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W hen Viv’s eyes opened, she could tell from the coldness behind her that Tandri had already risen. She was amazed she hadn’t woken when the succubus left. Viv wouldn’t have thought it possible.

She smelled freshly brewed coffee and dressed slowly, needlessly delaying. Then, she became annoyed with her own dithering. Before Tandri, she’d never been hesitant in her life. Was she really going to pick up the habit, now? She descended the ladder with great deliberateness.

Tandri sat at the big table, staring over the top of a mug that curled a ribbon of steam. As Viv joined her on the bench, the woman slid over another mug, still hot.

“Thanks,” murmured Viv.

Tandri nodded and took a slow sip.

There was a relaxed curve to Tandri’s back, and her tail made slow, lazy motions behind her.

Viv’s tension released, and she swallowed some of the good, hot drink.

The warmth of it settled into her whole body.

The gabble of Thune’s waking noises, muted by the walls of the shop, surrounded them peacefully.

They enjoyed their coffee, slowly and quietly. Viv was reluctant to break the meditative, mutual silence, but after dallying like a coward in the loft, she felt a need to act decisively.

“Did you sleep all right?” As a bold conversational gambit, it left something to be desired.

“I did. Floor notwithstanding.”

Viv smiled. “Someday, I’ll get around to that bed.”

* * *

When they’d finished, Viv rummaged for cheese in the cold box and grabbed a few linen-wrapped pastries from the pantry.

Tandri joined her in the kitchen, and they engaged in the well-worn routines of the morning—firing up the stove, lighting the lanterns and chandelier, filling the machine’s oil reservoir, checking the cream, and arranging the mugs.

They picked at the food and moved about one another in slow synchrony.

Then Viv opened the door, and the gentle spell was broken like a soap bubble.

The noise of the day overtook them both, the murky threat of Fennus receded, and the warm other place they’d occupied all morning became more and more dreamlike.

The smells of Thimble’s baking and the clatter of his cheerful labors filled up the kitchen as they greeted regulars.

Chatter rumbled from the dining area, and the clink of mugs and plates skittered below it.

Cal dropped by, and Viv showed him the stove she planned to order for Thimble. He read the measurements carefully and squinted at the wall and the stove, while Thimble rummaged in the pantry.

“Hm,” Cal said, stroking his chin with a thumb.

“Well, s’pose you could fit it there, but goin’ to be mighty crowded.

May be that you’d best make do with what you have.

Auto-circulator keeps up now, but with two fireboxes?

Could be you’re back where you started and sweatin’ when you’d rather not.

Might be you have to look for a bigger place, an’ leave this one behind, if you’re set on it? ”

That was frustrating, and of course, moving wasn’t an option. Viv glanced at the back room, from which Thimble hadn’t emerged. She didn’t look forward to seeing his disappointment when she told him. “That’s a real shame. But I guess I have one other thing you might help with.”

Viv led Cal into the dining area. “We’ve got a bard that comes in and plays back here.” She gestured toward the far wall between the booths. “I’m thinking maybe a little… stage? Something higher up, with a step.”

“Sure. Sure,” said Cal, happy to be able to agree to something.

They talked details, and he tipped his cap and went on his way, carrying a hot to-go mug and a Thimblet with him.

* * *

All too soon, the day was done.

"We’re not going to argue about the sleeping arrangements again, are we?” asked Tandri archly.

“Never let it be said that I don’t learn from my mistakes.”

Tandri hummed.

“Although maybe you can keep your tail to yourself this time.” Viv smiled, her back turned as she put away the last of the mugs.

Tandri laughed softly. “Dinner?” she asked, as though they often ate an evening meal together.

Viv glanced over at Amity, curled up under the trestle table. For a wonder, the beast had stayed in the shop the whole day. It was reassuring. “I should definitely eat something besides Thimble’s baking,” said Viv. She slapped her stomach. “My clothes are feeling a little tight these days.”

Tandri snorted and opened the door.

They locked up and strolled to the High Street, found a place that neither of them had visited before, and had a meal together.

They talked about Laney’s latest wheedling attempts to extract recipes from Thimble, how to break the news of the scuttled oven plans to their baker, and about Pendry and a few of his more ardent admirers.

“His biggest fan was back again yesterday. Early, so she got a good seat,” observed Viv.

“The one with the hair?” Tandri gestured, miming windblown curls.

“That’s the one. I don’t think Pendry’s noticed yet.”

“Hmmm. Well, people tend not to notice what’s in front of them until it nearly knocks them down.”

Viv was about to reply with an offhanded quip, but something about Tandri’s expression made her reevaluate.

Eventually, she managed, “I guess that’s true.”

The conversation moved on.

* * *

After dinner, the two of them returned to the shop and snuffed the lanterns and candles. The rumble of Amity’s purr echoed from under the table.

“I can’t believe she’s still here,” said Tandri.

“I’m sure she’ll be gone before dawn.”

Viv hoped not, though.

“Maybe Cal will decide to sleep over, too, tomorrow? We’re short of blankets, though.” She waited for Tandri to ascend the ladder first.

They revisited that serene, gentle quiet they’d briefly shared that morning, and undressed. Viv found herself looking away as Tandri did.

They fell asleep back-to-back, comfortable and easy and warm.

* * *

Yowling shocked Viv awake, along with a heavy thud against her belly. Her eyes flew open as Amity’s enormous skull butted her again.

“Wh–what?” Tandri mumbled.

“Get up!” Viv sprang to her feet, inhaling deeply. There was a smell in the air she couldn’t quite place, acrid, but still faint.

The dire-cat lashed her tail and paced anxiously to the top of the ladder.

Viv spared a thought for how impressive a leap that must have been.

Then it dawned on her that she could see the animal far better than she should have been able to.

At first, she thought the faint light was from the moon, but the color was all wrong.

It was a pale, corpse-fire green. And it was growing brighter.

“What’s that smell ?” said Tandri, as she snatched up her clothes and held them against her chest.

Viv didn’t bother with hers. “Nothing good.” As she rushed to the ladder, the dire-cat leapt down first. Viv grabbed a rafter and leaned out, grimacing when she saw tongues of spectral green flame licking at the frame of the big double doors and spreading fast. Strangely, there was almost no smoke.

Then, with a thick, crackling sound, the flames sheeted up the doors like a waterfall in reverse.

“Shit! Hurry! It’s fire! The bastard lit the building on fire !”

“We have to put it out!” cried Tandri.

Viv hoisted the woman off her feet. Tandri gasped in surprise and almost dropped her clothes as Viv scooped her other arm under Tandri’s legs and leapt to the floor below.

Tandri grunted, rattled by the impact.

Viv set her down and looked around the corner into the kitchen. That door was also aflame, and little ribbons of fire crept up the wall behind the stove and over toward the pantry.

A piercing snap resounded from above as the pressure in the room changed, and then green poured across the ceiling like blood down a blade. She heard brittle, sharp cracks as the roof tiles burst like popping corn.

“That isn’t normal fire,” said Tandri, raising her voice to be heard over the roar of the flames, her eyes wide and panicked.

A normal fire smoked, but this one burned clean and pungent as incense.

“It isn’t. We have to get you out of here. Now.”

“ Me ? What about us ?”

Amity yowled plaintively, then hissed like a teakettle. She crouched near the big table, shying away from showering sparks.

Viv had already waited too long. Much longer, and her options would dwindle to zero. There was no telling how hot this unnatural fire might burn or what might extinguish it. If, indeed, anything would .

She dashed to the water barrel in the kitchen, the heat already intense from where the wall burned. The metal on the stove was beginning to throb red. Steam rose from the barrel. Much hotter than a regular blaze.

Viv scooped up a few of Thimble’s mixing bowls, dredged them one by one through the water bucket, and tossed the water toward the front door, now alive with sheets of flame.

The water had absolutely no effect. It hissed and evaporated before it even reached the wood, which had already charred, spider-webbed with throbbing lines of orange.

“Shit!”

When Viv turned, she saw Tandri had discarded her clothes and gathered an armful of mugs. She hurled them one by one at the front window, trying to shatter it—but the mugs burst on impact, leaving the glass unmarred.

She turned to Viv. “How do we get out?”

“This way.”

Viv sprinted back to the dining area and the big double doors, the heavy wooden crossbeam still in place. Snakes of green fire crawled all along its length, with curtains of flame dripping from above to meet those rising from the floor.