Chapter 205: She Had Questions Before She Had Plans

On Day One Hundred Three, Dove had decided she was done giving Ash the first thought of her day. Thorne left a message for his former employee with the restaurant owner: he couldn’t meet today and would ask after them when they returned from the trip. She watched him fold the address into their return papers, then handed him breakfast. They could keep pieces of their old lives without giving up this one.

She washed with her pond water, ate her own breakfast, and practiced for fifteen minutes before the repairer arrived. She chose equipment, and Sprout offered packs of emergency blankets, four sales for sixty normal coins. Dove unfolded one of the blankets before accepting the stock. Customers would ask whether it covered a man as broad as Thorne, and she wanted an answer that came from looking.

"Can we have something cheerful tomorrow?" she asked. "Candy, cute socks, a mildly insulting mug?"

"Future stock is not guaranteed."

"Then stop sounding so pleased about being mysterious."

Dove left approved trades ready and asked Thorne to uncover the buttons only after the window repair. They returned the borrowed radio to the restaurant before Dove and Edrik took the smaller cart through the northern gate for the agreed visit to Iris, carrying only the ordinary goods they had confirmed the day before. The road curved past receiving sheds before entering the better-kept part of the base, where the pavement had been swept and kitchens smelled of hot bread.

She noticed the difference every time. People still had working routines here, and the buildings had doors that closed properly and water that came from taps during scheduled hours. It wasn’t another world. It was the same world with more resources directed into one place.

Men looked up when she passed. One nearly backed into a stack of boxes, while another offered to pull the cart before Edrik had finished turning his head. Dove thanked him and kept walking. She could enjoy feeling pretty without collecting every stranger who noticed.

Iris met them at the delivery entrance rather than making them find her through a maze of rooms. Her husband had brought the truck’s driver, a broad wolf beastman with dark hair and a weathered face, a different man from the event-yard crew leader. He introduced himself as Cal and showed them the route on a paper map laid across an empty table.

The first day’s stop was a former equipment store on the western detour. The second would bring them to the highway market. The truck had a covered cargo bed with secured benches for the passengers it was allowed to take, and nobody would be riding loose among stacked crates.

Edrik asked to see it. Cal agreed without taking offense, which improved Dove’s opinion of him immediately. He explained the planned rest stops, where the road had been checked, and which parts depended on reports coming in before departure.

"Can we search shops along the way?" Dove asked. "If they’re clear and we have time, I’d like to bring back more than a story about sitting in a truck."

Cal pointed out the stops he could offer. There were two planned supply stops where passengers could trade or search allowed areas. He wouldn’t stop beside every building, and he wouldn’t drive into water because somebody spotted a good chair.

"That last one felt personal," she said.

Edrik’s mouth twitched. "It was necessary."

She also asked whether the first stop had somewhere private to sleep. Cal described separate rear rooms in the equipment store’s occupied office section, booked through its keeper, and said they could inspect their room before paying for it.

At the truck, Dove climbed onto a secured bench and tried reaching their allotted cargo space. She could get to a meal bag without climbing over somebody’s crates. Good. The smaller cart would fit too; their pickup and larger cart could stay at B.

"We have our own truck," she said to Edrik. "But if we use his fuel and his driver, you get to sit with me. Terrible burden. Can you manage?"

"With encouragement." He offered his hand to help her down and kept her close for one extra breath.

Cal wanted packaged food and useful equipment for their places. Dove matched his list against what she could spare, keeping their own meals out of it. No departure meant no payment. If the road closed after they left, they would stop somewhere safe and reassess, not lose their fare and get dumped beside a highway.

"One more thing. I want to learn to hunt at a safe stop."

Cal looked at Edrik. Dove waited until he looked back at the woman who’d actually spoken.

"My husbands will be with me," she said. "But I’m the one asking."

"Cleared ground behind the equipment store. Ask its keeper about game."

"Thank you." She turned to Edrik. "You can stop looking delighted. I’m going to complain about the gross parts."

"I’ll remember to praise your bravery before handing you anything bloody."

Iris watched her with approval. "You ask more questions than some of my buyers."

"Some of your buyers probably don’t have to feed these two," Dove said. "I’m not agreeing to five days on crackers and optimism."

Edrik put a hand over his heart. "You wound me."

"You’ll recover around lunchtime."

Iris laughed. Outside, Dove privately asked Sprout whether the road storage task required her to finish at the first stop. It didn’t; three new items remained the daily threshold, and later finds were still hers to collect.

Good. She could take the stop Cal offered instead of rushing the wrong building to satisfy a number. Edrik waited beside the cart while she checked, then offered his arm when she looked up.

"Finished arguing with it?"

"For now. Don’t get comfortable."

Back at the shop, the new pane was in place. Thorne had used his power to straighten the old metal clips for the repairer, then helped check their fit before the glass went in. The first blanket pack had sold through Dove’s approved terms after he uncovered the buttons. The remaining three went to travelers before afternoon. Dove stored a sound hinge from the repairer’s discarded materials with permission, then helped put the shop back in order.

The day’s rewards brought her to 1,763 normal coins and 222 Favor Coins. The trip was affordable, the room was paid through Day One Hundred Thirteen, and nobody had found a reason they couldn’t go.

Then Cal sent his final passenger list. Ash wasn’t on it. Dove was still enjoying that small mercy when she looked through the repaired window and saw his horns above the customers across the street. He had found a new place to wait.