Aetheria

The whispertail cub fell asleep inside Mira's scarf.

She discovered this when she tried to stand.

A warm weight shifted against her chest, five tails tightened beneath the folds, and a tiny paw emerged near her collar before disappearing again. Mira stopped halfway off the stool and lowered herself carefully.

Tessa had already returned to the front of the shop. Through the closed workroom door came the sounds of Eastmere recovering from the attack: raised voices, boots crossing the street, someone dragging broken timber and occasional orders shouted by the guards.

Mira loosened one layer of the scarf.

The cub's head appeared.

Its ears had relaxed while it slept. Without flattened fur and exposed teeth, it looked much smaller than it had beneath the fallen cloth. The marble-white coat around its face was ridiculously soft, and a faint pink tint coloured the tips of its ears to match the deeper gradient along its five tails.

Mira touched one ear with her fingertip.

It twitched.

She did it again.

The cub opened one pale eye.

Mira withdrew her hand.

The eye closed.

She smiled.

Then she remembered that several people outside were searching for surviving whispertails.

Hiding one inside her clothing had seemed much easier when she only needed to move from the storefront into the back room.

Mira adjusted the scarf so the cub sat lower against her chest. The temple's spare robe was loose enough to conceal most of it, although five tails made the arrangement unnecessarily complicated. She tucked three around its body, guided another beneath the scarf and tried to fold the last alongside them.

The tail curled around her wrist.

Mira looked down.

"You have too many."

The cub continued sleeping.

She managed to stand using the worktable for support and reached for her spear.

The movement woke it properly.

Its head emerged from the scarf.

Mira gently pushed it back down.

A small growl vibrated against her ribs.

"If you bite through the robe, they'll see you."

The growl continued.

Mira suspected the explanation had not persuaded it.

She opened the workroom door.

Tessa was kneeling beside the damaged shopfront, fitting a broken shutter back against its lower hinge. A broad-shouldered guard stood outside speaking with two hunters.

The dead whispertail had already been removed from the doorway.

Dark blood remained across the road where it had fallen.

Tessa looked over.

Her gaze briefly dropped toward the suspiciously enlarged front of Mira's scarf.

"Everything all right?"

"Yes."

The hidden cub chose that moment to move.

One pink-tipped tail slipped out beside Mira's shoulder.

Tessa stared at it.

Mira caught the tail and tucked it back inside.

The leatherworker's mouth moved slightly.

Mira narrowed her eyes.

"Please don't laugh."

"I wasn't going to."

Mira did not believe her.

The guard outside turned toward them.

Tessa immediately returned her attention to the shutter.

Mira leaned on the spear and joined her.

The market looked as though a storm had passed through it.

One produce stall had collapsed entirely. Cabbages had rolled halfway across the street, and a man with a basket collected them while complaining continuously about claw marks. The butcher's awning hung from a single support. Several hunters were helping lift a damaged cart while guards searched the nearby alleys.

Farther along the road, townspeople had gathered around the two whispertails killed during the attack.

Mira could see materials being separated from the bodies.

One hunter carefully removed the long tail from the grey beast while another collected its claws. A faintly luminous object rested in a shallow wooden tray beside them.

Mira looked at Tessa.

"Who gets the materials?"

"Depends who killed what."

"I helped with that one."

"You did."

Tessa pushed herself upright and raised her voice.

"Bran!"

One of the hunters looked over.

"The little Cleric gets a share of the grey one."

Bran followed her gesture toward Mira.

"She the one who burned its face?"

"Yes."

"Then she gets a share."

He returned to his work.

Mira watched him for a moment.

That had been considerably easier than negotiating with Gerrin.

Tessa tested the repaired hinge.

"The guards keep records when monsters get into town. Hunters divide the useful parts afterward. If several people helped kill one, the valuable pieces usually get sold and the coin is split unless somebody wants to buy out the others."

Mira looked toward the luminous object.

"What is that?"

"Whisperstone."

"What does it do?"

"Depends on the quality. They usually go into stealth gear, sound-dampening charms and hunting equipment."

Mira's interest increased immediately.

"Clothing?"

Tessa sighed.

"Yes, Mira. Clothing."

Mira looked back at the tray.

A material capable of reducing sound could be useful in boots or gloves.

A scarf was another possibility.

She preferred the scarf.

Something shifted beneath her robe.

The cub pushed its nose against the fabric near her collarbone.

Mira glanced down.

Tessa followed her gaze.

"You need somewhere to put that thing."

"I have somewhere."

"Your shirt is not an enclosure."

"It's staying there."

"For now."

Mira did not like the implication.

"What does it need?"

Tessa considered the question.

"Meat. Water. Somewhere warm. Whispertails den in rocky woodland. Cubs normally stay with the mother until they're large enough to hunt."

Mira's attention returned to the dead animals.

"Was one of those its mother?"

"Could have been."

The thought settled unpleasantly.

The cub had been beneath the market stalls during the attack. It might have followed the adults into town, been carried with them, or simply become separated during the chaos.

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Mira had no way to know which adult it belonged to.

One of them had escaped.

She looked toward the rooftops where the two-tailed whispertail had disappeared.

"Will the one that escaped come back?"

"I doubt it'll come back into the market. Whispertails don't usually attack towns at all."

"Why did these?"

"That's what the hunters are trying to work out."

Mira looked toward the bodies again.

Several animals had entered Eastmere together and behaved in a way that apparently was not normal for them.

That was worth remembering.

The cub beneath her scarf was a more immediate concern.

Mira moved closer to the wall as another group of guards passed.

One carried a dead whispertail across his shoulders.

The cub woke instantly.

Its entire body stiffened against Mira's ribs, and a low growl formed beneath the scarf.

Mira placed one hand over it.

The sound stopped.

The animal pressed itself closer to her.

Mira remained where she was until the guards passed.

Tessa had seen the reaction.

"Take it back to the temple."

"Harven might tell someone."

"Harven treats skeletons who walk in dragging half-dead merchants. He's probably encountered stranger things."

"I don't want anyone taking it."

"Then don't walk through the front door with five tails hanging out."

Mira considered the route back to the temple.

The square would already be busy.

The cub would also need food before much longer.

"Do you have meat?"

Tessa pointed toward the butcher's damaged stall across the street.

Mira followed the gesture.

"Right."

The butcher was a large man with blood covering both sleeves and a bandage across one cheek. He had apparently helped kill the darker whispertail and was now trying to rescue whatever stock had survived the attack.

Mira waited until he finished carrying a broken tray inside.

"I need a small amount of meat."

He looked down at her.

"How small?"

Mira held her hands roughly fifteen centimetres apart.

The butcher stared at the measurement.

"For eating?"

"Yes."

Technically.

He cut several scraps from a damaged piece of rabbit and wrapped them in thick paper.

"Three copper."

Mira paid.

The bundle disappeared beneath her robe.

The cub woke properly this time.

Its head pushed through the scarf with enough force to uncover one ear.

Mira pressed it back down.

The butcher noticed.

His eyes narrowed.

"What's in there?"

Mira held the robe closer.

"My things."

Something beneath the cloth produced a tiny chirping noise.

The butcher looked at Mira.

Mira looked back.

Eventually, he shook his head and returned to his counter.

She left before he reconsidered.

Tessa had found a leather satchel by the time Mira returned.

It was larger than Mira's belt pouch and designed to hang across the body. The top could be tied closed, while two overlapping flaps left enough room for air to pass through.

Tessa held it up.

"This should work until it gets bigger."

Mira inspected the inside.

"How much?"

"Take it."

Mira looked at her.

"Your shop was just attacked and you're giving things away?"

"It has a torn strap."

Mira found the damage.

The tear was small.

"I can still pay something."

"You already bought gloves."

"That isn't the same."

Tessa held out her hand.

"One copper."

Mira gave her one.

The transaction appeared to satisfy both of them.

They lined the bottom of the satchel with scraps of soft hide and folded cloth.

Transferring the cub proved less simple.

All five tails expanded until the animal appeared nearly twice its original size. It twisted in Mira's hands, bit the padded portion of her glove and attempted to climb directly back into the scarf.

Mira caught it around the middle.

"You need somewhere I can actually see you."

The cub swiped at her sleeve.

Its claws caught the robe but failed to reach bone.

Tessa handed Mira a strip of rabbit.

The cub went completely still.

Its pale eyes fixed on the meat.

Mira moved the strip slightly to one side.

Its head followed.

She moved it back.

The head followed again.

Mira almost laughed.

She placed the meat inside the satchel.

The cub entered willingly.

"Traitor."

It seized the strip between its teeth and turned its back on her.

Tessa tied the satchel loosely.

Mira slung it across her body, arranging the strap opposite her splinted arm. A small white face appeared beneath the flap while she adjusted it.

The five tails remained mostly inside.

Mostly was sufficient.

A hunter approached from farther down the street carrying a small tray.

"Your share."

Mira recognized Bran.

He placed the tray on Tessa's counter.

Four objects rested inside: a curved black claw almost as long as Mira's smallest finger, a tuft of grey fur bound with thread, a narrow strip of black-tipped tail fur and a faceted stone the size of a grape.

Mira picked up the stone.

It was translucent grey with pale lines running through its centre.

Information appeared.

Lesser Whisperstone

Quality: Uncommon

Item Level: 5

A condensed remnant of a whispertail's Essence. Carries a mild affinity for silence, sudden movement and concealed presence.

Mira rotated it between her fingers.

"Can this be put into gloves?"

Bran nodded. "If you've got an enchanter who knows what they're doing."

"What about clothing?"

"Same answer."

She looked at Tessa.

Tessa raised both hands.

"I work leather. I don't enchant."

"Who does?"

"Old Serren near the north wall, but you'll need more than one cheap monster stone before he wastes an afternoon on you."

Mira returned the Whisperstone to the tray.

"How many?"

"Ask him."

Another future expense.

Mira inspected the claw.

Whispertail Claw

Quality: Common

Item Level: 5

A sharp claw from an adult whispertail. Useful in hunting tools, light weapons, charms and certain forms of reinforced stitching.

The final words caught her attention.

She looked at the grey fur.

Whispertail Pelt Fragment

Quality: Common

Item Level: 5

Light, durable fur with mild natural resistance to wind and abrasion.

Mira began mentally rearranging the expensive mantle she had seen earlier.

The black outer layer could remain.

Ivory around the neck and head.

Gold stitching along the border.

Something stronger worked into the seams where the fabric would take the most strain.

The Whisperstone could eventually go somewhere less obvious.

Perhaps the gloves.

Perhaps not.

She needed considerably more money before any of those decisions mattered.

The escaped whispertail had also left the attack alive, although Mira suspected hunting a Level 5 predator specifically because she wanted nicer stitching would be difficult to justify while missing a foot.

The satchel moved.

A white paw emerged beneath the flap.

It reached toward the grey fur.

Mira pushed it gently back inside.

"Don't."

The paw returned.

This time it reached farther.

Mira moved the tray away.

The cub's head appeared.

It sniffed.

Then hissed at the pelt fragment.

Mira's interest shifted.

She lowered the tuft slightly closer.

The cub's ears flattened immediately.

All five tails flared behind it.

A thin growl came from its chest.

Mira moved the fur away.

The animal slowly relaxed.

Bran looked between them.

"Did it know that one?"

Mira looked at him.

"Why?"

"It's reacting to the smell."

Tessa stepped closer.

"Could just be the blood."

Bran accepted the explanation easily enough.

He tapped the tray.

"Keep the lot or sell it. Grey's worth a little more today because the pelt wasn't badly damaged."

Then he left.

Mira waited until he was farther down the street before looking at Tessa.

The leatherworker lowered her voice.

"You are extremely bad at hiding animals."

"I've had it for less than an hour."

"You're still bad."

Mira rearranged the satchel flap.

The cub immediately pushed its nose through another opening.

Mira sighed.

It licked a small trace of rabbit blood from the fur around its mouth.

"Does it need a name?"

Tessa leaned against the counter.

"It will at some point unless you intend to call it 'the cub' forever."

Mira looked at the little face.

The cub looked back.

Its colouring made several obvious possibilities occur to her.

Snow was too obvious.

Pearl did not fit.

Marble sounded like something placed on a table rather than something that bit people.

Rose did not feel right either.

Five tails made most simple names feel insufficient.

"What are whispertails usually named?"

"Hunters don't name the ones they kill."

Mira frowned.

"That's not helpful."

Tessa returned to cleaning the shop.

Mira sat beside the counter while she considered it.

The cub finished eating and began investigating the satchel. It pushed its entire head through the opening, discovered Mira's scarf hanging above it and immediately attempted to climb.

Mira stopped it halfway.

The cub clung to her sleeve with all four paws while its five tails swayed behind it.

Mira carefully peeled it loose.

"You can't live in my scarf."

It made a soft chirp.

Mira's position became considerably harder to defend.

She put the cub against her shoulder.

It immediately climbed behind her skull and curled itself around the scarf.

Five white-and-pink tails spread across the ivory fabric.

Tessa glanced over.

"Looks like it disagrees."

Mira reached up and touched one tail.

The animal remained where it was.

She decided to postpone the argument.

A bell began ringing near the market entrance.

People turned toward the sound.

A guard stood on a crate beside the well.

"Anyone who fought during the attack, report your kills and injuries before midday. Hunters heading outside the walls are asked to avoid the north-east woods until we know what drove the pack down."

Mira looked toward him.

Tessa stopped working.

"That answers one question."

"What?"

"They came from the north-east."

Mira remembered the whispertails moving through the market, the injured cub hiding beneath the cloth and the darker adult with the torn ear.

Something had pushed them toward Eastmere.

The guard continued.

"Tracks outside the north gate suggest more animals moved through overnight. Patrol found blood, broken brush and signs of fighting along the old quarry road."

Mira looked at the white cub curled around her shoulders.

Its ears had gone rigid.

The little animal stared north.

Mira followed its attention.

Beyond Eastmere's rooftops, forested hills rose beneath the morning sky.

The cub climbed farther into her scarf and hid its face.

Mira stroked the fur between its ears.

"We don't have to go there today."

She meant it.

Her missing foot alone made wandering into another monster-filled forest a terrible idea. The fractured arm made it worse, her Essence was still recovering, and she had barely begun understanding what could be done with her Cleric skills.

She also needed to return to the temple, find out whether anyone could repair her skeletal body, replace what remained of her ruined beginner equipment and determine how expensive an appropriately enormous scarf would actually be.

The north-east woods could wait.

Mira looked toward the hills once more.

She was still curious.

That could wait too.

For a little while.

Tessa returned with a needle and waxed thread.

"Give me the satchel."

Mira handed it over.

"What are you doing?"

"Fixing the strap before your five-tailed problem falls through it."

Mira watched her work.

The needle passed through the leather with practiced ease. Tessa reinforced the torn section with a second strip, folded the edges inward and stitched through both layers.

Mira leaned closer.

"Why did you cross the thread there?"

"Stops the tear travelling."

"And those stitches are shorter."

"That section carries more weight."

Mira watched the next pass.

Tessa's hands never seemed rushed, yet very little movement went to waste. The needle entered where it needed to, the thread tightened, and each new stitch reinforced the section beside it.

Mira found herself following the pattern rather than the individual movements.

The tear determined where the reinforcement needed to begin.

The load determined where the stitches needed to be closer together.

The material determined how tightly the thread could be pulled.

Once she understood those relationships, the repair became much easier to follow.

Tessa noticed how closely she was watching.

"You sew?"

"No."

"Want to?"

Mira looked at the repaired satchel.

Then at the rows of gloves, belts and scarves surrounding them.

Her attention returned to the needle passing through leather.

"Yes."

Tessa smiled.

"Come back when Eastmere isn't being eaten by cats."

The cub opened one pale eye from inside Mira's scarf.

Mira touched the pink tip of one tail.

For the first time since waking in Aetheria, she had more things she wanted to do than things she had been told she ought to do.

She liked the difference.

Status

Mira

Species: Human

Class: Cleric

Level: 2

Experience: 58 / 140

Strength: 4

Agility: 6

Endurance: 5

Perception: 8

Intelligence: 10

Spirit: 9

Essence: 25 / 45

Unassigned Attribute Points: 0

Individual Abilities

Simplification — Common

Improves the ability to reduce complex problems into their most relevant components using available information.

Skills

Minor Heal — Common

Radiant Spark — Common

Blessing of Shelter — Common

Equipment

Temple Spare Robe — Common — Damaged

Temple Cleric Scarf — Common

Training Gloves — Common

Beginner Boot — Common — Right Foot Only

Goblin Knife — Common — 9 / 21 Durability

Goblin Spear — Common — 14 / 28 Durability

Novice Cleric Token — Common

Worn Leather Satchel — Common — Repaired

Inventory

Copper Coins ×14

Small Silver Coins ×2

Dried Fruit Strip ×1

Folded Cloth ×1

Low-Grade Flint ×1

Cord ×2

Bent Iron Buckle ×1

Broken Iron Awl — Common — Bent

Leather Strap ×1

Crude Whetstone ×1

Lesser Whisperstone — Uncommon ×1

Whispertail Claw — Common ×1

Whispertail Pelt Fragment — Common ×1

Black-Tipped Tail Fur — Common ×1

Condition

Left Foot — Missing

Left Radius — Fractured, Properly Splinted

Left Ulna — Cracked

Rib Damage — Moderate

Back and Shoulder — Recovering

Right Leg — Strained

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