The journey from Windhaven to Valtoria was likely the longest land route within Nova Orda. The discomfort and endlessness of the journey were accentuated, of course, when the trip was in the cheapest of stagecoaches.

Tori had spent almost all of his last ordans paying for the trip, which he knew wouldn't be a hymn to comfort, but even his low expectations had been surpassed in these more than 3 days of travel. A small, crowded carriage with hard, non-ergonomic seats. "Who was this designed for?" he wondered repeatedly.

The only redeeming aspect of the situation was that during the stops the vehicle made, he could eat at inns without paying too much, and - having lost all dignity - politely ask his fellow travelers for tobacco to smoke.

Accustomed, moreover, to the cold of Windhaven, the gradual but noticeable change to the warmth of the nation's center was the icing on the cake for the worn-out, sore, and morally dead young man.

Finally, he didn't even have the energy to respond to the rude stagecoach owner when he brusquely announced that his journey had ended.

Although Tori's destination was Valtoria, capital city of Nova Orda, his money had only been enough to pay for the journey to Lilystone, a small rural town found midway along the route. There he hoped to somehow get the necessary ordans to take a stagecoach with a bit more decency and have a more pleasant journey to Valtoria.

The young man got off the carriage, and, after coughing from the dust it left behind as it departed, he stretched his body, looked around with drooping eyes, and with his small bag on his back, he began his journey through the small and very green Lilystone.

"Eustace, you crazy bastard. I hope your idea is worth it...".

Tori was traveling back to Valtoria by an invitation - unpaid - from his old friend Eustace, whom he had met during his primary education in Valtoria. It seemed the man was as short of money as Tori himself, so he proposed they work together.

"The idea is perfect, my friend," said the last letter, mentioning something related to the Brotherhood of Faith. Had Eustace become a Guardian of the faith? It was highly unlikely, Eustace's madness fit much better with having thought of some deal or service to offer the religious. However, all of this was speculation from a cloudy Tori, who wouldn't know exactly what "The great idea" was until he managed to leave Lilystone and find his friend in Valtoria.

"How hard was it to come pick me up?" thought Tori as his belly made an obscene sound begging for food, and his eyes narrowed between tiredness, sleep, and heat.

"At least, a cigarette...", he thought when he saw a temple of the Brotherhood of Faith in the distance. It was the quickest, most visible, and undignified option, so he took it. He approached the Sanctum's house, knocked on the door, and waited.

"Anyway, I'm going to work with these fanatics, it'll be fine to acclimatize," he thought, justifying himself for the sadness of his situation, with a sardonic smile on his face.

The door, adorned with Sanctum's crossed hammers, the symbol of the Brotherhood of Faith, opened, revealing an old man dressed in the classic robe of the brotherhood.

 

"A pleasure, Guardian," said the young man with a silly smile and unfocused eyes. "We all know that Emeric preached helping the needy. 'Never deny bread and shelter to a fellow traveler,' reads the fourth prayer, doesn't it?" As Tori spoke with the Guardian of the Faith, leader of the Brotherhood in Lilystone, citing a totally invented paragraph from Emeric's book, he quickly entered the religious building and sat with his legs open and an unintentionally rude posture on one of the long benches used for ceremonies. "So, dear Guardian of the Faith... Food, please," he said this last part looking at the ceiling, resting his head on the backrest of the bench, accompanied by a huge yawn. "Oh, and a room... Fast... Please, I mean."

 

The Guardian of the Faith thought of responding, detailing everything the young man had done wrong, from not presenting himself properly, not respecting Sanctum's abode, the obvious lack of manners, the carefree attitude, and the obscene gestures... But seeing Tori's condition, he preferred to save the sermon for later.

 

"You will eat and rest in Sanctum's house, young vagabond. And after that, you will work, of course. 'No fellow traveler will deny aid to a devotee of Sanctum, much less having received refuge in his house,'" quoted the Guardian. Tori nodded and burst out laughing heartily, with long and tired laughs... He could assure that the quote that Guardian had just made was as belonging to the book of the prophet Emeric as the one he himself had used at the beginning.

Apparently, the old priest was a funny man... And for Tori, whose real name was Antorique Veluard, the most important thing in life was what was funny.