╚╩╩╩╝ Jaime ╚╩╩╩╝
A part of me had been afraid Veria wouldn’t like me, but those fears were washed away as we walked down the hall. She started to speak incredibly fast, going on about how much she wanted a younger sibling, but that her parents never had another baby. She had asked them for a younger sibling, but they would always use excuses that they didn’t have the time to raise another child or that she was enough. She then started to list off the many activities that we were going to do together and that she couldn’t wait to show me to her friends.
Veria brought me to their bathroom first. The bathroom was split into two small sections. The first section held a counter with a small basin inside underneath a large mirror. Veria operated two small levers aside a small metal tube pointing into the basin, water pouring out of the tube as she turned either lever. Aside this “sink,” as Veria called it, was what she called a “toilet.” It was something like a white latrine, but sat higher like a chair and emptied itself when you pulled a small lever on the side. The second section of the bathroom had a large basin on the floor that resembled the toilet with more levers and a longer tube coming out from the wall with a weird plate on the end. Veria said this was the bath and showed me how to use the levers to make the water go and how to make it hot or cold.
Leaving me to bathe, Veria went to go and find me some clothes to wear.
I filled the bath with warm water and sat inside with my head just above the water. The heat from the water filled my body and eased the tension that had built up from today’s events. With a sigh of relief, I rested my chin on the edge of the bath and closed my eyes.
Several minutes passed and Veria came back. She had a stack of neatly folded clothes in her arms that she set on the counter before coming over to the bath and chastising me for only soaking in the bath. She then helped me wash up and dry me off before showing off what she had brought. Most of the clothes were slightly loose, but Veria explained that I should be getting my own clothes soon.
Eventually, we found something that fit just right. It was a light blue blouse with a dark blue skirt, both without any kind of pattern to them. It was then that I remembered mom’s necklace and dad’s cloak. I had neither of them when I woke up. As I thought this, I noticed something gleam on the counter and turned to see mom’s necklace resting against the edge of the basin in the counter. It had not been there before, but I didn’t pay attention to that and hurriedly grabbed the necklace and hung it around my neck. Feeling the familiar weight of the glass pendant relaxed me some, but I could feel an emptiness inside me. I had mom’s necklace, but dad’s cloak was gone. I had to ask Pert where it was.
Now bathed and dressed in fresh clothes, I followed Veria back to the room where Pert and his wife had been and found them already standing out in the hall. Pert turned his head towards the two of us and smiled.
“Looks like everything went well.” He spoke, his voice soft. “Let’s head out. I’m sure that everyone is waiting for us.”
By ‘everyone’ Pert probably meant Astrid, Damian and Ham and everyone else in the caravan. I was worried that some of them may have been hurt by the Plague Beast and wanted to see them as soon as possible.
Pert led our group to the mansion’s front entrance and pushed open the large door. The front courtyard was filled with a plethora of vibrant colors. Grass the greenest green I had seen, flowers in every color imaginable lined the stone paths and filled small planters just outside the door and a sky bluer than I had ever seen.
A couple of soldiers, covered from head to toe in pale gray armor, patrolled the courtyard. One of them turned to approach us when we stepped through the door.
“Your carriage is prepared just ahead, my lord.” The soldier spoke as he bowed slightly.
Pert waved his hand, gesturing for the soldier to leave, and guided the group along the wide stone path to a gate at the head of the courtyard. Just outside the gate was a plain horse-drawn carriage resting inside a half-circle jutting out from the road. A soldier opened the gate and ushered us towards the carriage where he rushed to open its door. Despite its plain appearance on the outside, the inside of the carriage looked quite comfortable. And after climbing inside the carriage, I found that it really was quite comfortable.
After we had all situated ourselves inside the carriage, the soldier closed the door and climbed onto the drivers seat and started out into the road. Despite the rough conditions of the road, the ride was relatively nice. We passed a few other carriages, most of which looked nearly identical to the one that we rode in, though there were a couple that were draped in expensive looking cloth and covered in gold and gems.
“Those poor horses.” Licilia spoke with concern as she watched the fancier carriages pass. “Those things must weigh a ton.”
“And the carriages look heavy too.” Pert replied quickly.
Licilia and Veria both rolled their eyes and groaned. Personally, I thought it was funny.
“Who owns those?” Veria asked, ignoring her father’s comment. “I see them all the time.”
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“They’re Lord Gelling’s sons. They like to show off in town around this time.” Licilia answered, bitterness in her voice.
Our ride came to a stop outside of a large building with a large empty courtyard in front of it, full of various carts and wagons. I recognized a few of the wagons and carts and managed to point out the cart that Pert had brought his lumber in. The door to the carriage swung open as the soldier stood waiting. Pert was the first to get out and helped the three of us still in the cart out. The soldier then closed the door and sat back in the drivers seat.
Inside the building was a large crowd people, everyone almost shouting to communicate with those around them due to the commotion caused from everyone else doing the same. Out of the corner of my eye, at a table near the bar, I spotted Damian from his extra long hair. After I had spotted Damian, I made eye contact with Astrid who sat across from him. As our eyes met, she jumped from her chair, nearly throwing it at the person behind her and rushed over to us.
Pulling me into a tight embrace, Astrid sucked in a deep breath and spoke softly and despite the fact that I couldn’t hear a word of it, I knew what she had said. “I’m so glad to see you.”
Over Astrid’s shoulder, I could see Damian and Ham rush over. Though neither of them showed it like Astrid had, I knew that they were glad to see me too.
“Why don’t we find somewhere quieter?” Pert shouted over the noise, gesturing to a door not too far away.
We all followed Pert as he walked over to the door and opened it, gesturing for us to head in. The moment I passed through the door, all the noise of people talking disappeared completely. After everyone had passed through the door, I turned to glance at the door and noticed that it had markings on it that looked very similar to the magic rings that Ham and Astrid used.
This room was slightly smaller than the one on the other side of the magic door. This room had a very similar layout, though the bar was replaced by a counter. There were several people in this room, though they spoke softly or didn’t speak at all. Pert gestured for us to follow him and walked over to a table where everyone but him sat down.
“We’ll talk in a moment. I have a couple of things to do first.” Pert spoke softly. He then motioned for me to follow him. “Come with me.”
I followed my uncle over to the counter where a man stood across with stacks of paper at the ready.
“How may I help you today, sir?” The man asked quietly.
“A couple of things.” Pert started. “Firstly, my companions and I came across a Plague Beast on the road to the south. We were able to fend it off and severely injure it, but it fled and I doubt that it died from those injuries.”
“Thank you for the notice. What were its defining features and its apparent aura level?”
“It was a giant spider and had a yellow aura level.”
“Spiders are common, but a yellow level is quite troublesome. Do you know the general direction where it fled?”
“It ran east from the checkpoint. We would have given chase, though it injured some of our companions, so we prioritized them.”
“Understandable. I will post the notice immediately after our conversation is finished.” The man spoke. “Is there anything else?”
“Yes, I would like to register an ID for this child here. She has recently come into my care and has no identification.”
“No problem.” The receptionist replied, turning to me. “Please step forward.”
I stepped close to the counter, though I could barely see over the top of it.
“Just place your finger on this.” The man said, holding out a thin metal sheet the size of my hand.
I placed my finger on the metal and felt a shock, chills and dizziness all at once for just a moment before the metal card started to hum.
“Alright, just give me a moment.” The receptionist spoke as he held his hand over the card.
The man’s aura activated and a magic ring appeared in front of his hand over the card. We all stood there for several moments; much longer than it took for either Ham or Astrid to cast spells of their own. Eventually, the ring moved towards the card and disappeared.
“Alright, here you go sir.” The receptionist said, holding out the card.
Pert examined the card for a moment before handing it to me. On first glance, I realized that I still didn’t know how to read, though it was some form of identification. Whatever that meant.
“Keep this with you whenever you go out.” Pert warned before leaving back to the table where everyone had been waiting.
I followed after, turning the ID over in my hand. I then noticed that it showed an image of me on the back. Most mirrors I’d seen had some flaws that made me look weird, this image looked like what I pictured myself to be when I looked at those distorted images: a healthy young girl with pale, ashen hair and deep blue eyes that matched the skirt that I was wearing. It even had the clothes I was wearing.
Quietly, I sat down at the table, looking at the words written on the card and at my image.
“Let’s get down to business.” Pert spoke, leaning back in his chair.
“What business, exactly?” Astrid asked.
“I’m not sure what your plans are from this point, but I’d like to extent an invitation.”
“What kind of invitation?”
“Well, now that I am going to be staying in Renae, there will no doubt be people who will call on me at most points in the day.” Per stated. “And I would like someone to be there to watch over my family. Obviously, you would be provided with housing and food for the time you are with us.”
“I can’t speak for Damian, but I’m in no hurry to leave.”
“I don’t have anywhere to be.” Damian spoke up.
“So what do you say?” Pert finished, leaning forward.
“We’ll have to talk about more details, but I’m in.” Astrid replied, nodding her head.
“I’m in too. I still have a lot to teach Jaime after all.” Damian accepted.
With that finished, Pert turned towards Ham who sat quietly in his chair.
“Veria, there’s someone else we’d like you to meet.” Pert spoke, pulling his daughter’s attention and gesturing to the boy. “This is Hamil. He’ll also be staying with us from now on.”
“So this is the boy you told me about.” Licilia spoke up. “It seems like the house is going to be more lively.”
“No doubt.”
I watched back and forth as the two other children stared at each other before Veria smiled and turned her head.
“A little brother too.” She beamed.
We all spent the next few minutes just chatting about how things had gone for the other group as they kept on their way to Renae.
“If that’s all, then I think it’s time we go shopping. We’ll need to make sure to get some new clothes for our new family members.” Licilia announced, excitedly.
“Oh, right.” Ham spoke up, suddenly remembering something. “Jaime, I found this after you and Pert left.”
The boy pulled out a crumpled up ball of cloth from a pocket and held it out to me. I recognized the color. It was dad’s cloak, but it was covered in scorch marks and seemed to be missing a great deal of material.