30. Lucy

W e were getting mobbed every night because of the Bloody Marys. Ollie and I ended up posting a job to keep up with the demand. We needed someone to work the tavern, and we needed help in the kitchen. Hopefully, Mom would be able to help us soon, but right now, I wouldn't let her work no matter how much she argued with me.

We were doing well money-wise. We had more than enough to pay extra employees and I was socking money aside to invest in the tavern, pay for all the tomatoes we would need, and set some aside for emergencies. Right now, the emergency was Mom.

Ollie was interviewing people before the tavern opened. He was a much better judge of people than I was. He'd be able to tell if someone just wanted free booze and would be lazy or if they would be a hard worker. I could admit that. Ollie was better at people than I was.

I was on my way to find Athan and Tarja to see if they needed anything from me. They were just leaving their shop when I found them.

"Hey, Lance. How's your mom?"

"The herbs are helping a little, but I don't think they are treating the underlying issue. The tavern is doing really well. Is there anything you need to get a cure going?"

"We actually have a lead. Come inside. No one can hear this."

I didn't think any of this would be covert, but I followed them inside, anyway.

"We were gathering herbs with Ilyn and came across a banished Theran."

Earth shifters. They turned into any animal associated with land. Some of them were fearsome beasts. We met one in the woods once. She was around our age. We ended up playing for hours before she had to go back. I always wondered what happened to her.

The Barons painted them as dangerous savages who wanted to wipe humans out, but if you didn't fuck with them, they didn't bother you. I had a lot of fun playing with her. I wasn't worried about one attacking Ilyn, Athan, and Tarja because they were healers and didn't mean anyone harm.

"What'd he get banished for?"

Because that was important.

"The king banished him. He was the bodyguard to the Theran prince. The prince was playing in the woods and got murdered by humans. Basselt found the prince full of arrows and no one around him to avenge him. He brought his body home. The king was devastated and banished Basselt for not protecting his son. Basselt said they banish rather than hang people in the tribes because banishment is so much worse."

"Did they kill the prince because he was Theran or because they didn't know he was Theran?"

Because honestly, you couldn't tell the difference. It was why humans had their territory and the shifters had theirs. We didn't go into shifter land and when they came into ours, they were wearing people faces. You could always tell they were shifters by the robes they wore and the color of those robes let you know if they were Farkhi, Theran, or Tark.

You could also generally tell by looking at them, though the Farkhi could pass as a Jagged Key Isle person and the Theran could mostly pass for humans. I'd never seen a Tark, but from what I understood, no one in Nestran looked like them. They were water shifters, and I didn't know anyone who had laid eyes on one of them before because they were either on their lands or in the water.

"It could be either or. Basselt said the prince was curious about the Festival of Lights near the palace and slipped away from him. No one truly knows who did it and why," Athan said.

"Since the Theran won't have him, none of the tribes will. Basselt said death would have been preferable to banishment, but the shifters have their own religion. His gods would look unfavorably on him taking his own life, but shifters don't do well when they are isolated from people. His wife shunned him and refused to leave with him. He lost his entire family. I honestly think he was just happy to have someone to talk to," Tarja said.

"The shifters have healers, too. Basselt wasn't one, but his wife was. He knows herbs and remedies that we don't, including some for infection that have been curing the shifters without the Baron's fancy equipment."

"Did he tell you?"

Because that could cure Mom. I'd give him whatever he wanted.

"He wants to, but he's scared. Basselt is tired of being alone. Guttertown hates the Barons. We have no problem with the shifters. He's been hiding in the woods long enough to have figured that out. He's Theran, so with a haircut and different clothes, he could blend in with us because we can't scent that he's not human like the shifters could.

"He could be around people again and frankly, I don't think Guttertown would even give a shit if they knew. They'd probably help him hide from the Barons. Basselt is afraid of the Barons, but he's also afraid of the Theran. He shifts into a wolf and they named him a lone wolf when he was banished. He thinks they might react badly if he changes the rules of his banishment by taking up with the humans. Basselt also said some of them hate all humans because they've never met one and wouldn't want him sharing any kind of remedy that would heal them."

"Guttertown is for the outcasts. I think we'd welcome him and protect him. I can even give him a job and train him. We're hiring two positions at the tavern. I could put him in the kitchen where there's less of a chance of him getting exposed. I'd pay him so he could afford a house in Guttertown and he could be around people. He could save lives here. Not just Mom, but all of us."

"We told him if he had skills, he'd probably have no problem finding someone to give him work. Like I said, he worried about the Theran retaliating, not just against him, but everyone in Guttertown if he tries this. The Barons are looking for any excuse to get into another war with the shifters. They don't give a shit about Guttertown, but they'd say the shifters broke the treaty they already broke and start conscripting men.

"He said he needed to think about it. He said he would do some kind of Theran thing to commune with nature and see what the best path forward would be. Basselt said he'd meet us in the woods where we were gathering herbs when he made his decision. He also said he'd find us. If he didn't want to be found, it would be impossible to locate him."

"We specifically asked about your mom. He said he knows how to treat it and what he would need grows in and near Guttertown, but some of it won't be ready to harvest for the remedy for a few weeks."

Ugh. Weeks I wasn't sure Mom had.

"When you see him again, tell him he has a job in the kitchen in my tavern if he decides to make Guttertown his new tribe."

I wanted Mom cured more than anything, but I was also looking at the big picture. Basselt could teach Athan and Tarja new remedies and it would help all of us. It might prevent future generations of kids like me from ever having to go to their fathers just because their mom got sick and Guttertown didn't have the means to treat them.

Hopefully, Basselt decided to come work for me and Mom could hold on that long.