"One silver'll get ya to Sintora with two meals a day. Bring your own bedroll and if it rains you'll need to find someone willing to share their tent, since we don't got space in the wagons."
The gruff merchant quickly listed all the rules and expectations I'd need to follow as I traveled with his merchant caravan. It had been far easier then I'd hoped to hitch a ride with them. I hadn't known, but apparently it wasn't exactly uncommon for people to travel with passing merchants to nearby towns and cities. Which I guess made sense, safety in numbers and all that.
I reluctantly handed over the majority of my coin in the form of one silver into the merchants calloused palm. I was left with a grand total of eight copper coins from what I'd managed to save up and from what Tom had given me after our tryst. I'd need to be careful with my remaining coin if I wanted to find somewhere to stay when I got to the nearest city, Sintora.
The merchant grunted and for a split second a smile crossed his perpetually grumpy expression and I had a sinking feeling that I'd probably way overpaid for the journey.
"Righto, we're just finishing packing up now, so wait around a span and we'll get going. Lucky you caught us before we left or you'd have needed to wait three months for the next caravan."
I squirmed and mumbled an agreement before backing away to the [Caravan Master] get back to work. In reality when I remembered the merchants were leaving today I'd rushed over to secure my way to the city. I was unwilling to spend another several months surrounded by unfounded rumours because of my class or try and go it alone since I didn't have a combat class like Tom. I hadn't even told my family where I was going, luckily they were still blissfully unaware of my situation; but there was no way that would last. They would realize where I'd gone on their own, several villagers had seen me on my way and I was planning on sending a letter when I reached the city just in case.
I awkwardly stood around as the two dozen or so [merchants] and [labourers] made short work of packing their gear and wares up. I was curious about what they were doing as I'd always dreamed of getting some variation of the [merchant] class; travelling around just sounded like a lot of fun! Unfortunately it was rather boring watching a bunch of men pack sacks of grain and boxes of goods into the three wagons.
Fortunately, they were already almost finished and we were on our way within the hour. It was my first time going further than the next village over and I was pretty anxious about travelling such a long distance. Before I could begin to second guess my decision to leave one of the [labourers] struck up a conversation with me.
"So, what made a young lass like you decide to drop everything and move to the city?"
I turned to look at the pair of curious eyes and couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey! Your not old enough to call me 'young'! Your what? Twenty?"
The decidedly young man laughed.
"You got me there! Just received my class, [labourer], three months ago. Comes with some pretty sweet Skills too! Got [Lesser Strength] right off the bat!"
I giggled as the young man flexed his biceps. He wasn't exactly my type, only half a foot taller than me and his face was a bit too ruddy and squarish for me. He reminded me a bit of an ox, a very short ox, but I could see why some girls would like him, especially since he seemed to be fairly charismatic.
We chatted as we walked and I learned his name was Norman, he grew up in Sintora before setting out to make his fortune in one of the merchant caravans after receiving his class. I danced around the subject of my situation, only explaining I was hoping for better work in the city than at home. I also remembered to ask how far away the city was, three days, and got made fun of for not bringing a bedroll.
"I'm telling you I didn't have time! You guys were leaving today and I didn't have time to pack more than a couple changes of clothes!" I protested to much derision from the other labourers who'd started walking with us.
"That's not an excuse! You
need
a bedroll or at least a blanket when travelling. The ground may look soft, but it won't feel that way when you've got to actually sleep on it with a random rock digging into your back. And it gets cold out!" Norman shot back. I could only grumble in embarrassment at my lack of travelling know how.
"Speaking of cold; looks like rain tonight,"
One of the older labourers cast a critical eye to the sky and spat on the ground. I looked up at the sky and saw dark mass swirling on the horizon. That wasn't good, with my aforementioned unpreparedness I would be thoroughly soaked if I spent the night in a storm.
"That settles it. You can sleep in my tent tonight; you'll at least be outta the rain," Norman said.
"A-are you sure? I don't really have anything to repay you, with" I responded, mindful of my financial situation.
He snorted and shook his head.
"My ma would tan my backside if she heard I left a lady in the rain. Let's say you owe me a favour."
I had to agree, spending the night in the rain just didn't sound like a great time and all. There wasn't much I could do as the caravan workers hurriedly set up camp in the face of the oncoming storm. I quietly stood to the side as all the men set up tents and tied down cargo as the wind picked up and the the first drops began to fall.
"Over here!"
Norman gestured me over to his tent set up a little to the side of the rest of camp. I hurried over and ducked through the canvas flap as he held it open. And none too soon, within moments of my entering the tent the skies opened up, rain thundering thundering down.
"Wow, talk about good timing!" I said, watching the torrent of water fall from the sky. Norman laughed.
"Yeah, we should stay dry in here, the Boss makes sure we got good tents. And I've got some rations left in my pack for supper."
We sat on a blanket Norman had laid out out and broke out the dry rations he'd saved in his pack. A chunk of stale bread and cheese weren't exactly my idea of a good meal, but it beat trying to cook anything in this weather. We joked around a bit and he told me stories of his time on the road. It made me wish I'd gotten the [merchant] class like I'd always wanted; travelling around and visiting new lands sounded so exciting!
The temperature steadily dropped as night fell and our conversation gradually petered out. I was tired after a long day of walking, unused to the rigorous exercise. I looked around for a place to sleep and than remembered I didn't have a bedroll or even a blanket. In my defense, I had never travelled further than the next village over for the harvest festival, and it was only a half day journey from my home village. Still, it was embarrassing and I would need some sort of cover for the night as it was going to be cold.
"Do you by any chance have an extra blanked or something I could borrow?"
Norman who'd been setting up his own sleeping space to the side turned and grinned at my tentative question.
"'Fraid not, but I figured we could share!"
My face went red at that; sharing beds was supposed to be for married couples, not someone you'd just met that morning. The implication was clear, Norman's eye's were focused on me, but not on my face. I thought back to our interactions earlier and realized just how oblivious I'd been. Norman had been looking me up and down when he thought I wasn't looking, but I'd attributed that to standard boy behaviour. And that 'favor' he'd said I owed him, at the time I'd laughed it off as a joke, but now I realized he'd been alluding to something else entirely, and I'd agreed to it...
"Oh! Er-" I stammered, unsure how to react. I didn't want to offend Norman, but I'd only just lost my virginity this morning and was in no way ready to have sex again.
"Don't worry about it! I'll make sure we're nice and comfortable before we go to sleep!" Than noticing my discomfort he frowned, "Hey if you don't want this I'm not gonna make you do anything you don't want to. As I said, my Ma would kill me if I left ya out in the rain."
Relief flooded through my veins at his words, the young [labourer] wasn't trying to take advantage of me. He wasn't like the [blacksmith] back at my village, he'd just seen a pretty girl and thought he'd shoot his shot. Now that I looked I noticed that Norman was pretty nervous himself, shuffling his feet and refusing to look me in the eye. Poor boy probably didn't get much attention from girls in the caravan, the few there I'd seen were older and mostly married to the [merchants].
Something that I'd begun to realize about myself over the last few days was that I'm a bit of a people pleaser. I like it when people are happy and don't want to let them down. Such as when the priest had asked me to fellate him, he'd just seemed so lonely. Which was perhaps why I found myself negating Norman's assurances.
"N-no, don't worry about it. I'm just new to this is all."
The young man's eyes lit up at me statement and I felt my loins begin to warm in expectation. This had nothing to do with my class I told myself, it was purely for my own pleasure and no other reason.
No other reason.
"So uh-- mind if I touch you?" Norman asked, revealing his nervousness even more.
I could only give him a smile and a nod, my own mouth too dry to say anything. My only sexual experiences had been with men I'd known for years and both times I'd been in the midst of some powerful emotions. This was the first time I was trying something with a clear mind and no powerful emotions clouding my judgment.
We sat down on the blankets he'd laid out earlier and I found my eyes were glued to the ground; too nervous and embarrassed to make a move. I flinched and looked up as Norman brushed my hair away from my face.
The look on his face was familiar, I was rapidly becoming familiar with the animal desire that seemed to lay within all men. The young labourers cheeks were flushed and his eyes dilated as he cupped my chin and leaned in for a kiss.
My second ever kiss wasn't as good as the first, Norman's lips were chapped from being in the sun all day and he wasn't nearly as talented as Tom. But I still moaned with desire as my young lover sucked my bottom lip between his. I leaned into the kiss and grasped the back of Norman's neck as he flicked his tongue over my entrapped lip. His thick tongue slid back and forth across my plush lip, sending tingles down to my dripping nethers.