Twist and Tenacia arrived at a large town, great monolithic buildings rose above them. There were no walls around the town, instead there were ramparts and pikes laid around where the town met the water, clearly meant to fend off attacks from the sea. There was an arch that led into the town, guarded by two big guards. Their armor was a dark bluish-green, they wielded great bronze tridents, and their helmets had large horns. They were also shorter than Tenacia, their long black beards were braided into dual prongs and their bright eyes glared at Twist and Tenacia past their helmets. Tenacia had never seen dwarves like these and stared at them in awe, though returned their angry glares.

“Stad!” One of the dwarf guards barked when Twist and Tenacia got close “Marcl dior imporpranos”

Tenacia looked at them in confusion, this wasn’t any sort of dwarvish she had heard. Twist thought for a moment, then spoke.

“Gree beno… Ahem Gree beno dhuni! Unia ar dereless usail sireed alp. Uni sireed nan kaos”

“Whun aka yor sireed?” asked the other guard.

“The aisag” Twist replied.

The fomorian gurdas nodded and stepped aside.

“Kas nan kaos” one of the guards growled.

“Grat!” Twist said, tipping his hat.

Twist walked in, followed by Tenacia.

“What in Gehenna was that?”

“Fomorian! An old race that used to be around here that had enslaved the dwarves. It wasn’t hard to learn after learning wydspred and dwarvish, it helps those two languages took a lot of words from fomorian”

They walked through the town. Nearby the dwarven villagers looked at them in surprise. Tencia had never felt so out of place in a dwarven village before, their clothes and hair styles were nothing like what she was used to.

Suddenly, an especially tall dwarf (almost as tall as Tenacia) walked up and intercepted them. He wore armor like the guards did and had a huge axe on his back. He gave a long look at Tenacia.

“What do you want?” she growled, cracking her knuckles as she expected a fight.

The dwarf spoke in a guttural voice that shook a bit “Dhani, aka yor unia?”

Tenacia readed to fight, this brute sounded furious.

Twist though smiled “Beno dhuni, marn compat unia”

The dwarf sighed deeply “Solly, fortuna dhuni” he said, then walked away with his shoulders down.

“What was that all about?” Tenacia asked, “I thought for that guy was goin’ to slug me”

Twist patted Tenacia on the back “He asked if you were single”

Tenacia blushed “You are pulling my leg”

“Certainly not, that would be rude!”

“No, I mean you have to be joking”

“Oh! Ha my friend I am not” Twist chuckled “I told him you were already taken, so he left and said you had a lucky guy”

“Well thanks for that” Tenacia said, still blushing “But who the heck am I taken with?”

“You mean you don’t have a boyfriend?”

“No!” Tenacia squeaked, her whole face turning red.

“Ahh my apologies, did you want to go on that date with the dwarf after all?”

“We have more important things to attend to!” Delphine snapped, scaring some nearby dwarves.

“Yes! We need to get going!” Tenacia quickly affirmed, happy to end this line of conversation, hiding her face.

“My apologies, did I say something wrong?” Twist asked.

“Most races tend to be shy around romance Twist” Delphine explained “And I can tell Tenacia is extra shy, as tough warrior-types tend to be”

Twist flinched and then tipped his hat to Tenacia “I am sorry Tenacia, I will be more careful with what I say in the future”

Tenacia’s smiled returned and she gave him a playful punch.

“Don’t worry about it, you are more of a gentleman than most men I’ve met” she chuckled.

“Ahh that is good!” Twist said in relief.

Delphine just rolled her eyes.

They finally arrived at their destination; it was a large dome shaped building that was quite a contrast to the sharper buildings of the dwarves. Next to the dome were docks with a variety of unique looking boats. Some were regular looking wooden boats, others seemed to be large stone bowls, and others were incredibly strange looking as if they were hollowed out insects.

Twist looked at the wide front door of the dome, then politely knocked. The door quickly opened and there was a myrmeke. She was like a humanoid ant, she even had six limbs; four limbs were her arms four and two acted as her legs. Her eyes were large, though unlike an ants had distinct pupils, she also had a human-like mouth filled with teeth that were currently formed in the faux friendly smile of a merchant looking for money, the two mandibles jutting out of the corners of this mouth made it look rather unnerving.

“Hello and hello visitors! Is it a boat you seek or simply some supplies?” the myrmeke said, her voice was high and raspy.

“Probably both” Twist replied “May we come in madame?”

“Yes, yes, yes, you may!” the myrmeke giggled, she turned around and gestured for her guests to follow. Tenacia also now saw why the door was so wide, the myrmeke had a massive abdomen that was almost as big as she was.

The dome was oddly comfy and warm, various torches behind glass lit it up in hollows carved into the walls, other hollows in the walls held various items including different pots with unknown contents and various tools like ropes, picks, buckets, and tinderboxes. To their right was an open door that led to a wide room filled with tables and a big comfy coach in front of a fireplace. To the left was a large door that had the symbol of a boat on water engraved on it, clearly leading to the docks.

The myrmeke walked behind a big desk and placed her elbows on it casually.

“Welcome to Abasi and Abarshi’s Ferrying and Traveler’s Den! I am Abasi at your service. So, what do you desire and how much do you have?” the myrmeke stated with supreme diction, this was clearly something she had said many times before.

Tenacia pulled out the golden slimes Almayur had given them.

The myrmeke let out a whistle “Golden Oozes! Very nice, very nice!”

“And what we need is a boat and food” Twist said.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Hmm well the slimes are certainly worth a high-quality boat. However, I am not so sure two golden slimes could get you any other sort of items we have here” Abasi said dismissively.

Tenacia frowned and put her hands on her hips, whilst Twist gave a wry smile, he had expected this. The myrmeke were unrelentingly frugal and would try and squeeze every bit of wealth out of you. The bright side is they never lie, but that was hardly a comfort in this predicament. They needed the ferry and they were low on food, they could not get one without the other.

“Excuse me? Two golden slimes is only enough for one ferry?” Tenacia asked indignantly.

“Well golden slimes are valuable to be sure, but remember I would be giving you my own food” Abasi explained, waggling a finger “Personally I don’t find it to be a fair trade. You can’t eat slimes after all”

“Oh you can, I have the stomach pains to prove it!” Tenacia retorted “As far as I see it, one golden slime pays for the ferry and the other pays for the goods”

Abasi shook her head derisively “Oh no my dear that won’t do, I can’t give so much for so little, especially here in such a harsh realm”

Twist started thinking of something else he could give as collateral.

“Hey you myrmeke are resourceful! I am sure you and your sister have the wits and strength to survive in such a place” Tenacia said, calming down and trying to sound smooth.

“Well thank you for your confidence” Abasi said, her smile becoming somewhat more sincere “But flattery will get you nowhere. Two golden slimes is worth just a ferry, if you want food you need to add more to the table”

“Just take the stupid ferry and lets get going!” Delphine snapped “We go can fishing if need be!”

Abasi did a double-take and looked at Delphine in wonder.

“A talking hat? Now that is valuable and useful! Give me your artifact and I will part with a banquet!” Abasi said excitedly.

“Fat chance! They aren’t going to sell me, they need me too much!” Delphine responded smugly.

“She ain’t wrong” Tenacia said with a sour expression as she looked at the hat on her head. She was heavily tempted to sell Delphine, but she had to admit she had started getting really useful as of late.

“Plus it would technically count as slave trading” Twist remarked “Excuse us for a second…”

Twist and Tenacia turned away, Twist took off his hat. He then took off his hat and began to look through it.

“I’ve been thinking on what to sell”

Twist pulled out the perpetually wet ivory wand.

“This is an Eternal Spring Wand. It can generate enough fresh water to last us at least a week, and here it is no doubt super valuable” he declared.

“You told me the water of Oshea is from the surface’s ocean” Tenacia argued “So it is gonna be salty so we can’t drink it. For that matter, how much fresh water can we find in Stygia?”

“There are some underground lakes, but nothing quite as large lakes in Lethes” Twist said, twirling the wand in his hand.

“Let’s keep the wand then” Tenacia replied, then she got out the list of things in Twist’s hat she had made, “What about your cards?”

Twist put the wand back in his hat and pulled out his deck of cards.

“You mean my playing cards? I am willing to part with them, but they would of no value here sadly”

“Hmmm fair… Okay, the cards stay. What about the quill?” Tenacia asked

“Just a regular quill, again not that much”

Tenacia looked through the rest of the list. Everything else fell into the same camps: either not valuable enough or too valuable to want to part with.

“Hrmm… Maybe we can do something for her?” Twist said.

“Worth a shot!” Tenacia exclaimed, liking the idea.

“Okay! Let’s see what we can do” Twist replied.

Twist cleared his throat and turned back to Abasi.

“Is there anything we can do for you?” he asked “We are hard workers and would be happy to earn the food via labor”

Abasi scratched her antenna “I suppose I could use some helpers… So how much food do you want?”

Twist and Tenacia once again turned away, Twist got out the food in his hat and Tenacia from her pack. Twist calculated how much food they would need after going to Fatana, saving Hubert, traveling through Stygia, and getting to to the surface… Then he double-checked his math with Tenacia.

“Quite a bit” Twist admitted to Abasi “But we are very much in a hurry ma’am”

Abasi gave them a much more sincere smile.

“No worries! I’ll give you all tough work then!” Abasi laughed “You see our Inn is a bit understaffed, some of my employees have gone missing after fishing. I could really use some extra hands around here, especially since a rush of customers is going to be coming around due to a festival the dwarves are holding”

“A festival?” Twist asked, curious.

“Indeed, a sort of solstice festival I believe” Abasi explains “Lots of folk from around Oshea are coming. Especially other dwarves who are coming to visit family, so this place is going to be jumping! I need a waiter, a cook, and an entertainer”

The trio discussed who should do what. Twist was eager to entertain, but decided Delphine’s status as a talking hat would work out better.

“I can be the waiter then” Twist said “And you can help in the kitchen Tenacia”

“Nah, I can’t cook to save my life” Tenacia replied “You cook Twist, you are a natural! I’ll be a waitress”

“Are you sure?” Twist asked in concern.

“How bad can it be?” Tenacia said with a smile

“Ey dhan! Muar ale!” yelled a grouchy dwarf, holding his empty mug up.

Boy, I need to keep my big mouth shut, Tenacia thought to herself as she ran from table to table, a pitcher of ale in her hand that she used to refill the mug of the dwarf. her face was a terrifying and strained smile.

“Remember, refills aren’t free!” Tenacia said as nicely as possible through clinched teeth.

The dwarf swore at her in the Underworld dwarf language. Tenacia didn’t understand a word of it, though tried her best not to punch him in the face and go get another mug of ale.

She walked past a nearby hat stand which had a familiar purple top hat hanging from it.

“So how goes the shift Tenny?” Delphine asked, hanging from a hat stand, giving the half-dwarf a smug look.

Tenacia was ready to tear Delphine a new one, but noticed there were several little dwarves sitting around her. Their smaller beards indicated they were children. A large myrmeke was holding a book in front of Delphine, on the pages were cute water color illustrations of a red hooded human girl walking past many colorful mushrooms.

“Going wonderfully Delphine, you little sh-sweet!” Tenacia said calmly as she could, walking away before she taught the nearby dwarf children some surface dwarven swears.

Delphine chuckled a bit, then cleared her throat.

“Now where were we? Ah yes! Little Red Riding Hood was going through the mushroom forest to deliver treats to her grandmother…”

Tenacia pretty much ran through the kitchen’s double doors and slammed the pitcher down on a nearby table. Abasi picked It up and gave Tenacia a hearty slap on the back.

“Good job so far Miss Ironvale! Just two and a half more hours and you guys can have the food you want” she said happily, putting the now cracked pitcher away, impressed that Tenacia had broken solid stone.

“I didn’t think being a waitress!” Tenacia panted “Do you have any less tiresome and frustrating jobs, like maybe fighting a kerberos or pulling a sea serpent’s tooth?”

“Haha! Difficult clientele eh? These dwarf travelers came a looong way to get here, so a lot of them are going to be short tempered. Keep it up, you are doing wonderfully for a first day!” Abasi said as she handed Tenacia two more pitchers, one filled with ale and the other filled with some sort of yellow nectar.

Tenacia grumbled a bit, then she went out back into the fray.

Abasi turned truly emphasized with Tenacia, though was also grateful she wasn’t the waitress for once. She turned and walked deeper into the kitchen. There, two myrmeke cooks were hard at work roasting large fish, stirring big stew pots, and slicing various underground fruits.

“Hurry up Twist! We need those blind guppies cut into bite sized cubes yesterday!” the larger of the myrmeke chefs called, her eyes a fiery yellow. Over at dicing table, Twist was cutting a fat eyeless green fish with a big cleaver made of crystal.

“Right away Miss Abarshi!” Twist yelled, going as fast as he could.

Abasi eyed Twist approvingly. The noctav had been hesitant to say that he could cook which she had assumed meant he was bad at it, but so far Twist had truly proven himself a competent cook already.

Abasi then looked up at the clock, she then sighed. It was now time to wash the clothes of all the dwarves (and a few myrmekes) that were visiting, which included over one hundred pairs of traveler’s clothes, eighty full sets of armor for the guards of the boats, thirty sets of hats and robes for the mages, thirty robes for the nuns of the Church of the Underdwelling Children of Chaelum, and seven refined sets of regal suits for some visiting nobles. Abasi dashed out of the kitchen almost as fast as Tenacia, stretching her arms for some arduous washing.

Eventually, the visitors left. Tenacia stood by the entrance of the Inn where everyone was leaving and with the patience of a saint cheerfully wished each patron “have a nice day!”. Most of them ignored her, some gave her annoyed looks, though a few did respond with sincerely friendly parting words that Tenacia didn’t understand, though their friendly tones helped calm her down and kept her from getting a body count.

The last dwarf left and Tenacia fell to the floor.

“Ohhh I will never snap at or rush any of the people who work at our town’s pub ever again!” Tenacia breathed, wiping an ocean of sweat from her brow with her apron.

Twist walked to her and plopped down next to her.

“Hooo my goodness! I fully concur, now I feel bad about making light of my eldest sister taking too long with meals when I was a kid!”

“Hmmph, you two think you had it hard? I had to read like fifty-one stupid fairy tales to those noisy little twerps!” Delphine scoffed from her hat rack.

Abasi came by and held three mugs, which she handed to Twist and Tenacia. The last she perched on the hat rack for Delphine to drink. In the glasses were a bluish liquid.

“Hyaberry juice for the hard workers on the house” Abasi said, smiling as Twist and Tenacia immediately downed the glasses “You guys did well! You saved me a lot of money on hired help and earned your supplies. My sister will prepare the rations and I will get your boat ready! Come out when you are ready”

Abasi left them to rest at the front door.

“Y’know that myrmeke was nicer than I was expecting” Tenacia remarked.

“Indeed, Abarshi actually offered me a job. I think I’ll stick with my magic act however!” Twist murmured drowsily, his face fur blue from the juice. Twist then closed his eyes and fell asleep.