How About No? 3 (Patreon)

How About No?

Chapter 3

-VB-

The travel was horrible, as always. Shiera never liked it, but it was a necessary evil to move herself and investigate the source of the Change.

She found on her travel others like her and Brynden, those who had felt the change and moved to investigate. Many of them were greenseers in numbers she had not expected from south of the Neck. She granted some of them audience, and it became clearer and clearer with each meeting that whatever had happened in the North, or Beyond the Wall, had irrevocably changed the world.

The “how” of the Change was still elusive to them all, however.

“Bedoier, what do you think about all of this?” she asked her sworn sword.

The middle-aged knight, bordering on old age, was one of the few people she trusted. He was the only one who saw her for what she was and accepted her regardless when she was naught by a bastard. For that, she kept him in her service when she was legitimized and made sure that his children and house would not find anything of want as long as he continued to serve her.

He scratched his stubbled chin while looking blankly ahead of the road while he rode side by side with her carriage.

“Personally, I am unsure as to how I would approach the issue as I am not a magician myself,” he replied with a deep gravel of his voice. “Would you give analogies for this old man to relate to?”

“Very well. Think of magic as a luxury resource that can be used to sway the politics of the world. Depending on who uses it and how, the players change their tune. They are like dragons that one cannot see, which makes them all the more feared and also dismissed ironically. It is hard to fear a dragon that you cannot see, feel, or even be aware of.”

“I see. A hidden tool akin to the Faceless Men.”

“They are magic.”

“You could have started with that.”

She snorted. “Well?”

He contemplated her words. She gave him the time to think because he always offered insight she could not see herself.

“It is good to see who might wield this new Faceless Man, if it is a person and not something like a rock or a place.”

… Right. She didn’t even think about the possibility that it might be a place or an object. See? She was right to ask him.

(If only he was younger and without a dead wife he still loved, then she would have him in her bed already.)

The problem, she realized, was that she only had a general direction that she could search and no more information…

“Ser Bedoier, get the servants and guards to report any information about anything odd they hear whenever we pass through the towns and villages.”

“Understood, Your Highness.”

-VB-

I think I like it here.

Too bad I was going to leave as soon as possible.

As for when that would be…

See, I thought about how I would travel the world. After a while, I treated the entire ordeal as something like an RPG. Like WoW. If I was going to travel across Azeroth without being a max-level character, then I would need a number of items to keep myself alive. First, I would need decent armor or clothes to keep me warm, cool, covered, and protected. This was easy to solve. I would use potions and elemental magic. I would soak my clothes in the potions and try to give them the hardness of the earth, ventilation from air, chill of water, and warmth of fire. It would take some doing but I was sure I could do it.

Second, I needed consumables that I could use to keep myself alive. This would be closer to health potions. I wouldn’t need mana pots because I didn’t use mana.

Third, I needed extra bodyguard. Sleeping in the forest or by the side of the road was not safe to do as a single individual. Having someone - or something - guarding me would be great. Maybe I will create a living bottle using nature magic? Or even a “hole” that only I will access using a living bottle and occult magic.

The possibilities were endless, and I felt like I could really do all of it.

The problem, I found, was that I didn’t have all of the ingredients necessary either in person or in reach.

For example, health potions would need something with a “vibrant life” as my instinct was thinking, which could not be found in the North and its dreary ruggedness. Perhaps there was a herb or two that might carry that “trait” up here in the North. Looking for it without knowing what to look for would be hard.

… There was a second option to that.

Animals.

All animals, including humans, had vibrant life. I could buy a large enough animal, but the problem with that would be the price and willingness. Most animals owned by the villagers were their family oxen, chicken, or sheep which were all necessary for their survival.

And the bear essence was all gone by the time I realized this.

So I needed to hunt or hope that a merchant/peddler passed by willing to buy my bear fur.

… and speak of the devil, there was a merchant walking into the village.