I awoke the m and found two things to be bothered by. First, I had normal b dreams without a baku friend. Sed, Luv was right, it was sweltering uhe covers with all three of us. Thankfully Redagga was kind enough to haul in a tub for us to fill and all the sweat off with. It was a bit cramped doing it o the kit table, but we made do.

  We got heading out as soon as the sun rose, Brigg eating her breakfast of a messy sandwich as she drove. Luv and Carmil were still i cuddling when the vardo was ba the road, only sitting up when passing over a wooden st bridge caused the whole wagon to vibrate enough to stir them.

  I smiled as I saw them lean on each other at the table a few mier, my loves loving each other made my heart feel like it was going to escape and go live life as a butterfly in aernal spring meadow somewhere.

  It wasn’t long after everyone was fed and awake that Jaina pulled me to the back of the vardo, opening the rear door so we could sit in the open frame with s dangling and watch the world pass by. I knew she wao talk and sidering what she’d told me yesterday about waiting for news from Dekarru, I k was important. She must have gotten the answer already. She was quiet for a long while, just resting against my side and listening to the sounds of the wagon wheels and babbling brooks we followed and crossed.

  After maybe an hour she sighed and looked into my eyes sadly and shook her head. I pulled her close and squeezed. She gave me a sad smile and finally spoke “You know, I was about as relieved as I was disappointed. It’s a weird thing, right? Wanting to be made a mom just because the idea gets me off?”

  I ed my arm around her aed my head against her own. “I mean, a little? But some folks have kids for stupider reasons. Like trying to save a failiionship, or trap a man into marrying them. I know that at the very least, you’ll love any little ones you have.”

  She chuckled softly but there was no real joy in the sound. “Holy, Dekarru told me about Brigg and Red and… I would have felt so fug shitty. They want something they ’t have for the sake of love and family and I almost got it just for kink fulfillment? Fuck. I wouldn’t have been able to look at them without shame ever again. I’m feeling bad enough just for the show we put on that night in front of them.”

  “I doubt they hold any kind e against you for that.”

  “No, but they’ll still have awkward feelings over it even if they don’t want them.” she took a breath “So I started taking e’s root again. As fun as the risk is, and as absolutely incredible as it feels for hours and hours afterward thinking about the possibility, I care more about them than my fetishes.”

  I smiled softly and kissed her “You’re a good woman with a good heart. Carmil was right about you. An o of love too often surrounded by puddles.” She blushed softly “And also a massive slut, I could hear you and Weren upstairs st night while we’re all trying to behave.”

  She swatted my arm “We were plenty quiet, so hush you.”

  “I’m still proud of you and we’ll figure this out somehow. Then maybe you and Brigg be pregnant together.” I smiled at her and the red lighting up her face riceless.

  “Um… oh, Tagakra!” she hopped up ao the pit “Hey! Tagakra lessons for the pale weirdo time!” and everyo Red and Brigg e to join in.

  Let me tell you something. Tagakra is an absolutely beautiful nguage that sounds a lot like singing, and apparently that is because it’s something called a tonal nguage where the tone of a word turn it into airely fug different word. I have never had a more fusing five hours in my life. Which, while the length of my memories would suggest that isn’t saying much, the tent of them would disagree.

  But Polyglot somehed some level of uanding into my mind while I listeo everyone speak in only tagakra, with Jaina occasionally doing partial transtions for me. By lunch I could uand… uh… parts. Not enough to verse in but enough that I was starting to figure out some patterns or something? It’s really hard to describe, but I knew I was learning it quickly.

  By mid afternoon the heat was hitting us all, the windows were all open and Dekarru has some wind spell keeping the air flowing but it was still hot. Thankfully there was some relief as we came onto a trading post. It was almost a town, but there were only four perma structures and a whole lot of wagons as. Traffi the area was heavy and we had to pull aside a good fifty or sixty yards from the market area itself and walk.

  Luv stayed and Carmil kept her pany, the two iwining fingers as they y i and smiled at each ods I fug loved them both so much. The rest of us went to check out what was avaible. Trading posts like this had travel supplies like what we’d gotten at the st town, but were more known for having a chaotid uable mess of goods from all over the ti.

  For instance, Weren dragged us into a huge bright blue yurt and got us some kind of frozen fruit bar things kept cold with a fancy aricraft freezer l enough for two of us to have fit in at ohey were both delicious and cooled us down and I smiled as the cook rushed off with a couple extras to make sure the two ba the vardo enjoyed some as well.

  Brigg grumbled “Fek, a freezer locker? Damn, we need one.”

  Red patted her lover’s head “Where would we fit it dear? We’re already a bit low on spa the old gal.”

  “Bah. N.” she huffed and examined wares as we walked. Then she paused and perked up “Oh, scrap dealer!” and rushed over to an old human sitting in a chair o a dozen small, um, frankly, dumpsters full of broken junk. As I caught up she smiled at me. “Stuff is usually shit in these, but there’s always at least one or two hidden treasures. Most of this is salvage from the war i years, but they also dig through junkyards for things that might be repaired or repurposed.”

  I looked into the bin she was digging through and tapped something she’d shoved aside. “This is still good. The damage is ugly but it didn’t get through, the insides should be fine.”

  She turo stare at me. “You an expert then?”

  I leaned close to whisper, since I had actually internalized that this stuff rivate after all “I have a rank B sging skill, I just tell.”

  She stared for a moment then grinned “Oh, we’re makin’ out like bandits today then” and patted my back.

  Sure enough, an hour ter Red had to rent a small cart from one of the other merts to carry our haul back. Grumbling about how their floor was going to disappear for a week now, but smiling at the manic glee in her dwarven love’s eyes.

  Then came the big deal, something that made everyoop and stare as we passed, though thankfully not at me… mostly. I think. I did have the sungsses on.

  Once we had done our various bits of shopping, Dekarru had us open the lower ste and drag the angel’s spear out, which was some work because it was even heavier than it looked. It send a shiver down my spi the memories of this thing almost ending me repeatedly, but I got over it since I was the oill breathing after all. Redagga and Weren and I carried it uned on our shoulders through the trading post to one of the only four non-mobile buildings. A rge structure with a huge open work entran the side and a simple door in front. We carried it through the rge work door as Dekarru walked around to the frorao find whoever was in charge I guess.

  The inside of the building was a shop full of people breaking down and examining lots of items. No rhyme or reason to what kind that I could see, except that all the folks had glowing fingers as they worked. So some kind of magic workshop I guessed. We set the spear down on a rge stoable and waited for our seer.

  Red smiled as she looked at me “Never seen an appraiser’s office?” I shook my head “Well it’s exactly what it sounds like, they take in and examine goods, especially magical in nature, to give aimate on value. The good ones also have a lot of tacts to help people get in touch with buyers. We got a tip from the st town and this is supposedly a good one, which is why we’re doing this now. Easier and faster thaing to Beaver Valley and probably getting too busy to ha in under a week.”

  “I am never going to get used to that name.” I said, fighting the urge to ugh again.

  Weren licked my ear suddenly and made me jump “Ooh but Beaver Valley is great! My beaver valley is better though.” and then Red smacked the top of her head.

  “NO, BAD. Behave yourself harlot!” she said, trying not to ugh as well.

  Someone cleared their throat nearby and I saw a young or in a fancy suit that looked way too hot for this weather with an older looking elf woman standio the table we’d pced the spear on. The man was heavyset, but more in a ‘my exercise is walking from my bedroom to the kit’ way than like Red ’s effort born physiques. His expression looked like he was born with a stick up his ass and tur into a colle of sticks as he grew. His hands were resting on the small of his back as he stared with thinly veiled disgust at us.

  She however, looked stoic but friendly in a professional sort of way as she approached us with a clipboard. Her clothes were faded and slightly te, which was not shog sidering she looked damned near malnourished. Her hair was buzzed short as if retly shaved off pletely. Though I could only tell because the green head- she wore wasn’t set right and the bright bloubble was exposed above her forehead. Her shoes were worn and the left one had a small hole in it. Sweat dripped down her ne a way that might have been sexy had she not looked vaguely miserable and kinda… doll-like?

  “Hello, what did y us to appraise today?” her words were practiced and ft, a routine so on that aion she might have had died before it could affect what was said.

  “Angel spear.” Red replied.

  The girl’s eyes widened slightly and she looked at the on. “That is certainly an impressive find.”

  The man spoke up “If true.”

  Red’s eyes narrowed as she gred at him “Why wouldn’t it be?”

  The girl responded more quickly than the man that I was realizing ervisor, maybe training her? Oh. She robably a refugee taking whatever work she could get. That would expin a lot actually. Tough girl if she deal with this bastard though.

  “What variety and level?” she asked quickly with enough strength in her voice to carry over whatever the supervisor was saying.

  Red turo me and I spoke up “Oh uh…” I stared at the wall for a moment as I thought about the fight. “Celestial Purifier. Level fifty one. Sorry, that was a rough day and the notification was moments after I almost died like six times.”

  The elf nodded and marked it down. But her supervisor decided to be an ass some more. “Mark it as a Celestial Footman, level twenty at most. o pretend they have anything that valuable.”

  The girl froze and looked at me apologetically, but I was staring at the jerk o her “Excuse me? I know what the System said.”

  He snorted dismissively “As if you Path animals know anything other than the smell of your own excrement. There is no way some primitive savages like you defeated a mid level purifier.”

  “SAVAGES ARE WE?” I could feel Dekarru’s voice more than hear it, the angel’s words had been a gentle whisper o the raw power that pulsed through everything and everyone as it came p from her.

  Work stopped, sounds stopped, everyohat had been appraising something now looked up and fear stered on every face. The supervisor turo look at the shaman st into the workshop from what I assumed was some front office, and I do not mean stormed as a metaphor. Wind whipped around her and lightning danced from her eyes as she made her way towards the doomed fool.

  He apparently had even less sehan I thought because he just sneered “Exactly like you savages! You ’t lie or cheat to get what you want so you turn to violence! See this, see all of you! This is what the Path does! It turns people into vicious animals!”

  Red moved quickly and grabbed the elf, pulling her away from the idiot and making us all back up to the work door quickly. “Oh this is gonna go so badly for him. I hope the workshop survives.”

  “ARROGANT CHILD, YOU KNOW NOTHING OF OUR WAYS. YOU DRAPE YOURSELF IN FINERY AND LOOK DOWN YOUR OTHERS AS LESSER AND PRETEND YOU ARE SOMEHOW REMOVED FROM THE NATURAL WORLD. WE ARE ALL ANIMALS AND TO CLAIM OTHERWISE IS NAUGHT BUT VANITY. SADLY FOR YOU, WE ARE SOCIAL ANIMALS AND YOU HAVE SLIGHTED MY PACK. I HAVE LITTLE MERCY FOR THOSE THAT WOULD MAKE ME AND MIHEIR ENEMIES.”

  Every word was like thunder shaking my bones, like the very world itself trembled in anger with her. The building was emptying out quickly as workers ran past us while we watched. I gnced behi of the workshop and from the looks of it this was not a locally tained spell. The merts and travelers outside were all panig to one degree or another as well.

  “You will do nothing you mule fug beast! I am the son of the mayor of Su! You ’t touch me!”

  But apparently someone could because suddenly a boot hit him in the side of the head aumbled to the floor.

  The voice that screamed in anger was not Dekarru’s, but an older or rushing from another room, one foot missing a boot. He yelled at the younger or tagakra so fast I couldn’t make out much. ‘Uncle’, ‘Stupid’, ‘Fired’, ‘Father’, ‘You walk’ was clear though.

  He argued back but then the older man said something including the word ‘Oracle’ and that idiot’s face turned nearly as pale as my owopped arguing and immediately jumped to his feet and ran away as fast as he could.

  Weren huffed “We better get a better deal because of this, she actually got almost angry.”

  The elf that was still pressing herself up against Redagga in fear just turo look at the cook “She… wasn’t angry?”