City of Culture II

“Man…what even was all of that?”

Kayin ponders his situation as he sits in a bar at the base of an inn within the city. On the opposite side of the table is Narada, drinking lots of the palm wine being offered to him by the waitresses.

“Ahh!” Narada gleams as he sets down another large cup, “I don’t know, *burp*, but it was definitely desperate for your attention. Maybe you owe him a debt or something?”

“You know who I am. Do you really think I would ever be in someone’s debt?”

“...sorry, my king. Perhaps the wine has gotten to me,”

Kayin notices the shaky tone coming from Narada.

“I think it’s done more than just gotten to you,”

“Would you like another round?” asks a waitress as she approaches the table.

“No, thank you. My friend here has had more than en-”

“Another round, please!” Narada shouts, with an intoxicated expression.

“Alright, sir!”

“Hey!”

Kayin grabs the waitress before she could manage to slip away.

“I told you…no more drinks.”

“But sir…” the waitress calmly says as she forces a smile, “Your friend has asked for-”

“What exactly are you playing at?”

The waitress freezes.

And in that same moment, the entire bar, which had been bustling with background noise, immediately quiets down.

Kayin immediately takes notice of the atmosphere’s change.

“Narada, get ready.”

Narada burps loudly, cutting through the now silent noise.

…forget it.

“So you’re the former king, then?”

Kayin turns around, and although he cannot see him, he notices the direction of where the question had come from.

“And you’re the barkeeper. Can you ask your girls not to be so forceful with the drinks?”

The barkeeper laughs, “Well, I wouldn’t be able to run my business if not for the sales. I’ll have to ask you to overlook this,”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Kayin slams his fist onto the table, keeping Narada from dozing off in his seat.

“So? The usurped king is in front of you. Why are none of you attacking me?”

The men around the bar grit their teeth as they stare aggressively towards Kayin.

“I can assure you, your majesty…none of us in this city are your enemies.”

Kayin grins, “You expect me to believe that?”

“Believe what you want. But think back. Your friend over there mentioned a mission with the king earlier this evening. And yet, no harm has actually come to you.”

“Yeah. My friend here has a big mouth. Yet he’s the only one in here that isn’t emitting blood lust towards me…”

The bar becomes filled with growls and groans from all directions towards Kayin.

“So once again, I ask you…do you really expect me to believe that?”

The barkeeper pauses, before chuckling loudly.

“Forgive me. And allow me to rephrase my statement from earlier.”

“No one in this city is your enemy…because no one in this city is allowed to be.”

“...what?”

“This city does not operate as a single state. We wander from place to place, and preach the word of harmony amongst all that reside in this place. No matter the grudges we may have borne against others before, in this city, we are cleansed from them. Perhaps not mentally, but certainly spiritually.”

“What kind of absolute nonsense are you spouting?”

The barkeeper laughs joyously, and waves his hands into the air. The people of the bar reluctantly follow suit, and wave their hands in the air like a crowd of fans.

“This is Upendi! We are grateful for the love we share! And the love of others to come!”

“A place with no bloodshed! A place far removed from war! A place of refuge, for those looking to be free from it all!”

Kayin becomes puzzled, as all the people in the bar, from the waitresses to the men, to the barkeeper himself, all begin to speak and sing in a strange language that he has never heard before.

Something’s not right about this place!

“Narada! We’re leaving!”

Kayin grabs Narada’s drunken self, and rushes out from the bar.

The barkeeper grins deviously as Kayin escapes from the bar.

“Praise be…to the true king!”

***

Kimiko sits amongst the young girls, after refusing to leave the girl that is also from her kingdom. The girls continue to chat amongst each other, and drink tea, while Kimiko stares down at the table full of pastries and drinks.

Kimiko's mind constantly fluctuates between contention with her situation, poised to protect the small girl at all costs, versus continuing down her path of revenge, killing those who brought destruction to her kingdom in the first place.

“Are you ready for bed?”

Kimiko glances up towards the small girl, who is still holding her hand tightly, even after everything she had said to Kimiko in front of Kayin and Narada.

“...right.” Kimiko softly iterates, “I guess it’s already getting pretty late,”

Kimiko follows the girl to her room, and decides to sleep on the floor beside the girl’s bed. Not being her first time in an uncomfortable sleeping situation, Kimiko quickly begins to fall asleep.

“I don’t think we’re the only ones that survived, priestess,”

Kimiko’s eyes open up.

“I get the feeling that there are tons of us still out there,”

“...you mean as refugees in other kingdoms?”

“Yeah. I just can’t imagine us being the only ones still alive.”

“...how long have you held onto that dream?”

“Since the day I arrived here. It’s what has kept me going.”

“...so that’s why you seemed so happy earlier…when you saw me.”

“Of course.”

“...then what made you become so defensive?”

The girl remains silent.

“...what was the reason, Itsuki?”

“...I don’t want you to leave.”

Kimiko sits up quickly.

“I wouldn’t leave you! I would never do something like that!”

“I don’t mean me…what I mean is, I don’t want you to leave the city.”

“...what? Why?”

“This place is so nice. No one ever gets into serious fights. No one ever steals from others. I haven’t heard of any crime being committed here.”

Kimiko appears dumbfounded.

“We all share with each other. Learn from each other. It’s even better than anything we had in our kingdom.”

“Don’t say that!”

“But it’s true!”

Kimiko falls silent for a brief moment, before she scratches the back of her head aggressively.

“Uh! How did you even end up in a place like this?! Did you really run for days on end?!”

“Days?”

“...huh? Yeah, days. It’s a few days away from our kingdom. Come to think of it, for a small girl like you it would probably take at least a wee-”

“No. I only ran for about an hour.”

“...are you an avatar wielder or something?”

“Of course not!”

“Then how?!”

“I don’t know! All I know is that I was running through the mountains, and by the time I reached the desert, it was right in front of me…”

Kimiko’s eyes expand in shock, and she sits up further and stares towards the girl lying in her bed.

Wait, what?

The mountains…are also a few days’ ride from here.

They aren’t supposed to be anywhere near this place.

“Come to think of it…ever since you’ve arrived…”

“...have you ever ventured out of the city?”

The girl shakes her head.

“No way. And I don’t ever want to.”

Kimiko’s face flushes.

…shit.