Lia
So, apparently Sol had gone off to find Den and aunt Lin. And Nisa Alzania was his fiancé now but that was more or less political. Sol had been really busy lately and I guess that’s why he didn’t send any mails.
I was glad Mama had stopped me and brought me here, to this girl’s room. This girl, Nisa, had been really nice so far, however… I had a feeling she was suspecting us for something and I didn’t really like her.
“Still if Den and Lin both are missing,” Mama mumbled. “If I recall, Den had a younger sister here.”
I really wanted to meet Sol. It’d been a year so far, and I had so many stories to tell him. I wanted him to tell me so much and….
“Yeah,” aunt Xena said. “Anya Borges.”
“Borges…” Nisa paused. “Oh I see, so you’re related to Sol’s other side of the family.”
“What oth-” I attempted to speak but Mama shut me up.
“Alright then, thank you for everything, my lady,” Mama said. “We’ll be leaving now.”
“Of course,” Nisa saw us off to the very exit of the dorms.
Once we were outside though, Mama stared at me very disapprovingly. “It’s best if you don’t talk for now. I’ll explain things to you later.”
“Okay.”
We walked around for a while. I got hungry, so we got some food. More meat. Aluc was starting to look a little blue.
“Is he alright?” I asked.
“He’s fine. He likes meat but refuses to acknowledge that,” Xena said.
That was odd. I loved meat too and ate plenty. Mama always told me meat was good for me. “How come he doesn’t want to?” I said.
“Because ‘he’ chooses not to cause suffering to others,” Aluc said, patting my head. “It’s just a personal belief. I understand not everyone would like that idea and I know I can’t change the world myself. But I still choose to at least try to live by my rules.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“But meat is so tasty,” I said.
“Yeah,” Aluc agreed. “Enjoy it.”
After a delicious meal, which just seemed never-ending, we went to Den’s sister’s place. She lived in a rather big house. No, all houses were big here. So many windows! So many sturdy walls!
“How come they don’t use wood?” I wondered aloud.
“They don’t have as much as we do,” Mama said.
“Anyone home?” Xena knocked, and when an answer came, we went in. Well, at least their floor was wood.
It was really beautiful inside. Clean, off white. Yet for some reason it felt a little… soulless.
“Mew!” An orange cat came out to greet us.
“Kitty!” I got down on ground and patted the kitty.
“Good morning, I wasn’t expecting guests today,” said a young lady.
Pointy ears… kind of like that man… Den’s sister!
“Good morning,” Xena said. “I’m Xena, we met when you were younger at Den’s Birthday party.”
“Yeah, I remember. You got drunk and poured hot soup all over Den’s arm. He was so mad.” She giggled.
Xena laughed a bit but… she seemed more embarrassed than amused.
“This is Lyra, and Lyra’s daughter, Lia. We were here to see Sol but he’d already left.”
“Yes, sadly my cousin’s missing and he wants to find him.”
“But why him? He’s young and-” Mama started.
“Who else but him?” Lady Anya said.
“Us!” Mama shouted. It was rare for her to shout these days. Yet… “We would do anything-”
“I suppose that’s why he didn’t ask you,” lady Anya shook her head. “He didn’t want to involve you guys. You have lives, families of your own. How could he?”
“But….” Mama sighed. “But if Den’s missing, how does he plan on finding him? Does he have a crew? A guard, someone-”
“He has Alustur, an A rank mercenary as his guard and six crew members.”
“Alustur?” Mama wondered. “The Severer? I thought his service charge was outrageous!”
“They usually are. But I suppose he feels indebt to Sol, and thus… besides, haven’t you heard? Sol had defeated Alustur and can fend off assassins at ease.”
“Huh?” Aluc paused. “He defeated the Severer? That kid?”
“Yes,” Anya said, nonchalantly. “He also defeated headmaster Rombrandt.”
“You’re not pulling our legs, right?”
“Not at all.”
They were speaking so fast, it was hard to follow their conversations. I didn’t even catch half of what they said. Even the snippets I did catch, weren’t making sense.
Defeated? Was Sol fighting? Why?
What was going on?
Mama and the rest were clearly out of it and they started staring at each other without any words. Eventually, Anya went over to the kitchen and brought some fruit slices. On closer inspection: Honeycrisp slices.
“We grew these here,” Anya said. “Me and Sol.”
“What? Honeycrips in the west?” Mama sighed. “I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised. Den always did say, that boy was a genius.”
Yeah… she was right, Sol really was a genius. It pained my heart a little; despite being older than him, I wasn’t even remotely near his league. And not to mention he was nobility now.
In the end… no, you can’t just let it bother you. You’re you, just like he said!
“Since you’re here,” Anya said. “Why don’t you meet Sol’s family. The Barracks, I mean.”
“The who?” The words popped out of my mouth.
“The Barracks. You know, Sol’s parents,” Anya said again. “Wait, you didn’t know?”