The Smith Family—

The Smith family, lost everything when an attack took out the family business they had in the marketplace. Unable to recover from such a loss, they quickly found themselves in need of the basics. A home, a livelihood. A safe place to rebuild what had been taken away.

Robert Smith was a proud man. He had built up a moderately successful grocery business, one that kept his family fed, in warm clothes and a roof over their heads. They had lived above the shop where he had spent every one of his adult days running that business. They didn't have much, but they had love and each other which made it all worthwhile.

When their shop was taken out in some random bit of violence in the marketplace, they were left with nothing. To see his wife lose all her precious keepsakes and pictures to the flames, nearly broke him. Having to move his family to a shelter and leave them in that sad place while he tried to find other work, was weighing on him heavily. But he would keep doing what he had to do to try to rebuild for his family and once again, give them a sense of security. When the mysterious pirate women started to come around once a week, offering her support those those that lived in the shelter, he had suspicions about what it was she really wanted. He was not accustomed to people doing good deeds and expecting nothing in return. One by one, families would leave the shelter, to a small community that was being started on the outer limits of the city. He often wondered if they were truly getting help there, till one day a friend came to see him.

"Bob!" he heard his name being called as he was heading back to the shelter after a long day of work. When he turned, he saw his friend Lawrence from the shelter coming towards him.

Lawrence had olive skin, black eyes and straight brown hair which is sometimes stuck up in random places from being windblown. His narrow face had a lot of character in it, the lines deep from spent laughing. The six foot man carried himself well on a slim build that he usually wore light colored clothing on.

During their time at the shelter, the men had forged a good friendship while playing cards to pass the late hours while they tried to deal with the situation they found themselves in. Like Robert, Lawrence"s family found themselves displaced by the Marketplace bombing. They had since moved out of the shelter and to that small community.

"How are you?"

"Doing well. Which is why I've come to see you."

"Oh?"

"We have a need for a grocer in the new place. Think you?d be interested in the job?" Lawrence asked and took a lean against a fence.

"What is the catch?"

"No catch." Lawrence said. "Come out and speak with the guy who is helping organize the place. He"s a good man. Wants to genuinely help us out and isn't asking for anything in return." he paused. "He works with that one pirate lady, Aja. They've been providing us with the supplies to build."

"They haven't asked for anything?"

"Not a thing. They helped the farmers make deals to bring in crops they can't grow in exchange for things they can. That is now providing food and things for the community."

"Well." Robert said slowly thinking it over. "That sounds ok."

"But we could use a community store. For all the other goods. I recall a couple conversations about how you'd like to be somewhere that was safer for your kids."

"I guess it couldn't hurt to hear the man out."

"Not at all." Lawrence smiled. "And they already have a building ready for you to move your family into." he paused. "Should you decide to come live there, of course."

Robert thought about it and checked his watch. He considered it in his head. What could be the harm in looking at it' "Let me get the family." Robert said. "I won't make this choice without Mary’s approval."

"You can stay tonight at my place. We have plenty of room." Lawrence stood up. "That way you won't have to worry about your things or getting back in time."

The pair of men went inside and got Robert"s family together and what meager belongings they had, then traveled to the community.

It barely had taken thirty minutes for Mary to decide that she liked the community, and the discovery that a lot of her friends and the children"s friends were also there had helped her to come to the choice of staying.

The town of Landow was coming along nicely. Keep tuning in as more families move in.

Benson

Bonnie Benson ran a simple sewing shop. Mending uniforms, tailoring clothes and every once in a while, she would make clothes of her own design. The constant interruptions to her business because of various criminal attacks in the Marketplace, made doing business there untenable. She wasn't in the shelter, she had been barely hanging on to her business in what was left in the district. She had been trying to help those in the shelters. When word started to spread about the new town of Landow, Bonnie's interest was peaked. A lot of positive buzz was going around about the community. It was a place to start over to have a life again, to feel safe. She traveled to Landow and took a tour of it. She found old friends. They all told her she should join their community. By the end of the day, she was convinced she found a new home.