Garik walks down the smoothly paved road of the richest neighborhood in Varden. The day that Garik is set to visit Venice Wainwright, the girl he had defended from an abusive man, has arrived. The afternoon sun shines brightly with few clouds in the sky, assisting the young half-orc’s belief that this meeting will be a good one. Ten minutes had passed since he started walking on the paved road with a large brick wall running alongside it. 

I gotta be getting close to it by now.

Moments later he arrives at a large gate and figures that this must be the right place. Nobody is guarding the gate, but Garik sees that it is slightly open so he heads inside. The Wainwrights’ land is a sprawling garden filled with sculptures and neatly trimmed bushes. There are multiple buildings placed throughout the space, and Garik realizes that just this property alone takes up half of the neighborhood.

Their land is bigger than the whole village! No wonder Valter and Aritha were so surprised.  

Walking down a road that is clearly meant for a carriage, Garik wonders just how much of the city’s wealth is in this estate alone. He reaches the front door of the biggest building and gives it a hard knock.

A panel sides away from the door, revealing a pair of eyes that narrow as soon as they see the half-orc. “This is the Wainwright Estate. Please state your name.”

“My name is Garik Embereye. Um, I was-“

The man interrupts him. “And would you care to state your,” he looks up and down Garik’s clothing with disgust, “business here.”

“Like I was saying, I was invited here.”

Although it is clear that he doesn’t believe him, the man closes the panel and opens the door slightly. “Can you present any proof of that?”

Garik grows more annoyed at every question the man asks. “Well I got a letter to come here, but I didn’t know I had to bring it with me. Can you please just get Ven-“

“If you have no proof, I see no reason someone such as you would be invited to this estate. If you are here to cause trouble I’ll be sure to have you forcibly escorted off of the premises. Please leave,” the butler says quickly before slamming the door.

A buzzing noise starts to grow louder in the back of his mind as the stunned half-orc stares at the closed door ahead of him. He starts shaking in a rage that causes his own vision to blur. Garik’s heavy breaths are the only sound that can be heard from the porch of the enormous townhouse, but the buzzing in his mind steadily reaches a deafening volume. Just as it seems that the seething half-orc is going to pass out, he springs into action.

Garik furiously starts slamming on the door full force. “LET ME IN YOU DROOPY-EYED BASTARD!” he curses as he uses his full body to push against the large barrier.

The shaky voice of the rude man responds, “P-please leave or I will c-call the p-p-police!”

Garik starts to kick the door, and by the third try, the latch gives.

“AIEEEEEEE” the butler screams as the enraged half-orc charges at him. Garik grabs him by the collar, and does his signature move of pinning him to a wall.

Just as Garik raises his fist to deliver the first blow to the helpless man’s face, a female’s voice comes down from upstairs. “Nilas! Has my guest arrived?”

Hearing the voice of the lady he had come here to meet snaps Garik out of his fury. He relaxes his grip on the man’s neck but keeps him pinned to the wall, nodding at him to indicate that he is the person she is referring to.

Now able to speak, the butler replies, “Yes Miss Wainwright, there is a Mr. Garik…” he weakly looks at the half-orc. “Embereye,” Garik growls at him. “Embereye, here to see you!”

“Please let him take a seat. I will be ready in just a moment!”

Garik lets the man go and he falls to the floor gasping for air. The disheveled servant then directs Garik to a seat and hastily runs off deeper into the estate.

After a few moments Venice comes downstairs. She is wearing a pale yellow sundress that perfectly contrasts with her dark brown hair that flows down to the small of her back. She has a pearl bracelet on her left wrist as well as a matching necklace which both had to have been brought in from a city bordering the sea. She is dressed more politely than when she was at the tavern but still a far cry from the over the top outfits that her family is known to wear.

As he stands up to greet her, Garik can’t help remembering Valter’s “secret admirer” statement and tries to shake it from his mind.

“Thank you for accepting my invitation. I hope you didn’t have any trouble getting here,” Venice says with a polite smile.

Garik takes a glance in the direction the butler went. “Not much at all. Thanks for inviting me.”

A young housekeeper comes into the room interrupting their conversation. She starts tidying up the room with a feather duster, but they both can clearly tell what her real objective is.

Turning back to her guest, Venice asks “Would you like to take a look around the property?”

Garik, getting the hint, accepts.

Once they are outside Venice says, “I am so sorry about that. We’ll be better off talking out here.”

Garik notices that she is speaking more casually and relaxes. “Was the guy at the door your father?”

“Oh, no. That was Nilas, the family butler.” 

Garik looks at her, confused by a word he has never heard before.

Venice explains, “He works for us, serving the family and overseeing the others taking care of our property.”

Garik is horrified. “They are slaves?”

“Heavens no! We pay our workers more than fairly. Nilas even has his own home on this estate.” She points to a smaller house on the opposite end of the property.

“Oh, sorry. I’ve never heard of those before.” He looks at the ground, thoroughly embarrassed by his mistake.

They continue on, only making small talk about the various bush sculptures and lawn ornaments they pass until they reach an enormous fountain marking the middle of the property. Venice stops and sits on a bench in front of it and motions her guest to take a seat next to her. 

Garik walks up to the fountain and takes a long look at the 30-foot tall sculpture of a man in the middle of it. The figure is holding a torch, but a magical effect makes the water coming out of the stick to appear as blue fire before returning to normal as it falls back into the fountain.

“That is Varden Wainwright, the creator of our city,” Venice tells him.

“Oh,” Garik says, “It’s… pretty.”

“It is a little much, isn’t it? Some of my family love to flaunt how they ‘own’ the city. It’s all nonsense to me.”

Garik takes a seat next to her and she continues, “They say that Varden was a modest person and was even against the city being named after him. I don’t see why being the owners of an out-of-the-way town like this is so much to brag about.”

“Maybe it’s their way of honoring their ancestors. Where I’m from,one of our most important rules is to never forget what they have done for us.”

Venice lifts her head to take a long look at Garik, clearly not expecting the half-orc to say something so profound. 

“I prefer the way we do it. The food they make at the Dead Warriors’ feast is the best!” he says with a huge smile.

Venice covers her red face as she stifles a laugh.

There is a moment of silence before Venice speaks again “Once again, thank you for saving me from that horrible man. I’ve never met anyone like you before. Can you please tell me a little more about yourself?”

As she asks this she puts her hands on his, it is now Garik’s face that turns red.

“U-um, okay. What do you want to know?”

She is unsure of what to ask at first. “Well I told you a little about my family, so how about yours? Nilas said your last name is ‘Embereye’; is there a story behind it?”

“Oh, the name comes from my dad,” Garik then tells the story of how his father got the title “the Embereye” by spotting and stopping an enemy’s plot to burn down the tribe’s food supply by using a war battle as a distraction and of his parents deciding to pass the name onto him when they sent him to live in Varden. As he is enthusiastically telling the story of the war, Garik doesn’t notice that he has stood up.

“That’s an amazing story. Looks like heroism runs in the family,” Venice says when he is done.

Garik turns away, blushing again. He changes the subject, “So uh, is there anything else you want to know?”

“As you know, the reason I invited you here was to thank you. I must pay you back, just let me know how much and it’s yours.”

He sits back down and looks her right in the eyes. “I saved you because I wanted to, so you don’t owe me anything. If you want to pay me off, then why even waste my time inviting me here?”

Garik gets up to leave.

“Wait!” Venice says, “I’m sorry that it came out that way. I really want to do this!”

“I was interested in why an orc from the ‘savage’ tribe I’ve heard horror stories about would come to the rescue of a stranger. I invited you here because I wanted to get to know you better, Garik.”

The half-orc stops.

“So please, let me do something for you. Not as my savior but as my new friend?”

Garik turns around. The young woman is glad to see that he is smiling again.

They return to sitting next to the fountain. Garik looks straight ahead and takes a deep breath. “Well there is something I want to ask you.”

“What is it?” Venice waits with bated breath. So far Garik has been nothing like she expected so she doesn’t have a clue what he is going to say.

“I want to end the fighting between Varden and my tribe. Your family is very important in this city. Is there a way they could help me?”

“Excuse me?” 

She exclaims before covering her mouth. Until today, all she knew of the tribe was that they once tried to attack the city a few decades ago, but after they were defeated they have not left their own lands ever since, driving away anyone who dared to trespass upon it.

Venice starts to protest, but Garik is adamant. “This is all I ask for. Even if they refuse, I won’t take anything else you offer me.” Backed against a wall, Venice agrees to give it a try. 

The sun burns bright orange as it starts to set. Venice gets up, “I need to get back home. I’ll send another letter to the tavern after I talk with my parents.”

“I will see you soon, friend,” Garik says with a wink.

The two part, and Garik set off towards his own home feeling optimistic about taking the first step towards achieving his goal.