The border town could not come any faster.
Alister was tired of the carriage, and tired of the awkward, tense silence that followed the small eldritch skirmish. So when they finally arrived at the town with a well built wooden wall surrounding it, the first thing he did upon the carriage stopping and letting them out was stretch.
His small bones gave soft pops of protest, as did Harriet’s as she matched his stretches. Meanwhile his father’s own stretches gave the groans and crunchy pops expected of a man in his thirties. Alister didn’t say anything, just observed as one of the knights approached and started talking plans with his dad.
He shut his eyes for a moment, focusing on the feeling of his perception skill. Still such an odd thought. But it worked. He could feel that there were many eyes on him… mostly the knights and his cousin and father, but also some passing glances of commoners passing by on the road. Alister let go of an inward sigh, opening his eyes again to look in the direction of one of the gazes he felt. It angered him that he had no idea how this ability worked. There was no magic to it. No mana, no essence, no negal. It made no sense, ignoring all common logic. He wanted to take the OS apart and study its pieces like a dissection.
The town was about what he expected; nice but not as large as the capital or Rythwith, another place they were going to spend the night, and more discussions. This time the abode was not an inn but a rented house. It was no mansion, but it was nice and well kept, a sturdy wooden house with polished exposed timber making an artistic statement. Alister couldn’t decide if he liked it or if the way the wood had been buffed to a shine bothered him. He didn’t say much about it either way, though Harriet kept petting and touching the wood surfaces like it entertained her.
Duke Blas held papers in his hands as they settled in, sitting on a chair beside the two of them in the living room. He sighed as he sat there, focused on the words on the page, though his attention kept flicking up to Alister and Harriet. After a long pause of relative silence - Harriet was mumbling to herself on and off about an imaginary story she’d come up with - he spoke up, “We will take a small rest and then walk. The exercise will do us all good after sitting that long in the carriage. I have to finish reading some reports before I go see the situation with my own eyes… Ah, not that it is that dangerous yet. There have just been a couple of interesting reports here and there about the movement of Dusau. It really does seem as though they are focusing their efforts on that passage… As much of a boon that would be for the duchy, I feel for the archduchy. The Meran family has had much to deal with recently. For Dusau to be looming on them… I hope we are able to help somehow. Even if just by information.”
Alister nodded, but it was Harriet who spoke up, “I bet my dad or sister would say something about the fact that the war could get worse once it starts. It’s good you’re preparing early, Uncle Blas. Even if it isn’t gonna kick off here, it may spread. Right?”
He gave her a sad smile and a soft nod, “Yes I suppose it may. Hopefully this is all for naught, though, and the dispute can be solved with nothing more than some words. All we can do is our best.”
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It was a couple hours of rest before they were headed out the door again. As much as he didn’t want to walk, Alister was happy to finally get to the damned border. The city didn’t come right up to it, but it was close by, and the road was exceedingly well cared for in the area. An hour of walking, a little less than half of that in the city bounds, the other half beyond the walls, and they made it to the border line.
The border was walled with timber, only just high enough so no one could see over, but simple since it had to span quite a long expanse. The gate was fancier, however, a stone arch with a thick portcullis looking out of place.
Alister looked upon it, staring it up and down, “I’m guessing they plan to build the wall to match, eventually?”
His father nodded, “Yes, we do intend to. It requires a lot of funding, and will take a lot of time. Years, even. What’s here now took a long time as well… repairing it does too. It’s a pain. My grandparents set up the fencing with Dusau, a joint effort at the time. But they have had bigger things to worry about recently, and so they pulled out of the interest. Actually I think they haven’t been interested for close to ten years. It’s been a while. I feel for them… Hard times after hard times are a test of not only patience but resolve too. If only they’d ask for more aid. I know we can’t give just anything, but we have a far warmer climate overall than they do. The Margrav duchy and the Meran archduchy both end up with a surplus of goods every year; a set of various agricultural products. Selling at a discount would be the least we could do, but… I don’t know how much of it is that we don’t offer enough and how much of it is that they won’t take it.”
“Pride does that, especially with rulers, I’ve found,” Alister commented while Harriet stared at the wall in thought.
She sighed after a long moment, “I think it’s probably harder than just that stuff. Even just mom’s company is harder than just saying yes or no to someone’s help. Mom and dad, though not in the same way, teach me and my sister that even charity usually comes with a cost. So being careful about that is smart. But… It makes things harder. Especially with things as big as countries.”
“Wise words,” Blas smiled, patting her on the shoulder, “Alright well enough looking and talking, I actually need to get work done, you know?”
He ushered the two kids forward, and to a set of buildings that were near the gate; a fort by the looks of it. The men stationed there bowed to him, a mix of humans and beastkin mostly, and after a few short words the three of them were waved inside. The knights they brought with them chose to wait outside, save for two that shuffled in behind the family.
Inside was modest but well stocked, a place of working not of leisure.
A tall bobcat-kin man looked surprised to see him, ears twitching with little black tips flicking around as he bowed to the duke, “My lord. My apologies. I hadn’t heard of your arrival! I would have cleaned up a bit first.”
“No no, don’t apologize. And please be at ease. We just arrived a few hours ago, but I could hardly wait to come out and get moving. I’ve been itching to move my feet. Carriage rides are never fun when they last more than a day at a time. Even then, my legs ache. I hadn’t even gone and talked to the lord of the city yet - too eager,” Blas gave him a cheeky smile, “Now then, I don’t suppose you’d mind if we discussed some documentation?”