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🕑 Added 2025-01-01 18:40:03 +0000 UTC"Adventure! Adventure! Adventure! Adventure! Adventure! Adventure! Adventure! Adventure! Adventure! Adven-"
Dryth stopped in place and grabbed Sindri's head between his two palms. "Sindri, my dear friend. It has been only a few week but thanks to our magical bond I have already come to love you deeply. That being said, I need you to stop singing the same word over and over again. I have no issues with you singing in general, just not the same thing repeatedly."
"...Okay."
"Thank you." He let go of his partner's head and resumed walking down the road.
"I love you too?"
Dryth chuckled. "I know you do, but thanks for saying it."
Either Ewan's home was hidden behind an illusion or there were some other magical shenanigans afoot, because when Dryth had stepped outside the manor for the first time, which was the same time he found out Ewan's house was a mid-sized manor, much larger than any building he was used to from his home village but not holding a candle to some of the homes they'd seen in the capitol, he found that the house was sitting directly next to a decently sized road. It wasn't a main thoroughfare or trade route, but it was big enough for two carriages to pass each other going opposite directions and there was evidence of travelers both on foot and with a vehicle passing by relatively recently. Magic keeping people away somehow was the only answer Dryth could think of to explain how Ewan could say his home was located "in the middle of nowhere" and the road being right there. Still, it meant that he'd been right when he'd said Dryth would only have to walk half an hour to get to town and access the local bounty station.
"I can't believe we're doing this." Dryth muttered.
"Then why are we doing it?"
"Because Ewan's right, annoyingly enough. The best way to get used to something is by practicing and I would use the excuse of researching to delay and delay and delay until we never went. So we're setting off for our first solo adventure, or bounty hunt or whatever we call it, without the benefit of extra information about the area or the threats in it. We're no better off than any random person wanting to become a bounty hunter in this region."
"Is it a solo adventure if there's two of us?"
"You know what I mean."
"Being like other people isn't bad." Sindri declared confidently.
"No, it isn't, not inherently. But when it comes to approaching danger I'd like to have every advantage we can get."
"I get it, but this counts as learning to deal with things we haven't anticipated, which is good to learn! We're not always going to be able to reasearch the places we have to go to or the enemies we're going to face." Sindri rearranged himself so that he could tuck his wing around Dryth's head. "We're gonna be okay."
Dryth stopped and closed his eyes. Some deep breaths helped with the anxiety and after a minute he started walking again. "Thanks. Put your wings away though, we're keeping what you are a secret."
The territory they were in was hilly, with the road sometimes criss crossing between the mounds of dirt all around them and sometimes headed directly up one where the pair got a temporary view of more hills and the thick copses of needle-heavy trees all around. Dryth wasn't personally familiar with evergreens and Sindri's home was much more tropical, so the view of patches of green without a single leaf around was sight for them both. The fresh scent of the threes as they passed under a few was very enjoyable and Dryth grabbed a few of the needles from a low-hanging branch as they passed.
"Oh, sticky." He shook his hand out and let the needles drop to the ground.
"I like seeing new places. We should do our best to travel around a lot and see all kinds of places!"
"I honestly have no idea what our lives are going to look like at this point." Dryth replied with a little unease in his voice. "We could be stuck being bounty hunters for years and travel all over the place, or we could end up getting past the red tape and get licensed in a snap."
"Hmm. What do you want to do after you get licensed?"
"Are you asking what my plan was before all this or what my plan is now?"
"Both?"
"Originally I just wanted to get licensed and find a stable job somewhere far away from where I used to live. Now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I already told you I'm not super enthused about hunting monsters and potentially criminals, but you're part of my life now and I can't just ignore what you want. I'm hoping we can find some kind of compromise that will make us both happy."
A wash of warmth spread from Sindri through their bond to Dryth. The repeated confirmation from and to each of them that they cared and wanted to make sure they were both happy was breaking down their shared fears about being together as such different people.
"Why did you want to get away from where you were from?" Sindri asked after a moment of basking in their shared feelings of caring. "Was it a bad place?"
"Not... really." Dryth said slowly after a long moment. "It's pretty normal for a farming village in the boonies, as far as I know. It's not really about the place as much as it is about me. I was... weird as a kid. I still kind of am, you know how sometimes I bring up things or use sayings that no one else has heard of?"
"No? I'm not human I don't know what sayings are common among humans. I have noticed that you know sayings Ewan doesn't a couple of times."
"Those are good examples. I don't know where those come from."
"Huh?" Dryth could feel Sindri turning to look down at Dryth's head. "How are you saying them then? How do you know what they mean?"
"I don't know!" Dryth shouted his frustration out, scaring some birds from nearby trees.
Sindri's head snapped to follow them. "Ooh, second breakfast!"
"We can get something in town don't run off, please."
With a forlorn sigh Sindri settled back down on Dryth's shoulders. "Okay, so you're saying things that you don't know where they come from, but you also know what they mean without knowing why? That's weird."
"Yeah, it is. And that's why I want to get away from where I was born and my family."
"I'm not following."
"I'm weird. Apparently I've been doing that same kind of thing since I was really little, though I don't really remember it. I've only really been noticing that the things I'm saying are odd pretty recently, before this I would like, zone out or something and not remember anything that happened. But the people I was around when it happened started getting really uncomfortable around me. Apparently I'd ask them about people they'd never heard of or start talking about things that didn't make any sense. Everyone started avoiding me. I wanted to get away from all that and start over somewhere where I didn't have a reputation."
"Even your family avoided you? That's bad! That's not what family should be like!" Sindri mind-shouted indignantly.
"I guess?" Dryth blew out a long breath from between his lips. "I'm the second youngest of a big family. My older siblings spent most of the time taking care of us younger ones because our parents were too busy, and even then the younger kids outnumbered the older ones. Once I was old enough to not die, I guess it was just easier to not deal with me? I don't know, I can't pull the thoughts from their heads, but I didn't like it. At this point there's nothing really for me back there, and I wanted something new."
"They suck! That's... that's bad! It's really bad!" Sindri coiled himself up around Dryth and hugged him with his whole body and pressed their heads together. "You have me now, though! And I don't care if you're weird for a human, you're my human! And I'm going to love you forever."
Dryth pressed his hand to the other side of Sindri's head. "Thanks, bud. You don't know how much that means to me."
"Yes I do, I can literally feel it."
They spent some time together not moving before eventually they had to resume their progress toward town.
"I don't know what I'm going to do at this point, what we're going to do." Dryth picked the conversation back up. "I don't want to go back there, or anywhere near there, really. Even when I went away to school the rumors followed me thanks to one kid from my village also being a mage the same year as me. Traveling sounds... I don't know, I never really thought about it. I had my plan and that's what was going to happen."
"So let's try it and see if we both like it! This can be our first test, how do you like going to town and doing a bounty?"
"I don't know, the walks been nice so far. I like the tree-"
"No, not right now, when we're done with everything!"
"Oh, okay."
They saw the town from a distance once they reached the top of the next rise. It was bigger by magnitudes than Dryth's home village but not even half the size of Stonebreak. It was situated around a larger hill that had some kind of fortification built on to of it and the town itself spread out from there. The edges of the town were surrounded by a wooden palisade that was angled so that no one could use the nearby hills to get over the wall. Most of the buildings inside the walls looked like they were made form wood from the local trees, but there were bits of other colors and some stonework here and there that made those particular buildings stand out from the crowd.
There had to be some kind of platform attached to the inside of the walls because Dryth could make out a person standing there as he walked closer. He saw a hand come up to shield their eyes from the sun, then the person was pointing in their direction and calling something back over their shoulder.
"Looks like they've spotted us."
"Does that mean anything?"
"Well, given how they're moving around and someone's at the gate we're headed to, it looks like we're going to meet a welcoming party."
Three armed figures stood between Dryth and the entrance to the town as he finally got close enough to make them out. They were all wearing armor made of metal pieces lashed together with leather strips. All three of them had metal caps on top of their heads. Two of them had spears that weren't quite pointed in his direction but were definitely being held at the ready, while the one standing in the middle had their hand on the pommel of their sword.
Dryth came to a stop as the one in the middle opened his mouth. "That's far... enough. Who are you and what's your business?"
"They look nervous."
"I noticed, be chill." Dryth raised both hands and showed them his palms. "I'm Dryth. I'm here to use your bounty station."
The man standing in the middle, most likely the leader of the local guards, narrowed his bright blue eyes. "The direction you're coming from is wild territory, this is the farthest settlement in that direction. Anyone out there is coming from this town and is going to head back to this town, and the only people that have left today are one bounty team leading a cart to haul back a kill. Who are you and what do you want?"
"Well, that explains why Ewan said his house is in the middle of nowhere. What do we do now?"
"I don't know, we don't have towns and guards back home. Try telling them we know Ewan, he's said he's been here before. If he has there's no chance they don't remember him."
"Like I said, my name is Dryth and I'm here to use the local bounty station. I walked here from Ewan's house, he's my teacher."
They all stiffened when he mentioned Ewan's name. The two in the back exchanged worried looks and the leader clutched his sword tighter. "You're Ewan's student? Can you prove that?"
"Dammit, he didn't tell us we'd get a weird reception! I don't have anything proving we even know him!"
"We can run for it and come back with him later if we need to."
Ignoring Sindri's plan, because he wasn't sure that they could outrun these guards, Dryth slowly reached into his pockets and pulled out the two pieces of identification he had on him. "I don't have any proof of being Ewan's student, but I have these. They have my name on them and one of them's from the Bounty Agency."
The leader stared at the two cards in his hand for a long moment before gesturing one of the two behind him forward. Slowly the guard on the left moved closer until they were in range to grab both cards. As they reached out to take them they froze in place.
"Uh, sir?" They asked in a high pitched voice, sounding both young and nervous.
"What?"
"That's not a weird scarf on his neck sir, that's a snake with feathers."
"Do I really look like a scarf? That's the second time someone's said that."
"I don't think so but I'm not them. Move your head more maybe."
Sindri slowly gathered himself and elevated his head so his eyes were visible and politely nodded in the direction of the lead guard.
"If he really is Ewan's student it wouldn't be out of place for him to have a magical being accompanying him." He said after staring suspiciously at Sindri. "Bring the cards back, Granger."
"Yes sir" Granger snatched them out of Dryht's hands and hot footed them back.
The leader looked through them for a moment and held them both up to the sun. After reading the text carved into them several times he snorted. "These look official as far as I can tell, and they're from two different cities which feels like something Ewan would do. Fine." He let go of his sword and walked over to Dryth. "I'm captain Stairn of the local guard. We'll let you in this time without any issues, but if you cause any trouble or act suspicious we'll take you in."
"Okay. Are there issues with spies or something in this area?" Dryth asked.
The captain barked out a laugh. "Spies? No, like I said it's complete wilderness all that direction." He dragged he hand across the horizon. "It's just trees and hill until you hit the bigger trees and mountains, and then you're on the ocean. There isn't another country or city out there. But there are things out there that like to pretend to be people and then cause all kinds of problems. We've never seen any of those out here but..." He shrugged. "Can't be too careful with those things. You said you're coming for the bounty station? Looking to but up a bounty?"
Dryth and Sindri shook their heads at the same time. "No, we're going to take a bounty. We're trying to make some money, maybe get some new cards eventually. Also, Sindri eats a lot, so buying food too."
Sindri nodded enthusiastically. "We're still getting something while we're here, right?"
"Yes, we're still going to get you some food!"
"I'm just checking, things got hectic and I didn't want you to forget."
"Really?" The captain looked down at them with one eyebrow raised. "Well, like I said, don't make any trouble. Next time you come into down bring something that proves you're Ewan's student so we don't have to keep an eye on you, please."
"Next time we enter the town will be coming back from the job we're taking, right?"
"The next time we'll be coming into town will be when we get back from the job we're going to take." Dryth repeated. "We're planning to take an easy one that we can do in a day since we're not that experienced."
"Use the other gate to come and go and bring something when you come back from Ewan's then." He turned to walk away then stopped. "Where are my manners? Welcome to The Farthest Western Outpost. Most folk just call it Far West since we've been a town for a few decades now."
