She didn't lie. Every single day! Every day for two weeks that vile woman visited, made thinly veiled innuendo, wasted food and offered increasingly good deals if I joined her. While I wasn't obligated to refill the food she wasted. The old man confirmed that stalls couldn't refuse to serve a customer unless they committed a crime and as much as I wanted it to be, wasting food that you paid for was not a crime. I tried to get her in trouble for littering or vandalism but 'accidentally' dropping food didn't meet the definition.

I was having a good day chatting with Ed. I'd gotten over my irrational dislike of him, he reminded me of Alessia's father in terms of looks and general personality but once I got to know him I found him to be a kind and caring man that just didn't like showing his emotions much.

"–And then the idiot starts bawling about his stubbed toe and I almost smacked the stupid right outta him I said: I know a lass who's ten times the man you are, she works longer and harder than you do and she ain't paid squat, get a grip!"

He gave a deep sigh before nodding towards the sign, his way of asking for another bowl,

"Anyway, I ended up giving him the rest of the day to recover and pointed him in your direction, if you see the spineless whelp feel free to give him some pointers. He's a youngun called Stu, short for stupid we say, but he's a good lad."

This part of the job was something I quite liked, listening to the problems people were facing and offering ideas to those who wanted them. It was a good way to pass the time on slower days.

"Sounds like you're having a rough time as always and thanks for the potential customer!"

I handed Ed his bowl and went back to check on the fire of the pot.

"Heads up lass, bitch on the way."

The vile woman had earned that colourful nickname from some of the regulars after witnessing the way she treated me over the weeks. I didn't have any new information on her besides the fact that she was some sort of higher up in the fleur guild.

One time I thought that I would prepare a bowl for her as soon as I saw her approaching so she could waste the food and I could refuse to serve her sooner. But she just talked until the stew got cold and demanded a hot bowl which she then dumped. Since then, I aimed to speed through our interactions.

"Hello! How's my favourite little rose today?"

She asked with a voice so cheery that you couldn't make out a trace of the deviant within. She knew my name but preferred to call me by the nickname she made up. I didn't even look at her anymore. I stood with an elbow on the stall holding my head up and just tapped the prices with a finger.

"Ouch! You've become a pretty thorny little rose haven't you?"

I tapped the sign again but I knew that she wouldn't leave so easily. No, she would slowly wear me down until I couldn't help but have an outburst and then she'd leave. I was tempted to shout at her immediately and get this over with but it wouldn't look good to passersby if I shouted at someone who appeared innocent.

Ed stood to the side while eating his stew, there wasn't much that he could do to help me. She leaned down to my eye level and gave a sickeningly sweet smile,

"I think it's almost time! I'm really excited! Do you know why? Go-on guess!"

Again I tapped the sign. I didn't want to play her games.

"You might have noticed me prodding you a little here and there. Can you guess why?"

"Because you hate me for some reason."

If I was nothing but silent she would never leave, another issue that I had first hand experience with.

"Hate you! I would never, I love you! Would you like a hint? It's something to do with your nickname little rose."

I don't know or care why she started calling me 'little rose'.

"I give up."

"So soon? Let me tell you what I'm thinking then. You've been rather more difficult than I expected, most girls would have jumped at the chance to join us. So I started prodding. You see you need to be careful if you want to pluck a rose."

Her last words concerned me. It wasn't a very subtle analogy, she had what she wanted after all this time otherwise she would've just feigned innocence like usual. I defiantly stared into her bright blue eyes and they curved into two crescent moons as she smiled.

"There you are! Anyway, method one for plucking a rose is to carefully search the stem for a slightly less thorny part to grab hold of and then gently twist and wiggle until it comes off naturally. But everywhere I poked I got pricked, so we've moved on to method two! Dethorning and cutting the rose, after all, you can't get pricked with this method."

Nothing was innocent about this next metaphor. I was now alert. I scanned my environment but found no immediate danger besides her.

"Hah no! Calm down silly! Method two isn't the one you should be afraid of, the rose still has the utmost respect."

She leaned in closer and whispered,

"If method two fails it's number three you should be afraid of."

She held up three fingers next to her face, I couldn't stop myself from asking,

"Why?"

I watched as she took a step back and smiled while aggressively crushing the air with a white-knuckled grasp.

"Method three is to ignore the thorns and grab the stem thorns and all, then you tear the rose from the bush."

She made a yanking motion and brought her hand to her chest. The hand opened to reveal a bloodied palm and fingers, her dark crimson nails had dug into her flesh leaving deep gouges in what should have been a pristine porcelain hand.

"No one wants that. You see, I had some complaints that you were taking customers from my ladies, a few of them were having trouble with their quotas. But after seeing you in person I couldn't let such an exotic beauty slip away. I gave you a great many chances but each time you refused me. Just remember it's your fault, I tried to be nice."

Ed was now ready to drop his food at a moment's notice and spring to action at the woman's threats but either she didn't notice or didn't care.

"What have you done…? Answer me!"

"My my! You're much more talkative now, aren't you! But like I said you were much too prickly. I'll be awaiting your response, let me know how much you liked my present!"

As usual, she left with a backwards wave but this time I felt queasy, she's done something, I didn't know what but it seemed like she was pretty sure of my cooperation.

I asked Ed what he thought of the situation but he didn't know what she was talking about either. Something was wrong, panic started to set in as I realised that I couldn't leave the stall to check on things in the dwelling. It could have been a bluff and once I left, the stall could be destroyed or the food poisoned. Besides that, the old man was always adamant about me never entering the dwelling without him.

I turned to Ed with pleading eyes and he understood immediately.

"I'll check in with the old-timer, I'm still on break for a little longer."

As he left I looked down at my arms, they were no longer devoid of muscle but I was still a long way off from my mother's strength. If I was stronger I wouldn't have needed to rely on Ed, if I wasn't born unlucky I'd have an Animus-blade. Over the almost two months that had passed since I first started my exercises, I had lost a lot of fat from all over my body and though I still had a little left you could see the soft contours of my muscles if I flexed them. I had come further than I ever thought I would but how much strength would I need to overcome the magic of an Animus-Blade? Was it even possible? I had seen first-hand the power that the head priest wielded.

With nothing to do but wait with bated breath, I kept my mind busy thinking about how I would even start an attempt to beat someone with an Animus-blade. I made sure to put my arms behind my back and interlocked my fingers before getting lost in thought.

No matter how I pictured it I couldn't see myself winning unless an attacker couldn't manifest in time. Then It occurred to me that maybe strength isn't the only thing I should be training for. If I was fast enough they wouldn't have time to manifest before I was on the attack. Maybe that was why Alessia buried her knife, maybe she understood how little of a chance she had if it was found prematurely.

It was useless trying to understand the motivations of someone long gone. Gone. I still couldn't bring myself to call her dead without proof. I hadn't seen or heard any news about Jon being arrested for murdering his daughter so I still clung to a tiny piece of hope that she did run away and that Jon was only guilty of being a bad father. It was unrealistic but it was one of the many coping mechanisms I used to stay sane.

It wasn't too long till closing by the time the old man and Ed got back. Usually, the two liked chatting so their silence said a thousand words. I rushed to meet them and they both gave a half-assed smile too worn out to even pretend all was fine.

"What did she do!"

I shouted. Ed was silent but I could tell he was furious. The old man spoke softly.

"It's up to you if you want to know. You've been through a lot in such a short time, little missy. If you want my advice don't ask any more questions and tomorrow I can take you to the Fleur Guild for your work experience."

"What are you talking about? Why would I listen to her demands if she's threatening me?"

"For what it's worth your safety was guaranteed until the next rite. You've been offered room and board, special training and 'gifts' because they can't be seen paying you."

It seemed like she hadn't lowered her offer despite threatening me, it was the same deal I was given yesterday.

"I don't care about any of that, I want to see what she did."

She must have attacked the old man or the slum. If I'm just going to cause trouble for everyone I could always leave the city, then she'd be forced to leave them alone or I would get away. But I needed to know the type of person I was dealing with first.

"Joan."

It was the first time the old man had used my name and it terrified me,

"Humour this old man and just accept the offer."

I'm not as naive as I was, the old man was willing to open my eyes to the horror of the slums because I was living in a fantasy land where the greatest evils only existed on the pages of books, where bad things only happened to other people, where it only mattered when misfortune came for the people I knew. I still didn't have a firm conviction like him but one thing I knew is that I would never be able to accept myself if I started to close my eyes again.

"Show me."