Lucille checked to see if she had everything prepared. Once she did, she headed out back to town for her dogs’ evening walk and to get some dinner. While they were walking through the forest, she scanned the area to see if that strange dog was still around.

It’s not here… Just what was that dog?

Her grumbling stomach caused her thoughts to become disarray. She then thought about what she wanted to eat. “Soup sounds nice, don’t you think?”

The dogs barked in response. Once they reached the streets of the town, their main destination was a nearby tavern, Poisson. She ordered some potato stew with grilled fish and asked for some meat for her dogs. When their meal came out, Lucille gave the dogs their food before she chowed down on hers. She made a delighted expression.

“The potato soup here always tastes divine,” she muttered as she took a bite of the grilled fish.

The waitress next to her started laughing as she patted her back, causing her to almost choke on her food. “I’m glad you always enjoy the food here, Lucille.”

“Y-you’re welcome…”

While she was happy that people appreciated her presence, she didn’t like being interrupted when doing something, whether it be reading, eating or even doing something with her dogs. Though, she never voiced it out as she didn’t want to be seen as rude or inconsiderate towards others. The waitress set her sights on another customer, so she resumed eating.

What she liked about dining alone was having time to herself. She got out the book she had read aloud earlier at the park and continued reading it. As she took a spoonful of soup into her mouth, she happened to overhear a conversation from the table behind her.

One gossiping old woman rambled, “Did you hear about the missing girl from the town up north? I heard that faeries kidnapped her or something.”

The other woman scoffed at her words. “You believe in faeries and all that nonsense? They’re just make-believe. I’m sure that people are just pinning it on imaginary creatures because the knights do an awful job of pinpointing and locating her whereabouts.”

Faeries again?

The women’s conversation seemed to have been cut short as she heard them cooing over something. Hearing the words fluffy come out of their mouths caused Lucille to peer over to see Noir wasn’t next to her table. She turned around to see Noir being cuddled by the elderly women while Ange looked on. This caused Lucille to be scared as she stood up. “I’m so sorry about my dog!”

The woman holding Noir handed him back to her. “No worries. This cutie can interrupt me all day any day.”

Noir huffed before being set down on the floor. Lucille furrowed her brows as she raised an index finger. “Noir, I told you to not stray off from me!”

He sunk his head and looked at her with round, upturned eyes. His ears sunk low, giving him a pitiful look, causing Lucille to start feeling weak. Ange did the same and it made her even weaker. I need to be strong! She gave them a tiny piece of her grilled fish.

Once she paid her tab, she left the diner. She felt rejuvenated from eating the meal. She looked at her dogs and asked, “Shall we go to the square?” Hearing that specific word caused the dogs to rush on ahead, dragging Lucille along with them. She followed their lead with a big smile.

When they reached the square, they slowed their walking pace so they could spend more time in the area before returning home. There were a lot of people at the square compared to how it was in the morning. She knew that it was because people liked to spend their days relieving their stress from work and other activities.

There were dogs roaming around the streets. One male dog with pointy ears approached Ange and sniffed her. She didn’t like the attention, so she brushed him off and hid behind Lucille’s legs.

Lucille took the opportunity to kneel down so she was at eye level with the dog. “Sorry doggy, Ange isn’t interested.” Her voice became lower and her gaze was glued to the random dog. “However, if you are interested in her, you can’t have her. She’s my dog and you cannot take her from me.” The dog walked off, seemingly disinterested in Ange as he found another female dog to be interested in. She stood up, hoping the dog wouldn’t return.

“Lucille!” Thomas yelled as he ran towards her and her dogs.

“Thomas! You’re out and about tonight.” She noticed Thomas’s older brother approaching them. “H-hello, Peter.”

Peter was Thomas’s older brother by five years. He was a tall, bulky young man with a round face, giving him a friendly visage. They both had brown hair and blue eyes, but Peter’s hair was a lighter shade compared to his younger brother’s. While Thomas was cheeky, Peter was the opposite.

“Hello, Lucille. Has Thomas been giving you too much trouble?”

“No, he’s sweet. He’s always helping me walk the dogs.”

“That’s good to know.” Peter knelt down and started patting Noir. Ange approached him and stared at him, hoping to be pet as well. He did the same for her and her tail wagged in response.

Thomas looked at Lucille with glistening eyes. “Do you think you can show Peter your magic now? He’s never seen it before!”

Peter rebuked his words, “Thomas, Lucille is busy walking the dogs right now. I’m sure she values her alone time with them.”

Lucille looked at Thomas, then at Peter, then back at Thomas. “I don’t mind showing him.”

Thomas looked really happy. “Really?” He jumped up and down with his fists pumping in the air. “Peter, she said she’ll show her your magic today! Aren’t you glad?”

Peter looked at Lucille with uncertainty. “Are you sure about this?”

She could tell that while he was worried, Peter did seem hopeful about it. “No, it’s fine. Besides, Thomas helped me out this morning, so I guess I can return the favor.”

She gave the leashes to Thomas as she got out the book she read earlier and dropped it onto the ground, causing it to open. “Staff to Lucille!” She commanded as her staff appeared to her hand. She took a deep breath and started reciting the contents.

“The dragon hunter took in the young lad as his pupil as the two marched across the land to reach a port city. They needed a boat to reach the dragon’s castle.” Images of the gallant dragon hunter with a young boy popped up. The two reached a port town, as Lucille spoke. She continued with the story.

In a flash, a crowd was drawn towards her as they listened to her talk and the images. Men, women, children and pets were listening in. While the sight of them did cause her to become a bit nervous, it did not hinder her speaking. Rather, it made her feel good. This was how she wanted to use her magic–to make people happy with storytelling. She wasn’t meant for a bigwig government job, but a life full of boundless freedom of choices and being able to control it however she pleased.

In the crowd, she noticed the white dog that she saw in the forest earlier. It seemed to have been staring at her. She assumed it was because of the large crowd, so she didn’t let its gaze bother her too much as she kept going.

“The dragon hunter and the boy eventually meet a captain of a passing pirate ship, a bold and confident woman who never took no for an answer.” An image of a bold, confident and sultry woman with long dark hair showed up in the illusion.

She took a quick rest in order to clear out her throat.  As she was about to resume the story, a loud shrieking noise was heard in the crowd. The white dog with floppy ears from this morning pinned Ange down onto the ground and he was gnawing into her nape. The crowd started panicking as a few people did their best to push the dog off of her.

For Lucille, she could only freeze at the sight in front of her.