A tall man stood beside the window and quietly gazed out over the town.

"Report." The command was issued just as the door opened.

"Magistrate. The zombies have been taken care of." The steward put the scroll on the desk, and waited.

"Complete your report." The voice was still calm, yet a subtle hint was displayed. No dramatic pauses would be allowed.

"Yes, sir." The steward gulped as he sweated a little. The Magistrate was considered fair, but if he displayed his temper, it could be terrifying to regular people. "The gate guards were ill equipped to handle zombies. A young woman came to the gate, and they turned their attention to her." The Magistrate lifted an eyebrow, but the report continued. "She held out her hand, a gate guard said her palm was towards the zombies, they shook and and fell over. She cut off their heads afterward." The steward was about to continue when the Magistrate made a remark.

"Interesting. Purified, or something else?" He asked.

"She didn't use light elements, or life, Magistrate. She pulled a cart behind her into town, and is now negotiating with Rirn, after dealing with Toril, and the butcher." The steward said, after he silently complained that all this information was in the report.

"Dismissed." The Magistrate said, and let the steward leave. "Opinions?" He asked someone unseen.

"Strong, to be sure. I've felt fluctuations in the forest recently. Rumor has it that her kills are flame wolves, and a stone bear." This hidden guard was one of the guards assigned to an official of the court of the Silver King.

"Rumors?" The Magistrate snorted. "I might believe she killed a flame wolf, but not a stone bear. Probably found one dying, or dead." The guard retreated into his spot.

"You're making an assumption, Magistrate. The Silver King would not appreciate that." The guard said quietly, even though he knew he would be heard.

"True, but the Inaris clan will steal it from her, so we'll see if she has the ability soon enough." He failed to connect a previous report of a young woman who caused a stir to this young woman.

Ignorance is bliss until it rears up like a stone bear, and bites you on the ass.

* * *

Toril gutted the wolves, and put their organs into their stomach to hold them. He handed Aila the cores, and began to do the same thing to the stone bear. She helped him turn it over, lifted it easily in front of him, and even pulled each bony plate off its back when they were revealed.

"That must make it hard for them to sleep." Aila said as she pulled each plate from the spine.

"I think they sleep like horses, or cattle, on their bellies." He pulled out the organs, threw the intestines on the forge to burn up, and handed her the core.

"Oh, this is a new one." Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Yeah, the stone bear has an earth core at a rank three." He turned towards her after he was finished and looked at her in horror as she swallowed the core.

"Oh yeah. That hits the spot." Her belly swelled outwards, but she closed her eyes as the tyrannical energy was sucked away and made her feel comfortable.

"You-you-you-you just ate a beast core!" He sputtered in shock. Aila tilted her head.

"Of course. I've eaten a flame core, a green core, and now this earth core. Oh, check that out." She lowered her voice as she looked at the forge. Toril frowned.

"What do you see?"

"The stone glows brown. So does the dirt, but it has green flecks mixed in. I wonder what I can do with this energy now." She said quietly. Toril shivered a bit.

"Girl, you keep shocking the piss out of me!" He grumbled. "Just be aware that a normal person can't swallow a beast core. They will explode all over the wall. It's not normal because the core will get damaged in the stomach, and release its energy all at once." Aila nodded.

"That's what I feel it doing. So I just suck it away." She said innocently, while Toril groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Fine! Fine, it's fine! Just don't suck away my forge! That's my livelihood!"

* * *

"That's a lot of coin she's carrying." One man said after Aila left the butchers. Another nodded.

"Yeah. Too much for a girl to carry all by herself." Another said. "Let's go get the boys. The Inaris said she's the target, so we might as well get paid for the job."

* * *

"Rirn!" Aila called out.

"Hello, young lady." He looked at her eyes which held a touch of mischief. "Why do you look like the panther who caught the harpy?" Aila giggled. She put the three flame cores on his counter, and six bone plates from the bear.

"Flame cores! Are-are those what I think they are?" He asked. She grinned at his stutter.

"Bone plates from a stone bear. From what Toril told me, you can sell them, but it may cause you some problems. How about I leave these with you, and you sell them for a split in profit? You can buy the cores outright, since they are easier to hide." She said.

"Damned good friend that guy. Alright, I suspect I'll be able to sell the plates for about hundred or more silver a piece, and would normally buy them for fifty a piece, but it will take longer than a day or two. As for the cores, I can sell them today so I'll buy them right now." Rirn said, and watched as she grinned again. "What are you smiling for again?"

"Well, I made a big pile of silver from the butcher and Toril, so I'll get the spoils of battle when those fools try to rob me later. Beyond that, just load my cart with as much cheese, oats, carrots, potatoes, and whatever dried fruits you might have in stock until those fifteen large silver are used up." His face twitched. He did say that the plates were worth a fifty silver a piece, and so were the three flame cores. She should walk away with fifteen large silver for the cores alone, but decided to let him sell the plates over time and collect later.  Beyond that, she was letting him make silver on the back end too.

"This doesn't seem fair, but you already said you made silver off the butcher. Feels like I am dipping my fingers twice into your purse." He said with a grumble.

"You buy, I sell. I sold, you bought. Now I buy what you sell. How is that double dipping? Stop grumbling and start loading!"