Toshie opened her eyes.

  The bed was empty except for her. She looked around and saw Brot sitting in the chair, reading a book.

  “Good morning, Master Toshie,” he said, putting the book down. “Master Tunasad and the others went downstairs for breakfast. They told me to bring you down when you woke up.”

  “Thanks, Brot,” Toshie said, rubbing her eyes. “Stop letting Sally boss you around, though. She could have waited instead.”

  “Oh, I do not mind,” Brot said, putting the book into his bag and hopping off the chair. “Waiting is part of what it means to be a Priest.”

  “Still, as long as you’re with us, I don’t want you to feel you’re being walked over.”

  “No, no, no. You would know if I were angry.” Brot’s smile scared the shit out of Toshie. “Well, shall we eat?”

  The breakfast was simple, and Mr. Williams smiled as much as someone who had lost their spouse could. Which is to say he didn’t. But he insisted on them eating in that way an older retive who always had to get their way, even if they seemed as if they were seconds away from biting your head off, would. No one could bme him.

  “How much do we owe you for the stay and the meals?” Navarin said as they finished eating.

  Mr. Williams shook his head. “All I need is for you to promise you’ll take good care of Toshie.”

  Navarin nodded, and for a brief second, Toshie almost forgot Navarin was controlling the four of them with poisonous ankle bracelets. They grabbed their bags and left the restaurant.

  “Toshie,” Mr. Williams said, stopping her as everyone else had left the restaurant.

  She turned around.

  “You asked what it means to be the Hero. I wish I could tell you. But I think you’re going to do just fine.”

  Toshie hugged the old man.

  “Good luck, Toshie.”

  She searched for words but couldn’t find any. Maybe this time she didn’t need them.

  “That was a terrible dey,” Navarin said as soon as they had entered the market district of Waterlink. “Hero, take those two lovebirds and purchase rations for our travel aboard a merchant ship. Be quick. We will debark as soon as possible.”

  “Back to business, eh?” Sally said, giving Navarin a nudge. “I saw you getting teary-eyed at the funeral st night.”

  “They gave us aid in our time of need, and we only brought them misfortune. It is appropriate to grieve at such times.”

  “So no more Nice Navi?” Sally said with a doe-eyed stare.

  Navarin ignored her.

  “Goblin, accompany me in finding a vessel. I assume your studies as a Priest included some dealings with the mercantile css.”

  Brot tilted his head at her.

  “You know how to talk to merchants, right, Brot?” Yrlith helped.

  “Oh, yeah. No problem! My charm is unmatched.” Brot grinned.

  “I’m sure,” said Navarin with a sigh. “We shall reconvene here in two hours. Make haste. Goblin, with me.”

  “Yes, Master Navarin,” Brot said as he wobbled his way after Navarin, who was already far ahead.

  “I liked her better when she wore that bck dress,” said Sally. Yrlith nodded.

  “Everyone but the merchants coming to Waterlink fancies themselves an adventurer,” expined Yrlith as they shopped. “So, the merchants are ready to sell.”

  “And it’s easier when you’re not paying,” Sally said with a smile. Toshie looked confused.

  “Hey, Navi wanted us to buy, so I figured she should pay,” Sally said, patting the bulging pouch on her belt. “Speaking of her paying, how about lunch on our lovely leader?”

  “Didn’t you have breakfast?” Yrlith said.

  “What about second breakfast?” Toshie said with a wink to Sally.

  Sally gasped. “She knows about the Holy Meal!”

  “There’s nothing holy about you eating too much,” said Yrlith.

  “You’re mad I don’t put on the weight like you do.”

  Yrlith huffed and pointed to some stands. “Looks like there’s plenty for you to gorge on.”

  Sally patted Yrlith’s stomach. “Are you sure there’s no room in there for some tasty treats? Navi’s paying.”

  Toshie smiled. Everything felt, well, dare she say it? Normal.

  The first stall they stopped at sold pickled goods. Toshie had never been a fan of pickles, and seeing what looked like pickled bees did not entice her to try new kinds.

  “You don’t know what you’re missing,” Yrlith said as she popped a handful into her mouth.

  “I’ll try something, I swear,” Toshie said. “Anything but pickles. Please, no pickles.”

  “Funny, we stayed at The Frog’s Pickle for a few days. Doomed from the start,” said Sally as she grabbed a few from Yrlith’s bag.

  “They never served me pickles. Plus, I’m pretty sure that’s a double entendre,” Toshie said, looking for any stand with something that would appeal to her.

  “A what?” said Yrlith.

  “Excuse her,” said Sally. “I don’t think her family could afford a single entendre.”

  “I see you’re in a feisty mood,” Yrlith said, pulling the bag of pickled bees away from Sally as she reached for it.

  “Aw, what did I do to deserve that?” Sally said pyfully, grabbing Yrlith’s waist.

  “You deserve more than that.” She pushed Sally away. “Leave me alone.” She walked over to a bench facing the sea, sat, and munched on the bees.

  “You sure struck a nerve,” Toshie said, spping Sally on the back. “Gonna go apologize?”

  “Sigh, yeah. Well, I’ll give her some time,” Sally said. “Can you sit with her while I buy an apology snack?”

  “Yeah, I know how this goes,” Toshie said. She walked over and sat next to Yrlith, still munching on bees, staring out at the sea.

  “Sally sent you?” she said without looking at Toshie.

  “Yeah, but I mean, you didn’t expect Sally to come first, did you?”

  “No,” Yrlith ughed. “She’s too damn stubborn. I bet she’ll buy me something to try to apologize. She could try not to overdo her jokes.”

  “I guess you grew up poor?”

  “Yeah, although I don’t talk much about it. She doesn’t enjoy talking about her family, and neither do I.”

  “I, uh, I have so many questions about you and your family.”

  “Hah, well, there’s not much to say.” Yrlith finished the bag of pickled bees and crumpled it.

  “I disagree,” said Toshie. “I mean, you’re my first Dragon. Shit, that sounded weird. Um, I mean, I came to this world and met Dwarves, a Princess, and a Dragon. It’s like a story from my childhood. Only, not at all like I expected.”

  Yrlith ughed. “Well, I’m not exactly a Dragon.”

  “What?”

  “Dragonkin and Dragons are not the same. And Dragonkin can’t turn into Dragons.”

  “Wait, what? Hold on, what else are you keeping from me?”

  “Hm. I never thought of it that way. I guess I’m used to Sally and me being freaks. She’s a freak for being so tall. Rumor has it the King isn’t her father.”

  Yrlith waited for Toshie to respond, but Toshie was staring in rapt attention.

  “She’s the oldest, and Dwarves have some old tradition about marrying in order. But since she’s so tall, people think she’s a freak or a Half-Dwarf. Sally doesn’t even know herself. She said she believes the King is her father, but how would she know? Anyway, you asked about me. Well, my father is a Dragonkin, but my mother isn’t. She was a Shapeshifter.”

  “A Shapeshifter? Like, she could turn into whatever she wanted?”

  “Yeah. I don’t know much about her. When I was born, she...”

  “Died?” Toshie felt rude the second the words left her mouth.

  “No, that would be far more poetic. She left me with my father and his parents and disappeared. Pretty easy to do when you can look like anyone.”

  “So you never met her?”

  “How would I know? Like I said, she’s a Shapeshifter. You could be my mother, for all I know. My father said she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Well, of course, she was. She was trying to charm him. Why? I don’t know. His ‘big inheritance’ was only my grandmother’s cobbler shop.” Yrlith gave a bitter ugh. “Which, I guess, I have to be thankful for. That’s where I met Sally.”

  “Wait, what?” Toshie always loved a family story, and Yrlith kept surprising her.

  “Yeah, she came into our shop for shoes. She was on some diplomatic something-or-other. You know, her parents kept trying to marry her off. She said she fell for me the moment she saw me.”

  “It sounds like you don’t believe her.”

  “I mean, I dunno. She’s beautiful. And I’m this little dumpy shoemaker. And she asked me to come with her. Be her personal shoemaker.”

  “So you did?”

  “Kind of? Her pn from the start was to run away. When she learned I could transform, she wanted to py a trick on her parents.”

  “And you were okay with that?”

  “A Princess asks you to go on an adventure. Would you say no? Come on, Toshie, I know your answer.”

  “You’re not wrong,” Toshie said, staring out to sea. “I keep thinking of this as my story, you know? Get called the Hero and all that. But Sally puts everything in motion.”

  “She sure does. But, well, I never expected to fall for her. I never expected love at all, to be honest. I never felt at home, even as a weirdo amongst weirdos. You’d think I lived in some town of Dragonkin, but no. My grandparents moved to Wellport. You don’t know where that is, but it’s a big city in the kingdom of Eversend. My grandfather was a fabulous hunter, and my grandmother made wonderful shoes. Dad didn’t take after Grandpa. Shoemaking was more his thing. Grandpa didn’t think much of him because of that. Then, my father gets tricked by a woman and left with a kid.”

  Toshie had no idea what to say, so she tried changing the subject.

  “Wait, sorry if this is rude, but is this your true form? I mean, you’re a Shapeshifter?”

  “I guess? I never thought about it. But I can’t change my form for long. I never did the whole dragon thing until Sally had the idea to have me ‘capture’ her. I thought it was stupid and dangerous. We had made a home in that cave. Well, I say we, but most of the time, it was only me living there. I’d visit her as her ‘official shoemaker’ every once in a while. Would it surprise you that Dwarves didn’t want a Dragonkin living in their little kingdom? Shows you how different Sally is from them. I spent most of my time alone in the cave. Sally visited when she could, but the housework, hunting, and everything else was on me. She had her Princess duties. We kept that up for about a year or two. It was hard to keep track. But we were happy.”

  “Wait, so why did she make you pretend to capture her?”

  “Oh, haha, sorry, I was rambling. Yeah, they finally found someone willing to marry her. She did her best to sabotage it, but it was this old prince with much more money than personality. Plus, Sally wasn’t into the idea of having kids.”

  “So you turn into a dragon, ‘capture’ her, and hope no one finds you?”

  “Yeah, that sted a week or two? But all they sent were some soldiers we either scared off, paid off, or, well, killed.”

  “But you didn’t kill me?”

  “I mean, you were begging for your life. And, like always, Sally saw something in you and took a chance. And here we are.”

  “She certainly takes the lead.”

  “Always has been that way with her. But, as annoying as she can be, I do love her. I guess with everything going on, I lost my temper.”

  “Nah, I get it. It’s been a rough... Fuck, has it only been a week that I’ve been here?”

  “Something like that. I can’t say it hasn’t been exciting.”

  “Sounds like your life already was exciting.”

  “Hah, I skipped all the days of my grandparents lecturing me and my father teaching me how to make shoes. That was most of my life. But yes, Sally turned everything around. She lives as if she’s the main character of some story.”

  “But you’re the main character of my story,” Sally said, pcing her hands on Yrlith’s shoulders and giving her a peck on the cheek.

  “Aw. That is corny as hell,” Toshie said.

  “Yeah, well, I had to wait behind the bench until the chance for a nice line came up.”

  “You’re kidding,” said Toshie.

  “Why would I joke?”

  “That’s something I wonder about every day,” Yrlith said, putting out her hand.

  “Oh, so sure I bought you something to say sorry?”

  Yrlith rolled her eyes at Sally.

  “It took me so long because I wanted something our dear Hero could also eat.” Sally tried to hop over the bench but got her foot caught, and the bag of whatever she had bought flew out into the sea. She nded with a thud, face ft on the ground, arms outstretched, and legs propped up by the bench.

  “My hero,” Yrlith said as she helped Sally up.

  “How did you not bust your face up falling like that?” Toshie asked as Sally brushed the dirt from her clothes.

  “Dwarven fortitude?” Sally said as she achingly sat between Toshie and Yrlith. “But uh, yeah, I guess I don’t have the moves I thought I did.”

  “I’ll forgive you, I suppose,” Yrlith kissed Sally on the cheek. “Does that make you feel better, my clumsy Dwarf?”

  “Only if you forgive me for throwing your snack into the sea.”

  “Not concerned if I forgive you for insulting my family?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  To Toshie’s surprise, Sally sounded sincere.

  “I envy your family and am ashamed I took you away for it. But I don’t know what I’d do without you, Yrlith.”

  Toshie stood and smiled. ‘Time to give them a moment,’ she thought. She went to the fence that Sally’s bag had flown over and looked down. It was steep, and she saw birds attacking the bag, which had fallen on rocks.

  Toshie turned around and leaned back against the rail. Sally and Yrlith were chatting and ughing. A cool breeze came and blew her hair around. She was half expecting to look cool, like one of those scenes from a movie, but her hair blew in her eyes, and a bit of sand flew up her nose. She started coughing and hacking.

  “Everything okay?” Sally asked.

  Toshie threw up.

  Now that Yrlith and Sally had made up, they helped Toshie to a fountain, and she washed her mouth. Luckily, she hurled into the ocean. Some hit a bird, and Toshie hoped that wouldn’t lead to another curse. When she finished cleaning up, Toshie turned to see Yrlith and Sally munching on another bag of pickled bees.

  “You sure like those, huh?” Toshie said, trying not to vomit again.

  “I mean, you haven’t tried them. They are so juicy,” Sally said as she popped a big one in her mouth.

  “Please, do not say juicy,” Toshie shivered and turned around. Navarin and Brot were walking their way. “Oh, hey, good timing.”

  “Master Toshie! Master Tunasad! Master Yrlith!” Brot ran to them.

  “Hey Brot, everything good?” Sally said as she straightened her outfit.

  “You look pale, Master Toshie,” Brot said. “Did something happen?”

  “Got some sand up my nose. Don’t worry. Do we have a ride?”

  “Oh, yes,” Brot said, trying to peek up Toshie’s nose. “Master Navarin is great at bargaining. She will have a room to herself on the trade ship.”

  “And what about us?” Sally said, finishing the bag.

  “You’ll have the honor of helping load the ship,” Navarin said. “Make haste. Your shift begins in ten minutes.”

  “You are kidding,” said Yrlith.

  “Do you know me to do such a thing?” Navarin turned around and waved them on.

  “She’s something else,” Sally whispered.

  “Come, or else you won’t get your meal on the ship.” Navarin was already a few meters ahead. Sally crumpled up the bag, but Yrlith stopped her from throwing it at Navarin.