He shook his head. “Initiates are always weird.”

She looked at him in shock. That’s just what the voice had called her! “What do you mean?”

He quirked an eyebrow. “You mean apart from the fact you come from an entirely different world bringing strange things with you?” He glanced at Sugarbear and back to the flowers as if proving a point. Sugarbear wasn’t weird! Cassidy decided she didn’t like his tone. Sugarbear leaned into her as if asking what she wanted her dog to do. She lay a reassuring hand on her Companion's head.

“You meant something more.”

That look again, like she was an idiot. This world was stupid. It made her want to murder people all of a sudden. “I already told you this land and all of its properties receive a huge influx of mana when they get here, changing it. Initiates receive it too and they always come out weird.” Now his look was pointed, like this was all her fault.

“I am not weird!”

“You just asked me if you committed mass genocide.”

“When you said fairies, I thought you meant people. People! I thought you were telling me I’d been killing people all this time, not bugs.” She said the last word with disgust. Bugs in the fridge didn’t make it any more appetizing. But butterflies were bugs… Why was one okay and not the other? Maybe she did need to reconsider her thinking. She didn’t like how quickly she was turning to violence either. Surely, she could have gotten his attention in ways other than shooting an arrow at him. Maybe a rock? Or shouting?

“I don’t know why you’d think fairies were people.”

“The stories always described them as little people with wings.”

“That doesn’t even make sense. Little people? With wings? See. Your world is crazy and now you’re infecting me.” He turned away from her dismissively to see what other plants she’d brought in her garden.

She glared. Then again, maybe violence was the best response. But there were more important things in life, like answers. “Then am I going to grow a third arm?" She asked in frustration.

It took him awhile to digest this. “A third what?”

“You said mana always changes things and makes them weird. Am I going to grow a third arm!”

He was getting annoyed. Her questions had at least started out intelligent, now he was just getting nonsense. “No. I meant you always have weird skills and behaviors.”

“Oh…I was being facetious.” She thought this over a bit. “My Skills all look normal.”

He rounded on her. “Your behavior certainly isn’t!”

“Oh, I see. Now that you’ve got your flask it’s all ‘Let’s insult the host.’”

“Sure. Whatever makes you feel better.”

She didn’t much care about her garden at this point. Instead she grabbed him by the shoulder to pull him up.

"Hey!"

"I'm not leaving you alone with my garden. We can look it over some other time, when I don't have to get a room ready for you."

He stood up at that and allowed her to lead him to the rest of the house. She demanded his help in dragging a mattress from her basement. It wasn't that it was too heavy, just to ungainly. She didn't want it scratching up her walls. Koda made sure to stay out of the way and Bertold was to focused on the idea of sleeping on a mattress to notice anything else in the kitchen.

When they got it around to the other side of the house, he was thrown by the small area she'd walled off for herself and the wonderful spaciousness she left behind. The wooden floors were beautiful and the luxurious couch skillfully crafted. He couldn't imagine why anyone would let this place gather dust. He went back outside to grab his pack as Cassidy put on the sheet. When he went back inside he flopped down on what was one of the most comfortable mattresses he'd ever felt. Even if it lacked a pillow.

Lying there, Bertold had some decisions to make. He wasn’t sure he’d be keeping up his end of the deal. Every time he found something new and exciting, she’d ask him a stupid question, like there wasn’t heaps of credits sitting right in front of them. Worst of all, she never wanted to disturb it! Just let it sit there, wasted. He was cursing his luck. Getting stuck with such a treasure trove he could barely touch. Sure, the flask would be plenty to pay for this trip but it was still frustrating. At least, the nymph water made it all worth it--as long as he remembered it.

And that girl was weird. He was never sure what she was thinking. Sometimes her gaze looked downright dangerous and with that dog by her side… a definite threat. Tier 1 or not, some things are just scary. He’d have to think over his plans tonight. Maybe sneaking away was the best option. He felt he’d answered enough questions already.

When Cassidy finally returned to her kitchen, she discovered Koda’s bandage was leaking. She needed to redo it. Pulling Koda close, she kissed the top of his head to ask forgiveness for putting him second and prioritizing that mattress. But she had to get that mattress out and up to the other side of the house as quickly as possible. She needed to send Bertold to bed and get on with her own evening. Maybe icing her shin with one of the dead butterflies—fairies. It didn’t matter. She hadn’t killed anyone. That was the important thing.

Bertold and Cassidy met by the old campfire. Cassidy was in the process of rekindling it for dinner. Bertold just leaned over and snapped his fingers. The fire lit. He innocently sat down and asked about dinner.

She rubbed her eyes in exhaustion and then frustration. She'd gotten soot in there. Today was turning her into an idiot. She glared at Bertold. He was turning her into an idiot. Why did he have to know everything? Could she get him to teach her how to do that?

The door opened on her way over as a cooped up Koda had enough and came out to see what everyone had been fussing about. When Bertold turned to watch her go, he let out a yelp, “There’s another one?!” Apparently he'd missed Koda hiding behind the table as the two were lugging the mattress out.

She turned to look at him, tired by the day’s failure of communication. “What?”

“Two! Two dogs! Two of them!” He was starting to sound frantic. “You have two of those monsters!”

That made her smile and she let out a little laugh. “Yeah, they're my two babies. This one’s Koda. Koda meet Bertold.” She gestured as she introduced them. “Bertold meet Koda. He got hit by a Tier 2 bear earlier this week so he hasn’t been feeling up to join our adventures.”

“Tier 2?”” His surprise hadn’t stopped. “And he survived? Just this week?!” She was looking at him and laughing outright. Damn straight they deserved that surprise. That bear had been a walking catastrophe.

Bertold kept glancing between Sugarbear, who regarded him solemnly and who had spent most of the day growling at him, to the poultice wrapped Koda enthusiastically investigating all the smells around his owner. Tonight, thought Bertold. I really should leave tonight.

Cassidy lined up everything she needed to make a dinner. Bertold didn’t say anything more, just watched her cook. He wanted to see what differences there might be with a new world’s Initiate. He didn’t recognize all the ingredients and since some of them were already mixed as sauces or spices, his Plant Identification was useless. “Do you have all the ingredients for these in your garden?”

Cassidy paused, a harmless question. Truth be told, she’d run out of stocks within the first few weeks and had been using what was in her garden and the woods to remedy that. “That and the woods.”

“So, you’ll use the woods to cook your food but not to sell?” It came out before he could stop it. There was just too much of a grudge held over today’s losses.

She frowned and looked at the fire, rolling some spices between her fingers. “I may have been too snappish today. It’s not that I’m unwilling to sell anything. I just think we have different quantities in mind. I won’t sell all my herbal plants, but maybe some clippings here and there at different times won’t be a bother. I just don’t want to lose any plant growth in the harvesting.”

He perked right up. She was willing to sell! “I think that’s something we can do. Every harvester knows you never sell the main source or you’ll be selling your future too.” She was frowning again. She didn’t like the way he saw it but at least they weren’t disagreeing on the main point. “Sure. Tomorrow we can go over how much I’m willing to harvest and sell of what we find.”

That had him singing a different tune and with a happy whistle he sat back to watch her do all the cooking. It didn’t seem any different from what he was used to, sure was tasty though. Maybe it was worth sticking around after all.

The next morning had taken a bright and sunny turn. In Bertold’s mind that is. It was still overcast.

“Ok, so we agree. You will be selling?” They were sitting around the campfire again, having breakfast. Koda and Sugarbear flanked Cassidy and Bertold didn’t seem at all bothered by their presence now. He didn’t even complain about her stinginess when it came to pillows and blankets. Woodsman or not, he had noticed his host’s lack of concern.

“The fire rocks—"

“—will be left alone. That would completely damage the creek side.”

Damn. “But the herbal plants…”

“We can work out how much to take and still keep plant growth healthy.”

Good. Bertold was already revisiting everything he discovered yesterday and how much she’d let him take away. Some were pretty rare. He bet he could get her to go 50/50 too! That would be some major credits.

“I'm going to the city with you.”

“What?” His startled gaze met a very determined one from Cassidy.

“You said most Initiates had already moved on by the time you found their property.”

He was still confused. “You’ve been pretty adamant about taking care of this place. I thought you’d be staying here.”

Her eyes wandered over the house behind him before meeting his gaze again. “This is my home and I will care for it. That doesn’t make it a shackle. I do want to see what is in this world if it’s going to be mine from now on.”

He was frowning now. This certainly threw a downcast on his sunny disposition. He didn’t want to babysit a yokel in the city and he definitely didn’t want to get stuck traveling with a Tier 1. He couldn’t even imagine how much that would slow him down. His gaze lowered and caught on the bandage wrapped around Koda and imagined the wound it must be covering. The blow this dog must’ve taken. The damage a Tier 2 bear would do to a Tier 1 dog. How had it even survived? What kind of monsters did this girl own? An image of that arrow in the door, loosed by an Initiate, and the fallen deer. What kind of monster was the girl? She’d gone against that bear too. He looked back up at her frowning. Initiates were always weird. Maybe she wouldn’t be such a bad travel partner, but all that said nothing about her speed and he didn’t want a week-long trip drawn out any further.

“Before we talk about that later, we should get your inventory sorted first. We still don’t even know everything you own, let alone how much you’re willing to sell.” She frowned but agreed with him. Planning the trip could wait, because either way, she’d be going. Even if it was just her and her Companions.

That day, Bertold was ecstatic at how much she actually let him take. Not just the herbal plants, but another vein of fire rocks ran through a ravine and she was more than happy to let him chip away at them.

She observed the pickaxe he’d pulled out. “Where did that come from?”

He didn’t even look back, just started swinging. “My special bag.”

“Special how?”

“It holds more than you’d think.”

“Like a spacial bag?”

Now that got his attention. “A what now?”

“A bag that’s bigger on the inside.”

He shook his head, weird Initiates. “Sure, like that.” Another swing and, oh was that cat’s whiskers following the fire rock vein? Damn, he was lucky. He got out a small piece of cloth to pick up the black bits that were being chipped away with the fire rocks. She eyed him but decided she didn’t care to ask.

“It can’t really be called ‘your special bag.’”

“Mmm.”

Silence. Waiting. “Hey!” She smacked his shoulder.

“What!” He glared over his back, packing the cloth away oh so carefully.

“What’s it really called?”

“Bag! It’s just a bag!”

“So, if you ask a shopkeeper for a bag and they give you a normal one?”

“You ask for an Adventurer’s bag.” He growled out as he went back to swinging his pickaxe.

He was a terrible teacher. She needed to get a new one.

They spent the rest of the day taking inventory. Bertold’s excavation having slowed them down considerably. At least her leg hadn’t started aching. That had to be a good sign, right?

She was sipping her after dinner tea while Berthold finished up his venison steak. Another reason to take a trip. They hadn’t run into any animals and if she wanted to continue feeding her dogs, she’d have to hunt elsewhere. It was at that point he finally popped the real question. Or rather, decided what he was owed in this whole deal. 50/50. She considered it. He knew what everything was worth. He knew how to collect everything with minimal damage to the surroundings. They’d be using his contacts to sell and he’d be the one bartering. But she's the one with control. She was the one that could say no and walk away from this deal.

She put her hand on Sugarbear's back and said "15/85." She really didn't like him. Try to go as low as she can go.

Bertold sat picking meat out of his teeth. As if he wasn’t at all on the edge of his seat waiting for her decision. Everything belonged to her. He’d was lucky he offered more than the finder’s fee of 10/90. He'd even given a little jerk when he heard her. Better than he'd hoped but he could still argue up.

"Do you even know what you'll be selling? 40/60."

She just looked at him askance. "I know I could walk away without having to deal with you anymore."

"You could walk away? I could walk away. Then you're on your own again. Good luck finding out the mysteries of the universe that way." He leaned back and threw his arms out to emphasize his point. Like he hadn't already figured out what she really wanted. Why else hadn't she killed him? Or at least scared him off with those nightmare creatures she called dogs?

Cassidy scowled at him. "20/80. I may want answers but I'm sure there are other ways to find them in this world than putting up with you."

"A lot harder ways sure, but why don't we just make this easy on everyone at 30/70."

She thought this through a bit. It was true she needed more than his business acumen. It'd be a lot harder to get help from anyone if she didn't know the basic common sense of this world; like who would try to kill you and who wouldn't. She was eyeing him on that last thought. But he was only a couple Tiers above her like the bear and she felt certain Sugarbear could eat him as long as she dealt with the sword. She relented a little. "Fine 25/75."

She noticed he’d given another little jerk at her agreement but decided not to fret over it. She long since realized they were operating under different values and she should let as many things slide as possible. Otherwise, they’d end up nowhere...or trying to kill each other.

The next few days were spent in a similar pattern. Bertold would get excited over something she couldn’t care less about. She’d tell him how much he could take and he’d get to work eagerly claiming it for ‘his special bag.’ They’d then settle for dinner and try to find things to agree on for the future. She started making him contribute some cooking supplies. He was a business partner, not a guest.

By the end of it all, he finally succumbed and allowed Cassidy and her Companions to come along with him to the city. He figured saving the magic in his protective runes by setting up a shared watch with her rather than wasting a stone circle was worth having to take a few more days. Cassidy disagreed that it would take any longer than a week but he’d just look at her floating Tier 1 and shake his head.

The night before they left. Cassidy finally remembered her question from the first day with Bertold. She examined her Skill Levels. Like he said everything averaged 5 only there were 3 exceptions. Each of the 3 Skill Trees she’d chosen to focus on had vastly higher Levels.

Archery: Precision—11

Archery: Boring Needle—8

Archery: Far Shot—10

Archery: Eagle Eye—7

Forestry: Ease-of-Movement—13

Forestry: Silent Tread—12

Forestry: Observation—8

Forestry: Preternatural Instincts—11

Forestry: Plant Identification—17

Animal Mastery: Training—15

Animal Mastery: First Aid—10

She understood now what he meant by 'Initiates were weird.'

It was only as she was falling asleep, she remembered there was a fourth—Daggers. Rather than waking up though, her sleepy thoughts wandered to what was left of her dagger after the fight with the bear. She needed something new. No way was that usable. And her thoughts drifted off into sleep

In the morning, Bertold focused on filling his special bag with all the inventory they planned to take to the city as well as the few pieces of equipment he’d bothered taking out. Cassidy focused on what she’d need to travel. Collapsible water bowl for the dogs, the barest amount of cooking equipment she could get away with, a blanket that would survive the dirt, and a few others such as soap. Her mangled dagger had been thrown out. She doubted it would survive another kill. If need arose, she’d have to borrow one of Bertold’s. When she was done packing, she found there was still some room so with a thought she headed to her closet. She grabbed two of her simpler dresses, jersey so they wouldn’t wrinkle, and rolled them tight to fit in the bottom of her bag, that and a pair of flats completed things. Now she wouldn’t have to spend her first visit to the city in grubby hunting clothes.

When she met Bertold outside, she found she’d filled her backpack to the bursting, but he managed to carry the vast majority in his special bag. Her jealousy wasn’t the problem though. Getting her quiver and bow to settle around and over her bag in a decent way was turning into a challenge. She gave another wiggle to see if that would work only to find Bertold to the side, smirking. “Do you have any suggestions?” She asked angrily.

“No.” He let out a little laugh. “I never dealt in archery.”

She growled and started fussing all over again. “Well we’re not leaving till I get this fixed so you better help if you want us to go.”

The mention of slowing them down didn’t erase his smirk. “What? Can’t figure things out on your own?” He moved to help her. One of these days she would smack that look right off. Business partner or not, it was only a matter of time.

This world had definitely made her violent. She didn’t doubt it any longer. She decided she'd embrace it.

Once he helped her get the equipment settled, they headed out.