Chapter 39
“So, what do you think? You going to marry her?” Sevin asked.
“I don’t know,” Tom answered. He drew two cards, then examined his hand. He had five sevens and three nines, so he put them on the table, then selected a five for his discard.
Emil picked up the discard pile and the others groaned.
“Do you even like her?” Jessica asked. She wasn’t playing cards with them, but occasionally Sevin would glare at her as she used her Sonic Sovereignty ability to annoy him. It was actual practice with the ability; she was refining her control over her magic by holding a field of sound around the others just too quiet for them to hear. As a Warrior, however, Sevin’s senses were enhanced compared to the others in the room.
“She’s okay,” Tom said. “I don’t know. I think she’s really grateful that I evolved her class for her. I don’t really know her at all yet, though. We’ve only met the one time.”
“Where I come from,” Jessica said, “Marriage is about love. You don’t love her, do you? I mean, you just met.”
“That’s not exactly true,” Grant said, watching as his card partner finished sorting his new hand and began laying down cards. “For most people love is the reason they get married in the first place, but it’s not the only reason, and often the feelings fade, yet the couple doesn’t always split up when they do. Familiarity and comfort is enough to maintain a relationship without romantic passion, in some instances. More to the point, however, is that arranged marriages were much more normal in our world until recently. And they still are, in some parts of the world. Or among the powerful and the elite. Tom is technically in that last category, now. It makes sense that the king would want him to marry into the royal family, and I’m not certain that it would be a bad decision for Tom to consider it.”
Emil finished playing the cards in his hands and discarded a black three. On his turn, Sevin drew two cards, frowned, and discarded without laying anything down. Grant drew, then began adding some of the cards in his hand to the piles that his partner had put down on the turn before.
“She did seem nice,” Tom admitted. “I mean, we got along just fine. I don’t know, I’m not ready to make a decision like this. I’m going to tell the king that I need to talk it over with my parents anyway, and that I need to know Rowena a lot better before we actually get married.”
“That’s a sound decision,” Grant agreed. “But it does sound like you’re officially courting her, Tom. Or at least that you will be perceived to be courting her. You should learn how to act accordingly around both her and other girls your age so as to avoid a scandal.”
“Yeah? And how should I act?” Tom asked.
“I don’t know the customs of this land well enough to answer that question,” Grant admitted. “Ask one of your tutors.”
Tom groaned, but let the subject drop. Klein climbed into his lap, and Tom scratched the animal absently as the card game continued.
Emil and Grant won the game, and they proceeded to play another while waiting for the dungeon to finish spawning its daily load of monsters.
~~~~~~~
Basks-in-sunlight did not like the cold. She did not like the cold at all.
She rolled over in her lair, wishing for something warm to keep her from the cold of the outside.
Unable to sleep, she went for a walk, igniting her fur as she left her lair. The heat of her magic warmed her, but she could not keep it up forever.
She walked around for a while. She found one of those upright-standing-prey-or-was-it-not-prey. A small one, that looked like it might be tasty but might not be. Then it covered itself in a foul smelling powder and she went away, uninterested in eating that after all.
She wondered how the upright ones would taste, but her curiosity was not so great as to kill one. She did not think that she could eat the entire thing, after all, and--
A bird. A foolish bird that did not see her yet. Basks-in-sunlight flashed forward, and her mouth was full of feathers and blood. The Flame-Lynx feasted on the bird, basking in sunlight and burning her magic as she ate.
And that is how Drinks-the-rain found her. They examined each other warily for a moment, but neither was interested in a fight.
He followed her back to her lair, and then they both had something to keep warm.
~~~~~~~
“Thelma saw another one of the monsters today,” Vella informed Norman Weaver as she helped him load the cart.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
“They’re becoming less shy around humans,” Norman said. “It’s unfortunate, but at least nobody has been hurt so far. A few adults have been taking to carrying those balls of deterrent powder around with them as well, just in case.”
“I’ll be glad that I don’t have to worry about them anymore in the capital,” she admintted. “Thank you for letting me come with you. And for helping to negotiate my training.”
“It’s quite alright,” Norman said. “I’m fairly certain that the king is paying much closer attention to Tilluth than he has in the past. The guards from Tuksan may be gone, but a pair of Winged Knights will sweep in every few days to make certain we’re doing alright. Don’t repeat this to anyone, because I am grateful that he’s buying our buildings from us, but I wish that the lord he sent was a little more proactive in his supposed duties. But at least he hasn’t dissolved the council or anything foolish like that.”
“I wish Mother was coming with us. I don’t understand why she’s not,” Vella said.
“Uprooting your life isn’t an easy thing to do, Vella. Your mother loves you very dearly, but her livelihood is in the village. She couldn’t make enough money to support the both of you in the city, and your apprenticeship specifies that you’ll have full room and board, but it’s full room and board for you and you alone. They’re sponsoring a clever young Mage as she adjusts to the city, not the Mage’s entire family.”
“I suppose,” Vella said.
Sue weaver came out with a piece of luggage in her arms, and her husband rushed to help her carry it. Together they secured it to the wagon, and then they looked around for a moment, realizing that the last of the work was done.
“I’m going to give it one last walk through, to make certain we haven’t missed anything,” Sue said.
Norman gave his wife a quick kiss, and a caress on her stomach. Vella took that as confirmation of the rumors that the Weavers were expecting. That, and the slight baby-bump that Sue had developed over the past few weeks. Vella was glad for them.
Sue began her stated task, and Norman turned to Vella, a set of keys in his hand. “I need to turn these over to Lord Lubald. Would you like to come with me, Vella? Or would you prefer to wait here? If you ran quickly you might be able to get home and back to see your mother one more time before we left.”
Vella shook her head. “Mother said she’d meet us in an hour and we’ll say our goodbyes then, right before we leave. I’ll come with you.”
So they walked together from the train of carts that were lining up outside the Weaver buildings. Most of them were laden with cloth, much of it recently woven with the materials harvested last fall. Norman Weaver had been busy over the winter, and thanks to the deal his wife had worked out with Anaxis they were due for a windfall.
Norman always knew that his cloth was particularly high quality, but being able to say that he’d sold some of it to foreign royalty would further increase its future value. They weren’t too worried about picking up and leaving Tilluth; flax, wool, and cotton were common cash crops throughout Welsius, and Norman was confident that his wife would be able to secure a new line of raw materials for their two-person business to function wherever they went.
He was a little sorry to be leaving the people of the village behind, but he was looking forward to reuniting with his son in the capital more. And possibly even reconciling with his in-laws.
They found Lubald in the common room of the inn, a drink in his right hand and a dart in the left. As the door closed behind them, the lord took a drink and threw the dart at the board across the room with the same motion. He scored a bullseye. He might be a drunkard, but he was still a high leveled warrior specializing in ranged weapons.
“Have you moved out of my new house yet?” Lubald asked, slurring his words slightly.
“I was just coming by to drop off the keys,” Norman informed him. “My wife is doing one last sweep to make sure we aren’t leaving any messes for you to clean up. We did leave the furniture we agreed upon for you, and otherwise everything should be ready for you to move in immediately.”
“Wonderful,” Lubald said, although his voice was less than enthused. He held out a hand, and Norman gave him the key chain. An awkward pause followed.
“Was there something else?” Lubald asked.
“Well, Lord Worth, it’s just that we agreed that the final three hundred Marks would be due when you took possession of the property,” Norman reminded him.
Lubald scoffed. “I suppose it did say that didn’t it. Very well, alright, let’s go out to the Core Stone and have our transaction verified.”
Vella grew a little excited as she walked behind the adults to visit the Tilluth Core Stone. She’d seen money changing hands like this before, but never three hundred Marks at once. The men approached the monolith at the center of the village. Norman went first to initiate the transaction.
“In exchange for a total of seven hundred Marks, I, Norman Weaver, and on behalf of the co-owner Sue Weaver, my wife, authorize the property transfer of the four buildings that we jointly own in Tilluth Village to Lord Lubald Worth. Four hundred Marks have already been paid, three hundred Marks are outstanding,” Norman said, one hand on the Core Stone.
Both men would have gotten system messages at this point, Vella knew. Lubald went next, stepping up beside Norman and touching the stone.
“I, Lord Lubald Worth, authorize the payment of three hundred Marks to Norman Weaver for the purchase of his properties,” Lubald said simply.
A moment passed as both men reviewed their system messages. Satisfied, Norman turned to Lubald and extended a hand for a friendly shake to conclude their business, but Lubald turned the other direction and went back to the inn. Norman stood awkwardly for a moment before scratching the back of his head.
“Well, that’s taken care of,” he said, turning back to Vella. “Let’s go find your mother and have a proper goodbye, alright?”
“Sure, Mr. Weaver,” Vella agreed. They walked together through the village, and were both surprised when they met Vella’s mother on the road that led to her house.
Their farewell was emotional, with both mother and daughter breaking down into tears. Norman stood nearby nervously.
“I don’t understand why you’re not coming with?” Vella said for the hundredth time.
“And what would I do in a city?” her mother asked. “Be some lord’s plaything? Scrub the streets outside the Core Stone? I’m a Villager, Vella. Not just a Commoner, but a Villager. I need a Village to Villager in, you see?”
“I know, but there are villages that are much closer to the capital than Tilluth,” Vella said.
“And if I moved to them I’d always be an outsider,” her mother pointed out. “The outsider whose daughter is a mage. Too good for the honest folk who’ve lived there for generations I’m sure. Vella, I have friends here. Friends and roots and a past. I’ll miss you, so be sure to write, but we have to be practical. You’re a Mage, and you’ll spend your life doing Mage things. I’m a Villager, and I’ll spend my life doing Villager things. But that will never mean that I don’t love my daughter. I love her so much that I’m sending her away.”
They both cried, then they returned to the caravan of carts and wagons. Vella’s mother walked with them for a few kilometers as they got under way before turning around after one last farewell.