Every bump on the road was torment for Leir, causing him to wince or grumble in pain while Melisende just gave him a condescending look. Some of his injuries were bleeding again, though fortunately he hadn’t torn any of his stitching. Lotus Dust had explained that magical healing drained a lot of energy from whoever was being healed and doing too much would leave him feeling worse than merely exhausted. He would have to finish healing the slow way. Leir suspected it was partially to teach him a lesson about running off on his own.

“We’re approaching the gate!” Baldovin called back from the front of the wagon.

Though it pained him to do so, Leir forced himself to the front and through the flap to the driver’s seat. He could see scattered buildings here and there of the same painted stone architecture they’d found in the last town. Dwarfs swarmed in the hundreds, intermixed with the occasional elf or orc or even goblin. Spirits of various kinds—plant, animal, and mineral—were scattered here and there in the crowd.

Leir needed Burrow’s help to walk into the inn they eventually found.

“Welcome to Beorward!” the innkeeper said from behind the front desk, stretching her arm way up high to shake Baldovin’s hand. “My name is Wassa and this inn is my pride and joy. I’d be happy to keep you for however long you’re staying in town. Three men and three women? Are two rooms enough?”

Leir felt his face burning. Lotus Dust also looked a little uncomfortable, though Burrow hadn’t reacted to the assumption in any way. Well, if they weren’t going to correct Wassa, then he wasn’t either; it wasn’t a big deal anyway.

Baldovin simply smiled and said, “Two rooms sounds lovely, thank you.”

Wassa nodded and opened a ledger, scanning for open rooms.

Lotus Dust asked Leir and Melisende, “Would you two rather share a room with Baldovin or myself?”

“Baldovin,” Leir said at the same time Melisende replied, “You.”

Lotus Dust struggled not to smirk, simply replying, “We’ll split you two up, then.”

Their rooms were right next to each other, each one containing three large bed mats covered in comfy sheets and a heavy blanket as well as a low table. Wassa assured them that if they needed tea or food it could be delivered to their rooms quickly. Baldovin thanked her profusely and the group squeezed into one room to plan.

It was eventually decided that Melisende would stay behind to watch Leir while the rest searched the town for evidence of their targets. Melisende looked like she wanted to protest, and Leir did protest before he was reminded that it was a struggle to walk under his own power. Furthermore, neither Leir nor Melisende knew what the local etiquette customs were yet and didn’t have the experience with dwarfish culture to get around without them. Leir grumbled, but in the end had no choice but to accept their terms. Burrow promised them that everyone would be back before dinner and quickly grabbed a few books from the wagon for them to read if they got bored.

Leir picked up a book and opened it, discovering that it was a guide to harvesting food in the wilderness; he gave it a pass. The next one too. There wasn’t a book on how to use magic, so he had no reason to read any of them. Melisende picked up a book, but she was from this world so the stuff in it would actually apply to her.

For a long time, Leir sat in silence and looked out the window at the passersby going about their day while Melisende read. He forced himself to his feet after a while and started pacing around the room slowly. Walking was getting easier with every hour, but he had to sit down after just a few minutes.

“While we’re here, I should probably change your bandages,” Melisende finally said, noting the dry blood.

She stepped out and grabbed the medical supplies from the wagon, returning and partially undressing Leir so she could work. He grimaced at the pain, but said nothing to stop her. Getting a light wash and fresh bandages did make him feel cleaner.

“You could thank me for helping,” Melisende said.

“Thank you,” Leir mumbled.

Despite himself, he was grateful for the help; he certainly couldn’t have done this on his—

He scowled. That was quitter talk. Leir was perfectly capable of taking care of himself!

As the day grew long, the others started to find their way back to the inn. Burrow was first, followed by Lotus Dust and Whisper together. None of them had found anything conclusive; there were indeed spirits of the type they were looking for, but nobody could be certain if they were Shadow Fang’s or merely other tourists.

When Baldovin finally arrived, he informed them, “I’ve spoken to the clan leader, who gave me his word that he’d have the gates of the town monitored for a few days and inform us of any suspicious characters. He was happy to help the investigation, though he’s determined not to do anything that would directly inconvenience any visitors to the town.”

Since there wasn’t enough room for them to eat together and no need to continue discussing the investigation, Burrow insisted that the group eat in the main dining hall. There were several long tables where visitors of all kinds sat, and it was a little difficult for all of them to find a spot where they could sit together. Leir noticed that their food arrived a little faster than some of the dwarf guests’ and that their portions were larger.

“You don’t have to go so out of your way for us,” Baldovin told Wassa when she came to check on them.

“Nonsense,” she replied. “Only the best for my patrons. You must be so worn out from the road.”

Burrow added, “Regardless, it feels wrong to be given preferential treatment.”

They could only speak for themselves, Leir thought as he took another bite of the most heavenly fowl he’d ever tasted before. He, at least, had not been pampered like this for weeks and deserved every moment of it. Maybe staying in the inn wasn’t so bad if this was what he could expect out of it.

Sleeping on the mat wasn’t as comfortable as Leir had hoped it would be, but it was still leagues above sleeping on the floor in Eudes’ spare room. The small soup breakfast followed by a cool private bath was a welcome change of pace from life on the road. Leir toweled off his hair on the way back to the room, noting that it was starting to get long again and wondering if someone in town could clip it short for him.

“Leir,” Lotus Dust said from the doorway to their room, “would you come here, please?”

“What’s up?” Leir asked, stepping inside to find Melisende waiting.

Lotus Dust explained, “I wanted to fill you two in on some of the local etiquette customs we picked up yesterday, in case you need to interact with people outside the inn. You need to blend in so that our targets don’t notice us.”

They went through a long list of rules: always shake someone’s hand with your left hand, always bow your head when addressing someone of higher status than yourself (Leir rolled his eyes; if they only knew who he really was!), wash yourself before entering another person’s home, and always reject an offer three times before accepting it.

“Are all dwarfish towns like this?” Leir asked, cleaning out his fox ears with the towel.

“Every clan has their own customs,” Lotus Dust replied. “Cities aren’t as bad. Just promise me that you’ll keep your head down, okay?”

Melisende nodded, but Leir made a noncommittal grunt.

Leir returned to his room, changed his bandages, and got dressed as the others left to investigate the town. Once he was sure that nobody was left to stop him, Leir did up his sandals and nonchalantly made his way to the front entrance. He had no money on him, but based on his previous experience with dwarfs that wasn’t going to be any kind of problem if he found himself in a desperate situation.

Beorward was bathed in sunlight with only the occasional thin cloud casting shadows anywhere. The deep red stone helped the buildings stand out more from the rocky environment than in Silverleaf, and the architecture was much more appealing to look at. Almost everyone that Leir passed was a little smaller than him, which was a welcome change of pace now that he was so short and looked so young. A man of his stature deserved to tower over people.

A river passed through town, but the local agriculture happened further downstream. As a result, grass and trees and flowers grew in abundance along the river banks. Leir sat down for a good half hour to take in the smell and the bubbling sound of rushing water. He wasn’t on vacation, so Leir was sure to keep an eye out for Shadow Fang or any of her cohorts.

There was a bridge nearby where two dwarfs stood in leather armor, each with a dagger on one hip and a small hammer on the other. Dwarfs moved freely across the bridge, but when Leir approached one of the guards stepped forward and held out a hand to stop him. Leir blinked in surprise; this was the first time a dwarf had ever done something to inconvenience him.

“Locals only beyond this point,” the guard said gruffly.

“Why? What’s over there?”

“Local residences,” he replied. “Private quarters for the clan members. No outsiders allowed.”

Leir grunted and turned to walk away. It seemed that he was restricted to the tourism side of town. Leir had never been much of a tourist, only traveling where business took him, and wasn’t entirely sure what to do.

There were plenty of shops, but Leir avoided them for a while. He was no stranger to buying things he had no practical use for, as long as they were expensive enough to brag about, but he was on a mission and had no need for anything but the clothes on his back. Furthermore, while he was determined to pay back all the people in Silverleaf who had helped him, Leir had no guarantee he could repay the people of Beorward for any free gifts.

But he was bored and it couldn’t hurt to look, right?

There were stalls selling little gemstones that had been locally mined, some of which promised “spiritual properties,” but Leir didn’t know enough about magic to determine if it was a scam or not. Some stone and gems had even been carved into intricate little statues that Leir would love to have adorning his shelf back home. There were a few hand-knitted tapestries depicting festivals and events that Leir had no reference for but were very pretty.

After a while, he found himself in a little clothing store surrounded by women’s clothing with no idea how he’d gotten there. Some of these clothes were too small for him, fitted for dwarfs, but just as many were too big for him. Leir was staring at a green short-sleeved dress when a voice behind him made him jump.

“Do you like it?”

Leir started sweating, like he’d been caught in a compromising act, and turned around to face the dwarf woman who was smiling up at him.

“Sorry, I don’t have any money,” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Still, if you like it, you should try it on and see if it fits,” the lady replied. “I made it myself; I’d love to know what you think.” Leir gulped and squirmed a little. “Go on, try it on. There’s a dressing room behind that curtain over there.”

Not looking directly at her, Leir nodded and took the dress off of its hook. He kept his head down as he made his way behind the curtain, just in case people were giving him disappointed or angry stares. Worse, there was a mirror in the little dressing area, which meant that Leir would have no choice but to see himself wearing a dress.

How had he gotten into this predicament?

Leir stripped out of his shirt and trousers and set them to the side before pulling the dress over his head. It was made of some luxurious soft material, the kind he’d almost forgotten about after wearing scratchy clothes for so many weeks. The dress fell past his waist like a long shirt but wasn’t quite formless enough not to emphasize Leir’s small shoulders and breasts. Tying his blue sash around his waist gave the dress a bit more of a fashionable shape while adding an accent color that it desperately needed.

Seeing himself in the mirror caused a bubbly feeling to rise in Leir’s stomach. He clutched his arms to his chest and moaned a little. This was so embarrassing!

“How does it look?” the owner asked from outside the curtain.

“It doesn’t quite fit.”

“Hold on, let me see!”

Leir opened his mouth to protest, but the curtain was swept aside and the stranger was looking right at him!

“It looks great,” she said, grinning, “like it was made for you!”

“I don’t have any money,” Leir repeated weakly.

The dwarf lady nodded and for a moment Leir thought he was free, but then: “Tell you what? I’ll let you have it as a gift. No charge.”

“A… A gift?”

“Absolutely. It’s only right that you have a keepsake for visiting Beorward.”

“I can’t,” Leir told her.

“I insist.”

“Really, it’s too much.”

“It would be my honor, Miss.”

“It’s not fair for me to take something without paying.”

“I can’t rightly ask for money you don’t have.”

Leir growled and opened his mouth to tell her off, but turned to glance at himself in the mirror again. He looks so small and fragile and nervous. A bubbly feeling started to rise in his stomach again, which he still didn’t understand in the slightest.

He had just lost an outfit to that cougar attack.

“Thank you,” he said softly.

Certainly, Leir could live with accepting one free thing.

Once Leir had gathered his clothes and left the store, he lowered his head and started walking away from the shopping center. He would not be able to stand the shame of being pressured into taking something else for free. Clutching his trousers and shirt to his chest, he started heading back towards the inn. His energy was waning and all the walking he’d done was making him ache a little.

Along the way, though, he encountered what looked like a large wooden stage where dwarfs were swarming with fireworks.

“What’s all this about?” Leir asked one of the working dwarfs, a young woman with braided black hair.

“We’re setting up for the fireworks display tomorrow!” she replied. “It’s going to be spectacular! You don’t want to miss it. It’s a very important tradition around here.” She gestured at the scowling man overseeing the operation. “Uhtric, the clan leader, is managing it personally. That’s how important this is to us.”

“I’ll be sure to watch, then,” Leir told her, before turning away.

He made his way back to the inn and dropped off his clothes in the bedroom before heading to the dining hall. It was a little late for lunch but Leir was hungry and hoped that Wassa would have a small snack for him. Leir was halfway through a bowl of soup when the door opened and Melisende stepped into the room.

“There you are,” she said, placing a hand on her hip. “I half expected to find out you’d been arrested for offending someone. Glad you’re back in one piece.” Leir snorted. “What are you wearing?”

Leir stared down at his bowl, ears folded back as heat rushed to his face.

“It’s a disguise,” he mumbled, “so Shadow Fang and her bandits don’t recognize me.”

Melisende rolled her eyes and replied, “Sure. I doubt she even knows you’re not a girl, but whatever. A better way to do that would be to stay here while the others investigate. I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt.”

“I can take care of myself,” Leir retorted, but she was already walking away.

Once he was alone with his soup, Leir thought back to the fireworks display he’d seen being set up. It probably took a lot of manpower to organize and operate that whole event. If he had the time and the tools, there was no doubt that he could invent some kind of automated system that would take much less time to set up. Gears and gunpowder would be enough; he didn’t need electricity or any particular alloys to pull it off.

It was a moot point, since he wasn’t planning to be here for very long, but maybe Leir didn’t need the most cutting-edge technology to be inventive.

Leir changed back into his normal clothes before the rest of Baldovin’s vigilantes made it back to the inn. They gathered together in one room with a pot of tea to discuss their findings, or lack thereof, but after a while the discussion dissolved into a collection of unrelated conversations. When it became clear that nobody had any real clues about Shadow Fang’s location, Leir closed his eyes and tried to meditate on his focal energies.

He could feel the primordial element of fire in his soul, swirling within him and struggling to escape. Leir took deep breaths in and out. All the voices in the room were far away; he could hear the crackling of flames in some distant plane of existence. Heat washed over him, threatening to melt away his very body and scatter his consciousness to the winds.

Something dribbled onto Leir’s head and he scrunched his face up in annoyance. It continued, running down his face in a small stream of liquid and dripping onto his clothes. Leir snapped his attention upward to see the dark blue pixie pouring a tea cup of water onto his head. When Whisper saw Leir react, he turned the cup over all the way, splashing him with the remaining water.

Leir yelped and Whisper giggled before darting away. While Leir grabbed for a towel, the pixie wandered his way over to Melisende, who had her nose in a book. He blew a small gust of wind her way, blowing hair into her eyes and flapping the pages of the book, but she just responded by whining a little and curling up tighter.

“Are you alright?” Whisper asked.

“I’m fine,” she mumbled. “I just want to be left alone.”

Whisper cocked his head to the side, then shrugged and floated back over to Leir. Leir threw the small towel at him, but Whisper effortlessly dodged and landed right between Leir’s fox ears, grabbing onto them for support when Leir tried to shake him off. Resigned to his fate, Leir just groaned and closed his eyes again to try and meditate further, this time on the primordial image of strength.

“How did our world-walker take to the streets of this little dwarfish town?” Whisper asked.

Leir glanced up and asked, “Huh?”

“If one wanders long enough, they’ll end up back where they started, but having changed significantly from the experience.”

“I don’t follow,” Leir growled. “Say what you mean.”

“Each of us needs room to investigate ourselves as much as we investigate our prey. You’ve certainly found something, even if it wasn’t what you thought you were looking for, no? Sometimes as little as a change of clothes can alter everything we see about ourselves.”

Leir felt fire surge to his cheeks and he mumbled, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“There’s an air of mystery about you, though, Leir.” Whisper continued. “You’re the first spirit I’ve met who wears this heavy a mask. I wonder if even you know what’s underneath it yet.”

Across the room, Burrow sat down next to Melisende and offered her a new book.

“This is a little introduction to dwarf customs,” they said. “I thought you might enjoy learning a bit more about them.”

“Thank you,” Melisende said, taking it from them. “I’m actually feeling a little claustrophobic stuck here in the inn all day, even with things to read.”

“You’re free to wander the town if you want,” Burrow reminded her.

“It’s just not the same as home.” Melisende frowned. “Not that I was too warmly welcome there, either.”

Burrow nodded, replying, “You’ll find that dwarfs are a lot more accepting of us than elves are. A lot more spirits settle down in the mountains because of it. You can actually find one or two towns out here that are mostly inhabited by spirits.”

Melisende smiled softly, admitting, “My father said he’d heard rumors of spirits building towns of their own, but that he never put much stock in them.”

“We’re wanderers by nature.” Burrow shrugged. “Traveling in groups is one thing, but we don’t build much on our own, nor do we have much of a culture beyond a few oral traditions passed between strangers. Certainly, we have nothing as complex as dwarfish etiquette customs. But you should definitely see more of the town while you’re here; not everyone gets the chance to travel and it can change your life.”

Staring at the book in her hands, Melisende grunted before adding, “I’m grateful that you’re hosting me, but I worry that other spirits aren’t going to be as amicable toward a poppet like myself. The few travelers we got through Silverleaf never quite looked at me as an equal.”

“That’s something I’ve never had to consider,” Burrow replied. “I know Baldovin has faced some prejudice for being an ascended mortal, and not every type of spirit gets along with each other, but I don’t know much about what poppets experience. Hopefully, none of us have made you feel unwelcome.”

Melisende glanced briefly over to Leir, but said nothing.

The group decided against having a big dinner, but Wassa was kind enough to bring them a platter of snacks and everyone started to settle in for the evening. Baldovin and Lotus Dust talked logistics while Burrow and Melisende chatted quietly about their personal experiences. Leir continued to suffer Whisper’s torments, but he couldn’t lie to himself: for the first time since leaving Silverleaf, he actually felt comfortable around these people.

Bjorg crossed the bridge into the residential side of town, her hands rough and calloused from the long day of setting up fireworks for the next night’s display. She pulled her long black hair out of its braid and let it fall across her shoulders. Her home was far across the other side of town and the trek was exhausting no matter how many times she made it.

Her visitors only complicated things further.

She could hear raised voices coming from inside the door as she pulled out her key. Bjorg stepped inside to see the five spirits sprawled out across her den. A lady with big yellow eyes and green hands with long fingers was sitting at the table and reading. The man with rocky skin was stretched out over the entire sofa, while another lady with four spider legs growing out of her back was sitting in a corner reading. One man with long feathered arms stood at the window, staring out at the street and glancing around suspiciously. The bastet was drinking from a mug of ale that Bjorg had not offered her, and Bjorg couldn’t help but grit her teeth a little.

“Is everyone comfortable?” she asked. “Have you figured out where you’re heading next?”

“We’re making progress,” the frog spirit said in a raspy voice, “but it may take a few more days before we receive word from our contact. That won’t be a problem, will it?”

“Of course not,” Bjorg said, hands clenching a little. “I could never inconvenience a guest in need.” She cleared her throat. “However, a few more days is all I can do. I simply don’t have the food necessary to feed everyone, and every day increases the chance of someone finding out that you’re here and I could get in so much trouble.”

The cat spirit stood up and sat her mug down before walking up to Bjorg. She towered over the dwarf and blocked out a lot of light, only her gleaming eyes and predatory smile easily visible. Bjorg gulped.

“I’m so sorry that we’ve been a burden on you, my dear,” Shadow Fang drawled, her grin spreading ear to ear. “You can’t imagine how much of a help it has been to us poor travelers to finally have a roof over our head for so long. There aren’t many who would sacrifice so much for strangers like us and it has truly touched my heart and restored my faith in the goodwill of others.”

Bjorg smiled softly. She could put up with having so many guests for a few more days. After all, she was doing a good thing and helping out people in desperate need of compassion. Spirits, no less!

“Bjorg,” Shadow Fang continued, “would you gather some food for us? I’m awfully famished.”

“Yes, of course,” Bjorg said. “I’ll be back soon, I promise. There’s a market just down the road.”

Once Bjorg had gone, Shadow Fang turned to the rest of her crew and said, “We have to make plans to move soon. I hate being cooped up in this house.”

Silken, the spider spirit, leaned back in her chair and said, “Those vigilantes are still snooping around. I’d prefer us not to leave until they’ve moved on.”

“They have no reason to believe that we’re here,” Shale, the rocky mountain spirit, added. “No leads on where we’re going, either. As long as we don’t leave this house, we’re safe.”

The bird spirit Razor Wind shook his head and insisted, “I’m not staying locked in here for another two or three days. I need fresh air! I need to fly! Let’s leave now, under the cover of darkness.”

“We’ll be too easy to spot and follow,” Shadow Fang retorted. “I’d prefer to avoid an all-out fight.”

River Lily, the frog spirit, asked, “Perhaps we can create a diversion or even frame them for something? It should keep them occupied long enough for us to escape.”

“If it goes wrong, every town in the region will be on alert for us,” Shale retorted. “I’m no coward, but I don’t want to make this more difficult for ourselves than we have to.”

Shadow Fang nodded, adding, “It’s simply too dangerous to move on right now. These would-be heroes will run themselves ragged soon enough and move on.”

“Still, it would be a good idea to have a backup plan in case things go south,” River Lily replied.

Razor Wing said, “I can go to the clan leader in the morning and have our things ready to leave at a moment’s notice.”

“Come right back,” Shadow Fang told him. “I don’t want any unnecessary risks.”

With any luck, they’d be out of the weeds in a few days and then in the clear for the foreseeable future.

QuillRabbit

We're getting close to a big fight! I can feel it in my bones! Though, seriously, Leir just needs to get over himself and enjoy being a girl more.

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