I walk upstairs, heading for my room.

After we got through the discussion about my food, the caretakers started to talk among themselves about cleaning and scheduling and stuff. I probably didn't need to stay through it all, but it would have felt too awkward leaving right in the middle. It sounds like they'll be in two groups, switching off every other day, except Marrianne, who's going to be here more than the others.

I'm not entirely sure what to think about this. I'm so glad to have her back in my life, but also feel sort of... bad. She couldn't adopt me, couldn't make me her daughter, but she's still trying to take care of me anyway. It's making me feel weirdly guilty...

Not the time to think about that, I remind myself as I reach my door. It's already after the tenth bell, I have to do my homework while there's still enough light. Actually, what am I going to do on the days I get home later and don't have any light to read by...?

Pushing off that worry for another time too, I cross the still empty room and sit on my bed. I take up the stack of paper, focus on my task, and start reading.

"Aria... What are you doing?" The question comes from Jannette, of all people, when she's the first one to return to our room. It's the first time she's said more than two words to me in like... months.

Between my mind still being swamped with the recount of a country's massive military campaign in the past, and the surprise at Jannette actually talking to me, my answer comes without a thought. "Homework."

She opens her mouth a little, a look of disbelief crossing her face for just a moment, but she doesn't say anything like that, instead walking a little closer so she can look down at the papers in my hands. "You... can read?" she asks uncertainly. Despite her words, her eyes are locked on the papers in my hands, like she's going to stare a hole through them. I look up at her, but don't see her eyes making those little flicking motions they do when people read. So, I guess she can't?

Well, her papers said she was orphaned at four. No matter where she really came from, I don't know if anyone would learn to read that young, would they?

With all those thoughts rushing through my head, all I say in response is, "Yes."

Jannette finally turns away. "Be careful with those. Paper is worth a lot," she warns sternly, in a tone that reminds me again of the tense relationship between us.

Still... I blink at her back. "It is?"

"A few coppers per sheet."

Just a few coppers? I start to think that, but then look back down at the stack. Five, ten, fifteen...

There are thirty three sheets here. Even if they're just three coppers each, that's nine thousand nine hundred barr. To put it another way, somewhere around five months of an orphan's usual income.

I shudder, again being reminded just how far above a normal orphan's way of life this all is. Then I shake my head, trying to push away all those worried thoughts and just calm down again. Jannette looks like she doesn't want to talk anymore, so I return my attention to my homework.

Or, I try. Even as I keep reading, one part of my mind thinks that even that short conversation is a huge improvement on how things have been between us lately. With Mister Fredricson gone, maybe we can... try being friends again...? No, no, friends is too much. Just... roommates? We're already roommates though. Is there a word for it? People who can interact without feeling uncomfortable and anxious all the time? If there is, I don't know it, but even that would be an improvement...

Eventually I do manage to sink back into reading. It still takes quite a while to make it through each sheet, since the handwriting is a little weird, the shapes of the letters kind of different from the way Claire writes them. Despite the difficulty, the content of the writing is pretty incredible.

It's all about how a country called Fornan conquered pretty much the entire western half of Terna during The Age of Heroes, before the founding of today's countries. However, it mentions that the main leader of the expansion was a hero named Bromun, so I think have an idea where it's going.

It says how they had a truce with their neighbors to the east, so most of their military went south, where Melphira is today. It goes on for a while, talking about different notable people, places, and important battles. It makes me wonder how many of those places are even around anymore.

Then my hunch proves correct. After his huge successes, the military leader Bromun forced the king to step down and renamed the country Bromunst. So that's how their country was founded...

That's everything I get by the end, and I make sure to note that it's the story of The Bromunst Expansion that Claire mentioned before. It makes me wonder how Melphira was founded, if all our lands were owned by Bromunst in the past. Well, I'll learn about it eventually...

Thankfully, I finish reading before it gets too dark, and I start meditating, since it's been a while. I didn't really take the time to meditate at Eryk's house.

But as I kneel on top of my bed, my mind actually goes off to the forest, with Gram and the others. Emily is supposed to collect some large animal parts to sell for the first time today, which is why Gram is doing the grisly work of trying to cut one of the tusks out of a massive boar he killed earlier. Avara is sitting on top of it, so it won't move around too much while he works.

He has to channel mana to his claws a few times to get through the worst spots, but eventually he manages to cut away the tusk, which... yeah, it probably is as big as I am... He takes some time, working on the other one, and I remind them it's about time for Emily to be leaving her job.

Shortly after, Chisa confirms the thought when she spots Emily passing through the construction area and loose group of guards around the spot where the west gate used to stand.

Without hands to properly hold onto them, Gram and Avara take one tusk each. They're far too large to pick them up in their mouths, so they have to fight somewhat to bat them through the thick brush and undergrowth of the forest.

While that's slowing them down, Emily makes it past the guards, and Kiara heads over to meet her. She waves her tail out of a bush near the roadside, just enough for Emily to spot without being obvious to any of the other stragglers on the road this late. "Hi, Kiara," Emily whispers as she ducks into the trees, out of sight from the road.

Kiara returns a wordless greeting and lets her know that Gram and Avara are still on their way, since it's kind of difficult for them to move the tusks.

"Hehe, will I even be able to carry them...?" She chuckles nervously as she pets the small hobin.

"If it's too heavy, just take one," I think across the connection. It's only basic telepathy so it doesn't work for my actual words, but she gets the point. She also perks up a little, and I can feel her realize that was me, not Kiara.

She thinks back 'hi, Aria,' with a small grin and a giggle, then turns her attention to something off in the forest. Kiara can't actually hear it herself, but I guess Emily can, because Gram and Avara are almost there.

As they finish kicking the tusks the last of the way through the dense trees, Emily finally catches a glimpse of them, and bolts up straight.

I distinctly feel when she realizes that she's never actually met any of my magical creatures before. Kiara quickly scampers up onto her shoulder while assuring her it's fine. They're also parts of me, so there's definitely nothing to worry about. The reminder helps settle Emily down a bit as the two creatures appear from between the trees.

Her breath catches anyway. Avara is one thing, standing about as high as Emily's chest, maybe a little longer than she is tall.

But Gram is taller than she is. Almost like a mini-horse or something, built with huge, intimidating muscles under his short coat of fur. Emily gulps as she stares up at him. With a nudge, I get them to dip their heads to her, sort of like bowing, and she automatically mimics the gesture. Not exactly what I had in mind, but she's quickly starting to shake herself free of the terror that came with her first sight of the powerful magical creatures.

Then Avara strides right over to her, brushing by with a little bump so Emily can pet her fur. "Woah..." she mumbles out under her breath as soon as her fingers trail through it. Using Kiara's telepathy, Avara laughs a little and responds that she's really proud of her fur. Kiara joins in, saying she feels the same way, and that finally gets Emily to giggle and push past her earlier anxiety.

Then she sends a thought my way, a sort of disbelief that these creatures have actually been protecting our town for the last month. And a feeling, half worry and half relief, that says, 'no wonder why you told me it was dangerous!'

When she's finally had a chance to calm down a little, and some extra time to pet Avara more, Emily turns and gets to work with the tusks. There's still a good deal of unpleasant stuff, fur and gore, attached to the thick ends where Gram cut them away from the large beasts, so she pulls out a knife and does some work to clean them up while the magical creatures keep careful watch of the surroundings.

Honestly, given how close they are to the road, I'm more worried about someone seeing them than I am about possible animal attacks here. But things go without incident, and Emily soon has two more or less clean tusks. With a lot of string and a few thick tree branches across her back, she hangs one off each shoulder behind her.

They really are huge, pointed ends down end below her knees. And heavy too. Even with her earth mana, I can see her straining under their weight. I have Kiara remind her that if it's too much, she can cut one loose and only bring one back with her.

"It's fine," she waves off the worry. "I'm a lot stronger than I used to be, so I can take this much weight now." I'm reluctant, but I let it go. She looks pretty confident, so it's probably alright.

With a big smile to the two magical creatures, she waves goodbye, and they give a couple odd animal-bows before sneaking toward the deeper sections of the forest to watch out for any more danger. Then Kiara retreats to the hobins' burrow, and Emily heads back to town.

While Emily is traveling, I peak one eye open, glancing around our room. Nothing much has changed while my attention has been elsewhere. Eve and Mary are sitting on their beds, chatting excitedly about the new caretakers, Eve saying that her favorite is Ami, and Mary saying she likes Kerra better. I still can't put faces to the names though, so I close my eyes again and just meditate for a while longer, until Emily should be getting close to the central market.

Riko sighs, already knowing what I'm thinking. "Sorry, it's the first time, so I'm really curious..." I apologize as she stretches, lets out a tired yawn, and shakes herself a little.

"Whatever, it's fine," she brushes it aside. "Maybe I'll find a mouse on the way back, I'm getting kind of hungry anyway." I mentally shrug, making sure not to do the actual motion because it would probably confuse my roommates, while she's heading out of the garrison.

Once she leaps out a window into the street, she begins the trip a couple blocks south, while mentioning that she saw Francis around earlier, and shares a couple memories. Good, he still looks alright, even with how hard the guards have been working lately... Knowing that, we all collectively relax a little.

With a bit of help from Chisa, Riko finds Emily as she enters the central plaza. "Riko?" she practically mouths it, but Riko can hear the words anyway, even among the stomp of a hundred feet in the street, the pounding of animal hooves, rolling carts, and a weird swish of fur from somewhere above her.

That last one catches my attention. Other cats? Riko brushes past Emily, using the contact to let her know that I'm being needlessly worried about how this will go, and gets a small giggle from Emily at the comment.

I pout at her as she follows behind my friend, carefully weaving through the crowd, but that just makes Riko laugh too. Ignoring her amusement, I take a moment to look Emily over. She's sweating and breathing heavily under her load, but not so much it makes me worry. I guess this is something she can do now, huh?

Then I ask Riko, "Have other cats been avoiding you?" I know they avoid me, and I'm pretty sure it has something to do with them sensing mana somehow, after Riko's run-in with Effy a while back.

"No idea, don't care," she mentally shrugs back at me. "As long as I don't have to fight other cats all the time, I'm happy." With the thought, she briefly flashes back over a whole bunch of vague memories from before I took over her soul. With how she lived on the streets, it seems like she was fighting all the time just to get by. I'm glad she can relax so much more now.

"Yeah, me too," she thinks, and wiggles a little, clearly pleased with things, then ducks underneath a merchant stand so she's out from underfoot. Emily's just reaching the meat buying guy's table, and it's a short enough distance away that Riko can listen in without trouble.

"Why... good evening, little one," the large man greets her, eyes wide as he takes in the huge tusks hanging behind her. Even other people filtering through the merchant stands are gazing at her in surprise, now that I'm looking.

"Good evening. I managed to collect these, would you buy them?"

The man hesitates, just a moment, like he's in shock, before speaking a little too loudly. "Absolutely! Of course!" Then he catches himself, clearing his throat and waving a hand. "Here, get them up on the counter so I can get a look at them."

Emily nods, then turns in place so he can cut away the bundle of thread holding the tusk, and she pitches over sideways before catching herself as the weight shifts. Meanwhile, the big man grunts, carefully bringing the heavy tusk to rest on his countertop. Then she swings the other one over for him to cut down and he exclaims, "You've got some real strength for a girl! Especially one your age!"

She just grins back at him, but doesn't say anything about it, so he soon moves on. His eyes move down to the tusks, looking them over. He rubs at the surface, weighs them briefly, then examines the wide ends, where they were cut off.

"Where did you get these things?" he asks, sounding totally astonished.

"I took them off of a dead boar in the forest," she answers without a bit of hesitation. Alright, good response! I silently cheer for her

We already discussed how he warned me about avoiding living things because they're so dangerous, so she knows to always say the animals were dead when we found them.

But then he asks, "How did you even get these off the thing?" as he stares at the slices Gram made with his claws. This time, she goes very still, hesitating, and he totally catches it.

"It was... a lot of work," is all she offers this time, the response making it clear she isn't willing to tell him. The man frowns at that, and I'm cringing with worry. Is he going to get suspicious? Should we have gotten the tusks off some other way? Do the claw cuts look that different from if she did it with a knife or something?

I'm just starting to get really worried when he finally sighs. "Alright fine. Whatever you did, you got these things off with hardly any damage, so I'm sure they'll sell well. Five irons each."

Emily stands there for a moment without responding, before her mouth starts to fall open, but then she quickly shakes herself. "That was five... irons?" she asks, her entire head tilting in confusion.

"Yeah," he laughs at her look. "I'm sure that's a lot of money for a kid like you. Boars are dangerous, so even if they aren't the best materials to make tools and whatnot, the parts are still hard to come by. That means they sell for a high price." He adds a shrug and a smile at the end.

"A-alright. Thanks. That sounds good."

The stallkeeper nods, then counts out ten iron coins and sets them down neatly on the counter. "That's a lot of money for a kid to hold onto," he warns sternly, "go straight home to your parents." We both catch the way she flinches when he says that all of a sudden, and his expression goes straight to concern. "What is it? Is something wrong?" That's right, he doesn't know we're orphans, does he? I don't think we were really trying to hide it exactly, but it's probably not a good idea since it would make people look down at us more...

"N-no," Emily answers stiffly. "I'll do that, thanks a lot." She can't meet his eyes as she takes the coins, does a brief count, and stuffs them in her coin pouch. "Have a nice night."

He answers similarly, but still looks worried as she spins around and disappears into the crowded market. "What's with those girls...?" the stallkeeper mutters to himself after she's gone. "Home issues?" Then his gaze falls to the tusk again. Even Riko can barely hear his whisper, over the noise of the crowd, as his eyes narrow down at it. "There's no way she got this herself. Who's selling animal parts through little girls...? And why...?"

He stares a few moments longer, a hand coming up to scratch at his super short hair, and he sighs. "Not my business, as long as they keep selling to me, I don't care. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Glenn."

I frown, I definitely didn't think all of this through. Of course selling stuff like that would be suspicious. But it sounds like he's going to ignore it to make more money. Even so, I have to tell Emily about it when she gets home...