A “family” meeting
After Mia had given in, Jay could tell her the whole story about the raid on the slave-trader and how he had no other idea as to how he could help Eloise.
Once she understood that he really had no ulterior motives, Mia jumped from her seat and threw her arms around Jay. After a soft and long kiss, she excused herself for jumping to a conclusion.
But then she turned a bit more serious again and stated that what ever happens, he had to be nice to and keep her. Only upon inquiring did she tell him that Eloise seemed to be head over heels for her new owner, though Mia could absolutely understand that.
To him looking at her confused, Mia continued that he would be surprised if he knew what girls talk about once they were alone. Both of them chuckled a bit until Jay looked around in the nearly empty Inn and asked where the others were at.
"Marcus and Eloise should still be in the kitchen. He is teaching her how to cook as she asked him to. Ellie went out with Melika to gather herbs… Oh, that's right, you don't know her, right?" M.
"No, I didn't meet her when I went here to see you after I came back from Westfield. But I had the feeling Marcus really likes her from how he told me about her..." J.
"Yeah, that's right. Marcus seems to finally have found someone again. And Ellie likes her as well…" M.
"That's really great to hear!" J.
"Come on, let's have a look…" M.
Mia rose from his lap she had sat on and the two of them went to the kitchen.
Marcus welcomed him heartily and thanked Jay for the big help he had sent him, pointing towards Eloise. The girl was wearing a beaming smile as she saw him but seemed to hold herself back, fumbling her apron for distraction, and only said hello. Mia couldn't stop grinning seeing this, but had no intention to help her as well.
After a short conversation with Marcus, Jay asked Eloise if she wanted to stay in the Inn or do something else while he had to leave again soon. Of course she answered that she wanted to come with him, but he declined, explaining it was too dangerous as he was on a new mission.
She understood it was impossible for her to follow him and explained that the people there had been very nice to her, then asked if she really could stay there in the Inn.
With that settled, Jay told Mia that he had to report to Haggard first and would then go and find Ellie. He had promised to help her with training once he was back and was going to keep his word.
On his way out he learned the general direction of where the two females went and then left for the Garrison.
Like back in the days he got welcomed by the guards there and could enter without further check ups. The yard was bustling with soldiers either training or tending to the buildings as he crossed the yard.
Jay directly entered the main building and was about to rush up the stairs to Haggard's office when he heard a familiar voice behind him.
"Jay, is that you?" K.
It was Kathariel whom he had spent quite some time and battles in Westfield with. The slender elf walked over to him at the foot of the stairs and they directly began to talk.
After their slightly messed up and hard start, the two had come to get along very well over their experiences.
In their small-talk, the redhead beauty told him that she had heard about Westfield and really would have liked to accompany and have helped him more but at the same time was astonished from his feats.
Since then, there had been no more real troubles in the region. Instead the forest in the south on the other side of Eldrin River seemed to have gotten a bit of trouble. It was no bandits from how it appeared, but there still went people missing and by then a few smaller settlements got raided.
Jay explained that he would travel towards Redridge in the east as they suspected to find new leads there. He had only stopped by to inform Haggard and her about what he had learned and get their advice.
To this she inquired when he was going to leave, so he told her it would be the next morning but at the same time asked why she wanted to know.
The reason was that she had to travel east as well and asked if they would ride together. Her destination was the dock-house which they would be using as a ferry station to cross the river once again. This way the Garrison could send reinforcements to Hilder Forest, that was the name of the neighboring region, faster and without endangering their territory.
At the same time they would have a better chance to block off smuggling routes on the river.
With this, they made out to travel together at sunrise the next day and said their goodbyes. As they had walked up the stairs and towards Haggard's office during their talks, Jay knocked at the door while Kathariel had to tend to her duties as well and hurried towards the stairs again.
Jay fount the Commander busy reading reports as he entered, but got heartily welcomed the next second. Haggard stated that some of the reports he just read had been about him as well and they sat together to talk. This time Jay declined his offer for some booze though and directly narrated everything that happened as best as he could.
Though he had tried to make it quick, it still took more than half an hour and then a few more minutes to discuss their suspicions.
Haggard hinted Jay to pay Kitta Theoricus a visit on his way as she kept her eyes on Redridge as well since a while.
He doubted it had to do with the totems or the cult though, but in the worst case Jay could get another quest there and at best get more information to his case.
For Solomon, the magistrate of Stillwater, Haggard wrote Jay a short letter of introduction. Some time ago he had received a support request from him but at that time had no resources left. If he remembered correctly it was something about orc sightings in the north eastern region.
As that area was far off, hard to reach because of the canyons and strategically useless, no one had cared about it until now. It wasn't even verified because rarely anybody passed through there after the only connecting bridge got destroyed and the detour took days.
Commander Haggard knew the Magistrate from back in the war and asked Jay to help him as best as he could should he be able to. Whether the story of orc sightings was true or not, Jay would surely get asked to check on it and possibly take care of the situation.
Even if Redridge hadn't much to offer, it was still part of the kingdom and under the military's protection.
Jay had already learned about the rocky region he would travel to:
It bordered to the Middle Sea in the east and while it was said to be quite a beautiful place, it was the most backwater and useless in the Kingdom. After the last war, most towns lay in ruins as well as nearly all ecological and military structures. Like this, even the fishing villages had mostly ceased to exist and traveling the land was hard as nature had claimed back most road by then. Even the access to the Sea was barricaded by rocky mountains and canyons, so it couldn't be used as travel route from what Jay had learned. Only the most western part got secured by then, though the military had recently begun to raise the security on the business route to the north.
Haggard kept thinking about the reports while Jay recollected the information about Redridge he got. It was then that the Commander uttered that if there really were orcs, Jay had to find out if they were remnants of the war or if they really had dared to set over.
Not really getting what he had meant, Jay learned that the Middle Sea not only divided the continent, but the wild east where the orcs lived from the human empire in the west. For them to have infiltrated the kingdom, the army would have to trace back their route.
Landing at the coast of Redridge was impossible for the most part and further more the navy from the close by Aldebaran where trading went trough would have reported it.
After saying their goodbyes and with another letter of introduction in his hands, Jay left the office.
On his way over the big yard he met Kathariel once again who inquired what took him so long and seemed a bit reluctant letting him leave. But as they would meet up the next morning, she resumed her work of training the archers again when Jay left.
The Inn had become filled to the brim when Jay entered again. There was nearly no table left unoccupied and Mia waved Jay over the moment she spotted him. To her question if he wanted to eat something as well he denied, explaining he had a late lunch, and returned if he shouldn't better help her out.
Mia only shook her head but requested him to go find Ellie and Melika who were still out. He took this opportunity and inquired why Ellie was out plucking herbs. She apparently had started learning about them and even searched for some when she was out hunting with Mia or Jonah.
Hearing a new name, Jay got a bit befuddled and asked in a pretty inquisitive tone about that man. Mia had to hold her mouth from laughing to this and shook her head once she calmed down.
The reason was that Jonah simply was the Stable Master in Gold Creek, an over fifty years old man and a skilled hunter.
Even before her Blessing, Ellie had accompanied him here and there for hunting deer. But since then, she had either kept training or went hunting with Mia or Jonah. She seemed set on leveling up fast, so much it even worried Mia and her father.
Hearing this, Jay asked if it was all right then if he tried to go hunting with her this afternoon. To her soft smile and slight nod, Jay was hard pressed not pulling her into his arms and instead asked if they could manage at the inn.
But like she had explained, Ellie had since the visit to Arathor mostly been absent.
Just at this moment, Eloise exited the kitchen with three servings on her arms at the same time. She only greeted Jay in the passing and vanished between the customers.
"See? We have more hands than ever before, so please spend some time with Ellie. But don't do anything dangerous and be back for dinner. All right?" M.
With no room for discussion, Jay learned about the women's general location in the south east and got turned around. But then he heard Mia whisper from behind that he mustn't power himself out as they had quite a lot to make up.
With a stupidly wide smile, Jay nearly danced out of the Inn and onto the town-square. From there he crossed over to the road in eastern direction and rode along it until he reached the last house on the southern side.
After the first dozens of yards into the light woods, Jay decided to walk on foot and rushed on. Like this he could hear the women as short few minutes later and closed in on their direction.
He startled them a bit with his greeting out of nowhere, but Ellie directly recognized his voice and jumped towards him. Afterwards she introduced Melika to him and the other way around.
The woman was middle aged like Marcus and looked really friendly. Just for cautions sake, Jay analyzed her and learned she was an Arathi like most here and even on Level 29. Melika's herbalism and housekeeping skills were equally good and she seemed the perfect fit for Ellie's dad.
As Jay explained what he came there for, she was really happy for Ellie. Her comment that he seemed like an extremely caring big brother ruined Ellie's mood though. Jay had to hold himself from laughing and stated he would first escort the two ladies back to town. Both woman stated it was not necessary, but Jay insisted on it as he would neither let a woman travel back alone, nor go hunting with Ellie when she wore no armor.
On the way back where latter kept pouting and even at the Inn where she fetched her gear and weapon, Jay kept chatting with Melika.
He learned that she also liked Marcus and how he cared for Ellie.
The woman had always wanted children herself, but it sadly never happened. Later her husband died in the east during the last war after what she had no partner and by then simply got too old.
At about that moment Ellie came back to the inn and looked irritated at the two chatting people. She grabbed Jay's hand and pull him out while shouting Melika goodbye.
Once they passed the door and went around the next corner, she looked sternly at Jay and stated:
"Hey, don't dare to flirt with Melika! She's for my Dad!" E.
After looking at the small girl irritated, Jay bursted into laughter. Only when he noticed Ellie had turned crimson and glared at him in anger did he calm himself down and started to explain.
It was his goal as well to match up the two of them as he had seen how much Melika cared for them, and even Ellie for her. Jay had noticed back then that Marcus was more than interested and just wanted to make sure Melika was a good match.
As they really liked each other, he had hinted them for the last push.
Seeing the small Ellie blush to his explanation, Jay summoned his horse and got her even more flustered.
He helped her up after mounting himself and stated it was time for some hunting. Ellie got high spirited and clung to him from behind as they rode towards the Silver Lake within a short while.
A bit fearful she still asked why Jay had brought her there once they dismounted. He explained that they would hunt Murlocs, like he had done himself in the beginning.
Ellie seemed apprehensive at first, so Jay mentioned that if everything went well, she'd probably gain a level while they could bring back lots of fish for this evening.
Ellie from then on wasn't completely convinced with this but followed Jay through the last trees towards the shore.
Once they got closer to the first settlement of those fishlike monsters, Jay ducked down and so did Ellie. It was time to talk about her tactics.
The first thing Jay wanted to know though, was what kind of Weapon she preferred or if there were some she wanted to get accustomed to. Irritated why he suddenly asked this, Ellie explained that she wished to mostly rely on spells, but until then had only trained a bit with blunt weapons. For hunting she had mainly used a light bow up to that point.
Picking a thin and light sword of acceptable quality from his inventory, Jay held it to her until she cautiously grabbed it.
At just that moment Jay stated that he would have liked a rapier for her as it best suited her tiny frame while having a good range, but he'd have to look for one later. But Ellie seemed to have taken offense in his last statement and glared at Jay.
"You seem to prefer bigger women, huh?" E.
After ringing for words a few moments, Jay finally explained that he wasn't picky. Each and every beauty had her charms and neither size, nor race or figure would ever be preferred by him.
Once the words had escaped his mouth, Jay saw her tiny face twitch to the "Not picky" and "every beauty"…
Without wait, he added that this wasn't the time for some talk like that as they had to start hunting or they might get spotted first. And as if he had asked for it, one of the Murloc patrols spotted them in the high grass. With its loud gurgling voice it rushed the about ten yards towards them barehanded.
Like this, Jay got "saved by Murlocs"!