Klavis sat on his cart as he waved to Kamilis who was entering into the Magi’s Guild courtyard. Klavis slightly moved his horse’s reins while making a click noise to get her to slowly move forward.
He let out a deep sigh as his horse moved forward with the pace of a snail. He hated when he had to use a cart but there was no helping it. The shipment his dad was having him deliver was too big and delicate to do anything else. Besides, this gave him a good excuse to visit the city and avoid the scowls his father often sent his way.
They had left as the sun was just starting to rise and if he didn’t have this burdensome cart, he would have reached the city before lunch. As it was it was nearly dinner. Hopefully Tadril was still at his shop, or he’d be stuck with the cart and the crates till the morning. He had no intention of being weighed down by responsibility tonight. He used the reins to get his horse to move a bit faster, but it chose to ignore him, and they continued on their slow pace.
Klavis’s mind quickly wondered from his task to which tavern he was going to commandeer tonight. In the city there were four taverns unlike his own village where they only had one, The Leaky Barrel, and it was normally filled with the same people. Every once and a while someone from the city or even one of the other villages would visit, but most traveling was done going towards the city.
Usually, he visited The Joyous Fiddler. That’s where his friends usually went for the evening meal and usually stayed till the morning meal. Klavis smiled thinking about the last time he ventured into town. He spent three days at The Joyous Fiddler and didn’t step beyond the door once. He shook his head slightly, no, as fun as it would be he didn’t feel like partying his days away. Since the last outing to the Forest’s edge, he’d felt restless.
True, he often felt restless, but this was different. Usually, it was from boredom. He’d spend time on something he was curious about and once his curiosity was sated, he’d move on and find the next thing that caught his fancy. No, this wasn’t the same at all. This restlessness was caused by something he’d never felt before, trapped.
His whole world, like everyone else’s, went as far as one edge of the forest to the other. You could travel from one side to the other in a few days. As far as he knew. his people, this society. was the only thing that still existed. If the fables could be believed whatever his ancestors ran from probably gobbled up everything else. It was hard for him to believe, but what if there really wasn’t anything else?
For days that question gnawed at him. “What if there really was nothing else?” He didn’t like where that question was leading him “What if I get bored with my world? I’ve done so many things and none of them have overcome my restlessness. Nothing felt right. What will I do when nothing is left? Will I be cursed to live for hundreds of years in a world that offered me no purpose to live?” He shuddered. “No, no I don’t like thinking about this at all.”
He decided to go to the Magi’s Conundrum. He’d rarely gone there. It’s a favorite place for the students at the Magi’s Guild. From time-to-time full members of the Guild would go there too. It was often busy, but the atmosphere was calm. He’d doubtlessly know many of the patrons, but they wouldn’t push him into a night full of drinking, singing and shenanigans like they would at The Joyous Fiddler. No, his mood matched The Magi’s Conundrum perfectly.
Klavis gently pulled up on the reigns, stopping in front of Tadril’s shop. He feared the worst, the doors were closed, and the curtains drawn over the store’s windows. He jumped down from the cart and walked to the back, where the workshop entrance was. He let out a sigh of relief. The door to the workshop was still slightly ajar and there was a light coming from within. He walked over to the door and walked in. When he saw Tadril he waved and said “Hello.”
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Tadril smiled in response “Klavis, you’re early! I would never have expected that from you.”
“Well, if I’m one thing, I’m unpredictable. I’ve done a lot of being late, figured I’d try being early for a change and someday, I might even try being right on time. Besides, I didn’t want to camp along the road when I could be here tearing up the town. So, I sacrificed a morning and left as the sun rose. I’m just glad I got here before you left. Where would you like the crates?”
Tadril’s raised an eyebrow “Crates? I only ordered a few sheets of preformed tin glass.”
“Don’t worry, it’s not the wrong order, my father put extra padding around the sheets to make sure they didn’t break or warp. He can be rather overprotective of his work.”
“Ah, well, the extra care is appreciated.” Tadril looked around. The shop was cluttered with various projects, in different states of completion. In the center of the workshop was a nearly completed sculpture of a warrior atop a regal looking horse, rearing itself on its hind legs. He didn’t look at the sculpture as he walked past it, to the far corner of the room. He shoved a few scraps of wood out of the way and turned back to Klavis. “Hmm…I think this corner will do. Just stack them here. I’ll open them tomorrow.
Klavis nodded “I’ll get right on that.” He spared a glance towards the sculpture in the middle of the shop. “The sculpture is one of your best. It looks nearly alive.”
Tadril looked at the sculpture and grunted in disgust. “Nearly alive is about right. I can’t seem to get it just right. It should come alive when you look at it. Not nearly alive.” He sighed and sounded defeated as he said, “I’m already two months behind.” He took a deep breath and looked back to Klavis. “I was just heading out. You’re welcome to come eat with the family if you’d like.”
Klavis smiled but slightly shook his head no. “Thank you for the offer but I have other plans for the night.”
“Meeting your troop of troublemakers at The Joyous Fiddler?”
“No, actually I was going to go to the Magi’s Conundrum.”
Tadril’s eyes widened in surprise “The Magi’s Conundrum, really?! First you get here a whole day early and now you’re saying you’re going to the Magi’s Conundrum over the Joyous Fiddler! That’s it, I’ve seen it all.”
Klavis chuckled. “I know, so out of character.”
They both continued their conversation as they walked outside.
Tadril narrowed his eyes “It’s a woman, isn’t it?”
“No” Klavis sighed, “not a woman, just feeling a bit contemplative lately.” But then he gave Tadril a smirk as he glanced a look at him from the side. “However, you never know the night might end with a woman, we’ll just have to see.”
Tadril laughed and friendlily slapped Klavis on his back “That’s a bit more like the Klavis I expected. Well, I should get going. Just make sure you close the door when you leave. “
“Sure thing. Have a good night.” Klavis waved as Tendril started his walk home and called out “Tell Nera I said hello.”
Tadril waved back and said “Will do” as he continued to walk on.
Unloading the crates was easy, there were only eight of them and they were rather light, but dropping off the cart was another matter entirely. When he got to the tack store the only person there was Ce. For some gods forsaken reason Celeb went with his eldest son, Cir, on a trip to see his wife’s family, and left Ce, Celeb’s youngest and certainly most stubborn son, to watch the store.
It took Klavis awhile to get Ce to understand that his father, Hirthron had rented the cart weeks ago and he was now returning it. For some reason the fact that Klavis was arriving a day earlier than expected threw Ce’s whole life into a tailspin. At first Ce wouldn’t take the cart. He told Klavis he couldn’t return it till tomorrow, but eventually Klavis managed to convince him to take it, and he was able to get out there and leave that rickety, lead weight of a cart behind.
Once Klavis was on his horse he had the urge to go galloping out of town and spend a few hours in the cool nights air, just to try to shake off that feeling of restlessness, but the urge passed, and he rode on at a walking speed. He knew in the end disappearing for a few days wouldn’t help and besides, if he hurried, he’d still make it to the tavern in time to get a fresh chunk of roast.