Chapter Twenty-Six
“I—I’m sorry, what?” Nia stuttered as Marina finished her small speech. What was the woman talking about? She really had no idea and felt like she was getting involved in something she shouldn’t.
Marina smiled at her like a hungry panther, before pulling back. “You are too cute. I can see that you have touched upon the aether. That much is obvious from the golem shadowing us. The only thing eluding me is whether it belongs to you or another. Whichever one it is, I still wish to get to know you a little better. We might even learn a few things neither of us knew prior to our fortunate encounter.”
Nia flinched under her intense stare, her eyes flicking over to the still-sleeping Vincent Bucholz, whose head lightly tapped the carriage wall as it trundled down the road.
“Don’t mind him,” Marina said offhandedly as she refilled her empty glass. “He won’t wake up anytime soon. We can talk about anything openly without fear of being overheard. It would not be as if he would care anyway.”
“Al—all I want to know is where they took the elves.” Nia managed to say once she closed her eyes and pushed her surging anxiety back down. “And I—I shouldn’t share anything without my teacher’s permission…”
Marina let loose a warm laugh as she tucked a strand of her ebony hair behind her ear. “An exchange is appropriate, I realize that. I am married to a very successful businessman, after all.” She leaned over and patted Vincent’s limp leg as she said that. “So, you tell me something I want to know. Then, I will do the same for you.”
“What do you want to know?” Nia hedged as she felt the cage around her shrinking. She had to give a little if she wanted any answers.
“The golem,” Marina started. “Is it yours?”
That was an easy enough question to answer. Mister Greeny didn’t belong to her after all. “No, he’s not mine.”
“Your teacher’s, then?”
Nia nodded, not answering verbally. “The elves?”
Marina gazed into Nia’s eyes for a long moment before pursing her painted lips. “They came through Bolin a little less than a month ago. I tried to procure a few but was turned down outright, no matter how much gold I offered.” A flash of indignation crossed her otherwise smiling face. “Had I known the forest was full of them, I would have brought more men and not so much grain.” She finished her words with a laugh that caused Nia’s stomach to turn.
“But where did they take them?” Nia pushed through Marina’s nauseating words.
“There are auction houses in several different cities; they could have been taken to any one of them or all of them. Or, they could have been taken back to whatever noble houses funded the expedition in the first place. It is impossible to tell.” Marina told her, pausing as she noticed Nia’s troubled face. “But, for such valuable goods, I doubt they would hoard all of them, and there is only one place to take them to get the best price. The Royal Seat.”
“The Royal Seat?” Nia asked before she could stop herself. Marina looked at her with a hint of confusion on her face before her eyes narrowed, and her teeth showed themselves in a wide smile.
“I can tell you about the Royal Seat if you wish, but you know the price.”
Nia took a deep breath in through her nose, preparing herself. “Go ahead.”
“Where is it that you are from?”
A flash of inspiration came to her before she could answer, and a sly grin found its way onto her soft face. “The village.”
“The village?” Marina frowned, “You must be more specific than that.”
Nia shrugged her shoulders, finally bringing the drink to her lips before nearly spitting it back out. She didn’t like brandy, it turned out. “Where I’m from had—has no name; we just called it the village.”
Marina laughed, “Very well. The Royal Seat is the capital of Carseedia. It is the largest city, where all the movers and shakers like to spend their time and where one is able to find anything they desire.”
Nia fought the desire to ask where it was compared to Bolin but was afraid of what Marina would ask her in return. She was sure that she and Mister Greeny would be able to find it on their own, but it would be much faster if they knew ahead of time. But once again, Marina spoke before she could come to a decision.
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“We are heading there ourselves, to the auction house.” The woman patted the old man again to emphasize her words. "You are more than welcome to come along if you wish to visit the auction house, or just the city itself.”
“Oh, no. That’s all right,” Nia instantly protested. She had decided at that moment that she shouldn’t be around this woman any more than she needed to. “I wouldn’t want to trouble you.”
“Nonsense. I cannot allow a young woman such as yourself to brave the long road to The Royal Seat all alone. It is far too dangerous; anything could happen, and I would worry myself sick.” Marina told her with faux concern. “So, I must ask that you allow me this bit of selfishness, if only for my own well-being.”
“I’m not alone…” Nia knew she had messed up as soon as those words left her mouth.
“You’re not? That is a surprise—”
“I mean,” Nia hurriedly added. “Mi— the golem. I have the golem with me.”
“Mhmm.” Marina hummed, “While I am sure it can move quickly, and its rack looks rather poky , I would not think it would be much assistance against anything truly dangerous. Unless…” She leaned forward with a probing smile, “It is a masterwork golem.”
“Uh…” Nia gapped. This entire interaction had gone poorly, and she was lost in a sea of ignorance. It was all well and good to pretend to be something you're not until someone with even a tiny amount of knowledge corners you in a stuffy, overly perfumed carriage. This was well out of her experience to handle, which wasn’t saying much at all, and she wanted nothing more than to not be here at the moment.
“I can see that you are uncomfortable, and I must again pray for your forgiveness,” Marina said as she placed her empty glass back on the silver platter with a sharp clink. “It is a failing on my part. My eagerness for knowledge often causes me to come across as… imperious. I only wished to get to know another woman, such a young and pretty one who walks the same path as I.”
“Thank… you?” Nia responded to the compliment while trying to deduce how exactly Marina was manipulating her. Unfortunately, she was only used to speaking to her adoptive parents or Mister Greeny. She lacked any real skill at reading other people, which was hindering her greatly at the moment.
“Nia, please.” Marina implored with the first expression on her face that wasn’t a smile. “It would mean so much to me if you would accompany us. You have my word that you will not regret the decision.”
Once again, Nia was put on the spot and didn’t know what to do. She wanted to refuse but felt that doing so would be considered extremely rude. She shouldn’t care if she was seen as rude, but for some strange reason, Nia cared how Marina viewed her, even though she knew the woman was manipulating her.
“… all right.” Nia finally acquiesced as she slowly nodded, pushing the sudden strange sense of wanting to please her to the back of her mind. “I’ll come along if you’ll have me.”
“Wonderful…”
Mister Greeny trotted next to the carriage. His little one had been inside for some time now, but he wasn’t worried. He could hear everything going on inside, even through the little magic that attempted to muddle whatever was said. There were other signs of magic present in the other carriages. Although it was very different from his own, he could still feel the mana circulating throughout them.
It was an oddity , to be sure. Magic should have only been something living beings had access to, but as he looked closer, it was apparent that the mana flowed through the carriage itself. No, it didn’t flow through the carriage; it flowed between intricate engravings hidden throughout the cabin.
It wasn’t natural. The mana he saw moved in a rigid and uniform manner; none of the fluidity could be seen like when magic was used by a living being. He supposed that that would have its own advantages, but it would never be able to be adjusted if one needed it to be, meaning that this way of using magic could only be used in specific circumstances.
It was new and intriguing to him but ultimately worthless and a wasteful use of mana. One only needed to imprint your will on an object with your mana to get the same effect, and it would retain its fluidity, allowing the imprint to be adjusted even from a distance. That same concept allowed him to create Mister Long, his golem, giving it some semblance of autonomy and the ability for him to control from so far away.
These imprints were static and unchanging and would never be able to compare to what he and his little one could do.
He soon grew bored examining the mana-infused engravings and returned his attention to the carriage containing his little one. He could almost feel her uneasiness. His little one was very nervous, and he could see why from how the conversation was going. The woman she was speaking to guided their conversation with an expert hand, easily digging up most of what she wanted to know from his little one. It was amusing to watch, and how the woman used her pitiable amount of mana to influence his little one was almost as interesting as the mana-infused engravings.
Of course, he wouldn’t allow his little one to be harmed by the woman’s machinations, but he would still allow things to progress. It would be a learning experience for her, something she would be happy to have gone through. That was life, after all: experiencing new and exciting things.