thia was finishing up with her current quest when Penelope came up to her.

  “Hey, there, Nellie. What brings you here?” thia inquired as she tied off the herb buogether in groups of five. Penelope saw this ao do the same with the leftover herbs.

  “Minerva says we’re eating out tonight for dinner,” Penelope responded as she meticulously tied off the herbs into bunches.

  “Is that right? What a treat! Let’s take all of this to the guild and we head to the restaurant together!”

  Once everything acked away, thia picked up Penelope and they were off to the Adventurer’s Guild.

  The building which housed the guild had four floors and was enough to take up a good er of a city block. People kept going in and out of the grand main doors, which were carefully beled for entry a uses (words that Penelope itted to memory wheried to open the exit only door); this assured a stant and proper flow of business. The building was made of solid stri, with brid mortar that could withstand the salty sea air. There were stone pilrs all around the building, eae with a different regal figure chiseled into them.

  Penelope actually had to squint a little because she noticed something peculiar about the statues as she went ih thia.

  “Say, I could be wrong, but…are the statues all the same person?” she asked.

  “Oh, yeah. Acc to the clerks, those statues are modeled after the sed king of Birain in various poses.”

  “Oh.” Weird style choice, but all right. “I guess he was really important, huh?”

  “He was the archetype of the wandering adventurer, so yes, he is.”

  In the main room where quests were handed in reminded Penelope of a bank, where people lined up in front of tellers to have their at transas done. Since thia kept a firm hold of her in her arms (while Penelope held onto the herbs) she had a bit of extra height to look around; someone nearby was arguing over prices, while someone else was at a different ter making a request about a lost item. There were three people in front of thia, updating the clerks on their quest progress, the one currently with a clerk was scribbling away at a form, scratg his head about this part or that.

  Oh, yes, quite like a bank, Penelope thought. I do not miss paperwork, but this might be me one day, so I should pay attention.

  Ba her life as Kasumi, she had worked for an advertising firm as a general worker. Not assigo any particur department, but many things were pced oe by coworkers and this included paperwork she had no business doing. Out of y she had researched policies, terms and a variety of information in order to perform at work. Every time something came up, she would make a quick sear the i with the hope it would give her advi what to do so she could clear the hurdle.

  I actually am gd I don’t have the i anymore. The i was a scary pce.

  She did have some good experiences on it, as occasionally, she fought off the lonesomeness with going into chat rooms. Making some es, no matter how fleeting, eased the daily pain and made her want to keep going. Some chats were more toxic than others, but she did find some so strangers who happily talked with her about art or just pined alongside her about zy coworkers and families who did nothing to help at home. There had been one person whom she met frequently, though, as they often appeared at the same time, in the dead of night, when Kasumi had been on break. Kasumi and that person spoke every ht through chat over the course of ten years, sharing artwork that they liked and encing each other. It was a light in a small, ung world.

  Penelope wondered if they would miss her, or wonder where she went after not answering any chats. She hoped that wherever they were, that they were still going to be happy…

  “!” called out the desk clerk. It was their turn; thia stepped forward with Penelope readying to hand over the collected herbs. “Name, rank, membership number and job number, please.”

  “thia Riverthorn. Rank C. Membership number 8-9-0-2-2-2. I’m here for job number C-6202.”

  “Please hold.”

  The clerk left the ter to go to the massive wall of books behind her, climbing up a dder to grab something from one of the higher shelves, before returning with the correct page already open.

  “This is a job to gather Chamo herbs. Our requester has agreed to 5 Draks per bundle, with bonuses if we deem the herbs of higher quality.” The clerk gestured to the desk in front of her, which enelope’s cue. The girl carefully bent forward and id out the bundles she and thia had put together. The clerk checked them over with a spell, her eyes glowing a strange red which caught her attention. Was that some kind of appraisal ability?

  After a mihe clerk smiled and nodded, dividing piles into the ohat Penelope had bundled and ohat thia had put together.

  “Well, as usual you do great work, thia. These herbs are great. But, how e these look a little han these ones?” Pointing at thia’s pile. “I know you did these since you didn’t cut the herbs the same length and tied them off quickly. These other ones look much more even.”

  “Oh, I had a little helper. This is Penelope. She’s been staying with Minnie and me,” thia expined.

  “I see! Well, hello Penelope. Thank you for your hard work,” the clerk said with a smile.

  Penelope, feeling shy, just pulled the cloak further around her face. The clerk ughed.

  “Aw, she’s shy. Well, it’s not much, but for how ly they came I’ll add a little extra. We have ten bundles in all, so with your bonus, that’s 51 Draks.”

  The money was quickly ted out and handed over – five silver s, plus one copper. While thia collected the silver s, she hahe copper oo Penelope who looked at it quizzically.

  “What’s this for?” she asked, the still just ying there in her palm.

  “I got that extra from your work, so that one is for you,” thia expined.

  “You mean I actually get to keep this?”

  “Why wouldn’t you?”

  Penelope was stunned, but also a bit happy, and not a little teary-eyed. She had worked before, as Kasumi, day and night, and whe paid, her family always helped themselves to her money, even when she worked hard to save for something. Their hands dipped in with little sideration. This was the first time someone willingly just handed over moo her. Even though the amount was small, she was grateful to have received it.

  “Thank you very much!” Penelope chirped. She had to properly express her gratitude.

  Even as they walked away from the ter, Penelope couldn’t help admiring the copper . Her delight amused thia.

  “Now, you ’t officially sign up for the guild until you’re a bit older, so don’t get any ideas, all right, Nellie?”

  Penelope bli that. “What do you mean?”

  “Labour ws in Birain are pretty specific about hiring kids under 13. Not that it doesn’t happen, but most respectable pces tend to avoid it, like the guild here. And even when you sign up, they won’t give you anything too difficult or dangerous. Mostly local odd jobs that kids do.”

  “I see…”

  As they were making for the queue to exit the building and head off to meet with Minerva and Yule, the pair were stopped by a portly man in a shop apron.

  “Excuse me, you two! May I have a word?” the man asked.

  “You may,” thia replied, gripping Penelope a little tighter.

  The girl looked between her guardian and the man in front of her.

  He looked to be middle aged, with a rger frame and belly. His hair had long gone white and was wild and bushy. While appearances could be deceiving, his brown eyes held a kind and tired quality to them. Penelhe dark bags under his eyes – this was a man who barely got enough sleep.

  He stuck his hand into his apron pocket and pulled out a familiar book.

  Penelope’s eyes widened. “Oh, that’s mine!”

  “Yes, I noticed you at my shop window earlier and you dropped it when you ran off. I came to the guild to hand it over to someone here so they could find you and give it back, but it seems that won’t be necessary.” He hahe workbook back to the girl, who safely put it away in her satchel. “By the way, that is a finely illustrated book. Do you happen to know where you purchased it?”

  “Oh? Nowhere,” Penelope replied, looking proud. “I drew all the pictures!”

  The man was surprised. “R-really? Those amazing pictures?”

  Penelope felt like the guy was being a bit too forceful with his praise and ughed nervously. It felt weird being told her doodles were good.

  “They’re not that good,” she insisted.

  “Oh, but they are. If I may, I’d really like to ask of you a favour…” There was a silent plea in the man’s eyes, something he o ask. The look of someone who needed some kind of help…

  “Hey!” Someone’s voice cut through the air, disturbing their versation. There were people trying to move around them or standiheir little group. “Could you move it along? You’re blog the path.”

  The shopkeeper waved for the two of them to follow him.

  “Ah, my apologies everyone. Could you two e with me? There is something I’d really like to discuss.”

  thia looked to Penelope.

  “It’s up to you, kid. You all right with talking to him? I’ll e with you, of course.” There was no way the warrior was letting her charge go anywhere alone.

  Penelope, curious as to what the shopkeeper wanted, nodded. “Sure, why not?”

  Without much further ado, the three of them left the guild building to go discuss at the stationary shop. As they got out, the sky was beginning to ge its hue to something richer and deeper, though night had not yet fallen. A dusky twilight had settled over Ceralde as the business of the streets wound down, with stalls being put away and wares packed up. The shop wasn’t too far from the guild, but it took them a good few mio get there, during which time they made introdus.

  “My name is Ulfric Gidget. I owationary store with my wife, Matilda.”

  “My name is Penelope Snowflower,” Penelope returned, followed by thia who also stated her name in suit.

  “I’m sorry for taking up your time, but there is something I need help with.”

  “I’m sure you do,” thia stated evenly, “But you know you could just make a request with the guild and they could probably do better than a little girl.”

  The man fumbled with his shop keys, almost dropping them as he got the front door open to usher them all inside.

  “Thing is,” he began, “this was not something they have the power te to fix. And I am quite desperate for anything that help with my situation.”

  Penelop, distracted by everything withiore ohey eurned her attention back to Ulfric. “And that is?”

  “Truth be told, my wife is very sid I am at my wit’s end about it.”

  “Tell us more about it.”

  Penelope and thia were taken to one of the bas, a small kit with a table with just enough room for two. A third chair ulled from somewhere and dusted off, so Penelope could have a seat as well. They were served tea and after thia gave it a sniff and a thumbs up to Penelope, they eheir warm drinks as Ulfric expined himself.

  “My wife and I came from across the sea, from the try of Narhand,” Ulfric expined. “Me, her and our daughter.”

  “That’s a long way to e from,” thia stated, sounding surprised.

  Penelope looked up at her guardian at that. “Is it really that far away?”

  “Yeah, Narhand is across the o. It takes months to cross it to get to Birain.”

  “It did. My family barely had enough to survive on while on that ship, and barely enough to get ourselves a home when he nded in Ceralde. But we got by aually opened our store.”

  “But why not opeore ba your home try, Mr Ulfric?” Penelope asked.

  Ulfric smiled sadly. “My home try of Narhand has gohrough many bad things,” he expined simply. “War, famine, diseases…it was all I could do, in order to give my family a better life and there is er pce than Birain.”

  “Is that so?”

  How awful. Seemed like even this new world was not exempt from the same terrible things that pgued her former world. Though Kasumi rarely exposed herself to iional news (or even loews), due to not wanting to cause herself depressiohe state of the world, even she was not ignorant to the cepts. Probably because her own father had kept yelling about how the new geion was ruining the world, pining about how the world was going to Hell in a hand basket and how some people deserved what they got. Kasumi used tue with him, when she was younger and had the energy for it, but those topics just became taboo to discuss with the man, whether he supplied the information himself or not. Kasumi had bene privileged enough to have to never know what war was (though it did feel as if a famine had passed through at times, since she barely got enough to eat).

  “So, you said that your wife is sick? What does that have to do with Penelope’s workbook?” thia asked.

  Ulfric sighed. “This illness…it pys with my wife’s mind. Most times she is peaceful, but there are times when she is more fiery than a vengeful spirit, shouting and screaming. If I don’t watch her closely then she would hurt herself. This all began when we lost our daughter a few months ago.”

  The story was quite sad. Ulfric’s wife, Matilda, had been outside shopping with their daughter, Velma, who was around the same age as Penelope. It was a normal trip to the market, where Matilda bought items for their dihat night, while Velma helped by carrying a basket with some of their groceries. Matilda had only turned away for a sed when her daughter was snatched up. The woman gave chase until she stumbled and fell, losing sight of her daughter and her kidnapper. Both of them did everything they could to try and find her, including making a request at the Adventurer's Guild.

  “Oh, I remember seeing that notice a few months ago. So it was for your daughter,” thia whispered solemnly. “I never even applied, because it seemed out of my scope of abilities. It was the beginning of the rainy season, so my trag skills would have been useless. And I know most others would not have tried, either…missing persons are some of the most time ing requests, especially if there is a ce a child was taken far away to be sold off.”

  sidering the time that passed, it would only get more and more difficult, too. Acc to thia, people who worked at the guild did work that assured them money and or were fast to plete. Missing persons required money and time in order to track that person down, and even if someone did have the moo start off with, finding someone was not guarahus turning the quest into a money pit. The local guardsmen did do their part as well, but if the person wound up outside the town, then there was truly nothing they could do.

  “Yes, that wound up being the case. Since we are still new in town, we did not have enough moo care for my wife and pay any expenses incurred for the request. I do not stop hoping to see my sweet Velma, but I know I had to make a choice…I do not wish to lose my wife as well.”

  Penelope felt so bad. That truly was a terrible choiake. Either he put forth everything they had to try and locate their child, and possibly lose his wife by the time she is located, or look after his wife’s health so she may live, but have the very real ce he would never see his child again. No one could easily make such a difficult choice, he must have thought a long time about it. Probably even pcated his wife by even putting up the search request in the first pce.

  thia, though, had her own opinions.

  The ale smmed a fist oable.

  “That’s terrible! What about your daughter?! I’m sure she’s also going through a lot!” thia shouted, clearly impassioned by the situation. While she was not kid crazy as Minerva, it was clear she also cared about children. “If it were me, even if I enniless, I would have made it work! A child is a sacred gift! She must miss you, she could be hurt, or scared, or –”

  “Hey, thia…I’m sure it wasn’t that simple,” Penelope said, trying to calm thia, who was angrily barieeth. “Mr Ulfric probably really thought long and hard about it.”

  Ulfric, lookied after being shouted at, bowed his head. “I know it is selfish, but what would you do if you were in danger of losing anything? I have no other choice.”

  thia looked ready to bite his head off, but Penelope put a hand on her panion’s shoulder, shaking her head. The ale stopped, but her face was taut. Clearly, this whole thing bothered her.

  “So…what kind of help did you need from me?” the little girl asked quietly, getting back to the reason he requested them to talk.

  Ulfriodded. “My wife…her mind has deteriorated since we lost irl. I have had doctors take a look at her, but they could not find anything wrong with her. I…I just think she has a broke and spirit, from the shock of the loss. When I saw the details of your drawings, I thought maybe I could help her heal a little…”

  “How so?” Penelope coaxed.

  “I would like for you to draicture of my daughter,” Ulfric said, “artists are far and few in Ceralde. Most you find here are passing warriors, travellers and folk who had never picked up a pencil in their lives. The only ones who may have the capability are the upper css who could afford art lessons and supplies for their children. Please Miss Penelope, grahis request. If my wife could see my daughter’s face again, there might be a ce of granting her some peace…”

  Ulfric fell into tears, clearly stressed about the whole affair. He had a store to run, a sick wife to look after and a missing daughter to worry about – it all weighed down on him. She could see the signs of a man who spent sleepless nights searg, days w and carrying o something else broke. However, the pace he was going, he would break down and be of even less help to his wife. When was the st time he even had a ce to talk to someoo let out all of his sadness? He had reached out for help, but no one was looking his way and he was in an impossible situation.

  Penelope remembered days like that as Kasumi. Needing to bance everything so everyone around her could be happy, so she could live some sembnce of normalcy at home. As long as she kept going, everything would be all right, she had told herself, until it really wasn’t. Penelope did not want someone being so hopeless that they crashed and burned.

  Knowing all this, she knew what to do.

  She went over to Ulfrid reached up to pat the older man’s cheek.

  “There, there,” she said. “I uand. It must have been very hard for you.”

  The older man looked at her, shocked at her kind words. The tears still flowed, but he mao push through a smile and nodding. His hand pced itself atop hers, closing his eyes to squeeze the tears out once more before letting out a shaky ugh.

  “It must be something, to see an old man cry.”

  “Not at all,” Penelope said. “Everyone cries. Everyone is sad. It’s normal.”

  Ulfric chuckled at her words. “Yes, everyone does.” Taking a breath, he moved away from Penelope.

  “I may not have much, but I will do my best to repay you,” he told her. Penelope waved it off politely.

  “Well, let’s talk about payment ter? You won’t know if my work will be worth mu the end,” she stated. Ulfric shook her head.

  “I may not look it, but I am a proud businessman. Remember this Miss Penelope: always make sure you clearly state a price before services or people may take advantage of you.”

  “He’s right,” thia interjected. “robably talk more about this tomorrow. As one of her guardians, I o speak with her uardian. Shall we make arras to meet again ter?”

  “Oh, yes, of course!”

  thia and Ulfric arranged a time during the day to meet again, hurrying along when they heard Penelope’s stomach rumble. Good timing for it; Penelope was hungry and the others would probably be w about where they went. By the time they stepped out, darkness had settled in. To save time, the ale picked up Penelope and dashed for the restaurant at breakneck speed. The girl yelped at the first lurch, but soon got used to the windy speeds.

  “You sure about this Nellie? You didn’t have to help.”

  “I know, but…it seemed really sad. If I help his wife feel a bit better, why shouldn’t I?”

  “I still think it’s wrong for a man to abandon his child like that.”

  “I don’t think so…I don’t think he abandoned her. He hasn’t given up. Being given up on by a father…I know what that’s like. He wouldn’t be still trying, if he has really given up on his daughter.”

  “I suppose. The request is still avaible at the guild…I’ll apologize for snappihanks for stopping me, Nellie.”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  Penelope was curious as to why thia was so bothered by Ulfric’s as, but felt like now was not the time to be asking about something that may be too sensitive. Now that she thought about it, the ale also got upset whehe subjeinerva’s father was brought up, too. There must be quite the story there.

  Hanging onto thia, they eventually arrived at the restaurant to meet with Minerva and Yule.