1.5 Dark and Cold: Poster Boy

When I was about halfway done with hanging the posters up around town, I chuckled at the irony of hanging up posters of myself. That smile on my face quickly faded away once I started thinking about where to go next.

With my head in the clouds, I accidentally bumped into an older lady and dropped all the posters.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I apologised as I crouched down to pick the posters back up. “Are you alright?”
“Don’t sweat it, dear,” she said as she crouched down to pick them up as well.

“I was a little lost in thought,” I added, awkwardly scratching the back of my neck, “Wasn’t really looking at where I was going.”

She handed me the posters. “Thank you—” but she didn’t let go when I had placed my hand on them.

My eyes drifted upward from her hand to her face, as she intensely stared at me. I felt an uneasy chill roll down my spine… does she know…? But there’s no way… right?

I let go and pointed at the image on the poster. “Uh… your eyes didn’t happen to catch this missing lad, did they?” Why did I phrase it in an Anna kinda way?

She grabbed my hand and placed the posters in them as she broke down in laughter. “Good luck finding him!”

I let out a sigh of relief, old people sure know how to startle us youngsters for no reason at all. Just now I had picked the posters up in a hurry, so I rotated the ones flipped upside-down. When I had done that, I shot a glance to where the old lady went and saw her talking to a young lady. She had long, light blonde hair and wore an eye patch, sort of making her look like, “…a pirate?”
Our eyes locked from a distance, so I spun around and went off to hang these posters up.

* * *

At last, I hung up the final poster and followed the arrows pointing towards the city’s centre, where—if I guessed correctly—the fountain is that Anna was talking about.

Once there, before my eyes took note of the fountain, I was staring in awe at the statue of the legendary hero Leigong. About a dozen and a half artists were sat around it. Some making pencil drawings in their sketchbook, whilst others were painting on canvasses vastly varying in size.
I felt relieved seeing people work on their craft using nothing but tools and their talent. Not that there’s anything wrong with people that use magic to make art, but it’s refreshing seeing some honest work. It shows that people who’re born without the ability to use magic aren’t useless. It’s the vast majority of people anyway, so I wonder why such things are even said.

“Hm-hmm, you’ll do!”

I turned around, a young man pointed his pencil at me.

“…Pardon?”

“You’re from East-Twynne, aren’t you? Hm, not quite… You’re from the Far East,” he assumed. “You look the part,” he added in a quick breath as he nodded to himself.

“No, I’m—”

He put his hand in front of his face, “Dashing eyes, staring at the hero, your big inspiration I’m sure. No need to strike a pose, your natural stance gets the job done. Now, now, eyes on the statue again, please.”

He kept rambling on without giving me the chance to get a word in. And now he has begun drawing.

“Could you not, please,” I asked him, partially looking over my shoulder.

“Don’t move! Your irritated face is perfect. ‘I see, Leigong, you’ve slain a dragon. I’ll slay two!’”
That’s right. Heroes wouldn’t be crowned legendary in their lifetime unless they’ve accomplished something extraordinary like Leigong Lin and his wife Baochen Lin have. Most people didn’t believe in dragons, much less colossal ones, unless they were summoned by humans, but that changed when one destroyed everything bordering Stormridge and killed thousands of people. These two heroes, from the Far East, saved the day and rightfully are praised as legendary heroes. Both of them are honoured through the statues built for them. As I was lost in thought, thinking about the heroes, the young artist proudly yelled out, “All done!”

He turned his sketchbook my way, “This will be my best painting yet. I’ll see if I can hand you a copy for free, signed by the one and only Thiemo.”

Once again, before I could get a word in, he dashed off. Most likely he’s headed to an atelier to turn his sketch into a painting. For all I care, I finally got rid of his antics.

I walked past the statue, towards the fountain, and scanned around. She wasn’t here yet. I didn’t take her for the kind of person who’d betray me, so I didn’t feel worried quite yet. Though I could hardly judge one’s character based on a single interaction. I sat down on one of the benches behind the fountain, carefully looking around.

The sun wasn’t starting to set yet, so I wasn’t all too worried that she still hadn’t shown up. Although that is true, I would be a liar if I said I wasn’t getting more nervous by the second sitting still in place instead of being on the move. Just as I thought of making a run for it—

“Boo!”

Anna placed her hands on my shoulders, scaring me from behind. I’d rather forget about the way I shrieked.

“Heh, gotcha good, poster-help lad! I see that all yer posters ‘r gone?”

I nodded.

She sat down next to me and twisted her pouch onto her lap. “Here ya go,” she grabbed one of my hands and dropped some coins in them.

With a single glance, I realised just how many she gave me. “Twelve? Are you sure? I can’t just—”

Then I noticed they were golden ones. “This many?”

“Heh,” she smirked, “don’t sweat it boy! A mission from the capital is worth quite the penny, ya know!”

I put the coins away. “I don’t really know what to say.”

“Hey, we’re cool. Anyway, I gotta catch me a good seat at the tavern. Ya taggin’ along?”

“Hm, this early?” I kind of blurted it out without thinking.

“Yup. Else m’good seat’ll be swept away. But I suppose that means yer staying out for a bit.”

“Yes, I’ll be on my way again. I can’t thank you enough fer the coins.” I covered my mouth with my hand.

“Hah! I see that me accent is contagious! Well, see ya around, boy.”

Close to the walls, with an insane budget to boot, I set out again, finally on my way out. Before I reached the end of the street, Anna yelled out to me.

“Let’s meet again, partner!” Even from afar I could still see that big smile on her face.

“Let’s hope we do!” I yelled out.