“Thank you for that…” Xander said, unsure of what else to say. After another awkward lull he just motioned vaguely and said, “Ummm… I suppose I’ll be heading to the inn then?”
“Hmpph, just keep yer nose outta trouble, we got enough of that ‘round here already,” she replied, eyeing his masked and cloaked figure with some obvious distrust. Xander couldn’t help but be curious about her statement though and had to ask.
“Trouble? Like with bandits and such?”
“Wish it were that simple,” the woman snorted, “But naw, there’s other stuff afoot.” She looked Xander over again, then shook her head. “Just don’t go startin’ nothin’.” she said, waggling a finger at him warningly and clearly unwilling to give away anything to a stranger.
“No ma’am,” he replied reflexively. He didn’t want to start any trouble outside his dungeon, especially not with a woman who looked like she could pick him up and rip him in half. Moving down the street before she could get more suspicious or irritated, he found that all the structures that she had listed were along the bridge and supported on stilts above the water. The bridge itself was pretty wide and had some odd dips towards the middle with large trap door looking constructions next to those dips. He wasn’t really sure what those were for and didn’t feel like asking.
He started walking towards the inn, but the enchantress’s building was close by, and Xander had to admit that he was curious about the sorts of things he might find in such a place. The front of the shop was pretty plain with a hanging sign depicting taffy and disks, but unlike most of the other buildings, it also had some words painted on the door. “Welcome to Ella the Enchantress’s Shop: Skill Disks, Healing Taffy, Minor Enchantments, and more. No love potions, no poisons. Cash Only.” There was also a sign below it that stated “MMR Station 3114”.
Xander let out an involuntary giggle at the sign, before choking off the noise with mild embarrassment and looking around to make sure no one had heard him. Thankful for his mask yet again, he still almost walked away, but then calmed himself and went inside. The shop turned out to be fairly modest, roughly the size of a small gas station. There were some racks set up in a diagonal grid like you would use for wine, with small bottles of variously colored liquids nestled in them. On another wall were a couple racks of spindles that half resembled oversized abacuses; their vertical posts holding multiple disks. Finally, in the center of the room was a display of candy in small barrels.
Before he could get a chance to look closer at the little wooden signs in front of each item, a woman in her late twenties came bustling down the stairs in the back corner, a cheerful smile on her mangled face. Xander gawked at her in a type of mesmerized shock as he took in the terrible damage that had been healed poorly long ago. A full two thirds of her face had been melted and ruined by flame or acid or something equally terrible, taking her left eye with it and twisting half her mouth with scars. The light blue hair on that side of her head was patchy at best with what he would have sworn were visible patches of bone showing, and her right arm was also missing halfway between her shoulder and where the elbow should be.
Before he could realize that he was gawking, the woman chuckled. “You can stare all you like, but I do charge a fee of a G2 coin for it after the first five minutes.” Her voice was surprisingly clear, with only a hint of a lisp marring the otherwise nearly musical soppranno. “Ahhh… ummm… yes, I’m sorry about that…” Xander said with a bit of panic, mechanically taking out one of the coins from his pouch and putting it on the counter without thinking about it.
Ella laughed, “I was only kidding, stranger, but I’ll take this as a down payment on your purchase today” she said, winking her remaining sky blue eye and making the coin vanish deftly. “Now then, how can I help you today?”
“Oh I was just looking really…” Xander said, then froze as his brain caught up to his words and their treacherous accuracy.
The enchantress didn’t seem to mind though, chuckling again before taking pity on him and saying, “Just calm down, I get this reaction a lot, and I don’t blame you for it. We’ll get through this together, so just take a deep breath, hold it for a moment, and then relax. I’ll even answer your questions about it if I can keep that coin,” she half smirked, mostly because that was as much smirk as her twisted lips could manage.
Xander was incredibly confused by Ella’s reactions and her seeming nonchalance regarding her scars and his rudeness. The least he could do was pull himself together as she requested, so he took a deep breath, held it, then let it out slowly. It didn’t help quite as much as he had hoped, especially with his vision going a bit fuzzy thanks to his exhaustion. he thought to himself, but Ella was still waiting and watching with a smile, so he made a more concerted effort to reply..
“Ah, yes, I imagine you might get some reactions.. Sorry, I wasn't trying to be rude or anything, it was just… a bit of a surprise really. Ummm… if you don’t mind telling, I would actually like to know what happened.”
Ella shrugged exaggeratedly, and the motion drew Xander’s eyes down to the rest of her figure, which was actually quite extraordinary. She was taller than Xander by a few inches, though that wasn’t particularly hard to manage, and she wore a comfortable looking baby blue wrap that was somewhere between a toga and a kimono. The material was high quality and hugged her modest curves in all the right ways. She was lean and lithe in a way which made him wonder how she managed to work out with her handicaps. It took far too long before he managed to somehow wrench his eyes back up to focus on the story she was telling.
“I used to be an adventurer, and quite a successful one at that. My party and I even made it through the Tower of Pelterghast, though that was alongside another group if I’m being honest. Success there led to something of an overinflated ego, and my party tried to tackle a dungeon full of jellies over in Ghen that we were not prepared for.” Her smile turned sad for a moment, but then she collected herself and shrugged again. Xander’s attention was captured once more, and he cursed himself for it while once again being acutely aware of how lucky he was to be wearing the mask.
“It was a lesson in caution we barely survived, and one that I try to teach as many young adventurers as I can,” Ella continued, blissfully unaware of Xander’s internal monologue and struggles. “Mmmmm…” he grunted noncommittally, and when she looked at him with curiosity, he fumbled through his fuzzy and distracted thoughts for something to say.
“Uhhh, well, I’m not actually an adventurer you see, though I suppose I do get into some fights here and there I suppose, though I would prefer not to really, not that I have much of a choice I suppose…” he rambled. Ella just chuckled again and gave a small toss of her head to flip the shoulder length hair she had left out of her good eye, which twinkled at him.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“The world can be a dangerous place even when not an adventurer, which is why I try to make it less so with my wares. Every taffy, potion, or skill I sell might be the difference between life and death for someone, or at least I like to think so. Is there anything I can get for you aside from tales of my ‘tragic’ past? I can make minor enchantments as well, and this is a relay station as well of course.”
Xander had no idea what was available or what he might need, but he was definitely going to be buying something from her. She was interesting, kind, and even pretty in a damaged way that only made him more enthralled. An idea struck him and he blurted out, “Oh hey, do you have anything like a Red Bull or Monster?”
“Hun, you’re asking if I have any monsters or specifically colored farm animals for sale?” she asked dubiously, eyeing the tiny shop they were standing in. “Just because this is a farming village and I used to be an adventurer doesn’t mean I stock such things as an enchantress.” she said, giving him a look that he was far too tired to decipher. They stared blankly at each other with matching confusion before Xander finally realized the problem.
“Errr oh, um… no I meant… uhh… something that can help keep you awake. I mean keep me awake. Because I’m tired. Though I’m not sure why I’m so tired, I really shouldn’t be. But yeah, like an… energy drink? Ummm.. like.. Caffeine? Do you know what that is?” Ella started to open her mouth to say something, before Xander remembered something and cut her off. “Tea!! Tea has caffeine in it! There should be tea around here right?”
The enchantress looked more bemused than anything else. “Hmmm… yes, I have tea to answer your last question first. I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard someone refer to tea as an ‘energy drink’. Most people use it to relax, not to try to alleviate any tiredness for that matter. I do have a taffy designed to help recover stamina for warriors, perhaps that would be of more assistance to you?” Ella asked, her voice sounding almost distant to his addled mind.
“No, not really,” Xander said muzzily, feeling increasingly guilty about his behaviour and the whole interaction here in her shop. He really did want to talk to her more, and to learn more about her shop, and to buy some things, but he was struggling even to stand up right now. He wasn’t sure when he had begun to lean on the wooden counter, but it was the only reason he was still on his feet at all. “I uhh… I should probably go…” he said tentatively, then tried to push himself up and away from the counter.
The world spun around him as he did so, and he staggered drunkenly to one side. “Are you okay Miss?” Ella’s voice came from far away, a distant land perhaps. “Fine… I’m fine…” he mumbled, but there was darkness creeping in at the corner of his vision. It was the kind of exhaustion that lied to you, told you that if you just focused hard enough you could make it through to the end of the movie, but then you woke up in a pile of drool the next day with no memory of the second half at all.
—--------------------------------------
Xander came to his senses groggily, took in a deep breath, and opened his eyes slowly. He was laying on his back with the expansive sky overhead, and after a moment, a blue haired punk rock chick leaned over him at an awkward angle. “So pretty…” he rasped quietly, drinking in the woman’s heavily scarred appearance.
“P… p… pretty?” Ella stammered down at him with a heavy lisp before looking around as if to find who else Xander could be talking about. Then she cleared her throat and chuckled a bit awkwardly. “Heh, surely you’re not talking about me… you made me wonder if there was an intruder lurking around.”
But Xander just shook his head “No, I meant it… you look badass…” he said, but then he frowned a bit. “What happened? Why am I... ummm…” he trailed off as more and more of his mental faculties returned, and realized he must have passed out in Ella’s shop, and that it was her lap that he rested in. She blushed even harder and tossed her hair out of her eye in what must be a nervous tic. Embarrassment and panic started to bloom in his chest as his traitorous memories reminded him that he had just called her pretty and was more or less staring up at her past the curve of her chest.
“You p…passed out…” the enchantress stammered slightly again, though not as bad as last time, and avoided his praise. “I didn’t know what was wrong, but to give you any kind of healing taffy or restorative potion I had to take off your mask… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to infringe on your privacy…”
Xander started, one hand whipping up reflexively to feel for the mask, but he already knew he wasn’t wearing it since his vision was unimpeded. “Awww crap… you’re not… gonna tell anyone who I am, are you?” he asked, his social anxiety being quickly usurped by fear of being mobbed by pitchfork wielding villagers.
“What? How could I? You never even told me your name, Miss Dryad.” Ella said, concerned by the strength of his reaction. “I know there is a pretty infamous dryad who is a necromancer nearby, but she’s a dungeon boss so you should be safe. Mmmm, though I guess some people might still mistake you. So no, I won’t tell anyone you’re a dryad if you don’t want me to. But… ummmmm… are you feeling okay? Why did you pass out?”
“I honestly have no idea…” Xander said, after a long moment of thought, positive that he shouldn’t give out his real name and unsure if he should give out his fake one. “But where even are we?” he asked, turning his head in her lap to look around a bit. When he saw the silvery tower with a crystal on top of it though, he realized that he must be on the roof of her shop. She confirmed as much a moment later. “When the healing taffy didn’t have any effect, I brought you up to the top of my home hoping that the fresh air might do you some good. Are you feeling any better?”
Thinking about it for a moment, Xander nodded. “A bit better, though I’m still tired for some reason.” Even if it was somewhat awkward, he didn’t entirely mind how his visit to her shop had ended up.
She smiled down at him “It’s been an hour or two, but thankfully it’s really slow here so I haven’t had any other customers.”
“A couple hours?” he asked, feeling content to lay there, but also guilty about taking up so much of her time. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to impose on you! Oh, and you said you gave me a healing taffy too; I’ll pay for that of course!”
She shook her head, “No, no… it’s okay, it’s been slow for a while now, like I said. I should get back to work soon, but I don’t mind. Really. And sure, you can pay for the healing taffy, but I’m mostly just happy you are feeling better.”
Her words were soft and kind, and stirred up his feelings even more. Xander had to close his eyes and work to control his impulses. He wanted to reach out to her, to tell her how he was feeling, but knew that it was a terrible idea. Everything about her was alluring to him, but there were so many problems with the current situation.
He was in a female body for starters, and not even a human one at that. He had no idea how cross species relationships were viewed in this world, let alone sapphic ones. Add on top of that the fact that he was a Dungeon Lord who would be killed on sight most places for suspected necromancy if not for the people he had killed, and that she was already clearly embarrassed and…
Taking a deep breath that he didn’t really need but was calming anyway, Xander opened his eyes to find Ella peering down at him with concern again. He put on a smile as fake as a cheap chinese toupet and ruthlessly crushed his feeling like a communist party leader stamping out a democratic movement. “I was going to pick up a few other things as well, though I may need some advice if that’s okay?”
“Oh, sure, that’s fine…” Ella said demurely. With the significant effort of will it required to leave the comfortable lap, Xander sat up, finding the action to be more tiring and physically taxing than it had any right to be.