Rosa shielded her eyes from the sun’s rays as it descended towards the western horizon, painting the sky in a radiant display of colors. The mid-December chill accompanied their journey as the wagon trundled along the dusty road, and she wrapped herself in a warm cloak to stave off some of the cold.

If she didn’t mind wasting her mana, she could have kept up a charm or two to provide some warmth to the wagon’s occupants, but it was probably for the best that she conserved her energy for this trip.

Seated across from her was Father Abraham, still dressed in his pristine white robes, the man’s long blond hair flowing over his shoulders. He didn’t seem to mind the cold much, though Rosa wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out those clothes were enchanted. The priest clearly wasn’t just a simple wandering priest, despite his claims.

The man turned his eyes westward, gazing over the rolling hills towards the sun-drenched horizon. “Ah, the splendor of a day bidding adieu and a night’s approaching embrace,” he mused. “Always a spectacle to behold, isn’t it, Miss Hale?”

“It’s decent enough,” Rosa replied. “Prefer the sunrise, where you don’t have to worry about getting stranded in the middle of the countryside unable to see past your own nose. But there’s a certain charm to the sunset as well. A lot more intimate and romantic, for one.”

A soft chuckle escaped the priest’s lips. “That it is. I count myself fortunate that I get to spend it with a lady as enchanting as yourself.” Father Abraham turned to look at the only other passenger in the wagon’s rear, an elderly man with weather-beaten skin and a hawk-like nose. “And you as well, of course, good sir.”

Rosa smiled, her fingers absently fiddling with the pegs of her klert to keep warm. “I’d save shooting your shot for now, mister. While I won’t shy away from dancing a dance or two, the last fellow who tried wooing me quickly realized he was in for more than he’d bargained for. Last lady, as well.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dare. Doubly so now after having heard that. Moreover, I couldn’t bear to inflict such cruelty upon the fine citizens of this empire by altering my bachelor status.”

“Now that’s something I can get behind,” Rosa said, then paused, tilting her head to the side. “Funny. I feel like I’ve uttered almost those very words before, or if I haven’t, I should have.” She plucked at one of the strings on her instrument, producing a short, muted note. “Though my audience at the time likely wouldn’t have been as appreciative of the accuracy of that statement as I am now.”

“Would this audience perhaps have included a certain baroness?” Father Abraham asked.

Rosa nodded. “Got it in one.”

The man smiled. “You two appear to share a rather unique bond. It is not often one sees something of the sort between a noblewoman and her retainer.”

Rosa released an amused breath. “Yeah, unique’s one way to put it. I’d like to take some of the credit for that, but there’s not a thing with that woman that doesn’t veer into peculiarity or strangeness eventually. Lady’s got a pet stone that she’s sunk more money into than most people see in a lifetime.” She shook her head. “But yes, we’re close. In a manner, at least. To be honest, though, I don’t think there’s a living soul that truly knows her or what’s going on in that head of hers.”

Her mind wandered to the countless instances where Scarlett had hidden things from her, even when it was blatantly obvious. Had it been any other person, Rosa wondered if she would have tolerated that behaviour to this extent. Sometimes she wondered why she even did it with Scarlett.

But then again, she wasn’t one to talk. The woman had been at least as accepting of her own dirty secrets, if not more so.

“Based on the—unfortunately—limited interactions I’ve had with the Baroness, I am inclined to agree with you,” Father Abraham said. “Even Miss Livvi Knottley, who has known her since childhood, admits to struggling with understanding the woman completely. It seems to be a recurring trait of the Baroness to leave those around her baffled and astonished. It leaves me wondering if it’s intentional on her part.”

“Don’t I know it.” Rosa grinned wryly. “Can’t tell you a lot about how much of it is intentional or not, but she’s definitely aware of it most of the time. If shamelessness had a face, it would be paying her a percentage for lending it.”

“Hey, you two!” a voice called from the front of the wagon as the driver looked back at them. Bathed in the glow of the setting sun, they approached a crossroads ahead. “You’ll have to get off here if you’re hoping to reach Crowcairn before nightfall. It’s about an hour's walk from here if you move those feet of yours with some speed.”

Rosa arched a brow, turning to look at Father Abraham. “You’re heading to Crowcairn as well?”

She’d assumed the man was taking the wagon all the way to Flatgulf.

The priest nodded. “We are becoming rather mired in coincidences here, are we not? At this pace, before we know it, we might discover that we are long-lost twins separated at birth.”

Rosa smirked. “Don’t know about that one. I think you got a few years on me for that to be the case.”

He looked even more hurt than when she implied Scarlett might not quite see him as a friend. “I’ll have you know that I am barely past thirty. I’m in my prime!”

“If you say so.”

The wagon pulled to a halt where the road forked. One path continued northeast, its dirt well-packed from frequent use, while the other headed south, showing less sign of traffic.

As the horses neighed and the wagon resumed its journey without them, leaving both Rosa and Father Abraham standing at the intersection of the two roads, they exchanged a glance.

“Guess you’re stuck with me for a while longer,” Rosa said, hefting her klert onto her back and securing it with a strap. She then bent down to pick up her pack from the ground.

The priest had his own knapsack slung over his shoulder. “And I am quite glad that I am. Rare are the times where I get to enjoy the company of a kindred soul during my travels.”

“I’d drink to that if I had one.”

“If I may ask,” he began as they started trekking down the road ahead, “who is this acquaintance of yours that you are visiting in Crowcairn?”

Rosa cocked her head as she looked forward. “A friend of a friend, I suppose you could call them? I need a bit of help solving a minor inconvenience, and they’re the only person I know who might be able to assist without jumping through a hoop or one hundred. What about you? What were those ‘disquieting reports’ that led you here about?”

“Not much, if I am to be entirely frank with you,” Father Abraham said. “We received some conflicting information compared to what we knew before, and since I happened to be close by, I took it upon myself to determine the reason for that.”

She glanced at him.

Like he’d said, it was quite the coincidence that he happened to be heading to Crowcairn on the same day as her. Almost too convenient to believe. Was he telling the truth?

Maybe Scarlett had a reason to advise against getting him involved in their affairs. The woman rarely acted without purpose. Rosa’s gut told her the man was alright, but for the time being, a bit of discretion wouldn’t hurt.

As they strolled along the path towards Crowcairn, they engaged in some light chatter, but neither spoke much about the reasons for their presence in the area. They didn’t have to voice it to know that the other party was keeping something to themselves, and Rosa liked to think that there was an unspoken understanding not to pry into the other’s business for now.

Eventually, after about an hour of walking, just as the wagon driver had told them, they neared what appeared to be a smaller settlement. The darkness had deepened to the point where Rosa would typically have relied on the stars and moonlight to see, but a perk of traveling with a priest of Ittar was their handy lumomancy. Father Abraham had conjured several tiny lights that illuminated their path without blinding them, a welcome aid on the somewhat rough road.

The first proper buildings that came into view were some aging barns along the roadside, but those looked to either be abandoned or unused at this time of year. It wasn’t until ten or so minutes later that they reached what appeared to be Crowcairn itself, which comprised a collection of stone and wooden houses nestled next to a meandering river.

In the western and eastern parts of the empire, living in a village this exposed to outside threats would have been a nightmare for any ordinary person. Around Wildscar and the Everdust Barrier, Rosa knew that many still lived in fear of another undead incursion from the Undead Council and their horde of spawns, even decades after the last occurrence. In the west, the dense forests and mountains in the region always put one at risk for monster attacks, even during the coldest months of the year.

Rosa herself had traveled around the western empire on foot plenty of times without too many incidents, and she knew attacks were about as rare as polite dragons nowadays. Still, it was a different thing when one lived in one place year-round, where a single unfortunate attack could scar a village for decades.

Here in the central parts of the empire, people barely had to worry about those things. Not only had the majority of roaming monsters long since been culled to a point where they were mainly only found in predictable locations—if she were to believe what various Shielders had told her, and they were supposed to be the experts—but the Faywild Basin south of Bridgespell also acted like a major monster sink, attracting most of the dangerous creatures to it and leaving the surroundings relatively peaceful.

She bet that without the basin’s proximity, these villagers wouldn’t be enjoying half as relaxed an existence as they were.

That being said, she was surprised when they entered the village and found that the atmosphere wasn’t quite as tranquil as she had expected. Despite it being well past sunset, there were still people out in the streets and in their workshops, working away where they could. A few individuals sat outside their houses with lanterns beside them as they tended to chores such as washing clothes, and there was even a blacksmith hammering away at some nails in his forge, the sound of his hammer echoing through the village. Shockingly, no one seemed to mind.

A productive bunch if she’d ever seen one. They reminded her a bit of the people in Freymeadow. Except for the kids, those villagers were constantly occupied with one task or another.

The people who noticed her and Raimond walking through the village gave them appraising looks, but most didn’t bother with a greeting, even as Rosa waved and smiled.

“Can’t say I was quite expecting them to roll out the welcome mat,” she whispered to Father Abraham, leaning in closer to him, “but I wouldn’t mind if they at least pretended to say hello.”

“Well, different strokes for different folks. They are the ones missing out, I would say,” the man replied. He had dismissed his lights after they entered the settlement and was now surveying the facades of the buildings they passed. “Where will your feet take you to find this acquaintance of yours?”

Rosa followed his gaze, eyeing the houses. “Well, not really sure where around here they live. Was planning on asking around. How about you?”

“Much the same, I’m afraid. It would have been far simpler otherwise.”

“Then how about we both start there?” She pointed towards the blacksmith she’d spotted. Given the village’s size, she doubted they had an inn or tavern, so the local blacksmith was probably about as good as they’d get on this short notice.

Father Abraham motioned with his arm. “You first, my lady.”

“Why, thank you.” Rosa gave him a brief curtsy before heading towards the open foundry where the blacksmith was toiling away. It was built into the side of a house near the river, featuring a small forge set into stone with a bellows attached to it.

The blacksmith was engrossed in his work and didn’t seem to notice as they approached. Rosa cleared her throat gently as they stopped just outside the foundry.

The man paused, holding a pair of tongs and a hammer in his hands, and looked up at them. A sturdy man with a bald head and deep-set brown eyes, he was exactly the sort that Rosa imagined communicated in huffs and grunts.

“Hiya there,” she began. “Sorry to bother you in your work and all that, but would you mind answering a couple of questions?”

The blacksmith’s eyes shifted, focusing on her briefly before scanning Father Abraham’s appearance, lingering on the priest’s robes, and then returning to Rosa. “Yes,” he grunted in exactly the gruff voice she’d been expecting.

“Then I’ll just keep it to one,” she replied with a smile, turning to Raimond to give him a playful wink, earning a betrayed expression from him. First come, first serve.

The blacksmith regarded her for a moment, then set his hammer down on a nearby table with what sounded like a sigh. If a bear had made it. “Speak.”

Rosa’s smile grew. “On it. You wouldn’t happen to know where I can find a person called Malachi around here, would you?”

The man seemed surprised, studying her for a bit before setting his tongs aside as well and crossing his arms. “…Up north. Keep going for half an hour and you’ll reach it. Don’t bother telling her I sent you.”

“Won’t do.” Rosa held up her thumb and index in a circle as she turned around to leave.

“Good sir, now that you’ve graciously expended some effort to answer the lady’s question, might you perhaps indulge one of mine?” Father Abraham asked.

Rosa paused, glancing back at the blacksmith, who turned his attention to the priest, forehead forming into a slight glower. “No. Now leave.”

She suppressed a slight chuckle at the dejected look on Father Abraham’s face.

As the two of them walked away from the foundry, the priest drew in a long breath and then sighed. “I thought I was being rather polite. Could it have something to do with how I look?”

Rosa shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. Maybe he just didn’t find you as charming as me.”

“Hmm.” Father Abraham’s brow furrowed, then he shook his head. “No, I simply cannot fathom such a scenario. At the very least, I am at least as charming as you, no?”

Rosa squinted at him, examining his features. He was about as handsome as men got if you asked her, but if anything, that made men like that blacksmith think you were less charming. Not that there’d be any actual fun in pointing that out.

“Maybe you should try wearing a dress instead of those robes of yours. Might improve your chances next time you have to ask questions.”

“I would rather not. The last time I attempted anything of the sort, I almost found myself wed to a baron searching for a mother for his destitute daughter. Poor man is likely traumatised to this day.”

Rosa snorted. “You’re gonna have to tell me that story sometime.”

“Yes, well, perhaps after imbibing a few spirits, or a dozen. You are buying, I presume?”

“Hmm. We’ll have to see about that one. No promises.” Spotting a road leading out of the village and northward, Rosa turned to Father Abraham. “I think this is where we’ll have to part ways for now. If your business is here in the village, there isn’t much point to you following me all the way to where I’m going. We’ll have to catch up at a later time and swap more stories.”

The man’s gaze started roaming their surroundings. “You won’t be waiting until morning to meet this acquaintance of yours?”

“Nah, it’ll be easier to get it done right away.”

She didn’t want to waste any time if she could help it. The person she was looking for might not be available at the moment, but if they were, she didn’t want to miss the opportunity.

“Hmm.” Father Abraham wore a thoughtful expression on his face as he examined the buildings, stopping for a moment to look at an older lady who was watching them from the doorstep of her house as she wrung out some wet clothes. “Very well. I suppose I’ll have to find some lodgings for the night before inquiring with some of the other villagers about my own matter. If fortune smiles upon us once more, perhaps our paths will cross again just as we’re about to depart for Bridgespell, Miss Hale.”

“Just call me Rosa. I think I told you that the first time we met, honestly.”

He smiled. “That you did. Then, Rosa, until next we meet.”

“Until then, Ray.” She nodded to him before spinning on her heel and setting off down the road out of the village.

While she enjoyed the man’s company, she didn’t mind leaving him to his affairs here. Her instincts told her she’d rather not get too caught up in that, if possible. She had an inkling that she wasn’t the only one to spot the strange signs in this village.

As long as those matters didn’t intersect with her objective here, it was all well and good. She already had her purpose, and she’d promised to get back to Bridgespell safely after that. That’s where her focus lay.

And it all began with finding this Malachi person.