The sun was low in the sky when Elody, Sam, and Hugh arrived in South Wella. Predicated along Heart Lake, South Wella clutched tightly to the shoreline of the southern side of the lake. As they had approached South Wella, the forests had very suddenly vanished several miles away from the city, the small sea of stumps telling the story that logging had left.
Any question as to where all the lumber went was immediately answered as the buildings came into view. The local construction was dominated by cut and treated lumber, standing out from their previous stops. Unlike the industious Hearth, South Wella had no buildings higher than two stories, and very few were that large. Very few buildings were sizable at all, the preference seeming to be connecting smaller buildings when more size was needed than building larger structures.
The only parts of any structure that wasn’t made of wood was the occasional stone foundation, or more consistently, their chimneys. Smoke rose from the town like the aftermath of a forest fire, yet the only fires were small and contained in stoves and fireplaces. Hugh in particular was worried about the potential for fire outbreaks. He had been witness to several out of control fires when he was young, and noted the tightly packed homes left little room for a firebreak should something go awry.
Approaching the lake was a nose-turning affair. The smell of fish and rotting algae quickly filled the air as the group approached the docks. It was late afternoon, going on evening, so all the fishermen had long ago returned and unloaded their catches. While plenty of businesses for chartering a boat or porter were situated along the lakefront, most were already closed. A few had signs indicating that they were open, but Sam turned his nose up at them.
Sam informed them that he had a particular service in mind that can get him in touch with his friend. There was even a chance his ally was in town, but without asking, he couldn’t say. They found a suitable inn and Sam informed the others he would arrange that in the morning. It would take some time, and the travel time to the coast by boat would likely be roughly a week. He encouraged them to go out and spend time doing whatever they liked for the day, since they would be cooped up on a boat for some time.
“I thought you said it would be a week,” Hugh pointed out. “That isn’t so bad.”
“Sure, getting down to the coast,” Elody elaborated. “The plan is to get to Ade, which is across the ocean. Who knows how long that will take!”
“If I can find my buddy? Probably well over a month. I ain’t sure though. I’ll hafta ask,” Sam said.
“Oh, wow. That’s quite a while,” Elody said. “You know, I don’t know if I’ve really said, but, thank you, Sam. This must be quite the blow to your business.”
Sam’s face slid into a grin that told Elody she hadn’t known something he did.
“I’ve been skirting on margins for too long. Besides, yer little side venture’s helped pad those margins considerably. I really thought you’d have noticed what kinda markup I’d put on yer ointments and such, but so long as none of the customers notice, I’m happy,” Sam explained. “Besides, I got the feeling Hugh here’s gonna pay off bigtime in the future.”
Hugh harumphed, but said nothing.
“Also,” Sam continued, his grin growing wider. “I still got a ton of trinkets from Hearth. That’s been most of our cargo for a while. I bet they’ll sell at a premium up in the desert.”
“Huh. I guess that’s why you’re not telling Hugh to go looking for clues to his big mystery?”
Sam hesitated for a moment.
“No,” He said slowly, “You see, it ain’t worth it right now. South Wella ain’t exactly a good place for that. If he sees something, fine, chase it. But I’d rather’d have y’all rested for the journey ahead. Gotta take breaks now and then, y’know?”
Elody thought back to Sam’s telling of his past.
“Yeah, I suppose that is good employee management, still. Sorry I doubted you,” Elody said.
“Yer fine. I oughta get going, though. Y’all take care, meet back here by sundown.”
With that, Sam took off towards the charter offices, leaving Hugh and Elody alone. The moment he left the room, it felt as though the room had depressurized. One moment, there was a clear expectation of how they should be acting, and the next they were simply no longer beholden to that idea. Sam departing with little more instruction than “take care” left the two feeling somewhat disoriented.
“That… was weird, right?” Hugh asked after the door had closed behind Sam.
“Oh, absolutely,” Elody agreed, nodding her head firmly.
“Is he feeling alright?” Hugh wondered.
“I mean, I think so?” Elody guessed. “He didn’t look unwell, but maybe he caught something yesterday in all that stink. Miasma or something.”
“What if he trusts us?”
“Okay, then it has to be miasma.”
Together, they decided to look around the port town and see what sights it offered to wanderers such as they. It sounded like a nice idea, until the realization that over half the town was engulfed in the perpetual stink of fish guts and rotting algae, and the other half was all residential, owing to aforementioned stink. Some unfortunate homes were clearly once outside the repulsive radius, but as time crawled forward, so had the smelly circumference of the docks.
Fortunately, many homes were located atop businesses, and a loose district had formed around these, right at the dread border. The streets here widened into a long, stretched out plaza with cobblestones, a statue fountain featuring prominently close to the center as one of the largest buildings in the entire town loomed over the plaza. They had not seen another building here over two stories tall, but this behemoth seemed to be twice that. Despite its size, it had the bold decor choice of blandly colored walls, architecture that was practical over pretty, and lots and lots of signs posted around its perimeter.
“Huh. Must be government,” Elody noted.
Hugh turned to give her a quizzical look. They were walking at a leisurely pace through the plaza as they spoke to one another. There were a lot of Wellans crossing the plaza, forcing them to take a somewhat winding path around as they dodged other pedestrians.
“I thought you had told me that Ade was run by a man in a big, fancy house? You want to kill him?” Hugh asked.
“What? Yes! But, no. But also yes? It's not that simple!” Elody rambled before taking a breath and starting over. “Orivaughn is the governor and is responsible, but there’s a whole system behind him. There are courts and magistrates, the constable and his officers, not to mention any of Orivaughn’s aides and heads of industry.”
“So, he does not simply tell everyone what to do?” Hugh asked, ears pointed forward. It was a sign of curiosity and interest, which Elody had learned by now was a good thing from Hugh. She knew he was simply trying to clarify what she was saying to help his own understanding.
“Sort of. He sets the rules and has final say on a lot of things, but he doesn’t just tell us each individually what to do. I mean, you’ve seen how many people can be in a city, Hugh. Ade is at least as populous as Hearth was, if not bigger. It's not like your village where everyone knows everyone else.”
“Oh,” Hugh acknowledged. “I had not put that together.”
“Mhm. There are tons of people who take what the governor says and makes sure that happens,” Elody continued. “And where they do that from usually looks like this kind of place.”
Elody waved her hand towards the giant building to emphasize her point.
“But! I am also guessing,” Elody finished with a smile. “As much as I may have picked up from the Pothecarians, I’m only-”
She stopped walking, sniffing at the air as she did so. She had smelled something pungent, but vastly dissimilar to the smell of fish from the docks. It had an earthy smell, but not in the same way soil or clay did. It smelled almost burnt, but a different sort of burnt than she was used to. This was odd, given how many different things she had burnt in her endeavors to create medicine.
“What is that?” She wondered aloud, her tail shifting from side to side as she investigated the scent.
Hugh made the “I don’t know” grunt and made a gesture of helplessness. Elody grabbed his hand and went in search for the source of the burnt smell, eventually exiting the plaza down a side alley and onto another street. Eventually, they came to a building with an open front, and an awning covering assorted tables and chairs on the seats.
There were a lot of people seated, all drinking steaming cups of some dark liquid. Seeing a short line that went inside, Elody and Hugh queued, wondering what this drink was. The line moved quickly, and when they got to the front, they asked for the hot, dark drink.
“That’s coffee,” The barista warmly told them. “It’s a drink we make from imported beans that we roast.”
The barista was clearly used to giving the explanation, having her speech practiced to a brief science. She was a large woman with bluish-green skin and a muscular physique. Neither Elody nor Hugh knew what sort of person she was, but it never occured to either to bother asking. Behind her was an intimidating sword hung upon the wall, menacing with a wicked edge that was out of place in the warm and relaxed interior of the cafe.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“I recommend pairing a cup of coffee with one of our Midnight Crescents,” The barista continued, gesturing to a display of several fluffy crescent rolls.
Hugh and Elody agreed, paid for the items, and sat down in a booth in the interior of the cafe. The drink was unlike anything either had tasted before, with its rich and robust flavor joining its bitter undertones. Elody quite liked the experience, enjoying the coffee’s warmth and earthy smell, and especially liking how the roll tasted after being dipped. She made a sound of surprise and appreciation when she discovered that the middle of the roll was filled with chocolate!
Hugh was less keen on the drink. He liked the smell, but found the feeling on his tongue after drinking to be unpleasant. He still drank the entire cup, but mentally made a note to avoid coffee in the future. The roll, on the other hand, was a different story entirely. His enormous mouth made short work of it, and devoured the entire treat in two bites, leaving Elody with an expression between surprise and disdain.
As they drank their cups of coffee, they heard loud mutterings and whisperings from another booth. Three people tried and failed to discreetly discuss something amongst themselves. Occasionally one would point, only for another to bat their hand down. They were so poor at discretion that when one of them stood up and approached their table, Elody was greatly relieved that they could just get it over with.
“Oh hey dere,” a Timberfolk woman greeted. She had a very distinct accent, though very different from the drawl that Sam possessed. “Dose two over dere are too cowardly to ask, so I’ll do it. What are you?”
She pointed directly at Hugh as she asked, without fear or hesitation. Hugh was shocked, visibly recoiling at the blunt question before regaining his composure.
“I am what my friend here calls a ‘Frostwalker’,” Hugh explained.
“Oh huh. Never seen anythin’ like you before,'' the woman tutted. She turned around and called out to her group. “He’s friendly! C’mere you two!”
The other two at the booth, a short figure in a cloak who looked to be Ratkin, based on the snout and whiskers that poked out the front, and a tall, slender man with blue scales and folded wings behind him got up from their seats. Neither Elody nor Hugh knew what the scaly one was, but unlike with the barista, Elody planned on asking, if only because they spent so much effort speculating about her own friend’s origin. The tall one approached with a hand rubbing the back of his scaly neck, embarrassment written all over his face.
“Hey,” He greeted them in a deep, raspy voice. “I’m Darris, I’m the leader of our little group. Sorry about our indiscretion about your friend’s-”
“You were just too ‘fraid to ask,” The woman interjected. “Better to get it out, I say!”
“This here is Leena,” Darris continued to rasp. “She’s always like this. The quiet one here is Milo. He doesn’t like to talk when he doesn’t have to, which is fine. Leena here does enough talking for all three of us.”
“Oh real mature,” Leena said with a roll of the eyes, “You say dat like you aren’t wordier dan a gods damned thesaurus.”
Leena and Darris continued to bicker as the cloaked Milo stepped forward and extended a paw towards Hugh.
“Nice to meet you,” He said in a quiet voice. He wasn’t whispering, he seemed to prefer being quiet.
“My name is Hugh,” Hugh introduced as he shook the proffered hand, “And this is my friend Elody. She is a very long way from home.”
“Hey,” Elody greeted with a wave. “Want to sit down and chat?”
Milo and Leena happily agreed, scooching into the booth, Milo next to Hugh and Leena next to Elody. Darris politely declined, instead opting to stand a small distance from the table.
“Sorry, I don’t want to spread this throat cold I have. I know its really rare that illness spreads from Draconids to other families, but I don’t want to be the one that does, you know?”
“Draconid? Is that what you are?” Elody asked.
Darris had no eyebrows to raise, only a brow ridge, but still raised one brow in an expression of skepticism.
“You’ve never heard of us before?”
“Nope,” Elody said with a shake of her head. “Nor Hugh here. We’re both very far from home. I’m from Ade, in the Pelera Desert on the northern continent, whereas he’s from far south. A tribe in the, oh what was it called?”
“The Snif called it the Antiadore Tundra,” Hugh said.
“You’d think I’d remember since I got dumped there,” Elody complained.
“I’ve heard of da Pelera before!” Leena said. “We were offered a job to go by dere, but Darris decided it wasn’t worth it for one job.”
“I wasn’t going to spend five weeks on a boat to retrieve something for some noble’s vanity project!” Darris rasped in protest.
“Ya but he was ready to give us a buncha coin, eh!” Leena countered.
“Five weeks?” Elody asked, trying to veer the two from more bickering. “Sam said it’d be more than a month’s travel, but that’s still disheartening to hear.
“What? Oh, don’t be silly. Dat’s da round-trip. You’d only need two and a half weeks, maybe even under two with a really good ship,” Leena said.
“Only two weeks,” Elody mused. “How would a ship go faster, though? I thought they only went as fast as the wind and current takes them.”
“This is approaching my own specialty,” Darris said. “For most ships, you would be correct, but in the past few decades, the Duradians have discovered huge caverns of magically infused crystals. A lot of them are fire crystals, most of the rest are motive crystals. As the name suggests, they impart their magical energy to other things when certain conditions are met, and when they do, they move their target in some way. Many inventors have been working with these surpluses to make new inventions. One that came out a couple years ago is this banded ring of crystal that takes in air and blows it out the other end in a gale! Some ships have taken to affixing one at their stern to boost their speed.”
Elody wanted to ask him about the Duradians, but Hugh had other interests.
“You seem to know a lot about magic crystals,” Hugh observed, “What is your specialty, Darris?”
“Oh, I’m a magical researcher!” Darris said, taking a deep breath as he prepared for another monologue. Hugh didn’t let him get so far.
“Magical researcher,” Hugh echoed. “Do you know anything about runes? Sigils? Rituals, anything of that nature?”
Without waiting for a response, Hugh took off his choker to show the plate inscribed on the front. Without it, he wouldn’t be able to intelligibly speak, but so long as he kept the earpiece in, he would be able to hear the response. He tapped the complex inscription with one of his enormous fingers for emphasis. Darris picked up the chocker to get a closer look at the plate, but shook his head.
“Sorry, no. I’ve only heard the rumors that they’re somehow connected to magic, maybe some sort of echo or what have you. Anyone who looks into it never gets anywhere. Is that a memento?”
Hugh responded by trying to speak, only for a hoarse growl to come out from his mouth rather than speech. Milo next to him jerked in surprise, while the other two had wide-eyed expressions. Hugh clasped the choker around his neck once more.
“But now that it is back on, you can understand me,” Hugh finished.
The trio looked on at Hugh in wonder while Elody sat back to enjoy the show.
“Fascinating!” Darris rasped. “I wonder if that mark is a result of how it was made? It isn’t made from crystal, but perhaps when it was made, it was made in a field of pressure exuded from-”
“Here he goes,” Milo said, putting his face in his paws.
“It was none of those things,” Hugh said smugly. “It works only because of the sigil.”
“How do you know that?” Darris argued. “Only the person or group that made this could know!”
Hugh continued to look smug and said nothing.
“You made this?!” Darris exclaimed, not in disbelief of the idea, but disbelief of his good luck to see such an item and its creator at the same time. “This is revolutionary! You have to tell me more!”
“Put a sock in it, eh?” Leena said. “We still gotta go dock. We had time to drink coffee, not find you a new research thesis. You put da job first, rest second. Thank you two for chattin’ with.”
“Wait, where are you going? If you are heading north, then you should come with us,” Hugh offered. “Sam went to charter our boat, but if we go now, we could meet up with him and arrange the same transport.”
Darris looked to his teammates who gave him two affirming nods.
“We are headed north, almost all the way to the coast,” Darris confirmed. “We’re headed to Duradera, and traveling with friendly faces would make the trip even better.”
“Well,” Elody said with a snort, “If that’s what you want, we’d have to ditch Sam!”