Chapter Thirteen
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Chapter Thirteen
Unquiet Forest, Arborview - October 5, 5:16 p.m.
Traipsing through the cedar forests of Arborview, Orin continued his search for any possible clues pertaining to the Dark Council whose source of power he sought to return to Eastvale. It wasn't like he could simply follow the address Minette had slid him over breakfast the day prior, that would be too obvious. He lacked the ability to navigate this woodland town and its distant houses.
Trees towered over the knight, and despite his stately height, he felt minuscule in comparison to the trees that taunted him in the late afternoon with rustling murmurs, never-ending leaves scratching neighboring branches. Idiotic trees, he eyerolled, how could I ever hear for any sign of life in this damned place with these trees? Still, he loyally followed the dirt path through the forest and barely tolerated the bushes brushing against his feet.
He spotted something in the distance.
A glimmer of hope greeted him from above, Orin's crimson eyes staring up at what appeared to be a roof.
"This whole thing is pathetic. I feel like I just found an oasis in this desert, thank fucking goodness," he muttered, mocking his situation and wandering toward the distant roof that hid between the canopies of trees.
At last! The dirt path lead him directly to a run-down abode stained with sun. He noticed the sign, which suggested snacks - not only did it suggest snacks, but drinks! Praise the sun, I have found my oasis after all! The prospect of booze to recuperate from this shitty predicament sounded too lucrative.
Was this place even open? Orin couldn't imagine that many would find this place here secreted in the depths of a forest. But hey, maybe Arborview did have people, but they hid out in the forests, Orin had no idea.
The wooden door bursted open with an overly cheerful girl clad in a mess of plaid and stained overalls interrupting his thoughts, "Oh no, sweetie! I hope I didn't keep you waiting! Oh I did, didn't I?" She looked genuinely worried and held her tanned hand to her chest.
"You sure kept me waiting if you have some strong, strong ale behind that door," he pointed at the door and smiled at her.
"Oh no! I really didn't mean to, honest! I'm new here," she fidgeted with one of her braids and stared at the the knight, "Please don't be upset, I assure you that we have the most enjoyable ale that the Unquiet Forest has to offer. I mean - not that I'd know about the most enjoyable part, with being underage and all myself!" The girl's face revealed redness upon her cheeks, clearly nervous about her profession.
Orin raised an eyebrow at her, he almost wanted to laugh at the girl's unnecessary fretting. "...I was just kidding about the 'kept me waiting' part, you know." The sun glowed upon the trees and gleamed in his squinting eyes.
She clasped her hands together and eased with a simper, "Oh, sorry! Well, that's just wonderful, I'm so glad you aren't upset with me! Just please don't tell my boss that I said the ale was enjoyable and that I greeted you moments late! I'd be in so much trouble! And it's not like we get many guests anyway, so she'd never forgive me if I lost a patron!"
He stayed quiet, not sure what to make of this young adult girl breaking out of her teenage years. She seemed awkward and too concerned about trivial matters, matters that he didn't care to listen to. She continued to ramble and Orin drowned out her banter. This girl is seriously making me lose my patience, dammit.
"- Uhm, so, may I invite you inside? I would so like for you enjoy what the Unquiet Forest's Edge has to offer! I promise you'll like it, this place has a really homey environment, makes you feel like you're drinking high-quality ale right at home! What could be better than that? I mean, not that I'd know anything about that personally," she bounced restlessly.
"Sure."
The girl babbled as Orin followed her into the shack, if he'd even call it that. He stopped in his steps to examine this place, trash bags bursting with the stench of rotten food resided against weathered fences flaking with paint.
And this girl dare claim that dining here was similar to dining at home? This place is a shithole, he thought in disgust, this place was not like Eastvale at all or like any home he had entered.
Arms crossed, he couldn't determine exactly what the hell this place was, it seemed confused about its identity. Nonetheless, those residing in the Unquiet Forest's Edge merrily engaged in conversations at their tables, they didn't seem to mind the decor at all unlike Orin.
"Papa, can this nice customer please sit at your table? I just don't know what to do with him and I want to give him the best service possible! Ugh, I wish we had more clean tables!" the girl spoke to a man in a suede hat across the table.
Are you joking? Orin wanted to rage about this place, Arborview was a hellhole in general, not just this shack, but this shack could sum up all that he had seen of this agricultural town in whole since yesterday. The only thing that held him back from boiling over was not wanting to upset the waitress, hostess, conversationalist, girl…whatever she was. Damn you, Unquiet Forest's Edge, I just want to drink in peace.
The man tilted his hat to further glance up at his daughter, he looked about as displeased as Orin felt on the inside, "Come on, Essie! What did I tell you about interrupting my conversations every time I come here?"
"Please papa, I just want my customer to be at a hospitable table! Pretty please! I think he's a really great guy and he deserves the best!"
The girl made a pouty face at her father and Orin hung his head in annoyance, the girl acted like she was a pre-adolescent asking her dad a favor in her much too exuberant tone. Her voice made the run-down shack even more unbearable as it clashed with the junky, sad look of the place. The sight of the weed overgrowth climbing the fence pissed him off.
With a groan, her father pointed at an empty wooden stool across from him and said, "Alright, then. You sit here, boy."
Orin sat down on the stool offered to him, "Hey guys, I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation. I'll be quick here."
"It's quite alright, traveler," a woman with a mop of gingery hair stared suspiciously at him, her yellow eyes like two flaring suns smoldering him.
"Traveler? How do you know I'm a traveler?" Was it that obvious? He didn't want to present himself as skeptical to any Arborview denizen.
Her gaze never left his face, she responded in the same calm, nearly monotonous voice, "It's difficult to miss a traveler. Travelers are rare occurrences and, as you can see, our town isn't so populated to begin with."
The fern planted in a small pot on the cask table shook in the gust, it desired to escape this place as much as Orin wanted to.
"So, where are you from, traveler?" Silence.
"Guys, don't get too comfy yet because there's one strong ale coming up at this table! And it's so potent! I mean, not that I'd know that myself from my own personal experience. But I know, well, because I work here!" Essie chirped and held a glass toward Orin's left, "Here you go, cutie! I hope you enjoy it, I poured it myself specially for you!"
I don't know whether to feel flattered that this girl poured my drink, or afraid… "Thanks."
Orin took the glass and lifted it to his lips as the girl flittered away to tend to other tables. The bubbles at the top of the glass smelled aromatic to him, a favorite odor. He sampled the ale and concluded that it perhaps wasn't so bad, just tasted a bit as though it was mixed in an old boot somewhere, but quite strong. The alcohol scalded his throat on the way down.
Essie's father waved at him from across the table, trying to captivate the knight's attention from the glass in front of him, "Hey, boy. I have a proposition for you."
"Yeah? What's that?" Orin fidgeted with his drink.
"I think you should marry my daughter, I give you my blessings. She's a fine lady, maybe a little talkative, but that's all part of her age, she'll grow up. She's a loyal follower of the earth elemental and would bring prosperity to any family crop from the earth with her prayer. By the way, I think she's already quite fond of you, haven't seen Essie like this before around a young man," the man grinned for the first time.
What the fuck is wrong with these backwater people? "Heheh, you've got jokes, old man!" He faked a laugh and took several more sips of his drink.
"Just puttin' the proposition out there. I know a traveler would give my girl a good life away from Arborview and she'd be a considerate wife, she means well," he nodded and turned back to the lady at the table, whose gaze rarely left Orin's face. The two carried on with their conversation and the pang of ale hit Orin as sudden as the rash proposition.
Holy crap, this stuff is pretty damned strong, and I've only downed half of the glass. That girl wasn't joking about the potency. Orin presumed that he was teetering on the brink of a drunken state and that frightened him, normally several many glasses would get him there, not half of one.
Conversations drowned in and out and he couldn't focus on any topics for long with this newfound dizziness.
He heard something about how heated the summer season was and the crops that suffered, about the girl who won the Arborview beauty pageant at the county fair last year and her shameful promiscuous activity since (What's so promiscuous about having sex before marriage anyway?), and about the small wildfire that broke out yesterday several miles south, and blaming it on the denizens neglecting the fire elemental.
Orin smiled stupidly and attempted to listen to the two talk, basking in the twirling dizzy visions of this hellhole shack transforming into mottles of spinning colors like a kaleidoscope.
Visions kept blurring. The woman agreed with Essie's father, "Yes, the fire elemental isn't an entity to be neglected, it's a vain yet radiant element and requires admiration in some regard or else it may anger and ignite the grasslands of what we hold dear. People should know that, so in a way they should be punished for their disrespect."
"Yeap. It's common sense. Pity the Brambles had to learn the hard way with that fire," the man added, "Heard they've been paying the fire elemental a lot more respect ever since."
Red hair bobbed up and down, the lady in agreement once more, "And rightly they should. All elementals should be given the respect deities deserve." Oh right! I'm here to rescue an elemental. How the hell am I going to do this anyway? Wow, I'm really, really drunk.
Potted ferns appeared dazzling in streaks of lime with Orin's impaired eyesight, he vowed not to consume any more of the drink for his own sake. Reminded of his purpose in coming to this rural town, he fixated on his mission.
"What's on your mind, traveler? You look lost." The lady questioned him, realizing that Orin had not spoken in quite some time. She looked like a tree in perpetual autumn with her willowy trunk, brown shirt, and carrot-colored hair.
He wasn't sure how to put it. How could he say it in this state? He tried anyway, he had a mission and he wouldn't forget that he wanted to get back to Eastvale, and get back to Eastvale soon.
The dizziness slightly subsided but his thought process felt dilapidated nonetheless. Orin had to try to get answers, he had tried all yesterday with locals in the most nonchalant way and he'd do the same here.
"So…do you know anything about a cult whose base is here in Arborview?" The lady's mouth opened, alarmed by his abrupt inquiry.
"Let's go outside. Now. Don't say another word about the subject you mentioned until we are out of this establishment," she whispered and shot him a stern look, her eyes flaring bright gold like the booze he drank.
She got up and tapped the elderly man on the shoulder, "Geor, we'll be back in just a moment. We're just trading some crops outside, nothing serious so don't worry."
"I'm not gonna worry," he nodded and smiled, "Take care."
Orin followed a bit behind her, the drunken state waning due to his own shock. The word "Now." echoed through his head. Was he in danger? Was it offensive to mention the cult to this lady? Now what? He walked out the back door, thoughts racing on what to do next.
Continue to Chapter Fourteen
Return to Chapter Twelve
Note: Long chapter was long! Originally, chapters 13, 14, and 15 were combined into one hulk of a 13 and have since been split into their respective chapters.
I appreciate everyone's patience while I re-built THE world from the ground up in TS2! I had a lot of issues with my game and ended up just re-making literally everything. Despite the amount of time it took, I'm a lot happier with the changes.
I also apologize for any slight inconsistencies in wardrobe as I had to re-download every bit of custom content and couldn't find all of it. :) Hopefully the slight clothing adjustments weren't too noticeable.
* The picture sizes for THE will be in 720 x 450 as shown in this chapter, yay for more detailed pictures from now on!
Hugs!