Flush with gold (and trying desperately to forget what I'd just done), I went on a bit of a shopping spree.

An ex of mine was fond of telling me that shopping solves all things, except a light coin purse. In a way, I could see how she was right. Maybe it was because I had an actual goal in mind, but shopping felt great. It was also super nice to actually have money for once.

I picked up a few more building materials, specifically 150 [Cut Timber] and 150 [Cut Stone]. I even paid to have them delivered again, since I wouldn't be able to just shove them all in my inventory. The supplier asked if I needed a hand with installation (likely because this was my second trip back), but I had it well under control. We needed some supports, and then we needed to outfit the second floor so Mel and I could sleep somewhere that wasn't the kitchen. It wouldn't be too hard.

After that was done, I found a blacksmith who was keen on banging out a wood-burning stove for me. I gave the man my rough dimensions and needs, and he assured me he had made cooktops before for other chefs in town. Which, honestly, was a relief. There wasn't some "cooking supply store" or something I could go to, and so I had to just go with the flow.

He also assured me he could make me a set of cookware, which sounded great, but I already had a few pieces from Liam, so I excluded them from the list. I wasn't sure what half of the things he mentioned were for, but he seemed to know what he was talking about, and so I just agreed to pay him for whatever he was making me.

With the big things out of the way, I was sure to stop by a few other places in the main market area of Mystic Falls. I set up to have some firewood delivered, ordered some storage jars and plates to be crafted from a potter, and even visited the carpenter again to make sure they could throw together a wooden preparation surface for me, since that was one of the things missing on my list.

After all that, I still had a little more than two hundred gold, and I had a sense of accomplishment.

Sure, I was indebted to a dog-faced madman from Kinon, and also a pixie woman who was somehow scarier than Mel. But I was also the most free I'd ever been. I was my own man, and I could do almost anything I wanted with the money in my pocket.

I nearly skipped back to the eatery.

According to the carpenter, the tables had been delivered, and I wasn't disappointed to see them sitting under the little porch area in front of the eatery. At a glance, I could tell that they weren't the best made things. But they didn't seem to be all that bad. Maybe could have used a little more sanding. They were rectangular, but just barely. Long enough to sit two chairs side-by-side on the long end, with room for one at the head and tail. The chairs were made of the same type of wood, with high backs and woven seats. They also looked like they could use a sanding, but they seemed sturdy from here.

Even just stacked up and kind of thrown to the side in the front of the building, they looked... Right. Homey. Like they belonged.

But what didn't belong were the damn rats in the cellar.

It was getting close to evening, and I could hear them from even out here. They were squealing and gnashing and munching on whatever rotten things down there they could find. So loud. How the neighbors didn't hear them and complain, I don't know. It sounded like there was a rat party in my cellar and all that was missing was some booze and music.

I had to get rid of them. It was only a matter of how.

Before I could make any decisions about how to approach them, though, the door was flung open and Mel strode through the opening like I owed her money. She looked wild - her eyes had wide, dark circles under them and they were puffy as if she'd been crying and her hair was a knotted bramble of tangles. Had I not known she was here, I would have thought her some angry ghost or maybe even a babbling crone.

She stopped at the doorway and stared at me, as if expecting me to be some sort of apparition.

"You actually did it," she said, finally.

"Yep. I said I would, didn't I?"

"How the hell did Mari not see through you?"

I shrugged, mostly because I really didn't have an answer. "Maybe my boosted stats are finally working for me."

"Still." The word was said on an exhaled breath, like a sigh, and then Mel crossed the few steps between us and collapsed against me.

I froze. Didn't know what else to do. But she pressed her ear against my chest and wrapped her arms tight around my torso.

In general, I tried to not get too close to Mel. I knew she wasn't too fond of humans, and touch wasn't exactly a thing that pixies needed. I never knew she smelled like strawberry cake. Just sweet and fresh, with a little bit of earthen goodness mixed in. Or maybe not cake. Honey? Honey from bees who had only feasted on strawberry patches.

It was delightful. A wonderful thing. I wanted to bury my head in her hair and just take a good, long sniff, but now wasn't the time.

"I'm glad you're safe, Harps," she said, almost too quiet for me to hear. I could feel fresh tears on my shirt. "You're an absolute idiot and I can't believe what you've just done, but I'm so happy you aren't dead. If you'd have left me alone in this place, I would have brought you back to life just to kill you again."

I didn't know what powers pixies had, so I couldn't exactly dispute her claim. For all I knew, she could have done exactly that.

"So, scale of ‘one to bent over the counter’, how fucked am I?" I said as I ran my fingers through Mel's hair, trying to de-tangle it. Playing with the messy locks only made the smell of strawberries stronger.

"Mari Belle is a powerful pixie," Mel mumbled against my chest. I wasn't sure if she was enjoying me playing with her hair, or if she was getting ready to bite me. "If you entered into contract with her, you're bound to do whatever she says."

"Not much different from a regular lender, Mel."

The pixie against my chest snort-giggled. "Oh, humans. You are all so simple and wonderful." She released her death grip on my torso and straightened up. The darkness under her eyes was a lot lighter, even though there were fresh tears on her cheeks. "See, you think that Duncan has control over you because he tells you things and you do them. Not quite the same as a pixie contract. You will literally be bound to whatever Mari says. This isn't a 'I have free will and can do something else because I think I'm better than whatever Duncan asks me to do' situation."

"So like... psychic powers?"

"Mmm... not quite." Mel paused, then shrugged. "Close enough? Anyway. Mari should have been able to smell from a street away that you were bluffing her."

I thought back to the conversation I'd had with the pixie lender and laughed. "Honestly, she likely did. She told me she knew I wasn't being completely honest with her, but she still took the bait anyway. Maybe I'm just incredibly attractive to pixie women."

The resulting laughter was a serious ego bruiser. Mel didn't just laugh at my suggestion, she cackled. She laughed so hard she snorted, and then the snort caused her to laugh even harder.

I let it go. She wasn't crying any more (or, at least, not in fear or sadness) so I just let her enjoy her laugh at my expense.

When the laughter dried up, I barreled forward. "But, yes. I got her to agree to four hundred gold up front with payback at fifty a week."

Mel winced. "A hundred and fifty gold to lenders, Harps... that sounds impossible."

"Well, I'm fairly good at doing the impossible." I looked up at the building in front of us. It wasn't much, but it was more than the fleeting thought of a dream I had while working under Duncan. "I mean, I got us here, didn't I?"

Mel stepped in close again, although this time from the side. She put her head on my arm, just above the elbow, and snaked a hand around my back.

It felt weird. Mel wasn't usually this touchy feely.

I couldn't help but think that either something really terrible happened while I was gone, or she was marking her territory, like a cat.

Maybe Mari did find me attractive.

"There's a few things we still have to do," I said, finally, although I didn't extract myself from Mel's embrace. "I ordered some more stuff around town, and they'll bring it by as its ready... but the cellar is a real problem."

"Agreed. How do you want to handle it?"

"Well, I'm a potential quest giver now, right? I could just go to the adventurer's guild and offer a quest out."

"Literal rats in the literal basement. How can any adventurer resist?"

"I know you're being sarcastic, but there's good experience in rats. Not too many diseases, and sometimes you can find really neat stuff in cellars."

Mel laughed and pulled away from me. "Honestly, Harper, I don't know if I'm being sarcastic anymore. I don't know a lot of things." She shook her head and looked towards the eatery. "But I do know we need to get this place in order, otherwise you're going to end up dead."

I wanted to laugh. But she might have actually been right, so instead I just walked forward into the open door.

The inside of the eatery was just as I'd left it. I could see the potential of the place, but it was buried under so much filth and misuse.

All I wanted to do was cook a meal. Any meal. But here I was, dealing with all this bullshit instead.

Maybe I'd make a nice meal for Mel, as soon as the stove and other culinary necessities arrived. It was a much smarter idea than just starting a fire in the backroom, especially since it had zero ventilation right now.

But after the fiasco of the day (and, if I could be honest, the last few days), perhaps she deserved something nice.