Finally, Faye reached the butcher shop that offered the best prices for brought in game. The man who ran the shop was shocked at what she brought in, but quickly recovered. He said he'd pay 3 copper per pound, instead of the regular 2 per pound, which delighted Faye beyond words.
Weighing the creature, it came out to just over 100 pounds. Faye ended up walking away with three gold and three copper. The butcher told her if she ever found another beast like this he'd happily take it off her hands.
She waited for the pelt to be removed, she hadn't felt confident enough to do it herself in the wild. After removing it and wrapping it in cloth, the butcher sent her on her way. She brought the pelt to a tanner, who ended up giving her another gold piece for it. This was an enormous amount more than he'd promised for the smaller pelts! Faye thanked the man and happily made her way back home, finally.
After making the four gold, she was almost halfway to her goal after a couple days! Her celebration couldn't last for long, however as she came to the grim realization that making money through selling pelts and meat would take her forever to make the money. It'd take her longer to make the money she needed than Cahrel gave her a discount for!
Faye sighed as she entered the Inn. Cahrel was manning the bar and the Inn itself was relatively peaceful. It had times like that, where it was slow. Unfortunately, those times were never at night, when Faye needed them to be.
She approached the bar and sat down. Seeing her serious and long face, Cahrel approached from the other side, paused, then sat a small honey mead in front of her.
"What's wrong, girl?"
Faye sighed again, staring at the drink in front of her. "I caught a panther today. I was able to make almost half of what I need..."
Cahrel's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Well, that's a good thing! why are you looking so sad?"
She shook her head. "It is a good thing, but I'm just now realizing just how long it's gonna take to make that money...."
Cahrel smiled. "Ah, I think it wont take as long as you think. You'll get there. No reason to be sad! This is a time of celebration!"
Faye listened to his words. He was right, she didn't need to become irritable and depressed over something like this! She had already reached half her goal! Who knows, maybe next time she'll come across a bear!? Then she'd have more than enough to join the adventuring hall!
Faye nodded. She lifted her drink and took a sip. The lightly alcoholed honey liquid was incredibly sweet. She scrunched her face as she sipped it. It's not that she didn't like sweets, but this tasted almost like drinking syrup...
"Not to your taste, huh?"
She smiled politely without answering. Seeing her reaction, Cahrel laughed.
"Maybe next time you can try something with a little more bite to it."
She agreed though she wasn't entirely sure what that meant. After sitting and sipping on the syrup for a while longer, Faye finally got up to leave. More than half the mead was left. She waved goodbye to Cahrel and headed off to her second appointment of the day. She'd begun to have a regular schedule. First, she went to set and check traps, she returned to sell whatever she caught or killed, then she headed off into the city to meet with a young man for lunch.
The young boy sat crouched on the side of the road, against a stone building. Faye watched as he waited patiently for her, drawing designs in the dirt with his finger.
She'd promised him she would bring him food every day around noon. She was late before, but was lucky enough to find the kid wandering the streets afterwards to give him something to eat and check in on him. The kid was too young to be out on his own.
She sat with the boy as he ate his bread. She didn't need to eat herself, so this was money she was already saving. Spending it on food was acceptable, right? if she needed to eat she'd be buying it anyways, might as well give it to someone that needs it more than her...
The boy ate hungrily, without a word or glance towards Faye. She wanted to ask him questions about his parents and where he lived, but she didn't think it was the right time yet. She needed to gain his trust first. She almost lost it completely before, when she'd missed their first meeting, but she was patient and willing to wait for him to open up when he was ready. She was pretty skilled at winning kids over, she'd had to do it a lot before she moved out of the orphanage. Many of the kids that came to them were young, but had seen or been through more than most adults. The ones that lost their parents were easier to deal with than the ones that were abandoned by theirs... Those were the worst. No matter how much she wracked her mind, Faye couldn't figure out how anyone would choose to abandon their child....
To her, that was probably the worst thing anyone could do...Abandoning their child didn't just leave them to fend for themselves, it left them unwilling to trust. It was a major thorn in their heart. If you aren't accepted by your parents, then it's hard for you to think of anyone that could accept you! It's just not right.