Chance Meetings (part 1)

Chapter 1: Chance meetings

Life changing days often come when least expected. All it takes is one chance meeting and this was a day that was to be full of them. Raven Greenbottle was half asleep stretched out on the roof of one of the wooden box carts. “Renowned Greenbottle Troupe” was written on the side of the cart in bright clashing colors with accents of colored glass and polished metal that made the cart impossible to miss. There was one more cart like this one just behind it that also had a side that folded down into a stage and one third smaller cart that carried supplies that followed behind the other two.

Even as she dozed against the warm planks of the cart Raven was well aware of what the rest of her family was doing. She could hear her mother and younger sister Merla in the last cart making plans for lunch when they stopped. Her father was trying not to let his stomach growl as he drove the supply cart. Uncle Garrett was teaching most of her brothers a new card game that he learned back in his adventuring days. Only the youngest boy, Roscco sat out of the game so that he could drive the second cart. He was young but had a way with animals that has already earned him job offers from several stable masters. The lead cart was being driven by the family matriarch, Nana and right now she had the baby of the family Liddy for company. Jillian was likely in that cart too as she was supposed to be sewing some costumes though she was probably actually trying to figure out ways to make her own clothes more fashionable. Liddy started to sing one of her made up songs. Music was one talent the halfling performers did not have, the twins could manage a little on the drums if just drum rolls and rim shots but that was about it. Still even though it wasn’t pretty when Liddy got to the chorus of her little tune the whole family joined in unbidden.

“The road goes on and meets my feet
So many folks for me to meet
Another lovely day to greeeeeeeat
Just make sure there’s tons to eat.”

No they had no musical talent to speak of but the simple tune sung to the beat of the hoofs sounded pretty good to Raven’s ears. She knew better than anyone the harmony that family could bring.

When the cart stopped she rolled over on her back and noticed that the sun was high in the sky. The morning had passed quickly it seemed they were making good time and would likely make it to the next town well before night fall. As soon as the carts stopped everyone started to move to get assigned chores done. Raven jumped down with a distinctive flourish to her landing that she didn’t even think about as she hurried to grab a basket off the supply cart. She had foraging duty today, one of her favorites.

“See if you can find some blueberries I’ll make a pie for us if you find enough.” Merla said as her older sister made her way to the trees.

“I’ll find enough to make two pies.” Raven laughed as she slipped away from the road. They couldn’t always forage but this area was pretty safe and this early in the fall there was plenty to find. Almost right away she found a wild pecan tree with the ground under it covered in nuts and quickly filled a sack with them leaving them to pick up on her way back. Heading deeper into the woods she found some mushrooms, wild onions and a few of the different plants that Nana used in her tonics and medicines. Raven didn’t know their proper names but she knew how to recognize them. A few of them she even knew how to use but she figured she’d never be as good at it as Nana was.

She spotted a rabbit and half wished she had brought her bow but knew that Roscco was on hunting duty today so meat wouldn’t be a problem. She followed a small creek for a little bit hoping that she might find some berries and got lucky finding a moderately sized patch. She couldn’t resist eating a few herself but soon enough her basket was full. Looking east she could just make out the smoke tendrils coming from the fire her mother and sister would be cooking on. It wouldn’t take her too long to get back and she couldn’t smell anything yet so lunch couldn’t be ready. This was the perfect time to get some practice in.

Acrobatics and juggling she could practice around others even her archery raised no eyebrows but there was other things she needed to learn that her siblings didn’t and the scar through her shoulder reminded her of that ever day. Uncle Garrett had been a rouge in his adventuring days. Nana wouldn’t approve and neither would her parents but she had begged him to teach her what he knew. He said she was a natural but some things were hard to get the time to practice.

First she started to practice her footwork, with a stick as a sword just for the weight she danced around an imagined opponent using the skills her uncle had taught her. “Be quick and be cunning.” She moved into the creek to increase the challenge. Keeping her footing solid while not making too much noise by splashing and always keeping her eyes forward. “See far ahead, spot peril first. Remain unseen and break boundaries that restrict you.” Being light on her feet came natural to her and each time she did this it felt a little easier. Her imagined opponent had trouble keeping track of her. “The dagger's point is the first line of defence I am that point.” She moved in and out of the creek pleased that she was able to step light enough to get nothing but the bottoms of her shoes wet. “An unseen rouge is the most dangerous one and my foes will not see me until too late. I will be as the wind, unseen and as silent as a candle’s flame I...”

She had been about to finish off her imaginary foe when a sharp crack of energy above her caused Raven to look up and spot a person appearing out of thin air just a few feet above her head. It was such a strange occurrence that she didn’t know how to react and didn’t even move as this person fell on her knocked them both into the creek. It wasn’t deep enough for them to drown but both of them got wet and muddy for sure.

Raven managed to find her footing first and went to help the other person being quite surprised to see a young halfling woman. If Raven had to guess she looked to be right around Cade’s age and her eldest brother was 25. She had brown hair and striking blue eyes and a pretty enough face that Raven knew that Cade, and the twins would be tripping over each other when they saw her. What really surprised Raven though was that this woman was dressed in the robes of a mage. Raven had never heard of a halfling mage before and couldn’t imagine anyone in her family handling the rigorous and lengthy training, not even Nana and she was the smartest person Raven had ever known. Right away Raven could tell this woman was unique and that made her interesting and Raven wanted to know her better.

“Are you okay? Did you mean to fall out of the sky like that?” she asks offering the other woman a hand up.

The woman took Raven’s hand but still looked a little winded and dazed even as she got to her feet and steadied herself. She looks around a few moments in confusion and Raven could get a better look at her. Her robes were an earthy green and the traveling cloak and knapsack she had looked brand new though just as wet and muddy as the rest of her clothes were right now. She had a belt with many small pouches on it around her waist and tied to that belt was a sash with gold embroidered symbols on it. Raven knew that these symbols meant things to mages but the only thing she understood was that because it was in gold it meant she was connected to the Royal Magic Academy which was far south of here and said to be the best magic school in the world.

“If I’m not mistaken this is not the Summer Capital is it?” the halfling mage said finally finding her voice, pretty sure that this creek bed in the woods was not where she wanted to be.

“Kingsbridge?” Raven laughed “Oh no we’re far to the north of there. I can never remember if this area is still part of the Fens or if it’s considered to be part of the Great Green Sea.”

“What? I knew I should have just booked passage on an airship. I’ve never heard of a teleportation spell going this far off course before. This couldn’t have been an accident.” She made an annoyed sigh then glanced at Raven apologetically. “I’m sorry I’m forgetting my manners but this is just not how I expected my magical career to start off. Seems I’m already making a mess of things....literally. Here let me fix that at least.”

She held out her hand with her palm forward and her fingers stretched out and then speaks a few strange words as she brings her fingertips together and draws her hand back slightly. As she does this the dirt and water on both of their clothing is pulled out and away and falls back into the creek.

“That....that....that was magic, real magic that’s amazing.” Raven says in awe glad that she wouldn’t have to explain to her family how she’d gotten so dirty. Her brothers would never let her hear the end of it for falling in a creek even if it had been because someone had fallen on her out of thin air.

“Huh...that was just a cleaning cantrip. It’s nothing special, first thing most apprentices learn. Guess someone figured that during exam time doing laundry is the first thing to be discarded for more study time.” She extended her hand to Raven who didn’t hesitate to shake it. “Seraphina Goldmantle but most everyone calls me Sera.”

“Raven Greenbottle and it’s always a pleasure meeting someone so interesting. You know my family is heading to Kingsbridge as well. We’re performers heading that way for the festival so I’m sure you could come along with us.” Raven headed back over to where she’d left her basket and Sera followed after her. “Why are you going to the capital anyways? For the festivities?”

“Well kind of more for the tournament than anything else. Now that my real training has started I need to make a name for myself and find some skilled people to travel with. I figured the adventures tourney was a good place to start.”

“Oh I see...no wait what do you mean real training. Are you just an apprentice mage?”

“Oh no, I graduated top of my class so I’m a full fledged mage now but my mentor always told me that this is when my real training would start outside the safety of the school and that if I was very lucky I’d never really finish training. He also told me that mages are always targets and that I’d never be able to go alone. He said that I’d need to find some big wall of a brute as a shield and a compassionate cleric at the very least but that I should also look out for someone that was clever and crafty and able to keep danger away and that’s what I intend to.....” Sera trailed off as she noticed that Raven was making a strange almost giddy expression like she was trying not to laugh and wondered if she’d said something strange. “Uh....did I say something funny?”

“Oh no not funny just.....I guess something I wanted to hear and it made me happy. I like you Sera I can just tell we can be good friends so I’ll let you in on a little secret.” Raven had a look of mischief and held her finger to her lips to show it was something real hush-hush. “My uncle was an adventurer in his youth and he’s been training me in secret. He says I’m pretty good but I haven’t had a chance to field test what i know either. I always hoped I might find a group of trusted allies like he had in his adventures and then my family would be okay with me leaving. I wouldn’t make a good wall and I’m no cleric but I know a bit about bandages and stuff from Nana but if you need someone to be crafty and sneaky and scout out trouble than I’m you’re gal.”

“Wait so you’re a thief?” Sera was a little confused and looked more closely at the cheerful girl in front of her. Her mentor had told her that thieves and scoundrels could actually turn out to be good traveling companions but Raven didn’t match her mental image of people with that skill set.

“With the exception of my mother’s delicious desserts I’ve never stolen anything in my life I prefer the term treasure hunter or free enterpriser, if you must rouge in a pinch.” Raven tried to pretend like she was offended but ruined it by laughing. “I mean I’m not a member of the guild or anything but my uncle says I can already sneak around better than he ever could and I’m pretty good at locks and traps my combat is kind of so-so from learning acrobatics my footwork and balance are really good but the actual blade work is taking time. I think I’d learn a lot more through actually doing stuff. My family wouldn’t let me go off on my own but if I was with the top graduate of the best magic academy in the world....well that would be a different story.”

“I suppose it would.” Sera found herself laughing and had to agree with Raven’s earlier statement. She too felt like they could be good friends. Not once had Raven even implied that Sera couldn’t be a real mage because she was a halfling and for the last 15 years that had been almost everyone's reaction to her. She had gotten used to the first reaction to seeing her use magic being accusations of trickery or cheating. Her parents, her classmates, at least half of her teachers all thought she couldn’t do this and it was refreshing to not have to defend herself. “I believe you and I could work well together we’d just have to find a few other people. Perhaps we were destined to meet?”

Raven snorts “Destiny is rubbish but it was good luck.” A delicious smell reached the two girls at that point and Raven’s stomach growled. “Even better luck, smells like mom and Merla are through with lunch and you’re in for a real treat. My mother is the best cook around Merla is almost as good.” Raven lead Sera back towards the camp picking up the bag of pecans along the way and making small talk as they walked. Sera had never been to the summer capital before and was looking forward to the festival. The Greenbottles went every year and each year there seemed to be more and more going on. It didn’t start officially for another week and the tournament was near the end of the two week festivities but Raven knew that there were already people starting to gather there.

Lyle was the first one to notice that Raven had come back with a guest and quickly rushed over to introduce himself and of course his twin Beau was not far behind and it didn’t take long for Cade to notice what his brother’s were up to and rushed over to introduce himself as well.

Raven wished that she had been wrong about her brothers turning so stupid at the sight of the pretty young halfling mage. Didn’t they realize that between the three of them they weren’t even giving her a chance to respond? She glanced at the last of her brothers grateful that even though he was mature and responsible for 11 he showed no desire to try to flirt with Sera though he was clearly a little curious about where Raven found her but went back to finishing his chores.

Sera was overwhelmed having no clue how to handle flirting at all and was just wondering if there might be some spell to get her out of this situation when each of the three young men yelped as they were thonked on the head by Nana’s walking stick.

“Now i know you boys were brought up to have better manners than that.” She says sternly. “I know you all still have things to see too if you’re going to be having some of the nice lunch your mother made.” as they scattered Nana chuckled and greeted Sera with a smile. “I see my granddaughter has found a stray, you are more than welcomed to eat with us young lady. I didn’t think anyone lived in this area.”

For some reason Sera seemed to be struggling to find her voice so Raven jumped in to explain. “She’s not from around here Nana she was on her way to Kingsbridge using magic but wound up in the woods instead. I told her she could come to the ferry with us.”

“Well we can’t very well leave her on the edge of the Great Green Sea now can we?” Nana laughs, like Raven she found Sera interesting at first sight and was curious about her and this family was not about to leave anyone stranded.

“I’m sorry...” Sera seems to finally find her voice. “...it was just so surprising I didn’t expect Raven’s family to be halflings I figured you’d be grey elves like her.” Though now that she thought of it Sera knew she should have thought something was strange. She had never met a grey elf as cheerful and friendly as Raven and she couldn’t imagine the ones she knew as traveling performers. In her experience grey elves were xenophobic and judgemental but Raven showed none of thouse traits. So far she was glad that she’d ignored her own biases and accepted Raven’s offer of friendship at face value.

Raven grinned and blushed a little brushing her black hair behind her pointed ears, an unconscious habit whenever her heritage was mentioned. “Oh sorry for not mentioning that. I suppose I am a grey elf but this is the only family I’ve ever known so I tend to just think of myself as a tall halfling.” She shrugged thinking little more of it.

“Oh I didn’t.....It just surprised me is all.” before she could apologize more Raven put her hand on her friend’s shoulder and smiled.

“Come on let’s eat. Everyone calls my mom Cookie because she’s the best cook so you’re in for a treat and maybe Nana can even tell the story of how I came here. It’s a really good story and she tells it so well.” Raven lead her new friend over to where the temporary camp had been set up as she was a guest Sera got served first. The pot pie was rustic but delicious and made Sera remember how long it had been since she’d had home cooked food and she wasn’t sure if her own mothers cooking had ever been this good. She had been too busy to eat breakfast that day and had no trouble make seconds and 3 of the warm rolls that soaked up the juices so well disappear.

“That was delicious. Thank you Mrs Cookie that was the best thing I’ve eaten in a long time.” Sera said finally full enough to remember her manners.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. We made some pie as well but it has to cool a little before it can be eaten.” Cookie says snagging Liddy as she tried to sneak off no doubt to get some of that pie and pulling her onto her lap where she starts braiding her hair.

“Perfect time for a story then.” Raven loved stories and there was no one in the family bad at telling them but Nana was perhaps the best out of them. “Nana tell the story of finding me since Sera was asking. I love that one.” Liddy and the boys added their own requests for that story while Jillian wanted a love story instead and Merla was fine what everyone else wanted.

“Okay then the story of finding Raven it is....” Nana chuckled warmly and took out her pipe and began to prepare and light it. It had a long narrow stem and a small bowl and was elegantly carved. She didn’t smoke much but found it worked well when telling stories.

Drawing on the pipe she let the smoke swirl up into the air. “It actually didn’t happen that far from here. A week or two north into the Great Green Sea. Towns are far apart there so we don’t go that far north often but we were always treated so well by the grateful villages that it was worth it to go that way every few years. This was just over 20 years ago so Cade had just turned 5, the twins were rambus 3 year olds, Merla had just been born and the rest of you youngins weren’t even thought up yet.” Nana pointed at each child as named them with her pipe and then swept out her arm to include all her other grandchildren.

“It was a warm summer day and i was actually showing off a piece of my collection and telling the story of it to the boys to get them to take a nap. It was my new favorite piece, a ring of miracles.”

She held out her hand as if cuping something valuable in it and Sera couldn’t help but gasp. A ring of miracles was a magic item blessed by a god and said to be capable of doing anything a god could. She knew that there was only a handful of these rings in existence and they had value beyond reason.

“Oh it was a fake of course, a badly done fake at that.” Nana continued closing her hand and winking at Sera. “but it had the most wonderful story connected to it about a foolish desperate boy trying to save his village and that was the story i was telling the boys when out of nowhere whoosh and a blur of black feathers. A raven had darted out of the trees and snatched the ring right out of my fingers.” She moved her pipe in a flourish of movement to mimic the bird flying off. “I called for the cart to stop rushed into the trees to give chase. I was a good bit sprier back then so I was able to keep up a lot better than I could now but looking back I almost swear that the bird wasn’t trying to get away. Perhaps it was trying to lead me somewhere or just playing a game all I know is that when I did lose sight of it I was in a small clearing and the smell of blood was heavy in the air.”

Her voice grew softer now and there seemed to be more smoke from her pipe, partially obscuring her face. Everyone seemed to lean closer even those that had lived through this story or heard it a hundred times.

“I knew that smell meant bad news, at the very best I had come near a predator eating but my mind raced through all the even worse things that smell could mean. I couldn’t quite tell where it was coming from or if I was in danger so i moved around carefully then I heard a child crying and forgot to be afraid. I spotted some drops of blood on some leaves and followed them to a fallen tree. Loam and leaves and pine straw had been pulled out from under it franticly by something trying to hide away. Carefully i peeked in and saw a small child covered in mud and dried blood. She was so pale and passed out but was still crying in pain and the noise is the only reason I didn’t think she was dead at first glance. Her cloths was in tatters and I couldn’t even tell what had happened to her yet.”

Cookie was getting teary eyed remember the state Raven had been in when they had found her had to come over and hug her eldest daughter tight for a moment. Raven hugs her back but doesn’t seem that emotional at the story herself.

“It took some doing to get her out of there but luckily your grandpa had been chasing after me and was able to help me bring her back to the carts.” Nana couldn’t help but smile softly remembering her late husband and how determined he’d been to save this poor child. “We all worked together to clean her up and dress her wounds and it became clear that she had been lashed and beaten with fists but worse off all was a strange wound going through her shoulder. To this day i don’t know what weapon or beast could have made it and at the time I was worried she’d lose her whole arm because of it. We started calling her Raven because of the bird that had lead me to her. She looked to be around 4 and I remember how pleased Cade was to have another little sister and how the twins argued that she shouldn’t count as a big sister to them even if she was older. When we finally had her stable we put her in a cot in one of the carts to rest but as I was about to get in the cart myself I heard a voice right in my ear, like there was someone standing behind me leaning over my shoulder whisper ‘Quickly, you must run they can not find her’ but there was no one there. I don’t know what that warning meant but I was not about to stick around and find out. We didn’t stop until we had reached a village and we’ve never been to that part of the Great Green Sea since. It was almost 2 weeks later before Raven finally woke and she had no memory of when she’d come from and what happened to her and by then she was most of the way healed.”

“And I’ve been part of the family ever since.” Raven says with a grin though when she looks at Sera she’d see there was tears in the halfling mage’s eyes. “Oh please don’t cry. It’s not like I remember any of the bad things that happen to me.”

“Doesn’t that make it even worse?” Sera says rubbing at her eyes.

Raven just shrugs. “I’ll find out the truth some day when I’m strong enough I’ll go to Casel where the grey elves live or back to the place I was found and remember what I need to know. In the meantime I’ve got the best family, I get to see the world, eat my mother’s good cooking, make new friends and perform. I figure laughter is the best way to get back at whoever did that if I became my scars and got a mopy and sullen than it’s kind of like they win. Yeah maybe at first I was just being happy out of spite but almost right away it was happy for real when I let myself.”

“That is an interesting way of looking at things....” Sera considered it unsure if she agreed or not but she wasn’t going to dismiss the idea.

“Well speaking of happiness is that blueberry pie cool enough to eat now mom?” Raven grinned at Cookie and the older woman chuckled

“How quickly do you think it takes to make a pie young lady? This was already baking when you came back with the blueberries this is apple pie we’ll have the blueberry later.” Cookie gently scolded.

“Oh well apple is just as good is it cool enough to eat?” Raven’s grin made her mother laugh she went over to where the pies were cooling on the back of the supply cart to see if they were ready.

Meanwhile young Liddy had scooched closer to Sera clearly curious about their guest. “Hey do you know what happens when you cross a wolf with a sheep? You have to get a new sheep.” Liddy started to laugh but she had told the joke with no pause so Sera didn’t even know it was a joke until the girl started laughing and she looked at Raven with a confused look.

Raven just shrugged and had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing at her new friend’s reaction. Liddy’s jokes were all groaners and she told them with too much enthusiasm to have any sense of timing.

“What do you call a man with a pig on his head Hamlet.” Liddy was determined to get a laugh “What do you call medicine for horses cough sturup. What do you call holes in socks darned good...no wait what do you call fixed holes in socks? Darned good! What do you call....”

“Liddy stop....please.” The jokes fell flat but Raven couldn’t hold in her laughter and her sides were hurting and everyone else was chuckling at least a little.

Luckily Cookie saved them from having to deal with more of Liddy’s humor by coming back with slices of pie and giving the first one to Liddy and the second to Sera.

Sera took a bite of the pie and it just melted in her mouth. Supper had been good but this was amazing and she couldn’t help but wonder why Cookie was not running a restaurant or inn in one of the big cities or cooking for the boy king himself. Her mentor was a lover of all sweet things and she wouldn’t be surprised to learn that even he had never had anything this good.

She must have been making a strange face as both Raven and Liddy were looking at her with similar teasing grins.

“Isn’t Mama’s deserts the best?” Liddy says before stuffing an overladen fork full into her mouth.

“My Dad fell in love with my Mom at first sight and then he tasted her chocolate cake and asked her to marry him right on the spot.” Raven clearly liked the simplicity of her parent’s love story though it was likely a little bit more complicated than she said.

“That doesn’t surprise me I imagine anyone would want to marry your mother to get to eat like this every day.” Sera laughed a little “Heck if she was still single I’d consider it myself and I’m not into girls.” She figured Raven would take that as a joke like she meant it and was glad that she laughed at it.

“You know if you married one of her sons you’d get mother's good cooking every day anyway.” Cade said grinning at her in a way that was meant to be charming and not at all desperate.

Sera blushed, looked down and shoved some more pie into her mouth. Raven had figured out that Sera didn’t know how to handle flirting at all and reached over and punched her brother in the arm and gave him a stern look. Raven rarely looked stern but she somehow managed to pull off a Nana-like look well enough that Cade stepped back in surprise.

Raven got to her feet, grabbed Cade’s arm and pulled him off behind one of the carts telling the twins to come with them. She had to say something as she didn’t want them to make Sera uncomfortable. She wouldn’t stop them from trying to be friends with her but she was putting her foot down on the flirting they were all bad at it anyways.

While Raven was chewing out her brothers Sera finished her dessert and out of habit used a cleaning cantrip to clean her plate. Liddy’s eyes went as wide as saucers at this display of magic. “Oh wow you really are a mage I didn’t know halflings could do magic!”

Sera prickled up though she tried not to. She knew Liddy was just a child, 9 or 10 years old at the most and didn’t mean those words the way she had heard them so many times in the past. It took a great effort for her not to defensively snap back at the young girl but before she could finish figuring out a safe thing to say Liddy continued with words that made her prickles go away.

“Could I do magic if i wanted?” she asked with a curious expression and Sera smiled.

“Anyone can learn magic if they want to badly enough. My parents run a magic supply store in Kissantia where the Royal Magic Academy is so I was able to learn a lot when I was really young. I still had to prepare a whole year to take the entrance exam though. Different languages and alphabets and the rules about different kinds of magic there’s a whole lot you need to understand even for simple spells and then I went to the academy for 15 years.”

Liddy’s eyes went wide. “That’s forever, that’s longer than I’ve been alive even.” She lets out a sigh and shakes her head and it’s clear that she felt she’d never be able to learn all that. She had enough trouble focusing on an afternoon of lessons from Nana. “Oh well if I want to go on adventures I’ll just get Uncle Garrett teach me thief stuff when I’m bigger. So what other cool magic stuff can you do? Can you fly? Can you blow things up?”

Sera laughed. “Fly? Not likely that’s a very advanced spell you can only learn from a dragon or an Archmage that learned it from a dragon. As for blowing things up...well I know a few destructive spells useful in combat but the big flashy spells only kind of have a few uses. I specialized in using small versatile spells like cantrips and rituals. Here I’ll show you the spell I use the most.”

Sera held her right hand out slightly with her palm up and makes a quick snap with her thumb against her middle and pointer finger and a small stone on the ground in front of them rose up into the air.

Liddy gasped as did everyone else who was now looking at what was going on including Raven who was coming back satisfied that Cade and the twins understood.

“You can make things float?” Rave asked curious.

“No there’s a hand there you have to look real close to see it though.” Uncle Garrett says actually sounding impressed and he had the most experience of them around mages. “That’s a Helping Hand spell right? I’ve never seen one cast so fast and so hard to see, I almost didn’t notice it myself and I know what to look for.”

Raven tilted her head slightly and could make out a faint shimmer of something holding the rock. It was almost invisible but it did kind of look like a hand.

“It might be my best spell but it is a Helping Hand spell yes. I found a way to shorten the casting time and precision. Though I still can’t do anything to make it stronger though my mentor said that’s not that important and with the added precision I have figured out how to drastically reduce the time needed to cast identification and elemental rituals.”

The Greenbottles didn’t understand what that meant, not in the way Sera did but they could tell it was a big deal to her that she had accomplished this and she got several words of praise for it. She blushed slightly and almost out of habit used her spell to toss the rock up into the air and catch it several times then carefully put it down before the energy fingers meeped Liddy’s nose and then started gathering up the plates of those around her.

“Sera...dear have you ever considered performing?” Nana had a gleam in her eye that the family knew meant she had thought of something good. “Could you juggle with that spell? I know that would draw a crowd.”

Sera shook her head but she had a feeling that she couldn’t fully say no to the matron of the Greenbottle family.

“Don’t dismiss the idea so lightly. We should make it to the village of Thetford well before nightfall but we may have to wait a day or two for the ferry. A small town like that would be real impressed by something like that. Think about it for now we should start packing up and getting back on the road soon anyways.”

Sera nodded to show she would think about it but she strongly suspected the decision had been made already whether she liked it or not. Refusing Nana might take stronger magic than she knew yet.

It surprised Sera how quickly things got cleaned up and packed away. She could only describe it as organized chaos as everyone hopped up to see to whatever chore they had and would soon have everything in it’s place so they could head back on the road. What surprised her the most was as they were ready to go Roscco let out a shrill sharp whistle and 4 dogs come running out of the forest to greet him and get lifted up into one of the carts by him. One of the dogs has a small monkey riding on his back like it was a pony and the monkey climbs up on Roscco’s shoulder.

“Oh don’t mind my brother’s menagerie.” Raven says noticing where Sera was looking. “I can’t say they’re tame but they listen to him. I think they think of him as the pack leader or something he does an act with them in the show and it’s pretty amazing.” She chuckles warmly. “As you can no doubt tell this family has a problem with taking in strays. So where do you want to ride? On nice days I tend to ride on top of one of the stage carts you get the best views there.”

Sera had a little trouble getting up there even with the simple ladder built into the side of the cart though Raven seem to climb it like it was nothing. The afternoon passed mostly in laughter as the new friends talked about all the important pointless things that friends needed to know. The friendship felt natural and as the afternoon went on both girls started to feel that they were life long friends.

The village of Thetford looked not that much difference than any other small peaceful village in the kingdom of Xenos. It had no wall but a small watch tower next to the road right before the village that was manned by a small volunteer militia. Just past the tower was an open common area that Nana knew they could set up in though perhaps common area was too generous a term for what was just an open meadow. One road went through town looping around the base of one small rounded hill before looping back on itself in a loose figure 9 shape with the common at the base. The hill top was covered with wild flowers and bee hives as the village was known for its honey production.

Before the troupe could really enter the village someone from the guard tower shouted at them to stop before climbing down to greet them.

“Performers huh? I think I remember you guys being through here a few years back.” The man said as he walked to the lead cart where Nana was. “I seem to recall you being pretty good and not causing any trouble.”

He had a grizzled look to him that made Raven think that he should be a hard boiled guard in a big city who had seen too much and grown too old for this shit. Liddy apparently thought the same thing because when he came even to the cart she looked at him wide eyed. “Are you gonna put me in the clink?” she asked and the grizzled old man laughed and shook his head. Raven was still pretty sure that he had been that sometime in the past but had somehow managed to retire to the countryside. Though in every story she’d ever heard attempting to retire seemed to be the cause of death to those kinds of characters.

“Well we don’t plan on causing any trouble this time either. We were hoping to set up in your common if that was okay and maybe put on a show or two while we wait for the next ferry.” Nana says knowing that it likely wouldn’t be a problem but asking first usually made things go smoother.

“Folks here could probably stand to have a little distraction and fun. Mayor Evans would have to give the go ahead but I can’t see why he wouldn’t. Oh I’m Liam by the way, leader of the militia here and proprietor of the Mead’s End Inn just over there.” He points to one of the larger buildings in town. “I only have 3 guest rooms, we don’t get a lot of people there here but we got a pretty nice bathhouse and laundry if you need that. If you want to move your carts over to the commons I’ll go fetch the mayor.”

Nana noded to show that she would do just that but she was just a little worried now. Something wasn’t right. He hid it well but she could tell that Liam was worried about something. No one else seemed to have picked up on it so she couldn’t be sure. She hoped that she was wrong and they would have a pleasant uneventful stay in this small village.

They moved to make camp in the commons and it didn’t take long to set up at all. She hadn’t expected the inn in such a small town to be able to accommodate them but was glad to learn that there were hot baths. Judging by how quickly some of her grandchildren were getting camp set up they were looking forward to a hot bath, Merla and Jillian in particular seemed a little extra eager.

Sera wanted to help some and offered Cookie to help with the supper prep. With her Helping Hand she was able to make short work of the peeling and chopping. Sera hadn’t help actually cook since she was a small child when she’d stand on a chair in her mother’s kitchen. At the academy kitchen duty had always been dull but fine. Chores weren’t assigned after the 4th year though and if she was being honest she hadn’t been sad to give it up. Which is why it surprised her so much how much fun it was helping now as it brought back memories of her mother’s kitchen and simpler times.

By the time the Mayor shows up things were so set up It almost looked like the Greenbottles had been there for days. He was a cheerful looking plump man and he seemed to recall them from their last visit and comes up to greet Nana with a smile. “Nana Greenbottle it’s such a pleasure to have you in our little town. I can’t wait to see you all perform again. I know my daugher Gweny will love it too last time you were here she tried to mimic one of your tricks and broke several dishes. Now she’s old enough to know better but you’re still not doing that plate spinning act are you?”

Nana laughs. “That old chestnut? No we have to keep things new and change them up from time to time. We have an animal act now that she’d probably love. I’m glad things are still peaceful here we’ll make sure to put off a few shows before the ferry gets here. Do you know when it’s due.”

Mayor Evans frowned and let out a sigh. “I’m afraid you might have some wait. Legionnaires commandeered the ferry going south and north to take them all to Kingsbridge. The one going north is the one that would normally be here in 3 days going south but that means there won’t be one then. Might be 6 or 7 days before we get one heading that way. I wish I had better news but you’re welcome to stay here as long as you like. Just... make sure your little ones don’t wander outside the village much. Night time in particular.”

“Mayor is there something that we should be worried about?” Nana asked him bluntly.

He sighs and nods his head. “It may be nothing the Legionnaires seemed to think it wasn’t anything to worry about. North of here there is a cave where a troll named Blodd lives. He’s been there for as long as anyone can remember and generally doesn’t cause trouble. He’ll chase someone away if they come too close to his cave but he’s never killed anyone or bothered the village so we haven’t bothered him.”

“But something’s changed?” Garrett comes up to join the conversation. He knew that trolls were strong and territorial but usually harmless unless pressed when they could become deadly.

“Something yeah.” Liam had come back to join the discussion as well. He looked at the mayor for a moment and it was clear that the two of them had already debated how much to tell these outsiders. “We started finding strange things on patrols. Trees toppled over for no good reason, areas where it looked like something big had been thrashing around and a lot less animals or even signs of animals in certain areas. Things were getting closer and closer to village and several times i found troll tracks but I can’t say for sure that’s what caused everything. Then yesterday a member of my militia went out on patrol and he still hasn’t come back. The Legionnaires seemed to think he was just lost and there was no reason for Blodd to be causing trouble now.”

“No reason they know of.” Nana scoffed she knew the Imperial Legionnaire Guards were a powerful and respected order charged with upholding the laws of Xenos but in her experience they were short sighted, inflexible and slow to adapt and that was just the ones that weren’t actively greedy and corrupt. She could count on one hand the number of Legionnaires she had met that lived up the actual prestige and ideals of the order.

“It’s not typical troll behavior for sure even if a new troll had come into the area and there where having a territorial dispute it wouldn’t be like that.” Garrett was thinking but could find no answer in his experience but knew how dangerous unknown variables could be in a situation like this. “Since you’re down a man already I could help you some with your patrols while we’re here. Maybe pick up something you might have missed?”

“I’m not about to say no to that. With Neil missing I’ve only got one other person in the militia. Normally that’s more than enough as nothing much happens here. Last year we had a goat escape it’s pen and rounding it up was most work we had the whole year.” Liam admits and then take Garrett with him to the watch tower.

The Mayor makes some small talk with Nana before leaving himself but at that point Raven figured it was safe to slip away from her hiding spot where she had been listening in. She was pleased that even Nana hadn’t seemed to notice her. She knew something was up and this was the easiest way to find out about it. She went to tell Sera about it wondering if adventure might be closer than she thought.

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Continued in part 2