15. A New Home

Lace found Kiren as soon as she entered the Lodge, sulking atop the wall. He sat wedged between two of the crenellations and stared into the distance, towards the horizon and the rising sun.

“A bit early for contemplation, isn’t it?” she called up to him.

He looked down, swung over the side, and let himself fall. He caught himself on a vine halfway, let go, and landed in a crouch. He came up to her, shoulders more sunken than usual. He had dark rings under his eyes.

He looks like he slept about as bad as me.

“What happened to your hair?” he asked.

Lace touched her hair, which barely went past her ears. She felt herself flush. “I… Just don’t want to give someone an edge against me. I figured short hair was more practical.”

Kiren nodded. “Smart.”

“Oh, you’re both here! Finally—I’ve been waiting around for ages!”

Lace turned around and saw Mina cartwheeling towards them. She fell over, rolled once, and giggled as she stood back up. She brushed off her muddied dress and flashed them both a bright, needle-toothed smile.

“Hey there, sweetie,” Lace said. She couldn’t help but smile back. “Why’re you out here so early?”

“Early?” Mina stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry. “You’re way late! I’m supposed to show you your rooms—oh, and give you a tour of all the things in the Lodge. The Doctor said I could have two vials if I did a good job, so I haven’t been able to sleep at all!”

“Oh my. Well, who are we to hold you up? Lead the way.”

“Good! Keep up!”

The girl ran barefoot across the courtyard. Lace followed. Kiren hesitated a few moments before coming along.

“What’s the point of a tour?” he asked. “We’ve seen most of the Lodge anyway.”

“A place like this, I bet there’s plenty of places we haven’t learned about yet.”

Mina went into the main hall. Since they had already seen it before, she went straight through to the kitchen. It was filled with benches and workstations, laden with raw foods of all sorts. There, the cooks were already hard at work, some kneading bread and pastry dough, while others loaded them into a large brick oven. Steam filled the long room, making the air clammy and hot to breathe.

Crab-Man, the head chef, worked at one of the stations, doing the work of three men. He noticed when they came in and offered Mina a sweet pastry. She wolfed it down in one bite and snuck two more from a workstation while he wasn’t looking.

“Best part of the whole Lodge,” Kiren said. “Do they ever not make food here?”

“A couple hours during the night,” Crab-Man said, without turning away from the three lumps of dough he was kneading between his six arms. “Everyone takes shifts. Apart from me, of course—I’m always working. Someone has to watch over these lazy sods.”

“Says you,” said one of the cooks. “I caught you sneaking a nap in the back just a few nights ago, Master Crab-Man.”

“Bah, don’t listen to him. Always on the job.” He gave Mina a wink.

Kiren and Lace got some early breakfast, piping hot bread with butter and spice. After that, they went up to the second floor.

“The people live here and on the third floor,” Mina explained.

There was a long corridor with rooms on either side. They had sturdy doors with proper iron locks, most of them closed. Each door had a number carved into the wood.

“Your room is, um…” Mina produced a small note she had stuck to her hair with a pin and unfolded it. “Two… eight.”

“Twenty-eight?” Lace offered, pointing to a room down the hall bearing that number.

“Whatever!”

“We’re sharing the same room?” Kiren asked. “No way. I’m not doing that.”

That stung a little.

Don’t worry about it, Lace thought. That’s just Kiren being Kiren.

There was still that nagging voice in the back of her head that told her it was something more than that.

“I think it’s romantic,” Mina said. “A girl and a boy in the same room. Just no smooching in there—that’s yucky!”

They opened the door numbered ‘28’ and stepped inside. The room was plain, but large enough to hold two, with separate beds on either side of the room and a desk to write on. There was a nightstand next to each of the beds, and an empty chest for each as well. A glass window with wooden shutters on the inside overlooked the back of the Lodge and the city beyond it.

“A bed,” Lace gasped. She went over and felt out one of the down-filled mattresses. Her hand sank right in, heavenly soft. “It’s been too long since I’ve had one of those.”

“I dunno,” Kiren grumbled, remaining at the entrance of the room. “This all seems fishy to me.”

“What’s fishy about it?” Lace asked. She flopped onto the bed, sighing as her body settled into the mattress, like lying on a cloud.

“Why would they just… give us this? Are they expecting us to pay?”

Mina giggled. “You’re funny. Why would you have to pay? This is your home now!”

“Home.” Kiren said the word with a grimace, like it tasted sour.

“At least try out your bed!” Lace called. She held up a hand and swiped it towards her. A gust of wind pushed Kiren into the room and sent Mina twirling, giggling wildly.

“If you won’t try it, I’ll make you.”

Kiren glared at her. “Why would I—”

Lace flicked her finger and shot a jet of air into Kiren’s mouth, blowing out his cheeks like a squirrel as his eyes bugged out. He shut his mouth and gave her a look like he was about to throw her out the window.

After a few moments of hesitation, he walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, before laying down stick-straight.

“It’s too soft,” he said. “I feel like I’ll fucking fall right through. What did they pad this thing with?”

Lace laughed at him. “You’ll get used to it eventually.”

She got up from the bed after a while, working her neck. Even if only for a few minutes, the short rest had given her new energy.

“Do you want to keep going?” she asked. “Where to next, Mina?”

The girl showed them to the third floor, which had more apprentice rooms. She pointed out Haden and Tommyn’s room at Lace’s request, which was number ‘34’. Lace considered knocking on the door for a visit, but figured it was too early in the morning for that.

“The floor above this one is for the Heroes,” Mina explained. “They don’t all live there, but some do. I live there with the Doctor, but you can’t go without permi… permish…”

“Permission?” Lace suggested.

“Yeah! Permishience. I guess I’m kinda special.”

“Very special.” Lace ruffled her hair. “Well, if we can’t go up there, why don’t we go back downstairs?”

Mina nodded.

There wasn’t much more to see in the main building, so the girl brought them back outside. There was a stable next to the main building, but they only spent a few minutes there to look at the horses and so Mina could give one of them an apple. Lace had had quite enough of stables for a while.

Next was the House of Healing, which lay on the western side of the Lodge. They’d never gotten to do any exploring in there. The building had more than half a dozen hospice rooms, most of which were empty, with only a handful apprentices in for minor injuries. There were two rooms in the back of the spacious corridor, one of which had been reserved for Good Doctor.

She was sitting at a desk when they entered, laboring over a stack of papers. Her dark circles and bleary eyes suggested a lack of sleep.

“I’m a tad busy at the moment,” she said without looking up, scrabbling away with her pen. “There is much to be done.”

“I’m sorry, Master,” Lace said. “But… how come you’re so busy, when there are so few patients?”

“Healing patients is not my only job here. I help Frog-Face coordinate the distribution of medicine in the city and beyond. There is currently an epidemic sweeping across the lower districts of Goldbrand. Hit like lightning. Deaths are in the dozens, with… disturbing side effects. So far, administered treatments have been ineffective.” She looked up, blinking at the three of them. “I’m sorry, but I really cannot spare the time.”

She plucked two crimson vials from the bandelier on her coat and handed them both to Lace. “Make sure Mina gets those after you have concluded your tour, my daughter.”

Lace stowed them in a pocket. Mina watched intently, licking her lips.

“Of course, Master. We won’t disturb you any longer. I wish you luck with your work, and I hope you can find a solution to this epidemic soon.”

What about Mom? Lace thought as they left the room. She said the lower districts were affected. What if…?

No. She’ll be fine. Don’t worry about that.

The door to the other study was closed.

“Who works in here?” Lace asked.

“Uncle Frog,” Mina said with a wince. “He’s kinda scary. Do we have to go in?”

“I can hear you shuffling around out there,” came a voice from the other side. “Come in, please. I don’t bite—I’m just a little hard on the eye.”

Mina squeaked and scurried behind a corner.

Kiren shrugged, opened the door, and stepped in.

Lace peeked through. The room was dominated by a huge desk which wrapped around in an angular C-shape, laden with stacks and stacks of papers and ledgers. Behind it sat a tall, lanky man with a pair of spectacles on his thin nose. He had large, buggy eyes which almost seemed to swivel independently of each other, colored a deep green. His hair was buzzed short, and his skin was smooth and pale. He was dressed in a cream-colored coat, much like Good Doctor, but his held no vials or decoctions.

To his right, up against the wall was some sort of tall-backed chair, with several tubes and straps sticking out of it, and some sort of containers attached to the sides.

It took Lace a moment to notice the sticky perspiration dripping down the man’s face and running over his hands. He shuffled over a stack of papers, getting them all wet in the process, and picked out one before setting the rest aside. He pulled off his spectacles and cleaned off the moisture on the edge of his coat, then replaced them before he started reading.

One of his eyes glanced up at them, while the other scanned diligently over the paper he had picked out.

“So. What brings you here? Come to see the freak?” He punctuated the letter ‘K’ with specific emphasis.

“No, nothing like that!” Lace said. “I’m—we’re sorry for bothering you, Master. We were just touring the Lodge.”

“Ah, I see,” the man said with a wide, thin-lipped smile. “I am called Frog-Face.” He shrugged sheepishly. “The name was meant to be ironic, but I’m beginning to think it might have been a mistake.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Kiren asked.

Frog-Legs swiveled both eyes to focus on Kiren. “It is the nature of my Power.” A trail of slimy sweat rolled down his nose, beading on its very tip before he wiped it away with his sleeve. “More of a curse than a blessing, I know. Still, it has its uses.”

Frog-Face. The name sounded familiar.

“Have I heard of you before, Master?” Lace asked. “Your name, it’s…”

“Austerity, perhaps,” the Hero said. “About six years back.”

A spark of recognition flashed through her mind. “Yes, that’s it! There was a plague, but the whole city was quarantined. It was said that a strange doctor resembling a frog was responsible for curing the population.”

Frog-Face shrugged. “I wouldn’t say I was solely responsible. I merely administered the treatment. It was a terrible business.”

“You must be at least a B Rank, for saving a whole city like that!”

“D Rank. Thank you for the confidence, though.” Frog-Face smiled. “If you ever come down with an illness, come by my study right away. My Power is uniquely suited to curing such maladies. Sadly, I’m not good for much else.”

“No wonder they made you a D Rank, with a face like that,” Kiren said.

“Kiren!” Lace hissed. She hit his arm, but he ignored her.

“Perhaps, perhaps,” Frog-Face said. “Although, I would check my insults if I were you. This could just as well have been you.”

“We have to excuse ourselves,” Lace said with a nervous laugh. “I’m sorry for him, Master.” She punctuated her words with a kick to his shin. “He can be a little… rough-spoken.”

“Do come back soon,” Frog-Face said with a brief nod before returning to his papers. “It’s not often I get visitors, rude or not.”

Mina ran up as soon as they had closed the door.

“I know what you meant by ‘scary’ now,” Kiren said to the little girl. He made a mock retch and thumped his chest.

Mina giggled.

“You don’t need to be rude to every person we meet, you know,” Lace said. “No one’s about to give you a medal for it.”

“What do you care about him?” Kiren asked. “In love with a frog?”

“It’s not about him, specifically. It’s about the…” She sighed. “You know what, nevermind. I doubt anything would penetrate that thick skull anyway.”