Poppy found their stay in Yesterday a pleasant change of pace, though much of the town made her cringe. There was so much noise, so many people jockeying for position and a turn to blather on, each voice clashing to be heard.

Better for my pocket, she thought. The fields surrounding her haven hadn’t offered her nimble fingers many challenges, and she enjoyed the opportunity to mingle and remind her hands of the joys that acquiring others’ coin purses contained. For her troubles—and Poppy was pleased to find the humans and dwarfs that made up the town’s population gave her little trouble—she had doubled her coins and added a lovely pearl, a set of bone dice, and a pouch of glimmering, glittering dust. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it was as fine as sifted flour and shined like a spring lake under a bright, mid-morning sun.

Poppy made amends with their slovenly proprietor, talking him into accepting a shiny red garnet she had pocketed from the eken nest when Theo hadn’t been looking. Charles wasn’t sure of its value, but over several shared drinks late into the group’s second night, she won him over. The rough-cut, crimson jewel was certainly valuable, she’d argued, and aside from covering their tab and the cost of their stay, it was likely enough to attract the right kind of attention from whoever he could sell it toin town. Charles was, after all, a right catch, and any woman who heard tell that he was a businessman shrewd enough to negotiate a good price for a gemstone would certainly take note.

Charles’ eyes had misted over at that line, as Poppy smiled into her ale. Humans loved hearing that their dreams were within grasp.

When she announced to her companions that their room and board had been amicably settled, it drew curious looks, but grateful thanks beside. The paladin had warmed to Poppy after their drink contest, and Theo and Brandy had accepted her company, though Finde still watched her with a sharp look. Poppy found it hard to decipher the elf’s motivations and moods beneath her voluminous scarves, shawls, and robes.

For three days, Yesterday was kind to the five adventurers. Slayter spent his time drinking and trying to convince the caretaker that oversaw the solitary temple within Yesterday’s limits that a shrine announcing the Order of the Dragon’s beneficence would bring about thicker crops. The knobbly old caretaker nodded, but made no plans to change anything.

Brandy coaxed the solitary smith in town to refurbish one of his shields with the Order of the Dragon’s sigil. A wiry, grizzled dwarf from the neighbouring eastern region of Nere, his knotted, bullish arms were perpetually crossed. A long drooping moustache framed his craggy chin, and his eyebrows were so bushy they completely overtook his eyes.

Theo disappeared the first evening, and remained absent for the following day and night. “Shouldn’t we go look for him?” Mother Brandy asked the group over breakfast.

“Nonsense.” Slayter leaned back in his chain and grinned at the ceiling. “He’s probably tucked away somewhere spending his coin one hour at a time.”

Brandy scowled. “He didn’t strike me as the type. Besides, with all those scars—”

“It’s exactly because of those scars,” Slayter replied with a sad air. “He’s not the jolliest man to look upon.”

Finde toyed with the eggs and fresh bread on her plate. “They haven’t marred his skin at all, though.” She looked up at her companions. “Have any of you noticed?”

Slayter and Brandy shook their heads, but Poppy gave a slow nod.

“His skin’s almost ceramic smooth up close, like his scars were drawn on with chalk powder.”

Slayter shrugged. “Maybe they are. He’s good in a pinch, but he gets tagged a fair bit.”

Finde shook her head. “There’s something strange about them. Like the one around his neck, almost like he had been beheaded. Don’t you think it odd?”

They exchanged a look, but nothing more was said. The next morning, Theo stumbled back to their room, exhausted and worn, but wearing a new set of armour composed of many belts and latches.

“I found a job. Nothing to worry over,” Theo mumbled before collapsing on the cot and falling fast asleep. He slept through the day, though his tossing and mumbling began to irritate Finde, who was reading on the floor next to him.

Poppy spent her days lounging with Lawrence on the pond’s edge, turning arrows from the eken remains. She watched fishermen pluck long, flat oysters from the pond, despite that the body of water was less than three houses wide. She made a lunch of the sweet-salty molluscs for Lawrence, who crunched and slurped them down at the pond’s edge with the fishers as they sat and laughed in their slim, flat-bottomed boats. While Poppy delighted in the savoury flavours of the oysters which the fishers described with pride, Lawrence kept attempting to chew the oyster shells thinking there was more meat tucked within.

Poppy took the time to fix up her gear after so much wandering in the fields. She bought a belt of throwing daggers and a travelling cloak better suited to journeying alongside her companions. She fashioned Lawrence better straps and a saddle. The boar happily trotted beside her as Poppy went about her days, buoyed by his new appearance.

Finde emerged from their cramped room at the Cracked Chuck only to eat, and to sell the sacks of books the group had hauled cross country from the church ruins. Fortune smiled on her, and she was able to sell all the books, save her choice selection, to a passing travelling tinker and salesman.

Despite asking around, neither Finde nor her companions were able to ascertain anything in regards to the jade fetish plucked from the ekens, and so it remained tucked into her robes. Theo heard an interesting scrap about a haunted windmill at the end of the Coral River, upon which Yesterday sat adjacent. An opal merchant with whom Slayter played cards—there was a surprisingly robust opal trade in Yesterday—told the paladin about a magic train that could be found under the Cthatic Range; it would convey its passengers wherever they desired in a single night.

The group decided over their last dinner in Yesterday to journey parallel to Tria’s southern coast on the Wood Road, until they could turn north. If they could find a Nere merchant heading home, they would have the best guide through the mountains, but most Nere traders were dwarven, and they kept their own kin’s company.

The five left Yesterday at dawn, heading along the well-trod way toward the far-away mountains in the east.