By the time I turned one, I had finally learned how to walk without falling on my face and how to speak a few basic words.
I couldn't hold a real conversation yet, but I could string together enough broken sentences to get my point across. Phrases like "Rowan want" and "No sleep" were enough to get me through the day.
It was a warm morning. The sound of jingling bells and heavy wooden wheels rolling over the dirt interrupted my focus on a caterpillar.
"Merchant!" Ralph yelled from the fence line. He waved his arms.
Dad wiped the sweat from his forehead and leaned on his hoe. Mom came out of the house and wiped her hands on her apron. I toddled over as fast as I could. I wanted to see what kind of goods a traveling merchant brought out here.
The wagon was pulled by a massive, shaggy beast. It looked like a cross between an ox and an angry sheep. The man holding the reins hopped down with a grunt. He was stocky with sun-baked skin. A Mudborn, just like us.
"Reynan! Lena!" the merchant called out. He offered a wave. "By the Goddess, it's been a season. I haven't been in Village Waylark for a while. The roads out east were washed out by the spring rains."
"Good to see you, Tobis," Dad said. He shook the man's hand. "I wish I could say we had a full haul for you. The family's crops aren't ready yet. The turnips need another few weeks, and the wheat is still green."
"No matter," Tobis said. He unlatched the side of his wagon to reveal a display of organized goods. "I'm heading toward the barony capital anyway. I've got items from the other villages, and some fresh salt and needles if you're buying."
"We'd love to see what you have," Mom said. Her eyes scanned a row of colorful threads.
While the adults bargained, I waddled past their legs and approached the cart. He mostly sold basic necessities like iron nails, heavy cloth, and small pouches of spices. But tucked between a wooden barrel and a stack of leather, I saw a thick roll of parchment.
A map.
I gripped the side of the wagon and stood on my tiptoes to peer at it. It was covered in sweeping lines, geographic markers, and text I couldn't read. I knew enough to speak the language, but I still couldn't read a single letter. The borders were just confusing squiggles.
"Map," I said aloud. I pointed a chubby finger at the parchment. "Wassat?"
Tobis looked down and chuckled. "Well look at this one. Reynan, your youngest has an eye for the expensive goods."
"He's a curious one," Dad laughed. "Always staring at things."
The merchant smiled. He reached over and pulled the parchment out, laying it flat on a wooden crate for me to see.
"You like pictures, little man? Here, let old Tobis show you the world," he said. He tapped a thick finger in the center of the parchment.
Yes. Tell me everything, I thought. My eyes went wide.
"This big circle here," Tobis began, "is the Halbor Kingdom. That's where we live."
Halbor Kingdom. Got it.
I stared at the geography. I needed to memorize as much of this as I could. I had to know the layout of this world if I was going to survive in it.
"The kingdom is huge," Tobis continued, tracing lines on the paper. "It's split into eight regions. Right in the middle is the royal domain, where the king sits. Then you have the four duchies, the two marches holding the borders, and one county."
He tapped a smaller shape on the map. "This is the county. And right here, in the southern part of it, is our barony. That little speck? That's Village Waylark."
Okay. We were in a barony, inside a county, inside the Halbor Kingdom. That meant we were pretty low on the totem pole.
"Now," Tobis said, moving his finger. "We've got neighbors. To the south of our county is the Reggwid Duchy. And just north of us is the Trisultanate. You don't want to go wandering up there, little one. The sands are hot and the swords are sharp."
Okay. Halbor Kingdom. Reggwid Duchy. Trisultanate.
"And outside the kingdom?" Tobis went on. He gestured to the territories surrounding Halbor. "To the east, you have the Arkelyn Dominion. Up northeast is Gobhold. Nasty place, full of monsters. Down south is Suslandar. Out west is Niirowile. And way down here, to the southeast, is the Great Lake."
"And here," Tobis said. He pointed to a smaller drawing in the bottom corner of the parchment. "This is the whole continent."
I stared at the zoomed-out map. It was a hulking, oval-shaped landmass. It looked like a solid, bloated potato with three random lakes poked into it.
I continued to stare at the map. I tried to burn the image into my memory.
"That's the world, little Rowan," Tobis said.
I looked at the unfamiliar borders. My mind raced. I really was just some random farmer in some random fantasy world. I didn't have any special knowledge to rely on. There was no guide to tell me where the dangerous areas were or what the political climate looked like. I was going to have to learn everything the hard way.
I looked up at the sky. I grabbed my head with my tiny hands.
This world is going to be a pain in the ass.