Gold, Fire & Ash

Chapter II: The Errand Express

[Dedicated to ShanaZeren]

II

The Errand Express

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started."

- Mark Twain -

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Quinn's grandmother was well known throughout all of Satome, and the neighboring towns, as one of the best herbalists around. So when Quinn woke the next morning, after a night of carefully washing his hair, she was nowhere to be found. However, he didn't worry much for he knew she had gone to the deeper parts of the forest to gather her herbs; the earlier the better.

Quinn wasn't a morning eater so when he got dressed and went to the kitchen he just made himself a cup of tea and proceeded to do his chores. He fed the chickens, watered the gardens and made sure to sweep and dust the entirety of the houses interior; well, except for his room that is. Then the final thing he did before the sun rose high in the sky was feed Basra, he left for town shortly after.

Normally the boy would have brought Basra along with him but he had a lot of jobs he needed to get done and he probably wasn't going to finish until late in the evening.

Quinn was an errand boy. He ran around town completing random tasks ad making deliveries for people who were too busy to do so themselves. When he was naught but ten years old, two years after his arrival in Satome, he realized that residents, especially the elderly, had a hard time commuting to and from the markets and doing their daily work. It was then that he came up with the idea to create a system where the young people of Satome would go around and run errands in their stead.

At first the idea wasn't really supported and the young people protested a lot, but with the influence of his grandmother he was able to set up a small business that catered to helping the residents of Satome as well as being a source of income for kids who were too young to work or those who couldn't find any other jobs.

After a year or so Quinn's little business, which he started on nothing more than a whim, had come to be known as an official occupation in the land of Satome. It was during this time that the boy coined a name for his little establishment, the Errand Express. News of it spread far and wide and young people from many neighboring towns had flocked to Satome wanting to apply.

The town head of Satome, seeing the benefits of Quinn's little endeavor, donated a building to aid their cause and it was here that Quinn decided to make their main base of operations. It was where he was headed at the moment.

The headquarters was located smack dab in the middle of the market area and was the only two story building in the area, which made it a landmark of sorts. Due to this constructive location though the Errand Express received up to a hundred requests almost every day. With this many job requests he had his work cut out for him.

As he made his way to headquarters he pulled a hair tie out of his pocket and proceeded to put his rather long white hair into a ponytail. He said the occasional greeting to the shop owners he passed by and he also stopped at a pastry shop to buy something to eat so when he reached his destination he was ready and set for work.

As expected headquarters was bustling with young people of all ages. Upon his arrival he was greeted with a chorus of good mornings and a front desk filled to the brim with papers, papers that by the end of the day would all end up in his office. The boy groaned at the sight but he knew the work had to be done. Straightening his white shirt and vest he stepped towards his office.