Silas conjured some boxers, an undershirt, and a pair of athletic socks, an outfit well suited for a lazy day of gaming, before donning a second conjured outer layer, a blue tracksuit with a wide stripe of white going down the sides, plus blue and white tennis shoes. He wanted to be fully dressed yet able to get back down to his underthings without much trouble.

He could call Taylor and choose an outfit to fit in with the locals slightly better, but he wanted to hold off on calling her until he was somewhere public, like a clothing store. He'd buy some ready-made clothes if he could today, then buy the cloth and other supplies his personal tailor would need to make him more real, physical outfits. Or maybe he'd just buy local and use her help interacting with the local tailors. Or do both. Depended how things went, really.

Scooping up Vox and draping him across his shoulders like a scaly fashion accessory, he was ready to go.

He felt like he was forgetting something, but there was nothing of his left in the room aside from some trash.

He'd connected Eve to her laptop last night so she was finally able to download all his backed up files, meaning he no longer needed to lug the thing around. It left him feeling exposed, her having access to all his personal data, yet on the other hand she could now run his games in floating virtual windows, displaying enhanced graphics beyond even what his laptop could accomplish. She could even send him into 'full dive' VR mode, making him feel truly inside the games as his body lay still in bed, his actions instead only controlling his virtual character. Most games weren't made for that, leaving him handicapped by how he couldn't see in a wide circle around himself, but a number of games with a first person POV (Point Of View) really shone. He messed around in a few last night, but as much fun as it was to spend all day every day gaming, he knew he couldn't, not every day, not if he wanted to feel safe in this new world. As it stood, people with power over him could show up and tell him what to do, and that wasn't ever something he liked happening. He'd retreated inward when it happened yet again, leaving him stranded in this strange place, but he now felt safe enough to at least step out into the city on his own.

He'd buy clothes, find his way to the Academy, get settled in, designate a minion to take digital pictures of the library's contents for Eve, then continue building up his Skill list.

He—

He was stalling.

Taking a deep breath, he yanked open the door, then froze. He made to close the door, as if pretending he'd seen nothing, yet such was not to be.

"Wait!" shouted, literally shouted, the trespassing princess, who shoved her hand in the doorway, as if that would stop him.

A fat metal boot shaped like a foot interposed itself as well, ensuring the safety of the princess's delicate fingers when he continued to slam the door shut.

"Shoo Haize! I'm fine."

There was a grunt as the boot withdrew once Silas stopped trying to grind the offending footwear to dust with his door, swinging it back open instead.

Again he saw the pink haired princess, today in a shimmering, iridescent white sundress, like something girls might wear to go out clubbing, according to his extensive knowledge of the subject based entirely on what was shown in movies and television shows. At the luncheon clothing had been more conservative, like 'hide your collarbone, wrists, and ankles' conservative. Now all that skin was on full display, plus a hint of cleavage.

Behind her loomed a metallic statue in the shape of a gorilla. It narrowed its eyes and huffed as Silas stared.

"Be a good girl Haize," soothed the princess, patting it on the knee, the closest part of the beast to her hand.

"Can I help you?" he asked, doing his best to be polite, lest he get squashed like a banana. Should he offer it a banana? Or did it eat metal? Maybe it would like a thumb drive?

"You can talk normal today?" Her brows furrowed for half a second, before she burst into a grin. "That's perfect! Karen left to who knows where with her ring. I know you have Ai, she's a sweet girl, and cute as a panther cub, but…" She trailed off to peek behind Silas, only then noticing Vox on his shoulders. The pitch of her voice rose three octaves, "Who is this cutie?" She glanced into the empty room, returning to a more normal voice. "And what happened to Ai? Is she still away?"

Silas should have remembered to just keep his mouth shut around the princess. His day could have gone so much smoother, no doubt.

"This is Vox. Ai is back to wherever she came from, which isn't a real place. Or it wasn't. I'm not really clear what is happening when I use my ability. They all come from stories, essentially." He didn't want to get into what was happening with his guild house.

The princess's face turned serious, all levity gone. "Sharing stuff like that is how you wind up in the depths. Such Bonds have power, but if your enemies can figure out which stories you connected to, they might learn of your summons' weaknesses, leaving you high and dry."

"Ah. Thanks? The stories aren't exactly local. Only Karen might recognize any of them. And… To be honest I'm not sure she reads."

Before he could regret saying that aloud, the princess burst out laughing. "Right? I think the only thing she'd do to a book in close quarters is try to give it a good punch."

As he smiled along with her laughter, he glanced at the floating name tag Eve provided, to refresh his memory. Dara.

"So. Dara. I was about to head out. Did you need something?"

"Of course! You said you wanted to go shopping today! I know all the best places. Daddy told me to buy you whatever you wanted. It'll be a splash!" She let out another high pitched squeal.

He…might have mentioned his desire to go shopping to Karen last night? She apparently didn't care about clothes. Monsters tore hers off, so she updated her self-image to include clothes, though Silas wasn't certain a sports bra and gym shorts should be considered being fully clothed. She'd laughed as she showed him how the material was created from her own skin, basically self-grown leather her Bond was thankfully able to magically dye. Karen seemed happy about her "magic clothes," so Silas had done his best to keep a straight face as he swallowed down the bile that tried to escape from his stomach once he understood what he was looking at.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Ah. You don't need to trouble yourself. I'll be fine, really."

She raised an eyebrow. "Got a hidden slush fund, do you? Know what a good belt should cost? Know which areas of the city keep everything above board, and where the people would slit your throat and leave you in the gutter without losing the smile on their face?"

He knew better than to mention the rats again, now he'd be understood, and he could use a guide, even if he'd prefer one who wouldn't draw so much extra, unnecessary attention his way. "You make some excellent points."

The princess beamed. "Oh, it'll be a hot chase!" She led him down the hall, Haize following, with two regular palace guards, both wolfmen, in the rear. Silas hadn't even noticed them flanking his doorway until he turned to dismiss the keep out sign he'd hung on the door.

"So," Silas began, not knowing how to ask his question. "Haize is…"

The princess gives him a searching look, a slight frown on her face. "My Bonded, of course. I guess you haven't met many like her, yet?"

"I think I would have noticed another giant metal gorilla."

She shook her head. "Haize is a metal slime. She absorbs both metals and forms." She snapped her fingers twice, and the intimidating gorilla shrank down to appear as a hummingbird, which zipped up to perch over the spaghetti strap on the princess's exposed shoulder.

"Huh. So, that's your Bond?"

"Yup!" She beamed, reaching up to stroke the tiny bird's metal head. "Doesn't she just send you up the pole?!"

"Quite the ability, for sure," he hedged.

"Mmm. What I meant before was, I guess you haven't noticed people who can keep out their Bonded? No two Bonds manifest quite the same way, so everyone says, but in truth they all fall into certain categories. One rarer category is those of us who can keep their Bonded out permanently, at the cost of no physical manifestations. I love it, knowing Haize is always around to keep me safe, though of course Daddy was hoping for me to manifest an ability to harden my body like metal, or shapeshift, or both, basically becoming a metal slime myself, which, between you and me would have been just terrible."

Silas glanced between the two wolfmen guards. "How are no two Bonds the same?"

She shrugged. "In the details. For them, their wolves might have different temperaments, different abilities, different intelligence levels, different speed and power. Yet, the forest wolves tend to all manifest in fairly expected ways. It's just one of those things people say that isn't really true, except in the most literal sense, so everyone feels just a bit special."

Silas glanced back at the guards, their faces impassive, looking straight ahead. Fair enough.

As they headed down a spiral staircase, Dara continued, "Mari is the same as me, by the way. That armor he wears is special, an old heirloom, something powerful meant for the King to wear into battle. Dad certainly lost his even keel that day, I tell you. Mari had snuck into the vaults. Nearly cut and run after he got caught, because how was he going to hide it? Said we shouldn't let such powerful tools waste away, and I suppose he isn't wrong. Ended up moving out to stem the tide. Everything's smooth sailing now, though."

"Enough is enough. Why is this girl talking like a sailor, Eve?"

"Seems like the local slang. This is a port previously run by pirates."

"I thought I was going to understand all the slang?"

"You think a bunch of nobles walked around talking like this? She used different speech at the party. Just ask her."

"You, uh, seem to be talking a bit different from yesterday?"

She glanced at Silas, her cheeks and neck flushing pink, not quite to the shade of her hair, but close. "It's expected, to speak 'properly' amongst the other families, to keep the peace. We, uh, my family that is, have always been a bit more traditional, though. We're all expected to learn how to work a ship from stem to stern, to remember where we came from. Every summer we take a trip up and down the river where it's safe, just us family to manage it all. It's always a nice break from the city."

"Mmm." Silas understood wanting to get away.

"Our family makes a point to spend more time in the city, to not forget our roots. Some of the more influential families, though, they think we should be some tiny copy of Artea, so they act like the nobles there, as if it might save them should the Empire truly decide to invade one day. Not that they really count as nobles. They're all just merchants with ideas of grandeur."

"Is that likely, the Empire invading?"

She shrugged. "They don't need anything we have. It's all just posturing. Maybe someone mad will take charge one day and try to drive us out, maybe go after the crazy tree dwellers in Teudsindis too."

That sounded interesting, but they'd reached the palace's front door and stepped out to the courtyard.

Dara snapped once and said something which didn't translate. Haize zipped from her shoulder and flowed, rippling into one of those giant guinea pigs they used as beasts of burden. Dara hopped atop the creature, patting a spot behind herself. "You coming?"

Silas casually noted the shorts she wore under her dress to avoid flashing the world as she rode astride her mount. "I'll follow you, I have my own ride."

If school life had taught Silas anything, it was that if a pretty girl was being nice to him, she wanted something from him. Susan Denvers from sixth grade came to mind. She'd befriended him for just long enough to get a good grade on her science fair project. Dara, she'd mellowed during the party, but she hadn't been nice to him, treating him more like an awkward friend of a friend who she shared nothing in common with aside from their one mutual friend, one she didn't really even like any more. Now she was practically flirting. Something was up. Silas would need to keep his guard up around her.

He dismissed Vox after a head pat, then summoned Lucky, his rabbit mount from World of Fantasy which should enable him to warp to any one of six saved locations once an hour. The giant rabbit, pastel yellow fur patterned with lines of fine white stripes, appeared beside Dara and Haize in a puff of yellow smoke.

Dara, naturally, began squealing at such a high pitch ships could probably hear her at sea.

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

Boss sniffed the stone, pacing its walls, hunting for traces of a familiar scent, one he learned to anticipate over the past few days. Just a hint might start him salivating if he caught an unexpected whiff.

"Nothing, Boss," squeaked Halftail in a mourning tone as he came from down the hallway.

Stripes scurried over. "Outside! A trace! On the rocks!

The hunt was on.

A pact had been struck.

The colony was owed its Cheese.

If they must, if words failed, they would claim their due through teeth and claws.

For, now they knew the glory of Gouda, the smoothness of Swiss, the bite of Cheddar, the tang of Parmesan, and the stringy mobility of Mozzarella, there was no turning back.

They would not be denied.

They would have their Cheese, or the colony would rise and blood would seep down to the depths.