870 PC, Early Goahm (Summer) O'siaris, Itrea.
She was finally off the damned ship. It had been the hardest thing she had done so far in her short and quiet life, she thought as she sat on the docks—waiting for a powerful wave of dizziness to leave and for her muscles to stop aching. The ship's healer had given her a different concoction of herbs than usual as they were docking the ship, so she sat watching people pass her by as she waited for it to start its work.
As she studied the place, she was not sure what to think. The town was tiny, and all of it would have fit in a single district of Hearth-Home. It even would have fit in the smallest one, with plenty of room to spare. O'siaris looked like an army camp turned into a permanent dwelling. The port had only two docks, which seemed as though they had been hastily constructed. The buildings were stone and wood, simple as could be. Some were even tilted at haphazard angles—a sure sign of the fact that they were not much more than a shelter to keep their residents mostly out of the rain and wind. In the distance, she could see two or three fully stone buildings with a stone wall around them.
Further up the single muddy road filled with ruts, she could make out maybe four nicer buildings,taller than the town's houses, with straight timbers and decent looking roofing. They must have been shops or similar buildings, and she hoped one was an inn.
Just up from where she sat, a surprising number of market stalls were set up, with people selling the fruits of their labor. Fish, fruit, grain, arrowheads and weapons. Everything you could want in a place like this, she supposed. Despite the small size of the town, people were everywhere, and they were all working. Even the children were busy pulling carts and carrying tools. They all seemed worn, tough, and they appeared to be used to the laborious work they did. No one dressed in fancy clothes or wore any kind of jewelry. All she saw were simple garments in pale colors. Even the guardswomen and men, in their black and teal uniforms, showed signs of wear and tear.
Katerin had a strange feeling. She liked this town. Maybe because it had let her depart from the ever-pitching ship, but she found this place comforting. It was a far cry from the bustle of Hearth-Home, but every person she saw seemed vibrant. She sighed and got to her feet. All I have to do is find one person in a tiny town, she thought. Then I get to go back home. She refused to think about that fact that she would have to find another ship, or even what she might say when she found Sulea, as she offered one last wave to the crewmen of the Lounging Dove.
Winding her way unsteadily down the street, she approached one of the taller, nicer buildings she had seen. It had a hitching post, a small porch, and a rickety wooden sign that read "The Hobbling Leper," with a carved image of a man wrapped in bandages from head to toe. The man was missing one leg, but he was smiling as he held a frothing mug of ale in one hand.
It was early afternoon, and only a few people sat inside the comfortable inn. It was a large open room with a bar running along one side, that ended half way down, leading into curved to a hall that housed what she presumed to be the kitchen and storerooms. Another door was shut at the far end, only half visible behind a rather tall and wide patron.
A man of average height and thinning hair sat on a stool on the opposite side of the bar, polishing an already clean mug. He looked up as she entered, and his features immediately brightened as he turned to her. "A newcomer!" he said as he straightened and put the mug away. "Come, have a seat!"
She nodded shyly and made her way to an open seat at the bar. The bartender was far from the only other man at it.
"Ah, you're a quiet one." He smiled wider and grabbed yet another clean mug, setting it atop the bar in front of her. "Welcome to The Hobbling Leper. What can we get for you?"
"Coffee, please."
"You'll fit right in, here," he said cheerily, and turned toward the kitchen. "Mary!" He yelled so loudly that the entire town was sure to hear him, but Katerin was the only one to jump in surprise. The rest ignored it, as though it was a common occurrence.
A small, flaxen-haired gnomish woman came from the kitchen. She was plump, with a stained old apron and a big motherly smile, and her green-speckled eyes were large and kind.
"We've got a new guest," the bartender said.
Mary smacked his arm with the back of her spoon as she took a cup from the bar. "Introduce yourself!"
He cleared his throat. "Name's Harness, and it's a pleasure."
Mary smiled at Katerin, handing her back the cup, now filled to the brim with a familiar dark liquid. "Excuse our manners. We don't often get new people."
"That makes sense," Katerin said, thinking once again of the harrowing experience of traveling here. "Do you happen to have any rooms?" She pulled a coin from her cloak.
"Of course we do!" Harness said. "That's our job, isn't it?"
Mary chuckled, "Our job seems to be closer to that of a tavern, than an inn these days. It'll be nice to have someone staying."
Katerin nodded. "I'll need one, if you don't mind. For tonight at least."
"You seem in quite the hurry," Mary said, as she walked by with a stack of dishes that was near as tall as she was. "Things move slower here, but you'll get used to it in no time."
"Oh... I won't be staying long," Katerin said, sipping her drink.
"No?" Harness had a puzzled expression on his face.
Katerin studied him for a moment. She was sure that most innkeepers knew much more than it seemed they did. He had that same welcoming yet insightful look that she had seen in Spindle, and Spindle knew everything there was to know about all of his patrons. "No. I'm here looking for someone. Looks like me...but more elven." She gestured to her slightly pointed ears, which were sticking up beside her messy bun. "After I find her, I'll be going home."
Harness pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Well, I haven't seen any such woman."
"Graiden would know," Mary said in passing, heading out to another table with her arms full of food and drink.
Katerin watched her go with a shake of her head and turned to Harness. "Who's Graiden?"
Harness smiled, absently polishing yet another mug that was already spotless. "He's the head of the town! The second in command of the mercenary company of Sahn-Raidar." He spoke with pride and tapped his foot lightly on the floor, glancing at Mary, who seemed ever busy carrying dishes or stirring a pot.
"He's a good man. If the lady you're looking for is here, he'll know," Mary said as she stacked clean plates upon the bar. "You should go on and see him at the keep."
"Sahn-raidar?" Katerin said, with a pinched expression.
"Ah," Harness said. "They are a mercenary band from Elispyre. They funded the first exploration of this place, brought whoever was willing with them to settle. They take good care of the town, and all the people."
Early the next morning after a surprisingly hearty breakfast, Katerin walked to the outer gates of the keep. It and the barracks were the only fully stone structures in the town—and members of Sahn-Raidar swarmed around it. Three men guarded the gates and stopped Katerin as she approached.
"Halt, and state your business," one man said.
She tried a smile that came out as more of a grimace than anything else. She hated talking with guards. The fact that the man who would know about her mother was not only the head of the town—but also its military—had her stomach tied in knots. Most of the military men in Hearth-Home abused the small amount of power they had, and she had never liked their attitude. All their arrogance, hiding behind their jobs.
"I'm here to see Graiden," she said, keeping her shoulders straight and her hands on her staff like it was nothing more than a walking stick.
The guard who had addressed her turned to his companions and they looked her over before nodding. They did not seem to believe any threat could come from the thin, nervous-looking young woman. The gate opened, and she was met on the other side by another guard, this one a woman, who showed her to a door of the keep. "He's just in there," the woman said, before turning on her heel and jogging back to her post.
All the paths inside the gate were cobblestone, and it looked quite standard, at first. Only, there was no door on the front of this keep, just a stone archway roughly the width of two people. No one stood guard outside it, and people walked by it freely, as if ignoring its existence. There were other doors to the keep, and it seemed everyone used those. She wondered for a moment if the guards had been toying with her.
The whole layout of the place seemed odd after a second glance. She shook away her nervousness and strode through the archway, noting the plain stone walls and a row of chairs to one side. An ornate but darkly colored rug lay under a large desk. It was piled with stacks of both loose and rolled up parchment—with bottles of ink lined up behind them. How odd, she thought, to have a desk in the receiving room of a keep.
They must have been quite sure that nothing here was in danger.
A man in a teal and black uniform sat behind the desk. His dark hair was short and combed back neatly, with slight streaks of dark gray near his temples, and his face was shaved to show not one hint of stubble. His brow was scrunched in concentration, and he had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
Katerin cleared her throat and stepped towards the desk. Immediately she felt as if she was being watched, and she glanced nervously over her shoulder, trying her best to ignore the tingle along her spine.
"What do you want?" the man asked, without looking up from his desk, as he filed a stack of parchment away into a leather satchel.
She stopped halfway between his desk and the door, that uneasy feeling remaining. She saw no sign at all of any guards, or anyone even paying the room any heed as they moved past outside the archway. "Well, I was hoping you could help me. I'm looking for someone."
"Ask one of the guards," he said in a sharp tone, waving a hand toward the door.
"No, you don't understand."
Graiden looked up for the first time, and his brow wrinkled further. "You're not from here," he said, finally pausing, his quill wavering over the page.
"No," she said, exasperation in her tone. "I'm looking for a woman. She's supposed to be here." She took a few more steps forward, still looking about. Curiosity made her want to ask why such an important man would be unguarded, but she kept her reservations to herself. Who was she to judge military security, after all. "Harness and Mary sent me, said you could help."
He sighed, set the quill down and motioned to one of the chairs across from him. "Who're you looking for, exactly?"
"She would look like me. Dark hair, but... sharper features. Her name is Sulea Moonshadow," Katerin explained, a hopeful glint in her eyes.
He pursed his lips, shaking his head. "That name isn't familiar to me. She isn't staying at the inn?"
"No." Katerin's gaze fell to her knees. It was a silly thing, thinking that this man would have been able to help find a woman she could not even find. "Mary mentioned a visitors log... would her name be in that?"
He pulled a thick, black, leather-bound book from under his desk and tapped it. "It would. But I don't believe she's been here." His tone was stern, and he sounded more than a little annoyed.
"Please look... this is all I have to go on," Katerin said, and her quiet plea seemed to strike a chord.
Graiden's stern expression softened just a fraction, and he sighed. "If I have the time, I'll check. Stop by tomorrow."
"Thank you," she said, nearly falling out of her seat as she tried to stand.
Graiden regarded her with a skeptical look and sighed again, "Now, If you have all you need, I am quite busy." He gestured to the stacks of papers around him.
"Of course. Thanks, I mean–thank you, sir." She spoke in a rush as she moved for the door with hurried steps.
The feeling of being watched eventually faded as she left the office, and she took a deep breath to clear her mind as she walked across the stones to the muddy road beyond the gate. She had to stay another day here, and she had no idea what to think about it. She had enjoyed the town and wanted to see what else it offered, but she had come here for answers and for Sulea. She could not let her curiosity distract her from that now.