Reya led me through a door into some building. I only realized once I was already inside that it was the very same door I had used to exit the bunkhouse the day before. The familiar blend of fresh ingredients and simmering food with a hint of chicken broth lingered in the air. The Chicken-broth woman wasn’t present however. Instead, the Lovelorn-firebird man stood in front of the fire, cooking something. When we entered he gave me a short, assessing look, then turned his gaze towards Reya.

“She’s decided to stay until the Academy doctor gets here,” Reya explained in my stead.

“You changed your mind about her then?” the old man asked Reya with a grave frown. He did not seem pleased with my presence.

“No,” Reya stated, accentuating the negative with a short shake of her head. “But she probably won’t kill anyone. She scared Cadge half to death a little while ago though.”

Eh?

Probably won’t kill anyone?

Thanks Reya. Nice to know you’re still every bit the bitch I thought you were. For a second there you were growing on me.

“That’s not exactly comforting news,” the man surmised. He scratched the stubble on his chin. “Suppose it was too much to hope for that she would just leave.”

Sooo feeling welcome right now.

“Problems rarely disappear by neglecting them,” Reya commented, patting down her ass before plopping it down on a chair.

Right. So I was a problem now. Despite the low opinion these two people obviously had of me I decided to remain a silent bystander to their exchange. I was used to this kind of treatment, so it didn’t bother me much. Besides, getting this kind of insight about my position in this village was educational if nothing else.

I put on a distracted air and let my eyes drift around the room. As far as I could tell not much had changed since yesterday. It still looked and felt every bit as much as living quarters merged with an oversized kitchen. The Chicken-broth woman was the only notable absence.

“Unfortunately true,” the man agreed with Reya’s statement that I was a problem, then shuffled a little to the side to inspect the contents of an oven. “I suppose I’ll need to do another round of talking people out of doing stupid things then.”

Right. Of course. Owner of this bunkhouse. That probably meant he was the closest anyone got to being in charge at a place like this. I should have expected that. Of course Reya didn’t just bring me here to get me a room. I was here to be assessed, judged. But talking people out of doing stupid things…

He’s doing a shit job of that.

Left me there in the water for well over half an hour.

Might be better to just leave.

Once he was done with the oven he came over. Standing in front of me he seized me up. By looking down. He was tall and broad-shouldered, without actually being intimidating, yet he studied me with an intensity that betrayed a lifetime of dealing with difficult people.

“And you girl, what kind of trouble are we getting into with you?” he asked me.

Not a kid!

I did not protest at the insult. This man was trying to protect his town. He might even answer directly to the local Lord. That made his question potentially very dangerous for me, especially since I did not know how much other people had told him. If he had been told everything and I withheld information, then I was in trouble. On the other hand, if I divulged something he did not expect, it might be even worse for me.

I glanced past him, giving Reya a pleading look. She shrugged and kept her face carefully neutral. I was on my own then, forced to guess about how much she had shared about me. I bet she was enjoying this. No, a bet wasn’t even needed. The bemused taste wafting around her told me she was enjoying this. The man frowned at our exchange. Clearly I could not keep stalling, so I decided to skirt the issue instead.

“You are the only ones that know,” I admitted. “As far as the rest of the world is concerned I am just another hunter on the dole.” I did not specify who I meant with that ‘you’, or what it was exactly they were supposed to know. With a bit of luck, their minds would fill in those blanks for me.

I didn’t even bother explaining the possible consequences of associating with potential vampires. Everyone already knew those anyway. The Inquisition would act swift, decisive, and hopefully just. In the rare case that they committed atrocities, no one would dare name it for the abuse of power it was. But the real risk for these townspeople came from overzealous nuts. One of those could burn the whole village down in a misguided attempt to cleanse the evil.

The man rolled his shoulders at my response and glanced sidelong at Reya. “You’re right. Foolish and manipulative more than outright dangerous.” He addressed me again only after returning to his pot. “Old room is still available. You can have it until the doctor gets here.”

I struggled not to gawk, while trying to decide which part of his answer I found more shocking, that he allowed me to stay, or that he had offered me that outrageous room. It was sunny, south facing with a large window. I wasn’t going to rest in a place with that much sunlight streaming in. And it had two whole beds, that room. It was for four people at the least, maybe even eight. He couldn’t give me that kind of luxury.

I tasted the air in search of a hint of deception. Not finding any ill intent I then pursed my lips, weighing my options, trying to find a way out of this offer. “How much?” I asked, recalling how much I had on me. “Do you not have anything smaller available?”

Smaller as in cheaper, less luxurious. Even with what Gery had given me I could not afford the kind of luxury the Firebird had offered for long. I prayed for something communal at least. His offer was absurd, I was only a mere hunter, not a priest or a merchant or a knight. People like me did not get a whole room to themselves.

”I’m not bunking you with the loggers girlie,” the man pointed out. “It’s free till the doctor gets here.”

“Free?” I blurted out. Free was even worse. I could not take that kind of room out of charity a second time. Only giving it to me until the doctor got here also meant he only had the two rooms, the one he was offering me, and the one Limn and his group were staying in. It was a room for eight. Taking it, without payment, was like robbing this man of half of his income.

Of course, this was only in case he was being honest with me. They could just as well be using this absurd and incomprehensible display of generosity to make me lower my guard. In fact, that was quickly becoming the only plausible reason for the offer. They might simply not need the room for me after the doctor arrived because they’d already reported me and an Inquisition team was coming along with the doctor. It was not because I couldn’t taste any deceit in the air that there wasn’t any. After all, I was a problem for them. Their own words.

“I am a hunter, you don’t need to give me that kind of room,” I protested, trying to mitigate the risk I would be exposed to. “I can sleep anywhere, honestly. I sleep in barns, hospices, middle of the road even, monasteries when I am offered, … Please do not give me two whole beds for free. It would feel like too much of an abuse of your–”

I did not get to finish my sentence. The man dropped his ladle and very slowly turned towards me. Glancing over at Reya I saw her glaring at me while massaging her temples. Fury and shock radiated from her in equal measure. I didn’t get it. Clearly I had said something wrong.

Is my refusal really that shocking?

Did I misjudge everything this badly?

I can’t have. They’d called me a problem just moments ago.

So, I had saved Uncle Tare, and taken care of the ahuizotl, but that doesn’t deserve enough gratitude to make my refusal this shocking, does it?

“You sleep… in monasteries…” the man recited my words.

Oh… Right.

That.

Demon sleeping in monasteries. That would do it. Somehow I’d fallen back to my hunter persona, said all the things that were intended for people that only knew me as a poor, lonely hunter. But to these villagers I was a vampire, a demon. Demons weren’t supposed to enter hallowed ground.

“Um… yes?” I admitted. There wasn’t really any polite way I could backpedal from this. Besides, Reya had seen me heal Uncle Tare. How much of a stretch could it be to go from that to this. “I admit, they are not exactly comfortable, those natural Tonaltus fields.” I suppressed a shudder. Horrible, painful, barely any rest at all nights, those. “Refusing monastery shelter is all kinds of suspicious though.”

The both of them stared at me, completely speechless.

“They are really not that powerful, you know, natural Tonaltus fields,” I defended myself. “How else do you think Ostea got this bad.”

The man took a chair and sat himself down on it. He then cupped his head in his hands and moaned quietly. Slowly, it dawned on me that this might have been one of those things the Inquisition was trying to keep a lid on.

Reya walked over to the broken man and began kneading his shoulders. “Don’t worry, you get used to her surprises shockingly fast. Well… that, or they break you.”

“I can see why you don’t trust her.” The man grunted, shaking his head in denial.

“Hm-hmm,” Reya hummed, a satisfied smirk creeping into her expression.

“There are things about her you haven’t told me, aren’t there?”

“Don’t ask, old man. I promised her not to tell anyone and for the sake of my own sleep I’d rather keep that promise,” Reya confessed, then she glared at me. “Remember what I told you not even 10 minutes ago? Vulnerable instead of terrifying? Work on it, Vale!”

“I did not know, yes!” I defended myself. “I am just a hunter to people. I have always been just a hunter to people. There is nothing special about a hunter sleeping in a mo­nastery.”

Reya shook her head and sighed. “Just go, stow your stuff in the room or something. You know where it is by now.” She motioned towards the door, then let go of the man’s shoulders. “On second thought, let me go with you.”

Doesn’t even trust me to unload my horse anymore.

Somehow I’ve messed things up even more than before.

“I know how to unpack my horse, Reya,” I snapped at her.

“Without scaring, intimidating, or traumatizing people?” She scoffed.

I did not deign her with a reply, only glared. It was the Traumatized-firebird that interceded on my behalf. “Let her unload her own horse Reya.”

With one last glare, I closed the door behind me. Much as I resented it, it would probably have been better to have Reya with me. Then at least she could serve to fend off other annoying people. Not that I considered Reya any kind of pleasant company. I was mostly just starting to get a handle on her brand of unpleasantness, and I’d actually take it over dealing with more new people that suddenly thought they knew me.

Sadly, the Firebird-man could probably use her more right now than I could. His insistence that I could unload my own horse hadn’t been to help me. The subtext was more than clear enough. Reya was to stay behind, so they could talk without me.

In the end, I needn’t have worried over more unexpected villager encounters. I didn’t run into anyone, not when stabling Fern in the rickety overhang they had for a barn, and not when carrying my stuff inside. Yet once back indoors I was greeted by yet another of Reya’s trademark glares when I interrupted a conversation she was having with the man.

“Vale, these are Rafe and Eryn’s living quarters. Please respect that,” she berated me. “The public areas are through the other door.”

Right. Of course. Don’t randomly trudge through people’s houses when heading to your room. Instead, I had to go through that common room where I had seen Limn and his friends. I so hoped no one was there right now.

Shuffling back out I wondered what the man, Rafe apparently, and Reya were talking about that was so secretive they had to kick me out the moment I walked in. All I had managed to catch was ‘without his permission’. Most likely it was about me. I wanted to know what they were hiding. I was not going to risk things in a foolish attempt to find out though.

A quick sniff before I entered the common area told me I was once more in luck. There was no one there, and after two short trips I was settled in. I sat myself down on the ground, in the least sunny corner of the room, unsure of what to do now.

It was uncanny. I had always had something to busy myself with, someplace to be, or simply something to run away from. Now, I had nothing. I had a room, I had time, and I did not know what to do with it. I unpacked my stuff, because that was what people did. Then I packed it all again, because I wanted to be able to leave at a moment’s notice.

I would clean my old clothes, I eventually decided. They reeked. I should have taken care of them yesterday, but had not gotten around to it then. Yes, I would clean my clothes, and apologize to Meg. Maybe I could even do the apology first, get the painful bit over with.