"Alea? Could you bring these hides down to the tavern? But do be careful, it's already after midnight." Her mother appeared in the door-frame, holding at least 6 pairs of cowhide that were sewn into waterskins. Her mother, Freya, had aged quite a bit. Alea still remembered her bright eyes and soft silky hair which was now dull and dry. She wondered how much longer her mother would work for. At the age of 60, most of the females in this village settled down in the worn out chambers at the tavern and waited till Death was kind enough to take them. The lack of vitamin and antibiotics caused human kind to die earlier than intended. Though, Alea had not aged nor changed a bit ever since she hit the age of 16. It seemed as if something had stopped her from ageing thus making Alea look like a very young teenager in a woman's body.
"Please?" Her mother tried again, now placing the hides on the table where Alea sat at. Her hands were hidden underneath thin, frail fabric that people used to call 'lace'. It was made from the cotton-plant and was in need of very specific equipment to be produced. A very old but rich lady had given it to Alea to fix it and she was nearly done. "But ofcourse mother!" And with a smile she picked up the hides, threw them over her shoulder and got up to kiss her mother goodbye.
Once out the door, Alea noticed the street lights were barely lid giving the whole village a rather depressive look. Well, to be fairly honest, it always seemed sad but for some reason today was different. The small cottages build solely from big rocks and wood were scattered all over the village, not really in line or anything. Though this was how Alea thought every village was, as she had never seen any place else. Or not that she knew off.
She turned a corner towards the centre of the village and noticed a few men were gathered outside a few small bars. There looked intoxicated and as soon as Alea crossed them they came closer. "Héy, héy.." The man burped. "Pretty giiirl.." He had a very long beard that had bits and pieces of mushroom stuck in them. Alea friendly smiled and continued on her walk. She often got bothered on the streets, but most of the time they were too drunk to try anything funny. Though the second man had different thoughts:"You! Stop right th-" His fingers grabbed her right arm and gave it a good tug. Another man joined in and lightly padded her shoulder with a delusional look on his face. "Well aren't you a pretty one? I have never seen a girl as pretty as you.." The words he spoke were turbid and not pronounced very well. "Look at that white skin, not a speck of dirt.." The first man now lightly let his fingers brush over Alea's cheek. "Please, let me go. I will not say this twice!" Alea said firmly. Even though it seemed like she had everything under control, her heart was skipping a beat and she was terrified. A 4th man joined the circle and took a piece of her hair and sniffed at it. Alea felt her stomach turn and for a moment she closed her eyes to take a deep breath. "We've got a fierce one guys!" And then one of the men did what felt like the last drip: He placed his hand on the mal of her back and slowly let it slide downwards. "That's it." She hissed. Without hesitation she grabbed two men both by their hands and whispered: "Taraque Electrique." The dust beneath her feet suddenly caused an uprising cloud and the tips of her fingers turned bright blue. Both men received an electric shock throughout their entire body. There arms wiggled up and down and their eyeballs turned back into their sockets. "W-Witch!" The other men yelled and hastly ran away. Alea quickly turned around and lightly shook her head. "Did I just do that?" It was the first time she had ever used that spell on a human before, but it clearly worked. Both men were fine, she figured, as the intensity of the spell wasn't one of the worst. Luckily, the streets were abandoned and nobody had seen her little trick besides the drunks, which was fine.
With a sigh of relief Alea entered the tavern and waved at the bartender. "Hey Alex, I got you some hides my mother just stitched up."