<div align="center"><strong>Valdis</strong></div><br/>Valdis emerged into bright sunshine beneath a cloudless azure sky. The day promised to be sweltering. Already, he could feel the links of mail beneath his shirt growing warm.<br/><br/>Two roads converged at Haven: the Lost Road heading north and south, and the Dusk Road heading east and west. The village green lay where they met, an expanse of trimmed grass adjacent to a pond where festivals and fairs were held. Beside the green was the inn. The inn had no name, nor did it need one, for it was the only inn in the village. In the morning, the mayor could often be found beneath the shade of an oak tree at the edge of the green, greeting and chatting with the villagers.<br/><br/>Peleus's house lay to the northeast of the village, and Valdis soon reached the Lost Road and followed it south. Either side of the road was lined with houses, and not a one looked anything like the others. Haven was a pastiche of people from all over the kingdom and the architecture reflected that. A simple wood and white plaster house reminiscent of the town of Modesty sat beside a stone and timber house that would be at home in the town of Patience.<em>There</em>was a cabin built entirely of logs;<em>here</em>was a house made from sun-dried clay brick. Common was spoken in a half-dozen accents, and the smells of a dozen different styles of breakfast filled the air.<br/><br/>Mattheus the blacksmith looked up from the bellows and nodded as Valdis passed by. Lyla the apothecary greeted him from her garden, beneath the apple trees that the local children stole from in the fall. Camille was standing before his easel, capturing the morning sky upon his canvas with delicate strokes of his brush.<br/><br/>Valdis was rounding a bend in the road when two young women with aprons over their dresses emerged from a wood and plaster house. One had hair as pale as straw, the other as brown and glossy as chestnuts. Their expressions brightened when they noticed Valdis in the road. "Good morning," said the darker-haired sister, Thea.<br/><br/>"Good morning, Valdis," said Agnes. Flash of white teeth, twin flawless smiles. For a moment they held his gaze, and then they passed by him, traveling in the opposite direction down the road, towards the bakery that their aunt and uncle owned. From time to time as they walked, one or the other looked back at Valdis over her shoulder.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, a dark-haired young man sweeping the path that led to the two-story wooden house across the way glared balefully at Valdis. His name was Damian. He and his father were vintners, and until recently he had been favored with the sisters' smiles. Damian made no move to approach, nor did he speak, but the venom in his glare and the hand clenched into a fist at his side said all that needed to be said.<br/><br/>Valdis could now see far enough beyond the bend to notice that the mayor's usual bench was empty. If she wasn't there, then she was likely at the inn.