The town was rather small and simple. Houses weren’t ornate, the streets weren’t paved, but these people didn’t live in straw huts either. Their buildings were of sturdy wood and well maintained.

The houses were built to fit neatly between the hill that rose and fell with the lay of the land. As they rolled through the street, people started watching them.

There were children hiding behind adults and marveling at them, some people even paused on the open street, or came out of their houses to greet them. But Liam also saw a few faces peeing out behind the curtains of their windows, throwing them suspicious glances.

Still their reception was more positive than Liam had anticipated. People almost seemed to be in a festive mood because of their arrival. The town wasn’t at all what he expected.

People here weren’t starving, fighting with diseases or cowering for their lives like he had heard in the stories. Quite the contrary, he could see some children playing in the soft grass to the side, their laughter ringing out over the long town roads. What’s more, people here seemed happy. Liam could see nobody with sunken cheeks or lurking at the corners trying to judge if he was an easy pick or not.

Nobody was missing a limb or battling the late stages of fever alone on the cold stone pavement.

They pulled into the middle of their town square. A space almost as big as some of the markets in Chairville, with enough space to house their caravan twice over.

A gentle looking older man came up to greet them cheerily. Two solemn looking teenagers trodden behind him, looking like they didn’t want to be there. They made their predicament known, but the man cared none for that as he strolled up to them.

“Blue!” The man exclaimed and drew their caravan captain into a hug.

“Michael,” Blue said, clasping a hand on the man’s shoulder. “It’s good to see you.”

“How have the roads been my friend?”

Blue shrugged. “So far so good. Spring is still treating us well, and we made a good pace.”

“That is great to hear,” the man smiled, and pointed behind him. “You still remember my two boys?”

“Ernie and Lepo, isn't it?” Blue asked, squinting a little. “My oh my have you guys grown.”

The boys behind Michael were roughly Liam’s age. One looked a little younger, with a short and stocky stature, the other was a tall and lanky boy that might even be a little older than Liam. Both of them seemed to puff up at the compliment.

“Yeah, they have been growing like wheats and eating like oxen,” the man laughed.

“Well that’s what teenagers are for,” Blue agreed.

“That and helping you stow some of your things,” Michael said. “If you allow them to help, that means.”

“Well we will gladly take the help. We could use a hand or two with the animals.” Blue gestured behind him. The boys moved over with eager expressions at the prospect of getting to handle the animals.

“Say Blue, when can we expect you to set up shop around here?” The man asked, rubbing his hands against each other. “It’s just that, you know the townspeople would like to know.”

Blue frowned slightly. “It has been a few hard days on the road. My men will need to rest for the night.” Seeing the slight look of disappointment on the elders face, he added. “We will set up for early tomorrow morning though. So tell your people to be ready and fresh at sunrise.”

The man smiled at the news. He clasped a hand on blues shoulder and led him away, the two discussing things too quietly for Liam to hear.

He was curious what they could be talking about, but he knew it wasn’t his business.

A man had a right to his secrets. Liam knew that best. Besides, he had other things to occupy his attention.

They led the wagons over to where the town's stables were situated, and unhitched their carts in front of them. Jerem, and a few other senior workers were taking the initiative, and roped the boys from the village in.

Liam began to work on unhitching the two donkeys from their wagon, as they were the once he had got to know the best. Over the last few days they had really grown on him. Instead of being skittish every time he touched them, they would now let him unhintch them without too much of a fuss.

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He also felt himself getting more confident with them, taking their harness off took him only a fraction of what it took him the first few times, and brushing them became almost second nature by now. The beasts hadn’t even snapped at his hand in a few days.

So Liam felt quite proud when he was able to move onto the second wagon, having cared for his first wagon in record time, until he saw the two teenage boys from the village had already unhitched two carts each of them, and were moving on to their third.

“Is it your first time handling animals?” The smaller of the two asked next to Liam.

There was no sting in his question, just curiosity.

“Lepo, let the boy be.” The older of the two chimed in.

“No it’s alright,” Liam said. “He’s right in a way, I’m still quite new to this.”

“He just joined us from the city,” Jerem laughed as he moved over to the wagon next to them.

“The city?” Lepo asked. “You mean Valiagha?”

Jerem snorted. “Please, that town is only slightly bigger than Regarlu. That doesn’t count as a city.”

“Their mayor says otherwise,” Lepo said quickly.

“Well whatever the mayor said, Liam here is from Chairville. Just joined us a week ago.”

“Wait, you are from the big city?” The bigger boy asked, turning away from his cart with surprise. Even the smaller boy didn’t restrain the marvel in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Liam said, rubbing a hand on his back. He didn’t know why this was so uncommon.

“Wow,” Lepo said. “How is the city? Da always said he spent some time there in his youth, saying it’s a place we should visit.”

Liam snorted. “I don’t know if it’s a place worth visiting…”

And just like that the two boys started bombarding Liam with questions. They wanted to know all about life in the city, and even though it felt a little uncomfortable at times, Liam happily obliged.

All the while he was still marveling at the routined way the two boys had in handling the donkey. With a few sure strokes, the bigger one brushed down his donkey, making it ready to stable in moments. The other one managed to untie the donkey's harness with only a few quick twists of his hand.

To his surprise he found both boys pretty amiable. Lepo was very talkative and excited about the prospect of city life. He himself wanted to move to the big city, as he called it, one day.

His brother Ernst was the opposite. He was a little more reserved during their conversation, but surprisingly sharp and insightful.

Needless to say Liam enjoyed the conversation with them quite a bit. The two boys eagerly showed him their small village, taking him to their favorite secret spots.

The sun was already setting over the horizon, while the three boys walked around.

The village was bigger than Liam had thought originally when driving through. The houses were nested neatly between the small grassy hills that rose through the landscape, hiding most of them conveniently from view. The streets were twisted and seemed to flow around the naturally occuring lay of the land. It was pretty much the opposite to Chairville. Although the streets were almost as confusing for outsiders.

The houses were all rather small, built out of wood and concrete. They seemed less spacious than most of the housing in Chairville, but once Liam looked closer he recognized that wasn’t a sign of poverty. Not at all.

The facades were neither chipped nor pale, each house had carefully trimmed lawn around it, and some even a small well maintained garden before their doorsteps. Warm light and lantern lit paths hulled the town in a warm and welcoming orange glow.

During their walks Jerem had joined them, completing their merry quartet.

They ended up sitting on a small hill a little walk away from town. The boys called it their secret place. You had to pass a small forest, and walk up a steep incline, but the view was worth it.

Even from the distance they were away, Liam could see the cozy townhouses as they were illuminated by the soft flickering of lanterns. From time to time a shadow walked through the circles of light, only to vanish in the tavern.

Somewhere the boys had procured a bottle of wine, and so they spent the hours of the night sitting at the top of the hill and sharing their stories.

At a certain point the moon had made its way far enough through the night sky, that the boys decided to call it a night. Of course the fact that their steady supply of brandy had been exhausted played a non-trivial role in their decision.

Liam and Jerem made their way through the small forest together, the other boys lived on the other side of the hill. Their goodbye was heartfelt in a way that only drunk promises between young men could be.

Their walk was filled with conversations. Some deep, some shallow. But all of them meant with their full heart.

As to how they managed to find the way at all, Liam never knew. At the end he felt like he and Jerem were only stumbling blindly, and drunkenly, through the night. But there was a certain magic to it, when you didn’t have to constantly be afraid of stumbling into the wrong alley.

It seemed to take forever, but they finally arrived at the guesthouse that the townspeople had happily provided for the caravan. It wasn’t anything special compared to some of the guesthouses and taverns Chairville had, but Liam was almost salivating at the thought of sleeping into a real house again.

Before they entered, the door suddenly swung open, revealing a silhouette standing in the doorway. The figure grunted and made its way past the boys, scowling at them.

At first Liam didn’t recognize the man, but after blinking his double vision away, he realized who that retreating back belonged to.

Bilby.

Just what was the man doing out at this time of the night?

Too drunk to care and too tired for curiosity, the boys shrugged and stumbled into the guesthouse.

The common room was already dark and silent. No one was awake anymore, and even the bar had been closed a long time ago. The boys tried to sneak their way to their rooms as silently as possible. And when they arrived, Liam simply slumped into his bed.

Sleep found Liam easily that night.