[center][b][color=yellow][h1]Jude Jamison[/h1][/color][/b][/center][hr]It had been a few days since the drifter had blew into town to work on the farm. In the days that followed he had taken to acclimating himself more to the area and its people, and had begun to take nightly walks in the forest. He had always felt in-tune with nature for reasons he couldn't quite explain, especially given his origin within the city.

Living and working on the farm was nice. Jude enjoyed the company of Olivia and her animal companions, as well as the work on the farm. In fact, that was what he was doing now; he was using an old hammer kept in a chest within the farmhouse to crush large boulders, rain beating down upon his blond head. The cabbages were already watered by the sprinkling, so he wouldn't have to worry about those today, just clearing out the field. He could already hear the protests from some of the townsfolk: "don't work in the rain, you'll catch a cold" and all that. Bah, he knew the risks and didn't need to be reminded of them.

As he worked, his mind went back to the party on New Years, and the young girl that had stumbled in and collapsed on the spot. Last he heard she was recovering well in the mayor's home. He tried to push the rather depressing thoughts from his mind, but he continued to dwell on it, concern tugging at him as he wanted to see if the girl really was doing alright. Though he had no idea what had happened to her and where she came from, he knew it mustn't have been pleasant; how else do you explain a girl barely a decade old wandering into a strange town looking like hell? It made him angry, really, to think that the girl's guardians would just abandon her.

After a moment he realized he was just hitting pebbles into the soil, he had gotten so pissed. Jude took a deep, calming breath. No matter, he would be sure to swing by the mayor's house later today to check in on the kid. In the meantime, he had work to do.