the bustle of normal streets where merchants were calmer and less likely to sideline me for my rapidly dwindling coin purse.

I made my way past the little islands of them as fast as I could down the streets and around through alleys, though I was more weary about them.

I thought about telling a [Guard], but what would they do? Tell me they would look into a stealthy mountain lion-sized cat thing that may or may not be following me right now. That was the kind of thing that got very little guard attention. They would dismiss me almost outright and waste my time.

Instead, I focused on making it to the temple district, and when I did, it was not all that reassuring.

Far from what I expected, it was not a familiar sight, not one that felt welcoming, but one that felt… wrong.

There were temples of a sort, some smaller, some taller. Some were just as I expected, the more modest ones, but plenty of them were… more monumental.

It was a bit unnerving, but the worst was the differences.

I did not remember much of my time in here, and I definitely didn’t notice the small things.

Small things, like some gods, have strange symbols. I noticed a church for Fertility, but instead of the symbol I knew, a stalk of grain in a bowl, it was an upright tree or bush or flower with speckles like stars around it. the temples were less rustic, more like Averice in most cases.

I noticed what looked like a tavern with the familiar symbol for Hearth and Hospitality, but for every place I could recognize, I found two places that seemed more like a monument to human greed than to their patron deity. And for every god I remembered, there was one I didn’t.

I looked but saw as many foreign gods as familiar, and the change scared me.

I made my way around, quickly scooting through a familiar open area. The cobbles were just too far apart, and the place smelled lightly of blood, and I decided that I didn’t want to slow down there, next to the familiar temple of Life, wrought in near pristine stone that seemed so far from the moral ideals the god aimed for it made my teeth itch.

At least the same symbol adorned the building.

There were alcoves, mostly dedicated to what appeared to be Epithets, but they, too, were filled with unfamiliar faces next to old ones.

What was the point of a god if they just changed? What was a god that did not last longer than you? What were they now? Just another epithet? I didn’t know if I wanted to know.

I found the place I was looking for. It was a solidly built thing, a stone structure in a kind of cube, with no windows. Outside, there was a shop where different craftsmen wrote and bound books. A familiar mark for a Library marked the top of the door frame.

I slowed and took it in.

This is much more my speed, I like this place… I wonder if there are any [Lore Masters] here… It would be nice to spot some, though somehow I doubt it… This looks less like a library and more like an archive.

It was neither here nor there. I was here for a reason, not a personal visit, so I walked on in, asked the awkward young man for Anna’s books, got them, refused to elaborate, and headed out and into the district streets.

This place was wrong, and I left as soon as was physically possible, the idea of gods I didn't know instead of the gods I did, frightened me on a visceral level, and with the day I had it wasn't helping.

By the time I was halfway out of the district, it felt like I had eyes watching me, the paranoia driving my heart to beat a little faster.

I made my way back through the city, quickly finding my way out of the city, away from the center structure. The longer it took, the more it felt like it was hard to breathe. There was a pressure that unnerved me, but I didn’t look behind me, I just focused on getting out of the city as fast as possible. Sometimes, I used my skills to turn a corner or lengthen my stride, anything to get out. The moment the cobbles turned to dirt and grass, I shot off kicking off all of my skills and turning behind me, only in time to see the tail of a cat whirling behind the wall of a house.

I fled across the grass and towards the tree line, finding my way circuitously toward Annas Grove. I did not let up on my speedy getaway until I was into the stands of trees that led up the hill and up the pathway to Annas Grove. I didn’t slow until I could hear birdsong and see the short grass, and animals and Anna.

Only then did I slow down and let my heart slow, the reassurance of the grove lulling my instinct and me to calm.