Penelope’s eyes widened as they finally settled upon the town of Ceralde.

Yule had suggested she wear the blanket they had as a sort of cloak before entering town. She had asked why and was simply told that there were dangerous types who’d pluck up a little girl like her and sell her off as her eyes were a kind of rarity that would interest buyers of slaves, even if she was weird.

He didn’t have to add that last part in, she thought sulkily, but she did as she was told.

It was a bit shocking to her that slavery existed in this world and when she voiced her concern, Yule explained that it was very much illegal in Birain, but some foreign lands still partook of such barbaric practices, especially of non-human races. That last part caught her curiosity and rather than explaining, Yule just advised her to stay polite and alert as they entered Ceralde.

Ceralde was a town by the sea. The closer they got to Ceralde, the more salt Penelope could smell in the air. She’d never seen the sea before (a fact she wisely kept to herself, in case she made Yule more suspicious of her cover story) and hearing the waves gently lapping up the nearby shore and the salty breeze tickling her nose made her feel unreasonably happy.

“We are going to the beach, Kasumi. Don’t forget to finish all the chores while we’re gone.”

This was something said to her very often since she was very young. Not just the beach, but a variety of other fun places that her sister got to go to with the rest of their family. It was always reasoned that someone needed to stay home. Who would look after the house? Who was going to keep up the cleanliness of the house? Dad was the patriarch of the family, so it was not up to him. Mom worked hard already, so she deserved to have time off. And her sister was a child.

Penelope wondered what they were all doing now. Were they all having fun without her? What happened to her original body? Was it buried respectfully by now?

Don’t think about it too hard. That’s your old life...

There was a soft, sad joy in seeing and being in a new place. You are not where you once were, yet you will come to know and learn of someplace new and exciting. Honestly, now that she was truly here, with plenty of people milling about instead of empty night streets or the seemingly endless stretch of road, Penelope felt a little overstimulated. Everything was so new and she silently thanked Yule for keeping hold of her hand since she kept getting distracted by everything.

There were several stalls open, selling all kinds of food and wares. Penelope was delighted to be able to recognize some of the fruits on display. Peaches and apples! It was both a disappointment and a relief – wasn’t this supposed to be a whole other world? The thought was wry, but the feeling in her chest at finding such familiar things was reassuring, though this did bring up a certain problem she hadn’t thought about for a little while…as nice as it would be to have these items, they didn’t have money. While Penelope knew she could just draw the fruit into existence, she felt like using her mana on making pieces of fruit may be something of a waste, at least until she got stronger. She was a baby level 1 and there were 99 other levels she could ascend to, right?

At the very least, the people were different. That is, there were more races around than just humans, hammering the fact she had truly landed in another world. People with the heads of beasts, some with avian wings, and people tremendously tall and seriously small. The little girl could not pinpoint who or what these beings reminded her of, but they certainly added to the other world atmosphere for her.

“Yule, I’ve never seen a person with wings before!”

“That’s a Sylph,” Yule explained, continuing to lead them both somewhere through the crowds out in the market.

“And that person with a dog’s head?”

“That’s a Cyno, a subrace of Beastmen.”

“Ooh!”

“Really, what kind of country did you come from, exactly? Let’s hurry along.”

“But I want to keep looking.”

“Later, Penelope.”

It was probably a bit rude to be gawking, but this kind of thing was only seen in movies on Earth. Penelope thought she would have accepted it easily enough, but she still wound up acting like a slack-jawed tourist. Hopefully no one was offended by how amazed she was to see such people in person. At least she kept her hands to herself and didn’t reach out to brush up against the wing of a passing Sylph, as strong as the urge was.

Right now, she turned her gaze towards the buildings and possible landmarks. Many were made out of brick and mortar, no higher than two stories, for the most part, with many wooden windows with simple glass panes. The town was what Penelope would say was rustic in nature, but definitely busy. There were only a handful of buildings taller than most of the shops and homes along the main street and the girl could only guess at their importance.

It was around this point that she had a realization: while she could understand and respond in the same language as Yule (and, by assumed extension, everyone else in this world), Penelope couldn’t read anything on the signs that she saw. Oh, that wasn’t good. Literacy was an important skill. She couldn’t even figure out what each character or symbol happened to be. Would Yule be willing to teach her a few characters, if she asked? It would keep her out of future trouble from walking into the wrong establishment, if she could read the signs.

For the moment Penelope played a mental game of image association. After all, words were another type of artform and she was a lover of all art, so she should study the shapes of each character for the moment and link them to anything she saw.

For instance, she saw a series of foreign characters over a shop whose wares she could see from the window. Colorful fabrics inside, next to display of clothes. So, she thought, this might be a clothing store or even a tailor’s shop. Yes, yes, she could easily deduce things like this, if she remained observant. No need to bother Yule just yet with prying questions as he was preoccupied taking them somewhere in town. Seemed as if he wasn’t sure the location of where he needed to meet his contact was within Ceralde and he did not seem inclined to ask around. The older boy even looked around with great suspicion on his face, frowning heavily. A good amount of people moved out of the way of the glare he gave off as he walked hand-in-hand with her.

You know, if I were them and Yule wasn’t making such a sourpuss face, the moment I saw two kids walking around I’d help them out.

            “Say, Yule, where are you trying to go?” Penelope asked, still looking at the hanging signs and the shops associated with them to figure out what they might be.

“I’m looking for a shop,” he replied, eyes roving around intensely. “There I will meet who I’m supposed to and we can get you looked after, too.”

Looked after? Yule considered what would happened to her? That was a nice gesture of him. Penelope had been wondering what she would do and had considered sleeping outside of town again, in her tent, but if she could have a proper place to rest, it could only benefit her.

“What are they like?” she asked.

“Weird…not as weird as you, but weird.”

Kid really likes using that word, huh?

Another shop passed beside them; a person was cutting hair inside, trimming quickly and expertly. Above the door a sign hung and Penelope quickly memorized it, guessing at the exact wording that could have been used; would it be a salon or a barber shop?

“Well, weird how? Do they like to eat little kids or something?”

Yule’s hand tensed around her and she couldn’t help, but to balk, her mind spiraling with all kinds of conspiracy theories.

What the hell?! Say something, dummy! Don’t leave me hanging, thinking I might walk into a child eating monster’s den!

Trying to keep her calm, Penelope said, “Oh, that can’t be it, right?”

Silence.

“Right?”

He said nothing.

“Riiiiiiiight?”

Yule pointedly chose not to look her in the eye, which did nothing to assuage her worries. Memories of when she first spotted him at night by the olive tree and the variety of theories she had about his presence came to mind. Though he was cleaned up now, he was still pretty raggedy in appearance, compared to her. Had he been fooling her this whole time? Garnering her sympathy just so he could take her to some dastardly person ready to grab her and sell her off?

Whatever she was thinking must have been obvious on her face as Yule’s own expression turned perplexed.

“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s definitely not that.”

“How would you know?”

“You’re so weird,” Yule breathed out in exasperation, suddenly letting go of her hand. Being bereft of his firm, but gentle grasp left Penelope reeling for a few loops until she realized he let go of her because she felt uncomfortable. Guilt and confusion sprung up to replace the paranoia. Yule pointed at a sign she did not recognize, to a building just at the end of the market street. “Here it is. Try not to act so suspicious, all right?”

On second thought, Penelope decided to throw guilt out the proverbial window.

Penelope looked up at the sign, then at the window display. The inside of the store was dim, with a huge selection of books that she could see nearest the window. Was this a book store of some kind? She entered after Yule did, eyes peeled and on high alert.

A little bell rang as they opened the door. Penelope looked up briefly, seeing the bell held afloat, not by a string or metal or anything. It simply floated gently in the air, waiting to be struck by some unseen thing whenever someone entered the store. She wondered if some kind of magic was doing this. She could smell a spicy scent; it reminded her of cinnamon. The walls had shelves upon shelves of books. A few tables were in the middle of the main shop room, with odd and strange contraptions and knickknacks. At the very back was a desk and an empty high backed chair.

“What is this place?”

“This is a magic shop, my dear,” spoke an older, female voice.

Yule had no surprise as a woman in deep green robes came to greet them, appearing as if from thin air. Penelope was startled, yelping in surprise.

The woman, with dark hair drawn back into a bun and curious brown eyes looking at the two of them behind wire-rimmed glasses, tipped her head in a small greeting.

“My, my, my,” she began, voice filled with intrigue. She came out from behind the chair and moved forward to inspect both of the children. Penelope felt extremely nervous under her intent stare.

“What do we have here?” the woman breathed with a curious smile.

---

“My name is Minerva Riverthorn. I am…Yule’s aunt.”

The woman introduced herself to Penelope with a broad smile as Yule quietly stood off to the side. A quick explanation went all around, about who Minerva was and who Penelope was, though many details were omitted on both sides.

“You say you were traveling?” Minerva had inquired.

“Yes, I am,” Penelope had replied, smiling.

“…”

“…”

A silence, followed up another line of questioning that gently got sidestepped.

“So, um, Madame Riverthorn…”

“Minerva, please.”

“Madame Minerva.”

“Just Minerva.”

 “…”

  “…”

It went something along those lines when a question no one really wanted to answer came up. However, Penelope did learn some solid information about Yule and Minerva, gleaned carefully from listening to the right parts of their conversation. All the years of carefully listening to the words of people who had no problem hurting her in order to avoid conflict paid off, in its own sad way.

Minerva Riverthorn, the sister of Yule’s mother, was a mage who had long been living far from the rest of her family. She was considered strange by practically everyone in her family, aside from her sister, because she chose to stray from the path her family normally took and became independent store owner. She relocated to Ceralde some years ago in order to get away from everyone’s nagging, too.

They were seated in one of the backrooms, after Minerva locked the store door and put up a closed sign. The area was homey and well lived-in; several bottles and other odds and ends littering the walls. Were they something like potions? Penelope couldn’t help, but to look around curiously and in quiet amazement. Her eyes must be so wide. Yule seemed used to this space, though, as he had prepared drinks after being prompted by Minerva and he found things easily.

Well, it’s to be expected, if he walked all the way from the capital to Ceralde, Penelope thought, drinking a juice prepared for her, he must have known the way. What a smart kid. He must be the kind of kid who excels in school.

Minerva smiled at her curiosity, rather than frown at it, though Penelope was too preoccupied to notice her gentle expression.

“Have you never been in a mage’s home before?” the older woman inquired, looking clearly amused.

Penelope shook her head. “No, never. It’s so…”

“Cluttered?” Yule supplied.

“…interesting,” Penelope finished.

“Do you know much about magic, Penelope?” Minerva asked.

“Only a little,” came the honest answer. What Penelope knew of it was that it existed and that her own magic, which she learned through trial and error. And who knew if there was more than what she had already tried?

“Do you know about the basic principles of magic, my dear?”

Penelope shook her head. Minerva chuckled, while Yule just huffed impatiently.

“Well, how about a quick little lesson, then?” Yule groaned, while Penelope was simply charmed by the idea. Her friend may have possibly heard this lecture before, but she had only been in this world for less than a week! Anything she could learn would only help her further in her life in Iraloné. After all, Penelope had no idea why Yule had even brought her here. Obviously, for nothing nefarious, since Minerva seemed nice enough, but she did not hold out hope that she would remain with Yule for much longer. He was with his family, after all. He need not keep being by her side anymore.

From past experiences, she knew better than to expect anything lasting.

People used her and then dropped her. That was just how it was.

A small smile entered Penelope’s face and she nodded in agreement. “Yes, please.”

There was an odd, small silence as Minerva considered the little girl in front of her, before beginning her lecture.

“All right, then. So, magic in Iraloné is divided into three categories: Divine, Natural and Unnatural.”

“Unnatural? Does that mean it’s bad?” Penelope asked, surprised at these terms used. This wasn’t the archetypes she was used to hearing in passing and Unnatural Magic sounds a little menacing.

Minerva continued her explanation, “Not at all. No one type of magic is either ‘good’ nor ‘bad’. It all depends on who use it. No, these classifications allows us to carefully assign magics into clearer definitions of what they are capable of doing. For instance…”

The mage held up her hand, palm upwards, muttering a few words and a ball of water came into being above it. It gently remained aloft, like a solid bubble, some particles floating gently and disappearing into the air.

“This is one type of Natural Magic. Natural Magic is defined as magic that can be drawn from the existing world around us, as it already is, in some shape or form. Such as water. Other examples can be the earth, the wind, plants…magic can be drawn the world around us and is quite abundant. It can never come from nothing and everyone is born with a natural capacity for it intuitively. In my case, I have a preference for manipulating water.”

Minerva closed her hand into a fist, popping the water bubble and allowing the water to flow from her fingers and disappear.

Then, for her next demonstration, with a few words the mug of tea that she was drinking from began to lift slowly into the air.

“The second classification is Unnatural Magic. It is call this because it was magic that was researched, studied and created by many different mages over the years. Some call it Refined Magic, as it takes what is found in Natural Magic to be made into something else entirely. The best way to explain it is if it cannot be done or found in the natural world, then it is considered a type of Unnatural Magic. What I am doing right now is called telekinesis, which is a refined form of Natural wind magic, which can manipulate objects that I am looking at, without using my hands. There are a much larger variety of spells to be found in Unnatural Magic and they are something you must learn in order to have them in your own repertoire.”

“And what about the third one?” Penelope piped up.

Here Yule finally said something, “Divine Magic is the domain of the gods and those they favour only.”

“That’s right,” Minerva said, “Whereas the other magic classifications require a base, Divine Magic does not have that requirement. However, the way to attain it is nigh impossible for most. For instance, in Birain, it is widely known that those reborn in this world are blessed by Tulilith, our goddess of rebirth. And they are capable of Divine Magic. Making something from nothing. In essence, mortals gain the power of Creation, which is a domain exclusive to the deities of our world.”

“How do you know that someone has Divine Magic?” Penelope asked, doing her best to hide her rising worry and anxiety.

“Well, the temples of this world possess magical devices to determine it one way or another, but what usually gives it away is an ability to heal,” Minerva explained, looking a little perplexed at the younger girl. She leaned closer to Penelope, making her jump a bit. “Do you know someone who can do that, Penelope?”

“Erm…”

Minerva was so uncomfortably close that Penelope could easily see her reflection in the mage’s dark eyes. The girl didn’t know what she was trying to see or if this was some kind of intimidation tactic, but she squirmed from the proximity. It just simply brought back very horrible memories of older people getting too close and doing terrible things. Nothing good ever got to being close to others like this. Unable to help it as the silence stretched, she closed her eyes and braced herself as words came tumbling out of her mouth.

“I-I’m sorry!” Penelope blurted out.

Did she tell the truth or did she lie? Divine magic…it sounded much too close to what she did. But no, she had to use items to make her magic work, so that couldn’t be it, right? Penelope was mentally reasoning with herself as she tried to come up with something else to say, other than an apology. What did she even have to apologize for? But, even if there was nothing to be sorry for, that was often her go to reaction to stressful moments. If she said sorry, people would leave her alone, right?

Was that why Yule had looked at her so weirdly before? Penelope struggled with the suffocating panic rising in her.

Yule came up between them and guided Minerva’s face away from Penelope’s.

“Come on Aunt Minerva, don’t be rude to her, she helped me out on the way here. Be nice.”

Minerva placed her cheek in her hand, looking somewhat contrite, though confused seemed to match her expression more. “Oh, am I? I’m sorry, my dears. Talking of magic just gets the old blood going, hahaha. My apologies, Penelope. I just love magic, you know? It’s all so fascinating. So…you don’t have to look at me like that.”

Penelope had no idea what kind of expression she was wearing, but she turned to Yule who just nodded calmly. Though there were the flutterings of nervousness still, she just nodded slowly.

“But well, I do have to say, it’s very lucky that you helped out my impolite nephew. So I do owe you a bit of gratitude. So, my dear little Penelope…how about you stay here with us?”

---

Somehow, Penelope was convinced into staying with Yule and Minerva. Not that it was really hard, she had no place to go, nobody local to vouch for her and definitely lacked in funds. When she agreed to stay Minerva seemed unreasonably happy that she did, sweeping her up and swinging her in a hug. Yule gave her a very sympathetic stare when this happened, but did nothing to help.

Probably because he knows how Minerva is with kids and knows better than to get too close.

Minerva loved children – perhaps a bit too much. At first, it kind of made her leery, but after helping out Minerva with the shop, the woman just seemed the type to be very enthusiastic about kids, their futures, about making a place that was safe for them to learn magic. The mage had explained that while everyone had the potential for magic, not everyone had the capability to hone themselves further or even afford it.

“Truth be told, magical education is for the rich, or at least financially comfortable. Tis a sad truth, so whether it’s a child from the local area or from the upper classes, I want to be as encouraging as possible. Especially to those in need.”

It was…truly bizarre to Penelope, meeting someone so gung-ho about kids without the worry that they were probably on some kind of offender’s list. Even the teachers for preschoolers she had known from her former life were nowhere near as energetic or it was simply a façade to get them through the day. Goodness knew Penelope had faked it a lot as Kasumi when looking after her little sister when she was just a toddler. Though the amount of time Kasumi had raised her sibling was probably not normal, all things considered.

Well, there were a few reasons for why someone who loved children didn’t have her own.

“Nellie, I just brought some herbs in, can you help Minnie mash them up?” The person asking was a tall, sleek and beautiful jackal-headed Cyno. Though slender, she was not one to be underestimated. Her graceful form hid great strength. Cynthia Riverthorn was Minerva’s life partner, a female Cyno whom had met her decades ago and they’d been together ever since. Cynthia was a warrior who did all kinds of odd jobs. Actually, her proper title was Warrior and Adventurer, which brought her all over the place in Ceralde and the surrounding area; her work was through the Adventurer’s Guild, which was explained to Penelope as more of a temp work agency the way things were run.

When Penelope heard about the guild, she got her hopes up, thinking she could go on amazing adventures found on some notice board, going up to rip off a quest she could take without checking in with anyone until she finished the job. However, when Cynthia came in after Penelope settled in, she gave the most dry explanation of the process, which really reminded Penelope of the work agencies in her past life.

Filling out a form with your abilities, an agent at the guild matches you with jobs that matched your abilities best and then they have the person posting the job interviews you before hiring you at a premium, so a part of the wages goes to the guild. Yes, yes, it definitely sounded like a temp agency…

Penelope went over to Cynthia, accepting the basket handed over to her. It was filled with many herbs hand picked by the older female. With her hands free, Cynthia could waltz right up to Minerva and give her cheek an affectionate lick in greeting, with the other woman swatting her partner playfully on the arm with a light ‘Cynthia, the children are watching!’. It was both cute and a bit embarrassing to see, and Penelope privately squealed at the display of affection in front of her, so she set to work on the task given to her.

Vasiliko was an herb abundant around Birain and is the main binding ingredient in almost all potions used by every day people. In order to use it, it had to be mashed up using a mortar and pestle. It had a very strong, aromatic scent to it and was safe to eat. It was essentially like the basil plant from Earth in terms of leaf shape and taste; the only difference that Penelope could find was that the leaves were blue in colour.

Blue is Tulilith’s favourite colour, I guess, Penelope mused while she gathered what she needed for her work.

When she decided to stay, Penelope had insisted only after Minerva agreed she could work for it, which seemed to surprise the older woman. Penelope had once lived a very precarious and stress filled life before, where the threat of being thrown out was always present. Even though she had been the one making most of the money, the fear of no longer having a home always had a stranglehold of her. And in her current homeless position, she had to make herself useful. Because if you’re useful, people won’t throw you out. She had to work until she could figure out something more permanent.

So when presented with being Minerva’s assistant with small tasks, she readily agreed. And she got to work first day, grinding up herbs. There had been a whole storeroom of Vasiliko ready for her and she was told to grind up the herbs. Seeing what she had to do, Penelope had stayed up all night grinding and potting the results of her work. Minerva had been both upset and impressed by her crazy work ethic.

“I am glad for all your hard work, but children should be sleeping at night, not staying up until dawn!” Minerva had told her.

Though Penelope had internalized this as ‘you are a dumb child who did not understand what was asked of her’. She had silently promised to do better next time as to not upset Minerva.

The second day Cynthia had come home from a job and they finally met. Hoping maybe Penelope could relax a little bit, Minerva had asked the Cyno female to take their guest out with her for herb gathering. Maybe let the girl play in the flower fields while Cynthia did the herb gathering. Of course, when told where they were going and for what purpose, Penelope unfortunately thought she was asked to help Cynthia look for herbs, too, and attempted to in the flower filled fields where Cynthia left her for a bit. It was only after an hour of gathering, Cynthia returned to Penelope going mad trying to find an herb that would not normally be found among the blooms, almost in tears. It was decided that Penelope would not be allowed to go on jobs with Cynthia, either.

The two adults truly had to sit Penelope down and explain to her that she needn’t stress so much on the jobs they gave her.

“You are still young,” Minerva said, holding the girl’s hands. “And yes, while we appreciate the help, we are not going to make a child work herself silly.”

“Yeah, Nellie,” Cynthia had agreed, putting a hand on Penelope’s head for a caress, taking note of how the child flinched at the touch, “just be a kid. It’s not big deal if you just do as kids do.”

It was quite a shocking talk, to the point where she sort of cried a little, surprising both Minerva and Cynthia. Penelope didn’t say anything, because it was hard to bring out any words. They were strangled in her throat, unable to push past her lips. They couldn’t even form in her head. That was how much her mind was spiraling. She didn’t understand what was going on, so she could not yet process the words being spoken to her nor what she really should say.

In the end, Penelope managed to push through her best customer service smile and nodded in faux understanding.

It was so strange being told she could be a kid, when in reality she had the soul of a fully grown adult. She felt ridiculous for the hurt and relief she felt.

“It’s okay to take things slow, okay Penelope?”

“If you want to take a break, go ahead.”

Both Minerva and Cynthia said these a lot to her over the last few days of her stay.

And the more they said it, the more she began to feel comfortable…

So of course she wanted to work hard. Of course she wanted to make them happy, because they were being so kind.

But she did her best not to go overboard (even though the urge was there, just to show how helpful she could be).

However, there was clearly some problems still. Minerva tended to forget that Penelope was rather short for her age. Not in a malnourished, lacking in nutrients sort of way – most of she had not yet hit that magical growth spurt hat would let her shoot up like a weed. At least when you compared her to the willowy Minerva and the tall Cynthia. Though only a few years older, Yule clearly outclassed her in height, too. How was this a problem? Minerva had a habit of putting things on higher shelves and spots after she finished using an item.

As Cynthia never helped with the potion creation side of Minerva’s business, Minerva only kept one of each tool within the shop. This included the mortar and pestle set used for crushing and mixing herbs. As the last person who used it, Minerva had unconsciously once again placed the tools Penelope needed too high for her to reach on her own. Why not get a stool to get it? There was none! Minerva and Cynthia were tall enough to reach everything! Why not a chair? Penelope’s former life (Kasumi) was taught never to step on a chair, because she may dirty or break it!

And she hated bothering Minerva to get it for her. At her last count, she had asked two times today. It was silly, but Penelope had developed a personal rule as to never ask anything of anyone more than three times, lest you annoyed or upset them. This number came to be as it was the safe number of times she could communicate with her mother (who would yell at her for being inattentive and stupid) or her father (who would lash out after the third time). This was a self-preservation tactic! Until she learned how far she could push the boundaries between herself and her new companions, Penelope had to be careful…

She needed to preserve the third time in case something more dire happened later that she needed actual help with.

In the back room where the workshop was, Penelope was generally alone. Minerva kept to the front of house, dealing with clients, while Cynthia was either out or in the private rooms, away from the business of the shop. Yule did pop in occasionally, but she generally did not see him in the workshop. So she came to a solution.

Nobody was looking, so she could once again call upon her special brand of magic! Penelope was still worried about the connotations of what she was capable of, but had decided not to think too hard on it. If she used it sparingly, it would be just fine. Nobody would catch her. And if she didn’t leave the shop often, she wouldn’t get caught by the representatives of the temples either. The idea of being connected to religious fanatics (according to her own mental image) was not appealing at all.

Penelope brought out her paper and charcoal from her bag, placing herself on a chair where she could easily see the mortar and pestle on its high shelf. She could see and easily sketch them out, knowing the form she needed. Deciding she only needed it for a little bit, she drew a quick sketch of the items, watching as they manifested in that same golden light. Good, she thought. She hadn’t lost her touch! If all went according to plan, her fast sketch would result in the tools disappearing before the end of the day.

Now that she could get to work, Penelope went over to the pile of gathered herbs to get started, yet a voice cutting through the silence of the workshop stopped her in her tracks.

“Hey, what did I just see?”

Penelope turned and saw Yule standing there, arms crossed and looking at her critically.