It took a little bit longer than usual for Ethan to respond. Considering the events so far the poor boy was currently on a defensive posture of the highest degree. He finally relaxed enough to remember his manners and offered a respectful nod in physical reply before continuing verbally.

"It is nice to meet you Lorelle," he paused despite himself and finished the sentence silently to himself, "why weren't you the one who greeted me first?"

Shaking his head from side to side to clear his thoughts he continued.

"My name is Ethan Kipley of the Forgotten Oaks Sanctuary. I hoped to sign up as an adventurer today."

Lorelle had been listening with a relaxed smile, though she had noticed the slight pause on the boy's part when he started to reply. She had an idea of his thoughts though it would have surprised her if she ever found out she was spot on. Nodding to his words she suddenly stiffened when he expressed the purpose of his visit.

"Adventurer? But you are so young..." She spoke out loud and then suddenly realized her error. Bringing up a single hand she covered her mouth with finger tips.

"My apologies Mr. Kipley, I didn't mean to make light of your intentions. It is just..." Well he did look much younger than the age limit.

Ethan, knowing about the age limit and is current age nodded before shifting his small pack to retrieve a folded piece of parchment. He continued while reaching out to hand it over to her.

"It's true, I look young because I am. I'm only 13."

He stopped talking when she took the parchment. It just so happened that she heard his actual age when she took the parchment and the sad expression her lovely face took on had caused him to stop. She truly felt sorry for the boy, suffering so much so far, at the hands of that monster of a woman of course, only to be told he was still too young to become an adventurer. She was about to begin with a gentle refusal when he continued.

"I know the normal age limit is at least 15, though please read that letter. It explains the situation better than I ever could I'm sure."

Her expression shifted from one of sadness to one mixed between confused and curious. Carefully unfolding the parchment it took less than a second, maybe two, for her expression to shift into a completely new mix, this one composed of slight irritation and bewilderment.

"Umm..." Tilting her head slightly before shaking it the parchment was handed back to Ethan, who now looked confused himself. Taking the letter back he looked down at its contents.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Hello, It's ok that he is only 13. -FOS

The sound of crunching parchment was soon followed by an exacerbated sigh before he erupted in anger.

"Damn that old woman! This was her idea of 'taking care of it'?! By the Keepers she is no help at all! How does this do anything except make me look like an fool?!"

Lorelle was a bit taken aback by the sudden change in the boy's demeanor, though perhaps not for the reason one would usually except. It was the look he held on his face and the way he was holding himself while gripping the letter and venting his frustrations. He looked so.... defeated. What was this boy's history with women? Was this old woman really so bad that the eyes the boy now had were so lifeless? It looked as if he had become a shell of his formal self in an instant of dealing with this other person. At least he looked alive, though terrified, when dealing with Cecelia. Now it looked like the writer of that letter managed to suck away his soul even from far away.

She was about to say something, anything, as it looked like the boy may pop from anger right in front of her, but suddenly a loud two hit knock sounded from behind her. In the doorway stood a middle aged man with small, but functional, round glasses half way down the bridge of his nose. His hair was shoulder length and though he was supposed to be middle aged he looked a good bit older.

"Oh Guild Master Owens, I'm sorry I didn't see you there." Lorelle immediately offered a slight bow of respect to the head of their branch of the adventurers' guild.

Replying with a warm smile and slightly raised hand he answered, "no worries Lorelle, I was just walking by when I heard another commotion."

"Another?" Lorelle asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"Yes, I heard someone scream earlier? They sounded rather mortified and I got a bit curious." Yes, he said curious and not concerned.

Blushing slightly Lorelle cleared her throat and shook her head.

"Oh, nothing to be worried about there. We were just fighting back Cecelia from this boy here. It took some extreme measures to frighten her away." She held up the container of anti-wrinkle cream which seemingly said it all as Owen simply gave a single nod in response and a knowing "ah."

Ethan was about to say something in regard to having such a person around was a bad idea, and then ask what they were thinking when they obviously had counter measures similar to a monster in the wilds. However, he stopped when he noticed that the container, while filled with anti-wrinkle balm had the word wrinkle scratched out and above it was written "Cecelia." The sound of a palm impacting against a face filled the room before a defeated sigh followed.

Owen looked at the boy with a small smile before looking to Lorelle with a raised eyebrow.

"So what seems to be the issue here? That young man seems a bit.... miffed."

"Oh, yes. He came to register as an adventurer, but he is only 13. He said he from the Forgotten Oaks Sanctuary, which isn't unusual, but he had a letter that was supposed to explain everything."

Ethan raised his arm to hand back the crumbled piece of parchment, his face still buried in his palm and his eyes closed. She carefully took the parchment from his fist fingers and handed it to the Grand Master.

"Ah...." He straightened out the letter before reading the contents. Lorelle noted that instead of confusion the same soulless eyed, devoid of happiness, and utterly frustrated expression Ethan carried was now on the Grand Master's face.

"Did the letter have some kind of effect on those who read it? No, she was fine after all."

Looking back and forth between the two broken males in the room she let out an audible "eh?" to match her confusion.