Fuyuko still felt a little dazed as she sat down at the table, but she didn't have to think clearly in order to eat. A she did, it was like a deep pit had opened up inside of her and she o keep eating to try and fill that ag void.

  Most of the things that were set in front of her were meat, though some of the dishes were focused around tofu or beans instead. It was hard to not shovel it into her mouth as fast as possible, but she was still eating with unseemly haste until there was nothi on any of the ptes around her. When she lifted her gaze to look around for more, she saw Mordecai sitting across from her with his arms crossed and a small smile on his lips.

  “That's enough for the moment, let your bister what you've eaten before stuffing it with more.”

  She blushed at his words, feeling embarrassed about her gluttony. But it was easier to think now at least, even if it still felt like her stomach was trying to chew on her insides. “Sorry,” she muttered.

  Mordecai chuckled, “Nothing to be sorry about, your body knows what it needs, but instincts betray us occasionally. It takes time for your body tister when it has enough food, especially in situations like this, so you just o take a break for a moment.”

  “Er, okay,” Fuyuko replied as she tugged on a stray lock of hair. Then she paused and frowned before pulling the lock of hair forward enough to stare at it. “Wait, what?” She couldn't remember her hair being this long since she was a little girl.

  “After effects of your partial shift, I think. Your skin started to grow some fur too, about the time that your teeth and jaws grew enough to be a serious on. It wasn't quite a wolf's muzzle, and the fur was more like puppy fuzz, but the hint was there.”

  Fuyuko couldn't figure out if it was more embarrassing that she'd shifted like that, or that her fur had been like puppy fuzz. She wao sink into the floor and disappear.

  A booming ugh cut across her thoughts right befil's hand spped her on the back, “Don't worry about it so much, you did good. Lots of shifter types go nearly berserk during their first fugue, you were in remarkable trol for a frenzy. Didn't even stop using ygers.”

  Now her back hurt. Fuyuko rolled her shoulders to try and relieve the stingiion before she looked at the giant of a man who was taking a seat at the table along with Betty. “Um, I really don't remember it.”

  “Master Mordecai show it to you ter if you like,” Betty said, "And I think you should watch it, you were fairly impressive. I'd probably have had to hurt you pretty bad in order to stop you, instead of letting you wear yourself out like he could."

  Gil nodded, "That's a fair assessment. She's been growing fast, and she's got the instincts and drive that makes her better than most guard and army recruits, but there are still plenty of sergeants who could put her in her pce. Good enough to be dangerous, but there's still a lot of people more dangerous."

  Fuyuko rolled her eyes, "Jeez, pick a girl up then knock her down why don'tcha?"

  Mordecai ughed at that, "They want to let you know that you did good, but don't want you to be overfideher. It's a fine lio walk with most people, especially someone ing into their own as young as you are. There are adults who have been fully-fledged guards for years that would have trouble keeping up with you. But most of them also haven't been uhe same pressures or had the same sort of personalized training that Gil could provide."

  "Um, thank you," she replied as she scratched at her neck, trying to not squirm from the attention. "So, um, are you going to be able to show me how to ge my shape properly?"

  Mordeodded, "Yes, and we'll at least temporarily have a sed trainer for you when Orchid es back with Paltira and Kansif in tow. Kansif has been gifted with abilities from a shifter , which is ly the same as your owage but is close enough for training I think. She wasn't inally pnning on ing back with Orchid, but I sent a message out yesterday and got a reply back this m. Bellona will be happy to see her cousin again too. I'll want to sult with her on some training ideas for you, Bellona, and Xarlug to do together. You'll be catg up with them, but they'll also be gettier."

  She bit her lip in thought before speaking, "I don't mind the idea of training, it's been kinda fun so far, but, um, I dunno, what else do you do for fun around here?" She had vague memories of pying games with others, but there had always been an edge of danger if they were running around the streets, and the hazy images she occasionally got of the sanctuary suggested things were a lot calmer indoors.

  "Well, Kazue is hoping that you'll take to reading; you did see the library we have. But what you haven't see are The Warrens. The bunkin have their own unities hidden away, and there's plenty of crafting and art to learn and practice with them if you want. We don't really have a good match for you age-wise, most of the rabbit s became adults while they were dire rabbits, and the ohat have been born as bunkin or such are still babies. Both Riverbridge and Azeria visitors d teenagers along occasionally, I have no problem with those beira free days for you to go and make friends."

  Fuyuko wasn't sure that was exactly what she wanted, but, well, she wasn't sure what else she might be looking for. "I guess. I don't know." She shrugged, dissatisfied with her own answer.

  "Eh, you're young," Gil said "You don't have to have an answer for everything."

  "Yeah, don't worry about that stuff. It's b." Li piped up from the seat o her, causing Fuyuko to jump in surprise. She retty certain he hadn't been there a moment before. "Hey after we eat, you should e py with me I show you all sorts of pces around here I heard you pyed iheater while Gil and I were pying that sounds like a lot of fun did you get to be a princess like Orchid or were you a super onk like Moriko I bet whatever it was you were awesome cause I heard all sorts of good things about you from Yvie."

  Li's timing had been perfect, for another set of dishes were being brought to the table, and Fuyuko's stomach rumbled at the sight. She gnced between Li and Mordecai as she tried to sort out the sudden rush of thoughts in her head.

  Mordecai briefly spoke over Li's tinuous chatter, "Eat up, I'll talk to you more after Li has fun with you."

  That sounded almost ominous, but she certainly wasn't going to refuse to eat, and it gave her the ce to listen to Li's ramblings more. Or at least try, her god spoke very, very fast, but she retty certain he mentioned something about dolls of Gil and making money, which caused Gil to look at Mordecai with narrowed eyes. She guessed they were going to have a talk after she was dragged off to py.

  What was she thinking? This was a god, you don't just go py with a god, do you? But, the other heroes of Li's stories were always the friends that he pyed with. Did this mean she was going to be a hero? That was a scary idea.

  She was so ed up in those thoughts that she didn't realize that she had started instinctively peting with Li to grab food off the ptes first, the luponi's hunger drivio practically ge as she fueled the prowing within.

  Fuyuko looked surprised when she realized that all the ptes near her were empty, and Li took advantage of that moment to grab her hand, saying, "e on it's time to py I gotta show you the mushroom forest if you ged like you did with Mordecai you'd look awesome and so cool stalking through the gloom like a pretty nightmare monster I bet you could-"

  Mordecai watched the two of them leave and hat this was the first of Li's pymates in the duhat the ratling took through a shadow-jump. He wondered if the girl even noticed being dragged through the shadows that way. She had the potential to bee one of Li's blessed, which was rather simir to the champions of ods. It just didn't seem fit to say she'd been chosen, Li didn't operate that way sciously.

  His musings were interrupted by Gil clearing his throat. "So, if I uood our friend right, you are pnning on making a profit off my visit and likeness?"

  "Didn't you notierdise outside?" Mordecai asked, "All our fiercest defenders have stuffed dolls and engraved images. I think the right sort of advertising could make even your visage popur." He paused at a thought and held up a fiil as he turoward Betty, "I just realized, we have two options for you. We sell both if you want, but I think figurines of your current form might get a, ah, different audience."

  Betty sidered it for a sed and then shrugged, "It doesn't bother me, go for it."

  Gil frow that, "I think that it might bother me though."

  "Gil," Betty's suddenly soft voice carried a warning hat affected even that mighty warrior, "this isn't a topic you get to have an opinion on." She rexed before tinuing in a more normal tone, "You are very sweet, but we both know you 't stay and assuming that you do visit again in a reasoime frame, you won't be able to stay for long theher. Depending on circumstances, I may wele you back warmly, but I am not yours and you are not mine. I'll live for a very long time as I am now, so maybe in some distant time something may happen to ge that, but right now, I ask that you not mar what enjoyment we might find in the rest of your visit."

  Mordecai couldn't help but ugh at Gil's disfiture. "I think you and Moriko had a few versations during your sparring sessions," he said to Betty, who nodded in firmation. "Well, we go over the details of your new figurier," though the images fshing into his mind from Kazue's core rather suggested that she was ing up with aire product line, "but let's get back to Gil's questiht now. I give you a cut or such if you want, it wouldn't be hard to work out some numbers, but we both know you don't he cash. So, open-ended favor, owed by us as the dungeon, recoverable as dungeon-fed goods?"

  Gil looked thoughtful as he sidered the option. Mordecai had just id out a rather generous deal befil. Some things were hard to at for numerically, and an ongoing favor meant that Gil would essentially be able to show up and ask for items when he o, within the bance of the debt owed. Being able to cim ized treasure without any other sort of exge was more useful than the moary value alone.

  "Done," Gil said, and reached over to shake Mordecai's hand.

  "Excellent. Now, speaking of time pressures, however, your preseeracts with Li, making him press on us a lot more tha was just him. Has he said anythi?"

  "Yeah, he's said he's got an adventure for us to go on. Something about bitter green jerks harassing fairies somewhere." Gil sighed and shook his head. "I'm pretty certain it's somep the Other Side, but I don't think it's even part of the Other Side his world. Which is going to make getting there an iing experience."

  Mordecai winced in sympathy. Getting mixed up in something local with a Li shard was ohing, being taken somewhere else by Li was very different. Mordecai still wasn't sure that all of those pces were real outside of Li's imagination. "If he's being that specific already, you don't have long. I'll stock you up with potions as much as I before you leave, but we're busy so I o take care of everyone and we may not be able to finish giving you a reward quite ensurate with the challenge we provided."

  Gil waved it off, "Don't worry about it if you 't, sider it part of the favor."

  "Alright, well, since Li is occupied for at least a few hours, I'll leave you two alone. I should at least be able to catch you again in the m." With that, Mordecai dispersed his avatar and turned his attention to Kazue's ideas for a new line of figurines.

  Zagaroth