Carter is an Odd fellow. One would rarely invite him in for a formal meal to say the least. Which is odd as, Carter didn't have a particularly odd upbringing. He was raised – as many are by loving parents – in the outer reaches of Haense in housing which (while it couldn't be called Luxurious) was still relatively comfortable. Carter was subject to a basic education, as many people were – learning the basics of reading and writing, the History of the Highlanders, somewhat basic etiquette and other lessons which parents often tutor their children in. Through his youth, Carter was described as Lazy. Not in the sense that he sat around all day, but more the fact he would simply try and take the shortest route to solving his problems. If asked to do a task, Carter would do it but would very much so disregard anything else which he could do to benefit himself, or those around him. An example of this was; should his parents give him a pouch of Minas and instruct him to return with something for dinner, Carter would simply return as fast as he could do with a single loaf of bread and the barely depleted pouch of Mina – as that would often be the first thing he could find. While not necessarily being a disobedient child, Carter was far from helpful and would often excuse himself for long walks when any work arose.
Oddly enough for someone described as ‘Lazy’, Carter loved to walk. As he grew up he had invented a sort of challenge for himself; to see if he could travel as far as possible without running, and return before his dinner was ready. While this activity was entirely pointless and bordering on idiotic, Carter was content and – since this hobby got him out of the house and actually doing something – his parents did not see any reason to stop him. This pastime had its upsides and downsides; as Carter would soon become more accustomed to living of the land and the skills of travelling, though would unfortunately neglect his need to interact with others – unsurprisingly Carter didn't make many friends. Not because he was bullied or that he stuck out from the crowd, but more because he never thought to go inside the city to actually make any. Although leading a somewhat lonely life, Carter was happy and content with his existence and didn't openly seek adventure or power, he was simply happy to just float along.
Carter would soon extend the distance he could travel, learning when was a good time to take breaks, what routes were quickest and what signs meant he should avoid certain areas for risks to his own wellbeing. Carter’s existance would remain unchanged until he left his youth and entered young adulthood, as upon returning home from his walks and sitting down to dinner, his parent’s conversations would slowly but surely change from inquiring where he had been, and what he had seen. Straying more into asking what Carter intended to do with his life and when he intended to actually find work. This revelation shocked Carter as he had never pondered such a question before, he thought to himself to try to think of something quickly, but he honestly couldn't think of anything. He had incredibly limited social skills, no skills in weaponry and practically no idea what job he could even remotely be skilled enough to do. The only job that Carter believed that he would ever be considered for was to simply give up his wandering bliss and resign himself for a lifetime of serving in the army.
Carter faced a crossroads, but not the kind of crossroads he liked to face. As he liked a physical crossroads with the possibility of finding new places, as opposed to this latter crossroads of choices which he had limited understanding of at all. Carter did not want to live a life of being bossed around, to him that sounded worse than being trapped in a cage which kept yelling commands at him for some unknown reason. He knew that he had to seek work, and after several days filled with several long, thoughtful walks, he had come to a stalemate conclusion. He packed up his belongings, said goodbye to his parents and trudged slowly off to the barracks, with but a bag filled with the bare essentials.
Upon arriving at the city centre, Carter looked around as the merchants packed up their wares for the day, walking down the path until his attention was caught by two merchants arguing by a travelling wagon. Carter wasn't particularly bothered by this since, he had seen people arguing before, this event was no different. But alas, they were arguing by the path and so Carter was inclined to walk past them. While he wasn't trying to snoop into the conversation, it was hard not to hear about the transpiring events as the merchants had begun shouting at one another. The merchants seemed to be in some kind of argument about a service agreement one of them owed the other, with one shouting about how they didn't agree on him travelling that far of a distance. “Too far... Distance...” Carter’s thoughts seemed to echo to him, before his brain promptly booted him hard with perhaps the first brilliant idea Carter had ever had. As the other merchant stormed off, Carter approached the owner of the wagon and asked what all the fuss was about. After a long winded explanation involving Carter getting increasingly scared by the merchant’s large hand gestures, he soon found himself offering to perhaps take the travelling merchant’s place as a Courier. The wagon owner’s face light up as a smile appeared from under a bushy grey moustache, only increasing Carter’s slight discomfort.
Within a matter of minutes, Carter was introduced to the other two Couriers and was briefed on how they were to travel to the northern cities to sell the wagon’s goods to vendors. Carter was somewhat shocked by how quickly he was trusted and absolved into the disfunctional group of merchants, however he could set aside a feeling of excitement that he had not felt in a long time. With but barely enough time to write scrawled note to his family, the wagon would set off with a jolt as the horses moved down the worn path of the city outskirts, only stopping for Carter to pin the letter to his home’s door. With a taste for adventure, Carter would climb onto the perch of the wagon, watching the sun rise as familiar scenery melted into new and exiting places he had never before reached. While Carter had no idea what he would face on this treck, that didn't matter, not because he was too ‘lazy’ to have doubts, but because for the first time he found something worth caring about.
Carter would spend the entirety of his transition from teenager to adult in the service of the merchants, until eventually the wagon master retired to a wealthy coastal town, leaving the Couriers to their own separate ways to find work once more. Carter himself would find himself in this position, walking down a path away from the town with a spring in his step and an apprehensive feeling in his stomach, he didn't know where he was heading next, but he knew one thing. He would not be home in time for dinner.
