Chapter 3: A Strange Way of Meeting

    Harvin and Manira enter town to buy groceries and visit the armory the following morning. I need flute grass, Tempest rocks, some potatoes, carrots, celery, clams, salt, and pepper. Manira brushes her right hand along the grassy pathway to town, Harvin glancing down at that side often, to make sure she doesn’t accidentally touch a plant that would hurt her, or that nothing jumps out at her. It’s fine the whole way into town. They stop at the third stand in town, purchasing both the flute grass, a long hollow grass of the region to the north controlled by the high elves of Nehhrona, often used as an ingredient when cooking sea food, and tempest rocks, which, comes from minerals mined by dwarves from a mountain called Esshekala The dwarves often keep the treasure but don’t mind selling tempest rocks which are magical rocks in abundance there, that can create high winds when struck by a hard object, perfect for fanning fires, or keeping them to an even heat. When he enters the general store, the shop keeper, a girl around his age, with purple hair, ear piercings, and cuffs around the helix, and overly long sleeves, gives him the most bored, uninviting look. She looks at him and asks with no inflection in her voice, “what can I get for you today Harvin?” Manira looks angrily at her, then at him with eyebrows raised, then at her again. “You know my master, why are you treating him like this,” “Enaira and I go way back” “Yeah squirt, I grew up with your Master, he was part of my guild party, until a certain day” “Please Enaira, that conversion…” “What, about what, about Harvin The Rogue of Gusty Valley, or about our party, or should I say, what’s left of our party” Harvin opens the window in the store to the grassy meadow out back and barfs. “Master, Master are you okay?” “Yeah just not much for conversation” he says he quickly pays and leaves, but as he does, he sees the pained look in Enaira’s face as well, her slightly furrowed brows and frown as he closes the door to the shop.

    “Oh, crap I forgot milk.” There is one place I know of that carries it around here at any time of day and any time of the year, The Meadows Slope Tavern and Inn, thinks Harvin. He throws her a small cloak he knitted the night before for her. “Put this on when we get there, and don’t take it off, only show your face to the barmaid, no one else.” Suddenly you can hear noises from the bar. A scrawny guy with a long face face and a long thin nose, with dark brown frizzled hair, dark brown eyes, in a red leotard with overly large spikey black metal pauldrons, black chain mail vest, and large black spikey metal shoes is sitting in the corner, talking to himself. “It was as if he was fighting the wind itself” he states to himself repeating the line said in his mind, nearly in his normal tone except a little croaky. A couple that were holding hands and telling each other I love you’s have gotten up from their seats near his dark corner table and are now heading out with furrowed brows, wide eyed, and frowns on their faces. “It was as if he… was fighting… the wind… itself….” he repeats in a very raspy dry exasperated voice, after hearing an old man say the line in his head, and contorts his face sucking in his cheeks and slowly lowering head with each pause. This time a couple of knights were talking about how they would invade a certain fortress in a foreign land, for the Roekem Kingdom soon, “I don’t really think this the place to talk about it,” “me neither, let’s discuss it back at The Tenyard Inn instead. Yeah…” they say as they pack up their equipment quickly, and glance back at the figure in the corner, Darkum. A voice in his head is now that of a little girl’s “It was as iffff…he was fightinggggggg…the windddddddd… itselfffffffffffffff~” he says in a falsetto voice while smiling and puffing up his cheeks as they go flush red, lilting his head at each elongated word, then puckering his mouth, then sticking out his tongue and blowing a raspberry. Now the guild party of 5 making plans to take down a dragon in the mountains near the town, start to pack up their stuff “weird guy ruins it for everyone,” chimes one of the female adventurers among the party. “The guy is a total creep” chimes in the other woman in the party,” the man, male dwarf, and male elf nod along in agreement and they all leave together. The barmaid Martha brings over a hot chicken pot pie, “well do you feel like eating?” “If you don’t order anything soon, I’m going to have to kick you out, owner's orders, buy something or leave, or would you rather deal with the town’s guard.” Darkum leaves and as he does he catches a glimpse of part of Manira’s face despite her the hood on her cloak being up.

    The little girl’s voice starts up in Darkum's head again as he’s leaving, “it was as iffff…he was fightinggggggg…the windddddddd… itselfffffffffffffff~” he says in a falsetto voice while smiling and puffing up his cheeks while they go flush red, lilting his head at each elongated word again, then puckering his mouth, and sticking out his tongue and blowing a raspberry again. A little boy and his group of little friends, both boys and girls, are nearby, hear it and laugh, and the boy in the middle, the leader of the group asks him to do it again. But this time hears the voice of a gruff stoic figure in his head, “IT WAS AS IF HE WAS FIGHTINGGGGGGGG, THE WIND IT’S SELFFFFFFFFFFFF!” He says with a furrowed brow, wide eyes, and a clenched jaw, making fists in both hands. “Ahhh,” the children scream as they run away, tears in their eyes, snot running down their faces. “Momma” some of them cry, or “Daddy”. The parents now looking at him, “you’re the worst jester”, you made my baby cry” says one woman, another parent chimes in, “yeah,” ,“and mine”, “and mine too,” Darkum shuffles off to the forest. “I’m Darkummmmmm, master of evil" he says to himself, looking the wanted poster and seeing he’s only worth one copper shilling for capture, "you'll rue the day you messed with me, he cackles” while trying not cry about the one shilling only bounty. Right before another the phrase hits his head, this time a little boy's voice, forcing him to repeat the line, with a different tone and cadence.

   “That guy sure was weird, huh?” says Harvin to Manira, after Darkum leaves, but she has now become despondent and withdrawn, “Manira, what’s wrong?” Is that guy still creeping her out or something?