Cora logged out of her capsule. She lay there for a moment, staring up at blackness. It wasn't a complete black—bits of light seeped through the cracks were the capsule closed.
With a sigh, she tapped the button to release the cover. It slowly sprang open with a hiss. If she'd been in a hurry or simply out of power, there was another, quicker option to open the capsule. It would wear out the capsule cover mechanism faster, but Cora dreaded thinking of an occasion where she would need to do so.
It would probably concern her mother or something similar.
She sat up and did a quick scan of her spare bedroom. Everything was as it'd been before she'd logged in. There was no noise coming from anywhere else in the condo except for the usual electronic hum from appliances and entertainment.
A quick snap of her fingers and a softly uttered codeword had a screen dropping from the ceiling. It lit up, showing an eight- screen view of her condo, a couple of muted news channels and the ongoing feed from her town. It was still depressingly empty, and her eyes narrowed as Sycamore wandered into view, a rope clutched in her mouth. A few seconds later, the wagon the rope was attached to also entered her view.
Cora leaned forward just a little. Were her eyes deceiving her or were those cats, mice and dogs in little cages? Where did Sycamore even find those and why was she bringing them to her little unoccupied town? Her unoccupied town with a few unharvested acres of corn just waiting for their errant mayor to return to harvest?
She felt a slight headache at the thought of the mice devouring her corn. She sighed and released the catch on the side, lowering a panel that allowed her easy entry and exit.
Cora swung her legs out and searched for her slippers. She gave her temples a quick soothing massage before standing up. A gentle push had the descended screen returning to the ceiling.
Cora paced down her hallway, snagging her phone from the hallway stand as she did so. Her fingers absently danced across the screen as she entered her kitchen. Even as it started to ring, she was pulling out a small mixing bowl from her cupboard.
"Hello? Heidi? What are you up to in the game?" She asked as she pulled out flour, sugar and baking powder from her pantry.
"I'm just scouting right about now. Did you know that if you skulk while looking for something, it somehow turns into a skill called 'Novice Spy?' Totally awesome," Heidi gushed. She paused. "Why are you calling me? Why aren't you playing?"
"I'm calling because I need a bodyguard. Can you make it to Harbor City tomorrow? I have to pick up some things and take it to Crestfield before nightfall. I can't do it by myself, and I spent most of my cash." Cora opened her fridge and took out an egg and milk.
"I can do that. I'm just in Santigo Bay and that's only an hour's walk from Harbor City. I'll rent a horse because I don't have any riding skills yet." Heidi paused. "Are you making pancakes?"
"How can you tell if I'm making pancakes?" Cora asked as she measured out flour.
"You are! I'll be there in twenty! Don't you dare eat mine!" Heidi huffed. "I'll bring some real maple syrup. My cousin sent me a ton this year. You'd think he'd just sell it all, but no…he has to share all the sugary goodness and make the rest of us fat."
"Fine, fine. I'll have them warming by the time you get here." Cora rolled her eyes. "And bring butter if you have it. I'm totally out."
Cora busied herself making the pancakes and scrambled up a few eggs as well. Dusting them with cheese, she mused on the caravan and its owners. Clearly, no one had told them that caravans were considered a risky proposition because of the bandits.
Still, if they managed to make a go of it, the caravan could make a lot of money. Cora scooped the eggs into a metal bowl and stuck it into her oven to keep them warm.
She wondered if they needed any extra funding as she walked to answer her buzzing front door.
*****
Heidi sopped up the last of her pancakes with maple syrup and popped the whole stack into her mouth. Cora watched her with bemused eyes as she sipped her peppermint tea. Cora preferred her pancakes with strawberry glaze and whipped cream, just like her grandmother had made. Still, Heidi's cousin owned a maple syrup factory with an ample amount of trees to go with it, and he delighted in shipping his favorite cousin a case of syrup every year.
"So, don't you want to make some maple bars? Or some maple bacon doughnuts?" Heidi wheedled as she scooped up another spoonful of scrambled eggs. She dumped them on the remaining maple syrup and stirred it around.
"Bacon?" Cora asked, nudging the plate with the last two slices closer to her friend. She acknowledged to herself that she had a rather sick fascination with the weird flavor combinations Heidi came up with.
"Oh, delish!" Heidi said, swooping down on the breakfast meat. She happily crunched for a few seconds before adding a forkful of eggs. Then she swallowed and looked up. "What exactly are you getting in Harbor City?"
"There's a ship docking with a ton, a literal ton of stone shards. I'm going to buy some as well as some pig iron." Cora took another sip of tea. "It'll be about four hundred pounds or so. Maybe more. Depends on how much I can squeeze into my little gunny sack. Non-living things take up way more space in it."
"What do you mean 'non-living things?' Living things can fit in your gunny sack? Are you abducting people?" Heidi teased.
"All I've put in it so far is a whole lot of corn, wheat and alfalfa. So much alfalfa." Cora rolled her eyes. "Thankfully, food animals eat a lot of it, or so I've been told. I sold some to a very grateful farmer."
"What exactly is your job, anyway?" Heidi asked, tilting her head.
"I'll tell you after we do this run," Cora said, standing. She started gathering up the plates. "It's too complicated to explain fast, and my game time resets in about ten minutes. I still have to make my way to Harbor City. I'm currently back in Crestfield."
"Why are you in Crestfield if you need to be in Harbor City? That's a three hour walk right there without any impediments." Heidi finished off her bacon and eggs and followed Cora to the kitchen with her plate and mug.
"I booked a caravan to get us where we're going. When we get to Farthenham Hills, we'll have to buy a wagon and something to pull it. They're just too expensive in Crestfield and won't fit with the caravan anyways." Cora remarked absently as she loaded her dishwasher. "Don't worry. I already paid for everything."
Heidi blinked at her. From what she'd overheard, even the quick, small caravans charged through the nose to provide safe passage. She'd never heard of Farthenham Hills, but the name alone sounded ominous.
"Don't worry. I'll cover your in-game costs of coming with me." Cora grinned. "You should do some research when you get home on what people buy. There's a website out there that will tell you, even for cities people haven't been to yet! I've no clue who put that up, but it's really useful."
"I'm going to let you get back to playing. Me and my maple syrup are going home." Heidi finally said with a roll of her eyes. "I will see you in Harbor City, boss lady."
Cora grinned as Heidi let herself out of the condo.
*****
Cora waited patiently by the city gates. The guards at Harbor City didn't mind her taking up the small space she'd staked out, much to the envious curiosity of some other players. They'd been chased away when they tried something similar. Cora chalked it up to her title being seen by the guards. She was still in some sort of protected mode from the players. Sycamore had said that it would wear off whenever she hit level 20 according to her mysterious teachers.
She ignored the party invites sent her way. They were clearly out of curiosity since she was still level 9 instead of in the 30s or 40s like the majority of the casual player base. While some of them were probably just curious people, there were probably some with questionable intentions. It was best not to seek trouble. Some of the players were bold enough to sidle up to her and ask questions. She ignored those as well.
"Cora!" Heidi called as she trotted up to her on the back of a fine gray mare.
Cora eyed the mare in astonishment. The horse was clearly either a pleasure ride from the looks of the finely kept hide or meant for a long ride for a singular rider. The horse turned its head to her and whickered. It was truly a beautiful animal.
"Is it yours?" She asked, thinking of the logistics of getting it to her city as well. It didn't look like it had the muscle mass to pull anything stronger than a phaeton and only then if it had a friend to help.
"This is Stormare," Heidi said, patting the horse on the neck affectionately. "She's not mine. I have to turn her into the stables here. Some idiot took her to the livery stables in Santigo Bay and just left her. They let me bring her here and even paid me 10 gold in the bargain."
Cora abandoned the thought of taking the horse with them. If they were paying Heidi to deliver the horse, then there was something they weren't telling her friend. From the looks of it, Stormare was a beautiful horse worth quite a bit of gold. Yet, the livery had paid someone to bring her home rather than sending one of their own.
"That's a good deal," Cora said, turning and walking towards the gate. She pulled Heidi and the horse to a much shorter line. "She's with me, bodyguard," Cora told the guards who waved them through without asking for a toll.
"How did you do that?" Heidi asked, turning her head to look at the guards as they entered the main thoroughfare. "Usually, they charge a few coppers to enter Harbor Bay because of all the shipping."
"Trade secret," Cora replied. "Let's return Stormare and get to the docks before the iron's gone. I'm not worried about the stone shards."
"I don't know why you'd want those things. They're useless." Heidi dismounted and started walking next to Cora. She paused as Stormare's head jerked the reins out of her hand. "Stormy! Let the pickpocket go! She's done this so many times so far," she complained to Cora.
"That's probably why whoever left her in Santigo Bay. She's a walking anti-theft sensor," Cora joked.
"That she is, dear lady," a weathered man said, walking towards them. "Olson, head ostler of the livery stables here. We've been worried about how to get this one home." Stormare nickered at his approach, shaking her head good-naturedly.
The little pickpocket scrambled to his feet, one hand covering the fresh wound on his arm. He threw the horse a terrified look before bolting away.
"Stormare's back! She's back!" He cried as he dashed into a nearby alley.
"Don't worry about that," Olson said as he picked up Stormare's reins. "Just a little local kerfluffle." He dug into a pocket and pulled out a few coins. "Here's your 10 gold, miss. Thank you again for bringing her back. We can't leave the city's confines, and most of the people heading there and back on a regular basis are engaged in shadiness of one form or another."
"And Stormare would react to all of it?" Cora guessed. She was rewarded by Olson's chuckle of agreement. "That's a well-trained horse."
"Why can't you leave?" Heidi asked. She was looking from Stormare to the direction the little pickpocket had taken and back.
"Once you're sworn to a government job, it's hard to leave unless you have dispensation," Cora explained. She grinned at Olson. "If you know of anyone…"
"—I'll be sure to pass the message along, but everyone I know is pretty happy. Maybe you should try the more contentious places or perhaps those even more civilized?" Olson responded as they started walking again. He chuckled good-naturedly as his eyes twinkled at Cora's sigh.
"What are you two talking about?" Heidi asked, turning her attention back to the conversation.
"Just business, little lady," Olson replied cheerfully. "This is where we turn off. The livery's just a block that way." He nodded in the right direction. "Stop by whenever you return. We'll rent you a horse cheap."
"I might take you up on the offer," Cora replied. She tugged on Heidi's arm. "C'mon! The ship docked while I was waiting."