New Home

Walking through the village with Toran, I couldn't help but feel anxious. The village itself wasn't crowded, but I could still see plenty of people together in small groups. Most of them looked at me with worried expressions. I heard them whispering, recognizing certain words like "foreigner" and "Freenum."

Toran noticed this and gave me a comforting smile.

"I apologize if this atmosphere makes you uncomfortable. But in this village, we are all a family. I am sure they will warm up to you if you choose to get to know them." He reassured me.

"Do this village not have many visitors? Are foreigners uncommon?" I asked.

"No, no. Merchants and adventurers travel through here occasionally, and we tend to recognize them. It is just that due to the recent affairs in the North, many of us have become slightly unsettled." We kept walking through the village, passing by another row of small buildings.

"What do you mean?"

"Of course, you wouldn't know. With the war in Labrinthia, how would you have time to concern yourself over the conflicts in another continent? Let me clarify." Toran took a breath, then continued.

"A few years ago, Naeterrian was at war with a nation in the South, Freenum. Thanks to the help of a few individuals, the war has ended, but the aftermath has not been resolved."

I nodded along. I already learned that Freenum had previously invaded Naeterrian, but the details provided regarding the event were few.

"Freenum has control over a few territories in the south, and there are rumors that they are looking to expand their empire even further. There have also been suspicious individuals sighted across several regions, presumably to gather information for another possible invasion. Because of that, you may notice that people will be a bit tense around a stranger like you." He explained.

'So why is he so friendly towards me?' I pondered.

As if reading my mind, Toran continued.

"But I doubt you're from Freenum. Our village, Sunawm, is an irrelevant settlement at the northernmost area of Naeterrian. There wouldn't be any reason for someone from Freenum to come here. Not to mention the way you speak and your appearance, of course."

"I see. Speaking of that, how's my Heraldic? What do I sound like?" When he brought up his impression, I couldn't help but wonder how I sounded to a native speaker.

"Well, you are a foreigner. Your Heraldic has too many inconsistencies, and your pronunciations will always give you away." He answered.

That sounded about right. I was obviously new to the language, and even with help, it wasn't easy remembering thousands of words.

"We're here." We stopped in front of a large house. It was constructed of light colored wood, with a gray stone roof. Beside it was another building made of dark brown planks, the shape resembling a barn.

"Is this a farm?" I checked out the surrounding area. We were on the edge of the village where there were no fences, but instead long expanses of fields filled with crops.

"Yes it is. Many help work the the fields, but I will be taking you to the one who organizes them. His name is Yarolm. I've asked him to take care of you during your stay. In return, he wants a helping hand, an assistant." Toran looked at me, making sure I understood what he meant.

I nodded. In return for a bit of manual labor, I would be given shelter and a place to stay. It was exactly what I was hoping for. At first, I was just searching for human interaction, but now my goal was to integrate myself into a society, acquiring connections and information. This would increase my chances of being able to protect the Archives... or whatever I had to do in order to survive here.

Toran went forward and knocked on the door of the house.

"It'll be getting late soon. I'll introduce you, and leave it to Yarolm to show you around." It was in the late-afternoon, but he probably had other affairs to attend to.

After a short moment, the door opened up and a head peaked out. It was a small boy. He stared at us for a few seconds.

"This is his son, Karto." Toran informed me.

"Hi Karto." I smiled awkwardly and gave him a little wave. He just kept staring at me. Was there something on my forehead?

"Hello Karto. Could you call your father for us?" Toran asked the child, who nodded and ran off, leaving the door slightly ajar.

A minute passed, and then I heard footsteps coming from inside. The door swung wide open and a middle age man appeared. He had a stocky build, a full beard, and was wearing brown overalls over a dirty white shirt. He wiped his hands on his sides and gave me a quick lookover before flashing a smile.

"Toran! I didn't expect you so soon." He stepped to the side and gestured for us to come in.

"No, no. I have some other business to attend to." Toran shook his head. "We still haven't finished recording the expenses for last week's trip. But you received the message from Darrus, yes?"

"Yeah. Is this the guy?" He moved towards me and stuck out his hand. "The name's Yarolm."

Out of habit, I grabbed and shook it, causing Yarolm to raise his eyebrow at me.

'Crap. Do they not have handshakes here?' I realized my mistake and pulled back my hand.

But Yarolm just started laughing heartily.

"I don't know how you do it where you're from, but in Erradell, we grab the forearm." He stuck out his arm again.

'So like a Roman handshake? Well, when in Rome...'

"Ah, I didn't know." I grabbed his forearm, and gave a light shake. "I'm Flyte."

~~~

After Toran left, Yarolm invited me inside his house. When I walked in, I was greeted by a sudden warmth from a blazing fireplace, and unobstructed view of the entire first floor.

It was spacious and compared to the cold, empty stone buildings I had came from, it was a welcoming sight. Yarolm put his hand on my back and gave me a quick tour.

"Here's the kitchen, that's the dining area. You can go through there to find the restroom, and this corner here is our living area. Now let's go up these stairs so I can show you where you'll be staying." Yarolm cheerfully took me around the house, showing me the it's different sections.

As we made our way to the stairs, someone rushed down from upstairs. It was a woman wearing a large red apron. Encountering us, she jumped in surprise.

"Oh my! Is this?" She looked back and forth between me and Yarolm.

"This is Flyte. He's going to be our guest." Yarolm introduced us. "Flyte, this is my wife Dekorah."

"Pleased to meet you." Dekorah stuck out her arm.

"Likewise." This time, I reached forward and did the forearm shake, to which I saw Yarolm nod in approval.

After excusing herself, she hurried past us. I wondered why she was in such a rush.

Then Yarolm led me up the stairs to the second floor of the house. We were now in a short hallway. There were five doors, two on each side of the hallway and one at the end.

"These three rooms are for my family." He pointed at three of the doors, then at the one at the end of the hallway. "That's the storage room."

"So is this my room?" I asked, standing in front of the last door.

"No. You'll be sleeping outside. On the roof."

"..."

"I'm just joking! Yes, this was our guest room, now yours." Yarolm laughed and clapped me on the back, then opened the door and went inside.

I sighed. He seemed like a good person, but his disposition reminded me of a certain character.

I followed him into the room. There was a small bed and a desk with a few candles on top.

The space wasn't very big, but it gave off a cozy feeling. I went over and sat on the bed. I hadn't slept in one since coming to this world.

"Do you like the room?" Yarolm was against the wall, arms crossed. "If you need anything, let me know."

"Thank you, this room is great. But you don't have to do all this for me. I'm just a stranger." I was beginning to feel a bit guilty about lying about my origins. I was given this unexpected hospitality, but I didn't want to take advantage of their generosity.

"I wasn't told much, but I understand you came here from Labrinthia?"

I nodded in response. I guess I technically wasn't lying- just agreeing with their assumptions. Not much better.

"Well, we can't just look away from the injustices happening there. We might not be able to affect what happens over there, so the least we can do is offer sanctuary to those who need it."

"Have you took in refugees like me before?" I felt uncomfortable being consoled about something I knew nothing about, so I decided to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"We had a group pass through here last winter and I heard that a few other villages are sheltering refugees. But you're the first that I've had to take care of." Then after seeing my expression of uncertainty, he quickly followed up. "Hey, you don't need to be worried about the war anymore. You'll be safe here."

"Oh... thanks." I was nervous, but not for the reason that he was thinking of.

An awkward silence began to take place, but then a child came running in. It was the little boy from earlier.

"Dad! Where did Iyara go? She said she would be back an hour ago!" He looked around ten, and was wearing this enormously oversized fur coat that dragged along the floor.

"She's working right now. She'll be back by dinner." Yarolm patted the boy on his head, and turned to me.

"This is my son, Karto." He gently pushed him forward.

Karto looked at me and bowed his head. His brown hair parted to one side, and I saw a few strands of white.

"Hello! I'm Karto."

"Nice to meet you, Karto. I'm Flyte."

~~~

Yarolm, saying that he was going to check up on Dekorah, decided to leave me with Karto, who dragged me to his room to play.

A few minutes later, I was in his room, staring at what looked like a chess set.

I stared at the wooden board with all the small pieces on it. The figures had different shapes and the squares all had the same color, but the rest of the setup was remarkably similar to chess. On both sides, there was a line of unique pieces followed by a second line of identical ones.

"What's this game called?" I picked up some of the pieces. Everyone of them looked as if they were carved by hand.

"Kindryne. Every played it before?" Karto shifted around in his coat, fidgeting with its buttons.

"Maybe. What are the rules?" I put the pieces back. Who knew, maybe this really was just chess.

What if our worlds were more similar that I thought?