Tanis was waiting for us outside the Frozen Salamander when we finished registration. Three days from now our team would be taking on the local Gladiator, Alexsandr. I wasn’t sure what to expect from an official battle, much less against someone with a prestigious title within the League. Hundreds of questions were circling through my head… would it be any different from the battles we’d had thus far? Should I be training my espers against other battlers? Did I need to grind for some experience equivalent? Could I, given the system we seemed to be operating under? Did Grajo bring any special abilities to the team I should be aware of? I really wanted some alone time with the grimoire, but something about Tanis’ smile told me I wouldn’t be getting it anytime soon.
“Good news about new rooms?” Red inquired.
“Eh, good news, bad news. I got us two separate rooms at the Frosty Maiden closer to the middle of town, but they were only willing to hand us out one key for each.” She offered a small, silver key toward us with her right hand, then flourished two small cards in her left with a self-satisfied grin. “Which isn’t the worst news, but I have some different good news that might complicate things. I scored two tickets for a sold-out play starting in about half an hour; Indomitable. But~! Espers would require their own tickets to watch.”
“Hm,” I looked her up and down, appraisingly. She seemed way too smug. “Were these tickets acquired legally?”
“They were paid for,” she held the tickets to her chest in faux offense.
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Look, I just thought it’d be something fun for us to do while we’re in the entertainment capital of Barbavia. Do you wanna go to the play or not?”
“Don’t worry about us if that’s any factor, Chief,” Red interjected before I could answer. “I need to talk strategy with Grajo an’ Wysteria, then maybe do a little recon on what we’re up against with Alexsandr this year. Gladiators tend to keep their strategy fresh, so it ain’t always wise to get complacent with what they did in previous years.”
“Then, why don’t you guys take the key?” I accepted it from Tanis and passed it to Red. “Absolute worst case scenario I have to chill with Tanis for a while before you get back, but I could definitely think of worse ways to kill a few hours.”
“I’m gonna choose to take that as a compliment,” she quipped.
“Good, ‘cuz that’s how I meant it.” My voice was probably less emotive than normal, tired from braving the cold and all the ups and downs of registration. “A play sounds lovely. Should I put on my fancy robes?”
“Sure! Get gussied up! Make me look like I actually belong there on the arm of some fancy-pants. I could be the trashy, sexy escort to your pathetic, gonorrhea-ridden noble!” A family walking by literally covered the ears of their young daughter, aghast. That almost made me crack a smile and ruin my deadpan response.
“If that’s the arrangement I’m not changing.”
“No, please do,” she warmed. “I actually got a new outfit for the occasion, and any future higher-class excursions we may find ourselves on. Few things are more important in life than masking your poverty, after all.”
“I would like to argue with that, but I am crushingly aware of reality,” I sighed, then turned to the espers. “If you guys want to get on your way, I’ll help Tanis move our stuff to the new inn?”
“Sounds good, chief. Enjoy the show.”
Grajo and Wysteria followed Red back into the twisting alleys of the city while Tanis and I set about the process of checking out from the Frozen Salamander. There ultimately wasn’t a lot to carry, but more of concern was the time it would take to get from one inn to the next and still make the play. Fortunately, Tanis assured me the Frosty Maiden was on the way to our destination, giving us plenty of time to change. I did so before we left, enjoying the smoothness of my silkier purple and black robes even though they were a bit more chilly as afternoon turned to evening and the cold of Brum slowly sapped away my heat. Such were the sacrifices one made in the name of fashion. We left all our gear in Tanis’ room for the time being, and even if our rooms at the Frosty Maiden didn’t have personal hearths (which they did) the orange-brown brick made them seem more invitingly cozy. I looked forward to seeing if the pattern on my rug and bedspread were different from the dark green trees on geometric orange and cream patterns in Tanis’ quarters. Small, goofy stuff like that seemed to always dance around my mind, usually followed by thoughts like ‘man, wouldn’t it be fun to run a hotel?’ in ignorance of all the ridiculously hard work and investment money that goes into such an enterprise. Maybe it was easier in Barbavia than it was in Ohio, but in Barbavia I had the option of being a spell-casting competitive esper battler, so being an innkeeper felt like more of a ‘retirement years’ option. Y’know. If I hadn’t become some kind of moon sorcerer by that point.
I’m not sure what I was expecting from Tanis’ outfit reveal. Honestly, I hadn’t really been thinking about it until she left me waiting in the corridor while she changed longer than I expected, and my mind got to wandering. Dramatic convention suggested a shy exit from the room with a lot of blushing, Tanis wearing a very cute, conservative garment. Maybe Simple and Clean would begin playing in the background or something. I hated Simple and Clean. I hated the idea that my assertions with Red three weeks ago, that there was no deterministic hand or deific intelligence guiding us might be incorrect. The events of last night did happen, though; a perfect setup for a blossoming romance, and if I was being more fair to myself, I could do a lot worse than Tanis Vex. I’d done a lot worse than Tanis Vex. She could probably do better than me, though. Maybe instead of the Simple and Clean reveal she’d come out looking like a bombshell and hit me with a ‘face it, tiger, you just hit the jackpot!’ Reality was very different, in the end, and not only did it bring me back to the ground and out of my head, but I felt somewhat comforted that if there was a DM, at least they had a sense of humor.
“If the girls were a little bigger, we might hafta circle back on that whole ‘me being your prostitute’ thing.” Tanis exited her room with both hands on her breasts, looking down as she pushed them up and together to create more cleavage than biology and gravity would ordinarily afford her. The dress she was wearing was long and seemed to be made of thick crushed velvet. Bleach-white fur lined the hem, matching the stole she wore about her shoulders. Her makeup was typically simple, and she wore her usual tall, sturdy boots beneath the dress, giving her more of an air of a college girl dressing ironically fancy to attend a party more than a wealthy socialite hitting up the opera. The lack of jewelry was the biggest dead giveaway, but the self-aware smirk wasn’t helping. “How do I look?”
I settled on “Fancy,” which was the mildest way I could put it without being too complimentary. To my deepest chagrin, I was noticing more and more how attractive Tanis was, physically. She didn’t have that severe symmetry you see in most models, women who looked like more of an adult than I did with their cheekbones and their serious eyes, and it wasn’t something I was ever attracted to, for the most part. I liked the unevenness most people had, like the large freckle just left-of-center on Tanis’ chest, or the few shallow pockmarks on her face from having survived her teenage years. If I didn’t have the sneaking suspicion some cosmic force was trying to smash our action figures together and make us kiss, would I be so careful with my words?
“I’ll take it,” she smiled, and together we left the Frosty Maiden.
The Mosesian Memorial Playhouse was little more than an auditorium with an external ticket booth, simple wooden chairs serving as audience seating. From what I could see from behind, most of the patrons were only slightly more fancy than us, though I wagered all were wearing some form of precious gems and rare metals that we lacked. Nobody questioned our tickets when we turned them in at the booth, a sweet smile on the face of the wizened woman bundled up behind the glass. To her, I’m sure, Tanis and I looked every bit like a young couple for a night on the town, especially since she’d been huddled close to my arm to leech warmth from me for about half the trip. Bare shoulders, she admitted, were probably not the best call in near-freezing temperatures. Perhaps in the ticket-taker’s internal narrative we had saved up our money for a big date, maybe for our anniversary. Maybe it reminded her of her younger days, giving that wistful gleam to her eye as she directed us to our seats.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Indomitable was a play about a ship and apparently based on a true story, as explained by the rolling-voiced impresario. A diverse group of explorers, nobility, and business folk join the crew of the Indomitable on a voyage off the coast of Astonia looking for new lands beyond Barbavia. They sail past the northern icebergs where the ursataur (a race of bear-people) dwell on floe cities, past the broken seas of bitter cold, but ultimately meet their demise when the ship crashes into an unexpected iceberg and sinks. Our story focuses in particular on two stowaways looking for a new life in the uncharted country who instead find love in each other as they navigate the politics and dodge the authorities on the Indomitable. There’s greater security and even a pair of Crucible guards looking for an escaped thief who stole jewels from Castle Borngrav. The couple think they’re here to ferret them out as stowaways, then the girl is concerned her new beau is the jewel thief, and there’s a lot of tension and drama and yes, I agree that sounds a lot like James Cameron’s Titanic, but there are weird little differences that made it somehow more surreal than if a story from Earth had just been reproduced in Barbavia. First of all, nobody survives the shipwreck. The impresario actually came out and closed the play by saying this was the writer’s interpretation of events as the ship was simply never heard from again. There were also a lot more fight scenes than I expected, one in particular against a Frankenstein’s monster-like stoker just before the Indomitable collides with the ice. No floating door, no never letting go, no steamy sex scene, no drawing anyone like a French girl, or even a Commonwealth equivalent. It was a good show with cool costumes, quality acting, punchy dialogue, and practical effects more grandiose than I could’ve anticipated. I laughed, I gasped, and I did indeed cry at the end because their love was just so pure, and it wasn’t fair they were cut down in the prime of their lives.
“I’m glad you liked it,” smiled Tanis as we left the playhouse. She immediately huddled up next to me, clutching my arm with both of hers as we walked with the crowd back toward the inn. There had apparently been some light rain during the play, and the damp streets and late hour made our return journey under the stars even colder. I wished my robes offered anything but the barest protection from the elements, both for her sake and mine.
“It’s not the type of story I’d usually go for, but yeah, I had a good time.”
“Not a big fan of the romance shows?”
“It’s not that—”
“Just hate boats?” she ribbed, which got me to laugh. The streets were emptier now. Not quite devoid of life, but less thick with it. The play had been several hours long, but I imagined the dark had just come sooner with winter’s approach, and the citizens of Brum knew better to spend too much time on the street after sunset. The bars seemed plenty full, and there were still lights on in most of the homes we passed.
“No, I just don’t think it’s something I would’ve checked out if you hadn’t acquired us the tickets. Sometimes I can be pickier about the trappings of a story than the actual themes and characters.”
“Oh, so is that your way of saying ‘thank you, Tanis, for enriching my life and broadening my horizons?”
“Thank you, Tanis, for enriching my life and broadening my horizons,” I repeated.
“You’re so welcome, Glenn! And since we’re being so honest and forthright with one another, I have a confession to make; I actually did buy the tickets.”
“Wait, for real?” Maybe I shouldn’t have laughed, but surprised barked it out of my throat so suddenly I couldn’t stifle it.
“Yeah,” she giggled as well, so I assumed I’d committed no foul. “Some posh jagoff was trying to entitle his way into being the exception to their ‘no returns’ policy, so I caught him in the middle of huffing off and offered to buy ‘em off him—for a discounted price, of course. We haggled for a while and eventually came to an agreement!”
“Well, color me stunned. Thank you for inviting me to go along! Especially since they were such honorably-obtained tickets!”
“Eh, don’t get a big head about it,” she waved me off with one hand before returning it to my humble bicep. “I was gonna invite Wysteria, but then I remembered that big, needy speech you made about not having any friends last night and I figured you could use the pick-me-up.”
“That makes sense. I am pretty pathetic.” We both got a pretty decent chuckle out of that exchange, but she stopped suddenly once the Frosty Maiden came into full view, turning to face me and catch my soft, blue eyes with her gleaming red ones.
“Hey, for real though. Thanks for coming with me, and giving me an excuse to dress up and just… not being a dick about anything.”
“Sure,” I smiled. “What are friends for?”
“Well…” her posture changed in a way I hadn’t seen from her before, but it felt like an oddly familiar stance. Maybe it was just her shrinking in on herself in the cold, but there was something more to it I couldn’t put my finger on. Unexpectedly, she took both of my hands, returning my smile and keeping her eyes on mine. A flush had developed on her cheeks, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or something else. “I happen to have it on good authority that friends are for having good times, laughing together, being able to talk openly with each other, sharing… intimate moments…” She took another step toward me, putting our faces only inches apart. Her breath was warm as it caressed my lips and neck, and my heart reflexively started beating faster. “But most of all… friends are extremely… extraordinarily… forgiving.”
Her ruse became transparent to me only seconds before she put all her strength into whipping me past her like a pro wrestler sending his opponent toward the ropes. I anticipated tripping, trying to catch myself by moving my center of gravity before I fell face-first into the stones of the street below, but instead I slid forward on a sheet of ice thin enough to have been invisible to me until now, but thick enough to support my weight and give me an unbroken, careening path forward. Panic abated and I widened my stance to slow myself before crashing into the wall that had been directly across from me, instead catching it gently with my forearms. I inhaled a long, deep breath before snap-turning to a giggling Tanis still standing in the alley.
“Are you trying to kill me!?”
“What?” She snickered. “You’re fine. I bet you didn’t even tear your robes!”
“I’m talking about the heart attack!” I wasn’t as mad as I was presenting, and either Tanis had picked up on that or didn’t care as she was still just laughing. “Warn me before you send me spontaneously skiing again!”
“Well, where’s the fun in that?” Tanis settled into a half-grin, her eyes positively glittering in the starlight. “Okay, my turn!”
“Wait, no--!” Even if she hadn’t irrevocably already taken off from her position, I was sure she would pay my protests no heed. Tanis came careening toward me with a touch more grace than I was able to manage with the short notice of immediacy. I caught her before she collided with me, a mess of cackling self-amusement.
“Man, I didn’t get half the speed you did!”
“Maybe because you launched me out of nowhere?” It was hard to even fake being upset with the situation, and I chuckled and shook my head in spite of my efforts.
“Yes! You’re exactly right. Here, wing me toward that lamppost!” My urge to question her sanity vanished as she thrust her arms toward me, and I let myself get caught up in the moment. I grasped her firmly by the elbows and put all my weight into sending her past me, which she did with a squeeing noise of excitement. My effort sent me to the ground, but knowing how to fall kept it from being a painful landing. I didn’t see Tanis reach her destination, but heard her concernedly calling after my downed form. “Oh no! Are you OK?”
“I’m fine!” I thrust a thumbs-up into the air, then rolled onto my ass, bunching my robes up into my lap and ‘paddling’ with my knuckles to the lamppost.
“Very graceful recovery!” she congratulated, clapping softly. “Do you need help up?”
“Yes, please.”
Tanis accepted my hand and helped pull me to my feet, and the two of us continued to slingshot each other across stretches of frozen street until we finally reached the front door to our destination. Frigid and laughing, we made our way past the bar and its patrons, said our goodnights, and went into our separate rooms. I barely had enough energy to bid Red, Grajo, and Wysteria goodnight before collapsing into the alternating red and yellow triangles of my downy comforter. Banged up, no doubt bruised, and out of breath, my energy sapped by the temperature and the emotional highs and lows of the day, both real and pantomimed, I was grateful for the friends I’d found and the opportunities and adventures that were coming for Red Company in the future. For the first time in a very long time, I felt good. Safe. Happy.