Bus Talk

The food hall was still a mess of guards and concerned travelers by the time Saif and Ralmine got on the bus, but they still struggled to find an empty seat. They ended up sitting in the very back of the third level, which meant a lot of open air and Saif teetering on the edge.

“- seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty! Yep, it’s all here.” Ralmine sighed with relief. “I was so worried that someone might’ve snatched a couple in the mess back there, but it's not like I had a chance to stop and count. Say, how’d you figure out who tried poisoning that Magikos back there? I thought you were taking a nap.”

Saif shrugged, but he didn’t know if his shoulders telegraphed the move or not. He couldn’t even tell Ralmine his name, how was he supposed to explain that he had Instinct to guide him through stunts like that?

“Alright then, keep your secrets.”

Saif tilted his head. That phrase was familiar. Actually, why do so many things feel familiar? What’s wrong with his memory?

The bus finally began to move. Saif stood on the seat to try and look out over the sides, but could barely see anything other than the purpling sky. Ralmine took mercy on him, plucking him out of his seat by the back of his green cloak and placing him on the ingot pile.

“Can you see now?”

Saif nodded, focused on the rolling view of the landscape passing by, illuminated by the setting sun. Familiar? Why is it so familiar? Had he taken this bus before somehow?

“To think someone would commit such a thing in broad daylight!”

“A hit on a Magikos messenger! The devastation is truly here. Oh, Fates above, have mercy on us.”

“Calm your bum, worrywart. Don’t be so dramatic. It’s not like anyone died.”

“But it’s true! Time is inconsistent, a third of our crops have failed and another third will wither with the lack of sun!”

Whereas Saif was only half listening to the pair ahead of him gossip, he was fully locked in now. Instinct curled around him keeping him alert.

“Ugh, enough about the farm! We’ve worked there all day, no need to bring up work after hours.”

“But it’s true! Our clocks are all out of sync. I know it means we’re making more on the hour, but what good will that do when we’re all going to die!”

The speaker, a human, was fully panicking, and Saif couldn’t bear to listen to their suffering any longer. He ignored Ralmine’s questioning and climbed over the back of their seat, crawling his way forward into the lap of the couple.

Saif ignored the panicked yelp, placing a stick-like hand in the human’s.

“Oh, who’s this little fellow?” The first speaker, a plant person, greeted Saif with a smile.

“GET IT OFF ME! I HATE BUGS!”

“Ean, you’re a farmer.” The plant plucked Saif off of the human with a vine, placing him onto their shoulder. Saif huffed and tried to get back to the human.

“Ah, sorry about that,” Ralmine spoke up from the backseat, “Not sure why it bothered you. It's the Hero who stopped the attempted assassination back in the food hall.”

“Did it now?”

“It did! It even saved me from a group of monsters around the volcano.”

“My, what a strong fellow.” The plant said, clearly not believing him, more interested in analyzing Saif’s behavior.

“Strong indeed,” Another eavesdropper joined them, the panicking human only calmed down by the force of sheer confusion. “Wait, aren’t you-”

“I am Shay Kha of the Travel Magikos.” The fairy person stood proud, their purple hair and robes waving dramatically behind them.

“Yea, the one who got poisoned by the soup.”

“I WASN'T POISONED- Ehem, I was fortunate to not have fallen for the attempted poisoning thanks to the efforts of this here… creature.”

The human wasn’t at the edge of freaking out anymore, so Saif took the chance to crawl off the plant and back to his spot atop the ingots to continue watching the world pass by.

“I call ‘em Hero.”

“And you must be its master. I haven’t gotten the chance to show my gratitude.” Shay Kha smiled politely, bowing their head.

“Nah, I sure wish, but Hero here’s got its own. It’s just keeping me company.”

“I see.” Shay Kha said, the smile melting off their face as their grip on the seats tightened. The smile came back, more forced this time. “Little Hero, may I have a moment of your time?”

Saif tilted his head, what could they want with him?

“First, I thank you for your efforts earlier. I am to embark on a mission back to my home city of Willoguard in the northwestern corner of the Archaic Thicket-”

“Hold on, isn’t that for Magikos only?”

Shay Kha glared. “...Yes, but I’m in need of an escort between the major cities. After the attempt at my life today and the increase of monsters within the Thicket, I no longer feel safe heading out on my own.” Shay Kha fiddled with an amulet that poked out from under their cloak. When the bus came to a stop, they hid the amulet back, securing it tightly.

“I’ll give you some time to think. Come find me in the tavern in town if you agree to come along.” Skay Kha almost raced to be the first off the bus.

“Hold it! That’s not enough time or info! What about its payment? Terms and conditions?” Ralmine argued, but Shay Kha bulldozed through them.

“I don’t have the time to spare. We can discuss the details later.”

Ralmine led Saif through the city of Brightside. He pointed out some stores of note as well as a few important landmarks like the clock tower, but he mainly kept to a single route. Ralmine took a male-like path through tight passages and dark alleyways before coming to a stop at an abandoned looking shop.

“And here we are! Could you get the door, Hero? My arms are killing me.” Ralmine dropped their keys for Saif to help out. Saif was surprised to see that he could finagle the key and turn it in the lock just fine, neither his height nor his arms posing as much of an issue as he’d come to expect.

Then, Saif was urged to go inside and switch on the lights before the city plunged into darkness. He flicked them on to reveal a proper blacksmith’s work area, with a forge, anvil and tools in the back. The front of the store looked like a real blacksmith’s too, with a nice selling counter, although it was lacking a little in inventory and clearly not ready to open if the number of all the crates were anything to go by. Ralmine dropped his stack in the back and came forward to lean against the counter.

“Man, that was such a long day! I’m completely drained.” He complained, placing his head on the surface. Saif continued looking around the shop, interested in two decent sized maps hung on one of the walls. One was far more plain than the other, with few notable features and drawings. The other had a very detailed landscape, with a clearly drawn forest, ocean, volcano, and mountain among other features. It had to be a map of this area then.

“It's really pretty, eh?” Ralmine caught up to him, staring at the detailed map as well. “I got one from my hometown before I arrived, just as a keepsake. I got the one of the capital when I arrived here. You can really tell the difference in quality. You can find the mapmaker very easily. It's in the town square. Damn pricey though.”

At the mention of money, Saif put his hand out, pinching his pincers a few times. The smile wiped off Ralmine’s face.

“Right… I was going to pay you, wasn’t I? You’ve done well to deserve it.” Ralmine brought up his wallet, opening the pouch and counting out the gems inside. He grabbed a meaningless amount and pushed it towards Saif across the counter. “Your twenty-four rupees from the monster drop, plus another twenty for helping me make it home safe. You could get a decent wallet and map with that. Don’t get the cheap stuff, it won’t hold nearly as much, and you’d have to spend more money to upgrade to a larger map later. Meaningless.”

Saif couldn’t take the money, he had no way of storing the gems on him, but he was going to need a map moving forward.

“You look troubled,” Ralmine noticed. “Right, you don’t have a wallet.”

Ralmine took a gem from the pile and put down a worn beige sack. “Here’s my old one. I’d still suggest getting a new one later on. It doesn’t hold more than a hundred gems at a time or they start seeping from the bottom.”

Saif grabbed the sack, watching in amusement as it shrunk down to his size. He was now able to secure it to the underside of his green cloak by pinning it in place with his nail… which has shrunk down too. Was it always this small? The cloak was the same size though. Ralmine must have taken notice.

“Hero, it looks like you’ve outgrown your nail.” Saif nodded. Ralmine straightened, serious in a way Saif hadn’t seen before. “You’re a fighter. Though you have learned to wield it well, you’ll need a better weapon. I think I’m the only smith in town who has experience in swords. How about you commission me? I’ll even give you a discount for your help, though I might have to put in a rush order if you’re leaving with that Magikos too, so it’ll cost yo-”

Saif frowned, turning around to look at the barren inventory. “NO WAIT, DON’T LEAVE I WAS KIDDING!” Saif turned to face Ralmine once more. “Ha, I can’t believe you’d fall for that! Ha! Ha!...”

Saif shook his head, looking around some more while Ralmine chatted over him. He found a small little sword in a forgotten pile of boxes. He picked it up, surprised at how comfortable it was in his pincers. He swung it a few times, enjoying the weight and balance of the sword, before he waved it over his head to signal to Ralmine.

“-which isn’t to say that artisans such as myself shouldn't be paid for their work, but it’s a matter of finding a balance between the product, labor, materials and value, not to mention… Where did you find that?”

Saif pointed the sword in the general direction.

“Can’t you read? It says ‘not for sale!’ hatchling. Put it back! Now! And be careful with it!”

Saif heaved a massive sigh, putting the perfect sword down and leaving Ralmine’s shop.

No use sweating over it now, Saif has a whole city to explore.