Xan braced himself as the platform lurched beneath him. It started to rise higher and higher up the slope of The Steps, the slight grinding sound ever-present.

“We boarded your horse and cart with an old friend of mine,” Stell was explaining to Taika. “He runs an inn up on The Terrace not far from The Landing. Lucky for you, we were already planning on heading there tonight, so you can follow us there.”

“Thank you, Stell,” Taika said. “That’s very kind of you.”

“I was only doing what any decent person would do,” Stell said.

The platform lurched to a stop when it reached The Terrace. The platform operators opened the gate, and the crowd of passengers streamed out, fanning out in different directions. Stell boldly pushed her way through the crowd and led their group down a side street. As they followed Stell, Xan noticed that Dee was walking with a bit of a skip in her step.

“You seem excited. Is the food really that good?” he asked Dee.

“It’s the best!” Dee gushed. “Nakoa’s a really good cook – probably the best in all of Vaimea. You’re going to love it!”

“Well, I look forward to it,” Xan laughed.

A few blocks down the side street, Stell stopped in front of a quaint bakery.

“We’ve just got to pick something up first. You two wait out here, we’ll be right out,” she said.

“Can we get some sweet biscuits, too, Auntie? I’ve really been missing them,” Dee said as the two of them went inside.

Xan leaned back against the wall of the bakery, reaching up to pet Shadow, who was languidly draped across his shoulders. She yawned and stretched, then settled back down.

He felt Taika lean up against the wall next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could just barely see her looking absently out over the street. As the silence began to stretch out between them, Xan began to feel a little nervous and awkward.

“So… where’d Sage run off to? I haven’t seen him since we docked,” he said.

Taika wordlessly pointed a finger up. Xan followed her gesture. It took him a moment to see the large, brown speck flying in circles high above him.

“Ah,” he said.

Suddenly, there was a commotion from the alleyway next to the bakery. A small stack of crates fell over, along with a very large, mangy dog. The dog quickly jumped to its feet and shook itself off, spraying drool everywhere. It looked around the street. Then its eyes locked onto Shadow. As if she could sense the imminent danger, Shadow suddenly perked up. Her eyes met the dog’s.

Then everything happened so fast, Xan wasn’t sure what happened until afterwards. The dog, barking excitedly, jumped up onto Xan to try to get to Shadow. The dog was so massive that it actually knocked Xan over, who then knocked into Taika. The two of them crashed down onto the street with the dog on top of them.

Shadow squealed in alarm. Then, as Xan and Taika got pushed over, she blinked away into the middle of the street. She looked back at the dog, momentarily frozen in place as she trembled in fear.

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The dog, quickly realizing that Shadow wasn’t on Xan’s shoulders anymore, briefly looked around in confusion. Then it saw her and the next instant, it took off, chasing Shadow down the street. Xan and Taika scrambled to untangle themselves from each other and stand up.

“Shadow! Come back!” Xan said, chasing after them.

Shadow dashed from one side of the street to the next. Then she blinked on top of a vegetable stand. Surprisingly, the dog seemed unperturbed by this twist, and continued to pursue her. It jumped up onto the stand, knocking over some carrots and potatoes.

Squealing and crying in fear, Shadow blinked away. She dashed between the foot traffic with the dog hot on her heels.

“No! Bad dog! Heel!” Xan cried desperately.

Shadow blinked on top of a cart full of wine barrels. The men who were unloading it looked up in surprise. Then the dog crashed its way through, pushing some of the men aside in its frantic attempt to jump up onto the wine cart. Panicked, Shadow blinked away again, this time reappearing underneath the ox that was hitched to the cart. At the sudden appearance of the small creature underfoot, the ox got spooked.

He pranced in place anxiously while Shadow dodged between his hooves. Then, rearing up onto his hind legs, the hitch tying him to the cart snapped. The next moment he took off, barreling down the street.

The men from the wine cart called after the ox as it ran off, trying desperately to grab at him. But as he ran out of their reach, their shouts turned to cries of alarm as they tried to warn the people ahead of them: “Look out!” “Watch out!” “Stop him!”

Most of the pedestrians heard their cries and managed to duck out of the way in time. But in the middle of the street were a pair of Simians – an older man and a young girl – who were right in the ox’s path. The little Simian girl heard the commotion, saw the ox bearing down on them, and loudly screamed:

“Grandpa! Look out!”

The older Simian reacted instantaneously. He pushed his granddaughter out of the ox’s path. He turned to face the ox head-on, bracing his legs and holding his arms up. The ox charged straight into him, and he caught it by the horns.

The two of them skidded backwards a couple of feet. Then, with a loud grunt, the Simian used the ox’s momentum to throw it to the ground. The next moment, he had his knee on the ox’s neck. It continued to struggle underneath him, lowing fearfully, but the beast was pinned.

Xan caught up to the wine cart just as the dust began to settle. Breathing heavily, he surveyed the scene, looking around anxiously for Shadow. Then he saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked to his left just in time to see Shadow blink on top of a large stack of crates. She curled up into a defensive position there, eyes darting about fearfully. He rushed over to the crates and called up to her. But Shadow refused to come down.

Once he realized that Shadow wasn’t listening to him, he turned around to try to find where the dog had went, reasoning that she wouldn’t come down until she knew it was gone. He didn’t see the dog right away, but he did see Taika running past him and down the street to where the old Simian had pinned the ox.

The men from the wine cart were warily making their way up to the two of them as well, some thanking the old Simian for catching the ox, others trying to reassure it in calm tones. Taika stepped between all of them and walked right up.

“Woah, now. Take it easy,” the old Simian was saying as he fought to keep the ox pinned to the ground. Then he saw Taika approaching, and he called to her: “Keep your distance, he’s still got a li’l fight in ‘im.”

“I’m of the line of Essos. I can help,” she said. The old Simian regarded her for a moment before nodding.

Taika carefully made her way around to the ox’s head. Then she knelt down, making sure the ox could see her.

“Woah, there. Be calm,” she commanded.

Almost immediately, the ox stopped thrashing and lowing. He was still breathing heavily, but his eyes were locked onto Taika now. She reached down to pet his nose.

“I know. That was scary, huh? But it’s alright now,” she said.

She continued to pet his nose for a minute, until the ox had stop panting and the panic had left his eyes. Then she looked up at the old Simian.

“It’s alright now. You can let him up,” she said.

The Simian nodded. Then, in one smooth motion, he released the ox and stepped away. The ox struggled for a moment before lifting itself to its feet. Taika gently cradled the ox’s face, continuing to speak to it in a low voice.

“What in the name of Hayle’s scales just happened here?” Xan heard Stell cry out behind him. He turned to see Stell and Dee, both laden with small canvas sacks, staring aghast at the mess in the street.