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  If things slowed too much, Grace worried the Hyllises wouldn’t need her anymore.

  She liked working for the Hyllises. She enjoyed cooking and didn’t even mind serving customers in the dining room. When days were slow, they gave her the afternoon off—which was wonderful—except for the fact that it made her anxious she wouldn’t have a job when she came back.

  So, she worked hard, trying to make herself indispensable. When they offered her the afternoon off, she tried to find some work she could do instead. And she saved every copper she could so she’d have a cushion if she had to look for another job.

  So far she’d saved twenty-one silvers. Enough to tide her for a little while, but she worried it wouldn’t be long enough.

  She hoped the Hyllises would let her stay in her room and eat at the tavern while she was looking for her new job, but if they were having financial trouble themselves they’d need to rent her room… She wouldn’t be able to blame them for cutting her completely loose. Whenever she got an afternoon off and couldn’t think of any work to do, Grace wandered around Clancy Vail looking at other restaurants and stores. She tried to understand the work they did in each place. She hoped that if someday she had to apply for a job at that place, she’d already be knowledgeable about their needs.

  Because of the slow pace, Grace was half excited and half worried that she was about to get another afternoon off. Right on cue, Daum leaned into the kitchen and said, “Nylin, Grace, Fayeli, it’s a graveyard out here. Why don’t you guys take the afternoon off?”

  Grace opened her mouth to protest that she thought the dining room could use a good cleaning, but Nylin put a hand on her forearm and said, “That’d be great! We were hoping to do some shopping. Thank you.”

  Daum left. Nylin glanced at Daussie and Kazy, wondering if they were feeling jealous because they’d be staying to prep for dinner and serve anyone who came during the afternoon. They both grinned back.

  Daussie said, “You guys have fun. It’ll be our turn next time.”

  Norman stepped into the kitchen, “I hear some of you guys are getting the afternoon off?”

  Fayeli spoke with mild excitement, “Me, Nylin, and Grace.” She tilted her head at her cousin, “Unless you’ve got something you need to do? I could swap with you.”

  Transparently, Norman’s eyes shot to Daussie, making sure she was there and not taking the afternoon off too. He said, “No, I’ll be happy to work. You have fun.”

  He’s got it bad for Dauss, Grace thought.

  Fayeli turned to Nylin, saying, “Normally, I’d be hoping to go shopping with you guys, but I’ve got… something else to do.”

  I’ll bet she’s got a boyfriend she wants to visit, Grace thought. She turned to Nylin, “I’m not sure about going shopping. I’m trying to save money.” She shrugged, “I guess I could walk around with you if you like?”

  Nylin smiled at her. “That’d be nice. I know you’re trying to save money, but…” she leaned closer, “There’s something we need to talk about.”

  “Okay,” Grace said, puzzled.

  ~~~

  Nylin and Grace were walking down the street, no destination evident, when Nylin asked, “What’re you saving your money for?”

  “A rainy day.”

  After a moment, “What kind of rain are you worried about?”

  They kept walking while Grace wondered whether to divulge her deep-set anxieties. Finally, she said, “I’m worried… about what’ll happen if the Hyllis’s business drops off… and they don’t need me anymore.” She glanced at Nylin, “I think you know the Ragas killed everyone in my family but me, so I don’t have anyone… anyone at all to help me if…” She coughed, trying to clear the frog from her throat, then managed to choke out, “If I don’t have a job. After… after my time with the Ragas, I know I don’t want to earn a living on my back… I’ve decided I’d rather die than that.”

  Nylin nodded, “My only family consists of a few distant cousins in a town way south of here… Well, and my brother,” her tone turned bitter, “who wanted to sell me for the money to start a business.”

  Grace wasn’t sure what to say, so she didn’t say anything for a half block. Then, “I think it’s just that your brother’s like a lot of men. They think of women as their possessions… not… like they’re actually people.”

  Nylin shot her a glance, “Are you trying to say that what he did is okay because other men think the same way? Would you want to marry him?”

  “No…” Grace snorted quietly, “No to both those questions.”

  Nylin said, “We’ve been through a lot together. What about… if we were to decide that we’re not just roommates, but we’re each other’s family? I’d be your sister, you’d be mine. We’d promise to take care of each other if problems came for one or the other of us.”

  Grace stopped to look seriously at her friend, “What about Farlin?”

  Grimly, Nylin said, “I’d be divorcing him.”

  “So, if something bad happened to him, you wouldn’t help?”

  Nylin shrugged. “Maybe a little,” she said holding up her fingers with a tiny space between them.

  Grace frowned. She looked at Nylin hard, directly in the eye, “Are you proposing to marry me?”

  Nylin’s eyes flashed wide with startlement, “Um, no. Is that what you’d want?” She glanced away, “Maybe it’d be okay, but…”

  Grace snorted, “No, it’s not what I want… Though I often thought about how I’d rather love a woman than a man back when the Ragas had us.” She grinned, “Um, from the way you act around Tarc, I’m pretty sure a woman isn’t what you want either.”

  Nylin glanced away, looking embarrassed, “Is it that obvious?”

  Grace only laughed.

  “Well, we don’t need to worry about that. It’s not like I have a chance with him. Tarc could have any girl he wanted.” When Grace giggled, Nylin glared at her, “Don’t try to pretend you wouldn’t say yes if he asked you.”

  Grace struggled to control her expression. “Does this ‘being sisters’ thing mean we have to be glad for one another if one of us winds up with Tarc and the other doesn’t?”

  Nylin laughed, “I’m not sure sisterly love extends that far.” Her expression got serious, “But we shouldn’t try to hurt each other’s chances.”

  Grace put out her hand. When Nylin looked at it curiously, Grace said, “I think we should shake on a deal this important.”

  With a snicker, Nylin took her hand and gave it a firm shake. “Deal.”

  Grace nodded, “To both items. We’re sisters, and we’ll share Tarc however we have to.” She turned and resumed walking.

  Nylin took a couple of quick steps to catch up. “So, all of that wasn’t the most important stuff I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “No?” Grace asked, looking at her out of the corner of her eye.

  Nylin shook her head, “If you weren’t worried about your job, what would you do with the money you’ve been saving?”

  Grace shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I’ve never given it any thought because I can’t imagine not worrying.” When Nylin didn’t say anything, she said, “Maybe buy some new clothes. I dream of having a house someday, but really, I’d rather live with the Hyllises. Even though I worry they’ll have to let me go and, you’re my only sworn family, I kinda think of them as family.”

  Nylin sounded nervous. She said, “Um, I’ve been learning about investing.”

  Grace turned to look at her in puzzlement. “Investing? I only have a vague idea what that means. Where’ve you been learning about it?”

  “From Tarc and Kazy. And,” she stuck out her chin as if with resolve, “I’m going to ask Daum about it too.”

  “You’re brave. What is investing?”

  “Brave to ask Daum?”

  Grace nodded.

  “Yeah, I’m afraid to talk to him too. Kazy claims he’s just a big teddy bear.” Nylin shrugged, “I’m going to get up my courage and
do it because he’s supposed to be really smart about business.”

  “So investing has something to do with business?”

  Nylin nodded. “I guess it’s still investing if you put your money in a bank that pays interest. Then you’re kind of investing in the bank’s business. You can also invest in your own business or in someone else’s business. The idea is that they pay you part of their profit for letting them use your money to do their business.”

  Grace said, “I’ve got some of my money in the bank so I guess I’m already investing.”

  “The bank’s probably paying you about three percent,” Nylin said, “which is better than I’m earning on the money I’ve got hidden. But, Kazy says you can get something in the five to ten percent range investing in someone else’s business and in the ten to fifteen percent range investing in your own business.”

  “Are you wanting to go into business for yourself?” Grace asked doubtfully. “I hear a lot of people who start their own businesses go broke.”

  “I’d like to, but I’m afraid of just that.”

  “So what’re you thinking you’re going to do?”

  “Invest in the tavern.” Nylin shrugged and ticked off on her fingers, “It’s run by a good businessman. We have personal knowledge that its business is booming. The owners would like more capital so they can expand—”

  “What’s capital?”

  “Money,” Nylin said. “What investors give your business so it can expand or improve. Apparently, Daum’d like a bigger dining room, a better kitchen, more brew tubs, more rooms to rent, a bigger stable—”

  “I get it. I get it. He’d like to serve more customers so he’ll make more money. But what if the new wears off like he says it can? What if, after a while, he doesn’t even have enough customers for the tavern he’s got, much less a bigger one? I worry about that all the time. It’s why I’m trying to save up for that proverbial rainy day.” Grace glanced at Nylin, “A couple of other taverns are already selling pizza.”

  Nylin laughed, “Have you tasted their pizza? It’s terrible. Besides, even if someone did start competing in the pizza business, I hear Eva has lots of other recipes. And Daum definitely makes the best beer. No one else in this town has any idea how to make good beer.”

  “You’re right about that. And his moonshine’s the best too.” Grace grinned, “And, I’ve heard him talking about making wine.”

  Nylin nodded, “People drink wine because it’s safer than drinking water. But most of it tastes so bad they water it down to dilute the taste, not because they’re trying to avoid getting drunk. I’ll bet Daum’s wine will be a lot better. People’ll line up to buy it because they want it, not just to keep from getting sick.”

  Grace shook her head wonderingly, “How does he know how to make his beer and moonshine so much better than anyone else?”

  Nylin spoke quietly, barely heard above the street noise. “I think he’s got recipes. Like Eva has for the kitchen. They must spend a fortune on paper and ink writing so much stuff down.”

  “So,” Grace said thoughtfully, “you want to invest in the tavern. Is that partly because you think they’d have a harder time firing a part owner?”

  “Maybe. Also because, working there, I could be sure they were putting my money to good use.”

  “So, you think I should take my money out of the bank and invest it in the tavern?”

  “No,” Nylin said slowly. “Now, we’re getting to the part I wanted to talk to you about.”

  Grace snorted, “Again we’re just getting to what you wanted to talk about.”

  Nylin ignored that, “You remember when we were with the Ragas?”

  “I could hardly forget,” Grace responded bleakly.

  “They were robbing people, right? And they seemed pretty successful.”

  “And murdering. And raping.”

  Nylin sighed, “I know. I was with them a lot longer than you.”

  “Yeah, sorry. Your point?”

  “So, they were successful robbers. They’d accumulated quite a bit of money.”

  “Yeah. But we have no idea where they kept it. I hope you’re not about to propose we go off to look for it? Lizeth and the Hyllises may have killed some of them and run off the rest, but I’m sure the ones who lived have gone back to get the money by now.”

  “Actually, I did know where they were keeping it. I got a glimpse of them digging it up one night.”

  “Okay. But it’s still no good to us. Some of them collected it a long time ago.”

  Nylin gave her a sly grin, “No, they didn’t.”

  “And you know this because?”

  “Because, when Tarc told us to collect whatever we wanted from the Ragas’ camp before we left… I dug it up then.”

  Grace stopped abruptly, turning to stare at her new sister. “Oh! Wow! That’s what you’re investing?”

  “That’s what we’re investing.” Nylin shrugged, “I figure we both suffered through what they did to us, it belongs to both of us.”

  Grace blinked. “You were with them a lot longer than I was. I won’t turn it down if you want to split it with me, but about three-quarters of it should be yours.”

  “Two-thirds.”

  Grace chuckled, “You drive a hard bargain. How much are we talking about here?”

  Nylin leaned closed and whispered in Grace’s ear, “A hundred and thirteen golds. Thirty-seven of them are yours.”

  Suddenly lightheaded, Grace staggered back against a building. Nylin grabbed her arm and guided her as she slid down the wall to sit on her buttocks. Nylin crouched down and pushed Grace’s hair from her eyes. “You’re crying,” she said, sounding surprised.

  “Yeah,” Grace said, choking on a laugh. “I guess if I lost my job I could get by on that for a while, huh?”

  “Yeah, you could. But I think we should invest most of it in the tavern.”

  Grace nodded, “Two golds in the bank, the rest in the tavern.”

  Nylin thought for a moment, “Agreed. Now we need to talk to Daum.”

  “You’re going to do that part, right?”

  “With you by my side. Kazy said she’d help us talk to him.”

  Grace closed her eyes for a moment, then sighed, “Okay.”

  When she opened them, a young man was bending over her, looking concerned. “You okay?” he asked. “You’re pale as milk.”

  Grace smiled up at him. He’s cute, she thought. “I’m better than okay. I’m better than I’ve been for a long, long time. In fact, you could say I’m great.”

  “You don’t need any help?” he asked, sounding disappointed.

  She grinned up at him, “You could help me to my feet. And, maybe walk with me for a while… in case I get dizzy again? I might need someone to catch me.”

  Nylin snorted, but the young man reached down, taking Grace’s right hand and helping lift her with a hand under her arm as well.

  “My name’s Yuri. Yuri Soh.”

  Grace and Nylin both laughed, Grace thinking, The Sohs are everywhere in this town. She didn’t explain the source of her humor to her new friend.

  ***

  Ronald James, Baron Vail’s financier, gingerly stepped into the erstwhile Hidden Underground tavern, recently renamed Hyllis Tavern. In his quest to learn of businesses that were doing well enough that the baron could raise their taxes, the Hyllis Tavern had risen to the top of the list. He’d never been there in the past because the Hidden Underground had had a reputation for terrible food that often made people sick. James had been doubtful when he’d been told that the establishment was now the most popular tavern in town.

  He looked around in astonishment. The dining room looked clean and smelled good, something he wouldn’t have expected of the Hidden Underground. In fact, the food aromas were mouthwatering. More surprising was the fact that the room was packed with customers jostling for tables. The man behind the bar looked like he was selling a lot of beer.

  The door to the kitchen banged open an
d a young man came through carrying a tray loaded with plates of food. He set them down next to a man with an arm in a sling. The man with the sling had been taking money from customers. Now, he broke off and started pointing to some of the people eagerly waiting. Evidently, they’d already paid because they started picking up plates from the tray and heading off to tables. Since there weren’t enough tables, some of them went outside, apparently to sit on the benches or steps.

  James turned to Guardsman Nantz, the young man who’d advised him of the Hyllis Tavern’s success. “You’re right. This place really does seem to be doing well.”

  Nantz bobbed an eager nod, “You should try one of their ‘pizzas.’ It’s a flat piece of bread covered with tomato sauce, sliced tomatoes, spicy sausage, and melted cheese. People love them.” Nantz leaned a little closer and spoke quietly, “And, if you get sick, the lady running the kitchen’s the best healer in town.”

  James frowned, “I thought Vyrda Soh was the best healer in town?”

  Nantz leaned close again. “She was. When I got stabbed, Soh herself insisted they bring me here. As soon Eva Hyllis came to town, Soh applied to be her apprentice. And, she says there’s no doubt Hyllis is the best healer she’s ever seen.”

  James eyed Nantz. “I heard about that. That was you who got stabbed in the gut and lived?”

  Nantz nodded, “You want me to get you a slice of pizza?”

  James nodded thoughtfully.

  While he waited, he slowly wandered around the room. He tried to act like he was looking at the facilities, but he was actually focused on hearing what people had to say. Many of the conversations he heard centered on the food:

   “Man, you’ve never had anything like this pizza before. The flatbread alone’s worth the price.”

   “If you can’t afford the pizza, you should at least try the beans. They’re flavored with bacon and some kind of spice,” the speaker shook his head, “it may not sound like much but it’s amazing. And it comes with a hunk of their bread…”

   “They cut potatoes up into little pieces and fry them…”