So you were the two people who arrived at our little village in the past few hours?" A woman wearing a long dress with a flower pattern on it said with a smile. She was on the older side, with some gray in her hair, but still looked spry for her age.
For some reasons, I felt it was better to reply with the same kind of energy she was giving us, "That is us. And it is an absolute pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine. It's amazing that you came along so close to the festival," the woman put both hands together and gave a slight bow.
"I'm sorry about that. We did not know there was a festival going on."
"Oh no, there is no need to apologize. This is a good thing! For you to have been brought here so close to the festival means that the spirit of the lake has brought us together. We should consider this a fortunate encounter, not just some random coincidence. As they don't truly exist," the woman continued, each word pontificated by a gesture of her hand. Some were small, like a twitch of her finger, but others involved the entire arm.
I gave her a polite nod, "It is quite a good way to put it," that wasn't something I agreed with, but considering we were speaking with the leader of this village, it was better to just play along.
"Now, if you do not mind me asking, where are the two of you from?" the matriarch was sitting on a large cushion surrounded by various babbles that seem to be a step away from falling down and clattering into the floor. Yet, the fact that even with her aggressive gesticulation, the woman failed to topple any of them was quite impressive in its own right.
"I come from a village known as The Hidden Horn Village. Unfortunately, we were attacked by Eaters a while back and most of us are gone. That is why I decided to start traveling in hopes of…" I paused, not really knowing how to finish the thought, "Honestly, I don't know what I expected. I just had to go. And figured seeing the ocean for the first time was as good of a goal as any."
The Matriarch nodded with a smile and reached out for a cup of tea that was sitting on the table in front of her. It was round and short, but even then, it filled most of the space. The house itself wasn't that big, only having two rooms, but it was filled to the brim with all manner of trinkets and random objects.
"That is understandable. And I am sorry you had to go through such a harrowing experience. Still, I am glad you have found someone else to travel with you. But it seems she is not from the same place as you are, correct?"
The Frosted Lumberjack nodded, said, "Whitehall. My village."
"I am sorry I do not believe I know of either of those places." The matriarchy admitted, taking a sip of her tea from a small porcelain cup. It had a golden trim and some very delicate pattern of blue and white fractals. It was clearly something made in the old world and the fact that it survived this long was nothing short of incredible. "And why did you decide to start traveling?"
Astrid glanced at me and shrugged. "Nothing left there. Not for me."
"I am very sorry to hear about that. It is a shame when the people we care about do not recognize our efforts. But look at me, interrogating you and not even introducing myself properly. I apologize."
The Matriarch closed her eyes and took a deep breath, showing several wrinkles. It was kind of amazing that someone managed to get this old with the word the way it is. Then again, Pops was likely much older than her.
"My name is Amelia and I am the leader of this village," the woman announced, opened her eyes with a more serious expression.
"And what is this village called, if you don't mind me asking? I didn't see any signs or anything that might indicate a name."
"This is the Polson village. The name was given due to the signs from the old world that are present by the lake. Before, well everything, this place was called Polson bay. Or at least an area a bit closer to the water was. We just took that name in honor of the lake that brings us food, water, and safety."
All that lake talk was starting to feel a bit weird, but I decided against commenting on it. Nothing good would come of me criticizing their culture or whatever this was.
"It's a lovely name. And something similar happened in my old village. We were close to a cabin that was named the Hidden Horn cabin. That is why we took that name for our village." I explained with as sincere of a smile as I could muster.
"And such are the ways of men. We tend to latch on to things of the past instead of giving way to the future." Amelia said with a solemn expression. "Now," she clapped her hands, causing some of the trinkets around her cushion to shake. "We need to get some arrangements in order. First, I do apologize but you will need to work at least a little. It's not fair that travelers do nothing while we keep breaking our backs in the fields to maintain the village."
After that, I nodded. "Of course. We were not expecting to be here for free. We also have some supplies for trading, if you are open to that."
"Sure. That will be lovely. We can do that part later. For now, I will be asking Genevieve here," she gestured to the guard that took us into town. "To take care of you for the night. We can make some more arrangements in the morning."
She was being very polite and considering the situation I could not really find any reason to say no to that suggestion so we just nodded yes.
"That would be lovely. But in the morning? Does that mean we are going to get a day off?"
Amelia smiled, "I'm afraid so. You have the dreadful duty of resting for today. It will take a bit of time to double check where your assistance might be better used. But don't worry, I promise that I will be working you to the bone as soon as possible."
The matriarch was trying to be funny with that last statement, but the way she said that worried me a little bit.
"We appreciate that and again, thank you for letting us stay here. I know we are strangers and you have no reason to trust us, but you are doing that and I appreciate the vote of confidence. Most other people wouldn't do the same kind of thing."
We thanked the matriarch once more before leaving her house. With Genevieve guiding us to her home. It was bigger than the house we just left, but not by much.
"Just for the record. I don't mind if the two of you are a thing, but I don't want to be the third," Genevieve said out of the blue.
"Wait, what?" I asked.
"I mean, I am all for it if you two work together. But I hope you don't try to bring me to your bed. You know." Genevieve continued.
I blinked slowly at her. "We are not… What? No, no, we are not a thing! I mean, it is fine if we were, but we are not."
"Really? I just figured that two girls traveling in this world alone would probably be a thing, you know? So, you are just friends?" She asked with a bit of doubt in your voice too.
"Yes," I reply. "We are just friends. Why do people always assume that two people working together have to be a couple?"
"I think it is because they usually are. At least more often than not," Genevieve replied, but I just shook my head, not wanting to continue this conversation.
There was nothing wrong with us being a couple I just couldn't see Astrid like that. She felt more like a little sister who kept following me along, and I did not like the idea of hooking up with someone like that. It would be like kissing one of my students after they grew up.
Genevieve took us to her home and help this settle in before returning to her post. Strangely enough, she seemed completely fine with the idea of leaving us alone in her house. Even if we had just arrived, there was no shred of suspicion coming from her. She had no way of knowing if we were thieves or not, or if our intentions were bad. And yet, she was acting as if we were trustworthy. We were. But the lack of doubt didn't sit well with me. Then again, there were a lot of things in this village that were giving me a very odd feeling, even if any did not have a real reason for my suspicion.
Still, with the house owner outside, we decided to leave and start walking around the village just get acquainted with our environment. It was a lovely place. The houses were somewhat new even if the materials might have been salvaged from old destroyed places. The colors of each building were also a bit more vibrant than I was expecting, showing how this village had access to some paint. Or something that could act like it.
Everybody seemed to be happy and excited for the fact that we were here. Somehow, that was the most unnerving part of it all. Why would strangers like the idea of random people arriving in their village? To me, that made no sense. Even if I wasn't the most sociable of persons. More people meant more food being consumed, more water being drunk, and more noise being made.
And I wasn't the only one uncomfortable with this situation. The Frosted Lumberjack also seemed to be struggling with how we were being treated. She was used to being the outcast, shunned by her peers. And now everyone was all smiles and polite greetings. Astrid didn't know what to do about that.
We decided to take the small stroll towards the lake since it played such a fundamental role in the village. And it didn't take long to arrive there. Just a quick 10-minute walk and we were where we wanted to be. The lake itself was massive. And according to the map I had seen, in the old world it was called Flathead lake. Why it had that name I had no idea but I was not about to argue with people from the old world, after all, they were likely long dead already.
It was a very beautiful and very calm place. The fishes were swimming and there was a gentle wind rutting the leaves, causing the water to ripple ever so slightly. That caused the moonlight to be reflected in a unique way that made the entire lake sparkle. But aside from that, it was just the lake. A big lake yes, but just a lake. I could not see any other indications that there was something else going on here.
The System was quiet and even after asking to check, it could not find anything. It was all just water. That made me even more worried. As if the less I saw, the worst things could be. But in reality, I was probably just being paranoid.
Astrid and I just sat by the shore of the lake and spent some time coming up with possibilities of what could be hiding in the lake. Why would people so interested in it, and why were they Eaters doing their best to avoid this area? We didn't come up with any actual answer to our questions, but it was a nice moment.
It was enough to make us so distracted that we barely noticed someone coming along.
It was a man with suntanned skin, wearing a Hawaiian shirt with some flowers and pineapples. It was old, and a bit beaten up with some of the color faded, but considering that it looked like a stamp from the old world, it was surprisingly well preserved. Especially if someone was actually wearing that and not just keeping inside a box somewhere.
"Hey there. Are you two ok?" the man asked.
Astrid nodded, "Yes."
"We are fine. Why do you ask?" I added.
"Nothing much. Genevieve noticed you were not back at her place and got a bit worried. She asked a few people to look around for the two of you. It is not like anyone thinks you vanished or anything, but maybe you got lost or fell into the water and can't come back."
That wasn't the type of reaction I was expecting, "We just came for a walk. I guess we lost track of time. I should have left a message or something."
"Do not worry about it. People here are pretty chill. Just try to let them know if you are going somewhere so they do not prepare a whole rescue party to go after you."
"Will do," I nodded and turned to Astrid, "We should head back, anyway."
The Frosted Lumberjack nodded and got up, putting her shoes back on. I didn't even notice when she removed them and placed her feet in the water.
"Mind if I go with you? Just to make sure you won't get lost in the 10 steps it takes to get from the lake to the village," he rolled his eyes at his own bad attempt at a joke.
Yet Astrid smiled hearing that. The joke seemingly landed. On her, at least.
"We won't say no to some company. I am Cassandra and this is Astrid." I put out my hand for him to shake.
"Nice to meet you. I am Michael Kahelee."