© J.B. Norman — Published by Emona Literary Services™
“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.”
“Why didn’t you say that first?”
The full list of my February 2022 Realmgard Short Scenes (plus two for January) is here.
The master list of all my Short Scenes is here.
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