Avengard: The Fall of Senvia

Chapter 12 - Jenny

Talking to Jenny felt comfortable. Her voice, her tone, her accent blended together in just the right way so that every word she spoke sounded like home. It was like I'd stumbled through the Kvass Flats alongside the western Cinian mountains and glimpsed the Inner Sea. I could picture was the snow in her hair and her footprints trailing behind her.

It wasn't her as a person, nor her looks. Her voice just felt like... home.

It wasn't just her voice. She was friendly too, if wary. My being Kindred set her ill at ease, but she played that part off well enough.

The servers avoided her with odd, hesitant glances, so I ordered her a bottle of wintergreen.

"So," I asked as another server skirted around her, "why are they all avoiding you? An innkeep turning someone away in a storm..."

"I'm not from around here," she said. Her boots were broken in and worn down. I enhanced my eyes only for a moment to glance at them, and I could see the leather beginning to peel away from the heel. Rough hand stitching bound it back together, but if she kept using them, they would soon fall apart more than a basic set of sewing skills would allow. Magic would be needed to repair them, or a new pair, perhaps one more designed for walking.

But to wear out shoes to that extent was unusual. There were more elegant methods of transportation. Our guidance charm, for one. More costly, though less reliable, were automated movement charms, which abandoned the need for horses in favour of a self-steering, self-propelling wagon charm.

Empress Lyana had relied on human drivers and well-fed, well-trained horses. They were more predictable. Though she did keep arcane alternatives on-hand.

Still, the act of walking between provinces was unimaginable. Most of them were former nations, massive stretches of country that would take days to months to pass through. Most humans spent their entire lives without ever leaving their own little corner of the world, and the ones who did leave did not often do so on foot.

"Where are you from?" I asked.

"I'm going to need you a bit more drunk before I tell you that," she laughed. "What if you turn me away?"

"I would never!" I exclaimed in mock aghast.

"In that case, where are you from, Kindred?"

I nearly said Senvia, but Eskir grabbed my arm. Jenny eyed his hand curiously.

I shrugged him off, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal to tell her where I'd spent my life. "There's a nameless inn at the crossroads three days west of here."

Her eyes lit up. "I know the one!" she exclaimed. "I didn't come from that way, but I've stayed there before, when Senvia was still around. I used it a few times. The owner was really friendly. I never saw you there though."

I struggled out a grin. "Coincidence?" I lied.

"Why did you leave? Must be quite the story for a Kindred to end up in an inn in the first place."

"Quite the story," I agreed. "But I just left. We've only been on the road a few days." The look she gave me in return was something like longing. "You've been travelling for longer?" I suggested.

"Awhile. Listen, I hate to bother you with this, but... I'm cold. I'm wet. I'm drenched by the rain. I've heard the rooms here have wood stoves in them."

"Oh, I'll bet they do," I said in disgust. "Sorry, it's a rivalry thing. Come on. We already have a room. Eskir, we're going upstairs. In your shoes, I'd come too."

He glared at me, then looked down at his drink with an exaggerated frown.

"Five more minutes," he pleaded.