by Pirateaba
“I think it’s a war between Goblin tribes, Miss. It happens. Or—it could be this Goblin Lord we’ve been hearing rumors about.”
Wesle’s face was grim. Erin remembered that Goblin Lords were supposed to be really bad.
“You guys are working hard. Um. Do you work like this every day?”
“Well, most days we just arrest petty criminals and patrol, Miss. Or stand watch at the gate and check travelers coming in, like we did with you. It’s not always this exciting.”
The [Guardsman] gave Erin a faint grin. She nodded.
“And what about fun?”
“Fun, Miss?”
“Yeah. Do you do…anything for fun in your free time?”
“Weeeell…”
Wesle looked uncomfortable. Suddenly encouraged, Erin grinned and nudged him.
“Come on. What do you do? Show me, please? I won’t tell.”
It took a bit of coaxing, but eventually Wesle led Erin behind the barracks and into the practice yard. It was for [Guardsmen] to swing a blade, but the bored men and women of the City Watch had installed an unauthorized addition to the place.
A horseshoe, rusted and battered from use, swung from Wesle’s hand. He tossed it across the snowy and muddy ground and landed it near, but not on the metal pole that had been hammered into the earth. He offered one to Erin, but she just stared at it. Erin looked at the horseshoe, and then at Wesle’s face.
“And this is what you do for fun?”
“Yeah.”
Erin stared at the horseshoes. She stared at Wesle. Then she reached out and patted him gently on the shoulder.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Er, why?”
He never got an answer. Erin just walked away, shaking her head sadly.
—-
Such a boring world. It actually amazed Erin that she could think that. But at times, it was true. Even here, there was boredom. Perhaps more boredom than back home.
Or—maybe it wasn’t the world that was boring, but some of the people living in it. Erin had never felt bored in Liscor, but she’d always had something to do. Here, she was just an observer, watching people live lives that—weren’t that interesting, to be honest.
Wesle was a [Guardsman]. Agnes was an [Innkeeper]. Octavia was an [Alchemist]. That was all they were and would be, and they leveled up and worked and lived, and that was all.
It wasn’t enough for Erin. She needed something else. But she had no idea of where to find it, so Erin just started walking. She walked out of the City Watch’s guardhouse and into the city, looking for something she wasn’t sure existed.
Where should she go? Erin came to a crossroads and turned left for no particular reason. She’d gone walking through the city before of course, but that was always with Ryoka. Today Erin walked down streets Ryoka would never turn.
It wasn’t that her friend was a snob—even though she sort of was. But it was that Ryoka always went from A to Z, and never bothered talking to H or exploring any places in between.
When she was in the city, Ryoka would just go to the marketplace—that was to say, the marketplace where people traded for gold and valuable items. She wouldn’t ever visit the stalls that sold Miss Agnes food, or venture into the poorer parts of the city.
Unless she was on a delivery. But most of Ryoka’s clients were rich, so she never ran down the streets Erin now walked down. The girl saw the way the buildings changed from stone to wood, the way their architecture became simpler, and the rare glass windows disappeared altogether.
And then—Erin was in a different world. She stared around at the faces of people who weren’t rich, or even close to it. She saw thin bodies, clothes that were badly patched or simply holey, and felt something different in her chest besides apathy.
These were poor people. Of course, it shouldn’t surprise Erin. Every world had poor people—people who couldn’t afford to eat. But she’d somehow forgotten that they existed here. Forgotten, because she’d never looked.
A girl passing by Erin looked like she could have used a few more meals. Erin tried not to stare, but she felt a…a kinship with the people who passed her by. She’d been like that, once. She’d had nothing, living in an empty inn that was falling apart.
And of course, there was no fun to be had here. Erin looked around and only saw misery mixed with desperation. Here were people who couldn’t even think about having fun. They lived on the edge.
It made her feel bad about complaining. Erin wavered, turned to go. She couldn’t feed these people, but maybe if she had scraps left over from cooking? But Maran and Safry took those back to their families. No one had too much. But was there something…?
Then Erin saw it. There were shops down this street as well, and the girl she’d passed had gone to one of them, to buy something at the stalls. But while she was waiting in the queue, a small shape moved furtively behind her. Erin recognized the young boy’s face at once. She’d seen him calling out to her when she’d entered the city, all innocence and smiles.
And now…he was picking a pocket. Or rather, cutting a purse. Erin saw him reaching for the young woman’s money pouch hidden just under her tunic and shouted.
“Grev!”
Every head turned, but the boy’s turned fastest. Grev’s eyes widened when he saw Erin, and then his face went dead white with recognition. The girl he’d been trying to rob turned and shrieked in horror when she saw the small knife in his hands, but it fell from nerveless fingers as Grev stared at Erin. Erin took one step towards him, and he ran.
“Oh no you don’t! Get back here!”
She ran after him, dashing past surprised people as Grev screamed and ran for his life. Erin didn’t know what she’d do when she caught him—hadn’t she threatened to shove a bee up his butt? She didn’t have any bees left, but she wasn’t too bothered by that. She was bored, and here was something to do.
Grev ran as if Carn Wolves were on his back, pushing past people, ignoring their curses. Erin ran a bit slower, dodging around people.
“Whoops! Sorry! Excuse me!”
She had Grev in her sights the entire time—until the boy turned down an alley! Erin skidded into it, wary for a second of an ambush, but she saw Grev turning around a corner. He was still running, so Erin gave chase.
Really, she had no idea why she was still running after him, but after five minutes of pursuit giving up was no longer an option. Erin had to catch Grev; it was a matter of pride.
Erin dashed down another poor street, practically unpaved and full of run down houses. Where was she? But there was Grev, trying to open a door!
“Gotcha!”
Before the frantic boy could open the door and get away, Erin seized him by one hand. He shrieked in fear and to Erin’s surprise, raised his other arm as he shrunk to the ground. As if he was afraid she would…hit…him…
She’d just processed that thought when Erin heard a voice.
“Stop, please!”
Someone grabbed her arm. The hand wasn’t big, but the touch was rough and whoever had grabbed her had claws. Erin jumped and let go of Grev. He ran behind his savior, a female Drake—
Erin blinked. She stared at the young Drake standing in front of her, holding a bundle of what looked like wet clothing in one claw while the other held Erin. The Drake let go of Erin and backed away instantly. She shielded Grev with her body as she spoke desperately to Erin.
“Please, Miss! Don’t hurt him! He’s just a child!”
“Wha?”
Why was a Drake in Celum? Erin hadn’t even seen one, but here was a Drake, standing in front of her. The Drake paused as she realized Erin wasn’t going to start hitting her. For a moment she and Erin just stared at each other while Grev hid behind her, sniveling.
“You’re a Drake.”
That was the brilliant opening Erin came up with. The female Drake hesitated, and then nodded. She bit at her lip, glaring at Erin as if that statement was a challenge.
“That’s right. I�
�m a Drake. But I live here, and the Watch knows about me.”
“Oh.”
“I’m sorry if Grev did anything—but he’s just a child! Please, whatever he did—”
“He was pickpocketing. I saw him.”
The Drake’s reaction was immediate, as was Grev’s. He immediately let go of her and piped up in denial.
“I never!”
“Oh Grev—”
She stared at him, clearly knowing he was lying. But instantly the Drake looked back at Erin, and now there was a genuine note of desperation in her voice.
“Please don’t report him, Miss. Please don’t. He’s only one crime away from being exiled from the city. And if that happens—it was just one mistake, Miss. It won’t happen again.”
“Really?”
Erin propped her hands on her hips and stared at Grev as he tried to turn invisible.
“I happen to have met Grev before. He helped a bunch of thugs ambush me when I first came into the city.”
“Grev!”
The Drake turned. To Erin’s surprise, she dropped the clothing on the snowy cobblestones and grabbed Grev, lifting him up as he shouted.
“I—I—”
“How dare you! I’ll spank you until you won’t sit for two weeks! And you’re not having dinner! I should drag you to the City Watch myself. Do you want to be kicked out of the city? Because if you do—”
“I’m sorry! I’msorryI’msorryI’m—”
The Drake kept shaking Grev as he apologized frantically, shouting. Erin saw other doors opening and closing once the occupants saw what was going on, but no one came to see. She cleared her throat and the two stopped and stared at her.
Grev’s face was somewhere beyond white and going into ghostly. The Drake’s face was—well, her dark red scales couldn’t really change color like skin, but they were definitely looking more pink than red around her face. Both clearly expected the worst.
And why not? Erin wasn’t a huge, angry [Warrior], true, but she was dressed a lot better than they were, and she could easily summon the Watch. But to their surprise, the young woman didn’t shout or get angry. She just smiled a bit, and held out a hand.
“I’m Erin. Who are you?”
The Drake stared at the hand, and then dropped Grev. She gingerly took the hand.
“Jasi. My name is Jasi, Miss.”
—-
Jasi the Drake was one of perhaps two or three Drakes in Celum.
“I don’t know. There was a [Merchant], but he might have left. And there’s a [Baker] who married a Human woman. But it’s not common, especially in small cities like this.”
“Really?”
Jasi shifted in her seat. Erin was sitting in her home—hers and Grev’s. Apparently, they lived in a squalid hut—house was too grand a word for this place—next to the city walls. It had belong to their parents, both of whom were dead or had simply left. Erin hadn’t asked.
Now Erin sat on a rickety chair with a cup of boiled water in front of her. She hadn’t drunk from it. There were a few flecks in the water that she didn’t want in her stomach. Jasi sat across from her while Grev tried to listen to their conversation and hide in the other corner of the room.
Talking had happened. And spanking and apologizing and now explanations were currently occurring.
“You live pretty close to Liscor. I’d have thought more than one or two Drakes would live in cities, even Humans ones.”
“Well…people don’t like Drakes here. And I’ve heard that most Drakes don’t like Humans.”
Jasi looked uncomfortable as she spoke. She’d apologized a hundred times to Erin, but she was still clearly afraid Erin would go ballistic over Grev’s crimes, or, Erin realized, her being a Drake. She tried to reassure the young…woman.
“Don’t worry—I don’t mind Drakes. In fact, I live in Liscor where there are tons of them!”
“Liscor?”
Both Grev and Jasi exclaimed at the same time. Jasi looked at Erin with wide eyes.
“Really? But I heard Humans don’t live there. Unless—are you an adventurer, Miss?”
“Nope.”
“She is!”
Grev called out from one corner of the room. He was standing—as sitting would be very hard with his sore backside. He flinched when Erin and Jasi looked at him. But he piped up with the determination to be proved right.
“I saw her! She beat three big men by herself! She punched one of them so hard he broke his nose!”
“And whose fault is it she had to fight you stupid—”
Jasi raised her voice and nearly got up before Erin stopped her. She was all for punishing Grev, but he’d had enough, at least in her opinion.
“I’m not an adventurer. I’m an [Innkeeper]. I have an inn in Liscor and I happen to have a few combat Skills.”
“Oh.”
“Did you come from Liscor?”
Jasi suddenly turned red, the scales around her face actually turning a lighter pink rather than darkening.
“Who me? No—I’ve actually never been to Liscor. Or…or anywhere with other Drakes, really.”
“What? Then how…?”
“It’s a long story, Miss.”
It came out as the cup of water in front of Erin slowly stopped steaming and went cold. It was cold in Jasi’s house, and it was her house. Erin had figured out some of the story just seeing how Jasi and Grev interacted, but the rest fell into place quickly enough.
Jasi was adopted. Or more accurately, she was a child that had been abandoned and found and raised by a Human father and mother. She’d lived in Celum all her life, but that life hadn’t been kind to her. Her parents—who’d taken care of her and taught her to live among Humans and then had Grev—had split up unhappily. The mother found another man, the father just…disappeared one day.
It was a sad story, the kind Erin had heard many times in her world. But to hear it here—was disheartening. But what Erin could admire throughout it was Jasi. She’d kept going even when her parents had gone. She’d found work, as a [Washer] although she only had a handful of levels, and she’d earned enough coin for her and Grev to survive.
The catch was that she couldn’t look after Grev and earn money at the same time. The street had raised him, and what Grev had learned was how to steal, and how to lure innocent people into ambushes. Jasi had known about the first part and done her best to stop that, but she hadn’t known about the muggings.
When Erin gave her the full recounting of what Grev had done when she’d first met him—and after she’d stopped threatening to bite Grev’s hands off, Jasi got down on her hands and knees and begged Erin for mercy.
“I swear to you, I’ll never let it happen again. Please don’t report him. He’s the only family I have left.”
What could Erin do but agree? Jasi made Grev apologize a hundred times, and promised to keep a better watch over him, but all Erin could wonder was when he’d be caught next, and what would happen then.
And from the look in Jasi’s eyes, she was thinking the same thing. That was how Erin found herself sitting in their grubby home, poking a finger into the very cold cup of water and watching as Jasi got back to her work.
She washed clothing for bronze coins, day in, day out. And she did it by using a tub of quite dirty water in the cold home and using lye soap and her claws to scrub the dirty fabrics as clean as she could.
It was hard, backbreaking work, especially since Jasi didn’t exactly have any racks to dry the clothes on, let alone a washer and dryer. Instead, she hung bits of rope from stands—chairs, the ceiling, and so on, letting the clothing drip-dry as the small fire she kept going in the fireplace added smoke to the cold room.
Erin didn’t know if she liked Jasi. She certainly felt bad for her, but that wasn’t the same as liking her. But she felt she couldn’t just walk out of the home. Not when she looked at Jasi’s hands, or rather, her claws.
Her scales were paler and—damaged around her claws. Some were even missing, r
evealing pale white skin underneath. It was clearly painful from the way the Drake girl avoided brushing up against the exposed parts where she could. Erin could only guess that her work washing clothes had scraped away her scales one at a time.
It was like…seeing how her life could have gone. Maybe. Jasi was a stranger in a city full of people who weren’t like her, and didn’t like her. And what was more, she had to take care of Grev. It was a thankless, soul crushing task. And Erin…
Erin felt at her belt pouch. She had gold coins and silver coins in there, courtesy of her work as an [Innkeeper] at Miss Agnes’ inn. She had more bronze coins than Jasi and Grev had together. If she gave them just one gold coin, what would happen?
Happiness, perhaps for a day? Then it would be back to normal. Maybe Jasi could buy something to help her with washing, but the place they were in wouldn’t change that much.
What about all the coins? They’d probably get robbed. And even then, when it ran out they’d still be poor. Erin was no social worker, no expert in charity and relief management, but she knew this wasn’t a good option.
But what else could be done? She could…walk out and leave them alone. But Erin rejected that as well. And yet—how many people were like Jasi? If Erin went next door, she was sure she’d probably feel the exact same way about the people living there.
But she knew Jasi, and Grev. She knew their names. That made things different. Just knowing their names meant it was so hard to walk away.
“Grev! Help me lift this, will you? And don’t drop it or I’ll have to wash it again!”
Jasi snapped at Grev as she struggled to lift some wet shirts up. Erin sat back down as Grev ran over. She watched them work.
Yes. If she helped them half-heartedly, she wouldn’t change much, would she? But if she gave them everything, what would happen to her?
What would Ryoka do? Would she come up with a brilliant solution, or would she just shake her head and say this is how the world was and walk away? Erin didn’t know.
She saw the female Drake wince as the clothing wrapped around a patch of exposed skin where the scales had been torn away. But she made no sound.
Erin looked at the windows. The shutters were closed—obviously they had no glass windows, but even the shutters had gaps in them, letting in the winter air. And the floor was filthy. When had they last cleaned? And the water in the tub—Jasi must have hauled it here, and when would she be able to replace it? Only when it became impossible to wash with, Erin bet.