“Ven! Kay! What were you thinking, taking on the fourth ranked quest! Are you two idiots!”, says a villager as another yells out, “You must be, and we had so much hope from you two given that we supported you for so long! I am disappointed in you two!”
“Same here!”, as the gathered crowd continued their bickering. The village chief Don, a middle aged man with a sturdy build, goes up to Riker, “May we offer you a place to stay? It wouldn’t be any trouble, and you have already done so much for us, especially dealing with our two troublemakers.”
He raised his arms in defense, “There’s no need I already have a place to stay, thank you for the offer though.” “No problem, if you’re ever needing support let us know.” “Will do”, Riker replies as he sets off into the streets of the village leaving Kay and Ven to the mercy of the villagers.
++++++++
“Man, I wonder where Riker went off to?”, Kay spoke out to Ven as they walked through the alleyways of the village hoping to avoid as many villagers as possible.
Ven stayed silent as he eyed the fellow cats rummaging through the trash. The crickets put work into filling in the moments of silence. They continued walking as they did their normal ducking across watchman houses, to jumping over fences.
They entered through the front of the Three Strays Inn as they came into Peggie waiting in the entryway.
They both made eye contact and held it while waiting for Peggie to begin her speech. “Dinner is in the Garden, hurry and wash up and come out. My friend came over today so be on your best behavior.”
She turned around and made her way back to the kitchen. They stood there completely puzzled, as they exchanged glances. They slowly turned to the staircase as they climbed up and into their room. Ven threw his sword down onto the floor as he face-planted onto his futon hugging his pillow across his face.
Kay set his arrows down and tilted his bow against the wall as he stepped over Ven to reach the dresser. He rummaged through the pile of clothes in hopes to find something clean.
He pulled out a white shirt giving it a sniff before removing his shirt and tossing it into the mostly dirty pile off of the corner of the room. He put on the new one and dove deeper to find a pair of pants.
Track pants it is when he finds two clean pairs. He pulls another shirt out and tosses the set of clothes onto Ven. “Hurry and change” as he continues to swap clothing. Ven sits up slowly and begins changing.
The two go down the steps as they make their way to the kitchen as Kay leads on. They come out of the backdoor to the garden, which is lit up every night with five year old Christmas lights. They lay eyes on the decorated table full of plated comfort food piled as a feast putting any royal’s banquets to shame.
Next to Peggie sat a familiar figure drinking the white wine she had offered him. “Riker, what are you doing here!” replies Kay with a surprised voice.
“Visiting a friend.”
They stood in bewilderment for a moment as they proceeded to join them at the table. They sat across from them as Peggie handed them both plates and an assortment of cutlery.
“Alright, before we eat let’s say thanks. '' Peggie called out as everyone laid their utensils down sitting in silence. Peggie joined her hands together as she closed her eyes, “Lord, thank you for this bountiful feast and for the friends that have gathered here today. Thank you for keeping us safe. Continue to guide us on the path that you set forth for us. Let our actions be just and our hopes be fulfilled. Amen.” The boys began piling on the pasta and Peggie’s famous shepherd's pie. “Don’t forget about the salad”, as Peggie takes the mixing spoon and stacks the leafy greens over their plates without warning. They take it as per routine as she normally does this.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
They begin the feast as Peggie and Riker fill their plates up. “This place hasn't changed much”, says Riker as he takes a bite of toasted bread. Ven and Kay both looked up at him from that reply. Peggie snickered as she replied “Well did you expect it to, it’s not like I was sitting on gold bars when you left this place.”
Kay intervened into the conversation, “You used to live here?”
“Yeah”, as he added, “This is my aunt”, he gazed at Peggie with a fake smile as he turned to continue eating. Ven’s attention focused on Riker as a carrot lodged to the back of his throat causing him to cough roughly as Peggie quickly poured him a glass of water which he chugged down.
Kay blurted out “Your aunt?”
“Yeah, you don’t see the family resemblance?”
“No, not at all”, as he sat there in amazement. Riker continued on, “I was around your age, probably younger when I stayed here. Let’s just say, I didn’t get along with my family so I stayed with my aunt and helped her around the Inn.”
Peggie intruded, “He was hardly any help and he didn’t stay long either.”
“What are you talking about I helped, anyway, after some time my friend and I set off for the level tests in Ravien as we decided to take two of the tests back to back.”
“Back to back!” Ven said in amazement, “You can do that?” “Yeah, money wasn't that much of an issue at the time as I was still being supported by my parents monthly. My friend was also well off so we decided to just go straight to being fourth ranked mages right away.”
Kay replied, “but wait when you finish the third rank screening and were even able to get your powers. How were you able to pass the fourth ranked test if you haven’t even mastered them, let alone used your powers?", ''Yeah" Ven added in.
“Well not many know of the contents of the fourth ranked test, as it’s kept secret to only those who have participated and between the royals, yet, thanks to my friend who was the third prince at the time, he told me that it would be focused on literature and political implications. It had nothing to do with testing your power levels.”
Ven and Kay sat in amazement, shocked about what they heard.
“Many people believe it’s a test of strength so they train for years and years, afraid that they wouldn’t pass so they end up not taking it since you’re only allowed to take it once.” All this time they believed that making fourth ranked was so difficult. Yet, this man was able to climb two ranks in the matter of one day.
Kay laughed at the utter thought as Ven stared blankly at his empty plate.
Peggie stands as she begins clearing the table of the finished plates and food, “I’ll go start the tea kettle, oh and we have some great cake to go with it too.”
“Thank You”, said Riker as he helped stack the plates to make it easier to carry. Peggie went off to the kitchen to prepare the tea and wash the dishes. Silence fell over the table as Riker turned to a black cat sleeping under the table.
“Oh soot, it’s been a while”, as he picked him up and sat him on his lap. He continued stroking it as it fell back asleep on him. “Don’t worry too much about the goblin today, I told Peggie what happened so she agreed to let it slide.” Ven looked up in relief as he felt some comfort in his words.
“I was just like you two, I also wanted to be a higher ranked mage, although, it wasn't for the money or the sake of revenge for the monsters, It was more of just wanting more in life”, The boys looked up at him anticipating for more storytelling as their eyes appeared bright and focused.”
Riker sighed as he continued on, “I felt the meaningless days pass, the listlessness of the mundane life I was living in. I wanted to know if there was more I could do, more I could see. That’s when the prince found me.”
Riker smiled at the distant memory as he continued on, “He would always sneak away from the palace and visit different places. He happened upon this village where we ended up crossing paths.
We shared so many ideals and practices that we could have been mistaken as brothers. It turned out he was also sick of the everyday life in the palace, being third in line for the throne gave him a poor chance in making a name for himself.
So we both decided to become mages and travel around together. It seemed like a dream, being able to explore with my best friend.” Ven spoke out, “Where is he now?”