A Family of Three

Sitting on a stump, Ava sat staring at the caravan, waiting for her opportunity.

It had been easy enough to get out of the village, as with the Rat gone and Bosbody's goons figuring out an alternative solution, no one was specifically on the watch for her, and she had simply waltzed out and waited awhile before joining a passing convoy. With the way village was set up, there was no real structure guarding the entirety of the settlement, with the only exception being the walls around the rich district, which made it easy for anyone to come and go. In essence, should an actual disaster arise, be it natural or man-made, the village was defenseless, and the people living on the outside would serve as sacrifice, allowing the rich folks to wall up and stay in safety until the garrison from the nearest town could arrive.

Of course, thinking about the security of the walls, Ava couldn't help but doubt that the rich district would be all that well of either. While they were inside their stone walls thinking they were safe, with no remorse for the sacrifice of thousand of lives just feet away from them, Ava wondered if they would realize they too were sacrifices, for Bosbody and the few core members of the village who lived even further in the center of the district, who had bothered to invest into proper defensive and structural designs for their villas.

But either way, none of it had anything to do with her anymore. That night, after killing the Rat and making a quick inventory of his belongings, Ava sorted out the items that were of the most value to her immediately, before leaving behind the remaining assets without any grief.

She had simply closed the door and left, leaving behind dozens of deeds and valuable trinkets behind. Anyone else might have felt some remorse at the wealth she had left behind, but what she had taken was enough. Patting the pouch on her waist, Ava couldn't help but let out a small smile. The Rat had quite a few good things stockpiled up, the simplest of which being a collection of gold and silver pieces and identity cards for the city.

In the end, it turned out the Rat did lie, he had a couple of empty and filled in identity cards in one of the drawers, and after some fiddling around Ava had taken one that looked relatively closer to her appearance, as no matter how she looked at it, there was no way she could even pass as the Rat's identity, and who knew if the fellow had any nasty tricks prepared for anyone who entered the town with his identity. Of course, this was after attempting to fill out a new card for herself, and giving up after comparing the cards together and realizing that her handwriting and forging didn't make the mark.

There was nothing she could do about it. No matter how clever she might be, without systematized education, the best she could do was copy the strokes directly and write her name.

Other then that, the greatest gain should be a black obsidian knife that the Rat had kept in a box. It was a thin knife, no larger then a palm but was exceptionally sharp. Of course, Ava also soon realized that it was exceptionally fragile, after she left a small chip in the blade.

Fortunately, the chip wasn't near the tip of the blade and it was able to keep its integrity, and Ava made a mental note to only use the blade for precise slashing movements, avoiding stabbing and hacking. Not that she could hack anyone with her stature, of course.

Other then that she had collected a few smaller pieces of ordinary looking gold jewelry that she had sewn into her clothing, leaving behind the ostentatious pieces with gems and establishments behind. They weren't practical either for travel or for sale. Ava had once managed to pick up a similar looking ring and tried to pawn it off, in the end, much less being paid, she had been beaten within an inch of her life before barely getting away, only able to hold in her anger as the greedy shopkeeper kept it for himself.

Sitting on the stump, Ava calculated the time and figured they should be about halfway through the journey to Yarnold town now, which meant it was about time for the vultures to show up.

And before long, as she expected a 'kind' family of three showed up in front of her. Scanning the there individuals before her, Ava couldn't help but evaluate them. The woman was a little pudgy around cheeks, but otherwise had a lean figure. With soft blond hair that was running thin at the ends and a soft expression, it was easy to assume that she had a kind heart.

Standing not far from Ava, she was fidgeting with her sleeves while looking down towards the ground. To the right of her stood a stoic looking man who stood quite tall, towering almost a foot over the woman, with slightly tanned skin and a decent build, he would like quite handsome if not for his sagging stomach, which strained the waist of his cloths which had clearly been re-stitched and expanded.

Lastly, behind the lady stood a young girl, who looked to be only six or so years old. It had to be said that the girl looked fairly similar to Ava, featuring a similar stature and size, although her hair was slightly darker, leaning towards her father's darker hair color, as opposed to her mother's soft golden hair. Of course, it had to be mentioned, although their sizes were similar, the girl was only six or so this year, while Ava was nine. While the girl still had baby fat rounding her cheeks, Ava's lean figure and diminutive size were a result of years of poor and inconsistent nutrition, but nonetheless it put them at a similar height.

Seeing them approach her, Ava let out a small smile she hid under a windbreaker she had found in the Rat's housing and cut down to size. Her 'family' was coming.