Shards of Felwyn

After Many Moons

Cosmo hoisted the large and powdery brick from the spruce cart with effort, layering it atop the evenly spread masonry he had just laid. He wiped the sweat from his brow. It was summer now, on Coeden, and while the days never burned as hot as they did in Ogof, the ocean spray from the nearby shore kept the climate dreadfully humid. He produced a trowel from his trough of cement and began to start on the next layer. His body and hands had grown strong from the hard work, a far cry from the scrawny boy he had been when his home- when everything- had been taken from him.

The reconstruction of Cosmo's village had been slow, but progress had just begun to show lately. As he looked over the fields of overgrowth and mossy rubble now, he saw simple dirt pathways connecting modest brick homes of limestone, occupied by the occasional pedestrian hauling resources or merchant peddling wares. After the end of Galdernad's reign, many villagers and vendors alike had flocked to Coeden to assist in the construction, upon Cosmo informing the public that he would be facilitating it. Each person that had come was from a different area, but one thing was true about all of them: Galdernad had impacted their life greatly somehow, and they wished to start anew here.

This was not for no reason, either. For a village still returning from the smoldering ashes of destruction, opportunity was abound for any man that sought it. Just like it was in its golden days, Coeden's trade influence was significant compared to its size, simply due to its convenient location as the foci of the Archipelago. According to mariners that offered their goods at the newly reconstructed docks, every sailor in the nation detested dropping their anchors in nearby Priddel, who charged high tarrifs with little room to peddle their wares. Cosmo informed each of them that if they made a stop at the shores of Coeden, they would find just as much room for stalls and stands as they would eager customers.

"Cosmo!" A familiar voice caught his attention. He secured the brick in the thin layer of grout before looking up. "You've been at it since dawn, why not return home for lunch, or water, at the very least." Molniya called from a path exiting the treeline. She wore a fashionable dress below plate armor that covered her shoulders, chest, and sides, a steel spear strapped to her back. "You humans complain to no end about the heat, and I know how much you love roast boar." She teased.

"If I must." Cosmo chuckled, holding his hands up in a mocking surrender as he covered his trough with a towel and joined Molniya, walking alongside her as they entered the nearby forest.

According to what he had heard from the port, Lord Varren had been crowned only yesterday and he had already freed every single laborer enslaved during Galdernad's wars and conquest. Each of them had received a small stipend and a protected escort through one of the now four entrances to Halverwedge: the Tunnel to Trovvs, the Port du Archipelago, Porth Neau, an enormous gate that permitted entry to the Hinterland Wastes, or the Trop Padnaya, a marked and manicured trail that made the otherwise dangerous trek to the Boiling Pot relatively safe.

Roused from the misinformation his late father had fed to him his entire life, the former prince of Felwyn had also begun to restructure the entire nation, focusing on bringing together the abilities, cultures, and knowledge from all four regions in order to attain a higher quality of living for everyone. In fact, the resources that Cosmo now used to reconstruct his childhood home were exported directly from Halverwedge as reparations, signed by Lord Varren himself. The two had formed a strange relationship of mutual respect after the events at the base of the Celestial Pillar had occurred, a stark contrast to the terms on which they had first met.

The sight of his quaint cabin pulled Cosmo from his memories, the bold scent of the boreal forest around him soothing his senses. Even over the creak of the stairs and the front door, he could hear the nearby stream trickle over rocks as it made its way to the ocean. Molniya beckoned for him to hurry up, and he obliged, the smell of roast pork far stronger and more appealing than anything that remained outside. The two filled polished pine dishes with spiced and stuffed cuts of pork, thinly sliced green onions accenting the dark and savory crust of the meat. They both sat and began to eat. Cosmo was the first to speak.