“Hmm,” Melinda said noncommittally. A wide grin abruptly crossed her face. She clapped the two men on their shoulders and, almost forcefully, led them up the train of wagons.

“I’m sure we can come to an agreement,” she said as they walked. “You see, we’ve run into some problems on the road recently. It generally isn’t anything we can’t handle, but we ran into a pair of bandits just recently that shook us down for just about every gold piece in the caravan.”

“Oh?” Ethan asked with mock surprise. “Just two bandits? How did that happen?”

“At least one of them was a Vision. He humiliated my guards and his partner traipsed through my caravan, taking damn near every piece of gold as well as a young woman.”

Jasper snorted and Melinda pierced him with a sharp glare.

“I do not find the kidnapping of my subordinates amusing, Vision. I don’t care how people treat you normally, but you’re working for me right now. You will treat my workers and I with the same respect that we show you.”

The Gremlin blinked. Melinda held eye contact with him for several seconds. A slight smile crossed Jasper’s face, and he inclined his head.

“Very well. I’m sorry.”

Ethan’s eyebrow twitched slightly, but he had his face back under control before anyone noticed. He cleared his throat to get Melinda’s attention.

“Did you ever recover this kidnapped girl?” He asked innocently.

Melinda nodded. “We did, by some miracle. She reunited with us yesterday, a while before you gentlemen joined us. According to her, the bandits didn’t harm a single hair on her head and even protected her from some sort of mythical beast,” the merchant said with a snort.

“Do you not believe her?” Ethan asked.

“Well, she was unharmed, so she’s telling at least some of the truth. But giant wolf creatures with scorpion tails…” she trailed off with a frown.

“Vodrun,” Jasper said.

Melinda’s head jerked up and her eyes latched onto him.

“That’s what she called them. They’re real?”

“Aye. But rare. And very dangerous. Surviving an encounter with them is quite a feat for a normal human,” Jasper said. “She must have been protected by some very powerful and handsome people.”

Melinda looked at Jasper out of the corners of her eyes, but it wasn’t uncommon for Visions to be eccentric. A frown made its way onto her face and the merchant readjusted a lapel that hung from her breast pocket.

“Ah, about that. She’s not a normal human.”

“Oh? A Vision then?” Ethan asked, once again pretending to be surprised.

“She’s a Vision,” Melinda agreed. “But an untrained one. She awoke during her little excursion away from our caravan.”

They stopped talking as they reached the front of the caravan. A guard near the foremost wagon was fiddling with a horse’s harness. He gave a sharp salute to Melinda when he noticed her. The guard then gave Jasper and Ethan a small nod before returning to his duty.

“An untrained Vision is dangerous. She ought to be studying in Rellen under another Vision’s tutelage,” Jasper said.

Melinda massaged her forehead and sighed.

“I’m aware of standard procedure for Vision training. But Linna is a special case. She’s an islander.”

Jasper shrugged. “Rellen hasn’t cared about that for years. She might run into some trouble from racist fools, but I’m sure it can’t be that hard to disguise her appearance. If she’s got thinner eyes, they can be hidden with a large hat or face wrappings. Covering clothes can hide her skin tone.”

Melinda gritted her teeth. She seemed to fight a battle within herself. After a short silence, the merchant let out another sigh and lifted her hands up helplessly.

“I paid for two Visions, but I got one. You can see where I’m going with this. Besides, nobody in Rellen will take her in,” Melinda said, leaning in closer. “I trust you will keep this between us at the cost of your contract being terminated. Linna is an Asharr.”

“Oh wow! That is a real shocker. I cannot believe it,” Jasper said in a monotone voice. Ethan slapped the gremlin on the shoulder and shook his head with a laugh.

“I apologize for my partner. I’m sure he’ll treat the situation with appropriate care, especially when your girl’s safety is involved,” Ethan said. His hand tightened on Jasper’s shoulder.

“Right, sorry. I’ll be nice and quiet,” Jasper said.

“Ensure that you do. But as for Linna-” Melinda started.

Jasper made a beckoning motion with his hand. The ground beneath him writhed and bulged upwards, forming itself into a chair. The Vision sat down casually, but his eyes were like shards of ice.

“There aren’t many Visions around today. They probably don’t even make up one percent of the population. Despite that, Visions run into each other quite often. Do you know why that is?” The gremlin asked seriously.

Melinda pressed her lips together and shook her head. Jasper extended his arm toward the merchant, his hand facing upwards. A tendril of dirt wound its way up from the ground and into his palm, where it formed itself into two small and featureless figures.

“We act as a grindstone for each other,” Jasper said.

The dirt figures in his hand lunged at each other. Small clods of dirt went flying as the gremlin’s creations fought. They struggled for several seconds before one of them got a firm grip on the other’s head and ripped it off.

The defeated combatant slumped to the ground while the victor raised its damaged arms to the sky in victory. Dirt flowed from the fallen figure to the survivor, repairing its wounds and making it slightly larger.

“Conflict makes us grow stronger. Some Visions will group together for strength while others set out on their own. But only a few will teach another Vision. Do you know why?”

Melinda shook her head again. The dirt man in Jasper’s hand separated into two smaller figures, one slightly larger than the other. The larger figure held a book out to the smaller one.

“The goal of a student is to eventually outperform their master. I think you can imagine why this would be an issue for a group of people as violent as Visions,” Jasper said with a smirk.

The smaller dirt figure took the book from its larger compatriot. In the same motion, a small blade formed in its hand. The student plunged its weapon into its master, killing it. Jasper closed his hand into a fist and the dirt cascaded back to the ground.