“You told Bart we are like family right? Well in that case you should just listen to your big sister and be quiet.” The lock clicked and she pulled the door open to reveal a spiral staircase heading upwards. “I found this while exploring, follow me.”
They climbed the stairs and reached another locked door that was bolted from this side. She slid out the bolt and opened the door and the wind from outdoors suddenly rushed into the stairwell. The two stepped outside in the night and Sarah started climbing the slanted roof to the top of the keep.
“This is the highest point in the keep, you can see everything from here when it is daytime. For now we will have to be satisfied with the stars.” She sat down on the slanted roof and Thane followed. She reached into her pouch and pulled out a waterskin, shaking it a few times to let the liquid inside move around. “It’s some of Harland’s wine. We never had a chance to celebrate finishing our first mission. I suppose now we can also celebrate you not self destructing tonight as welll.”
She poured wine into the two cups she had brought and handed one over to Thane before raising hers for a toast. “To not exploding!” she exclaimed.
Thane gave a short laugh and raised his glass. “To not exploding!”. They both took a drink and Thane looked to the sky. “This is nice, I need to rest a bit after exhausting myself earlier. I was worried you had planned something a bit more strenuous.”
Sarah smiled, “Maybe next time, for now it’s just this.” She took another drink and refilled their cups.
They talked for a while about the past and how things were going in their new life. When the torches and lanterns around the fortress were almost completely out, Sarah pointed off into the distance. “You see the lights over there? Down the river?”
“Yeah?”
“That’s Twinford, the biggest city in this Barony. There's thousands of people living inside those walls. Once we get the money from Marcus, you and I should go check it out. I’m sure we can find anything we could want there.”
“That sounds like a good idea. It would be our first time in a real city.” She heard him lean back and set his empty cup down. It was silent for an almost uncomfortably long time before she spoke up again.
“Hey, Thane…” She waited for a response and heard nothing. When she looked over she saw that he was fast asleep on the roof. His exhaustion had finally caught up with him. “Way to ruin the mood.” she said as she emptied out the last of the wine.
------------------------------------------
Kisha
“Hmmm…” Kisha was deep in thought as she looked at herself in the mirror. Quality mirrors were rare, especially ones of this size. Usually you could get one that was a simple, framed sheet of polished metal that had a decent reflective surface. The highest quality mirrors were a plate of clear glass that covered and protected a smooth polished silver surface. This was one of the latter, and it was as tall as a full grown adult. Kisha was shocked when she first found and uncovered it in the keep storage, and was now turning back and forth in front of it to get a good look at herself.
The mirror that she was standing in front of was probably worth more gold than everything in her old village combined. It was extremely clear and for the first time she could really see what she looked like from a wider perspective. She brushed her silver hair out of her eyes and seemed pleased by most of what she saw. She was better proportioned than she thought, but the one problem was…
She stood on the tips of her toes and tried to stretch out her body. She hated to think that she might have stopped growing, barely reaching 150 centimeters tall.
Or at least 145.
Almost?
She dropped back on her heels with an irritated grunt. She blamed her father for this. Kisha had never met him and didn’t know what kind of Fey he was. All she knew was that her lack of height had to be his fault.
Still… she pulled her shirt tight around her waist and turned to look at her side. She had always been nervous comparing herself to the older Sarah, and especially to that elf Mersine that would pass through the village. She was starting to get a bit more confidence back and nodded in approval at her reflection in the mirror before covering it back up.
She wasn’t sure why she was so concerned about her appearance all of a sudden. Maybe it had something to do with what Castor had said to her before they left. About the expectations the village had for her.
She grabbed her shield and walked out of the fortress and into the wooded area away from the river to begin her daily routine. Once she found a good spot to sit she set her shield on her lap, closed her eyes and began to focus on the trees around her. After a while she could sense almost everything. She could sense dozens of the bushy tailed rodents hiding away food for the winter, and the small foxes that were hunting them. There were also two large figures that were heading her direction.
She continued, keeping her eyes closed until she felt the branches near her crack under the weight of the two men. When she opened her eyes she saw Stone carrying two deer, one over each shoulder, and Gryssel. The wood elf had his hands open and crossed, his fingertips came to a point on his forehead and his palms covered his eyes while he bowed at Kisha.
“Wait, why are you bowing?”
“To show respect for one who speaks with nature.”
She tried to hide her embarrassment “Please don’t, I’m just one of your comrades here.”
“As you wish, Cosan. Is the shield your focus? Your reacht?”
“Y-, yes. I’m surprised you noticed, most people just think it is a shield, and they wonder why I prefer one that is completely wooden.”
“May I see it?”
She flipped the shield around and held it out to him. He didn’t take it like she expected, but instead closely examined it. The interior of the shield was a circle of runes surrounding a stone in the middle that resembled a smooth piece of jade. The stone seemed to have grown roots, attaching itself to the wood surrounding it.
Gryssel reached out and tapped the shield with his knuckle. “Leaite?”
“I hardened it with magic. I still can’t harden living wood like this. I didn’t even know it was possible until recently.”
“I would tell you to find a Coileach or another Cosan to train you, but they are very hard to find in this country. You are the first I have seen since I left my homeland.”
“What is a Cosan? You called me that earlier.”
“It means protector, those who use the power of the land to defend the land.” He gently pushed the shield back towards her, “Thank you for showing me, it is beautiful.”
“Beautiful? It’s just something a little girl made to help her magic.”
He crossed his fingertips over his forehead and bowed to her again. “ I apologize for interrupting your communion. I will take my leave. Thane is lucky to count you among his companions.”
The two men left her embarrassed and blushing. She tried to go back to her routine, but was unable to focus.
The next day Marcus called their group to gather, including Stone. He gave them each a bag of many silver coins, quite a bit more than they were expecting. “I was finally able to secure the bounty for the Malkin you took care of. Just so you know, this sort of delay is not normal, I usually will have your payment ready for you within a day. However, there was a fire in Twinford that caused a delay in receiving the bounty from the Barony.”
Kisha was excited that she finally had some extra money and paused to count her coins while the others split off. She hurried back to her room and ran into Stone on the way. He had emptied his pouch into his hands and was staring at the tiny silver disks. They looked so small in his massive hands and it was difficult for him to pick up a single coin in his fingers to examine more closely.
“Um, would you like me to hang on to those for you?” she asked.
He nodded, “Thank you” and kneeled down so she could look into his open palm. He handed her the empty pouch and she scooped the coins up from his palm.
“Let me know when you need them.” she said before hurrying off to her room. She needed to change.
She pulled out a blue dress that was her favorite and quickly put it on. She made a few adjustments this time, tightening it around the waist a bit more than usual and smoothing it out as much as she could. Once she was ready she went to Thane’s room and knocked on the door.
“He’s outside somewhere,” said Mahs as he walked by. “He was asking Marcus about borrowing a horse so I think he might be going somewhere outside the fort today.”
Suddenly she was in a rush, and hurried outside to try to find Thane. She found him talking to Bart and Lily just outside the training yard. She wasted no time in walking up to him to ask her question. “Thane, since we have some spare money now we should head over to the city and pick up a few things.”
Thane hesitated for a moment, “Sarah and I were just getting ready to leave.”
She felt a sinking sensation in her chest when an oblivious Bart spoke up, “Heading to Twinford? My cousin and I were thinking about heading there soon too. We should go together.”
Mahs was the next to interject, Kisha could only assume that he followed her outside. “That sounds like a good idea. There are a few supplies I need as well. You wouldn’t mind if I joined you, would you sister?”
Kisha looked at Sarah, who joined in just a bit too late to prevent her plan from collapsing. She gave a forced smile, “Of course not brother, happy to have you along.”
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