Adventures of Jessa

12

"Where are we going Nathan?" Jessa asks after they drop off their dirty clothes to be washed. The clothes were promised to be back no later than the next day.

"Have you ever had sweet bread?" Nathan asks dragging Jessa to the shop with him.

Jessa looks at him like he was crazy, "Sweet bread?"

Nathan laughs at her look as she says it. "Just try it and if you don't like it, then you can give it to me."

Jessa looks at him askance but goes with him. As they enter the shop she is enveloped in the smell of sweet things and her mouth starts watering. She is more than willing to try the sweet treat now.

Nathan goes up to the shop keeper and asks for two sweet rolls.

Shortly he comes back with two rolls. He hands her one and they go out of the shop. Nathan goes with her all around the city. They head up into the higher class section of the city. "We won't be allowed to go any higher unless we are working for them or taking them something like a message or package." So the two of them find a shady spot and sit down to eat their sweet treat.

"Mmm, this is good. I've never had anything like this before." Jessa takes her time and savors each bite.

Jessa decides that sweet rolls are her new favorite food and decides to learn how to make them so that she can share them with her parents.

The next day they both go out looking for work. Since Nathan has been working as a guard for some time he is able to hire on quickly. He tries telling the caravan master that he should hire Jessa as well since she's an excellent fighter and that she has a writ of passage to go through the elven lands. The caravan master didn't give two shits and refused to hire the unknown female.

The next day was more or less the same, but without Nathan there Jessa only had herself to entertain her. She spends a great deal of time in the market and looks over the many different items.

The following day a caravan master comes up to her with a bit of excitement and hope, "Are you Jessa Brightblade, the one that has the writ of passage through the elven lands?"

Jessa looks at the master carefully and slowly nods. "I'll pay you double what you had for your last trip if you will guide me and the caravan through the elven lands to Castlerock."

"How did you hear about me having a writ of passage through the elven lands?"

The man snorts in derision, "That ass that managed to hire Nathan got drunk the night before he left and very loudly declaimed to all that some female dared to claim to be a fighter and have a writ to go through elven lands. Most in the tavern didn't believe him, but I knew the caravan master that had hired you from Castlerock to here. He said he's never had such a smooth trip, no attacks, but that Jessa would always come back from ranging ahead covered in blood. He said that he sent some of the other guards out and they reported several dead bodies of bandits in the direction that you came from. He also mentioned that you did in fact have a writ of passage through Silva."

"I do, and the prince has made it very clear that there are some rules that would be enforced should I dare to take a caravan through. I would need to be the one to lead it, the people would need to wear blindfolds for at least part of the trip and last, should any one break those rules they will be killed because elves would be waiting with arrows drawn."

"I already have a caravan master, but he is willing to allow you to lead during the portion of the trip that goes through Silva if you would be willing to accept employment with me."

"I see, you are aware of how much I was paid by the last master?"

"Yeah, I am aware and I will double it. I need to leave tomorrow, it's imperative that I arrive in Castlerock as soon as possible. I just got word that my wife is ill."

"Very well, I will take you if you are willing to abide by the rules. We will be staying on elven territory just outside of the forest once we finish going through the elven track. There are people I will need to see one of which is the elven prince. I won't be working guard duty that night either. You will need to make sure that all the men stay in the camp area and don't try to enter the forest without an invitation or they will pay for it, likely with their lives. I have no intentions of the elves becoming hostile to me and losing the writ."

"Your terms are acceptable. Will you be able to leave at first light tomorrow?"

Jessa nods and makes arrangements of where to meet.

She takes a deep breath, she's not sure just how trustworthy that man is, but he wasn't lying about his wife being sick. She will just have to be on her guard with him and hopefully the other guards will be good ones.

She wishes more than anything that she could be in Nathan's caravan, but then again she didn't like the ass caravan master, not even a little bit. She wouldn't have taken him through Silva.

Jessa wonders just why she is allowed to bring in humans into the heart of the elven lands. The shortcut she takes them on goes right through the heart of Silva's city. She will be able to salute the king if he's out and about his palace.

She wonders if the prince will still want to be partners with her, since it appears that she will be there the day of the celebration. She's not sure that she will be able to handle the rites portion of the celebration with him. But then he did promise that if she didn't want to that he wouldn't force her to.

Jessa wipes her suddenly sweaty palms onto her leggings before checking out the rest of the market once more, now that she's hired. She finds a few little trinkets that she thinks Sorid would like, but truly the elves make things far better than most of these trinkets here.

She does have to agree with Kallen on the food though. She has started to carry around her own supply of herbs and sneakily puts some on when no one is looking. It's the only way she can stomach the food.

Once she's done she finishes packing up and settles her accounts with the inn keeper before turning in. She's excited to be back on the road in the morning.