67 Montage of Battle - Part 3

Two months now since the end of the light festival. Ayanni now has a few people that he meets regularly. Nothing crazy, just to say how and ask how everything is going. Jev even has a few kids he sees and waves to.

They've been going around, not just one part of Suul, but all districts and helping around. They even helped the guards a few times with some dangerous individuals. When that happened, Ayanni made sure the guards got all the good publicity. If people were talking about him, he had the guard's backs.

He met with a man who was working as a captain. His name's Heruff. It was an interesting meeting.

"So you're Ayanni?"

"Yes sir."

"That is your guard, Jev?"

"He prefers assistants."

"Makes sense. Take a walk with me."

Ayanni followed Heruff out to the stables. He picked up a bucket with apples and proceeded through the stables handing out apples to the horses. It wasn't a great smell, but he could live with it. He turned back towards Jev.

'Does it help with the smell or make it worse?'

"I would be here every moment of every day if I could. How I wish I didn't have paperwork." Heruff sighed and turned towards Ayanni who was being patient. "I'm sure you're busy Ayanni. I think what you are doing is great. Helping those that we cannot help and taking care of the community. Even helping us along the way, giving us the free boost to the public. I want to tell you to keep up the good work. Being patient with even the most frail person out there is the right thing to do."

"Thank you sir."

"Just understand that everything you have done and will do, just don't make any paperwork for me. Please. Liorea here is my special girl, I want to spend time with her." He stopped by one of the horses and ruffled his hand through her mane.

"Understood."

"Oh man, so formal. Actually before you go, I have a question for you."

"Sir?"

"Sheesh… We met a while back, a few months ago. You and three other people and there was that woman's brother or something that went missing?"

At that moment Ayanni remembered the guard that had come to his house when he first met with Lera. That had been a while.

"Nope, her brother was fine and he was at home."

"I see, keep up the good work then. Have a great day and if we meet, please let it be in here and not my office."

"Yes sir!"

---

"School has been crazy. Everyone keeps complaining. 'I didn't study' or 'what am I going to do if I fail' they just keep going on and on. It's just a test of intellectual acuity. Math and science. All of it great, but sometimes I just want them to stop." Byyuan was pouting next to the counter where all the dirty dishes are set. He had dropped off a few when some customers left.

"I'm sure they're just worried." Lera tried to be somewhat diplomatic. She was trying to be a better speaker and talking with Byyuan was helping. It was more like listening and using short sentences here and there.

"I know, but they still have their whole future ahead of them. I will say I'm thankful for being an only child. I can… I got to get back to work." It sounded like he wanted to go on, but he had been talking to Lera for a bit longer than he should have.

Lera sprayed a plate off and put it into the dishwasher with the rest of the dishes on their rack. Then she took a rag off the counter to wipe away some cream she got on the wall from spraying it into a cup at an odd angle.

"…Byyuan keeps talking to that woman."

"Lera?"

"Yea the new dishwasher."

"What about it?"

"I think he's got a crush on her."

"I overheard Rymber talking to the boss. He said she was thirty-five years old. There's no way, because Byyuan's too young."

"Wait, really? She looks like she's twenty at most."

"Well that was what I heard. Don't worry about it."

"What does she use for her skin? I'm going to ask her."

"She doesn't even talk to anyone other than Byyuan anyways and your order's up."

"Got to go then."

It wasn't like Lera was trying to listen in. Where they were talking was close by and usually the music would cover it up. They had live stage performances here and radio music. There just happened to be a pause during the music on the radio during their talk.

Those girls were about the same age as Byyuan so their talk made sense. Though she didn't think he had a crush on her. Lera didn't have experience with that kind of stuff, but the way he spoke was that of a friend.

---

The mountains were tall. Grand greystone at the top covered in white snow. The forest looked like it was creeping up the mountain only to be stopped by the stone.

Paroppe was on a steep path with a few of the original group and a couple new people she'd picked up on the way. Leading these people through the mountains was a guide she was following. There was a small family with her, dad and little girl, traveling along.

At this time she was the leader of her group. Ever since she split up from the village and because of her fight with the orcs, she gained fame within her group. The second in command took the death of his friend hard and left the group. So that left Paroppe as the new leader.

The pass was a steep incline up two-thousand meters and then it levels off on a long path. About half way through the mountains is another incline for about five-hundred meters. There's a cave system that is a dwarven city, but that is about another five days of travel. Once there she can rest and relax.

"We'll rest at the top!" She yelled to the rest of the group.

---

"Can you hand me another plank?"

Jev was on top of a ladder and he just finished hammering the last nail. They were helping an elderly lizard-kin man build a shed in the western part of Suul. It wasn't a big shed as it was about the size of Ayanni's room at his home.

Well maybe smaller than that.

Either way him and Ayanni were helping out. There were two grandkids playing around them and Ayanni was keeping them away.

This kind of work is fine with Jev. Sure he wished he could go on an adventure, but he turned that down to stay with his family. He's been worried like crazy about Paroppe, but there was nothing he could do to get her to stay. Also he was happy that they did make up before they left, although from what he heard from Ayanni was that it could be better.

He grabbed the plank Ayanni handed him and moved it in place.

Other than helping Ayanni, he's been at home with his parents. Helping them around the house and picking up supplies and food when they need it. On the weekends he's working at a blacksmith helping with the sales. He doesn't believe he could be a blacksmith and doesn't want to.

"Sometimes I wished I had a metal specialization. This would be so easy to do." The amount of control he currently has is just holding the nail in place. If only he could force into the wood, but a hammer will do just fine.

---

There was a giant three part sink behind the dishwasher. It was there to clean the bigger objects and machine parts that cannot be cleaned by the dishwasher. In one part of the sink, you clean off the gunk, the next you clean it with soap and wipe it down and the last it gets sanitized. Simple and easy, but Lera was having some difficulty. The pieces she needed to clean were a little heavy, nothing much, but it was late at night and there was just a lot to clean in general.

Her body was soaked in water, soap, and food gunk. She did find it irritating that people would waste food, but there wasn't anything she was going to do about that.

"Need help?"

"No thanks, I got this."

Even if the cook helped her, he still had work of his own to do. She wanted to tackle this problem on her own and that worked for her.

---

"It's a nice day out Jev. Anything you want to do today?"

Ayanni thought they needed a break from all the work they've been putting in.

"I just want to laze about."

"Alright, I'm gonna head out then. See you later."

He probably will do the same, but he is going to buy some supplies for the house. There's a few spices he wants to buy in the market. Jev has been telling him to cook more. It was due to some of the recipes that Paroppe had sent him before she left. He's been working on his cooking expertise.

"I'm clearly a high class chef! Muahahahaha!" Laughing like one of the villains from Sparkling Gate. It fit the moment, though he was probably the only one in this city, other than Jev's parents, who understood that joke.

He looked around him to see there were a few kids that were avoiding him.

'Woops.'