Header image: https://i.imgur.com/qQjcqVk.jpg

Three days before.

I was drawing a map when Lia barged into our store, her red, wavy hair flinging around her, the door slamming with an audible crack against the wall. I looked up in alarm.

"Get ready, Lang!" my sister hollered. "There's a hero on the way!"

I frowned, and swept my papers and pens into a drawer. "Coming to town?" I asked.

"Nope," she said, her green eyes lit with an unfamiliar eagerness. "Coming to our shop!"

"Oh," I said. My fingers gripped the counter.

"That's...good."

"It's all anyone's been talking about," Lia continued, reaching for a broom. "They say the guy's been throwing around money like crazy."

She started sweeping furiously, her vigorous motions sending up clouds of dust, and violently launching bits of garbage on the floor to the edges of the room."Bought all of old man Varys's cheese wheels, can you believe it?"

"That's pretty crazy," I said, uncertainly. My hands shook a little as I tried to organize the merchandise on the shelves. Months' worth of accumulated dust rubbed off on my hands. As I hurriedly tried to wipe it off on my trousers, I heard someone walking up to the store. Slow footsteps, clinking with metal. Heavy. No one from here was that heavy.

I gulped, and yanked on a wool cap, wishing it could cover my eyes.

"Hey, I'm not feeling too good..." I said, trailing off when I saw the look on Lia's face. She frowned, and brandished the broom at me.

"We can't mess this up," she said, glaring.

"You haven't run the counter in months," I grumbled. "It's time you did some work."

"This store never gets any business, anyway," she countered, folding her arms.

"It was your idea!" I snapped, but before the argument could continue, the largest man I'd ever seen in my life lumbered into the store, the wooden floor creaking with every step. His horned helmet bounced off the doorframe, and his body filled the entrance way.

Lia quickly chucked her broom to the back of the store, and flashed the man a big smile. I sat back down, and tried to make myself as small as possible.

There was no doubt that this hulking human was one of those who roamed the land, seeking glory, wealth, and adventure. He wore simple leather boots, and grimy fur gauntlets, but he'd chosen to wear greaves with straps of gold and orange fur, and a chest piece made out of some black, shiny chitinous material. His helmet was pretty standard, but the sword that peeked out from behind his shoulder, and the shield he held in one hand both looked like they'd been made out of shattered crystal that had been forged back together.

This was a man who'd been to places, and conquered many foes, and against all reason, he was standing in our little shop, hunched over and looking at us expectantly.

Lia nudged me with her elbow, and cleared her throat.

"Greetings, stranger!" she said in a cheery tone, sounding exactly like the merchants that came into town every summer.

"Welcome to the Hero's Welcome, Sweetroot's one and only stop for all your adventuring needs. Are you looking to buy, or to sell?" She beamed up at the big man. If she'd been looking straight ahead, she would have been smiling at his bellybutton.

He looked down at her, his piercing blue eyes visible from beneath the helmet's visor.

"Selling," he rumbled, his bulky brown beard rustling as he spoke.

His muscled arms tensing from the effort, he pulled out a small satchel from a belt around his waist, and gently set it on the counter.

The counter immediately collapsed into a pile of wooden debris, and the bag landed with a heavy thud, splitting the wooden board next to my foot. I yelped, and leapt out of my chair.

Unfazed, Lia reached down and opened the satchel. A whole mess of things started to spill out onto the floor.

Several silver spoons, a candlestick, a slimy bundle of bear skins. A tarnished bronze trophy, a half-rotted wheel of cheese, a pair of what looked like mammoth tusks. More things tumbled out of the satchel with no sign of stopping. A smell like spoiled meat and old socks began to spread throughout the room.

I held my nose. "I...what..." I muttered in shock. Lia had a thoughtful look on her face.

"You're selling all of this?" she asked the huge man. He crossed his massive arms, and nodded, his expression deadly serious.

I threw up my hands, and took a step back from the stinking pile. I looked to my sister for a reaction, but she was already busy picking through the growing pile, her face settling into that old cast of determination. I hadn't seen it in a while.

"Just go with it," she whispered. "Some of this stuff looks valuable."

I frowned. Why was she putting up with this?

It was a big haul--by far the biggest the store had ever seen, but in the years since we'd opened, Lia had grown less and less involved in the business. A store that catered to adventurers didn't offer a lot of activity in a town that hadn't seen a monster in decades, but she usually slept through most of the day, stepping out when the sun set, and coming home well after it rose.

I didn't mind staying with the store, but when I'd asked what she was doing at night, she refused to answer, and was silent for days afterwards. She'd been withdrawn and intense. Sullen, mean, even.

Totally different from the person who was up to her elbows in muck, triumphantly holding up a slimy golden cup. She carefully set it to down on an empty area of the floor, and slicked her hair back before she went back to searching.

Lia saw me staring, and grinned.

"You gonna help or what?"

I looked warily at the giant man, who was standing there, watching.

"Fine," I sighed, kneeling down.

Two hours passed before I stood up again. I wiped the sweat off my forehead, smearing the long list of items I'd written to keep an inventory. The man hadn't moved.

"Taking damage to our property into account, all that's worth..." I said, loosely gesturing towards the adventurer's wares, now neatly sorted into piles "...about nine hundred gold pieces."

The man nodded.

"We've only got five hundred and twenty on hand."

He nodded again.

"To offset that, you bought some of the potions and food--make that all of the food, even the stuff in our kitchen--" I glared at Lia, who smiled without a trace of embarrassment"--but that's still only takes off twenty gold. So we're four hundred gold short."

Another nod, as curt and emotionless as the last two had been. I gripped the paper tightly. All that work, and not so much as a thank you. Who was this guy?

Lia clasped my shoulder. "That means we need to step out to get some more money," she finished, before I could say anything else. "We'll be back in four hours," she assured him.

In response, the man knelt down, and closed his eyes.

My sister nodded, and started loading some of the items from the pile into the cart we used to carry groceries. I cleared a path through the room for it, shooting an irritated look at the man.

"Are you seriously fine with him just waiting inside?" I asked, as I opened the door.

"It's fine," Lia said. She heaved up the cart, and shoved it out onto the street. "I've seen this before. He's meditating--won't be any bother for four hours exactly. We just need to sell this stuff off and get back before then."

"What do you mean you've seen it before?" I began to ask, but she was already walking away.

I sighed, and followed, grabbing the cane that leaned against the door on the way out.