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The tinkling of a bell woke me from my stupor. I had been busying myself in the back of the shop when the noise alerted me to the door opening. A customer had arrived. I hurried towards the front, where whoever was waiting, hopefully rather patiently, to be greeted by the proud owner of one fine little alchemy shop. I stepped over boxes and crates of supplies, making sure not to accidently tread on anything too important. Finally, I made it to the door separating the front and back halves of my home.

As soon as I opened the door, I gave my typical greeting, “Welcome to the Dragon’s Breath. How can I help you this fine day?” The interior of the shop itself was full of little shelves holding various jars and containers of all manner of potions. I even had a massive bookcase with multiple shelves on it I had carefully stocked with some of my most colorful alchemical creations. The rainbow of liquids drew the eye, which I would then use the opportunity to explain each potion the customer might be staring at.

Before me stood a familiar face. One I had become rather accustomed to seeing in my shop. A short, scaly figure, dressed in simple attire consisting of a button up tunic and some trousers. No shoes for her, though. I guess when your feet are scaled and end in pointed claws, shoes would probably be a bit of a waste. Her mouth was elongated into a snout, the light blue scales curving upwards into a near everpresent smile. Diamond slitted purple eyes were shining in the sunlight pouring through the windows. A small pair of horns sat upon the blue head of the little reptilian.

“Morning, Donovan,” said the smiling lizard woman.

I returned her warm smile. “Morning, Quinn.” Quinn was a near constant in my life. Ever since I opened up my shop, she had become a fast and loyal customer. I suppose it made sense, seeing as she worked for the Adventurers’ Guild. Someone like that would need potions and the like for their jobs. Maybe. I don’t really know exactly what their guild does. Don’t much care, really. Not my business. No, my business was making potions.

Cures, freeze potions, sleeping medicine, salves, explosives, smoke bombs; you name it, I can make it. And most of the people who worked for the Adventurers’ Guild tended to see me before they left for a mission. But above them all was Quinn. The little kobold was my first real customer, and she would usually come to visit every morning if she wasn’t already on a job. She might not buy anything every day, but it was nice to have her around.

“So,” I began, “how can I help you today?” I saddled myself up to the desk and sat down on the stool. Scattered across the desk were some papers and some such. Receipts from the Merchants’ Guild, mail from family and friends, a summons from the mayor I’d been ignoring. Typical things.

She brought a clawed finger up to tap at her chin and made an exaggerated hum, pretending she was thinking hard. “Well, for starters, I would advise you not to leave the door unlocked if you ain’t gonna be in the shop. Never know when some little thief might come in and swipe your things.”

I shrugged, then pointed to the little bell above the door. “That’s why I got that. Besides, the real good stuff isn’t even out here. You think I’d be that dumb?”

“Not anymore, maybe. But, I remember a certain lycan got his hands on one of your bombs one time.” Her smile shifted into a mischievous smirk at the reminder.

Once upon a time, I’d left my shop untended when I went to lunch in town. During my absence, a sneaky little wolf decided it wise to “borrow” a bomb from my store. Thankfully, the one he took was a relatively harmless tear gas bomb, and not something that would seriously injure anyone. Still, it did make me be more cautious about the store and not to leave anything unguarded.

I began to sort the papers on the desk and put them away into the cupboards. “So,” I said while ripping up the mayor’s summons, “you got a job today, or did you just come to see me?”

She waltzed over to the desk. Unfortunately for the kobold, her head barely poked up over the top, so from where I sat, I could only see her horns. I had to suppress a laugh as pulled herself up to sit on the edge of the desk. Once on top, she let out a little huff, her scaled nostrils flaring slightly.

“Luckily for you, I do.” She then pulled a small coin purse out of a pocket, shaking it to cause the coins within to jangle around. “I will need some of your finest chimera antivenom, and if you would please, I’d also like a hefty sample of some sunhrooms.”

Tilting my head, I asked her, “What do you need the mushrooms for?”

She let out a loud sigh, but I could see the smile through it. “Well, if you must know, I was planning on cooking a delightful little dinner when I got home.”

“With sunshrooms?” Sunshrooms are odd little devils. If you heat them up, they burst apart. Other than that, they’re pretty uneventful. Not a lot of potions use them, and in my experiments, they don’t add much to any currently known potions. They also taste horrible. In that regard, I guess they’re useful for inducing one to vomit.

“Yea, yea,” she said, waving a hand around as she spoke. “I know the reputation they got, but you gotta believe me when I tell you when you pair them up with some wyvern liver, the tastes combine and make something wonderful.”

“I’ll just take your word for that.” With that, I set off once more into the back of the shop, searching through boxes and shelves. The shop itself is all on the ground floor, with my living quarters situated on the second floor. This allowed for quite a lot of room for storage. And therein lay the problem. While I had plenty of storage space, I was horrible at organization back there. The front of the shop, the part the customers actually see, was wonderfully put together. I had carefully placed everything in their special spots just so. But when it came to the part no one but me got to look upon, things were a mess.

It took a few minutes of trying to recollect where I had put the antivenoms, and even when I found them, I had to push through several jars to find one specially designed to combat chimeras. Once I had found that, I then had to figure out where I put the sunshrooms. Not on top the shelves. Not in the dark corners of the room. Not under the tarp. I scratched my head, trying to imagine where past Donovan had decided the best place to put those weird mushrooms at.

While ruminating on where they were, I caught sight of them, right upon the windowsill. And then it hit me: the Donovan of the past thought to put them there because sunlight, sunshroom. It seemed so obvious to me back then, that I never thought I’d forget. I cursed myself for this stupid pun-based organizing. Thinking on it, I didn’t use such a method for other stuff, did I? No, certainly I wouldn’t be that silly.

When I returned to the front, I saw Quinn had draped herself across my desk, her chin resting in her hands, her little clawed feet dangling off the side, tail swaying this way and that in idle boredom. When she saw me, she perked up and sat upright once more. “Finally,” she scoffed playfully. “I thought you might have gotten lost back there.”

Rolling my eyes, I placed her desired items on the desk. “That’ll be thirty four silver.”

Quinn immediately shot up, standing up on the desk and stomping a foot in protest, her scaled little foot barely an inch away from crushing the sunshrooms. “Thirty four? Just for some antivenom and mushrooms? This is insane.”

Shrugging, I raised my hands and tried to gesture her to sit back down. “Well, ever since those chimeras made a nest on the mountain, I’ve had more and more people coming to me for the antivenom, so I upped my price a bit.”

She refused to follow my obvious arm movements and snorted, a small bit of steam coming from her nostrils. “What do you think my job today’s all about? I’m getting rid of that nest. So, can’t you cut me some slack on the price?”

“I don’t play favorites, Quinn. You know that.”

“But I am your favorite,” she spoke, folding her arms across her chest.

Sighing, I decided to choose my next words carefully. “I’m sorry, but I need to be fair to all my customers. And that means everyone pays the same price, no exceptions. Not even for you.” I gave her a sorry excuse for a business-like smile, praying she’d understand and calm down.

She did not.

She jumped off the desk, landing hard onto the floor with a loud thud. I peered over the side to witness her reaching into her coin purse. She then slammed a fistfull of coins onto the desk, grabbed her purchased goods, and then stormed out of the shop. In the back of my mind, I cursed myself for letting her leave angry like that. No telling what she’d do once she came back from her job.

~~~

During my usual days, I tend to get a lot of travelers or people from guilds. And this day was much like any other. Adventurers popping in to buy things for their journeys; special oils to mask their scents from predatory beasts, alchemical ingredients to use in making their own potions on the fly, fixings for mild explosives. I had some foreigners from distant lands coming in to see “the local attractions.” Not sure I’d call my shop an attraction, but hey, money is money.

At one point during the day, a rather nervous looking boy came in. He was shifty eyed, constantly checking around himself. I kept a watchful eye on him while also keeping a hand close to the dagger I kept under my desk, just in case. I’d heard of thieves using children to scope out places, so I also made sure to pay attention to anyone and everyone who came into the shop while the boy was around.

The boy kept checking every shelf and counter, carefully looking at all the potions and whatnots on display. He stuck around so long, eventually other customers got what they wanted, and it was only the boy left inside. He took a final look around before stumbling up to the desk.

“Excuse me, sir,” he said, his voice cracking an octave higher at one point.

I took a second to answer, studying the kid’s face before answering. “And what can I help you with, son?”

“I was wondering…” he trailed off, but was clearly saying something more. He was whispering whatever he said so low, I couldn’t hear a thing.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “A little louder, please.”

He cleared his throat then. “Um, I wanted to know...ifyoucouldmakemealovepotionplease.”

My mouth opened, but no words came to me. I stood there, staring dumbfounded at the kid for what felt like a full minute before I could respond. When my throat finally relinquished the words, I managed out, “I can’t do that.”

Instantly, the boy pulled out a coin purse, placing it on top of my desk. “I’ve been saving up all the money I’ve been earning at my uncle’s shop. Whatever it takes, I’ll pay.” The speed with which he spoke that made it seem like he was expecting my initial response.

Placing my face in my hands, I let out a loud, annoyed groan. Looking back at the boy, I tried explaining, “No, kid, you don’t under…”

“Please!” he shouted, his voice threatening to break again. “I’ll do anything I need to.” In those wide eyes, I could see a spark, a look of pure determination.

Unfortunately, I had to break it.

“Listen, son. There is no such thing as a love potion.” I gave him a second to digest the truth before continuing on, “Whoever told you there was, well they were just pulling your leg.”

The boy’s gaze shifted between me and the bag of coins between us. Slowly, he picked up his bag and returned it to his pocket. It was almost saddening to see how dejected he seemed over it. However, I felt it best he know the truth now rather than finding out after being scammed by some snake oil salesman trying to pass off rose water for some fifty silver miracle drug.

All in all, though, he took the news rather well. He didn’t yell. He didn't get upset and try to smash up my shop. He didn’t even so much as give me a dirty look. He just sort of slumped down and left, dragging his feet as he went on his way. I’d dealt with young boys and girls coming in about love potions before. Even a few older people. All of them always end up disappointed.

I decided then was a decent time to pack it in for lunch, as the sun was just beginning to sink down the western sky around that time. The light was creeping in through the windows, every object casting long, thin shadows like a witch’s bony fingers. I made doubly sure to lock up before heading out to the local tavern. Along the way, I passed by some of my fellow merchants, many of them also choosing to close up temporarily to enjoy a nice meal. Some kept to themselves, making their own food. Others, like myself, chose to partake in the fine tavern food and drink.

The tavern itself was an old one. Built back when the town was not much more than a few huts and one large farm. Over the years, it had been expanded more and more, from just a simple alehouse, to its current state of a massive place for all the travelers and merchants. It used to be made of wood, but after a fire took out parts of the town some hundred and odd years back, the family who owned the tavern decided to rebuild it from brick and mortar. It now stood tall as a nobleman’s manor, two floors flush with tables and chairs and benches and whatnot.

The interior was to be expected of any tavern, which is to say, loud. The rambunctious crowd from within could be heard from down the street. The cheers and chants, the swearing of old friends making jokes at one another, the yells and challenges of boastful drunks trying to pump up their egos. It was annoying, overcrowded, hot, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’d become too used to the tavern ever since my first night here where I’d been forced to go along as the “new blood.” I’ll never forget the fun I had attempting to drink my colleagues under the table, failing, then dancing the night away while singing off tune a song I’d never even heard. After that one night, I came to love the place, warts and all.

Upon entering the building, I witnessed a dagger flying through the air, embedding itself into the wall to my left, where it landed perfectly in the center of a dartboard. A chorus of cheers followed, followed by a voice shouting about the bet they just won. Just a typical day in the Broken Arrow. I made my way through the sea of people to wind up at a table full of familiar faces. All merchants, of course. Our usual lunchtime activities involved sharing stories of our past travels before settling down as merchants, swapping horror stories of the worst customers we’d had, and some little tips over how to improve our own shops.

~~~

After lunch, I came back to find a pair of elves standing outside my shop. They had their arms crossed against their robed chests, looks of disdain and impatience boring holes into my skull. One of them was unnaturally tall, the top of their head clearing the doorframe of the entrance to my shop. The other was about average human sized, about half a head taller than myself. Regardless, they both had curled ram-like horns from the top of their bony faces. At my approach, they both let out loud huffs.

“Are you the alchemist of this place?” The one who spoke was the tall one. It’s hard to tell males from females when it comes to elves, as they have no distinguishing features if they wear clothing, and their voices are all the same high lilting, heavily accented tones. One could mistake them for copies of one another, they shared so much in common.

As I unlocked the door, I answered in the affirmative, “Indeed I am. Sorry if you’ve been waiting, but I was out for lunch.” Pushing the door in, I held it open for my customers, who both pushed passed me, the taller of the pair needing to duck down to get inside. Neither said so much as a simple thank you. Taking this in stride, I strolled up to the desk, plopping myself in my usual seat.

The pale and twig-like elves looked through my wares, examining each jar and object with scrutiny. They also made quite a few disparaging comments about my storefront such as “The one back home is much nicer,” “Our alchemist always stocks this and that,” “Do humans really think these potions are worth this price.” I wanted so badly to curse and swear and order them to leave, but I kept myself in check. I was a good businessman, and did not want to run off customers, even if they were being right pricks.

But then, a nasty little idea popped into my head when the shorter elf made mention of their sore ankles. I excused myself for a second or two to grab a particular pair of elixirs from storage. Pinkish liquids sloshed about in small, square glass jars. I recalled the research I’d done with their ingredients, and how much time went into concocting them into the perfect blend. I returned to the front and presented these elixirs to my tired customers.

Clearing my throat for attention, I gave a short spiel. “I couldn’t help but hear you mention your sore feet. If you’d like, I have the perfect solution right here.” I held out the jars to the elves at that point. “What I hold here will cure your aches. They might not taste very flavorful, but I assure you, within an hour or so, your feet will be back to tip top condition.”

They both gave me curious looks, but eventually the taller one clicked his or her tongue and grabbed the jars from my hands. It then flicked its head my way, which apparently was a signal for the shorter one to present me with a handful of silver. I didn’t even have time to properly count them or even tell the elves what the actual price of the elixirs were before they had swiftly departed.

A small bubble began to form in my throat, and try as I might, I could not hold it in. The bubble burst forth as a loud, almost ugly sounding laugh. My stomach began to tense up and tears formed in the corners of my eyes as I held onto my desk to prevent myself from falling to the floor.

The “elixirs” I just sold for...twenty silver apiece as I found out, were none other than simple laxatives. Serves those knife-eared bastards some good. Technically speaking, I never lied to those elves. Being trapped to a toilet for a night would certainly do well to relax one’s feet.

No one insults my shop.

~~~

The sun had set, and the shop was closed. Sitting alone upstairs, I found myself reading a research journal by candlelight. The notes were from an old alchemist I’d met some years back, and they described the man’s journey through the jungles of the far west, finding and classifying flora and fauna, as well as certain potions that could be made from them. He went into extensive detail over how each thing he collected affected each recipe he was using. I was reading through an interesting segment about a relative of our common griffin when a noise alerted me.

A strange thunk came from a nearby window. I let it go for and ignored it, but then a second thunk sounded. What in blazes could it be, I wondered as I rose to investigate. A third noise, and this time I saw a small object of some kind fly up and knock against the window. Tilting my head, I got close, peering out to see a dark figure down below. They reached down a picked up what I assumed to be a small stone, then threw it up against my window.

Throwing the window open, I looked down at whoever it was and told them, “Shop’s closed. Go away.”

The person looked up at me and shouted up in a familiar voice, “I know, but it’s fun to mess with ya.” Quinn. I at first assumed her to be some child, her short size so misleading. She waved up at me. “So, you gonna come down here, or are we gonna keep yelling like this?”

Well, at least she didn’t appear to be holding a grudge over our earlier transaction that morning.

I made my way down the stairs, almost slipping on some discarded papers at one point. I made a mental note to clean things up a bit better as I came to the first floor landing. There actually was a second entrance to the building around the back end, which is how I usually get stock into my storage. My little kobold friend knew this, so I wasn’t surprised to see her when I pulled open the back door.

She had a big grin, showing off her pointed teeth. As soon as she walked in, she flung herself at me, wrapping her small arms around my waist. Before I could return the embrace, she quickly pulled away and said, “Missed you.”

A soft smile found its way on my face. I was glad she wasn’t still upset about the price increase and was back to her usual self. “So, how’d the chimera nest go?” I sat down on a nearby barrel as I picked up an empty glass jar and dangled it around idly.

Quinn’s little shoulder shrugged. “I’m alive, aren’t I?” After giving her a slight eyebrow raise, she gave in and provided a real answer. “The nest is gone, and I killed the chimera. Turns out there was only one. She was an old thing, which is probably why she was so aggressive. Thankfully, there weren’t any kids or anything to worry about.”

“So, no more mountain problems?”

“No more mountain problems,” she said with a nod.

This was great news. With the chimera gone, it would free up travel through the area, which would allow for caravans to come and go more easily. This would allow for a rather fine alchemist to get his hands on more and more ingredients for speciality potions, which in turn would provide greater profit. Not to mention the ease of travel now would mean those same caravans would be providing their goods at a lowered price now that they wouldn’t need to take a longer route and could instead just cut straight to town.

While I was ruminating on all the potions, elixirs, and whatnot I’d be able to make on the cheap now, Quinn had pulled out something wrapped up in cloth and placed it on a nearby table. It was clearly some kind of raw meat, as the cloth surrounding it was soaked in now dried blood. I gave the kobold woman a questioning look, which she returned with her typical toothy smile. She began to unwrap the thing, which revealed it to be a purplish organ of some kind. From my research, I knew it to be a chimera’s heart. Why in the world Quinn had decided to bring that home with her was beyond me, so I asked her.

“For you,” she responded.

“What am I supposed to do with a heart?”

“I don’t know, make one of your potions?” It sounded as if she didn’t even believe herself.

“I can’t make anything out of a heart,” I said. I found myself staring at the organ before me, trying to figure out if what I said was even true. Certainly, I knew of potions using chimera scales, fangs, even blood, but I’d never heard of anything using one of the beasts’ hearts. At least, none that I could dredge up from memory at the moment.

Quinn wrapped the heart back up and pushed it across the table, putting it closer to me. “Look, it’s yours. Do whatever, I don’t care. Anyway,” she dragged out the word, leaving it hanging for a second, as if baiting me to pry. I did not give in, so she continued with a bit of a huff, “I was thinking about going to make that wyvern dinner, and I was kinda sorta wondering if you wanna join me.”

“Sure, sounds great.” It wasn’t like I had anything planned. Plus, a home cooked meal is always nice, even if it used ingredients I was a bit wary of. I was still interested about how Quinn could possibly pull of a dish using sunshrooms, and if she was going to give me the opportunity to see for myself, I wasn’t going to pass it up.

This seemed to please her, as she straightened up her back a bit and stood proud as she led the way outside and down the streets to her home. Honestly, it wouldn’t be the first time we’d shared a meal together, so this wasn’t all too out of the ordinary. Usually though, we just go to the tavern or some such, so having her cook would be a first for me.

As we walked, Quinn had to take three steps for every one of mine just to stay ahead of me. With every step, her feet made tiny little noises as her claw-tipped toes lightly scraped against the stone streets. The short tail of hers kept a small rhythm with her walking, swaying slightly to the left and right every other step. Noticing this also helped me notice the little roll her hips made as she walked. It was almost hypnotizing.

The tiny reptile lass led me through the streets to end up in front of a quaint little home. Old wood with faded white paint made up the exterior. It looked like the kind of place you’d imagine a nice old granny would live, baking cookies for her grandkids and sipping tea next to the fireplace. The outside even had a small garden of flowers in a hanging planter dangling underneath a window. All in all, I suppose a perfect word to describe it would be: cozy.

“This really where you live?” I asked while eyeing up (or down, I suppose) the blue scaled woman.

Narrowing her eyes at me, she said, “Something wrong with it?”

“It just doesn’t really seem like a ‘Quinn’ house, if that makes sense.”

She shook her head, whether in disgust or annoyance I couldn’t tell, and headed inside. Following after her, I came to see the interior matched the outside. The paint on the walls was equally worn out and faded, peeling off in some places even. The yellowish curtains over the windows were old fashioned and frilly looking. The floor was covered in old rugs, all different makes and sizes. The wooden furniture had little doilies and other such frills, the little cloths rustling slightly at the breeze coming from the open door.

It was definitely not something I imagined when I thought of the same kobold who was always eager to rush off and kill some beast or monster the guild needs dead. Things just seemed at odds in my mind.

Without wasting time, the kobold in question walked away into a small kitchen, quickly rummaging around for pots and pans to prepare dinner with. I tried asking if she wanted help, but she barked at me to stay out of it and to just go sit down and wait.

I decided it best to agree and so I went to the dining table, watching Quinn while she worked. She went to the icebox and pulled out a lump of dark colored meat; the liver. The wyvern liver was cut into equal halves, then both were lightly salted and rubbed with some spice mixture. From where I sat, I could smell cinnamon and pepper flakes, which I thought was an odd combination. While the liver halves were slowly seared, Quinn quickly began to cut up the sunshrooms, then she put them into a pot and began to mash them, adding in just a slight amount of orange juice for reasons I could not fathom.

Every now and again, the kobold would check on the liver to make sure every side was equally browned just so. After mashing the sunshrooms to her desired goal, Quinn set the pot aside and then began to chop up some garlic, finely mincing a few cloves and then dropping them into the pan with the liver. Very strange food preparation, in my opinion.

But, Quinn said the dish would be good, so I had to trust her. Even if the thought of all these flavors combined together seemed like a disaster, I knew the diminutive woman was good for her word. Most of the time.

In truth, despite the odd mixture of scents, I found myself getting rather hungry. Perhaps it was due to my curiosity, in that I simply wanted to know how it all came together in the end. For good or bad, my curious mind had led to interesting encounters in my past. For instance, during a little expedition through the Northern White Forest, I stumbled upon a sleeping owlbear, and rather than slowly walk away without making noise, I strolled up to it and plucked a feather from its head. Needless to say, I damn near lost my arm that day. Had it not been for my expedition guide and his crossbow, I’d probably have died.

I heard Quinn say something about ‘last thing,’ which dragged me out of my memories. I looked over to see her taking the pot of mashed up sunshrooms, and she began to pour it directly on top of the wyvern liver halves, which were now placed on two separate plates. Using the back end of a spoon, she then spread the mash over the livers until they were evenly coated.

Huh.

The tiny reptilian walked over and place one of the plates before me on the table, then took the seat opposite mine. “Dig in,” she said with a happy little chirp.

The scent was something wholly new to me. It didn’t even smell like the individual ingredients anymore, just a cacophony of strangeness. I tried to do something, anything, but found my body refused to obey. It was like it somehow knew how bad of an idea this was, and was doing its best to spare me whatever stomach pains this would cause.

My throat was especially dry as I tried to speak up. “I’m not really sure if…”

Quinn interrupted with, “Oh, stop being such a ninny and just take a damn bite.’

With a quivering hand, I picked up the knife and fork and cut off a piece of the mushroom coated liver. I could almost feel my arm trying to stop what I was doing as I brought the portion to my mouth. Meanwhile, the kobold across from me scoffed and mentioned how dramatic I was being. Opening my jaw, I placed the meat in my mouth and dreaded what came next.

Except, it wasn’t what I thought. I had assumed it to be terrible, possibly making me die of food poisoning or some such. But no.

It was surprisingly pretty alright. Not great, mind you, but also not awful.

The blue kobold was holding her tiny clawed hands together in anticipation. When I relayed my thoughts to Quinn, I saw the return of her sharp toothed smile. “Told ya it was fine. And you didn’t trust me.” She began to carve off a piece of her own dish, when she suddenly jumped out of her chair. “I completely forgot,” she said, then stormed out of the room, returning moments later with a large jug. From said jar, she poured out two glassfuls of dark red liquid, handing one off to me.

I took a look at the jug, seeing a familiar label. My eyes widened. “Quinn, this is Dragonspit whiskey.”

The brow ridge over one of her eyes raised up slightly. “So?”

I stared at her, flabbergasted, unsure if she was serious. “This stuff is expensive,” I finally blurted out. “Why are you wasting it like this?”

“Wasting?” She sat back down and looked at me hard. The purple in her eyes almost seemed to brighten. “You’re supposed to drink with friends. And this is good stuff. Therefore,” she said while waving a hand in a circle, letting it come to an end gesturing at the drinks before us.

I’d never had this brand of whiskey before. All I knew was it was some high quality, high priced drink. Truthfully, I never bought any before, not because of the price, but because I did not know any merchants who sold it. Had I known one, I would have surely haggled for a lowered price, offering some of my own potions in exchange for the difference.

I picked up the glass and took a tiny sip. Immediately, I understood why it was given its name. My entire body warmed up instantly, as if I was standing right next to a hearth on a cold winter’s night. Never before had I tasted something so hot without it actually burning my tongue. But then, the warmth traveled down my throat, and it kicked back fierce. Like a bite from a snake, the heat from the drink grew hotter and hotter, until it almost felt like I was standing inside a blazing inferno. But, just as quickly as that feeling came, it left, leaving me back at the table, glass in hand, kobold woman staring me down.

Quinn eyed me up and asked, “So, what do you think?”

“Wow.”

It was all I could say.

As we drank and ate, we both began to loosen up. Our jokes become a bit more raunchy, our speech slurred, and I could feel the drink taking hold of me. It was some strong stuff, too. At some point, Quinn had lost her cloak, using it as a projectile of sorts to launch at my head after balling it up. Something to do with me making fun of her height. She didn’t seem to mind all too much, and was just having fun. After having a bit too much to drink, the two of us began to fling bits of food at one another like children.

A big glob of mushroom paste landed right on the kobold’s chest, which she returned with a piece of liver to my forehead. This went on until the room became a complete mess, and the two of us nearly passing out from too much whiskey. The jug had been emptied, and I could barely feel my legs. Quinn probably had it worse than me. A tiny thing like her? No way she could put down all that alcohol and function properly. I was already having trouble of my own, and I could see Quinn waving a hand about, trying to focus her sight on it.

Realizing how bad things were getting for myself, I decided it was probably best to head home for the night. As I was preparing to leave, the reptilian lass drunkenly flung herself against me, almost knocking me to the floor. Through slurred speech, she managed to get out something along the lines of, “You don’t have to go yet. Stay. Stay and drink more. More fun.”

I fumbled out an explanation of needing to make sure the shop was open early tomorrow morning, which actually got her to relent and release her grip, though she did so with a cute little pout. I gave her a small laugh and wished her a good night before heading off. As I left, I noticed just how dark it had gotten. The streets were blanketed by the inky sky, and not a soul was out it seemed. I found the silence peaceful. I was so used to seeing the streets filled with the hustle and bustle of all kinds of people and such going about their business, that being able to take a simple stroll without risking bumping into someone was rather refreshing.

As I stumbled into my house, I found I did not have the coordination to navigate my way up the stairs. Because of this, in my drunken wisdom, I decided to just go into the back storage and pass out on an empty space of floor, sandwiching myself between a box of salves and some jars of alchemical reagents.

~~~

The following morning went by about as swimmingly as one could imagine after a night of drinking. My stomach woke me with the need to vacate its contents, and I thankfully managed to get to the bathroom without ruining anything along the way. As the acidic liquid burned my throat on the way out my body, I made a solemn vow to never drink like that again. I’d made this same vow several times before.

With my business in the bathroom done, I made preparations to begin my usual work day. Cleaning myself of any remnants of dried food or drink. Changing clothes to something not stained. Taking a hard look at myself, I noticed how red my eyes looked, so when I went back downstairs, I used some eyedrops I’d made some months back for just this kind of occasion. The vial was nearly empty, I noticed.

Taking a deep breath, I unlocked the door to the shop, and prepared for another day. The first person through was not, as was usual, Quinn. Probably taking care of her hangover, I assumed. She drank nearly as much as I did, and counting for her size, she’d definitely have a worse morning after. Regardless, my first customer of the day was a woman I did not recognize. Some lycan girl dressed in a red smock, and she took quite a time searching the shelves.

Trying to help her out, I offered my assistance. “If there’s anything in particular you’re looking for, I might have it in back.”

Rather than seem elated at the news, the wolfess almost sneered at me as she said, “I can find it on my own,” and then went back to her searching.

She spent nearly an hour hunting high and low. During her little search, a few other people came in, who were more than happy to just tell me what they were looking for. I made it a point to say--maybe a bit too loudly--to each of them, “I’m glad you asked, I’ll be right back with that.” I’d hoped the lycan woman would get the idea, but she seemed too stubborn to admit defeat.

After having her around for an hour, I decided to ask once more. “Ma’am, if you’re having trouble finding something, you can just let me know.” I even walked towards the door to the back room, hoping she would finally give in and just tell me.

She did not.

Her eyes narrowed and brows furrowed as a sneer scrawled across her muzzle. “I don’t need your help. Maybe if you just kept things up front, I wouldn’t need to search around like this.” She then went on a bit of tirade, railing me about how I must be hiding the good stuff. It was as if she thought I was forcing her to search, even after asking her twice now if she needed help. I simply let her yell as I saw to other customers, which only seemed to anger the red-garbed lycan even more, now claiming I was ignoring a customer in need.

It got to the point a bystander had called for a town guardsman to come escort the woman out. The entire time she was being led outside, she was yelling obscenities and saying my shop was awful. Once she was finally gone, I let out a relieved sigh. Well, at least I’d have a little story to tell later on, I thought.

When I left for lunch, someone was waiting right outside to greet me. And who else would it be but my kobold companion. Quinn gave a groggy hello, making it obvious she probably slept in. No doubt trying to sleep off the hangover. I could still feel my own headache pounding, but I’d been able to mostly ignore it all morning, thanks to focusing on my work. But now that I was taking a break, there was little in the way I could do to completely ignore it.

As the throbbing in my forehead began to strengthen, I said, “You look awful.”

And I wasn’t being rude. Not entirely, at least. Her clothes were disheveled, in fact she still wore the stained garments from last night. Her purple eyes were tinged with red at the corners. And she wobbled about as we walked, holding onto her tail as if to help balance herself.

“Not as awful as you do every day,” she growled back. The fact she could still make her jokes put my mind at ease. It meant she wasn’t feeling as bad as I thought. Cracking her neck, she let out a groan once the bones made a small pop.

I looked down at her at asked, “Did you just wake up?”

“My tummy started demanding food,” she responded. We made our way down the street, and not even three blocks away from my shop, she had to stop by a bench to catch her breath for a second, muttering out, “I’m never drinking like that again.”

“I tell myself the same thing every time I get a hangover.”

“Me, too.”

We shared a laugh before continuing on to the tavern. Along the way, I shared the story of the odd lycan woman from this morning, to which Quinn joked that maybe the beastly lass was trying to find a love potion. It wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary for me to deal with people falling for this classic myth, but usually the people desiring such a thing are young, like that kid from yesterday, not a full grown adult. Regardless, I wondered aloud, “When are people gonna stop looking for something so stupid?”

“Yea,” Quinn chimed in. “If they want to get in bed with someone, they should just give ‘em booze.”

“Oh, you mean like you did last night?”

A scoff came from her throat. “Now what makes you think I’d try that on you?”

“I don’t know how desperate you are,” I said with a shrug.

She gave me a playful shove. “Please. You love me too much. All I’d have to do is wag my tail for you, and you’d be putty in my claws.”

“As if. I’d be too worried about breaking a tiny thing like you.”

We continued with this kind of banter the rest of the way to the tavern. It wasn’t unusual for us to mess around like that with one another. In some way, I realized not all of it was just jokes. While I might not have been the luckiest guy when it came to women, I was still smart enough to understand the tension between Quinn and myself. It’s just, neither of us ever made a move, so I figured it best to just remain as we were.

After lunch, I went to the center of town to go see the caravan that had come in. They usually stocked some good stuff for alchemy, and I had managed to score a decent deal with them so I could get what I needed at a good rate. The man running the caravan was a dark skinned man from the far west by the name of Kievan. He was a good man, always a smile on his face, never a bad word to speak of anyone. Even when someone would be rude with him, he kept up his friendly demeanor and would never show anger or frustration.

When I approached, Kievan waved me forwards. “Greetings, my friend,” he spoke with a slight accent. It made his ‘r’s come out with a bit of roll to them. “I have some fine alchemical supplies for you this time.”

“Oh, Kievan, you don’t know how much it means to me to hear that. I’ve been needing to restock some of the stuff from last time.” It was true. What I got from his last visit helped me create a handful of elixirs that got me some pretty coin. “I also have some good news for you.”

“Oh? Well, don’t keep secrets. Tell tell.”

I told him of the recent news of the mountain’s chimera being dealt with, and how this would open up safe travel along the mountain path once again. He laughed a deep belly laugh when he heard the news. “Finally! We’ve been wondering when that guild of yours would kill that beastie.” He then slapped me on the back rather hard.

I then went about my business purchasing everything I’d need to restock, all the while talking with Kievan about his journeys. He told me of his trek through a blizzard in the north, where he and his caravan were faced with a horde of frost trolls. During his talks, he was rather animated in his hand movements, as if he was trying to recreate the scene with his fingers. It was rather interesting to watch how he fluttered his hands about.

Halfway through my shopping, Kievan just up and vanished for a few minutes, returning some time later with a jar of honey colored liquid. I have him a questioning look, to which he just handed the jar over. “For being such a good friend, I want to give you this.” I opened my mouth to ask what it was, but the caravan master anticipated this and went on. “This is some fine alcohol from my homelands. It is very good, and I wish you to have some.”

“Kievan, I can’t take this.”

“You can, and will. This is not a gift you can return, friend.” He handed the jar over and nodded, seemingly satisfied with himself. “Share this with some lucky friends, and I guarantee a wonderful night with be had by all.”

I didn’t want to be rude, so I thanked him and accepted the kind gift. Opening the lid and giving a short sniff, I found the scent to be sweet. Probably some type of wine, I assumed. It looked the same color as the local mead, but it smelled like berries and something else I couldn’t catch. Regardless, if it tasted as nice as it smelled, I doubt his claim of a wonderful night could possibly be wrong.

With all my purchases made, I returned home to once again open shop. The rest of the afternoon held little interest. No one acting strange, no one asking for stupid love potions, and most importantly, no elves. While I was closing up the shop, I began to plan out a time later in the week for brewing and other work. I thought about doing it that night, and was writing in my journal deciding which potions would take priority when a knock came from the back door.

I opened it up and gave a smile to who stood there. “Well, if it isn’t the scaly she-devil.” As I waved Quinn inside, I continued, “So, what do I owe the pleasure to another visit this late? Planning on getting me drunk again? Hope you won’t try to take advantage of such a vulnerable moment.”

The kobold rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Actually, yea. Figured you’d prefer drinking over whatever it is you do without me around.”

“Regardless to what you might think,” I said, closing my journal and returning it to the bookshelf, “not everything I do revolves around you.”

“So, is that a yes to the drinking?”

Shrugging my shoulder, I thought ‘screw it.’ Turning back to the tiny woman, I nodded my approval. “Sounds good. I got my hands on some new drink, anyway. You’d probably want to try it, I imagine.”

“Only if it’s good,” she said, sticking a forked tongue out at me.

~~~

A roaring headache was my wake up call. Felt like my head was going to split open. The first thing I noticed was a faint odor of arousal and sweat. The second thing to cross my mind was that I was not in my own bed. Through a half drunken haze, I tried to sit up, only to be met with resistance in the form of a weight wrapped around my arm and legs. Looking over, I was shocked to see none other than a certain little blue kobold, sleeping peacefully while holding onto my arm, her legs hugging onto one of my own. I was even more shocked to realize she had no clothes on, and neither did I. Also, it was her bed we were in.

What the hell happened last night? My memory blanked out somewhere. We were both naked, so did that mean we…? I couldn’t remember. Maybe it was just some kind of misunderstanding, like we just got undressed and fell asleep. Surely, that’s plausible, right? But, no matter how I looked at it, I had to face the facts. We were drunk, and I couldn’t remember a damn thing. We very well might have crossed a line during our haze.

While I was going over my memories, the blue scaled woman began to stir, and slowly her eyes opened. When she saw me, she jumped up in shock, which allowed me to see her body more fully. Being a kobold, she lacked any breasts, instead those were replaced by rows of softer underbelly scales, which were a shade lighter in tone compared to the rest of her body. They stretched across her chest and ran from just about the midsection of her neck down towards her stomach, ending between her legs. Without clothing, I could plainly see just how much muscle she had in her little body; the swell in her arms and thighs and the taut belly. Normally she wore loose fitting clothes, so I’d never noticed before.

Quinn looked down and realized just how bare we both were, and threw the blanket over me, more embarrassed by my nudity than her own.

I did my best to reassure her, starting with, “Quinn, I…” But I didn’t get the chance to finish that thought. At once, Quinn pushed me violently off the bed, surprising me with her strength. Rather than argue and risk making things worse, I dashed out of the room, picking up my loose clothing off the ground and dressing once I got back into the main room.

I took sight of the mess we made last night. Food and broken plates littered the room and furniture. It was as if a tornado came through while we slept. Slept. Together. Quinn was a loyal customer, but far above that she was my friend. Things would be different. What happened last night was something we would need to talk about.

Just not that day.

It was still dark out when I left. With no one in sight, I was able to perform the walk of shame back home in peace. This gave me plenty of time to think on things. For instance, why did my intoxicated self sleep with Quinn? It’s not like I was completely against the idea, in fact I had indeed thought about it on occasion, it’s just...she was always just a friend, someone to talk with, laugh with.

Certainly, she was attractive in her own way; her scales were not as hard as one might expect, very smooth to the touch. Her cute laugh was infectious and easily could brighten up a room. The way her tail swished about when she got excited. An intense stare she could pull with those purple orbs she had. Those unseen muscles gained from her years of working for her guild, and how I now longed to run my fingers across her tight stomach. The fact her small size made her perfect for lifting with ease against a wall and…

I tripped over a small elevation difference in the street, landing face first on the stones. As I righted myself, I could already feel the bruise forming on my cheek, and hoped I did not also earn myself a black eye in the process. I realized my mind had wandered too far, so I hurried my pace home, before I had a repeat of my fall. I began to fill my thoughts with formulas and other such things, trying my best to avoid thinking too much about Quinn at the moment. All the different components of a weak paralysis poison. The specific amount of dried orange blossom it takes to create a special blended tea. How many drops of drake blood needed to concoct a type of oil that burns green in color.

The fact Quinn had wormed her way around my arm and leg, and was holding on so tightly when I tried to sit up, and how in some part in the back of my brain, seeing her so attached like that made me genuinely happy.

I cursed my mind for not allowing me to drop this subject.

Rather than deal with customers all I day, I decided to take the day off and just get to work on brewing potions. Better to have something occupy my mind. I needed to keep busy, or else more thoughts of a certain kobold would creep up. And so I dove into potion making, cooking up all manner of delightful concoctions. However, no matter how fast I worked, or how many things I crafted, nothing could scrub away the image of a naked Quinn lying next to me in bed. It was agonizing. All I wanted was to just forget about it. But, the more I tried to bury the memory, the more it stood undaunted at the forefront of my mind.

I continued working throughout the day, never letting up, not even stopping for lunch. I tried to see what I could do with the chimera heart. I cut off several small pieces, boiling them all in different pots of assorted liquids. I also placed a tiny cut into a mortar and pestle, seeing if I could mix it into a cure for stomach pains. Unfortunately for me, none of my little experiments came up positive. At best, the heart pieces added nothing to the mixtures. At worst, it ruined them.

During my work, a thought occurred to me. Keivan had told me his drink would give “a wonderful night.” Maybe subconsciously, I wanted this outcome. Maybe I secretly wished to use this excuse to finally spend a night with Quinn. That thought just made me feel worse.

When the sun finally began to sink below the horizon, rather than sleep like a normal person, I instead opted to take medication to force myself to pass out in mere seconds, not wishing to be alone with my thoughts. This proved ineffective, as my dreams were only plagued with visions of Quinn.

It began with us in her bed, laying next to one another. I was in the process of removing her garments, running my hands along her soft underbelly scales as I did so. The sound of her soft breaths urged me on as I squeezed her flesh, feeling the rigid muscle beneath. My fingers crawled along her skin, worming their way up her chest, then around the back of her neck and pulling her against my body. The sweet scent of her warm breath was all I needed to slowly bring her back down, placing her on her back, and placing myself on top of her. I could feel her legs wrap around my waist as my hardened length pierced her, causing us both to moan.

It all felt so real, as if I was living this moment. The tightness of her womanhood, the sound of her whimpering my name, how her tail snaked around my leg and squeezed, the soft rake of her claws against my back. I knew this was just a dream, but at the time, I simply submitted to the pleasure it gave me. Hearing Quinn whisper my name in bliss made my heart swell, and so I increased my pace. Her arms wrapped around my neck and she pulled me down, thrusting her forked tongue passed my lips. With reckless abandon, I thrust my hips against hers, harder and faster, feeling a certain bubble about to burst within. I was getting ever closer to the apex.

I wished for this dream to never end. But, just as quickly as it popped into my sleeping brain, it vanished, jolting me awake to bear witness to a mess of my bedsheets. The embarrassment I felt was indescribable.

~~~

The next few days went by slowly. Every morning lacked a certain familiar scaled presence. Without her, it made the mornings feel gray and lifeless. I hadn’t seen Quinn in nearly a week, and it was starting to eat at me. Yet despite this, I did not take the initiative and seek her out. My mind was conflicted. I felt awful about what had happened, blaming myself for our drunken tumble. But on the other hand, I wanted to erase the memory and just pretend it never happened, return to how things were before.

It wasn’t until a group of adventurers came in that I finally saw Quinn once more. The group had been assigned to go clear out a seaside cavern of undead. The blue kobold woman did not so much as look at me when she was in the shop. It pained me to have her completely ignore me like this. I was so used to seeing her fanged smile, but now it was nowhere to be seen. After the group gathered their items, they left, but Quinn did not leave with them. So, she was not taking part in their job.

After the young adventurers finally left, Quinn walked over to the door and locked it behind them. It was just the two of us now. Alone. The silence stretched on for ages, neither of us willing to be the first to speak. Eventually, I had had enough of my own inaction and walked up to the kobold.

“I’m sorry about what happened.” I said it so fast, it almost came out as one long word.

Rather than answer, she just lunged at me, wrapping her arms around my waist and holding on tight. As I returned the embrace, I felt her tense up for a second, then finally let out a slow breath once she felt my hands settle on the small of her back. She looked up at me, her muzzle laying against my chest, and broke her mouth into a gentle smile.

“Missed you,” she mumbled out. Her grip tightened on my waist and he continued on, “I’ve been thinking about that night over and over. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t remember the good bits.”

I couldn’t tell if she was joking around or being genuine, so I just let out a nervous laugh. “Yea, I guess the drink was pretty damn strong, eh?”

“...wasn’t entirely the drink,” she said after a pause. Her purple pools stared right into my soul, as if searching for something. I pulled away from her, causing her arms to fall limply at her sides. She shuffled a bit, and winced slightly. “You really think all that was just the alcohol?” I could see a look of hurt in her eyes then, and the sight pierced my heart.

I raised a hand, but then dropped it. I wasn’t sure what to say. I knew I had feelings for Quinn, but I also felt what happened was a mistake. I’d rather our first time together had been something we could actually remember. Because I was taking so long to answer, the blue reptile woman took a step towards me again, a hopeful look on her face.

“Do you...maybe if we weren’t drunk, ya think there wouldn’t be this awkwardness?”

“Maybe,” I said, avoiding eye contact with the woman.

She took another step forward, and placed a clawed hand against my chest. “Would you maybe wanna give it a shot without being drunk as hell?”

My vision snapped to her then. I could feel a shiver run down my spine at her words. “Quinn, I...I do like you, but I’m not sure if…”

She shushed me and just wrapped me in another embrace.

~~~

It’s been about 5 years since my initial one night stand with Quinn. In that time, we decided to give a real relationship a chance. And, things have been going rather well. My business has been going strong, and Quinn’s even earned herself a few promotions in her guild. She’s now a captain. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but she told me it meant she’d be making more money with each completed job.

As I said, my business is doing great. I even struck a deal with some nobles from the capital. They thought my produce was high quality stuff, and have been selling some of it up in the capital, sending me a hefty cut of the profits. All I need to do is send a cartful of things their way every month. Sure, this means extra work for me, but money is money.

One last thing bit of good news I’ve been given recently: Quinn has an egg. So, I guess I’m going to be a father soon.