Krista brushed back the wild ringlets of hair that had fallen across her face as she straightened up. It was not yet mid morning and she already had all the herbs she needed to fill her orders for the week ahead. She headed off towards the small village of Lornas. Maybe she would be able to have a little time this afternoon for herself. She hadn't had a moment of ease since setting up shop in the little village of Lornas.
Work! Work! Work!
But it had been good for her. The town wasn't wealthy by any means and her customers couldn't pay her with money, most of the time, but her work was so rewarding and she made enough to get by.
She wouldn't starve that was for sure. She had run out of uses and appetite for the never ending flow of eggs that her poorer customers paid her with. If it wasn't eggs it was fur pelts. She'd run out of uses for those to. She still had some of the money that Sebastian had given her if times did get too hard. She made her way through the hustle and bustle of the village. Shyly she waved and greeted fellow villagers that greeted her along the ways
It had been awkward at first to be treated as an equal, but she was getting used to it and in fact enjoyed every moment of it, as she distanced herself from her past life as a slave. It was new and exciting this freedom that she was experiencing every day. She never got tired of it. She'd work for free just to be treated like this. Her little herbal shop was nestled in between the butcher's shop and a barrel makers shop. The town's one main commerce item was the woodland ale that they brewed and sold to the lower settlements.
The main ingredient for the ale was derived from the bark of a rare tree that grew in great abundance in the forest that surrounded the little village. The same forest that was utilized for its rare trees was also rich in herbs. The town hadn't had a healer in years due to the poor nature of the populace and they had received her with open arms of invitation once it became clear that she knew what she was doing. They had given her the shop she worked in free of charge and her position in the town had only risen with every grateful new patient she had helped to overcome whatever malady they had come to her with. Life was good.
The mood of the townspeople had brightened considerably with the news of the Zoarinian Empire's great loss in the Valley Lands. Everyone breathed easier now that the domination of the entire world by the Zoarinians had been thwarted, but they talked about it quietly. The village of Lornas lay nestled in the Hills of Ernor directly above the menacing Zoarinian Empire that lay to the south. It was not good to speak to loudly in jubilation over their loss for obvious reasons.