Nieven had received notice that a new village was being constructed and needed an ample amount of hands to finish it, "Why this is an obvious job for me", he thought as he read the poster, "This is a great opportunity to spread my name throughout the lands, why it's marvelous I shall bless the workers with my fair appearance that should be enough to get them by. I shall even attempt to help them in the field if need be, supervising".



He made the walk there not before stopping by a small cafe taking a drink of some chamomile tea and a biscuit and doing some light reading, causing him to show up a few minutes late to the specified time. He arrived in full flair and walked past the workers and straight to the foreman.



"Hello there good sir, It is I the great Nieven Oakenthorn, you've probably heard of me before I assume considering how great I am?".



The foreman sighs and says, "Nope, haven't heard of ya, what are you here for?".



Nieven chuckles, "Ah no worries if you haven't heard of my name you will now etch it into your mind when I become the greatest in Charon, even more than I am now. I have arrived to help you and your people finish out the houses for the common folk as is my noble duty even if I am not a noble anymore, not yet at least''.



The foreman scoffs, "Alright kid take this", hands him a hammer and nails, "Go over there and help that one-armed guy working on a house by himself".



Nieven reels in disgust but pushes forward putting on his best smile, "Of course, I'll go to work right away", and walks towards Everett with a disgusted scowl, "Damn that Buffon not knowing how to use my incredibleness".

He then stands across from Everett waving and says, "Hello there I was told to help you".

---

Quest Name: Hearth and Home

Participants: Two or more

Location: Dragon's Cradle, (Hearthside Village)

Post Requirements: 4 post per person, 200 words per post

Reward: +1 Renown

Description: A new village is being constructed on the border between Dragon's Cradle and Zeinav and the region is in need of helping hands. Due to the increased flow of people fleeing the Ash Lands, Dragon's Cradle has become a hub for refugees and has decided to put their resources to good use, building a new village to further increase the region's economy and social standing with their neighbors to the south. An open call has been issued to anyone who would like to help out. Things like constructing buildings, stables or fences, the digging of trenches or wells and collecting supplies like lumber or food are all task that are in need of assistance. Whatever you have to offer, Hearthside Village will accept!

Everett is already working away when the extravagantly dressed elf approaches him from across what will eventually be a road. The far less eye-catching half-elf is kneeling over a few boards and a nail that he has held between his bare toes, a hammer in his one free hand, and his boot slumped on the ground next to him. Being able to build anything with only one hand required some unorthodox techniques. So far he has managed to avoid smashing his toes while nailing some pieces together that will eventually need to be hoisted up onto the roof of the home he's slowly working away at. 

He looks up at Nieven's greeting. He offers the man a friendly smile. "Oh, great! Uh." He looks around for a task Nieven to start with. "Well, there's a half-finished doorframe over there. We need to make some window frames. Or if you want to work on the floor, you can do that." 

It's pretty obvious there are plenty of jobs to work on, though it's a bit odd that Everett seems to be working on things on his own while there are whole teams putting houses together just down the road. It's almost like the foreman intentionally put them together for one reason or another. Maybe because what Everett has so far managed to build is serviceable at best. A carpenter he is not. 

"I'm a bit slow, but if you want to take over hammering I could work on cutting pieces instead?" He suggests. Probably best if they leverage their strengths if it is just going to be them working away at this.

Everett isn't really sure why more hands haven't been sent this way, but he suspects the snide remarks and snickers from the other workers towards him might have something to do with it. It's nothing he's not used to since he's been around a lot of sailors. They're all too keen to make fun of his situation up until he proves he actually can carry his own weight. 

He finishes nailing down what he was working on, careful not to accidentally nail his foot to the board in the process, before he gets up and looks back at Nieven. He tucks the hammer under his stumpy arm then extends his hand to the man.

"Name's Everett, nice to be working with you."

Nieven peers over towards the door frame with a bit of hesitance as he nervously thinks, “Door Frame? Window Frames? Floor? Goodness, what is this torture? What manner of grueling grunt work do they think of making us do?” still giving Everett a look of excited not wanting to show how worked up he’s getting at the thought of actually doing any work.



He clasps his hands together as he responds, “No worry at all my dearest friend I am indeed an excellent hammerer-er” walking a foot forward before reeling back in shock at seeing the man just casually nail his foot.

“Goodness are you okay?”, at the back of his mind he is begging to assess how truly dangerous this whole thing would be.

First, he’d actually have to be doing work and now his beautiful life and well-being could be in danger, “How much is my reputation worth?”, he pondered for a second before steeling himself, “A LOT”, and clasped Everett’s sweaty gross hand with his own.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Sir Everett, my name is Nieven Oakenthorn as you’ve probably already heard and I look forward to working with you”, he immediately pulls his hand back and starts wiping it on his shoulder trying to get any trace of the other man’s icky sweat off of his hand smiling as he does so.



After he finishes and makes sure his hand is not sweaty and icky anymore he smiles politely, “So what should we work on first? Door Frame? Windowframe? Floor? Personal Morale? I’ve never actually done any construction in my entire life before this”.

"Torture...?" Everett tilts his head, confused at Nieven's remarks. "It's just parts of a house."

The more Nieven complains the more confused the half-elf is. He can't help but question what the man was doing here if he didn't expect to work and get his hands dirty. "Didn't you volunteer for this?" he wants to ask, but he refrains from voicing it in case the elf gets offended. He seems the type to take any personal slight far too seriously. 

"I'm fine," he assures the man. "I didn't hit myself."

This man just continues to perplex him as he speaks about himself, insinuating he has some fame, or perhaps, infamy.

"Do you...have a reputation?" He asks with a raised eyebrow, but he almost wishes he hadn't as he starts to catch on to what kind of person Nieven is. "I haven't heard, but it's still nice to meet you."

As tempting as it might be to call Nieven out for his attitude, Everett decides it's counterproductive. Better to let bygones be bygones, no harm is being done. Course no progress is either, but maybe the elf will surprise him, they have only just met after all. 

"Ah, that might be a problem." He thinks for a moment, considering what would be the best way to come up with something Nieven might actually want to do. "Well, what are your strengths?"

“Great I’m glad to hear that you are alright, friend Everett, goes to show how important safety is around here isn’t it”, Nieven says politely his worry about the other man quickly dissipating.



“Yes, I do actually”, he responds to his question, “I come from a very important noble family back in Moonglade, the Crescent Isles specifically. The Oakenthorn’s a very prestigious and well-known house that I was born into. I by the very nature of being born into that type of family have grown accustomed to having people just praise and recognize me off my name alone. But alas I am now removed from that life through my own decision and am now just an incredibly handsome and humble adventurer”.



Nieven then places his hands over his chin as he thinks about all of the various ways he is amazing that would be important for this arduous task, “Well aside from being incredibly beautiful, charming, just generally pretty incredible I can manipulate weather slightly, I am fairly physically fit, I have lived on a pirate ship and was a vice-commander for what was it? For six or seven years, I was a great supervisor. I was often tasked with the difficult responsibility of overlooking my fellow apprentice pirates doing hard work".

"Oh." Everett does his best to keep from sounding too despondent. "Yes, you seem very humble."

He lists to Nieven wax about his accolades, noble upbringing, and choice to pursue independence. At least he could commend the man on setting out on his own to experience the real world and hopefully get his ego in check, though it doesn't seem like reality has hit him yet. 

Then Nieven speaks about his leadership qualities. Everett feels himself inadvertently bristle at the mention of pirates. He's not sure why. But he has to put in a conscious effort not to let it show or act differently towards Nieven. After all, how could he explain such a reaction as being reasonable when he has no idea why it's happening?

He decides instead to do a bit of prying. Maybe something else Nieven says will help him understand why he's feeling how he is.  

"You were a pirate?" He asks as he goes back to work. "What made you stop?"

While Nieven responds, he takes the piece he had nailed together and hauls it over next to the wall of the building. Not expecting any actual assistance from Nieven at this point, he awkwardly lifts the piece into a hole meant to hold a window frame which appears to be the piece he has finished to the best of his ability. 

“Why to thank you for noticing, I am pretty humble”, the Sylvan elf chuckles, not seeing Everett’s sarcasm at all.



Nieven sits down on a pile of wood and plays with his hair as he speaks, “Yes I was, I served as Vice-Commander on the Third Ship of the Black Dragon Pirates. My epithet was Dragon Prince of Pride Nieven, I even had a bounty from the government for my head for a while before my father was able to clear it up and make it disappear. As for what made me stop, it wasn’t me it was that man’s stupid and dumb decision…”, he pauses for a minute running his hands through his hair as he remembers how it all ended before taking a deep breath and speaking back up, “We were a powerful crew sailing around the sea, crushing pirates who stepped to us, the occasional stealing, finding hidden treasure. I hated it at first. My mom just kind of dropped me on the crew and left me there to toughen me up I suppose. It was horrible, they were so rude and uncouth but if I'm going, to be honest here, it was the best time of my entire life. Those people, those men are the only family I’ve ever really known. People say that we were just beaten by another crew and died in the process but that’s not true. One day my captain came up to all the vice-commanders. We had all served as apprentice pirates and were all very close and rose the ranks together. He told us that we were all to leave the crew and stay behind in the city we were staying at. He told us he and the crew were going to fight a tough battle and in case of something bad happening didn’t want us to tag along for it. I didn’t think much of it and followed orders although there was a lot of argument among us about it”.



He then starts choking back tears thinking about how much he misses his old family, “We all received one final mental widespread message from our captain, a final goodbye before suddenly he was gone. When we tracked down his ship and looked into the sea all we were able to find was our ships destroyed without a trace of a single body. In all certain terms, they were annihilated and destroyed somehow I can’t even understand how. All I know is that they're gone now forever I suppose”.



He then pauses covering his face and shielding it from view as he starts crying, after a couple of minutes he dries his eyes with his chest handkerchief.



“I was and still am devastated, how are you supposed to live life normally pretending everything is going to be okay when the only people who cared for you truly and mattered to you are gone?”.

Everett listens to Nieven's boisterous tale while he sets the window frame in place and gets it wedged in enough to stick. 

"You don't have to pretend," he replies, eyes finally meeting Nieven's with a look of genuine sympathy. "If you are hurting, let it show. People respond to being genuine, and while it's a risk to trust new people, if you never take that risk then you'll never find new people to lean on when you need to."

He's of course speaking from experience. The kindness and generosity complete strangers have shown him in the past few weeks since he lost all memory of who he was or where he came from has been astounding and humbling. He owes his life to so many people. That's part of the reason he's out here trying to help. Sure, the coin doesn't hurt, but he might as well pay forward the good deeds of others in any way he can, right?

Fishing a few nails from his pocket, he gets a few in just to make sure the window frame doesn't topple out. It's definitely a challenge to nail things with only one hand available to hold things, but he manages to do a serviceable job. Someone with more carpentry skills would likely cringe at the crooked nails and dented wood faces. It's better than nothing for the time being. 

Once he's done, he stretches his back and looks over at Nieven again. "I'm sorry for your loss. Truly. It sounds like they were very important family to you. Though, maybe there's a chance they survived? Mysterious things happen at sea all the time."

Something about that statement sits heavy with him. Like there was more truth to those words than just merely comfort. But he's fairly certain he has never run across the pirates Nieven speaks of. He certainly hasn't been part of any conflicts out at sea involving the sinking of entire fleets...

No...

No, that's...that's wrong...isn't it?

A sharp pang of pain strikes his brain. He drops his hammer on the ground, nearly letting it land on his toe as he presses his palm against the side of his head. There's a visible grimmace on his face before it passes and he blinks and looks around as if regaining his bearings on where he is and what he is doing. He looks down at the hammer on the ground. 

"Oops, nearly dropped that on my foot." He picks it up as if nothing weird just happened.

Nieven, still trying to calming down after crying, says, “Of course, I have to pretend to be your dearest friend. After all, who wants to feel like this? This overwhelming pain in my heart is still fresh and if I keep on hurting and letting it show what will happen then? After all, I do have a reputation to uphold. I can't simply put my life on pause to weep forever. It would make my skin wrinkly and I can’t have that. It hurts and is the most devastating thing that I have ever lived through. One day they were here and the next they’ve been lost to the sea's tides”, he shakes his head, focusing back and putting on a smile.



“I’m fairly sure they’re gone, trust me we spent almost a month just searching for swimming in the Luna Sea until we were sure there was no trace. If they’re alive out there then that gives me greater concern for what in the world is going on. That shipwreck we found was totaled as if something beyond comprehension hit it. I don't know of any cannonballs or weaponry that could’ve done something like that. I appreciate your concern. It does mean a lot to me. I'm thankful that you turned out not just to be super strong and capable but also very kind”.



He then immediately panics as he sees Everett drop his hammer and hold his head until he gets up from where he says and rushes over to him.



“Are you alright? Is something wrong? Please tell me dearest friend, come sit down and we must take a look at what's wrong. Do you want me to get you a cold towel or some water friend? Oh goodness it appears you overworked yourself friend here, give me that I can try to help finish this while you take a moment to rest”, he says patting the man on the back before holding his hand out to take the hammer from him with hesitance.

"I'd rather you not force yourself to pretend to be my friend," he replies a little on the blunt side. "If friendship is something you're looking for...well, we can see if that happens eventually." 

Nieven's recollection of what happened to his previous crew is hard to listen to. Something about it is really unpleasant.

"Maybe they weren't fighting against another ship," he nearly mutters aloud before the pain strikes his head. 

After he's recovered and Nieven starts fussing over him, Everett gives an awkward smile. "Oh, uh, I'm fine." The words are meant to reassure the elf, but there's some clear confusion on Everett's face as to why Nieven is suddenly be his side and showing concern in the first place. 

Did he do something weird aside from just dropping the hammer? He can be pretty clumsy sometimes. 

"Maybe a break isn't a bad idea."

It's more for Nieven's sake than his own. He doesn't like having people worry about him, so if taking a break will put Nieven's mind at ease then he won't argue. Plus it's a bit touching that Nieven is even offering to help finish the work. Everett wasn't yet convinced that the man had any intentions of picking up at hammer at all. 

He hands the mallet to Nieven. "Thank you." Then he goes and sits down on a stool that is backed against the side of one of the building's new walls. 

Nieven quickly straightens as the man makes him realize he was being too honest, to desperate great heavens was he just vulnerable? Egad how uncouth of him to do, why that shall never happen again he swears to himself before speaking.



“Ahahaha yes you are correct my apologies dear stranger I forgot that we are not friends. Sorry, it felt like I had known you for a while but alas you are correct friendship is earned not given. To be friends with such a beautiful person as myself requires only the best people”, he says, holding his face with a snobbish look.



He returns to his normal self not wanting to open up or act like he truly cared; he simply smiled politely and motioned the other man to sit. He took the man’s mallet and looked at it curiously, not understanding what to do with it. He then stood trying to remember how his brother Javal had used it. He then grabbed a nail from the pile Everett was using and looked at it as well, a little lost at what to do.



He then placed it against where it needed to be hammered and proceeded to use the mallet the wrong way using the buttt of it to hammer the nail in. He smiles proud of himself and proceeds to successfully use the butt of the mallet to nail the other two well enough.



He chuckles haughtily , “Huzzah I am but a natural at this although it may be incredibly exhausting and tiring I can understand now the feeling of success in doing a task as hard as this”.

Everett is about to tell Nieven not to worry when the elf goes on to state that only the best people can be friends with them. His expression drops to looking unimpressed without him meaning to, but such a vain and shallow statement said with such blunt bravado just caught him completely off guard. 

He appreciates Nieven being willing to help out with the work, that is until he watches the man start putting nails with the mallet's handle rather than its head. 

"That's not..."

Everett stops himself. Was it worth it to correct the man on how to properly use a hammer? Probably not. Nieven was clearly out of his element and not necessarily sincere in being here to do hard work. How this man survives in the real world must be one of Charon's best-held mysteries.

Still, he wouldn't discourage the man from trying. There isn't too much harm he can do and any crooked nails can be just pulled out and replaced later anyway. 

"You're doing great."

A few nearby workers snicker at the pair's expense but the half-elf pays them no mind. He decides to put his boot back on just in case Nieven's grip on the hammer slips and his exposed toes end up in the line of fire. 

"So, Nieven, do you plan on forming your own crew one day? Or are you going to take your life in a different direction?"

Nieven smiles at the man proud of his work as he stops for a moment to catch his breath, “Good heavens Everett I truly don’t understand how people do this all day, I feel so exhausted already”.



He does not catch the snickering of the other workers too enthused in his world to care about the presence of others. He then picks up another nail from the box on the ground and places it in the correct spot before hammering it in with the mallet’s handle once more. He then takes a step back to admire his work grinning from ear to ear before working on another one.



He then stops after finishing hammering in another one to respond to Everett’s query, “Hm, well I did think about pursuing the pirate’s life once more after that but I don’t know I don’t like the idea of running away from the authorities and being a pirate is just icky sometimes. What I want to do right now is to become a noble and make my own business like my father but do it way better than that pathetic stupid old man”.



He clenches his fists as he remembers how he was simply forgotten about and mistreated at his father's hand forcing himself to leave and abandon his titles.



“I would like to create a very large and profitable company. I like the art of business. It interests me. However, I have been going on adventures since those seem like good fun and a great way for me to increase my already incredible name out there. What about you Everett, what's the plan for you?”.

"The more you do it the easier it gets. Just takes time." 

Time that he's not sure Nieven has any intent in actually taking. Though maybe he isn't giving the elf enough credit. It sounds like, despite evidence to the contrary, he has faced a fair amount of adversity recently. He certainly isn't hiding his disdain for his father, so Everett can only assume home life was pretty complicated. It'd explain the pirate stuff. Plenty of runaways get picked up by criminals for better or worse.  

"I don't really have any plans...it's hard to make plans for the future when you don't know what could pop-up from your past." Everett realizes that Nieven doesn't have any context for such comments. "Sorry, uh, it's kinda of awkward to admit to but I lost most of my memories fairly recently. It's been inconvenient." 

He's not expecting Nieven to particularly care about his personal situation, but saying it out loud does help him cope with it in a way. Sometimes things just don't feel particularly real to him. Like he's in a dream that resembles reality but is just slightly off or different in unexpected ways. It's hard to explain, and he imagines it is just as hard for someone else to relate. His situation isn't particularly common judging by how others have reacted to his explanations. 

“I’m sure practice makes perfect and all that but I do not plan on doing it for long. Although I will say work like this is nice I can imagine finding fulfillment in it and it does make me feel accomplished but I wouldn’t want to do this another time if I don’t have to”, the man says looking at Everett.



Nieven turns his head as he listens to the stranger’s plight only managing to let out a simple “Oh” as he takes a moment to think about it.



“So Everett you have not a single memory of your past at all? Why that’s absurdly horrible I’m sorry to hear that I can imagine it causes you anguish. If you have no memories, how are you even here? Where did you awaken? How are you even able to use a mallet in such a skillful way?”.



He was about to continue with his barrage of questions but decided to stop and wait for the other man to respond. He doesn’t want to overwhelm the fellow because who’d finish the job then that and he was starting to enjoy the other fellow’s company as much as he’d hate to admit.