“Well, it’s busted, Miss Scorn!”

I sighed.

“It’s Jace, Milord… And what’s busted?”

I asked as I perched myself on the side of the carriage to look down to where the strange green fat man was sitting by the carriage.

“The wheel, that's what! Four spokes, burst all in one swoop! My, how unlucky...”

I felt the corner of my eye twitch.

A Diidkin out of luck… I feel played with.

Only a few minutes ago, we were still merrily on our way to Sunvale, when our carriage had come to an abrupt stop, nearly throwing everything off the carriage. I’d assumed we had gotten stuck somewhere, but now a busted wheel…

I looked down at him in confusion.

“Did you…. How did that even happen?”

“Who knows! Things like that just do, Miss Jace. One moment you’re gaining speed, finding shortcuts and then the other, BANG half your wheel turns to smithereens! Perhaps a bird can make a nest with what’s left, but we sure aren’t rolling on it!”

Something in what he said made me squint.

“Shortcuts… On a flat road?”

I asked suspiciously as I looked around.

By all means, we had simply been riding around the lake for days now, how could he possibly have taken shortcuts…? Unless…

“Wait… You haven’t been using your blessing… Have you?

“Do fish swim? Do birds fly? Do eggshells provide a surprisingly good source of calcium to supplement one’s diet?”

I could feel myself fuming.

“How in Seeir’s name, did you think that was a good idea?!”

I burst out. This man had finally worn down my patience.

“Well, the first thing I did was to not consider Seeir in the equation…”

I let out an annoyed scream before slapping the back of the man’s round head.

I felt the fat underneath his skin bounce under my palm which made my stomach churn as I immediately regretted my action.

Why were Diidkins so… Odd.

He let out a hearty laugh before turning back his attention to the wheel.

“So, can it be fixed?”

I asked in a defeated tone.

He shook his head.

“Not without any tools. We’ll need to walk to the next town.”

I let out an exhausted sigh.

“I paid you to drive me to Sunvale, not to walk me there.”

He laughed as though I had just told him a joke but I remained unflinching.

I was thoroughly unamused.

“Well, you could always wait around, although… Who knows how long it will take me to come back?”

In other words, it might take several days and I would be left to fend for myself.

I let out another sigh.

“So we’re heading back?”

“Of course not! We must fend forward!”

“But we don’t know how far the next village is…”

“Never fear! One surely awaits us in the near future!”

He declared as he jumped to his feet.

“I’ve never feared anything in my life… Until now that is.”

I grumbled as I stepped off the carriage.

“You flatter me, Scorny.”

“It’s Jace…”

Under the blazing sun we walked along the coast for hours. It was unbearable, the heat, the sweat, the buzzing of insects… Insufferable.

I could feel my skin scraping painfully against itself at each of my joints from the dried sweat, my throat parched and aching from the heat…

…And, somehow, through all this, Milord happily whistled his way down the rocky path with not a care in the world. He pranced about, making the edge of his clothes flap happily in the wind and the soft skin of his protruding belly jiggle like jelly.

How could he look so carefree?

I slipped on a stone and landed painfully on my knee.

"Shit!"

I let out in a pained hiss.

"Miss Scorn! Are you alright?"

"For Seeir's sake Milord! It's Jace! Jace!"

"Okay, okay. Miss Jace, are you alright?"

I looked down at my dress now completely caked in dirt. I could feel tears running to my eyes.

"Gods… I'm just so..."

I put my face in my hands in defeat.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Alright, alright, take my hand for now Miss Jace. Let's get you cleaned up."

He led me down a path where a creek spilt into the lake.

I looked at him as he poured a small amount of water on the hem of my dress and tried to brush away the muddy result with his thumb as he continued humming calmly.

At this point I was so tired that it didn’t annoy me anymore, it was simply so absurd to me that it turned into genuine curiosity.

"How do you do it, Milord?"

"How do I do what, Jacey girl?"

"How do you keep so calm all the time?"

I said as I looked at our surroundings, the very center of nowhere. Not a tree in miles, only grass, shrubs, water and insects. My skin stinging from sunburns, my legs screaming in pain and my head buzzing with a thousand worries.

"Well…”

I braced myself for the sheer idiocy that was about to come out of his mouth.

“...The first step is to acknowledge what is within your control and what is not.”

I frowned.

This seemed like a strangely reflected answer.

“How would that help?”

His face flattened into a wide smile.

"Ah, but you see, that’s EXACTLY what it won’t do. It won’t help or more specifically; YOU won’t be able help.”

I won’t be able to help? What is he even talking about?

“What do you mean?”

“You see, Jace, you have an illness. A common one, but still, it consumes your every thought and emotion; you’re a child in an woman’s body.”

I recoiled in anger.

Me? A child?

“How dare you…”

“Oh don’t take it wrong, Miss Jace. We are all children in here.”

He said as he poked his temple.

“We’re just different type of children. Some of us were spoiled with care, others with wisdom, while others were spoiled with a little bit of both, or not enough of either.”

He chuckled to himself.

“It’s very rare we’re blessed with plenty of both, and I’d hazard a guess, my dear, that you are the opposite and lacked either. This made you into you. A capable girl, certainly, but also one that knows only to please.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Only capable of pleaseing? Are you implying I don’t have a will of my own?”

He let out a loud laugh.

“HAHAHA! Not at all! If anything, you probably seek independence more than most of us! But, contrary to others, you cannot do away with your need to act on what you believe needs to be done.”

“Then tell me, what wrong does THAT do?”

He stood up from his crouching position and stretched.

“There is a common misunderstanding that, since we are thinking beings capable of free will, we are responsible for everything that happens around us. That, of course, is absurd. From the very moment we are born, we lack the choice of IF we are to be.”

He held out a hand to help me back to my feet.

“So the first step to be at peace is to understand that we are simply a leaf in the breeze, and not the wind carrying it. You are not in control of everything around you, and that’s simply the nature of life.”

I arched my brow.

“Awfully pious of a thing to say, especially coming from you.”

He chuckled.

“Can’t a man make a metaphor about trees without it being a reference to the Creator?”

I scoffed.

“No, no they can’t.”

The green man exploded in laughter and winked at me.

”Contrary to what some might say, not caring is not the talent of the dim, but of the wise.”

We resumed our walk down the coast.

I mused on his words. Giving up control…

No that’s not what he meant.

It’s more about admitting that we never had control in the first place.

But what is it that I take for granted that I have control over? For my entire life I was powerless, unable to do anything without explicit permission, but now… Now that I’m finally free…

What is it that I’m missing? What am I seeking to control according to him?

I looked up at Milord who was walking a few paces in front of me.

What is it that he does that I don't understand?

The day turned into evening, with no towns in sight.

“ALRIGHT! Not a step further!”

Milord declared loudly.

“What’s wrong, your feet hurting?”

I asked him confused.

“Nay, Jayce Jace! Night approaches and I crave sustenance!”

I let out a sigh.

“We don’t have any food, Milord.”

“What is that I hear? Are you perhaps under the impression that you are the sole holder of sustenance in this world, Scorny? Mmmh? Perhaps you think you control how, when and where one may eat as well? Were my eyes playing trick and you are in fact the goddess of eating?”

I clicked my tongue.

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

I said, narrowing my eyes in annoyance.

“You still don’t get it, Jace! You need to let go of this absurd preconception that YOU are the sole creator of your destiny!”

He turned around and stared at the sky.

“Live! Let live! Food is given to those who seek it!”

He screamed out before frolicking away down the hill while humming a tune.

“This kin is insane…”

I followed him down a path that led through the thick bushes all the way down.

We reached a small plateau giving unto the lake. Milord walked right up to the edge and turned to me.

“Let me demonstrate!”

And with all the grace of an overweight donkey, he jumped down his platform and plummeted down like a rock into the shallow waters.

And then nothing.

Confused I approached the water, and just as I started getting worried about how long he’d beed down there, he emerged with a loud splash sending cold dropplets hurling into my face.

“HA HA HA HA! See?!”

I tilted my head as i watched him swimming in place.

“You found some food?”

“Not at all! But the water is to die for!”

I felt my shoulders drop.

“I really don’t know what I expected…”

“Oh come on Jacey Jace! You were just complaining about being sweaty! And your clothes are a mess already anyway!”

Taking a dip, was that what he was suggesting?

I looked at the water hesitantly, which made me recoil in surprise. Why was I even considering it?

…But why not? Was that what he was talking about earlier?

Wait… Was this all a trick on his part? Or was I just playing into his game by being so torn over this?

Oh gods, I’m way over thinking this…

I took off my boots and let my feet dip into the cool water as Milord stared at me with a dumb smile.

“Disappointed?”

I asked him, but he shook his head.

“Not at all! You are doing exactly what you want, that’s the very essence of what we’ve been talking about!”

I arched my brow.

“Am I not exercising control by only doing this much?”

“Are you?”

He simply responded as he pushed himself on his back and lazily floated as he looked up at the sky.

“Or are you perhaps giving up control by doing exactly what you want?”

Uh.

I let out a soft chuckle.

So that’s what he meant.

I felt a weight lifted off my shoulder. A simple conclusion, but one worth musing over.

Suddenly, Milord sunk back beneath the surface and reemerged a moment later.

“AH HA! I got it!”

He said as he held a trout above his head.

“What in Diid’s name?! How did you catch that!”

I screamed in surprise as I quickly got to my feet”

“HA HA HA HA! I GOT NO IDEA! HAHA HA HA!”

And that’s how our day on the road concluded. Eating a freshly grilled trout around a warm campfire on Lake Alenia’s coast as the sun sunk below the horizon.

The next day, we found a town only an hour’s walk from our camp. Usually I would have been frustrated at having given up so close to our goal, but right now, these worries were far in the back of my mind.

It took us some time to retrieve Milord’s carriage and fix it up, but time flew by and within a week, we finally reached our destination; Sunvale.