Not long after they left the slums Beck and Evie stumbled upon an inn. They booked two rooms using some of the money they had taken from the strongbox back at the craft shop and sat down at a table to talk.
“I'm going to go out into town tomorrow and find a bargeman, see if we can secure a ride to take us closer to the capital, it will be easier than walking the whole way” Beck said
“Alright then, just make sure you don't use all our money, we still have two stops on our journey before we reach the capital and i would much rather stay at an inn then have to sleep on the streets” Evie replied.
A waitress came over to the table and put down two plates of steaming stew with an extra plate of beautiful house made bread. The stew was a thick broth of roasted carrots, potatoes and very tender beef. Taking a slice of bread and soaking it in the stew, both Evie and Beck ate their meal very quickly.
“Is it just me or does food taste so much better when someone else cooks it for you” Evie pondered with a satisfied smile “I very much agree, every meal I've ever eaten has tasted amazing” Beck replied grinning from ear to ear, “and what if i just stop cooking for you” Evie said in a serious tone, Beck went pale “but Evie i ca-”
“I'm only joking ya goose, if you tried to cook i would go very hungry” Evie interceded while laughing. Beck quickly recomposed himself, “ha-ha, good one” he said with an awkward laugh “we better get some rest, we’ve got a day of negotiation tomorrow.”
They went upstairs to their separate rooms and went to sleep.
Beck was up early the next morning; he hadn't managed to get much sleep during the night with recurring nightmares and visions of dark thunder clouds spreading over the forest keeping him awake. After an hour of trying to go to sleep, he’d had enough and got out of bed. It was around four in the morning and the inn keeper was out in the lobby lighting the lamps that hung on the walls, Beck passed through the dining room, out the lobby and decided to take a walk down the riverside up toward the castle.
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As he walked, passed many interesting places. He passed by a large tarpaulin tent marque, which had a hanging wooden sign at the entrance reading: Riverside market. The large tent was filled with small stalls and tables stacked with produce and many early rising store owners bustling about, preparing their stalls for another business day. He also passed by many interestingly named taverns like the: rusty faucet and the frothing keg. He passed by many buildings and shacks until he reached the edge of the city.
Beck wasn't used to seeing so many buildings in one place, having been raised in a small, countryside town he had never realized how large a settlement of people could be. With all the noise and movement of the masses of people the only quiet spot he could find was here, on the outskirts of town down by the river. So, there he sat mindlessly gazing into the water.
After a while of deep entranced thought, he was brought back into the moment as a trail of barrels floated by. They were made of a dark wood -most likely from over the border in frost land- held tightly together with a thin band of metal. As they bobbed in the water beck could make out an insignia carved into the side of each barrel, the insignia seemed to resemble a moose or large elk with a pile of Wheat between its horns. This confirmed Becks suspicions, that the barrels were in fact from frost land and by his best guess from the plains of Wheaton city.
As they rounded a bend in the river Beck turned and looked back at where they had come from, once this business with the mist is over, I'm going to travel wherever i want Beck thought, as he was looking, a small ship rounded the corner upstream from where the barrels came, it seemed to be listing heavily in the water. Moving ever so slowly on the current of the river the boat came closer to where Beck sat. A voice called out from onboard the boat, "Oi kid, can you come give us a hand”.