The homestead

Ummfff… you’re twisting and turning to come to life. You wake up with the Genesis Myth still spooking through your head.

Maybe you feel better after a shower, you think. So you pop into the en suite sanitary unit of your bedroom. It’s a utilitarian room with just a shower and a sink, despite its austere nature the room had a separate toilet, an en suite to the en suite. After the shower you head back out to the bedroom. Entering the room you still can’t believe you were able to snatch this place. Just look at the bedroom! Large enough to comfortably place a king-size bed and still have room to spare.

This reminds you of how you learned the ways of this region. You found a cot when you moved in (thanks to the agency who handled the selling of the place), but seeing the massive size of the room a cot would look ridiculous in here if not an exercise in futility. Being on a homestead, you had the choice between making the bed yourself or getting it done. If you were in a megacity this could be done with just the touch of a button, but here you had to find someone to do just that. And by that, you don’t mean pushing a button.

You needed to go to Vale, the nearest settlement, to see if you could find a carpenter or an artisan at least. Vale is nested at the cleavage of two mountains so you must descend from your mountain forest domain into the valley. Whoever came up with the name Vale for the settlement should get a statue for originality … NOT.

Just as you were about to enter Vale you realized you didn’t have a clue where you should go. The agency that handled the selling of the homestead, as a service, also made sure the pantries were stuffed, so there was no need to get out from the homestead until now. Your best guess was to just go straight ahead. Somebody would know where you can find a carpenter. The moment you wanted to start moving you saw somebody scamper up to you. There’s my “somebody” you thought.

“Hi, I am Laura. You’re new around here, right? How can I help you?” she threw at you before you even could open your mouth.

Is it that obvious? Oh well, you thought. And with a sigh, you introduced yourself as the new owner of the homestead of the mountain forest domain.

“Oh yeah, they did market that off didn’t they? So why are you here?” she said, refraining herself from scampering off.

“I am looking for a carpenter,” you managed to get out.

“Oh, right. I’ll show you. Come along” and she scampered off again, leaving you **** but to follow her. Luckily she was cute, you mused running. A nice redhead with a well-proportioned body. If that’s a precursor for what you’re going to find here you think you're going to like this place. It really was rather straightforward and a no-brainer to remember weren’t it for the eye candy running in front of you.

Suddenly she skidded to a stop and you tensed up to avoid running into her, not that you would mind but as a new arrival, you had better be on your best behavior.

“Hi Gustav,” she said. “This is, Theo. He’s the new owner of the mountain forest domain, and he needs you.”

“Yep, I am Gustav. I see you already met Laura a real firecracker isn’t she? Always scampering around, I wonder if she can even walk at a normal pace,” he stated with a smirk, apparently used to Laura’s antics, earning him a pout from Laura. "OK, seriously, what can I do for you?”

“Can you make me a bed, king-size?”

“Do you have wood?”

“No, but I can pay you. I still have some shards left.”

“Nope, that’s not how it works here. You can’t do much with that here, maybe at Emma’s...but I am wandering off here.” Earning him a dumbfound expression, this time from you. “You’re from the homestead with the mountain forest domain, right? Well, I’ll make you a deal, I have cured wood for your bed and you give me the logging rights to the equivalent amounts of trees plus some for my work.”

After he made some quick calculations you came to an agreement. And so you made your first barter.

You indulge yourself in reminiscence for a few moments as you touch the headstand of your bed. Yeah Gustav did good.

Shaking you’re head to get your thoughts back to the present, dressed in a bathrobe, you pick your way through the bedroom and the central living quarters to the front porch.