Art Expert

Lesha and I curled up in the front seat inside the carriage and slept well into the afternoon, and only just got woken up as the wagons stopped.

I woke up with a bit of drool hanging out that I quickly cleaned up with the back of my hand. Lesha was stretching and turning to me with a sleepy smile.

I smiled and leaned in for a kiss, and she met me halfway. This was a nice way to wake up, but where were we?

I heard a knocking coming from above and then the boys hopped down on either side of the carriage. Then, I noticed a small farmhouse with a small red one-story building that must have doubled as a barn, but it led out and then down into the water, disappearing.

"Corbit, is this your parent's farm?" I asked as I helped Lesha get off me.

"Yup, but don't ask me what they are, it's just a waste of my breath, they will tell you all about it! I don't bring friends here, cause we lived in the middle of nowhere. I only met kids that traveled with the merchant parents. Then I left home three months ago for Healia, and then the magic happened, but my parents don't know yet," Corbit said, holding the door for the girls and me.

"Do you want me to keep quiet about it?" I asked.

"No, honestly, if you could tell them, that would be great. I just feel like it coming from you as the leader and all might sound better. I don't know, I just said I was going to make something better for myself than a lonely farmer, so you know…"

I did know, and I understood.

"Yes, I can explain it to them, but then it's your job to apologize as the idiot son that insulted the way of life that allowed you to live the way you did. I don't mind helping explain things, but it's your job to learn from your mistakes and correct them."

"Yes Ma'am, my mother is going to like you, you kind of remind me of her. Head to the house, I already waived and they saw me. They should be coming out by the time you get over there. I am just going to show the men where the wagon, and carriages go," Corbit said, running off.

"Wow, just throws you to his parents and runs away," Gloria said while laughing, and stepping out of the carriage.

"Welcome!" A cheery man's voice came from the direction of the house.

I looked from Gloria over in that direction and found a short man, but not out of shape. This Must be his father; the man seems nice enough.

The four of us walked over to the house where the man was standing with gray shorts on, and a bright blue vest and sandy brown hair. I reached out my hand to offer a handshake, But The short man opened his arms wide.

"Any friend of my sons is family, and we," the man was cut off as the door was opened and a woman darted out quickly and hit him in the head with a soup pot.

The man was knocked out cold and hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"Sorry about my husband, we don't see visitors often and well you all are quite the group of beautiful women. He's an idiot, but he will wake up and apologize for being a buffoon or take another pot-nap, before checking the Oysters. Come inside girls, Corbit will help his father inside when he is done. My name is Celia, and This is Norbert."

Celia waved us inside, and we stepped over Norbert, following her. It was a cute little house with wooden planked walls. There were many different paintings on the walls, but none of them went together. It was like they were all from different places and done in different styles of art.

"Traders come and bring Norbert all these God-awful paintings, so he insists to hang them all up. The traders always come in for tea, so now it is a game for them I think to see who can bring the weirdest art," Ceila said while rolling her eyes.

"I actually think this is really amazing," Gloria said walking around the room, looking at each picture. "They are from all over the world! Look, K! This one with the man, and all the paint blurring from the side? That is from Kren, in Westoff. The one over there, with the lady in the dark blue and the sunset? See the way the colors bleed together? I saw an artist in New Geth that did work like that!"

"Wow, I didn't know you liked art," I said, looking impressed.

"There is a lot you don't learn from not talking, hehe," Gloria said laughing.

"Fair enough," I said, and it was true.

We had mostly just talked about the trip, Dyster, and the combat things we were learning. Maybe I should try to get to know my friends better before we got to the city.

Mei was now asking Gloria about every painting on the wall. Gloria was doing her best to try and guess where they might have originated from, but Mei was like a non-stop stream of questions.

It got to the point where Gloria had to grab Mei by the face and smother her in a kiss to get her to shut up for two seconds. Lesha slipped her hand into mine and squeezed, making me turn and kissing her on the cheek.

"Oh? Really? Are you girls...couples?" Corbit's mother asked, sounding a bit confused.

The four of us turned and looked at her smiling, I think that we all had almost forgotten that she was even there.

"Yes, we are couples. My name is Kiada, Leader of the Red Legion Guild from Healia, and this is my life partner, Lesha. The art expert is Gloria and the one that won't stop talking is Mei, her partner."

"And here I thought I was going to have to keep my husband out cold the entire time you were here, but if you swing that way this will just be funny, hehe," Ceila said laughing.

"What will be funny? And why does it feel like I got hit by a wagon, but only in the head?" Norbert said walking into the room rubbing his head.

All five of us burst out laughing.