Bookshops & Bonedust

Viv is recuperating at The Perch, an inn in the small coastal town of Murk. Her room is small and low-ceilinged, with a bed much too small for an orc. After two days of fever, Viv wakes up hungry. Someone has wrapped her leg, and a crutch is propped in the corner. She uses it to make her way downstairs to the tavern.

The tavern owner, Brand, is behind the bar and greets her with a joke about her condition. This surprises Viv—as a large, strong orc in her prime, she is used to being feared. As she eats breakfast, Brand tells her about her arrival in Murk, which she doesn’t remember, saying she made quite a “commotion.” After Viv finishes breakfast, she decides to check out Murk.

Outside, Viv can see that the town is right up against the dunes that line the seacoast. The Perch is part of a collection of buildings, connected by boardwalks, that nestle against the dunes outside the stone walls of Murk proper. Small fishing boats are tied to piers that stretch out into the water, and larger ships are anchored farther out.

The first person Viv sees is another orc pulling a cart. Although she greets him, he just continues walking. Most of the storefronts along the boardwalk are either abandoned or closed, though she does see a bookstore that looks open.

The boardwalk is deserted, but when Viv turns the corner, she sees a line of people outside the Sea-Song Bakery. Already hungry again, Viv wants to go in, but it is too busy. Instead, she decides to work on rebuilding her strength. While working out on a nearby hitching post, Viv sees the other orc again. He knows who she is from the “commotion” she caused and introduces himself at Pitts.

Viv is returning to The Perch when she runs into a Gatewarden, law enforcement for Murk. The Gatewarden knows that Viv is a mercenary and warns the orc to keep to herself. If Viv causes trouble, she’ll be thrown in jail until Rackham returns to claim her.

After her encounter with the Gatewarden, Viv decides to go back to the bookstore she saw earlier, Thistleburr Booksellers. She accidentally puts her crutch through a rotten board in front of the door. Inside, the bookstore is mildewy, crowded, and dark. She turns to leave and accidentally knocks over a stack of books. A small feathery creature attacks her with hooting barks. A rattkin, which is a rodentlike creature, appears from the back of the shop, reprimanding the animal, which she calls Potroast.

Viv is surprised and amused by the rattkin’s stream of profanity as she subdues her pet. The rattkin introduces herself as Fern. When Viv apologizes for knocking the books over, Fern encourages her to buy a book. Viv’s money is back at The Perch, and she admits to Fern that she isn’t much of a reader. Fern chooses a book for her, Ten Links in the Chain. Although Viv doesn’t believe she’ll like it, she takes it, promising to pay the next day.

When Viv returns to The Perch, the tavern is full, with only one empty table. She orders food and opens the book, thinking of how she’d rather be out with Rackam’s Ravens. Viv reads as she eats, and the world around her disappears.

The next morning, Viv reads as she eats breakfast. She mentions the Gatewarden to Brand. Brand identifies her as Iridia, and not someone to mess with. Viv finishes the book. It is raining, and with her crutch, she can’t handle the boardwalk, so she knows she won’t be returning to Fern’s bookstore that day.

An elf with a black leather bag enters The Perch and comes straight toward her. Viv realizes he must be Highlark, the surgeon who’d seen to her wound when she arrived. He has a bruise around his neck that she probably gave him, hence the “commotion” everyone keeps talking about. He examines her wound and applies callis oil, which will speed her recovery. It is incredibly painful, and Viv rides waves of intense pain for the rest of the day and night.

The next morning, Viv’s leg feels better, if not completely healed. It has finished raining and the sun is out. Viv goes to the bakery, where the dwarf at the counter flirts with her and introduces herself as Maylee. When she realizes that Viv is the one who throttled Highlark, she laughs and gives her a discount on baked goods.

Viv stops at the bookstore next, where Potroast greets her, hoot-barking again. Viv shares her biscuits and pays for her book. Fern is impressed that she already finished it and recommends another, Heart’s Blade. Viv is skeptical. They make a deal that Viv must read the whole thing, but if she doesn’t like it, she doesn’t have to pay for it.

On her way back to The Perch, Viv sees Pitts pulling his cart full of tools. She asks for a plank to replace the one she broke in front of the bookstore, and the use of his tools. He agrees to meet her at noon the next day in front of the bookstore.

Viv is looking forward to eating at The Perch’s tavern and starting her new book, but a large frigate has docked and its passengers fill the space. Her favorite chair is occupied by a young female gnome who refuses to move. Viv ignores the confrontational tone in the gnome voice and sits nearby. She loses herself in the book but is interrupted by the gnome, who wants to know how Viv got her injury.

The gnome continues to bother her until Viv tells her about the battle and her membership in Rackam’s Ravens. Upon hearing that Viv is one of the Ravens, the gnome is impressed and asks to be introduced to Rackam. She introduces herself as Gallina and displays her set of knives as credentials. Viv reluctantly agrees that if Gallina is still there in several weeks when Rackam returns, Viv will introduce her.

The next day, Viv heads for the bookstore. She isn’t sure that she’ll be able to finish Heart’s Blade—there is less action and more romance than the title implies. Pitts waits outside the shop with tools and several planks. He gives her the materials and leaves without saying much.

As she pounds the nails in, Fern and Potroast are drawn out of the store by the noise. After seeing what Viv is doing, they go for a walk. Pitts returns just as Viv is finished cleaning up. Fern comes back with bread from the bakery and makes them both lunch. Neither Pitts nor Viv will accept payment, so Fern offers them each a book. Under pressure from Fern, Pitts reluctantly chooses a tiny book and leaves.

Fern bursts into tears. She confesses that the bookstore, which her father left to her, is about to go under. Viv wonders if it’s because nothing in the store has changed since her father’s death. Fern asks Viv what she would change, and Viv mentions the mildewed rug. Fern considers cleaning it, and Viv suggests burning it.

Highlark is surprised when Viv shows up at his surgery inside Murk’s fortress walls. Inside, she is impressed by his vast and well-cared-for library and surprised when she finds out that he’s never been to Fern’s bookstore. She asks for more callis oil to heal faster, but the oil only works once.

After leaving Highlark, Viv sees the bounty board with jobs available for mercenaries like herself but passes it by. In the marketplace, she sees a man in a gray cloak and gets a very bad feeling. He disappears before she can follow him. As she leaves the fortress walls, she sees Iridia, the head Gatewarden, who stares her down. As Viv walks past the bakery, Maylee comes out with a bag of scones for her. She flirts with Viv, who is embarrassed and doesn’t know how to handle it.

As Viv and Fern clean the bookshop’s rug, they discuss Heart’s Blade. Viv admits that she didn’t expect to like what was obviously turning into a love story. Viv is suspicious of love, thinking it “[s]eems kind of dangerous” (70), but admits that she now sees how it might be possible.

With the rug hung out in the sun, they sweep and attack the stacks of books all around the shop. Viv suggests that Fern move some books to the back to create more space in the front, and Fern is angry with herself for not seeing the need for change before. A gnome enters, buys a book, and leaves, proving that the improvements are working. Fern offers Viv a deal: If she hangs out and helps around the shop, she can borrow as many books as she likes. Viv accepts.

The next morning, Gallina is waiting for Viv in The Perch’s tavern. Viv ignores her and eats breakfast, then goes to the bakery. Maylee flirts with her again, bringing up Viv’s career as a mercenary, and Viv leaves with a bag of “lassy buns.” On the way to the bookstore, Viv sees Pitts sitting in the dunes, reading his book. He surprises her with his assessment of it. Viv gives him the scones as thanks for his help with the boardwalk. Then she asks him to help her bring some furniture to the bookstore.

They go to the marketplace and buy the chairs Viv saw the day before, putting them in Pitts’s cart. Viv keeps an eye out for the man in gray she saw the day before. At the store, Fern protests that there isn’t enough room, but Viv convinces Fern to take both.

Viv and Fern sit in the new chairs and talk. Viv tells Fern about her life as a mercenary, and Fern expresses disbelief that anyone would want to live that way. Viv explains how the intensity of the life makes everything else seem dull. Since Viv is done with Heart’s Blade, Fern gives her Sea of Passion, by Zelia Greatstrider. Although Viv is skeptical about the book, she accepts it.