“I have so many questions,” Baldir said with a grumble. He put his fingers over his temple and searched his person for his flask and took a deep swig.

“It’s a lot to take in,” Coral said sympathetically as her eyestalks moved in some semblance of a nod.

“As for the rest, can we have a tab or is there something else you’d like?” Coral asked.

“Well… I think we need some information, and that’s worth a lot to us,” He said seriously as he leaned on his elbows.

“People don’t tend to hold back when talking to me. I’m an easy listener.”

“That’s why I adore you, Coral.”

“So, what is it?” She said as she scrabbled from one side of the counter to the other, placing coins in a bag, carefully wrapping packages and snipping twine.

“We’re sort of serving this dragon,” Leoric started. Claire’s expression didn’t change, not a segment of bit of her body moved.

“Okay,” she said, giving him permission to continue.

Then he told her their story up until their arrival. Her expression changed then, her eyestalks elongating as she looked, for best they could tell, surprised and interested.

“Really?” She asked. Baldir and Leoric nodded as she ran a claw over her mouthparts, clacking her mandibles slowly in thought.

“So, you’re assembling an army of slaves for her?” Coral asked.

“Pretty much,” Leoric said.

“So, what I might do-,” she said as she scrambled from one side of the counter to another and tugged free an old map and a pencil.

“Is to trace back where your last incarnation lived, see if you can take over your lands there,” She said as her eyestalks moved from side to side and twitched in search of the sheet she rolled out before them.

“I had the strongest kobolds! They would be much desired by other dragons, so we may not be equipped enough yet to take them back, as I don’t know how long I waited to reborn and live,” Blast said.

“Exactly, so the way their reincarnation cycle works is that they’re immediately reborn, but nests fight to the death for competition after they hatch, so she’s likely lived and died many times since then,” Coral said as she glanced over the map and held the pencil tip down to the map with both claws, carefully drawing a circle.

“Right, right,” Leoric said as Blast grumbled.

“Okay, so we’re right here. We need to figure out where she was,” Coral said as she scanned the map like it might just occur to her.

“Do you know what your former name was?” Leoric asked.

Blast shook her head.

“I have a lot of memories, but titles are stripped from us. I know It was in the human lands, mountains, lovely cave system….”

Leoric translated for Baldir as she spoke.

“Okay, that means we’re likely over here,” Claire said as she walked across the map to a portion of the continent shaded for its human ownership.

“Very far from the sea…” Blast said.

“Okay so that narrows it down to a few kingdoms,” She muttered.

“Lots of sheep,” Blast said as she licked her lips.

“Okay, and I think I’ve got it!” She said as she circled an area of the map in a distant human kingdom.

“Oh wow,” Leoric said as he peered over the map.

“So, I narrowed it down to human nations and mountains based off what she said. Only these mountains have cave systems, and there’s only two dragon lands in this area that are marked and only one of them has grazing lands,” Coral said proudly.

“I like her. I shall not eat her,” Blast said.

“Aww, thank you,” Coral said before carefully walking to put her pencil away.

“I think this is going to save us a lot of time and lost causes,” Baldir said as he admired the map.

“It sure would. I think we can forgive part of that debt,” Leoric said as Coral slid one bead down on the abacus. She reached for a second, but Blast growled a warning. She retreated her claw slowly and looked back to the map.

Her eyes twisted from the paper to in front of her as she seemed to be reading the sky.

“Alright then,” She said with a twist of her body to face Blast, “The gods say that for aiding you that I will get a boon, and if I pledge my loyalty to you, I get a class bonus,” She said eagerly.

“The gods are wise,” Blast nodded sagely.

“The gods really like Scritch,” She said, looking quite seriously for the first time to the small Kobold.

Blast twisted her head around with a whirr of anger.

Coral rolled up the map and pushed it towards Leoric before gesturing to Baldir and the rest to take their things.

“I’ll give you a letter of credit saying I owe you 23 more gold,” She said, looking to Blast for confirmation. She climbed the counter and studied the abacus with some stern focus before nodding.

“Fair is fair. I enjoyed extorting you in this fashion,” Blast said.

“It’s called bartering,” Leoric said.

“Whatever it was, it was easier than threatening to burn the place down,” Blast spoke with a chuff.

“No need for that sort of talk. I’m happy to help,” Coral said as Leoric handed the packages down to Baldir to carry to their cart.

They bid their farewells and set off together to make it to their cart and found a strange sight greeting them. A well-shaven man in a white coat leaned casually against their cart. A cigarette hung limply from his lips as dark-circled eyes laid upon them. Scritch sniffed a little and looked to him wearily.

“That’s the naked man,” Scritch said, squinting at him.

“Weren’t you… Didn’t you just snort something and fall down the stairs?” Baldir asked.

“Probably. I don’t know what I’m up to today,” he said with a noncommittal shrug.

“Well, can we help you?” Baldir asked wearily.

“The good doctor Nelson is a multiplanal being. He can be in both places if he wants,” Leoric sighed, looking to the man apologetically.

“Thank you, grandpa,” the doctor, Nelson, said with a grin.

“Don’t you start,” Leoric grumbled.

The doctor held his cigarette over to Baldir’s shoulder, up to Blast’s mouth and gave an impatient shake.

“Excuse me?” Blast said, huffing indignantly.

“Light it,” Nelson said as he frowned to her.

“Do I look like a tinderbox to you, puny human?” Blast asked.

“No, you look like a dragon that’s the perfect size to light my cigarette,” Nelson said as she stamped her front claw indignantly.

“I’m sure I have a match here, somewhere,” Leoric said as he dug into his satchel.

“You do, it’s in your third pocket, but dragon fire lights the best,” Nelson said before giving the cigarette another demanding shake.

Blast spit a spark of flame at it with a mote of pride in her chest, then scrambled as a notification flashed from the gods.

“My fire has increased!” She said happily.

Nelson took a long slow drag on the end of the cigarette and raised a brow.

“Huh… neat,” he said before looking down to Scritch’s curious gaze.

She blinked up at him and waved a single clawed hand.

“Hi. My name’s scritch.”

“I’m sure it is,” Nelson said with a soft smile as le leaned down to look her more directly in the eye.

Baldir and Leoric watched as Nelson’s pale face folded into a polite smile. It didn’t seem, from the look on Leoric’s face, that this was a usual reaction.

“The gods really like you, little artificer,” Nelson said as he rolled the cigarette to the corner of his mouth.

Scritch nodded slowly.

“Always good to have a god on your side when you need it,” Nelson said before taking a long draw and a thick exhale of smoke that seemed to dapple in multiple colors before hazing out to white.

“Welp. Do me a favor. Hold onto this and don’t lose it. It will come in handy later,” Nelson said as he took the cigarette from his lips and stubbed it out into the dirt. He handed the half-smoked butt to her and stood. Scritch cupped it reverently in her hands.

“Welp, I think I’ll be heading out, then,” He said before turning on one foot to leave.

The door to the shop swung open.

“You!” an angry voice shouted as a naked and bruised man, the same they’d met earlier, plus a few extra knicks, pointed at Nelson.

Nelson, the clean one, looked to the haggard nude form of his identical counterpart.

Nelson turned on one foot and bolted down the road as fast as he could, coat flapping in the breeze as his feet turned up dust. The naked bruised man behind him followed at a galloping pace screaming,

“I SWEAR TO ALL THE GODS THAT IF I CATCH YOU, I WILL GRAB YOUR NECK AND STRANGLE YOU UNTIL THE PARADOX DESTROYS US BOTH!!!”

“Best you hold onto that,” Leoric said as she reverently carried the cigarette butt into the cart to put in a small box that Leoric had given her for her belongings.

“I am confused,” Baldir said before climbing up on the caravan.

“Good, that means you probably understood Nelson fairly well, then,” Leoric said before climbing into the cart.