104

In spite of all that has happened, Elia holds true to the bargain you struck initially. After feeding you, and giving you more of her kin’s clothes to ruin in battle, she even adds to it, giving you seven gold pieces to go with the three she originally offered for your troubles. To your objections she says she won’t be needing much gold any time soon, as she won’t likely be staying on the farm. A new family will be plucked from the surrounding lands and put here, while she will join her uncle in the city.

“Perhaps I will be one of his pretty serving girls when my leg is healed.” she says.

Thanking you for all that you’ve done, she sends you off. You start walking. You walk under the increasingly bright and hot sun. It gets uncomfortable, and you wonder why. The first rays of unhindered sunlight hit your eye through the cloud, and you dread the long trek through the valley to the city gates. Almost like waking from a dream you remember the implications of what happened last night, the change that happened to you. You need not suffer this. You could run before the sun comes fully out, or you could fly from it. You have the means to cheat it.