Our wisest did all they could to stop this. Our wisest saw what our children had become and what they would become from the magic. They tried to refuse. But we loved our children, for how could we not? So we used our magic again and our children changed once more. But they became monsters.

-Chapter 23, The Unwritten History of Neah-Reath

Teah entered the village cautiously, looking around curiously. She quickly noticed the inn, as it was clearly the largest building in the village, solidly made from a grey stone. The two storey building was seemed to be in the centre of town, although she couldn’t see the far side yet. There were few villages around, although the few who were present looked at her oddly. One woman smiled gently at her, while an old man glared at her, spat and looked away. Neither seem inclined to talk to her though, as both quickly moved back inside their small houses.

“So, I guess this is a village then, huh?” she muttered under her breath. “It seems exactly how I imagined it would. Like, almost perfectly. Weird.”

She approached the inn warily, but no one seemed particularly hostile. As she did, she saw that she was at the back of the inn, walking down what was barely a dirt path. As she reached the front of the inn, she saw why the inn, and presumably the village, was built there. A well-built road intersected with a smaller, but seemingly equally well-built road in a T-junction, with the inn built directly next to where the two met.

“Huh. Well, I guess that makes sense. I mean, that’s what we learnt at school.”

She looked down all the roads, but there didn’t seem to be any signposts or anything.

“Ohh, yeah! I bet these guys can’t read, so they wouldn’t have signposts. I wonder how they know where to go then?”

She wandered onto the road, almost relieved to be on this sign of civilisation again. The stones used in the road were solid and unmoving, large squares almost a metre across. They were a consistent light grey colour and seemed to be of far better construction than the village itself. They were even clearly a different colour from the stone used in the houses. They also appeared to be far older, worn smooth from what she guessed must be centuries of use.

“It’s almost like they just moved in on something that had been here previously. Weird.”

Feeling the heat of the sun on her, she realised it was approaching midday. She sighed and decided to accomplish the task that had been assigned to her. Turning, she saw the door of the inn close, as a young man with messy brown hair walked out and around the side of the building. His rough looking, brown clothes and long, lanky frame, fit her image of the village perfectly. He didn’t seem to pay her any attention, so she decided to ignore him. She made her way to the inn and pushed the door open slowly, then entered.

“Well, come on! Get in here already!” a rough voiced called out, although it didn’t seem unfriendly. Turning, she saw that she had entered a large rectangular room, with a bar running down one side. There were tables roughly spaced around the room, with a fireplace on the wall opposite the counter, and two doors in the far wall. The man that had called to her was behind the counter, doing what looked like normal inn type things. She saw him moving jugs and mugs made out of different materials, some wood, others pottery or metal.

“Hmm, no glass. Well, I guess it would be hard to make.”

“What was that?” the man called out again. “Don’t just stand there. If you want something, come over here and ask for it!”

The rough voice jerked her out of her thoughts, and she approached the counter nervously. She reached where the man was standing then stopped awkwardly, not knowing how to start. He was a tall, solidly built man, with a white shirt and a brown jerkin over it. His grey beard was roughly trimmed and matched his greying hair, although his hair seemed to be running out. The man looked at her briefly then sighed with a clear annoyance.

“Now, this is the part where you say what you want. Do you want a drink, or some food, or are you looking for somewhere to stay? They all cost, but my prices are reasonable, and the quality is good.”

“Ohh food! Yes, I need to get some food for Mr Cornelius.”

“Mr Cornelius, huh?” the man stared at he oddly, then gave a small grin. “And how do you know Mr Cornelius?”

“Well, I’m staying with him.”

The man smirked at her as he said “every night huh? I didn’t think the old man had it in him.”

She blushed slightly but replied, “no, it’s not like that. He found me in the forest.”

“Ohh?”

“I don’t know how I got there,” she said sadly. “But he is helping me get home.”

“And where is your home?”

She hesitated before answering, but she couldn’t think of anything to say but the truth.

“I don’t know. I can’t remember it. Mr Cornelius said that he thought someone used magic on me to make me forget, so he is helping me to remember.”

The man grimaced softly then said “Ohh, one of those huh? I thought that we were done with them.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” she asked quickly.

“He didn’t mention it? Well, maybe he didn’t know. This was when I was a child, and he wasn’t around then. About 50 years ago, there was this weird time when lots of people started appearing around the place but didn’t know how to get home. It must have lasted 10 years or so. Course, we didn’t get that many here, but the bigger places got a bunch of them. No one ever did figure out where they had all come from, but it was bloody annoying. People just wandering the place, with no idea what to do.”

Teah asked excitedly “where are they now? Do you know where they went? Where they came from?”

He snorted loudly at that. “Went? Nowhere. Some just found houses wherever they appeared, others wandered off into the forests and died to the monsters, while others travelled around the place, doing odd things. We actually had a few live here, but they’re dead now.”

Her heart sunk a little as she asked “What happened to them?”

“Happen? Nothing happened. They lived, they got old, they died. Why? What do you think happens to people who get old?” the man growled at her.

“Ohh, I guess that if this happened 50 years ago, then they would have been pretty old by now.” She stood quietly for a while, then remembered why she was there.

“Ohh! I’m looking for the innkeeper. A Mr Timon Melon-Timber.”

“Molnon-Tiber!” he growled at her, but then smiled. “That was a decent try though. Alright, what does the old man want?”

“Ahh, I’m not actually sure. He said that you normally sent him food each week, but we ran out too soon this time. What do you normally give him?”

“Normally it’s a couple loaves of bread, with some dried meat or cheese. Sometimes honey or some fruit if there is some, but the old man doesn’t eat much. I guess one of the benefits of being old is that you can eat or not eat however you want.”

Timon mumbled to himself, as he appraised her then said “I guess you eat well though. You certainly aren’t one of those skinny stick girls that happen in the south.”

“Huh? Are you calling me fat?” she demanded angrily.

“Ha. Fat? Who would call you fat? You’re fine.”

Teah tried to discretely look down at her body and realised that she had to agree with him. She wasn’t fat, but she clearly had some flesh on her bones. No one would call her anorexic. Ignoring her, Timon continued “alright, I reckon you want a double amount of bread, some of the salted ham. Some vegetables would do well too, sure enough. We have plenty of potatoes around, and there’s some corn is growing well. Plenty of peaches around this time of year. Hmm, that’s all gonna be too much. No way you can carry it.”

He frowned then asked her “how about, I give you some food to take now, enough for a couple days, and I’ll make sure the next delivery is extra-large, so that you don’t run out next week? That work for you?”

“Yes, thank you! That would be perfect!” she said happily.

“Alright, did he send you with money?”

“Money? No, he said that you would just put it on his account.”

He grimaced but then said reluctantly “fine, that’ll do. You make sure you tell him that he’ll have to do extra enchantments if there’s gonna be two of you eating.”

He frowned again and said “he gave you his token, didn’t he? The old fool wouldn’t forget that.”

She stared at him blankly. “Token?”

“Yeah, token, marker, seal, whatever you want to call it.”

A wave of understanding passed through her. “Ahh, you mean this!” she said, as she pulled out the metal plate. He took it from her hands, then passed it back to her quickly.

“That’s the one. Alright, how about you sit down at one of the tables, and I’ll bring you out something hot to eat. I know that walk from his place, and I’m sure you’re hungry. Then, while you’re eating, I’ll figure out what you can take now and what I’ll get delivered later.”

Her stomach rumbled at the thought of eating and she replied hurriedly, “yes, thank you! That sounds great!”

She turned and made her way to a table, sitting down and putting the identifier in front of her. She studied it, trying to work out what the writing was and how it felt like Cornelius. She peered intently at the writing and realised that it was actually engraving that had been filled with something. It was a similar colour to the silvery metal, but it was clearly made out of something different.

“It’s odd. The metal itself feels old and worn, but the writing still looks brand new. Is it silver in it? I heard that silver never rusts, so maybe…”

As she was playing with it, Timon brought over a wooden bowl, as well as a metal mug.

“Here you are,” he said, putting them down in front of her. “That’s my famous stew, with some of our best cider.”

He turned back to the counter, but quickly returned with some bread on a wooden plate.

“There you go, ain’t no finer meal in this place! And I should know!” he chuckled to himself as he put the bread down.

“Thank you, it all looks amazing!” Teah said happily. And to her surprise, it did look great. Hearing the word stew, she had mentally prepared herself with a brown goop, but this looked tasty, with bits of meat and vegetables floating in it. Even the bread looked great, a nice thick slice that seemed to be fresh made.

“Ahh, that’s the reason that the old man can get the deliveries he does. His preservation enchantments do wonders for keeping things fresh and tasty. Course, it doesn’t make things last for ever, but can’t complain.”

He smiled to himself again then said “alright, you eat that, and I’ll get the other stuff sorted.”

With that, he walked off, leaving Teah to eat her food. It all tasted as good as it looked, the stew just the right combination of meaty flavour and spicy after taste, that went perfectly with the soft, malty bread. Even the cider was perfect, not too strong and tasting nicely of apples.

Teah quickly finished it all, then looked up as Timon came back again with a full sack.

“Here you are, lass. You’ve got some bread in there, with some ham, a bit of cheese, and just for you, I threw in a handful of nuts and some dried fruit. That’ll be enough for now, and I’ll make sure that the delivery gets done the day after tomorrow.”

Teah eyed the sack happily, then realised that she would have to carry what actually looked like quite a large and heavy sack. Noticing her discontent, Timon laughed.

“As needs must, lass! It’s better to do the hard work now, rather than starve, ain’t it?”

Frowning, although she nodded in agreement, she stood and lifted the sack, letting out a small groan. It was as heavy as she had thought it would be, and she could already tell that her arms would be sore from carrying it. Sighing, she slung it onto her shoulder and thanked Timon again.

“Ahh, don’t mention it. Just make sure that he knows I’ll be expecting extra for this.” Timon smiled at her again and the led her to the door.

“Now, you know the way back right? Wouldn’t do to get lost, not even in these woods.”

“Yes, yes, I can do it. Just follow the path to the river, and I’m there.”

“That’s right, lass. Now, nothing in there is fragile, so feel free to drop it if you need to scare off anything. The Orken Toads shouldn’t care about you, but the Gobists might smell the ham and try to get it.”

“Ohh, it’s fine. I just need to throw something at them, right?”

He grunted in amusement as he replied “I prefer shaking a big stick at them. That always works best for me. Maybe a swing or two to make them give up.”

He chuckled again then said “Alright, you best get going. Plenty of day light left now, but you don’t want to be walking with all that when it gets dark.”

“Thank you again” she said as she started walking.

She opened the door and stepped out, only to have to stop again at the young man she had seen before, as he walked past the door. He paused to look at her, but just frowned then kept walking. Frowning back at him, Teah set off back to the path through the woods. As she left the village, she thought she could feel someone watching her. She turned, but all she could see was a flash of brown, as a head disappeared around the corner of a building. She shrugged to herself, then set off down the path, and back to Cornelius’ home.