The next morning, Kaden learned the celebration, to his dismay, hadn’t been in honor of him learning [Brawling] but the mid-dark which signified a shift towards longer days. Eve stumbled back too early to be called late, obviously deep into the mead.


    “If you have to spew, that way,” Trella said.


    “You have to try this mead,” Eve said. “I’m the queen of the celebration! Here. I brought you some. Oh, what happened? It’s all gone! I can go get more! More for the Queen!”


    “Look over there!” Kaden shouted. “Something distracting!”


    Eve spun to stare and almost fell.


    “Oh no! The ceiling is spinning!” Trella pointed up, counting to herself. “And…”


    Kade caught Eve. “Can’t go out there, the sky is all spinny. How about you lay down here and I tell you the sad story of the sad puppy that was sad. Here, hold Vip. The sad puppy looked just like Vip. But I’m warning you, the story is very sad.”


    Vip sniffed Eve and looked away. *So slow.*


    “Once there was a sad puppy. No one loved it,” Trella said.


    Eve began to weep, wiping her nose on Vip as she cried—until she fell asleep, snoring with her mouth wide open.


    “That was a terrible story,” Kaden said.


    “‘Look, something distracting?’ That’s your idea of a distraction?” Trella answered. “You put me on the spot, I need some warning to come up with sad stories. Especially about puppies. No one can just come up with a sad story about a puppy on demand.”


    *Slow, slower, slowest.* Vip said.


    “Without ever tasting bacon?” Kaden asked. “That’s just…wrong. Also, Trella, you now owe Vip a piece of bacon. I don’t make the rules, she does.”


    “If Vip is such a good story-teller, she can tell the story to Eve when she wakes up and maybe Eve will make bacon for the poor, poor little puppy who the shadows told me ate an entire ham back at the holding.” Trella crossed her arms. “Remember that week you thought she was sick and begged Eve for Status Cleanses? Oh, no. The puppy fell asleep. How convenient.”


    There were many great reasons not to provoke Trella. Kaden didn’t need more.


    Eve didn’t rise until long after sunup, when Kaden was making bacon, which was completely a coincidence and not a request from Vip that anyone could prove. Sara sat bundled in blankets and clutching a heatstone to her chest and scanning through Party Leader messages.


    Eve groaned and clutched her head—then glanced to Kaden and Trella. “When did I come home?”


    “Late,” Kaden said.


    “And you passed out without saying anything embarrassing,” Trella added. “How’s the [Hangover]?”


    Eve’s groan was an answer. “Why does [Life Explosion] not remove it? I’m going to go stand in line for help.”


    Trella didn’t even look as she removed a [Status Cleanse] potion. “Or you can choke that down. It’s not as fast as [Life Explosion] but it does work. Also I’m told they taste like Vip’s been bathing in them.”


    Eve sniffed—and then drank, gagged, and drank more. “Thank you, Trella. Frost! Kaden isn’t showing [Frost]! How did you figure out the [Fire Soul] potion?”


    “Teamwork.” Trella didn’t elaborate, which was fine by Kaden. “I need more essence. I have five low quality potions and more poor quality. I don’t know if the low quality will thaw a victim or if we should trade these with the Skan. Sara! That’s a request for you.”


    Sara startled from her focus. “We need to test. I’m sure our position with the Resyr is cemented, but if there’s a chance of failure, they’ll be more understanding. I’ll send a message to Drokor explaining all the risks.”


    Ashi yawned and glanced over to Kaden. “Truly, fortune smiles on us. Your skills are valuable, Trella. Do not give for free what you have earned with scars and devotion.”


    “Not planning on it,” she answered.


    Sara cleared her throat. “There’s a meeting in five days between all the Adventurers brought here by the Mercari. The general consensus is that Kai Fen wasn’t anticipating any of this. He’s not impetuous and now doubts his understanding.”


    Such a meeting would be good.


    But Kaden already worried about consequences. “Some of them will be assigned to the Skan or other potential allies. Do the Fen have a Party?”


    “They were offered and declined, but both of the Fen’s allied clans have full parties of higher level adventureres. My general assumption is that they will happily vouch repayment, but assumptions don’t pay debts.” Sara set aside her Heatstone. “I need to visit the Skan today. Trella, it would make sense to bring a pair of potions to give them back at least one victim of [Frost].”


    Trella shrugged. “Those two together should purge anyone. I have to get more essence, so whatever we do, we plan on hunting Domain Beasts tonight, and depending on what spawns, we may even enter the Domain itself.”If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    “I need to ensure Drokor’s trades are shipped back, and set cargo orders for a return trip. Ideally we’ll never be more than a week from deliveries, and comfort is the best kind of pressure.” Trella stored the potions. “Most predators here don’t hunt by day. We’re really a deterent to other clans, but right now, everyone is taking a breath and asking ‘Do we want to do this?’”


    “The Resyr couldn’t be much weaker,” Eve said. “That will shift when they begin to trade. The key will be forming a three-clan alliance. The Skan are natural allies. Then we have the Kamuc, who are mead-makers, beekeepers, and medicine makers who send scouts afield. They’re the only tribes to send scouts into the Ice Domain for herbs. We need tools to trade. Shovels, sheers, inventory bags.”


    Kaden had a better idea. He drew the honey from his giant honeybee colony. “Lead with this. Where do they get their honey from normally?”


    “Trade runs west, all the way to Bierost,” Sara said. “Eve, you were enjoying the mead last night, weren’t you?”


    Eve turned slightly green. “I don’t like what I remember, and that’s in spite of not remembering much. Everything was spinning and I was so dizzy, and there was a sad, sad story about a puppy who never got bacon.”


    “Sara, I wish to go with you,” Ashi said. “I believed a second level in [Soaring Wind] would come easily. This is not so. I would practice in your presence.”


    A loud slam on the groundhouse door had Kaden on his feet, Remembrance in his hands. Already the [Ulf] sprinted his way.


    “Peace,” a man called.


    “Gunar?” Kaden asked as he opened the door. “It’s early for a brawl.”


    “My wife is a [Crafter],” Gunar said. “She was excited about the [Ulf Stalker] hides you brought back from the domain. She drives a hard bargain for her services, but they’re worthwhile. The Sturm woo’d her for a year with promises of a workshop and food for her family, but she chose me.”


    That was one aspect Kaden liked. The Resyr believed Crafters were worth their wages and should always be rewarded. The Mercari paid him to be here, and depending on what it was, Kaden might be willing to make a deal.


    The Resyr had few stone buildings above ground. The Makur pens sat above the ground houses, making for a constant whif of frozen cattle shit, but it made sense for a clan focused on crafting with the products of the Makur.Just beyond the makur pens sat flat tents of hide where the tanning pits had been laboriously hewn, and just past that, taller tents with stretching racks and sewing tables where men and women worked in groups.


    “The wood for a rack is worth more than all the hide it’ll work in a year,” Gunnar said as he lifted back a flap.


    “Why don’t you get more shipped north?”


    “Ice doesn’t trade well, and we have much of what we need.” Gunar called out. “Siggy! Stalker!”


    Gunar’s wife was a reed-thin woman with large blue eyes and nearly no nose. She held her blond hair back with needles and knifes shoved into the bun so it wasn’t clear what would happen if she needed to stitch, cut, and clamp at the same time.


    She looked Kaden up and down, in his [Ulfen] armor. “That one. He’s not a stalker. If I didn’t see [Stealth] myself I wouldn’t believe it.”


    “Kaden Birch, meet Sigrun, the dawn in my dark,” Gunnar said. “Sig, I’m going goose hunting.”


    “Get two,” she answered. “Val is sick and so’s her man, the whole crew will be coughing without goose stew. If three were to fall, there would be nothing wasted.”


    Goose stew for healing? That seemed wrong. Kaden summoned the [Falcrow] and dispatched it to Eve with a request. Purging illness was easier than most status effects. “So, I brought you four [Ulf Stalker] hides, reaped myself, no [Field Harvest]. Gunar speaks highly of your skills.”


    “Gunar is no fool.” Sigrun answered. She left the table where she worked and headed toward a table that was more boards on top of storage chests. “Your armor was an effort of all. This, I have done myself. We have killed [Ulf] many times. But those of the Domain retain their magic.”


    She pulled out a set of furs Kaden wouldn’t have called armor at all. White, almost void magic rippled in the fur the same way colors did in his at night. “You share a bedroll with a Huntress. We saw her using [Tracking] on the [Ulfen] who plagued us.”


    “Trella’s a [Shadow Blade]. Her stealth is more powerful in the dark.”


    “And if all the world were always dark, that would matter.” Sigrun motioned. “Examine. You cannot bargain if you do not know what you bargain for.”


    [Snow Stalker - Ulf Gear]


    This set of gear grants constant low-level stealth in snow or ice. The type of bonus generated depends on if the wearer is still or in motion. While in motion, ranged attacks which are not linked to ENTITY have greatly reduced accuracy. The longer the wearer is still, the greater the stealth bonus. Stalk your prey.


    Kaden didn’t just look, he held up the set, checking seams, looking for holes. Each of the [Ulf] had been speared by the [Lurpion], but he found no trace of the damage, and the craftsmanship was near perfect. “How does this work with her [Letydir]?”


    “Our furry friends are with us always, it will cover her completely. Though our hunters found her curious. She walks over her own tracks, and ignores the most basic of rules. Some say ‘southerners cannot be understood. The heat has cooked their brains.’ I doubt it.”


    “Trella wasn’t trained as a [Huntress],” Kaden said. Now came the part he dreaded. “I’d ask how much I owe you, but there were a stack of hides and I only see one outfit. So perhaps it’s what you owe me.”


    [Negotiation] gave him a pat on the back. It was always better to go on the offensive. Knowing that the Resyr were short on gold didn’t change the underlying problem Kaden faced. He liked crafters and wanted them to succeed.


    On the other hand, gold was nice and giving it away was an awful idea, no matter how much he liked crafters. So Kaden began to negotiate, starting with a single gold, which Sigrun believed was just too little and Kaden felt was a decent offer. Ten gold was highway robbery and Kaden had already illustrated what should be done to badgers and bandits by the roadside.


    The other crafters stopped to listen to them argue, as Kaden carefully backed Sigrun into a logical corner. If only two hides had been required then she was sitting on a gold mine of materials.


    “I have sent for the [Huntress],” Sigrun answered.


    That was fighting dirty.


    Trella stepped out of the shadows under a table. “Did you—oh, Kaden! Look at this!”


    That sound was [Negotiation] whining and putting its tail between its legs, preparing to get beat. Instead of negotiating on price, Trella had launched into requests for changes. Could it have bigger loops for the [Ink Blades]. Could it have pockets? Could it have more pockets? Could the belt be wider to hide potion flasks? Could the cloak please not have the [Ulf] head attatched?


    This wasn’t negotiation, it was capitulation.


    “We will make fixes tonight,” Sigrun said. “You should go with the hunting party hunting [Razor Geese]. They could teach you how not to ruin tracks. You are a terrible [Huntress].”


    “Learned it in a Domain from a hidden boss,” Trella said, handing over a stack of gold.


    [Negotiation] almost made Kaden cry, but the smile on Trella’s face almost made up for it. He watched her change her gear. [Shadow Blades] weren’t required to wear black. It wasn’t a cult, but it was usually a good decision based on how their skills operated.


    But Trella looked good in her [Snow Stalker] gear, and even more, the excitement on her face couldn’t be fake. “Be good. Don’t start any wars. But if someone does start wars, I want you to kill every last one of them,” Trella said. She kissed him, then leaned back, falling into her own shadow.


    “Now that was a negotiation,” Sigrun said.


    Kaden left before he started another [Brawl.]