We arrived at a small village at the foot of a mountain, surrounded by a lush valley of tall pines. It was quite a small settlement, about 500 inhabitants according to what Edric said on the way.
As we made our way into the place, its residents greeted us cheerfully, or well, Edric at least. Upon reaching the center of the village there were houses, some shops, a small bar, and a guard post. When we passed by it, the man occupying it turned toward us and made a small gesture to the old man, as if in approval.
Anyway, from what I could observe it was a logging village. There were quite a few sawmills scattered around the town, and as we continued moving forward, a caravan of about 20 men who seemed to be lumberjacks passed by us, heading toward the forest.
"We've arrived," Edric murmured after crossing the village. We had reached what seemed to be his house; it was considerably large, at least for a village like this. It had two floors and a fairly large garden. Seeing this, and the reactions of the inhabitants toward him… it seems he is quite respected here.
We helped carry some of the things Edric mentioned we should take from the cart and entered his home. "Alright, I have to go deliver the rest of the things to the village chief. Wait in the house or…" he hesitated for a moment, "go out and get to know the village if you want… just don't screw it up like in the city," Edric said with narrowed eyes.
I gave an embarrassed smile, but my brother crossed his arms and spoke. "It wasn't our fault, we were just buying food."
"As you say," he shook his head and climbed onto his cart to quickly leave.
A few seconds after he left, I spoke. "Hey Row, should we go out?"
"Row?" he raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said, chuckling softly.
And so we started walking side by side in silence toward the center of the village. Until after a while I broke the silence. "What do you think the old man will say? Will he make us work as lumberjacks or something like that?"
After thinking for a few seconds he replied, "I truly don't know, maybe, but what's certain is that he became interested in us because of this so-called 'pulsar,' although I have no idea why."
We kept walking and talking calmly until we reached the center of the village again. We approached the bar we had seen on the way, when as we crossed the door someone called out to us.
"How can I help you guys?" the waiter spoke with a big smile. He seemed fairly young; I'd say close to our age.
Before either of us could respond, he spoke again. "Where are you from? I suppose you're not from here, since it's a small village and I'd know you, hehe. You know, you look pretty lost. I can show you around the village if you want, it wouldn't be any trouble for me," he took a breath. "Oh, and by the way, I'm Miles." He finished with a radiant smile.
When he finally stopped talking, I didn't respond immediately. I was a bit stunned; he talked too much and very fast. I turned my head to look at my brother and was surprised to see him somewhat shocked as well, but a moment later he smiled and replied.
"Nice to meet you, Miles. I'm Rowan and this is my brother Luke." When he turned to look at me, I made a small hand gesture as a greeting. "And of course, we'd love for you to show us the village."
"Great! Just give me a moment." He took off his apron and ran toward the back of the bar while shouting, "Grandpa!" The rest couldn't be heard clearly, but he was surely asking for permission to leave work for a while.
After that he returned to our side and guided us outside.
"Alright, let's begin! This right here, as you've already seen, is the only bar in the village. It belongs to my grandfather. I work here as a waiter for a few hours a day to help him out," Miles began to explain cheerfully.
We walked along the main road until we reached a building. "This could be considered the town hall. It's mainly the warehouse where most of the village's supplies are kept, as well as the wood we make to sell in the city." It was a fairly large structure. On the left side, larger in extension, seemed to be the warehouses, and to the right there was a more well-kept area shaped like a house with a small tower. I'd say that's where the village chief works.
We continued on our route as he told us about several buildings, from a food shop to a carpentry. He talked too much and without stopping. It was somewhat irritating, but I liked him. You could tell he did everything with joy and good spirits.
After touring most of the 'important' buildings in the village, we arrived at the guard post I had seen from the cart. "I almost forgot, that right there is the guard post. Corin and Serin work there in shifts," he leaned toward us and murmured, "they are real shockers!" Rowan and I glanced at each other and then toward the post, just as at that very moment the guard peeked out.
"Miles, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the bar?" the guard said.
"My grandpa gave me some time off so I could show the village to these two, hehe," Miles laughed embarrassedly.
The guard studied us carefully and then spoke. "Alright, just don't cause any trouble." He began walking back to his post, but before reaching it he turned around and spoke again. "Oh, and tell Edric to come talk to me later." He thought for a moment. "And my name is Corin."
We slowly moved away from the place and Miles spoke again. "Phew, talking to him makes me really nervous. He's way too serious, and he's also a real shocker. He gives off an intimidating aura, although his sister Serin is one too and she's nothing like him, but well, who knows…" He kept talking and talking; it was kind of funny.
We sat on a nearby bench and I spoke. "It's a very welcoming village. Everyone seems very… united."
"We are!" Miles said with a wide smile of pride. After hesitating, he spoke again. "Guys, are you staying here or just passing through?"
I looked toward Row and he replied, "We don't really know, but it's likely we are."
"That's great! I don't have many friends in the village, since most of them are already quite older than me."
I looked toward the horizon where the sun was already beginning to set and spoke again. "We should head back now. Edric must have been waiting for us for a while."
Rowan nodded and we began walking.
***
As we walked toward the old man's house, Miles looked at us with some doubt on his face, as if he wanted to ask a question but didn't dare to.
"Do you want to… ask something?" my brother said, also noticing the situation.
Miles startled, but immediately smiled again and spoke. "It's nothing, I just wanted to know if Edric brought you to train you."
"Train us, why?" I said, surprised.
Miles looked at me with curiosity. "Edric trained most of the villagers to be capable enough to defend it, mainly Corin and Serin." He looked to the sides and spoke again. "And seeing how Corin inspected you earlier, plus the fact that old man Edric brought you himself…"
I was surprised by Miles' words when I was about to respond, but I heard a voice behind us that startled all of us slightly.
"Don't call me old man, boy. I still have many years of vigor left," Edric said with a slightly sarcastic face. "Now go, I need to talk to them."
"At your command, sir!" Miles shouted before running off right after.
The old man laughed. "That kid really is energetic… well, anyway, let's go inside the house."
We followed him inside. He led us to the living room and invited us to sit on a sofa. He sat right in front of us.
"Well, it's time to talk about what you'll be doing from now on."