Fresh leans her forehead to the side. Shamrock obliges and dabs her sweaty face with the cloth that he’s holding. “Thanks, Shamrock,” says Fresh, continuing the last of the work on the bunk-beds. In essence, she just added an iron and wooden frame to the three of their beds and then had Shamrock help her add a second platform on top of each one. She’s busy fastening the last screws now for the ladders, so that the kids can climb up.

“You know, we’re already giving them a furnished house,” says Jubilee, watching from the table. They’re rubbing the side of their torso. Fresh had squeezed a little too hard before. “There are working people in this city who can’t afford a house,” they explain. “You don’t have to literally make them beds too.”

“But where are they all going to sleep if I don’t?” asks Fresh.

“In the same beds? On the floor? In the dungeon?” suggests Jubilee. “It’ll help them build some character.”

“Hmm…” says Fresh, tightening the last screw, before pulling on the ladder to see if it’s stable. It seems to be holding well. The frame holding the construction together doesn’t wobble at all. Nodding to herself, satisfied, she grabs a few crystal-drakonium mattresses and starts getting the bedding ready on the new bunks. “But I don’t want them to sleep on the floor or in the dungeon. It’s cold. What if they get sick?”

“Not our problem,” says Jubilee.

“It’s my problem,” says Fresh, shaking her head. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I didn’t try my best.”

Jubilee sighs. “You’re going to be the death of me one day.”

The door rattles downstairs. “I’m home!” calls Basil. “Uh… I need some help, please! AH! stay! STAY!” she calls. Fresh blinks, looking at the others. Jubilee lifts their book up, pretending like they didn’t hear or see anything.

“Coming!” calls Fresh, grabbing Shamrock’s wrist. The giant allows himself to be pulled along. The two of them make their way down the stairs, listening to the chaos unfolding below. “Are you okay, Ba -” Fresh stops on the staircase, halfway down, one foot in the air as she stares out into the storefront and sees the anqa running around between the shelves.

“I’m sorry!” says Basil, pulling on the reins to try and get it to move back outside. “It’s still young, so it’s very stubborn!” she explains, pulling again. “Come on! We’re going outside!” She says. The anqa looks at her and then looks away, fully intending to do no such thing. It’s a beautiful bird, still young and only half the size of an adult. Its white and pastel-yellow plumed head only reaches to about Basil’s neck.

Fresh gasps. “Basil! It’s so cute!”

“Get that fucking thing out of the house!” yells Jubilee’s voice from upstairs, having heard out the context of this conversation.

“I’m trying!” yells Basil back up. “Shamrock, help me, please!” she asks, pulling on the reins to no avail. The anqa is stronger than she is by a good measure.

The bird turns its gaze, looking at the man coming down the stairs, but then its eyes move past him and land on Fresh, who is still looking down at it from the staircase. The large, bipedal bird freezes, its muscles stiffening and the feathers on its crown rising up as it lifts them in a threatening display.

*KIYAH!* squawks the anqa, spinning around and spreading its wings open wide between the shelves. Basil yelps, jumping to the side as the wing presses her away.

“Woah, woah, settle down boy,” she tries to console it. “Everything is fine. Easy-”

Shamrock approaches, his hands held out forward, but the bird doesn’t have eyes for him or Basil. It’s staring at Fresh with a cold, intense glare. It squawks again, releasing a sound that only Fresh can interpret, thanks to her ability to speak with forest creatures.

“PERGAN!” shouts the anqa in a voice that only Fresh can understand, scratching the floor with its clawed foot, leaving deep scratches in the stone. “PERCHTA!” it shrieks. Remembering Basil’s anqa from the north and foreseeing where this is going, Fresh has already begun to take a step back up the staircase.

“Look out!” shouts Basil.

The anqa breaks forward, knocking Basil back against the shelf and rushing towards Shamrock. Fresh yelps, running up the stairs as fast as she can as she watches the creature slip past Shamrock and bound over the counter. She sprints around the corner, running to the rooms in the back. “JUBILEEEEEE~!” she bolts past the table.

*KIYAAAAH!* screams the anqa, barreling against the wall at the end of the staircase as it is unable to keep its momentum around the tight corner.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“JUBILEEEEE~!” shouts Fresh again, grabbing Jubilee’s hand and tearing them off of the chair. She runs into their room, dragging them along and slams the door shut behind them.

*KIYAAAH!* screams the giant bird. A second later, there it a loud crashing against the door.

“You fucking people!” yells Jubilee at her. Fresh keeps her back against the door, crying.

“Jubileeeee~”

“Shut up!”

Fresh closes her eyes, feeling the wood shaking against her back. “Jubileeeee~!”

“WHAT?!” snaps Jubilee, their hands on their hips as the door shakes again. The sounds of Shamrock and Basil running up and trying to calm the anqa down can be heard from the other side of the door.

“I don’t knooooow~!” cries Fresh. There is a loud squawking. It sounds like some kind of scuffle.

“Be gentle with him, Shamrock!” yells Basil. “He has soft bones!”

The anqa shrieks. The sound of its sharp voice grows quieter and quieter as it is apparently moved downstairs by the giant, who has managed to get a hold of it. There is a knocking on the door a second later. “You can come out,” says Basil. “Everything is fine now!”

Fresh looks at Jubilee and then carefully opens the door, peeking outside.

“Are you alright?” asks the priestess, seeing her worried face. Fresh opens the door, looking Basil up and down to see if she’s okay.

“I’m okay, what about you?”

“I’m fine,” says Basil. “Sorry, I lost control of him.”

Jubilee pushes their way past them. “No shit?”

Fresh steps out of the room. The table is overturned and a leg is broken off, as well as one of the chairs, where it had likely vaulted itself over during its assault. Jubilee’s book seems to have been shredded by a large talon as well. “Fuck’s sake,” sighs Jubilee, picking up the ruined thing.

“I’m sorry!” apologizes Basil. “I don’t know why he did that. He was really well behaved this whole time.”

“Why the fuck do you think?” asks Jubilee, glaring at Fresh.

“I didn’t do anything!” protests Fresh. “I don’t think anqas like me. It’s like with the one you had in the north, Basil,” she explains. “I think it’s because of my class.”

“Your class?” asks the priestess.

“Yeah, they don’t seem to like, uh…” Fresh looks around. “You know.”

Basil sighs. “This is a problem. We should have talked about this before.”

Fresh rubs her arm. “I’m sorry. I thought it would be okay,” she explains. “I thought your old anqa didn’t like me because he was from the church.”

“It’s a bird, goo-brain. How does that make any sense?” says Jubilee, throwing their ruined book onto the broken table. It slides right off, falling back down to the floor. They leave it laying there.

“What do we do now?” asks Fresh.

“I’m assuming there are no refunds?” asks Jubilee. Basil shakes her head. Jubilee looks around the chaos. “Well… I guess we’ll make a box.”

“A box?” asks Fresh

“Yeah, we’ll make a box and you’ll just have to stay inside of it till we get to the east.”

“I don’t want to be boxed!” protests Fresh, puffing out a cheek.

Jubilee crosses their arms. “Sounds good to me, then you’ll be out of everyone’s hair too.”

“Jubileee~!”

Jubilee turns their glare towards Basil. “Why the fuck was it even here? Where are we supposed to keep a fucking anqa?”

Basil fidgets with her sleeve. “I had to bring him with me. Once I bought him, he wasn’t allowed to stay at the stall anymore.”

“You shit-head!” barks Jubilee. “What if we have to stay for another month here?!” they ask. “Are we just supposed to keep it in the fucking basement or something?!”

“Sorry, I didn’t know what else to do,” apologizes Basil. “But we’ll have to figure something out. Come on, let’s find Shamrock,” says the priestess. Jubilee sighs and walks after them.

“You stay here, goo-brain,” they tell Fresh. “Fix this place up.”

“Okay…” sighs Fresh, rubbing her arm and starting to pick up the debris. Basil and Jubilee head down the stairs. Fresh’s fingers run over the torn cover of Jubilee’s book. She’s not sure how, but she’s going to try to fix this for them too. She flips it over, looking at the familiar cover. Her fingers run over the tattered leather. Somehow, she hadn’t noticed before, but this is a copy of the book that she had found upstairs in the northern house, on the large bench by the window.

‘Of demons and the night-sky'