Put back together

60. From the blue mountains we come

Patton woke up late the next morning.
He felt even better than he had the day before.

The dormitory was empty and so he wandered to the kitchen where he found Han washing some fruit he didn't recognize.

"Look who's finally up," Han grinned. "I was almost getting worried. Hard journey behind you?"

"Yeah," Patton sat down next on the bench to him. "I was sick the past few days."

Han made an acknowledging noise and inspected one of the fruit. They were big, round and yellow and had a slight fuzz on them.

"What are those?" Patton asked. "I've never seen them before."

Han chuckled. "I can imagine. They're highly illegal here in Sallerow. Over in Terona it's easier to get them but still a hassle."

"Why that? Are they poisonous?"

"Not really. But their juice is better than most love potions. If you give someone even just a small piece to eat it'll make them completely and utterly devoted to you. How long it lasts can depend on how much they ate and on themselves a little but usually not less than a week."

Patton stared at the fruit in surprise. It looked innocent enough. He could imagine it being very sweet and had contemplated if it could be baked into a pie but maybe that wouldn't be the best idea after all.

"Do you want one?" Han asked suddenly.

"What?!"

"You can also have more. I have way too many this year."

"I couldn't make someone eat that," Patton protested.

"You sure?" Han raised an eyebrow. "It's not really my business but you don't seem to be in the best situation. They might just come in handy sooner or later."

Patton bit his lip. He could actually imagine that very well.
Considering their past luck.

They also still needed to get Virgil, Janus and Remus on their side...

He shook his head. He wouldn't do that.

Not unless there was absolutely no other option.

Maybe...

"Okay," he said hesitantly.

Han grinned. "I'll pack you a few once I've cleaned them, then."

Patton nodded nervously. "Thanks... I guess."

"The others went out by the way. They should still be in Uness on the market. That's a village not far from here, just a few minutes by foot. There a signs too. If you don't want to wait you can go there," Han continued after a moment.

"Ah, thank you," Patton smiled gratefully and almost fled out of the room.

He looked around until he found the first sign and followed them through a small forest. He saw a few squirrels fight over a berry and smiled to himself.

These were the kind of forests that could be found everywhere at the feet of the Pondé mountains. The kind of forests he had grown up in.
Around here he could recognize the birds by their calls and the animals by their tracks.
The normalcy was almost strange to him.

A slight breeze ruffled his hair and he could almost hear Mama's voice, singing along to the birds, with texts of fairy tales and stories that had been passed down for generations.

Patton hummed to himself until Uness came into sight.

It was surrounded by wheat fields and even from the distance Patton could tell that it was a lot more lively than Han's town.

Traveling merchants had built up their stalls on the streets and farmers sold their harvest.

Patton made his way through the crowd, stopping at a stall here and there to get a look at the offered goods, all the while keeping watch for Logan, Roman and Emile.

He finally spotted Logan, who towered over most of the people around him, by a fabric merchant's stall.

As he got closer he also saw Emile and Roman.

Roman was clearly haggling with the merchant. Logan looked vaguely terrified. Whether of Roman or the merchant, Patton couldn't tell.

"Fine!" the merchant finally gave in and snatched the money from Roman's hand, almost throwing the fabric they had been arguing about at him.

Roman grinned proudly.
He rolled the fabric up in his arms and turned away from the stall, spotting Patton.

"Hey! You're up!" his grin widened even more. Patton was pretty sure that this was the happiest he had ever seen Roman. He wanted to see him like this more often. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, much! Why are you buying fabric?" Patton took ahold of one of the edges, inspecting it. It was thick, thicker than any of their blankets.

"Well, Emile said that we need warmer clothes for the journey over the Pondé mountains, since they are often covered in snow. So we didn't want to pass up the opportunity," Logan answered and pushed up his glasses.

"Where did you learn to haggle like that?" Emile asked bemused.

"My Mother," Roman answered. "She's the queen now but she told me that her family wasn't exactly wealthy when she was young and that no matter the title you can end up poor very quick. Father always says she is being paranoid but can't stop her from teaching us stuff like this."

"Interesting," Logan said but it sounded more like 'terrifying'.

"So, what else do we need to cross the mountains?" Roman asked.

"Did you get a Shee-pipe?" Patton asked.

"What's that?" Logan asked.

"There are a lot of dangerous areas in the mountains and to communicate over long distances people developed these special whistles, the Shee-pipes," Patton explained, trying to show how big they were with his hands. "If we want to make it over the mountains savely we need to have one!"

"Really? How do you know that?" Logan asked.

"I grew up on the other side of the mountains. My parents had one and we always used it when we went up the mountains to bring the cattle up in spring and down in autumn!"

"That's good," Emile said. "Then you know at least a part of them. I have a Shee-pipe but we should get at least one more. Just in case we get split up or one of them breaks or something like that. Better safe than sorry."

"Where do we get them?" Roman asked.

"Not around here. For that we're still to far from the mountains. Our best chance to get one is actually in the valleys on the mountains. So we'll have to cross the first mountain with only one," Emile explained.

"The smaller ones aren't that dangerous," Patton added. "The big ones, in the centre, those are the ones we'll have to worry about. They are mostly uncharted and there are a lot of avalanches. They aren't as big as Natica but a lot more dangerous."

"We got over the Cursed Islands," Roman said, "we'll make it over the Pondé mountains!"

"But on the Islands we had Virgil," Logan said so quietly that Patton didn't think he had meant for anyone to hear.

"Let's go back to Han's place, pack our bags and head towards the mountains," Roman said. "I'm sure we'll make it!"

The second half of this was fuled by pure Ghibli vibes.
Kinda fitting because one of the scenes to come was fuled by Ghibli too... just by the more intense scenes...

Anyway, fun fact: Roman's mother is the daughter of a Duke whose home was destroyed by bandits when she was a little girl. He lost all his wealth and she grew up on the streets for a while, since no one was willing to help her father for a long time.

As always feel free to comment, ask questions or roast me for spelling errors!

Have a nice (gay) day!