The Prospector's Daughter

Discovery

I arrived home after a long journey under the rising son with Nicholas, who'd taken his cloak back and disappeared on me as soon as we were within the town's walls. I ran back to the small house Father and I stayed in and burst through the door, hoping he was already out on the docks fishing, but I wasn't so lucky. Father was sitting at the kitchen table, waiting to reprimand me for being out last night.

"Mighty nice of you to join me here today, considering you didn't even bother come home last night after you defied my direct orders to stay here, Sylvia. Would you like to attempt to explain yourself before you take your ass to your room and spend the day there?" I was unable to look look up from my feet to meet Father's gaze, for the shame I felt encompassed me.

"Father, I apologize..." I stuttered trying to get the words out of my mouth. "Please don't be upset with me, I truly didn't mean to get lost like I did last night."

"Well then how did you get back here this morning, then? Surely you had some help if you were lost, and that isn't the point. You never should have left the house to begin with. I will not allow to happen again."

"The founder of the town stumbled upon me while looking for something and helped to keep me safe through the night, Father. But it wasn't for nothing. Because I helped Nicholas discover the hidden silver mine just out of town, he wanted you to be the first to know. He wants you to change professions and get in the mine before anyone else discovers it, Father." Father's eyes widened for a moment before hardening once again and continuing.

"And how do you expect me to do that, huh? We've no money left because fish have been scarce lately, Sylvia."

"Father, please. Pull together the rest and buy mining gear. Nicholas said it would be well worth it and you'd become a very wealthy man. We could buy everything we want, build a nicer house even. We could buy nicer clothes on the market so we don't have to wear these rags anymore, Father. Just please try at least."

"I will think on it. For the time being, you may go to your room to spend the day. You won't be escaping punishment this time, child. You worried me something fierce." I nodded and trudged my way to my room before shutting the door and lying down in my bed. It wasn't until my head hit the pillow that I realized how truly exhausted I was from being away all night and fell fast asleep.

***

Once I found myself drifting into sleep, it wasn't long before my young imaginative mind started with the dreams.

I was standing in the opening of the cave I had spent the prior night in, just staring back into the dark black nothingness of the cave's body. It must have been quite late at night, as there was nearly no light whatsoever. Even the moon seemed to have disappeared behind the clouds. Something didn't feel right. There was no joy, no happiness, no excitement to be exploring as I'd typically had. Just melancholy, for some reason. I started walking into the cave, not caring that I couldn't see a thing, not worried whatsoever. I somehow knew where I was going. I carefully avoided every rock protruding from the cave's floor, every wall in my way, without even so much as a glance at them. I knew this cave well. There was something different though, a faint light at the end of the cave. I carried on through the cave, in search of the source of the light. No matter how far I traveled, which seemed like miles by this point, I was never able to get close enough to the light to see the source. I kept trudging on through the cave for hours it seemed, until I realized that I no longer knew my surroundings. I was lost.

I awoke with a start to a loud banging in the kitchen. Father must have been home. I rolled out of bed and made my way out to the front door to see what the commotion was for. I rubbed my eyes as the bright midday light spilled in through the front door as I approached Father. He stood before me with a sack full of heavy looking items.

"What's all this, Father?" I gave him a quizzical look.

"Mining gear. I'm about to head out to speak with Mr. Creede. Would you accompany me, since you helped in all this nonsense?" He chuckled, clearly in a much better mood than he had been that morning. I nodded my head and pulled my boots on before wrapping my cloak around myself. We set off out the door, and followed the main path going through town to the large house on the other side of the town. We arrived at the Creede house and Father looked to me as if to say "Well, you got us into this mess, go talk to the man!" I rolled my eyes and looked back to the door, excited to see the man who'd saved me again. I knocked my hand against the wooden door firmly and awaited a response. Nothing. I looked through one of his windows to see if he was around, but realized all the windows had been covered and i couldn't see in. I knocked again, this time calling out to him as I did.

"Nicholas! Are you in there? It's Sylvia. Father wanted to speak with you." There was silence for another few moments. Just as I was about to turn around and head home, I heard Mr. Creede call back from behind the door.

"You may let yourself in Sylvia. I'm just in the other room." I looked back to Father to make sure it was alright, and slowly pushed the door open. Nicholas's house was warm and homey, not extravagant like most men in power's homes. The furniture was beautiful, and everything was decorated so elegantly, but you could clearly tell everything had been worn from use. The only oddity was the windows, once again. There was no sunlight being let into his house at all, only candlelight. Strange, indeed. I walked my way in, and made sure to motion Father to shut the door behind him. I walked into the room I'd heard Nicholas talking from and walked right into his arms when he saw me. He embraced me gently and gave me a quick pat on the head as Father joined us.

"Dear, Sylvia. I see you've talked to your father about the mine, huh? You two wouldn't be here if you hadn't I suppose. Why don't you both take a seat with me and we can discuss this further." He motioned for us to sit in a couple of chairs across from where the desk was that Nicholas had been sitting at. "Now, what all has Miss Sylvia told you, Sir?" Father cleared his throat.

"Well, first of all, my daughter informed me of the fact that you'd kept her safe last night when she got lost in the night. I thank you." Nicholas bowed his head and smiled politely at Father. "She told me you two discovered a big silver mine not far from here and that you wanted me out there as quickly as possible before it gets too crowded in there."

"Absolutely. Once word gets out, Creede will inevitably grow, and people will travel here to work the mines. Given that Sylvia here helped me discover the mine, I thought it only fair that you hear of the opportunity first. It has the potential to be a very lucrative opportunity, Sir. I'll only have a very very select people out there for some time, until we have the mine established and such. For now we only know of the silver littering the cave walls, but there's no telling what other precious ores and stones could be out there. I'd like you to help me figure that out, and give you a big cut of anything found out there as well, as a thank you to Miss Sylvia. I am quite grateful for her for being so brave the other night. You're raising a fine young lady here, sure to be quite the adventurer some day." Father's brows furrowed at Nicholas's last words.

"I intend for her to be a good wife someday, Mr. Creede. It's not very lady-like to go around adventuring like a boy now, is it?" Nicholas looked to me as my face dropped and winked at me before responding to Father.

"Well, Mr. Colwood. I think Sylvia will make an excellent adventurer. Being a lady is of no importance when you heart is set on something entirely different. I believe she should be able to follow her dreams, Sir. If you'd be willing, I will let you manage the mines, on the condition that you let me watch Sylvia while you are away in the mines, and be sure that she is safe and taken care of, and above all, taught to take care of herself so she doesn't get into another situation where she is in danger and helpless. What do you say?" Father sat there contemplating Nicholas's offer for a good minute before speaking again.

"I suppose that is a fair deal. Sylvia," He looked to me, "how to do you feel about that?" I was struggling to hold my excitement in at that point. I wanted nothing more than to be taught to explore, and to avoid my "Wifely" duties, or whatever Father thought he was teaching me.

"I'd be content with that, Father. Thank you." Nicholas smirked at me quickly before turning to Father again.

"If you have the proper gear, I can draw you out a map to the cove now, and you can go and get started right away. Leave Sylvia here and I'll get started with her lessons." Nicholas looked straight into Father's eyes and i could have sworn the color of Nicholas's eyes shifted to a brighter hue as he spoke his next words. "Now go. Get up, leave my house, and make sure to go straight to the mine to get started." Father got up without any hesitation and walked out the door. He didn't do much as glance at me on his way back out of the house.

What the hell was that about...?