Fuzzy Centaur
N'inktober 2025, Day 1
Every year in the run up to October, Cedar Sanderson produces a set of prompts that she uses to produce digital art. This year’s list can be found here.
This year I decided to challenge myself by writing 1000-2000 word chapters inspired by the prompts that would form a connected story, each to be written (if possible) on the day concerned.
Day 1’s prompt is Fuzzy Centaur.
—
It was a quiet day at Olgard Investigations, which proclaimed itself the finest elf investigative service in the known worlds. It had also been a quiet week, coming at the end of a quiet month, and most of the way through a quiet year.
Olgard was outwardly calm, going through his daily routine without any overt distress, but internally he was getting very worried. If this pattern continued, he would be faced with a distinctly unpleasant choice: He could give up the rent on his current offices and move to a less salubrious part of town where he would have much less access to the paying clients he needed; or He could sack his receptionist, Celetrest.
Olgard was once more engaged in trying to figure out which of the two would do more damage to his business, when there was a knock on his office door. “Come in!” he called.
In popped the lovely figure of Celetrest, a touch short for an elf, which was probably why her beautiful figure hadn’t been married off to one of the upper classes years ago. Olgard had considered proposing, but there were the two minor complications of he lacked the necessary spare funds for the bridal offerings, and it was frowned upon in polite society for an employer to date an employee. If he decided to cut costs by sacking her, it would solve one of the problems, but would create a much more serious one in that she wouldn’t then like him that much.
“There’s someone to see you,” she said.
“Please show him in, and should we break out the refreshments?”
“I think that might make a good impression.”
“Then please do.”
Celetrest turned to leave, her long brown hair lifting from her back as she did so, and exited the room. She was soon back, escorting a fairy – tall, blond-haired, well dressed, with blue iridescent wings, one of the first class by the looks of things.
“Welcome, I am Olgard, and I run this establishment. What may I do for you?”
“I would prefer this to be as confidential as possible. It could have serious repercussions for my employers if it got out, and they will almost certainly fire me in an attempt to limit the damage.”
“I regret that I cannot promise anything. I will need to investigate, which might mean asking questions and sticking my ears in places they’re not wanted. I can try to keep it confidential, but I cannot prevent third parties putting four and three together.”
“Just as long as they make neither seven nor twelve.”
The conversation was interrupted by Celetrest coming back into the room with a tray, on which was a pot of hot water, a pair of tea cups, and a selection of petals. Hot petal tea was the expected beverage, and Olgard had the daisy as usual. His guest was then asked what he wanted, and to everyone else’s relief chose tulip (rose was considered the highest status to the point that the highest classes drank nothing else, but Olgard had run out of rose petals a month back and hadn’t had the money to restock).
When Celetrest was once more in the outer office with the inner door closed, Olgard started again. “What do you think I can do for you?”
“I am the manager of the Fuzzy Centaur Club. Certain members of my staff think that we have been cursed.”
Olgard sipped his daisy petal tea to give himself some time to think. “I have limited abilities with curses. If you suspect a curse, I advise you to go to a dedicated curse breaker. I’m sure my receptionist can direct you to a capable one.”
“Curse breakers are expensive. I would prefer not to go down that route if I do not need to. If it isn’t a curse after all, you will have saved the club a lot of money. If it is a curse, well, then your investigation should make it easier for the curse breaker to remove the curse, which will also save the club a lot of money.”
“You have some interesting reasoning. I will take the case. Could you explain to me why you suspect a curse.” Olgard sipped some more of his daisy petal tea.
“We have had some unusual changes in décor over the past few weeks. Special deliveries for special events arrive as expected, yet mysteriously change overnight. My first assumption was that one of the staff was asking to be fired, but there’s no evidence of this on the recordings of the security spells.”
“So, your decoration changes unexpectedly and in unwanted ways, you don’t think it’s one of your staff playing around, so someone suggested a curse.”
“Yes, and as long as it’s just the staff the problem can be contained. If the customers start thinking the club is cursed, they’ll stay away and the establishment is doomed.”
“I see your point. It is a problem indeed. Could I come around to see the security spell recordings of the latest incident?”
“Yes, of course. We have kept the recordings of all the incidents.”
“What would be a suitable time for me to come to the club? I assume you would prefer me to do my investigations when it isn’t open to paying customers if it can be avoided.”
“Thank you for being so understanding. It might take a while to go through all of them, so perhaps two in the afternoon?”
“I believe I can carve out a suitable hole in my schedule, I will see you then.”
The elf and the fairy then shook hands, and Olgard walked him back into the outer office.
“Celetrest has details of the standard fees. I’m afraid I do require you to sign a contract before I’m allowed to do any investigating on the case.”
“I quite understand, our suppliers have similar rules about not delivering anything not covered by contract.”
“Then I will leave you in my receptionists very capable hands, while I start preparing for the investigation.”
Olgard retreated to his office, where he discovered to his mild distress that he had already drunk all his daisy petal tea.
Celetrest soon popped her head in. “He signed without demur. He even opted for the extra-special package without any prompting.”
“That’s good. A couple of days of work at that rate, and we’ll have cleared all our debts. A week at that rate, and we can buy more rose petals.”