Blog Post

Blog Post 59: The Adventure Shop: Part 26

6/13/24

Dahlia sipped her brew as she looked up at the plan Bart had drawn up. 

“I don’t know about this, Bart. It looks like they have extra security with additions whose armor does not carry the town’s seal,” Mistral noted as she took a bite of cheesy potatoes.

“What would you plan then?” Bart asked with mock offense. “If my plans are so ill-thought.” Mistral rolled her eyes before pointing her fork around the table at each person. “We need to be sly. Not throw them a show. It has to be little pieces falling into place. Documents for transfer, a copied key, and armor that isn’t missed going out for cleaning. It needs to feel sleek and be effective.”

“And how do you suppose we do that?” Brawn asked with part of a pie in his mouth, the pastry flakes falling all over his shirt as Mistral scolded him.

“I swear you get so much worse when your sister isn’t here to make sure you are not eating the food off the table like an animal.”

“Huh?” he asked, as he was chewing.

Dahlia laughed. “Well, I am not sure about fixing Brawn, but I can help with the goal of this venture,” she said, careful not to say more as the barmaid refilled her mug. The others looked at her and then at their own plates, suddenly finding the braised pork and cheesy potatoes far more interesting than her idea.

“Spit it out. What has everyone so fascinated with the meal? I know it is good, but I find it odd that you would be so invested at the same time.” Xaxol looked at the others and then at her as he seemed to be formulating his thoughts. “Dahia, we were talking and don’t want you to be in a place or situation you would be tempted to use your magic.”

“You told them?” she asked, verifying by Mistral who choked on the bread she was not preoccupied with.

“Yes, they are helping us. I thought they should know. You almost died the last time you tried to use any magic. You can’t give anymore. We won’t let you.”

“You and everyone else seem to forget one thing,” she said standing. “I run the Adventure Shop, and what I make takes more than magic. I will be back at the inn.” 

She stormed off and walked through town. The nerve of them overlooking all her skills. All that she had been taught and proved. Xaxol of all, knowing what the Adventure Shop was like. What she could do.

She paused looking into a window of an herbalist shop. Was she really more than her magic? Did she have more to offer than little tricks that came from relying on her magic for years? A customer brushed by her as they left the shop, running into her bag that held so many things–including her small forge. Of course, it held magic entwined due to the size so it could heat up to what she needed to fix any metal on the go. But she was a blacksmith who did not use magic most of the time. It was hard work and sweat. 

She was not just a former magic user. Dahlia looked at the herbal shop with new interest and felt the more mischievous side ignite. Mistral will get her effective plan, and Bart will get his show. And I will prove myself and them all wrong with a little bit of clever ingenuity. She tilted her head to the side with a chuckle. And fun.

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“Well, I believe we can say that we are officially out of options and no one is coming,” Jubair noted as he picked up the slop the prison gave him.

“Trust me. We are not finished. Some have more skill than they let on.”

“They may have more skill, but it is not directed efficiently.” He laughed, thinking of Aislin and Lothar wandering around town without the rest of them. Did they even have a place to stay?

“I understand your meaning, but that is not who I was thinking would be near. Any day now, it will come back,” Aster said, looking at the tiny barred window high above them. He wondered how the window was still left with some of the winged creatures that could easily escape. 

“I will say this has been the most boring experience I have had in my life. Unfortunately, I forgot my cards in my room,” Jubair noted as he weaved the hay beds to do something to take his mind off the endless hours they had been cooped up with nothing else to do. “I wonder how the others are doing.”

“Probably just as bored. After all, in our line of profession, we don’t tend to stay still long.” Aster began to agree as he felt the itch to get beyond the four walls as well. He sat down and leaned against the wall to take a nap. At least in his dreams, he would momentarily be free, and after placing his hand in stale porridge earlier–dream of better food.

The sun was blinding where he sat and he moved his hand to block the sun when he caught sight of movement. Small and slowly coming toward them.

He laughed as Jubair looked at him as though he was crazy. Aster motioned up as they began to watch the descent of the little winged being. It was their little messenger.

He sat on Aster’s arm as he preened his feathers with an envelope attached to his foot. 

“How did you carry such a heavy thing?” Aster asked the little bird after feeling the weight of the letter. The bird shook and glided down to the stale porridge and began to eat a well-deserved snack as if in answer.

“I see. Well, if this is from Dahlia, she can talk you into anything.” He looked at Jubair, “It is why I now travel with new adventurers.” 

He shook his head as Jubair chuckled. “I am excited to meet your Dahlia one day.” Aster blushed and moved his palm over his chin to hide the flush of his cheeks. 

“Right then.” He focused on the envelope. “Let’s see what she says.” He opened the contents and instead of a letter, a small purple cube tumbled out into his palm, and he smirked at the thought of how she cooked up the little trick. “Well, this may not be so boring after all.”

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“You are telling me you made all of this?” Bart asked, looking at everything strewn out on the workbench in the herbalist shop.

“And you all doubted me.” She shook her head, smiling as she finished the last tweaks to her last piece of the well-thought-out plan. Mistral reached her hand out to touch a jar with a moving green mist. “Don’t!” Dahlia warned, “Unless you don’t like your skin color and want a change for the month.” 

Stepping back, Mistral raised her eyebrow. “I am good. And it is the thief in me. All of these things make my fingers itch!” She scrunched her fingers in and out as if trying to prevent herself from touching anything else that might prove hazardous. 

“You must like this Aster a whole awful lot to make all of this. I have to say I am quite jealous.” Bart raised an eyebrow, and Dahlia looked away.

“It is not just him locked up. This is for everyone and what they have done for me. And stop. You are distracting me.” Xaxol moved his way into the tiny shop, looking as if he would destroy the whole thing with one ill move.

“We have everything ready, and the little bird just flew off. I cannot believe you still have not named it.”

“I am not sure what to name it. He is so cute, but he has such a fiery little personality. I believe he would be offended by something that did not match.” 

“Are we set to remove the criminals from incarceration?” Brawn asked, fitting himself into the tiny shop. Between him and Xaxol, the shop could not have taken any other occupants.

“Yes, we are ready. Well, you two, what do you think?”

“You do this for a living?” Mistral asked. Dahlia nodded as Mistral perused all her newly formed wares.

“Where have you been all our lives?” Mistral asked as she picked up the object that would be hers to enact.

“I second the motion,” Bart agreed as he looked at a tiny orange square.

“As flattering as that may be to her, all of you need to pick up everything and be on your way. Don’t leave a trace of you so I won’t have to answer questions later.”

Bart walked over and grabbed the woman’s hands. “How will we ever repay you for this?”

Miran, the herbalist, looked to Dahlia. “There is no need for thanks. That woman has given me enough business for a lifetime. She recommends everyone stop by my store. I always run out of things because of the customers that pass through. There is no debt to repay but my own.”

“I only recommend them because you are so knowledgeable, and it is the best place to stop before going forward into the badlands. And I like knowing that my adventurers will come back.” Dahlia pretended to be busy to avoid the compliment she was not sure how to take.

“I am sure that is the only reason.” Miran laughed at Dahlia’s attempt to hide and looked at the others.“Take care of my girl. Make sure she gets the life back that was stolen from her.”

“We swear to it,” Bart answered as the others nodded in agreement. 

“Now go and make sure you don’t leave any tricks behind you.”

“AHHH!” A scream shook them all as they wondered if they had been given away already in their criminal endeavors. Dahlia was the first to burst into tears in a fit of giggles as the others slowly joined her. Their thief with itchy fingers now stood with bright blue skin and clothes with enough sparkly powder sprinkled across her body to rival the shine of the stars.

Miran let out an exasperated sigh. “Well, Dahlia, you better get started on the replacement while the rest of us try to clean up Miss Sticky Fingers.” Dahlia wondered as she began to make replacements if she should make one more of everything in case anyone else felt as curious as Mistral. She smiled as she worked, loving the feel of the ingredients in her hand and she realized that as long as she had her life, it wasn’t too bad with magic being gone, because as silly as it seemed as she looked around at the others, she had found it in other ways.