Chapter Twenty-One: Asking Around

Lomma looked at me with a blink expression as though she hadn't heard what I said.

Finally, she asked "Why?" Her head titled a little to the right and her eyebrows scrunched down. Her antelope ears pointed forward. Her whole facial expression showing how odd she thought my idea was.

I was half expecting this reaction.

"Aren't you a little curious?" I responded. I can understand why she wouldn't be. Everyone calls Elder, well Elder, and it seems to have been going on for generations. I don't know when the village started calling her the Elder, but it seems like it's been long enough to where everyone no longer knows her real name. It's just one of those things that no one questions because it's treated like a normal fact of life. The grass is green, the sky is blue, and Elder is Elder.

Lomma still does not look convinced.

"Not really. Why do you want to know the Elder's name anyway?" She asked.

If I were to be completely truthful with Lomma right now, I would admit I don't truly care to know but I think it would make a good bet. The reason being is because I am certain it would be a near impossible task to accomplish and therefor hilarious to watch.

Why would it be a difficult thing to find out? Well, the fact that Xiphos couldn't find that information out is a good indicator of how challenging it would be.

"Xiphos tried to find out her real name but couldn't. I want to see if one of us can." It was part of my motivation. I was curious if we could succeed where he failed, and I also wanted to watch Lomma ask creatures what the name is and then get progressively more frustrated as everyone tells her they didn't know.

She hums, a sign that she wasn't sure if she wanted to agree. Crossing her arms, she looks towards the ground, her ears were in the thinking position. The left ear was standing up while the right was down. Being best friends for years, I have learned Lomma expresses her emotions through her ears. It's actually common for creatures to use their ears to convey emotion. But it varies between creatures and you have to know the creature to pick up their subtle body language.

I've been told my ears don't move much and don't seem to be a good indicator of my mood. Some have even commented that it is unnerving at times. A human equivalent might be if someone doesn't use their facial muscles to smile, frown or show any other emotion. Chuck it up to my human past life. Couldn't use my human ears to show my feelings so my mind isn't able to translate emotions into my new pointy dog ears. Though oddly my tail does wag when I'm happy and I did not have a tail on my human body.

I waited a few seconds for a response but then decide to push a little more.

"Can you think of anything else to bet on?" I asked, knowing she probably couldn't come up with an alternative to my suggestion.

Another few seconds passed before she answered.

Sighing, she said "No."

That was basically confirmation that she's agreed to the bet.

"Alright, I'll be waiting here when you get done." I lightly tease, then run to the eastside of the market. Lomma shouted something but I was not paying attention and didn't catch what she said. Probably a witty comeback.

I looked back once, but didn't see her anymore so she must have run towards the westside.

As I ran through the empty streets, I thought what my strategy should be. Time was of the essence and I needed to figure out the fastest way to getting the four gold coins. I might need to start out asking for copper coins and then work my way up to gold, but that could take too long. The best case scenario is me finding someone who would trade for all the iron coins, but I don't know of anyone who would need that much iron.

I slow down. Running aimlessly would only make me tired. It's also easier to look at the shops when you're not running past them.

Looking around, I see a lot of shops made of red brick. On earth, the style of the buildings would be described as American buildings from the 1850s. The highest ones were two-stories, but those were few. These buildings are old and sturdy. For over one hundred years, these shops have survived through natural disasters and attacks. The Elder gave me and Lomma many local history lessons and it's a miracle this village is still around after all the community has been through.

This part of the village is older than other areas and has changed a lot over the years. The shops here use to sell anything, but now it is more dedicated to things for carpentry such as tools, metal, or wood. Mayor sometimes has to come this way to buy supplies for the farm and I normally tagalong with him. Our farmhouse, barn, and other buildings are old so they need constant maintenance.

Many of the shopkeepers here have known me since I was a toddler. Starting with them might be better since they could be more willing to trade with a semi-regular customer.

The nearest one is two blocks away so I go there first.

Like the other buildings around here, this shop is made of red brick and is very old. There are scars from earthquakes, fires, tornadoes, and attacks from plundering armies etched into the brick. It was bombed during the Underworld Attack. The explosion made a hole on the side and new bricks were used to cover it. But the new bricks didn't match the original ones so it made the building standout from the others. In an odd way the new bricks did not look out of place on the building. It actually looks like the original architect had planned for the new bricks to be there all along. Like an artistic decision.

There's barrels around the front with various sizes and types of wood. The prices for the wood are painted on the barrels. Not high prices since these pieces of wood are leftover scraps from cutting the larger planks of wood.

The sign hanging above the front door says Bo's Lumber Shop.

I walk inside and don't bother reading the sign since I've seen it a hundred times before and it has not been changed once. The doorbell rings letting the shop owner know someone has come inside.

"Be there in a few seconds!" The shop owner yells from the back of the building. It's a bit annoying to wait since I'm so pressed for time, but there isn't anything I can do to make the owner come up front.

The last time I was in here was around a year ago. A bad thunderstorm hit our land and caused some damage to the barn. Mayor, Lomma and I came here to buy some lumber to patch up the damage. Mayor comes here on other occasions to buy wood, but he needed us to come along with him that one day because he couldn't carry all the lumber by himself.

The shop has a simple layout. The front door is on the right side of the building and when you walk through the first thing you see is the counter on the other side of the room. Behind the counter is the entrance to the back where the wood is cut and treated. I've been back there once or twice. There's a drydock on the back of the building where the wood is unloaded. On the left side of the front room there are racks to hold lumber. It is organized by type of wood and the size of the pieces. Simple and efficient, but also boring. It has been like this for years. I don't think they have ever changed the layout of the shop.

After a minute or two the shop owner walks out.

"Oh Perro. Good to see you before you leave the village." He said, smiling.

I smile back and make the conscience effort to move my ears forward to show my happiness. Since my body doesn't naturally move them to show emotions, I have to sometimes will them to move so I don't give off the wrong message to others.

"Good day Bo. How'd you know I was leaving?" I ask, trying to make some small talk. My strategy is to be friendly first so he might be more willing to help me out. I still have to hurry this interaction along but Bo likes to talk so it's going to take a few minutes.

Bo looks like a black bear. A large black bear. I swear he might be the biggest creature in the village. Every time he walked through a doorway, he had to duck down to get through. He's been living here for over fifty years, but he originally came from a different village. I can't remember the name, but it was somewhere in the Pouril Forest. I don't know why he moved here, but I don't have the time to ask that question right now.

"Everybody's been talking about you and Lomma going to the Academy kid."

"Really?" First time I've heard of this and it's been weeks since we accepted the scholarship.

"Yep. Folks have been really interested in that news. From what I've heard, you and Lomma are the first villagers to be accepted into Kiru Academy. Very competitive school. Most of the Tribe's future leaders go there to study. You two might become very important creatures one day." His smile becomes wider and he gives a wink at that last part.

I'm honestly baffled the villagers have been gossiping about that. Okay, scratch that part. Villagers gossip about everything under the sun so it shouldn't be surprising in retrospect. But Bo made it sound like I and Lomma have been the big news story for the past few weeks. I knew Kiru Academy is the best school in the Overworld, but I didn't know it would be such a big deal for me and Lomma to be going there.

I want to ask more about what people have been saying, but again I'm on a time limit so maybe I can come back after the bet is over and get more information out of Bo.

"Ha, I can't imagine us being important." I said, giving a half truth. I could imagine Lomma being powerful one day. After all, in the cartoon that's exactly how she turns out. But I cannot see that future for myself. It just felt weird and a bit impossible. But if the all-powerful Cothica is pushing for me to be like that then I guess it's more than possible.

"Humble as always I see. Good. Just remember to stay that way. If you come back home and act like one of those rich politicians then I'm going to have to knock some sense back into ye. That is if you're ma doesn't beat me to it." He jokes, and I give a little chuckle to be polite.

"Yeah, well I came in here to see if you could help me with something and I'm in a bit of a hurry." I mention, stopping the small talk.

"Sure what you need help with?"

"Me and Lomma have been earning some money so we can have some when you get to Kiru City. But we have too much iron coins so we need to trade them for some gold so it will be easier to carry on our journey." I explained, not bothering to mention the bet between Lomma and I. "So I was wondering if you need some iron coins."

Bo makes an umming sound and takes a moment to think.

"How much iron do you have?" He asked.

"Four gold's worth."

"Well, I don't need any iron, but I'll trade some copper for iron if that's fine with you."

"Sure, that'll help."

I take out some iron coins from my bag to make the exchange. Bo traded three copper coins for one hundred and fifty iron coins. It was not much but it was better than nothing.

Before leaving, I talk a little more and then asked if he knew of any shops that needed iron. He didn't know of any who needed it but he did give some suggestions on where to go.

I thank him for helping me out and leave to follow the leads he gave me.

Those leads were great ones and within an hour I was close to winning the bet.

My cloth bag feels so much lighter with only three gold coins and ten silver coins. I just need to find one creature with a gold coin and ask them to trade for the silver. Shouldn't be difficult to convince them to trade since ten silver is the same value as a gold coin, but I already asked all the shopkeepers who I know and none of them are able to do the trade. Either they could not spare their gold for silver or they just did not have gold to begin with.

Turns out there's a shortage in gold coins and it's not just in my village. According to the creatures I talked with the whole Overworld is suffering from the shortage.

From what I've been told the gold shortage was caused by two main factors. The first being that the Danians had raided one of the Overworlder's largest gold mines a few months ago. The second was that in response to a shortage in gold, the Overworld government had to stop making gold coins and instead use the gold they did have on creating other important things. The government even started taking old gold coins to melt them and use them in their other projects.

It sounded odd to me that the Overworld needs that much gold. It was also strange that I have not heard about the Danians raiding a gold mine before today. But then again the internet and social media do not exist in Perim so news travels slow. I had not notice the gold shortage since my family normally doesn't have gold coins.

Maybe when me and Lomma live in Kiru City I'll hear of this kind of stuff quicker.

But I can't dwell on the Overworld's gold problem when I have a gold problem of my own.

Since the gold shortage was bad, few villagers had gold coins. The ones who did have them were hoarding them or asking more than ten silver for one. I already asked all the shopkeepers on the eastside. There still aren't many creatures shopping at this time so I am having a hard time finding a random creature walking around. I could go to other areas of the market, but that might count as cheating since we agreed to go to different parts of the market.

I'm running out of options.

For a while I just walk around the area in circles hoping to see someone I haven't asked yet. All the shopkeepers know what I'm doing at this point so none of them give me strange looks for continually passing their shops. Instead they are smiling and shaking their heads at my fruitless efforts.

I was about ready to call it quits, but then I saw someone I wasn't expecting to see here today.

Either Mayor hadn't seen me or he decided to pretend not to see me. With how he's been acting lately I'm more inclined to believe the later. Out of curiosity, I follow behind him to see where he is going.

Normally at this time of day, he is either working on the farm or trying to sell the family's produce at the market. The eastside of the market isn't a good place to sell produce so he wouldn't try to sell it here. He might need supplies for something but he is not going in the direction of the shops that he buys tools and supplies from. Also, doesn't look like he is just browsing since he isn't looking at any shop displays.

Either he's a better actor than I thought, or he has not notice me following him. I probably should let him know I'm here since it's rude to be spying on him. But then again, he's been acting like a jerk with the whole Kiru Academy business. If he's going to be rude towards me then I'm not going to be nice to him.

He leaves the eastside of the market and we're now in the westside. Lomma might see me and accuse me of cheating but I already gave up on the bet. But it would still be bad if she finds me since she might draw Mayor's attention towards us. So I keep a watch out for her just in case.

After following him for a minute or two, he steps inside one shop that I haven't been into before. Mom doesn't trust the shop owner so she's forbidden me to go inside. She has also forbidden her other children which includes Mayor. There shouldn't be a reason for him to go into there.

The shop is named Little Antiques. Like the name implies, the shop sells antiques and other odd items. Rumors say the shop owner is into some illegal operations trading stolen merchandise. That's why Mother doesn't want us to go in there. But even if we did go inside, we would just be looking. The shop sells expensive things so we wouldn't have the money to get anything that is illegal or otherwise.

I could wait outside the front door and ambush him when he comes back out, or I could go inside and ask what he's doing there. He can't deny that he was in there since I've caught him red-handed. I could even use this as blackmail if I wanted but he doesn't have anything I want and I'm leaving soon. Chances are by the time this blackmail becomes useful it would be so far into the future that Mother wouldn't even want to bother to punish him.

"Why are you in my area?" Lomma demanded. I spun around and see her standing right next to me. Her voice sounded angry and her expression read like she was upset. But the little shine of delight in her eyes told a different story.

She knew she could use this as a way to win the bet. After all we agreed to find our gold coins in different areas, so crossing into the other's area could be argued as cheating. I was afraid this would happen but my curiosity about Mayor got the better of me.

"Shhh!" I hissed, putting my finger to my snout. The universal (and as it turned out multidimensional) sign to shut up. Lomma looks taken aback by my shushing, but she doesn't ask anything. I turn back around to watch the shop door. I don't think Mayor has come out while Lomma was distracting me.

Lomma is quiet behind me, but I'm guessing she's also now staring at the shop's door and wondering what I'm up to.

After a few seconds, Mayor comes outside and is now holding a package. It is covered in brown paper, so I do not know what it is. He was not carrying anything when he went inside, he must have bought it there. Mother will be pissed if she finds out.

I don't confront him about being in there. I just stay hidden and let him walk away.

"Why was Mayor in there?" Lomma asked once Mayor was far enough away to not hear.

I turn back around and say "Don't know. I saw him walking and followed."

"That's weird for you to be following him like a stalker." Lomma commented.

"Well he has been acting weird for weeks and I want to know what his problem is." I sound too defensive and harsh, but this whole situation with Mayor is really starting to make me upset.

"I know" Lomma says in response, as though she couldn't think of anything better to say.

"It's like he hates the fact we're going to Kiru Academy." I begin to rant. "Why that's a problem I have no idea. If he thinks it's a mistake then he should say something instead of avoiding the subject!"

"Maybe he just doesn't want to think about it?" Lomma suggested. But she sounded like she didn't believe it either.

Nothing about Mayor's recent behavior makes sense. Any reason or explanation we think of just doesn't fit. For weeks he has been avoiding anything that includes the Academy. Even more recently, he has been away from home longer and more often than usual. So now it feels like he is avoiding us as well. He has never acted like this before.

And now I catch him going into that shop that we aren't allow in. He's always been the best behaved child and never does anything that Mother wouldn't approve. Nothing makes sense with him anymore.

"I don't think that's it." I've calmed down a little from my rant. "Let's just not talk about seeing him in there and see if he'll tell us."

"Alright then." Lomma agrees. Unlike me, Mayor's behavior hasn't her upset as much.

We begin walking around the market to look around. We talk about different things. Mostly just about the Academy and what it'll be like.

"So when are you going to start asking around for the Elder's name?" Lomma asks out of nowhere while we are looking at some pottery.

"What?" I asked.

"Well since you left the eastside to follow Mayor that means you gave up on the bet right?" She pointed out. I had forgotten about that bet.

Damn it! I curse in my mind and begin trying to think of a way out of the bet.

"Forgot about that. How well did you do?" I asked, hoping that she got less gold than me so I could still have a chance of winning.

Her smile gives me the answer before she says it.

"I got all four gold."


Sometimes, I regret my life choices. People might think because this is my second life I wouldn't be foolish enough to make mistakes again but they would be wrong. Right now is a perfect example of me making mistakes when I could have avoided them.

"So you've never heard the Elder's real name before?" I ask again to make sure he doesn't know.

"No, sorry Perro." Bo says again, giving me a pity look. Lomma is standing right next to me smiling at my expense.

"Okay, thanks." We say goodbye and leave the shop.

"I think you've asked everyone in the market Perro." Lomma says as we walk around to find someone who I haven't interrogated yet. I've been asking around for what feels like hours, Judging from the sun, it's actually been four hours. Sunset is close so we'll have to head home soon.

I'm so tired.

"I think I've asked everyone in the village."

"Well actually there is one creature you haven't asked yet."

"Which one?"

"You haven't asked the Elder what her name is." She pointed out and I just wanted to hit myself.

Lomma began to laugh at my stupidity.


"Why are you two here at such a late hour?" the Elder asks as she lets us inside her home.

"Perro has a question." Lomma answered, all cheerful. I on the other hand, am not happy. Interacting with so many creatures in one day is exhausting. I don't think I've ever had to be so sociable before. Lomma just watched most of the time while I had to do all the talking.

"Is that so? Well go on Perro tell me what your question is."

We're now in her living room sitting down. The sun is setting so we can't be here long. Maybe only a minute at the most. The Elder knows when we need to be back home, so she'll probably keep this talk short.

"I was wondering what your real name is." I say, cutting straight to the question.

The Elder looks surprised, a rare emotion to see on her.

"I don't normally get asked it anymore. That military creature was the first to ask in over fifty solons." She says, not answering my question. I'm annoyed at that, but I don't say or do anything rude.

I'm ready to call it quits and say good night, but before I could say anything the Elder gave me the answer.

"My name is Thera."

"Really?" I ask, excited to finally have an answer. My tail began to wag.

"Yes dear."

"Why did creatures begin to call you Elder?" Lomma asks.

"Oh, some children started calling me that and it just stuck. It used to be common for children to refer to older creatures as elders, but that custom has faded out over the solons. Now as much as I love talking with you two, it is getting late and I am sure your Mother is getting worried."

She does not have to tell me twice. We thank her and leave.


Notes: Happy new year everyone! :) Hope it's been going great for you so far and that you're still sticking to your new year's resolutions. I created several new year's resolutions and some of them are about writing fanfiction. One of them is that I update this story 12 times, so about once a month. This is not meant as a promise that I will update once a month just that I will be pushing myself to work more on this story. If you're interested in learning what my other fanfiction goals are for this year, you can see them on my profile page.

I'm happy to say that this story has passed the 100th favorites mark! Right now it's the fifth most favorited Chaotic story on this site. Glad to see so many people enjoying my story. The other stories ahead of mine have not been updated in a long time so if I keep working on mine it could surpass them and become number one. Thanks everyone for reading and supporting my story!

Also, a few weeks ago I posted a new story in my side story collection for Reborn in Perim. Only a handful of people follow that collection so I thought it would be good to remind everyone that there are short stories for this series.

Chapter Twenty-Two's Title: Farewell Lunch

Thanks for reading!