Frostbitten Wayfarer

Joe and Zoe walked through town until they arrived at a plain wooden house with wooden shutters on the windows. Joe walked up to the door and knocked.

A few minutes later a tall, dark skinned woman with white hair opened the door.

[Mage - ??]

“Yes?” The woman said, her flowing blue cloak trailing behind her, fluttering in the slight breeze that wafted in through her open door.

“Hello, you’re Penny?” Joe asked.

“Indeed I am, and you are?” Penny asked.

“I’m Joe, I run an inn and I’m looking for a supply of meat. I’ve heard you’re a hunter?” Joe asked her.

“Some call me as such, I suppose. Are you interested in my services?” The woman looked at Zoe, her eyes squinting.

“I may be. I’d like to work on a month by month basis if that’s possible.” Joe said.

“It is,” She said, looking back at Joe.

“Great, what do you charge?” Joe asked her.

“Might you join me for tea as we discuss prices?” Penny asked, gesturing inwards to her house, her blue cloak folding over her arms.

“Sure,” Joe looked at Zoe, tilting his head a little.

Zoe nodded at him. She was interested in learning more about how things worked here, and she could always leave if it dragged on too long.

Penny walked inside, leading the two in behind her. The foyer was plain, a stone floor with various shoes stacked on a rack and several thin coats hanging in a closet.

Beyond the foyer, the rest of the house was one large room with windows spaced evenly on the walls. To one wall was an empty, plain stone counter, and in the centre of the large room were five floating orange chairs that looked almost like beanbags, but seemed less mushy.

Penny walked over to the counter and summoned a white teapot with blue pattern painted on it, along with three matching teacups. She waved her hand over the teapot and steam began to rise from it. Three mesh bags filled with various leaves were summoned, one placed into each cup, and she poured the boiling water into the cups.

She picked up two of the cups, the other one floating to her side, and handed them to Joe and Zoe. “Take a seat wherever you like,” she said, sitting down on one of the floating chairs. She grabbed the teacup from the air next to her and sipped from it.

Joe and Zoe took a seat of their own. They were somewhat comfortable, but for being so magical she expected better. It felt like their purpose was to look impressive, but they sacrificed some comfort to that end. The magic that kept them afloat wasn’t stable enough to hold their weight completely as they shifted around so the chairs kept tilting, and they didn’t have a backrest or armrests even to help stabilize themselves.

The tea was nice enough though, earthy and a little sweet. It almost reminded her of ginger tea mixed with hibiscus tea. Not her favourite, but it was refreshing and pleasant she thought as she sipped from the cup.

“What precisely are you needing?” Penny asked, looking at Joe.

“Well, I need ten bags of meat every month. Doesn’t matter what meat as long as it’s affordable, and no rabbits.” Joe explained.

“Your only aversion is to rabbits?” The woman asked.

“Around here at least. I wouldn’t do cats or dogs either, and I’m sure I could find some other meats I wouldn’t be partial to. But at least for what we have around Flester, rabbits are the only thing I’m not wanting.” Joe answered.

“Hmmm, and that’s ten bags every month, for how long?" She asked, sipping from her teacup.

“Well, for as long as I’m running my inn, which I hope to be a long time.” Joe said.

“I think we could have an arrangement, then. Would two silver per bag be adequate for you?” She asked.

“How’s seventeen per batch of ten?” Joe countered.

“Hmm, I think not. Twenty silver is as low as I am willing to go, I’m afraid.” She said.

Joe clicked his tongue, “That’s better than odd jobbers at least. Sure, you’ve got a deal.” He stood and held his hand out to her.

“I must apologize but I do not shake hands. It is a pleasure doing business regardless, I hope you take no offence.” She said, standing and bowing her head.

“No problem at all, pleasure doing business. When do you think you will have the first batch?” He asked.

“The earliest would be tomorrow, if that is alright with you?”

“Yeah that works fine. I can come stop by here tomorrow afternoon?" Joe asked.

“If you like, although I may also deliver if you prefer.” She said.

“Sure, if that’s not too much to ask for.” Joe said.

“It is no matter for me, where is your establishment located?” Penny inquired.

“I run an inn on Kline, haven’t named the place yet but I’ve got a sign out front with a bed on it.”

The woman vanished, returning a moment later. “I see. I can have your first batch delivered by tomorrow afternoon then.”

Zoe stared at Penny in shock.

“Sure thing, that sounds fine.” Joe said.

“Wait, wait what did you just do?” Zoe asked, her mouth aghast at the display.

“Hmm? I went to find the inn, of course.” Penny said, sipping from her teacup.

“No I mean, you just vanished. How did you do that?" Zoe asked her, trying not to blink as she stared at Penny, hoping to not miss another incredible display of magic.

“I teleported,” The woman said, tilting her head as she looked back at Zoe.

“That’s a thing? People can teleport?” Zoe gasped.

“Why shouldn’t it be? What a curious individual you are.” The woman wondered.

“I guess, I’ve just never seen anybody do that before. That’s amazing.” Zoe said.

“I see. I suppose I should thank you for the compliment then.” The woman bowed her head.

“Anyway I’m sorry to interrupt, carry on.” Zoe said.

“Well, I think we were finished anyway, yes?” The turned her attention back to Joe.

“Yea I think so. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon then?” Joe asked her.

“Lovely,” She smiled.

Joe and Zoe stood up, and the woman watched as they left her house. When they closed the door, Zoe heard a click as the door was locked.

“People can teleport?” Zoe exclaimed, staring at Joe. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Joe laughed, “I never thought of it. Most people can’t anyway, just the higher level mages.”

“Joe, I’m going to be a higher level mage! I’ll be able to teleport around!” Zoe shouted.

“Yeah sure, in another hundred years at this rate, maybe.” Joe chuckled, turning down the street.

“I think I’m taking my first class next winter, and after that I can just change my other classes around whenever I want right?” Zoe asked.

“That’s what I’ve heard, never done it myself before though. Not going to take as much time with your future classes then?” Joe asked.

“Well there’s no point right? This one is a one and done, it’s worth taking my time on. But after this I’ll be free to explore and try things without penalty. I’m so going to just rush through until I can teleport.” Zoe declared.

Joe chuckled, “I wish you luck.”

Zoe giggled, “She was a bit strange, wasn’t she?”

“That’s rich, coming from you.” Joe chided.

“Haha, very funny. She just gave me a weird vibe.” Zoe said.

“Weird or not, as long as she gets me my deliveries of meat I’m fine with it.”

“I guess.” Zoe said.

“Anyway, I’m done with my chores for the day. I’m headed back to the inn for the rest of the day. What are your plans?” Joe asked.

“I think I’m going to go find a job to do. Down to just eight and a half silver now which is getting a little low for my comfort.” Zoe answered.

“Have fun then, and stay safe. Don’t go get poisoned again.” Joe nodded to her.

“Thanks Joe I won’t, probably. I’ll see you around.” Zoe smiled.

Zoe made her way down the streets looking for somewhere that might have a job board while she thought about her future. She was very excited to be done with her first class grind and be able to just play around with everything she could find. It felt so close, and yet at the same time so very far away.

Teleportation was something she hadn’t even thought of as being possible. She’d seen things be teleported in and out of storage items, but a whole person? That shook her to her very core. She could be exploring the vast wilderness and at the first sign of danger just pop herself back in to the safety of town. No longer would she have to be scared of boars charging her in the forest, or being lost with no way to find her way back home.

Though, by the time she got anything like that she supposed she wouldn’t be afraid of boars anyway. Part of her wanted to go back and talk to the woman, get all of the details out of her. What level did she unlock teleportation? What class did she have, what would Zoe need to do to get there as soon as possible?

But she didn’t. Zoe wouldn’t want people interrogating her about every little detail of her class and she suspected that Penny wouldn’t want that either, probably. She would have to find a library or another book store someday and learn as much as she could herself.

Zoe walked up to a tavern and opened the door. On the back wall was a board with job postings, a couple other people standing near it reading what was available. She walked up and joined them.

Many of the jobs were for the much the same as usual, and Zoe started wondering if she should just get the cooking skill and open a catering business. Maybe in the future, if nobody else did it first. Or was there some systemic problem that stopped people from running catering businesses? She wasn’t sure.

She looked through the job board some more and found one posted by The Rotted Apple on Bruns. They wanted help with various food prep tasks, and the pay was three silver coins. Or at least she thought that’s what the three white slashes meant.

Zoe ripped the posting off and brought it up to the bartender.

“Hey do you know where this Rotted Apple restaurant is?” Zoe asked them.

They pondered for a moment, “Should just be a couple streets away to the north, I think.”

“Okay, thanks a bunch!” Zoe said, waving the job posting as she left.

It wasn’t the best paying job she’d had, but it seemed safe enough. As long as it wasn’t all rotted food that would poison her. She hoped it wouldn’t be, and wasn’t sure why somebody would name their restaurant after rotting apples. Didn’t seem very appealing to her, anyway.

Bruns wasn’t far away and she found it without too much effort, wandering up and down the street until she found The Rotted Apple.

It was a strange building, made of some kind of wood and shaped in a half sphere that if Zoe were generous might be somewhat reminiscent of an apple. A wooden sign hung above the front door with a burnt in drawing of an apple.

She opened the door and walked in. The restaurant smelled somewhat sweet and earthy, with an undertone of bread. Or maybe just yeast, she realized.

There were a dozen tables set up, each with four wooden chairs sat around them throughout the room, with a swinging door on the back wall. Seven of the tables were taken already, most by a single person, but three were filled.

Near the door where Zoe entered was a podium, a tall man standing behind it in a bright red suit.

[Warrior - ??]

They seemed bored, and oozed jealousy. Zoe didn’t think this was their favoured job.

“Hello, table for one?” The man asked her.

“Oh, no. I took a job for helping with food prep?” Zoe said, handing the paper to them.

“Ah, yes you can head into the back. Lou should be there and he can help you out.” The man said, pointing at the swinging door in the back.

“Okay, thank you.” She said.

Behind the door was a large kitchen, several stoves and counters set up, and a section off to the right with large wooden barrels that smelled sweet and yeasty.

A short man in a red chef’s coat was directing four people around the kitchen, each of them wearing red aprons. Two of them were cooking on the stove, while two were cutting up vegetables and piling them into buckets.

“Hello?” Zoe called out.

“Yes? Do you need something?” The short man said.

“I’m here for a food prepping job? Are you Lou?” Zoe asked, identifying the man.

[Worker - ??]

“I am,” Lou said, his eyes wandering to above Zoe’s head. “Do you have the cooking skill?”

“I don’t, is that a requirement?” Zoe asked.

“It’s not, but it does help. Here, put this on.” Lou said, summoning a red apron and handing it to Zoe.

Zoe put the apron on over her blue dress. “What do you need me to do today?” She asked.

“Do you have any experience working in a kitchen?” Lou asked.

“I’ve worked as a dishwasher before, and did some prep when I was younger. Never worked on the line though.” Zoe said.

“Right, well I already have a dishwasher. Have you ever made apple cider, before? Or any alcohol, for that matter?” Lou asked.

“No, I haven’t.” Zoe answered.

“Then I will show you each step as you get to it and you can work through them, if that’s alright with you?" Lou asked.

“Sure!” Zoe answered, eager to learn about brewing. It was a topic she was interested in even back home, and she might even get a new skill out of it if she was lucky.