Fontechia

Both Jonas and Mendo were gradually approaching the wooden gate while the snow which just started to fall gradually increased in volume. When they approached the gate in the medium sized wall, someone who seemed to resemble something like a guard stood up from somewhere, probably a little chair, and looked over the wall towards the approaching Jonas and Mendo. The man had an iron helmet on which pretty much just looked like a bucket with holes so one could see through it. He didn't have much in the regards of armor, only wearing a winter coat as to keep him warm. A small bottle of booze could be seen on the edge of the wall, probably something to keep the small village guard warm. As they stood before the door, Mendo looked up at the guard who still studied their peculiar looks. One wouldn't often meet a man without leg being supported by a familiar face. The guard took off his helmet as he recognized Mendo and yelled down, "How was the trip brat? did you get what you wanted over there?" He had a smile over his wrinkled face. He touched his pretty long chin beard which looked like a more crude version of a goatee and then rested his eyes on the crippled man Mendo was supporting. He only studied him for a second before yelling, "Who's your new cripple friend over there? you don't see new face's often down here if they don't have a Galver on them" Now he looked a bit more suspicious then happy which was of course understandable. Apparently Jonas was somewhere so far north that this was the last village one could find, so seeing some random guy in his late twenties without a right leg looked more then just suspicious.

Although Jonas didn't mind it that much, Mendo seemed to be quite angry as he yelled back, "Don't call him a cripple you old fart! This guy saved my life more then you could with your lousy spear on that wall!" His face seemed to be slightly red, but it was unclear if it was because he was angry or because the cold got stronger by the minute.

The old man frowned, looked at Jonas for some time again making him feel slightly uncomfortable. After that he shrugged his shoulders and went down the wall, getting out of their sight. After about a minute the huge gate got pushed open with the man behind it. He stood there and said "What? are you waiting for better weather? hurry up and get to your sister kid!" Mendo seemed to take the hint as he quickly moved on while still supporting Jonas. The old man looked the both of them behind, particularly focusing on the new face he had never seen before.

Jonas walked through the seemingly dead streets of the "village", it looked more like a town then a village actually. The houses all used the same wood, probably out of the same wood the walls were made of. There weren't any shops so to speak, just one big marketplace the both of them had to cross although big was probably a big exaggerated. On the end of the marketplace stood a pretty big house, it was probably for the mayor of the town. It looked to be about two stories high and and the wood it was made out of looked to be processed finer then that of the other houses.

Jonas looked at it for quite a while as it was the first time for him to see such a big house be made out of nothing but wood. Only the foundation seemed to be made out of stone while the finely processed wood looked to be connected through something like mortar, probably to insulate it more cheaply. Mendo saw Jonas staring at the building while his expression seemed to not really endorse the house. Mendo turned his gaze onto the road again while saying, "That's the building were the mayor lives, although he doesn't really do anything the positions would imply him doing" He spit onto the ground and continued "That fat fuck is just in there so he can realize his dream of being a wannabe noble, pfft as if that's ever going to happen, he's just a puppet for Galvie so they can get their ore's cheaper" Mendo said while spitting on the floor again. Jonas could clearly hear the disdain in Mendos voice, but he couldn't keep himself from asking "Did he get voted into that position or something? why would everyone here vote for him if that's the case?" Curiosity got the better of him as Jonas could feel that he slowly got interested into how the town operated.

Mendo on the other hand didn't seem to want to talk about the mayor or the vote too much, so he just said, "He promised to keep the wildlife out which is getting more and more aggressive over the years... he said he had help from Galvie, and for most folk here, Galvie is seen as a second capital" He heaved the arm of Jonas a bit more over his shoulder so the latter wouldn't accidentally fall off.

"Galvie isn't even close to most cities in population but everyone here is just blinded goddammit" Mumbled Mendo almost inaudibly. They finally left the marketplace where the big house was and turned into a smaller road which led down a path of small one story big houses which were comparable in size to a medium sized train cart. The roofs weren't made of tiles but instead steep wooden planks which looked to be pretty roughly processed, almost incomparable to the ones used pretty much everywhere in the mayors mansion. They went further down the road while the houses looked pretty much all the same, the only difference being that were they where, the train cart houses all had an extra room attached so they seemed more spacious.

The first house with this kind of extra room was the one were Mendo went into. He stopped infront of the door, let Jonas down for a moment, reached into his bag and took out an iron rod with a little piece at the end of it. He took the rod which was apparently a key, put it into the lock which was on right of the wooden door, spun it around for 2 seconds and then finally opened the door.

Instantly, a person could be heard saying in a ringing voice, "Mendo? is it you?". Jonas looked at Mendo who instantly had a soft smile on his red face. This time his face was red because of the cold. Mendo shortly thereafter went into the little house and helped Jonas in, quickly seating him on a wooden chair which stood right beside the door, then he closed the door as to keep the cold out and answered "Yeah it's me, i don't know anyone else with a key for this house or do you?". From the other room a "Shut up" could be heard and after that, fast footsteps were approaching the both of them.

A girl with long gray hair and cute face came through the small walkway in the partition that separated the entrance from the rest of the house. She had a clear voice and was about one head shorter then Mendo. The girl looked at Mendo with a happy but at the same time annoyed face and after that hugged him shortly as to welcome him back. After that, she quickly noted the other man, sitting in the chair besides the door who looked at the both of them with a slight smile on his face. His beard had a weird shape which she had never seen before, seemingly growing on the sides of his face and then growing under his nose, but only slight stubble's could be seen on his chin. He had long unkempt brown hair which were tied together with a little band. As she studied the man with an suspicious look in her eyes she quickly noted the absence of a lower right leg, which scared her so much that she stumbled a bit backwards. She looked towards her brother, Mendo, and quickly asked him with a hesitant tone, "Mendo, w-who is that man over there?". She looked quite worried about the random guy Mendo just brought to their house. She was slightly confused at the lack of worry on Mendos face, as he normally was more suspicious when it came to inviting people to their house. Mendo looked at her with a bright smile on his face, "This guy pretty much saved my life on the way here! He kicked a fullbear in the face without hesitation- oh yeah, i didn't even mention! We probably wont have to worry about food for the next year! can you believe that!?" He said with an unusual tone of excitement in his voice. His sister was taken aback for a moment. 'What does he mean with not worrying about food anymore?' she asked herself, though her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the now calmed down Mendo who said "Ok so this guy here is named Jonas and like i said, he saved my life, so i promised him to let him stay here as his circumstances are a bit weird right now... Well, we can talk about that stuff later! Ok Jonas, this here is my little sister Rife" He introduced.

Jonas looked at the sister, put his hand out and offered a handshake saying "Nice to meet you... sorry for the hurried introduction, it must be quite confusing" an apologetic smile arose on his face. Everything was also quite confusing for him as everything he saw right now was a first pretty much. As he had a wide range of previous interests, he looked into a lot of stuff in detail, as he only needed to read everything once to pretty much remember and learn it. He knew quite a bit of history, but he was mostly interested into the 18th to 21th century history as the industrial revolution and both world wars were insanely fascinating and captivating to him. He also looked into firearms quite a bit, be it historic or modern, but what he was confronted with right now was something that looked to be in the Medieval and feudal era. Something he had only looked into for a bit. He knew a few things about it, but only things about a few technologies that he found interesting. He learned a bit about feudalism in school and how it came into being, but political knowledge wasn't really useful to him right now.

The girl named Rife looked at Jonas's hand for a bit, seemingly not knowing what to do with it. Then she just put her hand onto his, probably thinking that it was a weird fist bumb greeting, but was quickly taken aback by Jonas, who grad her hand and shook it a few times. She looked shocked for a bit, after that she briefly said in a low tone "Nice to meet you to" and then quickly turned around to her brother who she wanted to talk with about his journey to Cercico.

Mendo quickly helped Jonas up and went with him into the actual living space of the small cabin. The first thing one could see was the small fireplace which seemed to not only be used as a heater and light source but also as the kitchen, as a pot was placed directly above the warm flames. Not far away from the fireplace were two beds. One on the left side of the room and the other on the right. They had a thin wooden partition between them, as wood was as cheap as dirt around here.

He guessed that the small room which was attached at the side of the house was used as either storing space or a bathroom. There was a small bench infront of the fireplace one could sit down on with up to 4 people. It, of course, was also made out of wood, although it looked quite well fabricated. It looked like the bench was cushioned with two cotton cushions, although they looked pretty rough.

Mendo sat Jonas down infront of the fireplace, after that he sat down beside him while his sister was apparently listening in from the sidelines. "The pot is usually full every night, were not that poor. As you lost your leg, i can ask a friend of mine if he would be willing to make a wooden one, although i can't say if it's going to be comfortable" Mendo said with an increasingly apologetic tone. Jonas looked at him and waved, indicating that if he was at least able to walk, then he could do try and help out wherever they needed him. Mendo still had a guilty expression, but tried to hide it as he agreed to Jonas with a nod.

After that, a long conversation between the two ensued.