Once upon a time in the small Village of Neverwell there lived a girl. She was not powerful, or beautiful. She wasn't anything remarkable really. She was a simple plain girl. Her name was Kourtney, but often times she refused to go buy her full name and requested that those around her call her Kourt. There weren't very many people in the village, there were at least two hundred. Kourtney was complacent with her small lifestyle. She enjoyed visiting the Town well or talking to those being punished in the stocks. There were three guards who worked the town, but there wasn't really a need for them. There was only one man who was known for being locked into the Stocks. His name was Johnny, and there was always something he did that would make Kourtney blush or shy away from him, but she always had to find out what it was that got him locked up in the first place. He was probably one of the real friends that she could consider she had, though their friendship was rather awkward at times. She lived a few streets away from the business part of the village where the stocks and well stood. She worked with the cobbler near her home. Jensen was a rather inviting man who had large tufts of grey hair that donned his head. He was more of a father to her really. When Kourtney was little her parents had died while trying to protect the village from the river overflowing. It flooded large parts of the city and they had drowned in the process. That same river that now babbled gently outside her house reminded her every day of their sacrifice. The rains that year were far too heavy, and since then the town had never been the same. At least that is what Jensen said to Kourtney almost every day. His mind was starting to fade with his old age, and Kourtney had practically taken on the entire workload of the cobbler all to herself. It didn't bother her; in fact it kept her mind busy and prevented her from idly sitting by and waiting for life to happen.
She yawned and stretched as she looked out the wooden shutters that hung off the edge of the small house she lived in. Her parents had a very small amount of money they left her with. She never had Godparents, so she was left to survive as a small child moving from place to place. Luckily everyone got to know her, and she was an accepted part of the community now. It bothered her at first when she attended classes and the other children mocked her for being alone, but she grew used to their teasing and took it quite well. When she finished with studies like all the other students she moved on to start her lifetime job. She had been with the cobbler now for almost nine years. The boys her age didn't even seem to notice her anymore. Once again this little gem wasn't overly beautiful, but she was cute with small freckles across her nose and shoulders. She hardly wore dresses that exposed her shoulders, but every so often the Cobbler would find a gown that he had wanted to get his now deceased daughter. She had drowned in the river a few years back. The pain of him losing his daughter had brought the two of them closer together. The Cobbler and Kourtney both shared tragedy with the small body of water, and they both had a mutual distaste for it. So when he would smile up at her and call her Lindy and hand her a new dress, she felt terrible to turn him down. She would put it on and parade about the shop for him bringing tears of joy to his eyes. After a few hours she would change back and he would have forgotten about the whole thing.
Kourtney wiped her hands on her eyes trying to get rid of the dream that had overcome her while she was sleeping. Her mind was racked with horror when she realized what had been going on. She dreamed that one of the people in the town had tried to seduce her and she was then put in the stocks in the center of town completely nude for ignoring the man's requests. The dream wasn't normal though, normally when someone is put in the stocks they make fun of them or throw things at them. This time the people in the town caressed her skin, and touched her making her moan out in pleasure. Kourtney's face flushed and she quickly stood up from her bed. She had avoided sexual activity at all costs. In Neverwell if a child was caught touching herself, she would also locked in the stocks for a day. She would then have to wear a sign around her neck for a month that made her stick out as menace to society.
Kourtney climbed off her bed and quickly donned her dress, smoothing the ruffles over her middle. She was thin and small; her chest didn't fill the garment out nearly as well as Missie's did. That girl was always wearing low cut dresses that exposed her shoulders. It wasn't practical for work, though Missie would never have to even lift a finger to get anything. Most of the men would fawn after her and give her the world if they could. Missie was a year older than Kourtney, but the two didn't care for one another. Kourtney was always more willing to fix it herself and not rely on others; also Kourtney had caught Missie with two different married men on different occasions. It wasn't shocking to Kourtney that she saw the woman kissing a man behind the pub at the north side of town, but what was more shocking was when she saw the woman performing fellatio services for the local blacksmith. He was a big man and from what she could see Missie had difficulties with pleasing the man all the way. Kourtney slapped a hand to her head trying to knock the image out of her mind. Why was her mind suddenly riddled with thoughts of perverse actions? She shook her head back and forth and quickly slipped her feet into the soft worn slippers she had by her door. The cobbler had offered to fix her a new pair almost every day, but she didn't want to distract him from his small amount of work he could perform.
He was far more talented than she, but with his mind slowly fading he could only finish one pair of shoes a day. She had put herself in charge of mending shoes that customer brought in. Often times she would find herself among a pile of at least fifty or sixty pairs that she had to have done by the weeks end. The townsfolk never complained about her work, aside from Missie. That damn girl always thinks that she can get whatever she wants by the wave of her hand, Kourtney thought to herself angrily. She looked back at the room behind her and admired the soft blue walls. It was a very small space. There was a small copper wash basin that she had to fill by hand when it came to cleaning herself up. Her bed was small and made from goose feathers she had collected herself. The ropes were sagging under its weight and she decided that she would have to fix up the bed in the next couple of days. She stepped out and grabbed the basket hanging from a hook on the front of her home. The light spilled gingerly on her soft warm skin and she firmly pulled the door closed behind her. She wasn't wealthy enough to afford one of those fancy locks that some of the richer people were starting to put on their houses, but most people left her place alone. She had only caught one person wandering about touching the walls saying how they missed her parents.
Kourtney turned on her heel and made her way toward the city center. It was shaped like a large wheel, each street was like a large spoke on a carriage. She lived on the west side of town, and the cobbler sat within at least one hundred paces of her place. She had decided to buy a few things before she began mending shoes this morning. As she walked she got a few nods from her neighbors that were sitting on their small stoops smoking their pipes and sharing wines. It was early morning, but most of her neighbors were well enough to do that they didn't have to bother with work until later in the evening. Some of them even had children that paid for their lifestyle. Kourtney would give anything to live wealthily. She had heard of the Castle that lay north of their village. There was a king and queen that ruled their country, but she had never seen the palace walls. She had actually never seen anything further north of the city than the bridge that crossed the small river that she so despised.
She gently made her way along the path, trying to avoid the small clusters of people that were out and about. There were a few couples holding hands and walking the streets together talking with one another in soft whispers. A couple of girls giggled and kissed the shoulders of the men escorting them.
"Well well, if it isn't our little lost one." A familiar smoky voice sounded from the edge of a house. Kourtney already knew who it belonged to. She didn't want to look the girl in the eye so she kept her focus straight ahead and kept her pace, "Looks like someone is in a hurry today. My my, how rude is that?" She said laughing. Kourtney turned her chin up to the sky and gripped the handle of the basked in bother her hands angrily.
"Good morning Missie." She said through gritted teeth. The girl nestled up next to Kourtney's shoulder pressing her ample bosom into Kourtney's view.
"Have any big plans today?" She asked. Her voice hinted at some impending arousal that made men fitfully bite at their mustaches or cover their faces as they blushed. This woman was insatiable, "I know that something... big is going to be coming up for me later." She said airily giggling to herself.
