Wren
Ch. 2
Rich walked down the street as quickly as he could without attracting unwanted attention. He was trying to think through the hangover. Never had to go straight from The Ox to the university before. If I’m by the southern wall, and the university is in Montrose… shit. Maybe I should just ask someone for directions. He looked around for someone to ask, and found no options. There were plenty of people, but in Wrenfield only the beggars and the thieves had time to notice those unfortunate enough to find themselves needing directions; the former would only offer them in exchange for a donation, and the latter had entirely different things in mind. Rich knew from experience. He normally would have had no problem giving such a donation, but it seems the thief had taken off with what money he’d had on him as well. Or maybe someone had just pick-pocketed a passed out drunkard. That happened to him a lot.
He walked over to the side of the street, away from the crowds, to take a moment to calm his nerves. Getting away from the crowds and into the shade would help with his hangover, although the wound was another story. That would hurt no matter what he did. From his approximation the sun seemed to take up three-quarters of the sky, and the crowd seemed as loud as a dragon’s roar. I really shouldn’t drink so much. Or maybe I should just not get jumped. That seems more achievable.
While he was lost in thought, a woman bumped into him. The impact exacerbated his headache, and he clutched his head in pain. After a couple seconds he regained his composure and turned to confront the woman who bumped into him, but she was already gone. I may as well head back to my house. I can collect myself, and I know how to get to the university from there. Maybe do something about this hangover too.He took a second to close his eyes and try to abate the pain. You can do this. You don’t need to rely on magic. You’ve already lost fifteen damn years to it, and you won’t lose another damn second. But by the time he finished giving himself a pep talk, he’d already used magic to soothe the pain. What’s one more day?