As Sam and his father finished putting the tools and equipment back in the barn he looked up towards the burning sun. Damn pretty much midday he thought, the extra time he took getting the fertilizer to the field ate away at the extra time he would have had to spend with his friends before heading to the clinic. Oh well he thought, getting the Rat Killer title totally made it worth it and he could instead stop at home to get changed and grab a bite to eat before heading to the clinic. He ran home from the fields and slipped in through the front door hoping to avoid running into his sister. Alas it was not meant to be as she was sitting right at the table reading a book. “Your back early. Is dad also coming back?” she asked tilting her head slightly as she looked at him. “Yeah, he’s not far behind me. What are you reading?” Sam inquired. “The new edition of the History of The Kingdom of Keivania that dad got last time he went to town. This one includes the war and goes up to within the last 5 years” she said excitedly. About time Sam thought to himself, the last one was over 50 years old and only covered up to the end of King Jacob III’s reign. “Okay, just make sure you don’t ruin it before I get a chance to read it” Sam replied smugly. “Whatever” his sister replied sarcastically. Ignoring his sister’s comments, he entered the washroom and took off his muddy and sweaty clothes and tossed them carelessly into the laundry basket. He quickly gave himself another wipe down by the tub before heading towards his room and changing into some fresh clothes.
After having some leftover bread and sausage for lunch Sam left the house and headed toward the village centre. His mother’s clinic was located opposite the main village hall and had a small market that traders would occasionally set up at when they passed through the village. Today, however, there were no traders in the village and Sam walked past the hall and through the village centre to the clinic without running into anyone. Sam pushed open the left door and walked into the clinic’s reception area. “Oh, good afternoon Samuel dear. Are you here to help your mother again?” greeted Mrs. Vinewood the elderly lady who volunteered as a receptionist for the clinic. “Good afternoon Mrs. Vinewood” Sam replied “Yes, here to help mum out as usual. Is she out the back?”. “Yes, she’s got Abbott with her at the moment. Hit his hand with the hammer again.” “I see, I will go and give her a hand” replied Sam smirking at his own joke as he headed through the door to the treatment room. As Sam walked through the door Abbott greeted him “Good day Sam, here to help fix me up again?” “Yes, the Abbott beacon was sounded so it was all hands-on deck” Sam joked back. “Quit the joking and go and fetch me a couple of the Jiacq Roots from the cupboard” his mother chided. Sam walked past the examination bed that was occupied by the young blacksmith and pulled two Jiacq Roots from the top draw of his mother’s medicine cabinet. He walked back to the bed and passed the two Jiacq Roots to his mother. She took the roots in her left hand and placed the right hand over Abbotts left thumb. A moment later she activated her skill, the roots started to glow a light green colour before they began to shrivel up. As the roots decayed on her left hand her right hand started to glow with the same green light as Abbotts finger started to pull itself back into place with Abbott cringing at the pain of his broken thumb mending back together. Just a few seconds later the glowing stopped. Abbott flexed his thumb and smiled “Good as new, don’t know what I’d do without you here Teresa” he said. “Just doing my job” she replied to him. “You’re all good to go, pass this to Liz as you head out and she’ll tell you the damages”. “Thanks again Teresa” he said as he took the paper from her and walked out the door closing it behind him. “Now Sam, can you please wipe down the examination instruments and put them away while I go and fetch some more Jiacq Root?” his mother asked him. “Can do” Sam replied as he started to collect the instruments.
Sam collected the instruments and walked over to the wash tub where he began to clean them ready for use on the next patient. As he was cleaning them, he thought over his mother’s skill. It was an Uncommon skill called Minor Health Extraction which allowed her to extract health or lifeforce from plants or animals and was able to use it to either heal herself or transfer it to others for healing either specific injuries or just transferring the life force for a general all over healing effect. He wondered if he would end up with a skill for healing like his mother. As was well known when a blood skill manifested it would normally be related to one or both of the parents, which meant he would either get a skill related to farming, healing or maybe he would get lucky and get one with both. If he got lucky and got a good healing skill, then maybe he would be able to become an adventurer or a diver and join a party as a healer. It was unlikely that would happen, but a young boy could dream. And besides even if he did get a blood skill like that, he wouldn’t get an opportunity to join as there were no guilds or dungeons on this side of the viscounty and it wouldn’t be until after he had graduated the senior academy that he would even get a chance to try his luck at getting into a party and adventuring.
He was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts by a knock on the door. Sam finished drying the instruments and went over and opened the door. “Samuel dear we have another patient. Can you please go and fetch your mum for me?” Mrs. Vinewood said with a chuckle. He wasn’t sure what she was chuckling about but gave her a salute and went into the room and through another door out the back to fetch his mum. “Mum, another patient has arrived” he said. She looked up from the box on the floor and stood back up. “Okay, can you grab the Jiacq root for me. Oh, and get those bubbles off your nose before you come back in” she said as she headed back to the examination room. Sam blushed slightly and wiped the bubbles from his nose. He squatted down to the boxes on the floor that his mum was looking at and grabbed one that was full of Jiacq Root and headed back towards the examination room.
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A few hours later just before 4pm Sam exited the clinic with his mum and waited as she locked the door. “See you tomorrow Betty” his mother said to the elderly receptionist, “See you tomorrow, Teresa and you too Samuel”. “See you later Mrs. Vinewood” Sam replied politely. “Okay Sam let’s pop over to the general store and buy something for dinner before we head home” “Yes Ma’am” he replied to his mother. His mother let out a small sigh and began walking toward the general store. The general store was the only store in the village and worked a bit like a market where residents in the village could pay a small fee to sell their items in the store. The store itself was one of the larger buildings in the village and not only provided a place for residents to sell their products within the village but also acted as a trade hub with a small meeting room for residents to meet with passing merchants to discuss selling their harvests or other products made by the villagers.
When Sam and his mother arrived at the general store, they met Adam outside the front cleaning the big white sign that sat above the door to the store. “Teresa, Sam nice to see you today” the portly man greeted them as they approached him. The man began clining down the ladder wobbling slightly as he nearly lost his balance. “Good afternoon Adam” Sam and his mother replied at the same time. “What can I help you both with”? He asked as he wiped his hands off on his apron. “Just looking to get some Venison if you have any” Teresa replied. “I do; James dropped some off earlier”. Sam and his mother followed Adam into the store, as they headed over to the ice boxes Sam looked around at some of the other foods on display. Nothing out of the ordinary Sam thought as he looked left and then right as they passed the food stands. “How much are you after?” asked Adam as he pulled a large piece of Venison out of the ice box. “About a kilogram” replied Teresa. Adam placed the piece of meat on a scale and weighed it. He removed the meat from the scale and placed it on a metal sheet on the counter. He then bent down and pulled out a large knife and began to cut a piece off. He placed it onto the scales; the weight came in just over a kilogram. He took the meat off the scales and placed it onto some paper and wrapped the meat up. “That will put you back 3 coppers” Adam said as he placed the wrapped meat back down on the counter in front of him. Teresa put her hand out palm facing up and 3 copper coins appeared. She placed them on the counter and pushed them toward Adam before picking up the package. “Well, we best be off. Charlotte and Arnold will be getting hungry if we don’t get back soon” Teresa said. “Nice to see you both” Adam replied as they turned back towards the door and left the store.
After leaving the store Sam and his mother headed back home. It was only a couple minutes’ walk from the general store and before long they arrived home. “Welcome Home” said Arnold as Sam and Teresa walked around the corner of the house. “What you up to dad?” Sam replied. “Just chopping some firewood, want to give me a hand?” he offered. “Sure” Sam said as he walked over to his father and picked up the axe.
“I’ll head inside and start on dinner” Teresa said as she walked into the house. After cutting wood for the next fifteen minutes Sam had started to work up a sweat. “This should be enough right dad?” Sam questioned. “We’ll do a few more as we’re going to head into town tomorrow. Got a few things to do and need a hand. You probably know your way around town better than I do anyway” his father replied. “Probably, since I stay in town every second week during academy semesters, I have explored most of it” Sam responded. “Well, we’re going to head off early in the morning, I want to get there before noon to give us time to get an inn for the night and do the chores I need to do. Plus, I need to pick up your birthday present” “My Present?” Sam questioned “now I’m excited”.
Sam and his father finished chopping the wood and began stacking it against the wall under the roofed porch area that was specifically designed to keep the rain and snow off the wood and keep it dry. After they had finished that they headed back through the front door to the smell of roasting meat. “This smells mighty good” his father said to his wife, as they both sat down and took off their boots. “Nearly ready. You two get cleaned up and come sit at the table” she replied. Sam and his father headed to the washroom and for the third time that day Sam wiped himself down. I’ll be glad to see the end of summer Sam thought as he put his shirt back on and walked back to the dining table and sat down. Not five minutes later did his mother walk over with plates piled high and full of food. Venison, potatoes, carrots and peas. A full meal, they were being spoiled today. “Is it a special occasion today?” Sam asked his mother as his little sister pulled the chair out and sat down beside him. “Not really, you and your dad are going to be walking to the town and will be gone for a couple days so I need to make sure you’re fueled up ready for the trip” she said.
The family began to dig into their dinner and before long the plates had been cleaned. The family chatted for a while after dinner before they all retired to their rooms to get some rest before the journey the next day. Before heading to his room, Sam had swiped the book his sister was reading earlier in the day from the kitchen bench and after getting ready for bed lay sitting up and began to read it. Before long Sam felt his eyes grow heavy and put the built in bookmark into the page and put the book down on his bedside table and slid down onto his back. His mind briefly drifted toward the journey to come, but the fatigue from the long day of work overpowered him and he quickly fell asleep.
