Amidral: No Promises Exist

Pinnacle

It was around 9 in the morning in the year 374 AOD (After the Dark Monarchy), quite early for the usual meeting time at the abandoned house club, but there was a good reason: they were waiting for the results of an earlier meeting, for which Devika was responsible.

They had turned 15 a few months ago, and everyone agreed that they could no longer keep playing with dolls in such an old and dirty house. No one had mentioned it, but when they found out that the authorities were going to demolish it, they began making preparations. The law allowed 14-year-olds to own private property, and since Devi was the most suitable to meet the requirements, they decided to apply for possession by presence. Everyone knew that the old cabin had been abandoned for years, just as they knew it was the gathering place for their group of friends. Although there was still much to do, they had cared for and cleaned that house for several years and felt entitled to it. They just needed authorization to repair it properly. So, they arrived at that morning, waiting for Devi with a signed possession contract.

The door creaked open with worn-out hinges. Devika, usually calm and elegant, burst in, excited, with a signed scroll and a seal from the municipality: the house was now officially theirs. It turned out that, after some negotiation, the property was in the name of all four friends. They could keep it as long as they turned it into something more than ruins and a dark hideout. They had three months until the inspection to make it happen, so they got to work.

Devi worked for her mother in designing artifacts, Gideon took a double shift at the butcher shop, and Tash extended her hours and days of work in the forest gathering, with Charlie's help. All of this was to repair the old cabin. Soon, the interior filled up with planks, straw, and other reconstruction materials. It was months of hard work and activity from dawn till dusk. As the days passed, the old, crooked cabin started to look like a decent establishment. When they saved up enough money, they took it upon themselves to restore the floors, fix the walls, and seal the gaps in the roof. Cleaning was exhausting, and Devika often complained about her allergies, especially because the boys seemed to neglect the roof repairs.

Sometimes they hurt their hands with carpentry work or moving heavy objects from one place to another. Usually, the nights ended so exhausting that their enthusiasm faded with the dim candlelight, but the next day, even though they were just as discouraged, the cabin undeniably looked better, which motivated them to keep going.

Finally, the inspection day arrived. This time, a large, stocky man with a thick beard and a slender, dark-skinned woman from the eastern islands carried out the review. At first, their faces showed disapproval and boredom. Despite the kids' efforts, the exterior of the house remained gloomy and dark, but the interior told a different story. From reinforcing the beams to fixing the holes in the roof, they not only demonstrated that the house wouldn't collapse, but they also showed skill in what they were doing. When asked how they came up with the idea to do this, Charlie just clutched a structural scroll he had gotten from his younger brother and lied about hearing something similar in the market. Even though George was miles away, he always replied to his letters as quickly as possible. The room seemed brighter, and although there were still wood shavings and many crooked and dirty construction objects, the place was surprisingly spacious.

Once the review was complete, they requested the possession papers and left a wax seal of approval before leaving. They were about to go when...

"Just out of curiosity, what do you plan to do with this place? I suppose fixing it up won't give you back everything you've invested in it," the large man asked.

In reality, they hadn't thought about that, but if they said they couldn't bear the idea of losing the house where they played as children, all the respect they had earned would disappear.