The three laughed joyously all the way back home. Nire and Mail, being the siblings that they were, couldn’t resist picking on each other, but also attentive of their father’s presence, included him in their little sibling rivalry talks as well. When the three made it a little closer to their village gate, Nire immediately noticed the many animal and wheel tracks left on the dirt road leading in and out of their mountain pass village, Tsonair.

Nire turned to her father to ask him, but before she could utter any words out, her father simply smiled and nodded at her. Turning to Mail to share the enthusiasm, Nire could already see his eyes glowing with excitement. Again, before the two children could even begin to utter out any words, their father laughed heartily and said, “Oh, alright. Go on and enjoy Market Day.”

“Thanks, dad! We’ll be back before sundown,” the two called back while running ahead with joy. Standing alone on the trodden dirt path, their father snickered to himself, and under his breath he spoke, “Children. They grow so quickly,” before following them into the village.

“Wow, Mail! It’s Market Day today! My favorite day of the month,” exclaimed Nire.

“I know, I know,” Mail laughed behind her. As the older brother, but still somewhat of a child himself, Mail found Market Day exciting as well, but not quite to the same extent as Nire, the younger sister. She ran all around the little village square, talking to everyone, villagers and travelers alike. With Nire’s enthusiasm, there were only ever two responses: the person on the receiving end welcomed it, or were terrified of this bright-eyed bouncing child.

The two siblings spent the rest of the day outside meeting the travelers and seeing all this month’s Market Day had to offer. The freshly cooked food smelled delicious. The scent it emitted seemed to pull the two children to the stall in which a man was grilling some meat skewers. Thanks to their father being the Father of the Sword, the two got lucky and received two skewers, one for each, for free.

There were also many games to play and prizes to win. One game in particular had a giant plushie that caught Mail’s eye. “Hold this for me,” he said to Nire as he handed his half eaten meat skewer to her, “I’m going to win that plushie and bring it home with us.” Mail is the type of person who does things very well, therefore as a result he was very confident in his skills and ability to win the plush. Of course, trying to win these rigged games required a lot of concentration. Nire was well aware of that, and so while Mail was busy focusing on the game and the prize, she took the chance to chow down on Mail’s already half eaten meat skewer.

“Congratulations, Mail,” the game manager cheered. “Which one would you like?” Mail pointed to the big pink fruit that was hanging from the back wall and happily received his prize. He then turned to Nire and began to speak, “Isn’t it so much cuter up close?” But at that moment, he noticed that both meat skewers were now just skewers. Mail glared at a sheepish Nire and began to give chase, all the while Nire only gleefully squealed and ran on ahead. The meat skewers really were delicious. There was no regret on her side.

After a long day out in the village, the Nire and Mail decided to head back home. They did promise their father they would be back before sundown. “We’re home,” they shouted out loud. Upon entering their home, which served as a textile shop out front, they noticed that only their mother was home helping a customer. Nire did not recognize the customer who was seated on the waiting bench as a villager, and so she knew immediately that this had to be a traveler from afar. The traveler wore a long trench coat and a wide brimmed hat that matched the color of his coat. Nire nodded at the traveler’s outfit in approval. It may have looked very simple, but she could tell after years of working at the textile shop with her mother that it was all made out of very high quality materials.

“Excuse me, my good sir,” Nire said in her most polite voice, “You wouldn’t happen to be a traveler from a far off land, would you?” She tried her best to not sound too excited, but Mail could see right through it all. “I know what you’re doing, Nire,” he giggled at his little sister trying to be on her best behavior, to which Nire scowled back at him.

“Well, hello, there,” the traveler looked on stifling his own laughter. “My name is Kint. What are your names?”

“I’m Mail,” the elder brother responded first.

“And I’m Nire!” She could no longer hold in her excitement. “Mr. Traveler, Mr. Kint, won’t you please tell me some stories about your travels?”

“Ah, there she goes,” Mail sighed and sat down on the ground next to the counter. “Try not to scare off Mr. Kint like you did with our last traveler,” Mail teasingly warned Nire.

Nire sulked as a memory flashed by of the last traveler who came by and got irritated with the countless questions being fired at him and proclaimed that he would never come by again before slamming the door and leaving. Kint could tell Nire was having a pretty difficult time over there recalling the bad memory so he tried to cheer her up by telling her a bit about himself. “Well, to be frank with you, I’ve only just begun my journey not too long ago,” Kint started to say, “but I come from a land far south from here. The people there were lovely, but not quite as kind as the ones here. I’m glad to have dropped by here before leaving on to greater things.”

Nire looked a little puzzled and repeated what Kint had said to her as a question. “‘Leaving on to greater things?’”

“Yes,” Kint looked off into the distance forlornly for a moment, then turned to Nire and smiled again, “I have steeled my purpose, and traveling is what I must do.”

Nire gazed at Kint with eyes full of wonder, “Do you think I could be a traveler and see the world too?”

“If it is your calling,” Kint stood up from his spot on the bench and approached Nire, “then that is what you must do.” He patted her head endearingly, “It will no longer be a question of ‘can you’, but ‘will you.’”

Nire’s eyes glossed over with joy. She turned to Mail to make sure he had heard what the traveler had said to her, only to see that Mail was already looking at her with warmth in his eyes. It had always been Nire’s dream to leave Tsonair, to leave the mountain, and to explore the world.

“Sorry to ruin the mood, everyone, especially you, Nire, but I have Mr. Kint’s things right here all ready to go. That’s his calling to continue his journey, and your calling to help me clean up.” Nire’s mother appeared from the back room holding a stack of different kinds of thick cloth for Kint. Nire turned and looked at her mother, “But, mom! We were having such a good talk!” Her mother hushed Nire and continued to help Kint with purchasing his materials. As much as Nire wanted to leave the village and explore the outside world, her mother wanted her to stay home and take over the textile shop just as much.

Kint had finished purchasing his materials and was headed towards the door. Nire had wished he could have stayed longer, but the warm wind from earlier had turned chilly. The warm weather would not last so it would be best if Kint could leave early in hopes of descending the mountains before the storm came. Kint turned the handle on the door and pushed it open, but before leaving, he turned around again and spoke to Nire, “Don’t worry about it. I am sure you will be able to do it.” He winked and stepped out, but turned right around again and spoke to everyone, “Thank you for all your hospitality. If possible, I would love to come back and see you all. Please do be careful tonight.” With those foreboding words, he gently shut the door behind him and left.