QuestWright Bk2 C72: Bella's Day Out (Patreon)

Author's note:

Another long chapter, making it three in a row. It's a little nutty that when school starts, I get the energy to write for a greater distance.

Lately, there's been a trend where I don't get the second chapter out to you until Sunday. Hoping I can fix that this time around, but it's a small hope, as this week wore me down work-wise.

Hope you're all doing well, and of course, ReaderQuest!

Quest ID: JDM-0006-I-EA

[Tier 1 Investigation Quest]

Assignment: Ask, Don't Guess

You probably know the people closest to you pretty well.

Probably.

Your Task

Choose someone you know well and ask them three questions about their preferences that you do not already know the answers to.

They can be about anything, like the perfect way to spend an afternoon, a food they’ve always wanted to try, or something they wish people understood about them.

Rules

Do not answer for them or attempt to correct an answer because you thought you knew better.

Completion Condition

Learn three new things about someone you thought you knew well.

Timeframe: One Week

Reward: 10 XP

Knowing someone isn't the same as understanding them omnisciently.

Sometimes you still have to ask.

—

J D Mullenary Sr
The Original QuestWright

Chapter 72: Bella's Day Out

Cass…

Cass followed Ana to her room as she explained what was happening.

“...and the messenger showed me the letter when I didn’t believe him. Every second Servant is required to help with the Harvest, and my name was on the list! I just never thought the Guild saw me as the second Servant. Said you can get along just fine with one for a while. But I was here first, right? How do I not have priority?”

She stuffed several items into a burlap bag. Cass turned his back when he noticed some were her underwear.

“How long will you be gone?”

“I’ve never been a second Servant before,” she said, putting extra emphasis on the number again. “So I’m not completely sure. My friends have complained about it in the past, but I haven’t seen them for a while. Oh, turn around already. I saw that look and don’t care if you see my skivvies.”

Cass smiled to himself as he spun about. Ana was still violently throwing things into her bag when she paused after shoving a pair of boots in.  She pulled them out again and began taking off the slippers she was wearing.

“If you had to guess how long the harvest takes, what would you say?”

“Guess? Fine,” she said with a put-upon look. “If I were forced to guess, I’d say close to two weeks.”

“Ugh,” Cass replied as she put on thicker socks, then started on the boots. “That’s awful, Ana. I know you took the Servant Calling just so you’d never have to work the fields. Doesn’t seem fair.”

“Exactly! Damn Liberty.” She stood up, stomping her feet into the boots, then tied off her bag and slung it onto her shoulder. “Look, Cass, I’ve gotta go, or I’ll miss my ride and have to walk the whole way. Be smart and take care of yourself while I’m gone. I know you hate Jamison’s cooking, but you’ll have to stomach it anyway. You’re still far too close to skin and bones for my taste.”

She gave him a quick hug, then stomped her feet to the door, calling back as she left, “If you need me, I’ll be in the northwest part of the fields, not that it’ll help.” Then she was gone.

Jamison peeked his head around the corner. “Hey, I’ve got your porridge if you’re ready.”

How could things get any worse?

Bella…

Bella was finishing her morning meal when a particularly strong emotion came from her Bonded.

Cass is deeply unhappy about somethin’.

It wasn’t an unusual emotion from her mercurial partner. His feelings tended to bounce up and down throughout every day to the point that she had become slightly numb to the experience. 

It didn’t mean she didn’t care. But in the time since the contract had been enacted, she’d learned to place his feelings in the back of her mind.

However, between the sadness he felt yesterday when the silver man died, and the pain he’d experienced fighting in that big blue bubble, there’d definitely been more bad than good of late. So she decided to do something about that.

Today.

I need to make Cass happy…what would do it…

I could learn more of that old language! He loves it when I talk like that.

Yes, that’s perf-no. No no. That won’t do it. Maybe I could…no. He said yesterday that I’m getting better, but I’m not perfect yet.

Hrmm…Adya is satisfying him on the mately side of life, so another one isn’t necessary. He still thinks it bothers me when they’re getting frisky.

Bella gave a horsey laugh, then chewed thoughtfully.

My Bonded is far too easy to fool. He’ll need to work on that.

So what should it be? Food? No, that would make me happy. He doesn’t care much about that. He’d eat slop if it was in front of him.

This was proving more difficult for Bella than expected.

Cass likes those shiny bits, though not as much as the money wench. He likes Gary, but so does everybody. Gary’s just a nice guy for a two-legger. Oh, oh, he likes helping people!

An idea came that was pure genius.

So that’s what I’ll do! I’ll go out and help people like he would! If Cass is having a terrible, no-good day, then it looks like it's on me to fill in his role.

He’ll love that.

With a course in mind, Bella finished off the last of her meal. Escaping the stall they’d built for her at Caligula’s End was easy. They didn’t even have a proper latch. 

She even gave Champion a wink as she sashayed away.

Like that could hold me.

On her way out, Bella shrunk herself to just a little smaller than a normal horse, the side effect of which was a small burst of energy as she entered the thoroughfare.

Now, who needs help?

Cass…

Cass finished off the terrible porridge and rubbed his chest.

“Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling?”

Bella…

Help…help…help. Who needs help out here?

Hello, tiny persons! Bella mentally roared at a group of children walking by. Do you need my help today?

Since nobody could hear her, they didn’t respond.

The Fifth was unusually busy, with people moving about every which way. Bella was wandering toward the east, looking for her chance to pull a Cass, when she spotted a wagon stuck in the mud.

Seated in the back was a small family of little people, while two men talked nearby, gesticulating emphatically.

That’ll do.

Bella high-stepped over, admiring herself in the puddles she passed, then paused right beside the wagon. With deliberation, she placed a single hind leg against the edge of the wagon, then leaned into it with considerably more weight than her current size suggested.

The vehicle started to turn over as the people in it screamed, but Bella dropped her leg and quickly backed into it with her rear end, carefully shoving it away from the mud. Sure, a few human critters within fell out, but now they didn’t have to worry about getting it being stuck anymore!

Hooray!

She walked away with a bob in her step, happy to have helped.

That was quite easy. I see why Cass likes doing this.

A few of them ran after her to say thanks, but Bella didn’t need it and trotted away quickly. Cass never asked for gratitude, and neither would she.

A man holding several tools placed them beside a cart before moving back into his building, so she’d found her next target.

Those look quite heavy. I bet he’d appreciate it if they were in his cart when he gets back.

Growing only her head, Bella swiftly bit the items and placed them in the cart for the man. Spitting out small chunks of wood that got stuck in her mouth, she nodded at the group of people who’d stopped and stared with wide eyes, then moved along to the next location.

This is fun!

Adya…

Every day after breakfast, Adya dropped by Caligula’s End and picked up Bella. It was good for the horse and her, as her riding skills had finally started to look ‘competent’, according to Alan.

But today, as she dropped by the draft-horse’s stall, there was a problem.

“Where’s Bella?”

Champion neighed at her, but that didn’t help.

Bella…

Somehow, Bella had wandered from the Fifth ring to the Fourth. In that time, she’d helped several more people. 

Including a woman who couldn’t open her door, discovering it suddenly very open from a well-placed kick. A runaway chicken learning that a horse’s teeth have quite the grip strength. And a fragrant, but sleeping man just outside of an even more fragrant building being awoken by a powerful neigh from a tiny horse.

Just for fun and practice, Bella had been altering her size over and over again. Right now, she was no more than two feet tall when a familiar sort of speech caught her attention.

Bella stopped.

More of the old language! 

Using her noggin, Bella shoved her way through a crowd in her haste to get closer to the sounds she was hearing, her mission totally forgotten. A group of two-leggers was acting out a play on a wooden stage no more than fifty feet away. Bella needed to hear every word.

More shoving and bodies falling behind her occurred until the tiny horse became just a little tinier. She squeezed herself under the platform the actors were using so she could hear every word said.

The visuals were for other, less enlightened minds, but the sounds came through beautifully. Like she was on the stage with them.

“Why do they run away,” an actor said. “This is a knavery of them to make me afeard.”

Ohhh, knavery.

While she puzzled out the word, more lines of speech came from above. Most passed by too quickly for her to consider, but she caught pieces.

Foolish.

She already knew that one.

Perceive.

Yes, that was a good word. Strong, like the haunches of the world’s favorite animal.

Then a woman’s voice rang across the stage, “What angel wakes me from my flower bed?”

That’s pretty. Cass would like that one. Maybe I should change my old talking. Make it prettier.

I’ll have to plan out my words more. Hmm.

Lying beneath the stage, she had a rare view of the world. Notably, she caught sight through the gaps in the stage’s wood of a man reaching into the spectator’s clothing while they were distracted by the play.

Forsooth! A thief in the midst of this wonder! Knavery, I say!

Not knowing if what she silently yelled was accurate or not, Bella charged out from under the stage. The moment she cleared the roof, her size grew to just a little taller than the man she was charging.

The crowd parted with squeals of alarm and interpreted delight as Bella’s fast-moving form burst onto the scene. The thief barely knew what hit him as her head crashed into his chest, knocking him clear into a group of people who were so kind as to hold onto him.

Take that, you foul fiend!

Sadly, her majestic appearance seemed to have stopped the words from coming. She looked back at the stage to see every actor staring at her, mouths agape. One of them wore a hat that made him look like her mortal enemy… a donkey.

Ugh! That’s worse than the fiend!

Glaring at the donkey-headed man, she stomped the ground once, shaking the immediate area. Trembling, the actor lifted his hands, removing the offending visage from his head. 

Nodding once, slowly, and deliberately, Bella walked away.

Nobody tried to stop her.

And now the actors have been helped. I mean really, a donkey in a play? The morality of the world is falling into shambles.

Cass and Adya…

>Cassio: What do you mean Bella is out destroying Liberty?

>Adya: It’s all I heard people talking about in the Fifth. 

>Cassio: What has she done?

>Adya: So far, she threw people out of a cart and broke a bunch of expensive tools. One of the conversations I heard said she knocked a bunch of paint onto herself. Apparently, she looks as black as the night right now.

>Cassio: Can you get to her?

>Adya: I’m tracking her right now. She was in the fourth near a play, but I think she’s heading inward. I’m almost done checking the third, but she might be even closer to you by now than I am.

 >Cassio: I can get out of work early if I need to.

>Adya: No, I can get her. Stay put and do your job. This’ll be handled soon.

Bella…

Bella didn’t know where she was. 

Using Cass like the lodestone of a compass, she’d constantly oriented herself upon his direction, but now, she was lost. There’d been a large group of well-wishers trying to give her hugs, but she’d stayed true to her mission of doing what her Bonded would’ve done. Turning her head sideways, she blew off the spare pieces of rubble that had tried to slow her down, then pondered her situation.

This is not where I was meant to go. There are no people.

Her surroundings were painted stone and fragile ceramics that looked like they had taken a lot of work. Everything in the room was delicate and not meant for those without trained dexterity.

Better go small.

Shrinking down to little taller than Adya, she moved on the tiptop of her hooves as she looked around. 

No touchy! Bella said to the room as she moved around several precariously perched items. The problem was, each step she took shook the room ever so slightly.

No touchy…no touchy…no-no-no.

A crash behind her caused the condensed horse to jump. That wasn’t the problem.

Landing was.

A cacophony of shattered items forced her ears to twitch in every direction as sounds exploded all around her.

Bella looked around at the mayhem. 

Oh poo.

A fancy box in a thick cage was about to fall as well when Bella grabbed hold of it with her teeth. 

No more breaking!

Though it was listlessly falling, when she tried to lift it and put it back, there was a minor resistance as the thick muscles in her neck acceded to their master. In that moment, her tail knocked a heavily seated vase down with a crash.

Silly tail! If you weren’t so beautiful, I’d chop you off!

Sounds outside began to intrude on her thoughts. Lots of sounds.

People! Wait…no! No thanks!

Bella sprinted out of there, cage still in her mouth. She only made it two blocks before something landed on her back. Sprinting in full, she burst through two walls, hoping to knock the thing off, as she did not like unwelcome guests. After the third wall, she finally heard the thing screaming.

“Bella, stop! It’s me! It’s Adya! No more walls!”

She slowed and looked over her shoulder to discover Adya clinging to her side, gray dust covering them both. Bella rolled her eyes.

Why didn’t you just say so!

“We need to get back to the fifth and hide you. I know you weren’t trying to cause any trouble, but everybody left in the city is looking for you. It’s a good thing you’re covered in paint and dust. It’ll throw them off from recognizing you later, but we gotta clean you up and get out of here.”

Fine.

The metal in her mouth crunched as Bella involuntarily flexed her jaw.

Where did that come from?

Cass…

Cass got to Caligula’s End by sprinting through the city, a Cinder Quest active as efficiency mattered even on days like this. 

Though the harvest was in full swing, all anyone could talk about was a horse destroying much of the city. It had a piebald coloring. No, it was black. Gray. Huge. Small. Its head was twice the size of its body. It was a demon. It caught a thief. It stole a woman’s husband.

The stories grew crazier the further he went.

When he finally arrived at the bar, Adya had already finished cleaning up his horse. In front of them was a bejeweled chest, mangled almost beyond recognition, with bits of metal and wire surrounding it.

Cass put his hands on his hips. “Bella, what were you doing in Liberty? I keep hearing…”

He stopped mid-sentence when he saw several glittering objects spilling from the chest’s seams. Stepping closer, he looked in and found thousands of Crests.

Bella neighed. 

Are you happy?

Cass stared at her. “What?”

Bella scraped the ground with her hoof. You were sad, so I went out and helped people. Like you would.

Cass was still processing things as the panic he felt during the run over began to ebb and bleed away. “I was sad, so you decided to help people to make me happy?”

Yes! Did it work?

His eyes moved from the Crests to Bella, still looking down, to Adya, who had an unknowable look on her face. Judging only by the emotions he felt from her, he thought it was something like softness.

With a gentle hand, Cass lifted his Bonded’s face up to meet his own, then lightly kissed her snout.

“You make me happy, Bella. You, Adya, and my friends. That’s all I’ll ever need.”

Hugging her neck, he felt her grow as she hugged him back by pulling him nearer. Adya came close and joined in, and they stood like that for a time.

Bella broke the hug first.

I perceive thy pleasure to be reward enough for my efforts.

“Sure.”

“What do we do with the Crests?” Adya asked, looking at the loose wealth. “They’re not ours. Essentially, we stole them.”

“Mmm…I have an idea.”