"That'll be thirty silver crescents for the delivery fee." A woman clad in a plain tunic and trousers with a knapsack stood over a four-foot tall bespectacled halfling as he counted out the coins. Taking her payment in hand, she handed a tightly-wrapped package over. Before leaving, she did a quick recount of the money and frowned. "Mr. Longfellow…this twenty-nine crescents, not thirty. And what is this thing doing here?" The halfling pushed up his spectacles as Shiloh narrowed her eyes at him, holding up an antimony coin from the pile. "Hm? Oh–oh dear, that's a latun isn't it? I thought when I took them from my pouch that there were only Adelunian currencies in there. Let me fix that." Crossing her arms, she tapped her foot as he rummaged through his coin purse. Reading his body language she already figured out he didn't find another crescent in there, though not on purpose. "…This is quite a pickle, I could've sworn-" "It was in your other coin purse; that's what you were going to say right?"

The halfling man didn't say any more, but his face confirmed it. "I'm really sorry about that. I must've missed one coin when I exchanged my currency from my visit to Iria." Sighing, Shiloh put away the twenty-nine keeping the odd coin out in hand. "It's fine, I know. You've had a clean history with your payments so I'm not going to hold it against you. But next time, try to make sure you have everything in the same coinage. So, where am I supposed to exchange this?" Mr. Longfellow answered quickly. "At any of the big money-changers around, your best bet should be the merchant's guild on Bale Street. It's the big building on the block in brick and mortar. You can't miss it." He gave her a few more directions, and apologized again before she left.

"I should've known I'd run into this sort of problem sooner or later." She grumbled, walking the streets. So far she'd been lucky with her international deliveries, taking jobs from people who paid in crescents in spite of being elsewhere. It wasn't the man's fault that he made the mix-up. But exchanging foreign currency was a hassle. Only people who had access to a wide variety of currency could exchange coin, but not everyone was willing or interested in that business. And most people wouldn't bother to look up the exchange rate for one single coin. She walked down Bale Street, entered the merchant guild, and asked if she could have her currency exchanged. The receptionist told her the senior trader was currently out of town, but his associate Samuel Burroughs was in.

She found Burroughs and told him what she came for, but he apparently wasn't able to help her at the moment seeing that the guild needed an inventory check and he was left with the job. The only way to get him to stop counting boxes was to see where the accounting clerk had gone, which led her to Downing Avenue. There was a roadblock due to an accident, which meant everyone was stuck here until the way was clear. After clearing the road, making sure the accountant clocked in and started doing her job, and solving a dozen other interlinked errands on the way, finally she got her antimony latun exchanged into Adelunian crescents. Leaving Bale Street, she finally ended what nearly became an endless chain of small favors. Checking the sundial, she saw the shadows had grown long. "Four hours just to exchange a measly coin…well it's not like I had anything else planned–like leaving for Canelux." It was a bad start to what was now late afternoon. But for Shiloh, her luck was the usual. Terrible.

Everything here was just her size! From the shops, to the people only a little taller than herself. Akira had lots of fun running from stall to stall, peering at the goods displayed without having to strain herself, or step on anything for added height. So many shiny baubles and knickknacks that caught her eyes, it was a wonder none of them made it into her pockets.

A delicious aroma permeated the air, and Akira wanted to follow it. With her nose up in the air, she tried to pinpoint it. She walked up and down all the streets. All she could find was where the smell was weaker. The only thing to distract her was the fact she saw a woman muttering to herself. Akira had seen her earlier with a parcel. Curious, and the aroma long since forgotten, Akira followed her. Though, she couldn't tell anyone why this woman was so demanding of her attention. Perhaps it was her height, the way she towered over everyone, herself included.

Every time the woman entered a building, Akira, all dressed in white with her snowy hair and tail, would wait across the street and stare at the door intensely. The woman exited, and Akira followed behind once more. What was curious was the fact that the woman seemed to go into all these places and didn't seem to want to. Each new place seemed to add to her frustrations. Why would one woman go through all this trouble if she didn't want to do it?

Without fail, there was always one set of vindictive boys or girls in each town, and Akira always stumbles upon them. "Look what we got here, boys!" One boy sneered. He was only a couple inches taller than she was, but Akira knew that with that voice, he had a mean streak she did not want to play with. Akira stopped in her tracks as she was suddenly surrounded by four boys and a girl, each of them with malicious expressions. "A girl pretending to be a fox!" "Are they even real?" the girl laughed. Two hands reached out and yanked on her ears while another pulled her tail.

Akira let out a wail, managed to scurry out of the group and run. The only thing she could think of was to go to the woman she had been following. When Akira got to her, she grabbed the woman's hand, pressing it to her forehead while she looked at the group of kids following, yelling taunts and laughing. "Helps Akira?" she begged in a whimper.

The errand run she had just finished had made her lower her guard, so when something grabbed her hand Shiloh immediately went on high alert. Her head quickly turned towards her hand to see a child huddling close to her. Her heart rate slowed when she read the girl's features and body language. She wasn't being pick-pocketed, thankfully. The girl clinging to her looked very young, and was likely a beastkin. Unlike most people, Shiloh actually felt more comfortable with non-humans so she tried to soften her likely stern face. 

The sound of taunts and jeers approaching made that cold light return to her eyes again. She didn't have to look up to know what those kids were coming for. But she had to control herself. Shiloh knew what it was like to be bullied, and the very memory was strong. Reminding herself not to project onto the fox-child, she clenched her other hand tightly while maintaining her composure. Looking at the group of kids, she gave a glare sharp as daggers at all of them while assuming a confrontational posture. "What did you do to my sister?" Sure they looked nothing alike, but she knew how to bluff very convincingly. Besides, she had been adopted by non-humans when she was in her third year of grade school. Blood relation was no restriction for who you considered family.

Her height and well-practiced intimidation tactics would shake the mettle of any half-hearted bully who wasn't ready to face serious trouble. Scaring people witless–now that was something she could do without a problem. She made sure to make eye contact with everyone in the group, committing their faces to memory. Most of the time when people were doing something they knew was wrong, they didn't want others to know. Especially someone who could and would spread the word.

They're just kids Shiloh…no you can't tan their hides without their parents' permission. Even if you really want to wipe those smug little smirks off their faces and make them wet themselves. That's unethical, and will likely draw the guards over. She mentally chided herself, doing her best to maintain control over the situation. They might be children, but she wasn't letting them grow up into self-centered, entitled jerks who would later become a blight on society. 

At the mention of being the woman's sister shocked Akira into forgetting her tormentors. The child looked up at the woman at near disbelief. However, the way she said it gave her the sense of protection, bullying the bully. She smiled tentatively and returned to huddling against the woman. Most of the kids skidded to a halt, one of them, however, beamed defiantly at Shiloh.

"Your sister needs to stop pretending to be what she's not." He said with a matter-of-fact tone. "That tail is so obviously fake. Why is she even wearing it? It'll just make her stink." That came from the girl, who seemed to be completely absorbed by being the fashion police and obviously drawing strength from their leader's defiance. Akira looked down upon herself and was not embarrassed to note that she did have a dirty kimono. It was white, and easily sullied. She didn't mind, as she was only a child.

"What'd she do, glue it on?" came another sneer. "Anyone having the guts to dress like an animal should be treated like one." Finally, one seemed to see the error of their ways. "Uh, Dillan… Maybe we should… you know, leave her alone? That sister looks like she means business!" "Relax. She isn't going to do anything to us. We're just kids after all." The way Dillan said showed he was over full of confidence, that he was not accustomed to people standing up to him. He got power from this little group of his, and he wasn't about to let anyone knock him down a peg.

Akira looked at the kids, then up at the woman. "Sister make meanies go away, now?" She really didn't want to see them try to yank her tail again.

Shiloh walked forward slowly, with grim deliberation. Glowering over the children, she leaned down just a bit so the shadow would give the right contrast to her eyes as she addressed the rather irritating little brat of a boy. Using her typical poker face to her full advantage, she remarked. "Do you know what else stinks? Your attitude." She said it so quietly, but with the tone of voice of someone who wasn't afraid of making her problems 'disappear'. She then very subtly conjured an apple in her clenched hand, and moved it so the children could see without it being right in front of them. And very slowly, she began to crush the fruit until there was an audible crack as its flesh began to split open and the juice ran down like rain from a tile roof.

"If you think it's fine to yank her ears and tail, then I should be able to yank yours. Isn't that right?" Looking at the other children with the same deadpan seriousness that unnerved adults, she dropped the pulverized remains of the apple onto the ground. "Let's start with you." Her gaze fell on the girl who called the distinguishing features of the fox child's body 'fake'. She could see the hesitation and growing anxiety in the other children's eyes. In her simmering anger, her sensitivity made it almost palpable. Having stored plenty of negative emotions from extracting the shadows of people's hearts, she drew upon them to layer on her intimidation by affecting the atmosphere.

The ones who spoke the loudest were either the most stubborn, or the most cowardly. And if what she had observed about people was correct, when one turned tail the others would soon follow. Unless this boy had enough sway to override man's natural fight-or-flight instinct, it wouldn't take long for the rest of his following to cave. She was walking a fine line between scaring them straight and scaring them, period. And for her it was all too easy to do the latter. If they ended up scarred, she'd have to take additional measures to clean that up and then things would get complicated. The success of 'that' usually depended on the willingness of the subject. She couldn't back down or leave just yet, not until the head of the group was down. They had to believe that they should never try to do this again, or else this would all be wasted effort.

"Dillan…" The one boy really did not like the way Shiloh was approaching them. "And what are you going to do? Tell our mummies?" Dillan sneered. Shiloh pulled out the apple, crushing it in her hand. "Dillan…" Most of them were itching to get away, no longer having the desire to go toe to toe with this woman who meant business. Even the girl, who shrunk into herself as Shiloh's gaze fell on her.

"Dillan!" "Ah, shut your yapping, Walker." Yet, even his voice sounded nervous now. The girl threw her hands up, and took an uncertain step back. "I don't have a tail." Her voice waivered. Dillan looked back at the girl. "Not you too, Sansy!" His troupe was failing, falling apart. How was he supposed to be brave if his group easily tucked their tails between their legs at one person. "Sorry, Dillan." she said as she ran off with the rest of them. The last remaining boy yelled at them, looked at Akira, up to Shiloh. "Ya ain't worth it." He, too, turned tail and ran.

Akira breathed easier, now that they were gone. She hugged Shiloh's leg. "Thanks you. Akira no like tail pull." She looked up at the woman and gave her a somewhat tired smile. "Why you go back forth?" Sadly, her speech was still very broken, having only picked up pieces here and there with no one to give her the time of day.

Shiloh stood where she was, watching the kids run back into the streets. They had better run, or else she'd have to do something nasty. For once, giving people the chills was a good thing. Slowly breathing in, she began to calm herself. She had been holding onto her emotions with everything she had, and her knuckles in her empty hand had turned white from clenching so hard. When the kids were far out of hearing range, she muttered to herself regarding Dillan: "I could say the same for you…" The feeling of the little fox child hugging her leg made her tension fade. Turning to look at her, she was thanked for chasing the bullies away. She did her best to give a smile, which looked more like a wry one.

"Why you go back forth?" The child asked her. "Back and forth?" Shiloh repeated, trying to figure out why she was asking. Recalling the 'errand run' she had done earlier today, she hazarded a guess that was what the fox child was asking about. "…Oh, that. You saw me? Well it's a long story. In short, I had to take care of several people's problems in order to exchange a foreign coin. It really is a hassle when things get tangled together like a ball of string… Inconvenience aside, it's an interesting example of how people are interconnected, and like dominoes when something happens to one–they all get affected in the long run."

She then remembered she was talking to a child, so probably half of the things she just said likely went over her head. Trying to make the girl at ease, she patted the fox child's head. 

Several people had problems, and Shiloh was running back and forth to fix them for coin. What Akira didn't understand was that it was for a single coin, not a bag full of coins. Not that she could get it explained better, nor would she have a desire to hear it out. Adult things were typically hard to comprehend anyway. "Mmhmm, Akira follow … What sister name?"

The pat on her head was sweet, and Akira realized she didn't shy away from the reaching hand. "Akira like you." she said sweetly. Then, she lit up with excitement. "Shiloh! Akira want show Shiloh something!" Akira darted ahead several feet, looked back and expectantly watched Shiloh. If she caught up, Akira would do this repeatedly until she led Shiloh to the market stalls, each one with a thousand glittery or yummy wears displayed. At least, that is how children described such a sight.

"Place full of shiny!" The fox child ran up to one stall full of apothecary herbs and poisons. She pointed to each of them, asking "What's that? And that?". One she picked up to show Shiloh. Where it wasn't poisonous to the touch, it was toxic to consume it. Children were often oblivious to any danger.

The fox child seemed to be very understanding, or probably didn't. At least she was being nice about it. "What sister name?" She asked Shiloh. Kneeling down to Akira's level, Shiloh did her best to smile. "You can call me Shiloh." Akira was such a sweet kid. She felt bad seeing how the little fox was all by herself, with no family members or friends. Then, the girl's eyes lit up. "Shiloh! Akira want show Shiloh something!" Soon she was off, running before she stopped to see if Shiloh was following. Shiloh figured she had found something that caught her eye and wanted to show her new friend what she had discovered. Following after Akira, she was led to the market stalls back where she had passed through on the way to the money-changer's. Shading her eyes, she spotted the white ears and tail swishing in excitement. 

The stall she was next to had lots of little things; colorful plants and herbs, bottles of mysterious dyes or ichors, and even oddities people used for magical means. "What's that? And that?" It was like the first time you saw a toy shop or a jar of candy. Not being the type to spend much time around the apothecary, Shiloh herself was looking at the unusual things. "Let's see…angelica root, amber, beeswax, some kind of…nut, and holly berries." The thing Akira picked up and showed her was a little cluster of bright red holly berries. They were prettier than the sugar drops sold in glass jars with brown wrapping and the leaves were shiny like silk. "Hm, didn't think they'd sell these here. These are called 'holly berries' Akira. People use them to make garlands or wreaths to decorate their houses. They're pretty, but you can't eat them. They'll make you sick." 

Thankfully she hadn't picked up nightshade or something worse, so now was a good time to teach her. "See all these plants and flowers? Sometimes they make themselves pretty to tell people to stay away. They either taste bad, or can really hurt you if you touch or eat them. Also these things are called toadstools. Don't ever touch those or even smell them. They're poisonous, and if you eat them you'll die." She pointed to the red caps with white spots. Those redcaps in particular were the most obvious ones. There were others which weren't so bright that were just as dangerous too.

At first, she wasn't quite trying to take in the names, yet each one was carefully mouthed reverently nonetheless. Shiloh explained about the holly berries, and how you shouldn't eat them. Akira tried to put every detail about the plant to memory, with an image of herself being sick associated with it. Hopefully, she would always remember not to consume those should she find any in the wild.

”Pretty is bad?” The child was having difficulties understanding that logic. She understood bad taste, bad consequence upon touch, or sick if eating the wrong things. With great interest, Akira peered at the toadstools, getting as close as she could. At the mention of not smelling them, the fox jumped back with a look of horror etched on her face. ”Toadstool is die? Shiloh, what die?”

Patiently, she listened to the explanation of the concept of death, showing the obvious signs of not understanding it previously. Akira gasped. ”Sleep, no more wake? Like, ever? Akira eat, Akira no die?” The child had once overheard a mother tell her offspring that if they wanted to grow big and strong like their father, then they needed to eat. This was her connection to eating and death. At the mention of eating, however, she remembered her hunger.

Excited once more, Akira darted off suddenly to the nearest food stall, a baker's stall who was putting out fresh sweet rolls. The fox reached up and grabbed one with both hands. It was an inch from her open mouth when she was interrupted. “Hey, you got to pay for that! I'm not running a charity here! Three silver, or put it back. Now.” Akira looked at the man, at the roll and back up at him with the most pitifiul, huge begging eyes she could give him. ”But… But… Akira hungry.” Tears welled up as she began to return the roll ever so slowly.