Take the Offer (Stay)

Your father never steered you wrong before, and the extra money you will earn will aid you in the journey ahead.

So your life continues the way it has. You wake at 6 in the morning and manage the animals till noon. Your mother makes lunch, typically stew, and you are so famished that it is tastier than any gourmet meal.

After lunch you work maintenance on the property, sometimes helping the neighbours out if they need you. Once everything is finished you head to the river for a bath, and make your way to the tavern for a drink or three. You have had your eye on the bartender for awhile.

On a chilly October day your neighbours to the west were clearing deadfall from a recent storm, and as the family had no sons, you were unsurprised when Emilia Rowen approached you.

The Rowens were not Lycanthropes, but witches. Mary Rowen and her wife Leanna Rowen had adopted two children, Talia and Lauren, and had Emilia through a surrogate father in the village.

Emilia was beautiful, possibly due to a cacophony of magical charms, or just sheer genetic luck. She was wearing a long blue coat and dark grey trousers as she approached. Light grey hair made her appear much older from afar, but up close it served instead to make her emerald green eyes look bright and entrancing.

She calls out to you, her voice timid and polite.

“Hey! I was hoping I would catch you out here. How is your day going?”