Golden light trickled in through cracks in the curtain, lighting up tiny specks of dust with morning light. Mirio opened his eyes and slipped his feet out of bed and wrangled on some shoes before picking up his belt and sword and strapping it to his waist. He was in nothing more than a shirt and some trousers, but with his prestidigitation spell he could keep himself warm with a small blanket of warm air over his skin.

As he exited his room, he looked back in to see his walking staff leaned up against the side of the bed. He stepped a few times on his leg checking that it was in good shape, and satisfied smack to the side of his knee he stood back up and shut the door.

The cool morning air snapped into a fog as he exhaled while searching for the barn out the back. He gripped onto the padlock of the door and unlocked it with a small iron key.

“C’mon boys” he said as he pulled open two of the stable gates.

Rocky came galloping out of the barn, already prepared to take his first lap around the field, while Ezee came bucking out after him in excitement, nudging up next to him and playfully mouthing his neck and shoulder.

Mirio watched on as the two galloped through the field together, Ezee still not quite at his full height, but the same size as Rock. Mirio looked on bittersweetly as he pulled out his pouch. It barely jingled and as he opened it he saw just three coins, one gold, one silver, and a copper.

“Damn it…”

Mirio let out a sigh for a moment but then lifted his head to watch on as Ezee harassed the poor horse.

“C’mon boy, enough play, aren’t you gonna hunt today?” he said with a raise in the pitch of his voice.

Ezee stopped in his tracks and turned towards Mirio for a moment before happily shooting off into the forests.

*Paying for the hunting licence for Ezee, the resurrection spell for Tad, and repairs to the temple has made me as broke as the day I was born, even after I sold the runestone and Beran’s axe. Guess I don’t have any more time left to keep resting up, I gotta get to work… Bah… Fair enough… So long as I keep my wits about me I should be fine*

Miro tested his leg by stamping it into the grass a few times, and hoping not to hear a click. After no click came, he drew his sword and began practicing his sword forms. Over the past three months, he had a lot of time to think about how to better fight in a city. Considering that killing in the city was illegal, and that it always prompted a meeting with the city inquisitor, he understood it was best to figure out a style of fighting that would better suit the streets.

He started his first form with light flurries, and quick twists of his sword, moving it from one side to another as swiftly as the wind. He moved back and forth using fast covering motions to deflect and evade the blows of imaginary opponents.

He then moved on to his second form, breaking the two handed grip on his blade, and twirling the sword like a wand filled with water. Arcing the tip of the blade in curves, aimed at getting around an opponent, and sweeping them to the side, or redirecting their momentum. He made gripping motions with his free hand, twisting and pivoting his feet as he did so, to throw and toss opponents into new positions.

He spun the blade backwards so it ran along the length of his arm, and deepened his stance into a squat with his knees far apart. He made sweeping motions with his torso, imagining several men gripped onto him, as he moved like a pillar of stone, twisting and crushing their grips and stances by getting under their center of mass, and causing it to topple around him. His blade hand moved along behind his whole bodied movements, acting as a lever to break off any last resistance with the side of his blade.

And then finally he took the blade in two hands once more, and spun the tip in a large circle followed by a short one. Flicks and flashes of the sword came fast and wild like the licking flames of a firestorm. His body moved in fast bursts, double and triple stepping into position with feints grips, and violent knees and elbows flying forward before the sword came in for the finishing blow.

Mirio came to a stop and with a flash of motion sheathed his sword. Remembering back to his first day in the city, where he was ambushed by the Gatley brothers, he smiled, content with the knowledge that he wouldn’t make the mistake of being unprepared again. And even though it had been his injury that had hampered him most at that moment, he had also recognised that he was hesitant to kill people when he was uncertain of their true intentions.

*Just doesn’t make sense to fight people like you do monsters, things are more complicated than that. I’m glad I can now change my response to suit the level of danger. I could even use the wind form on women and untrained fighters if I had to, as it is completely harmless. Water is great for moving around large groups of untrained people, moving them into a position that is more manageable and advantageous. Earth style is great for when the space is tight, and people are wrestling for an advantage, it would work on even well trained opponents and is probably the best to use when fighting anyone with real skill. And fire style is for life and death, used to break bone, and cleave people in two as swiftly as possible, just in case it ever gets to that here*

Mirio leaned against a fence post and played with streams of colored magic in the palm of his hand as he waited for Ezee to return. Rocky occasionally galloped across the fields but mostly grazed on patches of grass. As the sun rose higher the dew that was settled on the grass faded away. Ezee jaunted back happily through the trees with a full belly.

“There you go, good boy” Mirio said as he patted his side with a couple of big smacks.

Ezee nuzzled back towards him with his giant fuzzy head, knocking Mirio back a little.

“You guys alright looking after yourselves for a bit? I’ve got to head into town”

Ezee let out a huff of resolve.

“Take it easy on the stablemaster when he calls you guys in, alright, don’t run him around like last time”

Ezee flicked his ears back for a moment but then pointed them up again

“Ruff!”

“Alright, well I’m gonna head out, later guys” he said with a wave before heading back towards the city.

Four guards stood at the open gates as a wagon of goods passed into the city, transported from nearby towns. Mirio flashed his silver badge and began his walk down the mainstreet, turning off at the temple plaza.

“Mirio!” Arnil said with a wave as he stood out the front of the temple doors.

“Good, how is everyone?”

“Slowly recovering, day by day, your brother too”

“I’m glad…”

“Are you coming in?”

“No, I have some other things to do”

“Alright then” Arnil said before making his way inside.

Mirio continued down the main street as wagons pulled into the markets and storefronts to fill up on fresh goods for the day. A few early risers already filled the footpaths, and a girl with bunny ears walked just ahead of him, turning off just before the blue and white streets turned red.

Mirio flashed his pin to the guards at the border arch and continued through to the red half of the city. He made his way to the wall and then down hallways and shafts until he made his way to the hole.

Yana approached with a faint smile, “How is your brother doing?”

“Okay now, there was rough patch there for a while, but everyone is recovering I think. How are things here?”

“Oh, it’s alright, it gets cramped in here and there is a bit of conflict when people are tired or frustrated from work, but for the most part it is fine”

“I came to teach some of the kids, is that alright, look in on everything, make sure they are alright”

“Yes, I’ve already wrangled them up for you, over by the far wall”

“Thanks for everything Yana, you’ve done a great job with the people, I know it can’t have been easy”

“It isn’t easy, but we are managing”

Yana tugged at Mirio’s sleeve just before they reached the end of the cavern, “Some of the boys have been caught sneaking into the store room, they haven’t taken much, just some loaves of bread and the like, but we don’t want them getting ideas in the city. If you can do anything to help”

“Got it”

As Mirio came around some makeshift canvas divides into the play area, several gruff looking teenagers stared back at him. One boy in particular with a crew cut, balled his fist as though ready to fight.

“Hey guys,” Mirio said with a welcoming smile.

“Doesn’t he normally teach the little kids and women, why is he our teacher today?” the boy with the crewcut shouted to Yana.

“He’s one of the council, he’s a very respected member of the community, and he’s a C grade adventurer, like many of you want to be one day. Listen to him and you just might learn how to help your families in the years to come” she said through a polite smile.

“I heard he’s the one that led us here” a girl with short black hair blurted out.

The boy with a crew cut balled his fist tighter and lunged forward at Mirio, gripping up his collar as he wound back a punch.

Mirio moved as swift as the wind, and broke free of the hold. And as though buffeted by the wind the boy stumbled off to the side and glared back at Mirio with one eye.

“Easy champ”

“You’re the Paladin!” the boy with the crew cut spat out venomously, “The whole reason we are in this shithole, my dad told me about you, you pompous prick”

“I’m no Paladin, well not really, as for your dad, I get why he’s upset but that doesn’t mean we can’t speak to each other without making it a fight, does it? Look, what is your name?”

“Daryl” he said with a grumble.

“I’m Mirio, and I’m really not the one you or your dad should be mad at. If you want to be mad at anyone, be mad at the bandits who took over the vale, or be mad at those who let it happen. I was there in the battle, when the monster hunters released the Sawtooth queen upon us, and the townspeople were under her as thralls. And let me tell you, if I’d had a choice to save the vale from having to flee, I would have taken it. I’m not your enemy, I’m just a dumbass who couldn’t think of any better option than leading us here. And honestly, at least the city took us in, or else you’d be trying to punch me out in the wastes, or who knows where”

Daryl spat on the ground at Mirio’s feet, “Bullshit, my dad said you hid like a coward in the battle, and that was why you were the only one to walk away”

Yana turned to Mirio with a look of concern wondering if she should step in, he turned to her and nodded reassuringly to her. She waited for a moment before heading back out past the canvas dividers.

“I can assure you that wasn’t how it went down, but look, I’m not here to act like some big shot. Frankly, accusations like that are easy to come by, the easiest in fact, and you didn’t come at me with that punch just now because you believe in easy answers, did you?”

“What do you mean by easy answers?” Daryl replied.

“Well, that is why I’m here today, to give you guys some honesty. Let you know the real situation, and hopefully together we can all work our way out of this. But everyone will need the help of you guys”

The girl with short hair stepped forwards, “No one needs our help! All we do is chores in camp, and get yelled at!”

“Ah, haha, that sounds pretty shitty, I’m not gonna lie” Mirio said with a rambunctious smile.

“Yeah, we can’t do anything stuck here in the hole” Daryl continued for her.

“Well, that is the thing, you THINK you are trapped in a hole, but you are only trapped if you think of it that way. Everything in life is a matter of perspective, and the perspective you choose, will change where things can go”

“What do you mean?” asked a kid with fat ankles and a bowl cut.

“You can either see yourself as a rat, trapped by the sky above, always running from danger all around. Or you can see yourself as the mighty eagle, where the sky is yours to command”

“But rats and eagles are different animals,” the girl responded.

“True, but unlike animals, we have a choice in our behaviours… We are one of the only beings in this world that can gain skills to make us better at anything we imagine, and we are some of the only beings that can truly unravel the secrets of magic” Mirio said as he twirled a small colored ribbon of magic around his fingertips.

The boy with the bowl cut gasped, along with several other children behind him.

“Everything that seems hard in this world, while out of reach to other creatures, just might be within our grasp. So why look at ourselves as the rat, when like the eagle we command possibility, just like it does the skies”

Daryl’s expression softened as gears began whirring in his head, “So how do we do it then?”

Mirio sat the children down and told them of the story of the battle, and how it was actually complicated. That the kingdom in the south was in a feud about who would take the throne. That the now king Rainal was set on war with the twelve kingdoms, and that the second prince Alister, was attempting to sway noble factions to rally under his banner by securing them rights to trade routes around the mid continent. He explained that the nobles in the vale, rather than get tied up in the politics of kingdoms too big for them to handle, stepped aside and allowed the vale to fall. He continued then to explain that the kingdom of Darlan looked at the refugees of the vale as collateral damage, and only harbored them to appease the political sensibilities of other kingdoms. And that the harsh treatment of the people of the vale was actually a result of resentment in the populace of the city, and the Duke in response to the political climate had to come to a compromise where he neither turned the people of the vale away, nor welcomed them with open arms.

“How do you know all this?” the girl asked.

“When I lost the battle for the vale… I came to realise that there is only so much you can do with the sword. I fought against the bandit leader in the end, and she handed me some harsh truths. That as capable as I came at battle, I was still naive when it came to everything else. I realised that the reason we lost the battle wasn’t because we didn’t fight well, but because we lost a different game before the battle had even begun. We just were not aware of the forces around us, and so we were overwhelmed when as unlikely as it was, they turned up at our door. Since that day I’ve spent every waking hour thinking about what really happened, and that was how I figured it out”

“It really is complicated isn’t it?” Daryl replied, “Sorry for trying to hit you before”

“That is alright, I’m used to fighting, but you should always be wary of jumping to conclusions. Especially when emotions are high, because things usually aren’t as clear as the easy answers we are told, even if by our parents. And honestly, no matter how much you love your mom and dad, they aren’t the ones that are inside your head. Only you are, and they don’t even necessarily understand what their words do to you, or how it will make you feel. They are just frustrated, tired, and reaching out however they can. Analyse the source of your information, get more informed, and assess what is true and what isn’t on your own”

“But what if we make mistakes” the boy with the bowlcut asked.

“The best answer I have for that, is to not chase down absolute answers. To be okay with the discomfort of holding two opposing views. To resist influence in general as the balance of evidence shifts, and take time to see if that evidence is sincere, or just a mirage, hiding yet a larger truth. And over time, like a garden, if you tend it well, hopefully the truth will emerge”

“Why is it so complicated though…” the girl asked.

Mirio furrowed his brow and looked toward the ground before meeting the eyes of the children.

“Our minds aren’t capable of thinking of everything at once, we have to work at it like a muscle, and at first the things we are bad at thinking about, they are frustrating and hurt, but if you work on it, you use your ability to alter your perspective, you can see reason in working through the pain. And then once you see reason, you can continue to grow that muscle, until finally you can look at things more broadly. Just like the difference between the eagle and the rat, one soars high because it commands what the other one can’t. So as people, we cultivate the strength of our minds to see a broader picture, and in doing so we can start to find a way forwards toward better days”

Mirio smiled with a hint of nostalgia, as he remembered the feeling of seeing the Paladin in Gimly square as a child. She had been like a light to him at that time, a symbol that there was a way beyond feeling small and worthless; sat inside a house around a distant mother and father. That small bit of light spread within him, allowed him to train to become a fighter, and with the skills he had learned he had been there in the battle that had consumed the town, rather than sat on the sidelines. It wasn’t the perfect example of an eagle taking to the skies, but it was enough to know that he could perhaps matter in the end.

“Now everyone, let me show you a few tricks, while fighting isn’t the solution to everything, it is still handy if you don’t want to be pushed around by the folk willing to do you harm. And all of fighting is won with how you train, and what you learn before it even starts, so listen well. And then when you are out there trying to make your way, you can focus on growing strong in your mind, and learn everything else you can”

The kids jumped up and swarmed around him as they started watching and learning from Mirio as he taught them drills and training exercises.

…

As Mirio came out into the city’s red streets it was bustling with workers moving back and forth. Made curious by the commotion he made his way closer to the mountain side, where an enormous shaft hundreds of paces wide was opened in the rock. Carts travelled back and forth on rails to giant smelting factories just off the side. Smiths and artisans had a set up workshops on the other side, working hard with fresh metal to forge the goods the city was known for. A lady moved about the worksite with a rickshaw full of sandwiches and other food goods, handing them off to workers with a smile. As she trailed past the workshops he took a double take as he saw a familiar face.

“No way…” he said as he drifted forwards “No way!”, “He’s alive!”, “Darius!”

Darius raised an eyebrow as he heard his name between swings of his hammer. Irritated at first, his furrowed brow dropped as he spotted Mirio jogging towards him.

“Mirio?” he said as planting down his hammer, “You’re alive!”

“I was just about to say the same about you! How’d you get away?”

“Long story, at first I ran, then later I came back and everything was deserted, except for patrols of those bastard bandits, they’d ransacked most of my shop, but I salvaged some gear from a hidden compartment along with my recipes, then headed here. What about you?”

“I woke up from the battle alone except for Ezee, and headed with the rest of the vale here”

“Oh yeah, I heard about that, but when I went down to see if you were in the hole, you weren’t there. I was too afraid to ask anything else”

“Yeah, I got a badge when I arrived so I stay by one of the stables just outside of town”

“I notice you aren’t wearing your armor? Too clunky for the city?”

“Ah no, not that, I kinda… Well, it got shredded”

“Shredded?”

“Yeah but it saved me from the Sawtooth, she smacked me something fierce. Broke a few ribs and spat up a load of blood, but still managed to fight on because the armor took the blow”

“No kidding… I’d offer to make you a new set, but with the war brewing on the southern coast, the Duke takes everything I make. So not even allowed to do private commissions if I wanted to”

“I’m not worried about that, I have my armor spell anyway, what happened to the runesword you were making for the Duke, did you get to show him?”

“Well, kind of… Yes and no…”

“What happened?”

“Well, when I arrived I had nothing but my recipes and the half finished sword. I told them I was a smith and gave them the sword to show them to get in, but the head smith in town took the blade. He finished it up, and gave it to the Duke. Said he did me a favor, and I wanted to tell him to shove it up his ass, but he gave me this gig. Figured I’d prefer a spot of work to roaming the wastes, so I let it go”

“No way… So tell me, are you secretly working on another one?”

“Maybe” he chuckled, “How do you know me so well?”

“Spent most of my childhood near your smithy, and you were always working on something in your spare time. Surely, not even current circumstances would take that from you”

“Ha, well I’ve got one mostly finished, but the problem is the handle. I need some good black ivory”

“Ah, I would get you some but I’m just getting over a busted knee and am flat broke. In fact I’m headed over to the guards now to sign up”

“Oh yeah? I have a few things that need to get there, would you take them for me?”

“Sure, no problems”

Darius pulled a few ornamental daggers from a side table and placed them in Mirio’s hand.

“Guard captain wanted a few”

“I’ll make sure he gets them”

“So, can I ask why you are joining the guard? Couldn’t you go out and make a killing adventuring?”

“I would, but most of the jobs near the city are picked clean. So you have to head out at least a week from town to find any decent postings. And it is just too far from everything going on here”

“Ah fair enough, and the arena doesn’t do it for you?”

“Oh, yeah, I thought about it, but still recovering from an injury, and I’m not so fond of the optional death match rules. Saw Hamish get his arm torn off by Tarkon actually, pretty brutal stuff”

“Sometimes I forget you are still only fifteen, it’d be ridiculous for you to step in there with those old badgers anyway. Yeah the guard sounds good for you mate, unless you wanna help here in the shop? Demand is up, I could start you off on nails and screws for the war wagons”

“Thanks for the offer, but the guards pay is actually quite a bit higher than a blacksmithing apprentice”

“But you’d be working with a friend?”

“True, haha, don’t worry I’ll make sure to stop by. And if I hear anything about something nice for a handle I’ll try to bring it by for you”

“Thanks, I look forward to it,” Darius said as he gripped back onto his hammer.

…

The captain was unlike the other guards who were in full plate armor. He wore a noble outfit complete with golden plated buttons and lined with purple satin. The suede colored vest was the only piece of the outfit that held any rugged edge to it.

“And you wish to join us?” the captain said with a raised eyebrow, “Have you not even any armor?”

“I have armor,” Mirio said as clicking his fingers.

Blue energy swarmed around him and pooled into the form of an ethereal set of scale armor.

“Hrmm, magic, does that mean you can’t fight then?”

“Didn’t the Duke tell you anything about me?” Mirio replied.

The captain looked on expectantly, “Well can you fight or not?”

“Yes, I can fight”

“Alright, head out to the master of arms in the courtyard, I’ll get his report later and consider it” he said with a wave of his hand.

“Where do I leave these?” Mirio said as he pulled forth Darius’ daggers.

“Table by the door, good day”

“Yeah, good day to you too” Mirio replied as placing down the daggers.

The master of arms grumped at Mirio as he knocked on his plate armor to get his attention.

“Eh?”

“Captain is considering me for the guard, said he needed your report on my fighting ability”

“You aren’t a runt are ya?” he said with a tick of his lips.

“See for yourself, I’m not afraid of a scrap”

“Alright, then I’ll put you in with Dredge” he said as he shoved Mirio into the ring. He grunted to a man just beyond the crowd of trainees.

“Ah a newbie… Just my kind of fight” Dredge said as he stepped forwards.

Mirio looked up at his black plate armor and barrel chest.

“The tower is bigger”

“You what?”

“I said good luck to you”

“Luck? Who the fuck is this kid, I don’t need luck against the likes of you”

“We’ll see”

Dredge lifted up the haft of his great hammer, and drew it above his head, gripping it tightly in his gauntlets. He wound the blow around his back and swept up at Mirio’s ethereal chest plate, looking to blast him out of the ring.

Mirio darted to the side with a minimum of effort, “So let me guess, the rule is the first one out of the ring loses?”

Dredge grunted with affirmation, as he drew back for another strike.

The air swooshed as Mirio dipped underneath the haft of the giant weapon.

*He’s slower than the tower too, doesn’t he know hammers are better against heavily armored opponents?*

Mirio double stepped out from under the blow and pivoted to behind his opponent’s shoulder.

*I don’t feel all that threatened, I suppose I’ll just leave my sword in its sheath*

Mirio kicked at the back of Dredge’s knee to test for any give, before springing back out of the way of another strike.

“Kind of rude of you not waiting for a guy to draw his weapon isn’t it?”

Dredge followed through with his swing and brought a blow down from the sky.

“Bugs don’t get mercy from the boot” he said as he tightly bound the grip and sent the hammer blasting deep into the surface.

Mirio stepped to the side of the blow and gripped onto the handle above and below Dredge’s grip, and drove his knee hard into his wrist. With a spin of the handle around both of his hands, Mirio popped the hammer from his grip and left it to fly out of the ring.

“I don’t really wanna work so hard, dodging around, lets just wrestle for it?” Mirio replied with a smirk.

“I’ll crush you” Dredge replied as smashing his fists together and driving them at Mirio’s head.

Mirio twirled and pivoted out of the way of the blow, as Dredge leapt into the air with a flying knee which grazed past his cheek. As Dredge landed, he thudded down by the edge of the ring, and Mirio stepped in behind him.

With a dainty little push of his toe, he tapped at Dredge’s heavy armor.

“Stay still” the giant screamed as he turned and braced his back leg to lunge at Mirio.

“Sorry, you stepped out,” Mirio said as he pointed to the edge of the ring.

“No I didn’t”

“Yeah you did, look, your footprint is right there”

“Where?”

BAM

The cracking sound of armor rattling sounded as Mirio drove his shoulder into Dredge’s side. He gripped up under his closest leg, lifting it just off the ground, forcing Dredge to hop to stay balanced, and rammed him out of the ring, tossing him at the last moment and sending him spilling to the ground like a mess of metal.

“Hrmm, must’ve been a shadow” he said as looking at the spot, “My bad I guess”

The master of arms nodded his head.

“Nice leg pick, good footwork, you’ve got some good moves. More than the rest of these lot anyhow”

“Welcome to the guard” he continued with a hearty slap on Mirio’s back.

Dredge stood back to his feet and picked up his hammer, “Good on you lad, I figured it was a trick, and was planning on turning it on you at the last second, but you got me”

“If you wanna counter it better you needed to drop your knee out before I make the grip, push down on me and square up your hips. It won’t work if you just try to toss me, even as big as you are”

“Say what?”

“Here, I’ll show you” Mirio continued as he waved Dredge over.

…

As the sun set over the city, light bounded between the buildings and occasional spires, leaving a mottled red glow in the pale blue and white streets.

“Ever been to the lake district” Dredge said as they entered through the gates.

“Yeah a couple times, to sell of some expensive gear”

“Ah by the artificers shop?”

“That’s the one”

“I saw an axe in there not too long ago, damn good balance to it with a rune slot. Thought about grabbing it but one of the nobles had it reserved”

“Yeah this whole district is nobility and the higher ups isn’t it”

“You got it kid, though, merchants from the other side, and girls pretty enough get special passes”

“Girls?”

“Yeah, for the nightlife, like where we are headed now, out by the lake you’ll see em”

“Isn’t that kind of risky? What if one of em is a master thief?”

“Ha, mate, some of them are. But not the kind to break into an estate to do it”

“Concubines?”

“Yep, whole lotta girls out here are lookin for that”

“Bet a whole lot more are just here for the views though” Mirio replied as gazing at the reflections of the sunset off the water.

The two made their way along a path just up from the shoreline and over to a club built on stilts over the lake. Fire dancers spun their sticks and blew fire at the front entrance as both Mirio and Dredge made their way onto the bridge out to the club.

The beat of rhythmic drumming echoed over the water, and as Mirio entered he saw podium dancers beside the main stage musicians. He couldn’t recall what type of instrument it was that they were playing, but he figured it must have been some kind of chime or flute from the beast folk culture, as all the players on stage and the dancers were from there.

Mirio gazed at the dancers for a moment as their glittering outfits reflected magical light that swam upon the ceiling, cast by a privately hired illusionist just off stage.

*Hrmm, their dancing is similar to a fighting form, that’s really cool*

Dredge gave him a nudge and pointed to an empty podium by the stage, “Post up there for now, I’ll man the front, just scan for any issues or blow ups and if there is anything just grab me. Or handle it if you feel you can”

Dredge shrugged and headed back out to the front, leaving Mirio to wade through the crowd as they danced to the music. He hoisted himself up onto the podium and stood with a stoic expression, tightening his jawline a little to look professional and to seem unintrusive to the party goers below. He altered the focus of his eyes so that the bunny girl dancer on the next podium over blurred out of view and he settled into a stance that could take him through the night.

The dancer flicked her eyes over him for a moment before continuing to dance. Mirio could feel eyes on him from within the crowd, perhaps more than the dancers for a moment, forcing him to react with a warm smile and a bob of his head to the music, to encourage people in the club to dance.

As night fell over the club the band switched to an eight legged insectid who crawled up onto the stage, covered in shimmering jewels. Before the creature were a set of rubbing bowls. She started by tapping on each of the bowls and with her hind legs she continued the beat while the remaining legs made each bowl sing at different rhythms. Her figure was too out of focus for him to make out exactly what she looked like, but as soon as the music started he instantly felt the groove in her heart.

*Hrmm, guess they aren’t that scary after all*

Mirio glanced to the side of his podium as a girl stood leaned up against it facing directly towards him. Her cheeks were rosy red, and her gaze dreamy from the moonflower wine sold at the bar.

“Hey!” she said as though half irritated, “Why are you just standing there, come talk to me”

“What?” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I said come talk to me!”

He kneeled down for a moment and leaned his ear over to her as her bunny ear flopped forward onto his shoulder.

“What do you need to talk about?” he said with a gentle yet forceful tone.

She gripped onto his arm so that he couldn’t straighten up or easily get away.

“I haven’t got anything to say specifically” she mumbled bashfully, “You just look interesting so I thought I’d say hi”

“Oh, that is nice of you, how is your night?”

“It’s okay, but my friends left me already, they went off”

“Oh so you need a place to chill, that’s alright, you can hang here for a bit, just let me hop down, I can’t really talk bent down like this”

As Mirio stepped down, instead of letting go of her grip she pulled tighter, wedging her breasts tightly up against his arm. Mirio shrugged it off as something she was doing because she was drunk, or to comfort herself. He spoke to her with his chin upturned and facing the crowd rather than looking her in the eye.

“So, how do you like the music?” he asked.

“It’s okay I guess, don’t really like the whole eight arm thing though”

“Why not, I think she plays beautifully because of it”

“Yeah maybe, looks like a freak though”

“Nah, she’s just different, it’s good”

“Mhm…” she said as she squirmed against his arm

Mirio looked more in her direction with a confused expression as she started moving her breasts side to side, to the point that he could feel her nipples rub against his arm and buzz with her excitement. He watched as her ear flicked at the same time.

*Wait, is she hitting on me?*

“Don’t you like me?” she said with a pout.

“Err… I’m just working, so I wasn’t really paying attention, sorry”

“C’mon, if you don’t like me just say, otherwise you do”

“Maybe, I don’t know, it is hard to tell in this light”

The voluptuous bunny girl pulled back with a look of shock on her face, “Oh, so you think it could all be a trick of the light! Trust me, I’m way prettier in just the moonlight”

*Oops, that wasn’t what I meant to say. I should have said I can’t tell in a club environment. I have no idea what she is like when she isn’t drunk and in the club. Suppose I can go with it though*

“Like the autumn flower? Better in the moonlight?”

“Ha, you speak funny. All noble. Sure Madam, may I bother you for a moment or two?” she said squinting, her eyes and pushing her nose forward and into Mirio’s cheek.

“Okay” he said twisting his head back towards her.

Her eyes danced back and forth between his right and left as his face was close enough for her to grasp and she lingered her gaze down onto his lips. Releasing her grip on his arm she gripped on hand onto his belt and roughly pulled it towards her.

“Come on, lets go, I’m bored of this place”

Mirio gently grasped her hand and took it off his belt.

“Maybe later, if you meet me after shift we can take a walk around the lakeside”

“Okay” she said with a flutter of her eyes.

She picked up her drink of moonflower wine, and twisted the straw in her fingertips before giving it a sip and twisting off into the crowd.

“Phew” Mirio said as he dusted himself off and stepped back up onto the podium.

*Well, she sure came on strong*

As the night went on the music changed a couple more times, until it was the end of the night. Mirio watched on as different people mingled and tried to talk to each other, he considered in his mind how it all worked. Good dance moves seemed to be an attractor of a sort, yet some good dancers were left alone. Several of the noblemen crowded around pretty girls, inching in on them a step at a time, but that strategy worked less often than the guy who was stranded a few steps away that the girls could safely lay their eyes on.

As the club emptied and the musicians on stage packed up, he looked around the club to check if she was still there, from the look of it he couldn’t see her.

Dredge came in from the front and patted him on the shoulder, “So how was it, pretty non eventful right?”

“Yeah, nothing much happened, just good music and chilling up on my special podium, was alright”

“Haha, we’ll switch it up a bit more next time, just candidly there is a cutey out the front I have been working on”

“Oh yeah, how did that go?”

“Good man, we are meeting tomorrow for lunch”

“Great man, good for you”

Dredge turned his head to the side as the bunny girl from earlier stood close beside the both of them twisting the toe of her heels into the ground bashfully.

As she glanced up at Mirio, Dredge had the gears in his head click.

“Oh right, right, well you are done for the night, so head on off home I’ll help them finish up here”

“Oh ah, cool, I’ll be off then”

The bunny girl slid her hand into Mirio’s and quietly stood alongside him, waiting for him to lead the way.

“Right, so I said we’d take a walk around the lake, let’s go then” he said with a smile.

“Onward!” she said with a wink and a playful point of her finger, “Hee hee”