Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Hard times have found our soft home. The heat dries our face. But we have people-money

A sweltering heat washes over Hineni’s face as he stands there, gazing down at the red hot, glowing metal held beneath himself. He turns the blade over, examining it. His eyes scan the piece, searching for any flaws, still noticeable on its surface.

 

There. On the far right of it, there’s something out of place. A segment of the metal there has a sort of a wave to it, but it ought to be straight and smooth.

 

Lifting the hammer, Hineni continues his work, thankful for Obscura’s blessing, which really has made his eyes sharper.

 

“Where should I put this?” asks Rhine. Hineni ignores him for a moment, striking the blade that he’s working on a few more times, before he loses track of the oddity and then turns his head, looking at the boy. Rhine is standing there, holding two steel bars in his arms.

 

Hineni nods his head to the side. “Over by the workbench. Keep them sorted.”

 

“You got it,” replies Rhine, his tied back hair stuck to his neck, dripping with sweat.

 

From all of the money that they’re making, Hineni had Sockel order a bunch of crafting materials to keep them supplied. Common ‘advanced’ metals like different blends of steel, but also some more aluminum and some cobalt-chromium. His priority, now that the rooms for rent are running, is to make an attractive offering of weapons for close-combatants, like fighters or paladins, if he can attract their ilk. They could be real big spenders.

 

Once that source of income is secure, they’re going to need to find a cook to run the restaurant. Then, once that’s stable and running, a librarian. There are so many different streams of income that they can get set-up here, thanks to the structure’s capabilities. But it’s going to be a real process to drum up the financial stability that they need to get the ball rolling that far along.

 

One step at a time.

 

Hineni returns to his work, turning the blade over with his tongs and looking at it for a moment. It’s too cold to work on now. He lifts it back into the air, returning the metal into the furnace for a moment.

 

“You’ve gotten stronger, Rhine,” notes Hineni, waiting a moment and then pulling the metal back out of the fire. He continues his work on the other side of it. Hineni supposes that having real food, real rest and real work will do wonders for a growing, undernourished boy like Rhine. It’s only been around a month. But the scrawny creature that Rhine was, unable to hold a single ingot for more than a few seconds, has really filled out and has even started growing a little muscle on him.

 

Rhine smiles a proud smile, pulling up his sleeve and flexing an arm. “I’ve been doing some push-ups and stuff too!” he says proudly.

 

Hineni nods. “It shows. But don’t over do it,” he says. “I can’t have you falling asleep at work.”

 

“Please. As if you could keep up with the pace of -” A box screeches, scratching along the stone floors as he pulls it out from beneath the workbench. Hineni doesn’t even bother looking.

 

Hineni points at him. “- RHINE! THE RIVER-WIZARD!” exclaims the man.

 

Rhine stares at him, his boot planted on the box, his thumb planted against his chest. They stare at each for a moment and the boy sighs, lowering his head with an awkward frown. “…Now you made it weird.”

 

Hineni laughs.

 

---

 

“How does it look?” asks Sockel.

 

Hineni tilts his head. “It looks like a piece of wood,” he replies, staring at the, quite literal, featureless sheet of wood, which is nailed to the wall, to the left of the receptionist’s counter.

 

Sockel rolls her eyes, leaning back on her chair. “That’s because you don’t have any imagination,” she says, lifting her hands and framing him with a box made up of her index-fingers and thumbs. “Just imagine it covered in paper and requests. It’ll look different.”

 

Hineni rubs his chin, thinking. “Sockel, can’t we make it look more… I don’t know, professional?” he asks, looking back at their quest-board to be. “It’s literally just a piece of wood.”

 

Sockel sighs, crossing her arms. “Sure. If you want to spend ten times the amount,” she says. “Sign-crafting is a tricky business.”

 

“…What?” asks Hineni. “Just get the carpenter to do it. It’s just a sign.”

 

She shakes her head. “No, you don’t understand.” The elf lifts out their savings ledger, running some numbers. “The sign-maker’s guild runs every operation in the city. The carpenters won’t do it. They’re the only game in town and they know it,” she says. “A quest board will probably run us… a thousand Obols?”

 

Hineni whistles. “Can’t we just make it ourselves?” he asks. “That’s highway robbery.”

 

“That’s what I’m saying,” says Sockel. “Either we pay the money, or we use the board as is,” she explains, pointing at the wooden board, nailed to the wall. “I figured that you and Rhine have enough to do already and that you aren’t interested in learning carpentry,” she explains, looking over her shoulder. There are already more weapons there, waiting to be dragged into the forge in order to be repaired. “You are busy, right?”

 

“Like you wouldn’t believe, Sockel,” says Hineni. “How are our finances doing?”

 

“Great,” replies Sockel, spinning the ledger around to show him the latest numbers. “Even after the full repair of the building and all of our other expenses, we were pretty much back down to brass tacks,” she explains. “But with all of the repairs that we’re selling, that were paid for in advance and the daggers that selling from the display-case,” she says, tapping a glass case that’s behind the counter, next to herself. “- Plus the rooms, we’re already back up to three-thousand in profits, before taxes and deductions.”

 

Hineni nods. “We have some wiggle-room in that case,” says the man. “Do me a favor, try to get a good price for the board. Tell them to make it look… owly,” requests Hineni.

 

Sockel nods. “Sure. If you really want to spend the money.”

 

“We’re investing in our future,” replies Hineni. “Things are going to get wild, Sockel,” he explains. This morning, over breakfast, he had told them all about his encounter last night and what he was told. “I want us battened down and secure and ready, while times are still good.”

 

Sockel frowns, her ears twitching. “Do you think it’s true?” she asks, crossing her arms and looking his way. “A war?” she asks, lowering her voice, so that the adventurers sitting at one of the tables don’t hear her.

 

Hineni looks at her for a moment and then nods, leaning in. “Sockel. I don’t know when or how it’s going to happen, but if you want to go to the south now to get anything or anyone, you’re free to leave,” says Hineni. “I’ll pay for your trip, as long as you promise to come back,” he says, tapping against the counter.

 

She sits there for a while. “- So, it should look owly, right?” asks the elf, spinning the ledger back her way.

 

Hineni stares at her for a moment and then nods, looking back towards the quest board. “Let’s really go deep on our imagery,” says Hineni. “We’re not just selling an adventurer’s guild. We’re selling a brand,” says the man, looking at some of Avarice’s pamphlets, which are all decorated with drawings of a dragon, guarding a mountain of gold.

 

The front door opens and a woman walks in, looking around the room. She turns to them for a moment, holding out a small bag. “I’d like to give the owl-god an offering,” says the stranger.

 

Hineni smiles, nodding to her. “I’ll see if she has time for you. Please, take a seat.”

 

---

 

“Are you in here?” asks Hineni, looking around the room. “Obscura?”

 

Their bedroom is in a state of disarray. The double-bed is more than just unmade, it’s flipped entirely over onto its side. The mattress is leaned against the wall, blocking the window. Hineni looks around the room, staring at the construction site that he had known nothing about. She doesn’t seem to be here.

 

The man goes down the hallway, looking at the many doors of the rooms, which are all occupied. It feels odd, having strangers in their home, but honestly, he’s not as weirded out by it anymore as he thought he would be.

 

Hineni goes down the hallway, to the door at the end of the hall and heads upstairs. “Are you up here?” he calls. He receives a hoot in response.

 

“No, dummy,” sighs a familiar voice. Eilig. “You gotta do it like this, see?” it asks.

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Hineni goes up the staircase, looking at the two of them. Eilig is down in the open heating shaft and Obscura is hovering above it, looking down at the fairy. Her arms are crossed.

 

“WHO~!” she protests, lowering herself down. “Little fairies will show reverence for BIG Obscura~!” she argues, spinning her head in a circle while glaring at the fairy.

 

“How about you draw the sigil right, feather-brains?” asks Eilig’s voice. “Then we’ll talk.”

 

Obscura hisses at the fairy, turning to look at Hineni. The furniture up here is disturbed as well, together with some parts of the walls. “What’s going on?” he asks.

 

A vague blob pops out of the hole in the floor. “I’m being mistreated, that’s what’s going on!” protests Eilig.

 

“Crunchy things will work for their keep,” says Obscura. She points at herself, looking towards Hineni. “Gracious! Obscura is gracious!” she argues. “Should she eat the no-work fairy?”

 

“See?!” asks Eilig’s voice, a small arm extending out in what Hineni assumes is the creature pointing at her. “I’m here out of the goodness of my own heart and this is what I get!”

 

Hineni sighs, rubbing the back of his head, his fingers running through his sooty hair. People-problems are a part of life that he’s never had much experience managing and ever since this new life of his has started, he’s really had to deal with a whole bunch of them. “Please don’t be mean to Eilig,” says Hineni, looking at Obscura. “Someone is downstairs with an offering for you.”

 

Obscura narrows her eyes, looking away, offended he assumes, because he took Eilig’s side. “Let’s take a walk together through the forest later, okay?” he offers. “When work is over.”

 

She opens an eye, floating there, upside down with her arms crossed. “A shrine.”

 

“What?” asks Hineni.

 

Obscura spreads her arms out, spinning right-side up in the air. “Hineni will build a mighty temple for me!” she hoots. “In the big-now-small forest!”

 

“Uh…” Hineni thinks for a while. “We can maybe get a small altar set-up?” he offers as a counter. “A whole temple is out of the budget right now.”

 

She shakes her head. “No budget.” A talon pokes against his chest. “He will build, yes?” she asks, tilting her head. “For her? Yes?” she asks. “Hineni will do for Obscura, yes~?”

 

“I mean…” Hineni sighs. It’s kind of a random thing for her to want from him right now, but she is a god, after all and he supposes that if it helps keep the peace, he has an hour to spare to build some kind of forest-shrine out of sticks and rocks, like a child playing in the woods. “Sure,” he relents.

 

She nods, satisfied, sparing a glance over her shoulder to Eilig, before floating off downstairs.

 

“Boy, she’s sure played you like a fucking fiddle,” says a sharp voice. “Sad.”

 

Hineni turns to look at the fairy, deciding to ignore its usual snarkiness. “What are you two doing?” he asks, bending down to look at their work.

 

“Making sigils and seals,” replies Eilig, dropping back down into the shaft.

 

“Sigils?” he asks, looking at the patterns carved into the heating shaft and the wooden floors. Eilig’s are neat and cleanly drawn, but these larger ones up here are rough and they look like Obscura literally carved them into the wood with her talon.

 

“Yeah,” replies the fairy. “Your crazy bird-wife woke me up, threatening to eat me if I didn’t help you guys make a bunch of magic-repelling seals all over the house.”

 

Hineni sighs. “I’m sorry, Eilig. I’ll talk to her,” says the man. “Nobody is eating anybody in here,” he promises. “This is my fault. It’s probably because of the whole ‘big-frog’ thing,” he explains.

 

“Oh, sure. Because you’re having fun dreams about other women while you’re sleeping next to your fiancée, I get to suffer. Thanks a lot,” says the fairy.

 

“It’s not like that, Eilig,” replies Hineni. “Look, it would be a big favor to me if you please continued your work on the seals,” he says, sitting down on the floor. “Honestly, I’m worried too,” he admits. A fourth dream, a fourth encounter with the big-frog would be… unfortunate.

 

The fairy sighs. “If your mother could see you now, putting up magical barriers to keep interested women away.”

 

The man laughs. “That’s certainly one way to look at it,” he says. “Eilig, can I ask you something?”

 

The fairy stops its scratching in the stones with a shard of magical ice. “What?”

 

“Were you really here when I was a kid?” he asks. “Since when?”

 

“Huh?” asks the fairy. “You idiot. I was here before you were a kid,” snaps the fairy. Hineni blinks, looking down at the blob. “I’m basically your big sister.” She flies back out of the hole. “You really stepped into my territory, you know?!” she snaps. He can see two blobby arms, placing themselves on what he assumes are her hips. “I was so mad at you for butting in on my life. It was great here! I should’ve snuffed you out in your crib,” says Eilig. “It’s a good thing for you that I liked your mom.”

 

“Wait. Eilig, you’re a girl?” asks Hineni. “I always thought that fairies were just kind of... anything.”

 

The blob flies closer towards him, holding out its arms to the side. “Duh?” she asks incredulously.

 

“Oh,” says Hineni. “Uh, well, it’s hard for me to tell, you know?”

 

The fairy sighs. “Yeah, because your eyes are as shitty as your breath,” replies the creature. “I don't think you got a single good feature from her.”

 

He leans back, thinking about his childhood and then about his initial encounter with the fairy, who is apparently a sister of sorts. “The licking you twice thing is weird now, isn’t it?” asks the man.

 

“It was weird before, asshole!” exclaims the fairy. “And don’t you fucking dare get any ideas with your weird ‘three’ crap!” warns Eilig. “Next time, I’m shoving an icicle down your throat.”

 

Hineni laughs. “Can I ask you one more thing?” he asks, wanting to ask if the fairy knows why his father would try to hide her presence from him.

 

“Do you want me to make the seals, or do you want to waste my life asking dumb questions?” asks the fairy in annoyance.

 

Hineni looks at the creature for a moment and then nods. “Sorry,” says Hineni, getting up and dusting himself off. Maybe he’ll just save that question for next time. It seems like Eilig’s short fuse has reached its end. “I just never knew I had a sister,” he says.

 

“You don’t! It wasn’t literal, dummy!” barks the fairy as he turns to leave. “I’d rather be related to a spider or a frog!”

 

He turns his head around. “- That last one went too far.”

 

Something grumbles, mumbling indistinctly and the trap-door to the heating shaft slams shut.

 

 

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