Hairur's Fence

It was market day when they arrived at the capital, past lunchtime. The small path that led to the main gate was full of merchants who had not been fast enough to get a good spot to sell inside the city, and who were now arguing about getting the best place outside.

The guards were so busy trying to put some order that Nona and the rest could enter the city without having to identify themselves. Nona’s eyes and mouth remained wide open in wonder as they walked through the bustling streets until they reached the central plaza.

Several stalls had been installed across the place. The tasty smell of food and unknown spices lingered in the air. A group of musicians were playing next to the main fountain, enlivening the ambience even more. There were also several children in the area, splashing water and playing tag as their parents did their shopping - and occasionally shouted at them to stay quiet, just to be blatantly ignored among laughs.

“It seems like we arrived on the busiest possible day,” Adish commented, just before exhaling a shocked ‘Eeek!’ when one of the children bumped into him, causing his glasses to slide to the tip of his nose. “H-Hey, watch out!”

“Is it the first time you visit the capital?” Vesper inquired, playfully placing her hand under Nona’s chin to close her mouth, which was still wide open.

“I came here when I was six or so, but I forgot how big this place is.” Nona suddenly felt a tug in her chest, which made her look around. “Wait a minute, where did Thorny go?”

“Wait, he isn’t with you?!” Adish cursed under his breath. “And he is invisible now. Just great.”

“Wait,” Vesper squinted her eyes before pointing at one of the stalls. “Is it just me, or that croissant is floating in the air?”

“Oh no. Thorny!”

Nona managed to reach the stall just in time to prevent Thorny from stealing the croissant. Luckily, the merchant was so busy with the other customers that he failed to notice the flying food.

“Tsk, come on, he had a bunch of stuff. He wouldn’t have missed it,” Thorny protested when they were back in the group with the food.

“Thorny, you promised you would behave when reaching the city.”

“Hey, I behaved! I just tried to steal ONE croissant!”

Adish clicked his tongue. “Alright, I think I’m going to leave before this imp does something that sends us to jail.”

“Are you going to the Academy then?” Vesper inquired. Adish nodded.

“Yes. I need to check a few things.” The mage looked at Nona and Vesper with a hesitant expression. “You sure you don’t mind taking care of the accommodation?”

“Not at all!” Nona smiled at Adish. “Have fun at the Academy. We’ll see you there tonight.”

Adish nodded again before saying goodbye and disappeared inside the crowd, in the direction of the Academy of Magic.

In the end, renting a room turned out to be more exhausting than anticipated. Because of the market most of the establishments were full, and the ones that had available rooms were so expensive that Nona had to convince Thorny not to throw fire bolts at the owners for their ‘shitty high prices’.

Eventually, they arrived at a rather old looking inn called ‘The Tired Goose’ which was on the outskirts of the city. The place was empty with the exception of a short, scary looking old woman who was cleaning the tables. The woman threw an unfriendly glance at Nona and Vesper when they entered.

Vesper was already turning around to leave when Nona happily greeted the old lady.

“Good afternoon!” She approached the old lady, whose wary expression turned into one of shock. “We are looking for accommodation for the next couple of days. Won’t you happen to have an available room, ma’am?”

The old lady blinked several times before clicking her tongue.

“Either you are an outsider or you are blind.” The old lady signaled with her head towards the door when seeing Nona and Vesper’s confused faces. “Haven’t you seen the sign stuck on the inn’s door?”

“Sign?” Nona looked at the open door. “Do you mean this flower with a cross on the top of it?”

“Yeah, that one. It is to mark the establishments that have offended the Order of the Pink Daisy,” the old lady barked a laugh, “which basically are those businesses who refuse to be robbed by the same Order which is supposed to protect them.”

“OK, we better hurry up and leave,” Thorny whispered while sitting on Nona’s shoulder. “Staying here will only mean trouble.”

But Nona didn’t move.

“That’s why you are here alone?” she asked, causing the lady to snort while continuing with the cleaning.

“Yes. Obviously, customers do not want to risk being associated with a rebel. And my staff has family to take care of, so I cannot ask them to risk their wellbeing.” The old lady smiled defiantly. “But this proud Juliette is too old to stand this kind of shit. My annoying husband is already resting in peace, and my boys are big enough already not to need me anymore. So if I end up in jail because of this, so be it.”

“Psst! Hey, dummy leader, stop wasting time here and move your ass! At this rate we are going to end up without any accommodation and–”

“So that means that you have available rooms then.”

“WHAT?!”

Thankfully, the loud ‘HAH?!’ that the lady shouted at the same time masked the imp’s shout.

“Kid, do you have a screw loose? I just told you that staying at this inn can cause you trouble with the Order of the Pink Daisy, so if I were you–”

“I understand Ms. Juliette,” Nona interrupted with a soft tone. “But I’m not on good terms with the Order either, so I don’t mind taking the risk if that means we will get a nice room for our stay, while also helping someone who clearly deserves it.”

“But you don’t look like the troublesome type at all, child. How is it that you have problems with the Order–?” Juliette suddenly shut up as her eyes opened wide. “Wait, won’t you happen to be that traveler that beat the hell out of the Order on that bridge and at that tavern?”

“What?!” This time it was Vesper the one who shouted while staring at Nona with a mix of disbelief and admiration. “Are you the traveler that defeated an entire group without even using a weapon?”

“Goddess, news really travels fast,” Nona said with an embarrassed grin while scratching the back of her head, just before exhaling an ‘ouch’ when feeling a hair pull.

“Looking for trouble is nothing to be proud about!”

Before Nona could whisper that helping people definitely was, Juliette dropped the cloth, wiped her hands on her apron and, with a vitality that was quite impressive considering her advanced age, went towards the inn stairs.

“Wait there, ladies.” The frown that Juliette had been displaying in her wrinkled face was replaced by a friendly expression. “I’m going to prepare you the best room of the inn. Oh, and today’s dinner is on me.”

“...OK, maybe you being a troublemaker came in handy this time.”

Thorny’s reluctant admission caused Nona’s smile to widen.

* * *

Nona returned to their room with a towel wrapped around her head.

Juliette hadn’t lied when saying that they would get the best accommodation at the inn for a ridiculous price. Not just was the room as big as Nona’s living room and kitchen together, but the beds were extra large and comfy. Her younger self for sure would have enjoyed jumping on those.

“The bathroom is free!” Nona announced. Vesper raised her face from the bestiary where she was taking notes while sitting on her bed cross-legged.

“How was your bath?”

“Really nice.” Nona was about to drop on her bed when she noticed Thorny snoring on the pillows. She sat carefully and removed her towel to start drying her hair. “I’m used to taking baths in rivers, but a warm, proper bath is always welcome.”

Vesper smiled apologetically. “Yes, I’m afraid that the showers of our settlement are not that refreshing.”

“Well, but they also have warm water. That’s still better than the river.”

Vesper chuckled, closed her bestiary, and stood up. The druid had already grabbed a towel and was about to leave when Nona talked.

“I would undress here if I were you. The bathroom is rather small and there is just a tiny stool to leave the clothes.” It took Nona a moment to understand Vesper’s puzzled expression. “Oh, I can turn around if it makes you uncomfortable. Or even better: I’ll leave!”

“Wait, Nona, you don't need to-”

But Nona had already left the room by then. She patiently waited outside until Vesper also exited with a towel wrapped around her body.

Nona answered Vesper’s grateful smile with one on her own and reentered the room. She spent a few minutes organizing her magical backpack and then sat on the bed again.

Thorny was still deep asleep. She observed the imp, in silence. After some hesitation, she talked.

“You know, I think I get why you weren’t 100% honest with Adish and Vesper about the mission and the conditions. I guess you don't want to reveal too much information to anyone until we know we can trust them, just like when you told me to keep my identity as the Wish Bearer hidden.” Nona made a pause and averted her eyes while frowning. “But as far as I’ve been taught, trust must be mutual. So if we always go with half-truths without being completely honest, if we are not trustworthy ourselves, how can we expect other people to be?” Nona sighed while rubbing her temple. “I guess I’m missing something here, but probably if I ask you will call me–”

“Dumb.”

Nona jumped into the bed startled, causing Thorny to burst out laughing.

“Were you pretending to sleep all this time?!”

“Nah, but you woke me up with that dummy speech. And yeah, you are missing something: the key here would be that you were able to pretend to be honest so that people trusted you fully, and then we could decide whether to trust them back or not. But to achieve that, you would need to be able to lie half decently. And you totally suck at it.”

“But at some point we would need to tell those people the real truth.”

“Yeah, well, or tell them just the necessary, yeah.”

“And then those people will need to decide if they keep trusting us or not. And that cycle would repeat with every new information we give.” Nona blinked. “Wouldn't it just be simpler and faster to tell them all the truth from the very start?”

“Maybe. But the risk of saying too much to the wrong people is also higher.”

“Well, I’m strong. So if we ever trust the wrong person, I will be able to defend ourselves.”

Thorny exhaled a deep sigh and flew until stopping just in front of Nona’s face. Nona was expecting a flick on her nose, but instead, Thorny patted her cheek a couple of times quite gently, considering it was him.

“You are lucky to have a distrustful companion like me.”

Nona smiled widely. “I know I am.”

Thorny was still shaking his head with resignation when Vesper entered the room. This time the druid insisted they could just turn around as she got dressed again.

“Wow, you have such pretty straight hair. It looks so easy to comb,” Nona’s eyes shined. “I can do it for you if you want. Helga and Quincus used to comb mine and I learned a lot of hairstyles.”

“I can do that too.” Thorny offered Vesper a pointy smile. “You can pick between a messy, just-got-up look, and a disheveled, I’m-super-crazy look."

Vesper threw a patient look at Thorny before looking at Nona. “Thank you for the offer, but I don't like other people touching my hair very much.”

“Just like my brother Octo. He never let Helga and Quincus comb his hair.”

Vesper’s eyes opened wide. “How many siblings do you have?”

“Oh we are nine in total: Aliana, Maurice, Helga, Bonnie, Quincus, Sexta, Septimus, Octo and me. And yep, my parents ran out of imagination to choose names from their fifth kid onwards.” Vesper was still looking at her in mild shock when Nona sprang out of bed with enthusiasm. “So, now that we are clean, let’s explore the city a bit!”