I woke up refreshed on the comfortable bed. The sleeping bags we were using for camping weren’t that bad, but an actual bed definitely is better. I rolled over and bumped into Mirefa, which reminded me of the problem I saved for later. Apparently, that was enough to wake her up.

“So why are you here again?” I whispered, in order to avoid waking up Anortha.

“Didn’t I tell you earlier? I wanted to see where you were moving to so I can visit you later. Since you said it was somewhere further away, I guess I’ll be following you until you get there.” Mirefa replied in her regular voice, completely ignoring the fact that someone was still sleeping.

“Can you keep it down a bit? You’ll wake up the elf.”

“I think it’s a bit late for that.”

Sure enough, Anortha was awake and said, “Good morning. So are you going to explain why your sister is here?”

I grabbed my writing board to reply, “That’s what I’m asking her right now.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll be using the washroom in the meantime.”

 

I continued, “You said you’ll be following us, and I’m sure you can keep up with our walking speed, but we are planning to ride, uh, something that goes really fast. Like much faster than your running speed.”

Mirefa looked at me in confusion and said, “Why would that matter when I’ll join you on that something? It seems like fun too.”

“Before I get into the details of why, I’d like to confirm that our parents actually gave permission. That seems odd.”

“Really, I did. You can go back home and ask them.”

That’s not happening, although I wonder if she is aware of that. “So what did you say to convince them anyways?”

Mirefa seemed proud as she answered, “I just told them that you are really bad at hunting deer and I’m much better, so I could help you do that.”

I have no idea what I should be feeling when told that my parents sent my four-year-old sister to take care of me. So I decided to ignore it and said, “So back to why joining us is a problem. There is limited space on the, uh, something that moves fast, and you have to pay quite a bit to be allowed to ride on it. And we weren’t planning on having you join so we might not have enough.”

“Oh that’s why I’m here. I can easily hunt a whole bunch of deer and give it to them. Since there aren’t any lupoy nearby, there's plenty of deer. How many deer do they want? Six? Twelve?”

“I’m pretty sure they don’t accept deer as payment.”

“What? Oh right, you did mention that Never Mind didn’t want to eat deer. Uh, while I’m not as good at foraging, I could find some berries or mushrooms.”

I went and grabbed my bag of coins and showed her, “This is the thing they want for payment.”

“Is that the thing the knife you gave me is made of.”

“I guess?”

“Then you can just use your magic thing and reshape the knife to pay instead.”

“That doesn’t work, since it’s a different type of uh substance, but even if it weren’t it’s a crime. These shiny disks also have some kind of magic in them to make sure people don’t do what you suggested.”

Mirefa said, “How do you get more of those then?”

“Work or sell stuff.”

“Like deer?”

“I mean, I guess, if you can find a buyer, but elves generally aren’t as obsessed with deer as you are. Anyways, these technically aren’t mine, so I’ll have to discuss with the elf. There’s also more problems than just being able afford the ride.”

“Such as?”

“For one, it’s really, really far away, so unless we take a ride back, you’ll never be seeing your family ever again. I’m certain it’s not within walking distance, even for you.”

“Aren’t you part of my family?”

“Well yes, I meant the rest of our family.”

“Oh.” Mirefa went silent for a few moments. “Well you might also decide to come back. What are the other problems?”

I answered, “You have no clue about elven customs or even the language.”

“Can’t you just teach me about it? Also you can just translate for me.”

“I do not want to translate everything for you. If you actually seriously plan to stick around long term, you’re going to have to learn it yourself.”

“That’s fine. So is that a yes?”

“No. Before we even get there, let’s ask the elf about the ride situation first since if that’s not doable none of this matters.”

 

Anortha had long finished using the bathroom and was patiently waiting for our conversation to end, so when I reached for my writing board, she asked, “So what’s up with her?”

“Long story short, she wants to join us.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Good to know, but I’m more worried about practical concerns. You know the problem they had with me just entering town right? Not to mention the first inn we tried to go to. Now add another lupo that doesn’t know common sense for elves or even the language. Not only that, transportation isn’t cheap, and I’m not even sure if we could really afford another passenger.”

“Actually, I do kind of have a solution for those problems but I’m not sure if you really want to do it.”

I wrote, “What would that be?”

“Well you know, the main complaint the guards had was worrying about you running off and causing havoc. And the first innkeeper was concerned about you causing irreparable damage to their inn. So, uh, if you acted as a pet and let me collar you with a leash or something, or stick you in a cage, I’m pretty sure they’ll be more welcome. I know that is probably rather, uh, insulting, but on the plus side, the cost to bring a pet is far less than a passenger, so we could save some money too, although we might have to share a seat or something.”

I gave the suggestion some thought and ultimately responded, “I’ll only do it during the purchasing of the tickets and stuff. Once on board, I won’t bother. That should be fine, right?”

“Probably.”

“Now let me ask my sister if she’s okay with that too.”

 

“Okay, so it turns out it is possible, but under conditions that you must follow,” I said to Mirefa.

“What are they?”

“Most important is follow all my instructions and don’t wander off.”

“Okay.”

“Next, I want you to learn the elven language, at least enough so you can understand the basics.”

“I’ll try?”

“Occasionally, the elf will be wrapping something around your neck with a rope attached to it. You’ll be fine with that, right?”

“What? Uh, probably? Sounds even more uncomfortable than your clothes though.”

“What about being in a small container?”

“As long as it’s for a short while only.”

“I guess you can follow us for now.”

“Yay!”

 

I wrote, “Looks like she’s fine with it, at least if it isn’t that frequent.”

“Great!”

Looks like I have another one to babysit. This will be fun.