Each night we curled up in a tight ball. Each night we would take it in turns to keep watch. Our time spent adventuring seemed so long ago and far away compared to the reality. We had the horses to protect and feed, and it was Jules that seemed on top of everything.

In a way, it reminded me of my old life. Wake up, do something repetitive all day, sleep what few hours I can, repeat. I didn't pray to Molly, though I knew she could just yank me into a dream with her anyway, but sleeping with Taffy was its own reward. She didn't wear her plate while sleeping, but whenever she woke I would wordlessly help her put it on—though we both knew it was an excuse to touch her.

"We should be in Riverholm tomorrow some time." Jules' voice surprised me out of the stupor the trip from Northwind had put me in. We'd talked, but it was always instructions.

"Riverholm, that has a huge river in it, right? Lots of docks and stuff?" I asked.

"Right. And, last I looked, none of his temples there. That might have changed, though I doubt it. We can pay a boat to take us downstream, and from there we can go pretty much wherever we want." Jules pointed along the road. "And the road around here is better taken care of. It's a city of merchants—broken cart wheels are not how you make money."

Chloe had one of the horses and Jules the other. They walked with the animals on leads. Yaff and Caprice led the way, Taffy and me were at the back. We marched through lunch, passing around hunks of bread with meat, cheese, and potato on them.

It was coming up on dusk when I watched Yaff step to the side of Caprice and vanish. It took my brain a moment to remember what that meant, during which time Chloe passed the lead of her horse to Caprice.

We kept walking, but everyone was staring at the treeline. A shout from the forest was the first we knew for sure something was happening. Not coherent at all, it sounded more like a choked-off cry.

"It's an ambush! Their mage is dead!" Yaff's shout was far more revealing than the cry of whomever died.

Beside me, Taffy drew her sword and hooked her off side arm through her shield. "Absorb Threat!" The clanging of her sword and shield together woke me from my daze.

"Enhance Constitution! Bless!" My two fastest spells, fast enough that without the need to pull on my shield like Taffy did, I could get them both off.

"Summon Nature's Ally! Ugh, stupid horse!" Caprice summoned Cuddles, who spooked her horse. She had to grab the lead rope with both hands and jerked down hard to keep its attention away from the appearance of a big predator. "Go and help Yaff!"

Drawing her big cleaver, Chloe called out. "How many, Yaff?" Then quickly followed with, "War Shout!"

Three men picked that moment to run out onto the road. Two had leather gear on, one had a big morningstar and the other a big length of chain. The third was already lifting a crossbow up, pointed at Jules.

Taffy marched forward, putting herself between the crossbowman and Jules. "Arc Taunt!"

The shout cost the crossbowman a moment of indecision—a moment when a dagger appeared in his neck. "Backstab," Yaff said, her muzzle by the man's ear she was so close to him.

Caprice, having gotten her horse under some control, pointed at the guy with the morningstar. "Get that one, Cuddles! Nature's Acceleration!"

Chloe's swing at the man with the chain, accompanied by a shout of, "Face Slash, War March!" left him staggering backward, but not enough to avoid her swing completely. I'd have to admit that a huge snow leopard swinging a cleaver almost as long as she was tall would make me run away too. He took another step back only for the ground at his feet to part and vines coil around his feet.

Yaff was getting far too good at these ambush attacks.

"I'm gonna Smash you, girly!" The guy with the morningstar swung the big weapon around in an arc, building its momentum. Taffy, though, brought her shield into place and the heavy blow struck worked steel that was backed by more muscle than he was expecting.

Taffy didn't need to swing. A tiger landed on the guy's back and raked all four claws down his lightly armored body. Blood, sinew, and a scream met the cool air as cuddles locked her jaw around his neck and squeezed.

Our remaining opponent swung his chain back at Yaff to clear a path, but once the hand securing the chain extended enough to send it toward the vixen, Chloe brought her cleaver overhead and down. Chain, hand, and the man's hopes hit the ground in a pile.

"Gag him, he's spooking the horses. Dusky, can you heal that idiot's arm so he doesn't bleed out? Someone tie him up." Jules took the second lead from Caprice. "Someone check the bodies over and drag them all over here."

I would need to apologize to Chloe for all the thoughts I'd had of her as being the ultimate controlling voice in the group. Jules, even moments after a battle, was twice as insistent.

Walking over to where Chloe had the chain-guy pinned to the ground, I crouched down. "Weak Heal." As my magic flowed into him, the bloody stump of his wrist scabbed over and the bleeding ceased. "I think that has him stable. He'll need a lot of gold to get someone to do a good enough heal to regrow that."

Caprice came over with rope and tied the guy up. Bound his arms and legs, gagged him, then slung him over the back of one of the horses. "If you try to hurt Caprice or her friends, Caprice will boil your insides. Got it?"

If I was told that by a kobold with a huge pair of wings that resembled an upright dragon—I'd probably listen to her. "Could we make it there if we marched through the night?" I asked.

"We'd get there about midnight, I think. It might be worth it given all this." Jules gestured at the bodies Yaff and Taffy were piling up. "What do you girls think?"

Caprice grumbled. "That if Caprice has to explain this to guards, she wants to do it when not tired."

In no time Yaff gathered all their weapons and valuables and Chloe fashioned three branches together to carry the bodies behind a horse.

The fight had been fast. It almost reminded me of those glorious PvP fights I used to have. But, just like that, it hit me that we'd just killed three people and had a fourth tied up and maimed. I had to get used to killing, because apparently this world was full of it.

We moved a little further up the road before stopping for the night. Caprice banished Cuddles to wherever tigers like to hide when not summoned and we set up the horses at the side of the road, tied our prisoner up to a tree, and settled into a pile of warm bodies. Tonight… Tonight I needed to talk.

"Molly, I could really use a friend tonight," I whispered.

A squeeze around my shoulders and a kiss on the cheek reminded me that Taffy was beside me and still awake. I turned into her cuddle and ignore the chainmail to lay my head at the joint of her shoulder. "You're on last watch, babe. I'll wake you for it."

I blushed at being called babe by her. The fact I wanted Taffy to do naughty things to me was completely beside the point.

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

Waking up in Molly's world, I was unsurprised to have Taffy still hugging me. She was wearing her armor, but it didn't seem to be as hard and annoying to hug here. When I squeezed myself against her side, I felt Taffy.

Time was all wibbly wobbly, when entering this place, but I was grateful Molly had arranged it so we could both be here together. Lifting my head from Taffy's shoulder, I spotted Molly sitting opposite us. "Hey, Molls, sorry I haven't—"

"We haven't." Taffy brushed the hair from my fringe to one side. "I know it was probably wrong to avoid you so soon after becoming your paladin, but I needed time—I still need time—to remember him."

It was my turn to reassure her. I stretched up as high as I could to kiss her cheek. "You don't need to ever stop remembering him." She looked at me as if I'd said something strange. "I might be saying it wrong."

Taffy twitched her head only a little side to side. "No, it's just—It's tradition to have three years where the dead are remembered, and then you are supposed to move on and forget them."

"That works?" I asked.

Taffy shook her head again. "It didn't when Mom died. Dad tried to, and tried to hide from me that it wasn't working."

"Then remember him, Taffy. Remember all the things you did together. You're a paladin—you're allowed to challenge things you don't think are right." She turned her head to stare at me. "What? It's true."

Her plated arms and chest squeezed me in a tight hug and she leaned her head against mine. I did what I could to return the hug.

"Dusky, how are you so strong?" Her voice was a whisper.

I had no idea how to answer that apart from keep hugging her. Thanks to Molly's magic realm, we could have kept hugging for hours—and probably did.

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

"Your watch is starting," Taffy's soft words in my ear woke me. She wasn't laying down in my arms, she was crouched in full armor. One of her steel-clad fingers gently poked my nose. "Come on, sleepy head."

"Yeah. I'm getting up." I reached up to her hand and she pulled me upright easily. There wasn't any light yet, but my half-Elven eyes could pierce the dark well. Twisting and turning to get the kinks out of my joints, I looked back just in time to see Taffy lay down where I'd been sleeping. "Not taking your armor off?"

"There's only two hours until dawn, Dusky. Then we march to town. I just want to—"

I silenced her with a kiss. It was only brief, but I think I managed to put into the action what I felt she needed. Her smile—devilish and thankful—told me I'd hit my mark. "We're strong for each other. Sleep now."

Her eyes were open for a moment longer before they fluttered closed and sleep took her. Straightening up, I walked over to a nearby tree and put my back to the bark. I wasn't invisible, but I could see everyone sleeping and well into the forest beyond.

The forest was peaceful, but not dead quiet. There were occasional sounds here and there, and all seemed well. When the first bit of red light touched the sky, I let out a relieved sigh—and was tackled.

"Morning, Dusky." Caprice's strength was in full evidence with her hug. She gave me a squeeze and let out a little chirping sound when I hugged back. "Any trouble overnight?"

Shaking my head, I struggled to get fully upright again from where I'd fallen against the tree. "Taffy woke me about two hours back. She didn't say anything had happened."

"Well, Caprice'll get us something to nibble on. Dusky keep an eye out until more are awake." Turning toward where the bigger packs were, she filled a pot with water. "Torrent of Fire."

That she'd learned to use her combat magic for cooking hardly surprised me. Caprice seemed like one of the most curious and flexible people I'd ever met. Nothing could stop her figuring out new and unusual ways to use her abilities. Right now she was adding oats and strips of hard meat to the water. Also, enough salt to make a doctor scream.

I kept my focus on the forest around us, though. I could see movement now that there was the first slight stirrings of light between the branches—though none of it was directed toward us. Animals looking for food, in every sense of the word, but we were far too big for them to contemplate.

Jules and Chloe woke together, the pair cuddled together to share warmth. Jules looked around to see Caprice cooking while Chloe's first gaze traced directly to me. Her feline eyes locked on me, but I knew I shouldn't stare back—I was still on watch.

"Good morning," I said.

When Jules got up, stretched, and made her way over to where Caprice was preparing breakfast, Chloe approached me. Of everyone, she seemed most suited to the cold weather with her thick coat and large feet. "Good morning, Dusky. It's good to have you back."

With so many up and about, keeping watch was less important, or so I figured. When I looked at Chloe again, it was just in time to get a big hug from her too. What surprised me the most was her purring. Her soft, warm fur was nice, but that purr was reassuring. I hugged her back without hesitation.

"Taffy has some good healing, but having you with us makes me feel safer for everyone. Plus I missed you." Her purring barely stopped for her to talk. "And you know a lot more about how fights can work than I ever will."

I snorted at that. "Yeah, but you have this raw kinda energy. When you shout an order, it sticks. Besides, you'll pick it up as we go."

She let go of me and looked around our little group. "I'm trying to. If you keep explaining everything for me, that would be a big help."

Shaking off the last of the stiffness I had from leaning against the tree for two hours, I nodded to her. "Yeah, I'll keep doing that. Hey, do you know what will happen in the next town? Are they going to investigate us or something?"

"That depends on how well known the brigands were. If they were a known threat, we might even have a bounty reward for dealing with them. At worst we'll have to prove they were brigands."

"I meant with what happened back in Northwind."

"Churches have more power out in these towns—as I guess you found out. If the town only has one… We might want to just dump our friends and skirt around it."

That was some relief. It was good to have a plan. "How far can we go before we have to worry about food?"

"If we slow down and hunt in the forest? We could probably make our way wherever we want without stopping at anything bigger than a farm to buy some spare grain." Leading the way to the fire, Chloe crouched down there with the rest of our group who had likewise gathered. "Did everyone sleep well? I was just talking with Dusky about our options here. If the town only has one church, and it's to—him—we will be better skirting around it."

Jules nodded while unpacking little tin bowls. "I was thinking the same thing. Small towns can get a little too under the thumb of churches. Especially if there's only one church in town."

We ate our breakfast—which was still better than anything I'd have made back on Earth—and started heading along the road again. When the gates of a wooden wall around the town came into view, we paused to consider things.

That's when our guest started trying to get loose from the truss he was bound to. Somehow he slipped his gag and screamed before anyone could stuff it back in.

"They're coming. Four on horses," Taffy said, pointing toward the town.

"We can't outrun them and I won't let us split up." Jules stomped a foot and glared around us all. "Looks like we feel these four out before going in. We can always try to persuade them to ride back so we can slip into the forest."

It took a little time for the riders to reach us. We closed the distance a little ourselves to appear a little more normal. When they reached us, two halted their horses in front and two circled to the side. The two that circled cried out in surprise when they saw our grisly cargo. "Sergeant! Bodies!"

"Brigands," Jules said. "They tried to jump us yesterday. They didn't expect us to have bodyguards." She held her horses steady as the front two circled around too now. "We managed to keep one alive if you want to interrogate him."

Jumping down from his horse, the guard with more armor on than the other three walked up to the bodies (that were all frozen stiff) and examined them. "I recognize two of these from reports by caravans through here. This one was a drunkard in Riverholm about three years back. We ran him out because he wouldn't work and couldn't pay his tab."

"Hey, I recognize you." One of the guards still on his horse pointed at Jules. "You run that tavern in Northwind! You're all—no, most of you—are the workers from… from the Lame Hog Tavern!"

The sergeant (the one who was their commander, I figured) looked around all of us. "I never got up that far. Some trouble up there?"

"The worst kind," Jules said. "The local church, some holier than thou do-gooders, got it in their head my new bartender and her girlfriend were beasts of evil. Swore one had turned into a dragon and killed one of them.

"So they storm up one night, just after Taffy there, that's my bartender's girl, has made her vows to be a paladin of a neutral order, kill her father in the street out front of my tavern, and then set fire to the place with us inside!"

This was it. This was the moment where we'd find out if we had to run or not. Also, she was way too close to the truth with the bit about us turning into a beast.

"The town guard didn't have anything to say about it?" the sergeant asked.

"Only church in town, bigger garrison than the local guard—hell, half the guards were probably his followers too." Jules dipped her head. "When they killed Taffy's father, it was all we could do to drag the girl out the back door and run for our lives. These scum"—Jules nodded toward the bodies—"bore the brunt of our frustrations I think. Just glad we got out with our lives."

"Well," the sergeant started, and I knew this was an important moment, "we had descriptions of those two, they have a gold on each their heads. The others weren't known, but they were known about. No further bounty, but we'll take them all off your hands to deal with. You're welcome to anything they're carrying.

"About churches, we have one of our own, but a good sensible one. A temple to the Cartmaster. No-nonsense type of god. Merchants, their guards, and anyone who likes to exchange coins. I'm sure he'd welcome a paladin of a fellow neutrality in the town."

I guess a few of us sighed with relief, because the sergeant raised an eyebrow. "Expecting me to try to run you off?"

"It was one scenario we were worried about," Jules said honestly. "If you don't mind, though, we have coin to spend at any building that has a warm bath in it."

The walk to the gates was made with anticipation of somewhere to relax. The guards took the bodies and the captive from us, gave Jules two gold, and pointed us across town to a tavern called the Drunken Dervish.

The town itself was much larger than Northwind. There were several taverns, lots more merchants and shops, as well as warehouses and a huge set of docks that was busy with barges and ships. The temple the guard had mentioned was in the middle of town—though we moved past it without too many glances.

The sign on the Drunken Dervish was clear, a man with two swords stumbling with rosy cheeks. Chloe went in first, was inside for about thirty seconds when she returned. "Bring the horses around back. They have room for us if pay for rooms."

Everyone looked at me. It took me a moment to realize it was because I had most of the money. "Hey, whatever it takes to get us all a warm bath, right?"

At the back of the tavern, a young man introduced himself as Piter and, after we unloaded the horses, he promised to get them a meal and a cozy stable each.

We poured in the back door of the tavern to find it rather quiet. I had to remind myself it wasn't even midday yet.

"Welcome, travelers. I trust Piter is seeing to your animals? How many rooms will you require?" The man looked a bit older. He had gray in his otherwise dark beard and his hairline had receded a little from his brow. He wore simple clothing and if he wasn't the tavern owner, he was at least someone who could speak for them.

"Taffy and Dusky need room to selves," Caprice said, taking charge of matters. "Jules, Chloe, Caprice, and Yaff need rooms too. Five rooms?"

It seemed right, but then I was more used to sleeping with Caprice than Taffy. But that's when my brain caught up with Caprice's tactic. Taffy and I would have our own rooms. Was Taffy cool with that? I looked at her, she looked at me. When she smiled, I smiled back. Okay, Caprice had earned a glass of milk for this. "Five rooms sounds good."

"I'll have our maid set the fires in five rooms at the end of the hall. Will you be staying for lunch and dinner?" The guy looked a little taken aback for a moment. "Before I forget, my name is Silve, I own the Drunken Dervish."

"Meals would be wonderful, thank you Silve. I—" Looking at Jules, I bit my lip. "I don't know if you or anyone else here needs any healing, but I can provide it for free. I can also imbue alcohol with healing spells."

Silve looked surprised at that. "For free? Girl, you should charge for that kind of skill. Don't say it too loud, either, or you'll have us swamped. Still, I'll let the others know. It'd probably be best, if you can imbue drinks with them, to handle it that way." He looked around to make sure no one had heard our conversation. "Excuse me, I'll have the maids prepare your rooms."

When Silve had left us, Taffy wrapped her arms around me from behind. "You really can't let that go, can you? If someone is hurt, you have to heal them."

I nodded. What else could I do? If I was back on Earth, and people were hurt or sick—of course I'd help if I could. Same here.

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

"We're going to run into this no matter where we are, aren't we?" Jules gave my shoulder a pat. "I guess we have to make plans about where we're going, now that we're not running for our lives."

Gathering in a corner of the tavern's open ground floor, I kept close to Taffy. It wasn't hard to relax around her, even if her armor was far less comfortable than she was to snuggle. We were all quiet, conscious of the fact we were in public and there were a few patrons in the tavern.

After about ten minutes of just letting ourselves relax, a young woman in a plain dress walked over to us with a small keg and a dozen little bottles. She cleared her throat. "Silve said you don't have to pay for meals if you, uh, fill these." She looked confused, but set the tray on the low table between us.

I could guess what was meant. It was a good deal, and I got to help people. Even if all Silve did was sell them, it was still just mana for me. "Thanks. I'm pretty good at filling drinks."

That was something I could say with certainty. The small barrel had a tap on it with a twist-spigot. I lined up the little bottles beside it and opened the spigot. One, two, three… I didn't turn the tap off, just quickly switched bottles until I was on the last. With a little flourish I closed the tap off and turned my attention back to the bottles.

"I guess there's no point holding back. I can regenerate mana fast here anyway." Focusing on the first, I held it between my fingers and said, "Major Heal." The familiar rush of energy and magic down my hands into the glass felt good.

I got nine done before I felt the twinge that my mana was low. It was a little annoying, but then that was the life of a healer. Leaning back, I relaxed against Taffy. "Need to recharge a bit for the last two. Gotta Focus."

"Would my War March help?" Chloe asked.

"That's for stamina, I think. I need some more mana is all. Shaman gets a mana regen buff, but noooo. I had to take Healer." I wasn't really upset. Healer had some advantages Shaman didn't. Shaman, actually, might be a good class to multi with later.

"We need to talk about what happened." Caprice looked around all of us. "Goddess Molly explained what had to happen. Either they were going to hunt down Dusky anyway or we had to do something to distract them."

"What did that actually accomplish?" Jules asked.

"Remember when we were getting out of there, the monsters that were leaving us alone?" Taffy asked. When Jules nodded, Taffy continued, "That's part of the deal. Molly made deals with other gods and part of that was to kill one of his followers and pin the blame on Mother's followers."

Jules stared at Taffy in shock. "So now we have M—her angry with us too?"

"No," I said. "She wanted his tail tweaked and wanted to be responsible for it."

Now Jules was looking at me. "Well. Sounds like it was a pile of shit for us either way. At least with her help we got out alive. So what's the deal with that? That particular goddess isn't known for playing nice with anything that doesn't have more arms or teeth than is good for you."

I nodded to that, having first-hand experience with the goddess in question. "Molly's dragon. She had a thing for it."

"For Pouncy?" Caprice asked, and the name made me shudder a little.

"Yeah. Pouncey. Hang on a second." I sat forward again and cast the remaining heals onto the potions. The liqueur, now I could really smell it, was some kind of berry thing. It smelled really nice but also potent. "We tried everything we could, even in the background, to keep his lot from coming down on us, but short of Taffy and me leaving, that wasn't going to happen."

Chloe rumbled a growl and shook her head. "Julia told me she wouldn't let you do that, and I'm with her. The tavern—It hurt to lose The Hog." She looked at Jules and got a nod. "But it was just a tavern. You're both part of the family."

"What about Caprice?"

Jules reached out and grabbed Caprice, pulling her over and using a knuckle to rub the Kobold's head. "Caprice our little sister," she said, mimicking Caprice's vocal styling perfectly.

"Caprice don't sound like that!" Caprice ruined her indignant shout by giggling and bapping at Jules' hand with her big forearms.

I realized that they were right. I'd already thought of Caprice as my sister, but Jules and Chloe had taken me in at The Hog to the point where it had become my home. Taffy, though, wasn't exactly sister-like. Turning to the steel-clad beauty in question, I leaned up to kiss her cheek.

The barmaid returned with a tray of glasses. "If you want to finish off the cask there, you're welcome to it. I'll just take these away." She leaned down and set the glasses down and picked the enchanted bottles up before leaving.

Jules moved first. She reached out and set a glass under the tap and poured a drink. She spent a moment looking at it before nodding.

"I doubt they'd poison us." Yaff reached out and filled her own glass. "But thanks for checking."

Yaff was another surprise to me. She'd given up her old life to join us. "Was it really just the money?" I asked her.

She looked down her long vulpine nose at me and sipped the drink. "What do you think?"

"That you make a much better adventurer than you did a merchant?"

She nodded. "There's a certain strategy to it. Like I'm dancing with a dozen partners, but there's only you guys I want to be paired with at the end. Traps, stealth, my daggers—It's all part of the dance and I get a thrill each and every time. Those bandits… We've never faced humans before. I thought I might not be able to do it but all I needed to remember was they would kill you—any of you."

"Now that's what I call a family." Taffy kissed my cheek and gave me a squeeze. "Willing to give up everything and kill to keep everyone safe. Excuse me!" The last words were calling out to a maid who walked through the tavern. When she wandered over, Taffy asked, "Do you have baths?"

"We do! Your rooms will be ready very shortly. If you would like to take a bath, we have a pair of communal baths—one for men and one for women—downstairs. I can have one reserved for the group of you, if you like?" the maid asked.

I wonder if she'd ever seen a group move so fast. We carried our bags and things with us and, when we reached the right room, set them down in one corner and quickly stripped out of our things. The bath was tiled and square. It was set into the floor so all we had to do was walk down the wooden stairs from the basement floor into the warm water.

Any hint of modesty I might have had left around my friends—my new family—was caked under the sweat and dirt of days on the road. The deeper I got into the water, the more happy sound I made until the water was up to my neck and slumped onto a bench seat in the bath.

Then I realized someone was missing from the bath. "You need a hand?" I asked Taffy.

She paused, midway through unbuckling her armor, and looked back at me. "Tempting as it is to say yes, I've almost got this." It took me a few seconds of hearing the others giggle before I realized what Taffy meant.

"Dusky turning red. Water must be too hot." Caprice edged around to my side and said, "Show me your back."

The idea of a back-scrub was too much. Even without any input from my brain, I started turning to the side to let Caprice have my back. She ran her knuckles up and down my back first. The feel of the backs of her strong hands was heavenly. It was so easy to relax like that I barely realized when Taffy sat down in front of me.

Leaning forward, I rested my chin on Taffy's shoulder, tilted my head a little, and just relaxed against her. "Where are we going now? I feel—It feels like my life just got cut adrift."

"Dusky, you were always going to move on at some point. I think we were all going to." Taffy shifted a little closer, leaned back a bit, and transferred my head to her collarbone. "I don't know where we'll go, but I can promise you it will be exciting."

Caprice swapped from my back to my shoulders, then my shoulders to my neck, and my neck to my hair. By the time she was done with all of my back, I was basically like a ball of putty.

But I had a duty to perform. Lifting my head with much reluctance, I turned. Giggling, Caprice turned for me and I grabbed up a scrubbing brush and started working on her scales. "They don't have any sand here?"

Making a sound like an angry growl, Caprice soon stopped when I started brushing her scales. I stiffened a little when I felt a hand on my thigh. It took a moment's thought, however, to realize it could only belong to Taffy.

The water was hiding it, which actually made it a little easier to just relax while she massaged my thigh.

When I was done scrubbing Caprice's back, she leaned down into the water so only the tip of her snout was peeking out. I got to work on her tail next.

Soon enough, though, I was done with that and I reached out to give Caprice a hug. "Excuse me, I have someone else to take care of next."

Caprice looked back at me as I turned from her to Taffy. "Ooh."

"Let me get your back," I told Taffy. She turned, giving me exactly what I wanted. I needed to be softer on her skin that Caprice's scales, but not by much. Taffy's back rippled with muscle. Tracing my fingers over the hard lines, I bit my lip at how appealing that was.

Was this my type? I didn't really date any girls built like Taffy or even Gloria back home, but here I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and press myself to her back and stay there; maybe for a week.

I don't know exactly when I was done. I was brushing over muscles I'd brushed at least twice before, so I gave up and did exactly as I wanted to and cuddled myself against her. "If there wasn't half the day left, I'd ask if you wanted to go to bed early."

"I figure I'm a bit of a beacon of Molly's power now. I should pay my respects to the primary god this town follows. Just a nod, if you know what I mean." Taffy looked back over her shoulder at me. "Do you want to come?"

I nodded, my chin resting on Taffy's shoulder. "Yeah. I wanna be at your side if anything happens. We should probably take Caprice, too."

"Hey, Caprice—uh, I guess anyone else too—me and Dusky are going to the temple here to pay our respects to the local god. Do you want to come too?" Taffy asked.

"Caprice will come too," Caprice said.

"I'll be spending the next hour drying my fur," Chloe said. "Maybe longer. I need to find some magic item that lets me do this."

Yaff snorted. "Same for me, but about half the time Chloe needs."

Standing up, the three of us quickly dried off and attacked our backpacks for clothes to wear. For me, I picked my leather pants, a clean white shirt, and tied my hair back into a long ponytail that hung down behind me.

I couldn't help but reflect how weird it was for me, immersed in the American ideal that nipples were evil and men shouldn't be able to sit down and have a relaxing conversation with a nude woman. It probably had something to do with how I was just plunged into this culture, but mostly because I was in more personal shock at the time—becoming a woman—than adjusting to communal bathing.

My memory chose then to bring up every bad anime bath scene I'd sat through. My groan must have been audible because Taffy put an arm around me. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"Something right, actually. I was thinking about where I came from and how communal bathing would be such a huge social faux pas there that you'd probably get arrested for trying to organize it." I looked through my things for something warm to wear over the top of my clothes, and only managed to find my adventuring gear.

Taffy was hauling on a shirt and trousers, then a leather shirt over the top. Her boots went on and she started putting on chainmail. "Honestly? I didn't really do them much either. At home, we had a tub and would take turns. Dad"—she stumbled on the word—"he'd make me bathe second, on account of me always getting covered in sweat and dirt from roughhousing."

I was about to offer to help her dress, but she picked that moment to lean on me anyway. "But this way you get to see your girlfriend naked?"

Taffy looked at me and smirked. "Ah, you figured out the advantage of this too? Can you help me with this?"

Caprice helped me getting Taffy's armor on too, and the three of us moved our packs to our new rooms, thanked the maids, and headed off in search of the temple.

Riverholm was bigger than Northwind, but neither was anything like an Earth city. Hell, even towns back home had tens of thousands of people living in them. The temple, as we'd seen, was in the center of the town. We walked up to the front door after gawking at everything about it.

The building wasn't huge and elaborate. It was built from bricks, had what looked like a tile roof, and had a sign hanging at the arching front doors that read, Everyone Is Welcome.

"That's a lot more friendly than—back in Northwind," I said, gesturing to the sign.

"Wow." Taffy froze at the doorstep and, slowly, bent her knee and dipped her head.

"Don't see that every day. Come in, lass, the Cartmaster holds no ill will against any god." The speaker was an older man who wore what looked like a banker's outfit. Or, at least, the bankers I remember seeing in the game. I doubt they always wore the same thing now—or maybe they did. "All are welcome here."

Standing back up, Taffy held out her hand to the old man. "Taffy Sugarborne, paladin of Molly."

"Sugarborne? I knew a Herbert and Kassy Sugarborne, moved to—" He stopped. "I'm sorry."

"Mom died shortly after birthing me. Dad died—He died a few days ago." Taffy's arm wrapped around my shoulders and I shifted to let her hug me. "You know the church in Northwind?"

"Sounds like you need a drink for this story. Come, the Cartmaster knows well the hardness of loss and ways to help with it. I'm Stewart." He turned and walked to the altar, then behind it, and lifted out a bottle of some dark liquid.

We approached as he poured glasses on the large stone. When I could see the liquid in a glass, I could tell it was wine—and probably not a good one.

The glasses were small, though, and even Caprice took one with a thank you.

"This temple will keep us safe from prying eyes. You can speak freely," Stewart said, corking the bottle and storing it again. So he knew about speaking the name of a god.

"Father's people were persecuting Dusky. I had, for a while, just pushed my way past and through them when they got in the way. It was getting worse and we needed to do something to distract them. There was a price, and that was the life of one of their guards.

"The next we knew was they surrounded our friend's tavern and held my father out front. He—He told me to follow my heart and not to give in. It looked like an accident—one of the priests tugged on Da's shoulder too hard and he fell onto the knives they were holding behind him. That's what I want to believe.

"We ran. We ran from the town while they burned my friend's tavern down. Our plan didn't work and we had to leave."

"Hasty actions like that often invite reprisal. Starting with his people and your friend, it sounds like things escalated." Lifting his glass, Stewart drained half of it. "There are a few of his followers here. If his people wish to pursue you, you will have been spotted already. This Molly, I have not heard of her."

"She—" I froze, realizing I was about to spill all the beans everywhere. "I found her recently. Introduced my friends, and she's been trying to help us. She follows—"

"Neutrality. I can feel that from your friend here." Stewart gave us a wink. "And from you, young miss kobold."

Caprice grinned through her surprised expression. "Caprice is Molly's high priestess. That would normally be more impressive, Caprice guesses, if Molly had more than six followers."

Barking a laugh, Stewart nodded. "Indeed. Though, you might find if you told more folks about her, you might find yourself with quite the following. Neutrality, in a lot of people's hearts, is a lot safer than pure good or pure evil."

Taffy nodded to that. "That's why I made my vow and agreed to be Molly's proxy here. I see the blinding surety of good—that their way is the only way. I also see the anarchy of evil—the wildness of its desires and willingness to do anything to obtain them. They're mirrors of each other."

Stewart whistled. "That's a good head on your shoulders, lass. Uncommon to see such insight from one so young. I guess that's what attracted a goddess of neutrality to make you her paladin." Finishing his drink and turning the glass over on the altar stone, he let out what I thought was a contented sigh. "You are all welcome here—any other of your goddess' followers too. Feel free to pray to whomever you wish. The Cartmaster will see your prayers are taken to the right targets and the only coin he asks is your willingness to abide his neutrality."

Apparently done with explaining himself and his temple, Stewart walked away to leave us alone.

"This is more peaceful," I said.

"Come. Caprice thinks we should all give a prayer to Molly." Walking over to the benches, Caprice stretched her tail over the back of one and sat down.

I couldn't think of a better thing to do, and when I looked at Taffy she shrugged too. Walking over, we sat on each side of Caprice and I reached out to put my hand in hers.

Caprice cleared her throat with a little gravely bark. "Molly? I don't know if you'll hear us, but—"

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

Being pulled into Molly's realm had never felt so odd. Before I'd even opened my eyes I could feel her presence and Mother's too—but there was others. When I looked, there was Mother in all her nude glory, Molly with her armor and wings—an old man crouching down to one side, an Elven-looking woman with a dress made of bark and holding a bow watched on coldly from the side, and a young man in a jester's costume was bowing.

"Welcome! Welcome!" the young man said. "Please, don't let our appearance here bother you—we are all bound by the lovely Miss Molly's realm." He made an expansive gesture to Molly before tipping over, rolling on the ground twice and landing back on his feet. "We were invited!"

Molly sat with a smile on a bench. "I even invited her." She nodded to Mother. "Because when all is said and done, she is in this as much of any of us. The others—"

"The others are bigger fools than me!" Prancing over to Mother, the jester sat on her lap and reclined against her artfully. "You could even say they're boobs!" He waggled his eyesbrows. "But mostly they're just terrified of Father."

Everything went still and quiet.

Mother ran a finger along one of the jester's cap-legs, making the tiny bell on the end tinkle. "They're smart, then. Only the Fool would join us in this."

"Not just fools," the old man said. "We're all aspects of what makes humanity great. The passion"—he pointed at Mother—"the laughter"—next to who I realized now was Fool, another neutral god—"determination"—now to the Elven woman—"and now balance and justice."

"Don't forget tireless hard work!" Fool said, fleeing Mother's roving hands. "He always forgets hard work."

The old man just rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"We are organizing a meeting. Father's church is growing far larger than any other in the world—we have no chance of challenging that individually, so we must unite." Molly nodded to the old man—Cartmaster, then each of the others. "We will come together, all our high priests, and organize a unification against his rampant spread."

Looking around, all the gods were nodding. There was a sense of strength of purpose buzzing around them—then a moment later they were all gone save Molly. I was about to walk forward to hug her, but Caprice beat us all.

Pouncing into action, Caprice landed against Molly and seemed like she was trying to hug the stuffing out of her. "Caprice thinks this is a good idea. Maybe try inviting other gods to send delegates anyway?"

"They would join once we're established, but I don't think we can rely on them to start with." Molly spread one wing around Caprice's back and squeezed her. "You're going to need to be my voice. I might—Fool has taught me some tricks for speaking through my priests."

Caprice's eyes widened and she started bouncing in place. "This will be amazing! You can talk to everyone now!"

"Where do we need to go?" Taffy asked.

Molly looked up at us and beamed with obvious joy. "There is a holy mountain in the center of the continent. It is sacrosanct, so we're holding the meeting there. Just seek the Home of the Gods."

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

Jerking a little, I looked to Taffy and Caprice and both looked about how I felt. "Well, I guess we have our destination." Standing up, it took me a few moments to realize Stewart was standing at the altar and arranging candles. "Sorry, we must have—"

"Don't apologize for that. You think I don't feel the Cartmaster's presence on you, or the presence of others? I won't hazard a guess as to what you were doing, but I can guess it's important. I'll pass word to the nearest temples—you'll be welcome to stay at any of them." Settling the last candle on the huge stone, Stewart lit it with a thin stick from the others. "It's almost nightfall."

It was then that Caprice's stomach announced its need for food. Standing up, we all said our thanks to Stewart and left the temple.

Outside proved that the priest's words had been right. "Come on, we should head back to the inn." Taffy put her left arm around me and hugged me close all the way back.

Just outside the tavern I could smell whatever they were cooking inside. "That smells—" I was cut off as Taffy's stomach growled. "I guess you noticed?"

We slipped inside and were met with the sights, sounds, and smells of a busy tavern. I looked around and spotted the mass of white and gray fur that was Chloe. Edging over to the table, we sat down with our friends. "Sorry we took so long," I said.

"It's fine!" Jules looked surprisingly relaxed. I thought she would have been at least a bit on edge what with this being a time she'd normally be run off her feet.

"We talked to Molly." Taffy drew her arm back off me but kept her leg pressed against mine. "And others."

"'Others'?" Yaff asked.

"Mother, Cartmaster, Fool, and Hunter. They all agreed to hold a meeting between our high priests. We're going to provide a united front to him and show him that he can't just take over everything." As Taffy spoke their names, there seemed to be a calming sense around us. Well, except for when she said Mother. I'm not sure I could ever get used to even the feeling of her presence. "We need to travel to a place called the—"

The room around us seemed to get a little less rowdy. It probably had something to do with the profound calm that a paladin naming all the neutral gods would inspire.

Jules nodded to Taffy. "Okay, so we have a bit more travel to do. We need a map to get to this place and provisions. Dusky, we'll probably need to dip more into your funds."

I could just shrug at that. "Hey, whatever you think we need, get it."

"Don't say that!" Jules covered her face with her hand. "You need to be careful or someone will take advantage of you."

"Right." I tapped a finger on the table and looked around, hoping no one would cut in, then looked back at Jules. "Are you going to take advantage of me for my money?"

Yaff said, "Perhaps you should give it all to me to look after. Then Julia can't take advantage of you." The sarcasm she used was pretty heavy.

"Jules should make a portable tavern." Caprice stole all our attention with the statement. "A wagon to act as the bar, a few wagons to act as bedrooms. Could square them up and hang a big tent between them to make a common room."

"You'd need one for a bath, too," Chloe said.

"Then Jules should even up the amount of wagons. Need one to carry the chairs and tables." Caprice was looking around for something, and when a server looked her way, jumped up and down with a claw in the air.

"Can I help with anything?" the woman asked.

"Meals for all of us, a drink—ale… yeah, ale for each of us except for Caprice; she'll have a glass of milk and Yaff will take a wine," I said.

Caprice pulled her arm down and I could literally see the raw excitement bubbling in her. "And Caprice needs something to draw on. Paper and some charcoal, please!"

"You used your skill, didn't you?" Taffy asked me.

"Yeah. It's not hard to tell what everyone wants when I say it out loud." I shrugged my shoulders and looked around at everyone. "I got it right, yeah?" Everyone nodded. "See, that's why I'm the best bartender."

"You know, someone working at a tavern like this likely has years of experience as a Tap Jockey, right?" Chloe asked.

I waved off her logic. "Yeah, but I have the innate knack for it."

"I prefer Dusky's drinks. They have healing properties." Taffy was a rock of support, but it took me several seconds to realize that she hadn't actually said anything in support of me being the best bartender ever.

With a sigh I gave up and leaned against her. Unfortunately she was still wearing her armor, which meant she was all hard plates and edges with small areas of crisscrossed leather straps. Still, she was a big and sturdy rock I could lean on. I didn't move until the server brought over our food and drinks.

For a moment I thought about enchanting the drinks, but I couldn't for the life of me think what to cast into them. In the end I just picked up my mug of ale and held it forward. When everyone else did likewise with their own drinks, I said, "To friends and family."

Everyone at the table repeated it with fervor, but it was Taffy at my side who leaned over and kissed my cheek before we all took our first sips that affected me most.

The stew was good and the bread fresh and hot. I'd noticed that stews tended to be the dinner meal of choice for taverns. I guess that would be to stretch food as far as possible, but also because it could be made in big batches. "Don't forget a kitchen," I told Caprice—who was still scribbling away on the paper with her ideas for a portable tavern.

"You don't need so many bedroom wagons," Jules said, poking a finger at the line of four Caprice had made. "Most people would feel cozy in the common area. You could even hang up some hammocks between wagons."

Chloe gestured to the diagram showing all the wagons in a circle. "All the chairs and stuff can be loaded in those bedroom wagons while we're moving."

That got me thinking, what would a wagon-portable bar be like? It needs a bar to put drinks on, sure, but it didn't need to be something to walk in. "You could have the bar itself attached to the side of a wagon that holds supplies. Swinging it down could reveal the kegs and glasses in the underside while the floor of the wagon is above them, which means the rest is there to hold non-bar stuff."

"That's a good idea. We could get a cold enchantment on the whole wagon and that would mean we can serve cold drinks." Jules took a slip of paper from the stack and started writing things down. "Any other ideas, Dusky?"

"It was a good idea to use the sleeping wagons for storage while traveling, but what if we have people who want to travel with us?" I asked.

"Where do we put our gear?" Taffy asked.

"We could"—Yaff reached over and held her paw out for some charcoal, when she got it she started sketching—"use the idea Dusky had with the wagon that has a false bottom. Tables can be made to fold flat. We might be able to do something similar with chairs. They could sit under the wagon floors."

Chloe tapped a claw on the piece of paper with the sleeping wagons. "We can't have fires in the wagons, so how are we going to heat—"

I cut in, "We could have a compact steel pot stove underneath them, with—"

Taffy cleared her throat. "Wooden wagons, Dusky. Fire underneath is not something we want to have, no matter how clever. We could use enchantments."

"Enchantments are expensive and would take time," Chloe said.

Jules shook her head. "If we're getting a cold enchantment on the ale and food storage—so we can go to warmer areas—then we could just as easily get warmth ones. Besides, we have to get the wagons custom-made."

"How long do we have to do this? When do you have to be at the meeting?" Chloe asked, and looked at Taffy.

Taffy grinned and gestured to Caprice. "Don't ask me, she's the high priestess."

"Caprice don't know!" shrugging her shoulders, Caprice picked up her glass of milk and took a long sip.

"We'll ask tonight, I guess," Taffy said.

But, I had a better idea. "Wait. Didn't Molly say she had a way to speak through Caprice? Could we get her to try that?"

"Ooh! Caprice want to try that! Molly, when do we have to be at the—" Her features changed completely. One moment it was Caprice there, the next I felt Molly. Her eyes turned white, though they didn't glow, and she looked around. "This is weird."

"Molls. You think it's weird for you, imagine how we—or even Caprice—feel." I looked around the tavern, but no one seemed to have noticed the religious event happening in their midst.

"Caprice is still in here. She just can't move or speak right now. I better be fast before she explodes. You have exactly a year and a day to reach the site. It's some kind of symbolic number. Anything else?" Molly asked.

"Nothing urgent," Taffy said. "At least, nothing that can't wait until tonight."

Molly gave us a smile and took a deep breath—then Caprice let it out. "That was different," Caprice said. She looked more than a little shocked, but there was a new energy in her and I was fairly sure it had everything to do with having Molly speak through her.

Picking up my mug of ale, I drank the last of it down. "So, we have a year. We need to work out how far it is so we can plan."

"Don't say the name of the place out loud. We'll look it up when we can get to a city with a good map, but right now I don't want to give the game away before we even get there." Taffy looked between me and Caprice. "Okay?"

"That's why you didn't say it earlier?" I asked and got a nod from her.

"Seems like a good idea." Chugging down the rest of her milk, Caprice let out a burp and started to giggle. "Caprice going to go sleep now." And, with that, she literally fell sideways onto Chloe's lap.

"Can't handle your milk, little kitten?" Chloe shifted her weight. "A good night's sleep will help."

With my stomach full, I couldn't have agreed more. We retired to our rooms and settled into our beds. Well, the others probably did—Taffy and me settled on the side of our bed. "I'm just surprised Caprice isn't in here already."

Taffy was down to her shirt and pants. All her metal armor was carefully set onto the floor at the foot of the bed. She seemed twice as big as normal. "I thought that's why you got her the milk—get her drunk and passed out?"

I shook my head to deny it. "No. I just—"

Her kiss on my cheek shut me up. "It was a joke, Dusky. Do you want to…" Her big hands reached up to the two buttons at the top of her shirt and unfastened them both.

"…to spend a night with you? Yeah, but are you cool with—"

She surprised me by pulling her shirt up and over her head. What else could I do than the same?