Chapter 2: Volume 1 – Chapter 1

The rusty chain of the well rattled as Tal pulled up the bucket from the cold depths and then dumped the cold water into the wooden bucket that waited beside the well. Despite his rather short and slim stature for a fifteen-year-old, Tal could carry it around with relative ease. If someone had to describe him, he looked like a painfully average peasant boy with shoulder-length, light brown hair, brown eyes, and a soft forgettable face.

Not wanting to seem lazy in front of the acolytes of the temple, he hurried back to the temple through the pleasant green garden to resume the cleaning of its white, stone bricks. The fifteen meters tall, four-sided, stone brick pyramid was the only temple dedicated to the Gods in his village and by far the largest building there.

Even the baron's mansion seemed small in comparison, not to mention the simple wooden homes of the regular people. Tal had never particularly liked the Gods and for a good reason. They took away his family, and all that the priest could say about it was to trust the will of the Gods.

The acolytes tended to become somewhat preachy from time to time as well, but not wanting to anger them, Tal usually listened to what they had to say and nodded in agreement, although rarely took anything that they said to heart.

The only reason he even helped to clean the temple was because the head priest always gave him generous portions of fresh bread and whatever dried food they could spare. When the already balding man could be found in a particularly good mood, he even dropped a few copper coins as a bonus.

Despite his tendency to break into long speeches and push the 'join the temple', Tal always liked the man. He was friendly and never looked down on him like the other villagers often did.

Tal quickly ascended the pyramid to about the midsection where he previously left off and put the bucket down on the still dirty part of the building. Two acolytes, Tomas and Adela, dressed in traditional brown clergy robes, were hard at work diligently brushing the large bricks as well. From what he knew both were cousins and worked for the temple since they were seven and now were in their early twenties. Just like him, they had light brown hair but unlike Tal's brown eyes both shared gray eyes.

"I thought you went for dinner." Tomas said, noticing Tal's return.

"I'll eat later." Tal said dismissively, resuming his own work.

"Suit yourself. It's not like Vieira is not letting you take breaks."

"There is a portion for you waiting on the table inside." Adela chipped in, adding in a stern tone "You don't want the reverend's efforts to go to waste, do you?"

"Ok, ok, I will go eat when I need to change the water." Tal responded hastily. Adela, as always, was looking after him more than she was supposed to. From what Tal knew, she was a devout follower of Grernja, the Goddess of Nature, and looked after all living beings equally.

"Lay off the boy, will ya? He will take his share all the same." Tomas said.

Knowing they might go into a prolonged bickering fit, Tal turned his attention entirely to the work at hand and paid little attention to anything else around him. Doing odd jobs for the temple was one of his main sources of income, so over the past years he had gotten used to their antics when no one else besides him was near.

"Say, did your undine visit you again last night?" Adela asked.

"Huh, what?" Tomas asked.

"You know, the one from your dreams. The plants in my chamber had more than enough water this morning without me watering them."

"Yes, she did."

"I knew it, that's why you had that silly smile all morning."

"Hey, it's not like that."

"Sure it isn't, she just likes to chat and nothing…"

Tal had slowly moved to the other side of the temple, cleaning brick by brick and, once he changed the side of the temple he was cleaning, the conversation of the two acolytes was too quiet to be overheard.

'It would be nice to see someone in dreams. This undine surely sounds interesting. Then I wouldn't need to relive that day again and again.'

'If I ask Tomas about it he will likely just go into another long talk about how I should become a devoted follower first.' It wouldn't be the first time.

Dwelling on such things was pointless either way. He could have joined the temple as an acolyte, but to worship the bastards that took his family just felt like an insult to their memory.

'Gods have plans for everyone… Sure they do.' Realizing where his thought process was going once again, he quickly snapped out of it and mumbled a half-hearted "sorry", just in case some higher being was listening. He may have not liked them, but to anger the Gods even more was unwise.

After making a full round around the temple, the water in the bucket was getting too dirty once again. Tal quickly descended the building, dumped the water in the trench at the far end of the garden of the temple, and went to eat as he had promised.

He passed the head priest, who was tending to the garden, and sat down at the table that was set out at the temple's back entrance. A big mug of watered-down cider, some boiled vegetables, and a big piece of freshly baked bread was just what he needed. The portion itself was rather generous considering he was just a temporary hired helper.

Despite obviously favoring higher paying customers first, Tal had to admit the temple was one of the places he was never mistreated at. The other villagers had given him less than promised for work he had done on more than a few occasions, particularly the wealthier ones.

After quickly finishing the meal, he went to fill up the bucket with fresh water to resume the work. It was obvious they wouldn't finish cleaning the temple walls in one day, but the head priest had promised a nice bonus if half of the work was done by the end of the day.

When the sun was finally setting, Tal was beyond exhausted. After dumping the final bucket of water in the trench, he looked around for the head priest. The man was standing by a few large bushes with pretty blue flowers, doing the last touches with garden scissors.

"Sir, we are done for the day."

The priest looked up from the bush, glanced at the half-washed temple, and smiled. "Good job. Looks like my expectations have been met. Come, Tal." He motioned for the boy to follow inside.

Tal quickly followed the man who walked inside and took the stairs to the second floor. The first floor was the altar area, where all the ceremonies and rituals were performed, and the upper floors were the living and administrative areas.

The priest stopped in the inside dining area and handed Tal a rather large linen bag. Tal grabbed it and looked inside: there was a big loaf of bread and a few smaller bags filled with dried food. With a sigh of relief, he closed the bag. At least for the next week or so, he wouldn't need to worry about the food.

"Ohh and there is some extra as promised." The priest handed him a silver coin and a large piece of rolled-up linen cloth. "The folks from 'three pines' donated quite a lot of fabric, but we do not need that much at the moment. I'm sure you can put it to good use."

"Thank you, sir, this is more than I expected," Tal said, surprised.

"All earned through honest work. Remember to be back tomorrow morning. If I leave the work to just my two assistants then we will be cleaning the temple all week." The priest chuckled and waved him off.

"Of course, sir. You can count on me." Tal said, leaving the dining area.

'An entire roll of linen. I can make myself a new pair of pants and an extra shirt. I think Mishi wanted to make some extra clothes for herself too.'

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Blessing his good luck, Tal walked towards his small hut just outside the village, the one he was permitted to live in when his family home was taken away by his late mother's relative and he was kicked out.

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Exhausted, Tal slowly walked towards his hut. The village was already quiet, with almost no one around. The only one hard at work was the local blacksmith. Despite being over fifty, the man practically needed to be dragged out of the forge to rest.

Tal chuckled, remembering the last time he helped around the forge and both the blacksmith's wife and his eldest daughter tried to stop his work when it was close to night already.

'I should ask if he needs some help soon. My scissors and knives are getting unusable again.' Talk mused walking the quiet, dark street. Save for some animals making noise from time to time, it was quiet. His own hut came into view soon enough. After all, it was just a fifty-meter walk outside the village.

The lock on the old door was very simple yet did its job. Tal took off the key hanging on a linen thread from his neck and unlocked the door. As it often happened, the first thing welcoming him was the smell of blood.

'Mishi had caught a hare!' Tal's mouth filled with saliva instantly at the prospect of having fresh meat for supper.

A girl with large fox ears was sitting on a small wooden chair with her back turned to the door with one of her ears facing the door.

"Your walking pattern is off again. You know I hate when you do that." she said with a slight annoyance in her voice.

"Mishi I am sorry, I was tired and didn't think about how I walk." Tal said in a tired voice, not wanting to start another argument.

Considering how afraid Mishi was of being seen by anyone, she always knew when he was coming home. As a mix between a foxkin and a human, she wasn't exactly accepted among the humans.

She had shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair, with fox ears of the same color. Her almost human-like hands were covered with short fur, and her fingertips were decorated with short, sharp, black claws. Her face was almost human-like, save for the tip of her nose, which was akin to that of a fox, and her prolonged canines. Since she was always dressed in a long skirt that covered her lower body almost completely and a shirt with long sleeves and a high neck, Tal had no idea how the rest of her body looked.

He could only guess by her human figure that she would not be any different from a human, save for maybe some parts being covered with the same short fur as her hands. However, she definitely had a tail that he had noticed moving under her skirt from time to time.

Tal walked inside and put the bag down. With the kettle already put over the fire he quickly got his clay mug and filled it with a few leaves to make tea.

"You having some too?" he asked Mishi who was working on her day's prey. She, as usual, instead of using a knife was using one of her claws to skin the hare.

"Yes. Thank you." she said in a more relaxed tone and then added. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. I was almost noticed by a hunter in the woods."

"It's all right. Some of the locals?'' Tal said, handing her a cup of tea.

"I think so. I had seen him before." Mishi replied, accepting the cup with a faint smile.

From the few times he had heard villagers talking about half-breeds, he was well aware that she would be treated more like an animal than a human if she ever met any of them. It wasn't exactly clear to Tal why she was treated so differently, as she acted just like a human would and only differed in looks. He was somewhat of an outcast himself, but most people at least talked to him if they needed to.

He could only guess what she had been through before they started to live in the same hut. Mishi never talked about her past. He wasn't even sure how old Mishi was. Judging by the looks, she should be about his age, but she acted more reserved and mature compared to the girls in the village.

Tal glanced at her face for a moment before turning his attention to the bag he brought home. Despite looking different, she still was rather attractive, her big dark orange eyes in particular always caught his attention.

But the only time he tried to make a move on her, she got frightened and aggressive. It wasn't even anything particularly daring, he just tried to touch her hand, but despite Tal's honest apology she had run off and only returned after two weeks. Since then he never even considered that they could be anything more than tentative acquaintances.

"Look what I got as payment." Tal said, taking the roll of linen out of the bag.

"A cloth and so much." Mishi's ears perked up in excitement, but then her expression darkened and she asked with a half growl. "Did they try to recruit you again?"

"No, I'm likely too old to start training to be a priest anyway, although who knows what my appraisal will show."

"What do you mean?" Mishi asked.

"I am sixteen years old in three weeks, and I'm having my appraisal so they can make my identification papers. I will be an adult." Talk said excitedly.

"What's an appraisal?"

"Um… I'm not really sure. They said it would show what sort of jobs are best for me."

Mishi didn't respond and just silently resumed her work with a somber expression. The skin was almost removed, and she too couldn't wait to taste the meat.

"Mishi?" Tal asked carefully.

"It's nothing." She said flatly, turning her attention back to skinning the hare.

Taking it as a cue that Mishi didn't feel talkative tonight, Tal unlocked the storage area and put in most of the food, only leaving what they planned to eat tonight, and took out a very worn down pair of scissors, together with a large needle.

It would take a while for the food to be ready, and there was no point wasting time on doing nothing meanwhile.

While the stew was slowly boiling over the fire, Tal used the freshly acquired fabric to fix his clothing, while Mishi was cutting pieces for a new set of clothing for herself and preparing threads from the spare pieces.

While they both worked silently, Tal couldn't help but think about what the future would bring.

'Maybe I have some hidden talent? I could get out of this hole and make something for myself. Like those heroes and adventurers.' The appearance of beasts or monster hunters was always an exciting event in the village where nothing else ever happened. Adventurers surely did lead a life of excitement, unlike his, which was filled with the endless struggle to scrape by.

Editing - Edgy

Proofreading - placid_void

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