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The small town bustled and jostled and buzzed with a sense of simple, satisfied urgency that was warming to even her far reserved emotions. Once here, there was bare survival and now—now there was even enough for satiation. Alcippe herself had never fought starvation, but she recognized the signs in the survivors. The young were surging, hungry for things more intangible than mere food, but they seemed too many in the crowd without the balance of elders that would have more easily succumbed.



When you have to do what you must—you nurture the future not the past.



It was what it was. The palomino spilled no tears for the fallen, instead she helped the others to mete out their grief in blood. They carved retribution and redemption from the hides of the slaver and supply ships that they ransacked. Anger served little purpose but revenge filled the bellies of Bloody Flanks. Soon, they'd eat the world up and bring the bones back to dance.



To many that knew the young woman, conquering would have seemed a less tasking mission than shopping and socializing in the general market with another mare two years her junior. In almost all cases, they would have been dead right. Astrid was an absolute exception.



“I won't pay more than two gold chips and neither will she,” she shot sharply at a merchant that was trying to gouge more gold out for a fruit spread. His quality wasn't lacking just his wits as he opened his mouth to argue once again. Tilting her head to display her most prominent scar proudly, she glared down the arch of her nose at him and sliced him off as he started to speak. “Two chips. That's it.”



She was beginning to doubt his sense of self preservation as the outsider merch's mouth opened again. “We don't take kindly to cheats around here. At least not to the ones that aren't honest about it,” she slid a smile to Astrid, remembering trying to teach her some of the dice tricks she'd picked up in the Isles. “I'd suggest you take the offer.”



He finally took the generous hint and sputtered out that two chips would be “Very fine, yes, thank you, Ma'am.” With a satisfied look, Alcippe swept up the spread with her pale pink teke and glanced at Astrid. “Where should we sit?”