Day 1.2 - Strangers

The boat finally landed and the visitors and the strangers stepped upon the beach. There were four sailors and two travelers: a man and a woman. The woman wore a heavy cloak with the hood obscuring most of her features. Nonetheless, I could tell she was young and attractive. The man had a very serious nature about him, but was kind in his interactions with our villagers. One of the elders, Jonus, asked where they were from and the man responded "the mainland, from Baulder's Gate." That caused some confusion since no one has heard of anyone named Baulder, let alone the need for a gate, but let it pass. The answer to "how long was your journey?" caused more consternation. "Six days at sea." Even though Norland is a six day journey, it is almost completely deserted and no one ever sails at night. Finally, comfort was found by the villagers when the man asked "Does Arcos live on this island?" "Yes! Of course he does! Are you relatives?" "Sort of." That convinced everyone that they were from the far side of Hope's Island and had just gotten lost in an unusual spring storm.

Talia, Chupa, and I all followed the procession from the beach into the village. The closer we walked to the village, the closer we got to the strangers. Unfortunately, they were taken to a private hut to bathe and change. Just before they retired to the recently emptied hut, I heard Elder Kayla invite the travelers to a meeting with the Council before the evening feast and festival. The travelers retired to Old Man Minow's hut (he passed away last harvest). I stood "guard", watching for them to emerge again while Talia and Chupa went to see Arcos.

I'm not entirely sure what happened while my friends were away; Arcos lived outside of the village and was considered a hermit. Talia later recounted that Arcos hinted that he was expecting the travelers, he wasn't going to meet them, it was time for him to leave, and that everything in the hut belonged to Talia. I guess Chupa passed out when Arcos cut his hand with his hunting knife (he always seems to get queasy around blood). I guess right after Arcos left the hut, his things in his hut started to catch on fire. As Chupa and Talia tried in vain to contain the fire, some other villagers finally noticed the smoke and came to help.

Chupa and Talia finally found their way back to me, but I had nothing new to report. Shortly thereafter, the male stranger came out and introduced himself as Gaius. I guess he overheard a few pieces of our conversation, since we couldn't speak our secret language inside the village. He couldn't keep his eyes off of Talia, which made me more than a little uncomfortable. While we chatted outside, Gaius' companion, Rain, walked out from behind a nearby tree. She was quieter than a warm breeze and said almost as much. When Talia told Gaius her full name, I thought his eyes were going to fall out of his skull. He insisted that he show us something he had inside the hut. Talia followed him before Chupa and I could even try to stop her.