Library of Rain

In the end, the bundle of clothes in Rain's arms was the deciding factor. No point ruining them just to toy with him. Even if it would be fun. 

 

She would have to ditch him before entering her library. If he saw her entering the library and waited long enough to see her leave, it might give away a significant weakness of her skill.

 

Turning a corner down an empty side street, Rain dropped a coin in a pile of ash. She kept walking for another fifteen minutes. Once sure they were far from where she dropped her coin, she ducked out of sight and warped to it. The coin spasmed out of existence as Rain backtracked to another deserted alley, then used a door to go home. 

 

Heading to her room, she sat on her bed and held up her new green dress. She wanted to put it on but realized it probably wouldn’t be a good choice if she hoped to play with Lon later. She put it down with regret; before she could, a strand of thread shot out of her cloak and attached to the dress. The dress disintegrated, starting at the point that the thread touched. It was gone before Rain could even try to save it. 

 

Rain turned betrayed eyes on her cloak. “Why would you do that.” 

 

She was fighting back tears at this point. Sure, It was stupid, but she had been really looking forward to wearing something colorful.  

 

Before the situation could escalate, the cloak rippled and shifted. In a matter of seconds, it was a perfect replica of the dress it had just eaten. 

 

Face immediately clearing up, Rain stood up and twirled around, enjoying the feel of the dress. The green really was a pretty color amidst the stark tones of the library. 

 

“Mr. Cloak, can you change back?”

 

The cloak shifted back to normal.

 

Delighted, Rain began feeding her cloak all the clothes she just bought. It ate everything except the goggles. Rain guessed it could only eat cloth things. Deciding to test this, Rain went to her hoard and picked out a necklace; her cloak wasn't even slightly interested. It did, however, eat a roll of scarlet silk. 

 

When Rain tried to turn her cloak into the roll of silk, it shifted material from the black cloth to elegant silk, otherwise retaining its shape. Excited, Rain experimented with the cloak and found it could take the form of any clothes it ate and change to be made of any fabric it ate.

 

With this discovery, Rain fed her cloak all the fabric in her hoard. It probably cost a small fortune, but she didn’t care; it was Agro’s money, after all. 

 

Once done, Rain shifted her clothes to proper Low Ring clothes, wrapped her goggles around her neck, and headed out to find Lon.

 

Leaving the library, she saw no sign of the boy following her. It looked like she had properly lost him. Keeping an eye out for other suspicious people, Rain set out for Lon’s bakery.

 

It took Rain a few minutes to find the bakery. She had to backtrack from the day she met Lon since she hadn’t been paying attention to where she was during the mad run that led her to bump into him. 

 

Once she found the place, she confidently entered and waited for her turn to buy something. When it was her turn, she reached up to place four opps on the counter and asked the man for a loaf of bread. 

 

The man behind the counter, who Rain assumed was Lon’s father, swept the coins off the counter into a purse at his waist. Then he took a small loaf off the rack behind him and wordlessly handed it to Rain before looking at the next customer. 

 

Not seeing Lon, Rain decided to ask his father.

 

“Is Lon here?”

 

The man looked at her for a second, then gruffly said, “Talon’s fetching water from the well.” before returning to his current customer.

 

Rain decided to go outside and eat her loaf while she waited for Lon to return. After a few minutes, she saw him coming down the street carrying a heavy-looking bucket of water. His pants and shoes were wet from water spilling as he struggled to haul it back to the bakery.

 

Running up to him, Rain waved and smiled. She hadn’t realized how excited she was to see him again.

 

“Want some help with that?” she asked as she came into earshot.

 

“Oh, hay. I thought something happened to you.” Lon said in a strained voice as he struggled with his water. “I would love some help, but I don’t think there's a good way to carry a bucket of water together.”

 

Realizing that he was probably right, Rain stayed a little ahead of him so she could open whatever door he needed to take his water through.

 

A handful of grunts from Lon later, they were in the bakery kitchen where Lon could set his bucket down.

 

“Thanks for getting the door for me. That bucket is heavy.”

 

“Of course. Do you want to play today?” 

 

After being unable to ask the last time she talked with Lon, Rain decided to waste no time asking the important questions. 

 

“Sorry, Pa needs me to help around the bakery.”

 

The immediate rejection hit her right in the gut. The crushing blow almost made her give up. Then she thought about what he had actually said. He’d said he needed to help around the bakery, not that he couldn’t play when he was done.

 

Rain decided to try one more time.

 

“Can we play when you finish? I'll help you with your work until then.” She thought she did a good job keeping the worry out of her voice.

 

Lon was about to say something but hesitated when he noticed her unconsciously clutching her shirt.

 

“All right.”