Bort looked at Rai and Sindyl. He couldn't believe just how poorly they both looked.
“Wow. You two are a mess.” He noticed the dried sweat on their faces and the torrid state of their clothes and hair. Bort shook his head, “This won't do. I’ll have Dorothy set ye up some baths then. Seems like ye could both use some... sanitisation.”
“What does that mean?” Rai asked.
Sin giggled to herself, “You don’t know what sanitisation means? Hmph. Only a farmboy wouldn't know what it means!” She teased him.
Rai didn't have time to react to her teasing as Bort answered quickly.
Bort crouched beside Rai, which wasn't entirely necessary given that he was a dwarf and almost the boy's height already, “it’s just a fancy word for cleaning, boy. Don’t think much of it..." He turned to Sindyl, "I was only trying to sound uppity for the Princess here.” Bort teased the red haired girl.
She pouted, which got a laugh out of Rai, prompting her to pout even more.
Sin quipped back, “At least my belly isn’t the size of the rest of my body!”
Bort stared at her for a moment, then guffawed. This led to the other two laughing even harder. In the end, they had a laughing fit between the three of them. After a few minutes, Dorothy called out to them all. She let Rai and Sin know that the baths were ready.
They went to clean themselves in the separate bathing areas.
After Rai and Sin left, Jin and Kallad sat at an empty table. Jin noticed that the inn was livelier now than it was in the morning. But it was only late in the afternoon, and there were many seats yet to be filled. Bort sent a waitress to leave a pair of mugs on their table, full to the brim with the finest Townsend craft brew.
Kallad spoke like a friend from an older era, “It’s great to see your old mug again Jin.”
Jin sounded somewhat upset, “I’m really not that old, I don’t know why everyone keeps calling me that.”
“HAHA! You’re as old as they come my friend.”
“How’d you get past Narthir by the way? Just thought I’d ask since he hates Aspects.”
“That old gatekeeper?" Kallad leaned in closer, "Well, actually... I’m only telling you this because I believe you'll need to know sooner or later." Kallad's voice became a whisper, "The Underworld has physical links to Udra. It’s deep underneath the mountain, and there are pathways directly into this town. We can make pathways that take us wherever we want across the whole mountain.”
As he let the information sink in, Kallad nonchalantly took a sip of his brew. He muttered to himself, "Whew, this is really good!"
Jin was clearly surprised at the bombshell that just hit him. No one knew about where the Underworld was, nor even how to get there without the magic of the Deception clan. He let the information set for a moment before replying with a grin, “You know I’m good at keeping secrets.”
The air about Jin seemed to change. First, he took a hefty gulp of his drink. Then, he moved on to the question that was festering in his mind since he heard that Kallad was coming through Acies.
“Why are you here, Kallad.”
Kallad's light-hearted nature washed away, and he seemed to look through Jin’s wolf-like ambers with his blood-red rubies.
“You gathered that the council is to meet?”
Jin nodded.
“Then you should know that this is an unofficial meeting. The Arbiter is directly leading this one.”
Jin continued to look into Kallad’s eyes, unflinching.
Kallad's voice betrayed his sense of urgency, “It involves the will of the Creator.”
Jin’s eyes widened in shock. He reached for his mug after hearing Kallad's words, but elected not to take another sip. “The Creator? Last I heard, they were completely hands-off from the world after the Elder Wars. Why now?”
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“It's not really the Creator's will. It's about what that will represents. You know that the Arbiter is the Voice of the Creator, and that he's used that title for his own personal gain before." He leaned in further as he whispered, "Personally, I've had my suspicions of the Arbiter for some time now. Him and his clan of supposed Justice were the ones that set the execution order on you. It seems that he wants to root out the Life clan, and take what’s theirs for his own. He’d happily use his position as ‘Voice of the Creator’ to justify it.”
Jin craned his hands together and rested his chin on them. He remained in thought for a moment, granting Kallad a few seconds to take a sip of his drink. Jin had his own concerns about all of this, but there was a problem.
“If the Arbiter wants the Life clan, it’ll take at least a decade. He’d have to start laying the seeds now, with this meeting.”
“That’s what I’m suspecting...” Kallad narrowed his eyes at Jin, “Will you fight?”
Jin shook his head, “I cannot. I will not.” He would not lose any more of his comrades or his family, “I’ll defend my family if they come to harm, but I won’t fight this war. I don’t care about the clan. After they stood by and did nothing while the execution order was cast... they mean nothing to me.”
The Deceiver saw nothing but resolution in the Sword Dancer's will. He tried to persuade Jin, “You’re powerful enough to kill him, you know that right? If you just agreed to he-”
Jin interrupted him with a raised hand. “That may be true... But I’ll only use my sword for my own ends. Not for anyone else’s.”
It soon dawned upon Kallad that he couldn’t convince the Sword Dancer. Jin had lost everything that tied him to the Life clan, and only now he finally had something worth fighting for. But Jin would only fight if someone crossed the line. That was a line that Kallad wouldn't cross.
Jin took another sip of his brew. “What about the Warden? Does he know how this is all playing out?”
Kallad waved away Jin's question, as if swatting a fly, “He’s weak. The title of Warden doesn’t afford one any real power, like the rest of the Aspect titles. He’s aware of what the Arbiter wants, but he has none of the combat power to contest it. If it was the previous Warden-”
“He’s gone. I learned that personally.”
“... I see... then the fate of the Life clan is sealed.”
Jin watched as Rai came out of the private bathing area, all cleaned up and dressed.
“Not quite. Though, it depends on him.”
Rai looked around the room as if he was looking for something. He then laid his eyes upon Jin and Kallad, and smiled. He started walking over to them.
Kallad didn’t know what to think, “He’s definitely got potential... but he’ll need far more than his current potential if he’s going to save his clan.”
“He’ll get there. It’ll take time, but I have faith in him. Besides, in the end it depends on his own desires. If he wants to fight for the clan, or revenge, or for any other reason, then he can. Neither me nor his mother will stop him. But if he doesn’t want to fight for any of those things... then I won’t try to force him.”
Kallad laid respectful eyes on Jin, “Once again, I'm reminded that I truly have no idea what to think of you, Sword Dancer.”
“You can stop calling me that. I’m just Jin now.”
Rai came to the table the two were sat at, and sat next to Jin. He looked really excited as he yanked Jin's robe sleeve, “The private bathing area is so much nicer than the ones here in our rooms upstairs!” The boy seemed much more like a boy now. Thoughts of him being a saviour almost completely washed away from Kallad's mind once Rai spoke with such glee about something as simple as a bathing room.
“We can make a nice bathing area at the farm if you wanted to. It wouldn’t be that difficult.” Jin stated matter of factly.
“REALLY?! Can we? I’ll help! I just know mum will like it too.” Rai’s electric eyes seemed to sparkle.
“Of course, we’ll get started on it later this month then.” Jin chuckled lightly as he ruffled Rai's hair.
Sin came out of the private bathing areas, fully cleaned and dressed. She mimicked Rai’s actions after leaving, searching for her father.
After spotting them, Sin came and sat down at the table. She heard something about making a bath. Sin puffed out her chest with pride, “The bathing quarter of our house is bigger than this whole inn!” She sounded like a spoilt princess who wanted to show off her possessions.
Kallad scowled at his daughter, “Sin, we should be humble about how we live. Everyone’s life is their own, and their life situations are unique to them.”
Jin took on the role of the ‘fun uncle’, “Let her show off a bit, she’s clearly just proud of her home.”
Rai turned to Sindyl, “You should see the farm Sin! It’s huuuuge and has lots of fields around it. The house is pretty big too!”
I’ve never been to a farm. And no one other than dad calls me Sin... but... I don't hate it... Sin blushed, then shrank in her chair a little, “M-m-maybe one d-day.”
As the night went on, the inn became livelier. Hunters who'd finished their daily expeditions came to the inn to wind down and talk about their hunts of the day. Some had even just finished their week long expeditions. Rai and Sin listened attentively to the stories told by the hunters and travellers who'd come to Townsend. Jin and Kallad drank away their worries about the looming end of the world. Families from the outskirts of the town came to the inn for their nightly entertainment and bonding time.
The night went on with everyone’s jovial spirits creating an atmosphere that Rai enjoyed.
He truly loved this kind of thing. One of his childish hopes was for this to last forever.
Unfortunately, Rai wasn't destined for a life of bliss.
Within the twin suns in the sky, a set of eyes opened. One eye in each sun. They stared in the direction of Acies.
Rai thought he heard echoes of someone above him laughing, but after a while he decided that it must've just been someone in the group he was sitting with.
There were whispers, but he couldn't hear them.
The eyes shut after the voice couldn't reach him.
It, whatever it was, would have to wait until he was ready.