Work, work, work, work, work, work

Ethon had a hard time trying to suppress the smile that was creeping up on the corners of his mouth. He thought he would never leave Moonbright to visit the other cities, but his boss had given him an order this morning that included traveling on a horse to Lythrania to deliver an order there. His other co-worker had to work on the market today so Ethon could travel freely to the other city. His boss had given him his strongest stallion; Ethon was packed with all different kinds of fruits and vegetables and he wondered how long the horse would last, but his boss had told him that this wasn’t the first time the stallion went out for a long trip. So he should be fine. Ethon was too excited to keep worrying about that matter, so he quickly took his boss for his work and went off on the road, wondering what kinds of things he would see.

Trees, trees, forest and trees, apparently. Ethon chuckled to himself as he passed a tree that looked much like the other tree he had passed a few seconds ago. Well, what did he expect? It wouldn’t be until he passed the gate of Lythrania that he would see something different. He had been traveling for quite some time now. His butt was starting to hurt and just as he was wandering if he should jump off the stallion to arch his back, the gates of Lythrania made its appearance. The gate was a big door, guarded by multiple men. Ethon was caught up in the sight of the big door, but his eyes quickly averted to the guard who approached him with a stern look. Ethon gave his passport and the information he had received from his boss. It seemed to be that his boss was well known around these parts, because the demeanor of the guard in front of him became less stern and he even gave Ethon a friendly nod.

The doors opened with a loud creaking noise, uncovering some kind of underwater tunnel. The guards gave him a stern nod and after Ethon had led his horse through the gate, the big doors closed behind him. Ethon looked up, being caught up with the sight of the sea animals swimming around him. He softly thudded the heel of his foot in the flanks of the stallion to make him move forwards. He didn’t forget his mission, of course.

At the end of the tunnel there was a small city, which was also surrounded by water, caught up in a barrier to prevent the citizens from drowning. Sun rays were shining through the barrier, illuminating the city in a bright light. Ethon was still struck by the fact that these people were practically living under water, with only a barrier between them and what seemed to be the ocean world. Ethon jumped off his horse, taking the reigns to lead the animal through the small city. As he was looking up, dazed by this new environment, he wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings.

Ethon blinked with his eyes when the voice of a man attracted his attention. He quickly pulled the reins when he saw that his stallion almost ran into someone and he frowned when the man spoke his words. He quickly eyed the man, assessing the situation. Ethon wasn’t one that would get mad quickly, but he also wouldn’t turn himself away from a confrontation. He trusted his instincts to guide him in a conversation and to make sure that he didn’t make any rash decisions. The fact that the man was annoyed because Ethon’s stallion almost walked all over him was something Ethon could understand. So that wasn’t something he would be mad about. Ethon was actually quite calm with situations like this.

”I apologize, but I have an order that I need to bring to the middle of the city and it’s a lot to carry on my own,” he spoke, reminding himself that he should keep his stallion in check to make sure he wouldn’t bump into any other people. He had been eyeing his surroundings with so much interest that he had forgotten that he had a big horse he had to look out for. ”This is the first time I’m visiting this city and the guards didn’t mention that my horse wasn’t welcome in the city, so I assumed it was fine to go.” He shrugged his shoulders, as if saying that that was all there was to it.

Now it was just a matter of assessing of the man wanted to help him or would be to annoyed to speak to him at all. Ethon had apologized and had given him the reason why the horse was there in the first place, so he didn’t feel the need to justify himself any further. If the man wasn’t happy with what he had told him, that would be his problem. ”Speaking of the matter, do you have any idea how I can reach the central part of the city? This would be the address,” he spoke, showing the man the paper with the ink that was written down, showing a handwriting where it had been made very clear that is had been written down in a haste. It wasn’t unrecognizable, but one had to do some effort to read what was written down there.

Ethon couldn’t really read the man’s expression, but if he had to take a guess, the man probably wasn’t too happy about the words he had spoken. Ethon didn’t care. If he cared about every living being who didn’t agree with the things he did in his life, he would be a mess. And he didn’t even know the guy. If the guy didn’t want to help him, he would just move on his own accord and ask someone else. No harm done. Ethon wasn’t the type of guy who reveled into feelings of anger or annoyance for too long.

But the man actually wanted to help him. He had second guesses about Ethon’s horse, which the man could fully understand. His stallion didn’t look very stable and he was kind of old. He had traveled a long way with Ethon on his back and he would need some rest soon, but Ethon still hoped he could manage the last few meters towards the center of town. ”I think he can manage,” Ethon spoke, opening up a bag to grab a carrot, which he gave to the horse. He smirked as the stallion ate the vegetable with loud crunching noises, averting his eyes back to the man. ”Name’s Ethon by the way,” he spoke, wondering if he should stick out his hand towards the man for him to shake it. He decided that it wasn’t really necessary and kept his eyes on his horse instead.

After the stallion had eaten his carrot, it was time to get a move on. Ethon held the reins in his hands and started to walk, softly pulling on the reins to make clear to the horse that rest would come later. ”So have you grown up around these parts?” he asked the man politely, averting his eyes back from his stallion to the man. If they were going to travel together, even though it would be for a short while, it would be pleasant if there wouldn’t be too much silence hanging around, right?