Rethi was quick on his feet, probably used to roaming about for long distances each day. I have no idea where we were going, just that we were going in the vague direction of the stores I had seen on my way into town

The little malnourished boy put me to shame in comparison. I was huffing and puffing after ten minutes, trying to keep up with his expert navigation. After we walked between two houses for the third time, constantly evading the roads that the houses faced onto—most of which lead toward a main one that parted the town in half. I finally managed to pipe up, still struggling to catch my breath.

“Rethi…” I huffed, stopping behind him. When he realised that I wasn’t following right on his heels anymore, he turned around, somewhat confused.

“What are you doing? We need to go see Master Gram.” He hurried me along, but I didn’t move.

“Why are we walking between houses like this? Couldn’t we just follow the main roads?” I said. I’ll admit, I was a little bit frustrated. Walking between the houses was hard work, usually it involved jumping fences or avoiding other obstacles. Luckily, there wasn’t anyone inside the houses, but it was unlikely that every single house was going to be entirely empty. At some point there was going be someone who sees us technically trespassing on their property, and I didn’t want that on my name.

Rethi looked at me, he started to say something, but stopped himself—instead just resorting to looking down at the ground beneath his feet. I couldn’t quite tell if he was embarrassed, or some other emotion. I can’t say I understood at all, to be perfectly honest.

“Rethi, is it okay if we go by the main roads instead?” I asked him tentatively, trying desperately to sound as calming as I could. He looked up at me, eyes like a kicked dog, then nodded and quietly moved out to the main road and started to walk—albeit slower.

We walked for a long time until we got to anywhere of importance. The houses started to get a little nicer as we moved into the heart of the town, closer to where the storefronts were. Rethi was now very quiet, and just as careful. I couldn’t tell what it was that made him change so quickly—from the sprightly young boy to this strange, hollow thing that used to be Rethi. His dirty hair—which I thought was sandy blonde but couldn’t quite tell—was covering most of his face now. It was long and unwashed, framing his slightly tanned skin which was surprisingly quite clean.

There were bruises down his arms, poorly hidden. And some even worse ones when he moved a certain way—his dirty clothes shifting to uncover welts on his back. I didn’t know what reason you’d have to do this to a kid, but it sure as hell wasn’t something that I was okay with.

The roads became more worn as we progressed down the main road, and then suddenly we were at the door of a nicely built establishment named ‘Gram’s Apothecary’. It was probably the nicest building I had seen yet—aside from Mayer’s home. It was made out of a dark, rich wood that seemed relatively new in comparison to what some of the buildings around here were made out of. It was a wonder that something this nice was built at all in this little town.

It was a two-story building, most likely a store doubling as a house. But it was made solidly and soundly, unlike some of the houses that I saw further out. I looked at Rethi, some of his earlier energy returning as he stood outside the apothecary. He looked to me, eyes excited and seeming to urge me inside the building. I sighed, then caught myself slouching once again.

I walked up the well-worn steps to the small veranda and took a peek through a crude window that was beside the door. It wasn’t anything like what Mayer had, but most houses didn’t even have glass at all.

Inside was a room filled with tables that showed off some wares, and a counter. The counter ran along the back wall of the store. Behind that counter was a large array of drawers, most of them had small labels on them—undoubtedly medicines or herbs of some description. A door was also behind that counter. There was no one currently manning it, so I assumed that Master Gram—as Rethi had called him earlier—was behind that door.

I straightened up and looked to Rethi, who was looking at me curiously and I gave him a nod. I placed my hand on the bronzed metal doorknob, opened the door, and walked into the store with purpose. I heard a shuffling of feet as Rethi followed in after me and the ringing of a bell that was pulled by the door opening.

Immediately as I opened the door, I was hit by a thousand smells that I couldn’t quite place. Distinctly herbal or flowery, but also a note of some harsh cleaning product. The powerful smells almost made me cough, but I managed to reign it in. We stood there in the middle of the store for a moment, eying the door behind the counter, waiting for movement. I looked to Rethi, eyebrow raised, but he looked back at me with a resolute face.

I was beginning to wonder if we should leave, but just as I went to speak the door behind the counter opened and a bedraggled man of about forty bustled through the door.

“Oh dear, I’m quite sorry, I didn’t expect customers so early!” He said, quickly moving behind the counter, grabbing bits and pieces—a pen, some ink, paper. In just a moment, the middle-aged man turned to look at me, a small weary smile on his face.

“I’m sorry to have woken you, Master Gram. I didn’t mean to disturb your sleep.” I said. Starting the conversation off with this seemed to be a safe bet. He didn’t seem like he would take offence to being woken up, but it never hurt to be a little extra polite—especially to a doctor of any sort. The middle-aged man looked at me curiously, his thin wisp of a face growing into a more honest smile.

“Very kind of you to say so, but I was oversleeping, an issue of my own making I assure you.” He gave a dry chuckle. His face was unshaven and had been that way for a few days. Gram looked me up and down. I wasn’t sure what he saw exactly, but when he met my eye again, he looked at me questioningly.

“Ah, I’m sorry,” I said flustered, “I didn’t introduce myself. My name is Maximilian, I am new in town.” I walked up to the counter and held out my hand.

“Ah yes—Michael Gram.” He said, introducing himself, “I’m the doctor around these parts. Come to me if you need any help.” He shook my hand with a weary smile and glanced to Rethi, who was standing behind me. His eyes lit up at the familiar face.

“Ah! Rethi, it has been quite a while since I last saw you, yes?” Gram said enthusiastically. Rethi smiled ruefully.

“Yes, Master Gram. I’ve been quite… busy.” The young boy said. His words trailing off as he rubbed his fingers together nervously at his side. The middle-aged man gave the young boy a quick look, his face falling into neutrality, before perking up again and walking over to a part of the counter that could be lifted to let someone through. He lifted the wood and opened the door that was behind the counter, beckoning us through. Having obviously come to the understanding that we were here for a social visit, rather than a business one. Rethi quickly followed, his eyes bright with excitement—almost skipping through the door. I followed with a confused smile, looking at Gram before walking behind the counter and through the door.

The door lead into a small hallway that had stairs at its end that likely winded up to the second story of the building, and then two doors. One that was firmly shut and another that was open just enough to see inside.

It was a room with a clean wooden table in the middle, and a few small tables and backless chairs in it as well. You would have said it was a dining room of sorts if you didn’t take notice of the copious amounts of tools that were hanging from the walls and on the tables. Bottles of liquids and other assorted things were strewn about the room, along with some half-washed tools in a basin. It was a surgery room. It wasn’t much like an operating room in a hospital back on Earth, though. This was more like a room that surgery just so happened to take place in.

It was somewhat disconcerting, but it was probably some of the best medical attention that you could get way out here on another planet—in the middle of nowhere on said planet. I hear the door to the storefront close behind us, and Gram’s soft, shuffling steps as he came up behind me. He looked at me, scratched his nose and then realised where I was looking.

“Oh! No need to look in there. Little bit too morbid for this fine morning!” He chuckled and hurried me along, forcing me to pry my eyes away from the little room. He closed the door to the surgery room and hurried us up the stairs to another door.

“Oh dear, I’ll have to ask you boys to squish up to the wall for a moment.” We did as he asked, and he squeezed past us and up little stairway—unlocking the door at its end. It took him a moment to unlock the door—cursing at it under his breath while he tried to get the key at the right angle.

It seemed that he hadn’t come from upstairs to greet us. I doubt that he would have locked this door just after he had woken up, more likely that he fell asleep in the surgery room. I shuddered at the thought. To each their own, I guess.

With a click, the door had finally been opened. If it took that much work to get the door open with the key, I don’t think that a robber of any sort will be getting it open all that easily either. He rushed us into a room that was about the size of the store front that we had been in earlier. It was a homely looking place—well lived in, and the smell of something that reminded me of coffee had long since been absorbed into the walls.

“Please, sit!” The man said, pointing us towards a nice wooden table. It only had two seats pulled up to it, but Rethi happily sat on the floor, legs crossed—letting me sit on the chair.

Gram quickly poured us a few wooden mugs of water from a wooden jug, clear and clean. I hadn’t drunk anything much since coming here either, but I felt similarly towards the water as I did the food. I sipped on the water offered to me leisurely.

“Uh, Master Gram? Is Alena about?” Rethi asked shyly. Gram’s hand hitched, almost spilling his coffee before laughing to cover it up.

“I’m afraid my daughter is out doing chores for the time being Rethi. She’ll be back later today.” He smiled genuinely, but with a small-conflicted quirk at the edge of his lips. I unconsciously raised an eyebrow. A protective father, then.

“So, what brings you to this little nameless town, Maximilian.” Gram said as he sat, my name playing off of his accent oddly.

“Just call me Max,” I said, helpfully, “I am meeting with an old friend of my family. Mayer is his name.” I had come up with this scenario as I was walking here. I just decided that this was just vague enough to keep people away, whilst also mollifying their curiosity a little. Gram looked surprised, as did Rethi. They observed me in silence for a moment, before Rethi let out a low whistle. I granted them an odd look, their surprised silence was growing on my nerves. Thankfully, Gram spoke first.

“Mayer, eh? Seems like the Jamerson boys weren’t lying about Mayer letting a young man plow their fields for them. You’ve been the talk of the town for a solid night down at the pub!” Gram chuckled.

“Really? Already?” I said more dubiously than I meant to. Gram didn’t seem to take offense.

“Oh yes, Mayer's movements are quite well gossiped about in this town of ours. There isn’t much else that is any more exciting than Mayer himself.” Gram said, nodding to himself. That gave me an idea.

“Huh, my family didn’t talk much about him, just a tid-bit every now and then. So, I really don’t know much about Mayer, just that he is a good man.” I said curiously.

“Well, you’ve been missing out! Hasn’t he, Rethi?” As if to confirm Gram’s statement, Rethi nodded excitedly from the floor.

“Yeah, Master Mayer has been around for years now. We’ve been trying to find out who he is and all. Hard nut to crack.” Rethi said looking up at me hopefully.

“Now, now Rethi. No need to invade a man’s privacy.” Gram said, catching the glint in Rethi’s eye. “Master Mayer has been quite helpful many times in the past, he deserves all the privacy that he so pleases.” Rethi looked down at the floor again, a dejected look on his face. He was like a Labrador in a way, happy and excitable and dejected and mopey when told off. I chuckled then turned to Gram.

“What sort of things has Mayer helped you with?” I asked. If I was going to have to live around the man, I may as well find out what he is like.

“Oh, not myself—I’ve never needed it, see. Though other’s in the have. Its never menial things either—always big things,” Gram said, tapping his lip in thought before making a small excited noise, “For example; Last year Grayham was having some real issues with monsters invading his farm and taking some of the livestock. We don’t have many, and Grayham is one of the only livestock farmers we have. The forest wolves had probably become desperate, they usually don’t like to get too close to humans—but when they do it is usually a surge, or because a few became desperate enough to do so.” He took a large swallow of water and then scratched his stubbly chin.

“Anyway,” he continued, “after few nights of it happening, and Grayham starting to get more and more concerned that he would soon be left without any animals to tend to—a few people started to try and get together to stake them out. The plan was that they’d scare them off or kill a few for a couple nights in a row. But that didn’t stop them.” Gram looked down sadly into his wooden mug.

“That night a few men were dragged into my shop, half dead and chewed to bits. They were attacked by twelve forest wolves. I tried to patch them up, but one of the boys died. He was the only son of a widow and I believe she died later that year.” He shook his head, seeming to clear away the melancholy form his mind, letting a wide grin come over his face.

“The men gave up, Grayham was injured as well, and he was staying at another farm for a few days while he recovered. However!” The man exclaimed dramatically, “Just when Grayham had returned to his farm—all patched up thanks to yours truly—he noticed that his livestock had actually grown a head!” Gram laughed deeply, obviously remembering a delightful memory. I looked at him with a smile, infected by his joviality. Rethi was also listening with rapt attention, like a child listening to a storybook tale that they had heard a thousand times—yet were still wholly enamoured by. As his laugh died down, Gram’s grin grew even further—lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

“Now, no-one truly knows how it was that the forest wolves stopped attacking Grayham’s livestock, but if you just so happened to be up late that night—cleaning your shop—you might have glimpsed the figure of a man that looked just like Mayer covered in blood and with a glowing sword in hand.” He then sat back in his seat, drinking from his mug.

“Really? You actually saw him?” Rethi just about exploded with excitement. I looked at Rethi’s excited jumping about, then at Gram’s wide grin—I reviewed the story in my brain and chuckled to myself.

Seems like Mayer is somewhat of a small-town hero.