Atzi went upstairs to sleep. She awoke to a lot of noise coming from downstairs.

  Marco was taking every chair and table outside. Meanwhile, Hemm loaded a large icebox full of food.

  "Busy packing up?" Atzi asked.

  "Yes," Hemm said. She stood up and turned around. "Atzi, do you have anything warm to wear?"

  "Warm? It's cold there?" Atzi asked, worried.

  "No, it's warm in the caves. It's cold getting there," Hemm explained.

  "I'll have to buy something." Atzi clacked her claws. "Uh, thanks for remembering. Humans usually forget."

  "Huh?" Hemm asked. Then she snapped her fingers. "Right. Lizards are cold blooded, aren't they? Actually, the bats are the same way."

  Atzi nodded. "There's a bunch of different types of people there, huh?"

  "Uh huh. We cyclopes, the bats, and the Atlanteans."

  Atzi approached and whispered, "Will people get mad if I ask about the Atlantean god? It's a long shot, but still worth checking."

  "...People will think you're either a cultist or, given your appearance, an idiot. Not that- Sorry, that came out wrong."

  "Eh?" Atzi's eyes widened. "W-wait, I look dumb?"

  "No, of course not!" Hemm put a hand on Atzi's shoulder. "People just have poor opinions of outsiders and assume they're stupid, is what I was saying. You don't look dumb."

  "Ohhh," Atzi intoned dumbly. "Guess we'll figure it out when we're there. Anyway, I need to go buy some clothes."

  With that, she headed out to buy warm clothing for the trip. She decided to head directly to the merchant who had sold her new clothes right before the loop had begun. Of course, it was only incidental to Atzi's decision that said merchant had flirted with her a lot.

  The stand was stuffed full of clothing, both hanging and stacked on wooden counters. It had room for maybe one person at a time to sort through the various clothing options. Beside it, sitting in a simple chair, was a middle-aged lizard woman. Her dyed golden hair fell over her dulling green scales.

  "Hello again, darling." The flirty merchant winked as Atzi approached. "What are you needing this time?"

  "I need stuff to stay warm. Gonna be passing through somewhere cold soon."

  "In the middle of the festival?" The merchant looked mildly surprised.

  "Yeah... not what I'd choose, but I got no choice." Atzi sighed. "Gotta follow this mage around."

  "A mage." The flirty merchant whistled. "Is she hot?"

  Atzi pondered Terra's appearance. "Yeah, but she's insane. She'd kill me for the fun of it."

  The merchant smirked, revealing her sharp teeth. "That's the best kind."

  "Well… huh…" Atzi shook away her thoughts. "No idea if she cares about anything but her research though."

  "Maybe you can convince her to snuggle with you for body warmth," The merchant suggested. She stood up and wandered into her stall. "But while you're walking, how about this." She emerged a moment later with a layered winter outfit with lots of leather and fur.

  "Perfect!" Atzi said immediately. "Need a lot of layers. Humans don't get how bad it is when it gets cold."

  "Now, I need to warn you. All the sweaters I have are for less impressive tails than yours. You'd need one fitted just for you," the merchant said in a husky voice. "So I could sell you some scarves to wrap it in, instead."

  Atzi gave several short, awkward laughs. "Well, I guess I should have figured. Sure."

  The merchant set down the outfit and pulled out several long, warm wool scarves.

  "I'll take those two." Atzi pointed. "That should be enough."

  "That'll be thirty five bronze. I have time, so I'll make your adjustments quickly. I still remember your measurements." The merchant winked again.

  Atzi passed over her money as she wondered if she'd have time to sleep with the woman before leaving. While she waited, she bought a snack from a nearby food stall.

  Thirty minutes later, Atzi's clothes were done. As the merchant passed them over to Atzi, she asked, "Do you also have a sleeping bag?"

  "No... do I need one?"

  "Well, if you want to be warm as you sleep you do. Plus, it's the perfect excuse to snuggle with that mage of yours."

  "Sure, I'll take one."

  The merchant giggled. "I don't sell them, but let Percy know I sent you and he'll give you a discount." She pointed to Percy's stall.

  Atzi turned her head.

  A merchant stood a few stalls away. A shock of purple hair sat on his head. He had a crazed expression as he shouted at passerbies to buy his wares.

  It was the merchant who had sold Atzi the rope.

  Atzi's face sank.

  She gathered her clothes and scarves. "T-thanks." She trudged over to the purple haired merchant. "One… sleeping bag… please…"

  "Right away, good customer!" Percy shouted. In a flurry of movement he grabbed a bundled sleeping bag and ran back to Atzi, waving it over his head. "Would you like extra stuffing?! Only two bronze more!" He stepped into her personal space.

  Atzi stepped back. "Sure, fine, do it!"

  He mercifully left Atzi's space and went back to add extra 'stuffing' into the bag. Atzi couldn't quite tell what he was doing at his counter from where she stood, she just knew she didn't want to get close to the guy.

  Finally Percy came back with the bag. "That'll be ten bronze!"

  Atzi wanted to stop interacting with him so badly that she didn't bother to tell him about the discount the flirty merchant had mentioned.

  "Thank you, come again!" Percy shouted, inches from her face, as he handed over the sleeping bag.

  Atzi scampered back to the flirty merchant. "Hey, so I have some time probably, do you wa-"

  "Sorry darling, I've got a stall to run!" The merchant smiled.

  Atzi nodded, slowly and sadly, and returned to the inn.

  The inn was emptier of its contents than earlier. Hemm went over to Atzi. "If you're not too busy, could you help us out?"

  After having just been wound up without release, Atzi was surprised by how much she appreciated Hemm's appearance. "Sure." Well, I'll help out. It's not the worst thing ever, helping out. Given how much people have jerked me around and wasted my time this loop so far, it's nice to know she's actually asking me to do stuff that matters.

  Atzi spent the next few hours being worked nonstop, stuffing things into crates and boxes in the kitchen.

  "That... all of it?" Atzi asked, tired from moving stuff. She hadn't even been asked to move anything from upstairs, though she didn't worry much about it.

  "Alright. I think we're done!" Hemm happily said.

  The Inn was fully cleaned up. It looked abandoned.

  Atzi found it a little sad to look at. I've only been here a few days technically, but it's a constant in the loops. And… it will be again, even after this. So it's like this doesn't matter.

  Atzi pushed it out of mind.

  "When will she be here?" Hemm asked.

  "She said today, didn't say when," Atzi replied.

  "In that case…" Hemm headed into the kitchen and came back with three opened bottles of wine. "No reason not to. It would just sit here anyway."

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  "Wow..." Marco said. He licked his lips.

  "Sure!" Atzi happily grabbed a bottle. "Gotta warn you, takes a lot to out-drink me."

  Hemm smiled. "You remind me of someone I used to know. Don't worry, I won't try."

  Atzi grinned smugly. "Dragon's blood. I can drink arsenic and be okay."

  "Please don't, even if you can." Hemm shook her head. "That can't be good for you."

  "I don't! I only showed it off once, never again…" Plus it put me on the toilet for a day.

  Atzi turned the bottle over in her claw. According to the label, it was over fifty years old. This stuff is older than mom. She took a drink. It was sour, which Atzi found satisfying.

  Marco took a drink, too. His face scrunched up as his lips nearly vanished.

  "Cmon, it's good," Atzi said.

  Marco hummed in agreement even as he was unable to move his mouth.

  Hemm also drank. She didn't seem to have any issues with it.

  They sat down on the floor together, drinking. Marco was the slowest, sipping his way through the singular bottle, and he still had over half left. Hemm drank in measured amounts, having worked her way through two entire bottles and on her third. Atzi kept drinking bottle after bottle like water, as many as Hemm had, and was on her sixth bottle as the evening went on.

  It took a lot to get Atzi drunk, but she was officially drunk.

  She giggled senselessly as she sipped at her sixth bottle. "S'good.... good stuff..."

  "You're funny when you're drunk," Hemm said, a blush to her cheeks.

  "I'm always funny," Atzi slurred.

  "It's going to be weird, going back home after all this time." Hemm suddenly sighed.

  "Why'd you leave, anyway?" Atzi asked.

  "Ah… this is personal stuff I mentioned. But not super personal. I'll share it." Hemm swirled her bottle. "There was a girl."

  Atzi's eyes widened as she grinned. "Oh?"

  "A human girl, she was an adventurer. Visited the caves on some grand quest. I was sixteen at the time."

  Atzi slid a little closer on the wooden floor. "She was hot, wasn't she?"

  "...Gods yes."

  "I knew it!" Atzi cheered and took another drink.

  "Um...?" Marco mumbled, blushing.

  "Yes Marco, you can listen." Hemm chuckled.

  "Yeah, s'fine..." Atzi slurred.

  "Okay..."

  "Gotta... gotta take you along to a party sometime." Atzi pointed a claw at Marco. "Meet the right…" She laughed.

  Hemm continued her story. "We talked a lot and I ended up begging her to take me with her to see the stuff she saw about." Hemm looked down. "Talked about. Bleh." She shook her head. "But she said no. It was too dangerous. That only made me want to go with her more."

  Atzi nodded along.

  "So when she was leaving I just went after her anyway. And when she saw me, she accepted I wouldn't take no for an answer."

  "Wow. All the way to Sostra? So what happened with her?"

  "We adventured together for a while but… she was right. It was dangerous. I wasn't cut out for it and..." Hemm's eye welled up. "Well, she almost died protecting me. Would have died, if the Saintess's priest didn't heal her. So, we agreed I shouldn't go with her anymore."

  "Oh… she went out again, you stayed here?" Atzi asked. "Does she come visit?"

  Hemm was silent for a moment. Then she said, quietly. "She died. Six years ago. In another adventure."

  Atzi's tail drooped. "Shit, sorry. I didn't- sorry."

  "It's fine," Hemm wiped away her tears.

  Marco outright wept. "That's so sad."

  Atzi quickly changed the subject. "I didn't leave home 'cause of that, but…" Atzi sighed. "My parents are mages. Big deals. 'Cept they didn't think I had any potential so I went, who needs 'em? Came here instead. Broke into some places… met some people. And then I met her."

  Marco was still crying senselessly.

  "Witch from Artaxta. I mean I'd seen nice humans before I guess, but she was… We did some jobs together, we had a big break, gonna be rich as queens and set for life and… I fucked it up. And that was it. She went home, I had to hide out in the fuckin' slums for years to dodge the heat from the guards. She's back now." Atzi laughed. "Back now with a total psycho of a girlfriend. Tried to kill me!"

  Hemm looked confused. "Was it… now? Or later? Before? I don't know."

  "Now. Later. Earlier. Same thing." Atzi burst out into an extended stream of giggles. "I guess this time I really screwed things up for her… no idea what she's doing now."

  "You deserve someone better than that," Hemm said.

  "But I want her! We were- we were great and- fuck." Atzi drained the rest of her bottle. "Every time I think 'no way, I won't fall for her again' she just… gives me a look and that's it."

  "It's hard to accept that you aren't right for someone. Or they aren't right for you. It was for me…" Hemm said.

  "Hey." Atzi slung an arm over Hemm's shoulder. "You'll find- you'll find someone. You're great. Great cook. Good at listening. Got an ass that-" Atzi trailed off into incoherence.

  Hemm snorted. "I'm just an old woman. I'm thirty four and haven't gotten anything in- forever." She didn't seem to register Atzi's ass comment.

  Marco, meanwhile, had turned tomato red.

  "That's not old, cmon." Atzi squeezed Hemm's shoulder. "Hey. Hey. One time? I got to fuck a god." She laughed. "Oh man..."

  "W-what?" Marco asked.

  "Serpent must be like… a thousand years old!" Atzi shouted. "Crazy fucking- cannibal."

  "What?" Marco repeated.

  "Cmon, what do you think the festival's for? You ever notice they pick boys and girls out of the crowd?" Atzi grinned at him. "Ate me after," she said, her voice pitching up. Then she laughed.

  Marco looked down, silent.

  "That's terrible!" Hemm suddenly stood up. "We need to tell someone!"

  Atzi missed the feeling of Hemm's shoulder in her claw. "Tell 'em what? I tried telling her… she wouldn't listen, got mad when I even brought it up…"

  "Someone who matters. Like the guard!"

  "Pfft. The guard hate me, and what are they gonna do? Arrest a god?"

  Hemm was silent for a moment. Then she sat back down. "Right. Right."

  "I wasn't the first- won't be the last, it's- whatever." Atzi's shoulders slumped.

  "Maybe. Maybe you can get the Sage to banish them." Hemm suggested. "Like the Uniter did to the three gods."

  "Artaxtians will be pissed if their god just vanishes like that."

  "The girl you liked, she was Artaxtian?" Hemm asked.

  Atzi nodded.

  "Then they can be pissed," Hemm said angrily.

  Atzi blinked, staring back at her, then laughed. "Yeah. That'll be a nice surprise. Hey Cory, your God's in fuckin' jail! Couldn't stop eating people!"

  "Cannibal jail. Cannibal jail!" Hemm laughed like this was the funniest thing she'd ever said.

  "Cannibal jail! Cannibal jail!" Atzi joined in.

  As they chanted cannibal jail, the door to the inn opened.

  Madam Terra, the Sage of Sostra, walked in.

  Atzi smiled dopily. "Heeey, it's the sage herself! Cmon, we got bottles still around- I think."

  "Grab your things. We're leaving," the Sage said.

  "What? Already? I was having a good time…"

  "I'm going on this trip even if you don't come with me," Terra said. "You have one hour."

  Atzi groaned.

  "Um…" Marco made a small noise, looking between Atzi and the sage.

  "Oh yeah, Marco's coming too." Atzi lifted her empty bottle. "Vital. Important. Couldn't do it without him."

  Marco gave the sage a weak wave. "Hello?"

  "Marco, this is Terra. She's like, the biggest, most importantest mage in the city."

  Terra shrugged. "That's fine." Then she headed outside.

  Atzi stood up, stretching.

  "Should I?" Marco asked Hemm.

  "Yeah." Hemm nodded.

  Marco went over to the incredibly heavy ice box and lifted it one-handed, like it weighed nothing.

  "Whuh...?" Atzi briefly wondered how much she had actually been drinking. "How can you carry that?"

  "I got the Ancestor's blessing. I'm super strong until the end of today," Marco said.

  Atzi blinked. "Woah. I never realised you could do that."

  "Priests of a god can bless people. The Ancestor's makes you stronger. It's… really expensive. Hemm decided it would be easier than alternatives, though, so she paid for it."

  "Actually, I got it for free," Hemm said.

  "You did?" Atzi turned her head towards Hemm.

  "I told the prophet about her brother."

  "Oh!" Atzi's brain sputtered into motion. "Hey, good idea!"

  Hemm looked sad. "I- I'm sorry I doubted you. I still don't know if you're telling the truth, but… you do know useful stuff."

  "I do, don't I? That bit's" - Atzi hiccuped - "that bit's pretty great." She thumped her tail. "Dying? Fuckin' awful. But this? I like this stuff. I can walk up to murderous psychos and say stuff that makes their heads spin." She laughed and laughed.

  Hemm clutched her stomach. "My stomach- is- be right back." She ran to the bathroom.

  Atzi swayed a little, standing there. "You got warm clothes?" She suddenly asked Marco. "Novae's pretty cold, I hear..."

  A loud puking noise came from the bathroom.

  "I lived there," Marco said slowly.

  "Uh, sorry. I wasn't- I forgot how recent that was." Should I tell him Malus did it? Probably not a good idea. Even someone as skinny as Marco looked intimidating holding what must be half a ton in one hand. "Uh- I'll go- make sure Hemm's doing alright." Atzi slid off to check on her.

  Hemm came out of the bathroom just as she arrived at the door.

  "I'm fine now," Hemm said. Her shirt was slightly stained. "I- can't be bothered to reclean the bathroom. So, let's go."

  Atzi shrugged. "Someone else's problem. I'm ready, I got my warm stuff ready. Needed a scarf for my tail. Actually, needed two," she said, winking.

  Hemm blinked. Or was she winking back? It was impossible to tell.

  Marco, the strongest and most sober, took everything Hemm had packed and loaded it onto the cart just outside the inn. The dark sky overhead twinkled with stars.

  Atzi and Hemm supported each other, walking out. The cart that the Sage had rented was pretty nice. It had a covering overhead, and blankets already in it, spread out on the seat. Two horses stood at the front of it calmly. There was no driver that Atzi could see, though Terra stood beside it, her arms folded.

  Once Marco was done loading it, most of the leg room was taken up by two chests - Terra's, presumably - and Hemm's three boxes.

  Atzi helped Hemm to her seat, before sitting down herself.

  "It will be half a day's travel to the border," Terra said. "If you need to nap, only one person can lay down. Not enough room for us all to do that."

  "Let's take turns then. Who wants first go?" Atzi asked.

  "I've already slept," Terra said brusquely.

  "I'm… okay for now," Hemm said, eye drooping.

  "I'm not tired yet," Marco said. He glanced at Hemm.

  Atzi used her full brainpower to come to the answer. "Then I'm gonna take a nap while I can."

  She spread out across several seats, and slowly drifted off.