Just a little tangled

Garen continued to hum softly as he worked.

He heard rustling of leaves and his head snapped, drawing his attention away from his woodwork. He hissed as he felt the blade slip and cut into it finger, cursing in a language that wasn't from this continent.

A fox darted away.

Little shit.

He stuck his cut finger into his mouth, sucking it gently.

Elleon sat up in bed as he heard the man curse, it made him feel uneasy, what had happened.

Slowly he crawled out of bed, wrapping his cloak around his night clothes and moved to push open the door, his eyes still cast down at his feet.

"I said you can come inside didn't I?"

He muttered, chewing the inside of his lip a little.

"It's dark out here, if your carving you're going to slice your hands open."

His gaze turned up to the girl as she pushed open the door.

"Too lae fo tha," he grumbled, finger still in his mouth. He could taste the strong metallic liquid wash over his tongue.

He'd done quite a number on his finger.

Stupid fox.

Elleon shook his head with a soft sigh, stupid man.

He disappeared into the house again before reappearing with a strip of gauze for his hand.

"And here I was thinking I was the clumsy one."

He added with a soft little smile, he couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that he had cut himself with a carving knife. Such a skillful whittler.

Garen pouted as he pulled his finger out of his mouth.

"It's not my fault. There was a noise out in the bush."

He looked over his finger carefully. The cut hadn't gone all that deep. He'd just need to bind it for a few days.

"Turned out to be a fox. Can't be too careful, though."

You didn't know what was out in a forest this large.

Elleon held out the gauze for Garen to take.

The boy chuckled a little more.
"Frightened by a fox."

He teased, shaking his head again in disbelief, that was quite funny really, he had through this to be some sort of brave adventurer, apparently not if he got spooked by bushes rustling.

"Come in before a raccoon makes you slice off your own foot."

He added as he moved back inside to sit by the fire.

Garen pouted as he took the gauze.

"I haven't been in this country before. I don't know what's here."

He didn't know if there was anything poisonous or any seriously dangerous and aggressive animals around. He'd be a little nervous and jumpy for a while until he knew exactly what was out there. Though on this content, he hadn't met anything quite as dangerous as he had been expecting.

He was an adventurer, yes. But he was a smart one. He didn't want to blunder into somewhere without warning and suffer severe consequences for it.

Garen stood when he was bid to come inside. He picked up the bowl and the carvings he'd dropped and made his way inside.

He set the bowl and the two deer he'd already carved on the table in the room and moved back to sit by the door.

He wanted to get this deer done.

Elleon would stay up a little while longer, it wasn't everyday he had company after all.

The boy sat by the fireplace and picked up a basket, containing his newest furs and sewing equipment.

He picked them up and got back to work, quietly looking down in his lap as he slowly stitched together a set of leather gloves, the inside lined with rabbit fur.

These would keep his hands dry and toasted when the rain started up again.

The soft humming began again.

Garen found himself humming old song from his home country a lot of the time. He hadn't met one person on this continent that knew of his home place outside of the small port that the boat he had hidden in had docked on.

It made his feel homesick a lot.

So he would sing the songs children in his old village used to sing.

It made him feel a little less lonely.

No one understood loneliness quite like Elleon did, he had been alone for a long time now, having this moment of company, even if he was wary of this man made him feel a little better.

It was just nice to sit and know someone else was with him.

Idly he wondered if he could risk moving back into a town somewhere, perhaps leave Kenndrick and head someone else.

It would be difficult, he didn't have money to travel and leaving across the boarder would be hard, he was sure people would be keeping an eye out for him if word had gotten out by now.

Garen continued to hum cheerfully to himself as the deer began to slowly take shape.

Despite the simplicity of these pieces, he was starting to like them.

They'd look nice decorating the girls home. There was so little decoration in here. It was almost sad. Even his simple little carvings spruced up the place with some form of decoration.

"You never gave me your name, lass."

He didn't want to push too much, but he would like to know the name of the girl he'd just intruded on.

He didn't look up when the man spoke, he wasn't in the habit of looking at people when he spoke to them, it made little difference to him after all.

"Elleon."

He replied after a short moment, it couldn't do any harm now after all, this man seemed clueless enough.

This was nice, he liked talking.

Elleon. Pretty name.

"Thanks for the meal and the roof, Elleon."

He hiss slightly as he gripped the carving, loosening up his grip quickly. He'd have to be careful about that damned finger over the next couple of days. A bum finger was just what he needed right now. Stupid fox.

He returned to carving, being as gentle as he could with his finger.

"You been out here long?"

Elleon gave a soft chuckle as Garen hissed.

"It's alright, I was surprised to find the meat and pelt at my door, letting you come in was the least I could do really."

The pelt was worth quite a lot to him.

"A fair while."

He admitted, a little bit of conversation couldn't hurt.

"I moved out here when the kingdoms started to get hostile toward one another."

It had all started quite a few years ago.

"Wouldn't be able to keep the meat with me for long. No point in letting it go to waste."

He wasn't in the habit of wasting food. What he wasn't able to eat or salvage, he'd left for the scavengers to have their fill. He was sure something would enjoy the deers guts and stomach. He'd taken the liver and heart and a couple of portions of the meat for himself; all wrapped up for the journey ahead in one of the many pouches at his hip. And anything else he'd been able to salvage had gone to Elleon.

Garen clicked his tongue.

"That's why I came this way. Looking to get in on the war. Who do you think will pay the most for a mercenary?"

He'd have to ask others opinions on that. He had no idea which side he was more likely to join.

"You actually want to be a part of it?"

He asked, sounding shocked, he didn't understand why anyone would want to get into that mess on purpose.

Elleon shook his head softly, what a fool.

"I don't know." He mumbled, he didn't really want to discuss it.

"Both kingdoms aren't exactly poor." They were both very wealthy.

"I wanna be able to actually have some money to my name."

He didn't mind getting his hands bloody for some money. He hadn't had money in so long.

He missed luxuries like roofs over his head and good cooked meals and alcohol and whores and actual clean new clothes. His clothes were beyond threadbare and fixed very poorly by himself. They had numerous holes and burns and tears in them. So much so that they could hardly be considered clothes any more. Just strips of cloth that barely covered the essentials.

"So I could go to either one and get a good wage? Who's losing at the moment?" They were more likely to pay out for a good mercenary in desperation.

He could understand the desire for money, if he could he would get on a boat and get far away from here, but he couldn't do that without a few gold pieces to his name.

There wasn't much work he could do though, he wasn't good at much and no one wanted to hire a boy without any vision when they could have someone else do the job.

He gave a soft sigh and kept stitching at the gloves in his hands.

"I don't know, you're the first person I've spoke to in three years."

He added, silently cursing immediately after, he hadn't meant to admit that.

"Bit of a loner, then?"

Not that he had any ground to stand on in that situation himself. He hadn't sat down had had a proper deep conversation and willingly given information about himself since he was in his home country. It had been a long time.

Even now the only information he'd given about himself was his name, the fact that he was foreign and that he was a mercenary. All common-known things.

"I'll have to go to the heart of the war and find out."

Wasn't any skin off his teeth.

"Not by choice."

He grumbled as he began to sew with a little more vigor. He liked being in the company of others, he welcomed it.

Living as a hermit wasn't something he ever wanted but if he got close to people he would put them and himself in danger so he lived alone in the middle of no where.

"Why not get honest work instead of being a sell sword if it's money you're after."

"I don't have that claim."

He'd walked away from everything of his own free will. Gone wherever he wanted and done whatever he wanted all by his own choice.

He enjoyed it. No one to tie you down.

"Honest work ties you down to a place. Not my scene."

They were complete opposites, if Elleon could he would live in a small, quiet town, have his job, a group of friends and a small place to call his own.

He would be content with that, happy even, it was everything he didn't have right now.

Being alone got tiresome after a while.

Garen wasn't the sort of person that could be happy staying in one place all the time.

He liked adventure. He liked to be able to explore new places and learn new language and see new animals that he'd never seen before. It was all so much excitement and Garen craved that.

He'd done the whole living at home with an honest job and friends and a family. It just wasn't him.

He could agree with the fact that being alone was tiresome, though. Being alone was...lonely. No one liked to be lonely.

Garen brushed the wood chips off his lap and onto the floor carelessly as he looked over the loosely carved deer. He made a few small marks on the wood so he knew where he had to carve and how then got back to work carving in the fine details.

Seeing new things and places wasn't something he could look forward to, if he was somewhere new, he was lost in the dark without a familiar beacon to help guide his way.

The fact that he knew these surroundings so well was the only reason why Garen hadn't caught on yet, he could do everything a normal person could without fault, when things changed, he struggled.

In his little house and the surrounding woods he knew where everything was, he could navigate around it all by just counting his steps.

Garen returned to his cheerful humming as the deer took it shape and started actually looking like a deer.

These would look nice sat on the girl's table. Brighten up the place and give it a more homely feel.

Things looked so boring without any form of decoration. Especially a house. Houses were made to be decorated with carvings and pelts and other handmade knickknacks.

"Which country is this? Kenndrick or Nalithia?"