“I told you I could handle myself.” she tried to sound as intimidating as possible, but her emotions were running too high to maintain her tone. The man rubbed his nose a bit before responding.
“Yeah, I believe it. So, let’s try and start this over again.” the man offered the hand that wasn’t checking his nose to her, “My name is Harland, and I am sorry.”
“Oh, Harland. Well, Harland...” she spat the name out like it was a curse, “Why should you feel bad? You gave some good advice; I probably should just give up and start having sex for money. It would probably get me closer to someone that can actually teach me magic or even getting to Plexia. Yeah, I am a stupid idiot that thought that they had potential to be someone and help people because I listened to...” As she spoke, she was becoming more and more emotional and eventually she couldn’t keep her anger and frustration in check.
The young woman had tears burst from her eyes. She leaned against the nearest wall. She slid down the wall till she was sitting on the ground. Once she was sitting down she leaned her head forward on to her knees and covered her head with both of her arms. As she heaved to herself Harland looked around in a panic being unsure exactly how to deal with this young woman that he had hurt. He decides to take a seat on the other side of the alley from her.
“Hey, I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that. I just...ummm, I have been through a bit of a rough time. Not certain about where I am standing anymore. It’s not an excuse though, it is just an explanation...” Harland scratches at the back of his neck as he tries to explain himself. As he talked over her crying he doubted that she was even hearing him or that he could help clam this young lady down. The entire time he was fighting the urge to stop talking and every word he said made him believe further that shutting up was the right call. After a few minutes the young woman came out of her sadness cocoon with her hands falling to the ground on either side of her, limp from the frustration of her scenario and also the amount of energy she has spent crying.
“I have been in this port trying to get someone to take me seriously.” The young woman, still crying, says between sobs, “So, I thought, maybe it would be easier if I just went to Plexia and learned magic there. I can’t get on any of the boats because I don’t have coin, I tried to sneak on and got kicked off... this is so stupid.”
“Hey, it’s... it’s not stupid...” Harland realizes that he has no idea the name of this person, “Umm, hey, what is your name?”
“Marin.” Marin wipes one of her eyes as she responds.
“Alright, Marin, it isn’t stupid to want to help people.” Harland takes a moment to think as he looks at the mismatched cobblestone beside him, “There are a bunch of ways to do that. Adventuring is...complicated.”
“Well, there aren’t a lot of other people that can teach you magic...” Marin pouts and looks over her arms to Harland. She kicks at the ground a bit. Harland puts his head back to rest on the wall in a slight amount of frustration. This girl is more stubborn than Harland could have expected. He was struggling to try to find some way to change her mind, he wasn't really even sure that he should if she was this fixed on it.
“Man, you are determined.” Harland stares at the girl as he tries to understand the next step he should take. Marin rubs her eyes a bit and sniffles a bit.
“I mean, you sort of need to be to just ask everyone you think looks like an adventurer if they can teach you magic. I have been at this for 2 months now.” Marin shrugs after the statement and frowns.
“What do you mean 2 months? I have seen people give up on things that they know they can do within hours.” Harland pauses for a moment to shake his head in disbelief at Marin being this willing to stick to this idea, “What happened to you that made this so important? Whole family die? Village got burnt down? Giant monster attack?”
“No, nothing like that. That sounds awful...” Marin’s eyebrows furrow in confusion of the question.
“Oh, that is just kind of the stories I am used to people telling me.” Harland waves off the question and Marin gives him another confused glance before continuing.
"I was told that I have a gift for magic, and I believe them. It’s not that complicated.” Marin shifts her sitting posture a bit before continuing.
“I was trying to tell you earlier that my father, he was a healer among my tribe, he taught me that healing doesn’t solve problems. He would say to me ‘if you want to help people it is better to remove a problem than wait for it hurt someone to heal them’." Marin lowered her voice in a semi-mocking tone regarding what her father told her, "I want to be strong enough that I can remove those problems for people. That’s what adventurers do, right?” Marin looks to Harland for some guidance regarding that question. He scratches at his beard and grimaces at the strange mixture of maturity and innocence this girl is alternating between.
“Well, they are supposed to, I guess. Not everyone really holds to those ideas. Some do, at the start, but after a while it is easy to sort of... forget about that sort of thing.” Harland is trying his best to be diplomatic. He didn’t want to hurt Marin’s feelings again and put himself at threat for being punched in the face again, “I don’t really even know if what your dad says makes sense. Sounds like a weird thing for a healer to say.”
“Oh, he hated being a healer. It was just what he was good at.” Marin quickly replies.
“Ah, that makes sense.” Harland gives a few nods Marin’s way. Marin sighs and sits crossed legged. She looks at Harland like he was a child before explaining her point.
“Think about it like this. If you are getting stabbed by someone, you would rather have someone stop the person stabbing you than heal you each time you got stabbed. Right?” Marin's tone is more patient than her expression would suggest. It seems as if this is an example she has used it hundreds of times to explain this concept to various people, possibly even how she had it explained to her.
“Yeah, I guess so.” Harland says as he tosses the idea over in his head as his face scrunches up in thought and he tilts his head a to the side a bit. The more Harland tossed around everything Marin had said to him it was hard for him not to feel like she should be at least given the chance to help people, he just wasn’t certain how he could help with that.
“So, Harland,” Harland hearing his name be said by Marin without spite or hate attached to it was oddly comforting, “Why do you need to get to Plexia?” Marin’s tone was casual, but her eyes still had a vibrant of curiosity sparkling in them.
“Well, it is my home. So, it would be nice to go back there and figure out what to do with myself afterwards. Sort of go back to the beginning to figure out where you will go.” Harland says those words but grimaces a bit as he can feel in his heart that he doesn’t believe them.
“Actually, I don't really know entirely. There is something else drawing me there, not quite certain about what or why. I just know that in my bones I feel that I need to go to Plexia. Honestly, it sort of scares me a bit but it is all I really have right now.” Speaking honest words about the direction he is being drawn in felt like a weight off his shoulders that he did not know he was carrying. There is an awkward pause between the two as they consider their scenario as the sound of sea birds and the banter from the street only serve to heighten the silence. Both individuals considering their own scenarios and how distant their goal seems. Marin has a small frown more from the thoughts in her head than any emotion she is feeling. She is also the one to break the musing silence between them.
“You are very strange.” Marin states to try to sum up her thoughts in words in much the same way that Harland had just done.
“What do you mean?” Harland asks before realizing that she is entirely correct, “I mean, yes, but what do you mean by that?”
“I have been here for a while, and this is the first I have seen you. You talk with experience, but it seems like you don’t have a plan. Your goal is across the world, but I don’t even know how you got here in the first place.” Marin lays all her thoughts on the table and each of them leads into the other, "I am not even certain if you actually have any of these answers."
“Hey, I have a few plans...” Harland says trying to save face a bit, “I mean, this coming from the person whose plan was to keep asking people to teach them to be an adventurer until someone said yes.”
“Oh yeah, seemed like you were doing the same thing.” Marin fires back immediately, “At least I don’t look like I was stranded on some desert island.”
“How I look is the least of my concern when I am trying to deal with pirates in seedy harbor bars.” Harland scratches at his beard “Once I get some coin and a room, I can do some touching up.” That is when the thought hit him.
“Wait...where have you been staying? You obviously don’t have much coin otherwise you could just try to pay someone to teach you magic.” Harland turns his head to the side as his suspicions are raised. Marin has a shy little smile on after Harland’s analysis of her situation.
“Ummm... I just...” Marin is obviously slightly embarrassed about being put on the spot like this, “I just head out into the jungle. I have a little campsite set up. I hunt in the morning and evening, so I don’t even have to spend money on food.” Marin’s small smile about how practical she is quickly replaced with confusion upon seeing the absolute shock Harland is in.
“Marin! You can’t just live out in the jungle! It is dangerous!” Harland is in a complete state of shock and hops up to his feet, “Alright, I now need to get an inn rooms for myself and you.”
“What are you talking about? Wait, are you going to be helping me? I don’t understand.” Marin is trying to keep up with Harlands train of thought, “I’m fine out in the jungle, you don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I do. This is my way of saying sorry and if we both need to get to Plexia then we might as well do it together.” Harland sighs before nodding to himself, “I think one of those plans I was talking about might work out, but you are going to need to trust me.” Harland offers his hand to help Marin up and she looks at his oddly serious face with a sense of friendly doubt. She had no reason to believe that this plan would work more than her own, but she also had no reason to think it wouldn’t. With a shrug Marin grabbed his hand and was helped up on to her feet.
“Alright, so what’s this plan?” Marin asks Harland as she tries to make sure she didn’t have any lingering tears in her eyes.
“Umm, right.” Harland looks out of the alley with a sort of manic energy as he spoke quicker than he had been “Well, that is going to wait for tomorrow. First thing is the inn rooms.” Harland’s eyes narrow as he peers off into the distance, “God, my memory is foggy...uh, Marin, I remember that there was a sort of place for adventurers that wanted to go into the jungle would go... it wasn’t a guild it was...” Harland snaps his fingers as he tries to jog his memory.
“You mean the charter building?” Marin is uncertain of Harland’s question and what it leads to. Her curiosity and Harland's energy makes her willing to follow the line of inquiry that Harland is setting up. Harland snaps his fingers and points at Marin after she answered, he nods to himself a few times.
“Yes, that was it. The charter building. Why couldn’t I remember that...” Harland seems perplexed for a moment before he shakes his head and returns to his planning, “So, that is where we are going to start. I mean, we’ll start with inn rooms and then the charter office.”
“Alright, that sounds sort of like a plan. That is at least a few steps of one at the very least.” Marin was still uncertain about all of this but the focus of Harland and the prospect to not be alone in her attempt to get to Plexia made her more willing to believe in this man's plans, “So, lead the way.”
Harland heard those words and it knocked him out of his planning momentum. He knew that there was a charter building and that he had went there but nothing past that came into his mind. He could even visualize it but could create no path to it. It was just a fog in his mind over everything regarding that place. This sort of turmoil was plainly obvious on Harland’s face that Marin was starting to grow concerned.
“Harland? You, ok?” Marin asks as she lays her hand on his shoulder which has the effect of shaking him out of whatever stupor he was in. Harland looks over at Marin with confusion and self-doubt running across his face.
“Uuhh, can you lead me there. My head is sort of funny right now, too much sun or not enough water...” Harland puts out those excuses to try and dissuade any worry that Marin would have as well as his own. Marin nods her head slowly at Harland, now her uncertainty is matched with concern.
“Sure, do you need me to...umm, like prop you up or something? Do you need to just take a minute to sit down?” Marin asks as she walks out in front of him, Harland shakes his head and regains his composure for the most part.
“Nah, I’ll be fine. Just memory being a bit foggy is all.” Harland shrugs before gesturing to Marin with both hands that they should be off. Marin raises an eyebrow and sighs before setting off.