A few years have passed and your medical schooling is complete and you now work at the Klyton hospital as a real doctor.



Your personal life has changed quite a bit over the past few years as well. You currently live in an apartment near the hospital with a fellow medical student. Actually she's your girlfriend. It started out as a simple roommates thing, but then it developed into something a little more. Cindy still has a year of schooling to go, and you now have a job at the hospital so you weren't planning on going anywhere just yet.



However Cindy suggests that the pair of you should leave for the Delantium Kingdom, specifically Sivak, which is the closest big city. She mentions that there are more opportunities there and she would prefer living there as well.



You don't really have any specific objections against going there, it's just you've never left Klyton, so you're probably a little nervous especially since you've managed to succeed in getting a good job here and maintain a friendly relationship with most of the people you work beside.



Well you have a year to hammer out all the plans in the meantime you're on your way to visit your mother. You don't see her as much as you used to but she is of course very proud of you and mentions that your father would be too if he were still alive. After all it was always his goal to make sure that you went into medicine for a career.



When you get to the Traveler's Inn, it never ceases to amaze you how much the place has changed and how much it has grown since the days when you were little. Wendy does most of the day to day inn management nowadays, leaving your mom to concentrate on the cooking, which she prefers in the first place. Rita still works there surprisingly enough. Apparently she found it a lot better to just hook up with various rich guys for a short period of time to get some gifts and then remain single.



Eliza is the new head barmaid. You guess that experience with the whole Griffon Inn situation boosted her confidence. She even managed to turn Flameflower and Sunshine into productive employees! You remember how friendly you were to each other and how sometimes it seemed like there was the potential for more there, but neither one of you seriously pursued it.



"Well, haven't seen you in awhile Mr. big shot doctor. You still with that…girl?" Rita asks when you walk in.

"Her name's Cindy and yes I am, Rita. What's it to you anyway?"

"Nothing, can't I be concerned for your well being? I mean we have known each other for a long time and all."

"Hm. Well I'm fine. Where's my mom?"

"She's in the kitchen as usual."



You walk past Rita, shaking your head at her sudden interest in you now that you have a good paying job. As you approach the bar, Wendy notices you.



"I see the great doctor has come for a visit. Taking a break from that girl you shacked up with huh? Anyway your mom is in the kitchen." She says and then goes back to talking with some of the patrons.



When you enter the kitchen your mom turns around to see you and smiles before rushing to give you a big hug.



"Aw mom." You say not wanting all this fuss.

"Hey indulge me, I don't get to see you as much as I used to. So how have you been? What's going on? Are you still with…that girl?"

"Her name's Cindy, geez why doesn't anyone like her? Rita and Wendy both made some snide remark about her as I came walking in."

"Sorry son, I'm sure Cindy's a nice girl and all, but the couple times you visited here with her, she was a bit pretentious, and you know Wendy doesn't care for people like that. As for Rita, well I'm sure you know why she's acts the way she does by now."

" Okay I know Cindy has a bit of that upper class personality, but Eliza was the only one who even tried to be friendly with Cindy the last time she was here!"

"Eliza would be friendly to a mountain troll as long as it wasn't eating her. It's just her nature. Not to mention she thinks you're happy with Cindy so she's happy for you."

"So, why can't you be happy for me?"

"Who said I wasn't? If that's who you want then good! I'm all for it. The question though is are you happy?"

"Of course I am! I wouldn't be moving with her to Sivak by next year if I wasn't! That's sort of why I came here today. I wanted to let you know, I'll be leaving Klyton soon."



You mother doesn't seem too emotional about this revelation, you were sort of expecting more tears or celebration. Instead she just sighs and heads off to cut some vegetables, before speaking again.



"Hmm, okay. Well as long as you're sure that's what you want to do."

"Why wouldn't it? I mean there are more opportunities in Sivak than there are here for me and Cindy. You didn't want me to stay did you? I thought you were going to sell this place and move to Teckleville anyway."

"No, of course I don't want you to stay for me! Geez, I can manage just fine. Your father and I always knew the day would come that you'd move far away. As for selling this place, eh, I'm not sure yet. It is true that after your father died, my main motivation was to keep this place running to help continue paying for your education. I figured after that goal was reached I would indeed retire to Teckleville. I dunno now though. I guess after all the stuff we went through to keep this place, not to mention making it better, I've become more attached to it again."



Now you're sort of surprised to hear her say that, you thought for sure that she was fully intending on moving back to Teckleville.



"Well, no matter where you are, I hope you know I'll visit." You say.

"Oh of course, I wasn't worried about that. Well anyway I have to finish preparing this drakling. Some adventurers can't ever order something simple, well at least they brought it in themselves I suppose."



At this point you and your mother say goodbye to each other and you walk out of the kitchen. On your way out you bump into Eliza.



"Hey you! I haven't seen you in a long time! How have you been? Are things going well for you and Cindy?"

You smile at the fact that she remembered your girlfriend's name. "I've been okay. I heard about you being the head waitress now, congratulation."

"Thanks, I'm actually running a little late right now. I'll have to talk with you later, maybe we should meet sometime when we're not both busy."

"Um…yeah maybe. Well see you later." You say and quickly leave the area.



As you leave you feel a mixture of guilt, anxiety and confusion. Part of you wants to go back. You don't know if you have real feelings for Eliza or you're just deliberately thinking about sabotaging things so you don't have to move away from Klyton.

You cindy (Your girlfriend)

Cindy: Girlfriend



You met Cindy about a year and a half ago. How you missed each before all this time is mostly due to her focus in pediatrics. It's a relatively new field. Before it was seriously considered as a real branch of medicine; kids were treated like miniature adults, which sometimes lead to unfortunate "over medication."



Like most people who pursue the medical field she comes from a wealthy merchant family, though originally her family came from the Delantium Kingdom and moved here a long time ago mainly because her father didn't like all the new taxes imposed by the Kingdom. She still has extended family there and remains on good terms with them and hopes to move back some day since she's never cared much for Klyton, claiming that most of the city doesn't have the appreciation of the fine arts and is rather "low class" in general. (Even the rich Klytonians)



This sort of attitude is mostly due to her Delantium upbringing when she was young, but despite this she still wants to help the children of the less fortunate since she feels everyone still should get the chance to pull themselves out of the gutter. This is probably why she found you attractive. While you certainly had help, you did manage to pull yourself "out of the gutter" so to speak. Of course the few times that she visited the inn, she didn't make a good impression with most of your acquaintances there. She wasn't outright rude, but she was standoffish to a point where most of them considered her a snob (and a few others worse than that!)



You take it in stride for the most part. As long as she's not calling your mother a gutter whore, you're not excessively bothered by her slightly elitist ways.