Cury walked along the streets through Poz.

Sun and her family were close behind, all eager to meet this new visitor who allegedly could conjure a stick out of thin air. If they could trust Cury’s word, that is.

“If she truly can bring out a stick out of nowhere, maybe she is an old adventurer like me!” Sun’s father, Mike, joyfully exclaimed.

“Nonsense, you could not even beat a soldier from the capital back in your prime!” Her mother Stella answered.

Cury did not know much about the capital. It wasn’t really something the adults talked about here in Poz.

As they moved closer to the Woodworker’s building, Cury took a quick look at the sign hanging from above the doorframe. The sign was formed as a saw crossing with a hammer, both coloured different hues of blue.

Looking through the window, one could spot Pike who was still working hard. Cury pondered if he should invite Pike as well but figured that he was most likely busy for a long time to come. Pike’s brown hair was tied together with a black ribbon, preventing his hair from covering his eyes. It was something about his face that made Cury decide not to invite him. He seemed determined to get work done, and Cury did not want to interrupt him.

Cury and Sun’s family followed the road and turned right as they passed the Woodworker’s building. From there, they could easily see the Crooked Harp.

Loud voices and laughter could be heard from inside, despite the distance.

“There seems to be a party going, did we miss some lord’s birthday?” Stella asked

“I don’t know, and honestly I don’t care about some lord who has done nothing for us here in Poz!” Mike answered, with his eyes revealing an emerald green colour to Cury. His tone felt like ice and if Cury did not know better, he’d swear it was getting colder.

Outside the Crooked Harp, three men were standing. Cury could see that they were wearing chainmail beneath some white fabric. The fabric had a large golden crow sewn on to them. A crow that Cury recognized well. It was this kingdom’s banner animal, symbolizing intelligence and good fortune. They were soldiers.

As they got closer, Cury could hear the three men talking.

“Why they decided to send us to some rural village like Poz is beyond me. That woman's like gone with the wind. At least the mead here was a pleasant surprise.” A man with blonde, curly hair complained.

“Aye, the meads fantastic!” Another man answered, not realizing that his comrade was complaining. He was larger than Cury’s father, and one could see that he had some real muscles to fight with, rather than words. He had short, black hair, and a thick, even darker moustache curling upwards.

The third man, obviously at least a decade older than the others, sighed as well and added to their conversation; “We’ll probably never find that traitor, but silence! We can’t slip up and have words spread about the matter at hand!”

The other two looked down, nodded and went quiet. The respect they showed towards this older man was obvious.

As Sun and Cury were passing them, the muscular man reached out and arm, stopping them in their path.

“Hey! How much did you hear!?” He yelled, with spit flying like rain out of his mouth.

Shock spread across Cury’s and Sun’s faces but before they could answer, Mike stepped forward, giving the muscular man a light but determined push.

“What you were talking about? We can barely hear our own thoughts with all the noise going on in there!” He yelled back, with an equal amount of saliva firing at the muscular man.

The man’s face reddened of anger, his fingers curling into his palm, forming a fist, readied a punch.

Seeing this, Mike too readied a punch.

Then, a hand landed on the man’s shoulder. It was the older soldier’s hand.

“You are an official general of the Corvus kingdom. Act like it!” He said.

The tall, black-haired man flinched for a second, then bowed down and apologized to Mike. The old man bowed as well.

Mike, too, flinched. A second ago, he feared for his life. He knew well that he could not take a punch from this beast in front of him, but his pride as a father had forced him to step forwards. Now he was calming down, but the adrenaline still pumping through his veins was giving him mixed signals.

Stella stepped forward, placing a hand on Mike’s arm and said. “We would like to apologize as well. We acted way out of place towards you, honourable soldiers of our beloved lands. Forgive us!”

Then she pushed at Mike’s back with her left hand, forcing him to bow with her. Her red hair fell down and swayed with the wind.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Oh, no need to apologize! The fault is ours, for acting out towards these children. They are the future of our kingdom!” The blonde man added, placing his left hand towards the right side of his chest while bowing.

Cury and Sun saw that, now, they were the only one’s not bowing and felt terribly awkward. They hastily bowed and apologized, not knowing what they had done wrong or why everyone was bowing.

Then, Stella and the old man both stood up straight and laughed into their palms.

“It seems that these children are more well-mannered than my generals, maybe they will join our ranks in the future and be of great aid!” The old soldier said, with a sly smile on his face.

To this, Mike huffed some air and simply said “Maybe, maybe not. Now we must be on our way.”

The smile on the old man’s face died and turned into a frown. “Maybe, maybe not. We shall see.” He said.

The blonde, and the muscular man, both turned their head in discontent

“We will be on our way then!” Stella said, grabbing Mike’s and Sun’s hands, pulling them away from the Crooked Harp.

Cury, realizing the others were getting away from him, started moving and stumbled after them.

They walked hastily for a while, until the Crooked Harp’s sign was no longer in sight.

“What was that all about?” Cury asked.

Mike sighed and replied “Those men were soldiers of our kingdom. Usually, they only come to villages such as Poz to recruit every child to the armies. Why they are here now, I do not know. But I do not like it.”

They were quiet for a while, processing what had just happened.

After a while, Sun decided to do something about the bad mood and said with a brilliant smile “I can’t wait to taste that mushroom stew this old Seer has made!”

Upon hearing this, Stella decided to join in. “I wonder which kinds of mushroom, maybe something that will make you children grow in size, turning you into adults over night!”

Mike chuckled. “A mushroom making you larger, maybe that is what that muscle-head was eating!”

Cury laughed. Sun too.

They followed the road up the hill towards Cury’s house. A small fire could be seen, and a lovely scent entered their noses. The scent reminded Cury of winter, when everything was cold, and he could walk inside and have warm soup, sitting in front of the lit hearth covered in blankets. It made him think of his mother’s loving smile, as she read him a bedtime story.

They opened the fence-gate and walked towards the backyard.

Upon rounding the corner, Cury was welcomed by his father, carving a piece of wood.

“You finally decided to show up!” An old, cranky voice said.

“The manner of youth nowadays, always late! The voice added.

The old Seer stood up from a chair she was sitting on.

“We were interrupted by some nasty people” Mike sneered.

“It’s always excuses with young people today!” the old woman said, giving Mike a bowl with warm mushroom stew.

“Stop your mocking you pile of old bones!” Pete laughed and added “She wasn’t done with her stew until just now anyway!”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself now, Pete. I would have prepared the stew earlier if it wasn’t for those soldiers blocking their path!” The old woman mockingly said.

Stella flinched. “The soldiers? How did you know about that, we never mentioned them being soldiers!” she exclaimed.

“As if you would have to tell me such trivial matter. I have seen what you’ve been up to since you left that adorable home of yours.” The old Seer giggled.

“Stella, this woman is creeping me out.” Mike whispered into Stella’s ears.

Cury could only laugh at this treatment. He was almost used to how she treated new people by now. Pete too laughed.

Sun was just about done processing what had just happened when she blurted out “Wait, how did you? What! When did you? And those soldiers? Did you see!?”

Then she let her arms fall to her sides, as if her mind went blank.

The old lady walked up to her, and out of nowhere she pulled a stick with which she gave Sun a gentle tap on the head.

“I can’t believe it! You actually are a seer!” Sun exclaimed.

Cury took her hand and said, “We don’t know if she actually is a Seer yet, but we do know that she has made us mushroom stew.”

“Yes, eat this stew and you will grow to be tall and strong!” The seer said, with a smirk on her face.

Mike coughed and spat out a bit of stew upon hearing this.

Stella laughed at the obvious remark, grabbed a bowl and sat down next to Pete.

“Where did you find this lady?” She asked him.

Pete leaned forward, as if ready to reveal a secret. Then he whispered.

“She found us, I have no idea who she Is, but I like her!” He said, then laughed.

Stella laughed too. “Yes, I can see why!” She said.

Cury and Sun too grabbed a bowl each, ready to dig in.

Mike, having finished his first and second bowl in a go walked toward the large pot hanging above the fire. As he reached towards the ladle to fill up his bowl once again, he received a smack on his hand with a stick.

“Hey! Hands of the stash, where are your manners?” The old Seer yelled.

Mike shook his head in confusion.

‘I didn’t even see that stick coming’ He thought to himself.

“Very well, since at least one of you is well-mannered I will look away from your antics. Take as much as you’d like.” The old lady said.

Cury felt happy, his eyes glowing red once again.

The old Seer was about to pour some soup into Mike’s bowl with the large ladle, she suddenly flinched. She dropped the ladle and as it fell to the ground, Cury couldn’t help but stare.

Then he realized it.

The ladle didn’t land on the ground. It stopped falling mid-air.

“Hey, how did you…” He began.

Then he realized that the old lady had stopped moving as well. Everything was quiet, and Cury looked around only to see that he was the only one moving. The others were acting as if frozen.

Small white pieces of vapor seemed to form in the air, fog creeping in ever so slowly. Out of the fog, an old man with long, silverly beared walked out. He was wearing a blue robe with long sleeves. He broke the silence with a few words.

At first, Cury couldn’t understand the words. The man noticed this and said something once again.

This time, Cury could hear it clear as night and day.

“I have a mission for you.”