Chapter 5 - Well being

Jan put the last cup down on the shelf behind the counter and scanned the common room. The large room was dark, the moonlight that was streaming in from the windows not enough to cover the entire room. The tables and chairs filling the room had been cleaned and reset to where he wanted them, and all the lamps had been extinguished. Glancing over to the corner where the stage was, he frowned. The damned bard had incited a fight which had ended up breaking some of the boards making up the small elevated platform. People should know better than to sing “The King Fell off His Horse” in Kongsgard. Shaking his head, he let the frustration go, nothing to be done about it. The bard had been thrown out by the mob, and Agni had promised to come in tomorrow to help fix it.

Seeing that everything was in order, he called out to the lone person in the room, sitting half-slumped and mumbling at the corner table.

“I’m heading off to bed Jhan, you need anything before I go?”

“Eh?” The man jumped slightly at the sudden noise, “Oh, no Jan, I’m fine, you go get your beauty sleep.”

“Alright, I will. Now don’t fall asleep out here Jhan, you should head to bed too I wager,” The innkeeper replied, heading for the door to the kitchen.

“Heh, you know me, Jan, sleep is for the dead,” The other man replied ruefully, eye twitching slightly.

“Alright then, see you tomorrow, Jhan,”

Closing the door behind him, he chuckled slightly at their little ritual.

Back in the kitchen, his wife and daughter were diligently finishing up today's work, wiping the surfaces and putting away their tools. Well, his wife was. Emma looked like she wanted to finish as fast as possible so she could be elsewhere. He studied the scene, feeling a rush of contentment. He had done well in his life, he felt. Marrying Iris had almost been a fluke. The tall red-haired woman had been an adventurer before that and had frequented the tavern where Jan worked. They had shared many nights back in those years, but her adventurer lifestyle meant it was only an occasional event.

Then, her leg had gotten bit while she was clearing out a Komodo infestation. By the time her party got back to a proper healer, the infection had spread too far and she was told that she would never be able to use the leg properly again. He would never forget the moment when he saw her lithe and muscular outline in the tavern door. Worry rising as she slowly limped over to him, hundreds of questions fighting in his mind. Before he managed to say anything, she had reached him and bent down to kiss him. Then she had asked him, in that lilting accent of hers, “Will you marry me, you indecisive fool?”. There were no questions after that, only a word.

He was broken out of his reverie by a sigh. “Such a sorry soul, that one.” His wife said sadly.

“Now, don’t be like that, Iris. He knows what he is and what that entails,” Jan admonished his wife lightly, “Showing him pity isn’t fair to the life he chose.”

It seemed that this statement was interesting enough for Emma to be momentarily distracted from her focused rush. She looked down at the floor, but then visibly steeled herself and looked up at her father.

“What is wrong with Jhan? What does he do?” She asked hesitantly.

He sighed and turned to Emma, expression turning wistful.

“He’s a courier, Emma. It can be a very dangerous job, and you have to be ready to fight or run all the time. Once you’ve learned to survive that way, it’s very hard to stop, even if you are in a safe place. Do you remember when you almost fell into the well, and how you had nightmares about it for weeks after?” She nodded, shuddering slightly at the memory. “Well, imagine that, but all the time, that is what it’s like to be a courier.”

Eyes widening, Emma looked at the door as if she could see through it to the man sitting there.

Iris caught Jan's eyes, frowning slightly. He returned it steadily, and after a moment her expression softened and she nodded. Sighing, she turned to her daughter and ruffled her hair, startling the girl out of her thoughts.

“Don’t worry about Jhan, Emma. Your father is right, he knew what he was going into when he became a courier. He has had many, many scary moments like yours, but he’s also got a strong will, he’ll be alright,” She soothed the young girl. Then her face turned serious, “Now, what’s this I hear about a cat?”

Emma’s eyes lit up and she turned to her mother with a smile, “Oh, he’s so cute, Dad found him hiding in the storeroom!” Suddenly she turned hesitant again, “Can I keep it? Dad said I could,” She pleaded.

Jan could see the moment it was decided, as his wife’s shoulders sagged ever so slightly. She kept her serious expression though.

“Alright, but you will be responsible for any mess he makes. And keep your window open so he can get out, I won’t have cat shit all over me fecken floor.”

“But what if he runs away?”

“Well, then you’ll just have to make sure you feed him well. If a cat knows it can get food somewhere it usually comes back.” Opening one of the cupboards, she took out two bowls and handed them to Emma. “Here, I’ll let you go early tonight, you can take some of the goat meat from the pantry,” Looking worried, she continued, “We already used up all the water, are you ok getting water by yourself?”

It turned out she did not have to worry, as soon as Emma had heard she could leave it seemed her excitement had overridden every other thought. She managed a quick “Thank you, Mom!” before disappearing through the door leading to the pantry. Turning to Jan, Iris’ expression turned playfully serious.

“Since you are the one responsible for me not having any help tonight, I expect you to pick up the slack,” She said sternly. She could not hide the way the corners of her lips twitched, however.

Chuckling, he went over to give her a quick kiss, “Yes, ma'am,” He responded, equally serious.

Her mother always said to do the worst things first to get it out of the way. Mastering her fear was easier this time, she had a mission to make sure the cat would feel at home. She needed water to do that, so she would go get water. Heading straight through the pantry, she opened the back door to the courtyard beyond.

The inn shared this courtyard with some of the other buildings in the area, the well situated in the middle was owned by everyone. The grassy ground made this a perfect spot to play on hot summer days, since the buildings surrounding it were all tall, providing much-needed shade. She preferred playing with the other kids in the area though. She was grown up now and was allowed to go across the street to all the houses, as long as she asked first.

She walked confidently along the short paved path to the well, she put the two bowls on the stone rim and looked down. The dank smell reached up, trying to suffocate her, darkness howling for flesh. She hurriedly grabbed the bucket and threw it in, leaning back as soon as she let go. She took a deep breath to calm herself, her mind going back to what her father had said about Jhan.

‘How could anyone live like that? All the time?’

The sound of the bucket hitting the water broke her out of it, and she reminded herself of her mission. She moved up to the handle determinedly and started turning the crank to hoist up the bucket again.

‘I can’t wait until I get Enhanced Strength,’ She mused, as her arms strained with the work, ‘This will be so much easier.’

Her parents had always said she was a prodigy, getting lots of skills she shouldn’t have yet, but none of them were any fun skills. Like Drengr, that came every Tyrday to help father with the supplies. He had Enhanced Strength and Enhanced Dexterity. He could carry three crates at once! Sure, he was 7 years older than her, but it was still unfair. All she got was stuff like Liquid Absorption and Cleaning Hand...

She made sure the bucket was as high as possible before she stopped and steeled herself with a slow breath. This was always the worst part. She reached out as fast as she dared and grabbed the bucket. She knew that the sharp teeth that filled the well were just in her imagination, but she could not stop her fear from bubbling up each time she did this. Quickly pulling back with the bucket, she let out a shuddering breath and relaxed. Mother was right though, it did get easier if you did it many times. This time she hadn’t needed to wait a while before grabbing the bucket.

Shaking her head, she focused on carefully filling one of the bowls with water. She didn’t have time to mosey around, she had a mission!

“I’m going to make sure he’ll love it here, so he’ll never want to leave!” She exclaimed excitedly as she hurried back to the pantry.