The candle flickered in the quiet, pre-dawn darkness of the little flat above the merchant The ink well had nearly run dry by the time Jocelynn had finished crafting a small stack of notices. The parchment alone put a larger dent in her meager savings than she had wanted it to. Hopefully, the business that might be drummed up from the notices would make it worthwhile.
She sat back in her chair and rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hands. It had been hours since she decided to stop tossing and turning in her bed and get up to feel useful. The worry of finding work for herself weighed heavily on her mind.
Had she really just spent the last 10 years mentoring under the most notable glass smith in Bree-land only for it to be impossible to find work? Many of the local suppliers and vendors would not even sell supplies to her.
Elias had been an accomplished glass smith with charisma and charm that also made him a successful businessman. When she was young and naive, that appealed to her. She believed him to be a very renowned artist when truly he was just a glass smith with a charming smile. And, when her father demanded that he mentor her because of his less-than-wholesome attention to her, he had a pretty apprentice to show off as well.
Whether he was or was not a famous maker of windows and glasswares, he was now buried in his family's plot just outside of Bree. With no children of his own, everything fell to her: the debt, the house that was so broken down it was damn near unlivable, and the reputation.
Somehow, she would have to find a way to shake that reputation and define herself on her own terms. With the notices complete, she carefully bundled them and got dressed in the dim light that came in from the only window. It was time for her to fill her own shoes instead of trying to fill someone else's.
...........................................
"Thought I knew my mind
Like the back of my hand
The gold and the rainbow
But nothing panned out as I planned
And they say only milk and honey's
Gonna make your soul satisfied
Well I better learn how to swim
'Cause the crossing is chilly and wide."-Indigo Girls - Watershed
