Chapter 8 | Crawling Shift

– ◇ –

I was still in shock about yesterday's events. Not only was Brand badly injured and I had feared I would never see him again, I was also panicking over the prospect that we had gotten ourselves into a nasty turf fight where anyone who walked alone at night would get shivved or something.

And then there was my oversight of the century and something that had not once crossed my mind but absolutely should have ever since I learned that dragons dwelled in this world! I even made sure to properly check my sources that this was not a mistake, because I asked Brand four (!) times if he was really sure about it.

Again, I would like to repeat my thoughts on that matter in an orderly fashion:

This world had magic?!

How on earth had I not noticed any hints of that up until now? Have I been living under a rock for the past years or so? Was I born with the Curse of the Blitz and whenever magic was used I just happened to look somewhere else?

To be frank, I wasn't that stoked to live in this world. Not that I had a say in it, but just from a modern-person-kind-of-perspective. I reckon this was a downside to keeping my memories. But since I actually died on the spot, I couldn't even say that this was a bad trade. I wish it was, so the blame would lie somewhere else. I should have just gone to the hotel first.

Sure, I could put on my pink-glasses and look at the uniqueness of this world, its cultures, its fantasy races like dwarves, elves, beastfolk, and demons, its vast world to explore, and whatnot.

But: dragons. Call me biased, but I'd seen enough movies and games that featured a world that was viciously ruled by dragons. And as far as I knew, this continent could very well be the only land the dragons left for the rest of us to live on.

But I was getting waaay off topic again.

This world had magic in it, and that was a pretty exciting thing indeed! Maybe this life won't be so bad after all. But I shouldn't get ahead of myself just yet and clear up the important questions: could I learn magic as well? How would I do that? When could I start? What would I need? Who would explain it to me?

All these burning questions that I would love to get answered had to wait. Not for me, though, but for the others. After returning unscathed from last night's raid, some of them emptied a wagon while others took a quick nap, and after that, they went to loot the hideout with said wagon early in the morning and even returned with a second.

They sorted things quickly into three different piles: one was apparently lost cargo that they would return to former clients to make up for losses and potentially regain their trust. Another pile was for stuff to sell or keep, and the last and smallest pile contained stuff that might be too risky to sell at the moment. 

My help in carrying stuff around was greatly appreciated, and it was interesting for me to get a closer look at items I had never seen. Sure, most of them were shiny trinkets or armaments, but I also got to see my very first magic item: a glossy black horn with red stripes on it. There was no indication of what it would do, but Lili said it was a magical item, so there you have it.

Rae had prepared a lot of food for everyone, and after everything was sorted out, they all relaxed a bit and celebrated their victory, although restrained. 

I felt conflicted about the whole ordeal and didn't really see a reason to celebrate any of this. A haul? That I could get behind, but the rest? It was unclear to me why something like this could just suddenly happen. When I voiced my concerns to Sali, she rubbed my head and took her time to think of an answer, but decided to just let the silence speak for itself. Yeah, thanks. I felt at ease now. not.

To get more shreds of info, I had to seat myself somewhere around Rae and my father to listen in on their conversation, and I found a place between Lili and one of the guys who took care of the horses. While they were playing cards and eating their food bit by bit, they loosely switched from topic to topic, which ticked me off a little. 

But I eventually got what I wanted. And, regrettably, much, much more. 

It reassured me to know that they did not expect further ambushes, since they knew there was a hostile gang but didn't know who it was or where to look. I guessed they were careful not to explicitly talk about problems with clients or other gangs around me, because this was all news to me but the usual for them. Even now, they would speak in an abstract kind of way, just to be sure, although I wanted them to think that I wasn't close enough and not paying attention.

They unfortunately didn't touch on the topic of why that gang seemed to know more about us than we knew about them, but Irhaal implied that he had some ideas. To my annoyance, he chose this moment out of any to stay true to Rae's ideals, and didn't elaborate further. 

They switched to stories of old and that one time when they got so drunk that they woke up naked in a field of crops in an unfamiliar hobbit village and pissed them all off by putting their chief on a sacred tree that turned out to be a mildly curious treant. In other words, classic stuff.

Both burst out laughing, before switching back and sharing their points of view about the hideout and commenting on each other's "hands." There was no early warning that would have prepared me for the contents of their talk, and they seemed to be pretty sure that even a clever four-year-old wouldn't be able to read that much between the lines. 

I could feel the color draining from my face with every passing minute. It was the way they steamrolled me that made me feel queasy; this form of admission and casualness about the reality of their life. This life. M–my life? Yes—I had a short moment to realize that there were people who wanted to hurt others, including friends and family members, but that wasn't all that different from my world, was it? That a certain degree of violence was a part of this world was clear to me ever since I saw the first slain creatures that came out of the woods, but those were not people, and I counted that as self-defense. 

For me right now, it felt like I was surrounded by murderers.

Irhaal had some thoughts about Rae’s execution of his "hand" that would have given him more options in a surprise "check-raise" and followed with his own checking. This also brought Rae to describe a "bonus" that he found in a certain trap, as it had forced an opponent to "split his hand" into quarters. It was easy and graphic enough for me to understand how that person wasn't playing pseudo-blackjack but must have died a gruesome death, which made me leave the table, and go... where, exactly? On second thought, I went upstairs to get to Brand’s room to chill there and see how he was doing, although I was pretty sure he was still resting.

I entered the room and a second later heard a growl that lasted only for another second. I waited a moment for Grizzly to lick my hand and allow me to move freely. Being the attentive host that he was, he offered me to sit on his pillow beside the bed with a very meaningful look. A cocktail would really round things off at this point, but that would probably be expecting too much.

A while of brooding had passed, and Grizzly decided to come over and sit down on his cushion as well, but not without nudging me a bit more brusquely than necessary, and I deliberately took his cue the wrong way and returned the gesture by burying my face in his fur. It was not a pleasant sensation, but it helped me get into other thoughts. I also found it comical. He didn't.

After about ten minutes, I heard someone open the door a crack, and a dim light leaked into the room. I recognized the whispering voices of two worried people, checking in on their daughter. Attentive as always. I, however, used the classic averting tactic of children my age and pretended to be asleep. An encouraging huff from Grizzly assured them that everything was all right, and they slowly closed the door again after a few good-night wishes.

A little more time passed, and as I was getting closer to overstaying my welcome, I decided to go out on the walkway and see how things were. I passed by some rooms and heard the familiar sounds of people enjoying some afternoon delight, and I sat down on my favorite spot on a beam near the stairs. In the living area was Rae, sitting absentmindedly at the table all by himself, doing something with a knife in his hand, and sipping on his beer from time to time. Should I go talk to him? I weighed for a brief moment whether to get his view, but chickened out.

It soon became a strangely restful moment that was shared silently by just the two of us, accompanied only by the crackle of the fire. He, lost in thought, and I, watching him unnoticed. I soon realized what he was doing. He was working on his current pet project: a wooden knife-holder for his carving knife. It was a fitting symbol of his ironic sense of humor, and he spared neither time nor effort on it. About 20 minutes flew by when he suddenly stopped, looked up from his opuscule and said to himself in a puzzled tone, "Huh, legs sure are useful sometimes," and lifted his legs up to watch his wiggling feet.

???

Was Rae just an idiot at the end of the day after all?

I rolled my eyes and got up to get some sleep in Brand's room. I still had a long way to go and enough food for thought, but this was still my new family. Ah, right. Family, that was an important keyword here. I still didn't know how most Dust Whistle members made their money and could only make an educated guess, but it was clear that I couldn't accuse them of being a bad family. Still, it was not a term with the magical power to whitewash slave trading, murder, or rape.

Oh right, magic, huh?

– ◇◇ –

A single beam of warm light entered the room through the small window and gently tickled my nose to remind me that today was the day. I slowly got up from the bed, stretched myself, collected all my courage, and squished Grizzly’s face as an early test of luck. It went remarkably well. D–did he enjoy that? He began to growl faintly, as if to deny my initial thought. Yeeaaah nah, he wanted to make me think otherwise, but I saw that he liked that.

I made my way down to the dining table, where some people were already chatting and eating breakfast. I still had decency, so I returned their greetings, but sat on the bench a little further away from all the others. For today's breakfast of heroes, I chose fresh, soft bread, slathered it with butter, liberally sprinkled it with salt, and sliced some cheese on top. 

And thus the waiting began. I still had some thinking to do, but I didn't have to find all the answers in one night, and no matter in which direction I took my thoughts, I always felt helpless in the end. But what I did not feel helpless about was today's course of action.

HA, another great save by yours truly!

To let the cat out of the bag, I was waiting for Channy. My plan consisted of three fail-safe steps to get her to teach me magic. I thought that there must have been a reason why it took so long for magic to show up, so I reasoned that this was probably a crucial moment that required me to maximize my chances of success. 

The plan I had come up with looked like the following: step one, wait for her to get to the dining table, eat something, and gradually wake up. She was a morning grum and it didn't help if she was hungry either. So far, the easiest part, as I had to do absolutely nothing. To further improve my chances, I had chosen a place that would encourage her to sit close to me. Why was this even a detail? Well, that was because Rae had a favorite spot, which was on the opposite end of the table, and Channy never chose a spot close to him, especially in the morning, since it was the only time of the day she couldn't cope with him.

Step two: wait until she was about to finish her meal, then charm her with a well-thought-out compliment, let that sink in for a moment, and then absolutely carped-bomb her with napalm-like conviction from an overly eager and energetic child in such a way that the spark of my positive energy would ignite the magic-fanatic in her and make her agree what a wonderful and liberating thing having an apprentice would be.

And the final step that would automatically follow: PROFIT!

See? Easy. I took my time eating and waiting. Thankfully, it didn't take too long for most people to come downstairs and either have breakfast or start with their respective tasks. And there she was: dressed in a beautiful waist-shirred long dress that exposed her arms and a bit of cleavage and put an overall emphasis on her slender body, she glided down the stairs and made her way to the table. It was still hard for me to get my eyes off of her. Our eyes met, we exchanged small smiles, and she ran her fingers through my hair as she went past me to get some food. For some reason, this was already pretty exciting, and I felt a little heat gather in my face.

Channy was done preparing her plate with food and was visibly ready to eat in peace. She made her way to the table and... sat down on the spot that was closest to her—on the other side of the table. right. sure. of course. Rae wasn't here and was still sleeping.

Are you kidding me? I thought and put my face in my hands. No matter, I would just have to do what humans were best known for and adapt. That still applied to me, r–right? I teetered impatiently in my seat, glancing over at Channy from time to time. It was clear that I also miscalculated how fast I would eat, because I was already done, my plate was clean, and this was even my second slice. She spent a good amount of time on her meal, which was fine, but it became more and more awkward for me to just sit here in silence and sip on my water.

As I was lost in thought, Channy had already gotten up and gone to the kitchen area to clean her plate, seemingly satisfied. I could not believe that I had missed my cue! I jumped up from my spot and followed Channy, who was working way too fast for my taste and was moving to put her own plans for the day into motion. I caught up to her after crossing the entire middle area and found myself standing in front of her.

"Something the matter, sweetheart?" She asked me nicely, tilting her head to the side and locking eyes with me. Alright, here we were. This was the moment. You could bet that I was more nervous than expected and her eyes were mesmerizing, but I knew what I wanted to say, so I put on my biggest and (hopefully) most charming smile and said, "I love your eyes, Aunt Channy!" No, that was wrong! Well, not really, but I wanted to compliment her dress!

Crap, initiating evasive maneuver! 

"Eeh, I mean, y–your body! your body!" I stammered and got closer to my intention but further from my goal, and saw how a small grin formed on her lips and her eyes widened a little at the suggestive statement. I had already taken a couple baths with her, so I knew that she was a hottie, but that wasn't the point right now!

I drew air sharply through my teeth and finally managed to say, "Your dress is stunning, is what I mean..." Oops, that came off a bit shyer than I would have wanted. Why was this so hard? Channy remained silent for a brief period of time and looked at me from top to bottom, a cheeky smile on her face. I felt my face blush again and looked down at her feet. 

"Eh, it's alright, I guess," she finally answered laxly with a shrug of her shoulders, easing the moment and gloriously tossing all my plans out the window. "But thank you very much for your charming words, honey," she added with a big smile and ended the conversation by saying, "Well, gotta go, so I’ll see you when I get back," then winked at me, and turned to put her cloak on before going outside and merging with the white. 

Are you fucking kidding me?

I was lost for words. Not only did I choke the compliments like in a proverbial semifinal, but I also missed practically every window of opportunity.

Alright, what now? The day was over, right? Could I go up and sleep for the rest of the day? I stood there for a couple of seconds with no idea what to do with myself. Crestfallen I turned around and began to aimlessly wander wherever my feet would carry me. But I did not get too far as a voice suddenly rang out to me, "hehe, I got you there, didn't I?" and I found myself in a tight hug from behind.

Ooh, very funny, Ms. Cheshire! I thought, but it was hard for me to even get mad at her for the way she did it. She eventually defused the situation entirely with her giggling, and I eventually joined in the laughter seconds later. I couldn't believe she pulled one on me like this! What a meany!

"Hahaha, I'm sorry darling, but I couldn't resist for the heck of it. I knew from the start that you wanted to ask me something. So, what is it?"

It took me a moment to process what she was saying, but I quickly regained my composure. Honestly, it took me a couple of seconds to remember what I was even pursuing, but she patiently waited for me with an encouraging smile.

"Oh, uhm, well, you see, I was wondering if you could, uhm, you know, teach me what you did to make Uncle Brand better." I asked her while drawing circles with my foot. Her smile slackened a little. Not what I wanted to see.

"Oooh, so it's about that. Hmmm, well, you see, the thing is... "she began to explain, and I felt my heart sinking into my stomach. I knew it. The moment I ignored and feared the most out of all the scenarios that had gone through my mind. She would begin to explain that it was impossible for me. Yeah, I already expected her to say something along the lines of, "sorry honey, but only us demons can use magic like this, you know," and comfort me by saying, "but you elves are better at other stuff, like, uh, singing to trees or something, I dunno lol."  That was most likely not what she would actually say and probably even a racist remark, wasn't it? I still had to adjust to that. Whatever, my bubble was about to burst anyway. 

"... that I think that you are still too young for that, you know?" She finished her sentence and with it, my outlook on a career that was aligned with magic.

Wait, come again?

I looked at her questioningly and waited. She took the hint and explained that all we had to do was see if I had enough magic capacity to even perform it, and if I had, I was good to go. That was the only thing there was to it. It would be rare for a child to learn magic at such an early age, but far from impossible. She promised she would discuss it later with my parents tonight and get started. A stone fell from my heart upon hearing that, which also returned to its original place. Hearing her confident words made me jump in the air with joy and leap at her, hugging her by the waist, and I felt a wave of relief wash over me.

"Oh, and one more little thing," she began, waiting for my undivided attention, and continued after I looked at her. "If you want something from someone, just ask. The worst thing they can do is refuse you. You know, your words were very sweet, but they lose their value when they are only spoken with a motive behind them. And all your words will lose value with that too when you do that, so keep that in mind, OK?" I nodded after a pause to take her words to heart.

Today was still far from done, but it had already been one hell of a roller coaster ride for my young, delicate heart.

– ◇◇◇ –

Unfortunately, my patience was put to the ultimate test. The day I tried and miserably failed to pitch my idea to receive training in magic was already 10 years ago. Nah, kidding, more like five days, but it felt all the same to a little drama queen like me.

Channy, Irhaal, and Salihn had put their heads together to discuss the matter, and had stated that it was alright after I turned five. They also made little effort to hide the fact that they had taken careful note of my rapid and remarkable development during the conversation. They were generally happy about my enthusiasm.

Rae, with his own remarkable way of sharing his thoughts on the matter, nearly slid over the table to use the self-created window of opportunity to reason that his insight was at least equally to be considered. This shitter had followed up with his own observations and was dead certain to have discovered my "true talent as a prodigy gambler in the making," going as far as calling it savantism. This was all solely based on the fact that he had already taught me most of the games and rules he knew of, also drawing the "purely logical" and straight line to him, obviously being the most capable teacher throughout all of Asura, and it would therefore be a wise choice to further develop my talents in the gambling halls and taverns of Tios, instead of wasting my time and potential with magic. Salihn then sent him to the kitchen with a very meaningful and menacing look to prepare a large stew as a reward for himself.

It appeared that my attempts to behave inconspicuously had not quite come off—but it wasn't really like I had hidden my curiosity either. I had soaked up two languages and many other things like a sponge after all. I guess that I had unintentionally started to let go of my caution bit by bit a couple months after our arrival in Tios. And since everyone was so casual about it and had only ever shown signs of surprise or encouragement, there were seemingly no consequences for not doing so. If anything, I would even go as far as to say that they were all happy about having a clever, healthy kid in their midst. And I guess it also had an impact on me that they abstained from treating me any differently. Well, it was too late to change any of that anyway, so I simply chalked it up to Rae’s often used saying, "You have to break an egg to make an omelet."

One would also think that after an incident like this, my caretakers would not allow me to spend some lazy time with Nina and Co., but the opposite was the case. The cause was plain to see: the baddies were all dead. Thus, we would make snow angels behind Nina's home or improve our weaving skills at the hearth.

Oddly enough, I noticed an increase in Nina's father's behavior, suggesting in a playful tone that now would be the perfect time to practice, which made it less fun. It also irritated me a little that he had started to pester her from time to time that she should be faster by now and make more beautiful baskets, and he added in a sad tone that he expected a little more improvement from his daughter. This would often leave Nina with a cloud of dejection hanging above her head, and it was hard to cheer her up again. Her mother and I made an effort to give whoever would come and pick me up a small hint to try and cheer her up as well, with mixed results. The shop was also not getting a lot of visitors at this time of year—so were financial worries the root cause of his behavior?

On the contrary, the Stag Bastion was, due to certain circumstances, a lot livelier than before. This was, sadly, not because of the anticipation of a once-in-a-lifetime event such as my fifth birthday, but had to do with the raid on a certain hideout. Members were not as active as before and refrained from taking missions from the Thieves Guild for the time being.

But that didn't mean everyone was lazing around. In fact, no one would shy away from helping out. Some people made good use of the time to do maintenance inside the base, and others used the occasion to help out in our own stores. The stores were, of course, nothing but a front and not essential to keep things running, but they were undeniably a good disguise for all the people.

Which also led me to our newest addition: Bazelle. The attack on his store had pushed him into a rather tricky predicament. Not only did he need to fix his store, but the lease was long past due, and he also had debts to settle because it became clear that he was a gambling addict.

His current options? Flee the city, find the one-in-a-million blacksmith who would welcome him, or file for bankruptcy, which in this world meant being sold into slavery. Fleeing required a bit of money and no tailing debt-collectors, and it meant he would lose his reputation, so that was out. Unfortunately for him, he was also a stubborn blacksmith and did not get along well with others, and he wasn't alone with that attitude, so that option was, let's call it, unrealistic. 

So slavery it was. Luckily for him, we had Channy and Salihn with a proposal for him. Both ladies came up with a plan to add him to our course. Salihn first became aware of his predicament just two days ago, when she went and told him that the deed was done. He had thanked her and hinted that he would be glad to have some work, preferably a lot. She basically read the rest between the lines.

Channy became highly interested after hearing that a reputable dwarf would soon be up for sale and proposed that we wait for a certain time frame to make an initial buy offer to get him under the expected market value. As far as I understood her, she would profit from this in any way, with the exception of her purse. She wouldn't even have to put him up for sale, as having him alone would improve her portfolio, which was linked to her ranking and therefore her reach in the circles of slave merchants behind the Thieves Guild.

Salihn, on the other hand, had other things in mind and preferred having him join us on the pretense that he had a say in the matter and would join us "on his terms." The bait would come in the form of a sheer endless list of improvements to the Stag, the existing gear, and new equipment.

But it was Lilitella who came to his aid and suggested a different and more generous plan that would still align with Channy’s idea of having a reputable smith and Salihn’s idea of strengthening Dust Whistle with better gear.

And so they made him the following proposal: since we had a bit more money on our hands, we would buy his shop from him to repair and sell it, and use the money to pay off his debt, but he had to stop gambling and join us as a blacksmith and work exclusively for us. To put the icing on the cake, she would allow him to work in her forge.

He, of course, took the deal, but not without bitching and moaning about the terms and even putting on an act and throwing out threats to get other bids. There were none. He was a poor actor, but a lucky guy. 

Despite the fact that this agreement was signed and sealed without much notice within a mere week due to the pressure of the lenders, we did not know at the time what hidden costs were heading our way.