When they were a safe distance away, Karyn flitted back towards the spring to make sure that the two ex-ruffians were too busy dealing with their changes to give chase. Jon, meanwhile, took a look in the pouch they'd swiped. It held a couple dozen coins of various denominations; most of them were copper, but there were a few that looked like silver, although Jon was admittedly no metallurgist. And anyway, it didn't help her much to know the kinds of coins without a frame of reference.
She heard a soft hum behind her, and turned to see what it was. Karyn was hovering just behind her; the sound was the beating of her wings. Jon smiled. "Well?"
Karyn laughed. "Okay ," she said, "I know I promised not to laugh about you getting turned into a girl, but those two? Hilarious. They're still sitting there staring at themselves and trying to comprehend what just happened. We could probably crab-walk downstream and still get clean away."
Jon tried to suppress a smirk, but it didn't go very well. "Well," she said, "we have a bunch of coins, but we won't really know how rich we are until we know how much stuff costs. At a guess, though, I'd say we're doing all right for starting funds."
Karyn grinned. "Awesome. Then when we finally find a town, we can get some freakin' clothing."
"And food," Jon said, starting down the river. "I haven't eaten since last night."
Karyn nodded as she gently touched down on Jon's shoulder and made herself comfortable. "Yep, food too. Of course, if you're really that hungry, you could just roast some poor forest creature."
Jon frowned. "Not hungry enough to go sorting through internal organs, thank you very much. But the fire-breath thing should be pretty useful, if I can figure out how to use it."
"Well," Karyn said, "as far as I can tell, the trick to using your body's abilities seems to be to just do it, and not let your conscious mind get in the way. Not like a trust-your-feelings thing, it's just that thinking about doing it seems to distract you from actually doing it."
Jon nodded. "That kind of makes sense. Like how I was able to fly when I needed to, even though I had no idea how to go about it."
"Right," Karyn said. "Wait, you flew? As a harpy? Why didn't you just fly over the forest?"
Jon explained about her accidental flight and crash landing at the farm, which led to a full-blown recap of her brief adventure with Jack and company. She sighed. "I can't believe I fainted in the middle of an attack," she said. "I just hope they're all right."
"Hey," Karyn consoled her, "from the way you talk about them, it sounds like they can take care of themselves all right. But we'll see if we can find anything out when we hit civilization, just to make sure. Hey, speak of the devil!"
Jon looked where she was pointing. Up ahead, the forest thinned out to the point where she could see the outline of a structure through the trees. Jon broke into a run, Karyn clinging to her shoulder, until they were close enough for a good look. It was a wooden palisade, a wall of sharpened tree trunks enclosing what looked to be a small town. Jon could see a pile of a few other trees outside the wall, with cutting implements scattered nearby; maybe it was a logging town?
She and Karyn began to walk down towards the settlement. It took them the better part of fifteen minutes to get there, but finally they stood beside one wall of the palisade, not too far from the pile of trees.
"Nobody's here," Jon mused. "Maybe they're all at lunch."
Karyn shrugged. "Maybe," she said. "But they probably have someone watching the entrance, or there wouldn't be much point in having the wall. Just make sure to act casual and friendly. And let's not make us being naked an issue unless they do; if you're trying to cover yourself every time someone stares at you, we'll never get anywhere."
Jon nodded reluctantly. Taking a deep breath, she stepped around the corner and approached the entrance, with Karyn right beside her. Sure enough, there was a watchman by the gate. He wore light armor and had a sword on his belt, but he looked pleasant enough. His eyes went wide as he spotted Jon, but he remembered his manners and focused on her face. "And who are you?" he asked.
Karyn flitted forward, catching the guard's attention. "I'm Karyn," she said, "and this is, um, Jen. We came here to purchase supplies."
The guard nodded, suppressing a smirk. "All right," he said, then turned to Jon. "But please be careful, miss. Things around here tend to burn a little easy."
Jon nodded. "I'll be extra-careful," she said. The guard stepped aside, and they entered the town.
