I walked into the town, my notebook in hand and cart in front of me. I'd managed to calm down the fairies after the mess with Etheran, but it'd taken a lot of cookies and chocolate, and two days later they were still arguing about their placements in the 'contest'. Eralia was accompanying me today, and was sitting on top of my head as we walked. Usually I didn't like taking the fairies into town with me, but unlike the rest, Eralia tended to just rest and look around or nap. The others liked to fly off and get into trouble, pulling things off shelves to look at them, flying into people's faces, wandering into houses through open windows, things like that.
Unlike what most people believed, fairies weren't mischievous; they were curious, and they liked to know what was going on around them. Most of my fairy friends (aside from maybe Princa) wouldn't cause problems for people if they knew that what they were doing was disruptive, but after living in the woods their whole life, and then in my (thoroughly fairy-proofed) home, they just didn't know any better.
Eralia though, she was different. She was clever, but she didn't like to think. She was graceful, but because she simply didn't like moving. She was calm, but only because she hated being disturbed. As the person who ran the sanctuary, I couldn't have a best friend among the fairies, of course. It wouldn't be fair. But if I could... it'd be her.
"Vervex... What will we do today?..." she sang, her words drawing out like music notes.
"I don't know, Lia, I have to do my rounds, and then we'll know. I have to see who needs stuff done!" I responded.
"Will we see your special person today? The pink one?..." she asked.
"She's... not really my special person, we're just friends, really, but yeah. I need to see her about Ward, and see if we can find some 'quests' for him to do soon or he'll just keep being a pain."
Ward was getting frustrating. He'd shown up at my house a couple nights ago, scared he was going to convert just from talking to Brax for a bit and telling her he wasn't interested in her religion. I'd calmed him down, and given him some fresh baked cookies to take to the inn with him, but he was still a fish out of water, and we needed to hurry up and figure out what to do with him.
I stopped by the first place on my list, the butcher's shop and stuck my tongue out at the little brat in front of the store, the one who'd tried to edge in on my mushroom harvesting business.
"Hey Dole, any work to do today? Any errands to run?" I asked the big man behind the counter.
"Oh, hi 'vex. No, not today. Your friend, Ward, already delivered my packages for me, and he told me he was going to use the delivery money to get a bow so he could sell me meat too."
I frowned. "That's... ok, good for him then, I hope he knows how to hunt sustainably though..."
"Between you and I, I highly doubt he'll be able to hunt at all, but it gives him a good goal to work towards."
"That's true... Well, I'll see you in a couple days, have a nice day!" I said, waving goodbye as I left.
"That place... It's very stinky..." Eralia complained. "I... do not want to go back there..."
"Oh, sorry, babygirl, I wasn't thinking, I'll let you know to stay outside if there's more stinky places, ok?" I said.
"Ok... I want to go look at the fruit now..."
"That's further down the list, but we'll get there. Next up is... the smith, we have to see if there's any deliveries from her, she's just down the street."
I walked quickly, pushing my cart along the road and making it to the shop in no time. I popped in and looked for the dwarf lady running it.
"Hey, Penna, do you have anything for me today?" I asked the empty room. I heard a clanging in the forge, and a stout, sweaty lady rolled out, her chain metal clothing glowing lightly.
""Ahh, gods, nah, 'vex, nothing today, I'm trying to clean up my forge, it's a mess these days."
"Ah, drat, ok then, talk to you later!" I said, turning to go. I had a lot to do, and if there were no deliveries...
"Ah- actually, I forgot..." She said hopping off the stone slab and reaching into a bucket. "This here is that one kid's sword, the guy you hang out with? He wanted me to 'upgrade it', whatever that means. I told him I'd sharpen it, but I can't even do that, the metal is as hard as I've ever seen, I think it's a blessed blade. Return it and let him know there's no charge."
"I don't- ugh, ok, thanks, I won't charge you for that myself either, he'll pop up sooner or later, so it's no trouble." I grumbled, taking the sword and putting it in the cart.
"I think he... needs to learn to fight better instead of getting a better sword..." Eralia mused.
I snickered at that, and waved off Penna's confused look. "Yeah, anyway, I'll get back to you once your forge is clean, bye Penna!"
I hit the streets again, heading to the third location, the tanner's. It was a stand alone building, and it had dried flowers and wreaths hanging from the protruding rafters. I glanced up, and pulled Eralia off my head.
"Ok, this place is really stinky, Lia, you stay out here with the cart, ok?" I said, heading in.
The smell of leather and piss hit me, and I crinkled my nose. Goblins were known for their sense of smell, so this place was my least favorite on my route. Brax was sitting on the counter, chatting to her father when I came in, but she lit up and hopped down when I walked up.
"Hello, Vervex! I'm going to be an adventurer!" She said chipperly.
"Hi, Mr. Flaay? I wanted to see if you had any jobs for me today?" I said to her father, ignoring her.
"Ah, well, I did, but... I gave them to that Edward fellow to get him to leave... He's trying to get my daughter here to change paths to a warrior sister, and I wouldn't have that in my store..."
I stamped my foot. "GodsDAMNIT, Ward..."
"I'm going to do it, too! I'll get a sword and a helmet from the head sister tonight, and I'll be ready to go on the quest with him!" Brax said, ignoring my ignoring of her.
"Wait, what quest? The one to kill the demon lord? It'd take months, if not years to even GET to the demon lord, why would you want to do that?" I asked her, breaking down.
"No, he said he needed a 'party' so he could get stronger, so he's getting the strongest people in town, and then he's going to go off into the woods to throw a party and fight monsters with us! He wants to sell the monster meat and 'loot for better gear!"
"Oh, gods... What did he mean by 'monsters'? He thought I was a monster the first time he saw me, is he just going to go around killing random people?"
"No, he said he was going to find people who knew the area, and people who could help to explain who's good or bad, he's going to be careful!"
I turn and head out the door. "I'm going to find him and talk some serious sense into him..."
As I left, I crashed into someone, and stumbled backwards. I looked up, and saw Etheran reaching up towards the rafters where Eralia was hiding.
"HEY." I shouted. "She's not going to become your familiar, so just stop"
Etheran patted me on the head. "No no no, I don't need a familiar anymore, I found a company that will send me one! It'll be delivered here in less than a week from the capital. I just wanted to examine her, so I can see how mine compares when it arrives."
"You ORDERED a fairy?" I shoved her hand off my head. "You're contributing to a horrible slave trade, you are the worst person I could imagine to take care of a fairy..."
I felt a little sick. "I'll- I'll buy the fairy from you when they show up, and help you find another familiar, if you promise to never do that, again, do you know how horrible they are to fairies at those places?"
"Well, considering I ordered it from the part of the catalogue labeled 'exotic foods', I have a pretty good idea..." She said, not seeming to care too much.
I grimaced and shuddered. "Gods, witch, they're PEOPLE. Why can't you understand that?"
She sighed and stopped trying to get Eralia to come down, and looked at me. "Listen, green one, they're tiny, they can barely think for themselves, I can't understand them, and they don't have any kind of culture or society. People or not, they're just lesser than us."
I was boiling now, and I had to steady myself before I spoke again. "...I'm smaller than you, and I'm still a full person, they can think, they're just not used to being out of nature so their thoughts seem strange,I can understand them and they can still talk, and they have a beautiful culture, you just can't see it because it doesn't line up with ours."
I let out a shaky breath.
"I... I want to meet the fairy you ordered when they arrive, for their sake, and yours. There's only a few longears here, so if you're even going to know their name, I need to be there to translate. Just... Please, don't ever order another living person through the mail, or buy one at all, please."
She crossed her arms. "So dead ones are fine?" She said sarcastically.
"No, just- ugh. I can't do this right now, I've got my route, and so far I'm oh for three because of Ward taking my jobs..."
"Oh, you know Edward?" She said, raising her eyebrows. "That makes sense, I tried to get him a magical pet from the same catalogue for the quest, but he said one of his friends would hate him if he ordered from a company that sold fairies. I suppose it makes sense that's you."
"He's not my friend, I just- Wait, YOU are questing with him too?" I asked, shocked.
"I am! He promised gold, fame, and 'levels', but I'm not sure what he meant by that."
"He's... he's not right, he's not someone you want to travel with, please..." I said, waving for Eralia to come down. She fluttered down, and slipped into my hood behind my head, still afraid of Etheran.
"Well, that's for me to find out, isn't it?" She said, haughtily. "You have chores to do, right? You should go do them. I need to go to the market to buy herbs and sticks and other witchy things..."
"It's a lot less impressive if you call them 'witchy things'." I said under my breath as I rolled the cart away. I needed to go to the market too, for herbs actually. I was running low on the herbs that were slowly fixing my body, and I didn't want to risk running out. I had a day or two left though, and I was fed up with her, so I'd just wait until tomorrow when I got back from foraging.
The rest of my rounds went pretty much as I expected, with the other locations all saying that Ward had already shown up, and had already taken the jobs. The only places that hadn't given my work away were the inn, and the wine makers, but that was only because they knew Ward wouldn't be able to sniff out poison on the mushrooms and berries to save his life.
By the time I had crossed back and forth across town, it was late afternoon, and the pouch that should have been jingling with coin by now was light and empty. I was frustrated and angry, both at Ward, and at all the vendors who had just... given my work away to whoever showed up first. I really needed to make sure he had something to do with his time, or I'd be going back to hunting rodents and eating bark like the pre-treaty days.
At least I still had one stop left that would be nice. I checked on Eralia and saw that she was fast asleep, curled up in a ball in my hood. She'd wake up in a minute, but for now, I pushed my cart softly, and kept an eye out for Ward so I could get his sword out of my care. I hadn't seen him all day, despite him having been all over town ahead of me. I arrived at my last stop without having seen him, and pulled his sword out. Hopefully I'd be here for a little while, and I didn't want it getting stolen, even if that would be pretty funny.
I opened the door to the guardhouse, and my face split into a wide grin as I see Altina in her chair, feet kicked up on her desk.
"Heyyyy Altiiiinaaaaa!" I said, rocking my head back and forth.
She looked up. "Oh, her Vex! You're early, usually I don't see you until later."
I snorted, setting the sword on the desk. "Yeah, I know. That's because-"
"Oh, my sword, thank you for getting it to me!" I heard from behind me. I felt my happy glow fade, and I turned around to see Ward standing in the doorway leading to the guard bunks.
"Hello, Ward." I said, putting venom into his name.
"Uh, wow, you... don't sound so happy to see me. I thought we were friends?" He said, confused.
"You took ALL of my delivery jobs today, every last one! I can't even afford to go out to eat with my- with Altina now!" I snapped.
He flushed. "Oh, oh shit. I didn't think about that. I just remembered you mentioning that odd jobs were quests now, so- I just asked for them around town, I'm so sorry..."
"What was that?" The witch asked me."Sorry doesn't get me an ale with Altina." I muttered.
"Hey, it's just one day, Vex, I'll buy your meal tonight." Altina offered. "Heck, you bought me dinner a few nights ago, call it payback."
I handed Ward his sword back. "I just don't like my work being taken away, I work hard to keep people happy, and you just come in with your long legs, and your human-y-ness, and... Just find your own thing, ok?"
"Uhh, ok, like I said, I'm really sorry... I needed the money to get supplies with, see, next week, me and my party are going to go questing in the woods, and there's four of us so far, and we need a lot of potions and some armor... I wanted to chip in right off the bat, so we'd be safer."
"Whatever, just... don't do it again." I grumbled. "Wait... Four of you? Are you counting Etheran's fairy she ordered? I'm not letting that happen, I'm getting that fairy away from her."
"Oh, ah, no..." Ward said, embarrassed. "I hoped you didn't hear about that, I tried to talk to her about it, but... I think she needs more time to understand. I was referring to myself, Etheran, Brax, and Altina."
I stopped, and turned to stare at Altina in shock. "Wh- You?!"
She shrugged. "It's boring here most of the time until you show up in the evenings, I figure this would be interesting all day long, and I don't want to see Brax die in the woods because the closest thing to protection she has is Ward, so I'm going along."
"But one of his team bought a fairy, off a food menu, even!" I protest.
She shook her head. "Yeah, it's fucked up, and that's another reason I'm going. I can't arrest her for that, she was following the law, but I can keep an eye on her and make sure she's treating the fairy well."
"Uh, actually, Vervex... Before you got mad at me, I was going to ask if you wanted to come along too..." Ward said, wincing.
I looked at him, his small frame, his thin build, his pathetic beard. He wasn't quite a man yet, and he was still taller, stronger, and more intimidating than me.
"Why on earth would you need me on an adventuring team?" I asked.
"Altina said you lived in the woods for over fifteen years, and you know what's dangerous, what's safe, and where we can camp. She said you'd be a huge help..."
I looked at Altina, who nodded, and added "Yeah, and plus, I just thought it'd be fun to go camping with you for a while."
"I- but... the fairies..." I protested.
"I think they'll be ok for a few days, just make sure they have food, and lock up the house tight. They lived whole lives before you took them in." Altina said gently.
I looked at my shoes and pursed my lips. On one hand, I'd be dealing with Etheran, but Brax wasn't too bad overall, and Ward was... well meaning. I'd also be spending time with Altina... In my element, showing off how cool I was, finding useful plants, sharing facts, she'd be sure to be impressed with me... And I really wanted to make sure Etheran's fairy was ok, and seeing them in a day to day setting would help me figure out if the fairy was safe, or if Etheran needed to have an 'accident'
I looked up at Ward, who was smiling hopefully.
"Ok, fine, I'll do it. Under one condition."
"Yes! Ok, I can do that, what is it?"
"Me and Altina eat alone tonight, no tagging along this time."
Altina laughed, and nodded. "Yeah, we need girl time, and I want to pick your brain about this whole quest thing too, 'vex."
"Oh, uhh, ok, yeah, I can do that." Ward said, sounding disappointed.
"We'll eat together another time, bud." Altina said, standing up and slapping him on the back. "'Vex, if you want to drop off the cart, we can head to the inn now, eat early, then we can go up to the cliffs after for a smoke after?"
I smiled. "That sounds lovely, babygirl. It's a plan."
"Wait, smoke? Smoke what?" Ward asked, sounding excited. I headed out as Altina started explaining how I'd gotten her into traditional goblin magic herbs last summer, Altina knew her stuff by now, and could explain it as well as I could.
I pushed my cart down towards my alleyway, and felt a tickle in my ear.
"So... You'll be going away for a while?..." Eralia said sadly.
"Next week, yeah. At least for a couple days." I replied. Now that she was awake, I considered going back and introducing her to Ward, but decided against it, I wanted to get to dinner as quickly as possible.
"I'll miss you... You're my favorite person, you know..." She said, patting me on the cheek and slipping back into my hood.
"I'll miss you too, Lia, but you'll be ok." I said, parking my cart. "I'll make lots of food before I go, you'll be in paradise."
"No, paradise is being next to you... You're my safe place..." She murmured, falling back asleep.
I still couldn't have a best friend among the fairies, but... She really was special, to say the least...