Chapter 31: Evidence Was Sexier Than Growling

"Keep that paper," Dove said before Varek could return it to the ledger. "The label had the same edge."

The guard held the scrap beside the wrapped evidence without letting her touch either. Both pieces came from the same kind of ruled pad. He fetched the supply desk’s working notebook, and Dove saw an entire stack of identical paper beneath it.

The disappointment was sharp enough to feel foolish. She had wanted the answer to arrive with a neat little border because she was tired, not because the world owed her convenient proof.

"All the stores use these," Varek said. "I’ll keep the scrap with the record, but it doesn’t identify anybody."

"I know. Keep it anyway. There might be something useful besides the part I noticed."

Thorne stood beside the bench without demanding that the evidence become better because she wanted it to. Dove appreciated that more than she expected. He looked angry, but he was letting anger be a feeling instead of a method of investigation.

Before closing, she had ten normal coins and ten Favor Coins, the new drawstring bag stored safely, and no desire to discuss the day with anybody. Thorne asked whether she wanted company until closing. She told him she wanted quiet, and he left after helping move the bench back to its marked position.

She expected the empty place to feel better immediately. Instead she missed having someone to complain to while she counted, which was unfair when she had been perfectly clear about wanting him gone. She left the gate closed anyway. Missing company did not mean she had chosen wrong.

She went to bed after an ordinary hand rinse, having already used her daily pool water before breakfast. Morning meant another full wash behind the tarp, with her body seated while her mind filled the basin. Her ankles stayed warm longer while she dried, and brushing left her tail glossy. The changes were accumulating, but she still pulled on warm layers. A stronger fox could still be a frozen idiot.

Day Twelve’s consignment contained three short pencils. Selling two earned ten normal coins, and five fresh Favor Coins unlocked ten-normal-coin insoles. Her purses began at ten each. She accepted after checking that these were pencils she could actually trade, not three pointed sticks with inspirational branding.

"Useful," she told Sprout. "Suspiciously useful. Is the next task going to ask me to flirt with a boot?"

"Boots do not qualify as eligible males."

"Neither do half the men giving me advice, but your standards remain flexible."

She bought no coffee. She had sugar, no sachets, and a budget that would not improve because she glared at it. The spoonful stayed wrapped in its packet while she drank ordinary tea from the kitchen with breakfast.

Kael came to inspect the floor after yesterday’s spill had been cleaned. The oil had not reached her stock or sleeping area. He checked her hands when she said they felt less rough, asking permission before turning one toward the light.

His thumb barely touched her knuckle, but Ash arrived at precisely the moment required to make it look like the start of something far more interesting.

"Another test?" he asked.

"An observation," Kael replied. "There is a difference."

Dove withdrew her hand because the check was finished, not because Ash was watching. "I washed. My skin feels better. We’re currently surviving the scandal."

Kael smiled, earning three Favor Coins and bringing that purse to thirteen. Ash’s eyes stayed on the healer’s hand even after it returned to his own pocket.

"You trust her reports now?" Ash asked him.

"I examine them. I also examine yours."

Dove nearly laughed into her tea. Ash did not appear to enjoy the reminder that he, too, possessed a body capable of giving a healer work.

She asked both men to move aside when a customer approached. The customer wanted two pencils for household records and offered a short length of clean cord from his sewing supplies. Dove accepted, completed the sales mission, and reached twenty normal coins. She kept the cord for tying her display rather than pretending every received object needed to become sale stock.

Ash left without resolving whatever had brought him over. Kael stayed only long enough to say that improved skin was not proof of a wider cure. Dove agreed. He looked faintly surprised that she had not argued for a miracle, then went back to the clinic without a new coin award.

By midday, Thorne arrived with a small flat board and two clips. "A cover for your price list," he explained. "The oil missed the paper yesterday. It might not next time."

She inspected the board. He had sanded the edges and rubbed one corner smoother where her hand would rest. "Did you make this?"

"The keeper gave me an offcut for carrying a cabinet. I did the rest."

"I don’t want to wonder whether accepting a clipboard means I accidentally agreed to have six children."

His mouth curved. "Then we’ll start with the clipboard. You can refuse it."

"I’m accepting the clipboard. The theoretical children can apply elsewhere."

Two Favor Coins from his amusement brought that purse to fifteen and unlocked the insoles. She spent ten normal coins behind the tarp, leaving ten normal, and fitted them inside her borrowed footwear. They made standing easier without solving the entire problem of needing proper boots.

When she returned, Thorne had noticed the way she tested each foot. He did not demand to know where the insoles came from. His gaze moved to the little space beside her gate, then back to her face.

"Can I stand there when the oil carts come through?"

Dove pictured the route, her counter, and the man who had asked instead of making himself part of the furniture. "For that crossing. Not all day, and not if you have work."

He agreed without bargaining for more. She pinned her new price list beneath his clips and found that she wanted him to notice how well it fit.

At the duty table, Varek called Ash over to Rusk’s record. Dove could not hear the first sentence, but the second carried clearly through the hall.

"The route check was signed before the cart entered," the guard said. "Someone added the inspection mark afterward."