Janoiah

The first rays of morning pierced the horizon, falling upon a western facing window nearly obstructed by the house next to it. Behind the thin glass pane S’bowynn rested, waiting for the gift Arovdora shared from its resting place in the sky, rousing her from her sleep. When the light began its assault, S’bowynn retreated with haste, flowing the blankets over her head and securing herself within a dark, warm fortress of blankets. S’bowynn knew she wouldn’t fall back asleep, but for a short time, she could pretend and enjoy the warmth. Her breathing eventually made the fortress stuffy and no longer hospitable, so after announcing her displeasure to herself with an exaggerated groan, S’bowynn eased one eye over the fortress wall. It was morning.

S'bowynn relented to the new day, sat upright in her bed and allowed the blanket to fall from her strong shoulders. Her long, spiraled red hair slid over the shaved sides of her head in a curly mess until she ran her fingers through the column of untamed hair from forehead to neck. The warmth of the discarded blanket beckoned her to return within its walls, to lay back down and hide within its darkness. Before she could give in to her weakness, images of all her projects she needed to finish at work started dancing through her mind. She had abandoned them at work with promises of completing them in the morning, just in time for merchants and travelers to pick them up on their way through the trade town of Janoiah. Now that morning was pressing against her window, she knew her time had grown short. Fitfully she cast the blanket further away from the bed, banishing its seductive trappings.

As the illumination increased, S’bowynn could see the whole of her small dusty room. She was lucky to live alone in a small shed next to the home she grew up in. She had moved out of the main house when her older sister, Drana, returned home heavy with child while her husband trained in the Merchant Guard. S’bowynn’s bed was pressed into one corner against the window for the express purpose of being directly under Arovdora’s path as it rose from the horizon, making it hard to sleep once the day had begun. On the far wall were a few hooks from which hung different colored shirts and one leather apron S’bowynn used at her work. It had large pockets on the front to hold all the tools she used. She lowered her bare feet to the cold floor and shuffled over to the hooks, grabbing two shirts from the hooks, sniffing them, and picking the least offensive to throw over her athletic frame. The apron went on next, followed by a leather toolbelt that had been discarded on the floor the day before, securing it loosely above the lightweight pants she had slept in and allowing the belt to rest on her curves. She pulled a leather thong that was resting over the hook and thread it around her red hair, weaving it into a secure bundle atop her head. Using the rest of the leather strip, she braided her hair to hang between her shoulders and secured the loose ends.

The last article of clothing was S’bowynn’s most prized possession. A pair of handcrafted boots she had made for herself. Months of preparation and planning went into their creation and even more care in their fabrication. She had worked out a deal with a traveling merchant she knew from him frequenting the shop she worked at. His route was across the eastern plains to exotic locations with exotic creatures from which came the desirable hides he traded and sold. S’bowynn had never seen the creatures from which the hides came from, but she knew what they were good for from the stories the merchant would tell her each time he visited. She had set her sights on a darduk hide from a creature found far away in the ice-shelves to the north-east, past where the plains ended, past the forests, until the ground grew so cold farming was impossible. S’bowynn didn’t know what a darduk looked like, but she knew that its hide was warm and waterproof. And expensive. The merchant passed through town two more times, thankfully, holding onto it until she could afford it. In the months that followed, S’bowynn spent her time after closing the shop, staying in the back room until Arovdora fled the sky and candlelight did little to hold back the darkness while she meticulously crafted her boots.

S'bowynn laced up the boots that stopped just below her knees and stood before the shed door. In Janoiah, where S’bowynn had grown up, one was lucky to have a small private yard. Because her family had owned the home before the rapid city expansion, her childhood home had a yard to the side of the building where the shed was located, as well as a small box garden in the front. Much of the city was laid out in a circular pattern with districts radiating out from the city’s center. As such, houses closer to the center boasted small gardens and even unpaved yards. As one traveled further from the center, the houses were built closer together until they no longer had small external spaces. In the back, alleyways were lined with fences or just the backside of the buildings themselves. S’bowynn hurried down the alley behind her home, turning down another narrow path to avoid being within sight of her house in case a family member may have peered outside in search of her.

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The streets grew wider as did the houses as S’bowynn traveled toward the expansive paved circular plaza that was the heart of the city. A large wooden forum used for festivals rested at the very center from which the different districts were easily recognizable. To the northeast was the main entrance road flanked by Main Market and the economic life-blood of the city. Directly north Main Market faded into the Fiscal District where every building looked the same and all manner of ledgers and lists were contained within. To the northwest expanded the Scholar District, pressing against the utilitarian buildings with their columns and archways that hid shelves and communal tables and libraries where academics split into conversational groups depending on subject to spend endless hours bickering over information and replicating vellum manuscripts onto soft yellow paper. To the southwest was the massive building that served as the axil for the dwindling followers, the pulpullates of Elemenchya and gateway to The Gardens. Between The Gardens and the Residential District to the whole southeast and east, was a strip of buildings Janoiah dedicated those who organized and decided how the city conducted itself.

Turning down the widest road in Janoiah, S’bowynn passed under the huge timbers that had been imported from some far-away forest she had never seen and constructed into a frame holding all of Main Market behind it. Atop the posts, canvas was strewn across to offer shade from the unrelenting light of Arovdora that had only begun to spread across the sky. Flanking the vast road were storefronts, stalls, and tents that flaunted their goods under large wooden signs hung above their entrances with names or icons carved into their faces. Behind these stores, smaller streets and stores claimed what space they could as the market sprawled out from the city center. While S’bowynn was sure the vimova in charge of the city had tried to keep the roads in some semblance of order, Main Market had expanded so rapidly after the invention of the grass-paper with caravans full of merchants flocking to the city in the eastern plains that offered a way to accurately, and cheaply, keep track of their goods and dealings. Past where order was able to be maintained was a maze of merchants known as The Bazaar. Here, sellers and traveling merchants claimed any territory they could, affording nothing in the way of vimoval space and spilling out past the second massive frame that served as the gateway into the city.

S'bowynn worked in a shop owned by Derohn, who traveled away from his family in Boaurj to continue their legacy of repair in leather goods. Derohn settled in Janoiah and after many years, he established himself as a trustworthy craftsman, affording him the purchase of the building near the busy Main Market Road for his shop. The building had a second story, so he was able to convert that level into his home. S’bowynn met Derohn after a dispute with her mother regarding her lack of enthusiasm when asked to work more at her sister’s hat shop. S’bowynn wanted something different for herself and truthfully, couldn’t stand the type of vimova that frequented the boutique. Over her brooding thoughts as she wandered aimlessly within the city, S’bowynn overheard Derohn’s voice coming from inside his shop attempting to dissuade a customer from commissioning a repair that Derohn explained was costly and time-consuming. The customer was pressing and pleading, offering to pay more than the job was worth. Derohn repeated he was too busy, so she decided to offer her skills.

“It’ll take me too long to do,” repeated the large, disgruntled shop-keep.

“Hello sir,” S’bowynn interrupted, slyly maneuvering herself to the countertop separating the tall man and the desperate merchant. “I’m here about a craftsman aide job I was told about,” she lied. “I helped my family at the hat shop for many years, but I’d like to expand my skills elsewhere. I heard about your shop and would like to offer my abilities,” she finished by giving an enthusiastic smile.

Derohn furrowed his dark brown eyebrows at the intrusion. After spending a moment considering what S’bowynn had said, he reached over the counter, grabbing the rolls of material the customer had deposited on the counter, a seat cover of some kind S’bowynn recalled, and dropped it into her arms. His face relaxed and he threw on a well-practiced smile before turning back to the customer. “She’ll have it done by the end of the week before you leave.” He wrote out the slip, exchanged some currency, and bid the elated customer farewell before turning back to S’bowynn with a stern look. “Well,” he huffed as he pushed the leather straps that hung over a door frame to the back half of the building, offering entrance to the disheveled and cluttered work-spaces. S’bowynn was able to get the repair completed and continued to show up and work there for the next couple of years.

The Main Market streets laid out before S’bowynn were starting to fill with vimova doing errands or opening their own stores. Each store was familiar to S’bowynn. Every stone she traveled over was permanent, always in the same spot as the day before. No matter how many times she had changed the route she walked to work, over the years, she had memorized her surroundings. The only thing that offered her any break in the monotony was the customers who visited the shop with the stories they carried with them. They told her stories of how the damaged item they brought in for repair had gotten into the state it was in, detailing some far-off event on a faraway adventure doing whatever random thing resulting in the damage. S’bowynn listened and asked them questions before diving into her routine of convincing the customer what she would do to repair the item and how it was worth the cost. For a few all too short moments though, S’bowynn traveled with her customers through their memories and stories.