Chapter Eleven

**Festival**

Annabel gave one nod to those sitting around the table then turned and left the hall before even Ronan could follow after her. The builder didn’t even seem to notice that she had left him as he was still enthralled with his sketch work. Trent and Jax, and Byron and Nellie broke out into their own small discussions leaving Jason to sit awkwardly by himself. Jason said a quiet farewell to them and left the hall. He hoped to find Jon and settle his debt for the sixteen bags of wool and possibly explain his situation with the extra wool and then meet up with Vanna and Eliza.

Out in the town center the festivities were in full throng. The meeting hadn’t lasted more than half an hour and already numerous villagers had managed to get drunk off Annabel’s ale casks. But the merry air over the village was enough to intoxicate anyone with its breath of hope and joy. All over town chimneys were puffing out smoke and savory smells as individual families were cooking their own additions to the feast.

A ripple was made in the crowd and Jason saw Annabel instructing one of her servants to lead a cart holding her possessions to Byron and Joule’s cottage. “Jason,” a voice called to him. Jason looked around the crowd to find the caller but could spot anyone familiar. The voice called out again, this time closer. Finally, Jule emerged. The woman’s face was flushed with concern and Jason assumed she was distraught with the impending takeover of her home.

“Jule I’m sorry that Annabel is taking over your house,” Jason said.

Jule waved a hand, “don’t mind that child, with so much going on I’m barely there anymore.”

“What’s wrong?” Jason asked now that he knew the reason for her mood wasn’t her eviction.

Jule leaned in as if worried about someone over hearing her, “it’s Eliza.”

“Is she alright?” Jason cried quickly looking around the area instinctively.

“Yes, yes she’s fine,” Jule reassured him, “she not hurt. I hadn’t thought much about it at first but she’s been making a habit of it. When you and Vanna are off in Laxtar, Eliza sneaks into the forest at night. Now, she’s a grown woman and can do what she wants, but the forest is dangerous at night for anyone. I don’t want the girl getting hurt is all,” Jule said, her voice heavy with concern. “I never followed her into the forest so I don’t know what’s she been up to. Do you think you could ask her about it just to make sure she’s being safe?”

Jason sighed. I wish she hadn’t brought this to me, he thought then regretted it. While Eliza had slowly started to open up to him over their time together there was still an ever present tension in the air whenever they were together. “I’ll ask her about it,” Jason finally said knowing Eliza’s safety was more important than any discomfort he had.

“Thank you, Jason,” Jule said. “I know that girl has had a rough time lately and I think it’s important that she knows there are still people that care about her.” Jule reached out and squeezed Jason’s elbow.

Jason nodded in agreement but lacked any more words. “Have you happened to have seen Jon? I need to speak with him.”

Jule released Jason’s arm, “I saw him coming into town from the north road not long ago. He was bringing some sheep in from the fields.”

“Thank you Jule,” Jason smiled, “if you don’t mind I’m going to go there right now,” he said then walked away. As he waded through the crowd his thoughts were stuck on Eliza. He knew her husband was at least part of the reason why she was wandering out at night. At points he had been tempted to tell her the true fate of her husband but could never do it. He always assumed that Vanna had felt the same way. I’m going to talk to Vanna about this, Jason decided trying to think of a way they could get over this without hurting Eliza, physically and emotionally.

Jason didn’t find Jon on the north road so he headed to the herder’s storage barn. As if oblivious to the roaring party less than a hundred yards away from them, Jon and a pair of herders were busy sheering sheep. One of the herders would sooth a sheep restrained by a mechanism of leather straps and boards while Jon would methodically chomp away at the animal’s fluffy wool with a pair of shears. The third man would collect the fallen wool and put it into a bag. Jason wasn’t sure if he had been noticed but decided to remain quiet and watch until they finished the sheep they were working on.

“Do you have my money?” Jon asked as he rose from his kneeling position. He tucked his sheers into his belt and wiped a blood stain off on his trousers.

“Yeah,” Jason said pulling his money pouch out. “But I want to discuss something with you.” Jason thankfully had enough to cover what he owed Jon but he would only be left with three silvers and twelve and a half coppers. If he were going to fill Skippy’s cart to its full capacity of eight wool bags and he had to pay the fifty percent deposit he would need four silvers and four coppers. More than what he had. Jason counted out the silver and copper coins once and then again and finally handed them over to Jon who also counted them out. The sum was nearly half of what a normal laborer would make in a year.

“How many bags are you going to need tomorrow?” Jon asked after he tucked the coins into his own pouch.

“That’s what I wanted to talk about,” Jason started. “It’s not your fault, but you set me back a little when you gave me sixteen bags of wool yesterday. You see, I’m not a full member of the wool trading guild in Laxtar so I can only sell ten bags per day.”

Jon face squinted into a frown. “How are you supposed to meet our quota if you can only sell ten bags per day?” He asked angrily. “You’re suppose to be able to sell fifty bags a week.”

Jason raised his hands defensively, “that’s not an issue, because I’m actually being inducted into the guild tomorrow.” Jon relaxed slightly. “But as I was saying, you made me operate at a loss yesterday. I’ll get all my profits tomorrow but you seriously limited my cash reserves.”

“So what do you want?” Jon grumbled.

“I was just hoping that for just tomorrow, since we had a little misunderstanding, that you could lower the deposit to twenty-five percent and I only pay two silvers and two coppers. After that we can go back up to the fifty percent deposit,” Jason said.

Jon sighed, “grandma probably won’t like it, but fine. Just this once though, since I guess it’s my fault you’re low on cash. But, I’m only doing this because you’ve proven to be reliable.”

“Thank you Jon,” Jason smiled reaching out his hand. Jon looked at the hand confused then grasped Jason’s wrist. It was an awkward handshake but Jason assumed that’s how it was done around Finchead. “I’ll need eight bags as normal,” Jason said and released Jon’s arm.

“Alright,” Jon nodded then reached for his shears.

“Wait,” Jason said remembering something. Jon paused then lowered the sheers back into his belt. “Sorry,” Jason apologized. “I was just thinking that you will probably stop sheering the sheep once it get really cold.”

“That’s right,” Jon nodded, “after this lot, I’ve only got two more herds to sheer then we’re done for the year.”

“Will you’re reserves be enough to supply me through the winter then,” Jason said nodding towards the uncountable stacks of wool bags behind them.

“In a normal year,” Jon said, “no. But since Fallows made it hard for anyone to come from the west we’ve ben forced to build a stockpile. But for this season we should have enough for you to sell at least fifty a week,” Jon reassured Jason.

Jason smiled at the news. While a potential problem in the long run it still gave him plenty of time to develop a plan for a second stream of income for when there wasn’t enough wool to sell.

“But,” Jon added after a moment to think. “We lost quiet a few sheep so I don’t know how next year’s supply is going to hold up.”

“Oh,” Jason winced. “I’m sorry about that.”

Jon puffed up his chest, “as long as we’re making enough to survive that’s all that matters. We’ve been on a streak of good seasons its only natural we’d eventually have a setback.”

“Well I hope the Lady Annabel can help expediate our recovery.”

“We can hope,” Jon said sarcastically but didn’t continue.

“Well, I’m going to join the festival if we are good here,” Jason announced.

“Have a good time,” Jon said reaching for his sheers again. “I’m afraid we’ve too much work here to take off.” Then he turned and one of his companions harnessed the next sheep.

*****

Besides what he needed to discuss with Eliza and Vanna, something which would have to wait until after dark and in private, Jason had nothing else to do that evening. He checked on Skippy, whom he had hastily stabled when they returned, and properly put away the donkey before returning to the festival.

While the roasting cow made his stomach rumble he quickly found out that it would be hours before the feast would be ready. To get over his disappointment Jason filled himself a cup with Annabel’s ale and relaxed with some of the Finchead villagers. The ale wasn’t as good as his own Hessian stout but it was still refreshing. Villagers that weren’t playing music, singing, or dancing were playing games. Part of the main road had been cleared for a game Jason quickly found recognized soccer except each side had two goalies, one in each corner. By the time the next game started, Jason hopped in.

Until the sun went down, Jason ran up and down the makeshift field playing, breaking a heavy sweat in the process. When it was finally too dark to see the field the game stopped and Jason saw to his surprise he had a few notifications.

**+1 Constitution: You have exerted yourself for a prolonged period of time and despite your pain you continued to play.**

**New Skill: Athletics (Beginner I) [Passive]: +1% stamina regeneration, +50 Exp.**

**Skill Increase: Athletics (Beginner II) [Passive]: +2% stamina regeneration, +75 Exp.**

**Note This: The base stamina regeneration rate is 1 stamina point /5 Seconds. Upon improving stamina regeneration, player can now see the stamina regeneration rate in the stat screen.

I walk over ten miles every day and only when I play a stupid game of soccer I get this skill, Jason thought happily to himself. He hadn’t used his stamina points in many situations but when he had he always noticed they would deplete quickly, such as during the attempt to rescue Byron. Jason closed out the notifications then a voice yelled out the cow had finished roasting and everyone rushed to the feast.

*****

Despite wanting to stay up late partying with the rest of the town Jason knew he would regret it in the morning. On top of that, he had a few things he needed to talk to Eliza and Vanna about before he left in the morning and he hadn’t seen either women since he left the town hall.

When Jason opened his cottage door he found his two companion sitting around their fireplace, each with a mug in their hands.

“Oh hey guys,” Jason said, “what have you been up to?”

“Neither of us really like big parties so we decided to stay back here,” Vanna explained.

“We snuck out to get some of the free food though,” Eliza smiled.

“And ale,” Vanna added with a smirk.

“Hey Vanna,” Jason said slowly rubbing his hands, “Trent needed help with something real quick. Do you mind coming?”

Vanna looked at him blurrily. Maybe she snuck a little too much ale, Jason thought. But then she nodded, “yeah sure let me just get my cloak.”