Chapter Eleven

Master Eujin kept true to his word. When they left the campsite at sunrise, they stayed on the road without a single break. They ate while walking, and while they didn’t do the sprint periods they normally did, their pace was now a good bit faster than before, to the point where Ven frequently found herself jogging in order to keep up.

They did not talk much over the course of the day, and Ven noted that Master Eujin seemed a lot more observant and wary than he had since they’d left Renning, and he always had one hand resting on Scarlet Whisper’s pommel. It was strange seeing him this on guard. He had seemed so utterly poised and relaxed the entire time she’d known him so far. It wasn’t fear that she saw. Instead, it felt like he was now exerting more than the bare minimum effort. Looking at his eyes as he walked, Ven now realized that he probably hadn’t slept the entire night. He had dark circles under both eyes, and his posture was less… energetic. It was a subtle thing, and likely not something a normal person would notice. But having spent every waking moment around him for about the past two weeks, it was blatantly obvious to her.

Evening settled over the sky, and was nearly to night when the close-set forest around the road finally thinned, and then cleared completely into a wide, seemingly endless expanse of long swaying grass across gently rolling hills. After being in the woods for so long, stepping out like this made Ven feel horribly exposed, and a small part of her wanted to rush back to the safety and darkness of the densely-knit treeline

Master Eujin led them to the top of a large rise, and paused for a long moment to get the lay of the land around them. He pointed to a band of twinkling lights on the horizon.

“That’s the capitol. From here, it’s about another full day’s journey.” He said.

Ven groaned.

“We have to go a whole ‘nother day without sleep?” she asked, feeling defeated.

Eujin shot her a sideward glance.

“I told you no rest until we reach civilization.” He said. “Fortunately for you, that small batch of lights over there is an inn called the Wayward’s Rest. We’re staying there for the night. It’s perhaps another hour’s walk.”

The thought of a warm meal, shelter, and down pillows after two weeks living like she had quickly overwhelmed whatever exhaustion she’d been feeling, and she practically drug him back onto the road in an effort to get there quicker. As they approached the outside of the brightly-lit building, Master Eujin put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her to a stop a couple dozen paces away from the entrance.

“From this point forward, until I say otherwise, I am not Eujin Vast, and you are not Syrvena Kunning. My name is Gene, you are my son Van, and we are daytalers on our way back from harvesting season. You will not speak of anything that could give away who we are, you will not use Cant in close proximity to other people, and you are absolutely not to be seen with your dagger. Are we clear?”

Ven nodded, then looked questioningly at the scabbard tied to his belt. Master Eujin, sensing her question, untied it and held it out in front of him. He said something, a deep, guttural growling sound that may have been a word, but if it was, it wasn’t one Ven had ever heard. It did, however, make every single hair on her arms and neck stand straight on end. As she watched, an inky, impenetrable darkness washed from his hands and enveloped the weapon in a shifting, swirling cloud of darkness. Then there was a flash, and it was gone.

Ven stood staring at the place where the sword had been a second ago, her mouth slack. She’d seen wraiths, yes, and Master Eujin had told her magic existed, but seeing it done in front of her now for the first time was still almost impossible for her to wrap her head around. She looked up at him to find him looking at her in amusement.

“Come on, kid. We’ve got a hot meal to get to.”

The inn itself was not a single building, but four. In the center was a large tavern that served as the main source of activity and light, and around it on three sides were three multi-story buildings of clapboard and plaster that were obviously the sleeping quarters. While something like this was probably pretty normal in the more densely populated parts of the world, Ven still found an inn this large impressive. It made the Feast and Flagon seem quaint, even backwards, in comparison.

Once inside the tavern, Ven’s senses were assaulted by a wall of sights, smells, and sounds. Music came from a trio of men playing in the corner, accompanied by the babble, shouts, and laughter of the easily a hundred or more people who filled its interior. The air was thick with the smell of beer and bread and roast meat, and Ven had to stop herself from drooling as a woman walked past carrying a large platter piled high with steaming food. She was so distracted by the thoughts of eating that it took her several seconds to realize that the woman wasn’t human. She had dark, purplish skin punctuated across her arms and neckline by pale lavender stripes, and a trio of bony ridges running from her brows to the back of her neck in place of hair. Her nose was broad and flat, almost like a cow’s, and a pair of long, rabbit-like ears hung off the side of her head. Nearly the entire length of each was edged with a myriad of earrings in a plethora of styles, sizes, and colors. Having never seen any of the non-human races before, Ven found herself unconsciously gawking at the woman, and would have continued to do had Master Eujin not rested his hand on her shoulder and given it a very unpleasant squeeze.

They took a table in the back corner of the room, and both of them sat facing the room and towards the only door. Probably to keep an eye out for the men from yesterday. When the time came to order, Ven had to stop herself from getting 30 of everything and eating until she threw up. Master Eujin ordered some soup and a loaf of bread. Begrudgingly, she did the same, although she couldn’t stop herself from ordering a sweetroll too. Master Eujin just gave her a flat look and subtly rolled his eyes at her as the serving girl walked away.

As they ate, Ven started noticing just how many different kinds of people there were in this one room. In addition to every color, size, and culture of human imaginable, she also saw more non-humans, and was able to get Master Eujin to begrudgingly explain each of them to her in hushed tones as they ate.

At one table were a quintet of short men with bright blue skin and blood-red hair that Master Eujin told her were Qametheans. They were all playing some sort of game featuring a lot of dice and a set of wooden drinking cups, and when one of them apparently lost the rest chanted something in unison before taking his cup and pouring his drink over his head. In the span of a few minutes, all of them had ale dripping from their braided hair and their long moustaches, and dark puddles had amassed under each of their chairs.

The serving girl was what was called a Sethshi, and to Ven’s surprise, was not actually a girl despite their appearance. As Master Eujin explained, Sethshi did not have male and female like people did. They were just... Sethshi, and they reproduced by choice without help of any other member of their species. Ven couldn’t help but imagine how that would work, but after working herself into a furious blush she cleared her throat and directed her attention elsewhere.

The last one she met directly, after the woman sauntered over and leaned against the wall next to their table. She had her arms crossed underneath her breasts in such a way to make them far more prominent in the low cut neckline of her green dress. She was thin-limbed and shapely, with light brown mottled skin and long dark hair that Ven soon realized was not actually hair, but a dense waterfall of dark-colored feathers. She wore a green translucent veil over the bottom two-thirds of her face, and had vivid green eyes the color of young grass that matched both her veil and her dress. The woman leaned in suggestively and whispered something into Master Eujin’s ear. He gave her one of his trademark dead expressions and shook his head. She pouted, and strode off in what looked like a bit of a huff.

“Kekusi.” Master Eujin said, turning back to his food. “They manage most of the vices in the capitol, including gambling and whoring. This one was looking for… company, though many of them will try to seduce pretty much anyone of any race so long as they enjoy themselves in the process, if you take my meaning.”

Ven nodded that she most definitely was taking his meaning, and he continued.

“Not all Kekusi are quite so forward, but you can generally tell which is which by their face coverings. A covered face is a mark of modesty among the Kekusi, and baring it in public for them is much the same as a human woman going outside with bared breasts.”

“So, by wearing a see through veil, she was…” Ven started, her face starting to redden.

“Trying to titillate anyone who knows what it means, yes."

"Why did you tell her no, then?" Ven asked.

Master Eujin looked at her and cocked an eyebrow.

"She wasn't asking about me." He said.

"Then who-" Ven started, and then froze when she realized. "Wait, me?!"

"Like I said," Master Eujin said, tilting back his ale mug. "Anyone."