[Indigo]

The beast came to town on a Thursday night, inconveniencing everyone greatly. Most of all it inconvenienced Moblynn, who was working the meat counter alone when it arrived at the store, whereupon all the other customers fled and she was left to deal with it herself.

The beast was like a deer—it had almost exactly the shape of a deer, it was bounded by the essential limits of deerness, and though very large it was still within the upper limits of natural deer size, at least if one applies the term broadly. It was shaggy and some of its bones were exposed, which does happen to deer from time to time. Really, the only signs that it was the beast were its tense, penetrating aura, and its hundreds and hundreds of sharp teeth.

Moblynn looked into its face, which seemed to have a light behind it. She did not look away, but she did look annoyed.

"Good morning," it said, though the words were somewhat obscured by the scraping of teeth.

[Indigo]

"It isn't morning for those of us who are decent," said Moblynn. "It's after dark, now."

"Feed me," it said. It had always resisted any sort of manners Moblynn had tried to teach it, but that was no reason for her to give up. Pearwax had gotten it to learn greetings, if not when to use which, so progress must be possible.

Moblynn sighed and went under the meat counter, into the big freezer maintained for such occasions, and with some effort retrieved a slab of meat of significant size. She didn't know what animal it might have been—the freezer had been built by the owner of the grocery store, just before it opened, and to this day they were the only one allowed to stock it.

With a perhaps unrealistic degree of hope, she slid the meat onto a large sheet of butcher paper, and used this to drag it around the front of the counter without making a mess of the floor. The beast watched her do this. It was at least polite enough not to start eating until she'd gotten behind the counter again, that she might be spared the spray.

[Indigo]

She waited for it to finish before speaking; there was no need to be rude. "Where else have you been tonight?"

A long tongue uncurled from between its teeth to clean the blood from its face. Despite having been frozen, its meal had taken on a messily fresh quality as it was consumed.

"I have been at the dark side of time," said the beast, "the emptiness beyond space, and the beckoning shadows of the true forest. I have not been elsewhere in town."

"No?" Moblynn said. "I've never known you to come here first thing."

"I was hungry," it said. "Now I must go." It turned slowly, weighed down by the fullness of the space where its stomach should be, and left the grocery store for parts unknown, but most likely the gas station. Under normal circumstances its visits always started there.

No gratitude, of course. Moblynn had about given up on that one. You could teach an ageless creature how to say hello to people, but you could never convince it to say thank you for its tithe.

She leaned over the counter to assess the damage, and went to fetch the mop.

[Indigo]

The stranger came to town on Monday morning, and the first anyone heard of him was when he showed up in Bray's with a long coffee order and a disdain for eggs.

"It was outrageous," said Pearwax as Moblynn wrapped up his order. "He asked for things that don't even exist!"

"There's a lot that doesn't make it out to us," Moblynn said. "Just because Bray doesn't have it, you can't pass judgment on a man for wanting it. Here you are."

"Thank you. Don't you think I know that, Mob? But some of the things he was asking for…well, you might see for yourself." Pearwax tucked the package under his arm with an air of finality. "I'm sure he'll be in here soon enough, if he's planning to stay long."

"Yes, and I'm sure the first thing he'll ask for is a leg of coffee. On your way, now, if you're late to work Hallow'll be howling down my neck again."

"Goodness, is that really the time? You're right, I'd better be off. Nice job on the floor, by the way, you can hardly tell the beast was here!"

[Indigo]

The rest of the day was the rest of the day, more or less, and hardly anyone else complained to her about the stranger, so that she'd forgotten he existed at all by the time she returned from her lunch break to find him waiting at the meat counter.

He had a long wool overcoat, warm brown like a weasel in the summer, open so that you could see he was dressed for business underneath, though what business could it possibly be for? Here, now, there was only the town paper, and Pearwax would have mentioned if he'd been the type. He kept one hand in his pocket and dangled the other at his side, until he saw her come up behind the counter, and then it and the rest of him were animated from within.

"Good afternoon!" he said. "You must be Mob."

"Moblynn," she corrected. "What can I do for you?"

"Oh, yes, Moblynn, of course. I'm sorry to be overfamiliar, it's just that I almost feel I know you already, from what people say about you!" He laughed like he expected her to agree.

[Indigo]

She waited for him to finish, and then waited a bit longer just to be certain. The laugh trailed off into a silence. "What can I do for you?" she said again.

"Well…well, now, I…"

She'd never seen anyone so flustered by a simple pause in the conversation. To smooth things over, because she felt a little regret for it, she added, "We got in some elk last week, special. Some people don't take to the flavor, but the discerning cook might really make something of it."

"Elk?" His discomfort evaporated in an instant, making way for a pensive frown. "I could have sworn there weren't any elk in the woods around here."

"That's what makes it special," Moblynn said. Maybe he'd been so panicked because he was an utter fool.

"Oh, of course! How silly of me." This time his laugh cut off quickly, so at least he was a fast learner. "That does interest me, I will admit, but I was wondering if you might have anything more…exotic on hand."

[Indigo]

Her neck prickled. "I'm not sure I take your meaning," she said. "Apart from the elk we just carry the usual. Anything else depends on the hunters, and they don't find much big enough to sell around here."

"Oh? You don't have anything that might be a little less savory? Something you wouldn't normally eat or even look at, but your neighbor shot it in the woods behind his house and it would be a shame to let it go to waste?"

His face had shifted into a broad, desperate smile, hands twisting together in front of him.

"What in the world are you talking about, Mr….?" She should have asked Pearwax his name instead of going on about the coffee order. Pearwax would have found it out first thing.

He leaned forward, fast, maybe too fast, and put his hands up on the counter. "I can help you, you know," he said. "It doesn't have to be like this. You don't have to live this way. Just tell me the truth."

[Indigo]

Moblynn couldn't in good conscience say she didn't understand, now, so she didn't, just turned away and stood solid as a wall. There were people you couldn't argue with, because they came from a place so far from understanding that they were never going to make it there in time to matter, and she had a sense that he was one.

"I think it's about time you were going," she said. "The evening rush starts any minute, and you won't want to be caught up in that."

Silence—he must not have expected to be dismissed, though what else he expected, coming in and behaving that way, Moblynn couldn't begin to guess. He said, "I'm sure you're right. But I hope you'll reconsider, Mob. I only want to help you."

She waited for his footsteps to fade out of hearing before she turned back around.

[Indigo]

The beast did not visit again until next Friday, and this time it didn't come to the meat counter at all. The grocery store was quiet that night, moreso than it ought, but everyone had been thrown by the beast's change in routine and the stranger's behavior—Moblynn had not seen him again, but oh, she heard about him, more than she would ever have wished to hear about anyone at all—and so she didn't worry, but took advantage of the slow night to catch up on her reading.

The store was clear across town from the square, so she never heard the shot, knew nothing about it until Pearwax arrived just before close, with blood halfway up his sleeves, and something like fur melting into slime in his hands.

"I tried," he said, and kept saying, between the pieces of what had happened. "I tried, but there was nothing—none of us could stop it."

The quiet and stillness of the following weeks surprised everyone with its intensity. This was something too big for them to know how to mourn. Pearwax came to Moblynn again and again, all stories and memories and old, old feelings, and others came to her, too, and she heard their sadness that was more than sadness and used it to cover up her own.

[Indigo]

In the middle of the third week, the stranger came back to the meat counter. His coat was buttoned, and he carried a box. He offered Moblynn a bright smile, which she could not seem to react to.

"It's all right," he said. "The adjustment will be hard, I know, but eventually you'll see things are better this way. Tithes and bumps in the night? That's no way to live. You may have gotten used to it, but this town stank of fear."

Moblynn did not respond, because all she could think was that he only knew how the town felt when he was in it, and she knew he would refuse to understand.

"I've brought you something," he said, lifting the box. "An unusual meat for your discerning clientele. It's…not unlike elk, to be honest with you, but there's something else to it that makes it worthwhile. As a parting gift, I'll sell it to you for only—"

"Get out," Moblynn said.

"Excuse me?"

"Get. Out." She pointed to the doors, a sharp stabbing motion that made him step back, out of reach. She could feel the rage pouring off her like fog. She suspected the stranger could feel it too.

He pursed his lips, as if he had any right, as if he knew enough of her or it or any of them to be disappointed. "You're making a mistake, Mob," he said softly. "But I understand. Change is hard, even if it's for the better, and sometimes we lash out. I forgive you." He had the gall to smile. "I hope to hear from you sometime, once you've all adjusted a little. I do love to hear how things develop when I make room."

She didn't answer, because the only answer was a scream that went on forever, and she had to clock out at ten. Eventually he gave up waiting, and turned, and made for the doors.

This time she watched him all the way out, just to be sure he was gone.