A Broken Carriage [peeweepie]

[nizzy]

(OOC: hey @peeweepie )

Cael was annoyed, he'd travelled all the way to Summervale to collect some historical documents that had been recently found and were relevant to his research, and now, not long into his journey back, the wheel on his wagon had broken. Great! Just great! Luckily he was close to a village, but he still had to walk in, and it had made him even more irritable than usual.

He asked one of the villagers to direct him to the nearest carpenter, and was soon in his shop.

"The wheel on my carriage has broken, I need it mending as soon as possible." Cael told the man, who seem uneasy, which Cael rightly guessed was due to his pale exterior.

"I'm afraid I'm rather busy at the moment, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow."

"I can't wait until tomorrow, I have things to do, and I have important documents in that carriage. I can pay more if needs be, but I need that carriage ready today."

[peeweepie]

Lokiare walked back into her fathers shop, treading mud from her hunting boots onto the stone floor. She placed down her bow, sheath of arrows and two rabbits from her last kill and went to look up but did not see her father that she was expecting to. Instead she saw a pale thin fellow standing in front of her.

"Young sir, this is my daughter, Lokiare." Said the man peering out from behind Cael. "She may be able to fix the wheel of your carriage for you, her skills are not as great as mine but should be able to do the job suitably for you"

"Father, I've never done a job alone before, surely you cannot send me!" Lokiare said uneasy of her skills.

[nizzy]

Cael made no attempt to hide his irritation, "I had hoped for your work, not your daughter's, but I guess it will have to do. I warn you, I won't pay as much for her handiwork, but it'll do. You better not mess it up."

That last comment was directed towards the girl. From the rabbits she had brought in with her, she obviously had some skill in her, but whether or not it was for carpentry was still to be seen. He hated accepting work from those less experienced, but if he wanted to leave today, it seemed that he had no other choice.

"I'll pay after the work is complete, with those less experienced, I'd rather see the results before I start paying for them." He knew he was coming off as a jerk, but with the way the day had been gong, Cael could't care less.

[peeweepie]

Lokiare sensed Cael's annoyance making her feel more uneasy about the job, and about him. Going off into the woods with a complete strange man, she was not comfortable with this at all!

Picking up her confidence and trying not to show her fear she demanded "We want half now, just as an assurance, I'm sure you'll understand that. Once you've paid I'll grab my things."

No way was she going anywhere without payment, nor without her hunting knife, just another assurance to be safe.

[nizzy]

"Fine." Cael pulled out his purse, and handed over the money, and before long they were off.

They walked in silence for a minute or two, before Cael sighed, "I'm sorry if I came off rude earlier, I was just irritated with the way today has gone."

Truly, he wasn't sorry, as usual he felt completely justified in his actions when irritated, people shouldn't irritate him. He mainly apologised to make the walk and the wait while Lokiare worked more bearable.

"My name's Cael."

(OOC: I'm just realising how much of a grumpy old man Cael is, and he's not even old yet)

[peeweepie]

"Mine's Lokiare." she replied timidly. "Its okay, we all have our bad days." She still didn't trust him, maybe it was his piercing red eyes that set her off edge.

They soon reached the wagon and she saw that the wheel was in much worse condition then she hoped. She tried to look calm but only knowing fixing this was outside her usual range of expertise. The wheel type looked unfamiliar to her also, no spokes just a solid block of wood in the shape of a wheel, must be how richer city folks build their wagon wheels. She could only hope that attaching another plank of wood would fix it.

"My wood is too large so I will need to cut it," she explained spying a tree stump nearby.

Pulling out a hand saw from her packed bag she headed over to the stump.

[nizzy]

Cael watched Lokiare set up her things. Not knowing what else to do, he checked everything in the carriage was still there, before leaning against the edge of it, watching her.

"How long have you been doing this sort of thing?" He wasn't one for small talk, but until the wheel was fixed, small talk was all he had to do.

[peeweepie]

"Ever since I was a little girl." Lokiare replied, "To be honest I mostly watched my father work until he thought I was old enough."

That last bit probably could have been left out she thought, he already disliked her amateur skills and there was no need to give any reason for him to dislike her more.

An awkward moment passed before she asked " Where are you headed to?" Obviously already knowing the answer giving the trail he was on and the documents he had on board, but it gave something to pass the time.

[nizzy]

"Back home to Arca, I was just collecting some documents from a town further along for my research."

There was another pause.

"Travelling makes me more irritable than usual, that's why I'm so eager to get going and get back home."

[peeweepie]

"Oh, it's no bother really, and I should have your wheel fixed soon."

She lifted the cut off piece of wood up dusting off a few wood shavings. Walking over to the carriage wheel she realised the wheel needed to be turned to fix it on right.

"Errm, would you mind helping me lift the carriage?" She asked not wanting to sound rude, "It's only that I'm not quite strong enough on my own and the wheel needs turning."

[nizzy]

"Um okay," Cael said, coming over to the carriage.

The two of them pushed against it with all of their might, but it wouldn't budge. They tried pushing it, they tried pulling the other side, but it wasn't going anywhere.

"Brilliant!" Cael's voice was rich with sarcasm, "Is there anyone in the village you can get to help?"

[peeweepie]

"Well we could try Kenieel, he lives just around the corner from our shop and usually comes to help us with any of the heavy lifting things. We should leave now though if we want to catch him before he heads back out into the field."

They set off back they way they came towards the village, once again making small remarks to pass the time. They arrived at Kenieel's house to find it was empty.

"Oh man, I think we've just missed him." She said hoping Cael wouldn't get too annoyed "His field isn't from from here though..."

Just as she said that a voice came from behind her "Lokie, is that you?"

At once Lokiare turned around to see a tall young man beaming at her. He had olive coloured skin with barely any hair on his head. His whole appearance showed he was a kind and gracious person.

"Kenieel!" She exclaimed throwing her arms arms around his neck. "Listen we really need your help, can you lend us a hand for a bit?"

[nizzy]

Cael shook Kenieel's hand, introducing himself. He had just about hit his limit of irritation, but Kenieel looked like he knew what he was doing, giving Cael more hope that he would actually be able to get going before tomorrow.

Lokiare explained the situation to Kenieel, and they were soon back at the carriage.

Kenieel took a look at the way the carriage had fallen, he sent Cael and Lokiare to push on one side, while he would pull the other side. They were pushing and pulling with all their might, and it started to move. Slowly but surely, the carriage was coming to upright.

[peeweepie]

"Finally!" Lokiare exclaimed as she struck the last blow to the wheel, knocking the wheel into place on the axle."Thought we'd never get this wheel back on."

She walked over to her bag of tools to place her hammer inside (which had already been packed by Kenieel) and fastened it shut.

Lokiare turned to Cael "Alright, looks like my jobs done here..." She said trailing off trying to hint at being paid without trying to sound rude.

[nizzy]

Reluctantly Cael had to admit that Lokiare had done a good job of the wheel despite her inexperience. And even more reluctantly he handed over the money for the work. But it was with no reluctance that he sped on through the village, and on to Arca, leaving her to walk back herself.

OOC: I couldn't think of anything more for the characters, so it looks like the threads finished. It's been very long, but it's been fun playing with you Lauren. If you can think of a way to carry this on I'll happily change this later