Two Birds, One Stone

By Julie Reeser

Up until a month ago, Scarlett would've been working her filching fingers to the bone for the Queen. Official business only. No time for frivolity. Since the disaster with the gnome caravan, she's been blacklisted. Now, her ambition comes from a different source. Hunger. When a lovely young fairy invites Scarlett to a Switching Eve party, she can't say no to free food. But is the fabulous fare worth the price of entry?

 

The original short story that started it all. Two Birds, One Stone sets the stage for the included creative scavenger solo-rpg. Player sheets included.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Julie Reeser
• Release date: Jun 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201521660

Book preview

Two Birds, One Stone

By Julie Reeser

Fairies rushed through crowded market aisles searching out last minute ingredients for their Switching Night Eve parties. Up until a month ago, Scarlett would’ve been working her fingers to the bone for the Queen. Official business only. No time for frivolity.

Now, her practicality came from a different source. Hunger. Since the disaster with the gnome caravan, she’d been blacklisted. Persona non grata. How was she to know the were-bone daggers had been a set-up? Had the Queen really expected a filch of her caliber not to steal one? And she would have gotten away with it, too, if those grubby gnomes hadn’t been planning the whole embarrassment. A show of the Queen’s unfaithfulness, they’d said. A breach of trust, they’d said. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, they’d said. Well, Scarlett would land on her feet; she just needed a little more time. And some coin.

With a casual lean, she slipped her hand into the maw of a distracted fairy’s purse. As the woman argued with a clerk about the lack of ApplePips in stock, Scarlett’s hand closed around a thin wallet. Before she could pull her prize free, another shopper bumped Scarlett’s elbow. She dropped the wallet and turned her body to face the row of tinned fruits, pretending nonchalance over disappointment. The fairy heaved on her purse’s thick shoulder strap and followed the slouching clerk away to find the item in question. Scarlett scowled.

If she’d caught you, she’d have turned you into a toad and paid the penalty without complaint. Lady Eldain is the worst kind of scold – all hot and no humor. A young fairy, no older than one hundred or so, whispered to Scarlett as she reached to grab a box of acorn tarts from the shelf.

She looked Scarlett over from head to toe. Are you hungry or just naughty?

Both, I suppose, answered Scarlett. Her stomach punctuated this truth with a rumble.

"C’mon, then. Grandmama never says no to a needy fairy on Switching Eve. Just mind you keep your hands out of her pockets. My name is Banks. Yours?"

The girl stood a full stretch over Scarlett’s head and smelled of marsh grasses. An Easterner, then. Hands-in-the-dirt Folk as opposed to the sparkle and glitz of Flower Families. As much as she needed a free meal, Scarlett didn’t think she could face the Flower nobility in her current turn of the wheel. Oh, she’d have accepted, but she’d have hated it. With an Easterner, she was doing them a favor. They loved to help the downtrodden. It was kind of their thing.

Scarlett. And, I’d be grateful.

S’alright. Like I said, Grandmama takes Switching her own way. ‘Can’t be feeding some wet-eyed babe when our own wander the city with empty hands and hollow middles’, she says.

Scarlett scampered to keep up as the girl bobbed and weaved to