“You should beware of the old man, in a profession where many men die young. Don’t let his age deceive you; he is old for a good reason”

-Unknown.

  Nina raced the last few hundred yards towards the village, trying to beat the last remaining sunlight before the sun set completely behind the mountains, and win the imaginary race against the King Star. She waved happily at Verkan who waved back from a couple of hundred yards down the road, celebrating her victory. Verkan arrived with just a few seconds to spare, soon enough, it was completely dark already. The moons were not visible at the moment due to the dense layer of clouds, although their light could still be seen faintly behind the clouds.

  The pair were welcomed by the village’s chief, an older man called Utios, whom Verkan seemed familiar with. He was already informed of their delay due to the late Lord’s sudden passing by a mounted messenger; he also received word of their imminent departure before the Trial took place so he could have their accommodations ready. After the due formalities, he guided them towards one of the huts prepared for their use.

  She inspected their accommodations, nothing fancy for sure, just a pair of rooms, one for them each, and another adjacent, smaller room they could use as a bathroom. Finally a bit of privacy! Each room was fitted with a simple bed, a chair, and a small table. Before they could lock themselves in their rooms, however, the chief invited them for dinner. It wouldn’t be polite to decline.

  Verkan introduced her to the heads of the village, Utios the village chief who welcomed them earlier, Garen the head shepherd, and Garf, Garen’s younger brother and also a shepherd. They were in charge of taking care of the cattle around these parts, nothing really exciting but a very important job, handling the thousands of heads of cattle required considerable skill and no small amount of manpower.

  They shared stories for a while, since the bisons were quite docile animals and there were no natural predators around, work was not too demanding. Nina found herself bored quickly, but it was nice to see how these strangers looked up to Verkan. Her mentor seemed just as famous as her father. He was well-known everywhere! The dinner itself was not bad; it was a stew that has been obviously reheated, probably what they had for lunch, with peas, spuds, a bit of meat, and seasoned with some herbs. Not bad at all really, but palling when compared with the fancy dinner they had last night, courtesy of Nana and her girls. Verkan shared some of the bread he had brought with him, that albeit not fresh anymore, was still delicious.

  The conversation wasn’t of interest to her, that’s it until they mentioned the dragon part and she immediately put her attention to it. As it turns out, the dragon has been around for quite some time now, perhaps a couple of months. Nobody has seen it, but its tracks were found everywhere, especially around the places where the villagers reported strider eggs stolen. Striders were a giant type of flightless birds that were appreciated for their large eggs, meat, feathers, and if one could grow large enough, it would make for fast and very exotic mounts.

  Apparently, the dragon was drawn to the other village by the smell of the banquet, where it stole some of the food. Since only its tracks were found, and nobody has actually seen it, the villagers didn’t take it seriously and assumed it wasn’t dangerous, they treated it more like an inconvenience than an actual threat. Verkan however, wasn’t so sure, maybe it was a legitimate concern, at least for him, or maybe it was just him trying to mess with her again, but as he pointed out, the tracks were quite large for a highland raptor. Either way, she was quite tired by now and could use some rest, they could talk about the dragon tomorrow.

  The villagers apparently also thought the same, saving her the trouble of having to excuse herself. They called it a night and headed to their own huts but let the fire burn for the night. Both she and Verkan walked towards their hut to finally take a bath and get some much-needed rest.

-“Finally some rest!” Nina yelled while jumping onto her bed. She hugged the comfy pillow against her and turned around to face her mentor.

-“Rest for me you mean, you will heat up the water for our bath, as punishment” Verkan commented, leaning against the doorframe, smiling warmly at her.

-“Punishment? For what exactly?!” she asked confused, not sure what she did to earn it. She smiled broadly, thinking it was probably just another of Verkan’s jokes.

-“Let me see... Secret at the Palace” he replied, and Nina’s smile instantly vanished.

-“The Gallant Adventures of the Knight of Hope”

-“The Forbidden Adventures of the Knight of Hope” he continued, counting with his fingers while the girl’s expression dropped each time he pronounced another title.

-“Did you know that the Knight of Hope wasn't originally a knight in the imperial version? He was someone just pretending to be a knight so he could deceive noblewomen. He refused the money because he preferred… How do I put it? A different kind of reward. They changed him to an actual knight in the censored version, oh, and I almost forgot, The Legend of the God Slayer, they could excommunicate you just for that one, you know” Even though his expression was calm and collected, Nina knew she was in big trouble.

  Nina’s own expression couldn’t be described in words. It was like someone hammered a nail through her head each time one of the books was mentioned, she knew they were forbidden; that was part of the excitement other than their contents. She also knew she would probably be royally screwed if she was discovered by any other priest. Luckily for her, Verkan wasn’t the snitching kind.

-“C-c-ca-can I ask you something, sir?” she asked shaking, Verkan nodded in return.

-“How do you know about that?” Nina could barely ask, extremely embarrassed, on the verge of tears.

-“Those were your mother's favorite books” Verkan replied calmly.

-“Oh… I see” she replied lowering her head.

-“Switching the covers for those of the Imperium Genesis tomes. That was clever!” he remarked raising a finger, laughing a bit at her ingenuity.

-“I'll get the water ready!” she couldn’t bear the embarrassment any longer, suddenly jumping from the bed and rushing outside, frustrated and dejected. Verkan couldn’t help but laugh at her flustered reaction, giving her a small pat on her back on her way out.

-“Good girl!” he yelled at her from inside the hut.

  Nina walked outside, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves down a bit, wondering just how Verkan managed to keep a straight face all this time. He knew it all along! Her warm breath formed a small cloud of moisture in the cold night air, and a sudden gust of wind send chills down her spine. Even though the thick dark grey clouds didn’t let much sunlight pass, it was still relatively warm during the day. Now that the night has fallen, however, it was followed by a quick drop in the temperature.

  She took the largest cauldron she could find and walked towards the water well located in the middle of the central square. She filled the cauldron full of water only to realize that now it was too heavy to carry. She had to pour all the water out of the cauldron, feeling stupid, thanking the Gods that no one was around to witness her silly display. She took the empty cauldron to the fireplace, hanging it off the hook that was prepared for such use; she then walked back to the water well, filled buckets full of water, and carried them back to the cauldron, repeating the process enough times until said cauldron was full. Nina cheered and made a gesture of victory with her fists after having completed such a simple task.