“No way. Bawarag! You old flea carpet is that you?!” Amni shouts into the hall.

Bawarag, who is sitting at the fire looks up, and his eyes grow wide.

“Amni! You old birdrest!” Bawarag almost jumps up from the table and comes over before he and Amni have a quick hug.

“Didn’t expect to find you down here.” Amni grins.

“Didn’t expect you to come down here.” Bawarag laughs, then looks past Amni.

“So, you and the lassie already met huh? Well, that saves me a lot of time.” Bawarag nods satisfied.

“You two know each other? Hold up, so that was Bawarag on the painting. Why didn’t you say anything?” Sanora looks at Amni, raising an eyebrow.

“Why didn’t you say he is literally staying here?”

Sanora is about to retort, her mouth already opening, but thinks it over again.

“Didn’t I? Oh uh… oops.” She says with a sheepish smile.

“No matter now, let’s get to business.” Amni just waves her off with a smile.

“Which is?” Sanora asks confused, but Bawarag and Amni just look at each other, with scheming smirks, before chanting at the same time.

“Drinking!”

“So, am tellin you-“ Bawarag slams down his mug, countless other empty ones jump on the table.

“-im sleepin with all the peace inna world, an suddenly this girl ‘ere just comes stumblin’ into me house.” He pulls Sanora in with one arm.

“You know how confused I was? Very!” he points his mug at Amni.

“Tell me about it.” She groans.

“I sense a weird person in the forest and come down to see her sleeping in the forest without a care in the world. Not even a tripwire with some bells. A DEER licking her face!” Amni spreads her arms in a dramatic gesture. “Imagine if it had been a carnivorous one!”

“There are carnivorous ones?” Sanora asks, not little frightened by the idea.

“No! But imagine there WERE some! That would be horrifying!” Amni shudders.

“She’s right! It would be!” Bawarag agrees with his mouth agape.

“This is going to be a long night.” Sanora groans, rubbing her temples and orders another drink for herself to bear those two.

“Sanora? Are you alright? Hellooo?” She hears a fiant voice call out to her. The ground below her is hard, and she can feel her whole body, especially her head, aching as she slowly comes to her senses again.

“Thank the gods you're still alive.” Genny looks down at her with a relived smile. Sanora groans and tries to sit up but promptly bangs her head in the table. Rubbing her head, she looks around. She is under the table they drank at last night, Amni still sleeping next to her. She can’t find Bawarag though.

“Ughhh what happened?” She asks Genny while crawling out from the table.

“You had a drinking contest with your friends. Didn’t go well for you.” Genny says with a giggle, extending a hand to Sanora who takes it gratefully.

“I can see that. Where’s- ah, there he is. “ Sanora finds Bawarag sleeping on the table.

“What time is it?” She turns to Genny again.

“Its late morning. Thought I’d wake you before my father comes back.”

Sanora takes a quick look at herself.

“I can see why yeah. Where do I go to get washed up around here?”

“If you don’t want to heat a tub, the river. But it’s frigid. We don’t have one for customers here, but I think its alright if you use ours this once.” Genny says, but Sanora shakes her head.

“I don’t want to trouble you. The cold water will help clear my head too.”

“If you say so. Oh, don’t forget spare clothes.”

“That’s the next thing on my list yes.” Sanora says, smiling at the blonde girl warmly.

“Alright then, back to waking those two.” Genny says, rolling up her sleeves.

“Good luck.” Sanora chuckles as she makes her way out of the weary traveler with the general goods store as her next destination.After greeting a few other villagers as she walks down the road, she soon stands in front of the only store in Rivers Rest, marked only by a wooden sign above the door with a weight scale carved into it. A bell rings as she walks into the small room. Its cramped all around. Shelves line the walls, filled with all sorts of items. Jars and bags, crates and chests filled with day to day commodities. And in front of one shelf stands a short man whom Sanora recognizes as Bok.

“Welcome, welcome!” Behind the counter, at the right of the room, stands a middle-aged man. A light stubble on his chin, his medium length, dark brown hair tied back into a short ponytail.

“Haven’t seen you around here, how can I help?” The shop owner asks, mustering her curiously. Bok smiles and gives her a greeting nod which Sanora quickly returns before speaking o the shopowner.

“Hello yes, I’m new, moved in yesterday. I need some spare clothes.”

“Of course. Right over there, just pick whichever you like.” He gestures to a small clothing hanger filled with a few simple tops and pants. With a quick thanks Sanora walk over to check the wares. There isn’t much to choose from. They are all a few sizes to big for her and quite simple. She ends up with three tunics and two pairs of sturdy feeling pants. She brings them over to the counter where the shop owner is busy writing something in a book. He closes it as Sanora comes over and sets down the clothes.

“I take we will be seeing each other more often in the future then. Its rare that someone moves here.” The man says as he looks over the wares.

“I’m Tonoc.” He says with a sleek smile.

“Sanora.” She smiles back

“That’ll be 3 silver and 15 copper all together.” He says and Sanora fishes one of her gold coins from her satchel and hands it over. A spark of greed shortly pulses through the eyes of the man, but it’s so brief Sanora barely notices. He takes it and shortly after hands her back 16 silver and five copper coins. She pockets the coins and picks up the clothes before making her way out of the store again.

“Come again!” The man says as she leaves. She gives him a quick wave before leaving, to drop off some of her stuff at the inn. She walks down the road again, about to reach the inn when she overhears two of the local women, carrying baskets filled with clothes, talking.

“Lately the well is kinda odd, I've been hearing all sorts of noises from down there.”

“I knew I haven’t been imaginin’ it! Told me husband about it, but he just said ‘women’, shook ‘is head and took a sip of his ale.” She sighs.

The other woman snorts.

“Men, typical. Wouldn’t notice a lurhcer if it bit him in the ass. Mine is no better, you think he’d ever actually go and wash his clothes himself? The last time he…” Sanora tunes out again, not really interested in the rest. But the part about the well did pique her interest. She isn’t the only one who heard something from it, but what could possibly be living in a well of all things? She makes up her mind to ask Bawarag and Amni as she enters the inn. The furniture is all standing in place again, the fire is crackling already, starting to eat away at the fresh wood and Bawarag and Amni are sitting at the table they slept at, Amni looking positively wasted.

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“Good morning, slept well?” Sanora says with a smirk, although she hasn’t slept all that well herself, it was plenty of rest to tease those two.

“Sadly, not half as well as I drunk.” Amni groans, her head lying on the table.

“Well, well I wouldn’t want to be in your skin right now.” Bawarag says with a grin, hitting Amni on the back. She just groans again.

“Anyways, I’m just here to load off some stuff. Once I get back, I guess I can start planning out the house... as best as I can at least.”

“Don’t worry I’ll lend you a hand.” Bawarag says.

“You can build?” Sanora blinks at him but he just shoots her the typical Bawarag grin.

“No!”

With an exhausted sigh Sanora makes her way to her room, to leave the clothes she won’t need there, before heading out to get washed up at the river.

She only takes along what she deems most necessary. The clothes she’s wearing right now, her good sword and the spare set of clothes.

“See you in a bit.” She waves at Bawarag and Amni as she leaves the weary traveler again. On the road she takes a turn down south. During day the gates on this side of the village stand open with a guard on top of the wall. The young man greets Sanora with a court nod as she walks out. She wants to make sure that no one will see her, so her plan is to walk until the village is at least out of sight. If she is going to live there, then every awkward and embarrassing moment she could prevent, she will prevent. And that aside, she likes the calm atmosphere of the forest, so the walk is a bonus. She takes a deep breath of the forest air, stretching out her arms.

‘It feels so good walking without the damn heavy armor. It’s like a weight is off my… wait there is a weight off my shoulders. Can’t believe Bawarag is wearing that as a full plate version. I wonder how much that weighs. Has to be at least my weight, but then again, he is tremendously strong. He was on that painting along with Amni too, that means he fought in that ancient war. So, he’s a least as old as Amni.... Over a thousand years. I can’t even get a feeling how long that really is though. I wonder who the other people in the painting are. The short one kinda looks like she might be related to Amni, but I really shouldn’t ask her about it, hate to see her cry.’

A lump forms in her throat at the memory of almost making the grey haired woman cry. But she puts her thoughts aside for the moment to just enjoy the walk instead of getting lost in her, relatively short, memory lane. After walking about ten minutes the village is gone, behind the light curves of the road and the thick forest all around. The mountains are still standing high around her, and Sanora can’t see the end anywhere ahead either. Deciding this will suffice, she starts making her way across the river, not wanting to wash herself right next to the road. The water she wades through is frigid. Genny hadn’t lied when she told Sanora, but she doesn’t remember it to be quite this cold.

“No turning back now.” She sighs and steps out on the other riverbank. She looks down the road both ways before taking off her top and binding it around her chest to at least have some cover. Kneeling down she looks at the water in front of her with a frown but then an idea strikes her. She holds out her hand, conjuring a ball of fire. She lowers it into the water and… it fizzles out instantly. She sighs.

“Was worth a try.” She grumbles before scooping up the cold water with her hands. She takes a breath and splashes it into her face, a slight stinging spreading all over her skin. She continued to scoop out water and rinsing herself off. She was about to take her makeshift chestcloth off and change into the fresh tunic when something behind her cracks in the thicket. She turns her head and looks into the forest. Her hopes if it being a friendly deer again are squashed immediately. A few meters away from her stands a wolf. Even larger than the ones that attacked Bok. Patches of its raven black fur are gone, revealing red skin, oozing with pus. Its eyes bloodshot and feral, its body skinny and flayed, foam dripping from its panting snout. And the worst part is that it’s looking right at Sanora.

She remains completely still, cursing herself for using her only magic in such a stupid way earlier. The sword is on the ground next to her, almost within arm’s reach. But she doesn't dare move as anything could cause the sick beast to lunge at her, and she isn’t keen on being under a wolf again. She swallows. The wolf doesn’t seem like its going to leave anytime soon. Gathering her courage, she slowly starts moving her hand to her sword. But as if stung by a bee the wolf darts right at her. Even in its sickly state it will bridge the few meters fast, for Sanora it's do or die now. She rolls out of the way, picking up the sword as the does. The wolf tumbles past her, unable to slow from its charge. It starts retching in place, giving Sanora the few seconds she needs to get up and unsheathe her sword. With a quick movement she stabs the beast into its side. It stumbles away with a whine but isn’t dead yet. Turning its wild eyes at Sanora, it’s about to charge at her again. But just when the wolf starts running, something hits its head and it drops to the groundsliding on it a bit before stopping dead.

With a sigh Sanora let’s her hands hang down. She looks at the arrow which has pierced right through the wolf’s eye and is sticking out the other side halfway.

“Are you alright?!”

Looking over the river she finds the archer. A tall man stands on the road. He looks similar to Bawarag, although he is about a head shorter. That still places him at a good two meters. His short, hazel hair is combed back, the heavy beard surrounding his face kempt.

“I’m good, thank you!” Sanora waves and shouts back over to the man who is rather concentrated on averting his gaze. She doesn’t even have to look at herself to figure that her knot has come undone during her maneuvers. She can feel her face burning as she cover herself with her arms and turns away.

“J-just a minute!” her voice comes out as a bit of a squeak, but she has bigger worries right now.

Finally clean and freshly dressed Sanora makes her way back across the river. The man had waited there, with his back turned to Sanora, and another arrow knocked in his bow.

“Sorry to cause you trouble and thank you again.” She walks up to him and he finally dares turn around again. He clears his throat.

“It’s no trouble. I would have killed a rabid wolf either way.” He nods

“Still, you saved me, I owe you for that.” She lowers her head.

“I’m Sanora by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, name’s Borg.” The man says, slinging a bag over his shoulder which he had set down on the ground. He’s wearing light but sturdy looking leather gear, which is hardly making any noise, a local hunter probably.

“Going to rivers rest?” He asks with his deep and gravelly voice.

“Actually, coming from there.” Sanora says as they both start walking back to the village.

“Traveler or merchant?”

“Neither. I moved in yesterday.” Sanora says with a smile causing Borg to blink at her in surprise. But after a second he too smiles.

“That’s nice to hear. Some fresh wind will do the village good. Where are you settling? The walls are already quite full.”

“Yes, I have a small plot right across the river in the woods.”

“You have land? There?” he tilts his head.

“I managed to talk down Am- mean the guardian of the village. She gave me her blessings and I… bought some building ground with my savings.”

Sanora isn’t a fan of lying, but just telling Borg that she got the land for free might cause bad blood all the same. So, she decides that a little white lie wouldn’t hurt for now.

Borg just nods.

“Been a while since anyone spoke to the guardian. Good thing you caught her then.” He says and Sanora sighs in relief mentally.

“So, you are selling meat to the village?” Sanora asks, looking at the big bag Borg is carrying.

“More or less. I’m bringing it back to my inn and then I sell it to the village.”

The gears in her head click and her face lights up.

“You’re Genny’s father?”

“I am.” He nods with a smile. “I hope my daughter has been a good innkeeper while I was gone?” he asks with raised eyebrows.

“She’s been great. And her food is delicious.” Sanora says with a wide grin which causes Borg to laugh.

“That’s good to hear. Haaah, they grow up so fast. Feels like yesterday I couldn’t even leave her alone for an hour, and now she’s running the inn all by herself.” He says with a sigh, but Sanora can clearly hear how proud he is of his child. A bit of idle conversation later, the walls of the village come into view again.

“So why move here? By the looks of it I’d guess you’re an adventurer, and by your moves too. Any slower and that wolf would have bitten you, and once you catch rabies you’re done for unless you can afford a really good healer.”

“Oh, I’m far from that. If anything, I’m a weary traveler looking for a place to settle down and live a calm live.”

Borg nods understanding.

“Well, you picked the right place… or so I’d like to says but to be frank the mountains have been a bit odd here lately. Wolves are coming down into the valley, and sometimes even worse.”

“Like that, what was it called, frost agnar?”

“You have heard too?”

“Seen even. Luckily from quite far away.” Sanora shudders at the memory.

“That’s worrying. If this keeps up, we will have to think of something. I don’t think I have enough arrows to take out even one.” Deep creases form on Borg’s forehead as he furrows his brows.

“Borg! Welcome back, good hunting?” The guard from the walls calls out as they walk towards the gates.

“As good as it gets.” Borgs slaps his bag with a wide grin. “Come over for some later will ya?” he tells the guard just before they walk through the gate.

“Genny! I’m home!” Borg calls out as they enter the weary traveler. Amni and Bawarag are still at their table, interrupting their talk as Sanora and Borg come in. For the first time Sanora also sees a small group of other people at one of the tables.

Sanora walks over to sit down with Bawarag and Amni when Genny comes out of the kitchen.

“Welcome back, you’ve been out long this time.” She greets her father with a smile and takes the big bag off him.

“Had an elusive deer to deal with. Wolves have been acting up a bit too. How’d thing go here?”

“As good as it gets! I even have a feeling we have some new regulars. Oh oh, did you hear, Sanora over there moved into the village.” Genny says with a wide smile.

“Finally, someone other to talk to than those old gossiping…” Genny mumbles something inaudible, but its enough to make Sanora snicker.

“I’ve heard yeah, I actually met young Sanora a bit outside of the village when… when…” Borg trails off, his face turning a bit red.

“He saved me from a rabid wolf.” Sanora chimes on from her seat.

“Oh right, hey Amni I have given this some thought.” Sanora turns to Amni with a stern look on her face.

Amni looks at her a bit tense.

“Aren’t wolves carnivorous deer?”

“I uh… guess so.” Amni says with furrowed brows while Bawarag just laughs.

“Let’s get the meat ready.” Borg waves Genny to follow him and the disappear behind kitchen door.

“So, what have you two been up to while I was gone?” Sanora turns to Bawarag and Amni again.

“We stared plans on building your house… or at least we tried. Turns out neither of us knows anything beyond ‘cave’.“ Bawarag says with a furrowed forehead, holding his chin.

“Oh well, how hard can it possibly be to build a house.” Sanora waves him off with a relaxed smile.