---- One Time Post Read ---
(( Location is not found in game and not cannon to LOE Lore. Also no replies please, it's a stand alone post. :3 Thankie ))
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"Ah, if it isn't the cottage priestess..." The elder Kojin amused resting a hand on his fist, he was nursing a warm ale by his side at a window sill looking out.
Aleena perked up and gave a big smile as she approached the small rickety port house glowing in the sunset light. It was a shack sitting on the pier facing the inland, an inlet for arrivals and cargo from the old continent outside of New Haven.
It was a register check point for sailors and shipment coming in and out of the pier.
A place where individuals could post a request for cargo from the old continent for a fee. Should a captain of a ship be interested, they would reply to the request for the contract.
If several ships were interested, they each would bid their price and their accreditation, allowing the requester to pick the best crew and cheapest price for the job.
The Kojin watched the white hair maiden approached his window on her tippy toes.
"Halo Monsiuer! Any bids on mon le request??" she beamed hopefully.
The elder fellow crane his neck below to her and said nonchalantly.
"Aye,.."
Aleena clasped her hands grinning "Really?!"
"Aye lass, but ya won't like what ya gonna hear..." Lifting his head off his fist. "Only one offered, and they wouldn't accept ta contract for nothin' less dan twenty gold coins,...a piece."
Aleena froze in place, "...tw--enty..!? But that's nearly eighty gold coins!"
He frowned at her "Lassy,..ya are requesting them to stop at port Harrieth to pick up your relics, which ja know? Is dangerous as it is. People sometimes jump ship, steal ships, hell, they might eat the ship if they could!"
She frowned, "...I cannot believith it...that cannot be. Harrieth is the home of the Harvest Festival. "
"Aye,..believe it little one. Dat place is just a festerin' rat hole now. Flesh traders are taking advantage of desperate folks who just want to leave. There's no food, nor fresh soil anywhere. Some lakes even turned in to lye from the slush of ashes! Volunteered ships are rare now... people have to EARN a ticket to leave."
"They do...?"
He leans in "Aye, and it ain't for the faint of heart. These Flesh Merchants? They would make migrants work for a year or more, sell their bodies in to labor to earn a ticket to the Exiles. Back breaking hot drenched labor for farming or fishing for months on end. And farming ain't no good in ashey lands. They be starving and nearly fallen to malnurishment. Some have even died trying. Worst part? Sometimes their masters never give dem a ticket at all, always making up more debt they have to pay. Forcing them to stay...."
Her eyes widen in horror, "That'z manipulating them into ze slavery!"
"Aye,..ya may thinkith these Exile Lands are terrible? With Orcs, Undead and all is dangerous, but if my only worries is to always ta keepith a blade by my side to fend off the likes of Drow, hell I take it! Y' all have freedom! Fighten a monster is still a fair fight of survival. Over der? You'd be fighting a whole league of slavers and da army of guards. It's next to impossible. I will never regret comin' here... "
She was in shock, gazing to the ground in disturbance. "I cannot believe it..."
He readjusted himself on his stool, "Ohh Lassy,... ya have no idea. If they see a nice one like ya self, you'd be serving a bed-house just to getya ticket. "
Aleena's eyes widen, her face went pale.
" Oh I'm sorry deary, don't mean to frighten thee." He lamented.
"Those poor people...." she frowned, twisting her hands together.
"Aye, ya were lucky to leave as soon as ya did. Sometimes ta biggest and darkest of things, lay not in the night, but within ourselves. There is no light in their eyes now after such shit...."
Peeking up suddenly, Aleena knit a brow, there was something in her that faught back.
"Nein. That is why,...that is vhy the relics must be brought here!"
"Hm?" he rose a brow.
"If the light, our hope, our values of our elders are to survive. To guide us, comfort us, and lead the way after such horrors. Then we must do so at all cost..."
She quickly fished her pockets and drops a pouch before him with finality. It drops with a chink!
"Tis just ze fifteen coins, but I vill work hard to earn the rest!" she nodded firmly. " I just needith time Monsieur, but I swear it by my name the Sacred Relics of the Six Elders, they vill be restored in to spender here by our priests. Every single one. They vill give people the hope, the courage, the wisdom and the renewal they desperately need after so much hell...."
She pressed a fist over her heart devotedly. "At least, I have faith ze Eldest of Light will be there to embrace them. I'm sure the other priest of ze temple will feel just the same...."
The Kojin takes her tiny pouch and lifts a brow to her with a sympathetic smile.
"...ya know? I like yee? At first glance, ya look like ya been serving portage and tea all day. But with a fire like that? Hell, you stay away from my ships missy! Or ya digit set my sails ablaze!" he amused.
Aleena giggles embarrassed, "I'm..sorry, I should try to controlith myself...."
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End of Scene