The sleeping at home again after two taxing nights in the forest was quite relaxing. The security of the walls around me and a roof over my head was really reassuring. The tension I didn’t notice building up relived. It may be a bit dramatic, but it was the first time I spent more then a day hunting or generally away from home. My decision was already final though. It would be a difficult live, even at home, and without my parents I really felt alone in this house. It certainly wasn’t big, but it was a place full of memories.
For my departure I needed to let go off these memories, or rather the representations off them. The easiest part was to pick out the Items I wanted to take with me, no giving up those. First, I went to the pantry. The sight was a little sad, it was filled, sure, but not nearly to the point, where I would be able to just trade away a whole sac of flour, if I wanted to. The things I decided to put on the travel pile, where mostly the same that I used on my last hunt dried and salted meat, some dense bread, a bit off cheese. Aside from that, I packed every spice, mostly paprika, pepper and salt, we had, I would have to hunt for my meals and spices would make it a whole lot more enjoyable. When I thought about this, I put the dried meat back into the pantry, I would probably eat enough meat already and it would just take up space. I was confident in hunting rabbits after all. Every kind of vegetable, flour or grains I would absolutely sell, taking them with me was not feasible and maybe the merchants would buy these for a reasonable amount of money.
Next up was the gear, I used for my hunting trip Bow, arrows, a waterskin, an old knife all belonged in my trusty bag, which I should clean up before filling it again. All these where a given. I also packed the fire stone and iron, without fire I couldn’t roast or cook my prey it is absolutely necessary to keep me warm in the coming winter, if my travels would last that long, not to forget the wild animals I could help drive away at night, speaking of night I also packed two plackets. The tools we had at home are up next. For some it was an easy decision, a hammer or sickle wouldn’t be needed any farm equipment can easily be sold off. I picked one pot to take along with me, it would be useful, if I wanted to make a quick soup or something along those lines, during the last year of taking care for my dad, I learned to cook a reasonably well, far away from Ginas or moms’ level, but not bad. If I wanted to use vegetables or herbs for the soup, I would have to pick some wild ones. Vegetables were way to big and or sensitive to take along. I also decided to take a needle as well as some thread with me to fix my cloth or backpack, in addition it would be useful for making new arrows. This covered most needs I could think off.
Making my way through the house, my next stop was the closet. It wasn’t like I had many clothes to pick from, just a few shirts of my own, a pair of pants and a skirt for festivities. It was the same for mom and dad’s collection it was just a little bigger. We each had a coat as well. After some thought it was pretty clear, that it was actually an easy decision, I wouldn’t use a skirt in the forest or on the road, it was just not practical, and more than one additional shirt would be a waste of space, additionally some simple clothing would probably be something I could buy and afford. I will be wearing my coat as well, this way it won’t take up space.
After putting the shirt onto the small pile, I decided to take along with me, I went on to clean my back, of course with nothing fancy like the soap the merchants sell. Just some sand, to get rid of the blood and later some water to get rid of the remaining sand. It was a simple way to deal with the worst, but nothing more. I put the bag on one off the trunks, that supported the straw roof of our house, to dry and took a glance at the position of the sun, it was already late into the afternoon. Talking too Weland and Narna about the house today, was probably a good idea to, that way they could have sometime for consideration.
After I left my house, I walked towards the center off the Village where, the homes of their families are located. They don’t have a harvest or fields as big as Ginas family at the moment. However, they were well of for generations and Welands family had the tools for some woodwork, making many indebted to them, because of some repairs to houses or similar small things. Narnas family on the other hand had some experience in tailoring making their situation similar. This was a good example how the Village worked. It was too small for full on Tailors or Carpenters, but some people had experience and tools for such things, enabling them to work less in the fields. After arriving in front of Welands home, I steeled my resolve and knocked on the door.
The door was promptly opened by a young man with a muscular torso, that showed through the tight shirt he sported, his sharp and defined face was toped of by short and spiky red hair, which was typical for his family. I had to say he was a bit attractive, but the lock on his face that, expected others to feel inferior, ruined the whole thing for me. He was not really arrogant, rather it was more of an absolute confidence in himself. This reflected in the piece of jewelry he picked for himself, a long serpent with a head like the dragons from the fairytales, that was biting his own tail to form a bracelet, it was cool, but he gave no consideration to his future wife at all.
This figure, Weland, greeted me:” Hello Merla, I heard you bought an impressive first jewel today, congratulations. Are you here to impress me or hit on me? But I have to disappoint you, I already have a great fiancé. Is there something else?” “I would not hit on you Weland and I already know about you and Narna (since today), I’m here because I heard about the marriage…” “Oh, you want an invitation, you don’t have to ask me for it, the whole Village will be there, you included.” He interrupted. “I already guessed as much. I have an offer for you. As you know, I don’t have any family in Daren left, this is why I plan to leave the Village, preferably as soon as possible before the Winter starts. When I heard about your marriage, I thought about you and Narna, wouldn’t it be awesome to start off together in your own house.” “Wait, Wait, Wait, you are leaving this one is new are you sure?” “Yes, I’m sure you can’t change my mind.” I was already prepared for such a question, but I really didn’t want to tell him or anyone my complete reason for leaving, it would just create an unnecessary commotion and hinder the last bits off business I had in Daren.
Thankfully, I was able to talk fast and coherent enough, to get across the complete message, before he interrupted me. “Oh well, I can’t stop you from leaving and a house would indeed be nice to start my life, as my brother will most likely inherit this place.” I could barely hide my smile everything went really well. “But how much do you want and if you will leave regardless couldn’t I just take the house?” “Well, if you want the whole Village to think you two aren’t able to pay for the house…” This was the best I could come up with, it was really not much. I honestly hadn’t thought about how much I wanted for the house and everything else. I really had no idea. At home I still had enough flour to get me across the winter, if I could sell all of it, I would be able to get enough money for one or two months of travel, I really didn’t know it was just some estimate. If could get this much for the house, I should be able to get through the first few months pretty safely. But I had no idea how much this was in pounds. “Mmh, before we talk about price don’t you want to take a look?”, I asked this was the best solution, that came to mind. I would just show him how much I wanted and we could start from there. “Hmp, I know your house already, but I guess a look inside wouldn’t hurt. Let me just crab Narna and we will come to you.” “I’ll wait, for you two then.”
Around an hour later I heard a knock on the door. I had just finished packing my back, which was already dry when I came back. When I opened the door, I was greeted by Weland and Narna, who was dressed in a light green dress which really fitted well to her brown hair and golden eyes. She was about half a head shorter than Weland but still taller than me and looked much more mature, even though she was just 3 winters older than me. “Hello Merla, I heard you want to leave, that’s quite brave off you, I would never be able to do that myself. It’s so nice of you to think about us first, for your house. Being able to move in with my fiancé would be just wonderful.” “Thank you, please come in and look around.” I honestly just wanted to get this done, being around so many people today was tiring and I had to do business with all of them, it really wasn’t my strong point.
In the end I just showed them around the house and mentioned that they could have everything inside, except for the grains and vegetables, which I would sell to the merchants. They did seem to be happy with the house and its state and wanted to take it. I was very relieved that I was able to sell the house as much as I didn’t like selling away a place with so many memories attached to it, this was still a lot better than just abandoning it. When I told them what price I had in mind, both of them were shocked and complained especially Weland. After a lot of back and forth we agreed to half of what I already had in grain. I wanted to sell it to the Merchants myself, as I had no idea how grain exchanged for money as neither my parents nor myself ever saw the need to do so. They agreed to deliver it to me the day after tomorrow, my dream of leaving the Village tomorrow, couldn’t withstand reality.
The next day, the whole Village erupted in a storm off gossip and a lot of people came to visit me. They all asked if I was sure to leave. Asked me if didn’t fear the bandits. They warned me about the treacherous people outside and told me to be careful of scams. It really wasn’t pleasant. And I was sure, they talked a lot worse behind my back, probably something around the lines of me being charmed by the merchants or me running away from reality. There would surely be more nasty rumors spreading soon, but I didn’t care the number of weird comments about the world and myself I got told really helped in strengthening my resolve. If was more involved with the village, I would probably believe them to, but I wasn’t, I experienced that even Dareners could be ignorant and degrading. Thus, their world views about the evil outside world lost a lot off its truth in my eyes. Further comments didn’t change that, they just furthered my point.
After a long day of waiting. It knocked again at my door. “Hey Merla, we have the grain you wanted.” “Ah thank you a lot”, I answered through the door,” just give me a moment to grab my stuff. With those words I grabbed my bag and the first of a few sacs of flour, I would sell, and walked out of the house. I was greeted by Weland, Narna and Welands father he looked very similar to Weland just older, but still with the signature red hair. “I must say Merla, that was quite the trick selling that house off yours to my boy and his girl, before bolting off. But I can’t say too much, all of you are adults, even if I had to help pay for it. Just a word of advice from me don’t get too tricky, or you might hit the wrong person.” I gulped at those words; I didn’t realize at all I tricked somebody. It just seems like the easiest way to do the deal. But none the les I answered:” Thank you for the advice, I didn’t intend to harm you.” “Hmph, it’s all good, just be careful out there.” With those words he turned around and left me Weland and Narna, along with the sacs of grain, alone. “If you two can just help me, take out the rest of the sacs, I can give you two the key faster.” “Sure, I can help you, but Narna isn’t needed, I’m enough.” I raised an eyebrow at those words but didn’t complain, the two of us really were enough two take out the rest. After we put down the last sac, I handed Weland the key to his house, picked up my bag and went looking for the merchants, they could make their way over and pick the grain up directly with their wagons.
When I reached the merchant, he seemed to be expecting me.” Oh, hello miss, looks like you are a going to be fellow traveler, from what I heard.” “Uhm, yes that seems to case, anyway I want to sell quite a bit of grains before leaving, could you come with me to pick it up?” “No Problem young lady, let me just inform the others.”, he replied and was off to the carriages. After a short minute I picked up the sound of a carriage moving and horses yelling. After another minute he drove a carriage around the shop and signaled me to guide him. We arrived after a few minutes, drawing the gazes of everyone we passed. After all it was rare for the merchants to leave their little shop or carriages.
After arriving at the pile of sacs, the merchant went through every single one off them and checked their contents for a while. That I wanted to sell this much grain, didn’t seem surprised him at all. Ten minutes later he finished his evaluation and came back to me. “I suppose you want to sell all this for money.” “Yes, that would be great.”, I nodded. “Okay I can give you 9 gold gulden and fifty silver shickels.” My eyes opened wide I had no idea for how much you would sell grain normally but gold shickels alone sounded valuable. Thus, I agreed:” Yes that sounds very good.” The Merchant smiled and took a pouch from his belt and counted a few coins out from it, before handing it to me.” This pouch contains 9 gold and 50 silver shickels, or half a gold, as well as some bronze pennies as change. Take good care of it and your necklace, don’t show them too openly.” “Thank you for the advice, I’ll follow it.”, I confirmed. “As a little bonus please take this map from a fellow traveler.”, the merchant smiled. “Oh, thank you it will surely help me a lot.” “No problem and a safe journey.”
With a wave, I started walking towards the forest and Egen and the path toward Egis my next stop. When I looked at the map more carefully, I spotted a few lines on the back of it:
The world is filled with Mana,
Guided by the Strings
Formed from itself.
Illusive to the material,
Being strong only connected.
In eternal motion it shapes the world.
