Ari Hotan was never one for politics. Lera Taxas would rather be running her shop than fighting a tyrannical regime. But the king is dead, dark forces are rising, and no one seems to give a damn about it: except for them. So they fight.
But will the...
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I could hear the bells tolling from the palace. One. Two. Three. Four. Four chimes. The chime of death. You see, there are four parts to everyone: the mind, the body, the heart, and the soul that holds it all together. The four chimes represent each part of the person disappearing and flying over the endless sea to... well, no one really knows where. My father used to tell me that it was a place where you were surrounded by sky. Everywhere you looked was a clear blue, and you were just floating in the middle of it all. I was too young and stupid to realize that was all bullshit. I don't know what's past the endless sea. Probably more sea? It is endless, after all.
And then I heard another bell chime, this one deeper, lower, causing the floor to tremble beneath me. That was rarely a sensation I ever felt. The largest bell in the palace was only rung for royal deaths, and you don't have one of those every day. But today was the funeral of King Askare, who I heard died of a grave illness the night before. Although it wasn't a mandatory event, the whole of Psara, the nation's capital, basically shut down as people flooded into the palace courtyard to pay their respects. I looked weird sitting in this tavern all by myself, with only a young bartender who had the misfortune of having to work on a public holiday to keep me company.
"I'll have an astarhaes."
"That'll be one tali."
I gave him the coin from my pouch. It was one of the few left in there. But I needed something to take my mind off the funeral. It was so depressing. Die quieter next time, Askare, I thought. I smiled to myself. I had to admit, he was a pretty nice guy. A lot less high-strung than his dad.
I looked back at my pouch. One, two, three, and... I dug my fingers into the tiny corner of the pouch. Four. Four talin. That was enough to keep me afloat for a while. I held one of the tali up close. It was dirty and scratched up, probably passed around all the pouches in Lhartaon. But there it was, underneath the grime. King Askare's face, strong and determined, as if he were looking at something far away. I wondered when they would mint the new coins, with Queen Vailo's face on them. Probably not anytime soon. She would have to be coronated first, and that wasn't bound to happen for a while. After all, the official mourning phase lasted another two weeks after the funeral. She was still wearing that all-black gown, sequestered inside the walls of the palace. It must suck to be her. First your husband dies, then you can't even go outside for some damn fresh air.
"Hey, Ari?" I turned around to see my friend Lera entering the tavern. I almost forgot she was visiting. It had been so long since our time together at the Academy. Too long. "Hey. Ari. You gonna say something?"
"Yeah. Sorry. I was just spacing out."
"Sure looked like it."
"I... I was just thinking about the Academy."
"Oh, those were the golden days. Remember when we made Master Cholar's chair a little bit taller every day until he could no longer sit on it?"
