The details of the dream already fading, lost to the chasms of my mind. That was the tricky thing about dreams. Bits and pieces always remained, but the finer details always seemed to fade.
I pushed myself out of bed and looked around. Sunlight was already starting to filter through the grimy window, which meant it was time to get moving. I had plenty of work to do, and sleeping my day away wouldn't benefit anyone.
With a little rest behind me, and my heart slowly coming down from its drumming high, I turned to the messages the System had spit out at me the day before. A window appeared before me.
Debuff Detected.
I rolled my eyes reading over it. I hadn’t fully understood what ‘debuff’ meant at the moment, but considering when it appeared, I’d managed to put things together well enough. A Debuff must be something that slows me down or hinders me in some way. Like poison or non-threatening injuries, maybe.
I dismissed the notification and looked through the others. One mentioned something about social skills increasing, which I swiped away without acknowledging. I was a dragon. Of course my social skills were impeccable.
Another that I’d missed completely managed to pique my interest, though.
New Side Quest Detected: Investigate the Warehouse in the Eastern Quarter.
Quest Objective: Investigate the location and try to recoup the items that were stolen from you.
I focused on the window, and it expanded, new text appearing beneath the old.
Quest Details: You have been robbed! The vagrants who stole your coin purse vanished into an abandoned warehouse in The Eastern Quarter. Investigate the abandoned location for a chance to reacquire your stolen items.
I gawked at the text for a long time. Far longer than was fitting for an Empress, or even a dragon without any noble blood running through its veins.
The System was giving me a chance to get my items back? I’d been wondering what would cause it to spit more quests at me, but this didn’t fit any of the ideas that I’d been mulling over in my head. Everything so far had seemed focused on survival or the [Hero]’s return. But this… was a [Side Quest]?
Upon thinking about the words, the first windows vanished, replaced by another.
System Tutorial: Side Quests are non-Primary Quests that offer Users an opportunity to earn experience, rare items, and other specialty goods.
I gawked even more.
Tutorial? Was that like a teaching thing? I shook my head and dismissed the window, tired of staring at the golden text. This ‘System,’ whatever it was, continued to spit out words at me that made absolutely no sense. I could understand them, in that I could read them like they were written in my own language. But I’d never, in thousands of years of living and fighting cosmic creatures from all over the universe, ever heard the word ‘tutorial.’
“Tutorial,” I said it out loud. Slowly. It came out sounding like toot—or—ri—ole.
I shook my head again. Saying it felt even more wrong. Almost as wrong as the dream I’d have the night before. I shook that from my head, too, and climbed out of the bed.
My clothes were a wrinkled mess, which wasn’t great, but I didn’t have anyone to blame but myself. My ankle felt much better, though, so it seemed that sleeping and Henrietta’s tea had done the trick. The bandages had probably helped some, too, but I still wasn’t wholly convinced.
I opened the door to my room, when a soft knock sounded against the wood, to find Irinda standing with a plate of breakfast foods held out. Steam rose from a mug in her other hand.
Thank the moons, I thought, and stepped out of the way. This time I ate with a bit more of the class that one would expect from someone of my standing. When I was finished, Irinda motioned to the door.
“I drew up a hot bath. Figured you could use it.”
I let out a sigh of relief once more, and we both hurried downstairs to where the steaming tub waited. Irinda helped me strip out of my clothes, careful to leave my dagger beside the tub where I could easily reach it.
I sank into the hot water, letting its warmth melt into my body. It was glorious, the way my muscles loosened, decompressing. The sores and aches smoothed away like wrinkles on a blanket. Baths were one of the few human things that I truly enjoyed, and I hadn’t realized just how much I missed them, since I hadn’t been in a human form in over three hundred years.
"I could stay here forever," I told Irinda, who had situated all my clothes in a pile on a chair off to the side. "Thank you."
She smiled and offered a slight nod of her head. "It's nice, you know, working for someone who… treats me like a person."
I raised an eyebrow, looking at her over the edge of the tub.
Her gaze met mine and her smile faded to a frown.
"He hasn't treated me the same since I married him." She finally said after a few breaths. "He promised me the world, you know. Said we would run the inn together."
Shaking her head she reached for a bar of soap. It looked newer than the one that I'd been given the first night, and as she wet her hands and rubbed it between them, a faint florally scent filled my nose.
"We made it three days before he hit me. Five before I found out about the others."
She motioned for me to face away from her and once I did, began to scrub my back with the bar of soap. The florally scent grew stronger as she scrubbed.
"I used to think he was someone better, or at least that he could be someone better. I used to make excuses for him."
She continued to scrub me, eventually moving to my arms as she talked. She told me about how he would choose one of this wives to dote upon and ignore the others. Or worse, how he would beat them if they messed up.
As I listened, the fire of anger in my gut feasted upon the fuel she offered. I had to stop myself from climbing out of the tub and taking him on. He couldn't be that strong. I'd already beat him once. If I could surprise him again…
"He'll get what's coming to him one day. I believe that." She said, pulling me from the trance my anger had almost placed over me. Her words had not fallen on deaf ears, but I had also not wholly been listening.
Anger was an interesting emotion, and I felt everything… stronger now that I was locked in this form.
It was hard to explain, but it was like my dragon form had always dampened my emotions somehow. Perhaps it was because I was more connected than ever to humanity in that moment. I wanted to ask her more about her plight with Brin, but when I looked back at her, the sadness in her face shut down my questions.
Irinda finished scrubbing me down and then placed the bar of soap to the side and stood up, wiping her hands on her apron.
“I’ll get these cleaned up for you while you rinse off,” she said, moving over to the pile of clothes. She hurried out the door, her face a wall of stone. As if she hadn't just revealed one of her darkest truths to me.
I sat there for several moments, the soap suds still thick on my skin. The water was still warm, and I let my body collapse into it, walking back through the things she'd revealed. Every word she'd spoken had confirmed one thing to me: Brin had to die. I wasn't sure when, but it would happen. I would make it happen.
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Irinda returned after a while with my clothes, which looked like they’d been shaken out and ironed to remove the wrinkles. I offered her a nod of thanks, and then she helped me dry off and pull the clothing on.
Fully clothed again, I couldn’t help but notice that the shirt I wore didn’t smell like I’d worn it the day before. I raised an eyebrow at her, and she simply smiled in a ‘we all have our secrets’ kind of way. I decided not to press it, as it really didn’t matter to me how she made my clothes smell and look nice, so long as they did look and smell nice.
Feeling more like an Empress than I had in days, I left the bathing room behind, my dagger once more tucked into my belt. Irinda followed, as she had the day before, and we headed out into the streets of The Eastern Quarter. I didn't stop her this time. After what she'd revealed, it felt right to let her journey with me.
I wasn’t really sure where we were headed until we found ourselves looking up at the front of the tome shop that Henrietta ran. The front of the store was empty, despite it being late in the morning. I headed inside, Irinda trailing after me.
“Be with you in a moment,” Henrietta’s voice called from the back. I roamed around the shop as we waited, Irinda looking on at all of the tomes with wide eyes and a hint of a smile on her face.
When Henrietta shuffled up from the back of the store a few moments later, she let out a huff of air and waved her hand at me. “Already back for more trouble?” She called, rounding the counter.
“Here for information, actually,” I said, offering her a smile. “And a proposal.”
She raised an eyebrow at that, but continued her walk over to where Irinda and I were waiting.
“What kind of proposal you got to offer an ol’ lady like me, huh? Not one that’s kind to old bones, I imagine.”
I laughed. It felt good to laugh. To finally feel like I had something to work toward, that was more immediate than just preparing for the arrival of that damned [Hero], six years from now. I shook my head at her jest and leaned against one of the shelves of tomes near to us.
“Remember the vagrants I mentioned?”
She nodded.
“I’m aiming to get my stolen supplies back.”
She shook her head. “Now that just sounds like trouble.”
My smile widened. “Don’t worry, Henrietta. I don’t expect you to go sneaking in and fighting them. I’ll do the heavy lifting. I just need some information.”
“Bah,” the older woman said, motioning for us to follow her. “You haven’t even introduced your new friend here, or even asked how I’m doin’, and already you want somethin’ else.”
We followed her around the counter and to the back of the shop, where we’d shared our tea the day before.
“Henrietta, this is Irinda, my…” I hesitated. What was she to me? Not really a lady-in-waiting, but also not a friend.
“I’m her companion,” Irinda said after my silence stretched on. “She hired me to assist her in getting to know the city.”
I nodded as Henrietta’s eyes met mine, narrowing slightly. Not really believing the lie. It wasn’t completely a lie, though. She was a companion, of sorts. Depending on your definition of the word.
“Very well,” the older woman said, motioning to the round table in the center of the back room. The fire in the fireplace was already a steady flicker of flames, and a kettle had already been placed above it.
“Expecting someone?”
“Just you,” Henrietta responded. She offered a knowing smile, and shuffled over to the fire as the kettle began to whistle.
I raised an eyebrow, but kept my mouth shut. There was certainly more to this old woman than had originally met the eye. But exactly how much more was still a question I would need to dig deeper to answer. Another time, perhaps.
I sat down at the table in the same chair as the day before and Irinda stood behind me.
“Oh, please, child,” Henrietta said, motioning to her. “Sit down. You can serve later.”
Irinda looked to me as if expecting me to disagree, but I simply nodded. This was Henrietta’s shop. It was only right to respect her wishes—at least so long as they aligned with mine.
Irinda took a seat next to me, and Henrietta returned to the table with three cups and the boiling kettle. The tea leaves in the bottom of the cup were dark green, with golden flakes mixed in. She poured the water over the leaves, and the gold flakes bubbled up, surrounding the ground-down leaves. After a moment, the bubbling settled, and all that remained was a pristine, golden surface.
“Enjoy,” Henrietta said with a slight flourish. She returned the kettle to the fire and plopped down into her own chair, where she sipped at her cup of tea, with a look of contentment on her face.
“Now,” she began after both Irinda and I had taken a sip of our teas.
The tea was delicious. Less earthy than the blend from the day before. And it had a nice bittersweetness to it that played across my tongue.
“What can I do for you two?”
“I need to find the kids that robbed me. I know they were set up in an abandoned warehouse somewhere in The Eastern Quarter. It wasn’t too far from here, because I managed to hobble my way to your alleyway, where I saw your cat.”
“She’s not my cat,” the older woman corrected. “And I haven’t seen her today. Have no idea where she went. First time in days she hasn’t spent most of the day sitting at the mouth of that alley, waiting for something.”
Henrietta’s eyes found mine, a glance of accusation flashing across them. But she didn’t follow it up.
I didn’t dignify it with an answer. I hadn’t stolen her damned cat.
“Anyway,” I continued. “The girl that robbed me had short blonde hair and freckles on her face. Similar to mine.” I motioned with a finger toward the line of freckles that ran across my human face.
Henrietta nodded slowly. “Sounds like those kids that run around Machem Street. There are a few abandoned warehouses that some of the less fortunate souls have set up in. Could be the ones you’re thinking of.” She took another sip of her tea and let out a deep sigh. “You know what I love about tea, Aria?”
I shook my head.
“It has so many uses. Just yesterday, you drank a tea that helped heal your body. Now, today, you’re drinking one that poisons it.”
My eyes widened. Fear tore at my breath like a frigid wind in the middle of a blizzard.
“You wouldn’t,” I said, my voice a hoarse, accusing breath. My cup was half-empty, as I’d been sipping at it throughout the conversation.
The old woman shrugged, and I turned to see Irinda staring down at her own cup, which I could see was completely empty. Her brown eyes lifted, meeting mine, panic of her own present behind them. Dancing like the embers of a forest fire.
I set my gaze back to Henrietta.
“Why?” I demanded.
She shrugged again, offering me a knowing smile. “I wanted to see if I was right.”
“Right about what?”
“What you are.”
Ice found its way into my veins, clawing and digging. It coursed through my heart and out into every inch of my body, sending chills through the bones and skin.
This old woman had dared to poison me. To put my life on the line. But The System hadn’t warned me of any poisons. Shouldn’t it have? If my theory about debuffs was correct, then yes, it should have. Which meant…
Proficiency Increased: Poison Resistance +1
The System message sparkled in the corner of my vision, another accusation of Henrietta’s actions, and my vision narrowed on her wrinkled face.
“What were you trying to find out?” I asked, my voice low, a rumbling growl not completely fitting for a dragon, but it was as close as I could get in this human form. My hand had also found its way to the hilt of my dagger, and I’d drawn the needle-thin blade, which I now held out extended in front of me, in the old woman’s direction.
“I think that answer is very clear,” she said. Her eyes danced over to Irinda. “Oh, don’t worry, honey. Your tea didn’t have anythin’ in it.”
Irinda let out a very loud huff of relief next to me, which drew a surprised look from Henrietta.
“You could eat entire castles of this poison, and it would never affect someone of your kind.” She leaned back in her chair, her cup on the table in front of her, and she held my gaze once more.
“But I don’t work with people I don’t know. And you seem like someone who has big plans that could dump trouble on my doorstep. I wanted to make sure I knew what I was gettin’ myself into. If that’s so wrong, then you can leave the way you came in.”
I let out a low chuckle. “Oh, you think you have the answers, don’t you?”
“I have enough.”
“You have nothing. You have no idea what or who I am.”
“I know you’re a dragon. I know that you’re weak. Otherwise you wouldn’t be sitting in that form, askin’ for my help.”
My vision reddened. Frustration and rage thrilling through me.
She wasn’t wrong. That was the most infuriating part of it. I was weak. The System had given me another chance, but it had started me out so far below my own station.
It sickened me. It infuriated me. And now, this puny, weakling human had the audacity to call me weak?
I pushed up from my chair, my body moving quickly, but not nearly as quickly as I expected it to. I shoved the dagger to her throat and her eyes continued to stare up into mine as every instinct in my body told me to cut her head from her body. To darken the wooden table with her blood. I had every right to.
I was the [Empress of Dragons], and she had slighted me.
I stood there. Hovering over her. Blade pressed against her skin. It never broke through. Never sent a line of red cascading across her old, wrinkled throat. She never looked away. Never blinked. If she was afraid, she didn't show it.
I pulled away from her, the dagger coming with me. I tucked it back into my belt and turned to Irinda, whose eyes were wide, staring at me as if she could finally see through my feeble mask.
“You are both witnesses to my mercy. You will not forget it—because it will not come to you again.”
I glanced between them. “Do you understand?”
Irinda gulped and nodded. My eyes found Henrietta’s, and she nodded. Once.
“Good.” I growled. “Now tell me what I want to know.”
I grabbed the half-finished cup of tea and downed it. This time, I could taste the poison, hiding behind the bitter and sweetness, like an assailant in the shadows. I felt it as it tugged at my body and then was quelled by my innate poison resistance.
If I hadn’t been a dragon, I would be dead. That thought made me want to cower. I had trusted Henrietta so quickly because she had shown me kindness. She had used that kindness as a blade, which she had buried deep in my back.
Humans. The thought passed through my mind with disgust. The more I lived like them, the more I was coming to detest them. It was an odd feeling. An odd emotion to also hate that which you loved so much.
But that was the nature of nurturing. Sometimes the things that you gave your love to simply spit it back in your face. They bit the hand that fed them. Sometimes you could forgive them. But others, well, other times they’d need to be taught a lesson.
Henrietta had been granted my forgiveness this once. But if she pulled something like this again… I shook the rage from my thoughts and settled back into my chair.
“The children,” I said, bringing the conversation back around. “You said ‘Machem Street’?”
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