Nay and Gracie were at a table in the tavern area, going over the menu list for the Green Moon Festival. It was in four moons, or four days, and Nay wanted to get the list settled and the supply of ingredients in order.

“So, let’s see,” Nay said. “We have more than enough fish for Fish N’ Chips, pork for Char Siu bowls, beef for sliders and crab for the baskets of steamed crab. Proteins don’t seem to be an issue.”

“Traditionally,” Gracie said, “the Green Moon fest is also a time farmer’s like to show off their season’s harvest. Tundra pumpkins, chestnuts, persimmons, frostshrooms.”

“I already know what I’m gonna do for those,” Nay said. “Wine-braised frostshrooms with chestnuts. Tundra pumpkin soup and tundra pumpkin pie and persimmon pudding. Just a few of my ideas.”

Gracie wiggled in her seat and smiled. “I’m getting hungry just hearing about it.”

Quincy reached into the jar of butter cookies sitting on the bar. He grabbed one and munched on it, getting cookie crumbs in his mustache. Nay noticed he had made a considerable dent into the jar of cookies. She had made them from Volva Serrilda’s recipe. “Save some for our customers there, boss.”

Quincy took another bite, making a loud crunch. He waved her off. “I don’t know if I can help myself when they’re right in front of me like this.”

“Never took you for a sweets man,” Gracie said.

“There were hardly ever any good ones to eat,” Quincy said. “I swear I’ve gained a stone since you two have been running the kitchen.”

Nay went down the list she had assembled. “There’s an order from Icerend Orchards of chestnuts, persimmons and frostshrooms today. Several barrels of each. Tundra pumpkins…okay tomorrow there’s a shipment from Snowdew Farms…yep, we’re getting some tundra pumpkins from them…”

“And we’re fine on Icemarrow Ale,” Quincy said from behind the bar. “Did you ever talk to Alric about getting us some Frostbite Ale? Would be good to have multiple ales.”

Nay realized she was frowning.

Things were now weird between Alric and her. She had been so busy it felt easier just to avoid him, but she supposed she’d have to talk to him sooner or later. She’d only be able to avoid him for so long.

“It’s on the list,” Nay said.

She looked up to see Quincy observing her. There was no way he could know about her bizarre encounter with Alric at the Veritax chapel.

“Our shipment of rice flour hasn’t arrived yet from Moonglum Farms," Gracie said.

Nay stopped. “We need that rice flower for the moon cakes.”

Quincy stopped polishing one of the beer glasses he was working on. “Maybe they’re just running behind?”

“We’ll give them another couple of hours,” Nay said. “If the order isn’t here by then, we can check in with Don.”

“I can make a visit to the farm if need be,” Quincy said. “Because honestly, we can be short on everything else, but if we don’t have enough moon cakes…”

“Yes,” Nay said, trying not to sigh. “Disaster.”

“Disaster,” Quincy echoed.

“The good news is we have enough inventory to keep the townsfolk fed throughout the fest,” Nay said. “But we do need that rice flour, as the moon cake production begins tomorrow.”

/////////

When Nay went to go check on the elder flower seeds she had planted, she was both surprised and relieved to discover that this stretch of cliff had been transformed into a field of elder flowers. They had spread past the rectangle of wood she had arranged as planters, refusing to be contained.

Unlike the species of elder flower she knew from back home, which were clusters of miniscule star-shaped white flowers, these were more substantial mint green and light pink flowers. They were about the size of orchids. They had pushed through the layer of snow, looking fresh and luscious. There was definitely magic to these flowers Aule had given her. She used True Eye and saw that they were abundant with motes of vigor.

She looked in amazement at all of them. Coupled with the ash tree looming overhead, this section behind the Lodge was now quite the sight. She ran back to the Lodge and grabbed two baskets. She returned and started harvesting the elder flowers. She needed the petals, pistils, stems and all for the elder flower paste.

/////////

Nay had left a few of the elder flowers underneath the ash tree, and was sure by morning the field would be taken over again. She was storing her current harvest in barrels when Quincy came into the kitchen.

“Don still hasn’t arrived with the shipment,” Quincy said. “I was gonna take a ride to the farm to look into this and I was thinking you might want to accompany me if you’re not too busy.”

At that, a quest prompt appeared on her interface.

---

[Quest Detected]

[Quest: Investigate Moonglum Farms]

[Reward: Rice Flour]

[Accept Quest Y/N?]

---

That was odd. So, there was definitely something going on at the farm that was delaying the shipment.

It wouldn’t be until tomorrow when the serious prep work and baking would begin, and Nay knew she could kill a couple of hours before dinner service. Nom was quick with prep work and could run things himself. She accepted the quest. “Alright, let’s go.”

/////////

Nay and Quincy were on their respective fauglier mounts, Juniper and Al, and were heading outside of town towards Moonglum Farms. It was another gray and cold day in Stitchdale, with moments of alpine beauty depending on which direction one looked and when.

Nay didn’t grow up in places with snow so she was still struck by the beauty of it covering the evergreen trees and mountains. The way icicles hung on the banks of cold, bubbling creeks did something to her heart. Gentle snowfall on bodies of water was a sight that never ceased to amaze her.

Quincy breathed in the fresh hair and exhaled. “Sometimes it just helps to step outside.”

“The Lodge getting stuffy for you?” Nay said.

“I love the Lodge,” Quincy said. “But I need my moments with the wind and snow on my face.”

“Does it snow on the Peninsula?”

“In the mountainous regions it does. But nothing like here. On the Peninsula, the snow comes in thin layers. It’s cold, but not frigid. Most of the year it’s hot and dry. Unless you’re on the coast.”

“Do you miss it?”

“Sometimes I miss the coast of the Vancian sea. Sitting on the cliffs and watching the gulls above the waves while drinking a nice wine. I miss the sunsets in the Hills of Buscan. It happens right after dinner, sometimes right as you’re enjoying desert. Eating a lemon ricotta cake and watching the sky turn into a burst of orange haze before ushering in the night. I miss the countryside, not the people.”

That seemed understandable, Nay thought. Sometimes she missed back home, but more for the memories and the sensations than the people. Hiking in Joshua Tree during the fall. Smoking a joint while taking a stroll around Venice Beach.

Then again, Quincy probably couldn’t go back for more practical reasons. After hearing about his past, it sounded like he and Ilyawraith still had many enemies there.

“Do you ever worry about people from the Peninsula coming to look for you?” Nay ventured to ask.

“You mean my enemies?” he said.

Nay nodded.

“At first, some of them tried,” he said. “But then they discovered it wasn’t worth it.”

Nay knew that he meant that they had decided it wasn’t worth their lives. She wondered how many people he killed who came looking for him after the events of The Massacre at Palazzo Furio.

“As the things stand now, it feels like we’re kind of at a truce,” he said. “I don’t set foot down there, they don’t set foot up here.”

“What happens when the truce ends?” Nay said. “Do you ever wonder if danger would come to the Lodge?”

“Are you concerned about old enemies of mine endangering the Lodge and the lives of the people in Lucerna’s End?”

“Well, now that you bring it up, yeah.”

“You let me and Ilyawraith worry about that,” Quincy said.

“Ilyawraith?”

“You don’t think she doesn’t monitor Stitchdale do you? It’s close enough to the Caraxe Strait to concern her. She’ll know if there’s a threat as soon as it steps foot into the valley. And if one does get brave? They better hope they’re Silver Rank.”

Nay processed this. So, Ilyawraith was somehow surveilling or had some type of system in place for watching their backs.

Then how come she didn’t see the strange man who visited her in the Frozen Vale?

“Is the Phantomhead Empire evil?” Nay said.

Quincy looked at her. “You’re just full of questions today, aren’t you?”

“I’m just curious about the world. And you’ve mentioned them…”

“They’re ruled by Entrophists who feed on souls, robbing those souls of an afterlife. Does that seem evil to you?”

“What if I don’t believe in souls?”

“Whether you believe in souls or not, it’s how they gain their power.”

“What stops them from crossing the sea and annexing the Peninsula?”

“Well, to do that, they’d have to face the might of the Ligeia League and their Marrow Eaters. It would be a surefire way for them to overextend their reach. And overextending like that could turn out to be a fatal mistake.”

“So I take it Entrophists are unwelcome here and cultivators are unwelcome there?”

“That’s the way it’s always been, far as I know,” Quincy said. “But they haven’t conquered all of their own continent. That’s another reason we’re not really in their sights. They have enough to worry about on their own borders.”

“They must have strange powers compared to Marrow Eaters.”

“It is a dark art. But they need fresh souls to fill their reserves. That’s their weakness. Souls aren’t easily attainable and come with a high price. With us, we just have to replenish our vigor.”

“So, there’s not any chance there could be like…a good Entrophist?”

Quincy looked at her again. “Why the sudden interest?”

“I don’t know,” Nay said. She was uncomfortable under his gaze. Her thoughts went to the black rose she was keeping a secret. “It just seems kind of one dimensional, you know?

“One dimensional how?”

“Marrow Eaters can be either good or bad. The source of their magic doesn’t define their morality. At least it doesn’t seem like it.”

“Our,” Quincy said, correcting her. “Our magic.”

“Right, our magic. But by definition of the Entrophist method, they’re evil.”

“Because they kill and steal to gain their power.”

“Couldn’t the same thing be said about Marrow Eaters? We kill monsters for their parts and consume them to gain abilities. We also take their cores and absorb them into our bodies. How often are the monsters or beasts willing participants?”

Quincy chuckled, both impressed and annoyed by her line of questioning. “I’m not going to justify it. But I’d say it’s complicated. And there’s clearly a difference between hunting monsters and consuming souls meant for the afterlife. If you really want to know about the Phantomhead Empire, you should hear some of the atrocities they’ve done to nations they’ve conquered. I can say with some certainty, at least concerning those running the ship over there, that they are not good people.”

She saw his point, and maybe their nation was evil. Or their leaders were evil. But surely, there had to be some good eggs.

At least that’s what she told herself as she justified keeping her rose-giver a secret.

As Moonglum Farms became visible when they reached the top of the hill, Quincy pointed something out.

“Do you hear that?”

Nay listened and studied the farm before them. There was a main compound and stable and then the fields surrounding it.

“I don’t hear anything,” Nay said.

“Exactly,” Quincy said. “There’s not even wind.”

Nay realized he was right. Usually, there was always the hint of a cold wind whispering around them. No sounds of birds or any other animal that populated the area.

There was just eerie silence.

Quincy opened a bag on the side of Al, and took out his battle-axe and crossbow. He unclasped and removed the sheath from the blade of the axe, and slung the weapon over his back. He placed the crossbow in front of him on the saddle. He nudged Al forward and Nay followed.

They descended towards the farm.

“Stay alert,” Quincy said. “Something strange is afoot.”