53 Day of Rest: Ai's Perspective

A lot has happened in the short time that Ai has been around. From being betrayed by some of the first people she had met in this world, to try and mend the wounds caused by Aiya's death with Amari, to dealing with Aiya's insane murderer, who now resided within her domain.

She didn't know if she was actually strong enough to take on the challenges of the plague trials, after all, how many times had she broken down in her short life? On days like today, she may have felt strong, she may have felt ready, but the reality was that there were already several times that she almost gave up.

Ai sighed as she walked through the town's main road. 'Well, I suppose there is no point in worrying about it for now.'

She looked around at the people walking down the cobbled roads. She eyed some of the people that seemed to be in a rush, walking quickly to their destinations. If she failed, these people would have more to worry about than what they are rushing towards.

Looking down at her mechanical hands, she thought it might be a good idea to find some gloves to hide them, prosthetics weren't exactly common in the continents of Selis.

Ai shook her head as she realized that her mind kept jumping from one thing to the next.

*Clank*

She punched her palm and changed her expression to a look of determination. "Right, so shopping list. Gloves, a new cloak, maybe a change of casual clothes and..." Her eyes widened as she suddenly realized she had forgotten something she left in her inventory a while back.

A piece of jerky appeared in her hand as she pulled it out of her inventory, the spiced aroma still lingered about it and there was no sign of rot. "Awesome, so items in the inventory don't age. I should pick up a few spare ration packages to store in the inventory for 'just in case'."

She smiled to herself as she took a bite out of the jerky, the taste of the spiced and smoked meat hit her taste buds in a pleasing way. 'Mmm, this is good, I'm gonna have to share some with everybody else!'

She finished up the jerky and started to make her way to a familiar store. She passed by the market stalls selling their vegetables, freshly cooked bread, and random trinkets when she approached the familiar wooden building.

Standing in front of the building, Melinda was hanging wet clothing to be dried in the sun in front of the store. She noticed Ai as she smiled and waved. "Ah, hello there miss, I saw your bout with your sister, I was surprised to see that your sister was the famous Barbarian Queen and even more surprised when you beat her, I do hope she is ok."

Ai nodded. "She is fine, we had a skilled healer help her at the end. How are you doing, Melinda?"

Melinda finished hanging the rest of the clothes and picked up a nearby basket full of the previously hanging clothes. "I am well enough, my husband just got back a few days and has been letting me take care of the light work. It's nice to get a break every once in a while."

"This is true. Ah, I never did introduce myself last time, did I?"

Melinda shook her head and giggled. "Not that I remember miss."

Ai repeated the princess-like curtsy the last time she was here, this time managing to keep a normal smile. "Well, my name is Ai, Sister to Amari and daughter of Arg'an, the chief of the Stoneheart Tribe."

Pushing open the front door of the store, Melinda giggled and said. "Well, you are quite well-mannered for a member of a nomadic tribe." She turned to the man standing behind the counter. "Bernard, sweety, we have a guest. I'm going to put up the clothes and put on some tea, could you help miss Ai here find whatever it is she is looking for?"

The large man with a shaved head and a thick beard looked over towards Ai and grinned. "O' course hun, welcome to my shop, miss. What can I get for ya today?"

Ai walked into the shop, looking around for any section that might contain gloves. "Ah, I'm looking for some clothing, something casual as well as a cloak and some gloves."

Bernard nodded, looking around the shop. "We've got plenty of outfits and a decent selection of gloves, but a cloak you may want to run down the road to Felicity's. I see you were the one that purchased my sundress, thank you for that."

"Ahn, yours? Did you make this, sir?" Ai tilted her head.

He nodded and beamed with pride. "O' course! Most of the clothing here was made by myself. I had hoped to open me own tailor shop, but alas, there are better tailors in town that specialize in different outfits."

Ai smiled sweetly and nodded. "Got any outfits similar in design to my dress? Anything blue and white would do."

Bernard hopped over the store counter, getting a disappointed glare from Melinda, and walked over to one of the clothing racks. He pulled out a few articles of clothing and spread them out over one of the empty counter-tops. "Have a look and see what kind of clothes you want, miss."

Ai walked over, giggling at Melinda's glare, which made her blush and turn back to putting up the clothes. She looked over the different pieces of clothing and picked out a few. Laying out the pieces that had caught her eye, the outfit consisted of a blue sleeveless light jacket, a white short-sleeved high-cut shirt, a blue skirt with shorts underneath decorated with a floral pattern similar to her dress, and white gloves that came up just above her elbows.

Nodding her head in satisfaction, she turned to over to a rack of shoes and boots and immediately spotted a pair of white boots with blue accents that would go perfect with her outfit, she reached out to grab them, noticing they were a bit big and hoped that the inventory equip would adjust them.

"I'd like this outfit, please." Bernard grinned and picked up her selected outfit, carrying it to the front desk. "Anything else I can help you with, ma'am?"

Judging from the fact that he didn't seem to worry too much about her getting the large boots, she assumed that she was correct about the inventory automatically adjusting the size.

"Ne, that'll be it, how much do I owe?" Ai said, shaking her head.

"That'll be five silvers, can I offer ye some fresh jerky? Me wife makes some o' the best jerky in town!"

"Ah, no thanks, I still have some from last time." She said, pulling out five silvers she still had in her inventory, handing them to Bernard.

"Ah, that's right, she did mention selling a bunch to ya." He chuckled as he put the coins away in a satchel at his hip. "Thanks for your patronage, miss. You're always welcome to Bernards!"

Ai smiled and bowed her head as she turned to walk out. "Miss Ai, would you like some tea before you go?" Melinda asked as she hung a kettle over the stovetop behind the counter.

"No thanks, Melinda, I've got a few more places to go today. I'll be sure to stop by again sometime and take you up on that tea though!" Melinda smiled and nodded as Ai waved and left the shop.

"Let's see, Felicity's for a cloak, then off to visit Hoat'l and see what he wanted to discuss." She nodded and walked down the road.