Chapter 15—-New Day

Shibu felt himself stretch out long and deep, completely relaxed and very comfortable. It was the sort of sensation that forced him awake immediately. He opened his eyes to find himself relaxed on a wooden frame bed with a thick mattress and tight ropes beneath him, and a thick wool blanket, dense and scratchy, over the top of him.

He sat up in bed quickly, half surprised, expecting to find bandits all around him.

"Careful blue boy." A gruff and familiar voice growled at him. "We are safe, at the Inn, and the bandits are in jail."

Shibu looked over to see Fel sitting backwards astride a chair that had been turned to face the wall. "Come." Fel said simply. "I want food, and so do you." The canine said in a low, thick voice. "Master is waiting downstairs. He says when you wake up, we come down. Get ready."

Fel turned his chair around to face a wooden table where the canine retainer was playing idly with a deck of Ecaflip cards.

Only then did Shibu glance under the blankets, and notice he was dressed as little as possible. His hat was there as always, but the clothing he normally wore, including his unique shoes, were nowhere to be found!

"What am I to wear, Fel?" Shibu asked, trying to suppress a mixture of surprise and panic.

Without looking away from the table, or his cards, Fel spoke to Shibu from across the room.

"Closet, over there. New clothes for you, from the Master."

Shibu peeled back the rough but comfortable blanket, and quickly hopped out of bed. The sun was already up, and casting a bright light into their second story room.

The closet door indicated was only a few steps away on the opposite side of the room from the bed.

Shibu quickly opened the door, and had his breath taken away by what he saw.

It was a set of clothes different from his comfortable daily wardrobe.

Shibu saw a fine linen shirt with a low collar, and small gold buttons down the front that would cover him from neck to waist. Hanging beside them on the wooden dowel was a pair of dark pants, entirely different from the lighter wraps he wore over his legs most of the time.

He touched the strange pants cautiously at first, but when he felt the softness and the light quality of the material, he didn't seem to mind so much that the pants would go down to his ankles. They were clearly too tight to do any sort of kicking, but the formality of the shirt and pants told Shibu that he might not be kicking anything again for a while.

Shibu was relieved to see his normal clothes folded neatly on a shelf in the closet. He was happier yet to see his comfortable shoes on the floor of the closet, beneath the shelf.

Then Shibu noticed something familiar, and something different, which went along way to describe his new set of clothes altogether.

Sitting slightly to one side of the hanging pants was a new low-cut pair of shoes. The shape was instantly familiar to him, but the shoes were done in fine soft leather rather than layers of hide that wrapped his ankles. As he began to change clothes, Shibu was also shocked to notice that his body was clean, from the lowest edge of his hat, and even his ears, right down to his feet. They slid into the leather boots as if they had been made for him, exactly as Cici had made his familiar pair of shoes.

The fine linen of the shirt weighed no more than a cloud, and touched his bare skin as lightly as a noonday breeze. He left the shirt open as he sort of hopped to slide on the new pair of pants. These were soft, softer than combed animal fur, and what looked like a black color was really a deep and lustrous purple. They fit close to his skin, and buttoned easily up the front with gold buttons that matched those on the shirt. In the front of the pants, along each hip, Shibu quickly discovered what he had first thought were unintentional openings in the pants. But when he explored them with two fingers, he found that the small openings gave way to a small pouch made of satin sewn into the pants themselves. Shibu found himself surprised and delighted. Closer examination of the shirt revealed another pocket, just on the left-hand side. But this one contained a small soft square of the same linen material from which the shirt had been made.

Shibu knew what this was, as Aris also carried a handkerchief as part of his official mayoral uniform.

Shibu's next task was to carefully button the shirt, so that both sides were even. In the end, the only button he could not fasten was the one for his collar, which was just a little too tight to be comfortable.

After he had finished dressing, Fel rose from his seat at the table across the room, and with a pair of gentle and surprisingly soft fingers expertly buttoned Shibu's collar. The canine turned it down slightly so it would lay flat rather than rise up around his neck and in front of his chin. Shibu was instantly more comfortable and more confident still when Fel looked at him in his new clothes, and managed a small smile in the boy's direction.

"Did you-?" Shibu began to ask.

Fel shook his head. "Enripsa treated your wounds. She gave measurements to tailor. Clothes are a gift from the Master and the Tailor." Fel informed Shibu in very few words.

"Come along." The canine retainer added. "Master waits for us below. So does food."

Shibu felt just a bit uneasy in his new outfit, but the offer of food was one that Shibu could not pass up. For some reason he didn't quite understand, he was ravenously hungry.

If looking and feeling slightly silly would get him breakfast, Shibu was ready to make the sacrifice.

"All Right, Fel." Shibu said summoning up his confidence. "All ready."

Fel turned over one more card, the very last one, onto a precise arrangement of cards on the table. Then he looked over at Shibu and nodded. "Come along then. I'm Hungry, and the cards say to me that you are, too."

Fel pushed back his chair and swung it around so it was facing the right way again, and then opened the door somewhat ceremoniously for Shibu.

Two steps put him at the very top of the staircase, one flight above the grand common room of the inn, which to Shibu surprise was packed with upturned and expectant faces.

As he peered down from the top of the stairs, many of the onlookers down below broke into happy cheers, whistles of approval, and polite applause!

It took just a small shove from Fel to get Shibu started on his way down the stairs so that the canine could come out as well. By the time Shibu reached the bottom of the staircase, the entire population of the inn was giving him a rousing round of applause!

Shibu held his ground for a moment, quite uncertain that he was the object of so much celebration. Then he spotted a familiar face on the edge of the crowd.

No one in the room was applauding louder or more enthusiastically than Count Maxim! The tall noble in the dark riding boots smiled even more broadly as he took in Shibu's expression of surprise.

"Hello Shibu! I hope you slept well!" Maxim spoke up loudly enough to be heard over the polite acclamation of what seemed to be every villager in Emelka!

Before the Count could say anything more, another taller and slightly wider figure on the edge of the happy crowd held up a broad and heavy hand. Over the next several seconds, he waited for the polite applause from the assembled citizens gently died away into silence.

"Good morning Shibu. I hope we didn't scare you with our show of gratitude. We just wanted to thank you for what you and your companions did for us last night."

It took absolutely no effort for Shibu to understand that this was not only the village elder, but the owner of the inn as well. He was clearly another Enutrof, as he held a somewhat ornate, clearly more ceremonial Shovel in one hand as he spoke.

As the village elder paused, it was quite clear that Shibu was expected to say something in return. There was something of a long moment as Shibu gathered his thoughts.

"It was nothing, really. But if it helped the village in any way, I'm glad. We would've done the same thing in my village. I'm always glad to help someone. Thank you so much for your fine gifts. You make a stranger feel very welcome." Shibu said slowly, but speaking from the heart as he did so.

"You're quite welcome, Shibu. His Excellency the Count has been kind enough to tell us what you did last night in the face of those bandits. They've been causing us trouble for almost a year now, and not even the best of the men in the village have been able to stand up to them the way you did last night." The village Elder continued.

"My name is Eric, and while you're here with your friends, or any time you ever come back, you can consider yourself completely at home."

Count Maxim took an elegant step forward, relieving Shibu of the agony of further public speech. "Thank you Eric. We are all very glad to be here in the historic village of Emelka." The nobleman began in a smooth and polished tone that could only come from a lifetime of speaking in public.

"This village was once the home of another renowned group of heroes.

Many of you remember hearing those stories from your own grandfathers and great-grandfathers. Your generosity to our small company, and to our fine young Shibu has also been open-hearted and historic. Anything we have done to help make our second home a better place is certainly done in warm gratitude for your good feelings, and fine hospitality."

"Enough talk for now!" said another tall, lean figure on the front edge of the crowd close to Shibu. "Let Shibu eat, before we starve him to death with speeches. Growing boys can't run and play on words."

The sentiment spoken by another village elder seemed to catch the mood of the crowd, who broke into another round of polite applause. This time it was Shibu who was ushered gently to a special seat at the head of a long table which ran the entire length of the common room of the inn!

Once the crowd parted, and Shibu had a full view of the table, he was even more surprised than he had been a moment before.

The boarding table was actually four tables next to each other, in a long line, and all four of them were stacked with the finest food that the village could offer!

Long thin loaves of fresh bread, plate upon plate of fresh fruits, a roast Goball, with all the trimmings, larger than Shibu himself adorned the middle table. Around that, there were pastries, cakes, and pies of every kind, waiting to be washed down with what seemed to be an endless flow of fresh milk.

Shibu had never seen so much food in one place, not even in the yearly celebrations in his own village. As he approached his seat at the head of the long table, the rest of the crowd, including Count Maxim and Fel, took a communal step back.

"Go on Shibu, sit right down and tuck in." Eric said with a tone of gentle encouragement and a big smile right at Shibu. "You get first helpings of as much as you want, and anything you'd like."

Shibu had to sit down, because his knees almost buckled under the sight and the wonderful scent of so much wonderful food.

The truth was that he was absolutely ravenous, and everything spread out on the table before him seem to have an almost magical quality about it.

Without standing on ceremony, Shibu picked up his platter sized dinner plate, and made what was almost a running jump at The Roast Gobball!

Standing on either side of the imposing service as Shibu quickly approached, were a pair of waiters, wearing crisp white aprons.

All Shibu had to do was to stop where he stood, and offer up his plate. The pair of waiters carved for Shibu, expertly layering his plate with a rounded pile of succulent roast that would make as fine a dinner as it did a breakfast.

Shibu was careful and well mannered enough to bow to the servers, before continuing along the full length of the long table. He was careful to sample all the dishes on offer, and returned to his place with first serving that might well have fed Fel and Count Maxim, as well as himself. But Shibu was given the chance to sit down first, followed by his friends, and then by the whole crowd, who fell in line behind Shibu to get their own breakfast as well.

Shibu started to sit down with his plate, but then he caught a glance from Count Maxim, who made a slightly uplifting gesture with one hand.

Shibu set his plate down on the table, but remain standing for just a moment, to speak to the assembled company, as gratitude demanded.

"Thank you all so much, for the fine clothes, and for the wonderful food. When you're a long way from home, nothing feels quite so good as when new people become new friends. From now on, I have two homes. The same way another legendary visitor and his friends once did. I'll always remember all of you, and if you need anything from me, you have only to ask, because I'll always try to help my friends, and the people I care for. Thank you so much."

"Bravo Shibu!" Eric said with warm approval. "Now, less talking, and more eating!"

There was a gentle round of applause along the length of the table at the offered sentiment, and the whole village dug into breakfast, along with the new local hero and his friends.

Breakfast became an event for the entire population of Emelka, and not just guests of the inn. As the meal progressed, more and more of the residents found their way to both the food, and a chance to meet the dark-haired boy who was the talk of the village.

Shibu seem to like everything and anything that was set before him, complementing every dish with words and the occasional loud burp! He would apologize at once, but for many of the residents who had worked to prepare the food, Shibu's real enjoyment of it was their best compliment.

Count Maxim watched Shibu from a safe distance, at his own prominent place at the long table. Shibu didn't bolt his food, or eat simply for the sake of showing off. But as the first hour of breakfast moved into the second, Maxim was truly impressed with the amount and quantity of food that Shibu truly seemed to need and to relish.

The nobleman was no stranger to children. He had none of his own as yet, but many of the retainers around his estate had large families of their own. But watching Shibu eat, led the nobleman to think to himself that he might be under-feeding some of his own people.

As more and more people at the long table began to eat their fill, and push back their chairs to begin the task of digestion, more and more of the leftover food seem to disappear from the tables. This was not entirely unexpected, as more meals loomed for the rest of the day in a busy village at large.

By the time Shibu had carefully decided he too had had enough, after seconds and thirds of most of the dishes on offer, he too pushed back his chair, and was rewarded with another ovation from the gathered crowd, most of whom had lingered just to meet Shibu, and to watch him eat!

The communal breakfast filled the first two hours of the morning, which seem to have been made a holiday throughout the village. Shibu found himself completely recharged after the events of the night before. So much so that he accepted an invitation to join his friends in an after breakfast shopping expedition around the village.

Shibu welcomed the chance to move around, as sitting for too long, even with good food before him, was difficult for any boy his age.

Emelka was half again as large as his own village, as well as being the well renowned home of another local hero, famous in song and story to the local residents.

Shibu's first stop was both required by etiquette, and controlled by curiosity. As he walked from shop to shop, being introduced to all the local merchants, each one produced a sort of small commemorative gift or talisman of some sort in gratitude for Shibu struggle against the bandits.

When the group came to the tailor shop, Shibu was ushered in quickly so that the seamstress could see the town's new hero wearing some of her best work.

"Shibu, my young hero, you look absolutely glorious!"

Babette the seamstress gushed as she held Shibu gently by the shoulders to admire him from the top of his head all the way down to his toes. "Camilla wasn't sure about some of the measurements, so I just made some good guesses here and there, based on what some folks told me, including His excellency the Count." Babette explained, simply glowing with pride.

Do you like the shirt, and the pants? I made them from the very best material I had."

"The shirt is as light as air. I've never worn anything like it. It's almost like wearing nothing at all. It doesn't slow me down or make me feel like I'm wearing too many clothes." Shibu replied. "It's so very comfortable." Shibu added, not being at all insincere. Like most boys his age, Shibu had very little use for formal clothes that were stiff or heavy.

"And the pants." Shibu remarked. "I've never felt anything so soft in all my life, except for a kiss from my mom. What are they made of?" Shibu wanted to know, for he loved encountering new things, and learning all he could about them.

"That, my handsomely dressed young hero, is velvet, with a lining of silk underneath, so it's very light on your skin." The seamstress explained proudly.

There really wonderful." Shibu said earnestly. "Thank you so much, Miss Babette."

"You're welcome, you sweet boy. The only thing I'm sorry about is that Felice can't be here to see you right now." Babette replied simply beaming with happiness.

Shibu looked slightly surprised. "You know my mom?" Shibu asked.

"I suppose she never had a chance to talk about it much, but we went to school together when we were your age, Shibu." Babette replied, with a mischievous twinkle in her bright blue eyes. "So when I heard your name, I knew right away who you were. And I wanted to do something special for both you and Felice." Babette recounted. "When you see your mom again soon, you tell her that I said hello, and that I'll make you a new set of clothes as long as you need them."

When Babette was finished speaking, she took Shibu by the hands, in the same way his mother did. Then she drew close, and rubbed noses with him gently, in exactly the same way too! Shibu giggled and hugged the seamstress warmly. "Thank you, Auntie Babette."

"You're welcome, my sweet boy." Babette answered. "The next time you come, you must bring both Felice and Cici, as I'd like to make creations for them as well as for you."

Shibu walked out of the Taylor shop with his heart warmed by more than the linen shirt he was wearing.

The next door they came to was the shop that held Shibu's deepest curiosity. The alchemy symbol that hung over the door of the shop was something else that reminded him of home. So when the young lad ducked into the potion shoppe, he was able to duck directly under the short curtains which adorned the entrance.

No sooner had he stepped in, then a tall, lean figure who was very nearly too thin smiled warmly at him. Her expression accented her pointed features.

"Hello there Shibu!" She said as she rose from her own worktable, and knelt beside Shibu, so the two of them were closer to the same size.

"My name is Anya, and it's so good to meet another alchemist. Felice speaks very highly of your skills."

Once more, Shibu felt a pleasant touch of surprise. "Does everyone know about me already?" Shibu said casually, trying not to sound surprised, and failing.

Anya smiled at him warmly. There was a gentle light in her soft green eyes as she looked at Shibu.

"News travels fast, especially among potion makers, Shibu." Anya related, lowering her voice ever so slightly as she spoke. "Felice sent me a note that said you might be coming this way. I'm glad you could stop in for a visit. Thank you for what you did to rid us of those awful bandits. They made gathering supplies for potions impossible unless we paid them a tax." Anya told her fellow practitioner.

"Really?" Asked Shibu. His repulsion at the notion of having to pay for anything nature provided showed in his young face. "I'm glad I could do something." Shibu continued.

"You're just like Felice described you, Shibu. I'm so happy to meet you. When you're done shopping, come back here for a while, and you can copy any potion formula you'd like from my library." Anya told him, her voice full of gratitude.

Shibu's blue eyes lit up so that Anya's workroom might not need another candle for the rest of the day.

"Thank you, big sister Anya!" Shibu said, clearly excited by the prospect of learning something new.

Anya smiled, and took Shibu into a gentle hug. But as she held him, she also had a chance to whisper very quietly into his ear. "Come back as soon as you can, please Shibu. There's something besides potions that we need to talk about."

As the two parted, Anya nodded ever so gently at Shibu, who returned the gesture in understanding.

The group shopping spree continued through the other merchants and craftsmen throughout the village, each one of them producing a small gift in gratitude for Shibu's fight against the bandits.

When they came to the largest, and best built building in the village, a thick-set man with hair as black as Shibu's own, and wearing a set of light leather armor held up an informal hand, stopping the progress of the group before the village's militia office.

"And you'd be Shibu, unless I miss my guess. The man said, looking the boy over with a keen set of brown eyes that seem to look directly through him rather than at him.

"That's right Sir." Shibu replied looking back at the captain of the militia with absolutely no fear. "How can I help you?" The young lad asked.

"You've done quite enough my boy." The captain told him in a ringing proud tone. "We've been trying for months to find their hideaway, or to get them in one place so we can arrest them all at once. You did in a few minutes what the rest of my men couldn't do in three months time."

By now, Shibu was blushing so much that the color in his cheeks clashed with the color of his blue eyes.

"I didn't have any kind of plan." Shibu replied. "When they attacked my friends, I didn't think much, I just sort of did rather than think." Shibu confided to the soldier in command.

"Well however you did it, it was fine work Shibu, fine work indeed." The militia commander replied. "I don't know if your friends have had a chance to tell you, or not, so I will. You'll be happy to know that there was a reward out for both the bandit gang, and the individual bandits as well." The militia chief explained. "I stopped you so I can give you what you have coming."

As he spoke, the soldier took a large leather pouch off of his belt, and handed it directly to Shibu. The pouch was so full, and so heavy that Shibu had to take it in both hands, rather than just one.

"That's 500 Kamas for the bandit gang, 250 more for the leader, and 250 more for the members of his gang. Total: 1000 Kamas Reward." The militia leader told the dark haired boy. "So that is entirely for you, my fine lad."

Even the Count was moved to a gentle snicker at Shibu's expression. Shibu's face looked as if someone had handed him one of the Golden Eggs, along with the goose!

"Can I ask one thing, Sir?" Shibu wanted to know, suddenly sounding a bit urgent.

"Certainly, My Boy, Ask Away."

"Which way to the bank, Sir?"