Xan swore. He picked up the broken gold chain and pendant. Then he laid down on the floor to scan underneath the tub for the Spirit Sang. He retrieved it a moment later.

He spent the next couple minutes trying to get the crystal back into its setting. But no matter how hard he tried, it just wouldn’t stay.

“Well, that’s just great,” he muttered to himself. Irritated, he shoved the pendant and the Spirit Sang into his pocket, then donned his clothes again before making his way back downstairs.

A few more patrons had shown up at the inn since they had arrived, filling the air with a lively energy. Stell and Nakoa were nowhere to be seen, though if Xan had to guess, Nakoa was probably in the kitchen, and Stell was still outside, taking a smoke break.

The Bovidan woman bustled about waiting on tables, and with her was another Bovidan now, a young male whose horns just barely peeked out from underneath his curly mane. At the bar, Ravi was busy serving drinks.

“Ravi! Table three wants another round!” the Bovidan woman called as she walked by.

“Coming up, Heidi!” Ravi called back as he uncorked a bottle.

Not wanting to get in their way, Xan took a seat on a barstool at the end of the bar. For a moment he just watched Heidi and the Bovidan boy going about their business.

“Can I get you anything?” Ravi suddenly asked him.

“Oh, no, thank you,” Xan replied, raising a hand in refusal.

“Alright, just let me know,” Ravi said before moving back to the other patrons.

Xan nodded in reply. Then he noticed a small pair of eyes peering at him from the other side of the counter. As soon he noticed them, they disappeared with a quiet yelp. Xan leaned forward over the bar to see who it had been. He was pleasantly surprised to see Leimomi sitting on the floor, her hands over her eyes and the biggest grin on her face.

“Well, hello there,” Xan said, leaning forward on his elbows to see her better.

Leimomi gasped, then giggled loudly. She jumped up to peek over the counter at him again.

“What’re you doing down there?” Xan asked.

“Drawing pictures,” Leimomi said. She bent down to retrieve the papers and colored wax sticks that were strewn about at her feet and slapped them down on the counter. Then, with surprising agility, she vaulted herself over the counter and sat down on the stool next to him.

Xan surveyed the drawings. They were all pictures of the incident with ox, drawn in the crude style common to five-year-olds. He saw one of Nakoa catching the ox and wrestling it to the ground, with Taika standing to the side. There was another of the elderly Canidan waving her cane and yelling the words ‘What about my potatoes?!’ while she stomped in a purple puddle. The final one was of Dee and Leimomi working together to pick up the potatoes and carrots. Then another paper got shoved into his face.

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“I just finished this one!” Leimomi said enthusiastically.

Xan took the paper from her so he could get a better look. It was a picture of him standing next to a tower of boxes, with Shadow perched on top. The Xan in the picture looked terrified, and he was being yelled at by a small Stell with big clawed hands and pointy teeth.

“That’s you,” Leimomi said, pointing at the picture, “and that’s Stell getting mad at you for making a mess.”

“Aha…” Xan said slowly as he looked at the drawing. Then he pointed to the crude caricature of himself. “Why did you draw me like this?”

“Because you’re afraid of Stell,” Leimomi said simply.

“I am not!” Xan said, straightening up indignantly.

“Really?” Leimomi said. She stared up at Xan curiously, her tail curling and uncurling behind her. “Most people are afraid of Stell when she gets mad. Actually, most people are just afraid of Stell anyway.”

“And you’re not?” Xan asked, setting down the drawing. Leimomi shook her head.

“Stell’s not really mean. She’s just… a little prickly. Like a hedgehog,” she said.

Xan had no idea was a hedgehog was, so his mind just pictured Stell covered in spines like a sea urchin. The image was so laughable that he sniggered.

“Don’t let Stell hear you say that,” Ravi suddenly said as he came over.

Leimomi put her hands over her mouth in a vain attempt to cover her giggles. Then Ravi set a small glass of juice down in front of her, and she grabbed it eagerly.

“She wasn’t always like that, you know,” Ravi said as he proceeded to wipe down a mug with a dishcloth.

“Pardon?” Xan asked, confused.

“Stell. She wasn’t always so… ‘prickly.’ I mean, she’s always been stubborn, and headstrong, and a bit of a pain in the ass—” Leimomi gasped, looking up at Ravi with wide eyes, and his ears briefly flattened with concern before he continued, “—but there was once a time when she was just as lively as the rest of us.”

“What happened, then?” Xan asked, suddenly filled with morbid curiosity.

Ravi glanced at the front door, as if he were afraid that at any moment Stell would come in and overhear them.

“She doesn’t like people talking about it,” he said.

“Oh, come on! I won’t say a word, she’ll never know you told me,” Xan said.

Ravi’s ears flattened again. He began to wipe down the mug a little too harshly.

“Grandpa says it’s because of her heart,” Leimomi suddenly piped up. Ravi froze, dishcloth poised over the mug’s rim. Xan looked down at the little Simian.

“Her heart?” he asked. Leimomi nodded.

“Uh-huh. Her heart got hurt when her brother died, so it’s really hard for her to smile now,” she said.

“Her brother…?” Xan wondered. Then it clicked – during their time in the Ignas Verdan village, Dee hadmentioned that both of her parents had died when she was a baby. “You mean, Dee’s—?”

“Dee’s father, aye,” Ravi said with a sigh, finally setting the mug down. “Both him and his wife. Stell hasn’t been the same since. So you can imagine our surprise when she showed up alone last week, saying that she had willingly leant out a boat to a couple of strangers, and sent Dee out with them no less. It was so out of the blue that we all wondered what kind of people had managed to win her over like that.”

“Barkeep!” one of the patrons called from the other end of the bar.

“Be right with you, sir!” Ravi called back. Then he turned to Xan, giving him a meaningful look. “I’m glad I get the chance to find out.” And with that, he threw the dishcloth over his shoulder and got back to work.

Xan stared after Ravi for a moment, lost in thought. Him and Taika, win over Stell? He certainly didn’t feel like that was what had happened. But before he could think about it further, his thoughts were interrupted by a loud squeal of glee from Leimomi. He turned to see the little Simian dashing off between the tables and towards the stairs, right where Dee was coming down, her fur still damp.

“Dee! Dee! Are you done? Will you come draw with me?” Leimomi asked eagerly, tugging on Dee’s hand.

“Well, of course!” Dee chuckled, smoothing down her whiskers.

As the two of them made their way back to the bar, Xan glanced down at Leimomi’s pictures. His eyes were drawn to the picture of angry Stell. Thinking over what Ravi and Leimomi had said, he began to feel a pang of sympathy for her. But then he saw the picture of himself, and he suddenly felt annoyed. He flipped the drawing over with a huff.