Copyright
J.B. Norman
“You know,” Estelle Darkstone says, “my Kat is something of an adventurer herself.”
As the current manager of the Winfield and Sons Emporium, the jewel of Porthaven’s Outfitting District, Estelle regularly interacts with adventurers looking to upgrade their equipment.
Her customers are a strange pair: a very tall, very muscular woman with brown hair and a much smaller man dressed in rumpled robes and a hood who could easily be mistaken for a living pile of laundry.
Estelle is no stranger to making small with her customers. Although she’s no adventurer herself, her regular interactions with the adventurers of Porthaven have given her a good deal of familiarity with the state of the adventuring industry in the city.
She knows how hard it can be for a rookie adventurer to make her name among the adventurers in the city, so she does what she can to unsubtly point out to her customers that her daughter is available for hire.
The two adventurers exchange a glance — the tall woman looking a long way down and the small man looking a long way up. They exchange a wordless nod and turn back to Estelle.
“We welcome her assistance,” the tall woman tells Estelle.
A little later that very day, Kat is awoken from her doze on her beloved couch by the all of Darkstone Manor seeming to shake around her.
“Earthquake!” she exclaims as she tumbles to the floor still half-asleep. “Bear-wolves!”
It takes her a minute to realise that she is being afflicted by neither an earthquake nor a horde of bear-wolves. There is, however, a very large stranger looming over her — a tall, muscular mountain of a woman with an axe slung over her shoulder.
Kat stares blinking up at the woman.
The tall woman looks expectantly up at Kat.
“You are the one called Kat?” the tall woman asks.
“Y-yeah,” Kat answers.
She’s rather bemused — both by the living room seemingly experience a barbarian invasion and by the invader in question being one of the few people Kat has ever met who’s taller than she is.
“Very good. We ride at dawn,” the tall woman says, eagerly grabbing Kat by the arm, hauling her to her feet, and beginning to drag her towards the door.
“Are you kidnapping me?” Kat asks.
The tall woman thoughtfully rubs her chin. “I believe the word is recruiting,” she says.
“That’s not a no,” Kat mutters.
“Have no fear my young friend, we’ve discussed this with your mother,” the tall woman continues.
“You discussing kidnapping me with my Mom?” Kat exclaims. “What did you say to her? Wait. Are you holding Dunstana hostage, too?”
“I do not know who that is,” the tall woman says.
“Who are you?” Kat asks, trying to prying the tall woman’s massive hand off her wrist. “What is happening?”
“I am called Bruna,” the woman answers over her shoulder. “I am a professional adventurer in need of assistance. Your mother says you are looking for adventuring work. Consider yourself hired.”
Now confident that she is not, in fact, being kidnapped by the two adventurers, Kat Darkstone sets up from Bruna and the Foxhound from the landward gates of Porthaven.
As they travel, Kat stares thoughtfully at the short, hooded adventurer.
“I have to ask,” she says, her curiosity gets the better of her, “why pink?”
The short man glances back at Kat from beneath his hood. “Once, I was the White Foxhound,” he explains. He cocks his head toward the towering barbarian woman, “until someone decided to toss her red cloak into my laundry. And thus, the Pink Foxhound was born.”
“Ah.”
“There is a lesson here, lass,” he continues, “always wash like colours together.”
“Couldn’t you just buy more white clothes?” Kat asks.
The Foxhound shrugs. “They may be pink, but they’re still perfectly good.” He nods at Bruna again. “Besides, she says she likes them this colour. And we all must make sacrifices for those we love.”
“Love?” Kat repeats.
He nods. “We’re married. Didn’t she tell you?”
“No,” Kat answers. “She just sort of kicked down my front door and grabbed me.”
“Yes. She is rather impulsive. I do apologise,” the Foxhound mutters.
“But, hey, a job’s a job, right?” Kat offers.
The Foxhound chuckles. “Spoken like a true mercenary.”
As she follows after the two veteran adventurers, Kat shifts her pack on her shoulder. She doesn’t remember it being this heavy. All she packed was clothes and a few adventuring supplies, but it feels like she’s hauling a bag full of rocks.
At the head of the group, Bruna turns around and looks at her. “Are you well, Kat?” the barbarian woman asks.
“Yeah. Just having a little trouble with my pack,” Kat answers.
“We can stop here for the night,” Bruna offers. “We’re in no rush.”
The three stop and decide to set up camp for the night. Bruna sets up their tents while the Foxhound gets a fire going. Meanwhile, Kat turns her attention to trying to sort out of her pack.
She sets it down and undoes the buckle. “Gah!” she exclaims, tumbling backwards as a red blur leaps out of her pack.
“D-Dunstana?” Kat stammers
The little pirate surges up like a shark going after a seabird on the waves. “Hi, Kat,” she says, between gasping in deep breaths of air.
“There is a girl in your pack,” the Foxhound notes, moving beside Kat.
“Is she friend or foe?” Bruna asks, reaching for her axe.
Dunstana looks up at the two adventurers. “Hi!” she says. “My name’s Dunstana! I’m Kat’s sister. That’s a big axe! Can I feel your muscles? Those robes look comfy. Why are they pink? Is pink your favourite colour?”
.“What are you doing here?” Kat asks.
“I’m coming with you!” Dunstana says happily.
Kat’s heart sinks.
“Mom is going to kill me,” she groans.
“Are you kidding? This was her idea, Kat!” Dunstana exclaims, climbing out of Kat’s pack and hopping to the ground with a dramatic flourish and a ‘Ta-da!’
“Dad is going to kill me,” Kat groans.
The rest of my writing exercises are here. This scene is from February 2022.
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