Jane’s bed at the academy might have been more expensive, but it wasn’t really any better than the bed she’d inherited in Glenfall. Furthermore, her new home was quiet in a way her room in the capital hadn’t been. The whole ‘first night in a new place’ experience was more restful than Jane had dared to hope.

  The next morning, for the first time in a long time, she found herself drifting pleasantly out of a long, deep, unbroken sleep. No stress had woken her up in the middle of the night. The morning contained no important-seeming duties to force her out of bed in a hurry.

  She stretched and dug her head down into the pillow, not even thinking about leaving yet.

  It was only five minutes before she got up in earnest, but those five minutes made a world of difference. She felt so relaxed as she pulled her brush through the tangles in her hair, gathered all the strands into a manageable braid, and got dressed. As she put on the second of her two comfortable dresses, she realized she’d probably have to get more clothes soon.

  Today, she’d be cleaning and exploring. Wizard robes and traveling clothes, which formed the majority of the clothing she owned, weren’t suitable for either activity.

  The upper room still had a bit of dust and dirt here and there, but nothing a quick once-over with a wet rag and mop wouldn’t fix. Jane decided to leave that work for later, if she handled it today at all. Downstairs was a much more pressing issue. There was just as much dust as there had been the night before, and she was coming to the conclusion that magic couldn’t or shouldn’t help her with it.

  Now that the neighbors know I’m here, creating whirlwinds at street level isn’t the best idea, she thought as she stood at the bottom of the stairs. Someone would see, and I’d be right back to being an archmage candidate again.

  The night before had been a bit of an exhausted rush. With dawn just peeking through the windows, Jane inspected the ground floor in earnest for the first time. She was struck by how many tables there were, and by the variety of their shapes and sizes. It took her a moment to make sense of them, but then the over-large iron ovens set into the wall reminded her that this place had been a bakery. Bakeries needed space to show off their goods, after all.

  She walked slowly around the floor, studying the heavy wooden counter and the old-style register. It ran on gears and levers rather than more magical mechanics. Overall, she decided she liked the place a great deal.

  Her urge to clean it intensified.

  There were problems in the way of her getting right to this task, though. First, for all the useful items the previous owner had left, a broom and mop were nowhere to be found. Jane needed cleaning clothes, soap, and polish, among other things. More urgently, her stomach was telling her that one big dinner had not been nearly enough to make up for the calories she had burned during a long journey.

  Oh well. There’s no hurry. I wonder if anyone around here has bacon?

  Slipping on her shoes, she cracked the door open and stepped out onto a street that was surprisingly busy for the early hour. Folks were working, chatting, and sweeping off storefront stoops as other people passed them on their way to their day’s work.

  She simply looked around at it all for a moment, wondering which direction was mostly likely to lead her to breakfast. Finally, she chose one at random. They all looked good, really.

  The sun was still rising over the lake. It was so beautiful, all shining and silvery-watered, that she slowed her pace to take it in better through the gaps in the buildings. It was a lot like the scenes artists chose to paint, except alive and moving in a way she couldn’t have imagined before.

  The cool mountain air bit into her skin. It was deliciously shivery, anchoring her in the moment and pulling her full, delighted attention to the wonderful little buildings and the perfect little streets.

  All the wonder did tend to take one’s attention off the street itself, though. Not watching her feet or the road in front of her meant she was completely surprised when she absentmindedly rammed into an entire person, knocking herself down to the cobblestones.

  “Whoa, there, Jane.” Frank smiled and offered his hand to help her up. “I don’t blame you, though. I never get used to the sun over the lake.”

  “I thought you’d be out there already,” she said, accepting his help a little bashfully. “I don’t know much about fishing, but doesn’t your day start pretty early?”

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  “Oh, it does, but not today. This is more or less my day off. I’ll be fixing my nets and playing checkers for most of it, but the wife likes having a nice slow morning with me, too. Demands it, really.” He scratched the side of his beard with his index finger. “Where are you headed to?”

  “I thought I’d find breakfast. And then maybe a place to buy brooms?”

  “Folks do tend to be hungry after traveling. You want a big breakfast, right? Hot food?”

  Jane’s stomach, blind to social niceties, chose that moment to growl so loudly that anyone on the street could have heard it. Frank laughed out loud, actually slapping his knee before taking her lightly by the shoulder and pointing down the road.

  “That answers that, I guess. There’s plenty of people selling the kind of food you eat while you walk, but for what you need, you are going to be looking for a little brick building with a red roof. Mind you, it’s a small place. It might not look like what you are used to, but just tell them Frank says you are new in town and hungry. They’ll take care of you.”

  Frank took his leave then, wishing her a good day and walking briskly towards his own sort of fun. Jane took a moment to get her bearings, then set off.

  It was a pleasant quarter-mile before she found the building, which was somehow even smaller than Frank had made it seem. The structure was somewhere in-between that of a small shack and a food stand. An open window in the front was lined with a deep counter and stools.

  “Hey there!” A wide-built woman inside the shack looked up from her grill and waved. “What are you looking for?”

  “Hi. Frank sent me. He said to tell you I’m new in town, and that I’m hungry.”

  The woman startled Jane by dropping her spatula and roaring with laughter. Then she picked her tool back up and waved in apologetic dismissal of her own outburst.

  “Sorry, girl. It’s just that he knows me too well. If I had known you were here, I would have already sent some food by. It’s a little tradition of mine. Call it advertising, if you like. I want people to know where the eggs and ham are.” The woman held out a meaty, slightly greasy hand. “I’m Bella.”

  “Jane.” With the urge to wipe her hand on her skirt successfully resisted, Jane took a seat on one of the stools. “I’m glad to meet you. What’s good here?”

  “Glad to meet you too. And the answer is everything. You just got done traveling, I take it? You are that kind of hungry?”

  “Yup!”

  “Then just trust me.” The woman grabbed a pitcher from behind the counter and poured Jane a tall glass of juice, slamming it down on the counter. “Drink that, and I’ll get started.”

  It was incredible to watch the woman work. Jane had a sense of what a master in motion looked like, but that mostly applied only to the arts of magic. Still, she saw some of the same confident beauty of movement here, even if it was now applied to cracking eggs, flipping potato hash, and frying bacon to a perfect reddish-brown.

  When the woman had been working for a few moments, she reached into a bag and pulled out a large, flat piece of bread, shoveling all the cooked food on the grill into it before folding it in on itself. She slapped the newly-bound packet onto a plate and put it in front of Jane, whose mouth watered in appreciation.

  “That should do it. Let me know what you think.”

  Jane barely managed a nod before her hands were on the food. The first bite was so good, she felt her eyes watering as the perfect combination of crunch, savory, and salt flowed across her tongue. Abandoning all thoughts of propriety, she devoured every ounce of the breakfast and drained her juice. Then she sat back, feeling a sort of woozy, glad warmth flow over her.

  “That’s the look we like to see.” Bella glanced down the street, seemed to satisfy herself that no other customers were in range, and dropped her elbows on the counter as she bellied up to the window. “Satisfied?”

  Jane gave a happy sigh. “Oh, yes. I doubt anyone in the capital could have done better.”

  “The capital, huh? That’s a fair trek. I’m not surprised you were starving.” Bella refilled Jane’s glass and nudged the juice towards her. “Drink that. It’s good for filling up corners. What brings you to Glenfall, anyway?”

  “This and that.” Jane waved her hand vaguely. “Mostly I just wanted a change. I’m in the old bakery down the way.”

  “Are you? You must have spent the morning sneezing. It’s nothing but dust and old flour in there.”

  “Well, yes. That’s sort of why I’m out and about so early. Besides breakfast, of course. Do you know of any place I could buy things? Cleaning things, I mean. And the kinds of things you need for a house. Brooms, cloths, pots and pans. Things like that.”

  “You’ll want the tinker. Just give me a second.” Bella straightened, rummaged around her shop until she found a piece of paper and a charcoal pencil, and made some quick marks on it. “Some directions. Glenfall’s a nice place, but I can’t say the roads here follow rules very well. Just turn where this says to turn, and you’ll get there.”

  Jane let her breakfast settle for a few more minutes. She stayed long enough to make small talk with Bella, whom Jane was finding she liked just fine.

  In the city, formal courtesy was an important aspect of every interaction. Jane was surprised to find that even without a speck of that trained politeness, there was nothing impolite about Bella at all. She was loud and informal, but there hadn’t been a single second when she had made Jane feel out-of-place.

  “Good to meet you!” Bella slid Jane’s coins across the counter and pocketed them with no hesitation, relieving Jane of any worries she wouldn’t be allowed to pay for the best breakfast of her life. “Just remember where breakfast is, all right?”

  “Will do, Bella.” Jane hesitated a moment, then decided to say something she normally wouldn’t. “And you know where I live now! Stop by any time.”

  Bella laughed.

  “Thanks. I just might!”

  Full of food, and so cheerful that she verged on tipsy, Jane headed out towards the tinker.

  Somewhere in her heart, she had a sneaking suspicion that she had just met a friend.