Chapter Thirty

The strangest thing about asking questions is that every time you get an answer, you find more questions to go with it. Magic was clearly more complicated than I expected it to be. In the books and games and everything, you either had an exact total or you just had a roster of spells you could use a certain number of times per day. I suppose mana did play a role here, like if I ran out or didn’t have enough, I couldn’t cast something, but from the sounds of things I’d need to pledge myself to a particular deity…

‘That’s probably why I couldn’t…’ I stopped the thought and looked at Loysa.

She had a smirk on her face. “Loysa?” I asked, a slight edge to my voice.

“Yes?” She asked, that smile sweet as honey on her face reminded me of when she ate my snacks.

“By some chance, do I need to dedicate myself to a God or Goddess before I cast a spell successfully?” I asked.

As the ship’s landing gear touched down she patted my thigh and said, “Good question. I think you’re ready to start learning.”

I could hardly believe she let me freeze my ass and singe my hair… I reached up and tapped the burnt tips of hair around my ears, my tails bristled and then I realized something.

‘Of course I can believe it. She told me outright she’s not telling me what to do, only offering advice and guidance, I didn’t ask her how to do magic, I just asked her what the simplest spells were and how mana was drawn on for it… still, she could have said something!’ I let out a weary exhale.

I have to admit, I was starting to like Loysa, but she had some truly grating behaviors.

“So, leader, what’s next?” Loysa asked as we pushed our way through the crowd and stepped out onto the street after descending the twisting stairs. She still wore that smirk, no doubt finding my consternation to be utterly hilarious.

“Um…” I looked around, this place was very… how do I describe steampunk fantasy elves? There were pipes that seemed to be wood, but when I reached out to touch one, it ‘felt’ more metallic. Or stonelike, maybe.

“Ironwood trees.” Loysa said as if that explained things.

I have no idea if she was joking, and I wasn’t in the mood to ask.

The road was cobblestone, that was familiar, but looking around I could see the lamps were not the gas sort I’d noticed elsewhere, these were glass bottles full of glowing blue dots that flitted around like bugs.

“I suppose we need to find a place to stay for the night, we should be able to find something close by, right?” I asked, if there had been an air ferry or something at that moment, I would have called for it, but the fact that there weren’t any nearby…

‘Back home taxis often just waited at the airport for people to get in. If there’s no ferries or carriages or rickshaws or anything here, that means it isn’t worth it to pick people up.’ I thought to myself and scanned the road.

It was already fairly late, other than those of us disembarking, there were very few out on the streets.

“There!” I pointed to a tall building with a sign out front and saw a few people I recognized as being seated on the airship with me, going in the front.

“Say,” I asked as we walked, “what’s with the streetlamps? Are they keeping bugs in them?” I asked as I watched the blue glows dance around.

“Now ye did it, lass.” Dwarguy grunted while Loysa did her best to stifle a laugh.

The flitting in the nearest lamp stopped.

“Bugs?! Who’re you calling bugs you overgrown stray dog?!” A dozen tiny voices called out at once.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

My eyes ‘bugged’ out of my head, if you’ll pardon the pun, as I looked closer and saw the blue light dim so that I could see the cause.

“We’re fae thank you very much!” A feminine voice shouted with tiny indignation. She was clad in the strips and pieces of a single leaf and had small hands and feet pressed against the side of the glass. “How dare you! We work hard all night giving light to this city, do our jobs, and you call us bugs! You know what? No light for you!” She shouted, and behind her a dozen other little voices echoed her sentiment.

“Yeah!” And all the glowing coming off their gossamer looking wings dimmed.

I though, as surprised as I was, said one sensible thing in my stupor. “So pretty…”

The darkness that enveloped me for a moment began to retreat as one pair of wings began to glow again.

She really was. She reminded me of a character from an old children’s book I couldn’t recall the name of. She had auburn hair that hung down her back and a little green leaf was sewn with strands of spider silk into a sleeveless dress, her legs and feet were exposed and were not even as long as one of my fingernails. Her wings took on a multicolored rainbow hue as if my words pleased her.

“You can praise me all you like,” she said indignantly and crossed her arms, “but you insulted us first!”

“I’m sorry.” I said, and I meant it, “I’m just new, we have bugs in the place I’m from that glow the way you do, sort of, and I didn’t even know fae were real.”

“Oh. Well… if you didn’t know…” She seemed to relent and the blue glow began to come back to her wings.

“I didn’t, really.” I said, a rose blush came to my cheeks, “So, how come you’re in those lamps, are you prisoners?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No. But oughtn’t you ask somebody’s name at least before asking them things about their life?

“Right, sorry,” I must have been more flustered than I thought, I rubbed the back of my head and asked, “what’s your name?”

“Bell.” She said, her voice a little calmer than before, behind her, a few other wings began to light up.

“Hi, Bell. I’m Aiko.” I smiled and waved up at her. “So, are you prisoners?”

Bell shook her head, “No. This is our job, the elves pay the fae to light the streets so they don’t have to use stinky burning gas. We help keep the streets safe for you big lugs by being witnesses who watch the street for trouble and we keep the way lit for everybody. We can come and go as we please otherwise, we just happen to work at night.”

“Oh. I feel stupid.” I admitted.

The dozen high pitched voices echoed a singular ‘hmpf’ and ‘you should!’ and what could I say?

“Well, now I know. And you really are very pretty, and it’s so good of you to keep the streets lit up and safe, I’m sure you do a great job.” I emphasized, and the fae’s remaining temper seemed to melt away.

Her crossed arms relaxed and she looked at me again.

“Well, as long as you understand… nice of you to apologize and all.” She mumbled.

“Thank you for accepting it.” I said and bowed at the waist. “Uh, if I could, is that a hotel over there?” I pointed down the street to the big building I intended to visit.

“Not exactly. It’s a hostel, you can stay for free, it’s paid for by the city. But it’s not a nice place. The owner, Mr. Holemseh always yells at the fae outside to keep the lights dim as it makes it hard for people to sleep. Nobody wants to work out there now. Besides, hostels are always dirty. There’s an inn next to it, if you got money, you should stay there.” She suggested.

“Thank you, Bell, and ladies, you have a wonderful evening.” I said, and after a second bow, they said a far cheerier, “Bye bye!”

“So… is your Goddess telling us to do anything?” I asked as I started to walk.

“That was a right fine job with the fae, lass, they’re a prickly folk.” Dwarguy said.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yes. I’ve never seen them forgive someone so quickly. Really, good work. If adventuring doesn’t work, maybe consider becoming a diplomat.” Loysa suggested.

I gave her a double take. “Are you messing with me?” I asked.

She shrugged, “I wonder.”

I stared at her until she gave me a snort and said, “Alright, alright, it’s late, but if you insist…” She grumbled, “She says you should have a few drinks before bed, but does not tell me why. Just go with it.”

It was my turn to shrug. “Fine. Dinner and drinks would be good.” And with that, we entered the inn, ready to get a good night’s sleep.

Well, most of us, anyway.