Newly Broke Heroine! [Book One Complete, Cozy Fantasy Adventure]

Ding.

Fiona grumbled under her breath as the next person in line shuffled forward to get gold coins out of the deposit. Doug waited patiently beside her, talons clicking on the finely polished tile floor with little gold inlays, and checking his pocket watch. She didn't know when he'd acquired it, but she liked how stylish it was.

The more time she spent around Doug, the more he sort of rubbed off on her. Sure, he was a preppy-dressed rival turned co-worker, with an occasional smugness to his tone, and an 'I know more than you' attitude. But he also took the time to teach and educate--she could hear the shift in his tone when he did so. And she'd noted the occasional moments he smiled when that education was put to practical use. Especially Kali.

Meanwhile, she'd observed three things about the Salipol Central Bank since she had walked in. The first was the use of gold chains decorating the tapestries, statues, and hanging the arcane lights up above their heads. They almost reminded her of little shackles, and was exceedingly off-putting, given Vale's history.

The second, there was no lack of gold exchanging hands here. Well-dressed individuals were shadowed by their contract laborers everywhere. Most of them moved in silence and with their heads bowed low--as if looking up were a sin to be punished. Most of the contract laborers were dressed in little more than rags. Though some were more decently dressed, and stood a little straighter.

One small redeeming fact was that she liked the fact that the bank didn't have crappy hours. Back at home, it was practically a vision quest to find an open bank and an actual, human person to talk to. A droll elven male in a tweed suit stood at the counter, calling people up, one at a time.

"I love the decorum," Fiona said in a low tone. "They put it in your face in this country, huh?"

"Vale wasn't always like this," Doug responded in an equally low growl. "They've had the worst luck in the world, and maybe twenty years of decency in the last hundred. The summons are responsible for most of it."

"Hey, that's me, too. You don't see me wrecking the–" She stopped short when Doug gave her a baleful look, his wings twitching. "Oh, right. Now, what's the deal with the summons? Pretend I don't know why Cepalune and its denizens think it's fun to Shanghai people to the other side of the universe."

"Shanghai?" he echoed.

"To kidnap, trick, or coerce someone aboard a ship, but most people refer to it as just kidnapping. Possibly related to how they used to 'recruit' sailors in Shanghai, China. Dunno how close that is to the real history, though," she answered. "Look, I get why summons are outlawed, now. The people they bring are nuts, half the time! I don't know how I lucked out."

"Fiona, you are crazy. You're just a different kind of crazy," Doug replied with a snort. Fiona's molten glare of doom didn't even shake him--it was like he had been inoculated against it.

"You were summoned?" Lani asked anxiously, having not said anything for a short time. "How, when, why?"

"Mystery of the month. I should be in a grave, Lani. Someone saved me from certain death," she answered in about the shortest way she could sum it up. "I prefer bringing peace and prosperity. In my case, uniting people with things they treasure and adore, and I take a few coins as part of that transaction. Honestly, the whole helping people part matters more. I just happen to get paid for it most of the time," she shrugged.

"Way to sell it so smoothly," Doug commented dryly, gesturing to her. "Fiona here is probably a prime example of people who should be summoned to solve problems. Varith if rumor is to be believed, is the counterexample." No one seemed to be paying attention around them. "My mother was yanked from Earth by someone who wanted a pet. She killed him, and that was her first strike against such awful practices. The experience hardened her against it, and she vowed against such vile practices. Vale had one of the biggest schools for summoner classes back in the day. Look at how they abused it."

"Dude, someone summoned a dragon?" Fiona laughed. "Talk about being too stupid to live, but not stupid enough to not be incredibly dangerous to themselves. Sounds like that guy got what was coming to him."

"Him, and many others. My mother earned a healthy list of enemies. And, a friendship of Rikkard." She stared at her, eyes widened. "He didn't know I was related to her. She kept her life private to avoid me being targeted. And Karlin." His voice was whisper quiet on those last two words.

"That's…kinda messed up." She didn't know what else to say. Wingding, if I'd listened to Doug for five minutes a few months ago, we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble. Note to self, we need to exhaust the dialogue options before we go to fight mode.

Flap.

"Those who strike at the sla–er, sorry, the contract houses, have always earned their ire, forever," Lani whispered next to them. "It's not much better with the contracts, to be honest."

"You claimed they were–"

"I lied." The dull commotion in the room mostly hid her words from the people around them. Both Fiona and Doug turned to listen to Lani, speaking in a continued low tone. "I know exactly what they are. Slavery by a different name. One with a perfectly candy-coated wrapping that people are all too happy to dismiss as voluntary. You two seem exceedingly put off by it. It's easy to act dumb for the masses."

Fiona looked at her, stunned. "I would give you a hug, but I might crush your fragile bird bones with too much love." Lani didn't have skin to blush, but the ruffled cheek feathers were a pretty good indicator, and she cleared her throat anxiously. Fiona thought she saw a hint of a smile.

"We can talk in private, but never in the guild. Ears everywhere," she said in a low tone. One large boar-like male shuffled forward to grab a deposit box, keys clinking gently as he walked to a private room. They were next in line, finally.

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"Name, please," the elven called with a monotone voice.

"Douglas Fierkraag," Doug answered and began showing paperwork with the elven, who raised an ear tip in curiosity. Lani tilted her head, looking confused.

"I thought your name was–"

"It's a nickname," Fiona said through her teeth, with a subtle tilt of her head. "Lani, my associate and I might need a few minutes of privacy for this. Can you wait in the lobby?"

"Oh, but…" She looked deflated at this request, and Fiona rubbed the bridge of her nose. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to have someone else in the room, in case Doug had something of value in his vault.

"On second thought, yeah, you can come along. Are these privacy rooms actually private?" Fiona asked, tipping her head to a small cluster of doors with locks set in the frame.

"Yes. The contract houses might run the day-to-day things, despite what the King might proclaim, but it's the banks who silently run the whole operation," Lani added with a hushed whisper. "So they would never put a means to record themselves in their own house."

"Makes sense, magical or mundane-wise." Doug motioned them over to him, where the elven looked down at the three of them with ire.

"What is the meaning of this? Douglas Fierkraag is a dragon, not a kobold!" the man fumed. "Can you explain this?"

"He got cursed? He's itty-bitty now," Fiona proposed, holding her thumb and finger closely spaced. Doug rolled his eyes at this, while the elven man pressed his lips together like he wanted to vacuum seal them as she would for beef jerky. "Look, that's what happened, you can believe it or not, he has his key and ID."

"I'm required to call this one in. This account was flagged," the man said with a raised lip and a sneer aimed at the three of them. He was already reaching for a relay. She tapped on the glass, and he raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"You want to rethink that."

"Why?" His eyes narrowed.

"Because you know this ID is legit," Fiona said, returning the discourteous eyeballing. "Are you going to harass a loyal customer of your bank by having someone from security or auditing come down? I wonder, would your contract holder be just a little pissed that, Fate forbid, one of your customers took all their money out and left, because of bad customer service? Yeah, I bet they would be."

She heard Doug trying to hide a knowing grin, as that pasty-looking elf's ears went on end. "N-no. I understand that cases of polymorphism can have varied and sometimes unpredictable effects. Here." He thrust a lockbox to Doug, who teetered over to one of the privacy rooms, and Fiona latched it behind them once Lani was inside.

"Okay, why's your account flagged?" Fiona pressed.

Doug waved his claw to the lobby. "Why else? Because Karlin likely tried to access it. So petty. It's not like this is a huge chunk of worth here." He turned the key in the deposit box lock, and opened it with a soft click and hinged it open. He grabbed a stash of gold coins–a few thousand worth. It was a decent chunk of change, and likely a tiny portion of what he'd kept before. "Well, this is fun. I'm no longer entirely destitute."

"Hey, I pay you," Fiona fumed. "I also pay you above market for your role, too."

"Because you feel you owe me?" Doug asked, tail swiping back like an anxious cat.

"No! Because you make sales!" she pointed out. "You know how many items we've moved because of the novelty of the history being a huge, honking selling point? People like the idea of having something that echoes through eternity! It would have taken me way longer to do it on my own." He raised an eye crest at this suggestion, and she sighed. "Okay, maybe because I feel like I gave you a raw deal, once upon a time. But mostly because of your work. Now, what else is in this box?"

"Not much. A few items that–" he shook out the box, and a small gold key clattered to the table. Fiona frowned. Doug picked up the key, examining it with interest. "This is the most important item out of this entire deposit for me. This key can unlock my mother's lair, and it's tied to…me…" he trailed off, after examining it.

"What is it?" She examined it, and her heart froze.

Both of them.

Doug showed her the key in detail after examining it, and his eyes widened. Then he looked at Fiona's wrist. "Uh…why did my mother have the symbol of Feo'thari on this key?"

Her arms went slack while her brain rebooted on this one. That had been happening far too often for her liking, of late. Her reboot was promptly followed by an ear-splitting scream of her own making.

"What the shit, Doug?!" She lost her composure and grabbed her slender ears out of frustration, while Lani anxiously clicked her claws together, her beak on edge. "You didn't think to mention this before?!"

"I'm a dragon, long-ears! I have a good memory, but not a perfect one!" he growled. He focused on the gold and steel-banded key, easily four inches long. On the looped end was an intricately carved symbol of Feo'thari–the winged heart. "Why would she put this here?"

"I know why." Lani looked in awe at the key, pointing to the symbol. Fiona swore she saw a spark of light from it--or was it because Doug kept twisting it in the light, looking at it as if there were some secret he could see, if viewed at the right angle? "The contract–the slaves would often turn to Feo'thari for guidance, even though she's considered a dead goddess. But sometimes, their prayers were answered through their marks. A fortune of the heart, that broke the shackles around their fates."

"Well, that's quite poetic, and mildly disturbing for too many reasons." Fiona dared a glance at Wingding. Life lesson, Wingding? Don't play around with magical contracts if you don't know what you're doing.

Flap.

Fiona wore an edged smile at Doug. "Anything else in that box that I need to worry about? You know, tools to the future slave rebellion, or perhaps a deck of many things that always managed to screw me in my tabletop games? Hell, how about some jinxed artifact that might trigger an apocalypse or an unprecedented explosion?"

"Flush out of those," Doug grumbled. She let out a sigh of relief. "That's my other stash."

Her moment of reprieve lasted exactly three seconds, and she stared, wide-eyed, at him. "Doug, let's be real. Triggering and participating in the beat-down of bad dudes and monsters is not in my job description anymore." Her words practically dripped acid. "We are here to find missing gold, keep Fiefdala from going bankrupt, and maybe, go stick it to the jerks who tried to make that one happen!"

"You want to know what's in that lair, don't you?" Doug's voice tinged with smugness now.

"Hell, no." He tapped a clawed foot on the tile floor until the motion caused her brow to twitch. "Okay, fine! Maybe I'd like a couple of answers on some things! We got your stash, now let's get outta here! Knowing my luck–"

A loud thud and a few shouts emanated from the lobby, and set her ears and teeth on edge. A distant booming voice could be heard, and she tapped the compact hilt where her hammer was hidden.

"You don't tell a client who bankrolls this many gold coins to wait in line, miss. Go get the manager. I want to know who stiffed me on the Burbank account. Now!"

Fiona noted the voice sounded awfully similar to Doug, whose snout was clenched so tight, he might crack a few teeth. "Tell me that's not who I think it is." They couldn't be this unlucky.

"I would, but then I'd be lying." Doug's eyes bulged out and his pupils were tiny slits, and his wings twitched anxiously.

She figured that was a perfectly reasonable response when your scheming brother, who ruined your life multiple times, marched into the bank you were camped out in, and barking orders like he owned the place.