{-Lyrei-}

The curiosity was killing her. She had so many questions—but Kaylin quickly became busy, and Rennyn refused to even think of answering them. After a while, Lyrei just took to writing them all down to bother one of them with later. They had to answer at least one of them eventually, right?

She would’ve wandered more—Vesuna was nearly as big as Zaitha, and she was curious to see what happened in it—but Seldir pulled her back every time she tried.

“I’ve already picked out what I wanted,” she tried, for yet another time.

“But I haven’t,” was his simple answer. “I don’t think Rennyn would like you wandering off, either. He already looks like he’s waiting for a conflict.”

“What if I walked around the block and came right back?”

“We both know you’d never manage to do just that. Besides, whether we’re in Zaitha or halfway across the continent—it doesn’t matter. Your parents are still expecting me to keep an eye on you.”

Lyrei let out a long sigh. “Fine…”

Then Noa poked his head around to where they were. “I don’t know how much it means now, but I wouldn’t mind looking around, either. I know we can’t really buy anything, but I want to see what they have anyway. It’s kinda interesting to see how the stores change from nation to nation.”

She found her second wind, turning her attention right back to Seldir. “Noa agrees with me! How about it? If there’s two of us we won’t get lost, I promise!”

Of course, there was the blunt shout from Rennyn, “Neither of you are going anywhere! We don’t know what’s out there yet. And it’s probably going to be night by the time we finish here, too—or at least too dark to do anything.”

“I suppose, then, I can do nothing but accept defeat…” Lyrei said, toning down the dramatics only a little. She perked back up again, though, when she saw Kaylin. “Oh, Kaylin! How long do you think it’s going to take you to make the coats?”

“I could probably manage one a day, if I didn’t have any distractions,” she responded thoughtfully. “So let’s say about a week, for good measure. But that’s only if I’m allowed to work on it consistently. If we run into any trouble, it’s definitely going to take longer.”

“We can’t wait for something, though,” Rennyn pointed out, wandering behind her. “Waiting is just going to get us caught up in whatever Dhymos has planned for us here. We’ve got to do something.”

“I have to admit, I’m not too fond of the idea of sitting around that long, either,” Seldir remarked. “Or, rather, I don’t think I can keep Lyrei still that long.”

“Hey!” Lyrei whacked him. “I’m perfectly capable of behaving myself, thank you very much.”

Kaylin shrugged. “Technically, once we’re done here, you all could go sightseeing or visit the smaller towns nearby. Just because I shouldn’t go anywhere doesn’t mean all of you need to stay in one spot. I think I know better by now than to assume you’d all stay in one place. I have a feeling that, if I didn’t let you go, you’d just find a way to run off anyway…”

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Even if Lyrei had expected Rennyn to look relieved, his frown deepened. “That sounds like a terrible idea. If any of us are alone, that just makes us a target for Dhymos—especially you. I don’t think it’s a good idea to split up like that.”

“I know you’re not going to be able to stand still either, though,” she pointed out simply. “I think you’ll feel better, too, if you could walk around—assure yourself that nothing’s going to happen.”

“But what about you?”

“I can handle myself. I’ll probably be in the inn the entire time, or wherever else I can work.”

“I’ll stay with you.”

She shook her head. “I’m sure Seldir could use some help wrangling in Lyrei and Noa while they’re looking around. I don’t mind if you go. I promise I’ll be fine without you for a couple of hours.”

“I can’t believe you even think you can give that kind of promise…”

“I’m not like the others. I know I can keep it.”

He hesitated for another moment before nodding. “If… you think that you’ll be fine on your own, then I guess I should just accept your offer, huh..? We can look around a little more tomorrow, I guess. It’s a bit too late to do anything now.”

Lyrei was taking that as a victory. “Great! Where do you all think we should go? Oh, do you think the shopkeeper here would know of any good places? Should I go and ask?”

Seldir sighed. “First and foremost, I think you need to tone down your enthusiasm. From my experience, locals hate overly excited tourists…”

“And merchants hate the ones that don’t buy anything,” Rennyn casually remarked. “Which we’re going to be pretty soon if we keep wandering around here. Come on, let’s just get what we need and get going—the sooner we’re done here, the better it is for everyone.”

They all mumbled their agreement and did what they needed to do. Kaylin had a lengthy conversation with the shopkeeper about fabrics and other stuff Lyrei, frankly, didn’t really understand; all she knew was that Kaylin seemed satisfied with what she got. The shopkeeper had pointed her in the direction of a different shop—he mentioned it was run by someone else in his family—that sold sewing supplies. That was where the group headed next, but only Kaylin went in.

The others, meanwhile, discussed where they might go tomorrow.

“Do you think they allow tours of the castle?” Lyrei prompted. “At least a couple of rooms? It looks so majestic from here, I want to get a closer look.”

Noa shrugged. “It’s… just a castle.”

“That’s easy for you to say! You’re a noble. You’ve probably seen hundreds of these things, but I haven’t! I don’t think anything’s going to top Zaitha’s palace, but I want to see the others, too.”

“I’ve actually only seen a couple and there’s… not really a lot going on. It’s not like all the five nations have really big differences in style or anything…”

“Well, what if there’s a magical prince inside one of them? Or a fair maiden just waiting to be rescued? It’s extremely unlikely, but just imagine! And you’re never going to know if you don’t try to find out for yourself, right?”

Seldir sighed. “But I think we all know that when you say ‘try to find out for yourself’ you mean ‘run around and probably cause trouble.’ You practically called out King Merith in Queen Vaeri’s palace. You definitely aren’t going to get away with saying anything like that to his face.”

“And who’s saying that I was going to do that? I know when to shut up! Probably!”

“I don’t think it matters anyway,” Rennyn remarked. “I doubt there’s any way commoners are going to get into the castle. I’d already heard about the differences here—between the commoners and the nobility, I mean—but it’s more obvious now that I can actually see it. Until King Merith understands why we’re here, and possibly not even then, we don’t have a chance of getting into the castle.”

Kaylin came out then, announcing, “I’m pretty sure I have everything I need to get started. We can head back to the inn now. It’s already pretty dark now, but the innkeeper seems like the kind of person that will know some ways to keep the rest of you occupied…”

Rennyn nodded. “Let’s get going, then.”