Page 16 of A Soul to Touch

The people within the shopping sector were made up of peasants, nobles, and a handful of travellers from other relatively close by towns, villages, or cities.

Mayumi completed her usual tasks, trading pressed gold, silver, and bronze pieces at different stalls for food, such as fruit, vegetables, and a small amount of meat. She also procured tea. There had been no coffee as they were out of stock, and she doubted she’d get any in the near future.

She also bought incense herbs and bath oils that would help to shelter her smell – though not hide it completely.

Some of the places she went were temporary box stalls, while others were inside multi-level, permanent buildings.

Mayumi didn’t linger in any location. She’d been coming to this town all her life and knew where every shop was – aside from the odd and rare changes that happened over time.

She exchanged her bow from resting across her torso to swinging over one shoulder, feeling it tap against the back of her left knee when she walked. It allowed her freedom to be weighed down comfortably by the pack she had on her back filled with all her food ingredients and the two satchels she had on both sides of her body.

Although the village was a steady three hour walk here and another three hours back, if not more since she was ferrying much, she always over bought so she didn’t have to return often.

There was a small garden at her cottage, but it was buried under snow and barely grew in the current winter climate.

Her eyes drifted above her to the clouds that were forming. She narrowed her eyes at them.

Winter was one of the most dangerous times of the year.

Not only was the frost deadly to those who weren’t used to exposing themselves to the elements, but the days were shorter, and there were often clouds.

Demons travelled above the surface on cloudy days.

Mayumi glared at the sky.Night will begin to fall in a few hours.

She headed off to the side of the path she was on to avoid being shoulder barged by pedestrians. She opened all three of her bags and took a mental note of everything she’d bought to make sure she was satisfied.

Alright. Only one place left to go.It was the most important place, after all.

The saloon style doors opened with a distinctive low squeaking noise as she made her way inside one of the many taverns within Colt’s Outpost. She often visited this tavern since it was the one most soldiers and mercenaries visited to drown their sorrows in bitter, yet strong, alcohol.

The vibe was solemn to the point it felt almost physical, weighing heavily on all. She imagined the lighting was dim on purpose to hide the tired, depressed looks on everyone’s faces.

Many eyed her entrance as she approached a lonely edge of the bar, but none truly cared to pay her any more attention than that.

Other than the bar, most patrons sat at mismatched round or square tables, with one large rectangular one in the middle that allowed more to converse. There was little décor, and it often smelt of armour cleaning oils, metal and leather, hay, and body odour.

Mayumi tucked her bags in between and around her legs as she sat in the available stool.

The tavern attendant stood in front of her, slapped her bar rag over her shoulder, then leaned an elbow on the table. When Mayumi caught her blue eyes, she cocked a blonde brow at her.

Marianna had two pigtail braids that swayed down both sides of her head to rest past her medium-sized bosom. Her face was freckled, although tanned from too much sunlight, with thin lips. Her frame was thin underneath her plain brown dress-it was hard to be plump in this city unless you were rich-but she took absolutely no shit from any drunkard inside her establishment.

Her two brothers also worked within the business, mostly as muscle and waiters.

“One mug of Honeybrew Mead and three bottles of Marianna’s Sleeper,” Mayumi demanded. “I’d also like the day’s special stew.”

“Cheap, and still not sleeping well, huh?” Marianna snorted, immediately reaching under the counter to obtain a wooden mug. Then she turned away to grab the Honeybrew Mead in a green glass bottle from the shelf behind her.

“I sleep fine,” Mayumi grumbled, watching her fill up the mug before placing it on the sticky counter where Mayumi rested her forearms. “It’s justgettingto sleep that’s the problem.”

“There are demons in all of us.” Marianna placed three tall, round glass bottles on the table for Mayumi to put inside one of her bags. “That’s why I specially made this.”

Mayumi tossed one bronze piece on the counter followed by three silver ones, then nodded her head upwards in a way that told Marianna to leave her alone until her food was ready.

She didn’t need nor want a therapist, and she only came in here for a hearty meal to fill her belly and to obtain liquid warmth before she set back out into the bitter cold.

Trudging through nearly knee-high snow, Mayumi paused to stretch her neck one way and then the other before cringing when she accidentally made one side crack. Then she readjusted one satchel strap that was cutting directly into the tender arch where her neck and shoulder met.

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