Chapter 38: Ch 38 – Town

The town was pretty quiet overall. In fact, the only person I saw of note was sitting in a chair in the front of a building, I could only assume it was his home. Seeing how there was a person, I pulled Devin towards him. Even as he seemed flustered at my actions. I sort of enjoyed seeing his reaction to me pulling him along.

“Hello there…” The man in the chair said as we approached.

“Hello!” I chimed and looked at Devin.

Sighing briefly Devin joined in, “Hi…” He grumbled.

“We were hoping to find somewhere to stay a night. Is there anywhere we could stay?” I inquired.

The man considered for a moment before replying. “Maybe Jenny and Evan have room… or you could try the old church, but it's a bit late for that I’d imagine. Probably not much better than the road unless you put some work in...”

That was disappointing. I really had hoped Devin would be wrong about that… But what was this other option, “What's this about an old church?” I asked.

“No one to run it anymore.” He noted thoughtfully.

“Where might we find the couple's home?” Devin interjected before I could venture down another path.

The man gestured a bit up the road, towards a building.

“Thanks.” Devin said and I waved as we wandered off down the street.

“Let's see if they have room. Maybe if we’d arrived sooner we’d have more options. But it's a pretty small town, most of these homes won’t have extra room.” Devin explained.

A few minutes of walking, and a knock later, the door opened to reveal a stern brick of a man, “Yes?”

“My apologies for the interruption, but we were hoping that there might be somewhere in town for two travelers to rest for the night.” Devin explained. He can really be polite when he tries huh? Then again I guess we are asking for a favor.

The man considered, “There’s a shed…” He said glancing at me and noticing my wince. “Afraid that our spare room is occupied.”

“Occupied?” I asked.

He nodded, “Indeed, he's a letter carrier working for the kingdom.”

“Oh…” I frowned.

“Suppose you could ask to share the room.” The man offered thoughtfully. And I perked up immediately.

Devin put a hand over my mouth muffling my voice into pure gibberish as I tried to speak, then he just went ahead and said, “We might try a few other houses. Thanks for the offer.”

He nodded, “You sure? It's getting late. A bed, is a bed, right?”

Devin still holding my lips hostage said, “That's alright.”

The man nodded and pulled the door closed saying, “Give it some thought.”

I stared up at Devin and when he released my lips I asked, “And what was that for?”

“Please. I could practically feel your giddiness.”

“So? What's wrong with that!?” I asked.

“You want me to repay you? Or you want some random guy you don’t know?” He asked.

I considered for a heartbeat then replied, “Both.”

Devin sighed, “I should have seen that coming.” he said as he pulled me along to the next house.

“You suddenly all conflicted about my proclivities?” I asked.

“It's not sudden.”

I was right after all… Give the guy five minutes to think it over and suddenly I was stuck inside his box. “Devin. You do realize…” I paused my words realizing I was about to proclaim some very strange things in the middle of town and thinking twice about it.

“I realize what kind of person you are. I can make peace with some of it. But you’re gonna have to put some work in if you expect me to willingly want to be in the room with another man. Prison guards and lust-fueled anger notwithstanding. You can go back to that place and find yourself that guy. I’ll sleep in the shed.” He said pausing to look at me.

Alright, maybe I wasn’t giving him enough credit. Then again who was I to blame him? If the roles were reversed what would I do? I had an inkling I’d be worse by far. “Fine… I’ll try to be more reasonable.” I said after a moment.

“You sure?” he asked skeptically, “I can still see that spark in your eyes that says you’re thinking of something that would prove otherwise.”

I glanced away at the ground, would I?

Devin sighed, “Besides we’d be guests in someone's home.” he said as he walked down the street. I let him do the rest of the talking as we visited four more homes, one of which was empty. No one else had more than a shed or a dirty floor to sleep on.

“Alright… let's go back to the first place.” Devin sighed.

“It’s fine, I’ll be a perfect little princess.” I insisted.

“Sure, that completely describes you.” he said with obvious sarcasm as we trooped back to the first home.

“What? I’m not thinking terrible thoughts at all. Nope, not a single one.” I stated, trying to look innocent. Even while wondering who this other guy was, and what he might look like.

“How can you even be that cute when thinking about being so bad?” He asked unable to suppress how his lips turned up just a tiny bit.

“Lots of practice.” I replied without thought.

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“Is that so?” he mused.

“Yeah… you have to after a while.” I said feeling a touch worn at those last words like there was some reason for it beyond what I could so easily reach.

We knocked back on the first door. It didn’t take long for the same man to answer, “No luck then?”

Devin nodded, “Unfortunately no. If you wouldn’t mind we’ll speak to your guest.”

The man nodded, “Come in.”

We saw his wife was sitting in a chair by a small but smoldering fire in the chimney something that smelt pretty good was simmering over it.

She glanced up from what was clearly a square of various interwoven fibers. “Hello.” She said warmly.

“Hi!” I replied jovially.

Devin gave a nod, “Good evening.”

We walked to the back wall avoiding the small table and other various items and amenities my former cave-dwelling self had once adamantly desired. There were so many little things baskets, a pair of scissors! And… was that spices? It looked like salt and pepper!

Devin raised an eyebrow at me as my eyes leered at the wonders of technology, trade, and craftsmanship. When he put his hand on my chin and brushed his finger over my lips I came up short meeting his eyes that seemed to be sinking into mine in return. What was he doing? Did he want to just ravage me right here? Right now?

“Stop drooling.” He noted in a whisper.

I grimaced whispering back, “What!?”

He sighed, “You’re so strange sometimes.” he said as he turned to the now opening door the man had led us to.

I wiped my chin when everyone was turned, but it looked like Devin had gotten rid of whatever was there. Had I really been drooling over tables, tools, and salt? That couldn't be right, could it? Was he messing with me? Maybe I had been... a little? I was just surprised and excited!

“Gerl, It seems that there are two more looking for a place to sleep for the night.” The brick fellow noted to the man inside.

“Oh? I don’t really mind.” He offered without even seeing us, “I’m always glad you have room, no reason to push someone else into the cold.”

I leaned forward to look and Devin stepped up behind me urging me forward.

The man in question was pretty average for the human men I’d seen so far. Tall, muscles but a touch on the leaner side than the others. He was sitting on the bed with a tiny chunk of wood in his left hand, and a knife in his right.

“Hello…” I said introductory, “I’m Anna.”

Devin growled low at my cheeriness behind me, “I’m Devin.”

The man blushed upon seeing me, his tanned skin making it only barely noticeable. “I… I’m Gerl.” He offered in reply a bit shyly. Particularly his eyes didn't quite know where to rest on me, or perhaps it was more a struggle to corral them?

“You all sleep well. If you want to help us out in the fields in the morning we might even be able to spare some breakfast for you.”

“I might take you up on that.” Devin said thoughtfully.

The man nodded, “By the way I’m Evan, and my lovely wife is Jenny.”

“Good to meet you.” Devin said before I also chimed in, “Good night!”

Devin pulled the door closed as I dropped my luggage, a roll of pelts, and other things. That done, I practically leaped into the bed with a thud.

“Uh... Miss, where might you both be heading?” Gerl who was glancing down at me a little flushed asked.

“North.” Devin said while I said, “Not sure!” at the exact same time.

“Uh…” Gerl offered weakly.

“What she means is that we’re not sure where our destination is. But we’ve been heading north.” Devin explained.

While he was doing that I shifted this way and that way enjoying the overall softness of the bed. Were there feathers in this thing? It was pretty great, if only slightly lumpy! It could be better for sure, but after hard cave floors, this was heaven! Beds and blankets are the best!

Devin walked over and pointed at my feet.

“Oh… I really got ahead of myself didn’t I.” I admitted realizing I was likely being the worst house guest.

I’d have kicked them off but making odd shoes with weird shape-shifting abilities and whatnot wasn’t going to be easy to explain. So I made a bit of a show with me sitting on one side to hide my feet from this Gerl fellow so I could remove my foot protection. In reality, I'd been wearing my loincloth as shoes and I shoved the two sides of the garment into my roll of pelts so as to not worry about it anymore.

I leaned over to Devin, “You think we can ask him to leave for a sec so I can change?”

“Why change?” Devin asked.

I stared at him, “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Women…” Devin grumbled and glanced over at Gerl, “Would you mind stepping just outside the door for a moment? She needs a touch of privacy to change clothes.”

He nodded vigorously, “Of course not.” He said obviously glancing back at me as he closed the door.

I couldn’t help but smile to myself, he liked looking at me. Every chance he got he seemed to glance in my direction. Maybe tonight could be fun after all, maybe it was time to start fiddling around with my other abilities.

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