Lance galloped through the humble gate of Ambra after what seemed like forever. When Ves pictured this moment before leaving she'd hoped for a crowd full of cheers and smiles. Praising her as a hero. But the whole way home the best she could hope for was to not be run out of town, or worse. She imagined everything but reality has a way of being unexpected.
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She rode in, not to cheers nor boos, but to silence. An eerie silence that surrounded the town like a grieving black veil. Lance could even feel the gloom as he slowed to a walk. Ves rode up to her house, jumped down and ran inside.
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She swung the door open and besides the thud of the door against the wall, was met with a different kind of silence. One of seeing a childhood friend, now warped into a stranger. Ves called out to her mother but got no response. She began to panic, yelling louder and louder while searching the house. She was in the back when she finally heard anything other than nature. A voice at the door.
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It was Rose. Ves had a smile brewing but when she saw the gesture wasn't being matched her face soured. Rose told her her mother was staying at her house, that she wasn't doing well since she left. She said the night after Ves left she saw Etnis brake into their home and steal the food she had left for her mother. Rose said Mossly confronted her but was mostly dismissed and waived away, with the only explanation given that Etnis' husband could use the food more.
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Rose's voice became replaced, first with silence and then with a high pitched buzzing. A rage grew inside Ves that she had never felt before. Her head flooded with all of the good she had been trying to do, her heart always in the right place even when her nerves weren't. She had worried of disappointing people but nearly on every turn, someone had disappointed her. Something snapped in Ves in that moment. Her face scoured, breathing heavy. Her eyes almost seemed blackened and her fist clenched so tight had she of been holding coal she'd have diamonds.
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She walked past Rose and out of the door. She spied Etnis leaving her home across the small bridge over the Copper Stream. Rose followed behind as Ves walked straight up to Etnis. Her face was stricken with her normal disapproval and disgust of every other living creature and as she spotted Ves she began to part her lips and let slip her judgment and displeasure but before a single word would come Ves connected a vicious right hook. Rose could hear the impact from several feet away. Etnis fell to the ground and Ves leaned down, pummeling her with more strikes. For stealing from her sick mother, for the verbal abuse before she left and all her life, for the Witcher that swindled her, for all of the times she didn't have the legs to stand up for herself. Etnis screamed and cried and when Ves stopped, through her panted breaths, spoke clearly and stern. "You bitter, despicable hag. You leave Ambra this second. If I ever see you again I will kill you with my own two hands." Etnis' eyes grew wide and filled with terror, her face bloodied and bruised. She stood up and ran away, not looking back the entire time.
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When Ves finally became aware of her surroundings again she realized she was encircled with the remaining townsfolk who all looked at her in disbelief, amazement and horror as blood dripped from her knuckles. She decided then and there to always take matters into her own hands from now on and she was starting now. She thought back about what the fake Witcher had said about a silver sword slaying a monster, she hoped that wasn't a lie too. She puffed up her chest and told everyone to go home and bring back every last bit of silver they could muster, she was going to drive another beast plaguing their town away. She was assertive and everyone quickly scattered, except for Rose, who was still speechless. "Take me to my mother." Ves told her.
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Rose opened the door to her house and out stretched her hand to welcome Ves in. Immediately Ves noticed the feel of this house, it felt more like a home than her own. The sun cut though wooden blinds, putting a warm glow on most of the room and what the sun didn't touch the fireplace did, along with a subtle crackling. There were flowers of every color of the rainbow spread out in a museums worth of vases and cups and really anything that could hold water and a stem. The pleasant aromas mixed with the soup cooking over the fire. It was the coziest Ves had felt in a long time, especially compared to her own house that had always seemed like something of a makeshift prison. She wasn't bitter, though, it was still home.
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Mossly nodded with a sympathetic look in her eyes and somewhat of a frown before getting up and hugging Ves and taking her by her hand to the next room.
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Her mother laid in bed, she looked even worse for wear. She was asleep and Ves didn't want to shorten her rest, so she just stood beside her for a while, holding her hand. This was her real home. She finally went to leave before being stopped by Rose, who insisted on staying to eat a bowl of soup. Not that Ves had a choice in the matter but even if she did she knew she couldn't resist a hot meal.
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Ves was full, both of hearty soup and a plethora of emotions and feelings as she walked inside her house. In the mirror she saw her old, tattered clothes and dirty face. She knew it didn't make sense but she wanted to feel somewhat normal. She took off her clothes and splashed a bit of water onto her face, scrubbing it almost clean. She went to her room and inside her closet, where she pulled out her favorite dress. Black with small flowers designed all over it, with short sleeves and a frilled bottom that went just above her knees. She put it on and looked in the mirror again. She was happier, her old self began fluttering back but she reached down and tore a strip from the bottom of the dress and used the sash to tie up her black hair in a high ponytail. She knew only a part of her old self remained, the other part a new version. Twisted by bitterness but combined with a strength of will power and bravery. It was something of a potion of heroism.
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She knew if she was going to fight a monster she needed some sort of weapon so she began looking all over the house but she only managed to find some old butter knife and forks along with a fire poker and broom. Outside, though, behind the house, under some old scrap wood she found her mothers old pitchfork. She picked it up and swung it around a few times, she thrusted it a bit. It stood just taller than her. This could work. She mostly liked the idea of a part of her mother being there with her.
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Walking around to the front of the house she met a young man carrying a basket. He didn't say a word when he saw Ves, he looked scared. He dropped the basket and ran. Puzzled, Ves walked over and saw the basket full of silver rings, the odd spoon or fork, a couple of necklaces. It's all the silver Ambra had to offer. Twice now Ves had found herself with all of Ambra's wealth. She took the basket and walked down the road to the blacksmith's house, who had left at the start of this whole thing.
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She thought of taking a peek inside of the blacksmith's house, maybe he left an old sword or axe even, but she dismissed the thought. She didn't want to resort to stealing anything else. She walked over to the smelter outside instead. Along with it was a workbench and a table, some other baskets and scrap. All of which was nestled under a square, green canopy on four iron legs.
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She wasn't quite sure how it worked. The smelter stood very tall, and a strange shape. Wide at the bottom that got more narrow at the top with a hole in the middle and a smaller hole at the bottom with a door. She looked around and found a few pieces of left behind coal underneath the workbench, so she threw those into the hole at the bottom and lit it with a piece of flint and a rock. The sparks ignited the charcoal at the bottom, a faint light coming forth with some warmth. She threw in some twigs and dry grass to get it going and closed the door. Beside the smelter set a long metal rod with a handle. At one end a small-ish cup. She picked it up and put all of the bits of silver into the cup and put it in the hole in the middle of the smelter. She stepped on the bellows beside the smelter and the fire roared to life and an incredible heat shot out.
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Ves found a small pan near by and put it on the ground. She poured the now liquid silver, along with some beads of sweat from her brow and drops of blood from her knuckles into the pan before dipping her old pitchfork into the shiny substance. She made sure each point was coated nicely before pulling it out and pouring the rest of the water from her gourd onto the tips, instantly cooling and hardening them.
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She took a few steps out into the sun with her new weapon and lifted it to the heavens, the setting sun beaming off of the now silver spikes. Some even had a drop or two of silver frozen in place as it dripped down. She took a strip of old leather that lay in a small bin beside the blacksmith's anvil and tied it to her new pitchfork. She slung it on her back and the strap went across her body, from shoulder to hip. It wasn't exactly ideal but maybe it might be enough to slay a monster.
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