—Your POV—

When you wake, after a blank, dreamless night, it's because the sun is extending its rays into your home. Warmth licking at your face as you rise from your bed, stretching and sighing. Another cool summer day begins as you wake, heading to the kitchen to eat a hearty breakfast. 

You're on the last of your oats, but enjoy them anyways. With a little salt and some cinnamon given to you by a kind young noble, you make them taste heavenly. Speaking of heaven, you remind yourself to speak a quick blessing or two over the food before dining, then you pull on your outing gear and start out for work. 

The other day, Ms. Alph asked you to mull about in her fields and pick all the crops that were ready. Her husband is out on a fishing trip— something you're grateful for— so you've been working around in his place, doing everything from babysitting their four, rambunctious tots to milling the grain and making flour. This time of year, near summer's end, there's a lot of harvesting to be done. 

"Ah! You're h-here." Ms. Alph jogs up to you as you near her home. She's always been a small, meek woman, stuttering and slightly hunched and quite round, if you do say so yourself. "I assume you're here on behalf of my request?" She looks up at you and you nod, grinning. 

"I couldn't turn down such a generous offer." You reply, walking into her fields with her and glancing out across the lusciously flourishing fields. "Besides, I haven't anything better to do. It would be my pleasure to aid you."

"Th-Thank you." She mutters, smiling up at you sheepishly before a child calls her, and she immediately perks. "I must be g-g-going now." She curtsied before hurrying off, leaving you alone to do your work. 

And work you did. 

The sun beats down on your back as you pluck ears of corn from their stalks. The earliest budded are the earliest picked. Placing them in your wicker basket, you sigh, admiring your work in a field now barren of produce before heading back to the house to deposit them where they need to be. 

All kinds of plants were picked that day, from sparkling red berries to dusty orange carrots buried deep underground. Wheat and oats grow too, and you pick them, placing them in their own bins once the harvest is finished.

When you're done sorting all the picked crops, you set the borrowed baskets down beside the bins and knock on Ms. Alph's door, ready to inform her of your job well done. 

"O-Oh! You're done already." She pulls open the door and you briefly look to the small, chubby child she balances on her hip. "C-Come in! You're just in t-t-time for dinner." You allow yourself in as the short woman shuffles over to a table with a slab of meat and loaf of bread. 

"D-Daphyne, the milk..." Ms. Alph mutters, nodding to who you presume is her oldest. The indignant young girl huffs, tossing her hair and grabbing a large glass bottle of milk from the fridge. 

She fills four cups, and her siblings gather around to drink as Ms. Alph serves everyone bread and meat. You thank her, grateful for the meal after all the grueling hours you spent out in the fields. She even pours you a glass of ale, which you accept and drink alongside your meal. 

"S-So, um..." Ms. Alph murmurs, peeking up at you from her seat across from you at the table. "W-Would you be willing to wash the p-produce you picked? I-I'll um, double your pay." She looks up at you pleadingly, and you grin, nodding. Can't ever turn down work. 

"Of course." You needed the money anyways... the forty she already owes you, plus another forty! That's enough to buy more meat and oats... plus a few books from the bookstore across town. 

And that's how you spend your afternoon, scrubbing away at corn and carrots and potatoes, hundreds of roots and other crops. It takes a few hours, and you can't feel your hands, knuckles white from clutching the sponge you've been using to get all the grime off the vegetables. 

"Hey! Chi!" One of Ms. Alph's children shout, instantly snatching your attention as you toss another potato into the bin for clean ones. "Mama says that you can go home now! Take this, too!" Momo, you think her name was. She runs up to you, presenting you with a small sack of G, twice as heavy as usual. 

"Why, thank you." You chuckle, accepting the bag and rising to your feet, looking at all the dirt speckling your clothing. "I appreciate it." 

"Yeah, Mama said something similar about the work you do." She said, chatty as always. "I guess she likes it when you do what daddy usually does." 

"You are very welcome." You give her a small grin and a pat on the head, pocketing your earnings. "I'll be heading home now, see you tomorrow." 

"See you, Chi!" 

You have no real idea why she calls you that, but don't mind... It's better than things most people call you anyway.

———

Gravel crunches underfoot as you make your way down the old beaten trail. Sounds of children playing and running around fill your ears, along with some of the more wealthy individuals pulling along some livestock. All in all, it's a quaint day in your quaint little town.

You turn onto a less populated street and note the slight drop in temperature as shadows swallow your form. Buildings line either side of the thin street, one of which being your home. You make your way towards the familiar structure and slip inside, flicking your door shut behind you before heading to the kitchen, grabbing some bread and cheese out of your cupboards and settling down to eat them. 

You produce a small knife and slice yourself a thick piece of bread and a thin piece of cheese, saying a quick prayer over it before consuming the simple meal. You'd been saving to get some grapes or maybe even some meat soon, but that's a little difficult when you only really get by off odd jobs and whatever trinkets you manage to make and sell. 

Afterwards, you glance out the window, seeing the sun set as all the children's playing comes to a stop, and things calm down for the evening. Evenings you typically spend reading in the low, fading lights of the day. 

Before any of that can happen though, you find yourself in a shallow washbasin of warm water, heated by a fire you got going for this occasion. Your work clothes are put aside for their own wash later, but you clean up and then change into your night attire.

Settling on your bed, you pick up the old novel you've been slowly reading through for the past week or so. The old parched paper tickles your fingers as you flip through, enamored with the story of an old tinkerer creating some sort of device to help him find his daughter, lost in a cave. 

You read for maybe an hour or two before the Sun sinks below the horizon, and suddenly it's too dark to read. Putting the book away, you curl up into bed, pulling your sheets over yourself as the moon slowly spreads its soft white light, and the impending darkness that comes with it. 

For one more week do your days carry out, just like this, before the breach in normality happens. For on the eighth day, it is not the sun's daunting rays that rouse you from slumber, it is the shouts and chants of your fellow villagers. 

Sounds like someone is getting burned today.

~~~~~~~~~~

Honestly... I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because it'll probably be one of the first (and last) relatively mellow chapters of the book... the next one has some major character development and introduction, but we're not getting to the boys quite yet...

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!

- De Moogus