Page 169

The stable was crowded and busy, people were all over the place so it took us a while to find Cecilia in the crowd. Luckily for us, despite the chaos she spotted our group as soon as we were nearby and waved us over.

"Oi, Lilith!" She was standing near the entrance to one of the larger holding pens for the uunas. It wasn't quite as busy as the smaller horse stable but the whole area was still pretty crowded. "Some guy delivered a carriage with uuna fittings early this morning. I was wondering how long it was going to take for you to show up but it looks like all of you were preparing your gear first. Probably for the best, if you think this is bad you should have seen it this morning."

She led us through the crowd and into the stable. Rather than anything like horse stalls, the uunas had more square-looking enclosures with a simple metal gate blocking each of them off. They didn't look like they would actually stop the giant six legged cat-horses from leaving but the enclosures seemed more about keeping the uunas comfortable than actually trapping them inside. They were smarter than horses but were still easy to keep as mounts since they were so pack-oriented that they usually treated their riders as pack-mates. It made it harder to ride just any uuna but easier to handle them once they did accept you.

I was smiling from ear to ear when we came up on Nikka and Landa in their pen. The uuna stood up as I approached and made a chuffing sound at me over the gate.

"Looks like she remembers you! That's a good sign," Cecilia said.

I held my hand out and Nikka pushed forward and nuzzled it. As kind of weird looking as they were, they did behave a lot like huge kitty cats. I scratched her fur and she leaned into me, nearly pushing me off my feet. I laughed and patted her neck.

"It'll be nice to travel with Nikka again. I didn't really get a good chance to say goodbye to her last time so it was a nice surprise to see her again so soon."

"I'm sure the feeling is mutual. These two have always been hard to get acquainted with but once they like you they're big softies," she said as she gave Landa some attention. "These two recently became a mated pair but Nikka hasn't given him any kits yet. I would normally think it would happen sooner rather than later but I think they can tell the situation in this city is weird. It has both of them hesitating. It's part of the reason I'll be happy to be getting out of here. Even going back to Traehall would be better than hanging around Goldenhearth for any longer."

"What are you going to do once we reach the capital?" I asked.

"When we reach Torlimal? I have some business there to finish up. If you guys are staying there for a while I might take another few trips around. We should keep in touch either way. I'd be happy to ride with you again, it's not often you find someone who bonds with your uunas."

I nodded. "The main reason I'm headed there is to get cartography training and take care of a few errands there. I'm not sure how long it'll take but what I'm picturing in my head isn't going to be over in a day."

"Sure. I don't know how long people usually take to learn a specialized skill like that but it sounds like it could take a while. Depends on the skill and who's teaching you I suppose, I don't know anything about cartography so I don't have any idea."

I shrugged. "Well, the adventurer's guildmaster in Traehall sent me to get training and come back to hunt for dungeons so I can't imagine it would take that long to learn."

Cecilia tilted her head. "That woman sent you? If she's paying for you to get training like that she must see a lot of potential in you. From what I've heard, the guildmaster in Traehall is pragmatic more than anything else. It makes her easy to work with, even for the people who don't like beastkin. I've only met her in passing but I've only heard good things about her."

"I trust her."

"Good," she said with a nod. "Anyway, let's get these two hooked up to the carriage and see if we have everything we need for tomorrow.

She opened the gate and led the two uunas out of the stable into the field. I was a bit surprised that no one even batted an eye at the two giant animals walking on their own with only verbal commands. The people here trusted the uunas knew where they were going with only minimal oversight, it was a little strange to see though.

We quickly found our wagon, it stood out compared to a lot of the other ones in the area by being a bit on the larger side. Not the largest but far from the smallest. Cecilia attached the harnesses to them before having them stand in position to connect them to the carriage. The whole thing went smoothly and the two of them showed they had no problems pulling the large thing. Granted there wasn't much in it yet but the ease with which they pulled it was reassuring. After going in a circle around the edge of the stable grounds all of us climbed into the back of the carriage to see if there were any problems with all of us inside.

The added weight had Cecilia adjusting some of their straps but after a bit of fiddling it seemed like we were good to go. Once we stopped and unhooked the two of them for now all of us explored the inside of the wagon a little. Eight padded couches each with their own suspension, four tables, and lots of storage space. It was both fancy and simple at the same time, not much inside but seating and tables but everything looked well made and finely crafted.

Raya looked absolutely giddy, this was probably an experience she had never expected to have. It was nice to see a direct example of my influence not only changing someone's life but changing its direction as well. Even if she didn't mind being a prostitute, she was now getting the opportunity to learn to be an adventuring mage as well, something she had told me she had only dreamt about before. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the women I had transformed over the course of my stay here ended up doing something similar. If nothing else all of them would have more options than they had before. The thought made me happy.

Sibyl was following Raya around a bit like a pet, not that I would ever say that out loud. I'm sure she would kill me. I didn't completely know what to make of their relationship... A lot of the time they seemed like blushing teenagers, other times they seemed like old friends, and sometimes Sibyl came off as a wise mentor. I suppose those things were all true at once but it made it an interesting relationship to watch.

"Alright Lilith, that's all I wanted to check out for today. I'll need to pick up a few more supplies and load up the fodder for the uunas but I'm satisfied we'll be ready to go tomorrow morning," Cecilia said.

"That's great to hear, see you tomorrow morning then," I replied.

As we walked away from the stables I let out a breath. We were finally moving on. I had such mixed feelings about it. I felt comfortable here but I know this isn't somewhere I could settle down. Not for the long term. I think it was fine to treat this city as somewhat of a home base but my actual home? No, not for a while at least. As dangerous as everything's been, I'm still drawn to the excitement of this strange world.

Morrigan pulled Bella by the shoulders over to me. "Hey Lilith, since we have the time I think you should take Bella out for a date."

"What?" Bella looked surprised by Morrigan's sudden proposal.

I smiled. "We do have some free time today, would you be okay with that Morrigan?"

"Sure, sure," she waved off. "I think Bella still needs it after last night and I'm sure you'll make it up to me later. I'm feeling pretty happy but I think Bella needs some of her alone time."

Bella averted her gaze, she was clearly interested, she just didn't want to say it.

"Sure, that sounds like a good idea. Raya, Sibyl, do you mind hanging out with everyone else for me? I would feel more comfortable if you guys stayed as a group."

"Sure! I don't mind hanging out with everyone today. That okay with you Sibyl?" Raya said turning to the smaller cat beastfolk.

"I don't mind," she said with a smile. "We'll be spending a lot of time together after tomorrow but I'm sure we could find something fun to do for our last day in the city.

I slipped my pack around and dug out two gold coins for them. "Here, take these to keep yourself entertained." I handed the pair of coins to Torien who's eyes went a little wide.

"Bu—" Torien started to protest.

"No buts! Just enjoy yourselves. This should be enough for lunch and to pick up some things for yourselves. Mimi has those trunks and we have some room on the carriage, no reason not to buy some things. Mimi, you can spend some of the money you're holding on to too if you need it. Just don't go too crazy."

"Okay! We'll have fun while you two spend time together!"

"Mommy and Daddy are going on a date," Sibyl said with amusement.

Mimi tilted her head in confusion. "Mommy and daddy?" Bella's ears went red and she turned away.

I laughed. "Alright, we'll all meet up again at sunset at the Ruby Vixen."

I dragged a shy Bella away from the group and headed into town. "Is there anything you want to do first? Go shopping around, have lunch?"

Bella intertwined her fingers in mine and leaned against my shoulder as we kept walking. "I'm not sure. I'm not really hungry, let's go check out the shops."

In the short time that we've been in the city, things have already improved a lot. Many of the buildings that looked deserted were now full again or in the process of being fixed up. Some of the worst cases weren't being rebuilt yet but the charred remains of the buildings were being carried away. Eventually, we came across a large open space where they normally had a bazaar but all that was there now was a guard to turn people away. There were still some stalls left but none of them seemed to be actually running at the moment.

The next street over were the businesses and inns running along the main road that went through town. We were warned before that these shops had a huge markup for things but at least they were still open right now. This main street was one of the only places in the city where guards were patrolling continuously.

"Is anything standing out to you Bella? Anything you're interested in checking out?" I asked.

"Hmm... I'm not sure. I didn't do much outside of farming and fishing when I was younger. I didn't really have any hobbies or many friends growing up."

I squeezed her hand. "That's sad to hear. Well, is there anything you'd like to try out now? Any hobbies you'd like to try out? Maybe we could track down some fishing poles, though I don't know if we'll get the opportunity to use them."

"Well there is a river that runs by the city so there might be someone selling fishing poles, that be nice to check out. As for other hobbies... I'm not sure. Well... maybe it would be nice to learn how to draw, if you would be interested in teaching me."

I grinned and looked at her. "Really? I'd love to teach you how to draw! It's not exactly an easy skill to learn but with lots of practice, you should be able to pick it up! Oh, maybe we should go look for an art supply store too then. I'm not sure if they have anything like that here but if you're interested then we should definitely go look!"

I don't think she was expecting me to be so excited by the idea but I couldn't help myself. I dragged her through town looking to see what we could find.