Andromeda Flynn did not want to be working right now.
It had taken her 30 hours of travel to get to this dinky little town out on the edge of nowhere. She’d had to spend the last of her funds on rations just to make the damn trip, and a dust storm part of the way had filled her pack, food bag, water supply, boots, and unmentionables with horrible gritty sand.
Andromeda Flynn wanted a bath, real food, and to not look at sand for a couple of days.
Unfortunately, all of those things cost money. So she was in the Sheriff’s office, trying to subtly kick some sand out of her boots, and working.
Or she would be, if this little [mildly insulting name for Connor here] would wake up enough to tell her where he kept his damn corpses.
He was currently strapping his sword belt around his waist, seeming mostly awake and babbling a bit, “I can’t actually show you the body right now ma’am. It’s in the morgue and Sheriff Jed’s the only one with the key but he won’t be in until morning. I can give you my notes if you’d like? I’d show you the crime scene but it’s a bit too dark to really find anything and we haven’t got any lights or torches to put up around it. I really didn’t expect you until morning, ma’am!”
She pinched the bridge of her nose, tipping up her glasses a bit, “Right… Of course. I’ll get my camp set up then, go over your notes, and meet you here in the morning.”
“Oh there’s no need to camp ma’am, we can put you up at the motel!”
She perked up at that. A motel meant clean(ish) sheets, possibly a bath, and maybe even some breakfast in the morning. All things she could desperately use. And even more importantly than that, motels had walls that kept out dust. She realized she was growing to hate dust.
“You sure? I usually post up outside of town, people seem happier that way.”
“Oh absolutely sure ma’am! It’s actually all part of your contract, food and lodging will be provided for as long as you provide us your services! Pretty standard for the Union.” The man, she was pretty sure his name was Connor, was beaming. He might have even stood a little straighter as he rattled off the benefits.
“Well, I won’t say no to a clean bed,” she said, “Do you need me to sign the contract, or…?”
“We can take care of that in the morning ma’am. Personally, I’m exhausted, and you seem like you’ve been traveling a while and that’d have you even more beat than me!”
“Alright, alright, if you’re sure.” She raised her hands in acceptance like she actually needed persuading, “Do you mind showing me where it is?”
“Sure thing ma’am! Right this way!” He strode over to the office door and pushed it open, holding it for her. “Oh, before I forget: should I call you something other than Miss Flynn, ma’am?”
“You can quit it with the ma’am shit, for starters. I’m not that old and I’m definitely no officer. Just Annie’s fine.”
“Understood Miss Annie!”
Ugh, this guy. Annie shrugged and scooped up her bags from where she’d dropped them outside the door.
The ever so chipper Connor Kenton Jr. led her through the darkened streets of Millpoint, lit by the faint glow cast from a handful of windows and the occasional lantern hanging off a porch. Connor seemed focused on the route ahead of them, stopping every so often to look down alleyways and under porches like he’d somehow manage to catch the monster out for a midnight stroll. Even still it took less than five minutes to reach their destination, apparently “across town” from the Sheriff’s Office.
Annie squinted to read the faded sign, it read: Time Mill Tell Motel, vacancy. A small stylized windmill had been painted next to the text, with its blades replaced by the wobbly hands of a clock. Charming.
“Here we are Miss Annie,” Connor strolled up to the porch, gave a light rap on the door, then nudged his way inside and held the door for her expectantly.
“Thank you, Mr. Kenton.” She brushed past him with a nod, pausing a couple steps inside the door to wait for him. He was her ticket to a motel room, after all.
She was a little surprised at the space she entered, a large room with a long bar stretched across the far wall lined with a handful of stools and backed by a line of various glasses and spirits. There was a scattering of round tables throughout the room, two of which were occupied by some of what Annie assumed were the town’s residents, quietly talking amongst themselves over their drinks.
“Evening, Tallis! Got a room to spare?”
The woman at the counter, Tallis, looked up from the book she had been pouring over and huffed at Connor, “You know we do, Connor. Who’s your…” she stopped, looking Annie up and down with a crease in her brow before locking eyes on the spiral emblem on her breast. “Oh.”
Connor nipped the incoming uncomfortable silence in the bud, “Tallis, this is Miss Annie. She’s going to be helping Sheriff Jed and I with our investigation.”
Annie offered what she hoped was a friendly nod to Tallis and adjusted her bag. She didn’t travel with much - just some spare clothes, a handful of charms with various effects, an empty ration pouch, her waterskin, and detachable fuel tank strapped to one side. The only truly notable things amidst her belongings was the ornate revolver at her hip and the long bundle of cloth slung opposite the fuel and water, which Tallis eyed suspiciously.
“We don’t usually allow weapons in here.” She said warily.
“Aw c’mon Tallis, can't you make an exception? She’s a Stranger, you can hardly expect her to——"
“Alright.” The Stranger shrugged the bag off her shoulder and knelt down, beginning to unfasten the buckles strapping the bundle to the side.
“Miss Annie, I can set you up somewhere else. There's no need for you to——"
“It’s fine, Kenton,” Annie said as she undid the last buckle, “I’m sure my things will be safe with Tallis here, won’t they Tallis?” She smiled up at the girl.
Some of the tension left Tallis’ brow and she sighed; snapping her book closed, “Yeah, you can just grab your stuff in the morning. Put the weapons on the counter there and I’ll keep them behind the bar.”
Annie nodded in agreement and heaved the bundle on the counter with a muffled clunk. More gingerly she drew her sidearm, an engraved silver revolver with decorative darkened metal trim and some sort of glass sphere affixed to the back of its chamber around the firing mechanism. She flipped out the chamber and tilted it back to allow the bullets inside to spill out into her palm and a sliver of glass between the bullets and their casings glinted as she stuffed them into a pouch on her hip. Then she pushed the chamber back into place with a click and laid the strange gun next to the bundle.
Reaching out, Tallis lifted one edge of the cloth that had come loose and her eyes widened, “Gods beyond, what is that thing?”
Connor shot a glance at Annie, then curiosity got the better of him and he pulled back the cloth to reveal the long blade beneath
The Stranger’s sword was made of a dark metal decorated with the same wavy ribbons of silver as her spiral emblem. Its blade was engraved with strange runes along its center and was nearly as wide as Connor’s palm with a simple blue-tinged metal cross guard that had two sharp prongs extending from the blade's base and a leather-wrapped handle ending in a circular pommel with a hole through its center
“Goddamn.” Connor breathed softly, brushing his fingers along the strange weapon and feeling an almost staticy buzz against his skin.
“The metal detects and disrupts veil energy. Helps disperse magic and such.” Annie offered.
“Right…” Tallis brushed her straw colored hair to the side and yanked the cloth back over the sword, briefly covering Connor’s hand in her haste. “I’m just going to keep these behind the bar. You can grab them before you head out tomorrow.”
With some effort she lifted the blade and planted it somewhere at her feet, grabbing Annie’s sidearm with less effort and tucking it next to her sword.
Shooting one last glance beneath the counter, she looked at Connor, “You’ll be covering her while she’s here?”
“You can just bill it to the office!” Connor smiled and turned to Annie, “That’s some fascinating equipment you have there, Miss Annie! I can’t wait to see it in action!” Then he turned to Annie and lightly slapped the counter, “Well Miss Annie, I’ll be seeing you in the morning!”
“Soon as there’s enough light to get a look around.” She confirmed. No sense in wasting time, she never slept terribly long anyway.
“Alright then, good night ladies.” He offered one last nod and a smile to Annie and Tallis, then took his leave back out the door.
There was a moment of silence, and then, “Ok Annie,” Tallis sighed as she turned toward the wall behind her, plucking a key hanging from the pegboard before turning back, “You’re in the third room on the right, breakfast’s a bit after me or Tulvir wake up, ends when folks stop asking for it. You need anything you go knock on the office door there or room 7 the next floor up, Tulvir’s in the office and I’m in 7.”
She pointed to the first door in the hallway, decorated with a little black plaque that read “office”.
“Need anything else?” She asked, handing Annie the key.
“No, thank you. I’m going to turn in for the night.” The Stranger turned, key in hand, and shuffled down the hall. She could feel multiple pairs of eyes boring holes in her back as she walked but paid them no mind. She was used to that sort of thing.
The key, after a bit of jostling, turned in the rusty lock enough for Annie to push the door open. The hinges groaned in protest as she went in, tossing her bags next to a small bed with a thud. It wasn’t a large room, adorned simple with the bed, the nightstand next to it, the chair across from it, and a dresser in the corner. A small window let in shafts of moonlight through the slitted blinds that pooled on a musty rug in the center.
It was glorious.
Annie shut the door behind her and flopped gratefully onto the bed with a contented “Ahhhhh”. Clean sheets. No sand. Happy Stranger.
She sat up and stripped off her boots, setting them to the side so she could dump the sand in them out the window later and then aggressively brushed even more sand from her socks before stripping them off to lay atop the boots.
She looked back at the off-white sheets and cringed, there was a vaguely human outline of dirt where she had flopped down. She’d have to apologize to whoever washed them, probably Tallis, in the morning.
Well, first things first. She rose from the bed and strolled across the room to a small door to the right of the one she’d come in from and tugged it open. Inside there was a sink, toilet, towel rack, and a glorious 4 foot by 4 foot square of cream-colored plastic behind a battered plastic sheet and beneath a little dripping cone of metal.
A shower.
A small note had been taped to the wall next to it reading, “HOT WATER FIVE MINUTES”.
She had thought that seven minutes in heaven was traditional, but she could make do with five. She turned the heat to full blast and, with a creak and a pop, steaming water surged forth in a cascade of warm, wet bliss.
It was a miracle the motel had hot water to begin with. Most other towns she’d been to you were lucky if there was even running water, much less the hot stuff. A lot of places drew water from local wells and covered what extra they needed by buying it from runners who transported goods and supplies between settlements. Hot running water was a blessing to a little nowhere town like this.
Annie figured the town’s fortune was due to the giant windmill she’d seen on the way in. An enormous machine like that had to generate a lot of power this close to the wastes and she’d bet that’s why Lamaryll thought this place was important enough to send a Paladin to guard it. A place that could make its own electricity was a goldmine to anyone of a mind to harness it. The Union had struck gold with this town.
Well, as long as she’s here she may as well enjoy the benefits. The hot water was carving canyons through her dirt-crusted skin and leaving a pool of brown beneath her to trickle into the drain. She breathed in the steam and leaned back against the wall to bask in the heat while she could. A Stranger had to take the little pleasures where she could find them.
