That evening, after the inquisitor's departure, the kitchen had put in just a bit of extra effort. Yldril and Jarix had both been treated to spit roasts with some actual spices being used for once. It wasn’t what Tom would call spicy, at least Saph didn’t think so. But with the knowledge that they could just order from the big cities, they could get away with using what they had at least.

Tom had decided to make a small pot of some kind of stew that he believed was actually a touch spicy. Jacky had claimed to love it, the amount of water she suddenly needed would seem to dispute it though. For the rest of them they munched on pies courtesy of Essy in the kitchen. A simple pastry base baked in the oven, filled with venison stew, and a lid of the pie made up of thinly sliced cured venison. Hindquarters in this case, woven into a square shape. It looked quite pretty really, and Tom certainly seemed impressed.

Saph’s favorite still had to be the sweet corn served on the side, grilled on the same fire as Yldril’s and Jarix’s spit roasts. It just went so well with a bit of melted butter, which they could also use more readily now. They had never really gone hungry at the keep, but certain things they could make themselves and others had to be bought. And if you wanted to turn a profit then keeping expenses down was imperative.

‘I like having money and connections,’ Saph just mused as she dug in. The upgrade in food might also have a little bit to do with the fact there were only around half the heads to feed at the keep now. The dragons had all left, save Jarix and Yldril. But Zarko and Radexi were welcome at their table anytime, that much was assured. Well, they all were technically, but at worst they had been looking at feeding three large dragon crews. Five if the medium-sized reds were also there. Just making the amount off food every day had put quite the strain on the kitchen and the poor sods on kitchen duty each day.

“I could live like this,” Bo rumbled happily as she munched on a corncob, getting rather messy in the process.

“Even if you have to do woodworking?” Pho jested as she too bit down juices spraying all around.

“Kullinger said I could make some spears for training with if I prove that I can make a joint with the little decorating axe he has. Could I have a bit more of the pie please?”

“It’s not a decorating axe,” Saph chuckled as she cut a pieces of pie and handed it down. To Bo’s Excitement “Here we are.”

“This is great, so crumbly. Who made it?”

“Essy. She’s the pie master around here,” Saph responded, peering at Essy out the corner of her eye, the older huntress pretending to not hear.

“Thanks, Essy, these are great,” the greenhorn called out, looking down the table and giving an appreciative nod.

“Yeah, really damn good,” Pho echoed as she finished her second sweet corn. “Do you think you could put corn in it?”

“Oh, I don’t know… maybe? There are some apple trees in the forest near the outskirts. I would love to make some apple pies before winter,” Essy replied with a warm smile, taking the praise to heart.

“Oh, that sounds delicious. Tom, have you brought some magic fruits too?” Pho asked away as she grabbed another cob from the bowl on the table.

“I don’t think so really… Maybe I should have thought of that. Do you have… Uhm… right yeah that’s a problem. Berry’s on straws… shit. They grown down near the ground and a red, sorta look like a little cone?”

“A berry on a straw?... Like what or grass or something?” Sapphire questioned between bits. She had rather hoped he would rattle off a list of berries he had or something, but no matter. Money could solve that problem if it had to. “Is it like a long straw or?”

“No it’s a terrible word name really. It’s like a tinny little plant like this big-ish” Tom went holding up his hands. “And they grow in patches spreading almost like weeds.”

“Sounds almost like grass berries, those a green though.” Bo replied thoughtfully scratching her chin with a finger claw.

“Do they have the seeds on the outside?” Essy questioned taking an interest and leaning in over the table a little.

“The do actually.” Tom affirmed, clearly in thought as well. “Are they only green?”

“I remember seeing some red and white stripy ones at a market years ago,” Esmeralda merrily. “They weren’t really sweet but had an almost mint-like taste to them.

“Okay, that we ain’t got for sure… Blueberries?” Tom tried, sounding unsure of what to expect.

“What kind?” Saph just answered with a chuckle. “I really like Delmont blues. They have a great tang to them.”

“Sounds like maybe a box of berries or two should be on the shopping list.” Essy chuckled probably quite willing to undertake that responsibility, at least is Saph knew anything about the warmhearted woman.

“Picked berries don’t last that long, but it is their season in the forest. We could see what we can find here and there.” Saph offered, chances of getting to go foraging probably weren’t great with all the things going on, but a girl could dream couldn’t she?

“We could go to the big patches of red rolics. You know, the ones that like to grow in the valley about 20 minutes that way,” Essy added helpfully, pointing over Tom’s shoulder. Saph caught the human almost starting to turn around to look behind him before he quickly turned back to his plate, probably hoping nobody saw.

“They are so sour though,” Fengi complained, clearly distraught at the idea. They did often use those berries for trail mix. They were easy to find and dried well enough. But Fengi was right. Even at the best of times, they were really quite tart, especially if you didn’t pick them just before winter. Which did sorta make the drying thing hard. They needed frost to sweeten up a little.

“Sounds almost like bird berries,” Tom snickered, finding that funny for some reason as he hunched a bit lower, looking around at all of them, apparently expecting someone to smack him.

it took them all a second t work out what shitty pun the human had made this time. “Oh you bitch,” Saph let out as it clicked. “Jacky, smack him for me.”

Jacky obeyed, giving him a gentle slap across the back of the neck before looking back up to Saph with a wide grin on her face. “What for?”

They all had a slight chuckle at that one as Tom rubbed the back of his head excessively, pretending like that had hurt.

“Damn birds peck around here. Maybe it should be Jacky the seagull instead.”

Jacky rewarded him for his insolence with another gentle slap across the back of the head, to which Tom replied by letting out a hilarious squawking sound. It sounded more like that goose that Pho had caused to hit a tree flat out months back. ‘Oh that was a funny noise now wasn’t it,’

“Seems we found the bird. Anyone got any feathers?” Saph questioned, looking down the table. Much to her disappointment, the hunting party didn’t actually have a feather between them at the moment. Luckily Jacky improvised and put a fork sorta into Tom’s hair, which looked like it wouldn’t stay there very long.

“The rare iron-crested dumb-bird. Only seen in the wild near areas of extreme heat with a chance of boom.”

Tom seemed to accept his role and let out another squawk, which caused the fork to clatter to the table. Tom put on his best distraught face and stared at the lost fork with nearly genuine sadness in his eyes. “Ahr shit, I guess I just kicked the bucket”

“I guess we get his ass for dessert then,” Pho piped up, brandishing her utensils and licking her chops.

“Ain’t nobody eating my dumb-bird, ‘cept me,” Jacky let out, pulling Tom into a protective embrace and holding him away from the greenhorn.

“Help help, I’m being oppressed,” Tom squawked in alarm, sounding about as disingenuous as Saph thought possible.

“No no Tom, you can’t oppress dinner. Now be a good boy and don’t squirm too much.”

“I’m not dinner, I’m you all’s payday,” Tom protested, putting on a pouty face as he struggled a bit to no avail before giving up. “Can I bribe my way out?”

“Oh I don’t know sweetie, can you? I think we all have a lot of coin coming down from upon high. It’s gonna be very expensive.”

As if on cue Dakota stood up at the Bizmati table. Nunuk was sitting in her high chair once more, notably with quite a bit of extra padding around her back, but she was there which counted for a lot really. They had the whole ruling family back at last, a sure sign things were going to be improving moving forward.

“Could I have your attention please!” Dakota shouted out, gaining everyone’s attention as the chatter died down among the tables in the torchlit hall. The warm glow of licking flames from the fireplace behind the Bizmati’s silhouetted Dakota and cast her long dancing shadow upon the ceiling.

“I just thought a few words were in order… We have once more made it through in one piece. There was a price, yes,” she began, turning to her mother with a sad but tender expression upon her face, the old lady reciprocating with a kind nod, smiling warmly as Dakota turned back to the hall and raised her finely engraved wooden mug. “But we are still here!”

The hall echoed her cheer as mugs were raised. It was mostly water, but the sentiment still counted for something.

“But as Tom has tried to teach some of us, regardless of if we knew it already,” she carried on a touch jokingly, giving the human a glance. “Hard work pays off. And we have worked very hard this year.”

“Hell yeah, we have,” Pho muttered to herself. Bo rolled her eyes as Saph sighed just a little bit.

‘Kids.’

“So it’s time for payday. Now, I want you all to remember that much of this is the fruits of our labor. And the Flaxen family’s… unwillingly of course. The Inquisition waiving this year's taxes, certainly played it’s part too. But without further ado, this year's share comes to 32 gold and six silver. And I think that calls for some celebration, for you all earned it!” the gilded huntress finished, giving them all a stern nod and looking around with a steely-eyed determination a smile on her face as the mugs were raised once more. Especially at the guard's table, where things got a little rowdy already.

‘Holy shit… we’re rich. We’re actually rich,’ Saph chuckled to herself, looking around at the astonished-looking huntresses.

Saph hadn’t known exactly how much money they would be talking about, but this was soo much more than she had hoped for. This was several years' worth of wages for some poor fucker that still had to pay for his own food and roof.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Tom had leaned back against Jacky to revel in all the expressions as the final number was revealed. Jacky had done much the same, the two of them savoring all the dumbstruck expressions and gawking grins that spread all around. It would seem the secret had in fact been kept, which sorta surprised Tom if he was being honest. Even Essy seemed to be taken by complete surprise, with her suddenly turning to stare at Kokashi across the hall, once she had recovered from the initial shock.

Fengi had promptly spat out some water she had been drinking her attempt to remain calm and composed only resulted in said water coming out her nose too. Tom wasn’t sure why she bothered, maybe she had been scared of being disappointed or something, but it did look damn funny. It had been rather hard to work out just how much money they would actually be talking ahead of time. Tom sure hadn’t managed to guess it right. He knew it mattered a lot to her, she had told him so herself way back when they had gone swimming. She had always been poor. Dirt poor even. Now she was about to receive two or three times a year's salary for a trader’s escort in one go. In back home money, that had to be something like 150 grand US or something. He knew it didn’t really translate, but still. He was damn sure she could buy a quite nice house for 64 gold in the city if she wanted.

He had a feeling that the people of the keep would probably not be too eager to leave, even with all the danger that had come their way and was likely to do so in future. Looking around, the looks on everyone’s faces were certainly best described as revelry, Balethon having managed to drag Maiko up onto their table for a little dance, much to the other guards’ amusement.

Tom took a look over to where Ray was sitting at the end of the table. She had been rather quiet as they talked so far, seemingly happy to play the third wheel to a friend group as per usual. Right now though, she was staring at Dakota, who was still standing and surveying the hall with a proud grin on her face. Tom couldn’t really move over to try and poke her to see if she was still with them since Jacky hadn’t thought to let go of him yet, which was getting a little uncomfortable by this point if he was being totally honest. Saph did seem to pick up on it though after she followed his stare.

“So, Ray. How do you like Bizmati keep?” the racer questioned, leaning over as Ray’s attention switched to her, her expression still blank with her jaw hanging a little.

“I’m getting thirty gold?”

“Thirty-two I think actually, and a couple of silver,” Saph clarified with a bit of a jest, giving the older woman a wink.

Ray just grabbed the nearest thing to hug, which just so turned out to be Fengi, who hadn’t quite recovered from the shock either. Being squeezed tight did seem to knock her out of her stupor though.

“Oh, hi. Thanks Ray… It’s alright,” the young huntress went, starting to stroke Ray, seemingly more on reflex than anything else as the cripple started sobbing slowly.

‘Maybe that was all a bit much,’ Tom concluded, quite safe in the knowledge that those were tears of happiness rather than sorrow. There wasn’t anything wrong with that; it had been a wild ride these last few weeks.

“If you should be hugging anyone, I guess it would have to be Tom or Essy. They brought home the meat this year,” Saph said with a warm smile, watching the two hug.

“Oh please, don’t let getting stabbed be the best thing I’ve ever done. That would be embarrassing,” Essy protested with a laugh, clearly not too upset.

“Hey now, you need to learn how to sell it. Local huntress manipulates noble shithead into a fit of anger, costing her and her skank family thousands of gold!”

“She’s right you know. She did only stab you because you worked out the whole cousin fucking thing,” Tom chuckled, as Jacky let out a rather obscene sound he had definitely heard before. That earned her a smack from Saph as they both started laughing together.

“I guess that is one spin to put on it,” Essy replied, her expression turning a little forlorn as she looked to Fengi, who had still not been let go. Ray was still sobbing quietly against the young huntress. “Just give her a minute, she’ll be fine.”

“Oh I don’t know whether to laugh or cry either,” Fengi let out with a bewildered expression that betrayed that she was probably telling the truth. “I’ve never had money like this either… I kinda wanna buy a coat or something. Maybe a nice hat.”

“Careful you don’t end up looking like a traveling musician, green feather and all,” Essy retorted with a happy smile as they both started chuckling a bit.

“I am sooo getting some drinks. Oh Tom, remember that wildbrew stuff they gave you at Deriva?” Jacky then broke out, clearly having had an idea.

“No,” Tom protested, trying his best to sound unyielding as stone. It didn’t really work, as Jacky tightened her grip a little, his attention shifting to not making any funny wheezing sounds.

“Ooooh come on. It sounded very fun.”

“Jacky, you high on a bottle of hallucinogens and likely hyper from the sweet stuff you would mix it with is possibly the most terrifying thing I can imagine having running around the keep,” Saph also protested, Tom sighing in relief that at least they hadn’t ganged up on him.

“Worse than a dark knight?” Jacky countered, tilting her head and looking to Saph.

“Definitely.”

“I concur,” Fengi added, raising a hand before going back to petting the slowly calming Ray. “Trying to catch him after he got all oiled up is THE hardest thing I’ve ever done. It was just impossible without digging your claws in.”

“I appreciate the restraint, I would rather not look like a… aaa… Cat scratched me to shit,” Tom replied, not remembering if there was a name for those here.

“What’s a cat?” Bo questioned, seemingly having missed the chit-chat on that particular small murderous fuzzball.

“Think part hot-water bottle, part mini murder machine. Great for mice and rats… and scratching you to shit.”

“I want one,” Pho added in, raising her voice a bit over everyone else.

“There’s probably some around here somewhere. Don’t you guys have rat problems and such?”

“Sure do, in the cities… especially the not-so-nice part,” Fengi answered, a hint of reluctance in her voice as Ray nodded her agreement.

“I will never have to eat rat again.”

“Damn right… Or haul bodies after winter,” Fengi echoed, her stare growing long and empty.

“I didn’t think I would make it through the last one before I found that warehouse,” Ray carried on, her weeping coming to an end, though she refused to let Fengi go. “That stupid pile of boxes might just have saved my life that year.”

“Is that so crazy? A clumsy black with a heart of gold trying to play city guard saved the rest of it,” Fengi joked, eliciting a slight chuckle from Ray.

“I guess so… Is Tiguan coming back from Deriva before winter?”

“I don’t think so, I believe they have a lot of work to do getting ready for winter. But we’ll have a get-together in spring, I’m sure,” Saph replied optimistically. “Maybe Tom has an idea for that?”

“Spring sounds like it’s your specialty. I might have some fun during winter though.”

Jacky found that quite amusing, letting out a burst of raucous laughter and letting him go. “Oh you know it.”

“Jacky!” Essy tried scolding to little effect as Tom took the chance to sit back up again, stretching a bit after being stuck in that really rather uncomfortable position, only for Jacky to grab him by the chin and force him to look at her.

“See, this is the part where you don’t eat me,” Tom tried to joke as she stared into his eyes, a slight smile creeping onto her face.

“Hmm… Okay then,” she snickered in reply, giving his nose a lick. “But only for a little bit… I’m so getting that bottle.”

“Oooh gods no.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

The decision had made to put hunting on hold, save for a few scheduled gathering trips and just enough hunting to get a touch of fresh meat to round out their menu for the rest of Autumn. Not only did the keep have plenty of food stored away for the moment, but there was also a certainty that they could buy whatever they needed additionally for winter. By the sounds of it, most everyone in the keep had plans to order some luxury goods many of the edible variant. The keep's kitchen's supply of more luxurious food items like smoked hams, sausages, and fruits—both preserved and fresh—was to be restocked and then some as well. They would be eating like kings this winter.

They really had better things to do than hunting anyway, and Saph had ended up volunteering to help with the building. Her job had mainly ended up being hauling things around and keeping track of Bo and Pho since she wasn’t actually much good at woodworking, nor did she have any desire to learn.

Pho had ended up taking to it rather well once she worked out that most of it was done with an axe rather than a knife and the fact you could race people when using a saw, which Saph did indulge her in a few times. Bo had been less enthusiastic, but she did at least have a good enough mind to be able to understand what it was Kullinger wanted, and her patience came in quite handy more than once.

Saph, quite content to leave them to it, of course also took what chances she had to keep Fengi company. It just so happened that every now and again that lead to the two of them standing around watching Yldril do the work instead, but really who could blame them? She was soo much better at moving things around than Saph.

The last of their dried wooden beams from storage were used for making the bunker framing, and the dragon had then merely filled in the area around it, resulting in a mostly finished bunker. Kullinger just needed to get around to making a door and maybe some shelves for the inside at some point.

Next up had been the warehouse foundation, which they just about got started on the day after the inquisitor left. By day two it had also been coming along rather nicely, but there was a lot of planning to be done and a lot of deep holes that needed to be in just the right spots. The dragon had settled into a sort of quiet brooding as she worked, only punctuated by irritated outbursts when something became too much. It didn’t always take a lot to set her off really. A rude comment by someone, a bit of dirt sliding down so she would have to fix it, or—rather more amusingly—when Yldril had let out a roaring shout at Pho, who had walked along the edge of the foundation for the warehouse and caused a mini landslide.

Saph had let out a repressed snicker as the greenhorn damn near took off on the spot, hurling herself clear of the whole building site with a powerful leap and beat of her wings before coming back tumbling down in the long grass next to where they had been working. There she lay for a bit, flailing around like an idiot, trying to get back up again before the perceived threat could end her, swearing viciously all the while.

Yldril hadn’t actually moved, nor did she seem to find the situation overly funny. She had just stared hatefully at Pho as she finally got back up to her feet and ran off. Then she turned to look at Fengi, who had been rather startled by the outburst, to ask if she could go fix it so they could be done with it.

Fengi had nodded at first, leading to the dragon just staring her down until she got some words out allowing the dragon to get on with it. Yldril had then proceeded to carry on with her work, which she was rather swiftly getting better at.

“We might have the pilling holes done by dinner at this rate,” Saph tried with forced optimism, as Fengi still hadn’t moved after the dragon had gotten back to work.

“I guess…” Fengi let out, uncertainty clear in her voice as she took a step back and leaned in to whisper. “Should I do something? That wasn’t very nice.”

Saph took a second to ponder, glaring at the piece of shit dragon.

“Nah… that’ll just make her hate you more. And Pho was being an arse.”

“Okay… But only because Pho was an arse,” Fengi replied, letting a very low and cautious chuckle creep into her voice, almost like she was scared of it.

“Definitely,” Saph agreed with a nod, Yldril’s head turning just a touch to let her one eye look back at them. ‘I guess her ears survived then… dammit.’

Fengi didn’t seem to notice or care. She probably knew the dragon could hear them just fine and it was just Saph being an idiot. Either way, Fengi kept standing there before leaning in for her own whisper.

“What are you gonna do with all your money?”

“... Nice food and drink?” Saph replied. She would be lying if she said she hadn’t spent some time at night considering it, but there were so many options. And she didn’t have a clue what most of her options cost really. “Maybe some new jewelry?”

“Yeah. I want something in gold… I always dreamed of having just a bit of it to show off. Do you think I could get away with a horn ring, or would Dakota be mad?”

“As long as you don’t get a golden crown, I think you’re fine,” Saph snickered, tapping Fengi’s copper huntress crown.

“Right,” Fengi chuckled a little nervously. “A ring with a gem in it would be really cool too.”

“It would, yeah… I guess I should get one with a Sapphire eye?”

“That would be quite funny. Think your mother would ever have believed you would have sapphire jewelry one day?”

“Hell no…” Saph replied, turning a touch solemn and remembering how her parents had lived. Cramped, poor, and worked to the bone for food and shelter. The life of an overcrowded keep with too little or too shitty territory.

“I don’t even think she ever made it past copper. Dad did at least make silver in the guard though. He had a little bit of silver on his helmet here,” she replied, running her finger along the side of her snout where the lower edge of the helmet would be. “I thought it was soo cool back then.”

“Same… My ‘mother’ I guess had some nice jewelery way back when I was little. I do remember some of it… by the time I was grown up a bit though, she had sold all of it to pay for the orphanage.”

“Life is shit at times,” Saph replied, reaching her arm around to give Fengi a bit of a side hug.

“Think she’s still back in the capital?”

“Who? Miss Doray?”

“I’m sorry I can’t remember what she was called,” Saph admitted, feeling a little ashamed.

“It’s fine… not like I talk about it much. Yeah, that’s her. I have no clue though, she was both poor and old… maybe, I guess?”

Saph stood there pondering the predicament for a second or two. “Think you could find her maybe?”

“Not a clue,” Fengi admitted. “She might be at the orphanage still, or she could be in an entirely different city.”

“Fair… But maybe you could get someone to go check? We can make calls now, you know.”

It took a second before Fengi turned to look up at Saph, the idea seemingly clicking for the young huntress. “You’re a genius, Saph!” she let out, a smile of pure happiness shining from her face. “If she’s still there, I can pay her back! Well, at least something!”

“Damn right you can,” Saph echoed, turning to look up at the small keep. From down here, though, it seemed awfully big as it sat atop its rocky purchase. “Damn right we can.”

Fengi interrupted Saph’s reverie with a poke to the side, pointing to the stairs where Ray was coming down with a pair of buckets. Probably dirty water to throw away or slop for the animals. “What about her, think she needs a hand?”

“Probably… I mean she lived a normal life once, I’m sure she remembers what money can get aside from food and a roof over your head.”

“I mean think she has folk back in the city too?”

“I don’t know actually,” Saph replied, trying to think for a second. She hadn’t heard Ray mention anything like that. The only family she really talked about ever was her brother, who had run the jewelers she used to guard, and he was definitely dead, so not much to do there. “I don’t think so.”

“I guess she’s got it all to herself then, ey?” Fengi tried with fake optimism.

“I guess… I hope she spends it on some clothes and jewelry, no need for fakes or copper. Gold and silver jewelry. I think it’ll help her a lot to look like she’s well… worth something,” Saph sighed.

“Don’t say it to her like that,” Fengi protested as Saph shook her head.

“I know I know, but it’s true. I mean the clothes we gave her are nice and all, but I think this should be good.”

“Fingers crossed as Tom says.”