Silvia tapped her foot impatiently and looked back at Herald and sighed, “You’re a devotee of a god of war…”

“Byolder teaches us to choose our battles,” Herald preached, “Picking one that one doesn’t have to fight or has no reason to is against the faith. I have no reason to show bravery at this moment.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t we go out looking for a fight in the dungeon y-” Silvia yawned… she really should go to bed after this but it was a new town! She still had to explore some. She shook off her yawn but Herald cut her off.

“The reason was wealth, ‘Gold wins wars’. After all, you know th-” Herald said one of his favorite passages of his god’s teachings. She tuned it out as soon as she heard the part about gold. She’d heard it too many times before. ‘After all, you know they say ‘an army marches on its belly’ or however it was worded. She knew but didn’t care.

Silvia didn’t understand it, no one attacked halflings. They weren’t their own nation even if they ran a bit differently, they were self governing in a way. They weren’t even in one single nation to serve under. If war broke out, no one bothered to attack halfling settlements and due to their size, they were excluded from conscription into any nation’s armies or even the militias in times of war. They could still join a militia if they were a spell caster or some other useful class but it wasn’t like a halfling could wield most rifles. If they could it was what most humans would call a varmint rifle and not something used in war. But at the same time they didn’t need to fight, the tall people protected them as long as they paid their taxes.

So, their own people didn’t need Herald and what would anyone else do with a three and a half foot tall [War Priest]? Maybe once he became a [Cleric] but as a priest? He wouldn’t even be able to see what was going on to use his Skills. Although he did make a good adventurer, she’d give him that.

Silvia moved from tapping her foot and stretched out her back and arms before bouncing lightly on her toes both out of boredom and to get the blood flowing to keep herself awake.

She wondered how long it took to get a saddle on a monster that could tear most intelligent species to pieces. She also wondered about the man named Skunk, who insisted he be called Bart, and Will. That was an interesting one. More interesting than putting a saddle on at least.

Skunk had acted strangely around her, which wasn’t unusual. She knew ‘Confused Arousal’ was the term official coined for the effect, the strange attraction a human had meeting a halfling if they weren’t used to her kind. They saw either a child with the body of a woman or a woman the size of a child at first glance. Either way, attraction warred with self-disgust because of the attraction.

She stopped bouncing and looked around the street but it was empty… She liked dungeons and old abandoned buildings, which Silverstead and both, but not quiet little towns. They reminded her of halfling settlements too much. Most people peacefully working and few ever in a hurry to get anywhere or do anything exciting. It’s why she left. There was an entire world out there, bigger than even how the humans saw it, bigger than even how the dwarves saw it… But most of her kind would rather put their feet up and read a book at the end of the day than anything actually fun…

It was a good sign for Skunk to have it at a first meeting though, there were more dire problems if he was immediately attracted to a woman half his size. But the man had no idea how to talk to women. She wondered if he’d ever even laid a woman down before… She decided he probably had after thinking about the prostitutes. That one had a really big chest.

They didn’t have those back home… Prostitutes, not big chests… although they didn’t have those either, but that was a race thing.

Silvia wasn’t really sure why they didn’t have prostitutes though. There were women that she was pretty sure did that thing if anyone with a penis asked but they didn’t charge for it. Then again things were different. They were humans and she was a halfling. They had things humans didn’t have such as humans hadn’t figured out schools for the most part. Some places had them, some didn’t, and some only had them up to a certain point. A big difference compared to Halflings that spent most of their formative years in school… really pushing the grammar thing too. She wasn’t sure why but it did help with her profession. Even if it did make them sound strange to humans by growing up pronouncing the words correctly and using proper Common. Even if it didn’t sound that way in their heads all the time, it came out that way by habit. That probably wouldn’t help prostitutes much...

She wasn’t sure if Will had been with one of them but she was pretty sure he had gotten somewhere with a woman before. She wasn’t sure if he had… what was the expression? She didn’t know. On the other hand, Will confused her. He had the same issues as Skunk she could tell but at one moment he was eyeing his love interest, which Silvia could admit was about as attractive as herself.

She looked down at herself but gave herself a nod of self-affirmation. Scaled up she’d look just as good, maybe not in the face, and humans for some reason had a thing against pointed ears thanks to elves, but just as good. Her breasts would have probably been a bit bigger if she was human sized and her butt looked just as good, she thought.

But Will had gone from eyeing his fellow human to staring at her rump… And seemed… defensive? over her, with Skunk. He tried to redirect the man a few times to get him to focus on Alvin while seeming exasperated. But also didn’t show signs of the really strange humans that even other humans thought were sick. He looked confused when he stared at her butt, not aroused. It was just that he went back and forth.

She might have read into that a bit more than she should because of self bias. She wasn’t attracted to him that much, he was handsome in his way but his features were harsher than a halflings. But she’d never seen a human like that before. She wondered if that was how big a halfling’s junk was. Probably not, she couldn’t see it that well but that would look ridiculous on a halfling.

She decided to do a little spin in the street and started waving her arms back and forth a little then squatted down for a moment before standing again. She really should get some sleep. She had the headlamp now, she could explore the abandoned buildings in the middle of the night if she wanted to.

With Will, it didn’t actually matter, she had no interest in getting involved with a human. Or at least a human man. Maybe a dwarf man… Or a human Woman… She didn’t know, she’d never even been with a fellow halfling before. Or anyone else for that matter, male or female. She was interested of course but it hadn’t happened. She’d eventually find a nice halfling to be her first time. Maybe a gnome… But she wasn’t sure if they actually existed or if that was a derogatory term for a halfling… Either way not many halflings away from home and she didn’t trust the other species if they wanted to try… it’d probably hurt. She’d been warned it would hurt when she set out. And warned about the things they did with butts?!

With Skunk and Will, all of it really. It was just a couple of curiosities to pass the time… a puzzle to think about. She really did like them.

She bobbed her head back and forth a bit, making her shoulder length hair sway. Then getting really bored she swayed her body a bit. Herald would probably tell her to stop but he didn’t, he probably just rolled her eyes at her. He’d stopped talking at least. She knew enough about the teachings of Byolder to become a [Priestess] if she really wanted to. She didn’t. She doubted they’d like her randomness. Some people did but probably not them… ‘War is chaos a leader’s goal is to give it structure’ or however that went. She turned up the dance and wiggled her rump but got no reaction. Normally he’d be saying ‘Silvia’ in that way she loved, mainly because she was having fun when he said it but for once he held his tongue about butt wiggling. Then again she wasn’t actually having fun, she was just bored. She wiggled a bit more after checking the street but no one was there to see her shaking her backside.

Silvia wondered what would have happened if she poked Will’s backside when Kate was there… They were both in the stable, she could do it but that meant walking into a dark building filled with monsters and she wasn’t allowed to stab any of them. A dilemma. Then she wondered if she could ride one of the monsters. She wasn’t scared of them, she was… cautious.

How long did this take! She could be eating, or sleeping, or eating in bed until she fell asleep! She looked back at Herald, “Did they say how long it takes to get one of them ready?”

She stared for an entire second or two and felt a slight terror in her chest. Not that there was anything wrong with him. She might prefer it if he was on the ground passed out, maybe even dead… No, not dead, she liked Herald. He was a fellow Halfling and even though he was annoying, he wasn’t that bad.

No, he was standing perfectly still with his eyes and mouth open a hand tucked behind his back and the other lifting his pointer finger in the air. His favorite lecturing pose. He didn’t move a muscle. He didn’t blink. He didn’t breathe...

“Dang it!” Silvia swore and kicked the dirt a few times then remembered to deactivate her Skill.

“-also say ‘an army marches on it’s-” He stopped speaking and stared at her for a moment. Thankfully he blinked and lowered his arm, so he moved.

She’d done it again! She didn’t understand why her [Slow Time] Skill kept activating on its own but it was beyond aggravating. Especially considering when she actually tried to activate it, it didn’t work!

“Why does it keep happening?” she whispered to herself.

And it did keep happening… maybe once every couple of weeks she’d think minutes went by but time had nearly stopped. She wouldn’t even know until she came across someone or something that should have been moving but wasn’t. She never liked being alone because of it.

One time she’d walked for three hours by herself to collect some medicinal herbs for the Union and on the way back realized the old man she’d passed when she left, who had been leaning on a rake just outside of town, hadn’t moved a muscle. It was three hours ONE WAY! There were times she wasn’t sure how long it’d been happening.

She didn’t understand and she suddenly felt afraid. She quickly looked around herself and saw someone walking out of the town hall, it was for sure off… Herald had moved but she had to be sure. She wished it would stay off.

The only thing she had to be thankful for was that the only person around that time had been Herald… She’d probably just looked like she’d had a seizure with all the moving she did in that time frame, or some kind of ghost or ethereal monster... She blamed Herald of course and his disorienting spell. Well, she’d like to but it’d been happening since before she met him.

And she thought she’d been lucky to get a skill like that at such a low level but it had been a nightmare! A general utility skill that she had no idea how she’d earned, that wasn’t tied to one of her classes. She couldn’t even go through the pain of a reclass via a Tome to get rid of it or the long process of doing a different job until a class change was offered.

“Silvia, did it happen...”

She turned back to Herald and her eyes went wide. He wasn’t moving again. She tried to deactivate it again but he didn’t move. Frozen halfway in the act of looking up at the sky. Probably a silent prayer to his stupid fricking god! Silvia tried to deactivate it, again, again, again! She looked at him while she tried but he didn’t move. He didn’t speak! She thought she saw him breathing but he couldn’t be, he wasn’t moving, he wasn’t speaking! It was already happening again?! Why wouldn’t it stop?!

She quickly backed away from him in growing horror. Her eyes were blurry but he didn’t move. Was she going to be like this forever?

“Woah, watch out!” Silvia jumped with a yell and turned to see a pair of large legs, “Void, no! Back up!”

She looked up to see a massive head looking down at her, a mouth opened slightly and the two teeth as long as her knives were joined by many, many more. [Flash Step], [Speed Boost], [Enhanced Reflex], [Double Step], [Sprint].

She screamed and she ran straight down the cross street the stables had been on. Tearing down the road faster than a horse could gallop. Then she ran and she screamed. A change in the tone from terror to one of unimaginable relief. She hadn’t been broken, time hadn’t stopped again…

She was going to kick Herald for doing that to her. She was going to Kick Will if he brought it up. She was going to kick Will again for scaring her. She was going to kick Kate if she’d seen. She was going to kick Will’s deathhorse if it wouldn’t eat her. And she was going to kick Alvin to make herself feel better, twice! Everyone was going to get kicked for that. But First…

She left the road and dove into a patch of long grass and activated her stealth Skills. But first, she needed a moment.

Will flinched and Void snorted as Silvia tore off into the distance, leaving a trail of dust flying up from the dirt road behind her. Her screaming the entire way.

Will felt bad, he’d tried to get Void to be quiet by petting his neck as he approached as a joke. All he wanted to do was surprise Silvia but he hadn’t expected her to back up that quickly. Thankfully Void moved to sniff her first but in a blink, she was gone.

He watched her go and wondered if he should go after her but there was no way he could catch up without Void. And if he scared her that much just surprising her, how would she react to looking back and seeing him chasing her. But it would be necessary, Will had no idea she was that fast, it had to be a Skill or Skills. He debated internally for a second and was about to throw caution to the wind and at least check on her from a distance but her terrified scream turned to one of joy as she rounded the bend out of sight… had she just pranked him.

“What’s goin’ on over here?” Sheriff Teddy came running up with his hand on his revolver.

“Nothing Sheriff… Sorry about that but I think Void scared one of the adventurers. She just took off,” Will said pointing, “I didn’t think she’d act like that after the dungeon? Surprised her I guess.”

Though that didn’t explain why she’d blurred for a moment when he was still in the barn but that had been before Will had gotten close. So he figured it was unrelated.

“Always screamin’ around you,” Teddy shook his head and looked off to where Silvia had disappeared to, “Someone gonna havta go find her?”

“I will. It was my fault, I should have said something. By now she’s probably hidden somewhere with her Skills active. You wouldn’t be able to find her if you didn’t know how to look,” Herald said and started his way down the road after her. Limping a little.

“Do you want a ride?” Will offered but had a feeling it would have to be extremely dire for Herald to accept.

“No, that’s quite alright. If I injure my leg further I can afford to see the Doc again but I doubt that’s likely,” Herald said and kept going.

“Are you sure?” Kate rode up and raised her voice to ask. She sounded strained, “It wouldn’t be right lettin’ you come to harm Mister Harcroft.”

“I’ll be alright, thank you for your offer Miss Landry,” Herald gave a slight bow. He was moving at a decent pace despite the limp.

“I’ll apologize when I see her next time. I didn’t mean to scare her that bad,” Will said.

“That was cruel, Will,” Kate said quietly and harshly but Will couldn’t disagree. He hadn’t meant that to happen. Kate glared at him for a minute as they started to ride out of town from the corner of her eye but within a minute, she stopped Marigold and Void followed suit, “I’ll speak with her. I know more about bakarna than you and it might help her to understand them better if she’s going to live here.”

“You just want to make sure she’s alright,” Will said.

“Of course I wanna make sure she’s alright!” Kate snapped at him and he was taken aback. She huffed and looked away but shook her head and looked him straight in the eye, “And make sure you apologize because in all seriousness, William. What were you thinkin’? Humans that are familiar with bakarna are wary of Void. The folks in Fairpoint cleared the street for him. Even folk that know him keep an eye on him. What made you think it’d be alright scarin’ one of the littlefolk with him? How would you feel being surprised by a beast that can bite you in half standin’ right in front of ya? And don’t bring up the dungeon, in there I’m sure she would have been more aware. But folks don’t expect to turn around in the middle of town and see a mouth full of teeth!”

“I ah-” Will started but was cut off almost immediately. His mouth snapped shut as he listened.

“No. I’m sorry Will but I’m going to cut this short… She was running right towards the ranch. If she gets there and runs into a pasture…” Kate shook her head and looked away from him with her jaw clenched. Will realized she’d only left town with him to give them some privacy, “It’s why folks are afraid of bakarna. Because rather than learnin’ about them they get scared by them. It doesn’t help one bit when it’s cause someone is usin’ them to scare innocent folk. You wanna do that, go get a bounty. You know what? Yeah, go chase ‘em down, [Bounty Hunter]. Scare them if ya feel like pullin’ a dirty trick like that again. Least they fuckin’ deserve it.”

Will had nothing to say… not only had Kate just sworn, he felt that she left even more unsaid. He was pretty sure there was a hidden ‘fuck you’ in there somewhere. At a minimum, ‘go get a bounty’ sounded just like ‘go fuck yourself' with the way she said it.

“Listen, Kate-” Will stopped and sighed in defeat when she raised her hand and shook her head before turning Marigold away to start moving.

Will wasn't an idiot. Kate knew bakarna better than Will, she knew people of this world better than Will, and she knew customs and courtesies of this world better than Will. He would have to be a complete moron to think arguing against her at that moment would be beneficial. And it wasn't anything to do with their relationship, whatever they were, or attraction. The simple fact was Kate was the expert and Will was the rookie when it came to bakarna.

It'd be like a recruit arguing with a drill sergeant that 'yes, my uniform is fucked up sideways BUT...'. Something anyone that has ever worn the uniform had learned not to do, you shut your mouth and take the beating when you're wrong, or else you're just going to be paying for it tenfold.

You also shut your mouth and take the initial beating when you're right in some circumstances and pick how to fight that battle accordingly. Although this wasn't one of the latter scenarios.

“I’ll stop by in a few days to check on the garments. I hope you’re a decent enough man to apologize before then… not so I can check but it shouldn’t take days to say you're sorry ‘bout somethin’,” Her voice softened a little at the end but he’d apparently struck a nerve and struck it deep because even softened sounded more than just disappointed. She gave him one last glare and turned to ride away.

“Void! No!” Void took off after her, and Will had to fight him to run in a different direction. He knew better than to chase after Kate but he called out to her before she got too far away, “I’m sorry!”

“I’m not the one you needta be sayin’ that to!” She yelled back and Marigold picked up the pace. Cutting a wide arch away from the road to make sure she stayed away from where ever Silvia was hiding.

“Fucked that one up, didn’t I?” Will asked Void as he slowed almost immediately after running in a big circle to point back towards town but Will shook his head, “Not fair to you is it? Come on.”

He turned Void back towards the open wilderness and the big bakarna under him started picking up the pace and was soon charging across the country side smashing everything he could get under hoof. It wasn’t Void’s fault…