I stood still, flabbergasted at everything that just happened, my jaw hanging open as I stared at the empty space where Selina had been standing.
“Excuse me, can I help you?” said a polite voice beside me.
I looked over at the source of the voice, and it belonged to a cute girl with wavy blond hair who was looking up at me, her blue eyes wide. She was short-ish for a centaur, but not actually young, maybe a year younger than I was if at all, but she carried herself with an innocent air as though she wasn’t a microsecond older than a child. But with the size of the curves poking out of the top of her bustier, she was definitely no child.
“I — don’t know,” I said.
“Are you new here?” she said. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”
“Yeah — I’m — just visiting.” It was a good story. I wanted to believe it.
She grinned. “Well, that’s great!” she said, bouncing and cozying up against my arm. “Let me show you around then! I’m Lea, and I’ve lived here all my life, so I know the village well! How about you?”
I glanced down at where she was cozying up to me, trying hard not to look down her blouse and bustier at the same time. I blinked, and I think I said hello, and my name fell out of my lips at some point. She was all too close, and it was well beyond disconcerting to have her rubbing herself that hard against me.
“Come on, come on,” said Lea, taking a few steps and tugging on my arm. “Let me show you around. Over there, that’s Grond’s general store. You can buy most things you’ll need there, and they’ll accept silver, gold, and human dollars too.” She looked at me for a moment, realizing I had neither clothes nor a pack. “But — you came here without anything?”
“Yeah,” I said. In truth, I had left my wallet at home, but it only had twenty-six dollars in it anyway.
“That’s gutsy, going all traditional like that. I like a man who’s willing to brave the elements on guts alone like in the old days.” She squeezed my hand, grinning widely, and kept tugging.
“We have an Inn, but they’ll take payment too. And over there’s the butcher, and the baker, and — ”
“The candlestick maker?” I said, joking.
“No,” she said, frowning, not getting the joke. “A whole shop for candlesticks? Doesn’t your village have electricity?”
I swallowed hard. “Sorry, it was a joke. A rhyme where I grew up.”
“Oh,” she said, a little disappointed.
I tugged a little at her hand. “Anyway, lead on.”
Lea grinned. “So yeah, that street has houses, and so does that one, and there’s my house, way down on the end.” She pointed, swishing her tail happily.
It was, like most of the others, a low-slung building with a wooden roof, just tall enough to enter.
“I used to live there with my mother, but then she died, so now I live there alone.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“It’s okay,” she said brightly. “That was a long time ago. But if you’re new in town, and you need a place to stay, you can stay with me.”
“R — really?”
She grinned. “You’re cute, and I’d be happy to spend a few nights with you.”