The sun sets just as I finish tying Pint to the numerous posts outside of the little tavern and inn. Pint whinnies in a displeased tone, as though rebuking S, why are you leaving me alone with a bunch of creepy llamas! I agree with him. About fifteen llamas are tethered in uncomfortably close quarters with Pint, the only horse amongst the light brown and cream llamas.

I pat Pint's forehead and stroke him before rushing inside with the now totally faded sun. I've been a little confused as to how an inn fits inside of the seemingly tiny building that sits with its back touching the far side of the mountain, but I should have guessed they would have tunneled the small, open room into the mountainside.

There is no privacy for those staying. Simply a small divider between each bunk-bed and a communal bathroom that is at least divided into a men's and women's side with a few doors. But the tavern is the most interesting part. A bar sits on each end, with a few tables scattered around the small middle area, and about twenty or more travelers milling about the small area, chattering loudly and chanting rowdy songs.

Behind each bar sit two slightly out of place looking shakket girls in grey-green innkeeper dresses with their hair tied back neatly and a stained-looking apron tied around their wastes. They are anxiously hustling around with bottles of deliciously addicting potions and beverages and exotic plates of rabbit stew and odd-smelling beef gruel. I can't help smiling as a scene from Thaytos replays in my head.

I can feel the flashback coming on, and all I can do is break into a sprint, collapsing onto one of the bunks before I can reveal my secret. I am now grateful for no doors or dividers. I'm back in Thaytos, only a week before the Wither attack. Me and one of my best friends, my roommate back in Thaytos are visiting one of the shabby bars on the borders of Thaytos. "Why are we going here?" I'm asking, "Because, my father said he would be staying here for a few days." Kayko says anxiously, her face sad and rather apprehensively. Turn back, S. You will find no help here. Says the voice. Why, because you're giving me a helpful hint? Get out of my head! I think back angrily. My my, someone's grumpy- I jerk out of my flashback, panting and sweating.

Nobody seems to have noticed my bolt into an unpaid bunk. Apparently, this kind of behavior is normal here, as I see some people dancing wildly around the outskirts of the room to some Netherish music. There are all types of people in this place, and one of them should be able to guide me to Spots. I see one girl sitting alone at a table sipping a bucket of frothy milk. She looks kind of brooding, but she seems better than the man sitting nearest to me who wears an expression of deep rage and insanity. Probably because of the fire potion he just drank.

I sidle over to her table and sit down across from her. The dark girl looks up with mild interest. "Are you looking for a guide?" she asks coolly. She gives off a calculating and precise feel. I like her immediately, though she doesn't seem like the bargaining type.

"I'm S. I need a guide to Spots. I can take any pay in gold and iron ingots, or any supplies such as iron or weaponry." I say.

"Spots? You don't have any emeralds to offer, I suppose." She says, still seeming only mildly curious. "I can get you there," she says simply, taking another sip of milk.

"How much? What do you need in payment?" I ask, elated.

"I'll take twenty gold ingots and full iron armor," she says with a firm but elusive air.

"Twenty gold ingots and full iron armor?" I ask incredulously, my jaw dropping in astonishment.

"Take or leave it, do you realize what you're asking?" she asks, her eyebrows raised. "Spots is right on the edge of uncharted territory over a hundred thousand blocks away. We'll need to rent boats and take the llamas by lead over twenty thousand of the blocks, and we'll be crossing treacherous paths through the badlands over precarious minecart stretches and riding llamas through some of the steepest mountains in the world. My price is final." she says coldly.

I have to take a moment to mentally process everything she just said. I can hardly believe it! Here I have the account of someone who was literally writing the day before she died over a hundred thousand blocks away from where her search ended. I had assumed Spots was nearby. But, I hadn't ever doubted that she'd had time to go to Spots. She might have found the place on a map or in a book after it was too late. Ugh, I have less than five moon cycles, and I can't waste any time!

"Do you have a shelter pass?" I ask. Back in my world, there were shelters along every llama guide route and in exchange for a certain sum yearly the more elite llama guides would have free ready-made and tended shelter along the trail for every night. This was one of those shelters, but unless you paid yearly you had to pay double for every time you stayed in the shelters, and clients were not allowed.

"Yes, I am one of the few llama guides left who can pay for a shelter pass. Many years ago a great epidemic swept our land and killed many people. We will often pass ruins of cities and villages now abandoned on the way to Spots. It used to be much less remote. So, do you want on my trip, or are we done?" She questions directly. I sigh and try not to visualize the dent this is leaving in my fortune and manage a small nod and bite down my tongue to stop anything from coming out.

"Good, I'm Kelia, and we leave at dawn." She says coldly, standing up and walking deliberately to the first bar before taking a ticket paper from the attendant and coming back. "Sign here. And that will be one gold for the tenant over there. Things are spendy in this area nowadays, get used to it." and with that, she walks away towards one of the farther beds and settles down into it.

I groan, pull out one of my twenty-four golds, and sign the paper before turning in both of them to the tenant as a contract between me and Kelia as well as a free stay in the second top bunk to the right. I slide into the white covers and lay down on the surprisingly hard mattress. I hope I know what I am doing.

The next morning I meet Kelia outside with the sunrise. She is untethering two llamas, one brown and one cream. The first llama wears a creeper-green carpet, unlike the second who wears a plainer dark carpet. Both wear chests and are roped to each other in a caravan-like fashion. In the early morning light, I can finally make Kelia out properly.

Kelia has cool choppy black hair that reminds me of my roommate's back in Thaytos. Actually, they could have been siblings. She even wears the same type of black tunic and black tights. The only differences are her knee-high yellowish-brown boots, which Kayko wouldn't be caught dead in, and her skin which is so pale she could've been a corpse.

"Do you need to store anything in the llamas, or are you good?" She interrupts my thoughts.

"I'm fine," I say.

"Alright, payment," Kelia holds out her hand coldly. I frown, unsure of whether or not I should give it all to her now or after. As if reading my thoughts she concludes them coldly, "all now or nothing. Do you want to get to Spots or not? You'll just have to trust me." she shrugs. Still unsure but knowing Kelia means business, I hand over twenty-two whopping golds and quickly craft a full set of iron armor, which I also reluctantly hand over.

Kelia inspects them as though she thinks I might have dyed leather to look like iron and grunts her reluctant approval. She takes her newfound treasures and slips them into the white creeper-llamas saddlebag and takes hold of the llamas lead resolutely. "You can hop onto the brown one," she says, smirking. "Don't worry, llamas don't bite. They just spit if you annoy them," she says.

"Thanks but no thanks. My horse will do just fine." I say with equal resolution.

"No, it will not."

"Yes, it will. Or else you can give me back my gold and armor and I'll find my way to Spots alone." I say stubbornly, hoping against hope that she'll back down. Kelia's eyes narrow but she gives a reluctant shake and allows me to saddle Pint and ride behind her. But I can tell she's not happy. Not at all. Well, she chose the wrong client. Alright Voice, I've won this round. But can I really keep winning? And how long can I keep it up... the answer? I have no idea.

Author's Note

Kelia is one of my fan-made characters from @ArtemisXsilver and it was a great one!

Today's chapter was so fun to write, and I feel like I'm getting over my temporary inspirational block, which is awesome!

I can't wait for more new characters and when S finally gets to Spots! Will it be a shakket like Sun's and S', or will it be a kind of city like the ruins Kelia mentioned? And what is the strange epidemic and is it important? And finally, is Kelia good or evil!

Thank you guys so much, please consider voting and comment me suggestions and/or character ideas if you liked this chapter!

Just Be!