Galen was not human.
To all those who knew him, that would not have been a surprise as they, too, were not human. Moreover, out of the millions of people who populated the world, there were few who knew Galen. Galen was not bothered by this because he tried very hard to keep it that way. Humans had a history of being bothered by those not like them. Galen was of the opinion that it was hard to be any more different than a human than not being human at all. Galen was not human, and he had a problem. Of the few who knew him even fewer considered the not-human a friend. Not-humans were lonely creatures, and Galen was tired of being lonely.
Galen supposed that was how he ended up moving to Sunmesto, setting up a small apothecary. Now, he found himself surrounded by a multitude of boxes. Galen wiped a hand across his forehead. The gesture was in vain as all the sweat he removed was replaced by more a second later. He leaned against the box he had carried into the shop, glaring at the sun that came in through the window. It was already late afternoon, but the sun blazed on steadily. However, dusk would soon approach, and Galen wanted to be done before it arrived.
"The weather here is scorching," Galen complained to himself as he walked back outside. He glanced at the cart that was still half full, and a groan left him. He grabbed another box off the cart, hefting it into the store. The shade of the store provided immediate relief.
After setting the newest box down, he grabbed a chair and sat down in the middle of the messy room. The room would be the storefront of his new business, and he could already imagine what the place would feel like busy with customers. He had discovered medicine making some odd decades ago, so it was fairly new to him. He had not imagined himself being so entranced by the art, but he supposed potions were a form of medicine, a less complex form.
He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, resting his sore body. "Why didn't I ask for some help moving?" Galen asked himself.
Then, a thought came to him, and he shot out of the chair. Checking the side of every box in the store, he finally found the one labelled ‘Eggs.’ There were no eggs in the box, which was good because perishables should not be moved thousands of miles across the sea. Instead, bottles of various sizes filled it. He rummaged through the contents until his hand closed around the right bottle.
Pulling it out, Galen inspected the bottle in the fading light coming from the window. The potion was green with a light sheen of red, which made it look rather unappetizing. Despite the potion's appearance, it did not taste bad. Galen drowned it in one large swallow, relaxing as the soreness in his muscles went away.
"Next, I've got to deal with this heat. Wish there was a potion for that too," he sighed. Moving in the middle of summer was not one of his smartest ideas. Stretching his arms over his head, Galen made sure all of his body was loose again. He moved the chair to the side of the room and went outside to return to the tedious task of moving boxes.
When he got back to the cart, Galen could hear the faint sound of two people talking loudly. Curious, he looked around the curve of the street to see two men arguing. One of the men was of average height with dark black hair and wore a simple outfit consisting of a shirt and trousers. The other was slightly taller and older than the dark-haired man and wore a sheriff's uniform.
The younger man was agitated and gestured wildly toward the older man. While not calm, the sheriff was more subdued and stood stiffly in the face of the younger man's anger. Turning away from the two, Galen noticed that he was the only one giving the fight any attention. People on the street near the two continued on with what they were doing as if there was no fight at all. Deciding to follow in the townspeople's footsteps, Galen turned back to continue unloading boxes.
The two men's argument became the backdrop to his work. He finished carrying the final box just as the sun began to dip under the horizon. He planned to spend the rest of the evening relaxing, but the sound of yelling informed Galen that his hopes may go unfulfilled. While he had been putting away the boxes, the two men's argument grew louder and louder. Galen might have been able to ignore them before, but now the younger looked one second away from punching the sheriff directly in the face as he screamed at him. Although he was one to normally avoid conflict, Galen knew that he would have to find some way to break them up if he wanted any peace and quiet.
"Hey, I heard you guys arguing from down the street. I don't want to bother you, but I was wondering if you could keep your conversation a little quieter?" he asked, walking up to the men.
"Mind your own damn business. This is between me and the idiot," the younger man snarled. Galen was taken aback, but he should have expected this. The argument he interrupted was intense.
"Sorry, sir. Severin has never had any manners. I'm very sorry our arguing disturbed you," the sheriff replied with a glare toward Severin. Severin returned his glare with an even nastier one.
"No need to be sorry. It's been a long day for me, and I need some relaxation time," Galen said. However, the younger man's vitriol fueled Galen's curiosity. What was he so angry about?
"It's not important. I'm done with this conversation," Severin huffed and stormed off.
Galen and the sheriff watched him go, and as soon as his back left their view, the sheriff turned to Galen. "Again, I'm very sorry about his attitude and for disturbing you.”
"There's no problem," Galen paused, "Would you tell me what you were arguing about? I could hear you quite clearly, but I never caught what the argument was about."
The sheriff laughed, "Severin always trying to stir stuff up. He and his family got renounced a while back, and he's been acting up since."
"Renounced?" Galen questioned.
"Ah, being renounced just means the family in question has fallen out of favor with the governor. Nothing to be mad about these days. It just means the whole town ignores the blacklisted family," the sheriff answered. Galen frowned at that. Nothing to be mad about? To him, being alienated by a whole town was rather serious. And to think it was for a crime as vague as falling out of favor with someone.
"What used to happen?" Galen asked. He was not sure if he wanted to know the answer.
"The renounced were stoned," the sheriff said. Horrified, Galen stared at the sheriff wide-eyed. He wondered how the sheriff could say that so nonchalantly. He could not detect any hint of remorse in the sheriff's tone.
"Did they stop doing this recently?" This was the most important distinction. Something 200 years ago perhaps would warrant a more matter-of-fact tone because he knew humans did not have long lifespans. Nonetheless, Galen thought that there was always room to be remorseful for past actions, especially ones that involved murder.
"About 50 years ago. We stopped after the unification." Galen certainly was not expecting to fear for his life so early on. While they may not still consider stoning a viable option, it was not too long ago that they did. He did not have a wealth of love or respect for humans, but he thought them better than that. Was this the town to search for human friends?
"Would you look at the time," Galen pointed to the sun that had almost completely vanished behind the horizon, "I've got to go home. I moved in today, and I'm very tired." Unfortunately, as he was turning around, the sheriff grabbed his arm.
"Hey, I forgot to introduce myself. How rude of me. I am Sheriff Morstat. What's your name?" Morstat asked.
Galen did not want to give the sheriff his name but felt it was too impolite not to return the gesture, "Galen."
"Nice to meet you, Galen," The sheriff tipped his hat at Galen. Galen tried to smile, but it came off as more of a grimace. He hoped that he and Morstat would not run into each other again, but he doubted it. With a perfunctory wave, Galen headed back to his shop.
Crossing the threshold of
his store brought him relief straightaway. He closed and locked the door behind
him. Walking past all the mess, he climbed the stairs to his apartment. He
dragged his feet to his bed and promptly fell asleep as soon as his head hit
the pillow.
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