Buffy was excited to see the village, having only seen it twice but never getting to see it in detail. She never saw any further than what touched the dirt path that was at the center. Tasha was very friendly and talked, almost, constantly. She made Buffy feel welcomed in the strange place. Buffy was still thankful for the necklace that was given to her so she can understand the other girl. The lady did talk a lot, though.
Buffy found herself tuning out and enjoying the scenery. Tasha was going on about the history of the land, and Buffy tried her best to continue to listen, thinking Spike would be interested, but ultimately she wasn’t.
There was always, Giles and Willow. They would definitely want to hear about the history in this dimension. She sighed, forcing herself to become a perfect little listener, jogging to catch up with Tasha.
She was showing Buffy the main strip of the village. It consisted of three sections- A shopping center with twenty or so huts, consisting of a variety of items to purchase. The huts were large; making her think that it was a joint effect in selling items, not just single families working together. The second section was the housing area. And the third was of the village center, which included the fortress.
First they visited the shopping huts. Inside each hut were wooden tables made of the same wood as the fortress’s furniture had been made from. On the tables were items that varied by hut. They contained things such as meats and fruits that were similar to what were in the fortress. One held leather clothing that were basically in the colors of white, black and tan, which she guessed, were native to the area. Another hut held different colors of furry coats that she had never seen before. A hut owned by two ladies, were selling stone jewelry of all kinds of colors. Purple, blues, oranges and reds glittered from the tables tempting Buffy to stop for longer than a single glance. These pieces of stone jewelry appeared to be homemade and chiseled out of stone and rock to form earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and arm bands.
Buffy admired a beautiful stone necklace that had been chiseled into the shape of a heart and painted red with golden streaks running through it by some kind of dye. She wished she could have it, but knew she had no money for such items.
Tasha walked them quickly by a hut that contained herbal teas and medicines. They appeared to be made from natural ingredients that were labeled with things she couldn’t understand. The necklace did not work on written words. She was really curious about this magic hut she saw so she decided to ask Tasha about it. Tasha said that the King and Engina didn’t like such a hut existing but the villagers always recreated it while the King wasn’t looking. It was selling many different types of bottles. Buffy was brave as she asked Tasha what the bottles were used for.
For a moment Tasha looked horrified to be asked then waved her hand dismissingly as she replied in a hurried fashion, "Love potions, finder spells, and teleportation spells mostly are on the tables." The lady standing behind the table in the hut smiled at Buffy and gestured towards a table with a bright purple table cloth covering it, "This table holds spells to make wind, fire and water. This makes it so that even the most unmagical of people can create spells." Buffy smiled back at the lady then watched as she lifted another bottle from the table, "This one is a truth spell. Very popular." That bottle really caught Buffy’s attention. Buffy could think of all sorts of ways to use that. As she listened to Tasha mutter about amateurs and about the harm a common person could do with magic, she followed Tasha who brought her into the housing area of the village.
The housing area itself was large. All the huts matched but varied in size as well as height. It was as though the entire community had been made by the same person. They were all square or rectangle with no rounded edges. All the huts had stone walls with windows and doors etched out of them to allow for light. The windows and doors could be covered by leather-material that was rolled up in good weather. The huts had roofs made of the wood stuffed with grass material to keep out the rain and wind. There were children playing and running around the huts-a game of tag or sometimes with a round ball. One house had a small patch of grassy area that was surrounded by stone walls to form a square. Inside the barrier were four round balls. The children were taking turns blowing the balls using a piece of hollowed out grass. It appeared the goal was to make the ball hit the walls as many times as they could. Buffy determined this by watching the children cheer whenever the walls were hit the most amount of times. There were women sitting and working in their gardens that were around their houses. They would use baskets to collect the vegetables from their gardens and then bring them into their houses only to return with another basket. Men were nowhere in sight and Tasha had explained that is because they were either in the woods collecting wood or hunting. They were rarely home until nightfall.
One of the local women was nice enough to allow Buffy to see the inside of her home. It had three rooms; one for her children, which included three little wooden beds that were carefully lined, like hers were in the fortress, of soft leather mattresses stuffed with feathers. There were leather-skinned rugs on the floor as well as stuffed toys and wooden blocks and some other items she didn’t recognized. The second room was the parent’s bedroom, which again had a large bed, a large window, a wooden closet item that held their clothing and some vials. The last room was their living, quarters. It contained a corner for a kitchen, which had a stone oven that was kept warm by fire, a few cabinets for food and other items and a small table and chairs. In the rest of the room were mostly chairs, books, and toys.
There was a cellar under each house made of stone. Since it was underground it was kept cool so the patrons used it to store meat, vegetables and fruits for their meals. Buffy noticed that most huts came with an outhouse. It seemed that they weren’t as lucky to have indoor plumbing as the fortress. She figured only the King and his people could afford such extravagates.
The people of this world led a very simple life. It was so much different than Buffy was used to.
Tasha took Buffy into the village center. It was similar to a town square. There were gardens containing beautiful flowers that she had never seen before and a stone fountain that was used to water the flowers. There was a town well that she guessed was free for everyone to use, perhaps even the fortress, as well, but she highly doubted it. It had a woman at it drawing out water into large buckets. She them carried these buckets on a stick to her house.
The village center had the dirt path that she had followed on the way in to the village, which divided the housing area from the shopping area, and led to the large fortress. She thought it was beautiful and admired the swimming pool on the outskirts of the village near the stone wall that surrounded the place.
Buffy sat down in front of the fountain among the flowers and Tasha sat down beside her. Together they were able to watch birds fly through the gardens and the villagers scurry here and there living their lives.
Tasha smiled and finally broke the silence. “We have an indoor pool on the lower level of the fortress on the inside that you are free to use with your mate.”
Buffy laughed. “Mate?”
Tasha nodded. “I believe you said his name was, Spike. He introduced you as his mate on the first day so that the King would leave you alone. Everyone is allowed to have a mate before the age of 15. At the age of 15, they have to be either spoken for or they become in the King’s care.”
“What does that mean?”
“The King takes them in and they become one of his brides. He chooses a main bride to be his wife and rule the Kingdom with him and the other women under his care are held for his pleasure. They get treated very well and often times the young ladies hope not to be chosen for marriage so that they can go enjoy a life of luxury in the fortress. They receive free food and have rooms such as yours to live in. They have running water and get to enjoy most of the benefits of living there. The villagers have it hard. They have to earn their way of living. Their husbands are hunters and often do not always make it as the animals here are hard to kill.” Tasha explained in detail.
Buffy frowned. “Don’t people work together?”
Tasha shook her head. “The King’s guards do only because they are made to, but the villagers fend for themselves. Unfortunately the villagers have not learned to work together and I doubt they ever will.”
Buffy frowned, feeling sorry for them. Tasha looked at Buffy.
“What’s it like where you are? Do people work together?”
Buffy shrugged. “Some do, some don’t. But to really survive you have to have friends and family. Life would be pretty boring alone.”
“Many of the women end up alone at the end of their lives. They are too old to be taken in by the King and yet they are alone because their husbands have died and their children have grown up. It is very sad to witness. Some open shops but others just hide away inside of their huts.”
Buffy was saddened by the way life was in this dimension. It sounded as if most of the villagers were lonely.
Tasha stood up then smiled at Buffy.
“It’s lunch time. We should head back so Helena can bring you your lunch. I think this afternoon you are to spend some time in the fortress learning about it. You should have lots to tell Spike about, tonight.”
Buffy smiled at that idea as she followed Tasha, suddenly feeling quite hungry.