The Past

The bachelorette?

During the next few weeks, I spent much of my time "playing cards" with Athern and reading with Remor. Our ship was sailing to Xital so that the crew could stop in its home port, and so that we could explore the natural caverns that had been turned into the Realm's most famous and profitable mines, but it took weeks to get there.

In the meantime, Athern taught me a few of the tricks in his deck of cards. One provided provisional food, if necessary, and another could sprout a fountain if thrown on the ground. There were many dozens of them, each with their own specific skill. There was even one for switching someone's hair to an outrageous colour. They were funny, really, as some held no use other than to anger another person. Those were his favourites, and I daresay he may have used one or two on Remor during our journey.

As Remor and I were reading through our piles of scrolls and stacks of papers one day, the scroll he was holding simply turned to water in his hands. He was quite angry, as well as soaked, but fortunately he had already finished reading the majority of that particular parchment.

"How could that have happened?!"

I stifled back a giggle, knowing that it must have been one of Ginira's prank cards.

"It isn't funny." His anger made it so much funnier, as his eyes didn't usually turn grey, but right then they were. "Stop laughing, Nea!"

Then I really burst into a fit, and he soon joined. Our friendship truly grew those few weeks, and I was glad for it. Paves and I didn't speak.

After that day, I had one brief conversation with Teirr and that was it. He told me that I was right about him having a responsibility, but that it was his choice nonetheless. I, of course, agreed, but made certain to note how selfish their choice was, and how selfish I had been when I wished to make the same choice. We had been raised to rule, our brothers were not. It wasn't a birthright, it was a requirement of being the eldest ones in our family.

The day we landed in Xital, little Anya was quite confused to be leaving the ship for the first time, but the crew insisted we leave, as their journey ended there.

Overweighted with baggage, we all followed Athern out into the city, as he was the one of us who knew other lands and languages, and I believe he had mentioned visiting this particular country before. He found us a rather nice inn to stay at, and at a reasonable price, too. 4 small rooms, as it had been concluded that Teirr and Paves would be sharing and the rest of us would each have a room to ourselves.

After discarding my luggage in my room, I headed straight to the bathhouse, desperate for a proper bath.

A line of three copper tubs stood in the women's bath, each separated by a small dressing screen. Along the wooden wall was a table ornamented with an array of oils, soaps, salts, and flower petals. The condition of the room showed that the walls and floor must have been enchanted to resist steam and water, so as to avoid deterioration of the material. Well, either that or it was quite a new building.

Beside the table was a sort of well, built into the wall and leading down into the inn's water supply, so that the inn-maids wouldn't have to spend time bringing water up. As I looked around, I saw no means of heating the tubs, which did strike me as rather odd. I did not use the bucket and rope, but reached down into the water supply with my mind, bringing up just enough water to fill my tub. After changing out of my clothes and into one of the thin bathing robes that sat folded beside the soaps, I picked out my scents and dipped into my tub, allowing the water heat to adjust as I entered.

In the past weeks, I had become much more proficient with my elements than I had previously been, perhaps out of necessity. During my search of the caverns, I had kept a thin temperature-balancing shield of air around me at all times, as the temperature in the caverns was erratic, freezing in one moment and scorching in another.

The temperature now was just warm enough, and though it wasn't quite the same luxury as back on Orion, I was glad to be on land once again.

I couldn't stay in the bath for long, though, as it was already near supper, which meant I'd have to go and ready myself soon. There were many places to eat in the city, some finer than others, but Athern was sure to choose somewhere of high standing, so it was best to be well-dressed. Thus, after about only twenty minutes, I dried myself and headed back to my own room to prepare for our first night in a proper city.