Geo was determined to convince the Caravan leader to take him with on his next trip. Sarah was surprisingly ok with him leaving. Saying that, by the time the caravan returns, he should he strong enough for travel again. Not wanting to solely rely on the hospitality of the people in the village, Geo has started working even more odd jobs and helping everyone as much as he could. From going out to help fishing, over to help erecting small walls, Geo did whatever he could to earn some travel money. By the time the ground started to unfreeze Geo has almost reached his original mass back and every evening he went back to the field he first tested out his powers and redid the exercises. Every day he pushed himself just a bit further, lifted one rock more or held the earth longer in the air than before.

The foreign blackhand was already a local celebrity but by now he has started to amass a small following. Mainly kids who treated his exercises as a small performance show, but occasionally their parents join up and ask Geo questions during exercise or just enjoy the show with friends.

Then one day, as Geo was helping some locals plow the small amount of farmland that they had, he saw Miki waddling towards him. Because some of his teeth had fallen out and the boy had yet to adapt his speech to the holes in his mouth. Geo had some small problems understanding what the boy was saying.

“Sarah told me to tell you that the carava, carava”

Miki took a struggled on how to say the word.

“Carava… car-a-van. The caravan guys are here, and you should see them immediately.”

“Tell Sarah, I’ll see them immediately!”

And so, Geo apologized to the people he was helping, and he left for Sarah’s house. He quickly washed his hair and changed into cleaner clothes to look more presentable. Then he searched the village Siegfried, wanting to reintroduce himself to the man, hoping that he would remember his promise from a few weeks ago.

He found the man, just a bit outside village. As Geo approached Siegfried, the caravan leader got into a heated discussion with a slightly chubby guy, who wore a lot of jewelry.

“I told you before and I’ll tell you again. You cannot try to sell your stupid jewelry in every village we make rest! Just waiting for you to get a permit to sell, will take longer, than we plan to stay.”

“But what’s the problem with just selling some stuff on the side? We don’t need to open an entire stand but if someone is interested in my goods, who am I to deny them to them?”

“Because I don’t want you to get arrested under prospect of selling stolen goods! Do you still not understand how shady this looks? You’ll get us all trapped for this. You know what? Forget it. Sell your junk! But don’t expect us to wait if you get arrested and we will dump all your goods of the cart. Won’t be out problem at all.”

Siegfried turned around and saw Geo impatiently standing there.

“Who are you and what do you want?”

“Aehm, I am Geoffery. Remember? Last time you were here there was I wanted to come with you to Sailport? The guy who stranded here almost half a year ago?”

Geo could almost see the caravan master think and trying to remember him. Then after a moment of realization he answered a lot nicer.

“Oh right, you are that guy. Now that I think about it, you came just in time. Would you mind following me somewhere more private?”

Siegfried led Geo away from the jewelry merchant and the other caravan members that roamed around and towards a more private area.

“You are looking good kid. Took me a moment to recognize you. You gained weight, but in a good way. Seem to recover from that starvation thing you had to endure.”

“Thank you. Took a lot of hard work. I feel a lot better than before.”

“That’s nice. That’s nice. Listen Geoffrey! You are in luck. I think I might have a use for you.”

“Yeah?”

“There have been rumors of increased fiend and beast activity along our route. And while I didn’t see any of that myself, I have promised some of my current customers to increase security for this journey. And I told them that I’d try to get a magical guard for this journey. Now if I remember correctly you were a blackhand. Right?”

“People tell me that this is how people like me are being called, so yes.”

“Right, right. Can I ask you for a small presentation? I need to see and judge it with my own eyes. Can’t risk putting my people into incapable hands.”

“Understandable. I can show you what I can do. But”

Geo looked around the alleyway they were in.

“I think, we need some more space for that. I know a good place for that.”

As Geo was about to lead the way the chubby guy from earlier approached them.

“Listen Siegfried, this isn’t about the jewelry but something else. I just need a few minutes. The donkey has started to get more and more agitated by the lizard at the end of the line. Maybe you could change the order for me, so that I could maybe be seated further in front?”

Siegfried sighed.

“Listen Geoffrey! As much as I want to ditch these guys, I still have stuff to do. How about this. In two hours, we meet here.”

“Ok, I can wait, but if I may ask a question please. What lizards?”

But before Geo could even finish his question, the man already left to deal with his other problems.

Geo didn’t know what to do during the two hours, but as lunch time was quickly approaching, he decided that going back to Sarahs house to grab something to eat, would be the best way to spend the time. When Geo returned to the meeting place the caravan leader still hadn’t arrived. After a short while a strange large wolf like brown-grey dog approached Geo, sniffing him with great interest. Geo didn’t want to move, fearing that he might scare the big animal, when he heard a man saying.

“It’s ok to pet him. He seems to like you.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Geo held out his hand and lightly touched the dog’s snout. In response the dog shoved his head through the space between the hand and the arm, so that Geo could scratch his neck area. After a moment of silence and the dog’s happy panting.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“You don’t seem to be from here? Aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am from quite far away. How did you know?”

“An educated guess. Listen, I’d love to talk but I must go my cart. We’ll speak later, maybe. Biss come!”

The dog liberated himself from Geo’s hand and followed his master towards the caravan’s carts. Now Geo was bored again, and he started to play with a fist sized rock that he found nearby. He was half mindedly letting it fly around his arm, when finally, Siegfried arrived-

“I am sorry this took so long. I was busy with organizing sleeping space and room order in the inn. This took way longer than I wanted it to. Oh, also I brought some spectators. I hope you don’t mind.”

Now Geo took note of the two people standing next to Siegfired. A man and a young woman. The first thing that Geo noted was the man’s size. He was almost a head taller than Geo and intimidatingly wide as well. He wore a colorful vest and a necklace with a complicated religious symbol hanging from it and on his back, he carried a very sharply tipped spade like weapon. Next to him stood a woman. She had a darker skin tone than any one the Geo had ever met, but despite that she did seemed somehow pale, as if she spent her entire life inside and she wore a similar colorful vest to the intimidatingly large man. The man reached out one of his gloved hands towards Geo to shake his hand as Siegfried introduced them.

“I don’t know much about magic, so I brought him. This is Conrad. He is a monk. So, he is at least a little bit better versed in magic than I am. So, he should be a bit better at judging your powers than I am.”

“Pleasure to meet you. As he said. I am Conrad and this.”

He pointed towards the young woman next to him.

“This is Diane. She is a young priestess and still in study. We are traveling northwards to bring her safely to the holy gardens.”

“She’s some relative to some king or emperor further south. Out of security reasons, they won’t tell me either from where. But I have proof of that story being true. Which is why she is traveling with this giant monk and another actual bodyguard. That guy isn’t around right now, but she should be safe enough here. And yes, she is the VIP for who’s safety I am potentially hiring you. So, you better impress. Got it Geoffrey?”

Geo immediately put his hand on right hand at his chest and bowed down the way he learned it back in the military.

“It’s an honor to meet you, your majesty. I am sorry for not saluting sooner. I wasn’t aware that someone of status was here.”

Diane looked around, unsure of what to do or say.

“Aehh. That is alright… you don’t have to… do whatever you’re doing.”

“What the young lady is trying to say is that on the road, you can be more casual around her.”

“Of course, I am sorry, your majesty.”

“And you can just call me Diane. No need for formalities.”

“Yes, of course.”

Geo responded ashamed. Wanting to break the uncomfortable situation, Siegfried suggested.

“Alright. Now that this is cleared, how about you show us what you can do? I am sure that we are now all curious to see that.”

Geo led the three towards the field where he has been doing all his exercises.

“Please excuse the messy ground. I’ve been practicing here. Now please, step aside for safety reasons!”

Geo took a deep breath. For the first time in forever he has performed in front of people who would judge his abilities. But he just could not focus correctly.

“Excuse me for a second.”

Geo asked his impatient audience. Then he took his footwear of and tossing it aside. He was trying to refamiliarize himself with the ground he was standing on. One more deep breath and Geo changed into a battle-ready stance.

With a strong stomp, he forced a chest sized chunk of earth out of the ground just in front of him. Then he punched the floating rock and the top part of the rock shaved itself off and flew towards a nearby tree. Where it shattered into pieces. Then he rapidly punched the still floating earth three more times, to repeat the feat from earlier. Next, he kicked through the rock, splitting it into two equal sized chunks. While the leg was lowered his backhand grabbed the air, which made one chunk stop moving. And as the ungrabbed rock was starting to fall, Geo kicked it. Making it launch itself away. The last rock floated in front of Geo, who now turned towards his audience and with a chop, shaped it into a brick, which he then slowly guided towards Siegfried, who then caught the rock.

Geo then continued to do a full routine. At one point he ordered a wall out of the ground, then he formed that wall, he made it thinner, then thicker and kept shaping it in different ways. After three more minutes he sank the slab of earth he was commanding back into the ground, flatted the uneven area with a stomp and turned to his audience.

“I think I messed up some parts near the end, but I don’t think any of you would judge me too hard on my form. So, I hope it’s alright.”

Conrad and Diane were silently discussing what they just saw, and Siegfried was weighing the brick in his hand. Unsure of what to say.

Once the two religious people stopped talking, Conrad unsurely asked Geo.

“I know its rude to ask. But where are your tattoos? I can see that your hands and feet are both clean. And you have shown some extremely complicated magic. Is maybe your chest inked until it became unrecognizable?”

“Why would I need to have any tattoos control the earth? I just do the correct movement and the ground does as I order it to. Like everyone else.”

Diane became frustrated after hearing that answer.

“That is not possible. Magic always must follow its most basic rules. DSD. Description, Source and Direction. You are breaking all the rules of magic known to man. How to you do it?”

“I said what I do. I am sorry, but that is all.”

Now Siegfried entered the conversation.

“Well, you have shown to do some impressive magic. Maybe we could hire you. What do you two think?”

“He does seem to have some impressive offensive and defensive powers. I have no idea where he got that from, but I do think he might have the skills to do this. What do you think Diane?”

“I don’t know. I would need to think. I never saw magic like this before. Especially magic with so many big movements. Very unusual. But I think it would be fine to guard us.”

“Then I think its settled. Geoffrey, you can come with us. We leave the day after tomorrow. We’ll discuss payment and the other details later. I skipped lunch and have other work to do.”

Having become a local celebrity, a lot of people have come say goodbye, after Geo announced his departure from the village. A few fishermen, woodworkers and others that Geo met once or twice came to wish him good luck on his journey, hoping he’d find the way home soon. And they brought him some farewell gifts. A backpack, some spare clothes and a knife were given to him from the villagers. The night before the caravan would depart Sarah came to talk to him one last time, entering his dark room once every other guest was gone.

“Something wrong?”

“No, no. All is fine. This hut will become a lot quieter with you gone. I remember how you looked when they carried you in here. You looked like a skeleton. It feels like not too long ago.”

“It’s been over half a year.”

“Yeah.”

There was an uncomfortable silence as neither party knew what to say. So, Geo just continued to pack his few belongings as Sarah leaned against the door.

“You got everything?”

“It isn’t much. Only things worth taking with, are the things I got from you guys. Everything that was in the boat with me won’t be of much help.”

“You still think about that time?”

Geo stopped rolling the blanket, he was preparing.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Sorry. I just need to be sure that you are ready to go.”

“I can’t stay. It feels wrong. As if I don’t belong. I don’t want to just be the “weird guy we fished out of the sea” for you guys. I know you mean well, but I don’t think I fit.”

“Sorry I didn’t mean.”

“I understand, but please don’t stop me.”

“I wouldn’t. You are physically fit enough to leave. I just wanted to make sure that you’d be mentally as well.”

Geo didn’t answer and just continued to roll the blanket and then crammed it into his bag. Then someone knocked at the door. Sarah went to open and came back. Holding something small in her hand.

“Miki came by. Apparently, his father had found something that was with you in the boat. Seems that they had just forgotten to return it to you. Is this yours?”

She handed him a small coin with a hole in it. Geo looked at it and tears started to collect in his eyes.

“This is a traders coin. These were given out to partial owners of ships that went on multiple tours and made a profit. Most sailors on the SeaEagle owned shares on it. See that ugly bird on it! It was supposed to be a brown sea eagle. But they messed up the design. Now it looks like a fat pigeon.”

“So, is this yours?”

“No, must have been from the other guy. I wasn’t on the ship when the SeaEagle got the coin handed out.”

“Other guy?”

“When the SeaEagle sank I wasn’t the only one who made it onto the rescue boat. There was another guy. He was with the ship for years.”

“What was his name.”

“I don’t know. He told me once, but since it was just us two on that thing, I never had to say it. “You” was always enough.”

Geo rubbed a tear off his face.

“I need a minute please leave me. I need to pack and then go to bed. I have a long day ahead.”

“Alright. Good night.”