—
Grey Rain had been exploring Three Cliffs with Snowball and they’d found a neighbourhood that was full of people from Enjon, which was neat even if it made Grey Rain a little nervous. It was kind of cool, though.
He’d hoped that it would mean nobody would stare at him like they normally did in the capital, because it made Snowball a bit uncomfortable to be stared at a lot. Nobody here had ever seen a werewolf before so they were always watching him because he was so cool, but people from Enjon were supposed to be less weird.
Except they weren’t, really. Everyone was still staring at them, but in a different way, and Grey Rain was a little frustrated about that. “It’s probably just because they haven’t seen a werewolf since they’ve been here,” Snowball said.
“I guess,” said Grey Rain. It wasn’t like it was their fault or anything. And nobody was being mean or anything. Sand Bear was a few steps behind them and he didn’t seem worried, so Grey Rain wasn’t worried either. He was just bored. And hungry. Maybe there was a food place somewhere where he could get seal. He hadn’t eaten any seals in a long time.
He looked around and didn’t see a restaurant, but he did see a stall with a lot of fetishes on it. It was blurry in the way places sometimes were when the gods were around them, so he wandered over to it. “Hi,” he said to the shopkeeper, looking at the fetishes. Most of them were for different human gods, but some of them were for some of the gods Grey Rain knew, and that was kind of cool, actually.
Snowball was taking to the shopkeeper while Grey Rain looked at the fetishes, touching the ones that mattered. The gods patted his head. White Wind, Sky Cutter, Fire Eater, a few he didn’t recognize that probably came from outside of Narwhal Junction.
Grey Rain missed the gods, a little. He’d never been as interested in them as his old parents had wanted him to be, but it had been a long time since he’d met any of them, and he couldn’t help but smile. “Hi,” he said. “I’m sorry I was gone for so long. It’s good to see you again. This is Snowball, he’s my mate.”
One fetish in particular, three feathers twined around a spiral carving, caught his eye. He picked it up, peering closely at it. It was blurred in a really small way, like the god was hiding. “Hi,” he said to it with one hand. “You’re Roof Burner, right? Do you remember me?”
The god didn’t answer him, but that was okay. Grey Rain handed him to Snowball. “This is Roof Burner,” he said. “He’s a god of freedom! I think he’d really like you!” It was a bit more complicated than that, but he’d explain later.
Snowball blinked, looked down at the fetish, which seemed happy now. “Thank you.”
“He’ll keep you safe, I promise! And he’s a bit shy, so he’ll probably like to sit quietly with you sometimes too!” Grey Rain beamed at the shopkeeper. “I want to buy Roof Burner’s fetish! I have lots of coins!”
It took a bit of translating, but Grey Rain was able to give the shopkeeper some coins in exchange for Roof Burner—which was a mistake, because Roof Burner didn’t like being bought, but it was better than him sitting there in a box for months.
He and Snowball left the stall with Roof Burner on Snowball’s belt, and Grey Rain smiled. He hadn’t gotten to eat any seals, but Snowball would be safer now, and that was way more important. Maybe he’d come back to the Enjoni neighbourhood to look for seals again some other time.
—
How Best to Use a Sword 