"Maisie, you in?" Amelia calls out as we enter the only real shop in town.

She explained to me on the way over that since Northwood is much smaller than Southwood. The people here just order almost everything they need from the larger town through Maisie, who gets a discount from all the shops thanks to a deal set up by her great-grandfather with the founders of the two towns.

"Amelia!" A plump, curly-haired brunette, who looks a few years older than Amelia, charges out from behind the counter. We didn't see her because she's a Halfling, they look just like perfectly proportioned humans that just happen to be half the size. Dwarves on the other hand are much stockier, and look like someone squished a human down to around a meter in height.

"Hahaha." Amelia laughs and catches her friend in a hug after the shorter woman jumps at her.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you safe. I was so worried when I heard about the bandits. How's Roddy? Have you seen your aunt yet?" The words flow out of her in a single breath.

"I missed you too, and Roddy's fine thanks to Sorrel." Amelia sets her friend on the counter and introduces us. "He's a healer, and thanks to Apricot's warning was able to save us. He already patched up Aunt Carmen, even took care of the root cause of her clumsiness." The blonde wrinkled her nose at the mention of her aunt.

"Thank you two so much." She bows her head to us in turn. "It's not often I see other non-humans around these parts." She says while getting a good look at my plant parts and Apricot's wings. "Good thing you two happened to be traveling through."

"We were just lucky to be in the right place at the right time." I actually think that VeeGee had something to do with it, but it's kinda hard to say that it was divine intervention.

"Nonsense." She negates my attempt at humility. "You two are heroes. My husband, Toby should be home soon, let us treat you to a meal."

"That'd be nice." Amelia agrees for us. "But, we came here for a reason. I was hoping that you'd have some sturdier footwear for Apricot or at least some hide we can stitch to the bottom of her slippers."

"No shoes." Maisie shakes her head and hops off the counter to walk over to a chest in the corner. "But, I've got plenty of hide. This bit should do." She takes out a thick piece of leather that looks to be the leftovers of a much larger hide.

"That's great, thanks." I nod as she climbs up a step ladder sized for her to reach the top of the counter.

"Anything else?"

"Sorrel promised Apricot a half gold's worth of mana stones. I was hoping they could use my friend's discount." Amelia says hopefully.

"Well, considering that I wouldn’t have a friend anymore if it weren't for them, I think I can manage that." The shopkeeper says with a smile. "Say seven for fifty, and I'll throw in the hide for free."

"You're the best Maisie." Amelia pulls her friend into another hug.

"I know." She smirks back before disengaging to unlock a small chest full of glowing blue stones about the size of her fist. "Do you mind if I ask what you want them for? You don't look like the usual enchanters we get up here."

"Snacks!" Apricot seemingly disappears, leaving her clothes behind, only to fly out of them a second later already wearing her spider-silk dress.

"Let me pay first, you crazy pixie." I laugh and hand over five laurels to the shocked store keep. Apricot meanwhile is taking big bites out of a stone that must out mass her by several-fold.

"Mmm, so good." She moans and pats her very full belly after devouring half of it.

"Well, I was wondering what she needed some new shoes for." Maisie muses. "But, why didn't you get them in Southwood?"

"Oh, umm... this is new." Amelia blushes. "Her and I sorta connected magically; my magic is much stronger now, and she can turn human size. Though, we didn't find that out until we were already on the road."

"Must be some connection to make you blush like that." Maisie teases her friend.

"It happened when the three of us were having sex for the first time." Apricot blurts out.

"Way to be tactful there, Sweetie." I tap, very gently, on her forehead with one of my tendrils.

"Stupid lunker hang-ups." the orange-haired terror mutters while rubbing the spot I tapped her at.

"You, and him... and her?" Maisie looks at her now, beet-red friend. "Hah! It's about time you got yourself a man... and a woman."

"It's early days, but we seem to get along alright." I answer for Amelia while wrapping my arms around her from behind.

"Well, as long as you two treat her right." She looks us both in the eyes to make sure we understand. "Now, dish girl. I want details. I mean, I thought me and Toby were pushing things, but how does it even work with a pixie? Oh, Toby's human." She adds after seeing my confusion.

"..." Amelia clams up.

"Let's just say that with magic, anything is possible." I bring out the top half of mini-me on the back of my hand, and give her a little wave. "Any more details then that, you'll have to pry from Amelia herself." The shy little thing is now burying her face in her hands.

"Shapeshifting? Oh Amelia, you lucked out with this one." Maisie grins at her friend. "I've got a cousin that used to date one, you wouldn't believe some of the stuff she wrote to me about. Or, maybe you would. Heheh." She takes Amelia's hand and guides her behind the counter. "Come on back, we can swap stories while you help me cook dinner."

"Relax Amelia, its just sex." Apricot says while alighting on her shoulder. "I love seeing your reactions, but you really should loosen up a little about this stuff."

"I think it's cute." I grab the pixies discarded clothing and follow them.

"She's always been easy to get a rise out of." Maisie looks over her shoulder at me. "If you think this blush is bad, you should have seen her when I first told her I was hooking up with Toby. Man, you could feel the heat radiating off her cheeks from across the room."

"Maybe if you hadn't been quite so graphic at the time." Amelia mumbles.

"Oh?" Apricot perks up. "Now, I kinda want details."

...

"Ok, so then he... Toby." Maisie cuts off her story and tackle-hugs her man much like she jumped at Amelia earlier. "Look, Amelia's here. And, she's got herself a man, and a woman." She adds with a sly grin.

"Are you teasing the poor girl again?" He chuckles before setting her down. "I guess not." He says after finally registering mine and Apricot's presence.

"Evening." I stand to shake his hand. He's a bit shorter than me, with lanky brown hair, and looks like a giant compared to his wife. "I'm Sorrel, and this is Apricot." She shifted back to human-size earlier, mainly so she could snatch bits of food while Amelia and Maisie were preparing dinner.

"They're the ones who saved Amelia and Rodrick from the bandits." Maisie adds. "He's a healer and came up to fix Carmen's wrist, Amelia said he was even able to fix her clumsiness, but I'll believe that when I see it."

"I fixed an old problem in her balance organ." I don't want to go through explaining the whole inner ear thing again. "She shouldn't fall over as easily now, but don't expect her to become graceful overnight."

"Well, you saved me from having to make another run to Southwood for her favorite medication. So, you have my thanks. Just give me a minute to get cleaned up and I'll join you guys." Amelia told me earlier that when he's not helping Maisie with the shop he's something of a general handyman, and it looks like he worked up a sweat today.

"No problem." I nod to him and he heads into the back. "Mind if I play some music?" I ask Maisie.

"Are you a musician? What do you play?"

"Guitar and a bit of piano, but I'm out of practice, and don't even have a working guitar right now." I pull out my speaker box. "I was just going to use this and a bit of magic." I start up my [Classic Rock - Over 3 Stars] smart playlist on random, with "Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac coming up first.

"That's remarkable." She examines the speaker from all sides. "Wherever did you get it?"

"Oh, it's not enchanted, I'm just using it to play the songs stuck in my head." Or wherever VeeGee stored them. 'Seriously dude, if you're listening, you're awesome. Would have been more awesome if you let me keep my hentai folder, but you're still awesome.' There's no response from him, but I do get a *Ding* of a laugh from Temmie.

"Well, that's even more remarkable then."

"Oh, he's played hundreds of songs for us over the past couple days." Apricot sings my praises. "Said he's got thousands of them up there too."

"It's a gift." I tell part of the truth. I just don't add 'from a god'.

"What spell are you using?" Toby asks after rejoining us in a new outfit.

"Oh, it's just a bit of nature magic I improvised with Apricot's help the other day." I explain. "I lost pretty much everything before coming here." Now, there's an understatement.

"Is that why you were naked when we first met?" Apricot asks.

"Yeah, I was sent here by someone very powerful." Yet another understatement. "I don't know if he sent me here because he took pity on me, or if he just thought it would be funny. But, I wasn't able to take anything but what's in my head."

"Does that have to do with your nightmare?" Amelia takes my hand.

"Yeah, but it's alright." I transition the music into "Here Comes The Sun" and squeeze her hand.

"Ooh, can you translate the rest of their songs for us?" Apricot begs.

"Sure." I smile back at her. "I think with a bit more practice, I'll be able to handle it, if not continuously, then at least for a good stretch at a time." It's already easier to handle the mental strain than it was yesterday.

"You're translating these too?" Maisie exclaims. "I thought your accent was a little odd, but you speak perfect Varecian."

"The one who sent me here helped with that." I admit.

"So, what are we having tonight?" Toby changes the subject. I don't know if it's because he could tell I was getting uncomfortable, or just because he was hungry and the smells coming from the kitchen were distracting.

"You're favorite, but you're smelling the dessert that Sorrel put together. He's got a bunch of recipes that use those weird curly sticks that Tully passed us when they didn't sell." She's talking about cinnamon, all I did was make some baked apples.

"Well, it smells divine." He walks over to take a peek in the oven and floods the house with more of that savory-sweet smell. They've got a fancy enchanted one that works much like what I'm used to. "Mmm, sorry Maisie. I haven't tasted them yet, but I think I already have a new favorite."

"Me too." She agrees and starts plating up dinner after checking that it's done. "Are you guys sure that you can't hang around for a few more days?"

"Sorry, but Roddy's already making his way to Riverton... and, I'd rather not deal with Aunt Carmen anymore than I have to."

"That cow was particularly rude to her when she introduced Sorrel." Apricot explains.

"I don't know what her problem is." Maisie shakes her head. "You two used to be so close when you were younger."

Apricot's about to open her mouth again when I lock eyes with her and give a warning shake of my head. "This is delicious Maisie, I can see why it's your favorite Toby."

"Oh, yes." He nods, happy to steer the conversation away from the touchy subject. "This is how she won me over actually. I won't lie, the size difference was a big hurdle, but even my family told me to 'just marry her, already' after eating her cooking."

"Mhm." I just mumble around a bite of food and share a grin with everyone else at the table.

"Okay, what am I missing?" Toby asks his wife. "You only get that twinkle in your eyes when there's a joke or something that went right over my head."

"Apricot is a pixie." She laughs at his confused look. "She's normally shorter than that fork you're holding. And it took you two... what, a couple hours to hook up? And here, I had to chase you for months. Oh, quit gawping, he can shapeshift." She chuckles when he blushes as brightly as Amelia.

"The dessert smells done." I say to save him. "Let me take it out and it should be cooled just enough by the time we're ready for it." I get up to do just that and have to hold back a laugh as everyone starts plowing through their plates, so they can get to dessert sooner.

"Can I have some now?" Apricot, unsurprisingly, was the first to finish.

"Just nibble on one of your mana stones while waiting for us." I tell her while setting the apple bake on the stovetop to cool.

"Ooh, could you crumble one up for me and mix it in?" I swear she starts drooling at the thought.

"I guess, but why don't you try it without first." I relent and give her a small plate. Seeing that everyone else has already cleared their plates, I get some for them too before sitting down to take my time with the meal Maisie cooked.

"Ooh, I know this flavor." Amelia exclaims after taking a bite. "There's this one shop in Riverton that makes these sweet rolls, and I swear it's the same taste as this cinnamon stuff."

"Mmm, that was good." Apricot moans after devouring her plate. "Now I really want to try it with the crushed mana stone."

"Go ahead and get seconds, and bring the mortar and pestle over." I say, still only halfway through the main course. "So, are these things hard to crush?" I question after the pixie does as I asked, and hands me the half-eaten one from earlier. Giving it a test squeeze over the mortar, I can feel a little give. So I use both hands and vines to crumble it up into the stone bowl.

"They should be harder than that!" Toby says a little more sharply than I think he intended.

"Oh, he's stronger than he looks." Apricot crows. "You should see the bow he bought, the guy said it was made for beastkin."

"That reminds me; I need to practice, it's been years since I've fired one." Archery was about the only part of summer camp that I didn't hate, so I was able to get pretty damned good with the bow. "Mmm, tingly." I comment after tasting the finely ground mana dust. "If only I had some citrus fruits, this would go great in something like a raspberry limeade."

"It's a good thing you're a merchant Amelia because I think your new partners have some expensive tastes." Maisie laughs at her own wordplay.

"..." Amelia just shakes her head and takes another bite of the dessert.

***