I was relieved to find that the old man was so understanding. He gave off the same knowing energy as Auntie Hann. He wasn't even upset about my lack of money, it genuinely looked like he was just pleased to have company.

"Poor little missy. Attacked at the rite and abandoned by your mum. Some people are just born unlucky."

I didn't mention that my mother leaving was my fault, how could I? There's no way he'd have sympathy for me if I had and I desperately needed help.

"Honestly, if the guards can't even protect the children then what's the use in having them."

It was slightly annoying being referred to as a child, after all the rite showed that one had reached adulthood regardless of the result. It was illegal to refuse the summons to partake of the rite. Those that are physically incapable of attending are still legally children until the next rite. There were even rumours that some noble houses would poison their children to have them be a year older and stronger than their peers when selections for apprenticeships and schooling came around.

While I was grateful that my career execution was on pause until this time next year it was somewhat frustrating. The old man stirred his enormous pot while he continued.

"I wasn't there myself. but I heard that it was a bloody mess."

He eyed me from top to bottom before whistling.

"Those priests did a good job, no scars, at least no visible ones and your clothes look nice and clean. You'd better have thanked them for their good work."

"I hadn't had the chance yet."

"Hadn't had the chance my ass, you better visit them tomorrow and thank them properly. Showing gratitude is the key to a happy life."

We barely just met and yet he was suddenly acting like I imagined a disappointed grandparent would. His words were disapproving but he had a wide smile that made him look like a cheeky kid.

"So what now little missy?"

I don't know. Do you know where I can stay? I could help out to earn my keep."

The old man rubbed his bald head and sighed.

"I've got a little room. You help out around here and I could put you up for a bit."

"Really?"

"Yep. Mind you I can't hire you. Employing kids ain't legal but there's nothing wrong with sheltering and feeding an unpaid stall helper."

It was too good to be true. What I didn't get was what he got out of this deal. He looked very poor compared to everyone else that I'd seen while wandering the city. I couldn't imagine the strain it would put on him to feed an extra mouth for free. I remembered my mother's parting words and glanced at his loaf of bread, silently dreading what he might say next.

"Mind you this ain't done just out of the kindness of my heart. I've got a mind for business you see. No doubt you've noticed the buxom beauties at the other stalls?"

I nodded slowly, while my apprehension mounted.

"Sex sells its as simple as that."

I was initially reviled, I found my hand twitching towards my dagger. I've never been in a fight before and I'd stand no chance against an Animus-blade but an unarmed old man surely wouldn't be a hard target to overpower before he had a chance to manifest.

I must have been wearing a scary expression because his response was instant.

"Not like that!"

The old man shouted while raising and lowering his palms in a 'calm down' gesture.

"I just meant that a pretty young woman attracts more customers than a wrinkly bag of bones like me. I can't compete with that anymore."

He pointed behind me and I followed his gesture to a stall where a woman, only a couple of years older than me, was flicking her blonde hair and fluttering her green eyes for a patron. She wore a crimson dress and ribbon combo and unlike the other women at the stalls, she appeared very good at her job. Every time a customer tried to leave she'd wrap her body around them and drag them back to the stall while leaning in close, whispering in their ear before handing them a skewer of meat and they would always end up paying her for it.

"You can hire one of those ladies to manage a storefront or stall. Their prices are ridiculous, the guild that manages them rents them by the day with a discount for a week and a further discount for a month. All self-respecting businesses will have one of their women manning the customer side of things. The ones in red are the most expensive for a reason."

I was transfixed by the woman's snake-like movements as she enticed men and women alike to buy multiple skewers at once. She had just enough fat on her lean body to hide or soften the appearance of her muscles but once in a while, she'd move in a way that briefly exposed just how trained her body was. I looked at the other women running stalls and they all had a similar but weaker carefully cultivated physique.

I think I was starting to understand the old man's offer, he'd be getting a young woman to man his stand without needing to pay the guild price. Depending on how expensive they were to hire I might've been getting a terrible deal. Still, it was only a worse deal in a monetary sense, I'd still be getting free room and board with someone that I felt like I could trust. It seemed unlikely to me that I would find a better deal, especially on such short notice.

We talked for a bit about the exact terms of me being there, he couldn't enforce a legally binding contract with me so it was mostly just finding a middle ground that we were both happy with. Because he would need to buy me a uniform and teach me the ins and outs of running a stall, he wanted some guarantee that I wouldn't abandon him if my mother came back tomorrow. So I agreed to 'help around his stall' for three months regardless of what happened to make sure that he wasn't out of pocket for his kindness. As far as I could tell he was the one taking the most risk here as I could just go back on my word and leave whenever I wanted but building up good relations seemed like a smarter plan.

"Well, how about I get you some supper? You can just relax, for now, your first day is tomorrow provided that I can find something nice for you to wear."

Without letting me respond he turned to the bubbling pot of stew and gave it a quick stir before ladling out a large bowlful. He handed me the bowl and paddle before sawing off a piece of the bread log.

It was soothing to have a hot meal that was this chock full of meat, grain and vegetables, I just wanted to forget about everything for a moment and bask in its heat. I drank all of the liquid straight from the bowl and used the paddle to shovel the solid chunks of meat and veg down my gullet. Usually, you'd dip the bread into the liquid first but I preferred to pull off chunks and squash them into balls before eating them.

For the rest of the night, I watched the old man stir his pot and deal with the only customer that arrived at his stall, a regular by the name of Ed.

"Did one of your louts have a secret daughter?"

Ed said, pointing at me.

"Hah! No. This poor missy was the one that got, got at the rite. She was disappointed that she's still a kid for another year so I offered her some work experience."

The old man replied. It was a bald-faced lie that he said with the same casual tone as usual, we didn't have a preplanned excuse, he just made it up on the spot.

Ed leaned over the stall counter and stared at my face for a bit. He seemed nice enough but I couldn't help but be on edge around him. He looked a lot like Alessia's father.

"Ooooh damn… You're right, didn't recognise her at first without all the blood, how are ya?"

"You were at the rite?"

I asked, slightly shocked. I noticed that a large crowd had drawn for the rite but I didn't see why Ed would have been there, he didn't look like the type that was interested in anything except gambling.

"Yeah after that wonder child from a few years back shot up to captain of the flying swords it's been a lot more popular to check it out, never know, you might have the chance to meet another future star. Might even get something nice if they remember you down the road." He paused to finish off the last couple of scoops of his stew.

Curiosity nagged at me so I asked the question that had been avoided so far.

"What exactly happened to me? I was fine one moment and then my next memory was waking up in a tent."

Ed laughed awkwardly.

"What happened was that you traumatised every youngun around you. Screamed like a banshee and shot blood out of your eyes, ears, nose and mouth, it was grim. It looked like the inside of your head exploded. I was pretty sure that I watched a girl get murdered in broad daylight. They ended up cancelling the rite this year just in case there were more attacks."