Aila endured the stares as she walked through the town, and mostly covetous of the wolves in her hands. Once she got to the square, she realized that the gate guards were right. Many wanted to rush forward to deal with her, but she could see the greed in their eyes.  They were frightened off by the look in her eyes, and the easy way she handled the wolves.

Aila felt disgust. She had seen that look in the eyes of the hospital administrator, and the insurance agents while she was sick. Even lawyers had their hands out for her parents to fork over their money when her treatment still cost them so much.

Aila looked around, and saw a rather rustic looking stall, not decorated, or painted, but the wood was sanded and polished properly. One could tell that he took pride in his belongings. Also, there was no debris around his stall, unlike the other shops which were more elaborate. Though there was painted moldings on the shops, and elaborate signs, there was still trash outside. It looked like the shopkeepers swept it outside from the store rather then dispose of it.

"Excuse me. Are you Rirn?" Aila asked the man behind the counter.

"I am. What can I help you with?" He said with a smile. He was friendly, and not too enthusiastic, which she liked.

"The gate guards said you would be the one to come to." She smiled. "I'm Aila. I would like to know if you want to buy these guys?" She held up the wolves by the fur. He lifted an eyebrow. She lifted them far too easily.

"Honestly, I am quite interested. I give fair standard prices. Others may claim to give premiums, but I can't promise that, as I don't want to break my word once I examine the carcasses." Aila smiled.

"Perfect. Take a look then." Rirn walked around his stall. "I can put them on your counter one at a time. Would that help?"

"If you don't mind." He walked back around, and started to examine the first. "Hm, gutted but a little rough on the cut. Still, the hide is in good shape. How did you kill...ah, I see. Nice cut. Did you still have the core?" She frowned.

"The core?"

"Near the heart."

"Oh, the berry." Aila said with a smile.

"Ha ha, yeah, I guess it looked like a berry, but that is the spirit beast's core. A lot of hunters only kill for that, and in an emergency, they target the core as it will kill the beast if destroyed." Aila frowned.

"Only kill for the core? That's stupid. It wastes the hide, and the meat!" She hated waste like that as wasted food was wasted money. When you couldn't eat food for years on end, you learned to appreciate it.

"True enough, but the core is a valuable cultivation resource." He watched Aila frown.

"There is that word again. Cultivation. Isn't that farming?" She asked. He chuckled.

"It is farming, but of spirit. A cultivator gathers spirit essence to grow stronger." He didn't see her cheek twitch. "Spirit essence can cleanse the body of disease and toxic substances. It can repair injuries given enough time, and be used as an offensive weapon."

"Oh." She was a little startled. Cure disease! That was how she was no longer sick! But a weapon too? "Um, can it be used to start fires?"

"Fires? Well, I guess if the cultivator had enough control, and could picture what they want to do firmly enough, they could gather enough flame essence to start a fire. I'm not really sure, as most of what I know is what I hear other people say in passing." Rirn sighed. "Most cultivators are part of a clan, and the cores they drain will allow them to advance. Cores are expensive. I buy the rank one cores at forty silver coins a piece."

"I see. So, how much are these guys worth?" She asked, as she was a little bit startled, and depressed. She ate three of those cores already. That was a hundred and twenty coins gone just like that. She had no sense of this world's money, but she could sense that forty silver was a fair amount for a normal person.

"Let me see. Good condition. Looks like they were killed recently."

"This morning. Maybe two hours ago."

"That's good then. The fresher the meat, the better. Hides in good condition, for flame wolves, are twenty silver. But that is if they are skinned. Why don't we go to the smith? He can skin them, and pay you the coins directly. Since they are still on the beast, he'll be able to skin them to his own satisfaction. Also, he's probably in a bit of a bind. The hunters don't bring him as many hides as he needs to work with." Rirn sighed.

"Waste again, right?" He nodded. "Then lets go. I have some things I want to buy from you, so lets go get the coins to do that."

* * *

"Rirn, are you getting lazy in your old age? Letting a girl carry..." His eyes took in how easily she carried the wolves, and raised an eyebrow. His sniffed the air. "How is a human able to carry those like she is?"

"She's a customer, Torel. I didn't buy the wolves, as I thought you might prefer to do the skinning yourself." He said in a clipped tone. Aila looked at Rirn, then at Torel.

"Rirn, he looks human, but he doesn't have the scent of a human. Is there something you wish to tell me?" The blacksmith looked startled.

"You can tell by scent?" He asked.

"I was sick for a long time. My nose is sensitive to scents, and differences. Some men can smell sour." She wrinkled her nose. "While now, I can tell that some have a strange scent, like burned wet charcoal. Unpleasant. The shopkeepers all around Rirn have that kind of scent." The blacksmith smiled.

"You might have some Cananes blood in you, girl." He lifted his hood, and she could see some slightly long drooping ears, that looked more wolfish then dog shaped.

"Cananes? Your ears...wolf...canine...werewolf?" She asked strangely. Torel's eyes went wide.

"You know of the sacred ancestors?" He asked, not only in surprise, but there seemed to be some respect for the name. When he called the werewolf a sacred ancestor, Aila could see that some things were different, yet also the same.

"An old legend from my hometown. Strong and ferocious, extremely hard to kill, and healed easily from wounds. They were feared as they turned more feral on the full moon, but that didn't make any sense to me. Don't all wolves sit and sing at night when they see the moon? The moon allowed the wolf to hunt at night, and not be blinded by the bright sun." Aila smiled. Though she had two wolves in her hands, she didn't enjoy killing them. She actually admired wolves.

"You sound like you know a few things." Torel said.

"Don't wolves only have one mate?" She asked. "They take care of their young, and their mates." She snorted. "Don't humans sell their children to slave dealers?" Torel nodded, and grinned. She could now see the slightly larger canine teeth when his lips pulled back a bit.

"It is as you say. The Cananes, and the Balask, do not sell their children." He pulled his hood back up. "I can't give you a premium price, but the skins aren't bad. I'll pay full standard price. Twenty five silver each. You can take the rest to the butcher. Flame wolves are about quarter a silver per pound, and they can grind the bones and sell them to the herbalist, so they will weigh the entire carcass." Aila smiled.

"Thank you, Torel. I'll be sure to bring you my skins in the future."