Leon pays for his drink and the two of us set off into the town. It's so weird to be walking beside someone whose design I helped vote on, whose development as a character I've followed since the concept art. Now I'm just walking with him, admiring him from angles that even his artist and voice actor didn't get to see.

  "I think Max said he was going to get more reagents," Leon mumbles. "Do you need anything like that?"

  "I, uh, I haven't so far."

  "That's good! I know that Max is always running out."

  Leon leads me down one of the side-streets I had bypassed during my first walk, taking us into a strange, cramped bazaar. As I look closer, the items set out are not the usual farmer's market kind of things. No produce or meats, but strange, withered vegetables and glowing powders that give off the scent of ozone. Crystals stacked into a clunky pyramid that make singing sounds as we pass.

  "Is this all magic stuff?"

  "Mostly. I think you can find some enchantments around too…" Max frowns as he looks around the bazaar. "Although I guess that's magic too, in its own way."

  I don't know what this party member is supposed to look like, since the developers wanted to keep a few secrets for the game itself. Since I can't help with the search, I take in the sights. As Leon looks for the other member of the party, I walk around enthralled by the things I'm seeing, hearing, smelling. Half of my fascination is just the fact that I can do more than see and hear the things around me in the first place. I shouldn't be able to inhale the textured scent of soil, sugar, and vinegar on the air. When my hand brushes a table ("Dragon Charcoal! 2 x 5s"), it shouldn't come away with soot coating my skin.

  One table in particular catches my eye. A display of flowers encased in spiky, glowing crystals. Each one seems to hum a strange, ethereal tune as I lean close to them. They have no scent to them, except for a strange sharpness. They all glow the colors of the flowers trapped inside them-- lilies glowing a soft pink, roses blushing a lurid red-- and each petal is encased in the strange, spiky crystals.

  "An excellent eye, my good lady," boasts the table's owner, a large man with coarse, black hair. "Mana flowers from Ranavere! Said to bring power and fortune to the mage who holds one in her grasp. It's a crime that I'm letting these go for such a low price. Only a meager twenty gold pieces to obtain one of the most powerful items in Proventia!"

  It could be a hell of a deal. For the first time, I look into the little pouch the barmaid gave me. Even in the dim light of the alley bazaar, I know the ruddy glint of copper over gold. Makes sense, I think. It's not like I brought her the goblin leader's head. "It's a little out of my price range," I tell the owner.

  As I start to walk away, the salesman's voice rises. "Hold on, hold on! A pretty healer girl like you can work out a deal, surely!" He comes around the table, gesturing for me to get closer again. "I'll knock it down to seventeen gold! A measly seventeen gold pieces and you can work off whatever you cannot pay today!"

  It sounds like a sidequest and I cock my head in curiosity. "What would I be doing?"

  "Oh, a bit of work here, a bit of work there…"

  "Indentured servitude over a flower," scoffs a voice beside me. A gangly man has entered the conversation, pale and uncanny as a scarecrow. His long, dark hair falls in flowing waves over his shoulders as he leans over me. He's creepy and beautiful at the same time, with black robes that fall open around his neck and chest. He gets closer to the salesman. "You would expect to crystallize this rose and gain someone of real power, all for a flower that you left in a salt mine?"

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "H-How dare you, sir!? My merchandise is of the highest quality!"

  "One smells the stench of the sea on your table, your clothes, and your person," he observes. "I do not doubt that they come from Ranavere, but not from the Arcane Archives, as you are hoping to deceive people into believing. They come from the ocean caves there, where the salt glitters like diamonds and all things are preserved. Flowers, rocks… Corpses."

  "Excuse me!?"

  "Corpses, sir," the man says, almost cooing as he comes around me. With a feline canter to his walk, the pale man is within a breath of the salesman. "Salt can preserve a body as easily as it does a flower. Unfortunately for your overpriced plants, I can preserve one much more effectively. Would you like a demonstration for your efforts, sir?"

  The salesman blusters, growing redder in the face by the moment.

  "There you are! Let's go!" Leon gets between the salesman and this pale stranger, ushering the two of us away from the table. When I chance a look at the other man, he has a strangely giddy grin on his face.

  Leon gets us out of the bazaar and then whirls on the man. "What the hell was that?"

  "He was trying to deceive this poor girl," he sighs. "I was only trying to help."

  "You were threatening him!"

  "I was making a point about his shoddy merchandise. That it isn't worth selling oneself for."

  Leon lets out a deep breath, puffing his cheeks out. "You're lucky he didn't call in the guards about it. You can't threaten someone for that."

  "I just did. And you, unpreserved flower that you are, must be our healer."

  "Good guess," I tell him, extending my hand to shake. "I'm Evie."

  "Maxilius," he replies, not touching my hand, "and it wasn't a guess."

  "How did you know?"

  "Here we go," Leon mutters under his breath.

  "Where to begin…? You wear the robes of an adventurer, but you do not wear it easily. It's too pristine, too crisp, and has not seen many battles; you're a green adventurer but an adventurer nonetheless. Your staff is the biggest giveaway to your class. An arcane specialist like our Cyran tends to use a more compact focus to channel his spells, but healers need to be able to strike someone who gets too close. So, you're a novice healer, but how did I know you were our healer? Simple; Leon would have only led me away from the salesman if you were not a member of our group. The fact that he took the time to bring you along leads me to believe that you are of some significance to him, to us. Therefore, you must be our healer."

  For a moment, I'm stunned. I look between Leon and Max, hoping Leon can give some context. Instead he just shrugs his shoulders. "He's been like this since I've known him."

  "You cannot pretend that my abilities don't have their advantages. The caves of Atalago, the mines of Hawksview…" Max's lips curl into that giddy smirk again. "That nasty bit of business at The Bewildered Hag."

  Leon's cheeks go pink. "One time," he mutters. "That was one time."

  "And I'll bring it up, time and time again," Max sneers.

  "You two seem close."

  Leon turns back to me, apparently relieved to not have to talk about whatever happened. "We grew up together," he says quickly. "Max and I were brought to the same orphanage when we were young. We're practically brothers."

  "Brothers in sorrow," Max hums.

  A lull in the conversation settles in. I look up at the sky, pale and starting to take on an orange tint. "Should we head back soon?"

  "It's probably for the best," Leon replies. "Max, if you're done harassing stall owners…"

  "Oh, quite finished." With the ghost of a chuckle in his voice, Max's eyes-- red eyes like a hot coal-- bore into me. "It seems I have a new, vibrant flower that warrants my attention instead."