A Day Like Any Other I
The sun filters into a lowly herbalist's hut causing an elderly man to stir from a deep, peaceful sleep in his comfy bearskin bed, beside him, his wife, who still slumbers. Her grey hairs slowly overtaking her once vibrant nut-brown hair and the marks of time become more numerous day after day. But to the old man, that only adds to his beloved's beauty, it is the proof of the life they shared together of the home they built together amidst the Frontier. Leaving her to enjoy her rare opportunity to sleep in, he goes to the main room of their hovel and fries up some eggs and venison in a cast iron skillet placed atop a thin metal rack resting in a grove of the fireplace. Placing two new logs in the fireplace, the old man searches for his flint and steel in one of the chests in the main room, "There you are." he calls out as he digs out the flint and steel, before slowly kneeling down beside the fireplace. Sparking a flame into the kindling and slowly feeding it till it catches the other two logs so he can begin to cook breakfast.
The smell quickly fills the hovel, causing his wife to rise from her slumber, she mumbles sleepily while wrapping her arms around his waist, "Honey, why are you up so early? It's mid-week, everyone else is sleeping in." The aging beauty calls to her husband.
"I know darling, but I'm low on nettle root and sickle bane so I figured I'd make us breakfast before heading out to forage for it." He says, turning around to embrace her in a firm but loving hug before kissing her.
Breaking from his embrace, she sighs sadly before relenting, "Alright, but it'd be best to go with Lor. He can carry the satchels and keep you safe from the Abs in the forest."
Chuckling the elderly man kisses her once more before reassuring her, "I was going to anyway, despite my dashing good looks, I'm not the soldier I once was." He turns back to the cast iron skillet, just in time to keep the eggs and venison from burning.
His wife rolls her eyes before taking a seat at the table in the corner of the main room, before saying with a smirk that causes, her crow's feet and laugh lines to become even more pronounced, "Oh, I don't remember you being so dashing when we first met."
A flash of embarrassed recollection crosses the man's face as a flush slowly warms his face as he coughs before retorting, "Even dashing soldiers can look haggard after getting lost in the Frontier for a month."
Giggling sweetly, his wife beams, "Well, I'm glad it was me who found you eating the vegetables from the garden and not my father, he'd have skinned you alive and left you to the Abs."
Shivers run down his spine as he finishes making breakfast and lays it on the table, "Me too, I may have fought toe to toe with the Lurkers, but that man could probably send a night raid running with that look of his."
She smiles, reaching for his hand, "And I'm glad the Emperor never thought to prove you right. Almost as glad as I was that a lost soldier like you could have fallen for someone like me, but I thank the spirits every day for my good fortune."
Bringing her hand to his lips he lightly kisses her knuckles, "I'm the luckiest one, to have found such a lovely maiden to steal my heart." He flirtatiously remarks before saying, "Now eat up, I've got to head out before the sun gets too high." before splitting the eggs and meat between them. Taking a knife and fork in each hand they begin to eat breakfast as the birds rise and begin to fill the skies with their melodies. A peaceful start to what was soon to be a day that was anything but.
Taking his harvest satchels from the chest nearest the door, he wraps some dried meat and bread in a cloth and calls out, "I plan to stay out for a while and shouldn't be back till dinner, love you."
"I'll prepare a stew then, love you, be safe." She calls back as he crosses their hovel's threshold.
Leaving his quaint home, he is greeted by the sight of a small, peaceful hamlet surrounded by thick, sharpened tree trunks acting as a massive barricade around the village. Several children run around playing games and chasing one another. Looking at them cause a gloomy expression to cross the old man's face before he turns to a massive barn near the edge of the wall and begins walking towards it. Entering the barn, he sees a young man, with dirty blonde hair and ruddy green eyes, leaning back in his chair, while playing with a small dagger at a wooden table, slowly carving a winding, circular pattern in the wood with a look of boredom.
Noticing the old man, a bright smile reveals a couple of missing teeth most likely knocked out in some brawl or another, the young man stows his dagger questioning the elder's arrival with curiosity, "Gord, what're you doing up so early? Isn't it mid-week?"
Gord smiles at the young man before responding, "Mornin', Frume, I'm just low on supplies and thought I'd take Lor out early to stock up for the month. Has he been taken?"
Frume responds as he begins to lose interest, "Nah, everyone knows he's yours. You're good to take'em out. Be safe out there, Old Man, heard that a new group of Abs were spotted down by the river."
"Bah, quit your worryin', besides I'll have Lor with me. He's always good in a pinch." Gord nags while nodding to Frume as he goes deeper into the barn, filling his nose with the earthy tone of the surrounding stalls.