Ben’s mouth was practically attached to his bowl as he scooped his dinner directly into his face.

  Granted, the main meal was soup… But that didn’t mean everyone seated around him wasn’t looking at him in blatant disgust or surprise despite the fact that he didn’t slurp so much as gulp.

  “Spidena, honey,” Daffy leaned over to the witch who couldn’t start on her own meal until the atrocity unfolding before them ceased.

  “Yeah?”

  “Please… Teach that young man some manners when you can.”

  The witch gave a soft groan. “I’m not his mother.”

  “It’d be for everyone’s sakes,” Daffy glanced at Ben from her spot at the table who proceeded to shove a whole dinner roll into his mouth.

  Spidena regarded her travel companion dejectedly.

  It seemed a thankless task to try and teach him any kind of manners.

  “So did the duck rent a room?” Spidena lowered her voice as she asked the question.

  Conquestorov may have been on the opposite side of the dining room, acquainting himself with the nymphs on their pre-splitting outing, but she didn’t trust anything Callex Earhav had created within a league of its own farts.

  “He did! He was marvelously polite! I had no idea that minions could be so intelligent!”

  “Earhav dumped years of effort and magic deals into him. It makes sense,” Spidena almost grumbled while turning back to her food.

  Paulav was seated on Spidena’s right hand side, and was on his third helping of soup and his fourth dinner roll when he leaned in closer. “Gabrinne says she’s heard rumors that Callex Earhav is the one who killed the old king by the orders of the former prince.”

  “Really?” Daffy’s eyes widened.

  “How else would a warlock get a title only six months after magic was made legal,” Spidena contributed darkly.

  Ben snorted from his spot at the table and almost choked.

  “Something funny?” Spidena snipped.

  Thumping himself on his chest, Ben reached for his goblet of water before answering. “The former prince, now king, has as much motivation and intelligence as a soiled dish rag.”

  “Oh really? And how would you know?” Spidena prodded hotly.

  “I know—knew people that met him a few times.”

  “Oh please. A friend of a friend of a friend’s cousin’s neighbor type of thing?” Spidena shook her head dismissively.

  “It isn’t the prince who would’ve done something about his father. It’s his advisors that wanted the king dead. They want a government of nobles running the kingdom.” Ben shrugged and returned to his meal, unbothered if Spidena believed him or not.

  And the witch couldn’t bring herself to care much just in that moment either, as the divine aroma of a light, sweet cake baking filled the air and teased their senses.

  The promise of desert seemed to be doing wonders at further eradicating a lot of stressors for Ben. While Spidena was significantly more patient compared to before when she was handling her anxiety on an empty stomach, she wasn’t entirely freed of it.

  “It isn’t good news for the inn if Conquestorov says Earhav is interested in it. He probably wants to say you trespassed at some point.”

  “Oh, we didn’t,” Daffy assured. “We marked a border on a map.”

  “That doesn’t matter. He’ll still take you to a judge if he wants something you don’t give him.”

  “If he tries anything funny he’ll find that the magic deals around his castle suddenly clogging worse than a toilet post troll use.” Obbie appeared opposite Daffy at the table. His own food in hand as he seated himself.

  “I wouldn’t antagonize him,” Spidena warned.

  Obbia smirked at her. “Oh, little witch. I will live far longer than any drunk-on-power warlock ever will.”

  “Oh?” Spidena asked dryly. “What about if he happens to kill you? Buries you in an iron coffin after sticking a bunch of iron knives in you and throws away the key?”

  “What are you… cursing me?” Obbie scoffed condescendingly before plucking up his spoon to enjoy his own dinner. Or at least he would’ve had he not noticed Ben scraping an entire plate full of butter garlic brussel sprouts into his open mouth. “Good. Gods. Who raised you? Even wolves have more dignity.” The fairy proceeded to take out a pristine white napkin, flap it twice, and toss it over Ben’s head. Then he tucked into his meal.

  The move succeeded in making Ben stop his destruction of the brussel sprouts, and so the rest of the table took the window of opportunity to once more relish in the sweet spiced carrot soup without any nearby nauseating sights.

  “Pardon me?”

  Obbie jolted in alarm. “What the—duck?”

  Conquestorov had stealthily moved from his bench with the nymphs and was presently standing right behind the fairy.

  Spidena on the other side of the table sat up perfectly straight while gripping her spoon so tightly her knuckles turned white.

  “Wonderful to meet you! I hear you are the proprietor of this business?” Conquestorov blinked up at Obbie who gazed down looking rather annoyed at being interrupted.

  “No, sorry. The owner’s not in right now.”

  “Oh? Well those lovely nymphs at my table thought you were the owner and are, in fact, here.” The duck tilted its head.

  “Those nymphs have also drunk almost a full ale barrel to themselves in two days,” Obbie pointed out flatly. “I only have a few minutes to eat dinner. Is this important?”

  “Ah. Yes. You see, my master would like to invest in this inn.”

  “We don’t need an investor.” Obbie turned back to his meal, signaling he was quite done with the conversation.

  “Hmm.”

  Amazingly, the duck took the hint and waddled away, though by this point Spidena was starting to look a deathly gray.

  Ben, who had already removed the napkin from his head, observed the exchange and then the state of Spidena, but didn’t bother doing anything more than noting it before scanning the table for more food.

  “Spidena, Ben, where is it you two need to go in Kintel?” Daffy asked a little too loudly, as though to disrupt the tension in the air.

  “I need to go to the Census Office there,” Ben responded casually.

  Spidena’s head whipped around. “You’re going there too?”

  Ben blinked rapidly. “Too? What do you mean too? Why are you going?”

  Obbie’s smile was pure evil. “Oh Gods, did the fate ties double knot you two?”

  “A double knotted fate tie! And here I thought you two were just run of the mill fate tied!”

  Ben startled so violently at the appearance of Conquestorov on the seat beside him that his knee banged the table hard enough to make Paulav’s soup slosh over the side.

  “What do you mean run-of-the-mill fate tie?” Daffy wondered with lowered brows, ignoring Ben’s alarm.

  “Oh, there has been lots cropping up near Kintel, Ocor, Indivor, even some in the south. All signs point to big changes coming! But a double fate tie usually indicates you also have a third one,” Conquestorov supplied knowledgeably.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  Spidena’s nose was scrunched up as though she had just sniffed three month old milk.

  Daffy on the other hand looked between the two of them with sparkling eyes. “Who are you two looking for? I bet it’s the same person!”

  Ben and Spidena shared a wary look. Neither of them had confessed this much about their travel destination before, and Spidena in particular was not a fan of Conqustorov learning any more than he already had about them.

  Stupid sneaky duck…

  Incredibly, Obbie sensed this and decided to spare the little witch. Though in true fairy fashion, he did so while being tricky and annoying.

  “Daffy, you remember how you said I owed you?”

  The nymph stiffened in alarm as she crept a nervous look at Obbie then a quick peak at Spidena.

  “Y-yes?”

  “Well guess who put your favorite not-yet-a-couple into one room for the night?”

  Daffy’s jaw dropped, and Paulav turned to look at both Ben and Spidena with his eyebrows raised.

  “Oh dear, that isn’t proper. Ben, you can sleep in my roo—”

  Daffy seized Paulav by the lapels, dragged him halfway across the table, the bark on her neck surging over her face, and her voice gravelly and seething when she said. “Don’t take this from me!”

  Paulav looked like he might faint, but managed to say a weak, “O-okay.”

  Satisfied, Daffy released him, and the bark once more faded back to its usual place.

  “Well, I wish you both a most exciting night sleep!” the nymph sang in her usual voice as though she hadn’t just been about to crush Paulav’s windpipe.

  Ben and Spidena pointedly avoided eye contact with one another.

  They’d just eaten.

  There really was no need to waste quality food on the toilets.

  *

  “I told you already! It’s to stop you from asking for handouts! Besides, I hope you learned to value food!”

  “You don’t think Ben values food? We both watched him eat a sandwich out of a dirty leather pocket! He didn’t even check to see if there was lint anywhere!”

  “Then you can magically wipe out every mosquito in existence!”

  “What is your problem with bugs?”

  “Are you honestly telling me you hold love for ants and mosquitos? You, tall boots?”

  “What did I do to make you think I don’t value everything? Every part of nature and otherwise can be a potion ingredient and therefore has value!”

  Ben listened to Spidena and Obbie banter back and forth.

  It had all started when Spidena proposed that they pay for separate rooms doing some other menial task like peeling potatoes.

  Obbie had countered that they be forced to whip heavy cream into whipped cream for breakfast the next day. And evidently the possibility of hard physical labor early in the morning was not well received by Spidena.

  “Here’s your room!” Obbie announced smugly.

  Ben nearly moaned from his potent feelings of gratitude. He was bone dead tired.

  One day had felt like a year.

  Though there was still one awful task he had agreed to do for the painfully nice Paulav…

  “Err… Obbie?”

  “Yes, Man Chop?”

  “Okay—is there any other nickname you’d be willing to call me?” Ben interrupted himself.

  “Watching you eat was more or less like watching myself dump food scraps into the garbage pail, so… Dump? Scrap?”

  Ben stared at Obbie for a long time, and the fairy looked back with a shining smile.

  “Never mind. Look…” Ben trailed off and did his best to ignore Spidena’s questioning expression. “Are you… courting… anyone?”

  “Man Chop!” Obbied pressed his long elegant fingers into his chest. “I never knew you felt that way about me! Daffy will be heartbroken to learn your little petulant witch doesn’t stand a chance!”

  “No! No, no.” Ben felt his face burning. “It’s… Um. Paulav, wondered if you… were… available… to go to his friend’s wedding.”

  Obbie’s eyes fluttered. “Ah. Well that’s not as fun.”

  “Paulav is great!” Spidena interjected on behalf of their merchant friend.

  “Mhm,” Obbie gave a world-weary sigh. “He’s not my type. I like brooding. Muscled.”

  “Women?”

  “Nymph?”

  Ben and Spidena asked at the same time.

  “Whatever attractive casing brooding and muscled comes in,” Obbie gave a sultry smile.

  “You could give Paulav a chance,” Ben attempted weakly.

  Obbie merely shook his head and pushed open the door to the room Ben and Spidena would be staying in.

  Already braced for an awful night, the pair leaned over to take a peek at their accommodations, and balked.

  “This is a storage closet!” Spidena sputtered.

  “With bunk beds,” Ben noted while fighting off a laugh of relief.

  “You whipped eggs for thirty minutes. It isn’t like you worked all day.”

  “You got two new customers because of us!” Spidena reminded passionately.

  “Yes. A chubby merchant who sends Man Chop to ask about me like a pubescent human, and a duck from an evil warlock. Thank you so much!”

  “Money is money,” Spidena growled in response.

  Obbie sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fine. Breakfast is included.”

  “I’m going to ask Daffy how much you charged Conquestorov and Paulav in the morning and figure out an equal cut!” Spidena thrust her nose in the air and strode into the closet-room, leaving Ben to follow behind.

  “Oh, Man Chop?” Obbie called out sweetly.

  Ben struggled not to roll his eyes. “What?”

  “If it had been you asking me to go on a date, then my answer probably would’ve been a little different.” Obbie winked.

  Ben had to cover his mouth and pretend it was a burp to hide his grimace.

  “Uh. Well. Night. See you,” Ben reached for the door handle and started closing it hurriedly, when Obbie’s eyes flicked to Ben’s wrist, and his expression turned to alarm.

  Ben didn’t know what had caused the change in the fairy’s demeanor, nor did he want to know, and so he didn’t hesitate in shutting the door and locking it for good measure before rounding to face Spidena who sat perched on the upper bunk.

  “Obbie’s weird.”

  “Actually he’s quite down to earth for a fairy,” she countered thoughtfully.

  Ben shuddered at the idea that other fairies were even more insufferable as he made his way over to the lower bunk while dropping his pack beside it.

  He then sat down on the lumpy mattress, and flopped back. It briefly occurred to him to remove his boots, but that was about all he had time to consider doing before sleep sank his mind into pure, restful darkness with his stomach full and warm from a good meal.