Because of You || zeenunew

Part 1

The past night had been a stormy one.

Another one.

It was summer but the little fisherman village on that little island in the Aegean Sea had had a few bad weather days, which had caused troubles to a good part of the local population who basically based their sustenance on fishing and trading with the islands nearby.

It was lucky enough that the village closer to the Mt. Moon had been in a particularly fortunate time of the years, with harvests copious enough to share some of their fruits and meat with them.

This also meant, more people to take care of, for NuNew's family.

NuNew, the younger of two sons, had moved with his older brother and parents to this, apparently, irrelevant island after moving from East to West, in search of a nice place to live a peaceful life, putting to good use their skills as healers.

NuNew had to admit, of all the places he had seen since he was born, this one had soon become his favourite. He loved the sea, and the natura was like nothing he had seen in the other islands: everything was so flourishing, and opulent, some places were simply breath-taking, too.

At first looked with some mild suspect, his family managed to conquest the local's respect after saving the life of more than one person in need through their herbal medications and infusions.

And the storm not only brought another day with empty nets, but also more people with mild wounds and need for assistance.

NuNew had grown up learning about plants and herbs, about their properties and uses, and while he was just recently became a grown-up in the eyes of the community, in his family he was still the youngest, and in that respect, he was the one who held the place that now he shared with his brother: looking for plants and herbs in the flourishing forest near the Mountain, in order to find what his family needed to produce medications for people in need.

Today it was also the day NuNew had to take this task alone because there were too many people to take care of at the harbour, while his mother was also busy helping a young woman in the inner village to give birth to her baby.

NuNew took his little spartium-made basket and headed towards the outskirt of the village, a route he knew all too well, for he had walked it every day for many months now.

He had met a few villagers who politely greeted him with a smile while passing by, all of them used to him going that way to look for herbs and remedies.

They weren't always paid with coins; most of the times, the villagers offered them part of their harvests, peer fruits, grapefruits, olives, while the fishermen mostly offered, of course, fish.

It was good, it was enough.

With the few coins they had, they could still buy what they needed at the local market near the harbor, coming once a week from the islands nearby bringing mostly fabric, salt, oils, grains; rarely, some more "luxury" goods, like scrolls, pins, and jewels.

It was precisely one of the last time the merchants had arrived at the harbour, that NuNew's mother could buy the fabric of the white cloth he was wearing now.

It was not, probably, his most clever idea, to wear a garment like that to go in the Forest but it was not really like he had many occasions to wear something new anyway, since his life mostly consisted of this.

He would have probably needed a new tunic very soon anyway, if he had to attend the traditional initiation's rituals of the island, that same summer, held on the Mt. Moon, even tho this would have pertained mostly his brother and not him, not yet.