Dryth slammed their haul down onto the counter in front of Holter. "Four mosstoads, with the moss on them as intact as we could manage."

  "Oh?" The man in charge of Far West's bounty station looked up from whatever he'd been reading and peeked in the bag. "Oh, those look pretty good." He let the hem of the bag drop out of the way and gave Dryth a once over. "Looks like you had a good time out there."

  "I have an issue with your description of mosstoads." Dryth complained, ignoring the mud he was dripping onto the floor. "You said 'they don't attack if you don't get close' or something like that, which is an absolutely terrible way to describe and ambush predator that's too stupid to not attack things bigger than they are!"

  "Really?" Holter reached up to stroke his own chine, looking much too innocent for it to be believable. "Maybe you shouldn't have taken what I told you at face value?"

  "Oh, is that how it is?" Dryth leaned over the counter deliberately making sure he spilled some muck onto it. "I'll just let Ewan know that he should come to town tomorrow to say hi to all his acquaintances who miss him so dearly. While I'm out it, I'll tell him you're giving out deliberately misleading information."

  "Alright, alright. Don't do that." It only took one finger for Holter to push Dryth back. "It's a traditional test for first timers. It's not exactly agency policy but if you get to my level you learn about it. You give the brand new guy a job that won't kill them but can be a pain in the ass and deliberately give them just enough info for it to become a pain in the ass for them. Let's us see what kind of people they are and how to deal with them."

  "That's pretty shitty." Sindri scolded the man as he leaned forward and flicked his head so that more mud splattered on the counter.

  "What was that for?" Holter complained. He reached under the counter and came up with a rag.

  "Sindri was agreeing with me that that is quite the shitty 'test'."

  Holter stopped wiping and made eye contact with Dryth. "Look, kid, not every bounty is hunting monsters that either deserve it or no one will really mind if they get wiped out. We get bounties for criminals, or to find people, or just to talk sense into someone who's planning something stupid. Not everything you're gonna get paid to do needs to, or should, end in death. I needed to get your measure to see if you're the kind of person who I can safely hand delicate jobs to."

  "And letting me get covered in mud and bitten by toads tells you that?"

  "No, but it's a damn good start." He finished getting the mud off his counter and grabbed the bag filled with dead toads. "I'm going to take this over to my collections people and let them see how much moss you've got. I'll let them know to leave some toad bits for your partner to much on. Once they get a count I'll give you you're money."

  Dryth looked down at himself. "Is there a well around here I can clean myself at while I wait?"

  Holter pointed at the back of the building. "There's a little yard around back where we have a pump, you can use that."

  Dryth glanced over and saw a door against the back wall. "Is that where that door goes?"

  ".. It is..."

  "Who has to clean the floor."

  Holter sighed. "In this case, I will."

  "Good! That means I'm not making work for anyone else." Dryth squelched off, walking past a group of three people sitting at a table who tracked him as he moved past. Dryth ignored them, although Sindri looked back at them curiously.

  The pump was right next to the door and while the water was cold it was clean and it got the mud off. It stung like mad but Dryth also made sure to run the water over the wound on his leg to make extra sure there weren't any particulates left in it. The punctures from the toad's teeth started dribbling blood again as he did, but not enough to be worried about yet. Dryth shivered as Sindri flapped his wings at him, the wind blowing against him making him feel like he was chilled to the bone but drying his clothes enough that he wasn't dripping as he walked back inside to get paid. Sindri's warmth around his neck was a balm against the cold that had seeped into him as he stepped back in front of Holter.

  "Oh look, there was a person under all that."

  Dryth just stared at him.

  "Tough crowd, ey? Well, the job called for three toads worth of moss, which is an imprecise amount so giving a direct measure is hard here. The moss of the four you brought in is mostly intact, although there are a few scorch marks around the edges of two of them that bring your total amount collected down a tad. Collections people call it three and a half brought in, which meets the requirements. Pay for the job itself is a less and the agency itself will buy the rest the moss off you for two jingles."

  Dryth ran the math in his head quickly. Two jingles for half a toads worth of moss was a little under the pay the job was giving out, but Dryth didn't have another use for the mosstoad moss himself. "Fine."

  "Alright, just let me see your card for a moment." Holter took Dryth's bounty hunter card and did some more holding and waiting with the magical paper he'd used earlier to mark Dryth taking the job. "Alright, it's in the record that you've completed the job, and here's your pay." He held out four coins in his big hand.

  Dryth took them and looked down at the money to count it. He didn't actually think Holter would try and cheat them, but he might try some other convoluted test that would be annoying to deal with.

  "Why did we get paid less for this than the gremlins?"

  "Well, for one we killed more gremlins than we did mosstoads."

  "But the mosstoads were harder!"

  "Sure, but the other factor is the local economy and the other circumstances. Some things in the capitol are more expensive because there's different levels of supply and demand. There's more people living there, so there are more jobs and bounties created by all those people, which means there's more demand for people to do those jobs. There are more bounty hunters in the area because of that, but it also means they can demand to get paid more because if you won't pay them more they can always take a different job. Out here there's less job in general because less people, which means that you can't ask for as much pay."

  "Oh." Sindri felt thoughtful as he mulled that over. "What are the other circumstances?"

  "Well, the person who wanted the gremlins taken care of was the owner of a big warehouse full of goods, and the gremlins were stopping him from making money, so he was probably willing to pay out more in order to get back to making money. Whoever wants the mosstoad moss probably doesn't want it as much as the warehouse owner wanted to get back into his warehouse."

  "Huh. That's complicated."

  "It is, but that's humans for you."

  "You two having a conversation again?" Holter cut in. "Cause it looks lime you're just standing there with staring into space."

  "Sorry, I was explaining to Sindri why the pay for this job was less than the one we did in the capital." Dryth started to turn to walk away but paused to ask a question. "You know any healers or doctors in town that won't try and rip me off over something small?"

  "You get hurt?"

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "One of the toads bit me in the leg. I just want something to make sure I don't get an infection."

  Holter turned his beefy arm to point right at the main door to the station. "Right across the street, the building with the mortar and pestle sign on it. Owner's a herbalist, not a doctor or anything, but if you just need something to keep an infection from getting in a cut or something he's your best bet."

  "Thanks Holter. I'll see you later. And if you give me any more stupid test I'm going to sic Ewan on you." Dryth warned him.

  Holter threw back his head and laughed. "Ha! I don't think that'd go the way you want it to, but you're welcome to try."

  Dryth distinctly noted that Holter never agreed to his demand, but there wasn't much Dryth could do about that so he went across the street. The man running the herbalism business was an old hunched man with a long, thick beard who stared at Dryth and Sindri with suspicious eyes.

  "What do you want?"

  "Got bit by a mosstoad on my leg, was looking for something to keep it from getting infected."

  The old man grunted and walked off into the back of his store. A moment later he came back in with a small tin that he slapped down on the counter. "Five jingles."

  "What is it?"

  "It's ointment." The old man growled, "Helps with healing and keeps diseases out. What else would I be giving you?" He pointed a stern finger at Sindri. "And no eating this, brat, it doesn't go in stomachs."

  "I won't eat it." Sindri promised meekly.

  "Good!" he barked out. "Now, five jingles!"

  Dryth handed over a halfsie and got his change.

  "Rub a good portion on the wound twice a day until the it's all gone. Once in the morning and once in the evening a few hours before you sleep. Now get out!"

  "Thank you." Dryth said to the man, before immediately fleeing.

  Sindri turned around the look at the door as they fled down the street, "Did he actually hear me?"

  "I'm not going back to ask, that's for sure." Dryth muttered. "Let's go home."

  "I'm hungry, can we stop and get some more pork?"

  "How are you hungry already, you had-" Dryth slipped to a stop in the middle of the street. "Dammit."

  "What?"

  "We forgot to get any toad meat from Holter."

  Sindri gasped inside Dryth's mind. "How did we forget? Go back! Go back and get the toad meat!"

  "I'm going, I'm going."

  Holter was leaned against the counter as they came back in and grinned at them as Dryth tromped up. "Forget something?"

  "Can we please have the toad meat we accidentally forgot?" Dryth asked in the calmest voice he could manage in an attempt to stave off any gloating or grandstanding.

  "Yeah, alright." Holter sounded a bit disappointed that no one was throwing a fuss but he handed back the sack Dryth had come in with, now much cleaner and not quite as heavy with contents. "They wrapped up the meat so it doesn't get fibers on it from the sack. They also said that mosstoad meat isn't very tasty to humans but..." He gestured at Sindri.

  "But I'm not human!" Sindri started doing a little dance as he rose up from Dryth's shoulders then descended toward the bag. "That smells even better without the plant smell mixing in with the meat!"

  Dryth jerked the openeing of the bag away from Sindri's questing tongue. "I'm not unwrapping it here, wait until we get back."

  "But I'm hungry now!"

  "We just got clean, I don't want to get blood all over myself!"

  "I don't eat that messily!" Sindri proclaimed, affronted.

  "Not from you, from the meat. It's just been butchered so there's going to be blood everywhere."

  "No, the one who actually does the butchering for us has a card that speeds up how fast blood drains." Holter explained. "It should be fine to grab a piece and not get messy."

  "See?"

  "Fine." Dryth sighed. He opened the bag and found three parcels of thick paper wrapped around lumpy contents. He tugged one open, grabbed the first slimy bit of meat he touched, and sealed the paper packaging back up.

  Sindri stared at the meat, acting like he was entranced to his own amusement. "Oooh."

  Dryth couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah, yeah. Here you go." He tossed up to Sindri, who snapped it out of the air. The sight of Sindri once again swallowing something that was larger around than him, in this case the leg of a mosstoad, was a bit disturbing.

  Holter made a face. "That's... bleh." He shuddered and looked away.

  "We're going now."

  "Please do."

  They headed for the town gate they'd ended from as the leg slowly traveled down Sindri's gullet. The sensation of the part of Sindri it was passing through expanding while he was wrapped around Dryth's neck was odd, as so many things about Dryth's life had become.

  "Hey look, cards."

  Dryth glanced over to where Sindri was pointing with his tail. There was a small shop with a large glass window, an uncommon sight outside of generally wealthy areas. Behind the glass were three displays with cards inside each of which was sealed in a small locked case.

  "Want to see what they've got?"

  "I don't think we can afford any cards yet."

  "So? We can look, and if they have something we want then we'll know how much to save up for."

  "That's a good point." Dryth glanced up at the sun, which was starting to edge toward the horizon but hadn't touched it yet. "I think we've got a little bit of time."

  A small bell rang as Dryth opened the door. The store was warmly decorated with wooden inlays and small carvings in the corners of the room. The three cases sat on a shelf that was hidden from the outside and there was another similar shelf behind the polished brass counter with even more cards stored on it. In the middle of the counter there was a strip of red velvet that was thick enough for a card to be placed on it that looked quite plush.

  A thin, older woman with wispy white hair and round glasses stepped out from somewhere behind the counter. "Hello. Welcome to Miss Missandra's Card Emporium I am the owner and proprietor Miss Missandra. How may I help you?"

  "Hello, my name's Dryth and this is Sindri." Sindri nodded at the woman. "We're here to see if you have any cards we'd be interested. It's unlikely we can meet the price for anything we'd be interested in at this moment, but Sindri wanted a look at your stock to see if there's anything worth saving for."

  "... I see." Miss Missandra raised a pale hand to adjust her glasses as she peered at Sindri for a moment. "And what kind of cards are you in the market for?"

  "Do you have any magic cards? We're interested in any of them hypothetically, but especially anything with the light element."

  She turned a harsh look on Dryth down her frankly beak-like nose. "Young man, the Association frowns on any non-Association run card shop from selling or buying magic cards."

  "Awe, more annoying stuff? Are we going to have to buy cards from Ewan or something? He doesn't follow the dumb Association rules."

  "Actually..." Dryth considered the woman for a moment before asking. "Is the Association frowning on something the same as the law?"

  "It is not."

  "So it wouldn't be illegal for a store that the Association doesn't control from purchasing or selling magic cards?"

  "It would not."

  "So, do you have any in stock?"

  She held out her hand. "May I see your mage license, please?"

  Dryth had to restrain himself from clicking his tongue. "I'm not licensed yet."

  "Ah?" She raised her eyebrows as she looked him over. "Then you're still a mage-trainee?"

  "No, actually," Dryth informed her, "I'm a mage-apprentice."

  "Oh." Her thin white eyebrows almost cleared the top of her forehead at that reply. "And who is your teacher."

  "Ewan. Ewan Eoh-"

  "Oh, I'm quite aware of who Ewan is." She said in the same prim-and-proper tone she'd had the whole time, but her body relaxed noticeably as she did. "It appears I don't have to worry about Association auditors coming to natter at me quite yet. You said magic cards with a focus on the light element yes? One moment." She reached behind her without looking and grabbed onto the edge of the wooden shelf holding the cards. She pulled down on it and it began to rotate downward, with the bottom shelf vanishing into a hole in the floor Dryth couldn't spot and a new one coming down from above. The entire affair was accompanied by a deafening clacking sound as wood slapped against wood.

  "Here we are." She said after bringing a specific shelf level with her chest. "My stock of blue bordered cards is lower than my green and red stocks, but I do have a selection. Based off of your status and the direction you're coming from, you're currently working from the bounty station?"

  "We are, yes."

  She nodded firmly once. "Yes, that is generally Ewan's suggestion when there's some issue delaying Association licensing. He generally isn't wrong, but a life of violence..." She shook her head sadly. "Knowing the path you're currently on, I have a selection of offensive and defensive spells to show you. The only light element spell I can offer you however, is this one."

  She removed a card from it's locked case and set it on the velvet. The image on it was of a bright glowing ball with a ring of red, yellow, and orange energy erupting outward from it.

  Sindri stared down at the card with wide, shining eyes and his emotions were all ones of desire. "I want it."

  "We cannot afford that." Dryth replied. "Instantly. We can't even cast that even if we could combine our mana pools!"

  "Yes, it is quite expensive in terms of magical power." Miss Missandra said calmly. "And I have no doubt that you don't have enough money. But it is the only light element card I posses currently and something to work hard towards, no?" She lifted the card up and returned it to it's case, with Sindri following the movement with his entire body trailing behind it, at least until Dryth grabbed him and dragged him back.

  Miss Missandra shut the case and turned to look at the two of them. "Now, I'll go ahead and show you my current selection and I'll give you a brief overview of the kinds of magical cards I tend to acquire, then I believe you too should head back to Ewan's. It's a longer walk back there than you'd think and the sun isn't going to set any slower for you."