The group traveled until they reached the capital of Southlake, where the Duke of Southlake kept his primary estate. The province was blessed with rich lakes, fertile lands, and broad rivers that enabled trade, so the capital was a bustling hub of commerce and industry. The foxes turned up their noses at such confined human spaces, and melted away into the farmlands surrounding the city, but the children were excited to enter and explore.
[I think the golem should hide until it’s dark so that the guards don’t hassle us,] Grandma said, as she veered off the road and into a thin cluster of trees. [I’ll hide it here and come back for it later.] After making the golem curl up under some bushes, Grandma flowed back into Mina’s body.
The guards at the city gates looked them over in a dismissive, perfunctory manner, but they were two grubby children and an old mare, and so the soldiers waved them through without much interest.
[Looks like Avery’s men haven't come out this far yet. I wonder why?] Grandma mused.
“What are we going to do? We don’t have any money,” Tanner sighed.
“We can find a tanner and sell the rabbit skins we have,” Mina said. “After that, well, maybe we can find jobs.”
They found the tanners on the edge of the city and offloaded the pelts they had collected from the foxes’ hunts. The rolls of rabbit skins, coarsely scraped and packed with salt, were stiff and sticky, but they still managed to make a few coins. The tanners took pity on the children and directed them to a cheap inn on the outskirts of the district, where they were able to stable Chestnut and rent a small room with the money they had.
“If we sold the horse, we’d have more money,” Mina pointed out. “And we wouldn’t have to keep buying feed.”
“But then we’d have to walk, and carry all our things.” Tanner frowned. “Plus I’d miss her.”
“The golem can carry our things,” Mina replied. “But you’re right, walking doesn’t sound great.”
[If we didn’t have a horse, we could ride on wagons,] Grandma offered. [But that’s not very fast, nor very comfortable, and we’d be dependent on other people.]
“For now, let’s try to get jobs and leave selling Chestnut for later.” Tanner said hopefully. “Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
When night fell and the other guests at the inn fell silent, Grandma sat up in bed and looked around. Experimentally, she focused her mana and sent it out, searching for the edge of the city and beyond, questing about for the golem’s mana core. She couldn’t reach it.
[Mina,] Grandma whispered. [I need to get closer to the golem to bring it inside the city.]
[Mm,] Mina mumbled sleepily. [Okay.]
Grandma grabbed the knife before leaving the room. She crept down the narrow stairs and out of the inn, slipping through the shadows of the dark and empty streets. Now and then, the stomp of boots and jingle of armor alerted her to patrolling soldiers. In the distance, she could hear occasional guffaws of drunken laughter piercing the night. She found an empty alley and ducked into it, leaning against the damp stone wall as she sent her mana out again. There! A dense knot of mana glimmered in the distance, surrounded by mana infused clay and the faint mana flow of trees.
[Mina, I need you to stay here until I bring the golem, all right?] When Mina didn’t respond, Grandma pinched herself on the arm until the girl jerked awake with a protest of pain.
[Owie!] Mina grumbled. [What was that for?]
[You weren’t waking up. Sorry, but I need your help.] Grandma explained the situation again, and Mina nodded in understanding. [Then I’m off. I’ll be back as soon as I can.]
Grandma slid along the current of mana and into the golem. Through the hazy quartz eyes, she could see the city walls looming up in the darkness. As quickly as she could, Grandma shuffled toward the walls, aiming for a dark segment between two small towers. She could dimly see light bobbing back and forth along the tops of the walls, and as she got close enough, she could feel the mana of the soldiers walking to and fro.
[I’m going to climb now. Are you still all right?] Grandma asked.
[I’m scared. It’s dark. But there’s no one else here, so I’m all right.]
[I’ll try to be fast.]
Climbing with a golem was an enormous pain. On the one hand, the golem didn’t experience muscle fatigue. On the other hand, Grandma had no sense of touch to find the finger and toe holds she could use to scale the wall. Her vision was also poor, especially in the low light. After a few failed attempts, Grandma paused, taking a break to think.
As a little girl back home, she had delighted in seeing geckos climbing around the walls of her grandparents’ home. The method by which geckos stuck to walls and ceilings had been a subject of research, and scientists had published numerous articles about their findings. What had they discovered? Grandma wracked her brains, trying to recall. Something about tiny hairs all over their toes?
It was as good as any other methods that Grandma could think of, so she gave it a try. Visualizing the thinnest strands of hair she could think of, she pushed out her mana into the hands and feet of the golem. Microscopic hairs, so fine that a person couldn’t even see them, covered with water repelling fats: that was what Grandma wanted.
Something seemed to have changed. Grandma picked up her feet experimentally, and found that it was a little bit stickier than she expected. She laid her hand on the stone wall, and was thrilled to find that it took real effort to remove her hand. Grandma waited until the patrols overhead passed by, then ascended swiftly using her gecko hands and feet.
The top of the wall sported a narrow walkway for the soldiers, and a steep drop to the inside of the city. Grandma shimmied down the other side, then dismissed the sticky hairs. [I’m inside,] Grandma reported. [Are you still good?]
[Yeah, just tired,] Mina’s voice sounded much closer now.
Grandma trudged through the winding streets until she found Mina, then the two of them returned to the inn. The girl crawled into bed and fell asleep quickly. Grandma tucked the golem into a corner in the fetal position, then flowed back into Mina’s body.
In the morning, the children went to the city hall, where a kindly clerk directed them to the job board. Seeing that they could not read, the official pointed out several signs that had the same writing on it.
“This says ‘Help Wanted’. If you see a place with these words, that means you can ask about getting a job there,” he explained.
Grandma did her best to memorize the symbols. She noted again that there were the same number of symbols as there would have been letters in her native language. “Are there any places you’d recommend, sir?” Grandma asked politely. Mina had fled to the back of her mind at the prospect of talking to a strange official, and Grandma didn’t blame her one bit.
“Well, are there things you’re particularly good at?” the official asked with a smile.
“I’m good at cooking. I can gut, skin, butcher, peel, chop, slice–”
The official stopped Grandma with a hand, and cleared his throat awkwardly. “Then, maybe a restaurant. Most restaurants are in the central district, but there are others spread here and there throughout the city. There’s also the Sorian School of Magic, they always need more hands to prepare meals for their students.”
“Where can we find the school, sir?” Grandma asked, trying hard to hold back her excitement.
“Ah, wait just a moment.” The man shuffled back to his desk, rummaged around for a minute, then returned with a map. “Here, this is the city hall. These are streets. Businesses are marked like this. Over here is the Duke’s estate. Try to avoid going there unless you have some official business. And this is the school.”
“Thank you very much!” Grandma gave the official her best cute little girl smile. “May we keep the map, sir?”
“Hm? Oh, well, I suppose there’s no harm in it.” He rolled up the map and handed it over.
Grandma bowed to the official as they bade him farewell and scampered out of the lobby. Tanner, who had stayed quiet the whole time, suddenly blurted out, “Where did you learn to talk like that?”
“I listened to the other maids,” Grandma said vaguely. “Hey, I think it’d be best if we could get jobs at the school. That way, we can maybe listen in on their lessons, maybe even learn to read.”
“I thought you wanted to learn how to fight?” Tanner groused.
“We can fight with magic too, I’m sure. Especially if we get better at it.” Grandma grinned. “Weren’t you the one who roasted all those mushrooms with magic?”
“All right, so you can cook, but I don’t know much besides horses.” Tanner kicked the ground as they walked. “What would I do? What if they don’t hire me?”
“Come on, I’ve been teaching you how to cook, haven’t I?” Grandma elbowed Tanner in the ribs encouragingly.
“Yeah, for a few days.” Tanner groaned.
“Well we won’t know unless we try, right?” Grandma grabbed the boy’s wrist and tugged. “Come on! Let’s try our luck.”
Luck continued to bless them. The Sorian School’s servant entrance had a big “Help Wanted” sign next to it, and even as grubby as they were, the understaffed overseer couldn’t turn them away without at least talking with them briefly. Grandma gave the woman the same monologue as she had before, miming the movements with her hands as she spoke. The overseer summoned a maid and told the girl to take them to the head chef.
The head chef took one look at how dirty they were and refused to let them enter the kitchen. But she did agree to talk with them and, after the children had washed their hands and faces, allowed them to demonstrate their skills with a knife. Grandma, with a lifetime of experience cooking for all different occasions, easily passed the chef’s inspection. Tanner struggled a bit on the vegetables, but managed to dress a rabbit well enough to earn the chef’s grudging acknowledgment.
“Fine, I’ll give you two one week of probationary employment,” she said, her fists on her hips. “Wash up, and be here at 5am tomorrow.”
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