Dove asked Sprout whether calming water could make someone agree with her. She wanted that cleared up before she let the stuff anywhere near a man who already considered arguing a personal insult.
"Calming is not control," Sprout replied. "You cannot purchase a better personality for the Alpha."
"Then stop calling this a premium service."
She left the untested water alone. By morning, she had another problem: an empty space in the shop display where toothpaste ought to have been.
Seated behind her latched gate, Dove entered the system room. Her body remained on the mat, so she kept the visit short. Above the shelves, the shop display divided into Today’s Stock, Daily Missions, and Locked Goods. Her twenty-four coins sat in the corner, looking inadequate.
Today’s twelve-coin assortment contained two cloths, two thread spools, and a hair tie. She bought it, leaving twelve. Her unsold goods stayed on their shelves; buying new stock did not clear yesterday’s leftovers.
"Show me the missions before you start advertising husbands."
Two tasks appeared. Sell two items before bedtime to earn fifteen bonus coins. Earn eight Favor Coins from eligible men today to unlock the dental shelf. Ordinary trade earned whatever payment she agreed with the buyer; it did not produce Favor Coins by itself.
"Eight from one man?"
"Any combination. Existing coins do not count toward today’s target. A pair sold as one item counts once toward sales."
Dove looked at the faded toothbrush and toothpaste pictures. Eight coins for the brush, twelve for the small tube, once unlocked. Completing the mission would make them available, not free. The seventy-five-coin tube she had seen before was still listed above them. Sprout explained that this mission opened smaller travel supplies.
"I have to upset a man to unlock the right to pay for toothpaste."
"Positive reactions also qualify."
"My reaction to your business model doesn’t?"
"Unfortunately, you are not an eligible male."
She accepted both tasks and allowed mission updates. Sprout could report progress without narrating every passing erection. It called this a revised notification preference. Dove called it the bare minimum.
Back outside, she tied her hair up and opened the stall. The eight-foot recess faced the Warren’s common hall, with the wash passage beside it and the clinic farther along that route. Across the hall, the salvage keeper sorted fittings at his bench. Behind her counter, a tarp hid the raised sleeping shelf and warm pipe.
Men carried canned food toward the kitchen, while another pair stacked sealed toilet-paper packs outside household stores. Three months of winter had not erased every warehouse in Michigan. The Warren had supplies. Getting a particular thing into her hands was another matter.
Kael stopped on his way to work, silver ears lifting when he saw her hair tied back. His open collar showed the pale skin at his neck, and Dove made herself look at the two milk packets in his hand.
"For the balm?" he asked. "You mentioned milk yesterday. These are from my own cupboard."
She checked the seals before swapping a tin for both packets. One item sold, Sprout noted. One more would finish the sales mission. The remaining balm stayed hers.
"I have enough coffee left for two cups," she said. "Bring your own. I’m not giving this place shared-cup wedding rumors."
Kael’s mouth twitched. "That isn’t a wedding custom."
"Good. I’d hate to accidentally marry you before breakfast."
While he fetched his cup, she requested hot water from the kitchen. She divided the remaining grounds between both cups and used one milk packet across them. The other stayed sealed. Her coffee packet was empty, which felt like a personal attack from breakfast.
Kael returned to the hall side of the counter. Beyond his shoulder, Thorne crossed the far end of the hall carrying a crate of canned peaches. His dark coat hung open, showing the straps across his chest. He stopped beside household stores and looked straight at her.
Dove’s fingers tightened around the mug.
"He’s cleared to leave his quarters," Kael said quietly. "He’s still assigned away from your stall."
"Does his assignment require staring?"
Thorne looked down at the crate as if it had become interesting. A worker reached for it, but the panther held on a second too long before letting go.
"Apparently the peaches need supervision," Dove said.
Kael gave a surprised laugh. Sprout’s small mission panel changed to three of eight Favor Coins, bringing her balance to fifteen. No advice followed. For once, her invisible coworker had managed to read the room.
She drank her coffee while Kael told her which clinic cloths wore out fastest. She asked because she could sell replacements, not because his voice made the morning easier. Both things could happen without becoming a problem.
A rattling cart came down the hall loaded with detergent bottles and bundled towels. Dove tucked her tail closer when one wheel wandered toward the counter. Before she could speak, Thorne caught the cart’s rear rail and hauled it straight.
"Watch the corner," he told the men pushing it.
The cart had missed her by several feet. Thorne had crossed half the hall to make sure of it.
One carrier stared at him. "Since when do you care about her counter?"
"Since you learned to steer with your eyes shut. Move it."
He released the cart, then returned to the far wall without approaching her. The men kept looking back at him. So did Kael, whose cup had stopped halfway to his mouth.
"That was odd," Dove muttered.
"He usually lets people damage their own furniture," Kael said.
Thorne looked over again. This time his gaze stopped on her hands, then shifted to the closed gate. She could not tell whether he wanted to speak or was checking that it was still between them.
"Sprout, don’t start."
"You asked for mission updates. Your sales progress remains one of two."
"Excellent. Keep pretending that’s what I meant."
Kael finished his coffee and returned to the clinic. Dove wrote down the pipe’s new clicking rattle before she forgot, then looked up and caught Thorne studying her list from the opposite side of the hall. He turned away when Varek spoke to him.
A few minutes later, Varek came to her counter. "Thorne asked to speak with you after the midday meal. Kael present, if you agree."
"Is this about his sudden interest in traffic safety?"
Varek did not smile. "He asked me what time you close. Then he asked whether anyone stays in this hall after the lamps go down."
Dove looked past him. Thorne had stopped pretending to read the list, and he was watching her again.