The Slums of Euridayl

3: Retirement Plans

Thokre considered himself to be a rather simple man. When you hit a certain age, it is all you can do to lead a simple life which fulfils you, whatever that may look like. For our retired wizard, that generally looked like wandering the outer edge of his property just outside of Euridayl and finding new, interesting herbs to add to his collection. He didn't get many visitors, in fact he had yet to get a single one, but Thokre found he had no complaints with it.

Company had started to make him grouchy after a certain point. It was just such a hassle to get up and gather the ingredients for tea, not that he didn't love his many different variants of tea. It was then, even more of a hassle to find his thick framed glasses and get his ever wandering mind to focus on the topic of conversation. After some point in his old age, Thokre just found company to be very taxing for him.

Still, he enjoyed the company of the little forest animals about his home, and no amount of old age would ever halt that.

There were arrays of blue jays and red-tailed herrings which dropped by the small water fountain he'd arranged. Rabbits visited his berry bushes to settle themselves with a snack. He was further delighted, every so often, to catch a family of deer on the outer edges of his property.

It was safe to assume the old man was content with his life. In his old age, he had earned a great deal of emotional wisdom and was ready to settle into the lush forests until his time came to pass.

Until then, he'd bought a quaint cottage to reside in. It had large, open windows with pretty views of the forest and wooden floors which were easier to keep tidy. He hadn't needed nor sought a large estate for himself, being just one old man and needing to be sure he could fulfil the day-to-day chores on his own. He'd spoiled himself on more than one occasion by cheating on his chores with a spell or two, but in general took to doing the chores by hand, as his friend Bastian had recommended.

Bastian had worked as the palace physician in the same hall segment as Thokre. Both being old men from West Sterstaal, they had grown comfortable chatting when work got slow. In retirement, Thokre made sure to write his old friend a letter or two each month. It seemed only fair.

Bastian was plotting on taking a vacation sometime in the next two weeks to visit the cottage, Thokre having written about the comfortability of it in an almost bragging manner. He was not yet old enough to retire but hitting an age where he ought to start thinking about it. Thokre had posited that Bastian, being something of an experimentalist, could set up a small laboratory on one end of his retirement home. Bastian had quickly shot the idea down. His wife Hilde would abhor such a thing, as it was both dangerous and time consuming. Still, he'd considered the possibility in secret.

Thokre had planted the idea in his friend's mind firmly and it was a difficult idea to shake. Afterall, who better to offer solid advice than a contented man riding out his calm retirement?

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Comment question: What do you imagine the cottage to look like?