A Dangerous Proposition

Harvey had been in a frantic search for any scrap of knowledge he could scrounge up since Talla swam back out to sea Friday night. The doctor was not sure how long he sat there in the rain, speaking to a sea creature that sounded and acted just like the merchant woman he had come to know, but by the end of their conversation, Harvey's hat was soaked through.

Talla disclosed that she was a syren, the eldest Daughter of the Sea, and that her pendant had the ability to alter her appearance to look more like mortals with whom she conducted business. If she had not demonstrated before his very eyes, Harvey might have left right then and there for playing such a ridiculous joke on him.

"I shall ask you a question, should you come to see me again on Sunday," Talla said solemnly. "I know all this may come as a shock to a human," she shot a glare toward her father, who only grinned a reply. "I had not intended to reveal my identity in this manner, but my father is a meddlesome fool." Her dark eyes fixated on Harvey once again, "If you do not return, I shall not take it personally." Then, without waiting for his reply, Talla slipped into the water and disappeared beneath the waves with only the barest of ripples as evidence that she had been there at all.

After a period of dazed shock, Harvey spent the entirety of his Saturday in the library, wondering if there were any local legends or books on the syrens or mentioned the Sea Goddess, but he only found a paid advertisement to buy gifts for one's spouse at Pierre's General Store that perpetuated the rumor that the "Old Mariner" was a ghost. The only mention of deities the Doctor discovered were that of Yoba, which insinuated that he was the one that created the world.

So now, on this bright Summer Sunday, Doctor Harvey faced a choice. Should he go and see what Talla wanted from him or should he decide to cut his ties from a potentially dangerous monster? The traveling merchant was friendly toward him and while her - sister was it? - implied the possibility that their kind ate mortals, Talla had shown no noticeable interest in doing so. But that could all be an act. There were all sorts of old fairy tales about mythical beasts luring unsuspecting humans to their deaths.

But, on the other hand, Talla had him alone on several occasions and never harmed him. In fact, if Talla had meant to harm him, she had ample opportunity both near her cart and on the dock that rainy evening. They outnumbered him at least three to one. Who knows if there were others of their kind lurking under the surface?

The brunet leaned over the front desk counter of his clinic and sighed heavily. "What should I do?"

*"The spirits are very happy today! They will do their best to shower everyone with good fortune." Time to get up! Let's go slay some monsters, nerds!*

Abigail's impatient text came while Violet gave Shane a run-down on how to care for each of the crops and how to safely harvest without damaging the plant.

"And never, ever touch those plants in the twine boundary there, okay?" Violet emphasized, pointing to the mutant plants. "I don't know what's up with them," that statement was only partially true, but Shane did not need to know that. "But I don't think they're safe to touch but I also don't want to kill anything I've put so much work into raising."

Shane snorted, "Okay, okay. Brightly colored and possibly poisonous, good to know." He lifted the spare watering can that came with his house. "I think I can handle watering a few crops by myself," the scruffy man articulated sarcastically. "Now let me do my job!" he shooed Violet away with a swat of his meaty hand, forcing the farmer to retreat.

Once she quickly watered the mutant crops, Violet replied to Abigail's text. *Let's all meet in the main cavern before heading down the elevator. I'm about to head out.* The floral-haired woman was eager to make progress in the mines. If copper ores were found there, Violet hoped she could obtain iron ore somewhere further down so she could craft useful items, like bee houses, quality sprinklers, and preserves jars. Violet fantasized about all the free time she would have once she could get some sprinklers. Then again, Shane was going to take care of a lot of that work in the meantime. Violet could focus on fishing and mining for a while to make some money for a coop for Shane to keep his chickens.

After gathering up some snacks and emptying her bag of unnecessary items, Violet waved goodbye to Shane - and to Elliott who was just arriving to tend to his poppies and headed north up the trail toward the mountain.

Sebastian heard his phone rattle against his headboard and slapped it to silence the irritating hum. Last night, he and Sam were up late thinking of new songs for the band. They made a lot of progress, but by the time they finished, it was nearly midnight. Sebastian had to duck out immediately so he could get home before too late.

The synth player pulled the phone under his blanket with him to see why anyone would bother him this early. Sebastian did not want to deal with the beams of sunlight offending his eyes just yet. Sebastian read the messages, rubbing the sleep from his obsidian eyes.

8:01 AM Abigail: *"The spirits are very happy today! They will do their best to shower everyone with good fortune." Time to get up! Let's go slay some monsters, nerds!*

8:07 AM Violet: *Let's all meet in the main cavern before heading down the elevator. I'm about to head out.*

8:15 AM Sam: *Just got my stuff together. Abigail, I'll swing by your place and we can walk together.*

8:16 AM Abigail: *You better hurry, I wait for no one!*

9:32 AM Sam: *Here!*

9:33 AM Violet: *Sorry, Bruno held me up for a bit, but I'm almost there.*

9:33 AM Abigail: *Well, grab Sebastian while you're at it. He's not here.*

9:34 AM Sam: *Fam, are you awake?*

9:36 AM Abigail: *Violet, drag his ass outta bed. There are fiends to fight!*

9:37 AM Violet: *I don't know about dragging, but I'll check on him*

Sebastian's blood ran cold when he heard a voice calling him from the main floor. "Sebby, are you awake?" It was his mother's voice. "Violet's here! You're late to hang out with your friends today."

"I-I'm up!" he called back, throwing his blankets back and swinging his legs off the bed to get up and dress himself.

But then Sebastian heard footsteps descending the stairs as he frantically searched for the black jeans, he wore the night before, but his eyes were still adjusting to the sunlight pouring into the room. For once, he cursed his habit of burying himself under all the blankets.

Luckily, he found his jeans and practically leapt into them, fastening them, and cinching his belt together. Now where was his shirt? He turned to find that Violet stood on the bottom step, holding the handle of the open door in her grasp. Her deep blue eyes found his own dark orbs and she instantly blushed at the sight of his bare torso. The farmer covered her eyes. "I'm sorry, I should have knocked. I thought you were dressed since you said you were up!" and closed the door behind her. "I'll wait outside!" Violet informed him from the other side before he heard her footsteps going back up to the main floor of the house.

Sebastian stood in baffled silence for a moment while his brain processed what just happened. In a delayed reaction, his face flushed with embarrassment. He grabbed a fresh shirt from his chest of drawers and yanked on his signature black hoodie over it. The rookie sorcerer did his best to cover his face with the hood so Abigail and Sam would not tease him if the color of his face did not return to normal by the time they arrived at the mines. Then, Sebastian grabbed his backpack and went to meet Violet outside.

"You know, what we did on my birthday at the beach was a lot of fun," Sam brought up, wrapping his arms around Abigail's waist, and resting this chin on her shoulder.

Abigail squirmed slightly, but his touch tickled, and she giggled in response. "You mean the party or when we snuck off to rock that old, beached rowboat?"

"It was all fun!" Sam insisted, pulling his girlfriend closer, "though you seemed to like the danger of getting caught…"

The amethyst-haired woman's face turned pink as she frowned. "We didn't get caught, though."

"Yeah, but you like that adrenaline rush, don't you, babe?" Sam went to plant his lips onto hers, but Abigail pushed his face away.

"You're the worst."

Sam cackled with a wolfish grin. "That's not what you say when I'm -"

Abigail slapped her hand over his mouth as she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Violet and Sebastian appeared at the mouth of the cave, entering the main cavern. "It's about damn time, Sebastian!" the pale woman complained, releasing Sam's mouth from her grasp.

"I overslept a bit, so sue me," Sebastian shot back grumpily. Sam noticed the tinge of color on both Violet and his best friend's faces. He nudged Abigail and pointed it out, but the two only exchanged knowing smirks.

"We should get going if we want to make as much progress as possible," Violet reminded the gang, stepping toward the elevator.

The rest of the raiding party followed, filing into the small elevator. "Level 30, right?" Sebastian clarified before he pressed the button.

"That's the one!" Sam agreed, tapping the hilt on his steel smallsword. Abigail shifted her weight impatiently until the ping of the elevator chimed and the doors to release its occupants.

As before, level 30 was relatively barren except for a pair of lanterns lighting the brown stone cavern and a hole in the ground in the corner. Abigail took the lead to climb down the ladder to the floor below, followed by Sam, Violet, and Sebastian. "Fuck, it's pit-black down here once you're out of the torch light…" Abigail cursed as she warily stepped out of the radius of light from the small torch on the wall. "If only we had a flashlight…"

Violet noticed that the stone was different on this floor - a cool grey instead of an earthy brown. Their footsteps echoed eerily as they ventured further into the open.

"Oh," Sebastian interjected, fumbling with his bag. "I keep forgetting I have this," the magic-user admitted as he pulled a small, glowing ring out of one of the small compartments.

"I thought I lost that!" the farmer explained, gently taking the ring from their party sorcerer.

Sebastian chuckled, the sound bouncing off the walls of the cavern. "Maru might have 'borrowed' it," the researcher's older brother explained, though he failed to specify that Maru gave it to him to return a season ago.

Violet called Abigail over and handed off the ring. "Here, since you and Sam are our fighters, you should have it."

The amethyst-haired woman gladly accepted the ring and a soft light surrounded her. Abigail grinned, swinging her sword. "Much better!" she exclaimed with a satisfied smile. "Let's go get some monsters!"

Sam trotted close behind while Sebastian and Violet focused on collected resources. "You can either take this extra pickaxe and mine with me or keep an eye out for anything coming our way," the floral-haired woman stated, indicating the extra tool she received when she bought the guest cabin.

Sebastian opted to keep watch just in case something slipped by Abigail and Sam in the dark, leaving them completely defenseless. Violet shrugged, "That's fine," she reassured the black-clad man when he expressed concern about leaving her to do all the physical labor. "I'm the one who needs the ore, so you all are helping me out."

Sadly, however, the only ore Violet found thus far was copper. She needed iron if she hoped to make all the improvements on her farm. The woman straightened after picking apart a small stone and wiped her brow. Violet detected movement from the corner of her eye.

"Sebastian, what's that?" the woman whispered as quietly as she could. It was too dim for him to see where she indicated, so she groped the air until she found his arm and pointed it in the direction of the pair of green orbs.

The way the small circles danced in the air reminded Sebastian of… His eyes widened, "Oh shit!" He grabbed Violet's arm and retreated toward the torchlight near the level entrance so they could better see their foe. "I think it's a shadow person," he told her, flipping through the dogeared pages of his spell compendium to find a useful incantation.

Violet dropped her pickaxe and drew her sword, placing herself between the mysterious being and her companion. The two could hear a grinding as the brute moved, like stones being rubbed together. As it stepped into the firelight, Violet charged the creature. Her blade hit but did not appear to do much damage. It was as if the steel had tried to bite rock.

"It's not a shadow, it's made of stone!" Violet proclaimed.

"V, Sebastian!" Sam's voice called from the opposite end of the rocky cavern. "Is everything okay back there?"

Sebastian cursed and he continued to search for a ranged spell, but he became increasingly panicked as the farmer shrieked when the stone golem tried to grab her. The magic-user could hear Sam and Abigail running toward them to assist, but he worried they would not make it in time before Violet got hurt. Sebastian threw the book to the ground and decided to improvise. "Golem of stone, leave my friends alone!" he shouted in a commanding tone and stomped his foot in emphasis.

The stone humanoid turned its head to face Sebastian, and he worried it would now go after him, but maybe he could outrun it. If only it would…

Strangely, the golem tilted its head and gently put Violet down, then with its jerky movements came to kneel before Sebastian. His ink-black eyes widened in surprise as the golem moved its mouth, but only gravelly, unintelligibly sounds emerged. It was as if it was trying to speak but had no method of doing so.

Unsure of how to handle the situation, Sebastian nodded at the golem and excused himself to help Violet up. The woman tittered nervously as she took his hand to stand. "What did you do, Sebastian?" she asked him in disbelief.

Sam and Abigail also arrived on the scene and the swordswoman's jaw dropped in disbelief. "Sebastian! How the fuck did you get a monster to obey you?"

"That's sweet, fam!" Sam cheered, offering his best friend a fist bump. When Sebastian did not react, but instead stared at the ambulatory stone statue Sam tapped his knuckles to Sebastian's to get his attention.

"Sorry, Sam," the sorcerer replied in a daze, circling the golem like a vulture, and inspecting it from all angles. "I just don't know why this thing listened to me."

Abigail's eyebrows furrowed. "Well, didn't that Shadow on Violet's farm technically listen to your orders, too?"

Violet bowed her head to concur. "It seemed that way, at least from the video you took," she agreed, turning toward Sebastian. "So, what, your cool powers work on all magical creatures in the Valley?"

Sebastian shrugged. "Only the two so far," he responded, retrieving his spell compendium off the ground, and tucking it back in his pack.

The screeching of bats echoed off the walls of grey stone, alerting the gang of their approach. Abigail drew her sword, "Well, try it out with these little guys and if it doesn't work, we can handle them."

Once the winged mammals were in sight, Sebastian reiterated his command, but the flyers completely ignored the order. Abigail and Sam swung their swords a few times while Sebastian and Violet ducked to keep out of range. "I guess not," Sam observed after the pair defeated their attackers.

"There's got to be a connection between the Shadows and these stone golems," Violet asserted, shouldering her bag once again and taking up her pickaxe. She shook her head, "But either way, I don't think we're going to find the answer standing here. We need to get moving if we're going to make any progress today."

"Abigail and I actually found a ladder down right before we heard you scream, V," Sam notified the other duo. He tilted his head, the spikes in his hair bobbing along with the motion. "Let's go!"

Sebastian hesitated, unsure about what to do about the golem still kneeling before him. He addressed the golem, "Uh… as you were." The sorcerer jumped back as the stone humanoid rose to its feet and wandered off into the darkness, leaving a befuddled hoodie-wearing man in its wake.

Leah knocked on the front door of 2 Willow Lane, the sun emblem above the entrance of the house staring her down. The ginger shifted on her feet slightly, anxiously waiting for someone to answer. There was a potted cactus beside the door and the raised garden in front of the house appeared to house a trio of fresh, edible greens. The sculptor wondered to which sister they belonged.

It was Emily who opened the portal and smiled to greet the artist. "Why good afternoon, Leah!" the sapphire-haired woman chirped cheerfully.

"Hi, Emily. Beautiful day, isn't it?" the red-head said, making small talk.

Emily bobbed her head in agreement. "Oh, yes, it's a shame I'll be spending most of it in the bar," she answered. The woman in the ruby dress tilted her head to one side. "How can I help you?"

The sculptor paused briefly before stepping aside to reveal the piece she brought. It was a swirl of deep, richly colored wood. "I uh… have a gift for Haley that I've been working on." Her grey eyes glanced beyond Emily into the house. "Is she home?"

"That's lovely!" Emily complimented Leah's work. Then the blonde's older sister shook her head. "No, I think she's usually hanging out with Alex at the ice cream stand around this time," Emily informed her neighbor. "Would you like to bring it inside for now?"

Leah shook her head. "No, it's okay," she assured the seamstress. "I'll just come back another time."

Emily indicated her understanding. "Well, if you want to catch her at home, I suggest getting her before 10:30 in the morning or after dinnertime," the barmaid advised. "She's usually out of the house most of the day, enjoying the beautiful weather."

The ginger flattened her braid against her body and beamed, "I can't blame her for that, Pelican Town is a beautiful place to live." Leah glanced back at Emily before heading home. "Thanks for the tip, maybe I'll see you at The Stardrop Saloon later!"

The next eight levels went quickly, since it seemed that Sebastian's order to leave them alone had already reached the other stone golems wandering aimlessly in the lightless caverns of grey stone. Other monsters were trivial by comparison and because the danger seemed to be relatively small, Sebastian joined Violet in mining resources. The team made great progress, but the farmer was beginning to feel discouraged about finding any iron at all when, upon the 40th level, the landscape of the tunnels changed drastically.

It was a small cavern, much like the 20th level on which they found their steel smallswords, but everything was covered in a layer of ice and frost, even the walls and ceiling. In the center of the room lay a burgundy chest with bright gold trimming. Sam eagerly popped it open to reveal four slingshots. While the other three bemoaned the useless weapon, Sam's face lit up. "Dude, these things are the best!" he insisted, pulling the bands back to test the resistance. He motioned to Violet. "Hey, V! Pass me a stone, will ya?"

Violet obliged and tossed him several from her pack. The blond winked closed the eye nearest the stone as he drew the slingshot up toward his shoulder and took aim at one of the swirling patterns of frost along the wall. When Sam released the band, the rock shot toward the wall with alarming speed and shattered right on target. The skater turned back toward the gang and smirked. "See? Fire power!"

The rest of them tried simply to humor their friend and the trio only had disappointing results. "How about we give you the slingshots and you can get our sniper, eh?" Violet proposed, handing the blond man her slingshot and a pile of stones as ammo.

Sam lifted his shoulders agreeably. "If that's what you guys want…" though he accepted the slingshots with a glint in his mossy green eyes.

The quartet descended the ladder down into the next floor and found themselves in a wintery wonderland. But before they could stop to admire the beauty of it all, they were accosted by a swarm of small black orbs. Abigail swung her sword on instinct, beating back most of them before they regrouped.

"They're like little soot sprites!" Violet squealed with delight, trying to approach one and pick it up, but the tiny fiend lunged and attacked the cultivator. Like a light switch, the floral-haired woman's attitude toward the sprites flipped instantaneously and she swung her smallsword at her foes, letting out a battle cry. With their enemies quickly defeated, Violet scanned the area for useful material and nearly cried with joy. "Iron ore!" she shouted, running toward the enormous lode of about a dozen stones all heavy with the material. In her eagerness, Violet was not careful to watch her step and slipped on the ice, prompting a laugh from her fellow explorers. However, it did not stop the woman from rising to her feet and getting to work.

Sebastian stepped in to assist while Sam and Abigail went searching further along the cavern. "It looks like there might be some good minerals over here," the amethyst-haired woman called to their companions. Once the duo was finished with the iron ore, they followed the sound of Abigail's voice to find a stone with a faint purple swirl. Violet swung her pickaxe several times before it finally broke open to reveal a bright yellow topaz.

"Today is really our lucky day!" Sam exclaimed, scooping up the gem and putting it in his bag.

The group decided to call it a night when they realized how late it had become. "Oh fuck, it's past midnight," Sebastian realized, checking his phone.

Violet yawned, "No wonder I'm so sleepy," the farmer uttered with a cat-like stretch of her arms and back.

Sam groaned, "We're never gonna get back to the home as tired as we are…" He dramatically lay on the icy ground. "Lemma just sleep right here."

Sebastian offered his best friend an arm. "We can all crash in my room, but we'll have to squeeze a bit."

The idea of somewhere closer to sleep revived the blond for a moment. "Awesome, fam. You're the best."

So, the four explorers quickly made it back to 1 Mountain Road in the late hours of the night. Sebastian opened the door silently and urged his friend inside and down to his room. The stairs creaked, but they were confident they had not woken the rest of the household. Once they got into Sebastian's room, everyone dropped their gear and practically collapsed.

"Girls get the bed!" Abigail declared and before Sebastian could protest, both Violet and Abigail climbed in and snuggled under the covers. Violet was out as soon as her head hit the pillow, but Abigail was subjected to a rebuttal.

"Dude, I said you could stay here, not take my bed. You can have the couch!" Sebastian growled grumpily. Abigail simpered and looked to her boyfriend.

"Sam, will you be willing to take the couch with me?"

The blond grinned in reply. "Anytime, babe." Sebastian balked at the idea that he should share his bed with Violet, but Abigail had already traded spots and pulled a blanket over her and Sam. The couple giggled under their sheets conspiratorially and Sebastian wondered if they did this on purpose.

"What the problem, fam?" Sam questioned from his hiding spot. "I'm sure Violet wouldn't mind, just ask her."

Sebastian grumbled and turned out the lights, walking to his bed from the faint light from behind the curtain. He sat on his bed and poked the sleeping agrarian. "Violet, is it okay if I use my bed, too?"

The woman stirred slightly but did not open her eyes. "Sure, 'Bastion…" she answered. If Sebastian were not so dead-tired from everything today, he might have tried a bit harder to make sure that Violet really meant that. But his eyelids felt so heavy and the woman's hand reached out for him and tugged his shirt closer. "You're so warm…" she muttered under her breath. "It was freezing on those icy levels."

Sebastian's lips turned upward in a soft curve as settled down beside her. "Okay, I guess I can warm you up if you're really that cold." He was doing her a favor this way, right? At least, that was what the part of him that was desperate for sleep told Sebastian. He shut his eyes and drifted off with the warmth of someone else beside him. I could get used to this…

Harvey awoke with a start and realized from the darkness around him that he had fallen asleep reading on the couch. He leapt to his feet, realizing it was past the time Talla usually stayed in the Cindersap Forest. The doctor supposed that taking his mind off the subject and re-visiting whether to visit Talla would allow him to think things through in a more subjective manner. But now that he had possibly missed the opportunity altogether, it became clear to the clinician that he wanted to go after all. He cursed to himself and pulled on his shoes as quickly as possible.

Sprinting toward the forest, Harvey felt a stinging in his chest as his lungs struggled to provide his brain with the air it needed. It was at this moment that the physician regretted not getting more cardio. Still, he pressed onward past the houses on Willow Lane, past Marnie's ranch, and Leah's cottage. In the clearing beside the oldest tree in the forest, Harvey discovered to his relief that Talla's cart was still parked in its usual spot. Even if the shutters were closed, it meant she was still here!

The mustached man bent in half, resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath before knocking on the brightly colored cart. "Talla!" the bespectacled man called out to the merchant. "Talla, it's me, Harvey!" he shouted, to no avail. Harvey panted for a while longer before continuing. "I know I'm unreasonably late, but it's still before midnight, isn't it?" he reasoned in a pleading tone. "Please, go ahead and ask me your question…"

The sound of sloshing water came from inside the cart and the shutters flung open, nearly smacking the glasses off Harvey's face. "Good evening, Doctor," Talla greeted him in her syren form. Harvey would have stuttered out a question in his confusion, but the brunet quickly realized that the vendor was in an enormous barrel of sea water. "Do you truly wish to hear my proposition?" the finned female asked.

Harvey blinked. "P-proposition?" he repeated quizzically.

"Yes, Doctor," the demigoddess replied curtly. "That is why you came, is it not?" She rested her elbow on the windowsill of her cart and rested her head on her hand. "And yet you are so late…" she sighed with disappointment. "I am tempted to deny you."

The man nodded but made his case despite still trying to regulate his breathing. "Please… give me a chance, Talla," he begged earnestly. "It was just a lot to process for someone like me who's never met anything -" he stopped himself and corrected his phrasing. "Anyone like you..."

Her dark eyes studied the medic, then a smile crept onto the merchant's lips. "Fine," the syren relented. "You have technically met the deadline, if only just…" she chuckled. The trader leaned over the counter of the cart, pausing inches away from his face.

Harvey's reaction was to flinch away from the serrated teeth and predatory eyes, but he held his ground. Talla beamed at him, seemingly pleased with herself. "Will you come with me to the warfront in Gotoro as a traveling doctor?"