Chapter 1: Chance meetings

Set up, world building and introducing the main characters

Life changing days often come when least expected.  All it takes is one chance meeting and this was a day that was to be full of them. Raven Greenbottle was half asleep stretched out on the roof of one of the wooden box carts. “Renowned Greenbottle Troupe” was written on the side of the cart in bright clashing colors with accents of colored glass and polished metal that made the cart impossible to miss. There was one more cart like this one just behind it that also had a side that folded down into a stage and one third smaller cart that carried supplies that followed behind the other two.

Even as she dozed against the warm planks of the cart Raven was well aware of what the rest of her family was doing. She could hear her mother and younger sister Merla in the last cart making plans for lunch when they stopped. Her father was trying not to let his stomach growl as he drove the supply cart. Uncle Garrett was teaching most of her brothers a new card game that he learned back in his adventuring days. Only the youngest boy, Roscco sat out of the game so that he could drive the second cart. He was young but had a way with animals that has already earned him job offers from several stable masters. The lead cart was being driven by the family matriarch, Nana and right now she had the baby of the family Liddy for company. Jillian was likely in that cart too as she was supposed to be sewing some costumes though she was probably actually trying to figure out ways to make her own clothes more fashionable. Liddy started to sing one of her made up songs. Music was one talent the halfling performers did not have, the twins could manage a little on the drums if just drum rolls and rim shots but that was about it. Still even though it wasn’t pretty when Liddy got to the chorus of her little tune the whole family joined in unbidden.

“The road goes on and meets my feet

So many folks for me to meet

Another lovely day to greeeeeeeat

Just make sure there’s tons to eat.”

No they had no musical talent to speak of but the simple tune sung to the beat of the hoofs sounded pretty good to Raven’s ears. She knew better than anyone the harmony that family could bring.

When the cart stopped she rolled over on her back and noticed that the sun was high in the sky. The morning had passed quickly it seemed they were making good time and would likely make it to the next town well before night fall. As soon as the carts stopped everyone started to move to get assigned chores done. Raven jumped down with a distinctive flourish to her landing that she didn’t even think about as she hurried to grab a basket off the supply cart. She had foraging duty today, one of her favorites.

“See if you can find some blueberries I’ll make a pie for us if you find enough.” Merla said as her older sister made her way to the trees.

“I’ll find enough to make two pies.” Raven laughed as she slipped away from the road. They couldn’t always forage but this area was pretty safe and this early in the fall there was plenty to find. Almost right away she found a wild pecan tree with the ground under it covered in nuts and quickly filled a sack with them leaving them to pick up on her way back. Heading deeper into the woods she found some mushrooms, wild onions and a few of the different plants that Nana used in her tonics and medicines. Raven didn’t know their proper names but she knew how to recognize them. A few of them she even knew how to use but she figured she’d never be as good at it as Nana was.

She spotted a rabbit and half wished she had brought her bow but knew that Roscco was on hunting duty today so meat wouldn’t be a problem. She followed a small creek for a little bit hoping that she might find some berries and got lucky finding a moderately sized patch. She couldn’t resist eating a few herself but soon enough her basket was full. Looking east she could just make out the smoke tendrils coming from the fire her mother and sister would be cooking on. It wouldn’t take her too long to get back and she couldn’t smell anything yet so lunch couldn’t be ready. This was the perfect time to get some practice in.

Acrobatics and juggling she could practice around others even her archery raised no eyebrows but there was other things she needed to learn that her siblings didn’t and the scar through her shoulder reminded her of that ever day. Uncle Garrett had been a rouge in his adventuring days. Nana wouldn’t approve and neither would her parents but she had begged him to teach her what he knew. He said she was a natural but some things were hard to get the time to practice.

First she started to practice her footwork, with a stick as a sword just for the weight she danced around an imagined opponent using the skills her uncle had taught her. “Be quick and be cunning.” She moved into the creek to increase the challenge. Keeping her footing solid while not  making too much noise by splashing and always keeping her eyes forward. “See far ahead, spot peril first. Remain unseen and break boundaries that restrict you.” Being light on her feet came natural to her and each time she did this it felt a little easier. Her imagined opponent had trouble keeping track of her. “The dagger's point is the first line of defence I am that point.” She moved in and out of the creek pleased that she was able to step light enough to get nothing but the bottoms of her shoes wet. “An unseen rouge is the most dangerous one and my foes will not see me until too late. I will be as the wind, unseen and as silent as a candle’s flame I...”

She had been about to finish off her imaginary foe when a sharp crack of energy above her caused Raven to look up and spot a person appearing out of thin air just a few feet above her head. It was such a strange occurrence that she didn’t know how to react and didn’t even move as this person fell on her knocked them both into the creek. It wasn’t deep enough for them to drown but both of them got wet and muddy for sure.

Raven managed to find her footing first and went to help the other person being quite surprised to see a young halfling woman. If Raven had to guess she looked to be right around Cade’s age and her eldest brother was 25. She had brown hair and striking blue eyes and a pretty enough face that Raven knew that Cade, and the twins would be tripping over each other when they saw her. What really surprised Raven though was that this woman was dressed in the robes of a mage. Raven had never heard of a halfling mage before and couldn’t imagine anyone in her family handling the rigorous and lengthy training, not even Nana and she was the smartest person Raven had ever known. Right away Raven could tell this woman was unique and that made her interesting and Raven wanted to know her better.

“Are you okay? Did you mean to fall out of the sky like that?” she asks offering the other woman a hand up.

The woman took Raven’s hand but still looked a little winded and dazed even as she got to her feet and steadied herself. She looks around a few moments in confusion and Raven could get a better look at her. Her robes were an earthy green and the traveling cloak and knapsack she had looked brand new though just as wet and muddy as the rest of her clothes were right now. She had a belt with many small pouches on it around her waist and tied to that belt was a sash with gold embroidered symbols on it. Raven knew that these symbols meant things to mages but the only thing she understood was that because it was in gold it meant she was connected to the Royal Magic Academy which was far south of here and said to be the best magic school in the world.

“If I’m not mistaken this is not the Summer Capital is it?” the halfling mage said finally finding her voice, pretty sure that this creek bed in the woods was not where she wanted to be.

“Kingsbridge?” Raven laughed “Oh no we’re far to the north of there. I can never remember if this area is still part of the Fens or if it’s considered to be part of the Great Green Sea.”

“What? I knew I should have just booked passage on an airship. I’ve never heard of a teleportation spell going this far off course before. This couldn’t have been an accident.” She made an annoyed sigh then glanced at Raven apologetically. “I’m sorry I’m forgetting my manners but this is just not how I expected my magical career to start off. Seems I’m already making a mess of things....literally. Here let me fix that at least.”

She held out her hand with her palm forward and her fingers stretched out and then speaks a few strange words as she brings her fingertips together and draws her hand back slightly. As she does this the dirt and water on both of their clothing is pulled out and away and falls back into the creek.

“That....that....that was magic, real magic that’s amazing.” Raven says in awe glad that she wouldn’t have to explain to her family how she’d gotten so dirty. Her brothers would never let her hear the end of it for falling in a creek even if it had been because someone had fallen on her out of thin air.

“Huh...that was just a cleaning cantrip. It’s nothing special, first thing most apprentices learn. Guess someone figured that during exam time doing laundry is the first thing to be discarded for more study time.” She extended her hand to Raven who didn’t hesitate to shake it. “Seraphina Goldmantle but most everyone calls me Sera.”

“Raven Greenbottle and it’s always a pleasure meeting someone so interesting. You know my family is heading to Kingsbridge as well. We’re performers heading that way for the festival so I’m sure you could come along with us.” Raven headed back over to where she’d left her basket and Sera followed after her. “Why are you going to the capital anyways? For the festivities?”

“Well kind of more for the tournament than anything else. Now that my real training has started I need to make a name for myself and find some skilled people to travel with. I figured the adventures tourney was a good place to start.”

“Oh I see...no wait what do you mean real training. Are you just an apprentice mage?”

“Oh no, I graduated top of my class so I’m a full fledged mage now but my mentor always told me that this is when my real training would start outside the safety of the school and that if I was very lucky I’d never really finish training. He also told me that mages are always targets and that I’d never be able to go alone. He said that I’d need to find some big wall of a brute as a shield and a compassionate cleric at the very least but that I should also look out for someone that was clever and crafty and able to keep danger away and that’s what I intend to.....” Sera trailed off as she noticed that Raven was making a strange almost giddy expression like she was trying not to laugh and wondered if she’d said something strange. “Uh....did I say something funny?”

“Oh no not funny just.....I guess something I wanted to hear and it made me happy. I like you Sera I can just tell we can be good friends so I’ll let you in on a little secret.” Raven had a look of mischief and held her finger to her lips to show it was something real hush-hush. “My uncle was an adventurer in his youth and he’s been training me in secret. He says I’m pretty good but I haven’t had a chance to field test what i know either. I always hoped I might find a group of trusted allies like he had in his adventures and then my family would be okay with me leaving. I wouldn’t make a good wall and I’m no cleric but I know a bit about bandages and stuff from Nana but if you need someone to be crafty and sneaky and scout out trouble than I’m you’re gal.”

“Wait so you’re a thief?” Sera was a little confused and looked more closely at the cheerful girl in front of her. Her mentor had told her that thieves and scoundrels could actually turn out to be good traveling companions but Raven didn’t match her mental image of people with that skill set.

“With the exception of my mother’s delicious desserts I’ve never stolen anything in my life I prefer the term treasure hunter or free enterpriser, if you must rouge in a pinch.” Raven tried to pretend like she was offended but ruined it by laughing. “I mean I’m not a member of the guild or anything but my uncle says I can already sneak around better than he ever could and I’m pretty good at locks and traps my combat is kind of so-so from learning acrobatics my footwork and balance are really good but the actual blade work is taking time. I think I’d learn a lot more through actually doing stuff. My family wouldn’t let me go off on my own but if I was with the top graduate of the best magic academy in the world....well that would be a different story.”

“I suppose it would.” Sera found herself laughing and had to agree with Raven’s earlier statement. She too felt like they could be good friends. Not once had Raven even implied that Sera couldn’t be a real mage because she was a halfling and for the last 15 years that had been almost everyone's reaction to her. She had gotten used to the first reaction to seeing her use magic being accusations of trickery or cheating. Her parents, her classmates, at least half of her teachers all thought she couldn’t do this and it was refreshing to not have to defend herself. “I believe you and I could work well together we’d just have to find a few other people. Perhaps we were destined to meet?”

Raven snorts “Destiny is rubbish but it was good luck.” A delicious smell reached the two girls at that point and Raven’s stomach growled. “Even better luck, smells like mom and Merla are through with lunch and you’re in for a real treat. My mother is the best cook around Merla is almost as good.” Raven lead Sera back towards the camp picking up the bag of pecans along the way and making small talk as they walked. Sera had never been to the summer capital before and was looking forward to the festival. The Greenbottles went every year and each year there seemed to be more and more going on. It didn’t start officially for another week and the tournament was near the end of the two week festivities but Raven knew that there were already people starting to gather there.

Lyle was the first one to notice that Raven had come back with a guest and quickly rushed over to introduce himself and of course his twin Beau was not far behind and it didn’t take long for Cade to notice what his brother’s were up to and rushed over to introduce himself as well.

Raven wished that she had been wrong about her brothers turning so stupid at the sight of the pretty young halfling mage. Didn’t they realize that between the three of them they weren’t even giving her a chance to respond? She glanced at the last of her brothers grateful that even though he was mature and responsible for 11 he showed no desire to try to flirt with Sera though he was clearly a little curious about where Raven found her but went back to finishing his chores.

Sera was overwhelmed having no clue how to handle flirting at all and was just wondering if there might be some spell to get her out of this situation when each of the three young men yelped as they were thonked on the head by Nana’s walking stick.

“Now i know you boys were brought up to have better manners than that.” She says sternly. “I know you all still have things to see too if you’re going to be having some of the nice lunch your mother made.” as they scattered Nana chuckled and greeted Sera with a smile. “I see my granddaughter has found a stray, you are more than welcomed to eat with us young lady. I didn’t think anyone lived in this area.”

For some reason Sera seemed to be struggling to find her voice so Raven jumped in to explain. “She’s not from around here Nana she was on her way to Kingsbridge using magic but wound up in the woods instead. I told her she could come to the ferry with us.”

“Well we can’t very well leave her on the edge of the Great Green Sea now can we?” Nana laughs, like Raven she found Sera interesting at first sight and was curious about her and this family was not about to leave anyone stranded.

“I’m sorry...” Sera seems to finally find her voice. “...it was just so surprising I didn’t expect Raven’s family to be halflings I figured you’d be grey elves like her.” Though now that she thought of it Sera knew she should have thought something was strange. She had never met a grey elf as cheerful and friendly as Raven and she couldn’t imagine the ones she knew as traveling performers. In her experience grey elves were xenophobic and judgemental but Raven showed none of thouse traits. So far she was glad that she’d ignored her own biases and accepted Raven’s offer of friendship at face value.

Raven grinned and blushed a little brushing her black hair behind her pointed ears, an unconscious habit whenever her heritage was mentioned. “Oh sorry for not mentioning that. I suppose I am a grey elf but this is the only family I’ve ever known so I tend to just think of myself as a tall halfling.” She shrugged thinking little more of it.

“Oh I didn’t.....It just surprised me is all.” before she could apologize more Raven put her hand on her friend’s shoulder and smiled.

“Come on let’s eat. Everyone calls my mom Cookie because she’s the best cook so you’re in for a treat and maybe Nana can even tell the story of how I came here. It’s a really good story and she tells it so well.” Raven lead her new friend over to where the temporary camp had been set up as she was a guest Sera got served first. The pot pie was rustic but delicious and made Sera remember how long it had been since she’d had home cooked food and she wasn’t sure if her own mothers cooking had ever been this good. She had been too busy to eat breakfast that day and had no trouble make seconds and 3 of the warm rolls that soaked up the juices so well disappear.

“That was delicious. Thank you Mrs Cookie that was the best thing I’ve eaten in a long time.” Sera said finally full enough to remember her manners.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. We made some pie as well but it has to cool a little before it can be eaten.” Cookie says snagging Liddy as she tried to sneak off no doubt to get some of that pie and pulling her onto her lap where she starts braiding her hair.

“Perfect time for a story then.” Raven loved stories and there was no one in the family bad at telling them but Nana was perhaps the best out of them. “Nana tell the story of finding me since Sera was asking. I love that one.” Liddy and the boys added their own requests for that story while Jillian wanted a love story instead and Merla was fine what everyone else wanted.

“Okay then the story of finding Raven it is....” Nana chuckled warmly and took out her pipe and began to prepare and light it. It had a long narrow stem and a small bowl and was elegantly carved. She didn’t smoke much but found it worked well when telling stories.

Drawing on the pipe she let the smoke swirl up into the air. “It actually didn’t happen that far from here. A week or two north into the Great Green Sea. Towns are far apart there so we don’t go that far north often but we were always treated so well by the grateful villages that it was worth it to go that way every few years. This was just over 20 years ago so Cade had just turned 5, the twins were rambus 3 year olds, Merla had just been born and the rest of you youngins weren’t even thought up yet.” Nana pointed at  each child as named them with her pipe and then swept out her arm to include all her other grandchildren.

“It was a warm summer day and i was actually showing off a piece of my collection and telling the story of it to the boys to get them to take a nap. It was my new favorite piece, a ring of miracles.”

She held out her hand as if cuping something valuable in it and Sera couldn’t help but gasp. A ring of miracles was a magic item blessed by a god and said to be capable of doing anything a god could. She knew that there was only a handful of these rings in existence and they had value beyond reason.

“Oh it was a fake of course, a badly done fake at that.” Nana continued closing her hand and winking at Sera. “but it had the most wonderful story connected to it about a foolish desperate boy trying to save his village and that was the story i was telling the boys when out of nowhere whoosh and a blur of black feathers. A raven had darted out of the trees and snatched the ring right out of my fingers.” She moved her pipe in a flourish of movement to mimic the bird flying off. “I called for the cart to stop rushed into the trees to give chase. I was a good bit sprier back then so  I was able to keep up a lot better than I could now but looking back I almost swear that the bird wasn’t trying to get away. Perhaps it was trying to lead me somewhere or just playing a game all I know is that when I did lose sight of it I was in a small clearing and the smell of blood was heavy in the air.”

Her voice grew softer now and there seemed to be more smoke from her pipe, partially obscuring her face. Everyone seemed to lean closer even those that had lived through this story or heard it a hundred times.

“I knew that smell meant bad news, at the very best I had come near a predator eating but my mind raced through all the even worse things that smell could mean. I couldn’t quite tell where it was coming from or if I was in danger so i moved around carefully then I heard a child crying and forgot to be afraid. I spotted some drops of blood on some leaves and followed them to a fallen tree. Loam and leaves and pine straw had been pulled out from under it franticly by something trying to hide away. Carefully i peeked in and saw a small child covered in mud and dried blood. She was so pale and passed out but was still crying in pain and the noise is the only reason I didn’t think she was dead at first glance. Her cloths was in tatters and I couldn’t even tell what had happened to her yet.”

Cookie was getting teary eyed remember the state Raven had been in when they had found her had to come over and hug her eldest daughter tight for a moment. Raven hugs her back but doesn’t seem that emotional at the story herself.

“It took some doing to get her out of there but luckily your grandpa had been chasing after me and was able to help me bring her back to the carts.” Nana couldn’t help but smile softly remembering her late husband and how determined he’d been to save this poor child. “We all worked together to clean her up and dress her wounds and it became clear that she had been lashed and beaten with fists but worse off all was a strange wound going through her shoulder. To this day i don’t know what weapon or beast could have made it and at the time I was worried she’d lose her whole arm because of it. We started calling her Raven because of the bird that had lead me to her. She looked to be around 4 and I remember how pleased Cade was to have another little sister and how the twins argued that she shouldn’t count as a big sister to them even if she was older. When we finally had her stable we put her in a cot in one of the carts to rest but as I was about to get in the cart myself I heard a voice right in my ear, like there was someone standing behind me leaning over my shoulder whisper ‘Quickly, you must run they can not find her’ but there was no one there. I don’t know what that warning meant but I was not about to stick around and find out. We didn’t stop until we had reached a village and we’ve never been to that part of the Great Green Sea since. It was almost 2 weeks later before Raven finally woke and she had no memory of when she’d come from and what happened to her and by then she was most of the way healed.”

“And I’ve been part of the family ever since.” Raven says with a grin though when she looks at Sera she’d see there was tears in the halfling mage’s eyes. “Oh please don’t cry. It’s not like I remember any of the bad things that happen to me.”

“Doesn’t that make it even worse?” Sera says rubbing at her eyes.

Raven just shrugs. “I’ll find out the truth some day when I’m strong enough I’ll go to Casel where the grey elves live or back to the place I was found and remember what I need to know. In the meantime I’ve got the best family, I get to see the world, eat my mother’s good cooking, make new friends and perform. I figure laughter is the best way to get back at whoever did that if I became my scars and got a mopy and sullen than it’s kind of like they win. Yeah maybe at first I was just being happy out of spite but almost right away it was happy for real when I let myself.”

“That is an interesting way of looking at things....” Sera considered it unsure if she agreed or not but she wasn’t going to dismiss the idea.

“Well speaking of happiness is that blueberry pie cool enough to eat now mom?” Raven grinned at Cookie and the older woman chuckled

“How quickly do you think it takes to make a pie young lady? This was already baking when you came back with the blueberries this is apple pie we’ll have the blueberry later.” Cookie gently scolded.

“Oh well apple is just as good is it cool enough to eat?” Raven’s grin made her mother laugh she went over to where the pies were cooling on the back of the supply cart to see if they were ready.

Meanwhile young Liddy had scooched closer to Sera clearly curious about their guest. “Hey do you know what happens when you cross a wolf with a sheep? You have to get a new sheep.” Liddy started to laugh but she had told the joke with no pause so Sera didn’t even know it was a joke until the girl started laughing and she looked at Raven with a confused look.

Raven just shrugged and had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing at her new friend’s reaction. Liddy’s jokes were all groaners and she told them with too much enthusiasm to have any sense of timing.

“What do you call a man with a pig on his head Hamlet.” Liddy was determined to get a laugh “What do you call medicine for horses cough sturup. What do you call holes in socks darned good...no wait what do you call fixed holes in socks? Darned good! What do you call....”

“Liddy stop....please.” The jokes fell flat but Raven couldn’t hold in her laughter and her sides were hurting and everyone else was chuckling at least a little.

Luckily Cookie saved them from having to deal with more of Liddy’s humor by coming back with slices of pie and giving the first one to Liddy and the second to Sera.

Sera took a bite of the pie and it just melted in her mouth. Supper had been good but this was amazing and she couldn’t help but wonder why Cookie was not running a restaurant or inn in one of the big cities or cooking for the boy king himself. Her mentor was a lover of all sweet things and she wouldn’t be surprised to learn that even he had never had anything this good.

She must have been making a strange face as both Raven and Liddy were looking at her with similar teasing grins.

“Isn’t Mama’s deserts the best?” Liddy says before stuffing an overladen fork full into her mouth.

“My Dad fell in love with my Mom at first sight and then he tasted her chocolate cake and asked her to marry him right on the spot.” Raven clearly liked the simplicity of her parent’s love story though it was likely a little bit more complicated than she said.

“That doesn’t surprise me I imagine anyone would want to marry your mother to get to eat like this every day.” Sera laughed a little “Heck if she was still single I’d consider it myself and I’m not into girls.” She figured Raven would take that as a joke like she meant it and was glad that she laughed at it.

“You know if you married one of her sons you’d get mother's good cooking every day anyway.” Cade said grinning at her in a way that was meant to be charming and not at all desperate.

Sera blushed, looked down and shoved some more pie into her mouth. Raven had figured out that Sera didn’t know how to handle flirting at all and reached over and punched her brother in the arm and gave him a stern look. Raven rarely looked stern but she somehow managed to pull off a Nana-like look well enough that Cade stepped back in surprise.

Raven got to her feet, grabbed Cade’s arm and pulled him off behind one of the carts telling the twins to come with them. She had to say something as she didn’t want them to make Sera uncomfortable. She wouldn’t stop them from trying to be friends with her but she was putting her foot down on the flirting they were all bad at it anyways.

While Raven was chewing out her brothers Sera finished her dessert and out of habit used a cleaning cantrip to clean her plate. Liddy’s eyes went as wide as saucers at this display of magic. “Oh wow you really are a mage I didn’t know halflings could do magic!”

Sera prickled up though she tried not to. She knew Liddy was just a child, 9 or 10 years old at the most and didn’t mean those words the way she had heard them so many times in the past. It took a great effort for her not to defensively snap back at the young girl but before she could finish figuring out a safe thing to say Liddy continued with words that made her prickles go away.

“Could I do magic if i wanted?” she asked with a curious expression and Sera smiled.

“Anyone can learn magic if they want to badly enough. My parents run a magic supply store in Kissantia where the Royal Magic Academy is so I was able to learn a lot when I was really young. I still had to prepare a whole year to take the entrance exam though. Different languages and alphabets and the rules about different kinds of magic there’s a whole lot you need to understand even for simple spells and then I went to the academy for 15 years.”

Liddy’s eyes went wide. “That’s forever, that’s longer than I’ve been alive even.” She lets out a sigh and shakes her head and it’s clear that she felt she’d never be able to learn all that. She had enough trouble focusing on an afternoon of lessons from Nana. “Oh well if I want to go on adventures I’ll just get Uncle Garrett teach me thief stuff when I’m bigger. So what other cool magic stuff can you do? Can you fly? Can you blow things up?”

Sera laughed. “Fly? Not likely that’s a very advanced spell you can only learn from a dragon or an Archmage that learned it from a dragon. As for blowing things up...well I know a few destructive spells useful in combat but the big flashy spells only kind of have a few uses. I specialized in using small versatile spells like cantrips and rituals. Here I’ll show you the spell I use the most.”

Sera held her right hand out slightly with her palm up and makes a quick snap with her thumb against her middle and pointer finger and a small stone on the ground in front of them rose up into the air.

Liddy gasped as did everyone else who was now looking at what was going on including Raven who was coming back satisfied that Cade and the twins understood.

“You can make things float?” Rave asked curious.

“No there’s a hand there you have to look real close to see it though.” Uncle Garrett says actually sounding impressed and he had the most experience of them around mages. “That’s a Helping Hand spell right? I’ve never seen one cast so fast and so hard to see, I almost didn’t notice it myself and I know what to look for.”

Raven tilted her head slightly and could make out a faint shimmer of something holding the rock. It was almost invisible but it did kind of look like a hand.

“It might be my best spell but it is a Helping Hand spell yes. I found a way to shorten the casting time and precision. Though I still can’t do anything to make it stronger though my mentor said that’s not that important and with the added precision I have figured out how to drastically reduce the time needed to cast identification and elemental rituals.”

The Greenbottles didn’t understand what that meant, not in the way Sera did but they could tell it was a big deal to her that she had accomplished this and she got several words of praise for it. She blushed slightly and almost out of habit used her spell to toss the rock up into the air and catch it several times then carefully put it down before the energy fingers meeped Liddy’s nose and then started gathering up the plates of those around her.

“Sera...dear have you ever considered performing?” Nana had a gleam in her eye that the family knew meant she had thought of something good. “Could you juggle with that spell? I know that would draw a crowd.”

Sera shook her head but she had a feeling that she couldn’t fully say no to the matron of the Greenbottle family.

“Don’t dismiss the idea so lightly. We should make it to the village of Thetford well before nightfall but we may have to wait a day or two for the ferry. A small town like that would be real impressed by something like that. Think about it for now we should start packing up and getting back on the road soon anyways.”

Sera nodded to show she would think about it but she strongly suspected the decision had been made already whether she liked it or not. Refusing Nana might take stronger magic than she knew yet.

It surprised Sera how quickly things got cleaned up and packed away. She could only describe it as organized chaos as everyone hopped up to see to whatever chore they had and would soon have everything in it’s place so they could head back on the road. What surprised her the most was as they were ready to go Roscco let out a shrill sharp whistle and 4 dogs come running out of the forest to greet him and get lifted up into one of the carts by him. One of the dogs has a small monkey riding on his back like it was a pony and the monkey climbs up on Roscco’s shoulder.

“Oh don’t mind my brother’s menagerie.” Raven says noticing where Sera was looking. “I can’t say they’re tame but they listen to him. I think they think of him as the pack leader or something he does an act with them in the show and it’s pretty amazing.” She chuckles warmly. “As you can no doubt tell this family has a problem with taking in strays. So where do you want to ride? On nice days I tend to ride on top of one of the stage carts you get the best views there.”

Sera had a little trouble getting up there even with the simple ladder built into the side of the cart though Raven seem to climb it like it was nothing. The afternoon passed mostly in laughter as the new friends talked about all the important pointless things that friends needed to know. The friendship felt natural and as the afternoon went on both girls started to feel that they were life long friends.

The village of Thetford looked not that much difference than any other small peaceful village in the kingdom of Xenos. It had no wall but a small watch tower next to the road right before the village that was manned by a small volunteer militia. Just past the tower was an open common area that Nana knew they could set up in though perhaps common area was too generous a term for what was just an open meadow. One road went through town looping around the base of one small rounded hill before looping back on itself in a loose figure 9 shape with the common at the base. The hill top was covered with wild flowers and bee hives as the village was known for its honey production.

Before the troupe could really enter the village someone from the guard tower shouted at them to stop before climbing down to greet them.

“Performers huh? I think I remember you guys being through here a few years back.” The man said as he walked to the lead cart where Nana was. “I seem to recall you being pretty good and not causing any trouble.”

He had a grizzled look to him that made Raven think that he should be a hard boiled guard in a big city who had seen too much and grown too old for this s**t. Liddy apparently thought the same thing because when he came even to the cart she looked at him wide eyed. “Are you gonna put me in the clink?” she asked and the grizzled old man laughed and shook his head. Raven was still pretty sure that he had been that sometime in the past but had somehow managed to retire to the countryside. Though in every story she’d ever heard attempting to retire seemed to be the cause of death to those kinds of characters.

“Well we don’t plan on causing any trouble this time either. We were hoping to set up in your common if that was okay and maybe put on a show or two while we wait for the next ferry.” Nana says knowing that it likely wouldn’t be a problem but asking first usually made things go smoother.

“Folks here could probably stand to have a little distraction and fun. Mayor Evans would have to give the go ahead but I can’t see why he wouldn’t. Oh I’m Liam by the way, leader of the militia here and proprietor of the Mead’s End Inn just over there.” He points to one of the larger buildings in town. “I only have 3 guest rooms, we don’t get a lot of people there here but we got a pretty nice bathhouse and laundry if you need that. If you want to move your carts over to the commons I’ll go fetch the mayor.”

Nana noded to show that she would do just that but she was just a little worried now. Something wasn’t right. He hid it well but she could tell that Liam was worried about something. No one else seemed to have picked up on it so she couldn’t be sure. She hoped that she was wrong and they would have a pleasant uneventful stay in this small village.

They moved to make camp in the commons and it didn’t take long to set up at all. She hadn’t expected the inn in such a small town to be able to accommodate them but was glad to learn that there were hot baths. Judging by how quickly some of her grandchildren were getting camp set up they were looking forward to a hot bath, Merla and Jillian in particular seemed a little extra eager.

Sera wanted to help some and offered Cookie to help with the supper prep. With her Helping Hand she was able to make short work of the peeling and chopping. Sera hadn’t help actually cook since she was a small child when she’d stand on a chair in her mother’s kitchen. At the academy kitchen duty had always been dull but fine. Chores weren’t assigned after the 4th year though and if she was being honest she hadn’t been sad to give it up. Which is why it surprised her so much how much fun it was helping now as it brought back memories of her mother’s kitchen and simpler times.

By the time the Mayor shows up things were so set up It almost looked like the Greenbottles had been there for days. He was a cheerful looking plump man and he seemed to recall them from their last visit and comes up to greet Nana with a smile. “Nana Greenbottle it’s such a pleasure to have you in our little town. I can’t wait to see you all perform again. I know my daugher Gweny will love it too last time you were here she tried to mimic one of your tricks and broke several dishes. Now she’s old enough to know better but you’re still not doing that plate spinning act are you?”

Nana laughs. “That old chestnut? No we have to keep things new and change them up from time to time. We have an animal act now that she’d probably love. I’m glad things are still peaceful here we’ll make sure to put off a few shows before the ferry gets here. Do you know when it’s due.”

Mayor Evans frowned and let out a sigh. “I’m afraid you might have some wait. Legionnaires commandeered the ferry going south and north to take them all to Kingsbridge. The one going north is the one that would normally be here in 3 days going south but that means there won’t be one then. Might be 6 or 7 days before we get one heading that way. I wish I had better news but you’re welcome to stay here as long as you like. Just... make sure your little ones don’t wander outside the village much. Night time in particular.”

“Mayor is there something that we should be worried about?” Nana asked him bluntly.

He sighs and nods his head. “It may be nothing the Legionnaires seemed to think it wasn’t anything to worry about. North of here there is a cave where a troll named Blodd lives. He’s been there for as long as anyone can remember and generally doesn’t cause trouble. He’ll chase someone away if they come too close to his cave but he’s never killed anyone or bothered the village so we haven’t bothered him.”

“But something’s changed?” Garrett comes up to join the conversation. He knew that trolls were strong and territorial but usually harmless unless pressed when they could become deadly.

“Something yeah.” Liam had come back to join the discussion as well. He looked at the mayor for a moment and it was clear that the two of them had already debated how much to tell these outsiders. “We started finding strange things on patrols. Trees toppled over for no good reason, areas where it looked like something big had been thrashing around and a lot less animals or even signs of animals in certain areas. Things were getting closer and closer to village and several times i found troll tracks but I can’t say for sure that’s what caused everything. Then yesterday a member of my militia went out on patrol and he still hasn’t come back. The Legionnaires seemed to think he was just lost and there was no reason for Blodd to be causing trouble now.”

“No reason they know of.” Nana scoffed she knew the Imperial Legionnaire Guards were a powerful and respected order charged with upholding the laws of Xenos but in her experience they were short sighted, inflexible and slow to adapt and that was just the ones that weren’t actively greedy and corrupt. She could count on one hand the number of Legionnaires she had met that lived up the actual prestige and ideals of the order.

“It’s not typical troll behavior for sure even if a new troll had come into the area and there where having a territorial dispute it wouldn’t be like that.” Garrett was thinking but could find no answer in his experience but knew how dangerous unknown variables could be in a situation like this. “Since you’re down a man already I could help you some with your patrols while we’re here. Maybe pick up something you might have missed?”

“I’m not about to say no to that. With Neil missing I’ve only got one other person in the militia. Normally that’s more than enough as nothing much happens here. Last year we had a goat escape it’s pen and rounding it up was most work we had the whole year.” Liam admits and then take Garrett with him to the watch tower.

The Mayor makes some small talk with Nana before leaving himself but at that point Raven figured it was safe to slip away from her hiding spot where she had been listening in. She was pleased that even Nana hadn’t seemed to notice her. She knew something was up and this was the easiest way to find out about it. She went to tell Sera about it wondering if adventure might be closer than she thought.

--------

“Just a simple job, couple hours work, won’t be any danger at all. Yeah right! I swear Jangles, old friend or no you’re getting a slug for getting me into this mess.” Newt Ironhill complained to the air as he struggled for a land mark somewhere in this endless forest. “Sky pirates! Why is always sky pirates? What did I ever do to them....oh yeah that. Where in Xenos am I?”

Newt prided himself in his navigation skills but two days locked below decks of an airship left too many options. He’d only gotten out of there by the skin of his teeth but with no supplies and had been wandering for another 3 days. He knew his crew had to be worried. Bal was fretting no doubt. If only he could find a road or a river or a mountain he could figure out where he was. A hot meal and a stiff drink sounded so good to Newt that he was able to keep going. He was starting to get worried that he might be in the thick of the Great Green Sea and knew how few and far between towns were in this province. He kept heading south hoping that if that was the case he wasn’t too far into that massive forest.

Spotting some water near the base of a tree he stopped to drink some of it. It was stale and stagnant and didn’t taste good at all but he had no way to carry water with him so he had to take advantage of things like this. Awkwardly he climbed up the tree thinking that his was as good a time as ever to try to get a good look around. “Trees, trees, trees, look more trees..... Wait....is that...” Newt climbed a little higher and checked again. He was certain this time, “That’s chimney smoke looks to be a village that way.” Pleased to no longer be lost he jumped down and headed southeast towards it. He wouldn’t make it there before nightfall but maybe he’d still manage to get into the Inn and get to sleep in a bed.

He was in such a good mood he almost missed the leather satchel hanging on a bush. “Did someone lose this?” Looking inside he saw half empty water flask, some bread that looked a little stale some beef jerky a nice looking compass and a rough drawn map of the area with some things noted on it. The initials ND were stamped inside the inside flap and he figured that it was likely someone from the village that had lost it. He figured ND wouldn’t mind him eating the bread and jerky or drinking the water but he’d turn the rest in when he got to the village as the compass at least looked like it would be missed and maybe the bag too.

“Maybe this hasn’t been such a bad day after all.” Some food would make it a lot easier to get out of here so in a cheerful mood he continued on towards the smoke.

-----------------------

A figured crashed through the dense underbrush.

Run, run, run.

The words were like a pressure in his mind an outside force he was unable to ignore. Blood seeped down his leg and filled his boot but he was numb to the pain. The sun had gone down some time ago and he was long past the point when his endurance should have given out but on he ran.

Run, run, run, run, there is no time.

The urging guided his steps. He couldn’t think about where he was going all he could do was run through the dark forest trusting his instincts to guide him. Nothing looked familiar but yet the figure knew he was going in the right direction.

Run, death is coming, run.

----------------------

Raven hadn’t thought that she wouldn’t sleep at all since she was so excited. The adventure she had always wanted seemed to be so close she could taste it. However come bedtime Sera had to take out her spell book and go over some things. She said it was preparing spells but to Raven it was all vague handsigns and a white noise of soft spoken unknown words. The humm of it had caused Raven to drift off sitting on the ground with her back to a cart wheel.

She had started to dream, a familiar dream of a formless danger and a child’s pain. She knew this nightmare and fought vainly against it. For once though she was jolted out of that darkness and came awake. It took her several moments to realize that her own will hadn’t pulled her from the dream but a loud banging sound that it was impossible to sleep through.

It took a few moments for her sleepy mind to figure out what was going on. The sound was some kind of drum and was coming from the watch tower. When she realized that it had to be an alarm she scrambled to her feet and only then realized that Sera had already grabbed up her stuff and was running. Not towards safety though no she was running as fast as she could towards the fire blazing near the top of the hill.

One of the buildings was on fire and it was already starting to spread. The buildings were already pretty close together but if the whole hilltop caught on fire it would cost the town it’s livelihood.

“Raven grab my healing kit and come with me.” Nana shouted. “Everyone else help the villagers put that fire out.” and with that the Greenbottles scattered into the chaos of the night to try to help how they could. Raven grabbed the leather handle of the wooden box Nana kept all her medicine in and followed after her. Hopefully no one would be hurt worse than Nana could heal. She wasn’t a cleric or even an apothecary or midwife but Nana had a knack for healing that usually was just enough.

When they got close to the fire the smell of blood soon hit them over the smell of smoke. The whole village had to be there some of them trying to put out the fire but many of them were just standing there stunned and hopeless.

Mayor Evans lay on the ground in front of his home bleeding, burned and dying. Liam was kneeling over him trying to stop the bleeding and not far away there was another man coughing and struggling to breath. Garrett was with this man trying to help him looking a little banged up and worse for the wear himself.

It took everything in Nana not to rush right over to her son and check on him but Garrett seemed fine and the mayor was anything but. She rushed over with Raven right behind her and started doing her best to stem the bleeding.

Raven thought that Evans might already be dead and doubted anything short of magic could save him now but understood why Nana had to try. She passed medicines as they were needed and assisted like she had in the past for minor family injuries. Glancing up she noticed Sera standing in front of the spreading blaze. The townspeople were not going to be able to put it out there were merely slowing its spread at this point. With deft hands Sera started pulling strange thin blades from one of her belt pouches and tying thread to the loops that were where handles should be.

“8...no better make it 10 to be sure.” she said to herself thinking through what she was about to do.

“That won’t work child.” glancing up Sera saw an old elven man standing there. A quick glance at the sash on his belt showed red symbols that told of a long magical career but little of it impressed her. “You’re trying to cast a water ritual right? It won’t work in these conditions and by the time you get the ritual ready the fire will have spread too far to matter. It’s impossible.”

“Don’t tell me what is and isn’t possible.” She snapped back her voice carrying over the sound of the fire and Raven smiled when she heard it. “Slow down the fire for 5 minutes and I can make it possible.”

Turning back to the fire Sera started chanting strange words and then threw the first of the blades into the fire. The line tied to it spooled out from her belt pouch and the other 9 blades were pulled along after it. Sera put both hand in front of her and made a snap with her thumb against her middle and pointer finger on both hands and then she seems to enter a trance her eyes focused far away as she continues to recite strange words.

Sera’s action had moved some of the villagers to act and try to hold back the fire but there were still many too filled with dread to do anything. Their jovial mayor was dying and no one knew what had caused this feeding the fear and anxiety of people that didn’t know if they were going to have to flee their homes or not.

"Please allow me to assist this man and he will live..." The gentle and calm voice seemed to come from nowhere. It was a soft voice yet it still grabbed the attention of everyone and Raven found herself looking up to see who was speaking.

He was a young man but with a world tested look to him. He was dressed in humble cloths that were caked in dust and mud and around his neck he wore a simple wooden medallion with a tree carved on it and yellow paint around the outer rim. Raven knew this marked him as a cleric and though she didn’t know the order that had a tree as it symbol the yellow meant that it was a part of the church of light. She wondered if he was one of the healing clerics that traveled between the sparse villages in the Great Green Sea tending to the injured. The villagers didn’t seem to recognize him though.

Everyone started to fall back to let the cleric get to the injured mayor and when he came to kneel next to Evans both Raven and Nana were able to get a closer look at his face. And Raven almost gasped when she realized that he was another grey elf. Only after a second glance did she realize he wasn’t a full blood grey elf. Oh yes he had the same tawny complexion as her that faded to an ashy grey at the tip of her pointed ears but that was the only really elven thing about his features. She couldn’t tell what the other half was at a glance though her first instinct had been human until she noticed his eyes. They were a golden color and seemed to shine with compassion and patience there was a very old scar that ran from the underside of his right eye down his cheek and stopping at his jaw line. Raven had never seen anyone human or elf with gold eyes before.

The cleric examined the Mayor a moment and looked at what Nana had tried to do to save the man. He looks at Nana and nods to her. “You’re pretty good madame if he hadn’t lost so much blood you might have been able to save him but you did keep him breathing long enough so I could get here.”

He places a hand on the Mayor’s chest and starts to speak a strange sing songy language that caused his hand to glow muscles, tendons, blood vessels, skin all started to knit back into place. It was clearly causing a strain on the cleric but his face stayed calm and composed as the mayor started to breath more easily and his color slowly improved. The glowing stopped and the cleric removed his hand and let out a slow breath. “He will live. He’s still weak and will need to rest for some days to get his strength up but he should be awake by morning.”

It seemed to take a long time but there couldn’t have been a minuted between when he arrived and now but the feeling of hopelessness had seemed to have been chased away. Liam ordered some of the towns people to take the mayor to the inn since right now Mayor Evans didn’t even have a bed to rest in. He then turned to address the cleric as Nana moved to see if she could do anything for those with minor injuries. “You have our gratitude ...uh I’m not familiar with your order so I’m not sure what the correct title is to address you with.” Liam wanted to try to be polite to the man who had saved his friend but clearly didn’t know a lot about these formalities.

“Dar, just Dar no title or anything fancy like that.” He said to Liam as he tried to get to his feet but one of his legs buckles as he tries to get up. Liam reaches out to try to brace Dar but Raven is just a hair faster and manages to grab his arm and keep him from face planting.

“You’re hurt.” She says noticing blood trickling down the cleric’s leg. “Why didn’t you heal yourself?” she half scolds and starts grabbing a few things out of Nana’s healing kit. The cut didn’t look that bad and Raven thought she could handle it on her own, at least get it clean.

Dar looked at her a moment bashfully and blushes just a little needing a few more moments to answer than would be normal. She had already pulled up his pant leg and was starting to clean the blood away before he answered. “I needed to conserve my magic. I didn’t know what I would find here and it took too much of my spiritual energy to boost my endurance to get me here in time. It doesn’t feel like the danger here has passed but it took everything I had to save that man. Was anyone else hurt?”

“Nothing serious. One of my men got a bit too much smoke in his lungs but he’s breathing okay now and a few minor bumps or burns.” Liam says but he looks uneasy. “I still don’t know what happened here. The house was on fire when we got here and whatever did it was long gone. We may have to wait for the mayor to wake up to find out what happened. Once we get the fire put out everyone should just rest for the night.”

“I don’t think the fire will be a problem for much longer.” Raven says with a proud smile as she finished cleaning the wound in Dar’s leg and started wrapping it. It might need stitches but the light was too bad to do that here.

Sera was blind to the things happening behind her as her whole mind was on the spell she was weaving. At that moment she flung her arms apart and the 10 blades flew out of the fire a few feet in all directions around the blaze. The thread that had been attached to the blades was barely visible but seemed to have been woven into a complex web and both blades and thread glowed faintly with blue light. Throwing her hands skyward she suddenly shouted the only words that those around her would understand. “Water that brings life come forth. I invoke the torrent.”

There was a crack of energy and suddenly rain started to pour down on the on the burning building beating out the flames to the cheers of the villagers.

Raven beamed proudly at her friend though she noticed that Sera seemed to be focused stil onl her magic and making sure that the fire was put out. Figuring that she had things handled she turned back to Dar to find him watching her. “Come on Sera has that handled, she is one hell of a mage after all, the best. Why don’t you come with me to my family’s camp and i can get a better look at your leg. Besides my mother cooks when she’s worried so we should be able to get you something good to eat to get your strength back.”

Dar’s stomach rumbled reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since that morning as there had been no time to stop once he’d hear the call. “I wouldn’t want to impose.” he said shaking his head but Raven wasn’t going to let him go that easily.

She was curious about the half elf cleric, sure that like Sera he had more than one interesting story in him so she wanted to know him more. On top of that she’d never been around another Grey Elf before and she remembered what Sera had said before. If they were going to seek adventure they’d need someone to patch them up and she had her eye on recruiting him.

“Impose? If you knew my family you’d know that was impossible.” She laughed and held her hand out towards him. “I’m Raven Greenbottle by the way and I won’t take no for an answer.”

He seemed almost stunned for a moment but eventually a gentle smile formed on his face. “I’m just not used to a warm welcome from Grey Elves.”

Raven laughed. “Good thing I’m more halfling than elf then.” She knew he’d understand what she meant when he saw her family. However he finally accepted her hand and she helped him to his feet and started to head back to the carts.

As the fire died out and the danger of the night seemed to be past many of the towns people started to filter away to their homes. Finally the fire seemed to be out and Sera let the spell end, the rain stopped and the wire and blades fell to the ground with no more glow. As the remaining villagers ran to make sure that there were no hot spots or embers left that could cause problems Sera started to respool the wire wiping the ash off it as she did and cleaning and putting away the blades.

“How did you?” the old elven man who had doubted her before was looking at her stunned and a little humbled.

“I went over 5 minutes a little though. It is a lot harder to do in these kinds of conditions and it took a while to figure out how to adjust for updrafts but i don’t like to fail.” Perhaps it was just being stubborn or used to fighting against the odds but Sera had never thought of not being able to do it. For the sake of her pride though she wasn’t showing how hard that had been or the strain that it had put on her. Rituals usually took a tole on the mage when they were cast making them tired or physically weak, it was part of the reason they weren’t used in combat. The way Sera did them was even more taxing and right now all she wanted to do was eat something sweet and climb in bed and sleep for a week. She wouldn’t let any of that show as she cleaned and put away her gear and calmly started to walk back to the Greenbottle camp wondering if Cookie might have some pie hidden away somewhere.

The night was now peaceful and still as the people of Thetford went to their homes with hope if just a little uneasy about what had caused this.  Soon things were still and silent for the most part as if the night's events had never happened.

Sera was lost and had no clue how that had happened. The Greenbottle carts shouldn’t be missable even in the night but when she came back to the Mayor’s burnt out house for the third time she had to admit she was lost. “Come on even I’m not this bad.” she moaned to herself blaming her fatigued state for amplifying her poor sense of direction. This village was too small for her to be lost in normally. Reasoning that if she just went downhill she had to find them eventually she started in that direction and walked right into what felt like a brick wall  in the middle of the road. She fell back with an undignified grunt landing on her back side momentarily winded but not hurt.

“My bad pretty lady I wasn’t watching where I was going. Let me make it up to you, if you point me to the inn I’ll buy you a drink.” A suave voice came from the form that she thought had been a wall but with the fire out and most everyone turned in for the night she couldn’t really make out who was talking to her.

Feeling at unease with the flirting at not being able to see the face of someone addressing her Sera cast a quick light cantrip and an orb of light flared to life in the palm of her hand. The man was dressed in plain dirty cloths and looked like he’d been stranded for days. For a moment she couldn’t tell if he was a dwarf of a halfling but it only took her a moment to recall her lessons and figure out what he was. A halfling taller and more muscled than most with dark skin and fire red hair he had to be an Ironhill halfling. A small halfling tribe known for their strength and hardy nature, only as far as the world knew all the Ironhills had been wiped out about 2 decades ago. He looked to be a few years older than her and right now he was looking at her like she had performed a miracle or something, the light spell wasn’t that impressive.

Realizing that he had his hand outstretched to help her up Sera decided to take it. He pulled her to her feet with ease and before she could thank him he pulled her close to him and kissed her without warning wrapping his arms around her as he did. This was not the kind of kiss you should be getting from a stranger whose name you didn’t know. This was a kiss with history and longing to it like lovers who had been apart for years.

For several moments Sera was too shocked to do anything. She had never been kissed before. Magical studies left no room for dating after all. Her mind couldn’t quite figure out what was happening but finally her mind restarted and she started pushing frantically to get away from him. He let go right away and she almost fell back again if he hadn’t caught a hold of one of her arms to keep her upright. Her other free arm hauled back and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. Sera felt like she had just struck bedrock and was pretty sure she had hurt her hand more than him but refused to yelp for the sake of her pride.

“Let go of me you scoundrel! I’m not some floozy who you can just...AHHH.” Sera was too upset to form words at this point but she felt that anger slowly burning away as he let go of her and held his hands up as if surrendering.   

“My bad, I’m sorry. I thought you were an angel....er someone I know but haven’t seen in a long time. Listen it’s no excuse but I’ve had a really s****y week and....” He made a vague gesture in the air in front of him as if that explained how that had all lead to him kissing her but he did seem apologetic. “We clearly got off on a bad foot here so let’s start again. Newt Ironhill, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He says extending his hand towards her again.

She eyed his hand suspiciously for a moment remember what had happened when she had taken it moments ago. She didn’t want a repeat of that but she didn’t want to be rude and was far too tired to figure out if his explanation made sense right now. “Sera Goldmantle.” She says taking his hand and this time getting a firm handshake back though he seemed a little reluctant to give her back her hand and held on perhaps a few moments longer than he should have. When he let go Sera found herself putting her hand behind her back though she couldn’t think of a reason why she was doing that that didn’t seem silly.

“Well Sera it is a pleasure to meet you. I didn’t know mages could be so pretty, sexy and smart you are a double threat.” He gave her a charming grin and she felt the desire to slap him again but the sting in her hand stopped her. “Perhaps we could head to the inn and I could buy you that drink I mentioned before and we could get to know each other better.”

Was he really asking her out? Sera had no idea how to handle this situation and really wanted this conversation to end or at least be paused until she wasn’t feeling like crap from doing a 12 minute ritual in 5 minutes. So she just shook her head and walked away no longer able to care if she was being rude to this stranger that she’d likely never see again. She walked briskly away and let out a sigh of relief when she realized that the light spell that was floating next to her now let her see the Greenbottle carts and walking that way she finally found the right turn off to go towards them. She noticed that Cookie seemed to be making some food and spotted Raven near the cook fire so she started in that direction letting out a sigh of relief at not being lost any more.

“What smells so amazing?” Newt’s voice comes from right next to her. For a big lug he had kept up with her pretty easily.

“Well I’ll be an Ironhill. Don’t see many of your kind around anymore.” Nana noticed their guest and saved Sera from having to answer. “We performed in the Bloodstone Valley about 30 years ago. Always said we were going to go back but now we don’t have that chance. You look pretty road warry, would you like something to eat?”

Sera felt like she should tell Nana that Newt might be one stray that the Greenbottles didn’t want to pick up but she knew that wasn’t really fair. Feeling like she did it wasn’t really fair to judge anyone but she did try to put a little distance from him as he was introduced around to the rest of the family and though those introductions Sera finally noticed that Newt wasn’t the only new face as she noticed Dar. Raven had stitched up his leg and rebandaged it and he was now politely eating a large plate of hash that Cookie had wiped up.

Another large plate was handed to Newt and the hungry halfling shoveled it into his mouth as if it was about to vanish and he didn’t stop until he was just about done. As she was given her helping Sera snapped her fingers and swatted Newt on the back of the head. “How can you even taste Mrs Cookies’s good cooking when you eat it without chewing.” she scolds him. If she could eat normally when her body needed sugar so badly and a dish with panfried potatoes and caramelized onions in it was placed in front of her he had no excuse.

“Hey I can taste it just fine and I’ll taste seconds even better.” He says grinning at Cookie as she reached to take his plate back and refill it. He thanked Cookie with a kiss on the cheek. “Good food and pretty girls all around who could ask for more?”

As everyone ate and slowly decompressed for the events that had just happened Raven leaned over to talk softly to Sera. “Before I forget that magic thing you did back there was awesome. I didn’t really get what you were doing until it happened but it was like something out of a story. You and I should definatly adventure together and I think we found our other two. Dar seems interesting, easy to get along with and a strong cleric and Ironhills are supposed to be pretty good fighters. You’ve heard the stories of the Bloodstone Valley Defenders and how everyone called them The Walls of Tenacity haven’t you? Didn’t your mentor say you’d need a wall in your group of companions.”

“He didn’t mean that literally.” Sera said shaking her head. And Raven could tell she didn’t want to talk about it anymore right now so she let the matter slide for the time being.

“Say Dar was it?” Newt says glancing at the cleric as he finished his plate. “I don’t think we’ve meet before but I keep thinking I’ve heard of you before so maybe we have a mutual friend somewhere? You know anyone that works on airships or any mercenaries?”

Dar shakes his head. “I don’t believe so but i don’t always know someone’s profession when I heal them. I’ve never been on an airship and most of my life I’ve lived in isolation with my mentor Jacob Lightstrider he is fairly well known among the church and from deeds he did in his youth.”

Newt shakes his head fairly sure that wasn’t it. “I don’t think that’s it. I keep getting the feeling that it was on a wanted poster but that can’t be right.”

“Which one?” Dar asked casually and the comment seemed to confuse the whole group. The soft spoken cleric didn’t look like the type to run cross with the law.

“You mean there is more than one wanted poster out there for you?” Raven asked shocked.

He calmly nodded. “According to the kingdom of Casel my birth caused my mother’s death and since she was a nobel I am guilty of her murder and would have already been punished for it if my mentor hadn’t taken me away. Last year I also had a run in with the Legionnaires who were trying to hang a woman they say killed her husband without giving her a trial. My only regret was that i was unable to save her and could only clear her name for her. I don’t recall what they actually charged me with, interference I believe but i just made them look bad.”

Raven felt hot anger bubbling in her stomach for Dar’s behalf that he had been treated so unjustly but it really didn’t seem to bother the cleric.

“So that’s where I know you from then. I have a drinking buddy that’s in the Legionnaires one of the few decent ones and I remember he was saying he hoped he never met you because he wouldn’t want to arrest you. Heath would arrest you too, feel real bad about it and make sure you got a fair trial but he’d still have to arrest you.”

“Heath Dopple by chance?” Nana says with a grin. “It is is a small world but I can’t imagine many honorable Legionnaires with that name. He got us out of a pinch with some permits in Kassantia a couple years back. I remember how young he looked.”

“Yup that’s Heath, he’s got one of those baby faces that will make him look like a kid when he’s all grey. He’s older than me but most bar keeps don’t think he’s old enough to drink.” Newt says with a laugh finding it strange just how small a world it was but figuring that with how much he traveled around it only made sense for him and the Greenbottles to have a few similar acquaintances.

Several of Raven’s siblings had already started to settle back down for the night. Liddy had put her head on her mother’s lap and fell asleep as Cookie stoked her hair. Merla and Roscco had both gone to bed both knowing that the morning would no doubt bring more work.

“Well Dar and Newt you're both welcome to bunk with the boys tonight if you want.” Nana offered. “Things might be a little hectic at the inn still and i don’t know if they’ll have any rooms free.”

“I’ll take you up on that offer,” Newt said with a charming grin. “I had wanted to sleep in a bed for once but just having a blanket is good enough for me and I didn’t have any money for the inn anyways......uh Sera....”

Sera’s fork had hit the ground as the tired mage had fallen asleep sitting up and her plate was starting to slide from her fingertips. Worse still she was starting to sag back off the log she was sitting on. Raven tried to steady her but missed everyone else was too far away. The thud onto the grassy ground wasn’t enough to hurt her but the jolt was enough to wake her up as she looked around confused about how she was on the ground. She didn’t even seem to notice the plate cracked in two on the ground next to her.

“You look done in my friend.” Raven says with a soft laugh extending her hand to Sera. “Come one I’ll let you borrow my bunk for tonight.” He offers and Sera just nods in agreement and yawns before Raven helps her off and leads her off to the cart where most of the girls bunked.

Newt picked up to the broken plate and handed it to Nana. “I think a mage can fix that with ease so I’d just put it aside until that one has had a little sleep or else she’ll feel bad about breaking it.”

Nana had a knowing smile on her face. Of the three young people she had met that day she was the most curious about Newt. Sera and Dar were interesting for sure but she also felt that with both of them they didn’t hide who they were. Newt on the other hand, well she didn’t think he was being deceitful, but there was more to him than he showed. At the very least he was smarter and more perceptive than his laid back nature let on.

“Well thank you very much for your hospitality Nana Greedbottle but I think I will go into the forest to rest. My meditations are easier when I have a living tree nearby and it seems that you have a full house so to speak but thank you very much for the offer and the meal.” Dar said getting to his feet and picking up his pack from where he had left it while they were eating. He headed towards the trees just south of the common pausing once to glance at the direction Raven had gone before continuing on.

Everyone was turning in now and Cookie even left the cleaning up for in the morning as she went to tuck Liddy in bed. Nana found an extra bedroll for Newt and he headed off to the cart that the guys all slept in. He paused though when he heard the snoring coming inside and wondered if Dar had made the right decision after all. Glancing under the cart he noticed Roscco in a nest of dogs.

“Enough room for me under there too?” He asked.

On of the dogs looked up at him a brute of a dog all black with a pointed muzzled and ears. He barred his teeth at Newt and growled softly. Roscco made a clicking noise and the dog settled back down. “Don’t mind Interceptor and go right ahead as there is plenty of room. If I’m not worried the dogs won’t bother you.” he says yawning  which two of the dogs do right after him and then settling back down to sleep.

Newt fell asleep pretty easily and it didn’t surprise him when he dreamed of the first time he met his angel. It was a pleasant enough dream though he always cringed a little thinking of the person he had been back then. Thirteen and too full of crap to know how full of crap he was. It still boggled his mind that anyone had put up with him back then and he often wondered if he would be the man he was now if he hadn’t met her.

Meanwhile not far away Dar was finishing his meditations and became aware of someone near by. He opened his eyes and saw Raven standing there.

“I’m sorry if I’ve bothered you but i wanted to talk to you for a little bit if you don’t mind. It can wait though you’re probably tired.”

Dar shook his head and motioned to the ground in front of him. “Sit and tell me what’s on your mind.”

She smiled and did just that sitting facing him. “I’ve never met another Grey Elf before have you? Have you ever been to Casel...probably not if they want to arrest you.”

“I was born in Casel but I don’t remember it and besides you every other Grey Elf I’ve meet has tried to kill me.”

“Their loss.” Raven said casually causing Dar to blush. “Oh hey could i show you something?” Raven started undoing the top buttons of her shirt.

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” Dar was too shocked by what it seemed like she was doing to react and before he could she pulled her shirt down over her left shoulder so he could see the scar there. It was a large irregular starburst shape almost 3 inches across and covering her shoulder joint and collar bone. She turn around and shows him that on the back of her shoulder there was a tiny perfectly round scar not even half an inch wide.

“Have you ever seen a wound or scar like this before? I don’t know what caused it. I don’t remember.”

A pained look came to the cleric’s eyes as she saw her scars and even got a glimpse of the lash scars on her back when she turned around. His hand touches her bare shoulder and glows softly like he was trying to heal it. Magic could only take away wounds not scars.

“I have never seen anything like this but i don’t understand how your shoulder is not messed up and painful. It looks like something was run through your arm but it was a very odd shape. Maybe it was some sort of magical attack but I’m surprised you didn’t lose that arm.”

Raven just shrugs and pulls her shirt back over her shoulder. “Nana’s pretty good at patching things up. Sometimes the muscle aches a little but the joint has always been fine, I can do tumbles and handstands and flips no problem. And please don’t look so sad about it I don’t remember it hurting though I suppose it must have.”

He was so easy to talk to that she had no problem telling him the story of how she’d become a Greenbottle though she felt she didn’t tell it as well as Nana did. In return he opened up with her some telling her about the peaceful life he’d lead with his mentor Jacob the human cleric that had been like a father to him. But Jacob had not been young when Dar had been born and had passed onto his eternal rest peacefully 4 years ago. Since then Dar had done his best to do good in the world and more than once got himself in trouble by doing the right thing.

“That scar on your face, there’s got to be a good story about it right? Who were you helping when you got it?” she asked and a strange look flickered in his eyes that made her regret asking.

“My mother gave me this scar. I can not blame her for it though. She was young and had suffered a great trauma, I was the product of that trauma.” He said trying to be tactful. “The high priests in Casel put off her request to end her pregnancy and she took matters in her own hands. She tried to cut me out of her and that was how i got this scar. I survived but she did not. Jacob had been trying to console my mother to be patient and he found us and took me away before I could be executed for her murder.”

Raven was in shock sure that she’d never heard anything so horrible in all her life and a hot rage on his behalf started to bubble up inside her. Several halfling curses slipped from her lips. “That’s unforgivable that your own mother would do that. No real mother could do that to their child and what idiots to blame you for all that! None of that was your fault.” She made a strangled cry of frustration trying not to get more angry and worked up and let a few more halfling curses slip. “If all Grey Elves are like that then I’m glad to be a tall halfling. How are you not furious about all this?”

Dar put a hand on her arm and shook his head. “I don’t blame my mother, I forgave her long, long ago. Those that charge me with her murder are just following the law. It is an unjust law and I don’t intend to just lay down and die because of it but anger itself won’t change that law. Thank you for your concern but there is really no need to get so worked up on my behalf.”

Raven looked at him a long moment a strange feeling she couldn’t quite explain made her chest feel tight as she thought he might be the most forgiving person she had ever met.

“I still don’t think what she did was right.” She says as she lets out a long calming breath. She didn’t think she’d be able to forgive this woman she’d never met for what she did.  She had no problem though letting him change the topic when he asked her about all the places she had been.

She had seen much more of Xenos than he had as he’d never gone farther south than Soulspire. Due to the crime in that area the Greenbottles seldom stayed there but she knew there was an large old temple there that tried to help the poor and wasn’t surprised to learn that was part of the reason why he had been there the other was to meet with a friend of his mentors.

Dar woke just before dawn realizing that they had talked until they had both fallen asleep leaning against the tree he had meditated under. Her head was resting on his shoulder and he was reluctant to move at first. He watched her sleep for a moment knowing full well what he was feeling and that he’d have to do something about it sooner or latter. What he wouldn’t give to be able to speak to Jacob right now and get his guidance once again but he knew he’d figure out somehow.

Remembering that he had to check on the mayor soon he finally moved trying not to wake Raven and when he got up and picked her up and laid her down on his bed roll so she could sleep properly for what was left of the night.

When Raven awoke sometime later the sun was just up above the treetops and she was a little surprised at how deeply she had slept. She was able to guess where Dar was and felt a little bad that she seemed to have fallen asleep on his bed though she didn’t even remember falling asleep.

Heading back to her family she saw about half her siblings were up and about already but there was no sign of Sera up just yet. Newt must have been up early as well as it seemed he’d already been to the bath house in the inn and was now helping to chop some firewood for Cookie. He had his shirt off while he did that and Merla was taking the occasional look from where she was helping with breakfast and Jillian was making no effort to hid the fact that she was enjoying the view even though Newt was at least a decade older than her. Raven had to rib her sister a little though she knew that at 18 Jillian didn’t really know much about romance but had been in love with love for ages.

Sera came out and offered to help with breakfast preparations and pointedly didn’t look at Newt as she greeted Raven. She was feeling a lot better than she had last night and told herself that she’d definitely be able to handle his flirting and teasing now. However a strange thing happened. As she was helping Cookie and not looking at him she started to notice something. What she had taken as flirting the night before couldn’t be because he was doing it with everyone. All the girls were getting compliments even Nana and little Liddy and there was even the scattered one for the guys as well. She started to wonder if she had misread him and taken a general charming and silver tongued nature for something else.

Then he had finished with the chopping and when walking past her to put the wood up gave her bottom a pinch. She gasped and slapped him with a helping hand spell going right back to thinking that she had been right the night before and he was a scoundrel. She went back to work making sure to ignore him again while making sure he didn’t get behind her.

Breakfast was a simple affair mostly coffee and porridge but Cookie had made up some sweet rolls as well and when they finished baking the smell was enough to get the last stragglers out of bed. They all started eating when Dar came back from the inn with a resigned look on his face.

“Is Mayor Evan’s doing okay?” Nana asked when she saw Dar.

“Physically yes. If you have medicine to sedate him that might be for the best. No one realized last night some how but his daughter is missing.”

Author's Note

This will likely be the longest chapter in the story as there was a lot of set up and characters to meet and I mainly want to know if there is any point where things get confusing or unclear. Is the intro too slow to stay engaged due to having to pace out the character introductions a little?

Reviews

[Rich Weas]

Hi,
It has a problem with pacing. What that means is paragrapghes should be four lines, or five at the longest. Readers have a tendency to skim over the details. If they are to long. You describe too much. You should be able to condense the story somewhat. You have a high fantasy story. Well done.