A splitting headache wakes Sanora up. Her eyes open and she feels like they aren’t far away from creaking like an old door. Darkness is veiling the room, if it wasn’t for her oddly good eyes there wouldn’t be anything to see. But even now there isn’t anything interesting to see. The room looks exactly the same as it did when they fell asleep. After Mari told Sanora about her feelings they ended up lying on each other’s arms so long they passed out around noon. So now Sanora is lying in the dark room, unable to sleep anymore in the middle of the night. Every time she closes her eyes and gets drowsy her thoughts start spinning until her mind conjures such odd images she jolts awake again. And if it is only to not see these kinds of things. But after a while she grows uneasy just lying in bed. The silence in the room makes her ears start to ring the longer she lies there. Not long later she starts to hear her heart beating in her chest while being half asleep and she can feel every single movement. It expands, blood flows in, it contracts and the blood flows out again, spreading through her body.

  With a twitch of her body, she wakes up again.

  ‘Ugh this isn’t going anywhere.’ She thinks, letting out a resigned sigh before she wriggles out of Mari’s arms. The wooden floorboards creak quietly as she walks down into the main hall. An eerie silence hangs in the room. It is odd seeing a place like this so quiet and deserted. Sanora’s legs speed up ever so slightly.

  After leaving through a window since the door is locked, she stands outside, leaning against the wall of the inn while looking up at the stars.

  The town isn’t as silent as her room at least. Theres the occasional loud laughter to be heard in the distance, here and there a shout and very rarely even a howl from beyond the walls makes it inside the city.

  ‘I wonder what’s out there… Do I come from there as well? I mean if this is some sort of other world then I must be from beyond the stars, right? Is mother somewhere out there too? I wonder if I can see the place. What if I’m looking right at her?’ Sanora’s thoughts pause for a moment and she squints her eyes.

  “Pfft, yeah as if.” She chuckles to herself. “But if you really are somewhere out there ill come to you, I promise. We are about to get one step closer to finding the moon.” While Sanora is mumbling to herself her flesh senses suddenly pick up something odd. There are lot of people in the vicinity, some of them even awake. But one stands out to Sanora, because she is walking right towards her. She grips her sword with one hand, but leaves her gaze fixed to the stars.

  “Excuse me, I think I have gotten lost. Do you think you could point me to the King’s Ale Inn?” The black haired woman asks with a very polite smile. If anything, she reminds Sanora of Mari a bit in terms of looks, they could almost be related.

  “You are excused. For your lame story at least. I felt you coming towards me two houses ago, you’re lost as much as the tombs are a nice place. Just tell me if you are here to kill me or just to ask for a handshake.”

  “Well, that makes it a lot easier.” The woman drops her smile but keeps her polite demeanor. “You seem like a no-nonsense type of person, much like my dear master.” She says, handing Sanora a letter and a small cylindrical parcel.

  “All we want is for you and your company to visit us for a talk. There are some things we are rather interested in about you. We are just a trading company specializing in magical equipment, so there is no need to worry.”

  “Huh sure you are.” Sanora looks at the featureless envelope. All that’s on there is the wax seal which she has never seen before. It is a book resting in the blade of a sickle.

  “That is everything I had to say. I wish you a good night.” With a bow the woman starts to make her way back.

  “Wait you didn’t even tell your name!”

  The woman stops and turns her head back.

  “I am Anessa. But unless you come to visit us you won’t need to remember it anyways. Oh, one last thing, should you find yourself restless at night, give this a try, a personal gift from my master.” She looks at the parcel. With one last polite nod, she leaves.

  “That was weird.” Sanora mumbles once the woman is gone from her flesh sense. “Guess we wont have a lot of time to rest here either.” She sighs and looks at the parcel for a moment before unwrapping it. An odd smell wafts at her. It’s very sweet and earthy and unlike anything she has ever smelled before. She takes off the last bit of the packaging and is left with a big cigar. So far she has only seen a handful of people smoking these or pipes but she never really thought much about it. She is a little skeptical, it could be poisoned but it doesn’t look like it has been tampered with, and the woman didn’t really seem like she was out for violence either. If Bawarag was here he could probably just sniff out if there are any poisons in there. But all Sanora could smell was sweet, with an earthy and maybe a very slight note of wood.

  “Mhm, yes. This is a cigar alright.” She nods. The smell is really tempting Sanora, and Anessa also did say it helps with sleep…

  ‘I mean I could try a bit. I mean I wouldn’t die from a little poison. Probably.’ She thinks with her judgement clouded by the tiredness.

  With her courage gathered and her common sense tossed aside she takes the already cut narrow end in her mouth, then snaps her fingers to create a small fire on the tip of her finger with which she lights the tip. She fully expects to break down coughing after the first draw like Balmir did when he tried a pipe once, but to her surprise it barely hurts at all. If anything, it feels more like the smoke is soothing her lungs and mind.

  “Damn what do they put in those things.” Her voice is distorted by the escaping smoke.

  She waits a minute but even then, there are no signs of it being poisonous at all. But as Anessa claimed, she is a lot calmer now, her eyelids are already starting to feel heavy. She holds the cigar in her lips as she breaks the seal of the envelope to read the letter within. The letter, however, is nothing like she imagined. It is just a normal invitation, describing how to get to the building and when she could meet with the company’s owner.

  “That’s all?” Sanora mumbles as one of her eyebrows rises. “I really thought there’d be more…” But as she is about to brush the letter off as some boring business matter, the last lines makes her mouth fall open.

  “As I have heard you are looking for information on the object referred to as ‘the moon’. I have some rather ancient relics in my collection which mention this word. I would be happy to show you to them in exchange for information from your three companions and you. Respectfully, The order of the ancient sickle.”

  Sanora stands there still like a tree, staring at the paper. This piece of paper just created a hundred more questions than it answered. But the only one that Sanora manages to mutter, is “How?”

  ============================================

  “I didn’t think they would have such good porridge.” Mari’s voice is hoarse and quiet, but she is somewhat enjoying breakfast at least. It took Sanora quite a bit of gentle nudging to get Mari out of bed, but something in her gut told Sanora it would be a bad idea to just let Mari stay in bed all day without moving. Mari’s eyes are half lidded, her hair isn’t tied up and combed like usual either. It’s all over the place.

  “Me neither! I was really surprised it’s that tasty.” Sanora smiles at the girl, trying to bring a cheerful mood to the table. “I didn’t expect you to look this cute with messy hair either…”

  Mari’s spoon stops halfway to her mouth. She looks up from her food, her face red as a tomato. Sanora raises an eyebrow, but after a moment, realization hits her as her eyes widen.

  “Did I just say this out loud?”

  “Yeah, you kinda did, silly.” Mari rolls her eyes and looks away, but Sanora managed to spot the smallest smirk on Mari’s lips, albeit a sad one.

  ‘Mission success.’ She nods to herself. As interesting as the offer yesterday was, once Sanora went back to their room and saw Mari sleeping in the bed, she immediately forgot about it. Her first priority right now was making sure Mari is alright and taking it easy for the time being so she can rest and recover.

  “So, anything you feel like doing today?” Sanora asks.

  “Hmmm… I’m not sure. To be honest I’m still pretty sleepy…” Mari mumbles.

  “No no that won’t do.” Tor says shaking her head with crossed arms- “Woah- since when are you here?!” Sanora jumps when she turns her head to find Torkastra sitting next to her suddenly.

  “Can you please stop hiding from flesh sense? You will make my heart stop one day.”

  “Ohh quite audacious of you to ask considering you’re hiding yourself now too.” Tor says with a smirk. “I’m really surprised to managed to manage that so fast.” Her expression shifts for a moment. This might be the first time Sanora has seen a genuinely serious expression on Tor. But as is usual with her it disappears in an instant, replaced by her usual aloof smile.

  “Eh, that’s something for later. What’s important right now is that you don’t coop up in your room all day. Trust me it’s not good. I can’t say I went through the same as you two did, but I have been through similar things. And believe me, if you don’t get yourself out there, you aren’t going to get better. It will just get worse. Sanora made the right call to drag you down here. Good job my student!” with a big grin Tor pats Sanora on the back a few times.

  “Uhh, thanks?”

  “You’re welcome. So, got any plans on what you wanna do today?”

  “Not really.” Mari shakes her head. “But can’t we just sleep in since we’re finally free to do so for once?” Mari ends her sentence with a big yawn.

  “Of course you can.” Tor nods. “And you have. Mari its almost noon. You’re basically eating lunch right now, not breakfast.”

  “You are kidding.” Mari says after a short pause.

  “Uh, im afraid she isn’t.” Sanora scratches the back of her head. “You really did sleep through the whole morning. I actually went to go and buy more ingredients for the inn owner because she couldn’t make more porridge otherwise.”

  Mari looks at the girls flabbergasted. Has she really overslept half of her usual daytime? And Sanora was even out shopping just so Mari could actually have a proper breakfast. Usually, Mari would have come with her since Sanora has a tendency to forget things they need, or buy things they never needed to begin with on a whim. But today she slept through it entirely.

  “I- I really slept that long?” She stammers. “But I’m still so tired.”

  “Well, you are tired. Just not in a sleepy way. You are emotionally tired.” Tor says. “Its easy to mistake one for the other so I get how you feel. But what you need isn’t just rest in a bed, it’s some rest from all the things that happened in the last few days. And luckily, there’s probably no better city to do just that than Southvalley. They happen to have had a lucky streak in terms of rulers over the last decades, everyone better than the last. It might just be the nicest city in the valley right now. Even for couples like us.”

  “I only ever heard that its supposed to be nice here. I didn’t think it was actually this good.” Mari says before eating the last spoon of porridge from her bowl.

  “It is.” Tor grins. “So the only question left is, what do you wanna do? I can tell you anything you want to know about the city.”

  “Hmm I don’t really know…” Mari starts thinking, not noticing Sanora’s face. She’s squinting and averting her gaze with an awkward smile.

  ‘Damn Tor is so good with words in these situations. I didn’t even think of half the things she just said. Ahh what kind of girlfriend am I even…’ She thinks with a quiet sigh before turning back to look at Mari who is still thinking about what to do.

  But before the girl can come to an answer an odd rustling sound draws the group’s attention. But what they didn’t expect was to see the sound coming from Flux who is carrying a load of letters with both of her hands. Once at the table she dumps them all on there, the letters spill everywhere making a sound like a pile of leaves being kicked. After that she lets herself fall onto the bench. This was another one of those moments where Flux in her silence could say more than a thousand words.

  “Again huh?” Tor says idly while taking a letter off the pile. “They keep getting more persistent every time we’re here, damn.”

  “Uhh… explanation?” Sanora tils her head.

  “You see, there’s some weird trading company in this city that for some reason really, reeeeaally wants to invite us, Nyx especially, to their place for a ‘talk’.” Tor says while pulling about a dozen crumpled letters from her pocket, tossing them to the pile on the table.

  “Guess you win this year.” She laughs. But Flux isn’t one bit amused. She makes some wild gestures with her hands. First, she seems to be ripping something apart with her hand. Now she’s twisting something, and at the end she’s strangling the air in front of her.

  ‘Huh, I think this is the first time I actually understood this much of what she means.’ Sanora thinks as she looks at the dozens of letters. But as she sees the wax sigil, it hits her.

  “Huh. I guess that makes me third place then.” She says before taking out the letter from Anessa and putting it onto the table. The wax sigil was without a doubt the same one.

  “They are trying to get to us using you now? Ughhhh good gods those people really don’t know when to quit.” Tor groans.

  “What do they want from you to begin with? Aren’t they just a trading company?”

  “They may look like some simple trading company, but they aren’t. There’s something shady going on there.”

  “So, they are like criminals?”

  “Well, probably yes.”

  “Probably?” Sanora raises an eyebrow as Tor averts her gaze.

  “Well, I can’t say for sure that they are, but I just have a feeling okay? I mean who else would even do something like this?” She gestures at the literal pile of letters.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Maybe the towns tax collectors?” Sanora says, but that just makes Tor’s expression shift from annoyance to horror.

  “That would be even scarier.” She shivers. “But fact is, they aren’t from the government. It’s some private company that we have no ties to whatsoever. Whatever they want from us, it can’t be good.”

  “Well, what did it say in their letters?”

  “I don’t know.” Tor shrugs. “We lost the first one we got, and after they brought us another one without us ever asking, we started to grow suspicious of them and didn’t even open them.”

  “You never read even a single one?” Sanora looks at them in disbelief.

  “Not a one.” Tor shakes her head.

  “Well, I’m not sure how good that Idea was, but either way I get it. Point is, I did read mine. And let’s just say they seem to really know the city well.” Sanora says, unfolding the letter she got last night. She points to the very last bit mentioning the moon. “Who did we even tell about the moon to begin with?”

  “I… that’s impossible.” Tor looks at the words with wide eyes. “We only asked two people about it so far because we happened to run into them, and I know both of them.”

  “Wait when did you do that?” Sanora asks.

  “When we arrived and you went to bed early, we were out meeting up with some old friends, I asked around a bit for you since you two were pretty exhausted.”

  “Ohh I see, thanks, that was very nice. But it’s beside the point. Somehow those people heard about you asking around, otherwise they would have never written it in there. And that can only mean they aren’t just a normal trade company.” Sanora mumbles, holding her chin as she thinks.

  “Hah! I knew it!” Tor shouts and points at the letters accusingly. It was the right choice not to go there all these years.” She crosses her arms and huffs. “They are bound to want something fishy.”

  But Flux doesn’t seem convinced. She frowns, taking one of the letters before throwing it at Tor. It doesn’t even reach her though, and falls onto the table harmlessly.

  “I… guess that is a point.” Tor mumbles.

  ‘And flux is indeed right. If the company was as fishy as Tor suspects them to be, they would have given up using friendly letters as their invitation a while ago. But the fact that they still do means they are trying to be persistent without making enemies of the girls. Wait, did I just understand Flux again?’

  “So, what should we do? Actually go there to pay them a visit?” Tor asks. Flux is deep in thought, seemingly unable to decide.

  “I think we shouldn’t go. It’s probably just some cheap recruiting tactic.” Sanora says with a shrug. “Maybe they are looking for skilled people to hire as their escorting division.” In truth she is somewhat curious about the whole thing. But not nearly enough to let it get in the way of Mari’s rest.

  “As am I.” Tor says. Flux picks up a letter and looks at it intensely for a moment before looking at Tor with determined eyes. “That makes it two against one then.” Tor says.

  “What do they trade in anyways?” Mari speaks up.

  “Uhh I think it was mainly grimoires and magical supplies.” Tor says.

  “Alright.” Mari nods. “That makes it a tie then.” Everyone turns to look at Mari with surprise. “What? You told me I’m supposed to choose something to do. And that aside…” Mari picks up her staff which has been leaning against the table until now. She hands it to Sanora.

  Sanora takes the staff with confusion, but as soon as she grabs it she understands. The wood has gone completely brittle and dry. At this point bending it a bit too hard would probably break it.

  “When did this even happen? I didn’t even know this can happen to catalysts.” She says while eying the staff.

  “I think it must have happened when I was trying to heal you after we got attacked in the plains. I mean it was an old staff already, and using such an excess of magic at once probably pushed it too far. Rest in peace my old friend.” Mari says and takes the staff from Sanora again before setting it down.

  “So that’s that. If that place trades in magical supplies, then let’s go there to check it out at least. I… I would sleep easier knowing I had a working catalyst too.” Her voice gets a bit quieter at the end.

  “Well, that settles it for me then.” Sanora nods. “I change my vote for in favor of going.” She declares. And with that all eyes turn on Torkastra who is now outvoted three to one.

  “Alright alright, I know when I have lost.” She raises her hands in defeat. “Let’s go and see those folks. But if anything seems weird, we’re leaving immediately.” She pouts and crosses her arms.

  “It’s decided then.” Sanora smiles at Mari, who tries her best to return an honest smile.

  “Alright then, ill have to go and prepare. I’ll be in my room and after that ill head to the local bathhouse. Flux?”

  Flux nods with a smile and gets up as well. And while she does, she gives Tor a look that makes Sanora blush instantly.

  “Sanora? Are you okay?” Mari tilts her head when she notices Sanora blushing.

  “A-ah its nothing.” She shakes her head as she starts to think that this might be a blessing with a hidden curse. When and how did she start to understand Flux anyways? Maybe she just grew as a person and is more attentive now. But whatever it is, it can wait. And with that Sanora and Mari get up to get ready to head out as well. At least after throwing the pile of letters away.

  About an hour later they all meet up in front of the inn. Properly clothed and clean they finally start to walk into the town under the afternoon sun. It is barely enough to counter the chilly winds anymore. In unison all the girls shiver as a cold wind blows through the streets of Southvalley.

  “We’ll need clothes for the winter soon.” Tor grumbles as she rubs her shoulders. Flux nods along furiously.

  “Ahh I left my favorite scarf in deepvalley!” Mari cries, her voice filled with pain. “I’ll never find another one this soft in my whole life.” Her head droops.

  “I feel you, I feel you.” Tor nods, her face scrunched up as she shares in Mari’s despair.

  And while the girls keep talking Sanora just walks along quietly thinking but one thing.

  ‘What is winter?’

  ============================================

  “You have got to be kidding me.” Tor presses out as she looks at the building on front of them. It was huge, second only to the city’s castle. Made from actual stone bricks, and with actual glass windows on which even royalty usually saves. It consists of one large main building in which all trading was done, and one narrow but tall building extending out from the back and connected to a large tower. The colors are mostly dark, giving the feeling a very calm but cold feeling to it. As if whoever built it wants it to say “This is a quiet place. So either you are quiet or we will make you be.”

  “I certainly didn’t expect something like this.” Sanora swallows. But despite the building being so luxurious and high society, the customers walking in and out range from working class to nobles.

  All of the people walking were carrying something aside from a smile on their face.

  “It looks like they have something for everyone here.” Mari adds. “No time to waste then. Its not often a mage gets to pick a new catalyst. Usually they hold for years if not a decade. And while its always sad to see your old one go, its also kind of exciting to pick a new one.” Mari nods to herself before looking at the three girls around her.

  “Of course people like you wouldn’t know since you all can cast with your bare hands. You do realize that there’s only about a dozen people in the valley that can even do that?”

  “Eh? Really? I actually had no idea. Bawarag and Amni both could cast without a catalyst as well so I thought there’s a lot of people who can do that.”

  “Well there aren’t. But at least that means I get to choose a pretty new catalyst every now and then.” Mari wears a weak smile. Sanora can tell its mostly forced. Mari’s eyes tell an entirely different story. Her voice is more reserved and quiet than usual as well. But this little smile is better than nothing, it is a small step in the right direction, Sanora knows at least that much. And she will take however many more of those it will need with Mari to get her feeling better again.

  With that said Mari heads to the door and the others follow. As they enter the smell wood, paper, candle wax and leather hits them. The entire first floor is packed full of shelves reaching all the way to the ceiling and hangers filled with just about anything a mage could need. From simple parchment paper to bags and clothes, ingredients and tools for alchemy, carving tools, magical gemstones and tools for enchanting, even a few monster parts here and there and much, much more.

  Mari is completely taken aback by the sight. Her eyes darting left and right.

  “This is incredible. They have everything.” She whispers.

  “They actually have everything.” Even Tor looks at the display of items wide eyes. Flux nods with mild interest while scanning the shelves. Her tapping fingers give away her excitement though.

  The only one who is actually and truly not moved by this, is Sanora. As she doesn’t even know 99% of the things they sell there.

  “Well, I admit this is really out of my league here, I haven’t even seen most of those things before so ill just quietly tag along.” She chuckles and hands Mari a small bag. The girl opens it and look inside, and her eyes open so wide they look like they are about to fall out. Mari quickly pulls the strings to close the pouch and tries to give it back to Sanora.

  “What are you doing?! I cant take this much! Why did you even bring this much money with you?” Mari whispers, but Sanora just shrugs.

  “I don’t know how much a new catalyst costs so I just brought a little more.”

  “Sanora. Ten gold coins are not just ‘a little more’. You could buy a carriage and a horse with that amount of money. I cannot take this much.”

  “Eh sure you can. I still have about…” Sanora closes her eyes and thinks for a moment.

  “About three hundred of those if I sell those old ones.”

  Silence falls over the group.

  “Sanora.” Mari says, grabbing Sanora’s shoulders and leaning in to whisper to her. “Please, don’t ever tell anyone else about this. You are literally always carrying about three houses worth of money in your bag.”

  “I am?” Sanora blinks.

  “You are.” Mari nods.

  “Oh well, you learn something new every day.” She just shrugs. “But that clears things up then. Here, take it. Now you know I have enough and I insist you take this Mari. I want you to be able to get the catalyst you want, and not just the one you can afford.”

  “But Sanora this-“

  “Ahhh I don’t wanna hear it Mari. Right now we have this money, and we have enough to spare, so lets do just that. If it ever comes down to it, our healer having a proper catalyst will be more important than a few coins. So I want you to accept this gift. And I want you to not hold back on how you spend it. That is the whole reason why I have this money.” Sanora smiles at the girl holding the pouch filled with money tightly.

  “And you’re absolutely sure?” Mari asks.

  “I am. Absolutely.” Sanora nods. “Trust me Mari, its alright. Let’s enjoy being rich while we are.” She grins at the girl.

  Mari cant help but smirk a bit as well.

  “If you’re really sure about this.”

  “I am really really sure about this.” Sanora chuckles. “I mean, if we’re ever short on money we can just look for work with the guild. Considering our ranks we can make this amount of money In about a saint. Cmon, let lose for once. You earned this, Mari. You saved my life like twice…” Sanora scratches her head.

  “A-alright.” Mari nods. “I will spend it wisely, I promise.” Mari gives Sanora a long hug before her legs carry her away, and she disappears in one of the many corridors formed by the shelves. As soon as she turns the corner she makes an excited gasp.

  Sanora snickers as she hears that.

  “Gods I love that girl.” She smiles to herself but her moment of peace doesn’t last as she can feel someone’s stare on her. She turns her head to return the stares of Tor and Flux.

  “What?”

  “Can we get some shopping money too?” Tor makes her best puppy eyes, which are pretty good. But what really gets Sanora aren’t Tor’s puppy eyes, but Flux’s smile.

  It was a bit sad and resigned, even apologetic for Tor’s behavior. It was acceptance that they would not get a load of money for shopping just cause they ask nicely. But Sanora could see that while Flux has accepted the fact that they are broke as always, she was already imagining all the things she would buy if she had that amount of money. Sanora sighs. ‘Cmon I would have given you something either way, no need to hit me in the feelings with those eyes.’ Sanora thinks and sighs silently before digging through her backpack. She hands both of the girls a small bag as well.

  “You did save my life, and you even healed my necrosis. I owe you that much. And before you argue-“

  “No chance I will! Thank you super much!” Tor interrupts Sanora, gives her a very quick and tight hug and runs off into the depths of the store as fast as the wind.

  “That woman.” Sanora shakes her head with a chuckle. “What about you?” Sanora says and turns to Flux, but when she sees her she falls quiet. Her eyes are squinted, her lips quivering but still smiling. Even Flux’s eyes get a bit watery.

  “You’ve been through a bit haven’t you? It’s alright now.” Sanora says with a gentle smile.

  Flux just wipes her eyes, nodding as she breaks into a smile. But suddenly she stops. Her head bolts upright and whips around to look at Sanora.

  She stares at Sanora intently and with wide eyes.

  “Huh? Is anything the matter? Oh, oh! Its cause I answered you? Sorry I just felt like you needed to hear that…” Sanora says. “Uh, was I wrong?” Sanora asks, but flux doesn’t give her a clear answer. This time Sanora can’t really make out what she’s thinking. Her expression is just too complex. In the end Flux just smiles and shakes her head. She gives Sanora a short hug too before quickly walking off into the shelve labyrinth.

  “Huh, lots of hugs today… Well I could get used to that.”