They'd borrowed chairs from The Perch and set them up in a circle, conspicuously mismatching the ones belonging to Thistleburr. Fern thought they'd brought too many. It turned out there weren't enough.
Viv rested against the counter and watched folk fill them one by one, glancing at the battered interior of the shop as they did.
It was three days since Varine had wounded the place, and while the bruises were evident in hastily patched shelves, long rents in the rugs, and the mortally injured side table, the shop glowed with the ragged vitality of a survivor.
Gaps left by the volumes the necromancer had destroyed stood out like the missing teeth in a pugilist's smile.
She couldn't help but feel an ache of responsibility. A sick throb of guilt. Nothing rooted in logic, of course. Balthus had stashed Varine's book here, not Viv. Satchel had all but assured her the necromancer would've descended on the place regardless.
Still, Viv had braved the pages and stolen something that wasn't hers—and kept it—and who knew how events would've played out if she hadn't?
She felt like she'd tracked blood across the floor, all unknowing, and nasty things had come sniffing after her.
In some ways, that made it easier to leave.
In others, it made her wish she'd watched where she stepped in the first place.
Viv packed those thoughts away as Highlark slipped inside.
He nodded to Viv, a slim volume in hand, and settled himself neatly into a seat beside Luca the dwarf.
There were faces she didn't recognize, too, but when Pitts sidled through the door, Viv couldn't suppress a grin.
The orc tried to hide himself in a corner with a book held before him like a wholly inadequate shield.
"Should've brought more scones," said Maylee, perched on the stool beside Viv. The pile on the tray before them was prodigious, though, and steam curled from a brass teapot to the side of it.
Their elbows touched while they watched, and Viv thought that casual press of warmth was going to lodge in her memory in a way that other moments wouldn't. She wanted to reach out with her whole arm and tuck Maylee close, but that felt too big a gesture.
A parting was imminent, and big gestures felt like lies.
There was an ache almost visible beneath Maylee's deliberate casualness and in the way she never tried to fit anything further in between her words.
If Viv could've seen herself from the outside, she thought she might've appeared much the same.
It was an honest sort of pretense, though.
She watched the bookshop brim with conversation and warmth and community. But while she was surely present with the rest of them, Viv also felt like a ghostly observer.
Rackam would come soon, assuming he was still breathing. And she had no reason to believe he wasn't.
Any trails they followed would lead them here.
And then, she would go.
Fern emerged from the back hallway with a stack of books in her paws, a bag over her shoulder, and Potroast trotting behind like a proud rooster.
The rattkin blinked at the size of the crowd and then at Viv and Maylee.
Viv smiled back and half shrugged. "It's a good book."
"Um, is everyone here?" asked Fern, raising her voice. "Oh, hells, what a question," she muttered. "Who's going to say no?"
Then the red door opened once more, and three unexpected attendees filed in, one after the other. Viv's brows rose further with each one. Gallina, looking sheepish, followed by Berk and Zelia Greatstrider, somehow resplendent in practical riding attire.
"I'll be damned," said Viv.
"Oh!" exclaimed Fern, as a murmur passed through the assembly. "Miss Greatstrider, this is … this is a surprise!"
"Zelia," insisted the elf, smiling benevolently. "Well, you're all here to discuss my book, so I suppose I should be on hand to take the poison with the sugar, shouldn't I?"
Luca's jaw dropped, and Viv thought he might have stopped breathing.
"Of … of course! I'm so—Well, I'm surprised. In a good way!" Fern stammered. "I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we're all so happy you came."
Luca hurried to offer his seat to her, and Greatstrider accepted with a regal tip of her chin.
Berk unbelted his longsword and edged around the circle, sliding in behind Viv and Maylee.
"Seems I missed all the excitement in town a few days ago."
"Oh, I don't know about that," replied Viv quietly. "Give it a few minutes."
He shot her a quizzical glance, but she only smiled and looked back to the center of the room.
"So, I'm not much of a public speaker," apologized Fern.
"You'll have to forgive me. I sell words.
I don't say them." A good-natured chuckle from the group gave the rattkin some courage.
"Anyway, I hope to make this a regular event. You've all read Thirst for Vengeance, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
We're here to talk about it together, and I, uh—" She looked at the stack of books in her paws as though unsure how they'd gotten there.
Highlark rose and gently took them from her, and Fern patted at the pockets of her cloak while shooting him a grateful expression.
She found a folded piece of paper in one, which she opened and held in trembling paws.
"I've made a list of topics to discuss—if we want to—although we can talk about whatever you like.
But, before we get to that, there's something I'd like to say. Someone I'd like to introduce."
"Here we go," whispered Viv, catching Berk's gaze. "Just leave the sword where it is, yeah?"
Fern set the bag carefully on the floor. She opened the flap and took a step away.
Several indrawn breaths overlapped as the horned homunculus boiled up from within the satchel, his bones clacking into place with rhythmic musicality, until his eyes ignited in twirls of cobalt flame.
With Varine's departure, no further bonedust was required, as though her presence had been a sickness it kept at bay.
Viv could feel Berk tense beside her and then relax as he noted her inaction.
"This," said Fern, "is Satchel. And he'll be staying with me for a while."
There was absolute silence, during which the homunculus rubbed his phalanges together anxiously before him.
His gaze came to rest on Zelia, and he executed a hesitant bow. "Lady Greatstrider. It's my profound pleasure to meet you. I must say, I've found your works most enjoyable. My days are entirely my own for the foreseeable future, and I do look forward to devoting some to whatever you write next."
Viv hadn't known the elf could look astonished. It was kind of impressive.
There was a long beat of silence during which nobody seemed to know what to do.
Then—
"Hey, Satchel. So, Fern, when do we eat?" asked Gallina.
And after that, things were fine.
But for Viv, it was also like the end of a story.
Except the story was somebody else's.