“I need to talk to you,” says Sockel.

Hineni, holding a ladle full of pancake batter, turns his head towards her. “What’s up, Sockel?” he asks. “I’m trying to have a comfortable morning making breakfast.”

“Exactly,” says the elf. “That’s the problem,” she says, laying down a ledger onto the counter.

Hineni rolls his eyes, pouring the batter onto the pan. “We’re on track with the weapons, Sockel,” he replies. “Can you let me have this?” he asks. “I just want to make breakfast once in a while too.”

“Look,” she says, spinning the book around and opening it up.

Hineni stares. Sockel always has something interesting to show him from the most mundane lists and charts. He’s learned to pay attention now.

— His eyes wander back towards the pancake nonetheless.

“The trick is to wait until the bubbles on the top pop,” says Hineni, pointing at the pancake. “That’s when you know it’s ready to flip.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she says. “I know how to make pancakes,” she says. “But it’s the only thing you ever make.”

Hineni blinks, looking at her and then back down towards the pancake, before turning back her way. “Well excuse me,” he says. “I never learned to cook anything else, okay?” he asks. “I always either bought food at the old guild or I made pancakes. That was it for me for a while.”

She sighs, shaking her head. “Look,” she says, pointing at the ledger. It’s a ledger of their finances from this week. Hineni narrows his eyes, looking.

SOLD

1 Cobalt Dagger 450 Obols

16 Steel Arrows 50 Obols

2 Orichalcum Pikes 5000 Obols

This goes on for a while, listing all sorts of various items until the end of the page, where a final line sits.

Sum deposited to Avarice: 13138 Obols

Hineni nods. “It was a good week. That’s all just private sales, not even the military stuff,” he notes. Smelling something burning, he lets out an annoyed snarl and flips the pancake. Its bubbles have long since popped.

“No, look!” she says, bothered.

Hineni looks. She’s flipped the page again. It’s another list, exactly like before. It shows a list of items sold and a list of items bought that week, followed by a total sum of money that was deposited to Avarice.

Hineni nods, proud. “Pretty diverse, right?” he asks. With one hand, he slides the pancake out of the pan and puts it on a plate, before grabbing more batter to pour in. With the other, he points at the ledger. “We sold a lot of different stuff that week. It was fun working the forge. Very challenging.”

She flips the page.

A list of items sold. A list of items bought. An amount of money deposited to Avarice.

Sockel flips the page again.

A list of items sold. A list of items bought. An amount of money deposited to Avarice.

“I fucked up,” says Sockel. “This is on me.”

Hineni tilts his head. “Sockel, did you write some numbers wrong or something?” he asks. “It’s fine. Don’t sweat the small stuff. I know you’re trying your best.”

There’s a thud, the plates on pots on the counter rattle. Hineni turns to look at Sockel, who is standing there with an unusually sharp and bothered expression. The last time he saw her make such a face is when Beni had gone missing, back when they first really met each other. “- We’re fucked,” she hisses beneath her breath.

“…What?” asks Hineni. Being reminded, he looks at the cake in the pan and then flips it. “Sockel. You know I’m not too sharp. What’s up? What the hell are you talking about?”

Sockel slides the ledger his way, holding a finger above it.

She points at Avarice’s name.

The elf flips a page. Her hand lands on Avarice’s name.

She flips another page. Her hand lands on Avarice’s name.

“Avarice?” asks Hineni, looking back towards his pancake. The pan is a little too hot, so these later ones are cooking too fast. “What about him?”

“We walked right into it,” she explains. “We were so wrapped up in the numbers and the logistics and the access, that we didn’t even think about what was behind it all.”

“…Huh?” asks Hineni, still not sure what her point is. “I mean, yeah, Sockel, he runs the bank,” says the man. “I’m not sure why it’s weird that he has our money?” He shrugs. “That’s sort of the whole point.”

“Who gives a fuck about the money?” snaps Sockel, her voice almost hissing. Hineni looks her way in surprise. She’s serious about this. “Listen. We’ve been played,” she says. “Why the hell do you think he’s helping us?” she asks.

“…For the money, Sockel,” replies Hineni. “He’s the god of wealth. He likes money. What can I say?”

Sockel shakes her head. “This isn’t about money,” she says. “What the hell does Avarice want with money?” she asks. “He already has all of the money.”

“Maybe he just wants more of it?” asks Hineni, shrugging. “Not our business what he does, honestly.”

“It should be,” replies Sockel. “Listen. Avarice has been helping us from day one. Before we even made our case to him, he was already on our side,” explains Sockel. “If he really only wanted money, then the frogs would have been his choice,” says the elf. “They have money. They’re rich as fuck,” she says, pointing towards the door to the restaurant. “Remember? They paid Kleidet over four-thousand Obols to throw an animal carcass in an unused room.” She shakes her head. “That kind of message-job costs… what… fifty Obols? Maybe? Get some random street urchin and they’ll do it for twenty,” explains Sockel. “But four thousand? The frogs are throwing money around by the fistful.”

Hineni stares at her taut expression. This apparently is serious. He doesn’t really understand it one-hundred percent. But Sockel seems to and she’s been very uneased by what she’s seen. He decides it would be wise to follow her judgment.

— The smell of smoke comes to his nose.

Hineni curses and hastily flips the next burning pancake.

“So you’re saying that Avarice has an ulterior motive for being so helpful to us?” he asks.

“He’s gone out of his way to be helpful to us, despite us being the less-wise financial choice,” explains Sockel.

“I mean… we’re making good money,” replies Hineni. “Aren't we? Maybe we’re a long-term investment?”

Sockel shakes her head. “No, we’re making good money,” she explains. “But the frogs have noble money. We’re a drop in the bucket compared to that.”

Hineni lifts an eyebrow. “Then why did they live in that shit-heap?” he asks.

Sockel shrugs. “Some people like shitheaps as their home,” she says, looking around the room. “Besides, the big-frog wasn’t there. She’s living in a different place.” Hineni nods. In the dream-visions he had a while ago, when she used to visit him in his sleep, they were often in some sort of grand palace of some kind. Was this a real place? Was this her ‘home’? Some noble estate? It isn’t unusual for a god to live in their own palace, further apart from the mass of their followers.

The owl-god and this place are an exception, rather than the rule. But perhaps this is why Obscura is becoming so popular amongst the common people.

“So, Avarice is using us for something?” asks Hineni.

“Yeah,” replies Sockel. She looks back down towards the ledger. “I don’t know what his game is, but we need to watch out,” she warns.

— Hineni flips his pancake, this time before it burns.

He thinks for a time. Avarice is an extremely useful connection. In fact, he’s been their most useful connection. Perhaps this is indeed the trap that they’ve wandered into? Over reliance. Without Avarice, they would have a lot of problems.

In fact, since he has control over their money, he in essence has control over them.

One ‘mishap’ at the bank and their financial records and proof of their savings could go missing. It’s all behind closed doors. It’s all held by Avarice.

Hineni’s eyes go wide as he realizes.

Avarice has them by the balls and they squatted down right comfortably into his warm, clawed, open grasp.

— His pancake burns.

Hineni hisses, saving the third one from its fate.