It has been almost a year since I was kidnapped and brought to a different world by a psychotic wizard, dumped on the streets to live off rotten food as I begged everyday for whatever small pittances I could scrounge from anyone who passed me by.

But things have improved since then.

After Elde and I had put together our plan, life fell into a steady routine of learning and performing. That’s not to say that other things didn’t happen. As it turns out, I had come into this world during the pleasant spring/summer months, and only after these passed did the weather start to become a real issue.

It started off easy with the winds just picking up a bit. But that went by quickly as soon enough storm clouds rolled into town on those winds as they grew larger and larger by the day, bringing plenty of rain along with it. The days from that point then mixed and alternated in a variety of climates ranging from bright and sunny that then transformed into drizzly and dreary to be followed by torrential rainfall, accompanied by a barrage of lightning like I had never known.

With this change in season came a hit to our income as well. People didn’t spend as much of their time outdoors walking about as they did compared to the warm summery times leaving us with less people to mooch off of. In spite of this though all we could do was our best.

Occasionally it even helped; the two of us, huddled together, in the rain, begging for people’s measly scraps while drenched to the bone. It garnered quite a bit of sympathy from those who did happen to pass us by every once in a while. So, there was that.

That was how Autumn was here. Tough, but manageable. Unlike what came next - Winter.

I had seen some of my fellow beggars drop off over time and living so desperately had made me quick to get over my apprehension of robbing a dead body. Every little bit counted here and respect for the dead wasn’t going to get in my or anyone else’s way of some extra clothes to keep the cold away or maybe even the rare saved up Bit that might be found. But alas in Winter, this aspect of our lives soon became much more pivotal to Elde’s and my survival.

Because you see during winter here, and as I suspect it had been prior to the modern age and probably still is in some places today in countries closer to the poles, it's a really cruel time. A time where a lot of people are purged by the merciless cold and when beggars go through their greatest turnover.

You see, when Winter comes into town every year the seas pick up too and sailing as a result becomes a lot more dangerous. This in turn leads to less ships coming through the port that in turn leads to less work and less income for the city. This means, for those barely hanging on as it is, Winter is when they are pushed past the limit. Into destitution.

Down to where I am.

Yep. This is the time when the majority of the total amount of the yearly influx of beggars comes into the slums. And, it is also the time when the slum mortality rate skyrockets as the cold comes down on all of us too. Hard.

People who hadn’t lived on the streets their whole lives suddenly find themselves living rough at the worst possible time, when winds blow cold and snow falls down daily and everything freezes over; not to mention the newly homeless are usually old and sickly on top of that. But let’s also not forget that this is a tough time for everyone, so the people who wander through the streets and their occasional donations dry up quite substantially.

All of this culminates into a lot of dead beggars either from hunger, sickness or the cold, lining the streets of the slums to then be robbed by other beggars before being finally eaten by the dogs, cats and rats that live here in the slums with us.

Needless To Say, it is not a good time.

With little to no money coming in, Elde and I had to dip into our savings often to even get something from the cart at the end of our days. Some days we didn’t even bother to go begging and we would use the days to scavenge for corpses, improve the shelter or just focus on staying warm as we prayed we didn’t get sick.

I asked Elde how he survived like this by himself before we met but he had no easy answers for me. He had just bunkered down and tried to stay warm and stay alive while he waited for the winter to pass. And he did this for years.

Personally, I think this is where the fugue state of the beggars comes from. I know that even thinking can expend energy so to stay alive through times like these for years and years, conserving your strength is the only way to make it through. To not think then becomes a necessary skill to save energy and keep breathing; until eventually it becomes their way of life.

Bloody hell.

Luckily I entered the slums during the summertime and adapted when it was easy, not when this frozen hellscape came down on us all.

So to sum up, that’s how the days went by during Winter. People filtered in everyday the same as those who couldn’t make it filtered out as they fell into snowy graves, while the rest of us scrounged what we could and tried our best to stay alive.

Until Spring.

I tell you, it wasn’t until I was here, in a foreign world after living on the streets for months that I truly appreciated Spring. What it was and what it meant. A rebirth. New life. The beauty and the celebration of survival that brought with it better days ahead.

When the cold passed and the frost melted Elde and I got straight back to work. The warmth was back and people started going outside again too, the new season alongside their spirits came back to life again - accompanied by, to our great pleasure, their generosity as well.

This was the best time for Elde and I as the money coming in was more than we had seen anytime before. Business was back in full swing for the city and our little enterprise was included within that too. We performed everyday and worked hard to cover new ground and try as many different acts as we could think of.

Every once in a while when Elde and I had gotten in a wash at the river, the day before, I’d convince him to let go of some of our money and we would buy some fresh bread and maybe some ham and cheese from a vendor at the end of the day. With some actual decent food we could actually enjoy our food with some of the best meals either of us could ever remember having before. Right at the end of the day, where we could watch the sunset over the water.

Though the days were tough and life was unpleasant, Elde and I were working hard and sometimes even enjoying ourselves. Before I knew it he had become something like a father to me and to him I suppose I was something like a son.

Time continued on and the rush of spring settled into the warm broadness of summer and though our profits dipped a little bit we were still making good enough progress until finally, after all the struggling and enduring and saving and all the hard times in between, we had done it. We had made what Elde confidently considered enough money to get us out of the slums.

It was fantastic. We waited a few days to pull in a bit more coin just to be safe and finally buy us an actual decent meal, a couple of big meaty roast pork (at least that’s what it tasted like) sandwiches with pickled vegetables. The first decent sandwich I had had in almost a year and the first Elde got to eat in who knows how long.

When that was all done, we looked at the buildings on the outskirts of the slums for a good enough place to rent that Elde was satisfied with until eventually deciding on one. After that we went back to the shelter to gather our things together for the next few days to come.

Tomorrow, we’re cashing in.