“Wow, you're right, Chief. This thing is more durable than my thirty-year-old callus!” the man said with awe as he tried to stab one of the shirts I made with a large pitchfork. I didn't even know why he had a pitchfork when Wildpost wasn't a farming village, but there he was, stabbing the shirt placed on the muddy ground again and again with a fascinated expression.

We were currently in a small alley behind the building where Bran led me to earlier, which thankfully muted the stabbing noises the man was making. If someone heard it, they might think we were stabbing someone to death or something.

“I-I see,” Bran murmured nervously beside me. “And this is the same for everything you got from Mr. Marion's wagon?”

“Yeah,” the man said when he finally stopped stabbing. “I'll be damned. Who knew we were using clothes worth so much gold as mere bandages? Hah!”

I turned to Bran with a wide grin. He couldn't see my smile behind my mask, but I knew that he knew I was smiling. He faced the man again.

“Gold would be an overestimation of its value, don't you think?” Bran asked the man nervously. “Not that I'm disparaging your work, Mr. Marion. I think they're valuable, yes, but gold is too much don't you think?”

Honestly, I also had no idea of the true worth of my products. When I started my business with normal materials, it was easy to set a price when I knew how much I spent on raw textiles. But now that I was working with monster materials, all my knowledge about the worth of fabrics and textiles went out the window.

From my position, I could see that Bran was obviously signaling the man assessing the shirt to agree with him, but unfortunately for the Chief, the man was busy staring at the shirt in fascination and missed the old man's desperate signals. “Nah, this thing is definitely worth its weight in gold. From what I can tell, this shirt is made purely of monster material. Back in Halros, things made of monster materials cost a pretty penny, and only adventurers can afford them.”

When the man looked up at the scowling Bran, he realized his mistake. “I-I mean, er, what I meant to say is—”

“I think we now have a pretty good idea of the value of my products, thank you very much,” I interrupted as I placed my arm over Bran's shoulder and slowly led him away from the distressed man, back to the building where we first entered to negotiate. “You heard the man yourself, Bran. The shirt made of pure monster material was worth at least one gold. And it just so happens that most, if not all of my products in the wagon were made of monster materials. I think there were at least a hundred pieces of clothing in my wagon when your villagers mercilessly ransacked it. That would make your debt at least a hundred gold.”

Bran made a choking sound at my words. “A hundred gold?! Mr. Marion, I may be the leader of a village, but I don't have the kind of money to pay you that much!”

“I understand, I understand,” I said soothingly as I patted the panicking Bran's shoulder gently, before going for the kill. “You could just pay me in installments. How about an installment over five years?”

“Mr. Marion, even if I paid you in installments, it would take me a hundred years before I could make that much money!” Bran cried.

“Don't worry, I'll charge a simple interest rate instead of compounding it monthly,” I reassured him.

“There's an interest rate?!”

Watching Bran's face shift into so many different expressions of shock and incredulity was extremely entertaining. I didn't know the human face could make expressions like that. But as much as I wanted to continue teasing Bran, continuing any longer would be bad for the old man's heart.

“I was just joking, Bran. I may be a man of dubious morals, but extorting you would be way too petty,” I said, much to the Chief's relief. “But I wasn't kidding about the installment part, though. I know your people used my clothes for emergency purposes, but that doesn't mean I don't deserve to get paid. I run a business, Bran, not a charity, and I expect to get paid. The best I could do is to give you a discount.”

Bran sighed as he massaged his temples with his hand. “I understand, Mr. Marion. So what price are we talking about?”

After a surprisingly brief and calm negotiation, Bran and I came up with an agreement. He owed me a sum of a hundred gold which he could pay in installments throughout a period of ten years.

A hundred gold may sound too much, but it was already too much of a conservative estimate of my products' worth. But despite that, I did offer to lower it to as much as fifty gold. Bran was only a village head, and I knew the job didn't pay much. But to my surprise, Bran rejected my offer, stating that he didn't want to take advantage of my goodwill too much. How much of a softie is this old dude anyway?

To make things official, Bran wrote up three contracts containing our agreement, one for him, one for me, and one for a neutral party, all of which were affixed with our signatures. Bran even included a clause where if he passed away, his debt would be transferred to his successor, assuring me that I will be eventually paid even if he was already in the grave. Honestly, that sounded pretty extreme.

With all that done, Bran and I shook hands. “If you ever have any difficulty with your part, don't hesitate to tell me, Bran,” I said. “I value my products, but I value friendship even more.”

“Don't worry about me, Mr. Marion. I'm old and experienced. I have my own ways of paying you fully,” Bran said before leaning to whisper something to me. “A word of advice, though. You are too kind for your job, Mr. Marion. If you want to become a successful businessman, then you have to learn that profit is always the name of the game.”

I felt a slight chill after hearing his words. Bran's serious expression definitely helped with that, but his words also sounded like they came from personal experience, as if he was warning me not to make the same mistake that he did. I hope that was just my imagination.

“I'll keep it in mind,” I replied. “Well, since our business is concluded, I'll be taking my leave now. I need to take a rest to replenish my mana and refresh my mind so I could help with the injured. I'll be seeing you later, Bran.”

After bidding the Chief goodbye, I stepped out of the building where we conducted our negotiations.

●●●

When I returned to the place where I separated from Selise and Belka, my eyes almost popped out of their sockets when I saw Taloress standing literally right where I saw her. She was just standing there, unmoving, as she stared in my direction. Shit! I forgot I left her here!

Most of the villagers in the area were either busy attending to the wounded or getting drunk, but some were watching Taloress as they whispered among themselves. My blood ran cold at what could've happened while I was gone. Did Belka or Selise try to talk to Taloress but left because they thought my puppet was snubbing them? Did anybody try to peek under Taloress' mask?

Before I could worry myself to death over all the possible what-ifs, I quickly walked over to Taloress and assumed complete control over her body once again. “Taloress!” I called out loud, making sure that the people near us could hear me. “You didn't have to wait for me while I spoke with the Chief. You should have rested somewhere instead of just standing here as you waited for me. You must be very tired already after fighting nonstop earlier.”

Hopefully, my words would make the villagers think that Taloress was just a devoted apprentice of mine that would follow me around all the time and wait for me until I returned from wherever I go. That would explain her weird behavior today as well as future possible incidents where I forgot about her again.

With the situation hopefully taken care of, Taloress and I made our way to our wagon currently surrounded by the injured. Lesser people were lying around compared to earlier as the others were slowly being escorted to a much more comfortable location. Lying on the hard road with nothing but a bunch of blankets as a mattress while exposed to the elements wasn't exactly the best condition for a wounded person to recover. Even if said blankets were probably worth more than their entire month's wages.

When we arrived at my wagon, I felt my blood boil as I spotted a bunch of people using my wagon as a resting place as they ate and drank, but I forcefully calmed myself before I approached the woman standing just outside the entrance as she laughed with some of her companions about some bawdy joke.

“Excuse me, ma'am. I am sincerely sorry to interrupt your merrymaking, but I'm afraid I have to take back my wagon now.” I really tried to be calm when I spoke, but I can't help but emphasize that it was my wagon they were using all willy-nilly without asking for permission.

The woman I was talking to, middle-aged with black hair, stared at me with a blank face for a few seconds as she took in my appearance before giving me a big smile as she offered me a handshake. “Ah! You must be Mr. Marion! It's very nice to meet you, sir. Don't worry, I'll get them off your wagon right now.”

The woman quickly turned around and started shouting at the people inside to leave. “Everybody out! The owner of the wagon is here! Make sure to bring Bert with you.”

The people inside the wagon took one glance at me and immediately followed the woman's orders. They picked up whatever litter was on the floor of the wagon and assisted their drunk companion passed out cold along with them. The looks they shot me weren't the hateful ones I received when I first arrived in the village, but rather the usual fearful ones reserved for mages like me. I guess that's an improvement.

When the two men carrying their drunk companion passed me by, I spotted something gripped tightly in the unconscious man's hands, and my already-tenuous control over my temper was lost.

“Where do you think you're going with that? That is mine,” I growled as I snatched Tedd, my childhood friend, from the dirty hands of the drunk man. The others didn't dare look at me as they mumbled apologies and fled quickly.

The woman looked at me nervously as she glanced between me and Tedd. “Er, sorry about that, Mr. Marion. Bert is kind of a man-child and loves playing with kid's toys.”

I wanted to tell the woman that Tedd wasn't a kid's toy but my friend, but that would probably make me sound like a man-child myself. “It's fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere else to be.”

“Oh, but can I ask for just a minute of your time?” the woman asked hurriedly as I walked to the driver's seat. “I just want to discuss the possibility of us doing business in the future.”

I intended to ignore the woman because I was so freaking tired already, but when I got to the front of the wagon, I saw Clip and Clop eating something from buckets placed in front of them. When I checked the buckets, they contained some oatmeal along with some weird herbs that smelled extremely horrid to me, but which Clip and Clop seemed to enjoy as they dug into their meal.

“Some of the villagers gave your horses some food earlier in exchange for the, uh, inconvenience we caused you,” the woman behind me said as she gestured to my ransacked wagon. “I added some special herbs that would give your horses the proper nutrients they need to keep them healthy.”

I sighed as I turned around to speak to the woman. I couldn't just ignore her when she gave my horses what were technically vitamins for free. I knew they did it because the villagers ransacked my wagon, but the Chief was already going to compensate me for that. It would be rude if I snubbed the woman, and even if I was all grumpy from fatigue, I still had a business to run. I would get a bad reputation if word spread that I was an ungrateful bastard.

“I hope we can keep our conversation short, ma'am. I still need to go treat the injured with my magic, and I wouldn't be able to do that if I don't get any rest,” I said.

The woman's face lit up with joy. “I promise I won't delay you for too long, Mr. Marion. My name's Kath Swiller, the Head Alchemist of Wildpost.”

I felt cold sweat drip down my back as I realized that I just dodged a bullet. If I snubbed the woman earlier, I was pretty sure all business opportunities I could have pursued with the Head Alchemist would already be lost, or even if they weren't, I would definitely be on the back foot in negotiations for being a rude bastard.

“Nice to meet you too, Miss Swiller. I guess you already know who I am, but nevertheless, I am Mr. Marion, Clothes Master and Aficionado,” I said.

“Please, just call me Kath,” the woman replied with a smile. “Anyway, my goal in talking to you is to propose a deal that benefits us both, Mr. Marion. You see, as an alchemist, I make potions and tinctures from the ingredients I gather in the Wild Woods. Most of the ingredients are magical in nature, thanks to the higher concentration of mana around here, and my potions become more potent when there is more mana in the ingredients. Unfortunately, I couldn't make the stronger types of potions since the ingredients for them are usually found in the middle of monster nests which even the hunters couldn't escort me to. It's possible to channel mana into potions to strengthen them, but I'm not exactly a mage…”

“And you're proposing that I give you my mana to empower your potions?” I asked.

“That's right!” Kath said with enthusiasm. “If you could give me some of your mana, I could create more valuable potions without having to risk myself gathering rare ingredients in monster-infested areas! In return, I'll pay you for your mana.”

That was actually a great idea. I would basically be earning free money since it doesn't cost me anything at all to regenerate mana. Plus, if Kath was able to create more powerful potions, the villagers would know that it was a result of my actions, which would further improve my image in their eyes.

The only issue I saw with this proposition was that I needed my mana to continue producing clothes for my business. I had no idea yet how much mana Kath would need, but if turns out she needs a shit-ton of mana every single day, I'd have to refuse.

“How much mana are we talking about here?” I asked Kath.

“If it's alright with you, I have a 1000-mana battery that you could fill up every day,” Kath replied. “It usually takes a week for it to fill up by absorbing mana from the surroundings, but if you channel your mana into it, it should fill up much faster.”

“A mana battery? What's that?”

“Oh, I thought you already know that since you're a mage and all. A mana battery is a device that could store magical energy for later use. In my field of work, I use it to channel mana during the potion-making process to make my potions stronger, although I could only do it once a week,” Kath said.

My eyes lit up with interest. With my high rate of regeneration, my mana pool usually sat at max capacity when I wasn't doing magic, which was a waste of potential. But if I had a mana battery, I can store excess magic which I could use for other projects, or maybe even in emergencies. The first thing I'm going to buy when I get to a city is a mana battery.

“Your proposal is enticing, Miss Kath. Give me some time to think about it and I'll give my answer soon,” I replied. I wanted to agree at this moment, but that meant we'd have to deal with the small details right now, and my brain wasn't exactly in peak condition to negotiate and write up a contract with Kath.

After bidding Kath goodbye, I got on my wagon and led Clip and Clop towards the village center. The area was eerily quiet since most of the villagers were probably hiding in their homes after the monster attack. What little people there were shot curious glances my way as I parked my wagon in my spot beside Selise's house.

I ignored the staring eyes and released my horses from their harnesses. After tying them to a nearby tree, I went inside my wagon, made Mr. Marion lie down on the floor, and lost myself to sleep the moment I closed my eyes.

●●●

When a few minutes passed and she was sure that her Master was asleep, Taloress crouched beside Mr. Marion and started poking his mask.

Poke poke poke

Mr. Marion slapped Taloress' hand away. He made several gestures toward the female puppet to communicate. Don't disturb the Master.

Taloress ignored Mr. Marion and started poking him again. Mr. Marion wanted to smack his younger sister on the head, but he did not dare move too much lest he disturb the Master's rest. So he sent a small tendril of thread from his fingertip that snaked across the wagon's floor over to the still teddy bear near the door. And poked it.

Tedd turned his cute face to look at Mr. Marion, his button eyes emotionless. Mr. Marion made several gestures as Taloress poked him. Please make her stop.

Tedd stood up, waddled over to Taloress, and started thumping his hand at her leg. Stop that. As eldest, I command you to stop, Tedd tried to convey through his thumping, but Taloress ignored him and continued poking Mr. Marion's mask.

After several minutes of Taloress poking, Mr. Marion gesturing, and Tedd thumping, Mr. Marion finally gave up and gestured What do you want?

Taloress started gesturing at her face, removing her mask to tell him what she wanted. When Mr. Marion understood, he waved his hand at her as if to say Fine before his head started morphing. His mask started peeling off, revealing his average but dissatisfied-looking face, before that too started peeling away.

Soon, Mr. Marion's head was “open” and revealed their Master's sleeping face. Taloress, and even Tedd, looked mesmerized as they stared at his peaceful face.

Tedd climbed on top of Mr. Marion's chest to get a closer look and reminisced on the old days. The days when Helen would pick him up from the floor when he fell from the bed, the days when he and Cuddles were the only ones that got to see their Master's small achievements, the days when the Master frowned and mumbled in his sleep because of nightmares while Helen would soothe and hug him without his knowing.

Taloress reached out to caress the Master's face, but Tedd slapped her hand away. The last time the Master had slept this peacefully was when Helen was still alive, and Tedd would not let anyone disturb his rest.

Taloress crossed her arms in a sulking manner and opted to just watch the Master sleep. When several hours had passed and the Master was beginning to stir, everybody went back to their usual positions.

●●●

When I woke up, I stretched my real body inside Mr. Marion, his insides shifting to accommodate my actions. Whew, nothing beats a good sleep when it comes to refreshing the mind!

My face felt kind of cold, as if it was just exposed to the air, but that must have been my imagination. I made sure that I was safely encased inside Mr. Marion before sleeping, after all.

As I stood up, I noticed Taloress sitting as still as a statue while staring at me. It was honestly kind of creepy. Did I leave her in that position? Meh, I probably just forgot that I did.

I peeked in the gap of the closed counters to look outside and was shocked to see that the day was already running late. The orange rays of the sun were shining down on the lonely village square, and it seems that sunset would be coming in an hour or two. How many hours did I sleep for?!

Since I promised Bran that I'd be treating the injured with my magic, I had to get moving soon if I wanted to make it back home while there was still light.

Before I jumped out of the wagon though, I opened the trap door to the wagon's hidden compartment to reveal the large sacks full of the Grisly Bear's fur. It was the only thing aside from Tedd that wasn't stolen by the villagers, and only because I hid it well. It's time to upgrade Mr. Marion again.

I dumped the fur out of the sacks in a single large pile, and with my mana pool fully replenished, I started spinning them into thread. Small tendrils of fur started emerging from the pile and twisted themselves into very thin threads. I didn't bother spooling the thread and instead led them directly to Mr. Marion's body, the tendrils sinking into his body like parasitic worms trying to eat their way into a body while the old material was ejected from his back like meat from a meat grinder. Ugh, that's a disgusting analogy.

As the thread made from the Grisly Bear's fur slowly replaced Mr. Marion's composition, I noticed that the mana cost to keep him active increased. It wasn't so significant that it'd bleed me dry in minutes, but it was fairly high. It seems manipulating more powerful materials costs more mana.

I wondered why I didn't realize this when I started using monster materials for my thread, but that's probably because the difference in mana cost between using normal materials and monster materials from a low-rank monster like a dire wolf was pretty insignificant. But with a C-rank monster like a Grisly Bear, the difference was pretty noticeable.

Mr. Marion's upgrade took fifteen minutes. When it was finished, Mr. Marion still looked the same, but I could feel the power in his body waiting to be used. He felt like a coiled spring, ready to burst into powerful action the moment I willed him to. And with my Authority, I could feel something in the thread that made him up, something that felt like it could rip lesser creatures into shreds and that could shrug most attacks as if they weren't even there. Something like a Grisly Bear. Is this a new ability of my Authority?!

I checked Mr. Marion's body again and realized I was right. I could feel something in his body, like an instinct left behind by the owner of the fur he was made from, and it felt like a feral beast. Wow, that's cool.

It seemed the Grisly Bear left some kind of imprint on its fur when it died, but it didn't seem to have any effect on my control over Mr. Marion. Good thing, too, since I didn't want Mr. Marion to suddenly start acting like a wild bear. It was just there like a background effect, although what perplexed me was that the previous materials I gathered from weak monsters didn't have an imprint. Maybe only strong monsters leave imprints like that?

It was a mystery I didn't have time to ponder about, so I decided to forget about it for the time being. Upgrading Mr. Marion's body only consumed half of the Grisly Bear's fur, but as I started putting the remainder back in the secret compartment, I spotted Taloress in the corner of my vision. She looked the same, but for some reason, she looked like she was peering at me with teary eyes as if she was begging me to upgrade her as well. What the hell is wrong with my imagination today?

Since I couldn't think of anything else I would use the Grisly Bear's fur on, I decided upgrading Taloress as well would prove useful since she's always following me around.

I repeated the upgrade process to Taloress, who looked extremely satisfied as I did so, but that was probably a product of my youthful imagination. When it was done, the mana cost to keep Taloress active also increased. As a result, my mana regeneration was now almost negligible.

“It seems I'm going to have to strictly budget my mana expenditure from here on out,” I muttered as I stepped out of the wagon with a happy-looking Taloress following behind me.

Before I left to go help treat the injured villagers, I spotted Clip and Clop eating from buckets again. It looks like the villagers gave my horses free food again while I was sleeping. It seems my reputation had gone up way more than I expected.

In a good mood, I made my way to where the injured were.

●●●

“Thank you so much, Mr. Marion. May the Holy Mother bless you,” the old woman said gratefully as I finished treating her back pain.

“You're welcome, ma'am. If you feel anything again, don't hesitate to come to me,” I said as I stood up to see where my next patient was supposed to be. I was supposed to treat the injured, but some of the village folk started coming to me to see if I could treat their old pain and aches. I guess it won't hurt if I treated them as well…

I was currently in one of the empty warehouses that had been converted into a temporary hospital. When I arrived here an hour ago, it was filled with quite a lot of people, but after treating most of them with my magic, those with minor injuries had already gone home. Now, the only ones left were those with grievous injuries that needed constant supervision.

The only healing spell I knew, Mend, didn't actually heal the villagers' wounds instantly, but even so, they were still grateful to me for helping them free of charge. I was glad the villagers were no longer openly hostile to me, although some of the grievously wounded men I treated gave me a stinkeye.

Ever since I told them their recovery time would be shortened significantly, they started glaring at me, probably because the people caring for the wounded were the beautiful young women of Wildpost. Since treating them meant they'd spend less time in the warehouse, they saw it as me shortening the time where they got spoon-fed and taken care of by cute girls. And they're right. Watching their sorrow is hilarious, but knowing that I was the one that caused it? It's exhilarating! Muahahaha!

“I could see your evil smile even behind your mask, Mr. Marion,” somebody suddenly said behind me, making me jump in shock. I must have been lost deeply in my evil monologue to miss something in my fabric sense.

“Please don't do that, Selise. You're going to cause me a heart attack,” I said as I turned to face the young woman, who was carrying a basket on her arm.

“Stop playing with me, Mr. Marion. You're too young to have a heart attack, and Aunt Belka told me you're a kid,” Selise replied with a grin.

“I'm not a kid!” I exclaimed with indignance. “And what are you doing here anyway? You're not wounded or anything.”

“I just came here to visit one of my friends,” she replied as she started walking towards one of the patients who was lying on a thin mattress on the floor. A very familiar patient who was glaring at me as I followed Selise.

“How are you doing, Ned?” Selise asked as she placed the basket on the floor.

Ned, who had been glaring at me all this time, turned a flustered look at Selise. “I-I'm fine, Selise. You didn't have to check up on me.”

“None of that, Ned. You're my friend and I'm still concerned for your well-being,” Selise replied while taking out sandwiches from the basket, not seeing the pained look on Ned's face as she called him a friend.

I would have given my sympathies to someone who had been blatantly friend-zoned, but since we're talking about Ned here, I exaggeratedly mimed the actions of a laughing man, complete with bending over and slapping my knee, but minus the sound. I didn't want Selise to find out that I'd been making fun of her friend while I stood behind her.

Ned glared hotly at me, which was interrupted when Selise shoved a sandwich at his face. “Here, eat this. I made it myself!”

Ned looked flattered at the sandwich, but he glared at me again. “What is he doing here?”

“Oh, nothing. I just accompanied Selise here as a friend,” I said while trying to hold back my laughter.

Ned looked like he was about to shout at me in anger, but Selise wasn't having it. “Stop looking at Mr. Marion like that, Ned. He's here because he'd been treating everyone here for free! Did you even thank him when he treated you?”

I quickly started walking away, but Ned spoke faster. “He didn't even treat me! I'm the only one in this warehouse he didn't heal with magic!”

“What?!” Selise exclaimed before facing me angrily. “Is that true?”

I muttered a curse as I turned around. “His injuries should heal in a month or two even without my help, Selise. He'll be alright.”

“Then why won't you speed it up?” Selise asked with a frown. “Is this about what happened between the two of you?”

“Of course it's about what happened between the two of us,” I replied angrily. “He spread lies about me and made the entire village hostile to me! I don't see a reason why I should help him.”

“Ned's already regretted his actions, Mr. Marion. Isn't that right?” Selise asked as she turned her glare at Ned, who seemed like he was about to act stubborn and deny what she said, but in the end, he nodded.

“I'm sorry about what I did, Mr. Marion. It wouldn't happen again,” Ned apologized, although it was hard to call it an apology when he forced the words through gritted teeth.

“See? He's sorry. Now please treat him,” Selise pleaded.

I sighed. “Alright, I'll treat him. It'll be three silvers for a single Mend spell.”

“Aunt Belka was right when she called you a kid,” Selise said with an unsatisfied face.

“I was just kidding!” I said as I raised my hands in surrender, although in truth, I really did intend to charge the bastard.

I quickly cast Mend on Ned, who squirmed when he felt my magic pass over the wound on his knee. Apparently, he tripped during the battle when the hunters came out of the village to help us kill the monsters. His knee hit a sharp rock which resulted in a minor fracture on his knee. What an embarrassing way to get an injury.

“There. He should be able to start limping after three weeks. If you want to prolong the recovery, I suggest you start walking around in the second week.”

“No need to be a smartass about it, Mr. Marion,” Selise said as she rolled her eyes.

Ned was still glaring at me, but he looked down before muttering something. “Thanks.”

I wanted to make fun of him, but I didn't want to be called a child again by Selise, so I decided to be mature and only snorted. “You can thank Selise for that.”

When I looked around us, I realized that everybody had been watching our little drama. The young women acting as nurses were smiling while the injured were chuckling amongst themselves. Dammit, did I just embarrass myself by acting so childish earlier?

Thankfully, the awkward atmosphere was dispelled when Taloress came running into the warehouse towards me. I made her help the nurses earlier and it seems she just came back from an errand.

“You ready to go home?” I asked Taloress when she arrived by my side, to which she nodded. “Well, with everything finished, it's time for us to leave. We'll see you next time, Selise.”

“Goodbye Mr. Marion, Loress!” Selise said. “It seems I'm going to have to introduce you to Terence next time since we've no time, Loress.”

“Huh? Did you tell Taloress something like that?” I asked dumbly.

“While you were negotiating with the Chief earlier, Loress and I spoke and I promised I'll introduce her to Terence. Well, I guess I spoke and Loress did her usual gestures,” Selise replied absently as she offered more sandwiches to the bitter-looking Ned.

But my attention was elsewhere as I slowly turned my head to Taloress beside me, who was looking back at me. She cocked her head. I did not make her do that.