Chapter 6: E X P O S I T I O N (1/2)
Her clothes were barely holding together and her hair was an absolute mess. Dried blood stuck to both her body and her clothes. ‘I must smell horrible...’ Taking the traveling clothes, she immediately went outside again. The guards on night duty looked on with various expressions as the woman took a bucket of water and walked to the shed next to the well. Ilea undressed and thoroughly cleaned herself. After half an hour of cold water and hard brushes she got into her new clothes and went back to her room. Looking into the mirror she found herself staring back at her. Clean this time.
Going to bed she removed most of the traveling clothes again and slept. ‘This is the most comfortable I’ve felt in months...’ sleep came easy even though her day held some very jarring experiences. No dreams would come to her that night and a knock on the door woke her up rather early again.
“Ilea? Sorry to wake you this early but I’m leaving in an hour and would like to finish my business with you before I go.” Dale was standing outside.
Dressing in under a minute, she put on the traveling clothes and her cloak. All her other things went into the backpack, which she slung around her shoulder. Looking into the mirror she smiled ‘Looking like a real badass there mate.’ her cloak was down and her black hair flowed freely. There was no shampoo but the washing still did wonders.
Opening the door, Dale stood there for two seconds with wide eyes before he caught himself. “Oh, morning. Sorry you look….different. Very good actually.” he scratched his beard “Guess we won’t have to check your magic for witchcraft after all...” chuckling he motioned her to follow him.
“I do hope you burned those rags.” she chuckled at his joke.
“They hold some sentimental value, though otherwise I’d agree. How can I stay out of trouble in the city?” they turned a corner, most everything in the guard center made of stone.
“Not much really, no crime obviously or you have me hunting you down. The east side is a little rougher but you can run very fast, right?”
‘Not fast enough to run away from you...’ Entering a room, he opened a drawer and after searching for a while removed a couple coins and handed them to her.
“Three silver as the standard fee for a healer in employ of the city.” she took the coins and added them to her own.
“What about the gear?” She asked but he just looked at her confused.
“What gear? I’m not sure what you’re talking about Ilea. The things on your body are yours.” she simply nodded slowly.
“Aaaalright. Thanks a ton Dale, you really helped me out here.” she held out her hand and he shook it.
“No worries, healers are always welcome, no matter how crazy they look.” winking at her he motioned her to the door. “Any plans from now on?”
Following her outside and locking the door she answered “I’ll check out the city for a while and then leave again for a couple weeks, or months. Might be back for the festival though. Three months right?”
He nodded “Don’t get yourself killed out there Ilea. Yes, the city festival starts in three and a half months. Would be nice to see you there. Maybe you can join the tournament and run around a bit.” laughing together she bid him farewell and left the guard center.
It was early morning, the city was slowly coming to life. A bell could be heard in the distance and some dogs were barking. Ilea turned around and walked to the guard posted at the entrance of the center. Nodding to him she asked if there’s a place to get general information about the wildlife, the geography and the city itself. He directed her to the main library of the city. Apparently pretty much in the center of Riverwatch. Thanking him, she left and soon found herself lost in the small alleys. She wasn’t in a bad mood though. People were finally around her after so much time of solitude. ‘I’ll get sick of it again in a day though...’ she chuckled to herself and kept walking.
The architecture was medieval and very practical. No fancy structures or statues adorned the buildings, at least not in the district she was currently in. Children played in the alleys and people started to prepare their stalls to sell whatever goods they specialized in. The closer she got to the center, the more people and stalls were around. ‘There’s so much food...’ holding herself back because of her limited finances and fear of getting taken advantage of, she hurried to the library. The guard had described it pretty well and there was a fancy statue of a woman holding a battle ax into the air in front of it, which made it hard to miss. It was still morning, so navigating around the center wasn’t that difficult. Ilea already dreaded going back out in the middle of the day though.
Entering, the air was immediately much cooler. There were shelves far into the back of the main room, stacked with books. A lone librarian was sitting on a desk and writing down on a sheet of paper. Walking up to the desk Ilea coughed once. The man didn’t look up “What?”
Shrugging at his tone she started talking “I’m not from around here and need information on the wildlife, the geography and some about the city itself. I’m looking to be an adventurer someday.” trying to sound like a foreigner, which she was. And like a greenhorn adventurer, which she also was.
“Another life...wasted to adventure...” the man mumbled, nearly sneering at the word adventure.
‘Probably lost someone close to him to it...oh well.’ the man finished what he was writing and then rang a bell that was on his desk. “An attendant will….tend to you. 5 coppers per hour. And now schsh.”
Ilea walked a couple steps back and waited ‘At least he doesn’t pretend to be nice.’ ten seconds later a girl of around sixteen years appeared and looked expectantly at the librarian. He simply pointed at Ilea.
She walked up to her and held out her hand “Hi, I’m Maria. How may I help you. Oh it’s five coppers an hour if you need help finding books or information about anything. Oh and welcome to the Riverwatch library!”
Shaking her hand Ilea looked around “Hi Maria, nice to meet you I’m Ilea. Do you have somewhere to sit down? I need to know quite a few things.”
Maria nodded and beckoned her to follow. Sitting down at a table in a separate room Maria looked at her expectantly. ‘Wow she’s motivated...did she start today?’ Ilea thought.
“Alright, as I said I’m Ilea. I just arrived here in the city. I grew up in a small village so remote that nobody has ever heard of it and we weren’t really taught much. Only my grandfather traveled outside the village and he died when I was little. I learned some things from the books we had but as I said...very little.” the girl just sat there and nodded.
“Well there are a couple very basic things I need to know. Please tell me if anything I say or ask is offensive or forbidden. I really don’t know about that stuff.” She tried to look innocent and ashamed, which she basically was in a way.