/The best neighbors share everything: sugar, salt, problems...
“The First Hundred Years at the Court of the Vellian Empire,” Best Vlaiysky/
Lin was used to weirdness. For many years now, it had been a part of her everyday life, and there was no point in being surprised by it anymore.
In this world, magic was everywhere. It was bought and sold, used in daily chores, and no event of any significance could happen without it. Not like back home, where magic only lived in fairy tales… But home was lost forever.
Now, instead of a sprawling metropolis, she was surrounded by a quiet village. A few hours’ walk away was the border with the realm of non-humans; a bit to the east lay the Temple Lands, and to the north, you could see the plains of the Vellian Empire. It was the perfect place to hide from the past and start life with a clean slate.
Until now, Lin had believed she’d succeeded. She and her husband were content with their small, tidy house on the outskirts, their modest farm (which seemed to have sprung up on its own and somehow stuck), the noisy neighbors, and even the prospect of spending many more years in this backwater.
Unfortunately, some people went out of their way to disrupt their peaceful life with unnecessary problems.
“What do you think, oh magic-less enchantress of ours?”
Enchantress… What nonsense. She had no gift, only a resistance to magic and an innate ability to shatter weak spells. But the nickname had stuck.
“Don’t you think this is a bit too bold?”
Lin frowned and shot a reproachful look at the fiery redhead twirling in front of the mirror, who was supposed to be her best… well, worst friend.
“One of these days, you’re gonna get yourself in real trouble, Zel,” she warned quietly. “Stealing from a palace is the epitome of stupidity.”
“Ha! I’m a goddess, in case you forgot! No one can catch me!”
Sure, the world worshipped Zelina as the Goddess of Life. She’d abandoned her temple out of boredom, gotten herself tangled in an adventure, and then arranged a voluntary exile to keep up the legend.
Everything has a flip side. A thirst for adventure led to friendship, friendship to responsibility, and responsibility… What do you do when two of your friends are outlaws, and the third, who’s worse than a friend, can’t even step outside in her true form?
Zelina had joined the fugitives and, at first, reveled in the simple pleasures of life. But over the years, it became clear this little corner of the world wasn’t to her taste. Why not just give up, return to her temple, and forget her friends? Yet she endured real and imagined hardships, getting on everyone’s nerves and practically begging for a good scolding.
“Someone might spot you,” Lin reminded her without much enthusiasm. “In case you forgot, you’re officially in eternal exile with me, Kari, and Mark. If they see you, the whole world will know we didn’t end up in the Beastlands as the emperor ordered, but are living it up right under his nose.” She glanced sadly out the open window, where, beyond the drooping burdock leaves and wild rose bushes wilting in the midday heat, the neighbor’s house was visible. “And anyway, don’t interrupt me while I’m making lunch. You’ve got your own living room, your own mirror, and your own husband, who’s bound by marriage vows to listen to your complaints.”
“I’m not complaining, I’m bragging!” Zelina’s green eyes flashed dangerously. “I’ve got a new dress! With a crinoline. A museum piece!”
“Stolen.”
“Gorgeous!”
“Someone else’s.”
“Well, you’re someone else’s too!”
Zelina got genuinely mad. She spun around on her high heels, nearly drilling holes into the rug, and stormed out through the open door.
“Get lost!” she yelled at a bright red rooster who considered himself the master of this homestead and zealously guarded its territory. “I’ll wring your neck!”
Unfazed, he pecked at the scattering of precious gems adorning her new outfit, then strutted off, satisfied they weren’t edible.
“One day, these beasts are gonna eat you alive!” the goddess threatened as she hurried toward the gate. “I hate birds!”
Lin shrugged and headed to the kitchen. She returned to the task Zelina had interrupted. No, not to pondering wonders or a world where people weren’t fazed by magic—she hadn’t seriously thought about that in ages. Even her own connection to sorcery felt like a given. Once, her friend had declared, “Resistance is a power too. No magic doesn’t mean you’re not a mage, but more like… what’s the word? Someone who helps good folks, banishes evil spells… You know the rhyme? Oh right, how would you, you’re from another world… Enchantress!”
Lin had protested, but who could argue with a goddess? In the end, she’d had to accept the label. Helping out? Always happy to. Breaking things? As it happens. Even real mages made mistakes. Truth be told, though, Lin preferred to just be a regular villager.
Right now, her mind wasn’t on the world’s problems or magic, but on something as mundane as lunch.
Zelina, of course, wasn’t bothered by such trivialities. Magic let her conjure dishes from the finest chefs of human kingdoms. Stolen, naturally—she couldn’t cook to save her life and had no desire to learn. Oh, she’d talk a big game, claiming she put in so much effort that her heart might give out from the strain. But in reality, it always ended with burnt scrambled eggs.
A gust of wind scattered chopped onions across the table and sent a cloud of flour into the air.
“I didn’t close the door,” Lin muttered, wiping her hands and adjusting her loose summer dress (the clothing in this world was surprisingly comfortable) before reaching to shut the window and stop the draft.
“Darn it!” she exclaimed, because something suspicious was happening beyond the fence. “Kari! Chase off the ducks!”
“Why?” came a deep voice from somewhere above, belonging to the person she loved more than life itself.
Well, not exactly a person. Kari was a shapeshifter, but that didn’t matter to their family.
“They’re eating the diamonds off the stolen dress!”
“That’s Zelina’s problem.”
“It’s a problem for whoever has to treat their clogged stomachs. Can you guess the lucky names in three tries?”
Kari leapt down from the roof with ease, tossing a hammer and a handful of nails onto the porch.
“If I get another weather vane for my next birthday, I’m gonna be offended,” he said with a wide grin. “You should hint to Zelina that there are other things in the world.”
“Shh!” Lin pressed a finger to her lips, barely holding back a laugh. “She makes them herself from some book of designs. Admit it, this year she almost got it right.”
“So there’s still hope that after my hundredth birthday, I can start regifting her presents? Great.”
Kari disappeared beyond the gate, either saving the goddess from the brazen ducks or the ducks from the furious goddess. His tall, broad-shouldered figure, dressed in the light clothing typical of these parts, flashed across the neighbor’s yard. Lin smiled, imagining what was happening behind the rose bushes, especially since Zelina’s shouts were loud and clear, and Kari’s calm remarks carried just as well.
“Get your webbed monstrosities away from me!” the goddess screeched.
“Pick up your skirt, Zel,” Kari insisted.
Who would give in first? Most likely, the unlucky dress.
“I’m married to a Primal,” Lin still marveled at how that was possible.
Humans and non-humans had neither shared interests nor a future together. Despite the close proximity of Starilis—the only non-human state, occupying a good half of the continent—even the locals were prejudiced against other races.
She remembered how, early in their marriage, Zelina had predicted that Kari would have a tough time in the village. His striking looks and friendly nature would make him the prime target for flirtations from local women of all ages.
As it turned out, the goddess was wrong.
There weren’t any women around crazy enough to pursue him, and young widows preferred to pine alone or chase easier prey. It wasn’t because Lin and the shapeshifter’s union was a shining example of Great and Eternal Love, which Zelina didn’t believe in and often mocked. The explanation was much simpler.
No one in the village doubted that a family of genuine non-humans lived on the outskirts. If a neighbor hadn’t aged a day since buying her house with gold, the verdict of the local gossips was clear—not human. And the shapeshifter never hid his non-human nature.
Who needed extra trouble? Maybe some noble from the capital would’ve taken a chance, but villagers saw the world more practically. A non-human in the family brought more grief than joy. They were too ill-suited for domestic life, too alien from humans… And how could you spend your life with a being for whom you were just a fleeting part of eternity, and quite possibly not even the best part? Short flings were frowned upon in the village anyway.
A hiss from the stove reminded her it was time to turn away from the goddess-duck showdown and get back to cooking. Lin reluctantly closed the window and picked up a knife. She hated this, but she felt it was her duty to care for her friends, who were stuck in this nowhere place because of her.
It felt like just yesterday… She’d been yanked from her own world, given a stranger’s face, and turned into a pawn in court intrigues. In less than a full cycle of Runa and Runna, the months of this world, she’d been both a double for a Vellian princess and the princess herself. She’d resigned herself, almost submitted to fate… and then couldn’t resist rebelling.
Now, those who hadn’t stood by idly were paying the price for her freedom.
Kari, Zelina, Mark… Speaking of which, where was Mark? There’s no way he couldn’t have heard the goddess’s complaints.
His wife, by the way. Legally. Not particularly loved, but that wasn’t for neighbors to judge.
Lin tossed the last of the onions into the pan, swept up the spilled flour, and thought that some wonders still surprised her. Like the fact that Mark put up with this strange relationship, even though it had long stopped bringing joy to either him or Zelina.
“Why are you together?” Lin had once asked point-blank, unable to hold back.
“Because we don’t have the strength to part ways,” he’d replied. He added that he didn’t understand how he, a former guardsman who valued freedom above all and was enemy number two of the emperor himself (Lin held the top spot), had turned into a henpecked husband. Still, when you tie yourself to a goddess, you don’t complain about fate.
There was no great love, no wild passion. Well, no, there had been passion, but it quickly turned into habit. Then came the game of marriage under the disapproving glares of everyone around, endless arguments about everything under the sun, betrayals at every turn, jealousy more for appearances than anything else…
Once, Mark had honestly admitted that this charade had gone on too long. But he didn’t want to end it! He’d rather rewrite the script. However, his opinion didn’t matter much anymore.
“Where’d you disappear to?” Lin muttered, stirring the soup and keeping an eye on the onions to make sure they didn’t burn. “Did you two fight again? Not talking, ignoring each other? How childish…”
A quick glance out the window showed the duck conflict had been resolved. Zelina, hiking her dress up almost to her ears, was hurrying home, while Kari herded the feathered “livestock” into their yard.
“How are they?” Lin pushed the window open, and the breeze swept through the kitchen again.
“They’re staying home today,” the shapeshifter said, closing the gate. “I don’t want folks thinking our birds eat grass and poop out jewels every day. They already look at us funny… You know, usually, people raise these for meat, not for fun.”
“Admit it, ‘usually’ doesn’t apply to us.” Forgetting everything, Lin leaned out the window to return a quick kiss, then hissed as the edge of her apron caught fire. “Don’t distract me!”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“And you don’t have to be stuck in this godforsaken nowhere.”
“Hey, I’m actually obligated to!” Kari protested. “I was sentenced to eternal exile in the Beastlands, remember?”
Lin pushed the pan aside and took the soup off the open flame.
“Because of me,” she said, not looking at her husband. “I remember everything.”
“Let’s not compete,” he suggested. “Admit it, my mistakes would be enough for… What the heck is this?!”
His startled exclamation alarmed the enchantress. She flinched, and the next moment, long golden hair cascaded over her shoulders.
/5. Temple Lands – a territory between the lands of humans and non-humans, home to twelve temples./