“Okay, now link up and let us be off,” I said, and they held each other's hands as we made our way from store to store, stall to stall, and food vendor to food vendor.
Some were certainly extravagant, while others were below sub-par, but in our current situation, we couldn’t complain. Running into Master Ashen out there was nothing short of a miracle, so it makes sense that we have no right to be picky.
I dread the thought of what might have happened had we never run into him or had we run into the wrong people...
I quickly took a deep breath and recollected myself as I paid for our clothes. I would be grateful to wear anything, but Claire wouldn’t stand for any sort of sullen attitude so I had no say in this matter.
“I’m glad you like it.” She said, looking content as she eyed us. She makes it quite clear that we don’t have much of a choice when it came to shopping, so we simply smiled and voiced our assent.
The faster we satisfied her, the better in these situations.
“Okay, onto the next shop!” She said, getting all excited. Lillia was also excited since she enjoyed this quite a bit. Cecil even made happy noises as she was being held in her mother’s arms. Justac, however, shared my feelings when it came to this.
We understood the routine, but we were never fond of it. The issue is that we are now outnumbered by three women to two men, so we no longer have a choice in these matters.
“Keep your head forward, and don’t avert your eyes, my son. These women prey on the weak ones when shopping like Sabertooth turtle cubs prey on fish that know no better.” I said in a heavy voice, trying to convey the gravity of this situation to him. He looked at me once and nodded, the understanding evident in his eyes.
“What are you two doing? What are you going on about?” Asked Claire, and we simply shrugged it off with a smile as we followed the three of them silently.
It was quite possibly the longest two hours of my life, and by the time we were finished, we were nearly out of gold… All we had left was nearly 5 gold coins for both food and entertainment.
I looked at the three women, the disgust evident in my eyes, but they seemed oblivious to the hell they put us through.
“Let’s get something for Mr. Ashen!” Said Lillia, getting all excited, but the two of us shook our heads.
“It would be better if we repaid him ten-fold during the Winter Solstice festival. We know our kingdom better than this one, so we can certainly offer him the best possible rewards there and then.” Said Claire, and I nodded in agreement.
It would be impossible to find something good in a couple of hours unless you know the shops and places like the back of your hand.
“Then, should we get food and head back?” Asked Justac, and I shook my head.
“We bought what we needed, now, let’s have a little fun,” I said as I guided them to some of the shops we had passed by earlier. There were water slides that led to a pool of fake skeletons, a dark room full of dancing skeleton suits that rely on magic to give off colorful lights, skeleton face paint, and a huge carnival dedicated to skeletons and skeletons alone.
Then we all came to an agreement that this kingdom, really, really likes their skeletons. It’s a little weird, but I was in no position to judge them since Dains is the same when it comes to snow. Everything during the Winter Solstice festival is somehow snow related.
“Hey, dad, I’ve been wondering. How come this kingdom is connected to a Domain? They don’t seem all that special.” Said Justac and Lillia nodded.
“Someone important from the Domain probably lives here,” I answered. I never really thought about it before since it just seemed natural.
“Most likely the result of a pact or agreement.” Said my wife, and I conceded. That seems like the most likely explanation.
“Hello!” Yelled one of the performers behind us. He was addressing a large crowd of people.
“Stay tuned with us folks, as nightfall comes, so does the king!” He said, and the people cheered loudly.
“I guess the king of Skeltos will make some sort of extravagant entrance at night.” Said Claire and I nodded simply.
I guided the children to get our faces painted for just a few coins, and then we entered the carnival to try out the games they had on display.
I left the two kids to their own devices together and took a brief walk with my wife to tell her about the conversation I had with Master Ashen, and she nodded.
“Okay, I guess, then it makes sense. I honestly felt nothing bad from him from the get-go, save for his terrifying swords, so I guess I’m a little relieved that he’s helping us out. Now, we just need to focus on getting to Dains safely. Once that occurs, we can repay him tenfold.” She said, and I nodded.
“I’m glad that we generally think along the same lines in situations like these,” I said.
“Well, I never did marry you for your brains, sweetie. I had everything I needed, you are just my accessory now.” She added and then winked as she walked ahead of me.
Women are indeed cold creatures. In fact-
“These games suck! Everything here sucks.” Said Lillia, pouting as she caught up to us.
“Sweetie, it has only been 20 minutes at most. Try a few more games before you come to some sort of judgment like that.” I said. At that same moment, Justac came from our left and said the same thing.
“I lost 10 games. They conned me since I didn’t even get to play 7 of those games!” He said, angry. Claire looked a little angry now since it might make more sense that the adults took advantage of these kids.
We split up. She went with Justac and I took Lillia.
After about an hour of these games, I concluded that everything we played was rigged. We won nothing, and the more we tried, the more money we lost! Nothing was more irritating than the laughing faces of the men and women who owned those god-forsaken stalls!
It was indeed frustrating, yet extremely reminiscent of every year that I went to the Winter Solstice festival, I thought. I never won anything as a kid, yet I kept trying. Father, however, always managed to beat these little games after I complained to him. There was even a time when I thought that they purposefully made it harder to test him, but he still beat them with ease. When I was much, much younger, I even thought it was all thanks to him being a dad, that it sort of granted him these special powers to be able to do anything for his kids…
It bugs me that I still haven’t figured out how he does it!
“Don’t worry about it, father. You will understand someday, I hope.” Said Lillia as she patted my back.
“What are you talking about, sweetie?” I asked, even more, confused now.
“You’re making that face you always make at the Winter Solstice festival. It only happens after Grandpa comes and beats all of those scammers’ games! I remember you saying you wanted to be ‘as cool as him’ when he does that.” She said, and I was caught completely off guard. I didn’t even remember that particular moment I have no doubt that I said something similar, but I still don’t remember that at all.
“You are extremely similar to your mother, you know that, right?” I said and she winked, further supporting my assertion.
“That’s why I’m the favorite.” She said and we laughed. We had about a single gold coin left, so we decided to wait at our designated meeting spot. An hour had passed by before Claire came back with Justac. Cecil remained asleep in her hands the entire time.
“We tried every single game here.” She said, walking back towards us with a disappointed Justac following along.
“You too, huh?” I said, and she laughed.
“I guess Dad’s skills at these games are genetic…” Said Justac and Claire instantly pinched his stomach.
“No, if they were, then I’m sure you would have won once by now. Besides, your dad is great at a bunch of other things.” She said, wearing a fake smile. Lillia nodded along.
“I don’t need either of your pity.” I huffed my chest out and started making my way to pick Cecil up. Afterward, we silently agreed to just head back to the inn.
“Don’t worry about it. Maybe Grandpa could come here with us one day and then he could beat them at their dumb games.” Said Justac, patting me on the back.
‘Are my facial expressions really that obvious?’ I mentally questioned myself.
“I wonder how they are doing right now.” Added Justac.
“Fine. You know your grandmother as well as I do. She wouldn’t hesitate to fight death, and then come out on top just for her grandchildren.” Said Claire, and we all laughed. It was an odd way to describe her, yet it felt fitting.
The more I thought about them, the more my thoughts drifted toward Dains and our journey back. I just hope Master Ashen finds a safe group.
“Welcome back. Let me help you all let me take those bags from you as well.” Said the same coachman from earlier. We had arrived at the coach now, and the kids ran up and entered it first. My wife and Cecil followed along, and I helped the coachman load everything we bought.
I then gratefully entered and sat down on the soft cushions of the coach. We spent the time holding a small talk, insulting the carnival games, wondering whether Master Ashen had gotten what he wanted, and just generally enjoying our surroundings as we made our way to the Adventurers Guild inn.
Once we finally got there, we quickly decided to have lunch before 7 with our remaining money, and then regroup with Master Ashen.
We got off and quickly placed our supplies in our room, then we hurried back down to go have lunch before 7.
“Oh, you are already back.” Said Master Ashen as he got off one of the sofas in front of the front desk. We froze in place, not expecting to see him yet.
“Yes, in fact, we just got back. We were about to go have lunch before 7.” Said my wife, and I nodded. He motioned for us to come over.
“Perfect. Before that, I would like to tell you that I found a group of adventurers who are going directly to Dains.” He said, and we didn’t know how to react.
“I didn’t agree on anything with them yet. I wanted you to meet them before I finalized anything. They will be down in a few minutes. They also planned to go out and have food.” He said, and so we decided to sit with him and wait.
We questioned him a little about them and he said it would be best if we judged them ourselves so we stopped. The children told him about the carnival and he laughed along with them.
We talked about the city and its obsession with skeletons. He told us various legends like some people believe King Martos descends at night during the festival, and so on. In my opinion, though, it was all simple marketing.
Time flew by as we talked, and eventually, a group of 7 people came down, each of them wearing the symbol of a slanted penguin!
We didn’t have time to even register their presence, since they practically jumped at us the moment they saw us.
“Aaron! It’s you!” Yelled the leader of the group there, Lander Jamison, my younger brother. He was nearly a head taller than me. I was quickly swept into a bear hug.
“You guys were here too?!” Said Justac and Lillia and unison, as they jumped at them and received hugs, kisses, and delighted cries from the 7 members. Claire got up and they pretty much treated her with more respect than they would ever treat 10 of me.
They passed Cecil around, and we all just moved around greeting each other. It had been so long since we last saw each other! Maybe a little over two years?
“Wait, you already know these guys?” Said Master Ashen, interrupting the 12 of us. We completely forgot about him and shuffled awkwardly about as we moved away from them so he could see all of us.
“Ahh, Master Ashen, were these the people you wanted us to transport as well?” Asked my brother, the embarrassment evident in his eyes.
“Well, yes. Since it seems you already know each other, we can skip the discussion and sign the agreement.” He said, and Lander shook his head enthusiastically.
“No need for one, not for family and friends at least!” He said, and the 7 of them cheered as they picked the children up and motioned for Claire, Master Ashen, and I to follow them.
The three of us just nodded and followed them. They took us to a rather questionable establishment called the ‘Funny Bone’. However, once we entered, it seemed that the people there were reasonable and level-headed at least.
We all sat at a large table and my brother offered to pay for the entire meal. None of us voiced any complaints as we ordered the most expensive things on the menu. Master Ashen just had water, but no one remarked on that.
“ Let us formally introduce ourselves. We are the band of the Tipsy Penguin! Our people know of our might, of the dark roads we light, and of the foes we fight! Sing of our songs, bards!” Said Lander, proudly reciting the little introduction he came up with on his 12th birthday so long ago. He pointed at the barman as he yelled that last sentence. Needless to say, he was drunk.
Nearly everyone in this little restaurant was laughing at him. Well, Master Ashen maintained his stoic appearance, but I like to think he enjoyed it a little bit at least.
“My name is Lander Jamison! The great leader of this group!” He said. From his right, each of our comrades introduced themselves in the heat of the moment. Lander then pulled out his sword and started posing.
“My name is Lara Jamison, second in charge and the greatest shot in the Southern Region!” Said his wife, drunk as well.
“My name is Lady Strey. I’m the greatest magician!” Said Strey, drunk as well. They all were. The introductions continued with Buolden the strong, Jack the fast, Amelia the beautiful, and Justin the ‘all-rounder’.
Somehow, Master Ashen remained straight-faced as he witnessed the entire thing. We, however, could only laugh at our childhood friends. They then started sharing stories as we kept eating.
“ This is wonderful and all, but out of curiosity, why the ‘Tipsy Penguin’? Why that name of all things?” Asked Master Ashen, interrupting one of Lander’s stories.
“ Long story short, we used to do quite a lot of dumb things as children, the nine of us, and one day we were about to be killed by an old grey wolf. However, a drunk penguin came out of nowhere and slammed into him! As such, they have decided to honor him in this way.” Said Claire, and I nodded. Master Ashen looked satisfied with the answer as he simply nodded.
Though they might seem silly, Lander and his group are extremely famous in all of Dains. He had a greater aptitude for fighting, so Father trained him and then he became an official adventurer and formed this band.
Now, they spend most of their time undertaking requests from the Adventurers Guild.
“Well, it has been quite fun, but I think we shall excuse ourselves for the night. We will see you all bright and early tomorrow for the trip.” Said Ashen, as he picked up Tristan and promptly left. We nodded briefly and got back to enjoying each other’s company after so long. Even the skeletons hanging around the room couldn't dispel the mood we had!
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