Chapter 7: Satisfying the hunger.

We made our way around the old council hall, something which was said to be created even before the curse had befallen the tribe, and then we passed over to the cleaned road that had moss growing beside them, a lot different from before.

When the sun rose again, the snow stopped its slow descent, it was nothing short of a miracle for the people of this place, something that they so desired from their birth. Now, that it had been fulfilled they had almost gotten used to the green although I could still make out their sparkling eyes. And the children playing around was bliss and comfort to my heart.

Some of the people had moved out of the vicinity of the town and established themselves in the newly built villages and towns. One of them was a northernmost town called ‘Albania’ and its charge was given to Lord Jaratte. I had met with him there for the first time and from back then he seemed to have not liked me for one reason or another. I had no idea why though.

We passed by one of the houses that made empty now that the family had moved out, but I found a woman hurrying around carrying some things on her arm. Recognizing her as the mother of Levi, I greeted her and moved on.

One of the things that always managed to impress me was the lack of any slums, all the people lived inside the town or the neighboring places. Perhaps, it was one of the reasons why it was the tribe of Saria not the kingdom of Saria.

I still noticed some of the city guards patrolling the town and gossiping along because their duty contained nothing more than that. From what I knew about the system, their patrolling hours changed at random making it hard for any occurrence to happen, which showed in the surprisingly low amount of corruption in the lower ranks. Although the young ones would frivolously do their job in hope of climbing the ranks and their superiors would mock their naivety for it.

Soon enough we reached our destination-a small tavern that I was introduced to me by aria before, it was run by the wife of a city guard. Entering inside we went to the second floor and found a table in the corner, somewhere that was out of others' eyes and ears.

“So what did you find in that town?” Aria began, sitting down on the wooden chair, “It was an empty envelope, you said?” Ah, I was certain again that she was indeed the daughter of the lord leader, her information source was scarily accurate. It was no joke.

I sighed and admitted, “Alright it wasn’t empty, happy?” She raised her brow at my words and asked, “So what was inside?”

“I couldn’t read them,” I said, slipping a rice grape into my mouth, “And it was true that the envelope was burned.”

Aria pointed to the menu and explained her demand to the waiter, before saying, “Why couldn’t you read it? Don’t tell me…”

“No, it's not what you are thinking. It’s just…I didn’t know how to read those letters.” I lied, shifting at the uncomfortable itch. “It was a different language, is that right?” She asked.

“Yes,” I said, before thanking the waiter who was kind enough to bring our food to our table. Aria had a thoughtful look on her face and then asked, “Why did you lie in the hall then?”

“Wrong,” I placed the spoon filled with rice and savored the taste of it, “I didn’t lie, just twisted my words.”

“It’s the same thing,” She said and I shrugged. The food in this tavern was really good, especially when I was this hungry and starved which made me leave behind a bronze coin. And that made the waiter’s face lit up and he proceed to wave at us even when we were outside the tavern.

“So what do you plan to do now?” Aria asked, walking in front of me. Her attire was simple enough that she could blend in with the crowd easily despite her status. I thought of her question and said, “While I would love to get good sleep, I would have to until I had met with kaius. “

I had already sent someone to inform kaius about my arrival when he had returned and I was certain that he already knew about it by now. I hadn’t seen him in the council hall today, he seemed to have been somewhere else. Well, it was quite unnatural for him to miss a meeting, especially with his incredible loyalty.

“Alright then, I will leave with that then. I have something to do too.” Aria said and left me alone.

Seeing her leave and vanish inside the crowd, I headed for kaius’s place. We had a lot to talk about.