The Seaside City of Naayir-Nahtahma | Svernia: III

Moritz wakes to someone's soft breaths tickling his hair, an arm wrapped around him is holding him steady, and his own arm holding that arm.A rumbling voice clears its throat.

Gavin stands at the foot of the bed, looking very amused. "Morning lads."

Moritz jumps up, raising his hands. "It's not what it looks like."

Noaki opens his eyes. "What's going on?" He looks around in a daze, "how did I get here?" He notices Moritz examining the paintings along the wall and Gavin chuckling. "Oh. Good morning. I'm usually up before anyone. How long have you been here?"

"Just now," Moritz responds quickly. "Yeah, just got here. No big deal, how are you feeling?"

Noaki notes the state of his bed, "like I wrestled a bear I suppose."

"The chancellor asked me to give this to you, says it will clear your mind." Gavin hands him a ceramic flask wafting something pleasant. "Gave one to Veynir and the lad's good as new. Instructions are to take it all in one go."

"Thanks," Noaki downs the contents and sets the flask down. "Not as tasty as it smells." His perception explodes. Thrusting him as far back as the silver Alps, the trees, the mountains, the valleys, all speeding past him, and it all comes back knocking him onto his feet.

The room stabilizes, his foggy headed symptoms are gone, limbs refreshed, eyes clear, and senses refined. "What's in that?"

"I don't know meself, you'll have to ask the Chancellor." Gavin proceeds to walk out the room, pauses and lays a hand on Moritz's shoulder, "I understand lad, no shame in it," then exits.

Watching the exchange, Noaki sees Moritz's face flush. "What was that about?"

"Who knows?" Moritz points at the bed, "bear you said?"

"Hm?" Noaki looks in the indicated spot, "oh that? Yeah, I suppose."

"Thank you."

"What?"

"Nothing. I'm gonna head back to my room for a bit. I'll meet up with you later." Moritz walks toward the entrance.

"Alright."

Noaki removes his coat and waits for the latch to click before making sure the shard is still there.

Luminous and bright. He drops it onto his palm and his body surges with energy. He's starting to wonder if a jeweler might fashion it into an armband of some sort, when there's a knock at the door.

"Come in," he shoves it in his pocket.

A young serving lady in white and silver robes enters. She carries a tray of fruits, seeds, and nuts, and a cup of what Noaki hoped wasn't more of that moon water. "His grace has also asked that you meet him in the afternoon for your latest diagnosis."

"What?" He tries to recall the details of dinner that evening. "Alright, I'll be certain to remember. By any chance," he says before she walks out, "is there a washroom of some sort?"

The servant nods and along the portraited wall, in a fairly empty area, she presses a button, and a series of mechanisms begin moving, a moment later the wall opens into a chamber with two entrances. One to the lavatory, and the other, the washroom.

"Thank you for that," Noaki marvels at the precision of the concealed entrance.

He fumbles through the drawers where his clothes had been refolded and laid alongside an assortment of fine garments of various fabric.

The shower has no hand operation so he presses randomly along the wall when all at once, a cascade of cold water drenches him.

After a less than necessary adventure with simple ablutions, he dresses, caping his coat around his shoulders and heads out.

In a luminous plaza connecting all their chambers, Moritz and Quentin are in idle chit chat. Quentin is leaning back against the rail guard, with a drop that would take him right to the palace entrance. Moritz is keeping a good distance from the railing.

"It's about time you showed up," Quentin yawns. "Moritz has been angsty all morning."

"You reckon if we tossed you over, you'd survive that landing?" Moritz intimidates. He appears freshly groomed, clothed, and his hair disheveled.

Quentin glances down. "I suppose we can find out." He jumps, followed by an ecstatic scream that likely disturbed some of the residents.

They both lean over the railing trying to find him.

"I think you killed him," Noaki laments.

"How's that on me? He's the one who jumped. I say thats suicide." Moritz points toward Quentin hopping upwards from one level to the next. "Man, that must be so convenient."

Quentin ends with a breezy landing, his expression full of adrenaline. "Moir's got to try that, I might go again a few more times."

"Right," Moritz begins, "but first we got to figure out what we're going to do today."

"I have to meet with the chancellor later," Noaki shrugs to indicate he didn't know what it was about. " And I've got something to discuss with you."

"I also have something to share with you," Moritz faces Quentin, "on your way down, you wouldn't happen to have seen anywhere private we could talk would you?"

Quentin shakes his head. "Wouldn't do you any good, there are guards everywhere. There's one standing there right now."

Noaki and Moritz look at the spot indicated. Concealed between the thicket of two potted shrubbery, is a guard, mute, face hidden.

He moves and they all jump back. "Sorry to scare you," says a youthful voice. "There is a place in the library if it's privacy you seek."

"Have," Moritz points at the guard accusingly, "have you been listening this entire time?"

"It's my job, sir." The guard shrinks back.

"Your job is to guard, not eavesdrop, sir."

"Listening to potential threats is on my list of duties, sir." The guard fires back.

Something about the voice sounds off to Noaki, muffled to distract one from noticing. "You're not a guard are you?" Noaki states in the midst of their exchange.

"What!" He stomps his foot, "outrageous allegations! I will report this to his grace."

Noaki crosses his arms, "if that's your job, who can blame you?"

"I will," the guard made off to move, "that is unless you're willing to apologise, water under the bridge."

"Apologise?" Moritz looks scandalized, "when you were the one eavesdropping you little scamp."

"Alright," Noaki laughs, "who are you?"

The adolescent removes his head gear, revealing a handsome face with jet black hair and jade colored eyes. "Aalim, that's my name."

"A hah!" Moritz points triumphantly. "You weren't a guard and you were just eavesdropping."

"But you're still in the wrong. Guards do listen to people, it's their duty," Aalim rebuttals. "Though, to be fair, it's about the most interesting thing to do on duty."

"I think all bridges burned can be rebuilt," Noaki smiles, "if you show us where the library is."

"I can do you one better and answer any questions you might have along the way, I know a lot about this place." Aalim leads them down a corridor cleverly concealed behind a monolith.

"I've got a question," Quentin pipes in, "why is everything so white?"

Aalim considers this for a moment, "that's too long of an answer, next question."

Moritz recalls hours trekking the cavern. "Why does it take so long to walk here?"

"That's a good one," Aalim raises a finger. "Because you didn't take the shortcut."

"There's a shortcut?!" Moritz leans towards Noaki, "isn't that something? A shortcut."

"Honestly Moritz, I don't know what you're complaining about," Quentin cuts in, "I enjoyed the walk."

"So what did you two need to discuss in private?" Aalim intervenes.

"Hey! We're the ones who are supposed to ask questions." Moritz ignores Quentin.

"And I'm the one guiding you."

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"So?"

"So if I left and said goodbye, good luck finding your way."

Moritz shrugs, "I think we can manage."

They reach a fork in the corridor, one directly leading left and the other, right. Aalim points down each. "Alright then, tell me which way to go?"

Moritz peers down the perfectly symmetrical corridors. "Okay, so I would get lost without your help. Where to next?"

Aalim proceeds down the left path.

Moritz walks beside their guide. "How did you know which way to go?"

Aalim indicates at the ceiling where small protrusions were in the wall, subtle but recognizable as glyphs. "These are markers, if you'd gone down the other path, you'd be assigned with a variety of tasks and duties by the guard."

Moritz glances down the opposite direction. "Does that happen often?"

"More than you'd think," Aalim leads them down a staircase, "care to find out?"

They continue for some time until they finally emerge into a large chamber with rows upon rows of bookshelves, illuminated at the far end is an open terrace view of the front palace.

"Down here," Aalim directs them to another corridor and into a study containing comfortable looking furniture, a blazing blue fireplace, and potted shrubbery. "This is one of the places where the scholars like to come when the library gets too loud."

"Too loud?" Quentin stretches, "I could sleep in there."

"Some of the guards come just for that purpose. The scholars don't mind, a few document their sleeping habits." Aalim waits by the threshold. "This is it." He stands there waiting for something.

Picking up on this, Moritz tosses him a silver crystaire. "Make sure you don't eavesdrop either! You know what," he turns to Quentin, "there's a gold crystaire in it, if you stand guard outside."

With drowsy eyes, Quentin shrugs and stands watch, Shutting the doors behind him.

"You need to be more careful with our finances," Noaki comments.

"Sorry, I know. How much do we have left by the way?" Moritz slumps on the sofa.

"We've used at least," Noaki attempts to calculate in his head. "At least a hundred gold crystaires."

"A gold crystaire is worth a lot it seems,'' Moritz says, impressed.

"It is. But it's also our only source of income right now. It hasn't been more than a few months and we've used up a lot." Noaki seats himself next to the fireplace, comparing the blue flames to Gavin's white. He rummages through his pocket and produces the shard. "Moritz we can't stay here."

Moritz tears himself away from the portrait of a man with jade eyes. "Why not?" He crouches beside Noaki. "All this trouble for a stone.

"Technically a shard, but it's the reason we can't stay." Noaki drops it into his palms, relishing the infinite rush.

"You know you're quite amazing when you do that," Moritz studies Noaki's violet eyes, "but also kind of terrifying. Like James."

"Sorry," he returns it to its pouch, "so what is it you wanted to discuss with me?" Noaki shifts in his seat, "is about what the chancellor said when you dropped your spoon?"

"It's part of it," nostalgia spreads across his face. "Remember what Old Dallan said before we left?"

"Keep you out of trouble?"

Moritz laughs. "No, not that. It's my mother, he said she came here." Moritz rises and faces the portrait.

Noaki remembers, remorse seeps into him. "Listen, Moritz. I'm not going to ask you to leave, but I can't stay with the shard." He walks beside Moritz. "I'll tell you what, I'll bring this to Atmedanyeh and leave it with this master. It couldn't be in better hands. Then," he stares at the portrait, "I'll come back and we'll search for your mother together."

"Thank you, Noaki, but it's not that. What if she died coming here? You know what the seas were like, I'd be gone if it weren't for you and the shard." The only memory he had of his past, aside from Old Dallan.

It sinks in, Moritz has family. It meant so much to him, what could Noaki do? Turn back time? He sighs. "It did save you, and I'd do it again, but not a third time," he punches him gently. "However, it's also the reason we're in this mess. I brought you into my own business, and that chest was in my room."

The door bursts open to an agitated Quentin and Aalim being restrained by the two identical guards who opened the entrance when they first arrived.

"Sorry, I tried to tell them you two wanted to be left alone but they wouldn't listen," Quentin raises his fist. "I've seen a few unfair fights in my day, but this is ridiculous."

"What's going on?" Noaki demands, "let him go."

The guards release Aalim who scurries to the corner glaring at them.

"He told us he's your private escort?"

"What of it?" Moritz challenges.

"That's all we needed to know." The guards exit, closing the door.

"What was that about?" Noaki folds his arms.

"Well," Aalim takes a sudden interest in the portrait, "I really am a member of the guard, and might have inadvertently used you as an excuse to get out of work."

"I suppose that clears up one thing then," Quentin adds in, "Moritz was wrong."

"Are you calling me a liar?" Moritz defends himself.

"No, I'm calling you a wrong."

Aalim looks perplexed. "That doesn't make sense."

Noaki watches the exchange go on for some time, before neither side is making sense. He laughs. They all look at him and demand in unison, "what?"

"Nothing." Noaki gestures to the portrait, "can you tell us who that is, Aalim?"

Aalim analyzes the portrait. "That's A'ten Akhetaan. He never much liked to get involved with the world and isolated himself in libraries. Father used to say, take him somewhere and he'd go straight to the library. No library? Find a book. No book? Meditate."

"Sounds a bit of a bore," Moritz comments.

Aalim smiles admiringly at the portrait. "Lots of people think so. To literary scholars, he's a lesser known littérateur. He also wrote, but worked as a scribe in his lifetime to survive. To the palace, he's a member of the royal family, and helped establish this library.

"Though father says he'd have wandered off and died reading if they hadn't complied with his demands." Aalim sees that Quentin had been vaguely paying attention, Moritz playing with the fire, and Noaki studying the portrait in detail. "So what do you think?"

"Sounds like someone who likes to read books," Moritz came over. "Well, royal escort," Moritz lengthens his posture, "is there anything fun to do here? Aside from staring at dead people?"

"Actually," Noaki removes his gaze, "could you show me where the chancellor takes up his practice?"

"It's a bit of ways down, but I can show you."

Aalim leads the party through a series of symmetrical corridors and galleries. Noaki notes the chambers and rooms gradually shift in their purpose to accommodate medicinal practices. Along the way he glimpses Reyna attending a lecture among an assortment of other practitioners.

They proceed down a quiet corridor exuding a relaxing ambience. The corridor burns with incense and leads into chambers concealed behind thick velvet curtains.

The chancellor's practice is a cavernous chamber, glistening with luminous ore and a single opening above that allows a ray of light onto a stone platform, similar to the one in Master Eiko's practice.

Along a series of carved stone work, clutter vials and flasks of oddly proportioned shapes and sizes.

"Aalim," the chancellor emerges from a cleverly concealed chamber. "Thank you, for escorting my patient." He inspects the rest of the party, "I apologise, but I must diagnose him alone."

"Moritz, wait." Noaki unclasps his coat and hands it to him, "take care of it."

Moritz nods in undsrstanding.

Noaki jumps onto the platform, legs dangling over the side. He removes his shirt as instructed and lays on his back as Eiko had once instructed.

"That must have been an important coat," the chancellor places an orb in both his palms. "I understand it's an okari tradition. Once you've earned it, you keep it until you've given up your time."

Noaki didn't know what the chancellor spoke of, he'd forgotten about his okari heritage along the way, it didn't seem to matter. "Are you going to put up the invisible shield?"

"If you mean Okhanahn, yes." The chancellor places an orb below his feet and head. "Its invention was aided by an okari such as yourself."

Noaki feels the chancellor's fingers brush from his lower abdomen to his collar. Then it manifests, an invisible force field that gradually fills with blue and gold light, and there he sees it, his heart beating.

"Your lau'khet has gotten considerably brighter, that is good," the chancellor interacts with the surface. "Your recovery is remarkable considering you recently woke."

Noaki tries hard not to move.

The chancellor shifts the live image to what Noaki asserts as his insignia, three crescents preceding the other, largest to smallest.

"Now I see, those bearing the adreno nature recover easily. That is why they make good soldiers, although," the chancellor places his palm on the insignia and infuses white energy.

Noaki's perspective blossoms of its own accord, he sees the violet outlines of plants, insects, and people.

"The hunters kreddos."

"I'm sorry?" Noaki lacks any understanding in any of this. He wants to move.

"Nature's yield different fruits. Your fruit is with the hunter's kreddos, though one need not be a hunter, it is only defined for organizational purposes." The chancellor shifts the screen, bringing to surface a strange sight full of wiggles and wobbles. The chancellor reviews the state of something only he could understand. "That's very odd."

Noaki stares at the screen, unsure what could be odd about it. "Am I broken?"

The chancellor chuckles, "you're well. Almost too well. In your biological memory, there is an abrupt change in cellular behavior. As if an entirely different person took hold of the body. Have you died recently?"

"Not that I can remember, no." Noaki wants to be done.

"It's so peculiar that this transition happened so fast. Normal biological memory is a gradual growth. Even through intense periods of life, you cannot change a person. One's lifestyles may alter, but they are aware just as they always were." The chancellor returns to Noaki's beating heart. "There have been few such instances on record that I'm aware of," the chancellor comes to his senses.

"My apologies, No'aki."

The chancellor fiddles with the orbs and the blue and gold retreat, quickly followed by the force field. After collecting the orbs and returning them to velvet cases, he approaches Noaki, guiding him by the chin to peer into kind jade eyes.

"Your perception is beautiful, it warms me to see another generation so unlike my own." The chancellor kisses Noaki's forehead.

Noaki notices a luminous curtain settle across his vision and vanish. The clarity of his mind is unsullied for a time. "Thank you," Noaki slips on his shirt, "your grace."

The chancellor smiles. "Please take care. Fahrahn."

Noaki bows and exits the chamber light in his step. Outside he meets the others in a heated debate between Aalim and Quentin.

"What are they arguing about?" Noaki asks Moritz.

"Something about a match, taikhetudin, I think they called it. Between, well I forget the names," Moritz hands Noaki his coat, "you might want to consider washing it every now and then."

Noaki drapes it over his shoulders and settles the others' debate with lunch.