The merchant convoy had finally reached the village. From Sari's tavern, down the mountain, and into the plaza of the village, tents and stalls lined the streets. The travelers would occupy and vend from them for a couple of weeks before moving to the next village. This particular one was the largest of its kind in Ipahn and contributed to most of the trade between its villages and cities.
Business had significantly picked up at the bakery and Korin, Mikhail, and Etan had their work cut out for them. Instead of making deliveries, Mikhail manned running the ovens, while Korin split making recipes with Etan as he managed the customers.
"Mikhail!" Etan was taking an order when a faint and dusty burnt smell made its way toward the front counter.
Mikhail's head appeared from the corner, nervously scrunching his face. "Yes?" He bit his lip.
"You're burning bread."
Mikhail's eyes widened and he whipped his head around to see a thin layer of smoke beginning to rise from the ovens. Etan had worked with bread so long that he could tell the moment a loaf had baked too long.
He rushed towards the oven in an attempt to save the bread. Huffing a string of profanities in a panic, forgetting his brief training and order of operations, searing his hands in the process.
"Shit!" "Ow!" "Hot, hot, hot!"
Etan let out a heavy sigh before turning towards a customer to finish assisting her.
.
A small break in orders allowed Etan to close the shop for a brief lunch and assess the damage. In total four batches, equating to 16 loaves and 30 rolls, were unsalvageable. Mikhail apologized profusely for the third time.
Etan rubbed his temple. "It's alright, Mikhail. I am partially to blame. You've had minimal training in the kitchen and I just threw you back there on a busy day."
Mikhail sat on the counter, and as Korin properly cleaned his burns, he observed her through thick lashes. Usually she gave plenty of personal space to the individuals in her presence, but she was closer to him now. Her head was tilted forward and he could see individual black wisps of hair stuck to her neck from the heat of the bakery. A few small moles decorated her skin.
He noted how, under her apron, her attire was always boyish and loose fitting. Often opting to wear mens linen trousers and old shirts with varying embroidered flowers. The occasional patch or visible wear was skillfully mended and artistically decorated. The planned nature of the designs and the cohesiveness of her wardrobe hinted at the possibility she had embroidered her clothes herself.
She put it in the last pin on the bandage and looked up, feeling Mikhail studying her.
"All finished." Korin didn't break their eye-contact as she straightened herself. Mikhail expected her to look away or even blush- something women usually did when he stared at them- but she didn't. She maintained her ever neutral expression continuing, "There's an apothecary near the plaza where you can get some ointment."
If her words had been said with a little more air, a little more force, he would have thought that she was blatantly disinterested. Her tone was informative and indifferent.
She's like a doll. Mikhail thought of how a doll could be propped and posed but its face would never change, its fixed nature hollow. Even the tiny hints of emotion occasionally in her eyes seemed…insincere? The more time he spent with her the more her way of being made his demon roll in the shell of his soul.
"Maybe you could show me the way after work?" The octave of his voice dropped as he attempted to soothe the demon. To quell it, Mikhail knew he had to feed its curiosity but he couldn't do that yet. He had to admit that how she observed him made him feel uncertain. Like how a doll is inanimate but there's this the paranoia of whether or not it might actually be watching you.
The demon, if given free reign to its satisfactions, would've been more flirty in its pursuit to pry words from the woman's mouth. But Mikhail held him back in favor of caution as his disquietude made him slightly fearful.
"I have to stay on the mountain, remember? But, I will draw you a map on how to get there." She stated, blinking slowly. It had been one blink in the entirety of their encounter and it was slow, almost audible, and more unnerving than if she hadn't blinked at all.
"Th… thank you." His voice was low as his demon squirmed under his control and all of the internal and external stimulation began to make him panicky. Mikhail, perplexed and irritated, broke eye contact first and looked off to the side. He had felt unexpectedly timid for a moment. It was the first time anyone had ever made him that way. He usually felt very confident in his ability to socialize.
The demon rolled again before Korin stepped off to the side to put away the medical supplies. Mikhail let out a silent breath of relief. Patience, Mikhail reassured the demon. It briefly stretched out poking at his insides, upset with him, before tucking itself away.
.
The day passed quickly after their brief break. A steady stream of people came in to buy bread and the three worked to maintain demand, simultaneously preparing the evening deliveries. Mikhail, who insisted he was still fine to work, was given easy tasks and eventually sent out to begin deliveries. Korin and Etan prepped and baked in tandem, finally catching up on inventory.
"Hey, Korin?" Etan came into the back where Korin was washing some dishes. Arms deep in hot sudsy water, globs of tacky wet dough stuck beneath her fingernails and settling in the drain of the basin.
She looked over her shoulder.
"Ms. Menia has been waiting for her delivery and Mikhail isn't back yet. Can you take it to her?" Ms. Menia lived up the mountain, down a flight of stairs and around a small grassy bend from Korin. An area she could frequent. It was a delivery she'd made most nights before Mikhail's arrival.
"Of course." Korin dried up and quickly put together the order, wrapping the baked goods in waxed paper and nestling them into a bag she slung across her back. She told Etan she would return quickly to help with cleaning up and set out.
As a force of habit she used side trails and shortcuts, avoiding the main roads. Right now there would be more people out than usual with the merchants and their street markets. The villagers knew Korin, and though they did not enjoy her presence, they still tolerated it. But strangers did not know her and she often evoked unsavory interactions with them. She thought best to avoid the throngs of social activity.
Dusk settled across the valley while the last few beams of sunlight hit the peaks of the mountain. A steady breeze carried the smell of grass and juniper as Korin traveled under the expanse of a clear sky, out of sight and undisturbed. She rounded the back of Saris' tavern, where the last of the merchants remained, not experiencing a single interaction.
It wasn't until she began to near the path to Ms. Menias did she encounter others. She heard words, indistinguishable, carried in the wind before she came upon a low lit scene. The sun was beginning to set and in the shadow of the mountain the last remaining street lamps began to light in their green blue glow. Two men, one tall and gauntly and the other stocky and square jawed, boxed in a woman.
Only after a few steps more did she come completely into view. Korin quickly identified the woman as her neighbor, Talis. Pixie features and plump lips scrunched up olive skin flushed with anger. Her coily curls of mahogany hair had become partially undone from its bun. Talis was stunning and often garnered affection and attention. Unfortunately sometimes that included pushy and unwanted kinds as well. Individuals who didn't like to be told no. Individuals that she was clearly not interested.
"I said I'm going home." Talis said firmly, gritting her teeth.
The taller of the men, with a lit cigarette in one hand, tugged at her he lavender skirts with the other. Talis always wore dresses in soft pastels with multiple airy layers. She looked like a flower in her clothes, a style some women in the larger hot coastal cities of Ipahn wore. Right now the block headed oaf had taken to bunching its fabrics in his calloused hand, wrinkling it as he anchored Talis. "Can't a couple of guys treat a pretty girl to a good time," he whined.
"Or is that illegal in this village?" The other one cut in and they both cackled, tossing their heads back like a couple of turkeys trying to drink rain.
Talis was at the end of her patience, dread and anxiety settling in her gut and she needed to get away from here. "Fuck off!" She snapped and yanked at her skirts, attempting to put a greater distance between her and the man. The fabric allowed a little more than a meter between them but she could still smell the rot in his teeth and the escaping gasses of beer bubbling in the acid of his stomach.
His eyebrows pinched up and he frowned in displeasure, looking like an annoyed fish. "Oy, what the hell? Thats not very nice of ya, ya little bitch."
Talis jerked at her skirts again as the man seemed to contemplate his next move. His friend echoes his insults on the side.
One more step in their direction and the attention of the three snapped to her. Korins aura enveloping the space, demanding to be acknowledged. Korin did not slow but continued forward, gaze held level as she made eye contact with each one of the men. The men squinted, confused and a little pallid, while Talis looked visibly relieved. For a brief moment she worried the indifferent woman would just walk past.
"Hey, Talis. I heard you were on your way home, would you like to walk together? I have a delivery to take near your house."
Relief eased at the heavy knot that sat in Talis' stomach. She had been trying to put on a brave front but the unknown intentions of the men scared her. The brief shock of Korins presence and she was easily pulling back her skirts. She wrapped them closely and took an unnoticed step back. "That'd be great!" Her voice was pleasant but a little too deep and the quivers of anger and fear were heard by everyone present.
Korins footsteps did not falter as she smoothly linked arms with Talis and pulled her away from the men, acting like two friends spontaneously meeting. A shiver ran up Talis' spine at the contact with Korin. She'd never touched her before. A pit, deep and cavernous, opened up to Talis-whose blood held the magical powers of her people, magical powers possessed by mos Aasai- but she ignored it, held back the shiver, and leaned into the other woman. The men failed to react, taken aback by a sudden wave of something unknown and odd that pulled at their stomachs and sucked the air from their lungs. Talis knew very well what it was like to be in the presence of the strange woman for the first time. It took a little time to get used to her presence.
Talis went to crane her head back, wanting to make sure the men weren't following them.
"Don't look back." Korin whispered and Talis jerked her head forward. "Stay alert, but don't look back. People like them will treat eye contact like an invitation."
Talis nodded and nervously swallowed.
The two men watched like a pair of rabid dogs uncertain of the village people, eyes wide and afraid yet waiting to swoop in and deliver a bite, piss on some pots, and steal a bone. Within a few moments the women had rounded a corner and were well out of sight.
Korin unlinked their arms and stepped aside at a more comfortable distance. She knew that close contact with others was often very uncomfortable for them and she figured Talis had had her fill of discomfort for the night.
The curly haired woman released a puff of air clutching her fists at her side before relaxing, her shoulders hunching forward as she wrapped her arms around herself. "Thank you." She told the other woman.
"Oh… you're welcome." The two continued to walk in silence while Talis tossed Korin the occasional awkward glance.
Talis and Korin were the two youngest members of the community, with Korin being a handful of moons Talis' senior. Though they were close in age the two had never spent any time together.
When they were just children, shortly after Talis and her sister, Idoni, had moved to the village, Idoni had arranged a play date with Korins mom. Humans were not particularly fertile and children were scarce. So Talis was beyond excited to have a friend her age. She had been so excited when she learned that there was another kid in the village that she pestered Idoni all week with question after question.
.
"Can we be friends?" "Can we play outside?" "Can they come over to our house?" "Can we play hide-n-seek?" "Can we play with my dollys?" "Can I take her some herbs from our garden?" "Can we have a sleepover?"
Idoni answered every question, being the ever patient guardian and big sister, until finally, as Talis lay in bed fighting sleep, mumbling one question after another, did Idoni take Talis' face in her hands. " Friends are the family we choose." She told the young girl. "If your question is something fun we would do together, then you can do that with your friend. Do you understand?"
Talis nodded with a large smile. Idoni kissed her forehead, " Good. Now please, night spirits be generous," she exaggerated and rolled her eyes, "go to sleep."
.
Looking back she thought she had been too eager to meet Korin. She had hyped herself up all week. On the day of the play date, she spent hours picking out her prettiest dress and decorating her coily hair with her favorite butterfly clips. She wanted to impress her new friend. Dolled up and guided by Idoni towards their meeting place she caught sight of Korin…
And immediately started to cry.
The girl terrified Talis and she hadn't even spoken a word. Korin didn't look particularly scary, she was pale and unexpressive, but there was something unknown that made Talis fear her. A look in her eyes, a stiffness in her posture. Embarrassed by Talis' odd behavior Idoni attempted to get her sister to greet the strange girl. Talis refused, pulling her arm from Idonis' grip and running away, only to later be found curled in her bed at home.
To Talis, Korins presence felt like the anticipation of an inevitable accident. It was eyes wide, heart in your throat, stomach on the floor, kind of unease. Even now after all these years Talis still found her company awkward and unnerving. On top of that she felt a little guilty for having run away when they were children. Surely that couldn't have been a good feeling for Korin.
The staircase they had descended came to an end and two paths split in front of them. To the left led to Ms. Menias, and to the right led to Talis and Idonis. "I can make the rest of the way on my own." Talis stated, then thought that it might sound like she was dismissing Korin. She quickly added, "I bet Ms. Menia is waiting for her bread."
"Alright. Have a good night then." Korin politely nodded and continued on, like a drone bee with a singular mission, she didn't even toss a glance back.
Talis watched her for a moment more before retreating to her home.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ms. Menia was an elderly woman who had been the previous medicine woman, before Idoni took over. Now she spent most of her time in her cottage, writing books on herbs and medicine. She was also one of the few people that didn't seem too affected by Korins company.
"Thank you dear." She said as Korin handed over wrapped loaves of bread. "I'd go get the bread myself, but I'm getting too old to be climbing up and down the mountain all day."
"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that. It must be very difficult for you." Korin replied, always finding it easier to converse with those who were at ease in her presence.
Ms. Menia shrugged. Even in old age she had a charming sort of beauty. Her hair, unwound brom their steel braids swept down past her hips and caramel eyes sparkled with youthful mirths on a hawkish face. "It's expected with old age. At three hundred and forty-seven I should be grateful I still get around the amount I do!" The elderly woman let out a laugh and pointed a weathered hand at Korin. "I imagine you youngins' will live much longer. It seems like the less children born, the longer we all keep living." At some point humans had become incredibly infertile. So nature did as nature does and it attempted to preserve itself. Humans began to live longer and longer lives, the aging process slowing, holding out as long as possible in hopes to successfully procreate.
Korin tilted her head to the side and nodded, her eyes lightly closed. Anyone who had known Korin for some time could tell that, though she was stoic, her subtle body movements could communicate quite a bit. Her gesture equated to a polite smile. "Probably so." She agreed with the older woman.
Ms. Menia smiled and softly grasped her shoulder. "Thank you for my bread. It was good to see you. Don't be too shy." She softly scolded. "Come visit every now and then."
Korin nodded.
"Good. Now get back to the bakery safely, dear. And have a good night."
With a wink she added, "Oh! And do me a favor and flirt with that young Mikhail for me. Let an old woman live vicariously through you." The elderly woman let out a mischievous and raspy chuckle. "He's too handsome to let that opportunity slip you by." She retreated into her home chortling happily. Korin politely waved and Ms. Menia pointed at her once more, sly and gummy grin staining her features, before shutting the door.
Flirt with Mikhail? Korin had never attempted to woo a man before and neither had a man ever tried to woo her. Flirting was not something she had ever thought about. She had read about romance and intimacy but these were things she had not really considered accessible to herself. A and certainly not with someone as beautiful as Mikhail. Her thoughts stuttered for a moment at the idea of finding him physically appealing. Her chest tightened. It was another thing that made her uncomfortable. She didn't want to think about it so she shook her head in an attempt to cast the thoughts of him aside.
Climbing the stairs, she thought instead of things more productive and helpful. She pondered Ms. Menias complaints of the mountain instead. The stairway was quite steep and there were a large number of steps to take. Korin didn't like the idea of Ms. Menia being stuck in her home and she thought to ask her father if there was a way to help the kind woman. Her father was exceptionally good at inventing machinery and surely he would have some ideas on how to better transverse the mountain. Perhaps a simple hand crank trolley, or if her father was feeling more motivated, a gondola of sorts would also work. He might even be able to procure some funding from the village council if it was beneficial enough and well planned. A few of her fathers projects had received funding before.
While absorbed in her thoughts she didn't notice the laughter of the men who still lingered on the road.
"Well, well. Look who it is."
Korins head jerked up and her eyes focused on the strangers. The two men, smoking and even more intoxicated, lingered closer to the staircase.
Oh…