The vestiges of nightmares clung to Autumn’s mind as she awoke. Already the foul images were draining down into a hazy recollection, leaving behind only lingering fear and sweat. With a pulse of will, Autumn pulled the coils of fear out and into her hat resting nearby. 

Now settled, Autumn took in her predicament. 

During the night, she’d tossed and turned in the throes of the nightmare. Her flailing limbs were an annoyance for her sleeping companions. So, in order to quell her thrashing and soothe her panicked sleep, muscular arms had wrapped around her and drawn her into a comforting embrace. This, of course, meant she awoke in a fiery embrace.

A blush ran rampant over Autumn’s features.

“Good morning. You had a rough night?” 

The bright orange eyes of a pirate gazed at Autumn from only less than a foot away. Liddie had too snuggled up against Autumn’s warmth in the cold of night. Not as tightly as Nethlia, but still far too close for Autumn’s comfort.

An instinctual denial rose to Autumn’s lips amidst her mind’s stuttering shock.

“N-no. It was just a nightmare. I don’t even r-remember it. I-I’m f-fine.”

Autumn felt like she was burning up. Her back was pressed up against powerful musculature that felt like granite more than flesh and far too close to her front was a roguishly beautiful demoness. It was by far more flustering than some half-forgotten dreams. 

“U-umm, c-could you help get me out of this please?” 

Autumn gestured to the thick arm wrapped around her waist. While she wished to luxuriate in her muscular entrapment a moment longer, her stomach and embarrassment had other plans. A deep rumble emerged from beneath her clothes to accompany the furious blush on her features.

“Wow. That’s some beast you got caged in there. Best we feed it before someone mistakes it for an actual monster’s roar. Are you sure you don’t want to rest there a moment longer? I sure as hells would.”

“Please, just help me. She’s too strong; I need air!”

The slumbering berserker was possessive in her hold of Autumn, her grip tight around the smaller girl’s waist. As neither of them enjoyed the strength to match her, it took no small amount of struggle to free Autumn from that firm embrace.

“Well, that certainly worked up an appetite. What say we go get something to eat?” Liddie asked as she panted. 

Autumn nodded, and the pair were lured by the smells of a hearty breakfast. In the embers of the central cook fire lay large hollowed-out crab shells, easily the size of a traditional wok. Inside these chitinous bowls was a creamy aromatic crab and onion soup simmering away. 

Instantly, Autumn was salivating.

They exchanged a few copper coins for a smaller crab-shell filled with soup. Autumn broke out the few remaining scraps of Duskwheat bread she had and shared it with Liddie. After so many days on the road, the once fluffy breads had become hard as rock and the soup offered a perfect medium to make it palatable once again. Her taste buds exploded under the powerful flavors. 

It took two more bowls worth to satiate her voracious stomach.

Just as Autumn was scraping clean her bowl with the final crumbs of dread, Gilralei sat down beside her with her own bowl. Behind her hid the all too familiar form of the Felis Eme, who waved shyly at Autumn with a blush covering her face.

“Any good?” Gilralei asked.

Autumn swallowed the last of her soup before replying. “It’s great. It goes well with trail rations too.” Looking behind the Elf, Autumn waved back at Eme. “H-hi Eme, would you like a seat? I was just going.” 

“Oh. N-no, that’s fine. I was j-just wondering if you’d like…maybe we c-could get a drink? Together I mean! Later sometime? It’s ok if you don’t want to! I just was…the thing… I-I, bye!” Eme squeaked as she ducked beside her amused captain. 

“Sure!” Autumn squeaked back. “I’d like that! Later? Like…Yeah later! Bye!” Autumn hid her burning face beneath her hat as she retreated, sending a parting wave to the air. Did it make it more or less embarrassing that she couldn’t remember much of their night together?

Before she was out of earshot, she heard Gilarlei say to Eme, “See? It wasn’t so bad.”

Liddie looked on in amusement. 

“So, you and the Felis girl, huh? I guess that explains all those bite marks you’ve collected. I’m not judging you or anything, I’m just surprised that’s all, didn’t expect it out of you! I’m proud! Now, if you need any tips, let me know. I know this one thing you can do with your tongue–”

Autumn blushed harder.

“That’s OK! I don’t want to hear it!”

“Hear what?” Nethlia rubbed at her sleepy eyes, Autumn’s shout having finally woken her. 

“Nothing!” Autumn said before Liddie could add any unnecessary details. The pirate just smirked. 

Nethlia squinted suspiciously. Before she could interrogate either of them, the wafting smells of breakfast caught her attention, and she gravitated over to the food. While Autumn knew Nethlia could put away a massive quantity of food, it was still gloriously shocking to see her demolish the pot of soup, eating nearly double what Autumn and Liddie had together. 

Eventually, the others joined them and grabbed what they could before Nethlia ate everything. 

In the midst of the destruction, Captain Gilareli came back over. She paused with a queasy look on her face as she took in the sheer quantity of soup that disappeared into Nethlia. 

“R-Right, that’s certainly a sight. Captain Nethlia? There’s a meeting soon between the captains and village elders. If you could…finish up quickly, we’ve not much time as we need to leave around midday if we want to remain on schedule.”

Nethlia swallowed the last of her soup in one large gulp before turning to the awaiting captain. 

“I remember.” Nethlia turned to the rest of the party. “Make sure we have at least four days of rations before we depart? This’ll be our last chance to resupply, and we don’t want to risk foraging in the swamps on such a tight deadline.”

Liddie mock-saluted. 

“AYE AYE, Cap-i-tain.” 

Nethlia rolled her eyes before smiling at Autumn, causing the poor Witch’s heart to kick up. 

“Autumn, you’re in charge of finances. As we’ve not a lot of money on hand, try to stick to the essentials.” 

Autumn nodded. “You can leave it with me.”

With Nethlia’s departure, the party split up further. Nelva, Pyre, and Edwyn went to resupply their depleted stocks of alchemical ingredients and get their damaged arms and armor repaired, while Autumn and Liddie went out in search of dried foodstuffs. Ten days had passed since they’d begun their journey and their rations were exhausted. 

Exiting the Drowned Tyrant, Autumn stood upon a rickety walkway beside Liddie and gazed out over the waters of the settlement. 

Across the early-morning waters was a vast collection of fishing vessels. They dotted the muddy waters like grains of sand upon a beach. It surprised Autumn to see so many in such a small village. However, rather than hauling up nets full of fish as she expected, the fishermen and women hauled up massive net-traps bound around mud crabs, each the size of Autumn’s torso. They snapped angrily at the fisherfolk with serrated claws.

“Snapclaws. Imaginative name, right? They’re downright dangerous if you don’t mind your footing. You’ll have a peg-leg before you know it,” Liddie said with a laugh.

“Are they very common in the swamps?” Autumn asked.

She watched nervously as one furiously fought against its capturers, the noise of its snapping pincers loud even from this far away.

“They sure are! And they’re not even the worst thing out in the Mire. That’s why we’re getting one of the local Mireguard Rangers as a guide. Let’s get our rations so that we can have some fun!”

Liddie slipped her hand into Autumn’s and pulled her across the walkways. The heat of the contact warmed her in the chill of the morning. Autumn had to hastily pick up her pace to match the longer strides of the demoness. Instinctively, she grasped onto her hat in one hand as they ran.  

Unlike Duskfield’s packed marketplace full of noisy barkers, Bogward’s farmer’s market was practically tranquil by comparison. Small monger stalls sat inside one of the few open spaces upon the central tree’s roots. While the rain continued to pour down on the settlement, the boughs and leaves provided a decent enough cover as only a few drops made it through. Bright colored cloth stretched overhead acted as a last line of defense for the wares and shoppers below.  

Hands still connected, Liddie dragged Autumn over to a local food monger. Most of the wares were more swamp-themed than Autumn was used to; dried mushrooms and crabmeats being the mainstays.

As the party had yet to gather any sort of party funds, Autumn had to dip into her own pouch to cover the cost of the rations. Luckily, for four days of dried food for six people, it only came to 9g 60s in total. 

Still, it was a fair chunk of her wealth.

“Hey Autumn! What do you think? Does it suit me?” 

Liddie held up a necklace of chitin and amber against her slender neck. The amber matched her glittering eyes and Autumn’s eyes drew to the way light played through it upon her cherry-red skin. It startlingly reminded Autumn of just how attractive the pirate actually was underneath all the teasing.

“I-it looks good on you.” 

Liddie’s eyes narrowed as she took in Autumn’s lackluster reply. “Just good? I don’t want it anymore.” She tossed it back to the stall she’d found it on. 

Grabbing Autumn’s hand once more, she dragged Autumn across to a few other stalls. Occasionally she’d inspect a few bits and baubles in interest or ask Autumn for her opinion, but nothing really caught her eye. Other than a few bits of jewelry, everything else was meant for local consumption: food, cloth, tools, etc.

“Here taste this!” 

Liddie held up a small confectionery marble made up of a hardened sugary syrup around a nut that Autumn didn’t recognize. Autumn pulled back from the treat brushing against her lips.

“Didn’t we already eat?” 

Liddie glared. “This is this; that was that! Plus, it’s candy, so open up already!”

Obediently, Autumn ate the proffered treat. The taste was very sweet and paired well with the earthy flavor of the nut. It didn’t beat a good chocolate-bar, but Liddie seemed inordinately pleased with herself. Still clutching onto Autumn’s hand, she continued to drag Autumn all over the marketplace until they reached the far end, where it crested up against the water’s edge. Out in the water were rows of trestles submerged in the water.

“Oh! Look at those, that’s Sugarmoss: the stuff they make Mosswine from. The name’s a bit of a misnomer, seeing as it’s made of moss, not grapes. It’d be more accurate to call it Mossrum or something, but I don’t think it’d sell as well, you know?”

As they watched a crew of farmers hauled up a section of the trellis to reveal a coated carpet of bright red moss. It looked almost like bloody flesh on a grater. The Sugarmoss wasn’t the only water-borne vegetation being farmed, floating on the water-farms were all sorts of flowering berry flowers, stalks of vibrant flaxes, and bright mushrooms. 

“Come on! Let’s go buy a bunch of Mosswine for the journey back home. We can get it much cheaper here than back home.”

Liddie pulled on Autumn’s arm towards a large, almost factory-like building. Autumn ground her boots into the wood to slow the flighty pirate. 

“Hey wait! We…I don’t have that much money left! We can’t spend everything on booze, you heard Nethlia.”

“Pshh! What does that killjoy know? All adventurer teams supplement their income by buying local goods and selling them at their next destination. Plus, we have some money coming in from the Quillodile sales. I can talk to the sellers and get us a good price. You’ll make at least double your investment in Duskfields, guaranteed!”

“But how are we going to transport it?! I’m pretty sure weight is a big issue in a bog!”

Liddie laughed.

“While I appreciate the thought, as I’d dearly love to booze it up in the swamp, we’ll put in an order now to pick it up when we return. I’ve done it before. It’ll be fine!”

By the time Liddie had finished, they’d arrived before the factory-looking building. From the water’s edge, workers hauled the large trellis of Sugarmoss into a dry dock to be processed into sugar and, subsequently, Mosswine. Just inside the building, there was a small reception area where a large demon sat. Upon their entry, he eyed them curiously.

“Greetings to Danxies’ Sugar Works, how may I help you today?” 

Liddie strode towards the desk with confidence and a grin. “My greetings in return. My name is Liddie Eastoft and I’m interested in a bulk purchase of Mosswine. I’ve done business here before and I found the prices more than reasonable and I hope they’ll be so today!”  

When the demon heard she was a twice-named demoness, his eyes widened and his posture straightened. “Of course, Miss Eastoft, you’ll find the prices here unbeatable!”

As Liddie’s grin sharpened, Autumn could already feel a hole opening up in her coin-pouch.