The Strange & Familiar

The Village was small, and flanked on all sides by the edible grove. Simple wooden and mud houses were sat neatly together with graveled paths between them. As Robina approached, she saw two people standing guard at the entry path to the village. They were armed with spears and a backup sword, and wore leather armor. Their eyes intensely watched the girl as she made her way closer. One of the guards held out a hand and spoke, “Halt, traveler. What is your purpose here?”

She stopped dead in her tracks, ‘Jeeze, these guys look pretty tough but what should I tell them?’ They looked her up and down, raising their eyebrows as they took in the sight of her strange clothing. “I was on carriage, and there were these little green people that attacked…I just ran”

“Attacked? It must have been Biloko, they’re vicious creatures. How did you escape? You look a bit young for an adventurer, where are your parents?” the guard pressed her further.

She clutched her locket, “I'm the only one left.” The guards' faces softened in response.

One of them gestured towards her broken sword, “I understand, but we can’t just let you walk around with your weapon drawn. Please put that away.”

“I, uh… can you hold on to it for me? And is there a place I can stay the night?” she asked, realizing she didn’t have a suitable place to store it on her person. The guard nodded, and held out their hand. ‘Well being disarmed isn’t the best but at least they’ll let me in.. and maybe I can even get some information, or at least some water.’

The guards sent her along through the check point and gave her directions to an inn. The sun was dipping down into the evening sky, and soon it would tuck all of its golden light away.

As she walked towards her destination, she decided to get in some people watching. ‘I must look way out of place… wherever this is’ she thought, comparing her modern wear with the more simple clothing that she saw people in the village wearing. There were plenty of children running about, playing games with sticks that seemed all too familiar for such a strange place. Some of the children had tails, and catlike eyes, the adults too. Some stole glances at her from behind windows. ‘Tails?! Their eyes… some of them remind me of cats…’

The building she was looking for was finally within view, it had a weathered wooden sign outside with an image of a bed and moon carved into it. It looked like it had seen many seasons but was still swaying gently above the front door. She could hear a lot of commotion going on inside. “Someone's having a good time in there” she said to herself, while opening the door.

The place was packed with people, all of them dining, drinking and conversing with each other. Few bothered to even look at the new stranger walking in. A young tailed woman walked up to her, while she was scanning the crowd. “Hello miss, will you be staying or is it just a meal?” the hostess asked of her new guest.

“Both, please.” Robina affirmed. The hostess beckoned her to follow and lead her to a table, "Excuse me Mr. Kennedy, would you mind if this young miss shares a table with you?” propositioning the solo occupant of the table.

He was a gruff looking man with black ruffled hair, sporting a dark leather coat, and a patch over his left eye. He gazed at her, as if taking a measurement and grinned. “Oh, I don’t mind at all. Pull up a seat, lass.”

The hostess poured them both a glass of water and went back into the kitchen to get them food.

“I’m Kennedy, an adventurer by trade. So, lass. What's your story… your clothes are strange to me, and I don’t see many your age on the road." His gravely voice carried an air of experience about it.

“I was attacked out there.. By some green creatures, I think a guard told me they were Below…ko or something like that.” Robina made sure to stick to her story, she didn’t want to raise any suspicions.

“Ahh, well that explains the stains on your clothes there…Wait, lass did you fight them yourself?!” The surprise in his voice was only matched by the look of bewilderment on his face.

“Most of them didn’t come past the road when I got there.. .but one just wouldn’t stop chasing me. So, I had no choice…” her voice gave away the fear that she’d felt during that encounter.

He let out a big sigh, “Well, good on you for surviving, lass. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”

The hostess returned with their meal, “I hope you enjoy it, it’s the house special. Roasted Sky raptor, fried plantains and rice!” her cheery demeanor broke up the heavy energy that permeated the mood at the table. Robina and Kennedy thanked her in unison, and began eating.

The crowd at the inn slowly dwindled, as they finished their meal. And with that, the jubilant energy that had greeted Robina early had faded into a softer tone. A few stragglers remained, some of them were certainly staying the night at the inn while others had presumably returned to their homes.

The hostess was collecting pay from the few remaining guests, and finally it was Robina’s turn. ‘Shoot! I don’t have any money’ she frantically checked her pockets, but there was nothing there to find save for a single mango. Her face was flush with embarrassment and Kennedy had noticed.

“Margo, I’ll pay for the lass too,” Kennedy announced, as the hostess made her way to them. “You look like you're in a rough way, lass. It’s my treat, as your senior and a fellow traveler.” he said to her nearly in a whisper.

“Thank you so much!” instinctively she grabbed his hand and shook it as a sign of her gratitude.

Bemusedly, he laughed “you’ve got a strong grip!” he stood up from the table after she let go, “Hmm… why don’t you meet me right back here tomorrow morning, unless you’ve got someplace better to be.”

Robina wasn’t sure what to make of the offer, but she had no real plans and didn’t even know where she was. ‘I should definitely ask about this world… it definitely isn’t earth’, standing up she looked him over. “I can do that.” He smiled and nodded, before turning to walk out the front door.

Margo showed her to her room, it was small and the only furniture in there was a table, a chair and an old bed. Moon beams shone through the thinly draped window, the only other light than the candle on the table. Only after crawling into bed did she feel the full exhaustion from the day setting in. ‘At least he asked to meet in public, that could have been weird.’ her last thoughts before succumbing to the comfort of sleep.