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Lily of the Forest
The Road to Estherstead

The Road to Estherstead

Lily awoke as her uncle finally eased his pace. She blinked at the bright sunlight outside of the forest and tried to sit up, only to realize that she was still being held over his shoulder. He let her down after she squirmed for a bit, then she looked around while skipping beside him, reenergized from her short nap.

While she slept, they had made it past their own walled compound on the edge of the forest and now followed the old dirt road that led for several miles, past three other compounds, before terminating at Estherstead. Beyond Estherstead the road was paved all the way to Nort City.

Estherstead was the largest compound for miles around and the designated location for all regional meetings. The Esther family was so large that their compound was practically a small village. They even had a cousin who was a journeyman medic, trained in the same Nort City Lily would be going for her trials.

“Here, you forgot these this morning,” said her uncle as he pulled a small folded bundle of clothes seemingly out of thin air and handed them to her. While the two had never explicitly discussed his artifacts, he also never hid their use from Lily as he did the other steaders. Whatever storage artifact he had (one of the few Lily had never been able to sense on him) was old news to Lily, and therefore not interesting. Unfortunately, these clothes...

Lily’s mood instantly soured as she unfolded the long pants, embroidered shirt, and gloves from the bundle. To Lily, having to wear long stifling clothes that chafed and irritated her scales was almost as uncomfortable as the looks she got when she didn’t, but she dutifully pulled the pants over her comfortable smallpants as she walked. Hopping on one foot at a time, she didn’t quite manage to keep up with her uncle’s brisk pace and had to scurry to catch up after finally getting the pants up.

She decided to hold off on the shirt and gloves until she was closer to Estherstead. Everyone at the meeting would of course already know her and her condition; hiding her scales was just being polite. Uncle Vath glanced down at her briefly but did not comment. A few years ago he would have stuffed Lily into a dress for this. It took Lily nearly a year of “accidentally” ruining her dresses in the forest for him to finally come around.

As they walked, Lily fidgeted and scratched at the sheath of scales on her forearms. Uncle Vath reached out and smacked her hands apart. “No picking, you’ll make yourself bleed again.” The iridescent blue scales on the back of her hands itched and bothered her even before she had the gloves on.

To distract her, Uncle Vath began to quiz her aloud as they walked: human history, the structure of government in both Nort City and Lirmor Kingdom, and the multiplication and division tables. Lily had never been especially studious, but Uncle Vath had always made up for any lack of interest on her part with a surfeit of effort on his own. Finally, they reached a topic Lily cared about: identifying the plants that they passed on the road.

Fieldcraft was Lily’s true passion, which she pursued with the boundless enthusiasm onl a nine-year-old could muster. Identifying plants and animals, tracking by trail or by leavings, hunting, and even learning basic medicine all entranced her. They spoke of a life outside of the monotony of human settlements. Outside of farming and raising herds, or city and business management. All of the other kids in the area were fixated on either farming or dreams of becoming soldiers and fighting. Lily reckoned that given her condition, staying out of cities was a better option.

“Oak. Sumac. Redberry. Dogbane. Mock joy. Poison nettle that somebody walked into so they’re not having fun. More oak. Ooh and some white files! What are you doing so close to the road?” Lily hurried over and carefully inspected the small white plants growing in the shadow of a poison nettle bush.

“You have good eyes. Even I didn’t see those.”

Lily beamed as Uncle Vath complimented her. “Or maybe it’s just because you’re so much closer to the ground than I am.” Lily’s smile turned into a pout. Her uncle liked to soften the blow of a compliment. She refused to acknowledge him as she carefully eased each small plant out of the soft dirt beside the road.

White pile roots needed to be mashed and rinsed four times before they were safe to consume, but the resulting powder could serve as a strong pain reliever and was fairly valuable. Lily drew a small piece of twine out from her belt pouch and bundled together the six plants she had collected, before handing them to her uncle so that he could sell them off later.

Lily was permitted to keep a portion of the sale of any materials she gathered (after a deduction to pay for certain ruined dresses), and she had been saving up diligently in hopes of being permitted to participate in the trials. Nort City had the best market for hundreds of miles and Lily had long ago resolved that even if she might not win an artifact, she’d for sure be able to buy one. Uncle Vath held a small pouch of silver for her that she added to as often as she could.

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Further away from the forest the land gradually smoothed into rolling hills. Estherstead was perched on the largest hill for miles and the sharpened stake walls surrounding the compound were half again as high as the log walls at Lily’s own stead. Last year Lily climbed the single wooden watchtower beside the northern gate and could barely make out the forest in the distance, despite the nearly 25 miles between the two.

While they were still out of sight of the walls, Uncle Vath reached into the space beside him again, this time pulling out a much larger sack. This would have their taxes for the year: a collection of herbs, animal parts, and Beast parts such as hides and horns from the forest. Vath and Lily had never raised crops, but instead collected things from the forest to trade for food and supplies, setting a bit aside throughout the year for this payment. No one on the frontier could afford to use coin.

As Estherstead came into view, Lily briefly stopped, stripped off her shirt and swapped for the longer one, then pulled on her gloves. Uncle Vath cuffed her on the back of her head.

“Learn some decency. You try that in a city and the guards will take you.”

“Uncle, if I try that in a city, people will run away screaming ‘Monster, Monster!’” Lily pretended her hands were claws and stalked back and forth on the road, growling and pouncing at the air. Uncle Vath laughed helplessly. He had never been able to bring himself to punish her, and as a result she’d grown a bit… wild compared to his own upbringing.

Unfortunately, their moment of levity was short-lived. As the two approached the gate, it became increasingly difficult for Vath to draw Lily into their usual banter. Seeing her irrepressible personality become subdued, Vath felt a brief flash of sadness and anger throughout his body. It was an instinctual need to protect her, but there was no one to rage at, only a terrible accident. Sadly it was likely better for her to get used to people’s reactions earlier rather than later. He, more than anyone else, knew how much of a long shot it was, but he, like Lily, could not deny the hope in his heart that an artifact could heal her. Could open up opportunities that she would otherwise never have.

He pushed his feelings down and steeled his face into his usual calm demeanor as the two approached the gate to Estherstead. Hearkening back to its days as a soldier’s garrison, the walls were tall and sturdy. A massive wooden gate wide enough to drive two carts through faced the road. Both sides of the steel-banded beams were thrown outward, welcoming all of the locals to the meet up.

No one attended the gate and the residences and stables that abutted the wall on the inside were left unused. Except for one older aunt not in the main line, the entire Esther family occupied the large manor and residences on the southwest side of the compound, opposite the forest. They had likely sent one of their servants to open the gate in the morning and then left it that way all day.

The former soldier in Vath grumbled at the lack of regard for security, even if the compound wasn’t all that close to the forest. The penny-pincher in him fumed at the fully charged talismans that were spaced out evenly along the walls, thinning the essence that seeped into the compound. Those things were expensive. And excessive.

In the past, the stead had served as the most remote frontier post, with a small garrison of soldiers on hand to charge out and protect the local farmers from rampaging forest Beasts. Over time, conflicts in other parts of Lirmor Kingdom had slowly stripped the garrison and the locals were left to fend for themselves.

The stead was officially converted from a garrison to an estate thirty years ago, and was granted to the last officer serving at the post: Arnold Esther, whose son now headed the family, and they had yet to grow to fill the space. The Esthers were proud of their military heritage, claiming that the land grant put their status at just under that of titled nobility. Uncle Vath always said to let them have their pretenses.

Lily scratched at her arms again as the two passed by buildings that the Esthers had recently converted into storage by the looks of the haphazard piles of old furniture and crates that could be seen inside. During previous meet ups, Lily had often snuck away to explore the empty and neglected buildings, now full of all sorts of interesting things. Maybe a rusty old sword that was secretly a magical talking sword that would guide her to the resting place of its previous owner. She would prove herself in a series of tasks and then inherit the great warrior’s legacy.

There would be a parade in honor of her significant archaeological find. Lily had always wanted to see a parade. Uncle Vath had described them to her: bright pennants flying in the breeze, smartly dressed soldiers marching and all sorts of music and food and jugglers and exotic animals and -

Lily was pulled out of her fantasy when the murmur of voices reached through her daze. From the gate, they had walked the few short blocks to the center of the compound before emerging into a small courtyard in front of the largest building: the Esther manse. The roads and square were paved with the local cobblestone, and a grass lawn flanked by hedges extended off of the south side all the way up to the large home.

A small crowd of people congregated on the lawn, milling about in small groups and making conversation. A few tables were set up off to the side, but there wouldn’t be any feasting until later in the evening. Most of the women and a few servants from the Esther family were likely working furiously in the kitchen. The Esthers took pride in the food they served and feasts were always a treat. A bandstand and podium had been erected behind the tables. Lily looked on wide-eyed and Uncle Vath chuckled.

“There’s going to be 40 people here and he put up a podium. Armond likes these gatherings a bit too much.” He placed a steadying hand on Lily’s shoulder. “Just stay nearby. We’re here to register you, turn in our due, and leave. We won’t be staying for the feast.”

Lily would miss the food, especially since she hadn’t eaten yet, but couldn’t help feeling relieved. Her uncle had a habit of getting into his cups and trading stories with the other adults long into the night. Lily typically spent that time avoiding all of the other children. Otherwise they’d end up playing “Beast in the Village,” only instead of taking turns she was always the Beast, and somehow all of the other kids were knights instead of helpless villagers.