On the border of Everglave existed a village so unremarkable, so unimportant, so unequivocally simple that it had no name. It was a town like many others, small and plain. The folk who lived here led simple lives with little excitement but also little danger. There were no heroes to be found in this town nor magical macguffins or destined leaders. It simply was yet another town on the border of a much larger kingdom surviving on the food that they made themselves. With a town like this, it was almost a surprise how the kingdom hadn't forgotten about it by now.

If you were to walk into this small town and go up the muddy roads and pass the town vendors and shops you would find a small homestead with a plain but cute little garden. In that garden, you would find a man hard at work wearing a straw hat and chewing on a piece of straw. He was tall and thin, a couple of his teeth missing from his mouth and his right eye a bit lame and lazy. However, his smile was wider than any man in the town for he loved nothing more than gardening. Upon entering the house, you would find his wife hard at work above the small clay oven.

She was plump almost like a peach with a face as warm and soft as a pillow. And she would always have a pipe in her mouth as she cooked, filling the small cottage with the smell of Lilyweed. Alongside the smell of Lilyweed would be the smell of cooked greens and pork belly, and it was a delicious smell indeed. A smell that originated from not the most remarkable of meals but a comforting meal, nonetheless.

Right next to her, you would find a small boy who looked to be no older than six or seven years of age. He would be there ripping apart pieces of cabbage and peppers to pair with the pork belly. Of course, he wouldn't be using any knives for his hands were too small and soft and he would easily cut himself. Besides, the good knives were for butchering the meat rather than cutting the vegetables and it would be unwise to waste the only good knives they had.

And finally, if one were to head through the kitchen that doubled as a living area you would find two bedrooms. On the left was the room of the man in the garden and the woman over the stove. On the right would be the room of the small boy who was stuck by his mother's side as well as another plain and simple character.

Lying in bed would be a young girl who seemed no older than sixteen years of age with brown hair that ended in ginger highlights. Her frame was small, but her hands were hard and calloused.

Was she the most beautiful of girls? Probably not, but she was by no means ugly. Was she the wittiest of them? Maybe, but there was probably a girl who was wittier than her. Was she the strongest of girls? Oh, most certainly not, for even in a town of farmers there were girls much stronger than her. But she was by far the most curious and free-spirited of girls in her town if not in all of Favondale and she was also the most bored. It shouldn't take a genius to pen together who this girl is. This is our Lenraeya and right now she is engaged in one of the best pastimes of her town. Sleeping.

“Lenraeya darling! Come downstairs for supper is nearly ready!”

Her mother shouted up the stairs, joyfully and excitedly. The smell of pork belly and vegetables was still in the air and didn't seem to fade one bit. But as her mother's voice carried up the stairs alongside the smell, Lenraeya did not wake. Her mother shouted louder.

“Lenraeya! Food is almost ready!”

Still, there was nothing from Lenraeya. Not a single sound short of snoring as she just laid there in bed, her face buried in the feather-filled pillows and her body half-covered by the wool blanket. Her snoring seemed to match the volume of her mother's shouting and seemingly only got louder.

The stairs would eventually begin to creak under the weight of someone small. Of course, there's only one small person in this house and that would just so happen to be her little brother who undoubtedly was sent by his mother to fetch his older sister. He stood at the side of the bed as he gently nudged her.

“Sister. Mother says to get up now.” Said the boy softly to Lenraeya.

Lenraeya didn't seem to respond. She just turned over in her sleep, stirring in her bed almost as if her body was actively trying to keep her in it. The boy nudged her again but harder this time, still speaking in a soft voice.

“Sister, supper is almost ready.”

She didn't respond. She just stayed in bed, unmoving. She spoke, not a single word, not a single sentence, for there was only snoring that exited her lips. The small boy must have eventually got annoyed because, in that moment of Lenraeya's unconscious defiance, he raised his small hand and brought it down hard across her face. He shouted in his still adorable but now very annoyed voice as his small hand connected with the left side of his older sister’s face.

“Lenraeya, wake up!!!”

Though the boy's hand was small, the slap could have been easily mistaken for having come from a fully grown man. The loud sound of his hand making contact with her cheek echoed throughout the house. To that, Lenraeya definitely responded.

She shot up in bed like a lead ball from a musket, clutching her left cheek in pain. It was almost as red as a tomato and the palpable pain was visible on her face.

“Aghh, damn it, Peter! That really hurt!” said Lenraeya, glaring with annoyance at her little brother.

“You shouldn’t curse like that. It brings bad luck,” he said, crossing his arms. “Besides, you should have woke up when mother called you.”

“I was going to get up eventually.” She said, still rubbing her tomato-red cheek. “There was no need to smack me like that.” She seemed almost annoyed at her younger brother. Not angry by any means but displeased that he would disrupt her slumber in such a way.

Peter chuckled a little at the comment. “Oh, come on. You and I both know that you weren't gonna get up until sunrise next morning.”

Lenraeya brought her hand down from her cheek and to her side. “Come on Peter, I'm not lazy. Just tired and a bit bored.”

Peter eyed her accusingly and suspiciously, and with his lips curled into a sly grin.

“Yeah, right. Now come on. Get dressed and let's go eat.”

Peter turned and left the room, leaving Lenraeya to her own devices. She blinked groggily and looked out of the hole carved into the clay wall beside her that acted as a window. The sun was still out. It was just barely reaching dusk. The family usually ate supper once nighttime had arisen. However, there was not a moon or stars in sight.

“I wonder why we're eating so early,” Lenraeya asked herself.

She pondered this thought as she grabbed her glasses from the nightstand. Her glasses were round and battered. The lenses were cracked and one of the temples of the glasses was replaced by a twig. The frame was chipped, and the bridge of the glasses just so happened to be held together by a little bit of tree sap turned into makeshift glue and wrapped together with a small piece of linen string.

She turned to get out of bed, stepping on the creaking wood floor with her bare feet as she walked over to a crudely crafted dresser. She opened that dresser and pulled from it a small box. Opening that box revealed a crudely crafted wooden comb as well as a small piece of broken glass that was used as a mirror. Looking at herself, she realized that the night of tossing and turning wasn't too kind on her hair. It was all frazzled and matted. She quickly rectified this with the crudely crafted comb and then tied some of her hair back into a bun with some loose string while letting the remaining hair rest where it was at the sides of her face.

After she was done with that, she grabbed a pair of pants from the dresser and slipped them on. Tying down the cuffs of her pants with a little bit of rope she kept next to her bed, she then slipped her bare feet into the boots that sat next to the door frame.

Adjusting her glasses and tucking in her shirt, she grabbed her satchel and headed downstairs.

Upon reaching downstairs, the smell of pork belly and vegetables became even more apparent. That alongside the smell of the Lilyweed her mother was smoking.

“Wait, I thought we didn't have any more Lilyweed left,” Lenraeya said, pointing at her mother accusingly.

Her mother responded with a slight grin, the pipe still resting between her lips. “We didn’t, but then your father grew more.”

Lenraeya displayed amused annoyance as she chuckled. “No fair. You weren't gonna tell me we had anymore? I thought we shared the Lilyweed.”

Her mother retorted. “You smoke too much of it anyway, and besides, you're only sixteen. It's not good for you.”

Lenraeya retorted right back. “But you let Peter try the pipe once. And he's only about 7.”

“Yes, once. He didn’t even like it anyway,” she said as she began to place wooden plates on the table, still blowing occasional puffs of smoke from the pipe resting in between her lips.

“Now be a dear and go fetch us some bread please.” She said as she tossed a small pouch of coins over to Lenraeya.

“Why? Have we not any more bread left or any more flour to turn into bread?” Said Lenraeya, her face twisted slightly into an expression of confusion.

“Well, we do still have flour, but I'm saving that for a little surprise for us.” Her mother said with a mischievous grin.

Lenraeya looked at her mother, confused, but obeyed, taking the pouch of coins, and placing it within her satchel.

“All right, then I'll be back by sundown,” Lenraeya said making her way to the cottage door.

“Oh, and one more thing Lenraeya. Try not to get up to any shenanigans while you're out.”

Lenraeya chuckled a little pushing the frame of her glasses up against her nose.

“No promises,” said Lenraeya as she opened the cottage door and set foot onto the muddy path that lay beyond the house. She waved to her father, who was still hard at work in the garden.

“Goodbye, father. I'll be back soon,” She shouted.

Her father waved back as she set out to complete her task. Spring had just arrived, and winter just ended. That could only mean one thing. Spring sales had started within the village. Prices were now slightly lower than they usually were, which meant that the bread would be much cheaper. And because of this, it meant that it was possible to get slightly better and slightly less stale bread. A very exciting day indeed.

The bread that Lenraeya and her family got was usually a bit stale. The person who made it tended to just leave it out on the shelf at the town's local bakery. It would only get thrown out when it became too hard to eat and the home for maggots and worms who fed on the mold that grew off it. But Lenraeya and her family would buy it right before it would go bad. The bread was a bit hard and required you to dip it in a little bit of warm goat butter for you to chew it, but it was good, nonetheless.

But with the spring sales, that means she could get better bread. Bread that wasn't left out for too long, and bread that was perfectly soft. So soft that you could rip it apart with your hands without straining yourself. Such fresh, soft, and warm bread would go amazingly with a little bit of goat butter and cheese. And paired with pork belly and steamed vegetables, it would make for a wonderful addition to a meal. The thought alone caused Lenraeya’s mouth to water.

With the seeds of excitement planted firmly in her mind, she sprinted off to the local bakery. Upon arriving at the bakery, she found that there was only one piece of bread left as everyone else had gotten to the rest of the baked goods.

The loaf of bread sat on the smooth wooden windowsill, a golden hue shimmering off its golden-brown crust. It was perfectly fresh, with not a single piece of mold spotted upon it or a single sign of staleness. There was even steam still emanating from it. Twelve inches of a perfectly rounded and perfectly baked loaf. Its scent was delightful, and it could even be smelled through the glass that separated it from Lenraeya.

As her eyes caressed the form of the bread, her mouth began to water again, and her hands began to twitch as she eyed the bread up and down like a hungry wolf eyeing its prey. She stood there, transfixed by the delectable form and intoxicating scent of the loaf. Such an immaculately crafted loaf could not possibly be paired with simple pork belly and vegetables. But alas, it was the only thing that they had back home.

Coming back to her senses, Lenraeya walked into the bakery, the bell on the door ringing as she entered. She wiped her muddy boots on the mat that sat in front of the door and walked up to the smooth wooden counter.

“I would like to buy your last loaf of bread, please.” She said, grabbing the coin purse out of her satchel and tossing it from her right hand to her left hand.

The bakery owner looked tired as if he had been up all night crafting the masterpiece that was sitting on the windowsill. He couldn't have gotten a moment to rest for customer after customer after customer kept coming into his shop. But despite this, he had a massive grin on his face, as if he was proud that he had managed to create such works of art that the entire town sought to give him no rest. Upon hearing the word buy, his face lit up and his smile grew even wider. He quickly shot up with excitement, looking at Lenraeya with jovially wide yet heavy eyes, trying his hardest not to give in to his weary body and let his head collapse onto the wood counter. Wobbling and swaying as one does when they are skirting the line between consciousness and unconsciousness, he spoke.

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“You mean that loaf over there? That's my best work yet, and honestly, I'm quite surprised that no one has bought it yet. Of course you can buy it. That'll be roughly 39 bits.”

The man leaned over the wooden counter, holding out his hand expectantly. Then Lenraeya ceased her tossing of the coin pouch and sat it on the wooden countertop. She dug through it, picking out coin after coin and letting it rest in the palm of her hand.

“I'm assuming that would be 39 bronze bits, right?” Said Lenraeya as she continued digging through the coin pouch.

“No, silver bits,” the bakery owner, so nonchalantly and so calmly said. Lenraeya’s fingers ceased their exploration of the coin pouch as her head shot up to meet the eyes of the bakery owner. She chuckled nervously as her hands stayed frozen in place, the cold bronze coins still in her hand.

“You're joking, right? This is the part where you say haha, I was just kidding, it's actually 39 bronze bits…right?”

The man did not laugh, nor did his facial expression change. He still had his hand outstretched expectingly.

“Silver?! You want me to pay 39 silver bits?!” Shouted Lenraeya not out of anger but out of bewilderment all of which was palpable on her face.

The bakery owner’s grin, waivered a little but then returned to its original form as he shrugged his shoulders and rested his head upon the palm of his hand.

“Oh, come on dear. You didn't think that a masterpiece like the loaf you're trying to buy would be worth bronze bits, did you?” The bakery owner responded, still smiling but with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“But I thought the spring sales were happening. Aren't I supposed to get a discount?” Said Lenraeya, her face still frozen in an expression of bewilderment.

“You are getting a discount. Usually, bread like this would be somewhere around 50 silver bits.” The bakery owner responded.

“Are you serious? How is this a discount?” Said Lenraeya still bewildered.

“Ma'am, I don't make the rules OK?”

“What are you talking about? Yes you do. You're literally the owner.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Sorry, I'm a bit tired and my mind isn't too good at the moment.”

The bewilderment on Lenraeya’s face began to twist into annoyance and then to frustration.

“Forgive me if I'm being rude, but who do you know in this town has more than a couple of silver bits on them at a time?” said Lenraeya.

The bakery owner starting to become visibly annoyed at this point responded. “What you saw in the windowsill wasn't the usual stale moldy crap that I'm usually selling. This time I decided to put my blood, sweat, and tears into that bread, and the price represents that. If you don't like it, you can just go home and make your own bread like everyone else, but the price stays the way it is.”

Lenraeya’s face was a mix of concern and frustration as she dug through the coin pouch. She nervously counted the coins in the pouch.

“One…seven…sixteen… twenty-two…thirty-six…fifty-eight…ninety-three…one hundred…one hundred and thirty-eight…one hundred and fifty…”

That was it. There were only 150 bronze bits in the coin pouch. She counted and recounted and recounted, to the annoyance of the bakery owner.

“So are you going to pay me or…”

Before the bakery owner could finish his sentence, he was swiftly cut off by Lenraeya.

“OK, how's about I make you a deal?” Said Lenraeya with a nervous bead of sweat rolling down her forehead.

“Deal? What do you mean deal?” Said the confused bakery owner.

“What if instead of 39 silver bits, it was only 27 silver bits?”

“Look, ma'am. I'm not lowering the pri…”

“All right then, how about 29”

The man looked incredibly annoyed now.

“Are you trying to…haggle me?”

She was. She was indeed trying to haggle him. You see, in Favondale, bronze bits are the currency of commoners, with one silver bit being worth 5 bronze bits. Lenraeya only had 150 bronze bits in the pouch. However, if she were to pay the price that the man wanted, she would need 195 bronze bids which she simply did not have. Unless she wanted to stay there after dark and wash dishes for the man to pay him back, haggling was the only way out of this.

“Ok, how about…”

Lenraeya barely got the chance to speak before it was now she who is cut off.

“Or, better idea, you could just either pay me the full, already discounted price or get the hell out of my bakery.”

The man's face displayed tired frustration now. It was clear from his face and his mannerisms that he was not in the mood to deal with such things and was quickly losing his patience.

Lenraeya pleaded, “Sir, this is all the money me and my family have. All we want to do is just have a nice family dinner and enjoy some bread on the first day of spring. My mother was really looking forward to having bread with our meal since it's not something we usually do. And my poor little brother, he's going to be so sad once he hears that we won't be having any bread with our dinner tonight. Are you really going to deprive a family of their…”

Once again, Lenraeya is cut off by the bakery owner.

Yes, yes I am. That is unless you can pay me the proper amount.

“Damnit man! How dense are you?!” shouted Lenraeya.

“Very. Money please,” the bakery owner retorted, his hand outstretched, still expecting to be paid.

“You can’t just be a little bit more…”

“I am immune to guilt-tripping. Where is my money?” the bakery owner interrupted.

At this point, he seemed even more annoyed now and completely done with Lenraeya. His eyes grew heavier, and his posture grew poorer. Every time he blinked; it seemed as if he was about to pass out. And every time he spoke, his voice got a little bit quieter, though he was trying his hardest to keep his voice raised.

Seeing this, a thought popped into Lenraeya’s head as to how she could use this to her advantage in persuading the man.

“Look sir, you're clearly very tired. You can't keep arguing with me like this because it's not good for your health. I see those bags under your eyes, and I see how you're wobbling and swaying about as if you're about to topple over. I, however, feel perfectly fine. Before coming here, I had just woken up from a very, very refreshing nap. I can do this all day, but I know you can't, which means you're going to just have to bite the musket ball and come to a compromise with me. Or we sit here till nightfall, and I continue to be a pain…in…your…ass. What will it be?”

Lenraeya smiled smugly as she locked eyes with the man. The bakery owner scowled at her, his fist balled up and his teeth practically grinding against one another. His exhausted face was contorted into an expression of furious anger.

The two stared at each other, their eyes piercing into one another like daggers. It was a clash of motives, a duel against two conflicting rationales. They stood there in furious opposition to one another, both perfectly willing to die on their chosen hills and both completely unwilling to relent. However, one of them would eventually have to, and after moments of a tense stare-down the tension finally broke and the man spoke.

“Fine! 30 silver bits, but that's the lowest I'm going.” Said the bakery owner with vitriolic anger in his voice.

“Fine by me,” Lenraeya said jovially as she dumped the contents of the coin pouch on the smooth wooden countertop. The man grabbed every single coin bit, painstakingly counting all 150 bronze coins as he stared daggers at Lenraeya. All the while Lenraeya just gave him a smug little grin, chuckling to herself in a small celebration of the victory she had just achieved.

Eventually, the man was done counting and had put the bronze coins into a little box he kept under the counter.

“There you go you little shit. You got your bread. Now get the fuck out of my store.”

Upon finishing the transaction Lenraeya grabbed the empty coin pouch as well as the bread and frolicked out of the bakery. She waved mockingly with a mischievous grin on her face at the bakery owner as she exited his store and skipped down the muddy road.

With the bread wrapped in leather and firmly secured within her hands she laughed to herself as she had managed to successfully swindle the bakery owner. However, her celebration was short-lived as she bumped into a familiar character. Upon laying eyes on him, Lenraeya immediately knew who he was.

His hair was short and unkept and his frame was slim. The boy was young even younger than Lenraeya, being somewhere around thirteen or fourteen. He wore scruffy clothing with an old satchel of his own and a scarf that covered some of his face. No mistake could be made, it was Lafty, the notorious thief of this town.

“Oops, sorry about that,” Lafty said as he began to walk away.

As Lafty walked, so did Lenraeya, that is until she looked down only to see that something wasn't there anymore. Her bread and her satchel. Somehow some way Lafty had managed to take her entire satchel and her newly bought bread without her even knowing.

“What the hell!” Said Lenraeya as she spun around and immediately made chase towards Lafty. Upon seeing this, Lafty began to run.

“You get back here you damn thief!” Lenraeya’s shouting did nothing and was met with mocking laughter from Lafty as he continued to run.

As they ran Lafty made a detour into a nearby alleyway in an attempt to escape his pursuer. But his pursuer did not relent for she needed her satchel and even more importantly the bread.

Lafty ran through the alleyway managing to outmaneuver Lenraeya at every step. Every time it seemed as if Lenraeya was about to close the distance between the two, Lafty would just put more distance between them again.

He would throw things in the way of Lenraeya, at one point even grabbing a nearby chicken and tossing it at her. She would respond to this unlikely attack by shielding her face with her arms, the chicken digging its sharp feet into the skin of her forearms tearing away at it slightly and leaving behind small scrapes. But despite this unorthodox method of getting her to end her pursuit she pressed on. She threw off the chicken, still giving chase after the thief in question.

“Give me back my things you little shit!” Shouted Lenraeya.

“You shouldn’t curse. It brings bad luck.”

The little shit kept running as he mocked her. Eventually, they made their way outside of the alleyway and into the backyard of another town resident. They ran through hanging clothes and sheets.

They continued to run through the backyards and front yards of local town residents, occasionally bumping into people and pushing people out of the way to either escape or pursue. At some point in the chase, Lenraeya grabbed a freshly baked pie that was sitting on a random person’s windowsill and threw it at the young thief to throw him off a bit. However, all that happened was the pie being caught by Lafty all while he was still holding the bread in his arms. He put the bread under his armpit and dug his finger into the pie, tasting some of it before throwing it right back at Lenraeya.

The pie collided with her face, obscuring her vision and making it harder to pursue her adversary. She wiped some of the pie chunks from her face licking the rest from her lips as she furiously continued her chase.

“Lafty when I catch you I swear I'm gonna…”

“Gonna do what? Kill me? Well, you're gonna have to catch me first,” Lafty said mockingly as he laughed mischievously and loudly. His celebration was short lived however when he made collision with another town resident.

As he bumped into this larger person, he fell to the mud still holding on to the bread but dropping Lenraeya’s satchel. Eventually, Lenraeya was able to close the distance enough to be able to grab her satchel, but she stopped once she realized who Lafty had bumped into.

The boy was a year older than her and bigger than both her and Lafty. He stood tall with large arms and a rotund belly. His hands were big and calloused seemingly looking as if they could easily crush a watermelon. He wore a loose sleeveless shirt and dirty torn trousers. He had a mean look about him and his bottom lip protruded a little outwards. He looked down at Lafty, his eyes sharp as razors with a look that doesn't simply kill but torments.

Both Lafty and Lenraeya sat there stunned unsure of what to do. But luckily for Lenraeya, it seemed that the large boy's focus was on the boy he had just bumped into.

“Hey there Boris. How's your evening been?” Lafty said nervously still clutching the loaf of bread to his chest.

“I was just goin’ bout my day. But then someone ruined it by not watchin’ where they was goin',” Boris said with a voice deeper than most grown men.

Lafty stared at Boris with a look of concern or maybe even fear in his eyes as he stood up still being dwarfed in size by Boris.

“I'm sorry Boris. I-I should have been paying attention. You know what, how about we just go our separate ways and…”

“Nah. You bumped into me. I need compensation.”

“C-Compensation”

“Yea, compensation. Wha have ya got in ya hands?”

“Oh, this? It's just some bread that I got from someone else. Here, take it.”

Lafty quickly handed the bread to Boris who quickly snatched it from him, unwrapping it from the leather that protected it from the elements of the outside world and taking a massive bite out of the loaf. The disappointment was visible on Lenraeya’s face, but she wasn't going to fight this nearly 6-foot-7 tyrant of a 17-year-old over something as insignificant as bread.

“Now wha else have ya got?” Said Boris looking at Lafty expectingly with his tyrannically sharp eyes.

“That was it, Boris, I swear that was it,” Lafty responded, seemingly more terrified than ever.

“Ya got somethin' else, I know it,” Boris said as his dagger-like eyes slowly moved from Lafty’s eyes and towards Lafty’s satchel. Lafty seemed to take notice of this and spoke up.

“Oh come on Boris you can't take my satchel.”

“What satchel?” Boris said stepping closer to Lafty as he continued to stare daggers at him with that mean tyrannical look in his eyes, grabbing the satchel.

“My satchel.” Said Lafty trying to hold his satchel back.

In one swift motion, Boris cocked back his other large arm and balled up his large, calloused fist before bringing it colliding towards Lafty’s face. The force of the punch was so great that it sent Lafty flying approximately two or three feet backward directly into the mud. Lafty lay there unconscious in the mud, his nose gushing blood and his eye quickly starting to bruise. As he lay there in the mud lacking in consciousness or dignity, Boris walked up to him and looked down at him.

“Ya ain't got no satchel,” Said Boris with a smug grin on his face.

He then picked up Lafty’s unconscious body by his ankle and began shaking him violently. Up and down, up and down, up and down Lafty went as all the contents of his pockets fell into the mud. Most of his belongings weren't even his to begin with but it mattered not, for they all belonged to Boris now and no one was going to fight Boris to get it back.

Boris looked at Lenraeya with the same tormenting look that he gave Lafty.

“Whatcha ya lookin' at girl?” Boris asked scowling at her meanly.

“Oh, nothing. I was just leaving.” Answered Lenraeya her voice full of nervousness and worry.

Lenraeya quickly gathered her composure and began walking away lest she be made the next victim of Big Boris. Besides, at least she was lucky enough to get away with her satchel.

By the time Lenraeya had made her way back home, it had already reached nightfall. She walked up the muddy path and to the front door of her family's cottage home. Lenraeya was covered in bruises, scrapes, and mud from the chase. Her face displayed a little bit of disappointment, as well as a bit of exhaustion, and her stomach growled furiously. As she opened the door and wiped her muddy boots on the mats that stood in front of it, her mother spoke up.

“Lenraeya, you’re finally back. Why are you covered in scrapes, bruises, and mud?” Asked her mother, blowing a puff of smoke from her pipe.

Lenraeya gave a deep sigh as she tossed her mother's empty coin purse over to her.

“It's a long story mother.”

Her mother dug her fingers around in the empty coin pouch and looked at it with an expression of confusion.

“I had somewhere around 150 bronze bits in this thing. Where did all of it go?”

“Once again, a long story.”

“And why have you not got the bread with…”

“Like I said mother, it's a very long story. Is supper ready yet?”

“Well, supper's been ready and finished for quite a while. Both your brother and father have already eaten and have gone to bed. I've also eaten and will be joining them soon, but that is unless you want to have a bit of a chat.”

Lenraeya pulled up a chair to the table and sat in it. She laid her head down on the table, groaning in exhaustion and frustration. Her mother got up and pulled a jar of lilyweed from the shelf. She sat it down on the table, as well as a spare pipe that she pulled from her pocket. She slid the pipe and jar over to Lenraeya. Lenraeya began to pack her pipe full of lilyweed and place it between her lips. Her mother struck a match on the table and lit Lenraeya’s pipe.

Her mother sighed. “Lenraeya, I thought I made you promise not to get into any shenanigans.”

“Well, technically speaking, I never did actually promise. Sooooo...”

Her mother began to laugh. “What are we gonna do with you girl?”

Lenraeya laughed as well, taking a long inhale of her pipe and blowing out a large stream of smoke through her nostrils.

“Ahhhhh. I needed that. It's nice to see you sharing it this time,” Joked Lenraeya.

“You seemed like you had a bit of a stressful day.” Responded her mother as she too took a long drag of her pipe and blew out a large puff of smoke.

“Unfortunately, there's no more pork belly or vegetables left, but I do still have that surprise that I promised you.”

Lenraeya raised one of her eyebrows, still very confused as her mother walked over to the clay oven. She bent over and pulled from the clay oven a small wooden plate. Atop that wouldn't plate was one singular slice of apple pie. She walked back over to her daughter and sat it right in front of her.

“Managed to save at least one piece of it before the boys got to it. This is what I needed the flour for.”

Lenraeya smiled warmly at her mother.

“Thank you, mother. This is an amazing surprise. Though, I have already had pie today.”

Her mother looked confused. “Really? When?”

Lenraeya grabbed the pie by its crust and brought it to her mouth. She took a bite of the pie, savoring it before swallowing, and chuckled once more.

“Like I said, mother. It's a long story.”