10th Emiton 5384

The day dawned like any summer day. The sky brighten prior to the golden sun peeking out of the Nin Ridge. The sea breeze was blowing clouds inland this morning although rain here in Nothing, particularly during the summer months, were rare. We had a quick breakfast of some leftover bread and cheese, washed down with water from our canteens before we headed off on the road again.

Cail was in a cheerful mood all morning, chattering to Ick about things of no consequence as they walked behind me. The walk was pleasant, for although it was almost mid-summer, the sea breeze and the clouds overhead kept the walk shady and cool. We encountered more traffic, most of it cart-drawn and laden with goods heading south towards Nothingness. We also met a husband and wife couple heading the opposite direction towards Nada. The wife was heavy in labour and was riding a donkey. I wonder what could have forced them to travel such a long distance when the woman was so obviously close to term.

It must have been just past noon when we approached the little barn set just off the side of the road that was well known to regular travellers on this road. This little barn has been converted into an inn and is reputed to serve the best rabbit stew in Nada. A couple ran the place with the assistance of their three children – two teenage boys and a teenaged girl. The boys would be out in the fields trapping wild rabbits and thus assisting the farmers in the area to be rid of this troublesome pest. Despite the popularity of the rabbit stew served in the inn, the rabbits in the area still seem bountiful. Perhaps there is some truth to the saying that they “bred like rabbits”.

As we approached the door of the converted barn I glanced at the sky and then looked back at Ick and Cail and asked, “Is it me, or did we walk rather fast today?”

“I don’t mind the pace,” said Cail with a shrug and a smile.

“You were the one who are in front!”, exclaimed Ick, implying that for most part I had been setting the pace of the morning walk. He had a look on his face that was a mixture of puzzlement and concern.

Normally though, we’d be at this place mid afternoon. I would say that today we walked at such a fast pace that we shaved at least an hour off the usual travelling time. I hadn’t notice the fast pace of the walk, and on reflection, neither have I noticed much of the countryside. I guess I must have been too absorbed in my own thoughts and perhaps subconsciously wished to be in Nothingness as soon as possible.

It was a comfort to be in the shade that noon. The windows of the eating area of the inn were open catching the light breezes, making the room rather comfortable. We ordered three portions of rabbit stew and freshly baked bread and I must say we wolfed all that down rather fast and washed it with honeyed tea. Perhaps the fast pace of the trek did leave its toll after all.

We rested for a bit longer than usual after lunch, not really talking but enjoying the shade and the atmosphere in the homey inn. All good things, must come to an end and we continued our journey on the road south. This time I made sure to let either Cail or Ick lead the pace, so as not to tire me out. As professional soldiers, both Cail and Ick can probably withstand more strenuous activity than myself.

About two hours after leaving the inn, which seems had no name – perhaps the reputation of the rabbit’s stew was more than sufficient to generate interest in it? – Cail looked at me and I bade him to go. He would make a bad Pathfinder, what with his stature and his insistence to be able to run for at least an hour every other day. Cail ran on ahead to the destination that we would be staying overnight tonight. Ick and I carried on at what I hoped was our normal pace.

The countryside here in South Nada is a bit more lush than the north, since the precipitation that falls on the foothills of the Nin Ridge far to the east runs in tiny streams to the sea crossing this part of Nada. As a result of this, the land is more fertile and is used for agriculture. There were mainly wheat fields, interspersed with some clover and soy. Crop rotation is a new thing in this part, but widely practised in the east. There farmers here though, aren’t complaining since they have firsthand benefited from the increased yields due to crop rotation.

The sun was just touching the surface of the sea in the west as Ick and I turned off the main road and down a well trodden path towards a tiny cottage. Tiny wildflowers grew along the path, throwing a dash of colour – the violets and yellows and aquamarine sprinkled amongst the green grass randomly were rather visual appealing, or so I thought.

Cail jumped up from the porch of the cottage when he saw us arriving. It seemed to my eye that he was whittling a piece of wood. That overgrown boy seems to have so much energy sometimes that he tires me. He ran to us and half-dragged me to the door of the cottage. There Ick and I were met by a middle aged couple.

“Mother, they are here!,” Cail exclaimed, halfway to a shout, in glee.

“You don’t have to shout, Toebin,” said the woman, referring to Cail by his given name, “I’m not deaf.”

“Hello Lilandie,” I greeted Cail’s mother and proceeded to hug her and give hier a kiss. I received a warm hug in return.

“Glad to see you again” said Lilandie almost smiling.

I turned to the middle age man and greeted him,“Hey Toelin, how are things?” He took my offered hand and pumped it vigourously a few times before drawing me to him and giving me a manly bear hug. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lilandie hugging Ick.

Before I knew it, Lilandie exclaimed that we must be tired and ushered us into her cottage where she was in the middle of making dinner. Ick and I sat and chatted with Toelin. As far as Toelin and Lilandie are concerned, both Ick and myself are fellow soldiers serving the Duke of Nostalgia, with Cail, or Toebin as they call him.

Toebin, was kidnapped when he was almost a year old, or so says Lilandie. He was brought to the Temple of the Lady of the Night in Nyteville of course, where he was imprisoned in the dungeons dug out of the mountain that the temple sits upon. There he grew up, with little to no memory of his parents other than the fact that the house smelt funny and that there were lots of bees where he grew up. It was there that he took the name Cail, although I still have no idea what it means.

Cail was freed along with all of the boys in the Temple when I forbade the atrocity of human sacrifice in the duchy. Cail, then still a youth of no more than 15 summers, although by then he looked more like a grown man than a adolescent, took the time to wander the land looking for his parents – the one house with the musty smell and the bees. One could say it was providence that the stumbled onto Toelin and Lilandie.

The smells coming from the hearth where Lilandie was cooking the evening meal was fabulous. However not even that could drown out the smell of peppermint and rosemary and lavender that were hanging in sprigs from the rafter in an effort to dry them out. Lilandie is a candle maker, making the finest scented beeswax candles that she sold as far afield as Nonsense and Dreamland. She was a petit woman and was still rather pretty despite her years. Her face was a round one and was always decorated with a smile. Her golden hair was shoulder length, although today she had pulled it back to a pony tail. The one striking feature about her though, was not her beauty or her smile but her height. She stood about as tall as me, yet somehow still managed to convey in her carriage and behaviour her undoubtedly feminine ways and attributes.

Toelin must have been glad to have her as his wife. He too was handsome and pleasant to the eyes, with high cheekbones, large blue eyes and light blonde hair. He is about half a handbreadth taller than Cail, and I suspect would make any women other than Lilandie feel like a midget. He kept some bees at the back of the cottage, harvesting the honey and beeswax, and he also tended the little vegetable and herb plot to the side of the house, the source of many of Lilandie herbs.

Cail had lived here for perhaps two seasons, but ultimately he decided that this wasn’t the life he was after – he had grown up in the company of a large number of people. So he left his parents and sought me out to join the ranks of the “Wraith Guards”. He excelled in almost every area of military training and served for a while in the Remembrance as part of the ducal garrison, before being handpicked by Ick to be one of my four personal bodyguards.

Dinner that night was a nice home cooked meal of country bread, candied vegetables and roasted rabbits – apparently, this year the rabbits in the area were more fecund than usual.

After dinner, Lilandie showed us a bar of rose scented soap that I had made a few weeks back and had given to Cail, extolling the creaminess of the soap and the marvellous inspiration for scenting the soap with rose and how she couldn’t wait to give her candles the same treatment. It was a wonderful evening, and for a while it made me forget my worries and responsibilities, while enjoying the company.

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