I

Greyson woke up just as he would any other day, without any assistance from the family servants his parents were so adamant about having. It wasn't like they were needed or anything. Greyson also refused to allow the servants to dress him. They were allowed to tidy up his room and wash his clothes and linens. That was it. Maintenance related tasks only. Everything else he did for himself. His father never understood this, and his mother thought it outright strange. Still, no one really made a big fuss over it.

The family servants were treated rather well by the Fallhearts. In fact, they were considered to be an extended part of the family. They were paid well and were able to have their own lives outside of their service. One of the staff had even become a close friend to the young heir.

"Do you have any particular plans for the day, Master Greyson?" a distinguished and soothing voice came from behind the sixteen year old.

"No, not really. Might go to the market today and mingle with some of the merchants. You really aught to come with me one of these times, Cadeceus. You might enjoy it much more than sending your errand boy to do the work."

Cadeceus grinned. "Maybe, but I'm not sure I'm ready for something like that. Besides, my lord... you have the proper attire to blend in. I do not."

"And who's fault is that, huh?" Greyson poked.

"Touché, Greyson. Touché."

Greyson chuckled. He knew Cadeceus wasn't going to join him on these kinds of trips any time soon. He liked the time away from his life of nobility. He couldn't explain it, but he felt he belonged more with the perceived lower class than here. He didn't have a reputation to uphold and he found that he could relax much easier than here in his own home. He threw on his tunic and leggings before heading to the stables.

"Hey Greyson," one of the stable boys greeted happily.

"Oh, hey. How are you today?"

"Doing pretty good, I guess. Working the stables, ya know? Daily grind."

"Wish I could tell you I know what that's like."

"It's no big deal. Need a horse?"

"Please?"

"Whichever you want."

Greyson took the closest horse to him and helped the stable hand saddle up.

"Wow, you really know your way around a horse."

"You kind of have to if you want to be around these animals frequently. Safety is really important."

"Yeah. Anyway, see you when you get back. Have a nice ride."

"Thanks."

With that, Greyson went into town for the day. As he neared the outskirts, however, a peculiar thought occured to him.

I don't know his name, he observed. I must have forgotten to ask. How rude of me.

The town of Avalon wasn't small by any means, but it was no metropolis. There was a tavern and several shops set up all over, but that wasn't the highlight of Avalon. The merchant sector of the town was just a few minutes' walk north, toward the Wilds that the foreign folk often used as cover to get here without being pillaged too badly. Too many natives were frightened of the Wilds, as there were many stories of dark arts worshipers and tales of wicked beasts that ran rampant in those woods. Greyson knew these legends to be nothing more than an old wives' tale used to spook children out of wanting to get lost in them. The Wilds were very thick and it was easy to never be heard from again if you strayed from the clear path that had been carved with at least a couple centuries worth of travel.

Greyson found a decent spot to tie the horse up and so he made sure the horse had access to hay and water before leaving it tied to a pole. The young noble made his way through the midmorning crowd in order to find a specific tent. These merchants weren't here year-round, but when they were here, Greyson felt nothing but pure elation. He loved browsing through all the imported goods in all the temporary shops, but there were a few tents that held a special place in his heart.

One such tent belonged to Thorstein Hall. He was a merchant that specialized in exotic weapons. Greyson always enjoyed the obviously tall tales Thorstein told whenever someone inquired him about how he came to get a hold of these items. One time, he allegedly got a certain dagger by prying it from the jaws of an ice bear in the Arctic. Another wild story was of him deep diving into a lake to obtain a sword thought to be of immeasurable worth.

Greyson waved the entrance flap of the tent aside as he entered. Thorstein, a middle-aged man with a strong build and jawline. His hair was already starting to grey a little and his beard was in the stages of turning silver. It appears as if this winter hadn't been all to kind to him. he donned a few furs to keep him warm in the cooler hours and a basic tunic similar to Greyson's. Grey wore these clothes so as to not attract too much attention, and never carried much money if he did so at all. Good thing was that his family knew Thorstein personally, and so Thorstein knew of Greyson's true background. He knew Greyson on a bit of a deeper level, so happily agreed to keep his secret from the rest of the town.

The townsfolk of Avalon knew that Eurubus had a son, but never got to hear much beyond that. They would come to know the heir when he took on the mantle of his birthright. The staff, aside from Cadeceus, were oblivious to Greyson's wanderings in the crowds of lower class citizens. Even his parents were none the wiser to his trips. If this truth were to be revealed, his mother would surely be upset. Not that he honestly really cared if his mother were upset or disappointed in the choices he makes. He had respect for his parents, but he had less respect for the position his family was in.

Early family excursions led to an accumulation of wealth, which allowed them to prosper. This in and of itself wasn't all that bad. It was what that wealth did to the character of the family as a whole that made him despise the position of their power. Greyson read into the vague family history of the Fallhearts. There was mention of them being noble warriors, born of the humblest of origins and the mightiest of souls. These men and women were natural-born leaders with extraordinary gifts. They accomplished many things in their respective times and were hailed as guardians of sorts. The extent of their "gifts", however, were not explained. There was not even an indication of a whisper of a detail that might shed some light on these rather uncanny abilities. At first, Greyson considered the possibility of the phrase "extraordinary gifts and strengths" meaning something a bit more metaphorical than literal. As he tried to reconcile this theory with the texts, however, the feeling that he was wrong became stronger and stronger. These gifts were not something like an enhanced sense of duty or a seemingly superior intellect. These abilities appeared to be that of superhuman strength or speed, or both, or neither. Whatever it was that they had, they all had one thing in common. These accounts were all either never recorded, or had been erased from the memory of human kind. In either case, there was a gap in the story of how this family came to power, a gap that needed to be filled somehow.

Greyson smiled. "Morning, Thorstein. What have you in stock this day?"