Reuben leads you out of the kitchen and down the upstairs hall. He proceeds to give you another thrilling tour, which I will condense to its simplest form to keep you from getting bored. There are four rooms in this hall. A living room on the left, a bathroom and a spare bedroom on the right, and Mr and Mrs Laersi’s room at the end. “The spare room will be yours.” Reuben says, overjoyed. “Why don’t you take a look.” He leads you within your new quarters. It is a simple room. A bed, a chest, a desk, a quiet painting of some mountains, a window leading to the street, and candles which Reuben lights. It isn’t much, the wood floor creaks under your weight and the paint peels slightly, but it is the best you’ve ever had.
Best I’ve had in this world. “Very nice.”
“There are some clothes in the chest. I recommend you wear them. They are very good for work, and will also help you to not look like you are homeless.”
I look inside the chest.
There are a couple sets of work clothes and a night gown. There is a book with quill and ink. Under all the clothes you see a sack.
I take the sack out of the chest and open it.
There are a bunch of candles in it. There seem to be candles all over this house.
I examine each candle separately.
There are 7 white two corkjacks, 5 white two shortbutts, and a maroon and gold decorated shortbutt.
I specifically inspect the maroon and gold shortbutt, and what’s a shortbutt?
I shall explain. The candle is short, only a few inches tall but very thick, almost as wide as it is tall. The gold decorations spiral around the maroon candle. There are branching stars and vines encasing the top and bottom. In between these layers of golden detail are different images. An owl, three dancing children in a ring, bigger stars, and some scribbles that could be some kind of ancient language. The candle has never been used. It is a very lovely candle, and must have taken many hours to design.
“What’s this?’ I hold the candle up for Reuben to see.
“Oh, that’s our wedding candle.”
“What’s it for? It seems very special.”
“It was a gift from my father to me on my wedding day.”
“Have you never lit it?”
“No, it’s more for decoration, not function. It is actually supposed to symbolize the family. The children, the owl for wisdom, are supposed to bring the family good prosperity on the night it is lit.”
“I thought you said it isn’t for function?”
“Well, you only light it on a very, special night.” His cheeks turn red, and he begins to fidget with his hands. “Me and my wife just haven’t had one of those nights yet.”
“I see.” I put the candle back in the sack, as well as the other candles, and put it back in the chest.
After a moment of brief awkwardness, Reuben breaks it with, “Well, what do you think?”
“Of what?”
“Your room.”
“I like it. It has been a while since I’ve had my own room.” I had to share that last cell with Nikolas, and the ninja ruined the hotel.
“That’s good to hear. It will be your new home.” There is a pause after that. You, with a home. A permanent residence. A normal life, without killing people. This may be harder for you than breaking out of prison, twice. “Whenever you want to go to sleep you may. Just remember that we will be waking up with the sun tomorrow.” Reuben smiles and leaves the room, closing the door behind him.
YOU ARE READING
Knight's Quest
FantasyThis is the tale of a noble knight, Sir Nathaniel, and the all powerful Writer, creator of all. It begins like almost every other knight story, but quickly goes down a path unheard of, as the knight tries to become the Writer of his own story. These...
