It would be safer for me to approach an individual farmstead. It would be much easier to ascertain if it had any beast-kin before coming into contact with anyone, and it was less likely that I would encounter any surprise arrivals. At the same time, a lone girl arriving from nowhere and asking to trade with a farmstead would be very unusual.

I decided instead to head to the center of the village. If I walked slowly and kept my distance from other people, it should be possible for me to detect any beast-kin long enough in advance in order to avoid them and, if necessary, to leave the village and try again somewhere else.

First, however, I needed something to sell. I woke up early and spent several hours hunting rabbits. Rabbits were decently-sized animals with tasty meat, and large enough pelts that could be conveniently used to make warm clothing. They could and sometimes were raised as livestock, but the practice wasn't very common so they should make for decent enough trading goods for now. If there was no demand for them then I could eat them myself, and store the leftovers for later once I built myself an ice box.

Once I was done skinning and cleaning them I entered the village. There were few people on the road, and so far as I could tell none of them were of my kind, a fact that was oddly reassuring. Humans were the source of danger, yet I was safer if they were the only ones around me. I could feel the stares that were directed at me. Even in larger and more central villages, strangers stood out as a novelty, let alone in a smaller and more isolated village like this one.

I approached one of the women, whom I assumed was a local, to ask for directions. My heart pounded loudly and my stomach did somersaults, but I made sure to keep my eyes lowered and to not open my mouth too widely while I spoke.

"The general store? It's just a little bit down the road that way", the woman said while pointing. Her accent was a little strange, and I realized that I haven't heard another person speak in weeks, except for the victims of my thefts, and those I couldn't hear clearly.

"Thank you", I said, then continued on my way. I felt her eyes on the back of my head, following me.

The bell jingled when I opened the door, and the shopkeeper turned to look at me. She was sitting behind the counter, and appeared to have been doing nothing while waiting for a customer to arrive. Other than the two of us, the shop was empty.

"How can I help you?" she said in a bored tone.

"I have some fresh rabbits I hunted. I'd like to sell them", I said while fixing my eyes on the counter under her elbows.

"I haven't much use for rabbits, but lets see them", she said disinterestedly.

I took my pack off my shoulders and pulled them out. There were four of them that I hunted early this morning. I had already skinned and cleaned them. I placed them on the counter along with their pelts. The shopkeeper looked them over one by one.

"I can give 2 silver and 50 copper for each rabbit, and the same again for each of the pelts", she said.

"Just that little? Aren't they usually sold for about 6 silver each?" I protested.

"Maybe in the city, but everyone here raises or hunts their own animals. There isn't much of a need for items like this, and I need to make some money off of them too, right? Besides, the rabbits are still wearing their summer coat" she said.

20 silver wasn't too much, but it should still be enough to buy what I needed for now, so I accepted the deal. I resolved to do some market research later, to find the best merchandise I could acquire and sell, and to make sure that I got a good price for it.

I bought the nails and ropes that I needed for constructing my new home, as well as some cloth, thread, and needles for repairing my worn clothes, and then, because I couldn't resist after so long, I also bought a few sweets. All my purchases depleted my newly acquired funds. I was back to being penniless, but that wasn't a problem for me, since the forest was full of plants and animals that could be converted into money.

As I continued walking down the full length of the village's only street people kept staring at me, but what bothered me more was the odd lack of the scent of any beast-kin. It wasn't that the scent was scarce or old, it was that there was none. It seemed that I was the first beast-kin to enter the village since at least the last rainfall, which was quite a while ago.

Did the villagers not allow the beast-kin to leave the houses? Even so, I should have smelled something. Could it be that there were simply no beast-kin in the village? That would be lucky for me, but very unusual. Even the poorest villages should have at least a few. Even if poor farmers couldn't afford the extra mouths to feed, at least the wealthier members of the village would usually want someone to help around the house.

The village didn't look particularly prosperous, but it didn't look particularly poor either. The people seemed well-fed enough, and their clothes and homes weren't in a worse state than what I've seen elsewhere. The main thing that was different, other than the lack of slaves, was the lack of outsiders, but that was to be expected considering how isolated this village was.

Perhaps by chance they all shared similar economic views, or they all disapproved of slavery. Whatever the case may be, it was a mystery. It piqued my curiosity, but unfortunately I couldn't inquire about it without them wondering how I knew that there were no beast-kin, and I could hardly tell them that it was because of my sense of smell.

Long before I reached the end of the street I had already finished all of my sweets. Unfortunately I couldn't afford to buy more, and after abstaining for so long I couldn't resist eating the few of them all at once. It gave me another reason to want to return to the village as soon as possible with more merchandise, so that I could treat myself again.