Chapter Text
Branzy felt exhausted- not from the work, though trying to create a system to automatically draw water from the well was no easy feat, it wasn’t why he was exhausted.
He was exhausted by the stares- the looks, the whispers.
The judgmental glances detected at him, the way a mother, upon seeing him, immediately dragged her child away from the well, whispering in his ear not to take note from him.
The way people would quietly sneer at him- not even brave enough to say their thoughts to his face.
Why would they? When their thoughts were an effect of him performing a task they quite literally begged him to perform.
But all their thoughts were the same, he doesn’t belong there.
He belongs with a sword in his hand, not a hammer and chisel.
He should be training for battle, not scribbling schematics to better people’s lives.
Yet, he was gifted with a mind to build- and cursed with a horrible ability to fight.
A follower of the god of war- barely able to hold a sword properly.
It was embarrassing.
Branzy remembered the day he came of age- the day he, and everyone in his age group, would be chosen to fallow one of the gods.
Everyone thought he’d be chosen by the god of mechanics, which made sense considering he was the only one in this entire town who seemed to be capable of doing the activity- but no.
He was claimed by Clownpierce, the god of war, and fear, and punishment, and- and a handful of other things that were basically the opposite of Branzy.
He nearly had a heart attack when his name was drawn- so did nearly everyone else in town.
He honestly had no idea why he was chosen, nor did anybody else. Yet the permanent painting across his arm marked him as a follower of war all the same.
“Hey Branzy! We have a couple of guests visiting the temples, their carriage broke. Go take a look!” Someone called from the top of the well.
Branzy heaved a sigh- he dragged himself from the mud at the bottom of the well to take a look.
It was probably just a broken wheel or something of the likes.
Guests visiting the temples hmm? That was rather odd- the town’s temples weren’t particularly grand.
It had to be temple cleaners.
Temple cleaners were followers who’d travel from town to town inspecting and fixing up temples, as well as the worshiping practices.
They’d usually stay for a little over a year.
Branzy’s suspicions were confirmed as he saw the carriage- it was covered in traditional worship materials- and yup. Busted wheel.
Seriously- no one else could deal with this??
Branzy took out some tools preparing to support the carriage as he removed the wheel.
“Hey- what do you think you’re doing???” Someone demanded behind him- dragging Branzy up.
“I was told to come fix a carriage- I’m fixing a carriage!” Branzy replied- attempting and failing to free himself from the grip on his shoulder.
“Let him go Ferre. I did request someone be sent over.” A different voice said.
Branzy was suddenly released and feel forward.
He turned around to see two men.
The closer one, presumably Ferre, had lightish dusty brown hair cut short stopping just below his neck and bright green eyes.
He was wearing relatively simple clothing, a green chiton underneath some leather armor, however, he was heavily decorated in jewelry.
Namely a simple golden circlet with depictions of the Golden Dragon, the god of bloody death, engraved into it.
However the other man standing behind Ferre drew his eye.
He was wearing similar clothing to Ferre, however his chiton was red, and he had a black chlamys draped over himself, with small pieces of bronze armor showing through in some places.
He also had several charms depicting Clownpierce’s mask, and had long silky black hair, half tied up in a bun.
Oh- oh wow he was hot-
No- no you are a follower of war you idiot, you’re literally not allowed to have crushes!
“Oh um- my apologies for not announcing myself…” Branzy mumbled, directing his eyes at his feet.
“I suppose it’s fine. I’m Ferre, this is Pierce, you are?” Ferre asked, slightly annoyed.
“Oh, I’m Branzy.” Branzy explained, bowing his head.
When he rose, he saw Ferre looking at the painting on his arm. Branzy could probably guess what he was thinking.
‘Why did they send a fallower of Clownpierce to fix our carriage?’
Though, the look of mild annoyance and disbelief didn’t seem to be detected at him, instead it was seemingly directed at Pierce.
Branzy turned around and begun to work on the carriage wheel- it’d have to be taken off and replaced.
He luckily had the tools to do so, minus the spare wheel- but the town had some he was sure.
Luckily, right after he finished measuring the length of the wheel, the local runner boy walked past.
“Hey Rek!” Branzy called when he saw his friend.
“Huh- you need something?” Rek asked stopping in his tracks.
“Yeah… a wagon wheel with this…” Branzy paused as he cut the length of string. “This diameter.” He finished tossing the string at Rek.
“So uh- diameter is the uh- like full top to bottom right?” Rek asked hesitantly.
Branzy stared at him blankly.
“Or it in like the full all the way around-”
“You were right the first time- read a book Rek!” Branzy yelled as Rek sprinted off.
Branzy rolled his eyes as he continued to work on removing the broken wheel.
Rek was honestly a mystery to him- he kinda just, showed up one day- got hired as a mail man and started delivering mail.
He was obviously a farm boy- being heavily tanned by the sun and covered in freckles, along with possessing certain… physical gifts, that only came from years of difficult work.
However- he could actually read. Not that he used that talent- hence Branzy always yelling at him to read a book, but he could do it, and was decently good at it.
He was also trained in combat.
On top of all if this, Rek was named after and a fallower of Rekrap, the god of speed, prosperity, and messages.
Which, knowing the guy, wasn’t that weird but- where on earth did he come from???
Whenever someone asked Rek would reply with ‘the country’ and run away.
Drove Branzy mad.
Especially considering Rek was one year senior to him, so he really couldn’t call him on it!
“So, I take it you’re one of few educated people in this town?” Ferre suddenly asked- making Branzy jump.
He’d honestly forgotten the two were still there.
“Oh- oh, no… I have no formal education. I’m self taught from the library. But we do have a school.” Branzy mumbled.
It was honestly a bit funny, all these ‘highly educated’ people around him- yet none could figure out half the stuff he did on the daily.
“I’m back- got the wheel.” Rek declared, handing the new replacement to Branzy.
It didn’t look much like the other wheels but- unless Ferre and Pierce wanted to pay for a custom replacement- it’d have to do.
Branzy carefully shoved the new wheel on, hammering it in place.
When he stepped back to make sure he work was even he glanced over at the other three.
He was greeted with a fairly odd sight.
Rek and Ferre seemed tense, like they were waiting for some kind of reaction.
Meanwhile Pierce… seemed to be enjoying the tension- weird…
“Uh, I’m done… Pierce prayer is in…” Branzy held his hand up to the sun, measuring how high it was above the horizon. “Fifteenth minutes, I can show you where the temple is.”
“Oh that’d be lovely, thank you!” Pierce replied, following Branzy as he began to walk towards the temple.