When Nicalua said he didn't have much food he really meant that he didn't have much at all.
Still unaccustomed to this place, he didn't hide his little bundle of savings when he searched for shelter from the shepherd Celino, and so whatever he had had been taken away with force.
Because of this when he approached Rimi's business place his body still hurt from the rheumatisms of sleeping outside.
The sky was bright enough to see ahead, but not enough to be tainted orange on the horizon by the first rays of the morning sun.
A couple was waiting for him already.
Both looked to be in their early twenties, which made Nicalua unconsciously think how they would view him.
Had he been in their place, he would be amused that a kid of 13 years of age would be his contractor and even hold a bit of disdain.
But, as soon as the woman opened her mouth, he was reminded once again he had to recondition his view of the world.
"Hi, are you our client? We better get going right now if we want to take advantage of every hour of light we can. We can introduce ourselves on the road."
Thinking about it, if people his age were already working and could even marry each other, what contempt could the couple hold for him.
In the first place, he wouldn't have found such a weak resistance from his family when he wanted to leave if it wasn't for this.
But Nicalua couldn't say he was happy with this, in fact, he would have felt closer and even perceive a sense of companionship if they had behaved as he expected; his greatest dissonance wasn't one of mind and body, but of worldviews with the world around him.
Now a bit downcast he nodded.
"Hum. Alright let's go."
The couple both wore the local wool shirts and leather trousers.
The woman had many motifs, both of strips of stitched leather on her pants and of thicker needlework on her top, but wore no accessories, while the man had much simpler clothes, with a single embodied rope motif on his shirt, but sported four metal rings.
Even if they each brought different styles, they didn't look out of place even against the fancy colored linen clothes of their younger companion.
The dark haired girl's name was Luna, with a bubbly personality and open disposition that instantly clicked with Nicalua.
The elegant lad's instead was Fedelino, an uptight man of long and opinionated words, but as Luna described how they got together, his daring side was also exposed.
As they neared the exposed rocky side of a mountain, Luna started to explain the plan.
"We have to find the rorosa before the sun goes down. Then tomorrow, we will climb the cliffside together, harvest it and return immediately. If we can't manage to stay on time, the entire operation gets canceled and we return anyway. I'm sorry to say this Nicalua, but the payment won't be reimbursed."
"I understand, but could I know the reasons behind these decisions? I haven't been out alone for long and am not familiar with the needed precautions."
Fedelino explained with a monotone, as if he was recollecting a lesson he learned before.
"It's nothing too complicated really. Mostly it's because of our rations. We brought enough for only the two of us, as usually the client brings their own. But we provide the complete package, so we obviously will share with you."
Then Luna interjected.
"Actually even if you brought your own we wouldn't have remained much longer, mostly a day more. If we brought too much, we would have slowed ourselves too."
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"Sorry. It's true that I couldn't have brought that much food over even if I wanted, but I thought we would eat what we found while on the road."
Fedelino continued his explanation.
"If we did that we might as well have brought more food ourselves, we would have slowed down all the same.
Also, you would need to hire an hunter to best hunt or know what could be eaten in the area. If you only search for what herbs you know you might go days without finding enough to fill you stomach.
We will still supplement what we can find to our rations, but they won't be enough.
And all that is if you have enough water with you.
Unless you are in a caravan on a long voyage, it doesn't make sense to do all this."
Nicalua scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah, I thought about a couple of them, but without experience I couldn't know what was justified and what not."
Fedelino gave a flat 'no worries' and left it at that.
After that, they finally arrived at their destination.
Luna found the red rocky patch characteristic of the rorosa soon enough.
They found a near clearing and prepared for the night.
Fedelino went in search of wood to last the fire whole night, so as to scare the animals away, Luna took out of her bag some flint, iron pyrites, and a collection of different plants for tinder and started trying to light the fire and Nicalua cleared the ground around and prepared a couple of simple tents with their cloaks and some branches.
As the stew of fresh wild herbs and dried beef jerky was cooking, the couple was explaining how to climb with ropes and hooks.
"We all tie ourselves with the rope so after one of us falls, they can find purchase on the rock again. If they take too much though, we have to cut him or they will bring all of us down."
Fedelino didn't bother to look if the crowd heard him.
"Once you get to the rorosa, you have to harvest it with the hooks you carry and then carry it in the bag at your waist. Don't worry, even if the hooks are made to mostly grip and not to dig, the rorosa is more friable than mountain rock."
If Nicalua had to be honest he had enjoyed more the small talk they did on the way here.
"Can you tell me again how you got together?"
At this, Fedelino shut down immediately. If he hadn't had the chance to get to know him better, he would have said Fedelino got angry, but now he understood it was embarrassment.
Luna beamed at this and started talking frantically.
"Aww, are you getting red? You don't need to. Actually Nicalua, we indeed only glossed over the matter, it's good that you brought it up again.
You know how I said I was surprised he kissed me out of nowhere?! Well, that is because..."
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Nicalua had returned to the mountain hut where he was staying with Celino.
The meeting with the couple had been amazing.
More than a fetching quest, it felt to Nicalua like a pleasant outing, and from what he heard of them, it was reciprocated too.
This is what friendship was.
The strange society he had found himself him had made Nicalua forget about this simple and pleasant feeling, rather feeding him with stranger flavours of it that had instead hurt his subconscious.
But, it didn't matter now.
Drunk from the lightweightness of downloading a weight he didn't know he carried, he allowed himself to get a first taste of the rorosa, just a flake of it on the tongue that melted after a minute.
Nicalua slowly got aware that his thoughts were flowing faster, his reflexes and his movements couldn't keep up with it, giving him a slight nausea and making him fall on the floor from his seated position.
Suddenly, the door flung open.
It was Celino, scowling like he did for every single day that Nicalua had known him.
"Kid, what are you doing not working? I see you didn't even prepare the dinner."
Just like this, the man gave a kick to his stomach, making him curl up on the ground.
Then, Celino got him seated.
"At least tell me how it went with the veal. Did they gift it as thanks to the noble lords? Ah, knowing that greedy hag, she could have gifted no more than two legs."
Even though his thoughts were flowing at an accelerated rate and he had long prepared a lie for this exact situation, the anger and dizziness he was feeling right now made him stutter a non response of gibberish.
The face of the shepherd got scary, a shade of red Nicalua had seen only on embarrassed and shy people, something which clearly had nothing to do with the current situation. Celino seemed ready to pummel this little brat to death.
But that was the last drop.
In a mix of fear, anger and anticipation, Nicalua picked up the knife he had used to whittle the rorosa and stabbed Celino in the stomach.
The man immediately retreated from the pain and fright and looked at the boy in a mix of anger and fear. Before he could do anything, he dropped to the floor; a pool of blood slowly expanding, the flow fighting the cracks in the pavement to increase the size of the puddle.
The storming emotions inside Nicalua hadn't yet dissipated, on the contrary were now stronger than before, but his heightened state made him think of the consequences amidst all this chaos.
He would have to go away, again.
Sure, he had planned to leave a long time ago, his goal was still to experience as much as he could.
But that was before he met Luna and Fedelino. He longed to share with them as much of his life as he could, and that only after a single encounter, imagine if they had had more time together.
It wouldn't even have been that bad, after all, if the retired Mental Teacher was anything to come by then cultivating emotions was also a path to mental mastery.
What a fall.