//------------------------------//
// Hiring Howe 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Maple and Starlight stood beneath the night sky as White Chocolate's front door clicked shut behind them, staring up into the world.

A short, concrete path away, a gravel street wound by, twisting and winding and edged by steep grassy hills that formed the roofs of subterranean rooms, much like the one they just exited. A light breeze rustled by along the hilltops, causing the tall grass to bristle and sway, but it didn't extend to the road below.

Maple shivered, stretching tiredly as the night air kissed her coat. Her legs felt weary and battered, her head was heavy and her spine stiff and slow, but the day was over. Soon, she could get off her tender hooves and rest, spending a night sorting out her swirling feelings regarding White Chocolate and her friends back in Riverfall... and then face another day, filled with Valey and Howe and possibly Gerardo with the ever-present chance of catching another ferry home.

"Starlight?" She nudged the saddlebag-wearing filly, who had insisted on carrying a load to help despite them containing the spent obsidian.

"So, where are we going to sleep?" Starlight looked up. "Can we find a place here? Or are we going to Grand Acorn?"

"Well..." Maple stretched, coat rippling. "First, I'm appreciating how nice it is to be outside. And then, we need to find Valey, or wait for her to find us..."

As if on cue, Howe's head poked above the grass on a nearby hill. "Pssst!" He waved frantically, grinning his usual grin. "Over here!"

Maple squinted back. "Really? That grass is soaked, and we just dried off. Maybe you should come down here, instead."

"...As you wish!" Howe dove off the edge, barely using his wings and tucking into a roll to land at the base. He straightened up, ran a hoof across his mane, and trotted into the street. "Were you successful in your quest, my comrades?"

"We found what we were looking for," Maple replied, pacing out to the road herself. "It was... eventful. And now, we're ready to find a place to sleep. You're going to keep following us, aren't you?"

Howe shrugged merrily. "Sure am!"

"...Fine." Maple turned to walk down the road. "Then we need a hotel." She paused. "Where's Valey?"

Howe grinned. "Oh, her? She was summoned by the pager in her hat! Muttered something about having no idea what for or when she would be back, and not to wait for her."

"Really?" Starlight narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure?"

Maple frowned, looking in both directions down the street to see if any ponies were coming. "She just... left."

"Pretty much?" Apologetically, Howe shrugged again.

"...No offense," Maple sighed, "but that sounds suspicious."

Starlight blinked, thinking. "She did leave earlier for a while, remember?"

"Yes, but..." Maple bit her lip. "That time, she told us in advance, and we talked about where she would leave us. This time... you're here, and I'm sorry, but I don't really trust you yet." She nodded at Howe.

"Nah, it's cool." Howe shook his head. "The Howenator is familiar with these low-trust situations. Mercenary by trade, remember?"

"Hold on," Starlight offered, pointing a hoof. "Doesn't Valey have that magic stone that's tied to his? Maple, if we're worried about why she left or where she's going, we could call her."

Maple smiled down at Starlight. "That's a good idea. Howe? Can we do that?"

"Well..." Howe shuffled, pulling his soundstone out of his mane. "Sort of. Remember, they require manapower on both ends to activate, and she's no unicorn. What does happen is that one end glows when the other is powered... so if any little unicorn fillies want to give this a little juice, we can see if she'll pick up. She'd need to be near a power source, though, like another unicorn or some exposed manacircuitry, and she didn't leave all that long ago and might still be flying."

"...Starlight?" Maple looked down, mindful of the filly's recently-taxed horn. "Do you want to try?"

Starlight rubbed her forehead with a hoof. "Ugh... maybe..." She swallowed. "Sure. I will. Give it here."

Howe offered the stone in an outstretched wing. Weakly, Starlight lit her horn, conjuring a pair of sparks and no spell, and held it close. The stone began to glow, its internal vortex spinning slowly.

"Well, that'll do it!" Howe pulled the stone back. "If she picks up, she picks up! Being the mistrustful types, I imagine you'll want to wait right here and go nowhere I offer to lead you until we hear back?"

"...Does that include staying here when you want us to?" Starlight asked, still rubbing her horn.

"Errr..." Howe bit his lip.

"We might as well get moving somewhere," Maple decided. "Even if it's just deeper into town. Wherever we go, we know it won't be back to this place until morning."

"Hey, I can do that!" Howe shrugged. "Let's-a-go, then!"





Two major road bends into their journey, Howe shot a glance at Maple... then looked away. Then back again.

"Yes?" Maple asked, walking gingerly and favoring every party of her body.

"Oh, nothing." Howe whistled nonchalantly. "I was just thinking... I already told you of my secret motivation, but would it aid in your trust of the Howenator if he told you his super-secret goal?"

Maple hesitated... then stopped, sitting down in the middle of the road. "What?"

Howe stopped too, looking as if he were bursting with unshared information. Stealthily, he scanned the surroundings, but it was a recently-rainy night and their section of the road wasn't flanked by any doorways. "Well..." He shadowed his face with a wing, whispering. "When you were imprisoned in the Defense Force's vile headquarters and launching a counter-attack by stealing from their stolen goods, did you perchance happen across a mysterious gemstone encased in a glass sphere with flakes of gold? Preferably one with a sinister, evil aura?"

"We... maybe..." Maple's eyes shrank to pinpricks. "And what if we did?"

"Ah-ha!" Triumphantly, Howe pointed a wing. "I thought I saw as much on the video feed from their security cameras! You stole such an object, didn't you?"

"And what if we did?" Starlight repeated, bristling.

"Then allow me to regale you with a tale of woe," Howe sang, leaning back. "That stone is nothing less than the very heart of a mythical windigo, stripped of life by powers incomprehensible and rendered to an enchanted stone; a very bastion of hatred that thousands of years ago in the times of legend was the grounds for the undoing of an entire civilization! Theoretically, they should be as infinite as the windigoes themselves, which I can assure you do exist. However, as far as I am concerned, there are two of them! They were given to my brother and I as gifts by our father, you see. That's Neon Nova, in case you had forgotten."

"I hadn't forgotten," Maple droned. "So how does your father just happen to have hearts of monsters that haven't been seen outside of legend, ever?"

"...That is something that is best left to the realm of shadows," Howe happily rebuffed, continuing. "So, my brother and I were content in our share of ancient history... until one day about a year ago, our fortress hideout was raided by Yakyakistan! They broke in in search of treasure, and stole our two most prized possessions. It was very disheartening. Filled with the desire for righteous vengeance, and more importantly to reclaim our inheritance, the two of us set out on an epic quest of infiltration and sabotage to take back what was ours! ...Mostly, that meant posing as mercenaries for a year after a family friend in Yakyakistan's government was able to deduce that the hearts were bound for Ironridge."

"Wait a minute..." Starlight narrowed her eyes. "When you were acting incompetent in front of the Stone District guards..."

Howe held a wing over his chest. "Alas, whatever you're about to predict may well be correct. We joined with a company hired by Herman himself, and ultimately obtained information relating to the precise nature of the packages... that there would be one heart in each crate, and that they were being delivered by a griffon who would arrive by way of the old Sosan waterway. So, I acted in hopes that I could force the crates to be opened then and there, and might steal the treasure and flee before I could be stopped. Unfortunately, I was defeated and rendered unable to stop the crates from being taken well beyond my reach... yet still! It sounds as though you have rescued at least half of my inheritance from the clutches of the yaks! Might this hope of mine be truth?"

Maple stood defensively. "Are you announcing your intent to rob us?"

"Hardly!" Howe shook his head. "Actually, should you still possess it, I was going to ask if you wished to hire me!"

"To..." Maple narrowed her eyes. "Hire you."

Howe shrugged. "Well, you seem to have something I very much want, and also appear to be in need of a bodyguard. Conveniently, I happen to have some manner of combat experience, and am used to working such jobs! It sounds like a trade that would benefit us both, does it not?"

"...That depends on how much we can trust you," Maple sighed.

"Think of it this way," Howe said with a grin. "You can trust me a lot more if you know you have something I want!"

"First off, you might steal it," Maple pointed out. "Once we show you where it is. And second, if it really is dangerous, should I really let you have it?"

"Well, what were you going to do with it?" Howe asked suspiciously.

"Keep it away from the Defense Force," Maple admitted. "I... didn't know there were two."

"Hmmm..." Howe scratched his chin. "Let's put it this way. How hard would it be for someone to get it where it is right now?"

"To get it?" Maple looked up. "They'd have to hurt me or convince me to surrender it. To find it if they didn't already know? Impossible."

"Brilliant!" Howe tapped his forehooves. "Then please, I implore you to keep it there. It isn't... erm... somehow on your person, is it?"

"Maybe," Maple said.

"Look," Howe huffed, squaring his shoulders. "If I did anything to steal it, I'd have to carry it all around through the Stone and Sky Districts to escape, and that would mean bailing on Neon and the other one. I'd have to hang onto it even longer if I wanted to get those! So as long as you've got it somewhere safe, I want it to stay there... and if you're protecting it, that means me protecting you. You don't need to be all 'maybe' about this. I won't rip you off, I won't do anything shady... to you. It would make no sense for me!"

Maple hesitated... and sighed. "My brand lets me store objects that are smaller than me. It's in there."

Howe whistled. "Okay, that's a pretty good hiding place. Guess I really do have to protect you, huh?" He winked. "In other words, the Howenator will follow you to his dying breath! Or until you consider my service adequate and give me the heart in payment, or simply to get rid of me. Though I implore you to hide it until at the very least we have a better hiding place, or an easy avenue of escape from the city."

"...Starlight?" Maple looked down at the filly. "What do you think about this? We can use all the allies we can get, and it isn't like we have anything better to do with that orb. But still, I'm somehow uneasy about this..."

Starlight tilted her head in thought. "Well, you can't get rid of him, can you? And he's asking for nothing up front, and I'm pretty sure I can beat him in a fight if you get in danger."

Howe stood back, respectfully allowing them to make their decision.

"I guess that's that, then," Maple sighed, straightening up. "Welcome to the team, Howe. Or... whatever our group is."

"Yes!" Howe pumped a wing. "I promise you, you will not regret this!"