She feels the warmth on her face as the first rays of the sun peek through the window. Sanora opens her eyes slowly, looking up at a ceiling she never saw before. But she had never even seen another ceiling after waking up, so she didn’t feel all that weirded out. Rubbing her eyes she sits up to look around. She hadn’t seen the room the night before. Its quite simple. A bed and a wardrobe, and that’s it. The only candle in the room is burnt away already. She starts getting out of bed slowly, stretching herself. A few relieving but unhealthy sounding cracks resound from her back. She pats down her clothes. They look rather messy after sleeping a night in them. Sanora adds ‘a set of clothes to sleep in’ to her mental shortlist while groggily walking to the door. The firepit wasn’t burning yet, although fresh wood is already lying in there just waiting to be lit.
“’Morning” Genny says behind the counter while cleaning one of the many mugs.
“Breakfast?” She asks with a smile.
“Absolutely” Sanora’s voice comes out a bit raspy, but genny just nods before disappearing into the kitchen. With another yawn Sanora makes her way to the same table as the night before. There is only one other person at one of the tables. A man dressed in travelers’ clothes, having breakfast himself. The inn seems like it doesn’t have a lot of customers in general from what Sanora has seen so far. But she had only been here for a day as well so who knows. She takes a seat, and not a minute later Genny comes around with breakfast. Smoked fish filet along with some light soup and bread.
Genny is about to leave when Sanora stops her.
“Oh Genny? When should I pay for everything? Is it alright if I do now?”
“Don’t worry, your friend already paid some in advance yesterday” Genny says with a smile before getting back into the kitchen. Sanora just looks after her a bit perplexed. She sighs.
“Come on, as is if don’t owe you enough already” and with that she gets to breakfast.
She finished the lovely meal in no time. Bawarag is still nowhere to be seen though, so she decides it’s a good time to take a look around the village by herself.
Sanora waves a quick goodbye to Genny before heading out of the building. The road is right out front, to her right the gates and the rest of the village to her left and behind the inn. It was by no means big. Sanora can see all the ends of the village from where she is standing. On the east side its cut off by the river which runs right next to the road. Beyond it she can see the thick and lush forest, the treetops gently swaying in the wind. The north and south ends are where the stone walls stand, protecting the village and its guests from the monsters roaming the forest. The west is where the mountain starts, and the village extends as far as to the foot of the mountain. With no real destination in mind Sanora takes off walking north. But she can already see the gate and everything else. She takes the only way where the road splits, leading into the western part of the village. As the day before there are only a few people outside, although for this village this was probably an adequate amount. They are going about their days, carrying baskets with herbs and other plants, some are heading out with their fishing rods, and a very select few with bows too. The people around are nice, greeting Sanora with smiles whenever she walks past them. She couldn’t help but smile back, feel a bit at home.
The trip through the western village had been over quickly. Sanora had found a well in between the houses and is now sitting on the edge, enjoying the chirping of birds and the wind caressing her hair. She hears the laughing of children, playing somewhere in the narrow walkways the houses form without a care in the world. She has to think again, about herself, about who she really is, what she should do from now on. She has no memory of anything, nowhere to go to, no one to go to. But with this she also came to another realization. She has to go nowhere, owes no one. She is as free as she could ever be. So, who would tell her she can’t just stay? Enjoy this tranquil little village for however long she wants to. With her resolve gathered and a nod to herself she gets up and is about to walk back to the inn, the Weary traveler, when she hears something from the depths of the old well. She turns around slowly. Leaning forward a bit, she looks over the edge. Down there is nothing in the darkness, save for a few vines climbing up the walls and the shimmering water down below.
“Must have been the wind” She shrugs and puts it off as some meaningless, weird sound.
“You want to stay here?!” Genny asks with a gleaming smile.
“Yeah, I like it here and I don’t see anything speaking against it. Bawarag already said it yesterday and so I gave it some thought. I’d really like to settle down here” Sanora tells her. By now Bawarag is finally awake as well. He had slept until about midday though.
“Figures, my ideas are just always good” He grins at the two girls, causing them to chuckle.
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“So, what I was actually going to ask you is; how do I get settled in? Like, a house and all that?” Sanora asks genny, her expression a bit lost. She did her best trying to be polite and proper mannered with as little memory as she had.
“I’d say we have a talk with the mayor, that should get everything settled pretty easily” Bawarag says, nodding to himself.
“Ah well, we don’t really have a mayor here since the land belongs to our guardian deity. We never had a problem with new generation expanding, but we also never had an outsider move here.” Genny says. Bawarag raises an eyebrow at the mention of this guardian.
Sanora scratches her head.
“So, we need to talk to the guardian deity?”
“Well yes, but I’m afraid I can’t help you with that” Genny says a bit sheepishly.
“No problem, any idea where to find it at least? A general direction maybe?”
Genny just shakes her head. “Maybe ask old Karan who runs the mill. His family used to have most of the contact since they take wood from the forest.”
Sanora nods and gets up.
“Well then, no time to waste. I’ll go have a talk with him. What about you Bawarag?”
“Me? I think I’ll do some research. An old friend of mine should live around here somewhere.” He says, wearing an odd grin on his face. Sanora just shrugs it off as a typical Bawarag moment.
“Alright. Let’s meet here again by dinnertime then.” She says and with that Sanora is off to the mill. She leaves the inn and walks up the road through the village again without a hurry. It’s a short walk to the northern end. Despite her relaxed pace she reaches the last buildings after a minute of walking. The smithy is to her right, and the only general store of the village to her left. Seeing the store, she remembers that she still needs some spare clothes and probably a few other things. Making a mental note to check by later, she turns right. Hammering resounds from within the walls of the smithy, thick white smoke rises from the chimney. Sanora has no need for weapon nor armor though, but she is still a little curious as to what kind of person the smith is so she adds another thing to her mental checklist, hoping she won’t forget. Leaving the smith to smith for now she walks past the building. The old watermill is built right behind the smithy. The waterwheel creaking as it slowly spins. A stack of logs lies out front. A loud crack resounds, followed by another one a bit later. Sanora follows the noise until she sees a middle-aged man who is chopping wood. Another loud crack resounds as his axe whizzes through a small piece of log. His loose black tunic is sweat drenched, his muscular arms flex as he sets another piece of log. Beads of sweat roll down his forehead below his clean shaved head. He wipes some sweat off his face framed by a chestnut beard.
“Good day” Sanora calls out to him as she walks over. The man looks at her with a raised eyebrow.
“Good’ay to you too young lady” he says polite if a bit monotone.
“Sorry to bother, but I was told you might know about the guardian of the village?”
The man nods and sinks his axe into the chopping block, leaving it in there.
“My ancestors long ago have made a, contact with it yes. We were allowed to fell trees for building the village in the forest across the river” He crosses his arms as his gaze wanders over to the lush forest.
“Although lately we have not been in much need so the wood on this side of the river is serving us quite plenty. If I may ask, why does it interest you?” he looks back at Sanora.
“Oh, that’s a simple reason really. I would like to settle down around here, and the lass at the inn told me that the land here belongs to this sort of deity, and that you might know about it.”
A light smile grazes the man’s lips as Sanora tells him and he nods again.
“It’s not often we get some fresh wind around here. Well in this case Genny sent you to the right place. Although I have only once really communicated with our guardian, I can point you in the direction.”
Sanora wipes the fifth cobweb out of her face while wading through the forest. There was a small path on the ground, but twigs and branches were growing over it, constantly getting in her face and her hair. The owner of the mill had given her directions, but that’s no help when dealing with all the overgrowth. After a few minutes of stumbling through bushes she finally makes it onto a clearing right at the foot of the mountain. The incline was steep, and the forest around her lively and healthy. She isn’t far away from the village, still able to hear the river.
“Huh, this would be a nice place for a house” Sanora mumbles to herself while looking around. But even after walking around the clearing for a good fifteen minutes there are still no signs of any deity or guardian. With a sigh she sits down onto the ground, leaning against an old tree stump. Resting her head on it. Sanora slumps down on it with her gaze into the sky. There are a few clouds, birds fly around occasionally. The trees gently sway in the cool winds.
Something tickles her face. It’s an odd wet sensation, almost as if someone is licking her. She hadn’t even noticed she had fallen asleep let along when. Slowly opening her eyes, Sanora looks right into a pair of big, brown eye. The deer has stopped licking her face and now looks at Sanora curiously. She shoos the animal back and wipes her face with her other hand.
“Come on did you really need to slobber all over my face?” she half cursed, but the deer, being a deer, just keeps looking at her curiously. Sanora squints her eyes at it.
“Oh, and now you’re sassy? I swear if you don’t stop that you’ll end on my dinnerplate tonight” Sanora says, pointing at the deer. The deer just snorts.
“You’re really want to end up as a roast huh?” Sanora laughs and leans forward to pet the deer’s head.
“You know I have never seen anyone talk to deer in this forest yet, that’s quite rich” Sanora stops dead as a female voice resound from somewhere. She blinks, staring at the deer intently. It stares right back at her, locked in a staring contest they are both still for a moment.
“Did- did you just-“
“No, I am not the deer” Sanora jumps up as the voice laughs again. She quickly looks around to find whoever is speaking. A moment later she finds her, a young woman sitting on another tree stump close to where Sanora had slept. Wearing only a simple grey tunic and pants, her long hair is a stone grey, swaying in the wind as she sits in the stump cross legged. But her most prominent features are the black, pointy horns on her head, and the big black wings on her back.