In the warm hues of a sunny dusk, the bustling town of Reothif is getting ready to go home. The smell of nature’s surroundings and smoke from dockside ships arriving and departing developed the evening aroma. Chatter, cicadas, babies crying, young homeless nibbling on stolen fruit, ship horns and the maddening shouts of guards at the gates of Reothif’s walls, all kinds of sounds congregating in this small town. Among the many brick, wood and concrete buildings was an inherited furniture workshop, Lolok & Sons, where a middle-aged woman in dark worker’s clothes strolled in. She rang the bell by the counter, hoping for the owner.

 

“I’ll be right there!” Shouted a voice from the back of the shop.

 

A few moments later a young boy who looked to be about 17 with short, messy hair and a dirty face, with hand-me-downs as his only clothing, came out from the staff door. “How may I help you?”

“Sorry,” the woman sounded nervous, “Is your father here?”

“He may...be? Why do you ask?” 

“I… I need to tell him something.”

“You can tell it to me and I’ll forward the message when he’s here, if you’d like?”

“Are you sure he isn’t here?”

“What’s so important, lady?”

She leaned over and whispered “The Singing Three inform us.”

The boy was taken aback, “You know, I’ll check in the back.”

 

The boy walked into the back of the shop, where his brother and father were working on some furniture.

“Dad?” He whispered, “There’s some woman by the counter asking for you, I don’t know what she wants but says she needs to tell you something.” As they approached each other, he whispered to his father “It’s The Singing Three.”

His father’s expression turned worried. “Okay, thanks son. You can leave it to me. Go work with your brother.”

 

The boy was curious now, he went up to the door as soon as his father went to the front and tried to eavesdrop on the conversation. He caught small bits of words. “Cat- night- cult-”

 

“Come on, Rayeull. It’s our father’s business. Let him be.” said his brother.

“Hmph. Something seems wrong, though. The woman seemed nervous, and dad looked worried. Everything sounds weird.”

“It’s just the business. Come over and help me put this bookshelf together.”

“Fine, fine. Whatever.” Rayeull said, disappointed.

 

The father, Lolok, came to the front desk, and the woman was pacing, once she saw him she came up to the counter and started to go on; “Look, Lolok, you need to run. Big Cats are coming at the peak of night, with the help of some magics too. The Cult of the Weeping will probably come from Knotula in the morning. Please, I beg you, just take your sons, and run.” 

 

With a bit of hesitation, Lolok continued, “Calm down, Na. It’s okay. Stay quiet. Thank you for telling me all this, what are they planning to do with the village?”

“What they always do. Seize it, take the children, demand resources, demand reform. Once they can’t hold it anymore, they’ll take a ship and run.”

“Shit, okay. I’ll go right now. Where are The Singing Three?”

“By the docks. It’s a fairly big ship, called the Allotted Glory. Can’t miss it.”

“I’ll pack up now.”

Na nodded at him, and walked out of the store fairly swiftly.

 

“Hey, Frell. Do you like doing this?” Asked Rayeull, his head down on the desk while his brother sanded some wood.

“I’m fine with it. There’s not much else to do, and you two are all I need. Plus, we’ve had this store for generations. I don’t want to leave it.”

“But I want to do more. Adventure, excitement! I want a familiar! You know?”

Frell scoffed at him “A familiar? What? You wanna get drafted or something?”

“Drafted? What do you mean?”

“You know, they force people with familiars into the army. You don’t need a familiar. That’s all I’m saying.”

 

Rayeull grunted. His brother always wanted to take over the shop, no one even cares what he wants, he thought. “Why are there people with no familiars then?” He asked, annoyed.

"They sign up voluntarily."

"That's kinda stupid."

"Well if it's what they want-"

 

Their father burst through the door. “Grab your bags right now.”

“Wait, why?” asked Frell, simultaneously going to pack his bags, going up the stairs, his brother following.

“The Big Cats are coming, we’re going to the docks.”

“Shit. When will we come back?”

“No swearing. And I don’t know, hopefully tomorrow night.”

 

After a bit of debating on what to bring, the family came through their back door, not wanting to be seen with packed bags. Just two buildings behind their shop there was a steep river bank where they silently sneaked over to, and walked along. They had to go East under two major bridges that went over the river to get to the mouth, then turning right onto the docks.

 

They looked over some of the ships, and saw the one with “ALLOTED GLORY” painted on the side. It looked to be about the size of a galleon.

They walked as nonchalantly as they could over to the ship. At the stairs there was a man in uniform checking people’s namecards.

“Namecards please?” He asked, with a high-pitched voice.

Rayeull snickered, but Frell punched him.

“Ow!” he mumbled. The man looked like he wanted to ignore them, but also slightly hurt.

 

“Yes, here’s mine.” Said their father, handing his namecard to the man while leaning over and whispering “We are informed”.

The man smiled and briefly looked at the card, then handed it back. “You’re free to board.”

Lolok nodded at him, smiling back.

 

The family boarded the ship and were instructed by crew to go downstairs where the rest of the people were. It was only slightly crowded, a few trips over some feet, but it was cozy for the most part. They settled at the far end and began to rest. It was to be a long night.