<div class="floatright">(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/be/14/ca/be14cafdea164d83f9fe502bfc695c52.jpg)</div><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">Hugh Longfellow</span></strong></span><br/>Character Sheet (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2494367)<br/>Tinker's Fancy<br/><br/>Hugh had been to the Swallowtail Festival as a child, but life was hard for Varisian children then as it is now.  The first year, when Hugh was but four summers, he had been tasked by the Family to beg on the streets.  As he grew older, an older Varisian mentored him to become a pickpocket, and he'd wade into the thick crowds, secreting all sorts of valuables from onlookers.  It was dangerous work, but preferable to becoming a professional beggar.  As boys turned to men, the family often crippled or blinded their beggars, youth giving way to sympathy.<br/><br/>Hugh feigned a smile as Foxglove railed on about the festival, and hid his disdain behind the rim of a tankard as he drank deeply from it.  He sighed happily as he set the first tankard down, feeling a sense of warmness overcome him, kind of like that one time he got stabbed.  He was jealous of the joys of gold.  The Swallowtail Festival was an unhappy memory to him.  Something he often had nightmares about.<br/><br/>They were joined first by Silar and then Shadi.  Silar had been... unpleasant company.  He was a charming fellow, but Varisians were always on their guard for men like him.  Men who were opportunists.  Shadi, on the other hand, was not so unpleasant.  She was easy to look at and fun to listen to.  She was friendly and chatty, and more than once Hugh had eavesdropped on her conversation with others, though he had found no justification to speak to her himself.  She was a priestess and a pilgrim; he was a no-good thief.  He had to keep his distance.  He was trouble, and kind people like her did not deserve trouble.<br/><br/>"It has been ages since I've been to the festival," Hugh answered honestly.   "Alas, I simply go where the road leads me."  And if he had been a master of his life, he certainly would not have returned to Sandpoint.  Not after what had happened with his family.<br/><br/><br/><br/>