Walls, Food, and Whispers

After a few days on the road, the walls of Dastion finally came into view. According to other travelers, this was the largest city in the region and the residence of the baron who ruled the lands around Lake Coaliren (or Coren as it was known in this era).

For the largest city, I have to say it wasn’t even a fraction of Myrthalas, which itself wasn’t a fraction of Endalor. Still, Isara seemed impressed enough; her eyes were wide as saucers.

"See, Isara? These walls will protect you against the ghost. You don’t have to worry."

"Zendal, ghosts can pass through walls!" she said, glancing back, worried that one might be following us.

My attempt to calm her failed yet again.

Even though she’d lived in the forest, she knew perfectly well what ghosts were… I’m not sure whether to mention that ghosts aren’t all that terrible, and that I know it because there’s a former ghost at the "camp" where Merite and Coletto are… she could get even more frightened.

"Won’t you at least tell me what it looked like? You might have mistaken something for a ghost…"

"No! If we talk about her too much, she’ll come to haunt us!"

"Then you’d better put some spirit into your training with Coletto, that way you won’t lose to any ghost," I said, ruffling her hair.

"Okay!"

Isara didn’t have much faith in my ability to protect us; I must have looked very "defenseless" next to that ghost.

If I had felt any evil intent, I would have woken up immediately though…

So be it… Then the best way to put her at ease is to help her trust her own abilities. That isn’t a bad thing.

Of course, once she truly develops those abilities, I’ll have to teach her not to get overconfident.

Though that’s still a ways off.

***

It wasn't hard to get into the city; they only asked us a couple of questions. It seems there are checkpoints between regions, and that's where they actually do proper checks.

For safety, we gave the name of another village near Isara's, since word will probably spread that her village no longer exists, which could cause me trouble later.

Of course, the consequences will be worse for anyone who tries to confront me about it, but I'm not interested in getting that involved in this kingdom's affairs.

"Look, Zendal! Achacas!"

Beside me, Isara was gazing excitedly at a food stall selling what looked like a stuffed pastry.

"Do you like them?" I asked.

"They sold them once in the village, but I couldn't afford any… so I don't know."

"Then let's try them."

"But I don't have enough money… I need to find a job first…"

"What are you talking about? A child's job is to grow and learn, leave the rest to me."

"Zendal… but the adults in the village say the children in the orphanages work all day…"

Seems I need to rethink that orphanage idea… first I have to do some research.

"What did we agree on about our identities?" I asked with a smile.

"That if anyone asked, you had adopted me," Isara answered, blushing.

"Correct, and no daughter of mine is going to go hungry because she doesn't have money," I said, heading toward the stall.

Isara looked a little confused; she wasn't used to relying on someone, but she didn't take long to make up her mind and followed me at a quick little trot, a small smile forming on her face.

"Hello, excuse me. Could we have two of those achacos, please?" I asked the vendor.

"Achacas!" Isara corrected beside me, smiling.

"How adorable," the vendor exclaimed when she saw Isara, "of course, honey! And I'll give you an extra one on the house!"

"Please don’t trouble yourself, I don’t want to cut into your profits." Now it was my turn to be considerate…

"It’s no trouble at all; your little one reminded me so much of my daughter, they’re the same age," the vendor replied. "Besides, I run an inn that’s doing quite well; I’m just testing new products to sell there."

"In that case, let me return your generosity by becoming patrons of your inn, we were actually looking for one."

"That’s wonderful! Lise will love having a playmate! My name is Rosse, nice to meet you!" The vendor introduced herself enthusiastically and took both my hands in hers and shook them. "Young man, you’re not only strikingly handsome, your hands feel velvety… having you at our inn will be an advertisement all by itself!"

"My name is Zendal… and thank you… I suppose," I answered with an awkward smile, and at my side Isara, thoughtful, was surely also figuring out a way to sell my looks. "Ah, but before anything else, I wanted to ask you something."

"What an auspicious name! My inn also honors the First Emperor in its name. Normally it would be disrespectful to use it, but in these times, when everyone is forgetting history, it isn’t a bad thing to remind them of that name now and then. Ah, sorry! Ask away, I’m all ears," Rosse said.

"Yes… um… these coins probably won’t be accepted here, right?"

"Let me see… mm… I certainly haven’t seen these before, we’d first need to have them weighed and… doesn’t the engraved face look a bit like you?"

Oops!

I hurried to put away the coins I had found inside the palace of Endalor, while Isara looked at the achacas as if she were saying goodbye to them.

"Wouldn’t it be easier to barter for now? Do you accept valuables?"

"Of course," Rosse replied.

Isara started eyeing the achacas as if she had reunited with an old friend.

"This is…" Rosse began, examining one of the rings we had started crafting in Myrthalas.

Of course, I hadn’t imbued that one with any abilities, nor had I linked it to Orb.

"Young man, I don’t think I have change for you… are you some noble from a distant country?"

"I’m just a traveler," I replied, smiling and lying as easily as breathing. "And don’t worry, we might stay for quite a while. Besides, you’ll have to pawn it first to learn its exact value."

"Thank you! I’ll treat you with the hospitality I reserve for kings!... Not that any would ever come to my humble inn!" Rosse said, laughing.

"What I’d like is to get those… achacas? Before Isara reaches her limit…"

Isara had gone up to the stall where Rosse kept them, and if there had been a pane of glass, I was sure her face would have been pressed to it.

"Oh! Of course! Sorry, I’ll hand them over right away!"

***

"Are you sure? Aren’t those just drunkards’ tales?"

"The news is everywhere already."

In a tavern not far from the center of Dastion, two men were talking about the biggest story in Rindel.

"The dead are rising in the south… and the capital is doing nothing, or what?!"

"On the contrary, doing nothing would have been better. They say we’ve already lost an entire army…"

"An army?! Lost?!"

"Lost… no, rather… they’ve joined the enemy’s ranks… after dying. The one leading them was the third prince; nothing has been heard from him since."

Crash!

At the table beside them, a tall blond youth had dropped his tankard and shot to his feet.

"Leon…"

The girl with long black hair and amber eyes who was with him stood as well and came to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Ignoring the gesture, the young man bolted from the tavern, while the girl hurried to apologize to the barkeep and ran after him.