I stared at the flakes of black glass for just a moment, before I started backing out of the kitchen. My mind was running all over the place, considering possibilities.

Had I been followed all the way here from the cave? That did not seem likely, it was way too much effort for seemingly no gain. I was, simply put, not important enough for anything so convoluted.

The strangeness of the experiences, both in the cave and here, was grating on me; why could I feel the remains of the Unraveling Spirit? Was it due to the wounds I had taken, or maybe Sense the Flow? No matter which, what was it I could sense? It was not Mana, I had learned what that felt like, this was different.

I shook myself as I backed up to the kitchen entrance, the more immediate question was; what connection did the Guard have to the Unraveling Spirit? The line of reasoning that might seemingly connect them, was full of supposition and conjecture.

I whirled on my feet, as I felt someone leaning over me, breathing into my ear, making my heart pound with panic.

Having spun around I could not see anyone, making me doubt that anything had even happened. I had questioned my sanity before, at least partially in jest, but maybe I was further off that cliff than I had thought. Though that way of thinking would not lead to anything productive, and as such I decided to just leave here.

"Stop."

I had not even started to put my decision into practice, when the Guard at the table spoke. His voice deep and commanding, just like one would expect. I had no desire to stop and chat with someone who would have his breakfast, with the remains of an Unraveling Spirit on the table.

I walked out the room and headed for the stairs ignoring the man. I would find someway to carry the stones of Fire Burst with me, and leave. There would be other inns, hopefully without resident Guards.

My thoughts were drawn to the blackish flakes though, if I could find a Guard in an inn, who just happened to have the glass like flakes from an Unraveling Spirit, did that mean they were a widespread thing? Again, I wondered if all these things were connected, or were they random events?

As I reached the top of the stairs, I untied the room key from my rope belt, while fumbling a bit with the stones in my hand. I needed a more convenient way of carrying them, perhaps a satchel of some kind.

For the first time since my adventure had started, as it were, I considered that perhaps I should leave Logate. I could use the coin I had and join a trading caravan going inland. The reason I had gone back to begin with was that Logate was the place I knew. I had never considered going elsewhere.

I opened the door and spotted the imp, just as the creature threw a stone at me. I ducked under the throw, with a yelp of surprise. I spun in horror as I heard the stone impact the wall behind me, opposite the door. I watched the stone as it bounced from the floor, once, before settling. Just like one had last night.

Curious. Apparently the imp could not use the stones of Fire Burst.

I turned back to the obviously angry creature, it was a bit larger than yesterday. I remembered that it had lost size when it dispersed its aligned Mana, did that mean it would keep growing with every level? Just how big did imps get? I searched my memory for some time, without recalling anything concrete. I shook myself out of my distraction, I was leaving and it would not do to just stand around.

The imp glared at me, as I took in the room, spotting stones spread out all over. The creature had apparently been throwing them, to little effect.

"What do you think you are doing? Are you trying to burn the place down?"

"Yes! I want you to die! I need you to die!" It screamed at me, one eye yellow while the other was the solid and creepy black I did not want to look at directly.

"That imp is rather obviously deranged, you should banish it and summon another, if you insist on having one of the nasty creatures around."

I stiffened at the voice from behind me. While I was tempted to blame the imp, it was rather obvious that I could not have managed to gather my things and leave, without the Guard catching up. I had hoped he would not be interested enough to follow, and just let me go. Wishful perhaps, but people were prone to laziness.

Not quite feeling comfortable turning my back to either of them, I shifted so that I stood sideways to both, before replying.

"I am bonded to it, it is my familiar."

The man looked from me to the imp and back, green eyes sparkling as a grin spread on his face.

"Well, then, isn't that a pickle?" He chuckled out. His evident mirth at my misfortune, was not appreciated in the least. I raised my chin to at least figuratively look down on the man, who had almost two heads of height on me.

"Was there anything you wanted, Guard?"

The joviality quickly fled the mans face.

"Yes." He fished out a white cloth and held it out in front of himself, making me take a step back, to get away from the sick feeling that washed over me. I noted that the sensation had been distant and muted before, but as he held out the bundle toward me, the uneasy feeling had increased. Though even as I backed off, the sensation seemed constant. I wondered why that was, as I was both curious and immensely repulsed by the remains. Was the main factor to my reaction not proximity then?

The Guard chuckled.

"You are a Mage, alright. Even something that scares you this badly and you still can't rein in your curiosity. You seem very young to have gotten your Intelligence that high though, what level are you then? Fifteen?"

I blinked at the man in surprise, trying to wrap my head around what he was saying, both the assumption about class and level. But also about being scared, the latter implying that he felt nothing from the shard. I understood in principle why he said what he did though. He was trying to make me more at ease, which meant he wanted answers. Certainly a less dangerous prospect than the alternatives.

Now the question was, what did containing curiosity have to do with Intelligence? I inwardly cursed mother, why did she have to focus on strange creatures, language and methodology to such an extent!

To be fair she had taught me a lot of different things, but there had never seemed to be a structure to it, except when it came to the three aforementioned. Everything else was just a hodgepodge of scattered information, making me knowledgeable on some subjects and clueless on others.

"What do you mean? What does Intelligence have to do with it?"

The man seemed surprised and looked at me considering for a long moment, as the imp grumbled about always being ignored, and threw another stone that bounced harmlessly against a wall.

I followed the stone with my eyes, as it rolled across the floor for a bit before coming to rest before me. Was it only me who could activate them? Or was it something that the imp in particular could not do? Due to it being an imp? Or scatterbrained?

I looked at the imp who now hovered, with a blank expression on its face.

"You really do have it bad, don't you? It could get a bit better if you focused some Attributes toward Wisdom, or Perfection even. It would not resolve your issue, mind you. But it could even your behavior out a bit."

I tried to wrap my head around that statement, I had a difference of seven between Intelligence and Wisdom, compared to the six to Perfection. Still not enough information to understand what he meant fully. I looked at the Guard, an eyebrow raised and waited.

"You must have started out with very uneven Attributes and then spent all your Unallocated Attributes from levels three, six, nine and twelve on Intelligence?"

He was very obviously fishing, but what did he mean, the unallocated Attributes from three, six, nine and twelve, what was wrong with the other levels?

I put another mark at the mental tally of how badly I needed to get into the Mage Guild library. The more I interacted with other people, the more I felt that mother had prepared me very poorly for life in general.

"You are not with the Mage Guild then, someone would have explained to you how to best spend your Attributes if you were. Though they would have insisted on Wisdom over Perfection, as that one helps your casting and the other is vain. Though a fair amount of them ignore their own advice, but there is nothing wrong with a bit of vanity after all."

The man looked me up and down for a moment, while starting to frown.

"Just how much Intelligence do you have?"

That comment was not much of a compliment, though it let me infer a lot about Attributes. Though I could not be sure of his knowledge, being a Guard rather than a Mage or a Scholar. But if he expected me to be level fifteen, then there must be something different about my Attributes, other than the strange amount I began at. Did people only get Attributes some levels and not at every one? Or was it the fact that I could choose freely that was the difference? What about Traits, I had been offered several that could increase Attributes, surely that was not uncommon. I suspected he was fishing for information, rather than just being kind and informative. Did he expect me to blush and object at the high level he suggested? Books, I needed books and answers!

Seemingly the Guard guessed that I was not about to give anything up, and with a sigh he continued.

"As Attributes get higher, they affect your personality, obviously. But not only in positive fashions, they all have downsides. Intelligence results in an overabundance of curiosity, and other Attributes can help offset this. But only to a degree, the higher an Attribute get, the more pronounced its effects, both positive and not. While this is not exactly common knowledge, you would need an Attribute of at least twelve to see any of this. I would guess that you would need perhaps seventeen to make it really obvious. That normally takes a fair amount of levels to achieve, and by that point most combat classed people have already been guided on how to spend their unallocated Attributes. Even if they might not have been told the why of it. Or do as they are told for that matter."

The Guard looked at me for a long while, and I stared back.

"But that is beside the point, and it is not like I am going to manage to put you at ease, am I?"

He held out the cloth wrapped bundle once more.

"What do you know about this?" He asked in a far less friendly manner than he had so far.

As I considered what type of manure to throw at this problem, I felt something push against the inside of my head, and then break.

You have fought off the effect: Truth Sense!

That could not be good, could it? It was probably an Ability, since it had just shown up. Unfortunately it was likely to have some form of active feedback to the user then. Probably. Crap.

As expected the Guard's eyes widened in surprise, but then his free hand fell to a sword at his side. The imp, no doubt woken up from its state by this action, screeched loudly.

"Kill her. Kill her! KILL HER!"

That was apparently enough to make the man shake off whatever reaction his apparent surprise had wrought, as he looked at the imp in disgust before turning back to me.

"You should really get rid of that creature, somehow." A sentiment I shared and nodded at, as his face hardened once more, before he continued."

"Is that an active Ability you can turn off?" He watched me intently, no doubt trying to spot a lie.

"No, it is a Trait."

We stood there, quietly for a while as the imp spun and grumbled. It seemed the creature was rapidly getting more and more unhinged. It was changing, and certainly not for the better.

Before the Guard had said anything else, the imp stopped in its flight and crashed to the floor. We both looked at it for a moment, while our expressions differed, we seemed to share the reaction of choosing to ignore the thing.

"Tell me about the black glass." His voice was short and clipped, far from the chatty manner of earlier.

There were two possibilities here that I could see; he either did not know what it was and wanted to know. Or he knew, and wanted to know what I knew. So I lied.

"It is the remains of a creature called a Blood Wasp, it prefers to reside in swamps and it feeds through magic. It often leaves no wounds on its victims, but it does cause considerable pain and eventually death." If he knew what he held, that should hopefully let him think I was ignorant.

"Excellent, you will follow me and take a look at a murder, to see if this Blood Wasp might be the culprit."

That, was not what I had in mind, and was not asking a random woman for help investigating a murder, truly clutching at straws? Just how badly lost was the Guard at solving whatever this was, if they resorted to this? Or had I managed to find someone else who was deranged?

"No, I will spend the day buying new boots and clothes!" I raised a bare foot and pulled at the ridiculous dress.

"Certainly! I will take you to a good store that has both, run by a couple, Cobbler and Seamstress respectively, and then we will view the deceased." Having said that the man grabbed my arm and pulled me out the room, while slamming the door shut.

"You might want to lock that obnoxious creature in, lest it cause problems." The last word was delivered with a fair amount of disgust.

I considered attacking the man. I held three stones of Fire Burst, which might hurt a bit and be frightening, but that did not seem like the best of ideas at this time.

"Let go of me!"

To my surprise, the Guard did so. But he remained close, staring down at me. I really needed to know if this was a strange test, or had someone really been killed by an Unraveling Spirit? If so, how had it died afterward, if no one knew what it was? Hence I suspected this was some kind of ruse rather than the truth. But since the remains were in the hands of the Guard, where had the Unraveling Spirit come from and how had it died?

I bent down and picked up the stone the imp had thrown out earlier, as I considered my options. They did not look too good to be honest.

"I could let you spend some time in less hospitable accommodations, if that would help you make up your mind." His voice sounded far too cheerful.

"That will not be necessary, not at all, lead the way to the shop!"

My hope that the rain would ruin this excursion did not bear fruit. When we came down the stairs, the sun shone merrily outside.

**

The Guard was very amused and I was not. Decidedly not. It had taken hours, hours to get the Seamstress to let me wear pants. Pants were not uncommon on women, but it was not proper to wear pants according to her, and so a battle of wills had ensued. While I had barely came out ahead there, I had lost when it came to shirts, the one I now wore fit snuggly to my frame and had frills!

Thankfully her husband had been less of a bother. I had nice, high boots and even a long coat to stave of the rain and cold. The pockets of which now held my four stones of Fire Burst. I had also gotten an extra blouse as well as several pairs of undergarments, which now rested in a flimsy cloth bag, made mostly out of scraps by all appearances. Trying those on was an ordeal I would not think of again, lest I perish from embarrassment. The whole spectacle had cost me more coin than I would have thought possible, but the Guard, who had introduced himself as Charles by now, told me that the price was fair. Which I believed not at all.

Now we were walking down Merchant's Lane, heading for who knew where.

One of the men on the street caught my attention as he passed me swiftly. He was tall and thin, and though he was familiar, I could not place him. I stopped as I tried to recall where I had seen him before, as he had drawn my attention so strongly.

It finally came to me, the man was the one who had been hard to see, who had stood next to the fat one, in the Chatheza.

"What are you doing?" Charles did not sound amused, he was nothing if not predictable that way. The best thing to do now was to follow him, investigate the deceased, if there indeed was one, and then hopefully get back to the rest of my long and happy life.

With a last look over my shoulder, I watched the thin man turn down another street.

I sighed and followed Charles.