Eldovian Era 1710, 24th day of the 11th month

Olly had spent his entire life bouncing between Islands. His mother had said that he was born on one of the uninhabited ones where she'd been dumped after his father got sick of her constant nagging and seasickness. A whore wasn't all that useful pregnant, but she was even less useful when she was throwing up most of the time.

He left her with a box of supplies and half a barrel of fresh water then sailed off into the sunset, his ship peaceful as last. Maybe the lack of aid on the Island was why Olly was always seen as nothing more than a fool.

It could have also been one of the many times his mother dropped him. He was only a week old when another ship came by the Island and the Captain took a liking to his mother. If his mother had anything, it was beauty, even if she'd recently given birth and had a baby tagging along.

Considering it was in her nature to take care of herself alone, Olly should probably be thankful. No, he was thankful. Thankful that she had taken care of him for as long as she did. Which was a grand total of one month. Long enough to get him to the Island of Lua and drop him at a nunnery.

Olly, to say the least, was a strange child. He barely cried, barely moved, barely complained at all. When he was three years old he'd yet to talk until one of the nuns asked him to start doing some chores like the other children. He'd point blank refused. She'd gotten the shock of her life, and the result of his first attempt at speech? Olly had gotten a thorough punishment for his less than satisfactory choice of words.

Olly decided he didn't like the nuns after that, he kept quiet. So quiet that when he up and left in the middle of the night, stealing from their treasury, they didn't discover his absence until the mother superior checked the vault at the end of the week. By that time Olly had travelled to another Island, Danfore. It was far less godly than Lua, the trove that Olly had with him had only brought him attention from those ungodly characters. The six-year-old boy had been hustled out of all his coin. Or at least, that was how the story was told by those who knew The Fool.

Until he was twelve, Olly lived on the streets. None of the other street children liked him very much because they all thought he was useless. As such, Olly often had to do things by himself. Considering how useless he was, everyone decided that The Fool had godly luck to survive in a place like Danfore.

He got the luckiest when he was twelve and he met Master Rega.

Master Rega was a man who liked coins. That much was clear to even a fool like Olly. Olly could see that Master Rega looked at coins like men had his mother. How did Olly remember his mother? Olly's reply was always, "How could I forget? She's my mother". Everyone called him a fool in return.

But back to Master Rega. He offered Olly a deal, move some goods from one island to another without anyone noticing, and Olly could have as much food as he wanted.

Olly figured it was better than starving.

And so it came to be that The Fool would become one of the greatest smugglers of the Southern Isles, though no one would ever figure out it was him because who would ever accuse a fool of such a thing?

Until of course, Olly smuggled something he shouldn't have. Until Olly took some weapons from Master Rega and sold them, taking the coins for himself. The Islands had been enough to fulfil him for seventeen years, but he'd had enough of them. It was time to sail elsewhere, to explore new places.

Of course, Master Rega wouldn't just let him leave.

This is where we find Olly now, hurrying down the streets of Port Cresh with a cloak covering his form and hoping that the men following don't kill him. Afterall, Olly was good at hiding, not at fighting.

Olly looked over his shoulder, spotting the two familiar men a few streets back by one of the many stalls as their eyes scour the thick crowds.

"..charms!"

Olly's ears caught the voice. The voice he'd heard many a time but had never had the chance to put a face to. Protective charms, that's what she'd say next.

"Protective charms!"

If anyone else had been privy to The Fool's thoughts, they may have questioned whether he was indeed a fool or not. They would have questioned his entire life. Perhaps it was true that he remembered his mother. Maybe there was a reason he didn't speak until he was three. Maybe there was a reason he was skittish and quiet and was good at hiding.

But alas, despite the progressiveness of a land such as Rouke, their eyes still refused to see the true fool among them.

"Protective charms?" asked another voice, "For fifteen gold, are you insane?"

"It's only an Evanine Crystal with a couple of circles painted onto it, how is that a charm?"

"How does a cheap diamond protect you?"

"It doesn't even sparkle!"

The chuckles of amusement filtered through the crowd that surrounded the young woman with short hair. So short she almost looked like a boy. But it was clearly a girl.

One of the passers-by sneered and knocked her little table, the 'charms' she was attempting to sell tumbling to the ground.

"It's a rip off, anyone who buys such a thing is a fool!" he snapped, then the crowd began to disperse as the young woman glared at the man who walked away with a self-satisfied smirk. She then squatted down to pick up the crystals, Olly stepped forward, looking at one of the crystals as he picked it up. With one look, he made his decision.

"How much was it?" asked Olly.

The young woman scoffed as she stood, "You're not going to make fun of me too?"

"How much?" Olly insisted.

The young woman with blue eyes and straw-coloured hair stared back, then spoke slowly, "Fifteen Gold".

Olly pulled the coins out and placed them down on the table, "Thanks".

Then he turned and walked away.

The girl looked down at the coins in surprise, then caught the movement of two figures pursuing the cloaked man.

"Fool," a passerby noted.

"Olly!" shouted one of the pursuers in accusation, drawing a dagger and lifting it up as they caught up to the cloaked figure who stumbled and fell, the crystal clutched in his hand. The crowd turned to watch the show, parting to make room for the stage. They didn't notice it as the girl selling rip-off charms was joined by a young man in a hood who packed all but five crystals into a bag and stepped back into the shadows.

The dagger came down and Olly threw his arms up before him.

The crowd gasped.

And Olly opened his eyes to find the dagger hovering mid-air, right in front of his newly purchased, glowing protection charm.

Olly's knowing pale eyes turned to look at the straw-haired girl. As always, a fool's luck is just too good.