It has been a week since the two siblings settled in the town. For that amount of time, they haven't gone outside its stone walls. As they were trying to get used to their current lifestyle. While some of their neighbors may have returned to Wynstead as they say it was their home and they want to start over again, because here they don't have anything. Although they would risk their lives going home, it was still a good place to live. If not for that incident, because the land was fertile and the forest was bountiful with small game, wild fruits, herbs, and many other resources that a small settlement could ever need. There was also a water stream nearby, so that place was actually a prime area for a settlement like theirs.
Meanwhile, Brina and Ren opted to stay here. They didn't, in all honesty, want to recall the painful memory of that night. And they had already gotten used to this place for some reason, which was rather quick.
For the past week they did a lot of odd jobs here and there, from helping in the market to running errands for other people. And they had managed to pool some of their mownies to rent a single bedroom in the outskirts, which had prices a bit lower than the more premium districts.
The place was a bit run down due to the lack of tenants and from disrepair, but they managed not to think of it.
It was also auntie Marta's recommendation to head to this place, so after they saved some of their mownies and heard the current rent price of the place, they decided to taked it. But what made them decide to take this one bedroom space instead of the nicer looking houses was the monthly rental fee, which was quite cheap at three silver mownies a month. And if you compare it to the neighboring rentals which were 5 to 10 silver mownies this place was already quite a steal.
But they asked to not pay it in full for now, due to their budget constraints. When the owner agreed to their request, they managed to only pay one silver mowny for now as their down payment, because the owner of the house understood their situation.
Which of course they promised to pay the rest when they were able to next week. The owner of this place was an older gentleman who had a very bright and pleasing personality, he was quite understandable to their circumstances, his name was Edmondo. He was friends with Marta.
The two of them were being paid fifty copper mownies a day on average, and the most they could get would be one silver mowny if they did well in some of their errands.
While they would love to pay for the entire month that day, they still had other things they wished to purchase, necessary things like food, clothing, and some other items they needed for their new house.
That week they earned a combined total of twenty-five and a half silver mownies, and after purchasing their needs they were left with five silver mownies to spare in case they would need it.
Food wise, it was cheap, especially when it was fresh produce, while cooked food would cost a bit more. And because they also had takeaways from some of their jobs at the market stalls, they have managed to save quite a bit.
A/N: (100 copper mownies is equivalent to one silver mowny and one gold mowny was equivalent to 150 silver mownies)
During the first night after they moved into their new home, they couldn't quite contain their emotions and their tears just kept streaming down their faces nonstop.
After their dramatic night, they began to decide on who would sleep in the thatched bed. And without any arguments Ren prioritized his sister's welfare, so he made sure she stayed on the bed and he was able to convince her that he was content on the floor.
After they had settled down they began to talk some more about what they wanted to do with their lives. They now had food, shelter, and clothing, so it was now time to discuss what they would want to do going forward.
"Brother... I have to ask, do we have to be satisfied with our current lifestyle or do we have any plans for the future? Me, personally, I wanted to go on an adventure throughout the greater world. How about you?"
Brina asked.
Ren was currently looking at the ceiling, he began to contemplate what his sister said.
"You're daydreaming again, aren't you, sister? Though I suppose you are of the right age now and mom and dad are no longer here. An adventure, eh? Personally, I don't know about my own future. But I do know that I want to honor mom and dad's last wishes, so I will stay by your side for now. Well, maybe, just maybe if I could have enough mownies, I would open up a stall of my own or become a merchant myself. I'll call it Ren's Merchandise. It sounds nice, eh?"
Brina giggled thinking about her brother's dream, quite an ambitious one but it wasn't bad, she thought. Then she became a bit melancholic when she remembered their parents, but she hoped they were proud of them now.
"Quite an ambitious one, aren't you, brother? But I think that's a good dream to have, a goal for your future."
She paused and thought of her next question.
"What do you think of this place, brother? Should we really settle here or do you have a place in mind that you wanted to go to? How about Mindrifth?"
Ren answered, "The capital, right? Hmmm, that's quite some ways from here. We would need a lot of things before we could even travel there. Well, I don't have much of a destination in mind right now. But do you want to go there, sister?"
"Hmmm... maybe... should we? I do agree we would need some mownies to get there. Now that I think about it, Ren, you should become a merchant, not just a regular one but a traveling merchant."
"Right, but don't I need to become associated with the merchants guild to do that? Auntie Marta told me you would need to pass some test to do so, and we'll also need a lot of mownies to even be given a basic merchant's identification."
"Did she say that? I don't remember... yeah, we may need to earn a lot..."
Brina had already dozed off and fell asleep before she could finish her next words. Ren looked at his sister and smiled. He knew she was a strong woman. Thankfully she wasn't as devastated as he thought.
And the next moment, he too had dozed off into a dreamy wonderland.
Their first night at their new house had gone quite nicely.
The days that followed settled into a comfortable rhythm. Every morning, Brina would wake up first, usually because the sunlight streaming through the cracks in their wooden shutters would hit her face directly. She'd stretch and yawn, careful not to step on Ren who was still sleeping on the floor with a thin blanket and a rolled-up shirt as a pillow.
She felt guilty about it every morning, but every morning he'd insist she take the bed. "You're smaller," he'd say, "and you need your rest more than I do." She'd argue back that he worked just as hard as she did, but he never budged on the matter.
Their routine was simple. They'd wash up with the water from the communal well down the street, eat whatever leftover bread, fruit or vegetables they had from the day before, and then head out to find work. Most days they'd go straight to auntie Marta's stall, but sometimes they'd take on other jobs if someone needed help moving goods or delivering messages across town.
The work was hard and tiring, but it was honest. Brina found that she liked the simplicity of it. There was something satisfying about earning your own way, about knowing that every copper mowny in their pouch was there because they'd worked for it.
But still, in the quiet moments, she'd find herself thinking about that night. About her parents. About the screams. She'd shake her head and push the thoughts away, focusing on whatever task was in front of her. Ren did the same, she could tell. Sometimes she'd catch him staring off into the distance with that hollow look in his eyes, and she knew he was remembering it too.
They didn't talk about it much. What was there to say? It happened, and nothing could change that. All they could do was keep moving forward.
One afternoon, about two weeks into their new life, auntie Marta pulled them aside after the market had closed for the day.
"You two have been working hard," she said, her round face creased with concern. "But you can't keep doing odd jobs forever. You need to think about your future."
Brina and Ren exchanged glances. They'd been thinking about it, of course, but thinking and doing were two different things.
"What do you suggest we should do, auntie?" Ren asked.
Marta crossed her arms and looked at them both. "Well, for starters, you both need proper training. Brina, you're strong and hardworking. You could apprentice with a craftsperson, maybe a weaver or a potter. And Ren, you've got a good head for numbers. You could work with a merchant, learn the trade properly."
"I've been thinking about that, actually," Ren said. "About becoming a merchant. But you told me that I would need to join the guild and that costs money."
"It does," Marta admitted. "But there are ways. You could work as an apprentice first, and once you've learned enough and saved enough, you could take the test. It's not easy, but it's possible."
Brina felt a spark of excitement. This was real. This was a path forward, not just surviving day to day but actually building something.
"And what about traveling?" she asked. "Could Ren become a traveling merchant?"
Marta smiled. "Eventually, yes. But he'd need experience first, and connections. The roads between towns can be dangerous. You'd need to know what you're doing, have the right supplies, maybe even hire guards if you're carrying valuable goods."
"That sounds expensive," Ren said.
"It is," Marta agreed. "But like I said, it's possible. You're both young and capable. If you work hard and save your money, you could do it."
After they left Marta's stall that evening, Brina felt lighter somehow. Like the fog that had been hanging over them since that night was starting to lift just a little bit. They had a plan now, or at least the beginning of one.
"Did you hear that, brother?" she said as they walked back to their little room. "We could really do it. You could become a traveling merchant, and I could... Well, I don't know what I could do yet, but I could figure it out eventually, maybe."
Ren smiled at her enthusiasm. "One step at a time, sister. First, we need to save more money. Then we can think about the next steps."
"I know, I know," Brina said. "But it's nice to have something to work toward, isn't it? Something more than just getting through the day."
"Yeah," Ren agreed. "It is."
That night, as they settled into their room, Brina felt hopeful for the first time since they'd arrived in Helwind Valley. The pain of losing their parents was still there, sharp and raw, and she knew it would be for a long time. But maybe, just maybe, they could build something good out of all this tragedy. Maybe they could make their parents proud.
She fell asleep thinking about the future, about adventures and distant cities and all the possibilities that lay ahead. And for once, her dreams were filled with hope instead of nightmares.