War of Dawn

Chapter 2: Divine Burden

Date: 1003 After Dawn, May 15th

Indeed, Hilda didn't sleep as well as she should have. Taking a look at the mirror, some slight bags have taken up residence under her eyes, courtesy of that dream. While getting dressed, it doesn't take long for her to hear some loud swooshes coming from outside. Seems like the weather has decided to get very windy overnight and that bodes ill for her.

Closing her eyes and clenching her jaw, Hilda walks down the bar's steps praying to herself: "Please, please, please..."

Her prayers go unanswered, unfortunately. One of the bar's rickety windows has broken under the mighty gusts of wind and the whole area around it, plus furniture, is filled with dirt and snow from the street.

"Of course..." she grumbles.

After nailing the broken window shut, Hilda finds herself a broom and gets to re-cleaning the place up. It takes half an hour to get it all done by herself. Her day is not off to a very good start. Taking a deep breath, she calms herself down and goes have breakfast. Once again, the usual bread and cheese – though, just this once, Hilda takes a small mug of coffee. Her face scrunches up as if she licked a lemon on the very first sip; she's never liked bitter stuff, but she needs to wake up.

Edda arrives just as she's finishing eating, covered from head to toe in a heavy woolen coat and scarf, straining herself to close the bar's door against the wind outside.

"Urgh... that's some awful weather we have today," she says with a gasping breath.

"You're telling me. It broke that window and made a mess of the place," Hilda answers, greeting Edda from behind the counter.

Edda sighs, looking at the weary girl with sympathy. "Oh, you really should've waited for me to get here. I could've helped with that."

"It was no problem. Besides, the way things are looking outside, I reckon this'll be a very slow day."

"Hm, you might be right. People'll likely stay home." Edda hangs her coat and scarf on a hook set by the kitchen. "The guild will need its lunch, though, so there's that."

"You're up, then. I'll get the tables set up in any case." Hilda punctuates her statement with one final drink of her coffee, her face once again crumpling over the sharp taste. "Argh... How do people like this crap...?"

"It's an acquired taste. You'll see, once you're older," Edda laughs.

Hilda gets the plates and steins all in their usual position and the bar opens for business on time. But, as expected, no clients come during the morning. Bored out of her mind and with nothing to do, she resorts to flipping through Gustaff's book of drinks. His special recipes have quite the many fans, so it's always good for the resident waitresses to learn how to make them. That aside, there are only so many recipes one can read before it starts to drag and, despite the coffee, the lack of sleep starts getting to Hilda.

Propping her cheek onto her right hand, she closes her eyes and begins dozing off. That is, until a voice cuts across the silence, whispering to her – the same whisper as her dream. Looking around the bar, however, there isn't anyone.

"Hello?" she calls out.

"What?" answers Edda, pitching her body over to the kitchen door.

"No, not you..." Hilda waves her off, still giving the empty establishment the look-over. "Wait. Did- Did you hear that, just now?"

Edda shakes her head in negation. "Not a thing. Why?"

"I dunno," Hilda answers, confused. "I had this weird dream last night and could swear I just heard the same voice I did then..."