The Present.

  Coin followed the clerk deeper into the vacant building, the floorboards creaking and echoing under every step. A step of mildew and ash hung thick in the air, near choking, and Coin could see signs of rot eating into parts of the floor. The walls, red brick, had lasted fair better under the throes of time and neglect. But mold and soot stains had still taken root on the masonry.

  Shokley Gaitz, a clerk from the Land Office, managed a small smile as he glanced back at Coin. “Admittedly, Ser Thaeka, this office has been untouched for the better part of a decade. It could do with some spit and polish, I’ll admit, but I have no doubt the right hand could really make it shine.”

  Coin examined the interior, mentally creating a layout of where he could put desks, filing cabinets and a storage area. It wasn’t a pretty building, he’d admit, but it was leagues better than the last three Gaitz had shown him. And property in the Spokes was hard to come by these days, alas.

  Coin nodded to himself. “And the roof doesn’t leak?”

  “Oh no sir, not at all. The tiles are sturdy, haven’t been touched by time. The old owner may not have been an adept businessman. But, as he ran a printing press, he took the threat of rainfall rather seriously.” He forced a smile, lifting the drooping ends of his ashen moustache.

  Coin nodded in understanding. “And this is the last vacant lot in the Spokes?” he asked.

  “Sadly. At least, for property of this particular size,” Gaitz replied, nodding. “Business is ‘booming’ in Arcadia these days.”

  Coin nodded again. Property in the Merchant’s Quarter had been even harder to come by, and far more expensive. Coin’s business ambitions wouldn’t have gone far if the rent was cataclysmic right out of the gate. Start small, he told himself, just like Elijah did.

  “I’ll take it,” he said.

  The clerk blinked at him from behind his thick glasses. “Truly?”

  “Truly. Have the proper paperwork sent along to my home.” Domajor could handle the majority of it.

  “Right away!” Gaitz practically clicked his heels and took off at a speedy trot. Coin followed after him, his hands in the pockets of his longcoat. They parted ways once outside, Gaitz leaving a thick padlock on the front door. It wasn’t Coin’s yet, after all.

  Essine emerged from a smoky alleyway just across the street. She tended to dress more humbly when out in pblic, and had adorned herself in a shabby coat and leather trousers, over which sat a hooded grey cloak. “This place is...” the kobold wrinkled he snout, trying to find words that weren’t overtly insulting. “It’s... it... has character.”

  “Yes, I know, it’s shabby,” Coin sad. “But beggars can’t be choosers.”

  Two months had passed since Coin expressed his desire to become a merchant king, time that had been spent researching Elijah’s journals, and every book on the merchant’ trade that he could find. He had put a good deal of time and consideration into his plans, and the time had finally come to get the gears in motion.

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  “The carpenters should have the desks and cabinets ready come the end of the week, and by then all the paperwork will be dealt with. All we need then is just to get some workers to man the wagons I bought, and clerks to handle the paperwork.”

  Essine nodded slowly. “This one... has had some thoughts on that,” she eventually said.

  Coin smiled and leaned in closer. “Really?” he asked, excitement shining in his eyes. When she looked at him, saw that youthful exuberance he radiated, she found it so hard to believe he wasn’t human. That beneath that handsome face lurked a mimic who, by complete accident, had become as smart as a human.

  Deep down Essine knew how lucky the world was that Elijah had been one of the first people Coin had met on the surface. A good man who Coin strove to emulate, making him a good man in turn.

  “It is... perhaps not the done thing. But if you seek hard workers who do not expect much pay...” She glanced down the smoky street ahead of them, gesturing to a team of scruffy kobolds carefully bringing piles of lumber into a nearby mill.

  “Hiring kobolds,” Coin mused, rubbing his chin. He knew full well how literate the kobolds were as a species. A nearly innate, magical talent to grasp text and numbers. Most were content to write the rat-like people off as barely smarter than beasts, but Coin understood the truth of the matter. “Could work,” he eventually said. “We only need a few, but I think that’s a fine idea Essine.”

  A bight smile graced her face. “This one is glad. They likely won’t need much convincing.”

  “Anything’s a step up from back breaking labour in a factory out here.” Coin paused, tucking one hand into his coat pocket. “But don’t think I’ll pay the kobolds less than what I’d pay a human.”

  Essine’s smile broadened. “This one never doubted you.”

  “Well, come on, let’s-”

  Coin froze in place for several seconds, his expression growing grave as if something had just taken a hard grip on his brain. Essine froze, staring at him with mounting worry. This was not the first time she had seen Coin completely freeze up in the past fortnight. It seemed to happen at complete random, something unseen and unknowable that left Coin entranced.

  Essine had seen that distant look from only one other person in the past, and the memory sent a grim shudder through her whole body. Her grandmother, in her twilight years, had drifted off in a similar way on occasion. Betrayed by her own mind.

  “C-Coin?” Essine asked.

  Coin blinked repeatedly, trying to fill away the fog in his brain. “I...” He swallowed hard. He looked around, lost, until he gradually recalled where he was standing. “Sorry. I got distracted.”

  “That... was no mere distraction. And it is not the first time this one has seen you drift off.”

  The mimic grimaced, staring briefly skyward. In truth even he didn’t know how to describe the sensation. It was like an intense wave washing over him, an unseen pressure that overwrote everything else in his brain.

  And whenever the feeling passed, only one thought lingered in his head.

  ‘Colony.’

  Whatever that meant.

  He sighed, pinching at the bridge of his nose. “Maybe it’s stress. Or my mind running away from me.” Or perhaps, a particularly dark and nasty fear in the back of his mind, the potion that gave him intelligence was starting to weaken. That his old animal mind was going to gradually pull his intelligence away, bit by bit, each lapse of consciousness becoming longer and coming by quicker than the last. Until, ultimately, all traces of ‘Coin’ were subsumed.

  He wanted to say that that was a ridiculous thought. He had been intelligent for months, without any trace of his mind failing. If anything, he had only grown smarter over time. Yet he couldn’t discount the feeling entirely.

  “This one would suggest seeing a healer, were it not for...” She motioned to the entirety of Coin’s body. It wouldn’t take long for any half-decent medicine man to quickly see something odd about Coin.

  “I know, I know.” He set off walking at a brisk pace, and Essine followed his lead. “I’ll look into it down the line. But, for now... let’s try and focus on the business.”

  “If you are sure-”

  “I am. Trust me,” Coin said, offering her a small smile. They had so much to do, only barely laying the groundwork for their efforts. He couldn’t afford to get bogged down in strange, disorienting daydreams.

  Hopefully Pearl was fulfilling her side of things.