Stern looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “An acid rune that I can afford. That’ll leave me with twenty-eight, so five chocolate squares for Cyra… I’ll have three points left. What can I even get for that?”
“Not much, but these,” Ria said.
Odds and ends appeared under the glass, and Stern snorted. “Pass. I don’t need a bent, rusty nail.”
“Very well,” Ria smiled. “I hope you both have a good night, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing you again.” Before they could reply, she was gone. On the counter were the small rune and the chocolates.
“She’s nice,” Cyra said. “What’re we going to do now?” She picked up one of the chocolates and ate it before putting the rest into her pouch.
“See a clothier first. They should be able to patch that pretty quick,” Stern said, motioning to her ripped shirt. “Then, I need to stop by Trish’s and drop off my armor. I want to see if she can patch the holes for me, as well as reinforce it. After that, we’ll return home for the night and relax, and tomorrow, we begin training.”
“I was curious about bathing...” Cyra admitted. “Where can we get one, since we’re at the hostel?”
“Oh, they have male and female baths at the hostel. The two are separate, so you won’t have to worry about any man walking in on you.”
Cyra exhaled, her slight fear abating. “I’ll take a nice long bath when we get back, then.”
“I’ll probably take a quick one before heading off to see Trish.”
Cyra started to ask him what had happened with Trish the night before, but stopped herself and instead went toward the door. “Let’s go,” she said.
Stern followed her, wondering about the small spike of depression he felt. He didn’t want to pry, so he just followed her out.
~*~*~
Stern kept his cloak up and walked with his normal slouch as he made his way to Trish’s shop. Cyra had been a little reserved during their stop at the clothier and when they’d separated to bathe. Stern tried to untangle his own thoughts about Cyra.
She’s cute, but she’s had a brutal life... I feel the pulses of interest from her, but then her emotions become tangled and she pulls away. Must be because of what happened... Mom said sexual assaults can harm a woman deeply. Maybe I should find a way for them to talk…? No, that would mean her knowing who I am... but... she needs it… fuck. Stern was still running around and around in his own head when he entered the shop.
“Stern, how’re you?” Trish grinned. “Come to give me something?”
Stern’s mind was jerked clean out of the loop he’d been stuck in by the suggestive tone Trish used. “Um, what?”
Trish gave him an innocent smile. “Your armor. You want me to get started on it, right?”
“Yeah,” Stern said, shaking his head. “It picked up some damage today. Ferretinas.”
Trish whistled softly. “Let me see?”
Stern set the bag on the counter and pulled out his armor. “The bracer took the brunt of it.”
Trish was all business as she looked over the armor. “It mostly held up. This bite, though...” She pointed to the one he’d gotten at the end. “That wasn’t a normal ferretina.”
“Giant one,” Stern said. “Worst fight I’ve had yet. If not for Pawly’s tricks, it would have been much worse.”
“How’d Cyra do?” Trish asked.
“Healed my arm, but took some bad scratches on her side. I salved them, as her healing didn’t work for her.”
“Shit, that’s a major drawback,” Trish said with a frown.
“She can heal herself now,” Stern said before snapping his mouth shut.
“Telling on another’s perks?” Trish tsked at him.
“A breach of etiquette,” Stern grumbled.
“I won’t repeat it, on my word,” Trish said solemnly. “She got a new perk to heal herself?”
“That lets her target herself. The old one said ally.” Stern figured he could tell her since he’d already blurted it out and Trish had made a promise.
“That’ll be way useful later if she gets other perks or spells like that.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re going to be training her while I work on the armor?” Trish asked as she pulled the armor off the counter.
“No, actually. We’ll both be training at the dojo, but with different instructors.”
“That’s good,” Trish said. She leaned on the counter, finished storing his armor. “You know she has a crush on you, right?”
Stern blinked at her, then sighed. “I think it’s because I pulled her out, but…” He looked away, as he had no right to speak on this topic.
“But she doesn’t want to or can’t move forward,” Trish said. “Maybe the assholes you killed scarred her.”
Stern just stared at her in shock.
“It’s not unusual,” Trish said softly. “Look, I think she’s a nice girl. Maybe I can speak with her? See if I can help.”
“Really?” Stern said, a smile coming to him. “That’d be great, Trish. I don’t think she had many friends.”
Trish nodded, watching him. “It means you’ll be seeing a lot of me. You good with that?”
“Who wouldn’t be?” Stern asked.
“Okay. Do you have an idea of what your schedule’s going to look like?”
“Not really, but I’ll let you know after tomorrow?”
“That’ll work. What’re you doing tonight?”
“Dinner, then probably going to bed early. Why?”
“I was considering closing up early. I thought maybe you’d grab a drink with me.”
“Sure. Did your friend get back to you on the helmet?”
“He did,” Trish said. “He can get it done, but the price is a little steep since you want a rune slot. It’ll be one gold.”
Stern exhaled slowly. “Yeah, thought he might want a high price. Can he add an enchantment to auto-size?”
“Oh, yeah, all of his shit does that. He says it’s useless if enchanted items are only made for one person. Of course, others view that differently.”
Stern put a gold on the counter. “Get it done, please?”
Trish picked up the coin, looking it over. “Hmm... I’m not going to ask, but you aren’t from the low end, are you?”
Stern shook his head.
“Fair. Like I said, I won’t pry. You’ve just spent a good amount with me, so I just wanted confirmation. Now, let’s go get a drink and then dinner at your place, hm? Might as well go see if Cyra will even be my friend.”
~*~*~
They didn’t stay at the bar long, only having two drinks before heading back to the hostel. Cyra was in the kitchen when they entered the suite, and the smell of food filled the room.
“Welcome ho… home,” Cyra faltered when she saw Trish before finishing the sentence. “I didn’t know we’d have company.”
Trish looked at the food she’d prepared, then at Cyra. “I was coming over to spend some time with you, actually. I hope that’s okay?”
“Me?” Cyra blinked.
“Yes. We might have more in common than you think. Some of it, though,” she glanced at Stern, “well, some of us wouldn’t understand.”
Cyra looked to Stern, who was giving Trish an odd look. “Really?”
“Truly,” Trish grinned. “If you just wanted to have dinner with him, then I—”
“Stay!” Cyra blurted. “Uh... please?”
“Can do,” Trish grinned. “So, tell me about how the run went? All he told me was that there were ferretinas. Gods, those things are annoying as hell. They’re too damned agile, and those teeth and claws.”
Cyra exhaled, some of her fear fading as Trish spoke with her and mostly ignored Stern. “Well, Pawly was the real star. Weren’t you?”
Pawly chuffed from her seat at the table, her eyes locked on the shrimp that Cyra had on a platter.
“Sit and I’ll tell you,” Cyra grinned. “Stern, can you get the drinks?”
; “Sure thing,” Stern said, breathing easier now that Cyra felt happy.
“The dungeon was a grassy plain,” Cyra explained as she brought the salad to the table first. She smirked when Pawly huffed. “I’d never seen one before, but Stern explained how they work to me. My Life Sense was more useful than I’d thought it was going to be.”
Cyra described the entire dungeon, with Stern only adding a bit here or there. They ate and talked for an hour or more. When they were finished, Stern picked up the dishes and the women retired to Cyra’s room.
Stern washed up, then realized that Pawly was gone, too. “Seems like they’ll get along, after all. Thank the Goddess. Maybe Trish can help her and I won’t have to bother Mom...”
With a look at Cyra’s bedroom door, the memory of her half-naked came back to him and he exhaled noisily. Shaking his head, he pushed the image aside and headed for his room.
Chapter Thirty-four
Waking with the sun, Stern got out of bed and stretched. He glanced back at the empty bed and shook his head. “Haven’t had Pawly with me in a few days now...” he grumbled.
Halfway through stretching, he stopped as a smirk touched his lips. After getting dressed, he went to leave his room only to freeze in the doorway. Trish and Cyra were in the kitchen, laughing and cooking.
“Oh, he wakes,” Trish grinned. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”
“I was up a while ago,” Stern said a little defensively. “I was stretching.”
“Is that what they call it nowadays?” Trish smirked as her eyes dropped to his waist. “Stretching?”
Cyra’s eyes widened and her cheeks heated. Her eyes had dipped, as well, but she quickly spun back to face the small stove. “We’re, uh… we’re making breakfast.”
Exhaling, Stern shook his head. “I’m not going to answer your question, Trish. I stretch every morning to make sure my muscles are loose and ready for the day. Since we’re supposed to be training today, I thought I should invite Cyra to stretch, too.”
Trish began to laugh and looked at Cyra, who was bright red and keeping her gaze locked on the food. “Well, my question about stretching just got even more risqué.”
“I’m… I’m sure that Stern didn’t mean it like that,” Cyra said.
“I meant normal stretching, you know,” Stern said, stretching out his legs. “Normal stretching.”
Trish eyed him with a speculative gaze. “Okay, fine, I’ll relent… for now. You really do that every day?”
“Habit,” Stern shrugged. “I stretch, at the very least. If there’s time, I go for a brisk run, too.”
“Breakfast will be done in a moment,” Cyra told him. “After that, you can show me.”
Trish’s eyes sparkled. “He can show both of us. I’m sure he can handle us watching him… stretch.”
Cyra’s face went bright red again at the obvious innuendo. Stern rolled his eyes and gave Trish a put-upon expression.
“Fine, fine,” Trish laughed as she picked up a kettle and some empty mugs. “Help set the table, Stretch.”
“And I thought I was hard to get along with,” Stern muttered.
“Ah, I did say we got along for a reason,” Trish laughed, having overheard him.
“I didn’t expect you to be here this morning,” Stern said as he brought the bread, butter, and jam to the table.
“Cyra and I got to talking, and then it got late,” Trish said, “so I shared her bed.” She stared right at Stern when she said it, wearing a crooked smile.
Stern met her gaze, not reacting. “You remind me of my mother,” he said. “She loves double meanings, too.”
Trish’s smile grew wide. “So you think I’d make a good mother?”
Stern exhaled slowly. “You would get along with her a bit too well.”
Cyra brought the pan over to the table, setting it onto the folded cloth sitting in the middle. “It’s just eggs with some cheese and pork belly.”
“Thank you, Cyra,” Stern said as he took the offered spatula, putting some onto a plate and handing it to her. “For you, since you cooked. It smells wonderful.”
Cyra smiled and took the food. She set her plate down before going back to the stove to get the smaller plate that was sitting there. “And for Pawly, some leftover shrimp.”
Pawly chuffed and waited for the shrimp.
“Do you mind if I join you,” Trish asked Stern, “for the stretching? I was thinking about how much I stopped doing since I last entered a dungeon. Getting back into shape would be good.”
Stern gave her a curious glance. “You don’t look out of shape.”
Trish gave him a wink. “So kind of you, but my endurance isn’t what it was, and I haven’t held a weapon since I came here. Cyra said I could pop into her training in a few weeks to brush up. She wants to check with her trainer before I do.”
“That would be good,” Stern said. “I doubt they’ll object if it’s just on occasion.”
“Excellent!” Trish beamed. She took a bite of her breakfast and sighed happily. As soon as her mouth was clear of food, she gave Cyra a grin. “Very good.”
Cyra smiled back at her. “If you have the right seasonings, anything can be made to taste good. Seasonings were hard to come by, but I’ve had a lot of practice with cooking.”
Stern stayed quiet, watching the two women. He’d been worried for a bit last night that maybe Trish and Cyra wouldn’t get along, but he was glad they were. He glanced over at Pawly, who was happily eating her shrimp, and grinned.
~*~*~
Once he had the dishes cleaned up, Stern led them through the stretching routine his parents had taught him. Cyra did her best, but wasn’t in the best shape, so he had her stretch just far enough to feel her muscles flex. Trish winced once or twice, muttering about being out of shape when she did.
“I do that every day,” Stern said when they finished. “How do you feel?”
“Loose,” Trish said. “Some of those I had no idea about. Where did you learn them?”
“My parents. They do this every morning.”
“Hmm... you don’t mind if I do this on the days I’m not here, do you?”
“Feel free. It’s not like we own them,” Stern chuckled.
“That’s a good point.”
“Now you want to go for a run?” Cyra asked.
“Just a short one today to get you used to it. We’ll go from there right over to the dojo.”
“I need to get to my shop,” Trish said, looking out the window. “I’ll run there, though. Can’t let you get too far ahead of me, Cyra.”
Cyra giggled. “I’ll let you know what the instructor says. I hope she says yes.”
Trish gave her a hug. “Sounds good. See you later. You, too, Stretch.”
“Later, Trouble,” Stern called to her as she got to the front door.
“Do we need to bring anything to the dojo?” Cyra asked, fidgeting slightly.
“Nope. I suggest carrying a dagger with you all the time though. Last time I left an inn without a weapon, I dearly wished I’d had one.”
“Okay,” Cyra said. “I’ll see you in a moment.”
“What about you, fur-face?” Stern asked Pawly. “Want to go with us on the run?”
Pawly waved her paw at him. Stern laughed and dismissed her.
Cyra came back, looking around. “No Pawly?”
“She chose to not run.”
“Oh, okay. I’m ready.”
“Let’s go,” Stern said.
~*~*~
Stern did his best to keep the pace slow and the route short, but Cyra still struggled. When they finished, stopping outside the dojo, Cyra was dejected.
“For your first day, that wasn’t bad,” Stern said. “You’re also just starting to get your body healthy. You don’t look as bad as me, anymore.”
“I trust you, but I still feel like I’m holding you back.”
“Day one,” Stern said, touching her shoulder. “Give yourself some time. That’s why we’re taking
the time to train. Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Seeing her confusion, Stern sighed. “Dadism.”
Cyra shook her head. “I think I get the idea... Okay.”
“Also, don’t feel bad about how you’ll feel after training today,” Stern told her as he opened the door. “You’ll likely be ready to pass out with aching muscles.”
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