A brisk fall wind slips between my thin tunic as I jog through the village. Despite being this close to the capital, we’re far enough away to make it troublesome to develop and my father doesn’t have much inclination to build. No, he’s happy keeping his nose in a book as long as the commoners working the land provide enough money for him to stay in his manor.

One good quality about him is that he doesn’t think of the people under his authority as work mules and charge reasonable taxes. In some territories, the people are downcast as they drag their tired bodies to their fields, but the inhabitants of the village are…I wouldn’t say upbeat, but they keep in relatively good spirits.

Many eyes track me as I make my way down the dirt road that leads out of the village. I do my best to avoid them. Experience tells me that if I indulge them even a moment, I won’t get away until everyone around me is passed out drunk.

Why? Because one time, one time, Kierra and I decided to purchase ingredients from the local market together. She draws attention wherever she goes but this was different. She haggled with them, which always goes extremely well because they’re too busy staring at her to realize they’re getting scammed, and then she ate at their tavern. She’s no longer an oddity passing through, but their neighbor.

Which means there’s a chance to get close to her.

Ever since, people have been trying to worm their way into our good graces. Handing over free food, happening to pass by our house, buying me free drinks. I didn’t realize their intentions until the night a merchant passing through started questioning me about the elven nation. This was after the fifth drink he’d bought me. Any other girl my size would have been one step from passed out but I’m the opposite of ordinary.

It did teach me to keep my distance from people until I can confirm their intentions. Not that everyone can take the no gracefully.

I speed up into a jog, pulling the rough sack carrying my purchases closer as I take off. It doesn’t take long to leave the plain houses of the village behind me. Now the fields begin. People here only grow wheat, as the staple food will always grow well and they don’t have the money to pay for seeds of fruits and vegetables. The golden stalks aren’t shining as usual under the overcast sky.

I live past even those fields, where the land is wild and unclaimed, trees growing with abandon. Not as densely as in the Enchanted Forest, but the small woodland was the most comfortable choice for my elven bride. One of them is marked with a circle high up on its trunk. That’s my sign to get off the road and move through the trees.

Ten minutes later, I reach a small hill. The trees atop it and in the immediate area have been cleared, the logs repurposed to build the small cabin sitting on its crest.

I’m panting as I climb up the hill. It’s close to an hour to the village and that’s if I hurry. Going there and back is rough, especially without a break. Wouldn’t even be that bad if I was well-rested but that never happens.

“Kii,” I call as I open the door. “They didn’t have any good cuts so I got—”

Pure instinct alerts me and I duck before I know why I’m ducking, rolling to the side. I hear the wind whistle as I move, followed by a soft thunk. I’m on my feet in the next instant.

A wooden-handled blade is stuck in the door. Kierra is standing by the counter next to our wooden stove, grinning broadly. Her hands are covered in flour, telling me she’s already started on dinner. “Not bad.”

“Can you please stop trying to kill me when I walk through the door?” I drop the sack on the far end of the counter and raise up onto my toes to kiss her. “I’m seriously going to die one of these times.”

“Nonsense. I aimed for your chest and that isn’t nearly enough to bring you down.” She gestures for me to step aside and quickly retrieves her knife. I swear she caresses the blade when she grabs it.

When we left the elven nation, her aunt, the queen, gifted her plenty of gold and jewels to live like the kin of royalty she is. She rarely spends the money, preferring to live off her own efforts. Only things she spends money on are weapons. She loves her weapons. Our room looks like a small armory.

Well...she spends it on weapons and me. But I don’t take advantage of her tendency to spoil me. Really.

“You’re right, but it hurts, you know? You are freakishly strong.”

“But you like a little pain.” She gives me a wicked grin that leaves me speechless. Hard to make a comeback when she’s right. Instead, I go to my study.

Calling it that is a little presumptuous. It’s not even its own room, just a table pushed against a wall in the main room with a sparsely filled out bookcase next to it. Spread out over the surface is several roughly drawn maps and a few sheets of rough paper with an endless series of numbers scrawled across them.

My latest projects. Most of my days are spent dealing with Kierra’s training. Despite escaping the Enchanted Forest, she persists, claiming that as her wife there’s a ‘standard’ I have to live up to. Which means she wakes me up at uncharitable hours in the morning and seemingly does her best to kill me. Not even allowed to use my other forms to make it easier. No, there’s separate training for that.

The study is for my evenings. Even the lazy me can feel abashed being so thoroughly taken care of by my wife. I felt the need to do…something. The answer is my amateur map of the Enchanted Forest.

Elves don’t allow humans onto their land. There are rare exceptions, but I haven’t heard of the people Kierra mentioned so, strangely, they had to have been humans not native to the Harvest Kingdom. The most adventurers reach is the Enchanted Forest, which is incredibly dangerous. Poor bastards. If the giant spiders and cuddly wolves don’t kill them, the elves will if they get too close to their border.

Which is where my map comes in. A complete guide to the Enchanted Forest, drafted with Kierra’s help. I plan to write a guide to the monsters within the colorful trees to accompany it and sell them both in the capital. Together, they’re invaluable. We don’t need the money but it’ll make me feel better contributing to the coffers in a significant way.

The numbers relate to my new body. After my resurrection as a half elemental or whatever I am, praise Cosmo, my body is one great mystery. As a summoner, all things elemental fascinate me and understanding myself is the key to growing stronger, which I need to do if I don’t want Kierra to accidentally kill me.

I can shapeshift into things that I eat. That was the extent of my understanding while in the Enchanted Forest. Each form is represented by a series of numbers and symbols, much like a spell, but I’m doing it on an instinctual level. Only way to improve is to understand. Which means the laborious task of recording each grouping of numbers.

By isolating the groups and shifting, I can partially shift and gain an idea what each grouping is. Not that I know why one group of numbers gives me a tail and another gives me feathers but the first step is recording and comparing. It’s time consuming. Before I knew it, I had dozens of sheets compiled, the numbers circled and scratched out with notes harshly scribbled along the sides.

Ugh. Reminds me of my father.

I’m carefully drawing a symbol of a spider on my map when I feel Kierra’s hands in my hair. “Working on your little drawing again?”

I set the smear stick down and lean back as she puts her chin on top of my head. “This little drawing is going to be worth hundreds of crowns on its own and maybe triple that with the guide.”

“Right. And what exactly do you want to do with all that money?”

“…I don’t know. There’s no reason to not have it, is there? Besides, there’s got to be something you want to do. Taking care of me has to get boring eventually.”

“Mm. Not at all.” She nuzzles me. I swear, this woman is more animal than person. “I’m quite invested in your progress and watching you struggle is always entertaining.”

Who says that to someone’s face? And what does it say about me that I don’t care? “Yeah, but there’s got to be something else. You were quite the big shot before you, uh, took a vacation.”

“I was, but that vacation you’re talking about lasted twenty years. A long time to spend in the peace of solitude. It started as a nice break but now I’ve become quite accustomed to it. A bustling life would be rather draining. That doesn’t mean I don’t have long term goals, but they’ll all have to wait until you’re a little more capable. Until then, you’re all the adventure I need.”

Aw. But I wonder what part of me she’s talking about? Something makes me doubt it’s my personality. Hehe.

“Come on. Dinner won’t be ready for a little while and I know what we can do to pass the time.”

I grab one of her hands and let her pull me up, practically falling into her arms when she pulls me closer. Kierra ducks her head to kiss me, slowly guiding us to the large couch that dominates the room.

Life is good.

Then someone pounds on the door and life becomes annoying.