《Nobody's Way》Chapter 4 - Gillele's Longing
Advertisement
"I'm so glad you came with me." Gillele's whispered babbling began the moment they heard soft snores from behind the wooden door of Madrigal's bunk. "I've never talked to a boy alone! What am I supposed to even say?!"
"What, you think I know? Why did you invite him?" Jian hissed as she grabbed her friend's hand, wishing she could reduce Gil's volume level with the gesture alone. "Now you have to take care of him. And you don't know the first thing about him!"
"Well, you don't have to, you know? You can go home," Gillele said, though it was clear to Jian that her friend counted on her staying. Gil's gaze flicked toward the room where Madrigal slept.
"Are you joking? And leave you here alone with him?" Five other people lived in the spacious home, and yet, not a single one had rushed back at the news of a stranger bunking in their spare room. Not even Gillele's older sister, equally fraught on her hunt for a partner at eighteen. "Where is everyone?"
"Mother's teaching the young ones again."
"And your father?"
"He's with the group that went out to harvest greens on the east plains. They have to bring everything back before the weather turns, later in the week. Lysanne and Mora went with him."
Jian groaned. Gillele's father and sisters could be away most of the week, if that were true. "No wonder Lysanne isn't here. I'm sure she'd be all over your handsome stranger."
"Jian! I'm so glad you agree he's handsome. I was worried that maybe I couldn't properly judge."
She rolled her eyes. "Please. You just said back in the square that you didn't even care what he looked like."
"I don't, but it doesn't hurt if he is, right?"
Jian supposed it couldn't. There was no question Madrigal exuded rugged appeal—as men went, she knew height like his and a full, bushy head of hair would be in demand with the unmarried women of Elsinoor who hadn't seen a predestined life partner in their Pathfinding. She didn't point out, though, that there was a red flag; Madrigal's wariness and distrustful looks surely meant there was some reason a handsome young man his age would be traipsing through the northlands with a rusted sword rather than settling down in Laundonia to start a family. For men, Pathfinding almost always revealed their life partner.
Advertisement
Without that, Jian supposed, Maere would have a much harder time convincing Her citizens to play nicely with each other.
"Lysanne had a partner Path, but she couldn't see her future husband's face in it. I hope it isn't Madrigal." Gillele looked worried. "I'm sure her partner wasn't a swordsman, though. But maybe in her Path vision, he's given up travelling already to settle down. What'll I do if it is him?"
"No way to know." Jian sighed. "If you want to get to know him, though, bringing him home is a good way to do that before she comes back. It'll be easier to talk." She didn't want to mention that Madrigal had at least a few years on Gillele, and either one of her elder sisters would be a much closer age match for him.
Gillele's pale face was so flushed, her freckles seemed to darken in colour. "I don't know what to say."
Jian didn't, either. There'd been no same-age boys in their class, and unlike Gillele, Jian didn't have male cousins or young neighbours. She didn't know the first thing about talking to the opposite sex. "He's a traveller. He must have lots of interesting stories, right? You can ask about that. You can find out about this place he's from, Laudonia. I think it's near Kesmet."
"I wish I knew about what he saw in his Path already." Gillele sighed. "Then at least I'd know if he saw my sister, or some other girl, in his future. You know?"
"You can't ask him about that! You only just met!"
"I won't," she promised. "Not yet!"
Jian couldn't be sure, given how prone Gil was to saying whatever came into her head without stopping to consider whether the other person was ready to hear it. "Besides, he's in your house already, you goose. You'll find out soon enough if he's planning to leave again right away."
Advertisement
Gillele nodded. "I suppose."
"He isn't very talkative, either. I wonder, can you live with that?"
"I'm sure it's fine. He's probably just tired, you know?"
"Right. A long day, I can understand that."
"I heard you were with the Elders most of the day," Gillele said. "What happened?"
Jian put her head down on her arms, focusing on a knot in the wooden table. Gil was her closest same-age friend; one of the few girls in their class who were bookish. Yet revealing one's thoughts to Gil often ended with that thought making its way through the vine to quite a few others.
Still, Gillele understood what it was like to be frustrated with her future, more than many adults would. She'd undergone three months of a Pathfinding trial—as a girl who'd lived all her life in a houseful of people, Jian knew it had to have been difficult for Gil to be all alone in the wilderness for even a week, much less twelve of them. To return home with a Path that didn't reflect her desires must have been even more challenging. If there were anyone Jian could trust with her fears, it should be Gillele.
"I just received my Path vision, but I don't remember most of it, and I don't understand it at all. Neither do the Elders. They don't know what to do with me."
"Tell me everything." Gil's brown eyes were shining. "I'm an expert at Pathfinding lore."
Jian described the figure, the feeling that washed over her, and the mysterious voice saying "Homeland." Then she recounted the reaction of Elders Veila, and the others, divided over its meaning.
Gillele's open mouth grew wider with each moment. "So they think it might be about priestesshood? I thought the Elders knew all about these things. How can they not tell you which it is?"
"They've never heard of a Path so unclear that it can't be remembered." Jian took a deep breath. "And Elder Veila certainly thinks I'm making it all up. Mother believes it's a vision of me as a priestess, communing with the Goddess, and the rest will be revealed later. But I don't think that's true. My Pathfinding was so different from everyone else's. There must be more to it, don't you think?"
"You might be right," Gil said. "Everyone I know saw their vision from afar, without interacting with it. Nothing at all like you saw. For me, I saw a vision of myself teaching at the nursery school, just like Mother. I'm older than I am now, but I know it's me. And two of the children in the pack are mine, the spitting image. There's plenty to think about—who's their father? Is he my life partner? Are these the only children I'll have?—but it's not ambiguous. Not like yours. I understood my vision."
"And mine's the total opposite; I don't remember it all, and I certainly don't understand it. I don't know if the Elders can interpret this for me, Gil. Everything they suggest feels wrong, somehow."
Gil's brow knotted with concern. "What feels right? Do you have any inkling?"
The clearest memory of all was that one spoken word. The only thing she'd been able to parse of the strange tongue the violet-eyed stranger had spoken in.
Homeland.
Advertisement
Hazelsong: A LitRPG Novel
Release Schedule: I will be moving to a set release schedule as of 1/1/2022. A new chapter will be released every Saturday at Noon EST. If I have time that week for a second chapter, I will leave a note on the Saturday chapter and post the second chapter on Sunday at Noon EST. An up to date character sheet for the MC Erik will also be posted on Sundays at 12:15 PM. If life happens and I am for some reason unable to write that week, I will post a blank chapter giving you an update on where I am with my writing. Saturday Noon EST: First weekly chapter Sunday Noon EST: Second weekly chapter (if I have the time) Sunday 12:15 EST: Updated character sheet Synopsis: Years after surviving a deadly accident, Erik struggles to come to terms with his painful disability. When offered the chance to playtest the world's first full immersion VRMMO, he wants nothing more than to retreat back into his secluded life, until he learns what Hazelsong really offers. An escape from the pain. Hazelsong is a world of magic and adventure, a place where friendships are formed, loot is won, and glory and fame are there for the taking. While the threats feel real and the stakes are always high, there is only one thing Erik is really in danger of. Forgetting which world is actually real. Story Themes: Hazelsong is a LitRPG novel that not only explores the fictional world of a realistic online fantasy realm but the life of a man suffering in silence from chronic pain and PTSD due to a significant physical injury and disability. Mental health is an important subject and we all know at least one person in our lives who has or is dealing with some form of mental illness. I plan on putting my best effort forward to represent these illnesses in a fair and accurate manner. Not as a cheap plot device to help make the protagonist more unique, but to help paint an accurate picture for those of us who have been lucky enough to not have to suffer in silence. About the Author: I am Ash Durra, general video game nerd and a connoisseur of fantasy and sci-fi of all shapes and sizes. Needless to say, I am not a professional author (B.S. and M.S. in Education, 8 years teaching). After really getting into LitRPG novels over the past several years, I found my way to Royal Road, which has inspired me to use my spare time to begin writing a story of my own creation. As this is a hobby, I am not writing and posting chapters on any kind of specific schedule at the moment, though my goal is to post on average 1-2 chapters a week. I am incredibly excited to share this story with others as I write it, and I look forward to any constructive feedback about how I can improve in my writing.
8 91The Wired Phantasmagoria Grimoires
In a time not so far from our own, in a city not so far from you, strange things are happening. Deaths, monsters, mysterious and poetic final letters, madness, machinated abominations... Is this all the result of one conspiracy? Or, has this gauntlet been wrought by a collective, unconcious desire for danger, a feral and instinctual life in the food chain? What is happening? What, if anything should we do to stop it? Who will rise in these times, who will crumble, and who will even notice a difference? This is but one of my Serial Experiments in fiction writing.
8 132Intercosmic
Space, the final frontier, or so we're told. The problem is things can never seem to be final in the vast never ending reaches of space. Efrem Gray has been a good soldier for nearly a decade and a routine mission to the planet Xioshaa to stop an ever growing civil war was nothing but another stop for him. Things go south when his team is ambushed and stranded in a jungle, left to argue amongst themselves about the best way to survive. Despite the misadventure, Efrem makes it out alive, but he doesn't come back the same. Finding a place in this great big galaxy of ours is never easy. Unfortunately, Efrem has to start from scratch before he can find not just a place to call his own, but a new life beyond what he thought he knew.
8 59#2: Mister Sweet Talker || Beomryu √
Mister Series 2 of 5 taglish epistolary completedJust because of his consistency and bubbly personality, she started to get interested on him that it came to the point where she tried to entertain him, just so she can know if the guy will still be the same or not despite her cold treatment towards him.
8 134Revival of Undead King
Around 1000 years ago, there was an Undead king who made a winter when it's suppose to be summer. The winter called nightmare winter and countless lives taken thanks to it. People from all races gathered to defeat the Undead king and stop the winter. However, the price for that wasn't small and many people died. If not for the Dragon king arrival. They would be dead. the between Undead king and Dragon king went fierce. In the end, the winner was Dragon king. The Undead king is gone and nightmare winter is stopped. However, that is a history written by false historician. The truth is hidden behind the darkness and there is always a reason behind it. As the present is living in calm before storm. A young man from a certain village, Evan must face his unavoidable destiny.
8 62False Assumptions
After running away from her last foster care Mariah was living on the streets for a few years. She makes a decision that almost lands her in jail but instead she gets taken in by Ms.Valentine the best thing to ever happen to her...Chris and his siblings have had a hard life, but one things for certain his mom always made a way. Helping his mom take care of his siblings and working to help pay the bills, he had to step up early but he never complains...Chris see's Mariah as a stuck up brat, who's never had to worry about anything in her life. She sees him as an arrogant asshole, who can't admit when he's wrong. After being forced to work together on a project they realize their assumptions are way off.
8 177