>>5822023>>5822037>>5822040You weigh your options for a few moments and eventually pass on anything that sounds like work.
"Now listen here boy.." Your father shouts, before being cut off by your mother's voice,
"Leave him be dear." She says softly, smiling at you warmly, "We've done little more than work since arriving here. If we push him too hard he'll have nothing but resentment for us when he's older."
She gives you a pat on your head and ushers you to the door, slipping something into your pocket with a clink of metal, "Go and get to know your new home a little better, just don't leave the city limits. The forest isn't safe and we haven't yet been assigned our ranger."
"And make sure you're home before dark." Your father adds over his shoulder, still clearly displeased by the whole exchange.
You wave an excited goodbye to your parents, still giddy over the prospect of a full day with no responsibility, and set out on the town. As expected, mornings in the fiefs capital are quite busy. Horse-drawn carts and similarly burdened people move about with single-minded intensity to their destinations. Houses need building, soldiers need training, so on and so forth. Searching your pockets you find that your mother sent you out with five silver crowns. You place them back into the pocket of your trousers and continue on your way out of the Merchant District, marked by homes of various sizes making up a central residential area ringed by various stores, workshops, and stalls.
Eventually you pass by your father's shop, taking in the sound of hammers ringing off of anvils and the heat radiating from the forge into the street. You ponder for a moment how it is that your father is so well respected when it's his helpers that actually arrive on time. Before you can finish the thought reality comes rushing back in the form of the ground as you run straight into a wall and lose your footing.
"What's this?" mused a voice from above, "Can one so small really afford to lose focus in such a busy place?"
Lifting your head you meet a pair of dark, disapproving eyes as you realize the wall was a tall, thin man now in the process of patting the dust off of his robes. Those eyes were sunken in his gaunt face, peering through a mess of black hair that hung past his shoulders. He leans closer and you find yourself unable to move. It's as if his gaze literally holds you you and, even in broad daylight on a busy street, you feel a rising sense of dread and imminent danger. Seeing the change in your expression he backs up a step and the malice in the air vanishes, but he remains looking at you with his head now slightly cocked to the side. How do you respond?
>Apologize for your absentmindedness and converse with him>Run away from him and continue out of the district>Seek refuge in dad's shop>Write in 