The merchant the Association of Above-Average Longwindedness directed them to was clearly used to cultivators, if the way he leaned easily against the side of his truck was any indication. A curl of smoke drifted up from his cigarette with every lazy drag, the acrid tang of it just faintly noticeable from across the road.

Then he saw Avyr, and blinked incredulously, and Lily realized that— as used to the shenanigans of cultivators he must have been, the giant cat variety was still enough to take him off guard. “What the…” he blinked, then rubbed at his eyes, spitting his cigarette out of his mouth and stamping out the spark beneath his boot. “What sort of… no, you know what, I don’t even want to know what they’ve gotten themselves in this time. The association sent you two, right?”

Avyr nodded, and pulled the writ they’d been given out of his pocket— which seemed to surprise the driver as much as it’d been surprising everyone else in Chontian. “We need passage to Tanghuocun.” The driver blinked dumbly at them for a long few seconds, before snatching the paper out of Avyr’s paw and reading through it with an unexpected studiousness that Lily didn’t think came entirely from the desire to make sure everything was in order.

She had to admire the guts, though; burying his head in the sand or not, it was still better than the fear that most everyone else in Chongtian reacted with. “Alright.” He handed the paper back— to Avyr, another point in his favor— “I can take you. You came at a good time— and got a good deal, too. I was loitering around to pick up some good deals and take an explorer or two deeper into the Dragonspine, but you two get the back of the truck all to yourself today. Whatever you did to get grouchy old Laoguo to sign off to that

, I’ve not a clue.” He turned around, undoing a latch and letting the back of his pickup crash down with a suspiciously loud noise. “Well? Get in. And while you’re at it, can you help me load up some of the stuff?”

Lily poked at the pile of burlap sacks— empty— that lay on the ground beside one of the truck wheels, raising an eyebrow. “These?”

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“Yeah, obviously.”

She just snorted, grabbed an armful, and threw them into the back of the truck. The driver for a moment looked surprised she’d actually helped, which… well, the Association people had

given her the vibe of a group who were a little too self-important for their position as a no-name organization in one of the smallest cities on an already small subcontinent, but she wasn’t going to say that. The faster they finished packing, the faster they’d be out and on their way to the Hot Springs Village, and the faster they’d be able to get Avyr cultivating. Win win.

Even Avyr chipped in, despite how poorly he was built for carrying around stuff like that. They got a good system going, almost wordlessly— Lily on the bottom, Avyr in the truck, taking hold of what she tossed him and making a neat little stack in the back corner. It’d also, coincidentally, make a nice seat for them on the road…

She glanced over at the driver, who was doing something with the engine, and wondered if he’d known that— if he’d set it up like that specifically to punish association member who didn’t help. Or it could just be coincidence. Either or…

She tossed the last sack up to Avyr, then leapt neatly onto the truck bed, grabbing the door behind her and pulling it closed with a snap. A few seconds later the driver finished whatever he was doing with the engine and came around back, relatching it shut before pulling himself into the driver’s seat. “I come around every once in a while, so hold onto your paper. I’ll take you back without it— heaven’s know I’m not as unreasonable as some of the drivers that venture into the Dragonspine— but can’t say that I’ll be able to kick out whatever Association fool I’ve been ordered to cart around unless you’ve got that writ with you.”

Then, before she could respond, he gunned the ignition and started the car to the sound of a throaty engine’s roar, and pulled out into the street. One hand on the wheel, the other on a cigarette he’d lit… somehow… they slowly meandered through the traffic of Chongtian and then further, onto a winding road that pulled away from the city itself.