"It was fun! Lots of books. I'm sure they'll be very interesting once I can actually read more fluently."

"Oh, was my mom teaching you? I'll leave you two alone while I handle some business. See you later."

He hands her a bowl of peach slices and heads out.

"Teenagers, huh?"

"Well. It might be some secret werewolf business. I always get worried when he tells me not to worry, and he's been saying it a lot the past few days."

"Maybe he'll let me in on the secret werewolf business if I ask nicely. Since I'm sort of secret as well."

"Oh, I'll just talk to him. Meanwhile, let's teach you to read." 

Reading practice hooray!

She picks it up quickly, it's not long at all before she's confident in her skills. Add a quick flip through a dictionary and she's all set.

A boy walks in the door.

"Hey Ms. McCall. And new person. Hi."

"Hi!"

"Oh. This is Isaac, he sort of lives with us." 

"Sort of? Thanks new mom." 

"Oh, you know what I mean. He's not adopted, I'm not really a foster parent, he just. Needs a place to stay."

"You make a habit of this sort of thing, then? I'm Pascale, by the way."

"Not any old stray, just the ones that don't bite. Well, I used to bite when they got me. All better now. What brings you here? Did you get a faulty set at the parent store?"

"Sort of. But a more proximate cause was the giant snake monster with a mirror for a face."

"In her world, gods are real, and they let people know it. She's an acolyte, and can hand out blessings if she wants. And if the god approves, I assume."

"Sounds kind of terrifying but I guess blessings are cool. How do I prove my worthiness?" 

"Gods are nice, for the most part! They can get more worshipers that way. Usually you'd give an offering or something like that, but that's not really an option right now. So since Ellayania's new in town, we'll give you one on the house, if Melissa will vouch for your character."

"Consider carefully, Ms. McCall."

"Yeah, no. I vouch."

"Okay! So Ellayania of Libraries and Fen offers six blessings, enhanced speed, enhanced stamina, enhanced vision, enhanced memory, resistance to cold and damp, and waterwalking."

"Cold."

She puts a hand on his shoulder.

"I think resistance to cold is a good choice, but maybe you could take some time to think, Isaac." 

"I have speed, stamina, sight- I don't want memory, I have enough to forget. Reistance to cold. How do I thank Ellayania of Libraries?" 

"I feel that I should caution you that you still will need to wear a coat when it gets to freezing temperatures. For Ellayania to combine cold and damp she had to sacrifice some efficacy on the upper bound."