Their stay in Boating lasted only three days.
During that time, Lily performed beside Whimsy Warbler while Robin hunted and foraged with the tall archer, selling whatever meat, hides, herbs, and mushrooms they brought back. The short brother remained mostly inside the rented room, recovering from Robin's arrow, while the muscular brother earned copper through heavy labor around the village—cutting wood, unloading carts, moving barrels, and lifting anything other men found troublesome.
The fat brother stayed near Lily.
He helped wherever the innkeeper found work for them, but his main task was clearly to watch her. Lily hated having her rope in his hand, yet after what had happened with the travelers inside the inn, she also found herself feeling strangely safer whenever he stood nearby. Men still stared, but very few tried anything while the enormous brother loomed behind her with a large knife hanging from his belt.
Of course she did not still trust him, but she trusted strangers even less.
By the end of the third day, the old innkeeper and his wife had allowed the group to stay without paying for the room. Lily had taught them several simple recipes, improved their stew, and shown them how to make better use of mushrooms, herbs, eggs, and cheap cuts of meat.
Their earnings were less impressive.
Most of the money came from Lily and Whimsy's performances. Together, they filled two small leather pouches with copper—enough to pay for food, basic supplies, and shelter, but nowhere near the fortune the brothers had imagined.
They also spent much of those three days testing Lily's supposed witchcraft.
Lily preferred to call it druidic magic. It sounded less likely to end with her being burned at the stake.
First, the brothers brought her to a flock of chickens and ordered her to prove that the birds obeyed her.
Lily tried to explain that her abilities did not work like mind control. She understood animals better than most people and could sometimes influence them through familiarity, trust, food, or repeated training. She could not simply command every creature she encountered.
The brothers did not care.
So Lily crouched near the flock and attempted diplomacy.
"Come," she called softly. "Form line. Military formation."
Several chickens approached, drawn by her voice. They gathered around her feet, wandered in circles, and almost formed something resembling a line before realizing Lily had brought no grain.
Their discipline immediately collapsed.
Whimsy suggested music.
Lily sighed and began singing.
The chickens gathered around her again. A few settled upon the ground and closed their eyes, apparently deciding that her voice made excellent sleeping music. Others followed her across the yard, clucking curiously and waiting for food to appear.
For one glorious moment, they almost marched behind her like soldiers.
The village children watching from nearby cheered.
The tall archer did not.
"That is enough."
The chickens scattered.
"I tell you," Lily said. "Not mind control. Give me month—or year—and maybe I train them. Not instant."
The brothers remained unconvinced.
Next came the pigs.
The fat brother lifted Lily beneath the arms, carried her to a nearby pen, and tossed her over the fence.
She landed knee-deep in mud among two enormous pigs and four smaller ones. All six animals turned toward her in startled silence.
Lily slowly stood.
"What I supposed do now?"
The fat man leaned against the fence and laughed.
"You're always claiming to be clever and full of useful skills. Pigs are clever too. Have a conversation."
Lily prepared an insult.
Then one of the larger animals approached.
It looked less like a domestic pig and more like a small boar. Coarse hair covered its broad body, curved tusks protruded beside its mouth, and it was considerably larger than Lily.
She went rigid.
This was the first time in either of her lives that she had stood face-to-face with such an animal.
Robin immediately stepped toward the fence, but the tall archer caught his shoulder and held him back. The man appeared interested in seeing whether Lily could actually accomplish anything.
The boar stopped before her.
Its hot breath struck her face.
Lily remained perfectly still as it sniffed her hair, cloak, hands, and pouches.
Then it decided she was neither food nor a threat and returned to rooting through the mud.
The others followed.
Within moments, all six pigs had accepted Lily as an unimportant new member of the pen.
She turned and glared at the fat brother.
He shrugged.
The tall archer seemed mildly interested. Robin released a breath of relief. The muscular brother groaned, apparently disappointed that there had been no bloodshed.
Whimsy Warbler, meanwhile, had already begun inventing a song about Lily, Princess of Pigs.
The short brother missed the entire event. He was still asleep at the inn.
After that came the brothers' grandest idea yet.
Cow cavalry.
They could not afford horses, so perhaps Lily could tame cattle for them to ride instead.
Lily was honestly curious. She had never encountered a cow in this life and had spent very little time around cattle in her previous one, so the idea of riding one did not seem entirely impossible.
The village possessed only twelve cattle, watched over by an elderly herdsman who agreed to allow the experiment for ten copper coins.
The tall archer handed over the money with visible pain.
Then Lily was pushed toward the herd.
The cows remained calm as she approached. One large, hairy animal even allowed Lily to climb carefully onto its broad back.
For several glorious moments, she believed the plan might work.
She sat upright, lifted one hand, and imagined herself leading Albion's first elite cattle cavalry into battle.
Then Robin, Whimsy, and the brothers approached for a closer look.
The herd panicked at once.
Lily shrieked and wrapped both arms around the cow's neck as it thundered across the field. The other cattle scattered in every direction, sending the brothers diving out of the way while the old farmer chased after them, shouting curses at everyone involved.
Whimsy laughed so hard that he dropped to his knees.
The experiment ended shortly afterward.
Finally, as evening settled over Boating and the last daylight faded behind the inn, the brothers brought Lily into the yard and ordered her to make something grow.
This, at least, she could do.
Lily knelt in a bare patch of soil and pressed both palms flat against the ground. She could have focused upon a single flower or plant, but that would hardly impress anyone.
Instead, she reached outward.
The light-heart stirred inside her chest.
Warm white energy flowed through her body, down her arms, and into the earth beneath her hands. A faint glow gathered around her palms, barely visible beneath the deepening dusk.
For several moments, nothing happened.
Then the ground began to change.
Tiny green shoots broke through the soil. Existing grass thickened and spread. Wild herbs grew taller, leaves unfurled, and thin stems rose toward the darkening sky. Flowers opened one after another around Lily, their colors spreading outward from her in a widening circle.
The brothers watched in silence as life bloomed before them.
For nearly half an hour, Lily continued feeding energy into the ground. The circle expanded steadily until the yard behind the inn had become a small field of grass, herbs, and wildflowers large enough to fill a shallow pond.
It was beautiful, but it was also exhausting.
By the time Lily finally pulled her hands away, sweat covered her face and her arms trembled from the strain. She sat back on her heels, breathing hard but smiling proudly at what she had created.
Robin and Whimsy stared in open amazement. Even the fat and muscular brothers looked impressed.
The tall archer studied the flower-filled clearing without changing expression.
"Too slow," he said.
The short brother, who had dragged himself from the rented room to watch, nodded thoughtfully.
"Half an hour for flowers, and the girl can barely stand afterward. She could do it again after resting, perhaps, but not often enough to make us rich."
Lily's smile faded.
The two men were not interested in beauty, farming, or what her power might accomplish with patience. They wanted fast money. They wanted gold without years of planting, harvesting, trading, and building connections.
To them, magic that required time and effort was hardly magic at all.
"Enough," the archer decided. "We'll find something more profitable."
Still, the short brother refused to waste what she had grown. He ordered Lily and Robin to gather the best flowers and herbs, then sold the bundle inside the village for three copper coins.
Three copper was more than an ordinary loaf of bread cost. With it, they bought one large, freshly baked loaf—soft, warm, and golden beneath the crust.
Lily stared at it almost reverently.
At least the flowers had created something useful.
But the experiment had convinced the brothers that her magic was not the effortless fountain of wealth they had imagined. Lily could calm animals slightly and encourage plants to grow, but neither talent would fill their purses quickly.
That led them to discuss the easier alternative.
Selling her.
They spoke openly in front of Lily as though discussing a rare horse.
Her unusual appearance, singing voice, foreign knowledge, and possible magic could earn them a fortune from the right buyer. Some guessed several gold coins. Others imagined dozens—or even hundreds—if they first spread her name, proved her abilities, and allowed her reputation to grow.
The short brother argued that selling her immediately would bring fast money.
The tall archer was less certain. Lily's performances already earned steady copper, and a famous magical singer might eventually be worth far more than one quick payment.
Robin's expression darkened with every word.
Lily felt sick.
At last, the brothers assured them that Lily would not be sold as long as she continued earning enough coin to justify keeping her.
That was not comforting.
Still, to Lily's relief, they never discovered the true extent of her healing. They did not ask her to mend wounds or test the light-heart upon strangers.
Instead, they abandoned their magical experiments and returned her to the work they understood.
Singing, cooking, cleaning, and drawing customers with her strange appearance.
By the third day, Boating had little left to offer them. Most villagers had already heard Lily perform, and few possessed enough spare copper to pay twice. Some offered food instead.
One boy brought a small wooden lion he had carved himself, along with a piece of bread.
The brothers rejected both.
Lily watched the disappointed child walk away while the fat brother complained that toys could not purchase ale.
That final evening, the short brother counted their earnings twice.
Two modest pouches of copper lay before him, along with one precious silver coin given by a young merchant who had particularly enjoyed Lily's singing.
The tall archer studied the money, then their patched clothing, worn boots, and miserable equipment. Nearby, Lily sat repairing one of their cloaks with thread and needles purchased from a village woman.
At last, he made his decision.
"Pack everything," he ordered. "We'll find better coin nearer the coast."
And just like that, the four brothers, Robin, Whimsy Warbler, and Lily left Boating behind.
They continued south through rain and mud, following the road past scattered farms built in tight square formations like tiny wooden forts.
Several days later, the wooden walls of Folktown rose before them.
Despite its equally uninspired name, Folktown was larger than any settlement Lily had yet seen.
A tall palisade surrounded crowded rows of timber houses with steep roofs painted in faded shades of blue. Wooden watchtowers stood above the gates, and beyond the rooftops Lily could see a small harbor containing fishing boats and one broad-bellied merchant ship.
A blue banner flew above the entrance, displaying a silver gauntlet clenched into a fist.
The guards wore the same symbol upon their tabards over rough mail armor. Their metal helmets partly concealed their faces, while their mismatched spears, axes, swords, and shields made them look almost as much like bandits as soldiers.
They watched every traveler with hard, suspicious eyes.
These were men who expected trouble and disliked everyone who might bring it.
The group remained in Folktown for several weeks.
Lily and Whimsy performed wherever an audience could be gathered: inside inns, across market squares, at the docks, and even within the hall of the town's young mayor.
The mayor was a spoiled little boy who had inherited the position after his father drowned at sea. He sat in a large chair with his mother beside him, while several older half-brothers—illegitimate sons of the dead mayor—served as his guards, advisers, and reluctant council.
Their mothers, all former servants of the old mayor, continued working throughout the crowded hall while quietly competing for influence.
Medieval inheritance was deeply strange.
Robin continued hunting with the tall archer. The other brothers accepted whatever work they could find, although they sometimes returned to the inn with black eyes, split lips, blood upon their hands, or coins they refused to explain.
Even Robin occasionally returned breathing heavily, muddy from head to foot, and looking as though he had taken part in some heroic battle.
Lily assumed they had started another tavern brawl.
The weeks passed in that fashion, until eventually, the sea took them.
The brothers purchased passage aboard a merchant cog carrying iron ore from Albion's coastal mines. The ore was bound for Tiefland, where mainland smiths supposedly possessed the furnaces and skill to turn it into metal far finer than anything commonly produced in Albion.
The crossing lay directly between the island and the continent, a dangerous stretch of water known as Uther's Crossing.
As Folktown disappeared behind them, Lily stood aboard the crowded merchant vessel and watched Albion's coastline sink beneath the horizon.
Ahead waited the Merchant Republic of Tiefland.
And, according to the brothers, real money.