Lloyd was so bored… The last five hours had quickly turned into very short walks followed by long discussions, then waiting around for what seemed like ages.
As Yaric’s sponsor, he would make sure Yaric had everything he needed before going through admissions at Lekton, but Clery was still a very small town, and every store of note was situated around the modest town square. Much of what Yaric would need was also not immediately available, and Lloyd was forced to acknowledge that he would be stuck in town for an extra day.
The trip to the tailor took the longest, as Sally insisted on coming along despite her need to rest, and Ming-Yue would not let her daughter run around on her own so soon after her ordeal. Yaric was forced to look through roll after roll of material, finally deciding on a dark grey and black material for his first tunic, and a rosewood so dark it almost appeared black in low lighting for the other.
The travel clothes should have been much easier, as there were racks of various sizes already available, but Sally had insisted on having Yaric try everything on. He would be leaving soon, so he quietly just endured the fuss and attention, and eventually settled on a decent, if rather plain set, along with a cloak.
Lloyd had to pay extra for a rush job, but the tunics would nevertheless only be ready late the next day. It was a similar story with the town’s shoemaker, who would have a decent pair of proper boots ready around the same time, along with a much better pair of shoes than the ones Yaric was currently wearing. Lloyd was both surprised and grateful that the town didn’t just have a simple cobbler, as Yaric would not likely need to replace these once they arrived in Lekton.
The rest of their shopping was fairly simple, slowed only by Sally’s insistence on inspecting each and every available option, but by the end of the day Yaric had a travel pack, bedroll, blanket, waterskin and all of the other travel essentials he'd need for the few days they would actually be on the road. Much of what he would need for Lekton would have to be bought once they arrived.
Everyone seemed slightly surprised when Yaric elected to stay another night at the inn, but perhaps they shouldn’t have been considering what his home must remind him of now.
Sally finally said goodbye when they finished, leaving with her mom to go have dinner at home. Even Lloyd seemed tired, just taking his food at the inn and eating like a normal person. Yaric joined him, but was constantly staring down, always deep in thought and never offering a comment on anything. All attempts at conversation fell flat, with Yaric replying in quiet one-word answers. Lloyd eventually let him be, telling him to get some rest and to meet him in the morning for breakfast, before going upstairs himself. It had been a long but momentous day.
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The next morning was peaceful, in stark contrast to Lloyd’s previous 2 days in town. Jelly was excited to see him, as always, and was perhaps the most eager to move on. Breakfast was great, as always, and the large second helping he savored after was even better - as always. Even sitting and sipping a steaming mug of black coffee went uninterrupted in the hustle of early morning diners, Lloyd once again in what he now considered to be ‘his’ chair.
Yaric seemed to be the furthest thing from peaceful, still looking exhausted as he alternated between brooding and staring off into the distance, going through breakfast without noticing anything around him. Yet that too was peaceful, at least from where Lloyd sat, as Yaric’s silence allowed him to simply close his eyes in contentment.
The only slight break to Lloyd’s tranquility was when Liam arrived, but this time he was only there to speak with Yaric, the mayor of the town directly involved in his life for the third straight day. Liam took Yaric aside for a private discussion, as the two of them worked out what should be done with the mill Yaric now owned. With Yaric leaving the next day, there would be no one to run it, but at the same time the town could not do without it. They also could not pay close to a fair amount for purchasing it, so it took a lot of back and forth to come to a solution.
Happy that he was not involved in any way, Lloyd completely ignored them, getting up only for another refill of his coffee.
It was almost an hour later when they came to an agreement, both sides happy with the result, and they briefly filled Lloyd in before leaving together.
Yaric would retain ownership of the mill, as he wasn’t able to let go of the business his parents had built, not yet. The town being unable to pay for its purchase didn’t provide much choice in the matter. While he was gone, the mill would be run as a community project, overseen by Douglas. The town would work the mill and keep it maintained, until such a time as Yaric came back one day. The use of the mill would be the town’s remuneration for looking after it and seeing to its upkeep while Yaric was away. They had now left to gather a few key people and head over to the mill, wanting to make sure that enough people were confident in its workings that there would always be someone on hand.
Lloyd, meanwhile, chose to go for a walk, taking one of the dirt roads north, travelling through the farmland and past some of the homesteads. 'I might be stuck in Clery for an extra day, but then this day will have to do as my break!' Lloyd purposely avoided acknowledging that the whole trip back had been a break, and would continue to be now that he planned to take a river boat back. Sitting back on a boat was hardly ‘work’, but afterwards Lloyd would absolutely be patting himself on the back for a job well done, nonetheless.
The weather was pleasant, the late spring breeze gently swaying the crops back and forth, birds swooping everywhere he looked. The walk was much longer than he expected as he looped all of the way around, but Lloyd managed to make it back just in time for lunch, to the surprise of absolutely no one.
After walking through the market and purchasing freshly baked bread, some home brewed ale and a basket of ingredients for his sandwich, Lloyd made his way to the riverbank by the east bridge, sitting in the sun and squeezing an absolutely ridiculous amount of meat and salad between two pieces of bread. He savored his last few hours alone, completely unbothered by the stares and whispered comments of passing townsfolk. Taking a deep and contented breath, Lloyd finally roused himself and acknowledged that his short break was over. The opportunities to spend a few hours by himself with no cares in the world were very few and very far between, and Lloyd had long learned that they needed to be savored whenever possible.
Yaric didn’t seem to be back at the inn when Lloyd went to look for him, and he wasn’t able to find any of the other townsfolk he’d met either, so Lloyd made his way around the town square by himself, picking up Yaric’s outstanding orders, along with some of the dreaded trail rations. Quickly dropping everything off in his own room, Lloyd went back out towards the pen, looking to drop in at the mill to try find Yaric.
Instead, he found a small party, already in full swing, with rough tables and benches strewn about in front of the mill, small fires going with meat roasting on spits, and bowl upon bowl of breads and snacks spread all over. Lloyd even spotted a smaller table with kegs stacked beside it, one already on top and freshly tapped, next to a wide assortment of cups and tankards.
And there was Yaric, in the small open field between the mill and his house, playing high ball with his friends. Lloyd made his way to the smaller table and just helped himself to a tankard, sipping a flavored mead as he watched Yaric with a smile tugging the corners of his lips.
For the first time since he’d met him, admittedly just two days prior, Yaric was running around like a normal teenager, playing and laughing with others his own age. Lloyd was surprised to find how painful it was to notice the difference in skill between Yaric and the other boys and girls, making it obvious to him how much more experience the other kids had with playing the game, but Yaric either didn’t notice or didn’t care, playing as one of his team’s strikers and swinging his bat at every opportunity. Sally was on his team as well, and as a sweeper she made sure the ball was flung Yaric’s way every time she could.
“Surprised to see he’s just a kid?” Lloyd turned when Tarah walked up from behind and addressed him, a tall and exceptionally well-built man with his arm around her waist, towering over both of them.
“More surprised that he remembered himself, with everything he’s seems to have taken on over the years. I’m glad he hasn’t forgotten.”
“Hi, my name is Lloyd Chen, we haven’t met before.” Lloyd stuck out his hand.
“Keegan Barret, Tarah’s husband. You’re the one who helped her with the pen.” It was a statement, not a question, and he made no reference to his status as High Wizard, nor mentioned magic at all.
“Yip, that would be me. Just please forget that fact next time it rains, I wasn’t able to do a very good job.”
Keegan let out a booming laugh, “Ha, I don’t care about the pen myself, but Tarah does, and it’s been stressing her out constantly since the drainage issue came up. Today is the first day she has taken off from work since.”
“I was not! I have just been doing my job!”
“Really? How many times did you manage to eat more than once a day since you found out about the problem, hmmm?”
Tarah for her part just blushed very slightly and turned away from them both, pulling Keegan’s arm tighter around herself and leaning into him.
“That’s what I thought.” Keegan turned back to face Lloyd. “You enjoy yourself Mr. Chen, this is a little going away party for the boy and kind of a thank you for his generous dealings with his mill. There will be food and drink till after dark.”
“Thank you, Mr. Barret, I will. See you around Tarah.”
The couple walked off as Lloyd turned back to the game, keeping to himself and mindlessly watching the kids, who apparently weren’t bothering to keep score. He replaced his tankard twice before he discovered the keg had now been replaced with one holding a spiced ale, and essentially just continued his break from earlier, slipping naturally into the background and watching the festivities around him.
The meat was finally ready, different roasts were laid out across the tables and carved up for everyone, with vegetables and gravies spread all around the meat. Even the kids paused in their game, dropping their bats and sticks and running over to the tables.
Lloyd’s natural ability to fade away and avoid notice was overcome by his natural ability to be Lloyd, as people all around the tables exclaimed or let out gasps, seeing thick slices of roast beef, roast lamb and roast ham float up into the air and straight onto 3 plates, all sitting in front of the same man. The meat was quickly followed by large helpings of roast potatoes and other vegetables, then blobs of gravy and apple sauce that came flying swiftly after. Everything landed already perfectly arranged, and Lloyd immediately tucked in, eating from all three plates at once and acting completely oblivious towards everyone around him.
Conversation was slow to build back up, but with kids laughing and pointing at him, people quickly recovered and went back to what they were doing. Just at the corner of his vision, Lloyd caught Keegan staring directly at him, eyes wide with shock, and Lloyd snickered quietly to himself as he surreptitiously watched Tarah quickly start whispering in his ear. It appeared that she truly had neglected to mention to her husband that he was an arcanist.
The party continued long after dark, and more and more people joined as they came in from the fields, torches being lit and spread around the area. All around, people were eating, drinking, talking, laughing and dancing, enjoying themselves and having fun. Lloyd too was eating, drinking, eating, eating and drinking, enjoying himself and having fun.
When the party started winding down, Yaric made his way over to let Lloyd know that he would be sleeping in his own place one last time, and would find Lloyd at the inn in the morning. Yaric looked livelier than Lloyd had ever seen, and he just smiled and waved him away, while he grabbed himself a fresh tankard, noticing that this time it was a rather delicious dark beer; while he actually grabbed himself two tankards of the dark beer, and made his way back down the main road.
So many attempts at a small vacation, and it finally happened! It was only now that Lloyd remembered one of the secrets of taking a proper break. You never truly got to enjoy a break when you were looking for one. They came around very rarely, but most of the time they only appeared after you gave up looking for them.
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Morning came, and Lloyd sat up with his head pounding. It took four tries to get his spell right as he muttered to himself the entire time, but finally his hangover just faded away as if it never existed. Feeling so much better, Lloyd was eager to get going.
Dressed once again for travel, all of his clothes were unpacked, cleaned through the quick use of a little magic, and quickly repacked. With his saddle bags over one shoulder, and still wrapped up sword and staff held together with Yaric’s packages under the other, Lloyd gave his room one last once over. Feeling the tiniest bit guilty about cleaning his own clothes so easily, Lloyd quickly cleaned up the entire room for Freda. Not with his hands of course, with magic. Then he turned and made his way back down the stairs for the last time.
Taking all his gear with him, Lloyd dropped everything on one side of his usual table, while taking a seat at the other. The quiet of the morning was only broken by the sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen, and soon the smell of breakfast came drifting in.
Once again the first one in, he waited patiently until one of the servers came through, already holding a mug of steaming black coffee. “Sir,” she greeted, and placed the mug before him as he nodded in return.
5 minutes later a large plate was brought in, loaded with scrambled eggs and sausages, and Freda herself soon followed with a small plate filled with bacon.
“Figured you might want somethin greasy this mornin, considerin you drank the town dry last night,” Freda’s tone accusing but with a friendly smile on her face.
“Well you know us wizards, when you can cure a hangover with a thought, there’s no need to pace when you can race.” Lloyd was sure to appear as cheerful as possible, rubbing in the complete lack of consequences he suffered.
Freda scowled in mock outrage and pretended to take the bacon back, but the plate slipped out her hand and floated onto the table anyway.
“Thank you Freda! You’re the best!” Lloyd said in the most obnoxiously cheerful voice he could, already starting to eat.
Freda laughed and left him to his breakfast. Yaric came in not a minute later, dressed in his travelling clothes and with the bag they’d bought on his back. He mumbled a hello and took a seat at a table next to Lloyd, dumping his bag on the table like Lloyd had, and back to staring into the distance as he waited for his breakfast.
Lloyd looked over at him for a moment, but Yaric was oblivious as he stared off into the distance. When Freda saw who had arrived, she brought his breakfast out herself, this time also bring some small honey glazed rolls. Freda noticed Lloyd's eyes following them and gave him a quick glare.
Despite his previous misgivings around Clery, Lloyd was quite impressed. Obviously, his initial impressions had been mistaken to begin with, but Lloyd had a lot of respect for how the town had rallied in the end. Several people, even the mayor himself, had supported Yaric after previous events had come to light - despite their earlier acknowledgement that they didn’t interact with him much. Putting him up in a room, helping him find the things he needed to buy, feeding him, throwing him a party; just supporting him when he needed it most.
'And now he’s going out alone to be thrown into the faster flowing river.'
Lloyd was comfortable he could handle it however, knowing what he had already been through. 'He might even be able to leverage his weird mental defenses in some way too. I have no idea how though...'
Once they were finished, Freda brought Yaric a small cloth bundle. She hugged him with one arm while he was seated and said, “Some bread and cheese for the road. You can’t starve before you even reach your new school!” Freda turned halfway to Lloyd as she said, “You can have some too, if Yaric wants to share,” and with a wink she walked off towards the entrance.
“Come on, grab your things. We have a few days on the road, and pushing even slightly faster while walking could mean one less day before we can board the boat.”
Yaric picked up his bag without a word, and followed Lloyd out to the reception desk, where Freda was already waiting with Lloyd’s bill. Lloyd added a few extra as he handed over the coins, and at Freda’s annoyed expression quickly added, “Don’t be like that. I’ve been earning an income for several centuries, remember?” He quickly turned to Yaric. “You might as well wait here a few more minutes, I need to go fetch Jelly.”
This time it was only Freda who looked a little confused; Yaric practically ignored him.
Moving outside and into the stables, Lloyd was left speechless as Jelly was already out of his stall with Phil putting the finishing touches on his tack. Something seemed fishy with Phil’s miraculous transformation, though Lloyd couldn’t pick up anything wrong.
As soon as Phil finished, the saddle bags were loaded on and Lloyd tied off his sword and staff, ready to go. “Here we are, some extra coin for taking such good care of Jelly. He seems like he’s been very happy.” Jelly had been stamping impatiently, and Lloyd knew full well that Jelly was just excited to be off. He hadn’t had much exercise while they were in town, and the extra day’s delay had left Jelly eager to hit the road.
“Thank you Mr. Mage sir, I did just as Old Freda said. Gave ‘em the best grain an’ all!”
'Ahhh… that’s what changed…'
“Well Jelly is looking very strong, thank you. Keep out of trouble all right? I don’t want to hear any stories when I come through again!”
Phil’s head bounced up and down quickly, his mop of hair swinging wildly as he grasped his coins tightly.
Jelly wasn’t really led out of the stables as Jelly instead pulled Lloyd out, tossing his head impatiently. Outside in the morning light, it was immediately apparent that Yaric hadn’t waited, as he was standing in the square with Sally and her family. Tarah and Freda had joined them as well, and even Douglas was coming up the road, all intent on seeing Yaric off. It suddenly occurred to Lloyd that this was likely also the first time the town had ever had an arcanist come from amongst them. That could bring big changes to a small town like this in the future.
The people around Yaric obviously weren’t here for that, as hugs were given all around. Sally looked upset, but kept smiling widely whenever Yaric was facing her way.
Lloyd walked up to everyone, all of them freezing at the sight of Jelly. Yaric too seemed to have come a little more out of his shell. “Jelly is a horse,” he deadpanned.
“Nooo… Jelly is not a horse. Jelly here is the horse, show some respect.”
Yaric’s mouth twitched upward slightly, and Sally came over to stroke Jelly’s neck.
“Everyone said their goodbyes? We need to be off soon, we have a long day ahead of us, and Yaric hasn’t got a horse, so he has a long way to walk.” Lloyd was smirking as everyone smiled knowingly. “Tell you what, I’ll let you tie your bag up on Jelly’s saddle for a while and walk with you, while we eat some of that cheese and bread.”
Freda just laughed as she gave Yaric a last hug, and everyone followed them as they made their way towards the west bridge. The rest of the group paused at the square’s exit, and stayed behind waving as Lloyd and Yaric continued down the main road. Reaching the bridge, they had just started across when Lloyd turned to Yaric. “Is there anything you want from the house? There’s time for you to run inside if you need to.”
Yaric shook his head. “I have everything I wanted.”
“Alright, well, good then. Let’s see how far we can make it today. The journey from here would normally mean arriving early on the fifth day, but if we push a little we can make it late on the fourth, and you can go one less night out on the road.”
Yaric just shrugged as they continued.
It didn’t take long to reach the road along the river, this time an actual paved road, not the gravel path that Lloyd had travelled on coming into town.
Only 20 minutes later, Clery had dropped out of sight behind them, Yaric not looking back once or saying a word the entire time. After a full hour of silence Lloyd tried again. “Are you sure you’re ok kid? We can still turn back.”
“I’m fine.”
“I wasn’t kidding about you needing to want to go to Lekton. No one can make it through the training if they don’t really want to be there.”
That got a reaction, as Yaric’s head snapped around, emotion returning to his face as he fixed Lloyd with a determined glare. “I will make it.”
“OK, good. That’s more like it. But make sure you speak up if you have something to say.”
Yaric looked back to the road ahead and simply nodded, still looking determined.
The rest of the day settled into a routine, Yaric completely silent, Lloyd only mostly. And all the while Jelly, who had refused to be led by his reins, kept plodding on ahead, turning sideways every few minutes to wait for the slow humans to catch up. He sometimes even turned all the way around, walking just past them in the opposite direction before turning the right way again and plodding back to the front of the group.
Their walking time was good, but the lunch break took a little longer than Lloyd normally liked, Yaric clearly not used to walking at that pace for an entire morning. Still, Yaric never complained once, and even politely refused when Lloyd offered to let him ride Jelly. Well, offered to let him see if Jelly would allow him to ride Jelly.
In the end they still made good time, turning off the road on the opposite side to the river when the day started to darken. Lloyd sent Yaric to collect wood for a fire while he cleared a space for a small camp. A few different warding spells ensured that their night would not be disturbed, and both of them chewed on some trail rations while staring into the fire. Jelly seemed happy to munch on the grass around the camp, wandering around on his own and once walking back across the road to the river for a drink of water.
“Is Jelly ok walking around by himself like that?” Yaric actually voiced out loud. “We sometimes get wolves and bears around here.”
“Huh, I pity the poor wolf that makes the mistake of trying something with Jelly. Jelly can take care of himself. And I’m right here if he needs me.”
Nothing else was said as they both unpacked their bedrolls and lay down to sleep. Yaric never even asked if they were ok sleeping out in the open, but then again people who hadn’t been trained to use magic always seemed to think it was the ultimate solution to everything. As if it could solve every problem like, well, magic.
Yaric was deep in thought, the fire popping as the wood burned down into coals, until eventually, without realizing a thing, he drifted off to sleep.
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Their second day on the road was much the same as the first, the only change being Lloyd starting to have long conversations with Jelly, who remained silent, while Lloyd spoke at length. Yaric just wondered what these ‘pompous idiots’ on the council had done to make Lloyd dislike them so much. He was able to speak for 15 minutes straight about how stupid one particular member was, and how his ego was the only thing bigger than his apparently large belly.
Yaric stayed silent throughout, when they stopped for lunch, when they got back on the road, and all through the evening as they made camp.
The entire trip passed by quickly and, for the most part, quietly. There were no wolves, no bears, and only the occasional rider or wagon travelling the other way. They did manage to make it all the way to the much larger town of Taiyuan, for whom the river was named, just before evening on the fourth day. There was even enough daylight left for Lloyd to check on the times for boat departures after they had stabled Jelly and booked rooms at an inn near the docks.
There was a full-sized tavern attached to the inn, and Lloyd and Yaric took a table to themselves as they settled down for dinner. “So we’re going to be losing another day, but I hope to make up for it some by seeing if we can get you some the stuff you still need for Lekton. Anything we get here will save time once we arrive. The boat will leave day after tomorrow, in the morning. We’ll be leaving from the dock just down the road from the inn, and we need to be there by 9; the boat only leaves at 10, but some river boats are more difficult with horses than others, and we already lost a day at Clery too. We can’t afford to not be on this boat.”
“You won’t have to worry about a thing for the rest of the trip once we are on the boat. I’ll be getting us upper deck cabins, and the boat crew will take care of everything. We will basically just be sitting around for three days doing whatever we want, with food and drink available all through the day. Take advantage of this opportunity to get some proper rest, those bags under your eyes have not changed since we first met. You need to be fresh when we get to the Academy, and things will get busy for you almost as soon as you get on campus.”
“The priority for tomorrow is trying to find some decent leather armor for you, but finding something that fits right off the bat won’t be easy. It might not even be possible, it's just that I don’t want to take the risk of having the same issue in Lekton once we arrive, so we’ll try. The armor the Academy will provide is good quality work, but you’ll soon learn that the fit is a large part of what makes armor 'quality armor'.”
“Also, the armor at the Academy is used by everyone; it all smells.”
“I’m confident we can get you combat robes when we get to Lekton, and the Academy will provide you with your training uniforms. They are also the only place you can get the books you need. With that you will have practically everything you’ll need, the only thing you need to think about now is if there’s anything you’ll want for your room. That will probably come much later though - you’ll see what I mean.” Lloyd paused to examine Yaric carefully.
“Did you get all that?”
“Yes, I got it. Leather armor tomorrow.”
“Right. Well here comes our food, I’m sure we both want to get to bed, so eat up.”
The stew was ok, but somehow the food in the villages further out always seemed to be better. The real advantage of the tavern was the drinks, but Lloyd was left speechless when they refused to bring anything for Yaric.
“Sorry, some mage prick ‘as been cracking down on us, ‘e decided kids that young can’ be served any o’ our fine ale. Only thing we got we can give ‘em is water.”
Lloyd smirked slightly at the mage comment, but looked apologetically to Yaric when all they could offer was water. “Water is fine then, just bring him a whole jug.”
Both went back to the inn half an hour later and went to bed. Even Lloyd was really feeling a bit tired now, they had pushed hard over the last four days. Lloyd welcomed sleep with open arms. Yaric still lay awake, but as was becoming his routine, he drifted off at some point, not even noticing when he did.
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Shopping around for the armor took most of the day, as everything had to be tried on. They ended up with almost every piece they needed, only really missing the gauntlets, which were not critical for the moment.
Lloyd was a little disbelieving when they couldn’t find the gauntlets, but had quickly found first the pauldrons, and not long after, a leather breast plate. Both fit perfectly, which was especially important as both were hardened leather. He felt bad for the kid, and even splashed out on a new brigandine, along with purchasing both full leather arm guards and simple bracers, ensuring Yaric would be able to switch between added protection or extra flexibility. The gorget was easy to find. For the legs they went with only the thigh tassets and greaves. Yaric now had everything he needed for when he started weapons training.
Even Yaric seemed a little excited with the purchases; he kept fiddling with the various pieces as they shopped around. This gave Lloyd the excuse he didn’t need to eat out, finding a hidden place off the main roads that only locals frequented, serving 5 separate courses with all you can drink. Yaric let go a little too, and both of them enjoyed their last evening in Taiyuan. With that done, Lloyd left Yaric to figure out how to pack the armor, much to Yaric’s chagrin, and reminded Yaric that they needed to be at the docks with Jelly by 9am.
Yaric tried for over an hour, but the task seemed impossible. The rigid breast plate was larger than the bag! He eventually settled for tying everything together, and spent a few minutes trying different combinations and positions. It didn’t take him long to figure out a good method, and soon he too was in bed. For the first time in over a week, Yaric wasn’t lying awake in deep in thought, instead falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.