Page 23 of Lonely Orcish Girl

He tried to smile at her, as he had always liked her. She was a nice person, even if he thought she was very shy and maybe a bit childish. Matzie had unexpectedly become Marga’s apprentice about a year ago, but she was struggling due to her lack of experience. Reed suspected the old healer didn’t have much hope that the girl would ever become her successor.

"And what are you doing here, Matzie? Did you come to Larrant alone?" he asked, frowning. He looked around to see if there was anyone familiar nearby, but Matzie seemed to be alone. Reed suddenly feared something was wrong.

"Yes… I mean, no, I came here with my brothers. They went to the blacksmith, I think," Matzie replied.

Matzie's brothers, twins named Ron and Jon, weren’t known for their minds; however, they were big, strong-looking boys, so Reed calmed down. Matzie didn't seem to be in any danger.

"What about you? You seem a bit jittery," Reed asked, trying to help her focus. The girl was evidently upset about something.

"Oh! Marga isn't well! She's been bitten by a poisonous snake!" Matzie suddenly started talking very fast and incoherently. "I didn't know how to help her! Marga was unconscious, then she woke up, but is very weak! She was able to contain the venom, but it's still deadly. Marga told me about a plant, an antidote, but I don't know anything about it, Reed! She didn't have it, and I couldn't find it anywhere else! I came to Larrant, I mean, the elders sent me here. Maybe someone here knows something, but so far, I've had no luck!"

"Hey, Matzie, slow down," Reed said, trying to reassure her. He put his hand on her shoulder, and the girl stopped talking, and just stood in front of him, breathing nervously. Her big watery eyes looked at him hopelessly.

He tried to process what he had just heard and find a solution. It wasn't good news, of course, but the fact that Marga could slow down the effects of the poison was something he could hold on to. However, the situation was unsettling because Marga was crucial to the survival of their whole community. When he was a child, he and the other kids were afraid of her because they thought she was a witch, but when he grew up, hecomprehended that without Marga, no one in the village would survive any serious disease.

"Matzie, don't worry, okay?" said Reed, trying to cheer her up. When he saw the girl's face brighten a little, he continued. "Listen, try to ask everyone you can think of here in Larrant. If you don't find anything, then go back to Marga and take care of her. I might know someone who can help, but I've got a few things to sort out before I get back."

Matzie just nodded, visibly calming down. Reed sensed she needed to hear something like that.

"You're a smart girl; you got this!" he told her, giving her a quick hug.

"Oh! Thank you, Reed!" Matzie blinked rapidly, her cheeks flushed, but she smiled timidly and turned away.

Reed continued to walk among the booths, but he couldn't focus. Damn it! One crisis at a time, he thought, trying to digest the new information. When he heard about Marga's condition, he realized that his mind was still strongly connected to the village. But his heart also belonged to Katuri. He came to the conclusion that he just had another reason to find a way to bring Katuri back with him.

CHAPTER SEVEN

"Easy, girl!" Reed said to the horse and stroked her neck. He tied the reins to a wooden fence.

By an almost impossible stroke of luck, Reed bought a strong and healthy draft horse mare at half price. She was the last one on offer, and the horse breeder was growing impatient. He had come to Larrant to sell his horses, and although he had success with most of them on the first day, he couldn't find a buyer for the last black mare. Reed was almost a godsend for him because he could sell the horse and return to his town before nightfall.

Originally, Reed had no intention of buying a horse, but since the price was so low, he followed his gut and decided to do it. A draft horse would always be useful on the farm. In the past, Reed used to rent a horse from his neighbor for plowing his fields, as he was hesitant about owning one due to the high maintenance cost of such an animal and the lack of a stable… but now Reed saw another purpose for it, so he slowly came up with a new plan. And perhaps he would even have a certain person to help him build a stable?

He also bought various seeds and still had about half his money left. Now, guided by his intuition, he stopped in front of the forge. It belonged to a half-orc named Gurak. Reed went behind the fence and found the man pounding steel on the anvil.

Reed decided to wait politely until Gurak was finished, but the man noticed him. He put down his hammer, spat on the ground, and said gruffly, "Whatcha looking for, boy? Say what you want, I don't have all damn day!"

Gurak was known for his surliness, so Reed wasted no time on pleasantries. "Do you know the orcish language? I mean, the writing?"

The man spluttered, irritated. "What do you think? I'm an orc, ain't I?"

Reed would disagree with him, but he was smart enough to keep his tongue between his teeth. Gurak didn't look like a typical orc, though he acted like he was a full-blood and wasn't very eager to mention his hobgoblin heritage—a completely different approach than Katuri’s.

The blacksmith was quite tall but also skinny and wiry. His face looked as if he had inherited the worst of both races, with the thin, long nose of hobgoblins and grotesque tusks between his chapped lips. But that didn't matter to Reed; the most important thing was that the man claimed to know orcish runes.

"Perhaps you know what this means." Reed took a steel rod in his hand and tried to draw the inscription from Katuri's bracelet on the soft ground. The pattern wasn't very complicated, and he was almost sure he had succeeded in copying it.

Gurak got interested and bent over the writing. Then he snorted with a sound that resembled amusement and looked at Reed, frowning. "It means lonely. Where did you learn those runes?"

"Ah, it's a long story," Reed replied vaguely, thinking about the information he had just gathered.

It hit him hard that Katuri wore a bracelet with the word 'lonely' engraved on it. That was very telling.

It seemed almost disturbing that she chose to wear a constant reminder of her own isolation. Was it some form of gloomy statement, a lifestyle declaration? She obviously regarded it as an unavoidable fate and just succumbed to it; Katuri didn't believe she would ever have a chance of finding someone to share her life with.

Was the bracelet some kind of stopper for her hope? Whenever she started to believe things could change, all it took was a glance at this word, and she could just give up trying. Reed couldn't accept that such a young, caring, smart, and resourceful girl thought she would be alone for the rest of her days. She deserved the best, and that was what Reed hoped to offer her.

He came up with a certain idea and asked Gurak, "Could you do something for me? A copper bracelet and an inscription in orcish but with one word… ‘loved’?" Reed winced, expecting a mocking response from the blacksmith.

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