As soon as Shelby got back to the outskirts of Copperglade, she logged out. As the campfire scene came into view, sparks drifting into the night sky, Shelby tracked down Caramel through spinning vision. As their eyes met, then slipped, then met again, she asked, "How long can I play as her?" to AIDAN.

  "You should have accumulated roughly two hours. Your current synchronization is 83%. I will warn you when you have 30 minutes remaining."

  Although her eyes caught on Mille tending to something in a pan by the fire, Shelby knew she had a big mess to resolve, and quickly logged back in on her Brushcourser. The rapid transition to her true self and then into another body left her feeling shaky, but she managed to roll out of her tiny bed, stagger out the door, and then guide herself back outside of the inn while keeping both hands on a wall.

  The plaza was entirely cleared of debris, and Pico, Thimble, and Nisa sat at one of the two remaining tables. They seemed to be debating something in hushed tones. Naile and the other Hodekin were scattered around the edge of the courtyard, apparently now relegated to weed-picking.

  Shelby slumped into a seat next to Nisa, who patted her on the shoulder, "Rough nap?"

  "It was a good nap. Waking up took a nasty turn, though," Shelby adlibbed.

  Pico laughed, "Well, take your time. Your employees have been on their best behavior."

  Shelby gave Pico a weary smile, "Thank you for watching over them..."

  "No problem at all. Thimble helped too," Pico said.

  Thimble crossed his arms and glared across the table at Shelby, "Yet another favor I have earmarked. Speaking of, didn't you forget something?"

  Shelby tilted her head, "Did I...?"

  Thimble leaned forward in his seat, "Yes, you did! The Obligation!"

  "Ohh, yes, Nisa's Obligation. The one you wanted in exchange for helping me. It's all coming back to me," Shelby drawled out her words.

  Nisa giggled, "Don't tease him too much. I'm sure he's desperate to learn how to cook pancakes."

  "I am not!" Thimble protested.

  Shelby withdrew the Obligation and rolled it across the table to Thimble, who snatched it up. After a moment, it melted into his hand and he and Nisa shared a look. Pico cleared her throat, "Well, now that our precious Thimble has achieved his goal, shall we turn to relocating Caramel's pack?"

  Shelby straightened up, "Yes, let's. I think I should be able to get them to the, uh... Northern Waypoint? Waygate? Somewhere up north."

  Pico have Shelby a lopsided smile, "Yes, how fortunate that travel accommodations have just recently come together."

  Oh geez, please stop being so smart... Shelby pursed her lips, "Yes, I'm glad that happened, now I can fix this whole mess..."

  "So you'll go north, then what?" Pico asked.

  "I assume they'll build a little village or something?" Shelby said, suddenly aware how short her thinking had come up.

  "As gruff as they are, I don't think they'll survive being exposed to the elements for long enough to build a village," Pico said, "maybe start with tents, or find shelter elsewhere, but alright. A village for the Hodekin. I'm sure that will take some getting used to for them."

  Shelby looked over at Naile, who was staring right back. Shelby frowned, "That's right, they like to move around..."

  "Believe it or not, there are Hodekin villages to the north," Thimble interjected, "so it's not impossible."

  "Won't they listen to whatever you say?" Nisa asked.

  "Until they get fed up and try to fight you for your seat," Thimble said.

  Shelby squirmed, "I'm sure it won't come to that..."

  "Keeping people happy will certainly be part of your responsibilities," Pico said, "and I'm sure you'll do great."

  "Plus, even if it does come to blows, Thimble will be there to protect you," Nisa said with a sweet smile.

  Thimble winced, "I was getting to it."

  "Not fast enough! Poor Caramel was going to cry!" Nisa said.

  "Wait, what do you mean?" Shelby asked as she looked between Nisa and Thimble.

  Pico laughed, "He's coming with you."

  Shelby blinked a few times, "...Why?"

  "Don't say 'why'!" Thimble roared as he stood up in his seat, "say 'thank you' or 'that would be very helpful'!"

  "It would be very helpful! Thank you, Thimble! I'm just surprised. I thought you were going to move on after you helped me," Shelby said with her hands raised.

  "About that," Pico interjected, "I know you've already done a lot for us, and you've got a lot to handle with the Hodekin, but I was wondering if you'd be interested in helping with something else. Our dear Thimble already agreed that he wants to be part of it."

  "Uh, I suppose so? Well first, what is it?" Shelby asked.

  Thimble raised his hand to lead the conversation, "This is in regards to the outside clan you saw setting fire to homes. I'd like to investigate for myself what is happening in Kin Bleak, especially if we can prevent attacks on Copperglade by these bad actors."

  Shelby nodded, "I'm worried about that too..."

  "While I believe that protecting Copperglade is reason enough to investigate, I suspect that there is some larger problem occurring all throughout Neant," Thimble continued.

  "What do you mean?" Shelby asked. Does this have to do with the hack?

  Thimble hesitated, "Well... there are unusual problems arising elsewhere too. Those two traders I travelled with mentioned that there has been a huge increase in attacks on caravans near Nin-Mora as well..."

  "By the Hodekin?" Shelby asked.

  "No, by the Bozu," Thimble said.

  "The Bozu? Truly?" Pico asked with an astonished look.

  "Who are the Bozu?" Shelby asked.

  "They're sea shrimps!" Nisa burst out, with a laugh following right after.

  "That's beside the point..." Thimble muttered, "it's just an example of strange happenings! Something is causing these groups to act out."

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Pico cleared her throat, "And, while I'd love to say that Copperglade could handle it ourselves... I'm afraid we're just not equipped for things like this. I could send the guilds to look into it, but they have their own problems."

  Thimble shrugged, "That's why I want to go, so I can investigate for myself."

  Shelby nodded, "Okay. Sounds good to me."

  "You're just going to accept?" Thimble asked.

  "Yeah, why not? I'm going to Kin Bleak anyways, and I'm already used to fighting with you, so that sounds like a great idea," Shelby said.

  "Perfect," Pico clapped her hands once, "you two take care of whoever has been attacking us and we won't have to worry about any more fires! I'm sure that your new village will be a great home base for your work, Caramel."

  Shelby rose on now-steadier legs, "I'd love to get moving on this. The sooner I can get real sleep, the better."

  Thimble rose too, gathering his sword and shield. Shelby nodded to him and headed over to Naile. The former wolf matriarch fixed Shelby with a deadly glare as she approached, "What is it?" she growled.

  The other Hodekin trained their eyes on Shelby too, stopping their work to congregate. Their faces burned with emotions that ranged from happy to hostile. Shelby wriggled under their collective attention, "We're leaving to find a new home for everyone. We're going north."

  Naile stood and towered over Shelby, "If that is what you wish... but we fled the north not long ago."

  "I know. We're not going to Kin Bleak, just north Copperglade. I made an agreement with their mayor that we could stay in the region, and then we can trade with them for meat and anything else we need."

  The Hodekin murmured. Again, their reactions were split between excited and murderous. Shelby gulped. Naile nodded to her, "I see that you still intend to follow your plan..."

  "I think it would be best for everyone. We should be glad they're willing to help us at all..." Shelby said firmly.

  A voice from inside the pack snapped out a terse, "Why should we be glad? They should be glad to still be alive."

  Someone else snarled, "The leader could have killed any of us, fool."

  Shelby raised her hands, "Stop! We don't have to fight, okay? Everything is going to work out. We just need to find a home first."

  Contentious chatter rippled through the pack. Thimble sighed loudly and Naile shrugged, "Then where are we to go?"

  "We're going to take a carriage to the northern border and then look for a good place to make your homes," Shelby said.

  "Those Catach mongrels will come kill us in our sleep!" someone shouted.

  "I promise, we'll figure out a way to keep everyone safe..." Shelby said half-heartedly. They have a point, how am I going to protect them from attacks?

  "Fine, let us go then," Naile said, walking past Shelby towards the exit to the inn courtyard.

  Shelby hurried to take the lead, then directed everyone towards the main road. Thimble strode by with a nod, "I'll make sure no one wanders off."

  After everyone was gathered by the roadside, Shelby opened her map and searched for a way to charter a ride. There was a new icon of a carriage near the bottom right corner of the map, so she selected it and was able to summon 3 simple carts for a total of 15 tin coins. It took a minute for them to arrive, but three boars rounded the southern bend in the road in single file and stopped in front of Shelby's outstretched hand.

  The carts weren't as big as she hoped, but with some chaotic sorting and shouted orders, the Hodekin piled into the three carts with a messy success. Naile stood to one side, insisting that she could run 'faster than any boar' and Shelby had room for herself and Thimble on Madeline. She directed the carts towards a pre-selected northern beacon, which glowed on the edge of her map in uncharted territory, and then followed the carts from behind.

  The vehicles were moving only slightly faster than a brisk walking pace because of the collective weight of 23, as Shelby had counted, Hodekin. Naile had no problem walking beside them, and Thimble sat cross legged on Madeline's head. Soon, they arrived at the fork in the road and headed left towards new lands.

  The Hodekin were noisy and the cramped travelling conditions were making them snippy, but no major fights broke out as they settled in. Shelby's map had a strip of explored land that crossed the road just above the fork, but she didn't remember ever walking by it. It soon became clear how she missed it. The road's condition went from tidy to horribly overgrown after only a couple hundred yards. The river that Naile and she had followed even overtook the road for one harrowing stretch, but the carts made it through without capsizing.

  Beyond that, Copperglade was entirely blank on Shelby's map. Her stomach was feeling especially crowded with butterflies as she thought about how she was possibly going to settle her unexpected followers. I could ask AIDAN, or I could talk it out with Thimble, and... Naile, I guess? She probably knows what they need more than anyone.

  Shelby called out, "Naile! Fall back to me."

  Naile's ears turned back and then flattened out. The wolf stopped and waited for the carts to pass her, the stepped into rhythm beside Madeline, "What do you want, matriarch?"

  Thimble crawled up Madeline's neck and sat backwards on her shoulders, listening in. Shelby forced a diplomatic smile, "You've been taking care of your people for a long time, right? What do they need, like in a home?"

  Naile snorted, "What anyone needs. Shelter, food, water..."

  "Okay, but... is there anything I should avoid?"

  "Kin Bleak."

  "Very helpful," Shelby said with a sigh, "I'm just trying to think of what would be the best for everyone."

  Thimble raised a small paw, "Don't you need to be near the road if you want to trade?"

  Shelby nodded at that, "Right..."

  "Not too near," Naile responded, "unless you want us to be sitting mice."

  "Yeah, especially if other Hodekin are planning on coming around... it would be best if the village was hidden somehow..." Shelby pondered, "How did you protect your tribe before, Naile?"

  "We were always on the move... but we would make camp on the high foothills, or even on islands sometimes... it's always best to have two ways to escape, but not too many ways to approach. It is difficult to guard the open plains from attacks," Naile said, softening a little as she talked about her expertise.

  "Up on a hill could be good, but it might be easier to spot too," Shelby offered.

  "You should consider Copperglade's terrain," Thimble said, "the villages here avoid detection by blending in with the plant life."

  "Ah... that's true. It would be hard to see us if we were in the woods, but it might make our lives harder too. There are lots of monsters and thorns," Shelby's mind was starting to whirr now.

  By the time the carts arrived at their destination, Shelby had a laundry list of desires for a building site. Unfortunately, many of them contradicted or cancelled each other out. Naile had come around almost completely and was eager to help decide, and Thimble clearly had an interest too.

  The end of road, literally and figuratively, was a short distance away from the wall of dense trees and bushes that characterized Copperglade. The road itself was barely a road anymore, and waist high grass rose in tufts all around the landscape. Although there weren't any immediately nearby, the gigantic lonely trees of Kin Bleak stood out even more starkly from the dry plains that Shelby, Thimble, and 24 wolves unloaded onto.

  AIDAN decided that this would be an opportune moment to speak up, "While your planning endeavor has been genuinely interesting, I feel that I must dissuade you from wasting further time and mental energy trying to devise an optimal settlement location. In reality, you only have three sites that will accept your Good Deed at all."

  Shelby slumped over on Madeline, "Why didn't you say so..."

  "You were engaging in critical thinking and considering the perspective of your collaborators. I recognized that your actions constituted a form of personal growth."

  Shelby rolled her eyes, "I guess it was a way to pass the time."

  "Your considerations will still be relevant when discerning which site to choose," AIDAN said in a chipper tone.

  "Can you tell me anything about them?" Shelby asked.

  "Of course. If I may direct you to your map, you will notice that there are three small areas which have not been revealed inside of the greater border region."

  Shelby brough up her map and looked closely. There was a huge flat-topped area now visible at the northern edge of the map. Just as AIDAN had said, there were three circle-ish islands of blank canvas inside of the bigger chunk of revealed map. Their size reminded her of Rifu's camp, which was its own 'area' despite being only a few hundred feet across.

  Shelby scrolled around the map as she zoomed in, considering the geography. One of the circles was very close by, probably only a minute's walk to the east. It seemed to be an open grassy area that was adjacent to a curve in the tree line. She didn't love that choice. The second was deeper into the woods on the western side of the road. It was in a hilly area that seemed like it could be a good option. Seems easy to defend...

  The final circle was far to the west. Shelby's initial reaction was that it was too far from the road, but as she looked around the area she noticed that it was on the edge of a river. Oh, right, water is going to be important...

  "While water is a vital resource, you can construct wells at any of these sites," AIDAN said to reassure her.

  Even with the possibility of a well, the site had other interesting features too. It seemed to span the water and took up a sliver of a natural island in between two streams. Shelby could imagine farming there and building an island fortress, perhaps.

  She marked the locations on her map, then closed it. Three triangles pointing to the potential sites ringed the edge of her mini-map. She hopped down from Madeline and stretched, then looked up to Naile.

  "Ready to go look for a new home?"