My gaze landed on the other woman, who was glaring daggers at me from a few paces away. That sure was an impressive glare–I could respect it. I liked to consider myself an excellent glare-giver myself. Why she was glaring atmethough, that part was a mystery. And that outburst a minute ago was uncalled for. All I had done was walk in.
Sure, I could’ve been more polite, but the burning in my throat distracted me from any niceties.
Was my presence so unbearable, even to strangers? Gods damn. Folk used to actually like me. Or at least tolerate me without much of a fuss.
“You know, we were having a conversation which you so rudely interrupted when you stormed in here and started making demands,” the blue-haired woman grumbled at me. I could practically see steam coming out of her ears. Watching her face while she spoke, I caught a glimpse of sparkling white fangs nestled behind her plump berry lips. I quickly glanced away.
Vampire, then. Or at least part vampire.
The apothecary owner, Kizzi, interrupted her friend’s tirade. “Fi, you’re being a grouch. Go finish your breakfast in the back room and quit trying to scare away my new customer.”
Fi. That was an interesting name. Seemed rather drab for such an intense creature. Kizzi turned back to me expectantly. Gods, I was thirsty, but there was no way I was going to risk something embarrassing likeshimmery skin. Or worse!
I’d have to endure the acidic burning of my throat until I could snag some thirst tonic from somewhere else or wait for some trustworthy tonics to be brewed by this strange, green witch.
“I’ll have to pass. I can’t walk around looking like a jewel. I’ll come back later and see if you have proper tonics mixed by then. Thanks anyways.” My already sour mood dropped another increment.
Being thirsty sucked. It was bad enough that I was here in this cutesy town where most folk were so obnoxiouslyfriendly– adding thirst to that just made me want to crawl into bed and never come out again.
I wished everyone would just leave me alone. It was better that way. For everyone.
I caught a delectable scent as I passed the blue-haired vampire, and it was a punch to the gut. My mouth filled with saliva and my fangs ached so deeply I felt it in the bones of my jaw.
I shoved my hands into the pockets of my tunic and strolled out the front door without another word, and without acknowledging the comments from the two unusual women in the apothecary. I had clearly annoyed them and had made it even worse by not buying anything.
My job site was only a few minutes’ walk from the apothecary shop, but the air was brisk enough to bring goosebumps up on my arms.
I kept my head down, ignoring the folk meandering around town and minding my own business.
I was used to the warm, dry but blanketing air of Sunhaven, and I couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to live somewherecold. The chilly air was so uncomfortable, it even made my fangs hurt.
Unluckily for me, I was working outside today, on some broken porch steps at one of the local orc’s cottages. The thought of being in the cold all day made my already sour mood drop closer to misery.
I accepted the fact that today was going tosuck.
My gaze was snagged by one of the old stone mailboxes on the corner. The decrepit things were all over the realm and hadn’t been used since the Old Gods abandoned us ages ago. They were ancient, stone-colored, and made of a strange brick and mortar. Most of them were hardly standing upright, they were so neglected. This one was in better shape than most.
They say that the mailboxes used to be used as an easy way for folk to instantly send letters and small parcels back and forth. They were everywhere, on practically every street corner in every town of Aldova. Without the rich magic of the Old Gods, the linking enchantment had crumbled, and there was not enough magic left to support the infrastructure. So now, they just rotted.
Letters and parcels were now delivered by hand, by critter, or occasionally they could be magicked from place to place if a magic user felt like expending that much energy, and if the folk felt like paying a boat load of silvers.
Taking a closer look, I noticed that there was a sign propped on top of this mailbox with writing scrawled onto it.
For you, sweet, lonely soul. Drop your thoughts into the box and find companionship.
I snorted. Ha! How ridiculous. I was supposed to put my personal thoughts into a crumbling box that wasn’t even functional anymore and somehow that was going to give me a friend. Unlikely.
It was probably a prank from one of the local littles. I didn’t need friends, anyways–I had plenty back home. Well, I had a few… but they were enough. I rolled my eyes and continued on my way to my job site.
I didn’t need to make any friends here in this town. This situation was temporary, and I’d be leaving anyway. It was pointless to put down roots that I would need to eventually tear free.
I made it to my job site, dropped my toolbox onto the ground, located the wood that had been delivered, and got to work, sorting through my mental checklist of tasks I needed to accomplish before the day was over.
At least now I could pour all my focus into my hands and let the muscle memory take over. I took a deep breath, pulling in as much air as I could before letting it rush out of my mouth, past my aching fangs.
The orc wasn’t home, so there would be nobody around to interrupt me.
I measured the orc’s broken stairs, mentally calculating how many wooden slabs I would need to chop to get this project accomplished. The stairs were larger than I had expected–the treads clearly customized for a very tall folk.
