I sat slumped against a shelf on my Aisle 3, beneath a candle jutting from a random shelf.

  A small reminder the afternoon hadn’t been a dream.

  Marlo and the team had left, whether to work or relax I didn’t know. Work meant they were busy stealing from the rest of the non-human quarter.

  … Hopefully they were out to relax.

  I still wasn’t sure how that worked.

  Why? Vaarg was obviously more than he let on. He held influence.

  Why resort to stealing from the poor?

  And why did they allow it?

  It was one thing when I didn’t know everyone. Now? I knew a lot of them. I knew Karla, and I knew some of the centaurs.

  And I wasn’t really comfortable with stealing from them. Yet, each of them knew we did.

  These thoughts; and others, turned over in my head.

  Each keeping me from the peace I sought.

  Aisle 6 sat three rows over.

  Yet, it felt an eternity away. What would I even find should I visit it?

  I was more curious to meet the Store’s brother again than I was to find a book. The thought made me chuckle.

  I still had questions about Runes and Sigils.

  And magic in general.

  Yet it felt so impossible to ask Vaarg.

  “Hello, Beeg.” I looked up to see Stupid standing before me, smiling. She had changed out of her dress and back into her rags, but kept the powder-blue headband.

  Perhaps her own version of a reminder the afternoon had been real.

  “Hey Stupid,” I smiled back, patting the floor beside me. She happily took up residence next to me.

  I sighed, the irony not lost on me.

  Stupid felt safe with me. A pillar of support and rightness in a world constantly shifting and broken.

  I found myself happy to be so.

  Yet, where was my pillar? How was I supposed to keep someone grounded, when I felt like I was spinning into space myself?

  “Stupid, what’s your name?” I asked suddenly.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  She giggled, pulling one of her ears out from where she had sat on it.

  “Eez Stupid,” she replied, cocking her head and causing the same ear to bounce off my shoulder.

  I turned to look at her. “I know, but don’t you have a real name?” I pressed.

  I was desperate to have something to call her apart from Stupid. I don’t know why. I don’t know why it even mattered, nor why it mattered so much.

  I felt my ears ring and my lips go pale.

  I didn’t feel well at all.

  I squeezed my eye shut and took a breath.

  When I opened them, Stupid was looking at me — her huge eyes round.

  But she looked so small.

  … Scared?

  “Beeg… I eez Stupid,” she whispered. “Eez that not ok?”

  I blinked.

  Stupid stood and looked at me. Behind her eyes, I saw something flicker.

  Fear? Sorrow?

  “I.. yes? Of course?” I mumbled, hardly able to hear myself over the ringing in my ears.

  “Ah, there you are,” Vaarg’s voice rumbled down the Aisle, causing both of us to draw short.

  “Stupid, why don’t you run along and get some rest — I will speak with Beeg,” he sighed, patting Stupid on the head.

  I saw her eyes smooth. I saw her fear leave.

  And her smile return.

  I clenched my teeth. Why. Why did it make me upset?

  “Ok Boss!” she giggled, skipping down the Aisle.

  We watched as she stopped every few feet to stare at a jar or poke a tentacle in curiosity.

  Once she was gone, Vaarg turned to regard me in the silence. “Beeg, why don’t you come with me. Let’s talk for a while.”

  He didn’t ask and he didn’t wait, turning to stroll down the Aisle.

  Away from the front of the store.

  Away from his counter.

  The shadows of the store carefully embraced him, and I found myself hurrying to follow.

  ____

  Vaarg sat across from me, seated comfortably in an opulent armchair. I had one of my own, though slightly less… bombastic.

  Between us, the fireplace gently crackled.

  I looked around in wonder. I had never been here before.

  Sadly, the rest of the room was hidden by the store’s ever present gloom.

  “Something to drink?” Vaarg offered, sipping at his own mug carefully.

  I wanted to say no.

  Then I wanted to say yes.

  Then no once more.

  “I —“ I began, then cut myself off.

  I didn’t feel right.

  I felt upset.

  Angry.

  Why?

  ”What is wrong with me,” I whispered.

  Vaarg sighed and waved his hand, a mug materializing in my lap.

  A mug of hot cocoa.

  I raised my eyebrow. Chocolate was rare as it was expensive.

  “Thank you?” I tried.

  Vaarg snorted.

  I groaned in pleasure as the drink went down.

  “I can see it in you, the magic,” he said. “It is why you feel the way you do.”

  The hot chocolate forcefully ejected itself from my nose. Which made me rather upset, as it was every bit as delicious as I had hoped.

  I narrowed my eye.

  Vaarg raised an eyebrow.

  “Me or Stupid, right? I either get to ask about myself, or learn about her.”

  Vaarg smiled.

  “Very good, Beeg. You’re asking the right questions.”

  I grit my teeth.

  “You know, Vaarg — Someday? I won’t come back.”

  I was bluffing. We both knew it. But I had to say it anyway.

  “Yes you will,” he responded smugly.

  We both sipped from our mugs and quietly regarded each other over the soft crackling of the fire.

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because, you don’t quit. And you are so close.”

  I hated Vaarg.

  I cared about Vaarg.

  I hated this feeling inside of me.

  I leaned back and breathed out a heavy exhale, leveling the one eye I had left on Vaarg.

  My Savior.

  My Jailer.

  My Manager.

  I sighed.

  “Tell me about Stupid.”