The Welcome Committee

As we enter the town, I can smell the savory aroma of stews and curries on the air. The clinks and clatters of plates being placed onto tables behind wooden doors makes the ambience feel busy and bustling despite the fact that everyone is inside their homes at the moment. Through the windows I can see the shadowed shapes of families sitting down together and a few dogs begging for scraps in the lamplight.

Elias guides me to a humble town square where a large bronze bell stands on an old wooden frame. "Go ahead and ring it" he urges me, placing a mallet into my hands.

"Won't that disturb everyone? It looks like people around here are just settled in for the night. I wouldn't want to disturb them." Plus I'm getting tired too.

He smiles widely and insists. "Noa, you're the first new arrival in years. Everyone will be thrilled."

"Fair enough. I can make some noise." With a shrug I swing back the oversized mallet like a baseball bat and give the bell a solid thwak. The bell rings out so loudly I can feel it echo in my bones, and for a moment everything is silent. I have a pang of regret for my enthusiasm. No more dinnertime discussions or clattering tableware can be heard, until in an uproarious instant the villagers come flooding out of their homes and into the town square with various cheers and chatter on their breath. Some of the children are jumping or being lifted by caretakers to see the object of excitement... which I suppose would be me. 

Elias gives the bell a few gentle taps to signal the time to quiet down and clears his voice. With a hearty projection he announces:

"We have a New Character honoring our village tonight. Please welcome, with kindness, gratitude, and mercy... Noa." For as small as the town is - there could scarcely be fifty or sixty adults here - the applause seems thunderous. I shrink back into the back of the stage. 

Okay, its time to wake up now. This isn't fun anymore. 

"Noa, if you wouldn't mind, please tell us as much or as little as you'd like to share, maybe why you're here, and then we'll find you somewhere comfortable to rest up."

I can still feel myself sinking into the floor. The only worthwhile thing I can think of about myself has vanished. I am... I was... an award winning game developer. Now I'm nothing. They're all staring at me, waiting. Do I just tell them I don't have anything of note about myself? 

I feel a warm hand on my shoulder and look over to see Elias' fatherly hand on me. "You don't have to say anything but your name if you don't want. We all know what it's like to have a hard time, especially when you first land here."

Well that's ridiculous. I'm supposed to be a confident leader aren't I? I've given hundreds of presentations before, even presentations on deeply unpleasant results. I can do this.

I square my shoulders, lift my chin, and try my best to give a cheerful nod to the audience. "Hey everyone! I'm Noa, I'm twenty *mumble* years old... and I make games for a living. It's great to meet you all. Thank you for letting me stay here for a moment." There, that wasn't so difficult. I don't need to mention any of the unpleasantness of losing it all. I can still just pretend like it didn't happen. 

A quiet murmur stirs in the crowd, people looking back and forth to one another seeming confused, and I look to Elias for support. He shrugs. "Nobody has ever given that pleasant of an introduction before." The same dark cloud as before shimmers across his face for a quarter of a second. If I'd have blinked, I'd have missed it. "But that's a story for another time. Let's get you to the recovery quarters. Alice and Mabel, would you show her the way?"

Two women around my age make their way over to me and give me a warm hug that somehow makes me feel like a pad of butter in between two fresh pancakes. Their welcoming affection feels completely and unapologetically genuine. They each take my arm and indulge me in some idle chitchat about the town while walking me through the alleys and bridges to our destination, although I can't quite listen to them fully. I'm distracted by the rest of the hubbub that the town has exploded with. Every few blocks a nice grandfather or mother stops our progress to tuck a small flower into my hair. I look like a shrub. All the while, a small handful of young men and especially helpful children run ahead of us shouting directions at one another.

One young man in particular seems to be taking charge of the production; a puppy of a man with a messy shock of strawberry blond hair is animatedly pointing and giving directions to his fellow helpers. "Jonah, you get those comfy pillows from your house. Amelia can you bring a big helping of your mom's chicken curry and some rice? Oh, and get the good pickled ginger from Mrs. Morris! Artemis, clean off the dinnerware and tell your brother to fetch some fresh water. Caleb, I see you! Grab some of your dad's firewood and start a fire in the house's hearth and by the baths. Lisa you dust off the interior as much as you can, make sure you get your neighbors to come help so it gets done quickly." He turns and flashes us a big crooked grin before dashing off ahead.

After about fifteen or so more minutes of walking we arrive at a small, cozy cottage decorated with lamps and flowers. A few villages have gathered nearby to form a small band. A singer croons the same melody as when I first spawned in. A tall woman is playing a miniscule stringed instrument, while a very short man stands atop a stepstool to play what resembles an upright bass. Another has a tambourine keeping the beat. Out of breath, the cavalcade of helpers from earlier line the walkway to the door, waving branches of sweet smelling herbs and holding sparklers that shimmer in the nighttime breeze.

I wave awkwardly to each of them as we pass by. Its a nice sentiment, but it seems like a lot of fanfare for some stranger they found by the bank of a river. The puppydog man from earlier opens the door for us and holds it with a wide sweep of his arm, but he doesn't follow us inside. 

The smell of honey, curry, and herb roasted chicken hits me as we enter the building. Closing the door behind us, Alice and Mabel scurry about. Alice pulls out a chair for me and invites me to sit at the head of the table, while Mabel fills my earthenware cup with a steaming hot tea and draws shut the red embroidered curtains. Outside I can hear the welcome committee wind down their songs, transitioning into happy, laughing conversation as they disperse back into their own homes. 

"I'll go draw the bath while you eat. Do you prefer lavender or lemon? Or maybe both?" Alice's black bob swishes back and forth behind her hairband as she searches the cabinets on her tiptoes for the ingredients.

It's a nice sentiment, but I'm starting to feel annoyed at it all. Although I've managed to stave it off for a while, my daily headache is starting to throb into its usual place at the crown of my skull and behind my eyes. "Yeah, whatever is easiest" I say brushing her question off. "There doesn't happen to be Advil in there?"

Alice furrows her brow. "Ad... vil. Is that a tea?" 

"Headache medicine actually."

"OH! We have something that may be able to help you. It isn't as strong as the stuff from the cities, but it should take the edge off." She sets the kettle to brew again with some strange leaves and liquids, and scampers off to draw a bath with an unnecessarily large armful of salts and herbs.

"Don't worry about her, just eat up" implores Mabel. She's a bit more matronly than Alice, maybe in her mid thirties with a long brown braid drooping from one shoulder. "We're here to aid in your recovery, whatever that may be and however long it may take." 

"My... recovery?"

Mabel nods calmly. "Yes. That should be your only Objective right now. If you focus and think about your purpose, you should be able to pull up a list of your Objectives. Level 1's only have one objective - to rest and recover from whatever... hardships they were experiencing in their life before." She gives me a warm and pitying smile and for the first time today my discomfort turns into full-on annoyance. 

"Actually, I really liked what I was doing before I got here." I think back to all the times I was able to see someone play my games, the reviews, the accolades and awards, the late nights brainstorming with my team. I've been missing those experiences, even before the layoff. "So if you don't mind, I'm going to try to get some sleep. I'm not hungry." 

I push away from the table, from the heat of the fire, and open the only other door besides the bathroom door. A wooden bedframe, dressed with as extravagant of decor as could be mustered from a farming village, is waiting with its bedsheets already turned down and inviting me in. I angrily climb in and pull the covers over my head. I'm sure that going to sleep should jolt me back into my real life, and then I can deal with whatever the fallout there is. Better to do something about my problems than to waste away in a self-serving fabrication of my mind.

******

Alice and Mabel whisper to each other at the kitchen table. Small affirmations that this is normal, and expected. There will still be good food, warm baths, and support in the morning. They may not have done this before, but they know that they can figure it out together. They quietly exchange ideas about how to best support restfulness and stamina, how to cure headaches, and what that strange new woman's past life must have been like. Alice offers to take the first shift of staying here in the kitchen, awake. "Just in case she needs anything, even if that's a shoulder to lean on." Mabel smiles and tucks Alice's hair behind her ear. "You're a good egg, kid. Goodnight. I'll see you in a few hours."