Frostbitten Wayfarer

Zoe looked to the sky, wondering how much daylight she had left. Mid afternoon, so she had a few more hours left. She wondered if there were any clocks in this world. Maybe a watch? Could her system menu tell her the time?

She turned her focus inwards, trying to force a clock to appear in her vision, but nothing happened. She shrugged, it wasn’t that important anyway. The sun was always there, she hoped.

The walk back to the gate and out to the forest was beginning to feel familiar, and she found some small comfort knowing she had more places she didn’t feel lost in. She strode with confidence and excitement, eager to gather more of this plant without having to lug a heavy bag through the snow.

Well she was still carrying the bag around since she had to return it to Joe, but she wasn’t going to fill it. Probably. Maybe she could leave it hidden under the snow somewhere and bring back five bags by tonight, she thought.

When she got back to the forest she took a left instead, wanting to avoid where she had previously been gathering.

After a few minutes, she started rummaging around the trees looking for plants and it didn’t take long before she found the familiar blue tinged leaves. She plucked a few from the bushes, put them in the bag and they disappeared as soon as she let them go.

She reached in and rummaged around in the bag, feeling nothing but the soft leather that it was made of. She tried grabbing at the air in the bag but to perhaps nobody’s surprise, all she grabbed was air.

“The hell?" She whispered.

She tried reaching in and grabbing something again, but this time thought about the klir leaves that she put in before and they appeared in her hand. The bag was reading her mind. That was fun, and not at all terrifying to her.

*Ding* You have unlocked the Poison resistance.

She was surprised it came so easily, maybe the Klir was a stupid move but it didn’t hurt and didn’t feel that dangerous. Zoe thought back to her experience with John and contrasted it with this one. Although her mental resistance jumped quite high, maybe resistances wouldn’t be that bad if she took her time?

The next few hours were spent in a comfortable routine of plowing through snow from tree to tree, ripping leaves off of bushes and stuffing them into her magical bag. This time she tried to wander in a spiral pattern and stay closer to the entrance to town.

She noticed the bag getting heavier as the hours passed and the bag filled up. By the time the bag stopped taking any more leaves it felt as though she were carrying around a bowling ball made of lead.

The day was dragging on and she didn’t think she’d have time to fill the fifth bag. Not that she felt like carrying around two heavy bags through town, anyway.

Health: 200/200

She smiled, thinking she should try and get some of the poison from Liz when she was done. It was good for resistance training and she could out regenerate the damage so there was almost no risk. It was probably cheap too, if he was giving it to her for collateral. Or maybe that’s just how much he’s making off all this klir.

The walk back to the gate took just over 40 minutes thanks to her better planning. She nodded to the guards and walked back to Liz’s shop at a brisk pace, hoping to make it before sundown.

When she entered, Liz was standing up and putting the papers away. Preparing to close for the day, she thought.

“I got you a full load. Two silver right?” Zoe said, plunking the heavy bag down on the counter with a dull thud.

“Yes, yes,” the man said, pulling out two silver and handing them to her. “Will you be needing the antidote now then?”

“I was thinking I would gather some more tomorrow for you if you still need more?” Zoe asked, reaching for the bag.

“Yes, another seven bags still.” He said, running his hands through his hair.

“Right about that, so I know I’m the one who messed up the numbers but I don’t really want to gather three bags. If you’re up for buying eight I could do eight tomorrow. If not I’ll just do four tomorrow and give you the bag back.” She asked.

The man sighed, leaning his head back for a moment. “Yes, that’s fine. Eight bags tomorrow. Assuming nobody else takes the job.”

“Great, I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Zoe said, grabbing the bag and rushing out the door. On her way back, she stuffed the large bag she got from Joe into the smaller bag she was renting from Liz. Something about that felt off to her, but a part of her enjoyed it.

The inn was busy as Zoe arrived, patrons sitting at the tables chattering and drinking. Rizick standing by the bar talking with Isla and serving people drinks. Joe was in the kitchen cooking something that smelled fresh and vibrant with a hint of sourness.

She rushed into the kitchen and saw Joe mixing up a big bowl of leafy greens with some kind of dressing, portioning it out onto plates that vanished into whatever storage item he was using. Next to the bowl was a pile of lemons, the smell wafting to her and overwhelming everything else for her in the moment.

“Are those lemons, Joe?” Zoe asked.

“Are what what?” Joe asked, confounded.

“Those yellow fruits, are they lemons? No, they’re definitely lemons. There’s lemons!” Zoe shouted.

“Calm down, what’s a lemon?” Joe asked.

“This!” She said, grabbing one of the yellow fruits. “This is a lemon, Joe. It’s a lemon!”

Joe grabbed the fruit from her hand, “This.” He said. “This is ifosa. I have no idea what a lemon is.”

“It doesn’t matter Joe, ifosa, lemon, whatever. A lemon by any other name tastes as sweet or whatever. Can I have one? Please?” Zoe pleaded.

“Sure, I have no idea why you want one so badly, but sure. You can have one.” He said, tossing the ifosa he was holding to her.

Zoe caught it and ripped it open, the sticky juices dripping down her hands and the sweet, sour smell flooding her nostrils. She bit into the fleshy interior, feeling her face pucker as she did.

Joe was right, she found. It was no lemon, but it was close enough. It tasted almost the same as a lemon but with more bitterness than she remembered. Or maybe that’s just what a lemon tastes like before all of the selective breeding.

She devoured the lemon like a beast feasting on its first meal in weeks, and tossed the rind in the bin.

“Ah that was so good. I haven’t had a lemon in so long.”

Joe was staring at her, shaking his head. “You are by far the strangest person I have ever met.”

“You wouldn’t get it, Joe. It’s been months.” She said, washing her hands in the sink. “Even before I… came here, I hadn’t had a lemon in weeks. I missed that. Do you happen to have any bananas too? Nah, they’d probably be called something else like hoosie or something anyway. Thanks Joe.” She said.

“Never heard of banana or hoosie either sorry.”

“Maybe I’ll describe some fruits someday and see if you know the names, but anyway I got paid today Joe.” She pulled out her two silver, handing it to Joe.

“No no, it’s fine. I-” Joe started.

“I want to be independent, Joe. Please take it. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and I want to pay it back. It’s not much, I know. But I want to pay for my own room here now. I should have another four coming tomorrow and might find another job too at some point.”

“Alright, I’m glad I was able to help you out then. Should be able to find plenty of odd jobs as people are preparing for winter. Keep an eye out for them.” He said, taking the two silver and pocketing them.

“Wait, it’s not winter right now?" She asked, startled.

“No? Winter starts next week.” Joe said, sounding a little confused.

“I thought it was winter, with all the snow outside.” Zoe said.

Joe laughed, “Wherever you come from must be much warmer. No, there’s almost always snow on the ground up here aside from a couple months in the summer.”

“Huh.. That’s certainly interesting,” Zoe said. “How cold does it usually get in the winters?”

“Oh not much colder than it is now. The real danger is the snow keeps piling up until it melts in the summer.”

“Right, that makes sense. Anyway I’ll get out of your hair, thanks again for all the help Joe. Oh, actually where do you want me to leave your bag?” She asked, pulling the large bag from the storage bag she’d been holding on to.

Joe raised his eyebrows, “Now where’d you get that from, girly?"

“Oh, uh, I convinced Liz to lend it to me to help with gathering klir?” She said.

“For free?” He asked.

“Well, kind of? He poisoned me and said I’ll get the antidote when I give it back. He made it custom for my health so it’s only two and a half health every hour. I’ll be fine.”

“The danger isn’t the poison killing you, it’s something else doing it when your health is lowered, Zoe. You shouldn’t do that.” He said, cutting another lemon to squeeze into his big bowl of salad.

“Technically I’m out regenerating the damage its doing so it’s kind of just free poison resistance levels actually?"

Joe squinted at her, his eyes jumping to above her head before down at her hands. “Did you lie on a contract?”

“No, I only told the truth.”

“And yet the potion wasn’t calibrated properly for you.” He put his salad utensils down and turned to face her.

“Is that bad?” She asked.

“It means you’re level eight with some form of self healing. That shouldn’t be possible for a human, Zoe.”

“Ah. I see.” She said with a sheepish smile.

Joe sighed, “I trust you Zoe, but if you’re going to stay here any longer then I need you to trust me too. What are you?”

“I’m sorry, Joe. I really am human, I promise. I think. It’s complicated. I…” Zoe stuttered, tears welling in her eyes.

Joe put his hand on her shoulder, “Go sleep tonight and think about it. I trust you, Zoe. But I need that reciprocated. You have a job now, I can’t be putting my business at potential risk just for fun, Zoe.”

Zoe walked up to her room in silence.

Joe had a point. She wanted to be independent, and leeching lemons off of him for free without even explaining who she was or where she came from was a little messed up. But did that mean she could trust him with everything?

He was nice, and if it weren’t for him Zoe probably would’ve ended up dead in a ditch somewhere. Or maybe some other nice person would have helped her, but that didn’t matter because they didn’t and he did. So could she trust him?

Would anything bad even come from it? She wasn’t sure. John came from another world and he was doing fine. But could he even be arrested? He had green question marks, same as Joe. Did that mean Joe and John were equally matched? Something about that felt very wrong to her, but she wasn’t sure why it was.

That wasn’t important. She needed to trust Joe. If nothing else because if she couldn’t trust Joe, it meant she had nobody she could trust. And that would just be sad and lonely.

She spent the rest of the night sitting in the chair, going back and forth on whether or not she should trust Joe with her story. She never saw Rizick come in, and was willing to put money on him being with Isla.

She stood up, taking a deep breath, preparing herself for what was to come, and headed downstairs.

The dining area was empty with it still being quite early in the morning. The familiar sounds of pots and pans clanging on the stove was echoing from the kitchen, and Zoe made her way in.

“Morning Joe.”

“Morning Zoe,” he said, not looking away from the horde of cookware he had in front of him.

“So,” Zoe began.

Joe interrupted her, “No, I’m sorry. I pressured you too much last night. You don’t have to share if you don’t want. You just look so different, and behave so different, and when you practically screamed that you weren’t human last night I got very defensive. I’m sorry.”

“No, actually you were right. I’ve been hiding it from you and taking advantage of you for a long time and it’s kind of messed up. I’m not comfortable sharing everything but I want you to know more at least.”

“Sure,” Joe said, continuing to cook. “I’ve still gotta prepare for morning service though, sorry.”

“That’s fine. I’m not sure how I got here but something strange happened and I showed up in the forest a day or two before I showed up at your inn. And I got attacked by that vampire that was roaming around recently.” She said.

Joe paused for a moment before he continued cooking, “You’re a vampire? How’d you get through the gates?"

“No no, I’m not a vampire. Something broke and I just kind of got a few of the benefits of being a vampire. Some extra stats and skills, but I didn’t get the curse or class. Technically I’m immortal? Or at least I don’t age, I think I can still die if somebody stabs me.”

“Aha, that explains why you’re so reluctant to take that first class. You’ve got all the time in the world to find the right one.” He said, chuckling.

“Right, I figure I may as well take advantage of it. I’m sorry I hid it from you Joe, I was scared and didn’t know what to do.”

“No, it’s okay. I get it. I mean I don’t, I’ve never been attacked by a vampire immediately after I was teleported to somewhere completely unknown. But I can see why you would hesitate to share it. You can stick around, especially now that you’re paying for your own room, girly.”

“Thanks, Joe. Speaking of, I’ve got to go get eight bags of this klir stuff for Liz by sundown today.” She said, turning to leave with a smile on her face.

“Good luck and stay safe out there. I hear there’s a vampire around.” Joe said, chuckling.