As long as I have enough coins, which I'm sure I have. The eggs I'll sell quickly. The beef and the chickens won't take long to sell either. The feathers are hit and miss but should be fine. It's just the cowhides. But most of them haven't cost me anything, anyway.
Urist stood and hung his blanket over a washing line to dry. The farmer pulled the door open and thrust a plate with three fried eggs on it.
"Sorry, I haven't much else to spare."
"This'll do, thank you. Thank you for having me."
"Did you sleep well?"
"The rain was a nuisance, but I'll survive. The blanket's a little wet, though." The farmer nodded and closed the door. "Nice to talk to you as well." Urist gobbled down his breakfast to start his work as soon as he could. He left the plate and fork on the doorstep and used the empty bucket by the dairy churn, emptied the rain water out and started picking the freshly lain eggs. Most of them were still quite warm.
He ran over to Seth, who was just leaving his house, and gave him the eggs. Seth gave the bucket to Gillie, who was making her way to the cow field, and gave Urist two buckets of milk. Urist struggled once more to carry them over to the other farmer. He swapped milk for cheese and hurried over to Seth, who swapped the cheese for a bucket of milk.
"He's got you busy this morning." Seth joked. Urist grunted and started his uncomfortable journey. The farmer thanked him for the last of the milk and bid Urist farewell. He took his cart back to the smithy and started by smelting the silver ore into unstrung symbols. The iron ore and coal Doric had sent was made into steel armours and a couple of longswords.
Urist looked to the sun and figured it was mid-morning, so he left a guard parading the area to look after his cart whilst he made his way to the Lumbridge swamp, with his rod in one hand and a handful of bait in the other. If there was one item Urist wouldn't leave Varrock without, it was his rod.
On the western bank of the river, Urist pitched up, baited his rod and threw it out. The sun shone on Urist as he sat waiting for a nibble.
Urist started to open his eyes. The sun shone brightly in the middle of the sky, it was now lunch time.
Sugar! I lost track of time.
He stood up, ruffled his clothes and started to look around at his equipment. A dozen sardine's lay on a large wooden plate, gutted and ready to cook.
"I found you sleeping, so I caught some sardines for you. I hope they were what you were trying to catch."
"Yes ... thank you. Who are you?"
"Father Urhney. I live in a hut here in the swamp."
"I bet you get a lot of rats visiting you in the night."
"I'd rather rats than some of the humans I've encountered in my time." Urist laughed.
"That's very true." Urist pulled out some baking paper and wrapped the fish in it. "Thank you for your help. I'm afraid I can't offer anything in return." A thought came to him. "Except maybe a couple of these fish." He returned them to the plate and handed it to Urhney.
"Thank you," Urhney said as Urist disassembled his rod. They waved each other off and Urist made his way back to Lumbridge. There was a bank on the top floor of the castle, Urist had overhead the town crier mention. The castle was quite grand, but not as grand as Varrock's castle. Two fountains entertained some of Varrock's citizens and the bushes were maintained by a gardener. Inside the castle, a large kitchen supplied the even larger dining room next to it. Stairs spiralled on either end of the castle, leading to the first and second floor. The first floor held the Duke's bedroom and a room with a spinning wheel. The top floor had a small bank.
Urist made his way to the top floor and had a breather overlooking the courtyard below. Fishermen were fishing, tree cutters were cutting, smiths were hammering and most important; guards were guarding.
Urist approached a bank clerk.
"May I have my bank balance please, lovey?" Urist passed over his bank book. The clerk flicked through the pages and after finding the appropriate one, searched through some paperwork in the filing system behind her. She pulled some parchment over and used the information on it to write Urist's bank balance on his book. After passing it back, Urist looked at it a few moments.
"I'd like to make a withdrawal of three thousand two hundred coins." Urist passed the book back to the clergy.
"Are you sure? You haven't much more in your account, sir, and you haven't made such a sizeable withdrawal previously."
"I'm positive, I'll be depositing it, and hopefully a little more, in Varrock a few weeks from now." The clergy nodded and knelt. She started fiddling with something under the desk, but Urist couldn't see what.
It's most likely a chest of some kind with all the money in.
A couple of minutes passed and eventually she stood up with a full money pouch. She wrote down the transaction in the book and handed both the book and pouch to Urist.
"Is there anything else I can help you with, sir?"
"No, that's it, thank you." Urist nodded and left. He returned to the road and along it, past the farmer and the wheat farm, and up to Beefy Bill, who was just finishing with a customer.
"I've brought you some sardines to say thank you. I know how hard it is to gather food in these parts, especially when tied down to your work." Bill nodded.
"Thank you. Not many people would have done that. I can spare you some beef if you'd like. It's the only food plentiful with this cow farm."
"Only if you're sure, I wasn't expecting it. I just thought as you have an appreciation for fish." Bill held up his hand to silence Urist and turned to his cart. He wrapped up some beef and swapped it for the fish. "Thank you."
"And you." They shook hands and off Urist went, back to his cart. He made his way across the bridge and noticed a string of items along the riverbank. Not much attention was paid towards them, Urist had to get to Seth before he started selling those items to other people. The horse was unfamiliar with the route, but Urist managed to guide him around the bends in the road and to Seth's farm. He tethered the horse to a wooden fence a little further north where the road was wider to allow for those passing it. Seth called him over from by the chicken coup and Urist returned the greeting with a wave. He walked over, but only got as far as the wall when Seth started talking.
"I have a proposal for you. I could sell you some more eggs, if you'd be willing to take two more buckets of milk over to the other farmer and pick up the bucket of eggs."
"Sell me that tray of cheese for a fair price too, and I'll consider it."
"I don't know if it's a fair price, but I can do them for eight coins a block. I have ten of them."
"Aye, I accept." Seth whistled Gillie over and she handed Urist the buckets of milk. Urist huffed and puffed as he carried, what he hoped were his last buckets, along the dirt track and across the bridge. The farmer thanked him greatly and gave him the eggs.
"You can put them straight on your cart. I've already put your other items on there." Urist grunted and found the eggs surrounded by other products to keep them from rocking on the journey ahead. Urist added these eggs to the pile and covered them over.
"That'll be three thousand and ninety coins please, good sir." Urist counted out a hundred and ten coins and put them in the pouch on his belt. The other pouch, from the bank, he handed over to Seth. "I'll count it when we get in, could you just help Gillie feed the chickens?" Urist grunted and Gillie handed him some seeds. Seth made his way around the back and started clanging with some tools.
"And what relation are you to Seth, madame?"
"I'm his daughter."
"Does your mother help around the farm too?"
"She sells our milk, cheese, and eggs at the farmers' markets."
"Oh, aye, I sell her from time to time at the Varrock one. She sells out quite quickly."
"She does indeed. Has her regulars, our ma' does." They threw the last of the seed to the chickens. "Da', we're done."
"I'll be right with you. Take the gentleman inside for a whiskey." Gillie led the way and opened the door for Urist. She took his coat and offered him a seat at the kitchen table. The whiskey was already on the table with three glasses.
Gillie re-appeared and started pouring just as Seth entered. He placed the pouch and took his coat to the coat rack.
"Where'd you get this whiskey?" Urist called out.
"Had it shipped in from Ali, the barman at The Asp & Snake Bar."
"Where's that, if I may ask?"
"Pollnivneach, north of Menaphos along the river. Cost just five coins, that bottle did, twice that for the transport." Seth returned to the table and poured the coins on the table.
"Sounds like you got a canny deal." Urist downed his drink as Seth started counting. Gillie took the opportunity to start roasting a chicken in the background. The smell soon filled the room and enticed Urist's taste buds.
"I almost forgot the smell of chicken roasting."
"We have the pleasure of smelling it regularly and we still enjoy it." Seth grinned. He finished counting and put the money back in the pouch. "It's all there. It's been great doing business with you. That should keep us going, even if all else fails." Urist nodded. Seth's wife burst through the door and was stunned by Urist at the table. "We have a visit, my love. This is Urist, he's a -"
"I sell crafting supplies at Varrock market."
"Oh yes, I thought I recognised you. Nice to meet you." She stepped forward and offered her hand. Urist noticed that she was quite taller, slightly taller than Seth even. She had long brown hair, tied back to prevent it interfering with her work, and quite weathered skin. Her physique was quite tough and her grip quite strong.
The four settled down for their tea and spent the evening talking merrily and drinking whiskey. At the end of the evening, Gillie pulled out a makeshift bed and made it up near the fire. Urist advised against it, but welcomed the comfort, especially after the night before.
Urist slept so well, that it took the smell of food cooking to wake him. Gillie had a frying pan over the range and her parents were nowhere to be seen. Urist sat up and pulled on his boots, wiping the sleep from his eyes when he finished.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Better than the night before. What are you cooking?"
"Steak, chicken, fried egg, onion rings, chips and fried tomato. Need a hearty breakfast before you leave."
"You shouldn't have."
"I shouldn't, but we all like a hearty breakfast here." Gillie started dishing up just as his parents appeared through the door. They sat around the breakfast table, including Gillie once the food had been plated, and they all started eating.
"Thank you for your hospitality," Urist said as he pulled his coat over and opened the front door. "And thank you for selling me your products."
"And thank you for your help." Seth waved Urist off and started fetching buckets for the milking. Urist started on his way back to Varrock. The road was a little uneven still, until he came to the road from the Mage Training Arena to Varrock, which was a cobbled road. The road weaved between the large wheat field Seth owned and a field with sheep in. A little further on was the stone circle.
Urist tugged his hood over his head and steadied himself so as to not look in that direction. Comfort only started to re-appear once he had passed the first of the guards. The stone streets of Varrock were very welcoming and the sound of people going about their daily lives was a relaxing sound.
Urist pulled up by his stall. His draw dropped. It was completely empty and an advertisement for it to be let hammered on each of the front posts. Boric was sat on the stool, with his head leant against the wall behind, and snoring avidly
A fist slammed on the stall and Boric shot out of his skin.
"I'm terribly sorry, Urist, there wasn't anything I could do."
"What happened?"
"It was rent day today -"
"I could have sworn it was tomorrow. Either way, I left enough money in the chest."
"I spent it all."
"On what?" Urist started getting infuriated.
"Staying at a bed and breakfast. You didn't leave me with the key to your house, so couldn't stay there." Urist opened his coat and felt inside his coat pocket. He pulled a key out.
"Damnit!"