Swapped Fate

49: To Ridmata Cove

Friday came at last, and we were soon boarding the train to Soulga province in the south. Despite everything, I was enthusiastic, barely holding in my excitement. It was my fist time aboard a train, and travelling for pleasure. I had crossed the border from Soulga to Evindrear a long time ago, but that had been on an empty stomach, blistered feet and rags I hadn’t changed in days. I had been a runt looking for survival in greener pastures, not even knowing where I was headed.

Now, I was a missus dressed in fine silk and stylish fur boots, boarding a train I didn’t have to pay for, and relaxing in the company of new friends. And by friends, I meant Lea, Rebecca and Lucia. The four of us shared the cabin as previously reserved for us by the butler, Manvik.

“I am so excited to have this weekend away with all of you,” I heard Lucia say while I looked everywhere else but the women. My eyes took in the interior details of the train, the different people that made their way across the aisle and those yet to board from outside the window.

The giddiness captured my heart, causing a grin to stretch my face.

“It gets boring when you take trips with just your family all the time,” Lucia added.

“Ugh. Even worse when you’re all alone,” Rebecca supplemented. She shared a chaise with Lea while Lucia and I sat across from them, a table in between us. “I’m usually alone when I travel to and from Lenshire.”

“I never had to worry about that since I had Ari.”

My giddiness subsided once I heard those words.

In a somber tone, Lea said, “She didn’t even tell me she was leaving.”

I finally looked over at her. Her eyebrows were drawn together, despondency all over her delicate features. She had planned to visit Fate’s Heart yesterday, and was disappointed when Ari still had not returned. I escorted her to see the children, and it was there that she confided in me that Adrian had not slept in their bedroom for three nights, opting to work in the study.

“He’s avoiding me. I know it,” she had said. “Things had just improved between us. Now he refuses to speak in my presence and hardly looks at me. Like I’m an eyesore.”

She was even more unhappy than before—when Adrian would speak rudely. I, who knew the reason for his behavior, could not tell her. I only comforted her, promising  that it would get better.

“Who is Ari?” asked Lucia.

“Her handmaiden,” Rebecca replied, pulling Lea’s hand into her lap. “She’s been gone for three nights now, and we do not know why.”

Lucia frowned. “That’s worrisome. Perhaps she had an urgent matter that required her to leave immediately.”

“Perhaps,” Lea murmured. “But a message would have been nice.”
Rebecca squeezed her hand. “She’ll be back. Don’t worry so much.”

A weak smile crossed Lea’s face. “Her bedroom is clear of all her belongings. I don’t think she intends to come back.”

A thick silence followed, broken by Lea herself. “But let’s not wallow in my troublesome affairs. Lucia, how have you been? And your brothers?”

Lucia sighed. “I’m alright. I’m assisting Julian with his cases, Atticus is rarely at home and I honestly could not care less about what he’s up to. He was lukewarm about this trip. Julian, on the other hand, was over-the-moon with the arrangements. He could not wait for this weekend.”

Her eyes lit up when she spoke of Julian, a sly smile on her lips.

“Is that so?” Rebecca asked, her voice laced with interest.

“He’s excited,” Lucia confirmed and turned to me. Her pupils dilated, her gaze pinning me in my seat. “Very excited.”

Why was she looking at me like that?

“Oh.” Rebecca smiled. “Could it be that he looks forward to seeing his favourite painter again?”

Lucia shrugged, toying with the ends of her thick dark braid. “I wonder,” she said mysteriously.

We spent most of the ride chatting, but Lucia eventually fell asleep. I couldn’t get enough of the sight outside. Vegetation swooshed past at great speed, and I looked forward to spotting different animals whenever we passed by wide meadows.

I made sure to step out at whichever stop the train made, even though it wasn’t to empty my peebag. I simply wished to see and experience as much as I could. An experience from which I derived a lesson was the roast potatoes at Pilter train station. I learnt that they weren’t the least bit tasty, and that the grinning man who sold them to me, praising how well he raised them in his garden was not only a scammer, but an unskilled farmer as well.

After six hours, we arrived at our station in Soulga.

“Now, we need to locate a chap waving a sign that says Devereux,” Lea informed me as we alighted from the train and embarked into the spacious dome-shaped structure.

Beings bustled about, some searching for their respective coachmen while others left the station through any of the three entry/exit paths. Porters offloaded and transported luggage, either by hand or on carts. I noticed that many of the porters were greftyrs, carrying twice the luggage in their thick muscular arms or over their wide firm shoulders.