Diaries: A Village in Ruin

Aphmau

Laurance Zvhal was growing on me. Slowly. I could still read that he was a bit arrogant and big-headish at times but he also was a man of kindness and honor. He was a guard after all. Yet, he was very different from Rowan. More loud and humorous than him. More...casual, I think is the right term. It led me to think that it was the reason the two were so crossed with one another. Polar opposites who just never see the other's view on things. I chose to just believe that theory so I could just let my curiosity on the matter simmer down. I needed to focus on the task at hand after all.

A second morning was going off without a hitch. Laurance and I were being friendly with one another, swapping stories. Well, mostly from him. Talking about him and his sister, his life in Meteli, and his short time in the guard academy. That caught my interest and so, he focused mainly on that.

"So, Commander Walden was so cross with me and my friend that he forced us to scrub the floor of the whole dining hall! It took us well into the night but we definitely learned our lesson," He explained, laughter tracing his voice. I couldn't help but giggle at the story as we rode side-by-side on horseback. "Thankfully, I graduated a few months later so I didn't need to suffer the wrath of that old man for much longer."

"How long were you there for?" I asked, curious about the training that they had to go through.

"Oh, only a year. I had already picked up some skills from guards at Meteli that it was smooth process for me," He replied. I titled my head and said with a smirk; "Or maybe you were just a natural with a sword. Ever thought of that?"

He returned the same look, peering his eyes at me as he said; "If I didn't know any better, Miss Aphmau, I would have thought you were flirting with me just then."

I felt heat go straight to my cheeks as I said; "W-Well I'm not! I am just saying that maybe the reason why you sailed through your training was that fact that–"

"Oh I know what you were saying. Loud and clear," He stated slyly, looking forward and letting his horse pick up the pace to go ahead of me. I grumbled quietly, letting myself calm down before catching up to him. As I said previously, I still saw how Rowan may have found him irritating. Even if he was a good man at heart.

As we went along the trail, we passed a wooden sign that read;

Scaleswind - 50 miles Northeast

"Didn't you say that our journey would take a week to get there? At this rate, we'll be there in only a few days, right?"

"Yes, but we have to be prepared for any setbacks. Besides, we then have to sail from there to get to Brightport. Then from there we can return you to Phoenix Drop. That can take up the rest of the time that Rowan estimated," Laurance answered, taking a moment to stop to retie his hair behind him. His pesky ribbon had been constantly falling out, making his hair a "setback".

"I see," I simply put, knowing that he knew more than me with this sort of thing. I decided that trusting his word was probably better than my own. As we stood there, I saw a smaller sign underneath the other, it being faded and unkept compared to the other one. I squinted my eyes to finally read;

The Chicken Shaman - 1 mile West

"Laurance, look," I said, pointing to the sign. "Have you ever heard of that?"