News of the approaching visitors had spread quickly. The mood of the town was already festive when we arrived, and the caravan hadn’t even appeared yet.

  People were bustling around all over the place. Some carried items they were clearly intending to sell, moving them to carts for transport. Others rushed about in a hasty flutter that suggested they were preparing for serious business. The rest strolled freely through the streets, simply enjoying the atmosphere of anticipation.

  For the time being, Alys and I were firmly in the latter category, even if our stroll wasn’t aimless. We were headed for the Town Hall.

  The structure was, by far, the most striking in Swiftband. It was the tallest building in town, stretching to three stories instead of the usual two. The bone-white wood of its walls gleamed from the treatments and sealants it had received. The color formed a striking contrast with the roof’s cheerful red shingles.

  The Hall was also significant because you could usually find Swiftband’s elders there. On that particular day, however, we encountered the elders without having to enter the building. All four of them were out front, busily exchanging words with a group of townsfolk.

  “No, you cannot build a stall. Just like every other time, we will need to cross the river to meet the caravan. You would have to transport all the materials for construction. Besides, none of the merchants are here to stroll around and browse our wares. And before you ask, Alys is working on the bridge on the east river branch, and the caravan is coming from the west. She will get to that bridge soon, and the caravan will be able to come into town proper next time.”

  Hyel sighed and took a moment to rub the bridge of his nose, seeming to age a decade or two right in front of us. This was genuinely an achievement, since he was already the oldest looking elf I’d ever seen.

  He had actual wrinkles. His golden hair was starting to lose its color. There was a tangible weight of years upon his entire person. Yet in spite of all that, he was still surprisingly spry, and his regal bearing made it impossible to associate the word ‘frail’ with him.

  An elderly hawk beastkin named Yora stood at Hyel’s right hand. Her intense eyes scanned the crowd as if they were children she was about to start scolding.

  Ferlis, who stood on Hyel’s left, was a startling sight at the best of times. Her skin always looked unnatural. It was almost… wiggly. Her body resembled that of a stick figure. One could be forgiven for thinking she was being starved. After all, the hunger of a wendigo was never truly sated.

  Her face was her most unnerving trait. It was like someone had reduced the head of a deer down to the skull, placed it on top of a humanoid body, and then secured it with an eerie black goop. And because her face was a skull, it was always difficult to discern what she was thinking or feeling. Perhaps her eyes could have revealed her emotions, but few dared to meet her gaze directly, even for the benefit of divining her mood.

  The fourth elder, a human, hovered in the background as he munched on a bowl of dried fruits. He was hunched over with age, his face set in a rather dour expression. Grafton: the elder who had managed to annoy and insult me so many times, I had sworn personal (petty) revenge upon him.

  As soon as Hyel spotted us, he waved and called like we had tossed him a lifeline.

  “Ah, Thorn! I hope you will forgive me, everyone. I must speak to our resident alchemist before we go out to meet the caravan!”

  The small crowd grumbled a bit, but they did start to disperse, apparently willing to accept my arrival as a valid excuse. I knew I had earned the town’s respect with all the alchemical products I’d provided. And the recent monster attack had won even more goodwill for both me and Alys. After all, it wasn’t every day that two people managed to kill a monster like that almost entirely on their own!

  “I hope you will forgive me for using you in that manner,” Hyel told us as we approached. “Everyone is excited, which means that everyone has questions for me. One would think I am the only elder in town, rather than one of four.”

  He glared at his fellows. None of them looked sympathetic.

  “Ha! You made yourself too approachable,” Grafton scoffed in between bites. “Bone Face here scares people off even if they respect her. Feathers is too intense for people to approach her lightly. And I made it clear from the start that they can’t bother me with their nonsense. If you didn’t want to deal with them, then you shouldn’t have been so nice!”

  I narrowed my eyes. Grafton’s unpleasantness was matched only by his appetite. Ferlis was the one whose race was supposedly plagued by endless hunger, yet it was Grafton who couldn’t stop stuffing his mouth.

  Hyel was the nicest of the elders, even if he pushed a bit too hard for everyone to ‘stay safe’ and ‘take care of themselves.’ He had almost forced Alys and me back into town proper after the kappa attack, simply because he was worried about us living so far away. It didn’t work, obviously, but only because the two of us had firmly and consistently rejected his ‘suggestions.’

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  “It is no trouble, I assure you,” I told Hyel before Grafton could say anything else. “We were looking for you, anyway.”

  “Oh? And what can I do for you today?” he asked, his smile now slightly strained.

  “It’s more the opposite, really. I assume that samples of my alchemical products would be helpful when meeting with the royal surveyors? I took the liberty of assembling a package for them.”

  Dipping my hand into my storage bag, I pulled out a large wooden box.

  “This contains everything notable I have made with local materials since my arrival here. Mostly poultices, minor healing items, the honey ginger candies, and the healing potions. I neglected to include any sort of poison, of course.”

  Hyel’s expression turned briefly serious at the mention of ‘poison.’ I could see the word’s impact on the other elders as well. They hadn’t taken my warnings too seriously when I first brought my poison to them. Then they had seen the concoction’s terrible effects on the draconic eel abomination that had attacked us.

  They definitely understood now.

  “Of course. A wise decision. We do not want our town to become well-known for products of… that particular kind.” Hyel’s smile returned in full as he accepted the bag of alchemical products, but then he hesitated. Sounding suddenly sheepish, he went on, “I do have a request for you, however.”

  “Hrm? What sort of request?” Alys demanded, inserting herself into the conversation for the first time.

  She wasn’t the only one who had discerned the elder was about to say something I would dislike. Still, I was thankful she had jumped in to question him ahead of me. I had pushed back at the elders rather strongly when they’d tried to limit our freedom, and I would rather not argue with them again so soon.

  “Well…” Hyel cleared his throat. “I was hoping you would accompany us to the meeting with the royal surveyors, Thorn. It would be beneficial if you could present your products yourself, especially since you would be there to answer any questions they might have.”

  In other words, they want to show off their brand new alchemist, I thought to myself, resisting the urge to sigh.

  I just wanted to do some shopping and spend time with Alys without having to think about nonsense like this. Furthermore, as an Autumn Noble Fae in hiding, a personal meeting with royal surveyors was the last thing I wanted to do. Even surveyors from a kingdom with no connection to the Autumn Court.

  Yet those surveyors would probably be much more impressed by the town’s progress if I did attend the meeting. And that would go a long way towards alleviating some of Alys’ anxiety.

  She was the only builder in town. The surveyors’ easiest way of assessing the town’s progress was to inspect her work. She hadn’t been crushed by the pressure, not fully, but she had isolated herself to work as hard as she could physically bear. Sometimes harder.

  I was only starting to coax her out of her shell, and that was partly due to my alchemical products. I had told her often that the crown would never retract their support of our town while we could produce healing potions with entirely local ingredients.

  If I could help alleviate the burden on her shoulders, it would be worth it. Besides, it wasn't really such a risk. Snowdrop, the kingdom sponsoring Swiftband’s settlement drive, had cut all ties with the Winter Court many years ago. I could probably manage it with no trouble, especially since I was in disguise…

  “No.”

  Surprisingly, it wasn’t me who spoke. I looked to my side to find Alys staring determinedly at the elders.

  “We have plans already,” she announced, her arms crossed. “Unless it is absolutely essential, I’d rather you didn’t drag Thorn into any meeting.”

  “Ah, well…” Hyel faltered, and then stopped when Ferlis placed a hand on his shoulder.

  “Oh, leave them be, Hyel. We will manage just fine on our own.”

  “Exactly. They clearly have better things to do,” Yora chimed in, looking at us in a way I thought signified amusement. The beaked face of the hawk beastkin was almost as alien to me as the wendigo’s features. I often struggled to discern Yora’s emotions.

  At least her tone of voice was more indicative of her mood than Ferlis’. The wendigo elder’s speech always made me shiver. It was like the howl of the winter wind, the snap of hungry jaws, and the eerie silence of a dark forest all speaking together in a grating chorus.

  “Very well. We should start heading out, then.” Hyel bowed his head politely. “Thank you for the samples of your work, Thorn. I assure you that we will make good use of them.”

  I nodded back at the elder, knowing I could trust his word there. They were nothing if not dedicated to the success of Swiftband. The town had been thriving before I arrived. I was simply the neat little bow on top of an already appealing package.

  Once the elders had bustled off down the street, I turned to Alys.

  “So… we have to cross the river to meet the caravan?”

  “Did you think the caravan would be coming into town?” she countered, clearly amused. “When they’d have to cross that horrid excuse of a bridge to do so?”

  The town was situated between two rivers which merged not far from it, leaving it defended by natural barriers on three out of four sides. Unfortunately, in a stroke of ‘genius’, the elders had ordered Alys to construct the flimsiest possible bridges so they could be brought down easily in case of an attack.

  It was only recently that the kappa, the kelpies, and that draconic abomination had revealed the weakness of this plan. Any water-based enemies could demolish the bridges themselves and turn the trap against us. That was when the elders had given Alys permission to fix the bridges. She was making incredible progress with her crew, but Swiftband was currently inaccessible to carts.

  “That makes sense. They definitely aren’t going to be able to cross with their goods, unless they have a whole lot of storage bags like mine,” I mused, thinking of the deathtrap bridge with a shudder.

  “At least that means we don’t need to put up with the royal surveyors,” Alys pointed out happily. “They’ll be making a trip back here with the elders to see the city and gawk at what we’ve achieved. So we can put them out of our minds and enjoy what the caravan has to offer.”

  That certainly improved my mood even further, ensuring there was a grin on my lips as we followed the others out of town.