The Laghuls of Avredia

The legend spoke of three kingdoms coexisting on the fertile plains of Laudohs: The Manekeanhs, the Baringas and the Laghuls. It wasn’t enough for the three of them; day and night they fought to own the largest piece of earth. Countless lives were lost just to get a plot of land that will be stolen by another tomorrow. The masses had enough but the rulers couldn’t back down. If one dared to bow surely one or the two other kingdoms would eat them whole. The friction remained strong near the ever changing borders of the countries.

One day however, one Manekeanh woman spoke louder than the rest; “The kingdom of Baringa shall now reign over the peaks and the Laghuls dominate the waters” said Avredia “The plain will the land of the Manekeanhs and from then on, peace shall remain amongst us all. Follow my commands for I speak for the Sun, guardian of all that lives and grows.” Many were skeptical at first, thousands didn’t believe. Soon, however, all doubts were clear as this envoy of light raised her hands to the sky. As she did so her blond locks started glowing much like the day star.

“Why does the Sun-god wants us to go to the mountains? They are too cold, we will surely freeze to our death” said the Baringas. “And the seas are too strong, we will drown” added the Laghuls. “Worry not; you are blessed by the Great Star. Go forth and you’ll see. You Baringas, no mountains shall be too cold for your feet nor rock too heavy for you arms. As for you Laghuls, no stream shall be too strong for your legs or lakes too deep for your lungs.” With this blessing the two nations evolved: Baringas grew thick fur and padded feet and Laghuls developed flippers and larger lungs.

And just as announced by Avredia, peace reigned ever since, all three races were in harmony in their respective biomes.

“Do you believe these legends?” asked Nicolai as he looked at the statue of Avredia that stood in the middle of their lake. “Do you really think us and Baringas suddenly evolved like that? Just because one girl said so?”

Daejin was barely listening; he was building a hut for his husband and himself on the chores of a newly found lake. He was tired of living in the village up north, his father’s distasteful actions made him not really liked by the other townsmen. For Nic it was quite the opposite, he was well loved by most but he was just as happy to move away. Nicolai always loved to explore and Jin’s desire to fly out of the community’s nest was an excellent excuse to go out and see the world, even if it was only a tiny bit. It took them time and Daejin got hurt during the trip but they eventually found a place to settle down

“Hey! I'm talking to you!” the white-haired man said a little louder to get the attention of his boyfriend.

“Uh? Sorry… I was focused on getting this thing to stand straight. What did you say?”

“The legend of Avredia, do you believe in it?”

“I think some parts are true, not all of it. I doubt we suddenly morphed into what we are now species-wise… I don’t know if Avredia’s hair really glowed like the sun, but I think that at least her as a person existed and did help bring peace to our world. They might just have made the story more interesting and fantastic later… I don’t know… why?”

“Hmm, just asking out of curiosity… Looking at her statue make me think about it”

“Instead of daydreaming, could you help me finish the hut? The structure seems about stable enough so I’ll work on the walls. While I mix the mud and all that could you bring some rock to put over the base? Like big ones, about the size of your head.”

Nic flexed his arms; he may be smaller than Jin but he was still quite strong. “Yes sir!” he exclaimed as he ran over to dive into the lake. I would take time to bring rocks one by one from the bottom of the lake to their house, but it was worth it.

The younger man was already visualizing what their cozy nest was going to be like; an open hut with a view toward the lake with a soft wheat bed, a fire pit with meat roasting, a couple of log-benches to relax on after fish hunt, maybe have a drying rack too and if there’s big enough game in the nearby forest they could make a fur cover out of one. It would be the sweetest life surely, well for Laghuls standards at least; to any Manekeanh living like this would be worse than being a low-class peasant. Manekeanh have dreams of stone castles and piles of wealth while Laghuls enjoy the simple thing. As for Baringas, hunting the biggest beast is what forges their pride.

It took both of our protagonists many trips to get all the mud and rocks they needed to build their hut, but they eventually got there and it was in time for sun-down. It wasn’t how Nic dreamed it to be just yet, but it would be enough to keep them dry if it were to rain tonight.

The two sat on the floor inside their hut, tired of a day’s work.

“Tomorrow we need to work on a bed, sleeping right on the ground isn’t the comfiest” said Daejin “We could either gather leaves or see if there’s a village or town nearby we could trade fishes for some hay”

“Personally i’d prefer hay” Nic replied as he laid down next to his partner “Leaves get crunchy too fast and picking them takes way too long.”

“Well we have to do with what we got, if there’s no farm or settlements nearby we’ll have to make due.”

Nic let out a pouty sigh before scooting a bit to leave space for Jin to lay down as well. They cuddled against each other to keep themselves warm as they fell asleep.

The night was calm and quiet, the sound of the waves caressing the chores cradling the couple into dreams. One dreaming adventures, meeting new people, discovering new beasts while the other simply dreamed of tomorrow.

Daejin never was the one to fantasize, he only focuses on the now and the next but that isn’t without the past weighing on him from time to time. Nicolai with his daydreaming and hunger for adventure was the perfect match for him, always here to pull him out of his boring rut and in exchange Jin would prevent Nic from running blindly into dangerous and unreasonable situations. One provided excitement and new things to their lives while the other gave stability and safety.

The day came eventually, as usual the youngest of the duo was the first awake. Nicolai wasted no time to wake up his significant other, he was excited at the idea of visiting a Manekeanh town even if it wasn’t even guaranteed they would find one. The tall man slowly went up on his feet, his eyes still cloudy and full of sleep. He didn’t have the time to fully open his eyes that his boyfriend was already bombarding him with questions.

“Do you have any idea where there’s a settlement around here? Where should we head to first? Do you think we’ll find anything east? I have a hunch we should go east, I don’t know why but i do. What do you think? Do you think it will have a big castle?”

“Nic please, one question at once… Actually no questions at all for now” jin yawned “I'm not fully awake just yet”

“Sorry.. You know how I am when i'm excited” the white-haired man chuckled a tad embarrassed.

“Don’t worry about it, I just need my brain to catch up.”

After some stretching and a cup of water Jin was ready to make plans and hit the road. Before he even decided which direction to head toward he and his partner swam to the other side of the lake to look for environmental clues of possible towns or villages being nearby. This side was not surrounded with trees but led to an open field and would have a great view of the surrounding. Additionally, this being a lake it would surely attract anyone living nearby with the prospect of fished and drinkable water. Sure enough on the ground not too far was a few wheel tracks. 

“Would you look at that!” Nic exclaimed “Wheel tracks! Multiple of them! That must mean there’s some Manekeanh that came here recently! We should follow those.”

“Indeed. My bet is that there’s a town nearby and they come to this lake to fish, or maybe pray to the statue. Either way we got ourselves a trail to follow.” Jin added as he lifted his spear “Let’s get some fishes ready, if we can’t trade them for hay we’ll have a good meal out of them”

Nic nodded, however he did not fish with Jin. Instead as his husband did all the underwater work Nicolai weaved two big baskets out of large and long leaves. One would be to transport the fishes in and the other was for the hay, that way the hay would stay dry and not collect the fish odors and moisture if only one basket was used.

Once enough fishes were caught they put off of them in the designated basket, then both put a basket on their back using the straps Nic had carefully added. The shorter guy had the basket full of fish while the other had the empty one that would hopefully be full of hay on their way back.

With their provisions ready it was time to go. It took them about thirty minutes to be in view of the town the tracks lead to and an additional fifteen minutes to reach it.

It was a small settlement. There were no highwalls, front gate or a big castle watching over. Everything was in the open; farm plots here and there, cattle walking free and merchants yelling above all the noise to sell their goods. The duo followed the shouting, hoping a merchant would trade them hay for their fishes or at least anything of use.

Almost as soon as they stepped in the town they were noticed by the townsfolk. They didn’t look at them with a bad eye however, while they haven’t seen Laghuls in their town in a while, it wasn’t an unwelcome sight. They smiled and waved at the couple, the merchants called to come over even. Nic took a quick glance at the few salesmen and their stand before deciding which they’d talk to first. 

“Let’s see what the shepherd can give us” suggested Jin already walking over to his stand.

“Good day gentlemens! I have good quality wool in store! Take a look!”

“Would you be interested in trades?” asked the blue-haired guy pointing at his partner’s basket “We don’t have any Manekeanh currency but we have fresh fishes. We’re mostly looking for some hay or anything we could make a two-person bed out of...”

The herdsman ponders for a moment “I have a thick carpet worth 200 pias that would be just as if not more comfortable than hay. The fisherman sells his fish for 40 pias so let’s say you offer me a better price, like 35 pias, I’d take 6 of you fished for that carpet. How does that sound?”

“Let me see how much we got.” Nicolai answered. He took off his basket and started counting the fishes to his best ability without pulling them out so as to not dirty them up. “8, we got 8 of them.”

“Tell you what, I'll take all of them, give you the carpet and a small blanket. It’s not the best cover but well worth the extra 70 pias”

The two Laghuls looked at each other, non-verbally discussing the deal for a moment. Nic then stood up and handed the basket full of trouts to the herder who in return gave them a carpet and blanket as promised. 

The fisherman two stands over started chuckling “Me selling my fished for 40 pias? No sirey, I sell them for 50! So him pricing yours at 35 is a ripoff!”

“Mind your own business Elias! Your catch’s is was overpriced for what it is! It’s not even fresh!”

“IT IS FRESH HOW DARE YOU?!”

“I didn’t see you go fishing today nor yesterday so your fish is at least 3 days old!”

Not wanting to partake in the argument, the two laghuls slowly and quietly left the two merchants at their bickering. Neither of them really cared about the price of their fishes, they came here to get a bed to sleep on and they got it, it’s all that mattered to them. They weren’t quite out of town just yet however. The pair took a moment to look around and ask for some information about the region. When they did leave the two shopkeeps were still arguing and there weren’t any signs of them stopping soon.

On the way back Nicolai ended up taking the previously empty basket and put the cover in it while Jin carried the rolled up carpet that was far too stiff and heavy to fit in the basket under his arm. The carpet ended up being a bit bigger than the floor of the hut, it was mostly due to the fact that the carpet was square while the hut was circular. The carpet size wasn’t that much of an issue, a quick cut of the corners with a knife and it was a perfect fit. As for the cover, they simply rolled it up for now. Maybe they will use it as a pillow until winter-time where it will finally prove useful.

“Do you want to work on a fire-pit and eat grilled fish after or do you want to eat raw fish now and work after?” asked Jin

“Grilled fish sound nice” answered Nic enjoying the softness of the carpet “but I'm really hungry and don’t know if i have the energy to make a fire-pit nor the patience for the fish to cook.”

“Raw fish it is then!”

Jin stood up and grabbed his spear, ready to dive and get fishin’. Only one fish was enough for the both of them. Splitting it in the middle the lovers sat in front of the lake, their legs dangling in the water. As they ate a warm feeling washed over them, they had a new home and it felt great. It was a start of a new life, together, away from the old village drama