Wandering the markets of the Legea was never a quiet affair. At least, in Ranvir’s experience. Most of the time, there were so many people shouting, shoving, and selling their wares that it left him more exhausted than a full day inside a fold. These effects were only exacerbated today.

He’d known taking Graywing with him would result in some stares. He’d feared it would result in people screaming and running away. He’d never expected it would result in people flocking to him so readily.

To the people of Legea, Graywing didn’t represent a dangerous alien threat they could not understand. Graywing turned Ranvir into a powerful braced, with his minion or pet freely visible. Ranvir was all too aware of the irony as Loce buzzed within his soul, conveying amusement at the scenario.

Fortunately, the vulture seemed to handle the attention better than Ranvir did. Perhaps it came as part of its traits as a ruler of its previous territory. Graywing preened and fluffed its mane of feathers, seeming to accept each hollering merchant as an adoring commoner seeking its acceptance. Which, honestly, wasn’t far from the truth.

There was only one reason Ranvir would bring the over-sized chicken into the city. And it wasn’t to show off.

Graywing leaned down over a side of beef, a whole side of beef. The flank was about as long as Ranvir was and included both front and rear leg. Turning its head, the vulture peered at the meat with a single eye. The mane of feathers around its neck lifted and fell oddly as it inspected the potential meal.

“It is a demanding customer,” the merchant whispered nervously to Ranvir. Ranvir, who could sense its near overwhelming desire to gulp down all the meat the man carried, then visit the next stall over. He nodded and smiled at the kortian.

“Very demanding,” he replied.

Finally, the bird rose and trilled a loud cry that caused every bystander that wasn’t already looking to turn towards it, startling even those already aware. A few children began crying, more began yammering, and a few approached before being dragged away by parents.

“We’ll take it,” Ranvir said. He sighed inwardly. Hopefully, this bond won’t take too much longer, otherwise Graywing’s going to leave me more broke than the house did. He coughed up the keys and threw the half-cow into a space.

Graywing peered at him indignantly. “You can eat when we get home,” he replied, setting off. “We have one more stop.”

It slammed its razor sharp beak into his head, finding only rock hard stone. Keening a low complaint, Graywing skulked after him, looking like nothing so much as a play villain brewing up their evil plan. Leaning forwards as it almost skipped instead of running.

On the way to the last store, Ranvir ran into a few braced. He recognized them as Sentinels, which wasn’t surprising considering his current proximity to the compound. The three of them nodded to him, casting only perfunctory glances at Graywing. Until the last one in their group. A small kortian woman, blond-furred bear ears flicking twice as she recognized something the others didn’t.

Ranvir smiled at her as she stared after them. Most braced wouldn’t immediately recognize that Graywing wasn’t like other pets. All the ones they’d met together had pegged something off about the bird within a brief period, but it usually took them an hour or more before they realized it was fully a Second Order creature in its own right.

She muttered something and hurried to catch up to her group, leaving Ranvir and Graywing behind. Finally, they stopped in front of the last shop. Before he could approach the door, it was shoved open.

“What is that?” Alexis asked, giving Graywing a narrow-eyed glare. The vulture immediately matched her, leaning down until its massive head was right next to the girl’s. The bird had a superb scowl, and Alexis backed off quickly enough. “Is that… You want it to come inside?” she gave Ranvir a disbelieving look. “When you said you had a particular customer…” she shook her head. “Whatever, you break it, you buy it.”

He nodded and followed her. He had to move around the vulture as it was still glaring, but there was just enough that he could get between them. Turning towards it, he raised a finger. “Careful in here. You break anything and it’s going to be your dinner for the next couple of months.”

Graywing glared at him, but he’d already been inured to its deathly gaze. Finally, it let out a sound surprisingly close to a scoff and bowed its head to step inside. Ranvir turned around just in time to see Alexis’ father put on a winning merchant’s smile, easily weathering the magnified chicken following his daughter inside.

“These are the ones I was talking about,” Alexis shot a glance over her shoulder, eyes lingering on Graywing. “Apparently.”

“Very good,” he said, digging a pouch out from behind his counter. “And I must say,” he said, turning to Ranvir. “It is good to see you again, young man,” he held a hand up to his mouth as if to shelter his next words from the others in the room. “Alexis’ descriptions of you don’t really do you any favors.”

The girl in question rolled her eyes. “I was being accurate, not flattering. Like you taught me, dad.”

“It sounded like you were being negative and a curmudgeon,” her father replied smoothly.

Ranvir felt a little tension slip from his shoulders at the comfortable back and forth of father and daughter. Which was soothing, as the Graywing tendency to loom was only further increased by the low roof. Its head hung over his shoulder, its chest pressing against his shoulder blades.

“Very well then,” the merchant said, opening the pouch. “Though you didn’t give us too long of a notice, we acquired these for you,” he pulled a few dried fruits of different varieties. Each of them flavored with storm mana. “They came all the way from the southern horse plains. You wouldn’t believe the contacts I had to pull to even become aware of these guys’ existence, let alone get them all the way up here in reasonable time.”

Ranvir noticed Alexis smile as her father pitched the sale to him. Thankfully, he hadn’t come completely unawares to this situation. Alexis and he weren’t close, but she had afforded him one important bit of information. Her father would rip her off if he thought he could get away with it.

“That’s very impressive,” Ranvir said, once the older man’s long-winded story ended. “I’m so happy I first spared your daughter’s life, then later saved her life.”

“Yes, such a fortunate series of events that led both of us to meet each other under such wondrous circumstances,” the merchant agreed readily, waving his hands about expansively. “We truly are fortunate.”

“Your daughter was truly worth the sacrifices I had to go through to make sure she got out the Orykto fold alive,” Ranvir agreed.

The merchant’s lip faltered for half a second. “Yes, truly some sacrifices are tough, but to think the price on the other side could be so worth it.”

“For sure,” Ranvir said, picking up one of the fruit to examine it himself. It was pear-shaped, but had a much softer exterior. Of course, the drying process had shrunk it significantly and likely altered its color darker, so he couldn’t be entirely certain. “To think, I wouldn’t even need these, if not for the betrayal of the men your daughter was working with.”

His smile faltered entirely then, and he turned a suspicious glare towards his daughter. “What’s going on? Did you talk to him? You did, didn’t you?” he turned back to Ranvir and sighed. “You’re too unruffled,” he shook his head. “Such a disappointment. Her stories about you suggested a certain level of social awkwardness. Did she coach you on what to say?”

Ranvir pulled the letter she’d written to him, notifying him that the shipment had arrived. It also just so happened to include a script in case her father tried to pull one over on him.

“I can’t tell if I should be proud of her competence, or shamed by her financial irresponsibility.”

Ranvir snorted. Alexis clapped her father on the shoulder. “Applaud my networking skills. We’re bonding with a powerful braced. Right, Ranvir?”

He nodded.

Her father let out a slow sigh. “Fine.”

“So we’re going to sell them at cost.”

The merchant nearly keeled over as Ranvir handed over the fullkey block and she handed over the fruit. “Pleasure doing business with you,” he said as Graywing dipped into the pouch and gulped a fruit the size of his fist down whole.

He felt their bond flex and shift slightly, crackling as the resonating mana further reinforced their connection. Taking the potragos back was uneventful. Ranvir spent the first half feeding Graywing each fruit by hand, then the latter focusing on their bond. Capitalizing on the growth.

While the food did them good, it wasn’t a game changer. Arriving in Eriene, they picked up Vasso from school. He asked the boy a few questions, but he wasn’t in a talkative mood, so Ranvir let it lapse.

A few dozen meters from the house, Loce let Ranvir know what Frija had been up to in the time since he’d been away. Mostly climbing trees, it turned out. Following his companion's guidance, Ranvir found struggled a little to find the right tree she’d hidden herself in but thought it good practice to learn the storm locust’s cues and clues.

“Daddy!” Frija called from far too high in a tree. Stomach doing little flips that sent waves of nervous purples and yellows throughout him, Ranvir watched as she climbed down with the confidence that could only be found in the truly stupid and children. “Look what we found!” she exclaimed once she got close enough that he could lift her the rest of the way down with his bare hands. Menace adroitly followed behind, looking not at all bothered by the change in environment from tree branch to forest soil.

Frija was holding up a dried up looking fruit. That Ranvir almost thought she’d somehow gotten hold of one he’d forgotten to feed Graywing. “It was in the tree, but I don’t think they normally make fruit.”

“Can I see?” Ranvir asked. The fruit was a purplish brown, so dark it nearly appeared black. It reminded him of an overgrown raisin. Except, this fruit contained a minor amount of sand mana. Not as strong as the storm mana in Alexis’ fruit, but enough to be noticed.

“That’s awesome, Frija,” Ranvir said, sweeping her into a hug. “Can daddy keep it for the moment?”

“Alright fine,” his daughter replied. “But only if you carry me all the way to the raisins!”

Ranvir smiled and kissed her on the forehead. “Of course, Firehearth.”