I awake to yet again a set of hands shaking me back and forth and a voice telling me, “Come on get up.” It sounds like Iris this morning.

“Why? We have today off so I should be able to sleep as long as I want,” I complain to her.

“But it’s your turn to cook,” She tells me while continuing to rock me back and forth.

I sigh to her while waving a hand at her from between my tails, “Fine… just stop that.”

Surprisingly she does stop and she asks me, “So what are you going to make?”

“I don’t know,” I tell her while I stretch my back and turn over to face her. “What do you want for breakfast?” I ask while sliding to the edge of the bed.

She begins to turn a bright shade of pink and she points at me and shouts, “Pa-Pa-Pervert dairy cow,” before turning and fleeing the room and slamming the door shut behind her.

I stare at the closed door for a moment before the powder room door opens and Melodiana sticks her head out looking towards the common room before asking, “What was that all about?”

“Well apparently I am the only person in this house that has ever seen a set of breast other than my own,” I tell her while enjoying the warm sun on my back.

“What are you…” she starts to say while turning to look over at me and just stops and starts to turn red before she just backs in to the powder room and closes the door.

“What am I going to do with you girls?” I ask to no one in particular while going over to my temporary dresser and pull on a longer shirt.

I walk out and go in to the kitchen where I find a tired Leyla heating up a kettle presumably for the jar of coffee in her hands. I nod to her and she just yawns at me before going back to staring at the kettle.

I start digging through the pantry to see what we have to cook and realize that we have very little in terms of edibles, apparently the city provides us with enough food for a couple of meals and then expects us to handle it. I sigh as I pull a few potatoes and the last eggs out, resolving myself to go into the Market to buy some food later.

After we have all eaten breakfast I look around the table before asking the ever important question “How are we going to handle how many Siltas everyone pitches in for grocery shopping?”

Melodiana says “Simple four way share. How about fifteen Siltas every two weeks, and then we store whatever we don’t spend to buy things like milk and eggs as needed?” To which Leyla and Iris both nod their agreement.

“Great. Now I need the Siltas if you all would be so kind, because our pantry is rather barren at the moment,” I tell them. “Also if you want any specific meals made, or ingredients bought make a list and I will see what I can find in town later. While you all collect your money I’m going to go get dressed to head out,” I say while getting up after receiving confirmation that everyone is fine with this.

Back in my room I remove my long shirt and put on a bra and slide into a simple blue day dress and pull my hair over my shoulder before feeding my tails through their place.

While I am gathering up my coin purse Melodiana knocks and walks in with a bag in her hand presumably the other girls Siltas. She hands the bag to me and I turn around and dump their coins into my bag, and while I am doing that I can feel her eyes on me. Looking back over my shoulder at her I notice that she is looking at my lower back and I tell her, “You know if you want a better look I can drop something and then bend over to pick it up.”

Her eyes snap up to mine and she goes a little red before stammering out, “I…It’s not that. I was just wondering how your clothes worked since it’s one piece today but it doesn’t appear cut above or below your tails to make room for them.”

“Is that all?” to which she nods, “That’s not any fun.” I mockingly sigh to her over my shoulder before continuing, “It’s actually quite a stroke of genius that the Succubae came up with.”

I reach around my back and pull the fabric above my tails towards my spine and then away from each other and lift the flap of fabric to the side and reveal the row of buttons and hooks hidden underneath. “You see I can slip my tails through quite easily when they are unbuttoned, then close them up and these little hooks wrap around the buttons to hold the fabric flap down and make it look like a solid piece of fabric. Almost all of my clothes are made like this,” I tell her while hooking it back together.

“That’s amazing,” She says with a bit of awe in her voice.

“Yep,” I say while quickly braiding my hair and then continue, “So are you ready to go?”

She turns to me with a perplexed look on her face and just says, “Huh?”

“Well obviously you aren’t going to let little vulnerable me wander around a strange city all by my lonesome would you?” I ask looking at her, while tilting my head down and to the left to try to make myself look even smaller, and then I continue on, “Especially since there are plenty of people that would try to take advantage of a beautiful young woman with a heavy purse.”

There is a few moments of silence and I see acknowledgment on her face before she starts speaking, “Yes I can see how that would be a problem, and I will escort you through the city. Let me grab my things and I will be ready to go.”

“Well that was easy...”

As we walk through the city I can’t seem to rid myself of the scowl on my face, or my developing headache. The cause of both of these things just walked back around the corner dressed in full leather body armor, with a broadsword on her hip, and a large sword, that I didn’t even bother asking if she could use it in the city, on her back.

She walks up to me and begins speaking, “We have reached the Market district and the way forward appears to be free of any unsavory sorts.” I sigh pushing myself away from the wall where she left me, not daring to have left... not after last time, and pull the list from a bag on my hip and begin to look over it. She begins speaking to me again with a bit of concern in her voice, “Is there something wrong?” When I look up to Melodiana she looks quite worried.

I sigh again before speaking, “Not exactly, but now that we are here how about instead of leaving me in small areas like this,” I say making a sweeping motion with my arm to the alleyway I have spent the last five minutes in, “You walk here on my right side and we shop like normal people please?”

“But the best way to protect you is to leave you in a secure area while I scout ahead for possible dangers,” She tells me like it is the most obvious thing in the world.

“Is it not dangerous to leave me in an alleyway?” I question her and she pauses to think for a moment before going just a little bit red at realizing her mistake, and I continue on to try and press my advantage, “I would feel much safer if you would just walk next to me down the street while we were taking care of shopping.”

She looks off to the side and mumbles, “Fine.”

“Thank you,” I say as I walk around the corner, “last time I leave you alone when I ask you to go shopping with me.” Looking up and down the street I make note of where the shops I’m looking for are and begin walking down the street.

The street itself is big enough to let two carts pass each other, if just barely, and is well maintained there are not many cracked bricks and they are relatively level. The buildings are made out of wood, with a few brick ones here and there, and have some have decorated signs out front with daily deals written on them, and others just have the shop name above the door. Next to alleyways stall vendors ply their goods, things from whetstones to different foods and drinks.

I can hear a harp being played as we walk past a clothing boutique called Anarhiem that has a set of collars on display in the window, and beyond that I can see long dress gowns in a variety of colors. A Kitsune woman, in simple but elegant green dress with long blond hair, is standing out front sweeping off the doorstep. From inside the shop a beautiful voice is singing a song that I don’t recognize as the harp plays lightly along with her.

As we walk past it Melodiana stops and stares at the display and then turns to me and asks “Why do they have collars on display when they have such beautiful dresses in the store?”

I’m glad that she is over her mood but really she has to ask that of all things just thinking about it I can feel my face heating up a little. “Don’t worry about it, it isn’t anything important,” I tell her turning away and spotting a spice shop across the road and point to it to let her know my intentions and I begin to walk that way. After a few seconds I hear her begin to follow me and it doesn’t take her long to catch up.

“So why don’t you want to talk about the collars? Are they not just fancy dog collars?” she says while looking down at me curiosity in her eyes.

“Of course that’s all they are, so why should we talk about them,” I lie her and she nods in understanding. I’m thankful that her curiosity is easily satisfied, but looking back I see the woman at the door watching us leave and she is laughing to herself and when she spots me looking back she waves at me and makes a circular motion with her finger and I can feel may face heating up again, and I catch sight of two tails swaying slightly.

At the front of the store I stop and begin counting out twenty siltas while trying not to breathe. Then on the list I underline all the spices that are on it and I write amounts next to each one, then I look over at Melodiana, who is looking at me confused.

She asks me, “Why did you stop? I thought we were going in to buy things?”

“Well…” I start looking at the list satisfied that I marked everything on it. “We are buying things. It is just going to be you in my place,” I tell her placing the coins and the list in her hands, “This should be enough for the amounts that are on the list now just go in and show it to the people that are running the shop and they should be able to find everything on it. It will take a little while to do so I am going to go over to farmer’s stalls and see what types of produce they have for sale.”

“Wait why aren’t you coming in with me?” a distressed Melodiana ask me looking back and forth between the store and me.

“Remember how I said I have a heightened sense of smell?” I ask her, and she nods, “Well just standing out here on the street in front of the store is irritating me, so just imagine how bad it will be for me on the inside.”

“B…but,” she begins

“Don’t worry you will be fine,” I try to reassure her, “I gave you two extra siltas just in case the prices are a bit higher here. Now go on I will meet you back here in an hour okay?” still looking very nervous she nods to me and turns to head into the shop.

I turn and head down the street to where I saw some potatoes in a stall earlier and begin going through the stall while making small chat with the woman about the weather, and how her business has been. Satisfied with the produce that I have separated, I pay a total of two siltas and she places my items into my basket for me, and I ask, “Where could I buy bags of flour?” and she points across the street to a small brick building.

“Crystal should have plenty,” She says with a smile and I nod before I turn.

Although I am getting a bit nervous about the amount of things on the list and having no proper way to transport it back to our house, I head over to the store front that has a sign saying Forest in High Elkas above it, and it turns out to be a bit of a general store.

Along one wall are tools, with things ranging from pitchforks and hoes to cooking utensils, and down another are bags of dry goods. At the back of the store behind a counter an Elfin woman with light brown hair pulled into a low ponytail wearing a pink frilly apron smiles and nods to me.

I return her nod and begin to look at the bags piled in neat stacks on the floor. Above each pile there is a hand painted beautiful mahogany plank and each one has different little decorations on the borders, some are vines with flowers, others have little birds, and others still are have little designs and all of them frame neat High Elkas that says what each of the piles contain.

While I was busy admiring the signs a soft musical voice speaks out from behind me suddenly, “Is there anything I can help you with?” I whirl around on the voice and take a step back and drop my hand to my hip, forgetting that I’m not currently visibly armed, and come face to face with the Elfin woman that was behind the counter and she raises her hands up in a sign of peace and begins speaking, “It’s alright I didn’t mean to startle you. I am Crystal I own this shop”

After the momentary panic settles I realize the reason she was able to sneak up on me is because she smells like this shop and that she is walking around barefoot. “Lily,” I tell her and then I turn back to the bags on the floor but I keep myself angled so that I can keep an eye on her which causes her to laugh.

“Peace little one,” She starts, “Like I said this is my shop so you don’t have to worry about anything while in here. Now what are you looking for?” she asks.

“I need two bags of flour, one bag of sugar, a bag of raisins, and do you have any cheese?” I ask looking around the store.

She smiles at me and says, “There are a few wheels around behind the counter.” She walks back around the counter and sits a yellow wheel on top of it and I hold up two fingers and she places another next to it, and then a small jute bag next to it. While I go back to looking at the wall in front of me still keeping an eye on her, she walks back over to me and asks, “How do you intend to get all of this, plus everything that is already under your arm, to your living quarters?”

I purse my lips and sigh. “I’m sure I will think of something after I stop at the butcher,” I tell her while looking out the window and determine I have a less than half an hour before I am supposed to meet with Melodiana.

She smiles again, “I could help you with that if you would like.”

“And how would you be able to help me with that?” I ask, and I can hear the distrust in my voice.

“It’s simple really, most of my business is delivering what people have ordered from me, it is actually very rare for a customer to come in and shop for things.”

“And you just leave your shop unattended while you do this?”

“Of course not, I have my daughter watch the store while I am out.”

“And you just load up all of these bags by yourself and then go across town to drop them off?”

“Of course not, my son helps me with that,” she tells me, ever smiling. I have to admit the offer is tempting, and her argument is winning me over, plus I am certain that she wouldn’t stay in business by tricking people.

“And how much extra would this cost?”

“Two additional Siltas, if you live in the city. I’ll make the deal even better if you would like,” she begins to say, “I will even offer to take you back to your quarters with all of your things when you are finished shopping for three and a half Siltas.”

“Why would you go so far out of your way to help a complete stranger?” I ask her.

“You are not a complete stranger, ever since you walked in that door you became my customer,” She tells me.

I sigh and say, “Fine. Let’s get the rest of this together and paid for,” I say while picking up the flour and head towards the counter, but stop halfway there because the bottles on the shelf caught my eye I grab two of them on my way back to grab a bag of sugar. Back at the counter I ask, “So how much do I owe you?”

“Nineteen and a half Siltas,” She says after counting up the total, “And when can I expect you back?”

“Within the hour,” I say as I place nineteen Siltas and fifty Murin on the counter, and then I turn. My gaze falls on a small jar of candy and I ponder it for a moment and I recall Melodiana's face before I sent her into the shop and I feel a little bad so I point over and ask, “How much per piece?”

“Ten Murin,” she responds and I nod and grab a couple pieces and pay for them before I head back to the front of the store.