It was dusk, and the embers crackled in the fire pit at the ter of the bazaar. What was left of it, anyway.

  The roof was mostly gone, exposing the deck to the darkening sky and the chilly air of the approag night, more bitter and cutting now that winter was around the er.

  All around the fire were piles of debris and broken items. Parts of the ceiling, destroyed shelves, remnants of crates, what once had been a rich dispy of random junk, now just a simple pile of it.

  On the floor by the fire sat a crab, slumped over a small colle of pebbles, idly fiddling with them. A short distance away pled and ope, covered in mud and scratch marks from being dragged through rocks.

  Spilled out of it were more pebbles, some other random items, an old piece of rolled part, and a statuette depig a golden muse.

  The light of the fmes reflected on both the statue and the crab’s shell, the glow much more dull oer, which was dirtied by mud and g its usual pristine shine.

  Balthazar sighed and stared at the light refleg on one of the precious rubies etched into the statuette. The same eyes that before looked at it with marvel and adoration now could only find remorse and guilt in its sight.

  All he could see now when looking into the sublime features carved onto the muse’s face was Madeleine, her gentle smile, her kind eyes, and be reminded of his st memory of her, her arms reag out for help as she was taken away by the dragon.

  He could have done more, he should have done more, were the clusions he kept ing back to every time he thought about everything that had unfolded the day before.

  “Hey, Balthazar,” said a croaky but also gently voice. “You should get some sleep. I’ll look after the pce for the night.”

  “What for, Hea?” said the defted crab, without turning to face her. “Not like we do any business like this, anyway. You go on, I’ll stay.”

  The toad hopped closer to the fire pit, o the crab, and looked at him. “I could stay, if you don’t want to be alone.”

  Balthazar did not respond, and instead tiariily into his colle of pebbles.

  “What’s that?” Hea asked, nodding her head at the piece of part peeking out of the chest.

  “It’s nothing,” muttered the crab. “Just some stupid old scroll I should have thrown away a long time ago.”

  The toad stared at the crab for a few moments, with and pity in her eyes, before she sighed.

  “I will leave you be, but if you need me, you know where I am.”

  The mert nodded idly, and Hea hopped away to one of the ers of the pond that remained intact.

  Balthazar tinued gazing at the fire, w if he’d ever feel like sleeping again.

  He heard movement from the back of the bazaar and turned, ready to reassure Hea again that she could go rest and leave him, but rather than a toad, the crab found a drake approag.

  Blue made her way o him, walking slowly, while carrying her red cushion in her mouth. It was dirty from having been uhe mudslide, but she did not seem to mind, as it was still her favorite thing to sleep on.

  “What is it, girl?” asked the crab.

  She carefully pced the cushion on the floor and walked in a circle before lying down on it, her head fag him and the crag fire.

  Balthazar paused for a moment, looking down at the drake. Her scales where the lightning strike had hit her were shedding, the area appearing to be healing well, and the impact from the dragon did not seem like it had left much damage on her.

  Despite that, she seemed down and even lower on energy than before the previous day’s battle.

  Not too uhe crab.

  “You miss her too, don’t you?” Balthazar whispered.

  Blue let out a low growl.

  “Yeah, me too, Blue. Me too.”

  The crab let out anh, and the young drake nudged her head against his shell.

  Balthazar hesitated for a moment, but then pced his cw over her head aly patted it.

  The azure drake closed her eyes aed her head against the golden crab’s shell, letting out the occasional faint growl as he petted her dorsal scales with the smoother side of his pincer.

  Despite how close he was to the fmes i, he found the warmth emanating from her far more f to his sore and bruised body.

  Some time passed as they rested by the fire, the drake falling in and out of sleep, while the crab tinued gazing into the pit, fshes of the growing fireball erupting from the red dragon’s mouth ing to the front of his thoughts as he lost himself in thoughts of guilt.

  A rattling sound snapped Balthazar out of his trand pulled his attention to the path leading down from the main road.

  Carefully dislodging himself from under Blue’s head, he stood up and slowly moved around the fire pit, listening closer to the approag sound.

  The rattling tinued growing louder until the crab realized it sounded very familiar.

  “Tom?” he said, squinting his eyes at the shimmering yellow gloearing from the darkness outside the doorway.

  The rattling skeleton stepped closer and into the light from the fire. Wearing his old and barely held together jacket and pants over his old yellowed bones, carrying his usual stick with a firefly ntern hanging from the tip, the undead mert greeted the crab with a timid wave.

  “Hey, buddy.”

  “Oh, hey. Didn’t expect you to show up here tonight,” the crab responded.

  Balthazar looked at the fellow mert for a moment, his sad empty eye sockets and apologetic smile.

  “I’m guessing you heard.”

  The skeleton tilted his head and shrugged. “Yeah, everybody’s talking about it out there. Big red dragon showing up out of nowhere, big fight, everything else.”

  Balthazar nodded and turo go back to the edge of the fire pit, signaling for Tom to follow.

  The skeleton stood a short distance away as the crab sat down on the floor. “Sorry, I’d offer you a chair, but I’m not sure there are any still left in one piece.”

  “It’s alright, don’t worry about it,” Tom said, reag for the back of his skull with one hand. “Not like I get sore legs or back pain, heh.”

  The bony mert chuckled awkwardly, but quickly became quiet again.

  “I heard you had broken a few legs. You alright? You seem to be walking fine now.”

  “Oh, yes, legs are fine now,” Balthazar responded, his gaze back to the fmes. “It was just a matter of carefully snapping them bato pce. Perks of being an iebrate. ’t really break bones if I don’t have any.”

  The awkward silence tio hang over the room for a few more seds until the crab g the skeleton.

  “Sorry, not sure if that was inappropriate or offensive. I didn’t mean it, if it was.”

  “Oh, no, no, not at all!” Tom rapidly replied, raising both hands in front of his rib cage. “That was actually a good one. I would have had a good ugh at it, if… you know… it wouldn’t feel s to do that at the moment.”

  More silence filled the air, and the skeleto out a lung-less sigh.

  “Look, I’m not really used to, or very good at, this kind of stuff, but for what it’s worth, I’m really sorry about everything yoing through.”

  Balthazar let his shell defte and spoke while staring into the fire. “It’s alright, I’m not good at it either, but I appreciate it, Tom.”

  The skeleton noticed twe fragments of a smooth, dark red roear the ope. It erfectly round orb, but cracked down in the middle and split in two nearly identical halves, revealing a solid core of opaque geode.

  “Is that his… you know… core?”

  The crab nodded without saying a word or moving his gaze.

  Twiddling his thumb bones for a moment, the traveling mert looked for something to say.

  “So, what do you pn to do now?”

  The crab shrugged.

  “What’s there to do? Probably nothing. My dream has beeroyed. I don’t even have any pie left to help me feel better.”

  “Right,” said Tom. “Couldn’t you get pie from someone else in town, though? I’m sure there’s more than one person baking up there.”

  “Yes, probably, but it’s not about that. It just wouldn’t feel the same if it wasn’t from… from her.”

  Balthazar slumped down again, idly poking his pebbles with the tip of his silver pincer.

  Tom’s jaw slid to one side slightly as he watched the crab.

  “Alright, sure, but you ’t just be ready to give up like that, you?”

  The tired mert let out an exasperated sigh.

  “How I not, Tom?” he said, finally turning his eye stalks up to the skeleton. “My bazaar is wrecked, my friend is gone, Madeleine was taken by a dragon. I ’t do anything. I’m just a stupid crab, and it’s about time I realized that.”

  Balthazar’s eye stalks sagged back down to his pebbles and the space around them was filled with silence again, only broken by the soft hissing of the burning wood in the fire, and the loud breathing of Blue sleeping on her pillow.

  The skeleton stared at the crab for a moment and a scowl started f above his empty sockets, despite his uscles or skin to scowl with.

  “You’re right,” said Tom. “You are a stupid crab. You’re stupid for thinking you ’t do anything.”

  Balthazar looked back at him with a slight frown, but before he could say anything, the talking skull tinued.

  “It’s true you lost your bazaar, but so what? I remember back when you didn’t have oo begin with, and your business was already booming then. You built it once. Why wouldn’t you be able to do it again? You ruck me as a quitter, crab.”

  The depressed crusta looked around, at the moal mess around his home, from the demolished gazebo to the pce where his tral islet used to be, now buried uhe mudslide of the avahat had also filled much of the pond.

  “Yes, yolem friend beiroyed must be terrible,” Tom carried on. “Trust me, I may be undead, but I know. But I also know sometimes things don’t have to be so final. He’s a golem. Surely there’s some magic… thingy that could be done. I remember a long time ago watg one of those mage-types fighting a giant using a golem outside a dungeon, and even though the giant smashed the golem down, after the guy wotle he did some magical bullcrap t the golem back to life.”

  “Wait, really? You saw that happen?” said Balthazar, his eyes shooting back at the skeleton.

  “Yes!” the other responded. “And as for your baker girl, far as I heard, she was kidnapped by the dragon, not killed. Dragons like to collect things. I doubt it actually harmed her. It could have just dohat here if that’s what it inteo do. She’s out there, somewhere, and that means there’s a ce of resg her. If you care so much about her, why are you sitting there wallowing instead of putting that thinking shell to work and figuring out how to get her back? Back before you knew her, didn't you e up with a pn to find a baker t you pies? Well, do it again, crab!”

  Balthazar’s gaze drifted towards the fmes again, this time not i, but in thought. As he listeo the skeleton, it was as if another fire was slowly stoked within him, riling him up, making him wonder if there was actually something he could do. Giving him a growing impulse to act. Giving him hope.

  “Maybe… maybe you’re right,” the crab finally said, clearing his throat as he used his voice again. “It’s a big task, but with enough people and time, and with John’s help, why couldn’t this pce be fixed up? Maybe made eveer than it ever was.”

  “Exactly!” excimed the skeleton, a smile growing across his exposed teeth.

  “And I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before, but surely that old wizard that traded me this golem core do something to help me fix it. He’s a bit loony, sure, but he definitely knows a lot about magical things. He has to know what to do!”

  “Now yetting there!” aed Tom said, g his bony fist and pumping it in the air.

  Balthazar looked up at the night sky and over the horizon, where he’d st seen Madeleine, being taken away by the dragon, and his breathing trembled a tiny bit.

  “As for Madeleine… I’m not sure how yet, but I ’t just sit here forever with my pincers crossed and expect things to be solved on their own. If I want her back, maybe it’s finally time I figure some stuff out and go do something about it myself.”

  “Yes! That’s the spirit!” cheered the skeleton, the fireflies in his ntern shaking wildly within as he celebrated. “You just gotta look around and realize you are not alone anymore. Think of all the friends and allies you’ve made along the way and who you t on. Hell, you, your partners, all those adventurers, everyone gave that dragon a good show, sidering nobody was expeg a dragon to show up after ages without them being spotted. Imagine what could be doh preparation and a good pn. And I’ve seen enough from you to knonning is something you’re pretty good at.”

  Balthazar stood up and ched his pincer. “You’re damn right! I’m not a quitting crab. I’m going to turn things around. Just watch me!”

  “Ha-ha! I’m gd I could help you see reason. You had it in you all along. It just o be poked at.” He paused and adjusted his walking stick. “However, if you’ll excuse me now, I don’t think we really do much busionight, given the whole mess you got here, so I’ll be on my way. The night is young, but I got a long stretch to go if I still want to make it to the Orcs. I figure they will want to know the news from a trustworthy mouth.”

  “Right. Thanks for helping me see reason, Tom. I… I really appreciate it.”

  The traveling skeleton tipped the brim of his dusty hat. “Don’t mention it. I’ll see ya around, crabber.”

  They waved each oodbye, and the visitor wandered back out to the road, rattling away as he went into the night.

  Standing with a newly found drive in him, the crab began running the cogs of his mind, pnning and scheming, figuring out how he was going to put things ba motion and turn his bad luck around.

  “Just wait, Madeleine,” he muttered to himself. “We will bring you back. And I will bring Bouldy back too. You will both get to see a new and improved bazaar. I’ll make use of all the gold I have, I’ll get the help of whatever adventurers I , I’ll put all these skills to use, this stupid system, everything, but nothing will stop me from seeing this through. I promise.”

  As Balthazar made his oath to the night sky above him, a soft sound behind him caught his ear. It sounded almost like… rustlihers.

  The crab turned and his eyes widened as their stalks stood up.

  A crow, feathers and eyes bck as midnight, had nded on the edge of the fire pit and was staring directly at him.

  Of all the things he did not o deal with in that moment, a damnable bird was surely high on that list.

  Just as Balthazar prepared to charge at the feathered annoyand shoo it away, it did something that nearly made the crab’s jaw drop to the floor: it spoke.

  “We o talk, Balthazar.”