Anastacia sat by the counter in silence, awkwardly swinging her feet while staring at the floor. Every time she looked up, she could see the innkeeper stare at her and grin, revealing her sharp teeth. Anastacia had trouble telling whether Rosie was trying to seem friendly or intentionally scary by doing it. After Gilbert had left, it took a while for her to realize that everyone in the inn was looking at her, either by taking a glimpse every now and then or straight up staring, and it didn’t make her more comfortable in the slightest. She had been traveling with Gilbert for a few days and trusted him to a degree, but everyone she was with now, even Rosie, was a complete stranger.

Rosie noticed the girl’s worried look and decided to do something about it. Suddenly she grabbed Anastacia once more and placed her on the counter before roaring to gather everyone’s attention. This made the entire tavern quiet in a heartbeat, whether it was from fear or respect remained unclear. “Alright, folks, listen up! This lovely young lady here is your new waitress. The rules that apply to me, go double for her. That means no touching, if I hear her scream because someone got grabby, I will use that hand to break the rest of that idiot’s body. Are we clear?” She declared with a thundering voice that probably carried all the way outside.

Though it did make Anastacia feel slightly better, it only made the entire tavern stare at her even harder. She didn’t like the implications from having to hold the speech in the first place either.

The tigress picked her up again and stared at the necromancer judgingly. After a bit of frowning and muttering, Rosie moved her around a bit, as if weighing the girl before placing her back down. “You’re all skin and bones, have you ever eaten anything? I know Gil can’t cook worth shit, so it probably didn’t get any better on the way here.” She asked and leaned on the counter.

“Mostly bread and potatoes. One time he caught a deer, but it got burnt on the campfire.” Anastacia described the very basic menu the old adventurer was able to offer on the road.

Rosie sighed and tightened her apron. “That man is an idiot. You’re a growing child, who needs proper food to grow! Let me show you how it’s done. Name a course, any of them.” She boasted.

“I’ve heard fishes are edible? Can you cook those?” Anastacia asked. She had never seen a fish, nor was she aware that there were several kinds.

The innkeeper stared at the necromancer in disbelief. “Fish? You’re asking whether a cat can cook fish? Kitten, I’ll fix up some salmon that’ll make you forget everything you’ve eaten so far.” She laughed and headed into the kitchen but popped back out briefly. “It’ll only take a minute, feel free to mingle with the folks here. Most of them live here, so you should get used to seeing them.”

Anastacia got slightly excited by the prospect of a meal so delicious that she’d forget every other meal she had eaten. Not that she had much to forget, as the typical necromancer’s diet consisted almost entirely of roots, herbs and nuts. The higher classes, like Anastacia’s family, were occasionally offered meat of uncertain origin, though she herself was never allowed such luxuries. Though they were able to survive, the lack of proper food was likely the cause of the near skeletal look and relatively stunted growth of many necromancers, including Anastacia.

As soon as the watchful eye of the owner was occupied with something else, three adventurers stood up from their table and headed towards Anastacia. Led by an older male dwarf, with a sizeable grey beard and a pipe in his mouth, followed by a female spriggan and a beautiful elf whose gender was unclear at best, they surrounded the necromancer and began sizing her up with their eyes.

The dwarf puffed his pipe a few times. “I must say, I prefer the owner to this runt. Real women have some meat on them. Not sure what has gotten to Gil but there has to be something special about her.” He commented on Anastacia’s looks.

The spriggan was quick to defend her. “Dammar, you’re being rude! She’s frail and pale like a porcelain doll, perfect in every way. She must be a princess of some kind, bet she got bored of the royal nonsense and escaped with Gil to chase a more interesting way of life.” The nature spirit theorized and put her wooden arm over Anastacia’s shoulder.

Anastacia had never seen a spriggan before, not even in books, but could guess the overly friendly adventurer’s species because there was nothing else like that in existence. Basically, a mass of moving wood and other plant matter, with a very slight greenish yellow glow, not that much unlike a swarm of fireflies.

The dwarf poked his friend with his pipe. “Is it wrong to expect some girth on the eye candy?” He asked.

“Seriously? Go hug a hill giant, plenty of girth for you there.” The spriggan scoffed, but after a few seconds of silence, both of them burst out in laughter while Anastacia just smiled uncomfortably.

The dwarf patted Anastacia on the shoulder. “Don’t mind us, this is just an ongoing debate you got dragged into. If Gil brought you here, there must be something to it, so we’re glad to have you. Welcome to Valor, squirt.” He said and smiled. “Feel free to come and find me if you want to hear how the hill giant thing worked out.”

As the dwarf returned to his drink, the spriggan moved her hand to Anastacia’s waist and tightened her grip before turning to the third member of the group. “What about you, Maximillian? Yay or nay to the new waitress?” She asked.

The elf had looked puzzled since they had arrived to greet Anastacia. He was exactly like the elves in the books Anastacia had read back in Mournvalley: tall, slender, with long straight black hair and pointy ears, and fair looking regardless of gender. “She does have a peculiar look to her, not at all uninteresting either. Tell me, fair child, where do you hail from?” He asked politely.

“I… I’m from Mournvalley.” Anastacia stuttered.

The elf’s eyes lit up in realization. “Ah yes! I see it now, the land of the dead. You certainly look the part. It is rare to see your kind here, or anywhere really. Perhaps Valor simply is not gloomy enough?” He pondered.

“Yeah… this isn’t anything like back there. Not that it’s a bad thing.” Anastacia said.

The elf chuckled. “Splendid! I am Maximillian, or Max if you prefer. The nature spirit groping you carries the name Xamiliere, and the leader of our merry little party is called Dammar” He introduced the adventurers. “We are all friends of Gilbert, so by all means, come chat with us when you have the chance.”

Xamiliere looked victorious and pointed at Dammar. “Hear that oldie?! Two to one for the new girl!” She celebrated.

“Branches off the waitress, Xamiliere.” Rosie interrupted her when she came back from the kitchen with a plate.

The spriggan hid behind Anastacia. “But I was defending her honor!” She objected.

Rosie placed the plate in front of the necromancer, who immediately became distracted by the food. “You’re going to need to defend your face if you don’t let go of her.” The tigress growled.

The nature spirit yelped, slid something into Anastacia’s pocket and scurried back to her table.

“Sorry about the twig. She’s a bit grabby, but not really dangerous or anything. Just tell her to stop if it really bothers you.” The innkeeper sighed and refilled Anastacia’s cup with juice. “Now then, eat up before you drool on your dress.”

The necromancer thanked her for the food and began to inspect it while Rosie returned to the kitchen. Anastacia had never seen fish meat, nor smelled it. Initially the strong scent put her off slightly, which was weird considering she grew up around corpses, but it didn’t take long for it to grow on her. Next to the pink piece of salmon was a yellowish paste she recognized as potatoes, though they had to be mixed in with something as they tasted far more creamy than usual. On the other side of the salmon was a slice of something yellow she hadn’t seen before.

“What are you?” She asked and poked the mystery garnish with her fork until it started to leak on the plate. “Ohhhhhh! This must be a fruit. I didn’t know they go well with fish, or anything really…” She muttered and tossed the entire slice in her mouth. After chewing it for a bit, she spit it back on the plate and chugged down her entire cup of juice to was away the bitter taste. “Why would that be on the plate?!” She exclaimed and moved the chewed-up lump of lemon away from the rest of the meal.

Then it was time for the main piece of the dish: the generously-sized pink piece of salmon. The first thing she was confused by were the small black grounds sprinkled on top of the meat. Seasoning was not a thing in Mournvalley, so she just assumed that they were something burnt that had stuck on the meat from the pan. After carefully scraping off the black crumbs, Anastacia tried licking the surface of the piece. “Salty.” She stated and started mashing the meat with her fork until it was in small enough pieces she could mix into the remaining potato mash. Though she had unintentionally done almost everything in her power to ruin the dish, the first bite of the potato-salmon mash contained more taste than everything she had eaten in Mournvalley, combined. It was everything she had hoped for and more, it was there and then Anastacia knew that she had chosen correctly by following Gilbert. Before she even noticed, the plate was already empty, and she was seriously considering licking it clean as soon as no one was looking.

While looking for a napkin from her pocket, Anastacia’s hand came across something that hadn’t been there before. She pulled out a little pouch with a folded piece of paper and coins in it. Totaling up to one hundred and fifty gold, the three coins were the first piece of currency Anastacia had ever owned. The note itself simply had ‘Room 8’ written on it and a small heart drawn over it. Anastacia glanced at the spriggan, who winked at her from across the room.

“You’re not allowed to go.” Rosie stated bluntly when she stepped back out of the kitchen. “She tries that almost every time someone new comes in.”

Anastacia handed her the coins. “Is this a lot of money? If it is, I need to return it.” She asked worryingly.

“Yes and no. Out there, it can be a few days’ worth of salary for most jobs, but here the values of thing’s are a bit mixed up, and that much won’t get you far. It’d get you a room here for a few days, but only because the guild asks me to keep the prices low. Otherwise these guys will just camp outside the city and hunt every animal within miles, like they do while on quests. In return the guild pays me a bonus based on my sales so that I can continue running this place.” Rosie explained and put the coins back in Anastacia’s hand. “I wouldn’t worry about returning it, she really doesn’t need encouragement.” She smirked and picked up the chewed piece of lemon from Anastacia’s plate. “How was the food?”

The necromancer’s face lit up. “It was amazing! There were a couple of weird things I didn’t really understand, but it had no idea food could be tasty like that.” She said excitedly. ”It must have been something people eat at fancy parties and such.”

“Oh poor kitten, that’s what people eat when they buy fish from the market or catch some…” She revealed and hugged Anastacia out of pity. “We really need to make sure you get some meat around those bones, but now, how about a tour around the rest of the inn? Follow me.” She said, picked up Anastacia’s plate and headed into the kitchen with the necromancer.

The inn’s kitchen was a surprisingly large room behind the counter, its walls were filled with hanging cooking utensils and ingredients. In one end of the room, there was a large stove with enough space for at least four large pots and a few frying pans. Next to it was a massive wash basin full of dirty dishes and the rest of the room was filled with as much countertop space as possible for working on multiple courses at once, along with a couple of tables in the middle.

“This is where I’ll be for most of the day, while you work the front. Though your job starts with helping me with preparing the breakfast before everyone else wakes up, after that you’ll take the plates to people and bring empty ones back here. Then we’ll start preparing for the lunch and dinner. Once the ingredients are prepared, you’ll just take the orders from people and socialize.” Rosie explained and started to wipe one of the counters out of habit.

“That’s a lot of work. Are you sure I’m cut out for this?” Anastacia asked and carefully picked up a knife from a holder on one of the tables.

Rosie laughed. “Don’t stress over it, keep in mind that I’ve been doing this alone for years. So even if you can’t do much, it still makes it easier for me.” She pointed out and took the knife from Anastacia after noticing that the necromancer was not used to holding one. “Your shift starts a bit before sunrise and ends whenever the night waitress arrives.”

“There’s another waitress?” Anastacia kept inquiring.

“Yup, Holly, a lovely girl but dumb as a boot. She’s the type to be awake at night and can handle the night crowd, so it’s nice to have her around.” The innkeeper said and cleaned the knife with her apron before placing it back on the table. “So that’s the gist of it, let’s go upstairs to see your room.”

Next to the entrance to the kitchen, was a staircase the led up to the second floor of the inn, where Rosie led Anastacia to the first door that had the number one engraved in it. Along the corridor that continued all the way to the end of the building, were other numbered doors like it.

“This is my room, if you have any troubles and I’m not in the kitchen, this is where you’ll most likely find me. Down the hall from here are the baths and restrooms. The baths are free to use and have the things you need for doing laundry. There are two more baths on the third floor, that are used by the tenants there and the floor above, so these are pretty much just for the folk living on this floor. It’s nice if you like your privacy.” Rosie explained and started going through a keyring that was hanging from her belt. Once she found the key she was looking for, she took it off the ring and handed it to Anastacia. “Here’s your key, you’re in room two. I usually keep it vacant because adventurers can be loud at night, but you seem like the quiet kind. Remember to lock your door at night, no one here would intentionally barge in your room, but they’re often drunk and it has happened before.”

Anastacia walked over to the door that had the number two engraved on it and fit her key into the lock. Since the lock had been unused for long, it took a bit of force to turn the key. As the door creaked open, Anastacia saw what was going to be her room for the next few years, at least. It was almost directly above the entrance to the tavern and the room’s window showed the market square in its entirety. The window also lit up the entire room nicely, as there were no other buildings blocking the sunlight as long as the sun had risen above the city walls. Below the window was a small table with a drawer, a starlight crystal lantern on it and a chair pulled up next to it. In the corner of the room, there was a wardrobe with a mirror attached to its door and in the other corner, a bed. All in all, it was a rather small room, but Anastacia was a small necromancer so that wouldn’t cause too much trouble for her.

Rosie entered the room and wiped some dust off the table. “It’s nothing grand, but I hope you can cope with it. I have no idea what your old room was like, but this probably doesn’t hold a candle to it.” She shrugged.

“Nonono, this is way better! There’s even a window!” Anastacia exclaimed and put her backpack on the bed. Though the bed was nothing special, she had never seen such a soft one, and couldn’t help but to lie down on it.

“Well I’m glad you like it… I’ll head back downstairs. The night waitress will turn up any minute now, so you can just go take a bath and get some sleep. The towels and so on are in the wardrobe.” Rosie said and gave Anastacia a pat on the head before leaving.

Anastacia closed the door and started unpacking. She and Gilbert had left in a hurry, so she had only taken whatever was within arm’s reach in her old room: some clothes, most of which needed to be washed by now; a few sheets of paper and some ink, a necklace, a small rusty dagger and a hairbrush. She really needed to get some more money quickly and buy more clothes and other essentials. After arranging them into the wardrobe, she grabbed a towel and headed for the baths.

A quick bath had done wonders to the travel-weary necromancer. Before the trip from Mournvalley to Valor, she had never really gone anywhere on foot, and it had taken less than a day for her to tire to a point where Gilbert had to carry her so that they could keep going. Sleeping out in the woods had turned out to be a bit of a challenge as well, even though she had gotten used to sleeping on a hard bed, her bed had never been full of rocks and roots that messed up her posture during the night.

While laying down in her new bed, she wondered about the people she had met during the day and was a bit disappointed that she wasn’t able to have a proper talk with any of them, as there were still so many things she didn’t know about Valor and its people. While going through the events of the day in her head and thinking how different Valor was to Mournvalley, Anastacia slowly started to nod off.

Suddenly a knock on the door woke her back up.

“Shit, were you already asleep?” Rosie asked and poked her head into the room.

Anastacia sat up on her bed. “Yeah, kinda, but don’t worry about it. What’s up?” She asked and rubbed her eyes.

“I thought you might have had some trouble falling asleep and was wondering if you’d like to talk a bit, now that I’m done for the day too.” The innkeeper explained. “I can go if you’re tired though?”

“Nah, it’s fine, I could talk for a bit.” The necromancer yawned.

Rosie sat down on the floor and leaned against the bed. Her hair and fur were still drenched after taking a bath as well, and she desperately tried to dry them with a towel that was already soaking wet. To Anastacia, it made the tigress considerably less scary to see her like that.

“Mine is almost dry, do you want to use it?” Anastacia offered her towel to her.

Rosie hastily grabbed it and continued drying herself. “Thanks, kitten. I hate this fur; sure, it’s nice and warm during winter, but it takes forever to wash, dry and everything I own is covered in it. Sometimes I wonder if I should be working in a kitchen at all.”

While Rosie prattled on about the negative sides of having fur, Anastacia noticed her tail. It was built like a mace and made a thumping sound every time it hit the floor. After it had been dried with a towel however, it looked amazingly fluffy, and Anastacia had to fight back the urge to touch it.

“So, what brings a necromancer to the city of Valor? Give me the whole story.” Rosie asked suddenly.

Anastacia groaned. “Being born into an insane cult of necromancers that worships a skeleton, and then being voted to be the next anchor.”

“Oh, that’s a lot simpler than I thought it would be.” The tigress said and sounded a bit disappointed. “What’s an anchor then?”

“Anchor is basically just a nobody that’s given the responsibility to keep the immortal king reanimated while being literally chained to the throne. Technically anyone could be the anchor but usually it’s reserved for the strongest necromancer in Mournvalley.” Anastacia explained.

“That does sound rough.” Rosie laughed. “But what’s this about being the strongest necromancer? You’re like twelve years old, how can you be the most powerful one there is?”

“I’m fifteen, damnit! Anyway, age has nothing to do with it, necromancy is a curse you’re born with. You can train to get better at using what you have and make up for some difference against someone stronger than you, but the level you’re at is more or less set in stone.” Anastacia continued explaining. “There are a few others that could beat me because they’ve been training for years and I kind of refused to do anything, but my limits are supposedly above theirs.”

Rosie laughed. “Should I hire you as a bodyguard instead?”

“I don’t think that’d work out too well. I pretty much just throw up and pass out if I see blood.” The necromancer admitted.

“The strongest necromancer there is can’t look at blood?! That’s just great.” Rosie laughed while her tail excitedly thumped against the floor.

“But yeah, then Gilbert popped up and I ran off with him. But what about you? You really don’t seem like the kind that runs an inn as their first career choice…” Anastacia changed the subject. “I honestly thought you might eat me earlier.”

Rosie calmed down and sighed longingly. “Yeah, I guess I still have some rough edges left on me, but the Rosie you see downstairs is almost an act at this point. You see, I used to be a pirate a bit over six years ago, then Gil was told to catch me, which he technically did – though that quest was never completed.”

Anastacia seemed surprised. “He is a big guy, but did he actually beat you?”

“What, are you kidding me? It wasn’t even close. He did manage to sink my ship though, and without a ship, I wasn’t much of a pirate, so now I do this instead.” The innkeeper recounted. “I’ve more or less calmed down over the years, so it’s not like I’m planning on going back to my old ways. Though having a ship again wouldn’t hurt…”

“That’s extremely cool.” Anastacia nodded. “So did you two date or something at some point? You kind of seem like you did, and Gilbert just deflected the whole suggestion with some lame excuse.”

“Fuck no! He’s just a dear friend and I obviously care for him, but no, that hasn’t and won’t happen.” Rosie quickly refuted the idea. “Though it’s good for the business to have the folks at the north gate rely on us as sort of a mom and dad of the area.”

They kept chatting about life in Valor and the few adventurers Anastacia had already met, until Rosie noticed that the necromancer had nodded off at some point while she was explaining how some of the things around the inn had to be done once she started working and some of the things Anastacia would probably run into while serving food and taking orders. The innkeeper quietly dimmed the lamp on the table and snuck out of the room after making sure the girl was tucked in.