A younger woman walked into the inn later into the afternoon, as Zoe was moving all the little lanterns she’d made around the room with a combination of her Space and Wood skills. Each of the gems was different, though she tried very hard to make the light each of them put off close to identical. But she found it fun to move them around and create patterns with the colours of the gems — something most people would never notice, she imagined.

  “Hello,” the woman said. Her long red hair falling over her shoulders and almost disappearing as it laid against her orange sweater. Anxiety and nervousness wracked across her face and body, visible to Zoe’s eye even without her Vampyric Empathy.

  “Hi there.” Zoe nodded to her. “You looking for a room?”

  “Yes please.” The woman said. “Do you have any available?”

  “Uh.” Zoe chuckled. “Actually I have no idea. I’ll go ask Joe. You hungry?”

  The woman nodded. “Yes, I don’t have the money for anything extra right now though.”

  Zoe waved her hand and summoned a bowl of soup with a hefty chunk of brul then floated them off to t he table nearest the woman. “No worries. Have a seat and enjoy. It’s on me, I’ll go grab Joe.”

  The woman sat down and eyed the soup. “Okay, thank you very much.”

  With a quick look upstairs through her Cosmic Vision, Zoe vanished and appeared outside Joe’s door. She knocked on the heavy wood with her knuckles and chuckled when she heard a sudden jolt of a chair thumping on the floor followed by a sharp cough.

  “Hey Joe,” Zoe called through the door. “Got a woman wanting a room here. Seems a little nervous, I gave her some food. You got some rooms?"

  Zoe listened to his footsteps stomping up towards the door before it opened, revealing Joe rubbing some rheum from his eyes. “Hmm?”

  “Got a woman downstairs looking for a room. Seems a bit down on her luck maybe.” Zoe repeated.

  “Ah. Sure. I’ll be right down, just give me a moment. Get her some food if she wants it, on the house.” Joe said.

  “Already did.” Zoe chuckled.

  “Ah. Alright, I’ll be right there then.” Joe said, blinking as Zoe vanished and appeared back downstairs.

  “Hey,” Zoe said, surprising the poor woman as she spilled a spoonful of soup on her dark brown pants. A small pulse of dim blue light washed out from the woman, peeling away the stain.

  “Oh, you startled me. Hello.” The woman said.

  “Sorry about that. Joe says he’ll be right down.” Zoe said.

  “Okay. And Joe is?” The woman asked.

  “The owner of the inn. I’m just volunteering here for a couple days so I wouldn’t even know where the room keys are to be honest.” Zoe laughed.

  “I see. Thank you then. The soup is delicious.” The woman said.

  Zoe smiled and leaned against the bar as she waited for Joe to arrive and watched the woman dig into her soup with a zealous hunger. She didn’t have to wait long, as Joe came down the stairs just a few minutes later.

  “Hello,” Joe said. “You’re looking for a room, I hear?"

  “I am, yes.” The woman said. “Do you have any spare rooms? I don’t have much money I’m afraid, so something cheap, maybe?”

  Joe nodded. “Yeah, would ten copper a night be alright with you?”

  “Ten copper?” The woman asked. “Are you sure?"

  “Of course. It’s just an empty room collecting dust right now, anyway.” Joe said.

  “Thank you so much. Would it be too much to ask to stay a week?" The woman asked.

  Joe shook his head, summoning a room key and placing it on the table next to her meal. “Upstairs, fifth room on your right. Stay as long as you like.”

  The woman pulled a silver coin from her pocket and handed it to Joe. “Thank you so much. I’ll try and make some more soon.”

  “Just doing my job, missy. Enjoy your stay.” Joe said, making his way over to the kitchen.

  The woman finished her meal then thanked Zoe and made her way upstairs.

  “Been a bit since I’ve had one of them in.” Joe said, leaning against the door frame of the kitchen.

  “One of them?" Zoe asked.

  “Somebody down on their luck like that. Most of the people who come through lately are just looking for a place to stay while they visit town. I’ve taken it as a bit of a sign that things are well in the town, personally.” Joe said.

  “Makes sense. If everybody’s safe, then nobody’s hobbling in to your inn begging you to sleep on your kitchen floor, right?" Zoe chuckled.

  “Something like that, yeah. Hopefully she’s alright.” Joe sighed.

  “Why’d you charge her ten copper?” Zoe asked.

  “She wanted to pay.” Joe shrugged. “I’d give it to her for free if she asked, but there’s a line to be drawn sometimes with that. Some people might take offense to it, think themselves too far above accepting charity like that.”

  “She took the soup for free.” Zoe pointed out.

  “Food is different. I don’t know anybody who would turn down a free meal when they’re hungry. But shelter in a safe city? It’s much easier to tell yourself you don’t need it, that you’re imposing and being selfish.” Joe said.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Hmm. Hopefully she’s alright, then.” Zoe said.

  “You gonna stick around to find out?" Joe asked.

  Zoe shook her head. “Probably not. I think I’m gonna go grab Emma soon and head back to the capital. This was fun, but I’m looking forward to getting back to stealing all these skills.”

  Joe laughed. “It was nice having you around again Zoe. Feel free to stop by and help out whenever you want. Maybe one day we can get you your own inn.”

  “As long as the inn can come with me when I decide to get up and go on a whim, maybe. Or maybe I could be like John’s bookstore and just be open when I feel like it and closed when I don’t. I wonder how he’s doing now, anyway?” Zoe questioned.

  “One way to find out, you know?” Joe nodded towards Flester’s Might.

  “You heard anything about his store opening up again?” Zoe asked.

  Joe stretched and walked up to lean on the bar. “Nope, haven’t heard anything. It’s still just as creepy as it always is, as far as I’m aware.”

  “So I’d have to find him myself then. Or hope I happen on his store whenever it does open again. Maybe he did come back at some point and saw the city was destroyed so he just left.” Zoe said.

  “You could try breaking in. He might notice.” Joe suggested.

  Zoe scoffed. “I don’t think I could. If the dungeon still can’t, then I don’t stand a chance.”

  “Could be good practice anyway.” Joe suggested.

  “And what? Annoy a practical demigod into killing me because I broke into his store? I don’t think so.” Zoe laughed.

  “Well, just an idea. You gonna head out now, then?" Joe asked.

  “If that’s alright, yeah. I’d like to go see Emma, get everything ready. Maybe do a bit of shopping here in town before we go, get some supplies.” Zoe said.

  “What do you need that the capital wouldn’t have?" Joe asked.

  “Nothing, really. But it’s my duty to spend my extravagant wealth here in town. You need taxes, don’t you?" Zoe smirked.

  “Then spend away. Try to buy lots of luxury goods if you can.” Joe laughed.

  “I think I might buy some food, mostly. Maybe a comfortable blanket.” Zoe said.

  “Good luck. Say hi to Emma for me, and stay safe.” Joe said.

  “You too Joe. Let me know what happens with our mystery lady when I get back.” Zoe called back as she left.

  Emma was lying on the floor, with Fennel on her left arm and Oliver laying off in the corner, all three of them snoring away. Zoe decided not to bother them and Cosmic Leaped back outside to wander through Foizo for a bit and get some shopping done.

  She spent the next few hours until the sun began to dip below the horizon wandering through the streets, popping in to any shops that interested her. Most didn’t catch her eye — another storage item could be useful if she were going to be going somewhere else, but she had little use for it at the moment. Some of the gems she used for enchanting would be wonderful, but import taxes when she brought them into the city made it much more appealing to buy them within the city.

  Instead, Zoe filled a bag with some of the foods she struggled to get in the capital — raw ryz, some fresh eggs and a lot of the produce that was grown locally. Almost half of her bag was taken up by the sour yellow ifosa that were almost unheard of in the capital, with another large section filled with furni from her own garden.

  When she got back home, Emma was awake in the kitchen, preparing some scrambled eggs for dinner, with a slice of toasted brul already sitting on the plate next to her.

  “Hey,” Zoe said.

  Emma jolted for a moment which always made Zoe giggle to herself a bit. Her friend might be a little more capable with space magic, but she still couldn’t see behind herself no matter how hard she tried.

  “What’s up? I didn’t expect you home so I didn’t make extra, sorry.” Emma said.

  Zoe summoned a small furni and wiped it against her shirt before she bit into it. The juices dripped down her chin, only to be whisked away by a dim pulse of blue light a moment later. “No worries. I think I’m gonna head back to the capital. You coming?”

  “Oh.” Emma said. “Uh. When you leaving?”

  “Whenever. Already said goodbye to Joe and came home when you were asleep on the floor so I went and got my shopping done, too.” Zoe answered.

  “Hmm. Tomorrow morning alright?” Emma asked.

  “Sure, sounds fine by me. I’ll play with some of my new skills until then, I guess and be back at sunrise?” Zoe asked.

  “See you in the morning then.” Emma said.

  Zoe Cosmic Leaped out to the forest on the other side of the hill she lived in. Despite being so close to the city, very few people came all the way around the hill. Some still did, and left behind the tell tale signs of human expansion. Stumps left behind where trees were felled for wood, and even a small field for playing some form of sports ball game left in the middle of the forest for some strange reason.

  The next hours as the moon passed through the sky, Zoe spent studying the mana that ran through her new Unseen Archer skills. Each one was a little different than what she was used to — with a more physical and grounded feeling to them than the magic she’d played with before.

  Most of them didn’t seem too complicated, the patterns they formed so simple that Zoe wondered if she committed to it ahead of time, whether she could have memorized the entire thing and recreated it in one try. Though, perhaps that was a little boisterous, even for her.

  Four skills stood out to her as being a little trickier than the rest — her Shadow Bow, Shadow Meld and Shadow Cloak each with far more complicated mana patterns than the rest. But the possible hidden wrench in her plans was Shadow Split.

  Most of the mana when she cast the spell was just stored within the arrow itself, and used at the point of impact to form the rest of the skill. The mana when she cast the skill was simple enough, but if the structure wasn’t purpose built to form the rest of the skill on impact and she had to do that herself after firing an arrow, then that would add an enormous complexity to the skill.

  Shadow Meld in particular was also quite tricky to study, since Zoe was forced to move quite a bit more than she’d like while the skill was being used. She tried to just let her hand meld into the shadows, but the skill dragged the rest of her in as soon as she used it, and at quite a quick pace too.

  From what she could see of the skill, the pattern looked quite complex but at the very least she did think she could see all of it. If there was some part of it that happened after she was within the shadows, then she wasn’t sure she’d be able to replicate it at all. Which was quite unfortunate, since Shadow Meld was the most fun skill the class offered her, by far. With Shadow Split a close second — which was a potential problem child all of its own.

  Zoe chuckled. The system just couldn’t make things easy for her. Why not just add a button to save a skill as general skill? That would be so much simpler.

  The morning sun rose, and Zoe Cosmic Leaped back into her room, hoping to give her friend a bit of relief from the constant scares. Her home was silent, no cats snoring in their room or clawing at the carpets. Even Emma seemed to be gone if the silence meant anything. She’d packed up the cats into her yurt and went to get some last minute shopping done, perhaps?

  Zoe opened the door to her room and the smell of iron smashed into her nostrils like a truck full of blood. A small surge of panic rose within her that she tried to push down as she walked out down the hallway. Emma probably just spilled something and went out to get something to clean it up. There was no reason to think anything bad had happened yet. She followed the scent of the smell past Emma’s room and to the kitchen, the sun shining in through the window on a small pool of blood sitting on the countertop and let out a sigh of relief.

  “Boo!” Emma popped into existence next to her with a giant grin on her face.

  Zoe jumped. “What? Emma?"

  Emma bent over clutching her belly as she laughed. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “But the blood? And the smell? What happened?” Zoe asked.

  “I cut myself earlier, and then I had a great idea to get some revenge on you always popping in behind me. So I went out and bought some blood, poured it on the counter to lure you to the kitchen and waited waaaaay out there.” She pointed out the kitchen window. "Until I saw you show up. And then bam! I hop in and scare you.“

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