To Rhial

40

Brenden

We didn't make much money from the first night of performing, or at least it didn't seem like much. A couple of the gold coins. I hadn't figured out how much money that was, but it probably meant the silver coins were worth a lot. At least Hallax was glad to hear about the positive response to our music.

However, Desmond was suddenly always busy now. I barely got the chance to talk with him anymore, which irritated me to no end. Him being busy was a good thing, but he seemed like he was starting to take everything for granted. Rehearsing was fun, but he was too tired to do anything afterward because of the sigils, so most days he would just leave right after and I wouldn't see him until the next afternoon.

We had a large room to ourselves, but I was the only one living in it. Two very fine beds, two desks, our instruments, and a table that we never really found a use for, so it was just piling up with our shit. Thankfully, the furnishings weren't all gold. They were made from wood of similar color to bronze, but it was still an improvement from the excessive gold and brass. Hallax was still working on finding me more spectral energy sigils to study with, but it was taking a hell of a long time. I found myself gravitating toward hanging out with Hestrel, Zerick, Miriel, and even Dex.

Hestrel was typically on guard duty at the front gate, so I'd go out there and shoot the shit with him on slow days. Miriel was usually busy researching or making things with her ingredients, so I tried not to bother her too often. And still, I would find myself in there talking to her about nyadin society, and even just Rhial in general, for hours. She had an interesting life, and every time she said one thing, I would have twenty more questions about that. I was a little worried that she was getting annoyed with me, but if she was, she was good at hiding it. A lot of the time, Zerick would find me in there and ask for a hand in training. He was a big guy with a big shield, and he said he liked working on combat drills with me because I was quick. I got around him easily, and he wanted to get better at reacting to fast opponents. It was helpful to me as well. I learned a lot of basic combat, and he showed me a lot about wielding shortswords and daggers. Apparently, he taught Dex all the basics when they were younger, and Dex taught himself after he didn't have any more to learn from Zerick. Zerick and Dex were basically joined at the hip. The only times they were apart were when Zerick was training with me or when Dex was talking with Miriel. It seemed like Zerick wasn't a big fan of Miriel, or maybe just conversation in general. I found out that the four of them, including Al'Li, had been traveling together for a while. I never spoke to Al'Li after the banquet, though. It seemed like she was kind of the odd one out. Her only real friend here was Miriel. I never found out why they all started traveling together, but I did find out that it started with just Miriel and Alli, then Hestrel joined in, and they found Zerick and Dex a couple cities over before stopping here at the beginning of the summer, or a little under half a year ago.

"Deep in thought?" Hallax's voice broke through my focus and I accidentally pressed all my fingers down on the uisukaifo keys. The jarring sound sent my head up directly to him, behind me. He had asked me to start practicing uisukaifo in his workspace. He said it helped him focus while he did desk work.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry. Did you want something?"

"Alex, your hands aren't being hurt when you train with Zerick, correct?" He wove his fingers together and leaned his head on them.

"No. I have the gloves you gave me. Besides, Zerick hasn't landed a solid hit on me yet. The shield's so big and he can't move it fast enough."

"They're awfully short exercises, are they not?"

"I get winded really quickly when I'm going as fast as I can."

He paused and leaned back in his chair. "Hm, cancel training today. A contact of mine informed me that they are willing to sell some sigil planks. Some are spectral, so I plan to purchase them. They come at a large cost, which means you will put them to good use."