Windfall Island

[The Humble Sage]

The Open Shore ---> The Unnamed River

The rooster’s crow saw Dasha already awake, carrying a large wicker basket of linens down towards the nearest stream. She had told Kelp to meet her in the morning with the washing board, but as she had expected the boy did not show up in the morning. He was probably still sleeping; Kelp hadn’t really gotten acclimated to the later hours yet. In Coasta del Sol, the Imperial curfew kept her clientele from loitering around for too long, and the boy was able to manage, but here on Windfall Island there were no such enforcements and a few of the patrons remained for a good deal longer. Let the boy sleep, it would make her job harder, sure, but she would appreciate the time to herself.
 
Dasha’s path wound down outside of the town of Silverrock towards one of the streams that nobody had bothered to put a name to yet. As she left the outskirts of town, the crisp morning air kept her awake, despite the frankly insufficient amount of sleep she was getting. She needed more staff, between herself and Kelp, they managed to keep everything running, but She barely had any time to spare. She had been considering closing some days early, but she knew that her patrons would just go right down the road to Ozal’s and that next time they might just go there first. Her hands were tied, at least until she had built up enough of a reputation with the townsfolk. Dasha had arrived not too long after the Imperial mine had closed down, but she was still pretty new to the area, and hadn’t really properly integrated herself into the daily ebb and flow of the community yet. Part of that was here fault, she knew, she had thrown everything she had at making the open shore as nice as she could. In the end she had set up shop on kind of the outskirts of town, since the building was far more affordable, but she had not anticipated just how significant a disadvantage that gave her when it came to integration.
Too say that the people in Silverrock were insular would be rude to the many people who had taken time to try and welcome her after she and kelp had arrived, but the truth was they were more or less content with their lives. But that was a problem for another day, for now she had a large basket of sheets to get washed in case someone was going to be renting a room.
 
Dasha reached the edge of the river, and set down the basket. Then realized she had forgotten that Kelp had the washboard. “Omni’s left thigh bone!” She spat, “ ‘s what I get for lettin’ that slacker sleep in!” With a sigh of frustration, she turned and began trudging back towards town.