dldnjstjr
The Shrubber
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2006
- Messages
- 1,681
The Cakefarmer of the West
It was a fine day in Vilnius. Birds were chirping in the trees, soft yet refreshing zephyr blew from the beach cooling the sweats off Edward's brows. It was one of the rather cooler days in late August, but the sun's harsh heat seemed to remain for few more weeks into September.
Edward was busy plowing the land near his small abode off the shores. He had just arrived at Vilnius only a month before, and spent most of his money in obtaining this piece of land and a small house, just enough for himself and Johanna. He planned to live a simple life, but his so-called "noble" hands were not having a swell time adjusting to the conditions of rural life. He scratched his head at the irony of the thought for a moment.
The sun was still high in the sky, and Edward had wanted to finish plowing the field before dinner: pork and corn salad. He was living very modestly, compared to his dinners during his time in Vestlund, but he had no qualms about it. Someone had said, "love can conquer all", and Edward found it truer than he had ever before. But this living style, was too much a luxury to Johanna, who was the third daughter of a carpenter. She had none too much to live with, nor much to eat either, and idea of having meat for dinner everyday was completely irresponsible to her. Yet, she didn't protest when they had beef stew a day before.
Edward didn't bring a fortune with him whe they had fled Vestlund few weeks earlier, but he claimed that he had brought enough. By enough, Johanna had no idea how much, for she hadn't seen much money during her time in Vestlund anyways, but her faith in him was absolute. She was only happy that they were together. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but feel sorry for Edward for leaving his parents and life as a noble back in their homeland. She didn't have much sense of patriotism, but Edward did. He had always wanted to become a navy officer and end the Sverland's threat once and for all, for that was his fantasy, and indeed, leaving Vestlund was hard for him in the beginning. He had assured Johanna that he was happy with the decisions he had made, but she still felt that Edward missed his previous life surrounded by nobles, high government officials, royalties, pretty ladies, and admiration by many. And... his parents.
His parents were James and Florence Verstanheim were both from a noble family, perhaps but nobler than most nobles. The ancient history dates Verstanheim family back to the time when Sverland and Vestlund were fiercly at war with each other. Gideon Verstanheim, a common soldier in Vestlund Army, defended the King of Vestlund to his death, ending up killing fifteen Sverland's assailers by himself, and the Kind had made Verstanheim family noble, and provided the upbringings of Gideon Verstanheim's descendants. To this day, Verstanheim family had the trust of the present King and unmatched influence in northern region of Vestlund.
Edward met Johanna when he was a student in Royal College of Vestlund in a way he'd like to call it fate. And indeed, meeting randomly in the street was highly unlikely, but they had. One day, Edward was returning to his dorm after class, but his friends had persuaded him to go to a party at Felix Eisen's place. When they were riding to the mansion, suddenly, a girl appeared in front of the carriage. Forunately, the driver had managed to stop the horses at once, so the girl was unharmed, but she was frightened very much, and had dropped her jar of flour, which was her pay for the day of service at local merchant's. His friends jeered at and blamed her for their inconvenience, but Edward got out, helped her up, and took her home. It wasn't anything like that he fell in love with her that moment, but he was simply disgusted at the attitudes of his friends, and in order to silently protest their aloofness, he had helped her.
Few days later, the girl came to the Royal College looking for him to repay the debt. At first, Edward refused the payment, but the insistence of the girl compelled him to at least go to a dinner with her father. At the dinner, Edward was shocked to see the destitution, relatively speaking, compared to the lifestyle he was used to, of the common people and vowed to help the girl's family out, whom he was told by her father to be named Johanna. The love came later, Edward had told Johanna once, not at that point either. They spent many hours together, doing miscelleneous things, and as their friendship grew, so did their love. And as Doctor Hayden had once said in his lecture, as random fact of the day, a man couldn't be friend with a girl without a romantic interest. How true the Magister was!
However, their love was not to be, at least in face of his parents. As soon as he turned 19, a legal age of adulthood in Vestlund, he announced his intention to marry Johanna to his parents. But his parents had separate arrangement in their minds. They had wanted Edward to marry Lord Bauron's daughter, Elena. Of course, Edward protested, but his parents were relentless in their compulsion. They had tried to persuade him, rebuke him, guilt him, and every possible things to make him change his mind, but like his parents, Edward was unwilling to change his mind to marry Johanna.
Finally, his parents decided that Johanna was detrimental to their son's future, and hired a professional assassin to "take care of her". When Johanna was returning home from a day's work at the merchant's, she noticed that she was being followed by a strange man. At once, she changed her destination to the vestlund College, to Edward. It was when she thought she had managed to lose the assassin in the labrynth, or so it seemed to her, of the college, she was confronted by the very man she was avoiding. He drew his knife very quietly, and approached her with menacing grace, when Edward found her. He was told by his classmate that Johanna was on campus and rushed off to see her at once.
Edward had no weapon, but he had his brain. He, at once, knew that the assassin was hired by his parents, and told the assassin that he will return home and obey his parents if he didn't kill her. When the assassin scoffed and left his guard, Edward signaled Johanna to get out of the way, and engaged in melee with the assassin. But he was no match for the assassin. Right before he was going to be stabbed, the assassin fell dead, at the astonishment of Edward. Professor Hayden, who heard a scream, rushed to the scene to save the day with his friend named Raith Renson. Professor Hayden wasn't a fighter either, but his friend was the one who killed the assassin. Professor Hayden entrusted Edward and Johanna to his friend, and they all went to spend the night with a man named Raith Renson.
The next day, Edward was enraged at his parents and decided to leave Vestlund to a place where he could live with Johanna without anyone's disapproval. Hayden had anticipated this and warned Renson to return Edward home no matter what, but Renson had his agenda ("Because you wanted to," revealed Raith Renson when Edward asked him at Vilnius port).
Raith Renson, also a good friend of Johann Gestring, got a sum of money from both Hayden (turns out, Hayden later agreed with Renson) and Gestring, and gave it to Edward to start a new life elsewhere.
The couple stayed with Raith Renson for awhile, and after few months of Hayden's death, they embarked on the steamboat Edward had made toward Rossovy. But when they had arrived at Vilnius port, Raith Renson gave them a piece of paper, hastily written, saying, "Good luck in Rossovy," signed by Isaac Hayden. Raith, Edward, and Johanna stayed their first night in Rossovy at some inn, and Edward heard Raith talking with another man in a room, with great familiarity, from his room. Could that have been Isaac Hayden? He never found out, but Raith was gone the next morning as well. He wasn't sure on what to do next. How would he live in a strange land? What could he do? He could be a hunter. He could be a cakefarmer (he heard from Raith that there were facinating people in the wonderful land of the east who farmed cakes during his voyage). Or He could be a tutor.
He was on his own. No, he was with Johanna, both eager to star a new life now as lovers.
"Well, back to work," sighed Edward, as he resumed his plowing, looking forward to his dinner in few hours.
It was a fine day in Vilnius. Birds were chirping in the trees, soft yet refreshing zephyr blew from the beach cooling the sweats off Edward's brows. It was one of the rather cooler days in late August, but the sun's harsh heat seemed to remain for few more weeks into September.
Edward was busy plowing the land near his small abode off the shores. He had just arrived at Vilnius only a month before, and spent most of his money in obtaining this piece of land and a small house, just enough for himself and Johanna. He planned to live a simple life, but his so-called "noble" hands were not having a swell time adjusting to the conditions of rural life. He scratched his head at the irony of the thought for a moment.
The sun was still high in the sky, and Edward had wanted to finish plowing the field before dinner: pork and corn salad. He was living very modestly, compared to his dinners during his time in Vestlund, but he had no qualms about it. Someone had said, "love can conquer all", and Edward found it truer than he had ever before. But this living style, was too much a luxury to Johanna, who was the third daughter of a carpenter. She had none too much to live with, nor much to eat either, and idea of having meat for dinner everyday was completely irresponsible to her. Yet, she didn't protest when they had beef stew a day before.
Edward didn't bring a fortune with him whe they had fled Vestlund few weeks earlier, but he claimed that he had brought enough. By enough, Johanna had no idea how much, for she hadn't seen much money during her time in Vestlund anyways, but her faith in him was absolute. She was only happy that they were together. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but feel sorry for Edward for leaving his parents and life as a noble back in their homeland. She didn't have much sense of patriotism, but Edward did. He had always wanted to become a navy officer and end the Sverland's threat once and for all, for that was his fantasy, and indeed, leaving Vestlund was hard for him in the beginning. He had assured Johanna that he was happy with the decisions he had made, but she still felt that Edward missed his previous life surrounded by nobles, high government officials, royalties, pretty ladies, and admiration by many. And... his parents.
His parents were James and Florence Verstanheim were both from a noble family, perhaps but nobler than most nobles. The ancient history dates Verstanheim family back to the time when Sverland and Vestlund were fiercly at war with each other. Gideon Verstanheim, a common soldier in Vestlund Army, defended the King of Vestlund to his death, ending up killing fifteen Sverland's assailers by himself, and the Kind had made Verstanheim family noble, and provided the upbringings of Gideon Verstanheim's descendants. To this day, Verstanheim family had the trust of the present King and unmatched influence in northern region of Vestlund.
Edward met Johanna when he was a student in Royal College of Vestlund in a way he'd like to call it fate. And indeed, meeting randomly in the street was highly unlikely, but they had. One day, Edward was returning to his dorm after class, but his friends had persuaded him to go to a party at Felix Eisen's place. When they were riding to the mansion, suddenly, a girl appeared in front of the carriage. Forunately, the driver had managed to stop the horses at once, so the girl was unharmed, but she was frightened very much, and had dropped her jar of flour, which was her pay for the day of service at local merchant's. His friends jeered at and blamed her for their inconvenience, but Edward got out, helped her up, and took her home. It wasn't anything like that he fell in love with her that moment, but he was simply disgusted at the attitudes of his friends, and in order to silently protest their aloofness, he had helped her.
Few days later, the girl came to the Royal College looking for him to repay the debt. At first, Edward refused the payment, but the insistence of the girl compelled him to at least go to a dinner with her father. At the dinner, Edward was shocked to see the destitution, relatively speaking, compared to the lifestyle he was used to, of the common people and vowed to help the girl's family out, whom he was told by her father to be named Johanna. The love came later, Edward had told Johanna once, not at that point either. They spent many hours together, doing miscelleneous things, and as their friendship grew, so did their love. And as Doctor Hayden had once said in his lecture, as random fact of the day, a man couldn't be friend with a girl without a romantic interest. How true the Magister was!
However, their love was not to be, at least in face of his parents. As soon as he turned 19, a legal age of adulthood in Vestlund, he announced his intention to marry Johanna to his parents. But his parents had separate arrangement in their minds. They had wanted Edward to marry Lord Bauron's daughter, Elena. Of course, Edward protested, but his parents were relentless in their compulsion. They had tried to persuade him, rebuke him, guilt him, and every possible things to make him change his mind, but like his parents, Edward was unwilling to change his mind to marry Johanna.
Finally, his parents decided that Johanna was detrimental to their son's future, and hired a professional assassin to "take care of her". When Johanna was returning home from a day's work at the merchant's, she noticed that she was being followed by a strange man. At once, she changed her destination to the vestlund College, to Edward. It was when she thought she had managed to lose the assassin in the labrynth, or so it seemed to her, of the college, she was confronted by the very man she was avoiding. He drew his knife very quietly, and approached her with menacing grace, when Edward found her. He was told by his classmate that Johanna was on campus and rushed off to see her at once.
Edward had no weapon, but he had his brain. He, at once, knew that the assassin was hired by his parents, and told the assassin that he will return home and obey his parents if he didn't kill her. When the assassin scoffed and left his guard, Edward signaled Johanna to get out of the way, and engaged in melee with the assassin. But he was no match for the assassin. Right before he was going to be stabbed, the assassin fell dead, at the astonishment of Edward. Professor Hayden, who heard a scream, rushed to the scene to save the day with his friend named Raith Renson. Professor Hayden wasn't a fighter either, but his friend was the one who killed the assassin. Professor Hayden entrusted Edward and Johanna to his friend, and they all went to spend the night with a man named Raith Renson.
The next day, Edward was enraged at his parents and decided to leave Vestlund to a place where he could live with Johanna without anyone's disapproval. Hayden had anticipated this and warned Renson to return Edward home no matter what, but Renson had his agenda ("Because you wanted to," revealed Raith Renson when Edward asked him at Vilnius port).
Raith Renson, also a good friend of Johann Gestring, got a sum of money from both Hayden (turns out, Hayden later agreed with Renson) and Gestring, and gave it to Edward to start a new life elsewhere.
The couple stayed with Raith Renson for awhile, and after few months of Hayden's death, they embarked on the steamboat Edward had made toward Rossovy. But when they had arrived at Vilnius port, Raith Renson gave them a piece of paper, hastily written, saying, "Good luck in Rossovy," signed by Isaac Hayden. Raith, Edward, and Johanna stayed their first night in Rossovy at some inn, and Edward heard Raith talking with another man in a room, with great familiarity, from his room. Could that have been Isaac Hayden? He never found out, but Raith was gone the next morning as well. He wasn't sure on what to do next. How would he live in a strange land? What could he do? He could be a hunter. He could be a cakefarmer (he heard from Raith that there were facinating people in the wonderful land of the east who farmed cakes during his voyage). Or He could be a tutor.
He was on his own. No, he was with Johanna, both eager to star a new life now as lovers.
"Well, back to work," sighed Edward, as he resumed his plowing, looking forward to his dinner in few hours.
