Marcus ran through the streets as happy as could be. 'I'm free! Completely free!' It was a bizarre thing to think when it first sprang unbidden to his mind. The weight of a legacy lifted from his shoulders. Nobody in this bustling distant outpost of the empire knew him, he was just a well equipped adventurer of mixed race heritage. The broad toothy smile that formed on his face was reflected back at him through a windowpane. That made the smile broaden, 'Even grandmother's eyes can't look scary over a smile this big.'
He walked with a heavy pack on his shoulders that weighed less than nothing in his mind, and at a break in between two buildings, the rising sun greeted him. Through there he had a clear view to the distant sea, towards home. 'That way, that way lies my grandmothers' bodies, that way lies my father and mother, my great grandparents, the family legacy. I wonder how father and mother are doing. What's Attius up to? So strange, an ocean and a continent away.' And yet as he thought that, he felt like flying and resumed his run through the streets, such was his excitement that he couldn't restrain his urge to simply continue forward regardless of what was in his way. He slid under the legs of passing horses, jumped over carts being wheeled out. More than once he looked over his shoulder to shout a "Sorry!" behind him to a waving fist and a shout. Though he wore his broad grin, unbroken, obvious, and showing he wasn't really as sorry as he suggested.
Finally he reached his destination. Konektu was more a large town than a city, at least compared to the Sorcerous Empire's larger metropolises, most of the buildings were built with the understanding that eventually they'd be torn down and replaced with more permanent structures as the colonies grew larger and more prosperous. Hence, 'wood', wood made the sidewalks, wood made the buildings. Wood was cheap and plentiful and what wasn't cut down locally could be bought from neighboring merchants. Still, it was good enough. Marcus ascended the simple wooden steps of the adventurers guild that, at least, Konektu was large enough to have.
When he went in, it was immediately obvious that the place wasn't much, the chairs and tables were crude unfinished wood that had barely been smoothed out. In a way, he felt at ease, which was why he sighed with contentment. 'After so much refinement, it's a welcome sight to do without it.' He thought to himself as he approached the simple counter.
A goblin woman stood behind it wiping it down and craned her neck to look up at him when he approached. She reached for a nearby cup of coffee and took a long, loud slurping sip. "Yeah?" She asked gruffly.
"Marcus. Signing in. New arrival." He said abruptly as he tried to imitate the clipped speech.
She looked him up and down appraisingly, and though she briefly shuddered when she saw his eyes she kept her gruff, clipped voice when she asked, 'You what they call a demon-elf?'
"Partly. Father is human." He touched the horns that came around the side of his head while she drew out a clipboard from beneath the counter.
"Got a plate?" She raised a black eyebrow with curiosity but didn't pursue it.
"Nope." He lied smoothly, but didn't bother to try to act like a 'tough peasant kid' his gear wouldn't have made that believable. Instead he played up his evident family wealth with a power stance, his shoulders back and hands open on the counter, taking up space and projecting presence.
Gertra looked the kid over, 'Oh great, spoiled rich kid thinks he's going to be an adventurer… OK, maybe that is better than 'spoiled rich kid thinks he can get away with exploiting people.' But still, I hope he at least knows something.' She suppressed her annoyance beneath her professionalism.
She slapped the clipboard down on the counter between his hands. "I'm guessing you can write?" She asked crudely and looked up at him for the nod she knew was coming. When she got it, she pointed to the quill and ink at the far side of the counter. "Pick that up and write, then. Fill this form out, we'll give you a copper plate and you can see our lead instructor, Bokul."
"No need for that, I'll take the copper plate as is, and go straight to a job." Marcus had a boyish grin on his face and it was clear the goblin woman behind the counter wasn't pleased with either it or his answer.
"I strongly recommend you don't do that. It's dangerous out there." She said sharply.
Marcus took out the letter he got from Bokul. 'Long as he and the others keep my secret and let me practice with them alone, I can keep my identity quiet.' He thought to himself as he set the letter down.
She looked down and took it in hand, "You got a letter of exception… from Bokul? 'Bokul I've got a stick up my ass for busting new recruits' thick heads' that Bokul?" She looked at Marcus with renewed interest.
"Yeah…" Marcus rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment, "see… the thing is…" He stumbled on his words, 'Ok if I'm going to lie I really should think two or three lies down the line. How do I explain this?' He asked himself as the silence stretched.
She slid the letter back. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. If this is genuine, he knows what he's doing. If it isn't, you'll just die out there and it won't kill me to fill out one more piece of paper."
"Yeah…" He stammered out and his smile got a little weaker.
"Sure you don't want to at least try for an exam for a higher plate? Copper jobs don't pay much, and if you're good enough for Bokul to grant an exception to, you've got to be better than copper rank." She explained at greater length.
"No, no it's fine." Marcus replied and vigorously shook his head, "I'm OK starting off at the bottom.
She frowned a bit, then shrugged, "Fine, stupid, but fine. What's yer class? Somethin comes up, people ask ole granny here for leads all the time on new teammates. Lotta death out there in them wilds. There's always a need for another meat shield." She gave a grim laugh and crossed her arms over her body.
"I'm a Black Paladin." He answered, already groaning internally.
The beady dark eyes of the goblin woman grew a little wider. She stared up at him in silence.
"What?" He asked hesitantly and fidgeted a bit under her stare.
"I'm waiting for you to say 'I'm joking', kid." She said curtly and tapped her fingers. "To meet the requirements of calling yourself a Black Paladin you'd have to at least have trained in one of the temples, and you'd have to have at least four undead based martial arts under your belt. Now, you still want to call yourself a Black Paladin? You want to tell me you're joking, I'll mark you down as a fighter or a knight instead."
He looked over his shoulder, the guild hall was empty. 'Shit, I should have just said one of those in the beginning, I really ought to think these things through more thoroughly.' He nodded sheepishly, "Yeah, uh, kidding." He laughed uncomfortably and rubbed the back of his head, "Just put me down as a knight."
"See, now that I believe." Gertra replied, 'I swear, every idiot noble's kid thinks they can just throw on some gear and call themselves whatever after they get some private lessons.'
She scribbled something down on a scrap of paper and jammed it down on a sharp nail that came through a small block of wood, it sat atop other papers, and then disappeared beneath the counter again as she put it back. "Alright, fine, you'll be stayin here." She pointed to a set of rough stairs that ascended to a second floor.
"Which room?" He asked as he looked up at the balcony behind her that led deeper into the building.
"The only one there is." She said with a cackle, "Listen rich boy, this is Konektu, ain't yer daddy's summer home. Yah get me? You'll be sharing that room with the other nobodies like yerself lookin for a party. Yah either form one with some of them, which is what most end up doin, or you wait for someone to show up down here." She jabbed her thumb toward the wall opposite the stairs. "Jobs are posted there, copper plate ones are mostly escort jobs. A trade caravan goin north or west or somethin."
"So, lots of travel?" Marcus asked with a hint of eagerness, without meaning to, he leaned forward a bit, almost looming over the small, slender old goblin woman.
"Well, yeah, from here to yer grave if'n you ain't careful. But yeah." She said with a dark chuckle.
"Except for the 'grave' part… fantastic." Marcus grinned his broad, boyish grin down at her. "I can hardly wait. By the way, why is this place so empty?" He looked around the open space behind him and gestured to it like she couldn't see it for herself.
"It's temple day." She said and looked up at him like he was a moron.
"Not from here, remember? What's temple day?" He scratched his cheek as he asked and looked down at her like 'she' was the moron.
"Right, Konektu got its start from the timber trade, what with the river running where it does, lotsa work, but not lotsa money. And the temples back home haven't put a lot of money into the colony temples yet, so as an act of devotion, there's one day per week where anyone not working, goes and spends a few hours building or expanding it themselves." Gertra mentally groaned at having to explain herself to the newbie, but part of her savored this much at least, and the pride in her town shone through in sparkling dark eyes.
"I see, why not just 'ask' for more if you don't have enough?" Marcus asked as if they hadn't thought to do so themselves.
"Cause we've got our pride. This is our town, our temple, and we can do it ourselves. Don't need gold from home when we've got our own two hands. We built this town, we can build our temple, don't want nothin from nobody who ain't gonna work on it with us." Gertra snorted and gave a sharp, decisive nod.
'Colony work ethic, got to say, I like it.' He thought before he nodded appreciatively. "I can actually understand that, you want to do something for yourselves, independently, not just being handed things just because of what you're part of…" He trailed off and blushed, turning his lightly purple skin a faded kind of gray. "Sorry, I'm rambling."
Gertra managed to give the boy a genuinely warm smile, her few remaining teeth on proud display, surrounded by wrinkled green skin, she shook her head at his apology. "No lad, you've got the right of it, an thats why a lot come out here. You got the right attitude for a colonial, good for you. You'll be alright if'n you learn and take care. But at least you'll fit in fine till you die out there, if'n you don't do that other stuff along the way to stay alive."
"Thanks granny." He said to her, "I'll take care of those forms now." he took up the clipboard and walked to the end of the counter, he took up the quill and ink, then took a seat at a crudely built table and began to fill it out. 'Next of kin… well hell I can't answer that. Not truthfully. I can't put down my actual parents, even out here they're too likely to be known. Dead giveaway.' After pondering it for several minutes, he wrote under his name, 'Marcus Jabara' and for next of kin, he wrote 'Valerius Knobknocker' using a nickname for his nephew, rather than referring to him as King of the Holy Kingdom, and putting down the location of a temple where someone would recognize the nickname and ferry word to the palace.
A few more minutes, and a few minor lies later, Marcus was done and returned the form to the old goblin lady.
"Here you go, granny." He said, dropping it with a clatter in front of her.
"The name's Gertra, not granny, but alright lad, board is a copper every three days, but six if you want three meals per day to go with it." She said as she yanked the clipboard away and headed off to file it.
'Finally. With that, I've walked out of the shadows of legends, and I get a chance to make my name and cast a shadow of my own.' He thought happily, and went up to his room to store his things while he thought about where else to explore in the frontier town of Konektu.
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Nalineth packed up as fast as her hands could fly about her room. An adamantite sword, orichalcum chainmail, her best boots and hunting tunics. Everything she needed, including a dagger from her mother, and a short hunting bow along with a quiver of steel arrows. When Nalineth was done she looked around her room for what she feared might be the final time. 'Wow, what a strange feeling this is…' She thought as a sudden onset of nostalgia hit her. The bed of expensive furs of fox and bear, the ornately carved and the arts of her people, with their flowing lines and faint colors surrounding the bright, stark faces in paintings to give life to the unliving works… she couldn't help but feel great pride swelling in her breast for her people and her heritage. She looked at the faces again as if seeing them for the first time, and feeling a moment of hesitation, fear in the pounding pulse that kept her from that step towards her bedroom door. A nagging doubt hit her, 'No. Stay. Here is home. Here is where you belong.' Nalineth's thoughts and unconsidered anxieties clawed at her.
How long she stood there was unknown to her, but the chirping of a bird beyond the window brought her back to reality, and as if the room in which she lived had spoken to her, she said a resounding and decisive, "NO." And darting her hand toward the door, she flung it aside and rushed out, slamming it shut behind her as loud as a clap of thunder. She rushed through the hall, down to the main floor, past the servants that had practically raised her. She gave them only a wave, a laugh of happiness, and a shout of "Wish me luck!" And then she was gone, the door to the outside flung open, the sun pounded down bright and clear, flooding her world with light, she made her way to the stable where her favorite Greater Direwolf waited for her.
The massive beast was laying on its belly with its head on its paws, its greyish blue fur caught the light in such a way that it had an almost heavenly white reflective color to it. No sooner than it knew Nalineth was coming, it raised its head to look to its mistress. She saw him cock it's head slightly as dogs, wolves, and people tended to do when something made them curious. Nalineth barely kept back the laughter at the massive head looking at her through wintery, ice blue eyes. Shen she reached him, she patted his head and scratched under his long jaw. "Ready to go, Harou?" She asked as it licked her entire face in one go.
She wiped her face with her left arm, "Yes, that is definitely a yes. Come on, then. It's a bit of a ride South." She went to the flank of the beast and hopped over top of it. It stood as soon as it felt her hands pull on its fur. And then she clenched her legs tight and kicked her heels lightly against it. Harou howled and pushed off with his powerful back legs, its paws ate up ground as she raced away from the estate of her father. Over dirt roads and through green wood, the beaten paths were options, options she frequently ignored as they rushed through the well known woods of her youth with the greatest of ease, her long dark hair caught the wind they made and it flew aloft behind her like the birds she loved to watch. "Go! Let's run, Harou! Run to the end of the world if you can, and we'll see what's out there together!"
She always wondered how many of her words Harou actually understood, but whether it was few or many, he certainly caught the spirit of his mistress's intent. If he had any objections to that, he didn't raise them, rather, it seemed that he had embraced them, and within no time at all, the home in which she'd lived was reduced to a dot, and then it was gone. Nalineth stopped briefly on a small hill to look around. Though she knew it was only one small hill in one small part of one small estate's governance in a very big kingdom in a very big world, she felt her heart pound. The great vista was laid out before her, rivers, valleys, prairies and plains, distant mountains and a dot far enough away that she wondered if it might even be the great world sea. It was, to her, as if the whole world were laid out before her eyes. Nalineth reached out and scratched Harou behind his ears. "Ready boy?" She asked, and without waiting for his opinion, she spurred Harou on again. 'Now… I can ride forever! Wait patiently for me world, because here I come!'