Kaitlyn stopped to take a breath once the two trees fell. It took Cilvic and Huzaru most of an hour to get the stumps removed. It felt magical just to watch the foot-tall brownies swing an axe sized for them and slice through a root twice their own width.

They were working on smoothing the ground with rakes when they heard the house of horses. Kaitlyn turned and looked in the direction to see three wagons similar to the ones Claus had owned. The horses looked larger, both taller and broader. They were sturdy beasts which she couldn’t even look over if she stood on her toes.

Kaitlyn approached them and said, “Welcome to my tavern. I was told you were coming in this direction by Fapallo. Would you like to get some rest?”

The man in charge wore a velvet flat cap and a large black cape which draped over the withers of his horse. He looked down at her and said, “How is it you are here?”

“Excuse me?” Kaitlyn asked.

“This forest is dangerous,” the merchant said. “What are you that you live here?”

“I am a witch,” Kaitlyn replied. She felt Fapallo come up beside her.

The merchant frowned and said, “You appear young for a witch, dismiss your glamor or we will not remain at peace.”

Kaitlyn looked up at the man in surprise and then said, “No. Firstly, my glamor as you call it is for my privacy and you do not have the right to ask me to drop it. Secondly, if you don’t like me using my magic as I wish in my own home you can sleep under your wagons on the road.”

The man didn’t move, looking at her for a long a moment. Two other man shifted restlessly on their mounts, but Kaitlyn didn’t stand down. None of the forest inhabitants had been this rude to her. Unless she considered the red cap who had wanted to eat her.

Fapallo snorted next to her and whistled, “I’m sorry.”

Kaitlyn didn’t move but replied to the dragon in his tongue, “I’ll eat you if I need to.”

She almost smirked. The literal translation of that particular interaction was hilarious to her. When a dragon apologized, they acknowledge the superiority of the other dragon or creature. So the superior creature could, in theory, eat the inferior dragon. Hence, dragons rarely apologized or only apologized to those they trust.

“You understand that creature?” the man asked, sounding slightly less hostile.

“That creature is a dragon,” Kaitlyn replied, “and my familiar. You should be more polite to him. Now, I have other patrons. While you decide whether you are willing…”

She trailed off as three massive wolf-like creatures bounded up. The horses near panicked and the three lolled out their tongue as they morphed into human-like creatures in the yard.

“Kaitlyn!” Rashir grinned, “we have good news! Oh sorry. Wait! Humans!”

The merchant was gaping at the werewolves, who were grinning at the horses now. Kaitlyn held up her hands and said, “Rashir, you owe these men an apology. You scared their mounts and you know….”

“Absolutely,” he said. He turned to the human merchant and dipped his head, “by the peace of this place, I am sorry. We stand trust on the Mistress’s neutrality.”

He then whirled and said, “We heard there is a famous kitsune in the forest. His name is Do-yun. He is supposed to be amazing and we wanted to let you know he might be coming….”

“There is a kitsune inside, he didn’t introduce himself,” Kaitlyn said. “Come on, I’ll get you all some ale…”

“Do you still have some mead?” the female werewolf asked.

“My last barrel,” Kaitlyn nodded. Before she went inside she looked at the merchants and said, “If you would like to stay the night, know that my home is neutral ground in this forest. I will brook no violence here against any inside the walls. There is space over there for your wagons. I recommend you stake your horses, if they get into my garden, I will be serving horse stew the next few days.”

As they entered the tavern, Rashir growled and said, “I haven’t heard you be that rude to a guest in a long time…”

“He was rude to me,” Kaitlyn replied.

Inside, Rashir and the two werewolves looked at the kitsune. Rashir shook his head and said, “No, Do-yun is supposed to be eight tails.”

“Eight?” Kaitlyn looked surprised. “Wouldn’t that be something along the strength of a fae prince or archmage?”

“Usually they are contracted to a deity by that point, so I guess so?” Rashir shrugged.

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“Contracted?” Kaitlyn glanced at Rashir. He gestured to the woman with him.

“Hello Kaitlyn,” she said, “My name is Sharareh, it’s nice to finally meet you. I’m a priestess of the blood moon. At least according to my goddess, at some point power begins to cause problems to mortals. A certain amount of power begins to corrupt their flesh, so they contract with a deity who can provide them with… stability? It’s more than just that, it can literally mean to hold their flesh together until the mortal themself transcends their mortality.”

“They become gods?” Kaitlyn asked.

“No, just immortals,” Sharareh replied. “A god has a domain of power. Something like the god of the wind, the goddess of dryads. They actually have something specific they are worshipped for. They gain power through their worship. Immortals are not as powerful within a god’s domain, but more generally powerful across the board.”

“So like the fae within their own domain?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Yes, fae begin as immortal to old age, but as their power grows they must define a space in which they are powers,” Sharareh said, “but don’t ask me the difference between the Fairy King of Winter and Father Winter. My goddess tells me they are different, but not how.”

“That is…. fascinating,” Kaitlyn admitted.

“I was hoping this was Do-yun since he might be able to help with your curse,” Rashir said, “he’s supposed to be very kind to maidens.”

Kaitlyn glanced sidelong at the kitsune and muttered, “Yes, I’m sure he is.”

The merchants tromped into the inn together and Kaitlyn rose from chatting with the werewolves to usher them to a table. They eyed the other creatures in the tavern as they took their seats. Kaitlyn used her magic hands to summon ales, stew, and bread for each. She then nodded and said, “I can show you to a shared room or two split rooms for your group. Which would you prefer?”

“Two rooms,” the merchant leader said, “But I won’t pay more than a silver a room.”

“I don’t have rooms,” Kaitlyn replied. “You are welcome to spend the night either in the common room or outside in the safety of my yard. Food is a copper for a bowl of stew or three coppers for stew, bread, and ale.”

“Food all around,” the merchant said as he handed her a pile of coins.

“Can I ask you another question?” the man said.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Who are they?” he jerked his chin towards the dark forest elves.

“They are warriors of one of the elven clans in this forest,” Kaitlyn said. “They are also staying here tonight for the night. As is the dwarf who is… still outside playing with wood I suspect. The ogre will probably leave soon, and the kitsune gentleman has offered to act as minstrel for the evening, so feel free to make requests of him.”

“And the wolves?” the merchant side-eyed the three.

“Friends as well as clientel,” Kaitlyn said, “they come here frequently.”

“How do all these…. folks,” he almost sneered the term, “pay for anything?”

“Well, the kitsune is going to entertain,” Kaitlyn said, blatantly ignoring his tone of voice, “the dwarven queen has a deal set up with me for goods and services I need so I host her people when they need to be above ground. The elves frequently provide in trade some of the food stuffs I don’t grow myself. The ogre… well aside from the occasional game he brings he honestly has a bit of a tab, but he hasn’t gotten far enough behind to make collecting worth my effort yet.”

The merchant grunted and Kaitlyn left him, approaching the elves again. They looked tired, but asked if the kitsune was going to perform. She took this as a cue to go and speak to that particular figure next. As she approached he smiled and said, “Ah, my pretty lady approaches. How may I please you?”

“You may begin your performance whenever you have finished tuning,” Kaitlyn said, “I am sorry, but I didn’t get your name before.”

He smiled mischievously and said, “You can call me Jee. I would be glad to share my true name with you, but I would rather do so in private.”

“Thank you Jee,” Kaitlyn said, trying to keep her tone as indifferent as possible.

He began a song and she had to pause, the beauty of his voice filling the inn with warmth beyond the fireplace. Kaitlyn felt her arms prickling under her illusion, and a warmth in her gut which she hadn’t felt since Claus. She forced herself to walk away, suddenly upset.

Kaitlyn retreated to a corner with a book Master Garthis had assigned for her to read. She found herself staring at the page without actually reading any of the words. The music was quiet, but somehow it dominated the room. People whispered if they conversed at all. The ogre left almost silently. At some point Javorora came in, but silently came and sat beside Kaitlyn, resting her head on Kaitlyn’s shoulder.

Kaitlyn tried not to think too much while listening, but she felt the memories of Claus’s kisses and her chest felt tight. She didn’t want to cry, but the twisted feelings of longing and pain warred within her.

When he finished the first song, he stepped down and approached Kaitlyn. He smiled at her and said, “May I have some of this praised mead?”

“Don’t expect too much,” Kaitlyn said, “it is still just simple mead.”

She used a magic hand to summon a mug of the mead and he sat down with Kaitlyn and Javorora. She dryad smiled at him and said, “I’m Javorora, that song was really beautiful.”

“Thank you,” he tipped his head in a slight bow, “I enjoy making music which alters moods. Calm and quiet seemed an appropriate choice today.”

“Hopefully it will stay a…” Kaitlyn didn’t finish her sentence as the door burst open with a brunt of wind and two creatures walked in.

One was tall and willows, chest covered with bark-like armor and a weapon at it’s back that looked like an axe with a handle as long as Kaitlyn was tall. It had hair of a sort, but that hair was wispy and appeared to stand at every angle at once, a tangles mass of think brown and greens. This was a peikko, a creature Kaitlyn hadn’t served before.

The second creature barely stood taller than a dwarf, but Kaitlyn would never confuse them. It had fuzzy ears poking through a woven hat, it’s nose was almost cat-like, and Kaitlyn knew from experience if she was behind him, he would have a short, stubby tail sticking out a hole in his pants, like a dog with a chopped tail. This was a mennin, occasionally one or two had come by.

Unlike most creatures in the forest, the mennin loved to meet strangers, and often worked as guides and helpers to others. She had not met this particular mennin, and in fact he looked very young to her, but she knew they lived nearly twice as long as the average human so he still might be forty or fifty years old.

Javorora looked at Kaitlyn and said, “Damn girl, it is a full house tonight.”

“It really is,” Kaitlyn replied. “What happened?”

“You serve the best mead this side of the mountains?” Javorora shrugged. “I’ll go ahead and let the brownies know.”

“Thank you,” Kaitlyn nodded to her friend. She turned to Jee and said, “Could you please sing something about harmony and kindness and not picking fights with strangers?”

He chuckled and said, “I will do my best.”