“A what now?!” Tom asked in disbelief.

  “An indepe… settlement,” the crab repeated slowly.

  “You, Balthazar, want to turn this pto a settlement?” said Rye, holding back a mog smile. “The Balthazar we all know? The crab who hates pany and wants his pond all to himself?”

  “Yes, Rye, me,” the mert responded, looking unamused. “And who says that just because I want to turn this into a settlement that has to mean I want to give up my pond?”

  “I’m… not sure you uand what a settlement is,” Rye said.

  “Oh, but I do,” the crab insisted. “I don’t actually want much to ge about how things work around here. My iion is to decre this p indepe area, its own g body, so as to plicate matters for Antoine or anyone else who keeps messing with us. Ohing is screwing with the inhabitants of a roadside pond in the middle of nowhere, another is to do it with a neighb settlement. Trust me, I’ve read a lot of books on diplomad politics. And also a bunch of intrigue novels.”

  “So, your idea,” Rye started, stroking his , “is to put the pressure on Antoine if he tries to do anything against you, by making it… a diplomatic matter?”

  “Now you’re starting to get it! Nobody cares if the big mert sends goons down the road out of town th up some talking animals, but if this roper p the map, I bet Ardville’s mayor and his people wouldn’t like Antoiirring the pot and causing flict like that.”

  “That’s a bit…” Rye winced lightly. “I don’t know, far-fetched?”

  “And how would you io make the humans reize your cim?” Khargol asked. “What’s stopping them from seeing you as a threat right outside their door and send men dowo torch this pce?”

  “Appearances! And, of course, money,” Balthazar responded. “Every adventurer and their mother knows about this pce by now. Everyone has stopped by and traded here at some point or another. And if there’s ohing I’ve learned even the people in power seem to care a lot about, is keeping adventurers happy. Besides, I don’t io act like some hostile military force stationed outside their border. I’m a friendly mert crab! Happy and willing to trade and build business retionships with my neighbors! You never heard that you’ll catch more crabs with cookies than with vinegar?”

  “I… I don’t think that’s how the saying—” Rye said sheepishly.

  “Anyway!” Balthazar excimed. “All of this will take time, and a lot of work to get to. For now, we o start with smaller steps. Don’t worry about the details of the greater pn. Just trust that I have it all figured out, will you?”

  The crab looked around the table with arms open and a wide smile once more.

  Instead of the cheering he expected, everyone was awkwardly quiet, shifting around in their seats, or pying with their piece of pie. At least the crickets in the background were willing to cheer him on.

  “Right, I’ll let you all warm up to my idea over time,” Balthazar said, sitting back down and breaking a piece of pie from his slice. “Now, I at least get to some good news I’ve been trying to give before everyo derailing the versation?”

  Seeing that no one protested, the crab turned his attention to his right.

  “Madeleine,” he started, “I’ve got something for you.”

  “For me?!” the surprised baker asked, halfway through bringing a small piece of pie up to her mouth.

  “Yes, for you. Tristan, if you would, please?” Balthazar said, without looking away from Madeleiristan?”

  The crab finally turo his left, where the drunkard appeared to have dozed off, the pte in front of him already picked . Even Balthazar wasn’t sure how someone could have eaten all that pie so fast, without him notig, and already have fallen asleep on the spot like that.

  “Tristan!”

  “Huh?! What?! Who? How many??” the startled man blurted out, jolting awake.

  “The deed, please,” the crab said bitterly.

  “ht, right!” Tristan said, quickly looking through his jacket's pockets. “Here you go, partner!”

  “Thanks,” said Balthazar, taking the rolled-up piece of part with his pincer and turning back to the baker. “This is the deed for a all spot on the market in town. I’d like you to move your busihere, so that Antoine o longer extort you with his infted rent prices as a way to get back at me.”

  “What?” Madeleine said, looking fbbergasted. “Balthazar, you ’t be serious, right? You… you went and bought a market spot, with yold, for me?”

  The baker’s big greearted looking shihan usual as she dropped the piece of pie ba her pte and held her hands together against her chest, staring at the piece of paper like it was a baby drake or a talking toad. Balthazar began feeling too awkward for his taste.

  “Uh, yes, I did. Looks like I’m your new ndlord now.” The crab chuckled nervously. “Anyway, just, uh, make sure you move your stuff there tomorrow so you get away from Antoine’s grasp as soon as—”

  Before Balthazar could react, he found his shell being ed into a hug by the baker’s arms, her soft face pressed against his rough chitin above his eye stalks. “Thank you, Balthazar!”

  The crab was taken abad unsure of what to do as he wondered why his shell felt slightly moist where her cheek was, and whether that was normal for humans or if he should be ed that something was wrong with her.

  Hea sniffed loudly and started trying to wipe her eyes with her fs. “Oh, gosh! I’m so sorry, I just ’t help it when I see ses like this. I get so emotional. You really do have a heart deep under all that rough exterior. I would have never expected you to actually go and spend your own to buy a market space for someone else other than yourself, and then to just give it away to her rent-free.”

  “Wait, what?!” Balthazar excimed in surprise, as the girl finally let go of him and sat ba her chair, smiling and wiping away her cheeks.

  The crab looked around in fusion before his gaze nded on Tristan, who widened his eyes at him and gave him a discreet head tilt.

  “Oh, heh, right, of course,” the golden mert said nervously. “And from now on, Madeleine, you don’t have to worry about rent anymore. It’s… it’s all… free.” The st part of his sentence was nearly a whisper, as Balthazar felt a small portion of himself dying inside.

  “Again, thank you so much, Balthazar,” the overjoyed baker said. “You have no idea how much this means to me. The st few weeks have been terrible, trying to make ends meet. It’s such a massive weight off my shoulders.” She smiled even more and pced a hand over his pincer. “And if you won’t let me pay rent, then from now on, mister, you expect free pastries for life. Nuing allowed either!”

  Balthazar’s eye stalks perked up as he felt another portion of himself e alive inside him. “Nuing from me!”

  “Hey, so, uh, not to ruin the nient or anything,” Rob’s voice said from within his bush, apanied by chewing noises and lip smag, “but what exactly am I here for?”

  “You mean aside from stealing other people’s pie?” Balthazar said, pointing a cw at the empty pte in front of Tom, who clearly haden anything.

  “Hey, what the…” the skeleton excimed, jolting up in his seat. “When did he do that?!” He looked around and then lifted the pte to look underh it, as if expeg a rge k of pie to be hidden there somehow.

  “What? It’s not like he was go it!” the thief argued, his mouth still sounding full.

  “Ah, whatever, he’s right. Let him have it,” said the skeleton with a slight cackle of amusement.

  “Alright, well, your job, Rob,” Balthazar said, pulling his pte slightly closer to himself, despite being on the opposite side of the table from the thief, “will be to keep your ear to the ground iown’s underworld. Knowing what we know about Antoine now, he is likely to try something against Madeleine or her stand after he finds out what we just did. I want you to find out if he tries to hire any thugs or makes any moves, and if so, immediately inform Madeleine so she get out of dodge. Last thing we need is him turning anyone else into another animal.”

  “Right, right!” Tristan said, nodding vigorously. “Let’s not allow him to make any more victims like Hea and Balthazar.”

  “What do you mean, like me?” the crab asked.

  The drunkard looked at him with a fused gaze. “You know, like you said, turning people into animals. Isn’t that what he did to you?”

  “What?! No!” Balthazar yelled. “What the hell are you on about? I’ve always been a crab!”

  “Oh! really? This whole time I thought you used to be a ky old man.”

  “Oh, for the love of pie…” the crabby mert muttered, rubbing the space between his eye stalks with a pincer. “Anyhow, that’s another point. We o find a way to reverse Hea’s curse. Antoine paid an adventurer, a witch called Velvet, to turn her into the toad we see now. If any of you ever enter her, we o capture her a her to undo whatever spell she did.”

  “Hey, uh, Balthazar?” Tristan said, looking unusually sheepish. “Do you think this curse could be like in those stories?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know… cursed into an amphibian form… the only way to turn back is a kiss from a charming prince…”

  “I am not kissing any frogs, Tristan!” Balthazar quickly excimed. “We find the witch. That’s the pn!”

  “I… I didn’t mean you…” the blushing drunk whispered, his voice fading so quiet no one else heard him.

  “I appreciate your kindness, and everyone else’s. Truly,” Hea said, trying to ighe previous exge.

  “What about you two?” Balthazar asked, looking at Tom and Khargol. “What do you say? I t on you to help spread the word among the other se creatures out there that Balthazar’s Bazaar is a safe and open market to do business?”

  “Hell, why not? I’m in!” said the skeleton. “I like this tle pce you’ve got, and if it meant I could e straight here some nights and trade in one spot instead of hauling my hip bones all the way across the nd to do business, I’d be happy to shell out for your bazaar.” Tom cackled again, his jaw bone boung up and down. “Get it? Shell out? Hah! Priceless!”

  Ign the skeleton’s humor, the orext to him stroked his chiseled in ption. “Hmm, this arra could be an agreeable one, uhe dition that we do not have to deal with any humans during those hours.”

  “Absolutely!” said Balthazar. “Adventurers are hardly ever on the road during night hours, and we’d keep watch outside to ensure no pesky humans—present pany excluded—crashed our party.”

  “Then I shall see that those we trade with will learn of your bazaar and your iions,” Khargol decred, with a nod.

  “Excellent! Then I think that settles most of the important matters we o get this going.” The crab started listing things off while using his pio t them. “Madeleine will move to her new spot tomorrow, getting away from Antoine’s grasp. Rob will keep an eye on any shady moves he might pull against her. Hea will stay here helping at the bazaar during the night. Khargol and Tom will spread word about our after dark deals. Yep, I think that’s everything covered.”

  “Well, not to sound like I’m pining,” John interjected, leaning forward from his chair, pipe in hand while he chewed the st of his pie slice, “this has been very eaining and I’m having plenty of fun watg you all go bad forth, but I’m still not sure what I’m here for.”

  “ht, I almost fot about you there,” Balthazar said, scratg the side of his shell.

  “Must be because of the bush I’m sittio,” the carpenter said with a chuckle.

  “Well, I wanted you in on this because I figured that with the pns to keep expanding and turning this pto an indepe settlement, there will be a lot of need for stru, and I don’t really know anyone else for that. So… I was hoping you’d be willing to help with building whatever bees necessary iure? You’d be paid for your work, of course.”

  “Hah! That’s it?” the amused old man said, pg his wooden pipe ba the er of his lip. “You could have said it from the start. So long as it’s about building things, you t on me. Beats staying locked up in my workshop all day fixing wagon wheels. Would feel nice tributing to something neurposeful, for once.”

  “Great to hear,” said the crab, turning to the rest of the table. “Now, unless someone else has anything to add, I think this will be all. Meeting’s over, this cil is adjourned, you all go home, or whatever.”

  “Wait,” said Rye. “This feels like a pretty important thing you’re starting here with this group. Shouldn’t we decide on a name for ourselves?”

  “Why?” Balthazar asked, squinting at the archer. He was really looking forward to seeing them all leave so he could finally tackle the remaining pie all on his own.

  “I don’t know,” the young adventurer said with a shrug. “It just feels like something important groups do.”

  “Fine, whatever,” the crab said, gng at the half pie left on the rge pte, being him with its glisteniy. “Anyone have any suggestions for a name, so we get on with this?”

  The members of the group exged looks and a few shrugs at each other, but no one made a cim for a name.

  “e on, anything?” the increasingly frustrated mert pleaded, gazing longingly at the pie. “I really want to go back to that pie, and you guys aren’t helping much.”

  “Oh, that’s it!” Hea excimed with a sudden croak. “Why not call this The Pie cil? Sounds very fitting to me.”

  “That’s a pletely silly name,” Balthazar said. “We’ll take it. I now decre the first meeting of The Pie cil officially over!”

  H0st