Chapter 7

Vennoa and Tempest traveled towards Tensia in a caravan, and their trip was mostly uneventful. The caravan encountered some bandits along the way, but before Vennoa and Tempest could get off the caravan to help fend off the bandits, some armored riders had arrived, and the bandits scrambled off as quickly as they could. From the rags that the bandits had been wearing, Vennoa figured that they were likely poor and hungry. She almost felt sorry for them.

The armored people had identified themselves as the Riders of Tensia, and offered to escort them to the city. They said that bandits had been attacking unprotected caravans for food and money, so it was up to them to chase the bandits away. The riders had also expressed some sympathy for the bandits, and typically tried not to kill anyone unless they had to.

Some time later, they finally arrived at Tensia, and the riders went back outwards to find more caravans to protect. The city of Tensia was wet. And soggy. There were large puddles of water everywhere. Vennoa sometimes enjoyed the feeling of raindrops hitting her skin, but this was too much. It felt almost as if there was so much water that it was floating in the air.

Come to think of it, it has been raining continuously since we were halfway here. Vennoa looked around and the whole city looked depressed. The endless rain didn’t help, but everyone whom she saw looked sad, sick, hungry, or all three. There were plenty of people dressed in rags, huddled in small sheltered areas. They looked so downtrodden that they didn’t even try to beg for food from Vennoa and Tempest.

“Hey, did you see that?” Tempest suddenly asked, pointing towards an alleyway.

“See what?” Vennoa asked in return.

“There was an old man there staring at us. I could have sworn he was shuffling some cards or something. But when he saw me noticing, he disappeared down the alley.”

“So what?” Vennoa asked. “There’s plenty of old people around here. He’s just another one.”

“He was dressed much better than these people,” Tempest said. “He seemed interested in us for some reason.”

Could he be the same person in the adventurers’ guild? “Let’s go find him then,” Vennoa suggested.

They walked quickly to the alleyway that Tempest had seen the old man enter, but there was no sign of him. The alleyway was deserted, and there were old boxes stacked against one wall.

Vennoa shrugged. “It’s probably nothing anyway. Let’s move on.”

Tempest nodded, and they continued on their exploration of the city. They attempted to talk to some of the people walking along the streets, but the people were only interested in getting out of the rain, and either ignored their questions, or just grunted and kept on walking.

Tempest approached a family sitting along the road, shivering. “Hey,” Tempest said. “Could you tell me where the priests are?”

“The priests!” the man scoffed. “They’re nowhere. That’s where they are. They’re supposed to be helping us, but do you see any of them around?”

It was true, Vennoa and Tempest had not seen anyone that looked like a priest walking along the streets.

Tempest opened his backpack and took out a day’s rations. He gave it to the children and said, “This isn’t much, but hopefully it’ll help.”

The children were extremely happy and excited, and even their parents had a small weary smile.

“If you’re looking for the priests, you can try going to their temple up the hill,” the woman said, pointing to a hill some distance away.

“Thank you,” Tempest said.

As they walked away from the family towards the hill, Vennoa said, “That was a good idea, trading some rations for information.”

Tempest looked a little offended. “That wasn’t what I was trying to do. They just looked really hungry.”

Them, and everyone else. Vennoa said, “I see.”

On their way to the temple, they passed by the docks. Normally the docks would be bustling with activity, but there was scarcely anyone around, just like everywhere else in town. They could see several wrecked ships near the docks, and some in the water nearby. The people in this part of town looked even sadder than the ones before — some of them were opening weeping.

“What’s the matter?” Tempest kindly asked a woman who was sobbing.

The woman replied, “My husband. He went out to fish.” She pointed over towards the sea. “He never came back from the storm.” She started wailing in agony.

Tempest tried to comfort her, but nothing seemed to work. Vennoa shook her head and pulled him away, and they continued on their journey. As they got closer to the temple up on the hill, they started seeing more people. Almost all of them were sitting or laying on the streets with the same forlorn looks on their faces.

Finally, around dusk, Vennoa and Tempest arrived at the temple. It was made with smooth marble, and it almost looked like it was gleaming. In contrast to the other buildings they passed in the city, the temple was well-maintained and clean. Even the heavy rainfall seemed to slide off its roof and walls, and left the temple pristine.