3 A Normal Day

For if the sweets she loves are taken,

Her anger you all shall greatly waken.

-prophecy of the duskbringer

Guppy jumped out of her narrow bed and pounced on Stalia her sister. "Stalia wake up, it's already well past 5 bells". "Five more minutes" Stalia groaned. Guppy frowned, why did Stalia always make it so hard. Guppy fixed an extra big smile on her face and promptly tipped Stalia's bed over. Very shortly a furious mess of blankets, hair, and shift erupted up. "I Was Getting Up In A Minute!" Stalia yelled, before deblanketing, throwing on her work dress and starting to run a brush through her hair.

Watching her, Guppy sighed, Stalia really had won the gene lottery, Guppy was slender but her muddy brown-blond hair and eyes could not be plainer, even her skin was brown from hours in the sun growing up, her height was also taller than average, 'nothing about me is very appealing to a man' she thought. 'not that I'm looking for one mind you.' she told herself. On the other hand, Stalia had inherited their mother's looks, with smooth skin, sharp cheeks and eyebrows, pitch black smooth hair and bright blue eyes. Dimples appeared when she smiled and her blossoming figure turned many a head as she passed.

Even her younger brother Kyle was doing alright, he was a little skinny and tall for a 12-year-old but was already putting some muscle. Unlike Guppy, his hair was a rich curly brown, which just worked for him. 'just like dad,' Guppy thought. 'no matter how messy it is, it still looks great'. Maybe it was his green-blue eyes, or his sheepish grin he had when he talked, rare as that was. But he already had a few girls flirting with him. 'Not that he would notice' Guppy mentally snorted as she shook him awake. 'He's always daydreaming, and never entirely all here.' some folk called him a fool. But Guppy knew better, Kyle was in fact quite smart, and extraordinarily talented with repairing magitech items.

One night when the lamp broke he took it apart, reconfigured the magic circuit and put it back together. At the age of 8, he could do what most 16-year-old apprentices could not. Her mother had taken him to get tested the next day and found that he had not one, or two affinities, but all four primes, fire, water, wind, and earth. Knowing he needed some backing if he was to ever have a future she took him then and there to a master magitech crafter, and after a round of incredulity, an apprentice contract was quickly struck for when he turned 12, now just a few days past.

Guppy heard the 6th bell start tolling. "Fudgeknuckles" she swore, "we're going to be late, Stalia I will take Kyle to work today, there's some leftover bread on the table under the cloth, we'll get something on the way. I'll see you after work." with that she grabbed a sleepy, but dressed, little brother and charged out the door.

She emerged into the noisy streets of Nolusberg, even here in one of the side streets it was crammed with people moving both ways. Street vendors plied their wares, adding to the din by extolling the value and prices of the goods they offered.

Guppy wormed her way through the crowd, pulling Kyle behind her. She smacked the hand of a child who went for her coin purse, and after traveling down the street, exited the traffic flow to dart into a bakery located on the corner.

Calling out to the proprietor of the establishment she cried "Uncle Bombas how are you this morning?" A rather large, and definitively rotund man in a white apron bounced over. "Ah, if it isn't my little Guppy. What can I get for you today?" Guppy smiled at Bombas, he was one of the few genuinely good people she knew. When her mother had recently passed, and they were struggling for food, Bombas would always slip a little extra into their purchase. It wasn't much, but to them, it made all the difference. Guppy had heard that Bombas and his wife had lost a child years ago to the wasting flu, a disease that ate away at the bearer's muscles until their hearts stopped. Since then Bombas never could stand seeing a malnourished child, and often invented small chores for them to do in exchange for a heel or two of old bread.

"Two barley rounds please, and a small wedge of Harry's cheese to go with" Guppy ordered. "Good, good, we need to fatten you up for your suitors" Bombas chortled, he retreated briefly while Guppy blushed "none of those" she murmured, as Bombas's mountainous mass glided with a strange grace across the floor to the cooling racks. Shortly he returned with her order wrapped in some brown paper. it felt heavier than it should and Guppy made sure they thanked Bombas properly as she silently called on the 12 divines to bless this gentle man when she handed over a few coppers.

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"How's your sister faring at the Five Legged Goat?" Inquired Bombas, "Quite well thank you" replied Guppy, " They finally promoted her from cleaning girl to a waitress, also they've now got a decent bouncer, Rade from the docks got laid off recently and they snapped him right up." "Rade you say" Bombas's chins and jowls wobbled as he grinned, "Good lad that, he'll keep those drunken louts off Stalia, she's too pretty for her own good these days, like a noblewoman she is" "And doesn't she know it!" Guppy complained, "If I had a silver noble or even a commoners copper for all the boys chasing her, I'd be ordering your jam donuts every day".

Just then the half bell sounded. Paling somewhat, Guppy bid farewell to Bombas, grabbed Kyle who was staring at the roof while muttering to himself, and immersed herself back into the busy streets.

Having procured their lunch and left, Guppy peeked inside the wrapping and saw a small tub of what couldn't be anything but Bombas's homemade jam. She loved her brother Kyle with all her heart, but that jam was coming with her.