When Tim heard of the end of the war, he breathed a sigh of relief, but he was also oddly dissatisfied.
He’d fought in it, for longer than he’d been away, all told, but it felt weird to have the war ended without him. When his mother had sent him out, they’d had vague thoughts that maybe it could help, if they cut the gnomes off from allies further south, or even managed to gain allies against them. In retrospect, that had been painfully optimistic. Not that he couldn’t do it, but it would have taken time, and now the war was decided before he’d even left the first city he visited. He supposed it was a good thing that the southern lands hadn’t cared to participate at all, so Tim was technically successful.
Having the Gnomish Confederation officially on their side, at least as soon as everything had shaken out properly, was probably going to change the paradigm again. They could use their help to create a real path through the mountains. For now, it also made Tim’s job here a lot easier.
The nobles of Veragles might be amoral greedy bastards by and large, at least from what he’d seen, but they were opportunists and clearly realized that his side had won the war. It had taken a while for them to even get the news, of course — probably by means of a message sent with several stops along the way, going around the eastern side of the mountains, and carried by riders part of the way when it wasn’t a magical missive. But when they did hear of it, the gnomish ambassador suddenly received a colder welcome while interest in Tim and his companions renewed briefly.
It wouldn’t last, and he’d already made plans to leave, anyway. He would come back; Veragles was probably the most important city on his itinerary and he was already planning to spend the longest here out of any of his stops.
Anuis had been away for several days and come back to report better relations with the elvish enclaves around the city, so he supposed that was all good. Ariedel might not be entirely happy with the Empire, but they were still allies — and besides, the elves probably knew they couldn’t stand up to them when it came to a fight, as much as everyone might prefer not to think in those terms — so it could only be positive news for him. He had even asked if they could visit one of the enclaves on the way, and while Anuis hadn’t seemed very optimistic, she hadn’t outright denied the possibility.
On the day they were to depart, his original party had gathered in one of the city’s many squares, close to the center, and they were being seen off by a pretty illustrious gathering.
“Are you entirely certain I cannot persuade you to stay longer, Lord Tim?” the Prince of the city asked. “You and your companions are certainly welcome here.”
Tim smiled back at him. Despite himself, he’d grown to like the jovial man, who was definitely a shrewder diplomat than many would give him credit for. But he also didn’t think all of it was faked, the guy was just a social butterfly who liked talking to new and interesting people. “I’m quite sure, but I do appreciate the offer, Prince Luca,” he answered, bowing his head briefly. “I wish you all the best and hope to return to this magnificent city soon.”
“I must echo the same sentiment. We will be glad to host you whenever you decide to return, Milord,” Archmage Lucian said.
Tim smiled back at him and inclined his head again. “I will keep that in mind, and I thank you sincerely for hosting us, Archmage. It was a true pleasure and I appreciate all that you did for us. Should you ever make your way north I know the Empire would be glad to return the favor.”
“Now I definitely must make it through the mountains one day,” Lucian laughed.
Tim kept his smile. “I know at least one man who would be delighted to talk to you about magic. So would Janis and Princess June, actually.”
The archmage’s eyes lit up noticeably and he knew he’d hit the bullseye with that remark. It wasn’t like Tim was lying, Zephyr would definitely be interested in talking to him about magic, and June would have about a million questions, Janis too. But Thande was also a politician and making connections with royalty was worth a lot to him. He would probably consider this entire interlude time and coin well spent just for that, or so Tim hoped.
He waited patiently while the rest of his group said their goodbyes and exchanged a few more words with various other people who had shown up, mostly to gawk, he suspected. But at least they were being polite about it. Then it was finally time to turn around and make their way out of the City of Veragles. At last.
Of course, actually getting out of the city took quite a while, especially since they had started in the center of it. Tim didn’t let it bother him and instead looked around, taking in the city once again. It looked just about the same as it had when he’d seen it before. Unfortunately, it seemed like watching exotic foreign locales could get boring after all. Who would have thought.
Smirking a bit to himself, but taking it as a sign that he had stayed here long enough, Tim turned his attention instead to the other members of his traveling party. There was his actual party, of course. Hivekind, humans, elves and dark elves, they were quite the mixed group, but considering they’d managed a trip over the mountains, he wasn’t worried at all about traveling between cities in these lands.
Which did make the other people they would be traveling with somewhat useless, he acknowledged. But they weren’t really there as escorts, at least not in the sense that they’d be guarding the group. They would help a lot with finding their way. But he suspected the major reason Thande had finagled this was for further networking, and maybe even learning more about him and the others. Well, that would work just as well in reverse.
“I appreciate you accompanying us,” he said, dropping back to walk closer to the dwarf currently pulling rear guard.
Iliamina-fe gave him an amused look. “I’m happy to play guide to these lands,” he said. “I do know them like the back of my hand.”
“That’s good, I want to learn as much about this region as I can,” Tim said earnestly. “I hope you don’t mind if I ask a question? It’s just that I’ve heard about all sorts of cities and enclaves of the elves, but no one mentioned a settlement of dwarves.”
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The adventurer grunted. “I suppose they wouldn’t have.”
“And why’s that, Sir Iliamina-fe?”
He blinked up at Tim, then shook his head sharply. “Just call me Iliam, boy, it sounds weird when you use my full name. It’s not like anyone goes around always calling you — well, do you have a last name, actually? Milord?”
“Call me Tim. I suppose I would use ‘Starlit’ as my last name. Or maybe ‘von Woltan’, although we mostly don’t use that.”
He didn’t bring up that the guy hadn’t told him to use his first name — whatever that actually meant given the dwarves’ naming scheme — when they had traveled together previously, from the mountains to Veragles. Presumably he’d wanted to appear professional in front of his employer. At least Tim was pretty sure Lucian was his employer.
“Tim, then. Anyway, you wouldn’t have heard of dwarven towns because there aren’t really any here. We do still have a few settlements, closer to the mountains, but most of us actually live aboveground. In human cities, or occasionally elvish settlements, though that’s … complicated. Only some of them allow us.”
Tim nodded as he digested that information. “I see. Thank you for the explanation. Did you come from one of those settlements?”
“I was born in Veragles, although I spent a few years in a deep dwelling,” Iliam replied with a casual shrug. “What about you?”
“I hatched in the middle of the forest, actually. On the outskirts of the Great Forest.”
They kept talking as they made their way through the city and out of the east gate, leading to a picturesque road winding through fields and small copses of trees. Tim told him a few things, but mostly kept to innocuous topics and general information about the Empire that would make its way here sooner or later. In return, he learned more about his traveling companion, his people and the situation in this land.
It turned out that ‘born’ was actually as much of an euphemism for the dwarf as it was for Hivekind. They supposedly hatched out of rock, although it was a little more complicated than that. Iliam gave a brief explanation about meltings and blood donation and what sounded like ritual sex although he wasn’t sure which Tim struggled to follow. Either way, apparently it was an ongoing issue for them to get enough of the right type of rock, grown into the right structure, to have new children. Though they did still have two parents each who raised them in family units. It was rather interesting and certainly not any weirder than the Hive, so Tim wasn’t going to judge.
Although apparently some humans, and even elves, did. He wished he was surprised by that. Dwarves were classified as demihumans, considered less humanoid than elves. Although Iliam didn’t quite come out and complain about it in those terms, it sounded like they were one of the groups most discriminated against. It probably didn’t help that they didn’t have any strong states of their own to fight for their rights. They were more often targeted by the more fanatical Delvers here, not really because there was any ideological reason, just because they were an easier target.
While Tim sympathized, he also made mental notes about it to pass on to Regina and see if they could forge an alliance with the dwarven settlements that remained. Their close association with the northern Delvers might make that more complicated, he supposed, but they should be able to show them the differences, and Hivekind were generally also considered demihumans, anyway.
“I admit we’ve heard some things, but we usually don’t see any dwarves north of the mountains,” Eduard said, joining the conversation.
Iliam gave the young Delver a suspicious look, but it seemed more like habit. He was smiling slightly, speaking in a friendly tone, and even on their previous trip Tim had never seen him so much as fighting over what dinner to make.
“Few of us ever go there,” the dwarf admitted, relaxing slightly. “The gnomes are not very welcoming of us, there’s too much bad blood because of old rivalries when we still had regular contact, and the Great Forest isn’t a good place for my people. We prefer stone, or being able to see the sky if aboveground.”
“And not monster-infested woods, I bet,” the Delver joked. He glanced at Tim and shrugged. “Most of what I’ve heard of dwarves are clearly third-hand stories passed through many mouths before they end up with us. It’s enough to know the local Delvers have issues, but not enough for specifics.”
“The northern Delvers seemed to have the same issues from all I’ve heard,” Iliam said.
The other man only shrugged, unbothered. “That was before. We’re loyal citizens of the Empire now, and Her Imperial Majesty has a … strict no-tolerance policy against discrimination, that was the term, right?”
“It is,” Tim replied, trying not to make his amused smile too obvious.
“There you have it.”
“I never thought I’d see the day Delvers willingly submit to any political authority like that,” Iliam shook his head.
“No one did, but the Last Progenitor has returned. Things have changed,” he said simply.
“Besides, it’s not like the Delvers get nothing out of it,” Tirias chimed in, joining the conversation as well. He kept walking a bit further ahead but turned to look at them. “They get good postings in the military and a lot of fuel to their pride, seeing elements of humanity’s glory days returning, right friend?”
“Sure,” he shrugged again.
Tim shook his head, glad the conversation hadn’t devolved into more of an argument as this topic came up. The dwarven adventurer looked a bit skeptical, but he clearly decided not to question what they said.
“What will we encounter on the road?” Tim asked instead, changing the subject. “Are there many monsters in these parts?”
“Some, though I suspect we won’t have too many fights,” Iliam answered. “We are all quite high-Level, this isn’t the mountains. We might have more trouble with other people.”
“Bandits?” he asked. “Wouldn’t they also consider us too high-level to risk attacking?”
The dwarf shook his head. “There are not many bandits this close to the city, although later in our trip it may be more of an issue. According to your proposed itinerary, we will be traveling through some areas where we can expect more trouble. Nothing we shouldn’t be able to handle, though. I was mostly considering that some enclaves or cities might not be too friendly and may not want to welcome us into their territory.”
Tim paused. He had thought about that, of course, but to hear it put so starkly was still a bit surprising. “We are an official delegation from the Central European Empire,” he said slowly.
“Forgive the bluntness, Lord Tim, but we have here a group of less than twenty people but five different species; humans, elves, dark elves, and a race that hasn’t ever been seen here, and a dwarf, I suppose. In that regard Lord Lucian might not have done you a favor in sending me along, but I suppose one dwarf doesn’t make a difference in this matter. And how many people actually know about your home country?”
Tim glanced at the other adventurer who was also accompanying them, Tony, another of the Archmage of the Present’s original group, who’d been rather quiet so far. He caught his gaze and nodded with an apologetic expression. Their conversation seemed to have attracted the attention of everyone in the group at this point.
"That’s fine, we’ll deal with any issues if and when they arise,” Tim sighed. “I suppose it wouldn’t be the worst thing to test people from these lands in combat, if it comes to that. We’ll take the opportunity to practice against monsters, too.”
Everyone seemed to accept that, or even be happy about it. Tim swept his gaze across the group once more, then nodded.
He glanced around. They would probably be on the road for a week or so, before they reached the next major city he had planned to visit. From what he’d heard, they should probably be received with at least normal levels of courtesy. From there, it might get worse, and if they were unlucky, they might even get between two city-states who were fighting. That didn’t seem too rare here, from what he’d heard.
Tim glanced north again and shrugged. His Hive Queen had entrusted him with this mission and he would not fail her. He’d fight whoever he had to and kill whoever he had to. It was as simple as that.