Chapter 13: The House

Alli traveled across the SalMon strait via ship for three days. It was a hungry three days as she only allowed herself the meagerest of dinners. This also dissuaded any would-be thieves as she made sure to isolate herself from everyone else, giving an air of poverty and misery. Besides that, there was not much of import on the journey itself. It was boring and unpleasant.

When The Sailor’s Retribution made landfall at the Mon Port, Alli was one of the first ones off the ship. Afterwards, she made sure to get far away from the docks and into town proper. First things first, she needed to restock on supplies.

The town center had a market out and about so Alli decided to peek a glance. Perhaps she’d be able to find some cheap food that’ll last a decent while. Unfortunately, after quite a while of searching, there was nothing that she could reasonably afford so she left, disappointed.

As disappointments go, this was far from the worst so she decided to persevere and just continued onward. She had enough supplies that if rationed, would be able to last her for a few days. If what Tavi said was correct, then the next town over shouldn’t be too far.

“Have you heard?” A small whisper ticked its way into her ear as she walked to the edge of Mon Port Town.

“About what?” Another whisper came. Alli found herself slowing down, curious as to what this was.

“There’s another uprising by the Kingdom-Empire border.”

“Another?””

That idea rolled around in Alli’s head. One way to have the king lose their power is to get rid of any support at all and what’s more fundamental for a king, is the people who make the foundation of a king’s podium.

It was by the edge of that town when a new voice came ringing out. She stopped, curious about who this person was. A few moments later, an old-ish looking man with unkept clothes and facial features walked up, short of breath.

“Young miss, I couldn’t help but follow you. I had wished to have talked to you earlier, but you disappeared with such impressive skill.” The old man dipped his head in greeting before coming back up with a smile. “My name is L’hobo.”

“Alli.” She kept her guard up, though there was something familiar about the name.

“It’s nice to meet you, Alli. Where are you headed?” The questions seemed innocent enough so Alli decided to trust them just a little bit.

“Through Feldenpail before arriving in Irscen.” It was simple but it did what it needed to do.

“Oh, I’m going to Feldenpail too! I can’t believe fate, to have such a journey will be most interesting. Please, I beg of you, please allow me to travel by your side, at least until Feldpail.”

Alli thought about it. While this man didn’t really seem to have anything, he did imply a wealth of knowledge. Ultimately though, Alli thought that he would be good company on the long journey. There was also a small part of her that was still scared of everything. This unfamiliar world, so vastly different from Japan or from the farming town of Irsfeld, and for what? To kill a king. It was so outlandish but Alli couldn’t hope for anything else.

“Okay.” She whispered out.

“Thank you!” L’hobo grinned wide and marched off, forcing Alli to scramble after him.

“Mister L’hobo?” She asked tentatively, a thought had been bothering her.

“Please drop the mister, it makes me so much more dignified than I am.” He fluffed out his dirty coat for emphasis.

“What did you mean by ‘you couldn’t help but follow me?’” They were still somewhat close to the town and she hoped that if she screamed loud enough, someone would come running.

“It’s my hobby. I seek the lost and confused and give them direction.” L’hobo chuckled as he pulled out a dented and clearly worthless coin. “Let’s take you for example. This coin is you. You know what you are and what you are for, but you are still unsure, still bent, ultimately making your quest worthless. But then again, who’s to say anything’s worthless. A bent coin can be perfect to prop up an unaligned chair or perhaps to marvel at.”

“I don’t get it.” There was a part of Alli that wanted to be frustrated, angry even, but maintaining her line of sight with the king took most of her fury. Instead, she was merely miffed at his ramblings.

“Ahaha. Dear Alli, there’s nothing to get.” L’hobo put away the coin. “You may also rest assured on a potential kidnapping, my frail arms can barely lift a cart much less a wriggling person.”

“Oh.” Unsure of what else to say, Alli kept on walking. Much to her appreciation, L’hobo also decides to stay quiet.

The path from Mon Port to Feldenpail was well worn and it made for easy travel, but it was less exciting than Tavi’s carriage. The world moved at a much slower pace, but this way it was easier to make out interesting details.

There were two trees whose stumps were away from each other, but somehow their trunks leaned to one another before wrapping around each other in its entirety. It was so fantastical, Alli couldn’t help but stare at it until it disappeared behind another tree.

“Those are two famous trees, you know. A Mon Port staple.” L’hobo said softly, a far cry from his exuberance from earlier.

“What are their names?”

“The Prisoner and the Queen. It’s a tragic love story between two individuals who had hated each other for no other reason than because it was their sole purpose. As seen by the boughs, their stances were quite hateful but after years and years, they grew to love each other very much. They shedded away their purpose in life to cultivate a new one. Of course, the king at the time was not very happy about it and ordered the execution of the Prisoner, a deed that the Queen had been delaying for so long. Legend then says, the Queen escaped with the Prisoner the night before the execution and they ran and they ran, dodging checkpoints and roaming knights. The tree back there was where they supposedly finally got caught and killed on the spot.”

Alli’s eyes grew misty eyed. She always had a soft spot for tragically beautiful stories. “What happened to the king?”

“Who knows. The story might not even be real, it is a legend after all.” L’hobo sighed wistfully. “The story does continue though. The deity, The Courtesan, took pity on their tragic romance and planted the tree as well as took their souls into her court. There, the two can love each other for eternity.”

“That’s nice.”

“Isn’t it?” L’hobo pulled out his coin again and looked at it wistfully. “Don’t these stories make you wish for a legend of your own? Some grand narrative you could be a part of.”

“All the time.” Alli answered seriously, her mind going back to the horrible life she had always sought to escape.

“And that’s where my hobby comes in!” He flashed a smile, a little more like his previous self. “I look for the confused and lost and help them. That way, I can be in a little piece of as many stories as I can find. Today, I will be a part of your story.”

The thought made her smile. “That’s nice, but I don’t think this story will end well.”

“Then shine bright.” He flashed another smile before slipping into a melancholic mask and trudged along.

Recognizing that he didn’t wish to talk anymore, Alli too fell into silence and let the world accompany her.

The journey was long and arduous, but L’hobo surprisingly had a lot of stories to share as well as helpful tips. As time passed, he began to grow on Alli to the point where she would miss him when she would eventually leave him.

It was on the eighth day and her rations were gone. Hungry and exhausted, Alli followed L’hobo into Feldenplain. Despite all her sufferings, she still hummed and awed at the world around her. The fields around the village were completely starch white, adding a strange almost angelic affect to the village itself.

As for the village, the walls were tall and ornately crafted, but it was the inside that caught her attention. It looked as if Feldenplain had created a symbiotic relationship with nature, as trees and all sorts of various foliage grew in tandem with the finely crafted buildings scattered about. If one were to look at a single spot for a long time, they would not be able to say which side outpaced the other.

“This is amazing!”

“It certainly is, my dear Alli.” L’hobo chuckled as he pushed through some flowery vines before taking a turn into a smallish alleyway. “Come, we better restock ourselves before venturing to Irscen.”

“You’re coming with me to Irscen?”

“Might as well, I’ve got business there.” The thought made her giggle a little, but Alli followed him nonetheless.

“Where are we going? Isn’t the market behind us?” She asked after a while, suspicion slowly rising within her.

“My house. We can get a bunch of rations there.”

“You have a house here!?”

“Oh sure, I’ve got houses in every city, town, village all across the Kingdom. I even have some in the Empire and the Drian Isles.” L’hobo stated matter of factly before coming to a quaint little abode, hugged by two pink cherry trees. It was extremely cute and Alli couldn’t help but blush at the thought of entering it. It almost seemed like a fairytale.

L’hobo opened the door with a key, confirming that it was indeed his house, and then entered. He gestured quickly for her to follow as well. Alli bowed slightly out of respect for the house’s beauty, and then hurried inside. The interior did not disappoint as even the furniture met the cute aesthetic.

“Mister L’hobo…surely you did not decorate this house?” The mental image of this gruff looking man decorating a house so cute did not compute in Alli’s brain.

“No, I simply don’t have the touch.” He chuckled at her sheer relief. “No, it was this old lady I gave this place to for a time. She had a knack for living and truly made this place her own. She died a while back though and I’ve been keeping the place as it is in her memory.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for your loss.”

“I didn’t really know her anyways.” L’hobo shrugged.

“I was talking to the house.” This time Alli flashed a grin to which L’hobo laughed out loud.

“You got me there. Come, the pantry is over here.” He shuffled into the kitchen and revealed a very well stocked pantry. Surprisingly so. “Just take some things, not all. It’ll be hard to carry, also, this pantry helps the needy.”

“The needy?”

“I told the village chief that if someone needs a house for the night or two, they could use mine.” It was then that Alli remembered how she knew of him.

“You have a house in Irsfeld! My chief does the same thing.”

“Oho, so you come from Irsfeld. Well met Alli of Irsfeld. I do hope the chief is respecting my wishes and my house.”

Alli simply nodded, still somewhat awestruck at this strange man.

“That’s good to know. Come, let’s take what we need and get out of here. The old lady always used to scold me about my dirt on her floor.” He chuckled before exiting.

Alli looked at the house a bit more, then exited herself. She then bowed to the house itself and thanked it for allowing them to take food. One of the pink trees rustled and Alli smiled, taking the sign as ‘no problem.’

“Come Alli, we still have a while to go till Irscen!”

“Coming!”