“And?” asks Hineni, sitting there somewhat nervously.

Sockel looks up his way, lifting her eyes from the sheet of paper for a moment, before turning her gaze back down towards it.

“It could be worse,” replies Sockel. Hineni exhales. That sounds like relieving news. Sockel flips over the sheet of paper, looking at the other side of it. “But it could also be better.” Hineni winces. She lifts it up, holding the log of daily sales up to the light. “We’re in the green, but honestly we’re not really as far up as I thought we’d be.”

Hineni crosses his arms, leaning against the side of the front-counter. “Explain.”

“Well…” Sockel tilts her head. “We had a strong rush at the start,” she says. “But because we were running low prices to attract people, we were barely breaking even on the food.”

“But we got a lot of repairs?” asks Hineni. “Rhine and I can barely keep up.”

Sockel nods, sliding the paper down into a ledger and then pulling out a different sheet. “Yeah,” she says. “But we have to calculate our income tax rates, our deductions for Avarice, materials for the forge, wood for heating, your protection deal with the thieves’ guild, the property dues…” She shakes her head. “Now that the building is being used more, there’s more wear and tear, so we’re paying more for maintenance than we were when it was just us.” The elf leans back, her ears twitching. “Plus we paid a fortune for that custom sign,” she says, pointing over her shoulder, towards the new quest board that the first quests have been pinned up on. She lifts her finger in front of herself. “Add to that the debt for Avarice’s cart that you and the owl-god broke, plus the bill for the food of our first day open and -”

“Okay. Sockel. I get it,” says Hineni, interrupting the elf as she seems to be ready to go on and on about their, apparently very abundant, expenditures.

“- And our wages,” finishes Sockel, not letting herself be stopped, but maybe shortening her rant to make a point.

Hineni sighs, rubbing his forehead.

“Give it to me straight, Sockel. What are the numbers?”

“We have about four-thousand on the account.” Hineni winces. That’s a very bad number. “But we’re getting down to our emergency fund, if we touch that,” explains the elf. She kicks her feet, crossing her legs. A group of people walk inside, yawning and waving as they head past, up to their rooms.

“We’re making about four to six-hundred Obols a day at the moment,” says Sockel. “But we keep getting hit with surprise costs,” she explains. “We need to stabilize our expenses, or we’re going to be running a big risk.”

Hineni frowns. “You think?” he asks. Four thousand, while an unfortunate number, is still a fortune for this neighborhood.

“I think,” nods Sockel. She lowers her voice, looking around and waiting for the group to leave and go upstairs, before turning back his way. “The frogs haven’t messed with us much yet,” she says. “They’ve been playing with their gloves on.”

Hineni raises an eyebrow. “They broke in and tried to kill us, Sockel,” replies Hineni. “How is that ‘gloves on’?”

“They sent four small groups and only two of them made it inside,” says Sockel. “Look around, dummy,” she says. Hineni lifts an eyebrow at her unusual snarkiness, but obliges, in the interest of hearing what she has to say. “What do you see?”

“…A house?” guesses Hineni.

The elf stares at him, as if he were missing something obvious. “Exactly. It’s still here, it’s still standing.” She lifts her arms, shrugging. “On the day when we opened, they basically just said some mean words and looked sad. You don’t think that the frogs don’t have some wobbly-woo dark-magic casters who could turn this place inside-out in a minute flat?” she asks. “They were ten steps away from the owl-god. Hell, they were already inside of the house. But they went quiet and low-profile.”

“We’re protected from them now,” replies Hineni. “The owl-god and Eilig put up some magical protections.”

“Yeah, after the fact,” replies Sockel. “You’re missing my point,” she says, twitching with her foot. “They didn’t just forget to blast the whole house away, while the owl-god wasn’t here,” says the elf. “- Or try to assassinate her while she was outside. They went and are still going easy on purpose.”

Hineni thinks for a moment and then nods. That makes sense, he supposes. The frogs really could have just destroyed their structure and killed him, at the very least. They could have tried to assassinate Obscura, when she revealed herself to the public, but they didn’t. “They wanted me for some kind of ritual,” explains Hineni, remembering when they kidnapped him.

“- And that’s why we need money,” says Sockel. He looks her way. “They’re not going to stop. They only tried to kidnap you twice.”

“Third time’s the charm,” jokes Hineni.

“You’re laughing now,” replies the elf. “But you won’t be when we have to rebuild after the inevitable house-fire.”

Hineni exhales. He had just wanted to know what their numbers looked like. This is a lot heavier than what he came here to hear. But he does have little choice except to agree with Sockel.

The frogs aren’t done yet and whatever their aims and motivations are, surely things will only escalate from here on out.

It is the afternoon of the next day.

“Get back here!” calls Sockel, sounding very annoyed.

“You can’t make me!” shouts Eilig. “Get lost! Get frozen and die!”

Rhine, who was sitting on the staircase with Hineni, looks up towards the fairy. “It’s not that bad,” he says. “We all wear clothes.”

“You’re all idiots!” snaps the fairy at Rhine. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to be!” It turns back towards Sockel, who is running up the staircase in pursuit of her, holding a small dress in her hands.

(Eilig) has started channeling: [Fairy’s Chime]

{3 Seconds}

“Eilig!” scolds Hineni. “No magic in the house.”

Sockel presses a leg against the wall on the right-hand side of the stairwell, launching herself off of it and jumping over Rhine’s head, as she tries to swipe for the fairy in mid-air. The boy yelps, ducking down.

Channeling Interrupted: [Fairy’s Chime]

Eilig is forced to fly away to avoid Sockel’s grasp and flies up the staircase, continuing her escape. Sockel runs after her.

The two of them sit there, listening to their thudding from above as the chase continues.

“So, what’s this about, Rhine?” asks Hineni, looking back down towards him. Rhine had asked to speak with him in private a minute ago.

“- Anyways,” says Rhine, leaning over and looking upwards between the flights of stairs, to make sure that they’re really gone. He rubs the back of his head. “Uh, I…” The boy rubs the back of his head, staring at the ground as he seems to be thinking about his ask.

“Boy,” says Hineni. “Out with it. We have work to do.”

“Yeah, about that,” says Rhine. “Can I take a day off?” he asks, sighing. “I’m beat. Plus, there’s something that I want to do, so…” The boy places the tips of his fingers together. “I was wondering if I could get my pay a little early? Please?”

Hineni blinks. A day off and money?

What a world.

He rubs his forehead, thinking. They have a lot of work to do and with Sockel’s lecture on their finances this morning, they need to move fast. But…

He turns his head, looking at the bright face beneath the long, azure hair, staring his way with a hopeful gleam.

- Hineni sighs. “Fine,” he relents. He realizes that he wouldn't be able to say ’no’, even if he wanted to. “I guess it’s fair to say that you’ve earned it.” He gets up.

“Really?!”

“Sure, come on,” says Hineni. “Do you want me to go with you to the city, or should I ask Sockel?” he asks.

Rhine shakes his head. “I’ll go by myself.”

Hineni stops on the staircase, looking up towards him. “Are you sure?”

Rhine nods. “I don’t want to be babied,” says the boy. “I’m a man.”

Hineni raises an eyebrow. “Okay,” is all that he says. He supposes that it’s for the best that Rhine is developing some real self-confidence and not just some show-boating boistering. It is a little dangerous, yes. But perhaps it really is for the best for him to leave the nest on his own once in a while.

He doesn’t want to coddle him, after all. He’ll end up soft.

“Let’s get your money,” says Hineni, listening to the pair of boots running after him as they go downstairs.

Hineni walks around the library, looking around.

The employee tests went well. Sockel is going to be doing ‘some stuff’ in order to make sure that everyone is on the up and up, but it seems to be okay so far.

He lifts his gaze, looking at the sharp, owlish face that peers down his way. Obscura is laying on top of the shelves.

“Hineni has wandered into Obscura’s mysterious maze, yes?”

Hineni blinks. “It’s the library.”

The owl-god clicks in excitement, sitting upright, her legs dangling down the shelves. “For days, the little Hineni wandered through Obscura’s woods,” she hoots. “Lost and hungered.” Hineni raises an eyebrow. Everyone sure is dramatic today. “But he found Obscura’s loving tree and she has brought him to prosperity, yes?” she asks, clasping her hands together.

“…What?”

“Who~!” She gestures around herself. “Many dangers and traps fill deadly Obscura’s den of riddles!” She leans down towards him. “Hineni is forsaken, yes? Unable to escape her sharp talons and wit, yes?”

“- I can see the other door right there,” he says, pointing towards the right. “There’s a door literally behind me,” he explains, pointing behind himself at the door that he just came in through.

Obscura hisses angrily at him. “FOOLISH HINENI!” she squawks. “He will play Obscura’s game.”

“We really should be working.”

The owl-god crosses her arms. “Wise queen Obscura will hunt no more rabbits,” she says. “Not until Hineni has solved the big labyrinth and won her incredible prize!”

Hineni looks around the library. It is in somewhat of a state of disarray.

Books have been removed from the shelves by the hundreds, in order to build towers and walls. Boxes from the other rooms have been brought in to create tunnels and bridges. Looking down at his feet, he can’t help but notice that she seems to have even chipped away at the insides of some of the shelves like a wild animal to make some tunnels and passages between them.

It’s a good thing the old librarian isn’t here to see this. Just thinking about it puts the fear of death into his heart.

“Well?” asks the owl-god. “Will Hineni champion the terrors?” she hoots. “Will he fight for Obscura’s beautiful heart?”

“I guess I don’t have a choice,” says the man and by the time he looks back up, the owl-god is gone.

He sighs.

What’s up with everyone today?

Hineni gets down on his knees and crawls through the first tunnel between the shelves, as he begins navigating the very elaborately constructed maze. This must have taken a long time to make, she must have been in here the entire day, just getting this ready. It’s kind of annoying and a pain, honestly. But at the same time, she did work hard on it. Would it be rude to not play her game?

Maybe he’s the problem, realizes Hineni as he crawls through the dark, looking at the crude sketches in the wood of a man and an owl that somebody had spent a lot of time making with a large talon. Maybe he really has been all work lately. What good is work if you never have any fun?

Hineni decides to smile and he gets up, progressing through the maze for the next ten minutes, until eventually, after some puzzling and some backtracking, he reaches what he assumes is the end.

There is a small section, separated from the library. Someone has made a secret room behind some pushed away shelves there, hidden from the rest of the world.

“I think I made it,” says Hineni, looking around and then peeking his head inside.

A taloned hand grabs his collar and yanks him inside, by someone familiar who is, confusingly, dressed as a rather stereotypical librarian.

Hineni does not question his strange fate and instead, chooses to embrace the chaos of it all. During this experience, he finds some answers to some questions from his childhood that he never knew he had even had.

Life isn’t so bad, really.