After eating breakfast, I put out the fire in the stove, gathered all our stuff, and we went to meet up with the merchant. The wagon arrived just as we did. Other than the merchant, there was the wagon driver and someone who was probably another escort. We went inside of the carriage that the wagon was attached to and found that the injured man was nowhere to be seen. When I asked about him, the merchant told me he gave him his severance pay and he was resting in town. I was surprised to hear severance was actually a thing here, but didn’t ask about the details. Instead, I asked him why he was in the forest last night to begin with and he told me he was looking for a hot spring he heard rumours about.

We went through the Ertrill Forest along another path that led to the Outlands. The journey was relatively uneventful and neither the other escort nor the driver was very talkative, unlike the merchant.

“So, exactly how did you fight off that bear?”

“I already told you, it just ran off like a coward!” Tasha said.

“What does that mean? Did you scare it off with something?”

“I just looked at it and it went back home like a baby!” The merchant threw a look over at me and just for fun I kept my expression indifferent.

“Okay…so, do you know why that bear ran away?”

“Because it was scared!” Oh, Tasha, are you doing this on purpose as well? The merchant looked at me again and I gave no hints. He sighed and moved on to another topic.

“So, tell me a little bit about yourselves. Oh! My goodness, I forgot to introduce myself properly. I am Dennis Loharn, a humble merchant.” Considering the massive amount of goods the wagon was hauling, I doubted that.

“My name is Braith; I’m a lumberjack.” Tasha was about to introduce herself as well but something about the look on her face told me that would be troublesome. “This is my daughter, Tasha.” Tasha looked at me, a bit annoyed.

“Those are some interesting names; I’ve never heard either of them before.”

“I get that a lot.”

“I don’t,” Tasha commented. Well, that’s because this is the first person outside of me you’ve met. Huh, that’s actually a pretty mean thought, isn’t it?

“Now, I have to ask; what exactly are you two?” Oh, I know how to answer this one.

“I’m human.”

“Oh,” he said, his jovial expression drooping a bit.

“Disappointed?”

“Oh, no, no!” he said, lighting up again, “I was just thinking you might have been something else considering your confidence against that bear. But, of course, I’m sure you are just very strong nonetheless!”

“I’m the one who scared it off, though,” Tasha grumbled.

“And your daughter seems to be quite the fearless one as well. Oh, she has a shortsword, too. Do you train her?”

“A little bit.” Tasha blew out a puff of air. “She’s quite the natural, though. I know that I can trust her to watch my back.” Tasha smiled and nodded at this addition.

“If you can say that while she’s still so young, I’m sure she’ll be an amazing warrior when she grows up. Or a strong-handed wife,” he said, laughing heartily. Tasha was not amused.

“Anyways,” I began, changing the topic, “Where is our first stop?”

“Oh, just a couple days into the Outlands, there’s a town by the name of Rettif.”

“Anything special about the town?”

“Well, it is known as a gathering for all sorts of people from Holtzan and other reaches of the Outlands. I think even some people from Brennan come by there.”

“What kinds of people?”

“Mainly merchants, mercenaries and bounty hunters, but sometimes people fleeing capture go there as well. Ergo the bounty hunters.”

“Is that a safe place?” I asked while furrowing my eyebrows.

“Oh, there’s also a town guard that patrols it so you don’t usually have to worry about things getting out of hand.”

“How come the town guard doesn't just capture any of the escapees?”

“The Outlands are independent from any of the kingdoms so they have no obligation to turn them in.” He answered curtly, but I could tell from his face that I asked a strange question.

“Oh, right, sorry. I’ve never traveled before.”

“Never? And you’re headed all the way to the northeastern side of the continent.”

“Uh…yes.” He cocked an eyebrow at me.

“It’s one thing to be confident in your strength, but nature is a harsh and unpredictable part of traveling.”

“Yeah…um, it’s a good thing I’m coming along with you then,” I said, trying to smoothly transition.

“Right you are! Oh, and speaking of nature, that’s where we’re headed after leaving the Outlands. Oh, but I’m sure you knew that.”

“Oh, yeah,” I lied. I didn’t even get a good look at my map yet.

“The Nature clan’s territory is filled with Farseers, but I’m told they are the friendliest of all Farseers. Well, that’s what I heard from some other merchants.”

“Oh, that sounds good…” I guess.

“Anyways, we’ll be staying in Rettif for a couple of days since it’s a good place to sell some of my wares.”

“Okay.”

Small talk continued like that until we arrived in Rettif. It looked very different from Befson. For one, it was much larger, which was somewhat surprising, since it was in the Outlands. Many of the buildings were also made with stone or brick instead of wood. The streets were also paved in cobblestone. The town was bustling with activity compared with most of Befson’s days. There were other merchants in the town and you could not look more than thirty feet without seeing someone holding a weapon. Among those people were the town guard wearing leather vests with badges pinned to them.

We took our wagon to the town square and after Dennis gave one of the guards a bag of coins and showed him a card, he nodded and gestured over to a more open space to park his wagon. As Dennis started to unpack some of the goods to display, Tasha looked around excitedly. I could understand since she had never been into a town before. I also felt a bit guilty too despite that talk we had four years ago. Dennis seemed to notice her excitement and called out to me.

“Hey, Braith; I should be fine while I’m just here so you and your daughter can just tour the town. You’ve never been here before, right?”

“No, we haven’t. Thank you, Dennis.” I led Tasha out of the town square and into an alleyway.

“Why are we here right now?”

“Just to set a couple ground rules right now. I don’t know about this town so it might be best to still try and keep the fact you are Battle-Hardened a secret for now.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. Although, I doubt there’s gonna be a time where it’ll be revealed here.”

“Okay. So, can we go around town now?”

“Of course.” However, I don’t really know what a full-grown man and a thirteen year old are supposed to do while traveling in a new town. Should I buy Tasha something? But what? She doesn’t really care for toys that much anymore. As I continued to walk, I ended up bumping into someone.

“Hey!”

“Oh, sorry.” He took a quick look over me and snickered.

“What?”

“Nothing, just surprised that someone like you is traveling around the Outlands.” I didn’t care to let the provocation get to me so I just tried to walk past him. He stepped in my way. “Woah there, buddy! I’m really trying to give you some good advice here,” he said condescendingly. “That little sword you got there is nice and all, but you’re gonna need a real weapon like this,” he said, pointing to a broadsword on his belt. “And this,” he poked my cotton tunic, “you think this’ll save you from anything?” He then pointed to the chainmail he was wearing. It was quite dirty and looked like it hadn’t been properly maintained in years. “You need something like this!” Where the heck am I supposed to get chainmail, you dick. Also, why would I even want such crappy armour. “But none of that really matters because there’s no way you’ll be able to take care of yourself; just run on back home before you get yourself killed. Okay?” What the heck did I do to deserve all that? Whatever, I still won’t take the bait.

“He’s not traveling alone!” Tasha shouted out. Well, it looks like someone here will take the bait. The man looked at her with bemusement.

“Oh, you brought your daughter along! How cute! Ah, she even has the same little weapon you have! What a pair!” he said, clapping his hands together. Tasha fumed and looked like she was about to draw her sword so I quickly put my hand over hers. I pulled her along and walked away from him. “What? Got nothing to say? Oh, I take it that you’re listening to me and finally going back home! Well, better get back soon; who knows what your wife’s been doing since you’ve been gone. Shame though, she must have been having a real great time with the other guys while you two were gone.” Tasha turned around and prepared to lunge at him but I held her back with all my strength, which was still fairly difficult.

“Why are you letting him say all those things?!” she screamed at me, her face going red.

“I’m not.”

“What?” Tasha stopped struggling and I gently guided her over to the side. I placed one hand over my shortsword and slowly walked up to the man. Now that I was looking at him eye-to-eye, I could actually see that we were the same height, although he still looked much more muscular.

“Oh, what’s this now?”

“Take back everything you just said.”

“Or what?” I pointed at his chainmail.

“Or I’ll cut this pretty little chainmail of yours.” He slapped my hand aside and took a couple steps back.

“Just try it.” He drew his broadsword and took up a stance. Or, at least something he thought was a proper stance. I drew mine as well and went into my own stance. “Heh, so you think you can fight me just because you can do that? This’ll be easy!” He charged at me with full force…seriously. I evaded his attack and cut him at the side of his chainmail as I went past him. Some of the links broke and part of the chainmail flapped open. I slashed at it cleanly, but was still surprised at how easily I cut through it. To be honest, I wasn’t sure it would be possible; was it really in such bad shape?

I ended up doing what I said I was going to do and he was not pleased. Enraged, he turned around to swing at me again but I parried the attack before he could complete the attack and struck at the hilt to knock the blade out of the man’s hand. However, he held firm and then put his second hand onto the handle as well. He slashed at me horizontally and I dodged to the side but he suddenly stepped hard into that direction and attempted to slash me again. I had no time to dodge and I could not parry such a strong, downward attack, so I braced myself and blocked it. My knees trembled slightly but I shot up and pushed his sword back up. It was now almost over his head as I went past him, slashing the other side of his chainmail, severing more links. He turned back around again, still not giving up. Expecting it this time, I struck at the hilt of his sword again. His grip loosened and I struck the hilt once more, finally knocking the blade out of his hands. The man immediately went to retrieve his sword but I quickly pressed my blade to his back, digging into the chainmail, but not into his undershirt.

“Anything you’d like to say to me?” The man started to say something but he stammered. “Come on!” I then heard a whistle. I turned around and saw a guard. I quickly motioned for Tasha to come over to me and I ran off with her as the man continued to fumble with his words. Luckily, we passed by another brawl that the guard went to stop instead. A couple blocks away in another alley we finally stopped running and I could catch my breath.

“That was amazing, dad!” Tasha said energetically without an ounce of fatigue. “Well, I could have finished it faster but it’s still so cool you did that!” I took a few quick breaths before answering.

“Yeah…I guess,” I gasped.

“He was all like, ‘I’m bigger and stronger than you’ and you were like, ‘no you’re not. Hiya!’” Yeah, sure, that’s exactly how it happened. I just nodded in response. Tasha started dancing around now, mimicking fighting moves for a while as I recovered. As I watched her, I started feeling a bit annoyed seeing how clean her movements were.

“Well, it helped that his chainmail was really old and beaten-up; I wouldn’t have been able to do that against normal chainmail.”

“Well, it looks like he’ll be needing a new one after what you did, but don’t worry, I can handle him next time!” I laughed with her but tried to change the subject.

“Okay, there is a slight possibility that I’m wanted right now, but is there anything you want to do right now?”

“I want to fight too!” Tasha said as she slashed in the air with her shortsword.

“No, not that.”

“What?! Why not?!”

“I already said we can’t go revealing that you’re a Battle-Hardened. Not until we’re sure how the rest of the town will react.”

“Come on! We can just say I’m some genius or something!”

“No, Tasha!” I instantly covered my mouth. Tasha looked at me a bit surprised and then looked down at the ground. She sheathed her sword.

“Sorry, dad.”

“No, no, I’m the one who should apologize. I didn’t mean to raise my voice like that.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said, shuffling her feet a bit. Oh, how I wish I could just say, ‘Cheer up; I’ll buy you ice cream.’

“Come on, let’s look around town a little bit; I’m sure we’ll find something else fun.” She looked up at me and I smiled at her.

“Okay,” she finally said, smiling back.

We went around town for another few hours and stopped by various merchants and saw a number of street performers such as jugglers, ventriloquists, and singers. We also stopped for lunch but there wasn’t anything that really resembled a family restaurant. We ended up eating at a bar and as awkward as I felt, having never been in a bar before, nobody even batted an eye when I came in with Tasha. I didn’t see any other children in the bar so I assumed that they all thought that everybody should just mind their own business.

We returned to the town square to go see Dennis and when we arrived, we saw that there was a man bargaining with him. There were also several other people who were looking at the various items Dennis laid out on a mat.

“Hey, Dennis, how was business today?”

“Oh, welcome back, Braith. Business has just been dandy. Although I still get people like this who think I don't understand the value of money.”

“Hey! Thirty copper is just absurd for this. Twenty, tops!”

“No! I already said I am not dropping the price by even one copper!”

“Do you need me to help you with anything?” I asked.

“Well, maybe if you can get it through this guy’s head that he’s a moron…”

“You’re the one trying to commit highway robbery here! My friend got one just like this from another merchant for fifteen copper!”

“Well then, go ahead and buy it from him!”

“Maybe I will!”

“Nobody’s stopping you!”

“Fine, I’m leaving; you just lost yourself a customer.”

“Good riddance!” The man left and the merchant sighed. An old man picked up a six-sided dice and examined it. “Oh, you have a good eye, my friend; it is made from the finest ivory! Even better quality than this fine compass over-” Dennis felt the corner of the mat and found that nothing was there. “W- what?! Where is it?!” Dennis started looking around frantically.

“The only person who left since we got here was that angry man,” Tasha said. Dennis scanned the crowd and spotted him.

“There he is! Braith, catch that thief right now!” Without a word, I immediately dashed off after the thief. He briefly turned around just as he was about to exit the town square and immediately started to flee when he saw me running towards him. As I ran after him, I saw Tasha catch up to me.

“I got this one!” she said, speeding up past me. I grabbed at her hand and pulled her back.

“No, it’ll look too suspicious if you outrun me!”

“But he’ll get away!”

“Have some faith in me; I’ll catch him!” I put on an extra spurt of speed and started to close the distance between me and the thief. Tasha maintained her speed as I struggled to keep pace with her now. The thief came upon a pair of guards but I barely even had enough air in me to keep my sprint going; this guy was really fast.

“Guards! Stop that thief!” Tasha called out in my stead. The guards then went to block the thief’s pash but he managed to feint and slip past him. However, the guard brought out an arm to catch him as he ran past and his fingers pulled on his sleeve. The thief managed to break free but he lost speed. I continued to run my hardest and he and I were now barely five feet apart. The thief prepared to turn left onto a corner but then a wagon suddenly came out. The thief had to veer away instead to avoid being hit but I closed the distance and finally managed to tackle him onto the ground. I was nearly breathless but I pressed my weight on him and had him trapped. The guard came over and I turned to where Tasha would be.

“See, I told you I’d catch him!”

“Uh, yes, quite well done,” the guard said as he took the thief away. Tasha was all the way on the other side of the block, walking, and breathing heavily. “So, what did this thief take?”

“I- I think he took a compass…” The policeman felt around in the man’s pocket and took out a velvet box. The policeman opened the box and revealed an ivory compass.

“Th-that’s mine! These crazy people just suddenly came running after me when they saw I had one!”

“Well, is there anything you can say about this compass to prove it’s yours?” the guard asked me. I sucked in a couple breaths before answering.

“It’s not mine. It belongs to a merchant by the name of Dennis Loharn.”

“Where is he right now?”

“Town square.”

“Well, this should be simple enough to check out.” Tasha reached where we were and took in a few deep breaths. The guard called over another one and the two of them began escorting the thief back to the town square. When they were out of earshot, Tasha whispered in my ear.

“That good enough for you?” she said as she blew out one last breath.

“You could have ran a little bit harder; I don’t want other people thinking my daughter is some dainty little thing.” Tasha smacked me on the back and smiled. I laughed.

When we returned to the town square, Dennis had it sorted out and proved the compass was his. He knew what was engraved on the back of it; the thief did not.

“Fantastic work, Braith! I knew it was a good idea to hire you!”

“Thanks.”

When night fell, we slept for the night at an inn. It was quite the unique experience. I’ve been to hotels before, but an inn in this kind of world seemed much more comely. It certainly made me better appreciate traveling with Dennis.

The next day, Dennis went back to the town square and Tasha and I went around town again. After talking with Dennis, I learned that although the guards need to break up fights, I don’t have to worry about getting arrested for it. When we did happen across another fight, on Tasha’s insistence, we stayed to watch it. It was between two unarmed men but it was still pretty entertaining. After the guards came and broke it up, Tasha started to mimic their punches and kicks. It may have something to do with being Battle-Hardened, but she learns really fast. Lars said I was a fast learner too, but Tasha is just…well, faster.

We went to eat lunch at the same bar from yesterday and this time, Tasha was interested in eavesdropping so we did. There were a couple of guys, one much older than the other, sitting by a table next to ours and judging from their weapons and armour, they were either mercenaries or bounty hunters.

“Place sure has changed since last time,” said the older one.

“Really?”

“I guess you’re too young.”

“I’m younger but I’ve also been to Rettif before.”

“Well, you haven’t been here during that time?”

“What time?”

“You dense? What other time could I be talking about?”

“The war?”

“Of course I’m talking about the war!”

“Well, why didn’t you just say so?!” The older man groaned in response and then noticed Tasha. However, it didn’t seem like he noticed we were eavesdropping. Or he just didn’t care.

“Even children are hanging around here.”

“There were some kids last time I was here,” the younger man said, taking a swig of beer.

“Well, if you were here during the war, you’d know that all the women and children would stay locked up at home.”

“Well, war’s over now, you know?”

“Shut up, of course I know the war’s over!”

“Geez, what are you getting so mad about?”

“Back in my day, being mercenaries really meant something,” the older man sighed.

“Yeah, because there was a war.”

“Shut up! I’m not done talking!” The younger man rolled his eyes but stayed quiet. “You know, it was here in Rettif that all the big-name mercenaries came.” The younger man gave a certain questioning kind of look. “No, I wasn't a big-name myself, but I did meet with a lot of them.” The older man paused, silently giving the other one permission to speak.

“What kind of big-name mercenaries?” he asked, his voice monotone.

“Ever heard of Cold-Flame Cypher?”

“No.” The older man looked at him with mild disbelief.

“Well, what about Memento Maury?” He shook his head. “Silver Fang Rayleigh? Greybeard Graham?” The man continued to shake his head. “Well, who the heck have you heard of?! You have to know at least one of them!”

“Well, when I first decided to become a mercenary, I wanted to form a team, just like the Reapers.” The older man had a bit of an annoyed look. “Have you heard of them before?”

“Of course I have!”

“Have you ever met them?” the other man asked, now genuinely curious.

“…no.”

“Oh…” the man said, hiding no amount of disappointment.

“But who cares about those guys! A real mercenary is someone with a solo reputation! Not just some ragtag team of men who never work alone!” The younger man suddenly stood up.

“Hey! Just because you’ve never met them before, it doesn’t mean they are no good! They’re the people that others still remember! Who cares about Coldman or Memory-”

“Cold-Flame and Memento-”

“Who gives a damn?! Ask any mercenary or bounty hunter in this room and I guarantee you that they’ll say the Reapers were better!” The younger man suddenly turned around towards us. “You!”

“Me?” I asked, pointing to myself.

“Yeah, you! Have you ever heard of this Cold-Flame or Memento guy?”

“Uh, no,” I replied.

“See!”

“Hey!” the bartender suddenly shouted out. “If you’re gonna keep yelling like that, then leave my bar first!” The young man cooled off a bit and sat back down. I could tell Tasha was curious to learn more but the two were no longer speaking to each other.

After that, we went around town again and something eventually caught my eye. On the streets, there was a woman covered up in a long robe with a cowl covering her face. She was seated on a carpet and had a crystal ball in front of her. Next to it was a small cup for collecting coins. I didn’t know for sure, but she certainly seemed like a fortune teller to me. However, if she was Farseer, maybe she could actually say something useful. I went over to her and crouched down.

“Good afternoon. Would you like me to read your future?” she asked in a bit of a raspy voice. With her face hidden, I couldn’t tell exactly how old she was but her hands at the very least didn’t seem too old. I guess the voice was an act?

“How much?” I asked. She placed her hands on the crystal ball and began to swirl her hands around it.

“You only have to pay however much you think my words are worth.” Is this some kind of satisfaction guarantee?

“Okay…” She continued to move her hands over the ball for another moment before speaking again.

“I see…a foreign presence before me…an Outlander? No…not quite…and I see another distinct presence beside you as well…hmmm…very intriguing.” I looked over at Tasha who was staring at the crystal ball quite intently. “In your future I see…many trials…the first of which will be by the elements…wind…earth…water…and fire…and then…even greater trials await you.” I don’t think I like the sound of that. “These trials…cannot be bypassed…and even should you succeed…I cannot tell where it will lead…all I see is nothingness after that…oblivion.”

“So…I’m going to go through some problems…and then there is going to be some unknown conclusion?” The woman said nothing but I thought I saw her nod her head very slightly. Oh wow, that’s so helpful. “And what about my daughter?”

“Your two fates will be intertwined throughout the course of these trials…afterwards…I cannot see.” Tasha said nothing and just kept staring at the crystal ball. I took a single copper coin and dropped it into the cup. The sound of clinking metal seemed to snap Tasha out of her trance. I stood up and as I turned to walk away, the fortune teller said one last thing. “Good luck.”