Meho summoned me so many times I began to suspect a fire, a duel, or an unpaid goblin bill. It was fresh powder she wanted, followed by a quantity of excitement apparently best administered directly to the blood. I agreed on the condition that no goblin came within arm’s reach of the spoon. Standards are all that separate civilisation from an invoice.
Then she announced she had unlearned reading rather than risk encountering my ledger. Cruel, but not wholly unreasonable. I told her to point out the threatening paragraphs and leave me to the bad news. Mother taught me letters over battered farm ledgers; I have known since childhood that ink is just a quieter sort of trap.