A short time before dawn, in a small town in the north of Easthill.
Hearth, populated nearly entirely by trappers and their families, was situated at the side of Edelweiss River, a tributary to the great Crimson River stretching across the entirety of the eastern continent.
A place with nothing to attract tourists- anyone wanting to visit the north, either for to see the grand forests or to explore relic tombs would stop in Edain, a nearly two day horse ride south.
But this dawn, there was an unfamiliar face preparing to head even further north. The newcomer wasn't the only one up before the sun, and a small horde of middle-aged hunters gathered to try and guess the stranger's identity.
"I think I saw her coming from old Nes's place, maybe a relative of his?"
"Nes? Thought he's been single since Olga passed back when we were kids. Who knew he was hiding a granddaughter away from us this whole time!"
"Hey, doesn't she look a bit like that dark-haired merchant? Haven't seen him around yet this year, maybe his kid is taking over the family business?"
"Bah, then she's half a month late! Poor girl must be having trouble, I'll head over to see if she needs help."
A woman, looking to be in her late thirties, split off from the group of gossiping hunters and walked over to the newcomer.
"Girl, are you Eddie's kid?"
The girl nodded, "Willow."
"Ah, so you must be Eddie's oldest. What brings you up here?"
The woman glanced behind Willow, noting that the girl's supplies didn't consist of more than a few bags thrown over her horse.
Willow fidgeted nervously, her gaze cast toward the ground.
"Dad… hasn't come back. He was heading up this way a few months ago, but old Nes said he never made it here."
The woman's eyes narrowed, and she pulled Willow in closer.
"Did you try asking around in Edain? A few months ago… I have a bad feeling about this. There were a bunch of Easthill soldiers moving around- had the uniforms, at least. Didn't act like you see them do in the cities though. Hopefully, your pops didn't get caught up with them. My name's Weiss, by the way."
"It wasn't them. My father arrived in Edain about a week after everyone said the soldiers left, and there's no way he would've gotten lost around here!"
Weiss nodded. The Longgrass family had been traveling through the north for longer than anyone could remember, buying up all the pelts gathered in the northern hunting towns. Even among all the hunters in Hearth, no one would dare claim to know the land better than Eddie or any of his ancestors.
"Maybe he just skipped over our town for some reason? There should be some villages further in the north, way back in the woods somewhere. Refugees from the wars that made Easthill what it is today. Maybe Eddie was worried about the folks up there are rushed past us in the night?"
Willow walked back to her horse, double-checking that she had all the supplies needed to survive alone in the forest.
"That's what I'm hoping, and where I'm heading right now. I'll make sure to stop back here on my way back south, please keep an eye out for any clues about my father!"
~
It was midday, and an odd duo were sleeping contentedly, soaking up the last of summer's warmth. Copious amounts of fish bones lay scattered around a makeshift camp- if it could be called that.
A hastily arranged circle of stones made for a campfire, the nearby grass blackened by once-uncontained flames. A few fish were still hanging over the extinguished fire pit, having been forgotten at some point in the night.
An overweight eagle- hell, it looked more like a fattened chicken now- wobbled to its feet.
"Mmm… there's still more. Is it time for breakfast?"
Edol awoke to the sounds of chewing- it was a sound that he thought might haunt him until his deathbed.
"Gluttonous demon, how are you still eating more food? Just because there is food here doesn't mean you need to keep eating!"
It turned out the fishing in the stream had been much easier than expected. Even without finding any bait, a fish had still gulped down the hook within seconds of Edol dropping it into the river! What seemed like good a good outcome had quickly turned into a nightmare for the young brit.
"More! More fish for your king!"
Can fish make someone drunk?
Probably not, and definitely not when unseasoned and cooked over a campfire.
Still, after watching his clearly intoxicated friend, Edol had developed some doubts. This was a different world, after all. Perhaps there were mysterious beer fish, the favorite snack of drunkards everywhere?
"Mor-hic- more fish!"
Edol cast a glance at one of the fish hanging over the fire pit, wondering if he should give it a taste as well.
Two drunk idiots stranded in a forest would certainly be worse than one drunk and one sober one, but another part of Edol argued back.
'I've gotta eat more than just these potatoes. Surely I'll get scurvy or something if they're all I eat, right?'
'Just a bite, I'll just take one. There's no way my alcohol tolerance is that bad to get drunk off a single bite of fish, right?'
Making up his mind, Edol hesitantly took a bit of the fire-roasted fish.
It was… fish. Unseasoned, salmon-like fish.
'Isn't alcohol supposed to burn on the way down? This just tastes a bit… charred."
Edol looked down at the fish in his hands, a bit of disappointment coursing through him. Easy to catch, hangover-inducing fish! If only these worked on everyone, Edol might've been able to make a fortune selling them!
"Oi, Ghost. Why are you acting drunk? These are just fish!!"
Ghost paused for a second, and rage began bubbling in Edol's chest.
"You bastard! You've been acting drunk this entire time, being a pain in the ass… and it's all been fake?! I'm going to wring your neck and cook you over the fire, little bastard!"
Edol charged at Ghost, forgetting all about his previous fear of talons as he chased the huge bird around the campsite.
A few meters away, a young lady was watching the strange sight in confusion.
"What… what is going on here??"