My head hurts, what the hell? I open my eyes and look around, I’m in a small tent I guess.
I look around but there's nothing to tell me where I am so I venture outside. There’s a small fire going and it looks to be real early in the morning, and across the fire sitting on a log is an old man.
“Uhh hey where are we? and who are you? wait who am I?” what the hell I don’t remember a damn thing whats going on here? I look down at myself, I’ve got some kind of nightgown on and my body is all tiny so I must be a small child then.
“Hmmm” the old man mumbles something.
“Just call me gramps, and you're just gonna go by kidd for now” His voice is all deep and sounds like rocks grinding together.
“Umm okay, then where are we then?” Is this old man really my grandfather, and who the hell names their child Kidd? that's a term for baby goats isn’t it? And what’s with the old mountain man get up here, old dirty leathers gnarly gray-white hair and grizzled beard to match.
“We’re in the woods. Camping. Foods gonna get cold, eat up.” he hands me a metal bowl with some kind of grey soup in it. FUCK it tastes horrible but I’m hungry and I don’t think I’ll get anything else if I don’t eat it so I force it down. We sit in silence for a while, though I’m practically exploding with questions ‘Gramps’ Doesn’t really seem like much for conversation so I keep them to myself. He quickly strikes camp and soon it all looks like some random clearing in the woods.
“We’re headin’ out.” And with that he starts walking into the trees. So I get to following as quick as I can
“Hey I can’t walk as fast as you can! And I’ve got these stubby little legs and no shoes!” I yell out to him. He pauses for a moment to look at me, he glances at my bare feet.
“hmhm. You’ll learn.” And so we walk.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And walk we did, for days. We’d start early in the morning just after sunrise, and we’d walk till the sunset that evening. Well Gramps would walk I’d toddle over the uneven ground stumbling after him with my short pudgy legs and he’d stop long enough for me to almost catch up and then continue again. Once we stopped for the evening gramps would put some kind of healing salve on my aching bleeding feet, I gave up asking for shoes after a few hours each day. I often was asleep as he made dinner, only to be woken up to eat more of the horrible grey soup and then I would pass out again.
That was the routine for at least four or five days I had lost count, when at around midday or so gramps stopped long enough for me to catch up to him, he was kneeling by some kind of plant waiting for me.
“Gilver Leaf. Good for burns when dry, mix with water and ash to make paste.” he points to the plant and carefully gathers some of the leaves.
“leave enough for it to live”
He places the leaves in a pouch at his belt and moves on. This became a new routine, walking, gathering plants, or as he called them ‘herbs’ and camping as the sunset. Another few days of this and then a change again, this time while we were already camped, I had been able to keep up for the most part for the last few days and was awake even after eating when gramps abruptly stated.
“I’m goin' to hunt.” With that he walked off in the pitch black, to hunt what?I had no idea, I was asleep before he returned and he was there in the morning when I awoke making breakfast. A glorious one at that, for the first time we had actual meat. I have no idea what it was, there wasn’t a corpse and I had long ago stopped asking questions that wouldn’t be answered so I just enjoyed the meal. A stew, nice and thick with some of the herbs we’d gathered to season it and the mystery meat.
After some time in quiet listening to the forest even once the meal was done gramps broke the silence.
“Go gather herbs, ones I showed you. I’m gonna Hunt.” Once more he was off into the woods to hunt something, I didn’t question it. NO WALKING TODAY!
It was nearly sunset when he got back and he was doing something new, smoking some kind of stick. No sign of whatever he had been hunting though.
“Isn’t that unhealthy?” I asked him and pointed to the stick.
“ghmm. This won’t be what kills me kidd.” He grumbled as response. He sits down by the firepit and throws in some of the wood I’d gathered earlier after collecting herbs, points a finger at the pile and a small flame shoots out and starts the fire up. He then rummages around in his pack and pulls out his cooking materials, getting prepared to make dinner.
“Herbs?” He mumbles the question around his smoke stick. I just point to a pile of leaves and roots and a few flowers all piled up on a regular tree leaf sitting not too far from him.
“hmmh” This guy needs to socialize more or something.
We headed out the following morning gathering more herbs on our walk. Again I was bursting with questions but not knowing was better than getting answers from gramps, learned more from watching him than listening after my questions actually elicit a response.
This became our new routine for a few more days, walk, gather, camp, hunt. Occasionally we would stay at camp for a whole day while gramps hunted but I never saw him bring back any game, and yet he always had fresh meat for dinner and breakfast. After he had briefly explained what certain herbs did and how potent they were I started to eat bits of them here and there, even ones that he said were poisonous, I felt for some reason that it was a good idea to try and build a resistance to them for some reason.
One morning after we’d been walking for a few hours the trees broke way for an open field and in the distance was what I could only say must be a small town or village, I wasted no time with questions and just kept going. Grumbles don’t translate well I have affirmed.
We went into town and came to a solid stone building, the only one around. Brownish stone, just one story tall, nothing special about the outside save for a symbol on the door; a tree with a mountain behind it. We went in to find an older lady wearing plain brown robes sitting by a table with some books on top reading. She looks up at gramps and smiles.
“Ahh you old goat I was wondering if we’d see you around here with the recent activity in the mountains.” She walked up to him and gave him a hug.
“hmhm. Taken care of.” He points at me after their brief greeting.
“Needs tutoring” He then hands the lady something and leaves me with her.
“Well then what’s your name young lady?” The older lady asks me.
“Umm not sure really, gramps just calls me Kidd” The ladies eyes go wide for a moment, and then she look me up and down and nods.
“Well then Kiddo let's get you some proper clothes and then we’ll get to teaching you something, you do seem to be a real smart young lady.”
“Okay”
After getting me cleaned up, a bath with soap even. I got new clothes and a little bag of my own with a few extra sets matching what I have on, some soft leather pants and a plain cotton shirt. Even got a little leather cloak and SHOES! to go with the outfit.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Hey why did you call gramps ‘old goat’?” I ask the old lady as gathers up materials to start the tutoring. She pauses and thinks for a moment.
“Well he’s just always been the old goat, ever since I was a little girl like yourself. I’m sure you’ve noticed he’s not much for words but isn’t as grumpy as he sounds. He hasn’t changed in oh it’s been well over a hundred years now”
“Huh. Yeah he just grumbles a lot. Wow really? he must be really old then.” She laughs and sits down at the table patting the seat beside her, so I jump up and sit as well.
“Yes, He brought me to this very temple when I was little like yourself after my home was destroyed by a tribe of Orcs, He came through and took all the children they had captured. Is that what happened to you Kiddo?”
“Nope, don’t think so. I woke up in a tent and we’ve been walking through the mountains since. So when he says he’s hunting he is going and killing monsters and stuff then?” She looks a little shocked at my question but quickly responds.
“You sure are a smart one. Well I’m not sure if the old goat wants me to be spreading stories about him but, yes, he is what we just call a Hunter, they are more than regular woodsmen that go out and gather food for their family or town. They go and track down dangerous beasts that could be a threat to large groups of people like we have here. There's not too many warriors here and no mages at all so we have to rely on the Hunters to take care of what the average person can’t. So do you know how old you are? do you have any idea if you know your letters and numbers yet?”
I take a moment to think on that.
“I think I’m Two I’m really not sure though. And I have no idea if I know how to read or do math.”
“hmmm. You do look to be that age but you're far too well spoken for a normal child.” She begins writing on a sheet of parchment and when she finishes she slides it over to me.
“Now you see here is our alphabet each of these letters makes a certain sound and you can put them together to make words do you know what these are and can you write them down as well?”
I look over the page and the letters are familiar so name them off as I copy them down on a blank sheet of parchment.
“Incredible, your penmanship is even better than mine. Let's try some basic words and I’ll put a few more advanced ones as well don’t worry if you can’t pronounce them.” She again starts writing on the parchment and when done slides it over to me. I read it out loud and give the meaning behind each word and then write the word and it’s meaning down on my own sheet.
“You really are a smart little girl, I wonder where the old goat found you? well lets see I have a few chores to do and how would you like some lunch? while I’m busy you can browse the small library we have and then when I’m done we can see about your ability with numbers, I have a feeling we’ll see similar results.” She takes me by the hand and leads me to another room, the library, wall to wall with books. I think I love books. This place makes me feel so happy.
“You must be used to having little kids dropped off here a lot, even ones with bad memories to be so normal about me being here like this.” My questions are coming back.
“haha. Yes the old goat and a few other Hunters do have a habit of bringing strays by here that have lost their homes and parents, and the lost memories isn’t that strange, magic can do odd things to young minds either they themselves don’t want to remember something or someone else doesn’t”
“That makes sense, I wonder if my memories will come back, and why I don’t remember.”
“Well sometimes only time will tell with these kinds of things. So what kind of book do you think you would like to read?”
“Something on herbs I think.” She looks a bit surprised by this but leads me to a section on far wall.
“All these here are on herbs and alchemy, if you need it there's a small ladder in the corner to get to the higher ones, I’ll be back in an hour or so with something to eat and then we’ll look at what you can do with numbers.”
“Okay” I smile at her as she leaves the room. Really nice lady. Now where to start.
It barely felt like a few minutes went by when as I was skimming the last few pages of the book I was on I hear the lady from behind me.
“Oh my… did you read all of these?” I glance around the table, there's still a bunch of books I didn't put away after I got distracted reading through the whole herbs and alchemy section.
“Ah, yeah sorry I was so into the books I forgot to put them away” I gave her a sheepish smile.
“Th-that's fine, but did you really read these? There’s at least twenty books here.”
“Yep. I noticed I can just skim through the pages and it’s easy to remember them all, I got through the herbs and alchemy books and moved on to history and culture of Venden.” She sets the plate of food down on the table with wide eyes looking over the books.
“Incredible… I’m really curious who you are Kiddo” You aren’t the only one
“Well like you said sometimes only time will tell right? Oh and I don’t think I got your name, I’d hate to just keep thinking of you as ‘Lady’ hehe”
“Right. Oh of course my name is Gura I’m the Arch Priestess here. And eat up there’s bread, meat, and cheese.” I start gathering getting ready to stuff my face I hadn’t realised I was so hungry.
“Oh Okay, well it’s nice to meet you Gura, and thank you for the food” Face stuffing… She’s looking at me weird.
It didn’t take me long to have my fill and when I was done I thanked Gura again.
“it’s no trouble sweety, now would you like to play with some of the other children?”
“Umm no thank you I’d rather just read here if that’s okay? I think I can get through the History and Culture section before gramps comes back to get me, do you know when he’ll be here?”Gura has a sad smile on her face and kneels in front of me.
“Honey I’m sorry but I don’t think he will be back to get you, he never seemed to get as close to any of the children as to you but then he never spent that much time with them either. You’ll stay here as long as you need to, your bag that I gave you that’s all yours now so you can keep anything you want in there, and the clothes too. We might just find you a nice family to live with someday okay?” I don’t know why but I can feel my eyes get all watery and an empty feeling settles in my stomach, It felt like I was gonna go on adventures with gramps especially when I found out about him fighting monsters and helping people. Gura gives me a hug and pats my back consoling me.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, you can read here all you want, would you like to see how good you are with numbers before you get back to the books?” I just nod my head, feeling numb. All I can remember is gramps I don’t feel he would just leave me here but he didn’t say much before he left this morning.
Gura goes through and writes down a bunch of problems on the sheets of parchment, harder and harder ones but I don’t even have to focus on them, it only takes me as long to write out the answer to finish each new set.
“Well Kiddo you really are an amazing little girl, I don’t actually know anything more advanced than this to quiz you with, your my youngest, most successful student and we have only been at it for a few hours haha.” I give her a weak smile.
“I’m going to go and check on the other children do you want to go and meet them now? you can stay here and read if you want though that’s okay, I’m always telling the children they should be reading more.” I shake my head and start putting the books away
“I’ll just stay here for now I think”
“Alright sweetie, I'll just be right out back, it’s through the door there, then on your right through the door at the end of the hall okay?” I nod and she leaves me in the library alone.
The next thing I know I’m in bed in a room full of other kids all on their own little beds with the moon lighting up the room. I must have slept right through dinner time, and gramps never came back. I start crying again and after some time must have fallen back to sleep.
The sun woke me up early in the morning, before any of the other kids. Must be from all those early starts with gramps. I hurry and leave the room as quietly as I can and head to the library just down the hall. It’s still to dark to see in here so I head out back and sit to watch the sun rise over the roof of the house next door. After a while I can hear the other kids start to get up and Gura comes out and finds me sitting by the door.
“Goodmorning Kiddo, are you hungry? you were so worn out you didn’t wake for dinner last night so I'm sure you're starved.” I nod and get up to follow her inside. We head to a room I hadn’t seen yet with a long table down the middle currently filled with kids of all ages from my own to maybe middle teenage years. And they were loud.
“QUIET! Now children this here is Kidd, the old goat brought her by yesterday morning, It looks like she will be staying here for some time so say hi and be nice.” A long series of hellos rang around the table until I could give my own greeting.
“hi, nice to meet you all” I quickly took the seat offered to me.
“Now children who would like to start our prayer this morning?” no one said anything at first then a quiet voice came from the far end of the table
“Holy Teran, thank you for the blessings of life and bounty of earth may we continue to walk the path of your will. We thank you for the food before us, the bounty of earth, we thank you for the day you grant us this blessing of life.” “”Amen”” Echoed around the table
“Thank you Aren now you may all eat.” So we did, I wasn’t that hungry now that there were so many people around, but I ate what I could. As they finished the others asked if they were excused so I did as well.
Once I left the dining area I decided to just go back to the library, none of the other children went there all day yesterday so I figured it would be safe from intrusion. I went through all the rest of the history books available and moved on to the rest of them, there weren’t really that many available, since I just wasn’t interested in religious history after the first one. So I just sat and pondered what to do with the rest of the day.
A few minutes went by and Gura came into the library
“Hey there Kidd you know, it’s great to like learning but you really should go and play with the other children, it’ll be good for you alright?” I just sigh in defeat.
“I might as well I already finished everything here, except the ones about gods those didn’t seem worth reading.” Gura flinches at that and makes a weird sign with her hand
“It’s not proper to insult the gods Kidd, I know you’re sad that the old goat didn’t explain why he was leaving you with us but this can be your new home if you let it.” I just grunt as I head to the back door with Gura behind me no doubt making sure I go play with the others.
As I step into the main room the front door opens and gramps walk inside.
“Kidd s’go.” I couldn’t help it I squeal in delight and dash off to grab my new bag and storm back past Gura
“Thanks Gura! I hope to see you again!” Wide eyed in blatant surprise she waves at me as I rush out the front door behind gramps.