Two.

"I would have liked to have seen Nao before setting out," Natsuki said, as she finished putting her cookware away on the cart, "But she would have been cooped up in that store house for a week, and time is money."

"Nao. The name means 'honesty', if I am not mistaken," Shizuru smiled, "Tell me, does this friend of yours live up to her name?"

Natsuki grinned a bit, "Nao is a very…colorful…merchant."

"That is a 'no', then. My ears are quite adept at discerning truth from lie, you know."

Natsuki shook her head, not in disbelief, but in exasperation, "Your coat of fur must be exceptional as well, the way you keep stroking your own tail."

"Oh," Shizuru looked contemplative, "Does Natsuki wish to stroke my tail, instead, then? I wouldn't be at all offended."

"Natsuki has to guide the horse," she pointed out, "We've a bit further to go if we wish to make it to Pazzio quickly."

Shizuru frowned, her ears twitching, "Ara, but I am afraid that we shan't be going much further today. Not until after we've finished our bath."

"Bath?"

Shizuru nodded, a seemingly sad expression on her face, "But it will start at the top of our heads, I fear."

She nodded to the east, where thick, ponderous grey clouds were massing.

~~*~~

It was pouring rain when they reached the nearby church. Natsuki hated using the church as refuge. It wasn't so much that she objected to the doctrine, much of which she felt was actually very sound. It was that she felt that the humans who claimed to be the Lord's servants did a poor job of following many of those rules, themselves. Particularly with how they shook everyone down for money. Even a "charitable" stay in the church, to seek refuge from the downpour cost her two Trenni silvers.

It wasn't that she begrudged the church the right to collect donations, per se. Indeed, scripture did allow for it. But it seemed to her that a donation should be something given freely of the giver's hand out of a sense of charity. And indeed, she knew of smaller, less grandiose churches that did just that. Why, good old Father Greer, back home, would often forgo even the fees for a wedding, if he knew the couple to be poor. But these larger, ornate buildings, with priests dressed in the finest silks, they often set minimums for any little thing. She was fully aware that the two coins she'd already put down wouldn't cover their meal for the night, either.

She had given Shizuru a hooded cloak to wear, to better hide her wolfish ears and unnaturally red eyes.

"Let us thank God for this meeting," The young man collecting the coins said with seeming sincerity. He didn't seem like the head priest. Probably a novice in training, then. Natsuki preferred the novices. They seemed more genuine in their beliefs, even in these grand cathedrals. He turned to Shizuru, "Who is this, may I ask?"

"She is my sister," Natsuki said, fairly cleverly, she thought. If anyone knew her and challenged her on it, knowing that she had but one sister, a younger girl named Alyssa, living safely where Natsuki had left her, she could retort that she had been speaking in the Ecclesiastical rather than literal sense, "She was accosted by bandits, who scarred her face with fire when she refused them."

That would allow Shizuru to remain hooded indoors, which would keep them both safe. If also earned a look of sympathy from the novice priest, "I see. Please, come inside."

"I'll tend to our soaked goods, Sister," Natsuki said to Shizuru, "and then join you."

She stabled the horse and made sure the cart was protected.

She made her way to the room the priest had indicated, and found herself blushing hotly as she opened the door. Shizuru had stripped down, and was wringing the rain water out of her borrowed clothes.

~Why should her form vex me like this?~ Natsuki gritted her teeth as she closed her eyes, closing the door as she entered, ~We're both women. She holds no mystery to me! So why does she cause me such pause?~

"So, if I understood what you said earlier," Natsuki strode to the other side of the room and quietly undressed, ringing out her own clothes, "I should be able to thresh the wheat without issue? You did say you resided within it."

"Threshing will be fine. If you burned it or trod it into the ground, I might disappear, but so long as I live it will not wither or die. If you put the grains in a pouch, I could carry them with me."

Natsuki looked over her shoulder, and found Shizuru standing right next to her, unclad and smiling cheerfully. She flushed scarlet, turning away again.

"Oh, but why so shy, 'sister'? Are my 'burns' so hideous that my own 'sister' cannot bear my countenance?" Shizuru giggled, a soft fufufu sound.

"In the future, I will be sure to consult with you on the story we tell," Natsuki grimaced, "Go easy on me, huh?"

~~*~~

They made their way to the main hall, where Natsuki met a Lord and his wife by the fire. They started on casual conversations. Natsuki found the Lord to be reasonably intelligent, and explained about the system of transactional exchanges, while remarking that all he needed to worry about was keeping the merchants from getting the price of grapes from his vineyard too low. The merchant then spied the ring on Natsuki's finger.

"Why, you are a Lady, yourself. Yet, you work as a merchant?"

Natsuki gave him a guarded smile, "I am from the House of Kuga. My mother has passed, and my father is infirmed. While we are still in good standing in the courts of Trenni, times are lean, and so I must tend to our family's affairs, as I have no husband and also no money to hire an agent on our behalf. In truth, I don't mind overly much. I have met many kind people in my travels, and seen many things of great interest."

"I see," The Lord nodded, "Kuga, yes? You are a renowned family, indeed. If you are ever in Perenzzo, visit my house. You will be welcomed."

Natsuki bowed slightly, "Your grace."

After the Lord had left, and taking his tired wife with him, she found herself being approached by a scraggly young man, who identified himself as Zeiran.

"So, you're a daughter of the House of Kuga," He grinned, revealing he was missing a tooth, "I have to say, the tales of the eldest daughter's beauty do not do you justice."

"You will also find I'm immune to empty flattery," Natsuki said. Shizuru found herself supressing a chortle.

"Fair enough," Zeiran grinned, "But here's some sincere flattery for you. You were able to approach that couple easily long before they realized your noble status. You're hardly a novice, as a merchant."

"When I began," Natsuki said, "I had a rather uncomplimentary view that most merchants and peddlers were inhuman monsters. I have been doing this for a few years now, and that view remains largely unchanged. It takes more than savvy to do business."

"You are quite good. So, would you be willing to listen to me about a business proposition?"

He laid out a story about knowing a particular silver coin was about to increase its silver content, and would be worth a good deal more in exchange when the change happened. And for the name of the coin in question, Zeiran wanted only a small share of the profits.

"No more than five percent of the total profits," Zeiran smiled, that missing tooth showing again.

~~*~~

"Shizuru, what you said before, about your ears being able to tell a truth from a lie…? Did you mean it?"

"Indeed, Natsuki."

"Then, how accurate is it?"

Shizuru smiled, the light of the fireplace dancing in her crimson gaze, "Well, I hope this does not unduly trouble my Natsuki, but when you told that Lord that your mother had passed, you were lying. Or rather, you were omitting. She is, indeed, gone, but she did not simply 'pass'."

Natsuki's eyes looked at Shizuru, wide as saucers, and Shizuru looked suddenly sorrowful, "Kannin-na, Natsuki. Forgive me. I should have chosen some other topic to demonstrate…"

Natsuki shook her head, "No. It's…I wouldn't have been able to hide it from you for long anyway, given the skills you just demonstrated. No, it's true. Mother was murdered. And I hope, one day, to learn who and why. It is my true reason behind becoming a merchant. Traveling these roads, you hear things people wouldn't ordinarily tell you, when you approach them as a Lady of the court. But a traveler, a merchant who won't be there the next day because they have wares to peddle elsewhere? They tend to hear more."

"Eminently reasonable," Shizuru nodded, "You want to know if the young man, Zeiran, was lying, yes?"

"Yes."

Shizuru nodded, "I cannot say anything with absolute certainty, understand. But undoubtedly, that young man was lying."

"I see," Natsuki nodded.

"And what would you have done if I had not told you such?"

"I suspected already that it was a lie," Natsuki said, "And when a person lies, it isn't the lie itself, but the reason for the lie that is most important."

"A profound truth," Shizuru agreed, "And one that it seems you earned through hardship."

"I would have gone along with it. It would seem to me that someone is up to something, and I could stand to profit in terms of money and information if I see the game through."

Shizuru moved over to Natsuki's bed and smiled up at her, "My Natsuki is very brave and cunning."

Natsuki looked into those crimson eyes, "Since when did I become 'your' Natsuki?"

"When you saved me from an eternity of servitude in Pasloe," Shizuru leaned against her, "It is said, is it not, that if you save someone, then you are responsible for them?"

"Wouldn't that make you mine instead of me being yours?"

Fufufu, "Natsuki wishes to keep me as hers, then? I would be honored and delighted!"

"Shizuru!" Natsuki blushed.

"I do like Natsuki's eyes, though," Shizuru said, "They remind me of the forests of Yoitz. Such a deep and honest green. The green of the deepest forests in the summer. Your face, too, is very honest. My Natsuki does not hide how she feels. Though, I suppose being so terribly honest might hamper her as a merchant."

"I do fine," Natsuki said, frankly and honestly, "The trick, when you're no good at lying, is to choose which truths to tell, and which to hold back."

"That," Shizuru said, returning to her bed, "Is a philosophy with which I am all too familiar."

~~*~~

"So," Zeiran looked enthusiastic, "You've agreed to do business with me? That's great."

"Yes. But I won't be able to do anything until I've sold my current goods."

"Understood. Then, we'll meet in Pazzio. There's a bar called Yorrend. They serve excellent ale and wine. We'll discuss terms, then."

Shizuru wrinkled her nose, "Noisy creature, is he not?"

"He can afford to be. We have to wait for the roads to dry out a bit before we can set out with the cart."

"Natsuki?" Shizuru's tone was light.

"Yes?" Natsuki was expecting some sort of tease to come, and so she was surprised when Shizuru instead took her hands in her own, smiling softly.

"I felt I should tell you that I really do like you, Natsuki. In fact, I think it fair to say that despite our short time together, I consider you a good friend."

Natsuki looked startled, but then she smiled. It was a glorious sight, Shizuru felt. It transformed the girl's whole face, softening it, and making her seem even younger than she already was.

"Thank you, Shizuru," Natsuki said, "You, too. I like you, too."

~~*~~

"So, you understand that if this venture does not pan out," Earl Erhendott, "You will be held to blame. The Church is demanding an end to the worship of the wolf deity.

"If you succeed in this venture, we can simply do away with those silly traditions. However, should you fail…well, you are the current face of the Wolf. And an exorcism at the stake is always a good way to show the Church we are serious about adhering to their edicts."

Nao shivered, "I won't fail, Earl. After all, we know the purse strings of the King of Trenni are tight, at the moment. The rumor, which we paid that brat to spread, will have everyone playing into our hands. We'll corner the market, and the right to set trade tariffs, or eliminate them, will be ours. And then we can bid farewell to the faithless Shizuru."