The road was crowded today, especially along the intersection into Drace. The town was somewhat small, but exploding rapidly due to it’s place along the king’s road, and the rich forest not far from the road there. The king ’s road was paved in large slate like cobblestones, worn smooth over the last hundred years by wagon wheels. The road was nearly 400 years old, and a testament to the kingdom’s wealth, or rather, it’s wealth 400 years ago. The nation of Elista was somewhat less prosperous now. The kingdom had run strong for over 500 years, wealthy enough to fund several roads, each spanning over a hundred miles. But when the king died over 40 years ago, leaving 3 kids who tore the kingdom into 3 pieces.
Looking out at a window from the upper floor of the laughing moon inn, a person could see a couple wagons along the king’s road, and nearly 3 dozen people. Most turned off the king’s road. It was illegal to build along the king's road. New towns had to branch off, as using the king’s road as a “main street” congested the road with town’s folk. As such, with only 2 building spots directly adjacent to the king's road, the laughing moon was on a particularly valuable plot of land. It and a major travel supply store were the first things a person traveling down the king's road would see as they came to the town of Drace.
A man leaning partially out his room’s window in the inn looked down as he idly watched the road out of boredom. He did a slight double take as he saw a woman walking alone down the road. All others, save a telvani, were human. Except this woman, who’s feline ears gave her away as a kaetsu. She wore a camisole and some traveling pants, somewhat form fitting, the pants were black and her shirt blue, and a black cloak with blue accents and patterns covered her back, with it’s hood down. It was interesting to see a kaetsu here, as Elista was a human dominated kingdom. 90% of the kingdom populace were human, and most of the rest were telvani, with some kiava or drakis people thrown in. You saw the odd kaetsu or quitsun, but they were rare. They tended to prefer avoiding the politics around Elista and it’s sister nations. Some people tended to call Elista “New Elista” because it was nothing like the expansive empire it had been before the split.
The man coughed, suppressing a laugh. People always thought of Elista, old Elista, the real one, as a peaceful, prosperous nation. All it’s citizens lived away from war, and famine. But where did Elista expand to? Other nations. Elista was always at war. But it’s people never thought of it that way. It’s people longed for the good old days, before the split, refusing to acknowledge all the wars it’s prosper and expansion meant to other nations.
The man shook his head to clear it, and took another glimpse of the kaetsu walking the road. For the first time he noticed something else, a tortoiseshell cat walking behind her. His eyes were sharper than any human's, true, but it had probably been at a bad angle before. As he watched the cat jumped into the woman's shoulders, without provocation or sign. Not many took pets on the road. He shook his head as if to clear it and left his room at the inn.
Rayne stroked her cat affectionately as it rose atop her shoulders. It was always doing that, jumping on her at odd times, purposefully trying to startle her sometimes. It was smarter than most cats, but that wasn’t particularly surprising given it was her familiar. Having excess mana in the body tended to make animals smarter, stronger, and generally superior to others.
Her feet were sore, and she looked longingly at the inn as she passed it, but her purse was painfully light at the moment. Tonight would require a choice. Did she want to be hungry and sleeping indoors, (possibly out of the rain) or fed but possibly sleeping in the rain? Sadly she would have to choose between the two if she couldn’t find work. She hadn’t been able to find work in the last town. It has been still smaller than Drace, and notably less prosperous. Farming towns rarely held much in the way of opportunities for her. Rarely were there pesky spirits or ghosts needing felt with, or people who could afford to have anything enchanted, and those were her skills. Not many could use magic, but she could, and while she was mildly skilled in alchemy and restoration, necromancy and artificing were her main talents, particularly the latter. However, as she disliked settling down in a big city, she was always on the road looking for her next job opportunity.
Still, after multiple hours on the road, with no food so far today, she would have to eat soon if she wanted the energy required to hunt for job opportunities. So, with a weary sigh, she went in search of food. Due to it’s position along the king's road, which was so heavily traveled, Drace had more restaurants than a town it’s size should be able to support everyone who traveled a road for long enough craved a warm meal though, so this wasn’t terribly surprising. And with the abundant game in the forest, meat and fur trade was common, further fueling this. So it wasn’t long before she spotted a group of small places, and the smell of cooking deer meat, mingled with some herbs and spices, and chicken, potatoes, and more overwhelmed her.
Rayne sighed briefly to herself and removed her cat from her shoulder and shook the road dust from her cloak, trying not to think about the fact that given the road, it was probably mostly dried, pulverized horse shit. She grabbed her canteen from her belt and washed her hands as best she could, and cleaned her face. Thankfully it hadn’t rained in the last day or two, or she would have been dirty, not merely dusty. She muttered an inaudible sentence, and the dust seemed to slide off her like water from a slick surface. Magic had it’s convenient little spells. Even doing that though she had been careful to avoid drawing attention.
With that done, she opened a door into a small place. It was little more than a bar of sorts, and a couple small tables, with an equally small kitchen she could barely see through an archway. She approached the counter and sat on a stool, and after a moment, someone came to ask what she wanted. The menu wasn’t big. Not much to choose from, though with a farming town not too far uproad, they were supplied with some basic veggies and a few meats from the forest. “Venison please, just a simple deer steak… And a baked potato please. And a glass of water.
As the cook went about preparing her order, she watched, salivating slightly at the smell. It was a shame humans couldn’t smell like she could. Kaetsu had far keener noses. Not quite as good as a canines, or a quitsun’s but not too far behind. With a small sigh she turned her mind towards other matters, thinking absentmindedly. She could probably make some money with her artificing, but she’d need a pair of horses or donkeys and wagon in order to do that. She had things she could make that would definitely interest the cook. She could use artificing to create a barrel or crate that stayed constantly cold on the inside to preserve meat and veggies. That would sell well. But she couldn’t carry around those until she found a buyer. She had a pack full of supplies for the road, yes, and a basic engraving and artificing kit… she could make such things… but how to go about it? If People knew she was a magic user… things could go poorly for her. Common folk were a suspicious and and superstitious lot. Sensationalized (and ridiculous) stories about evil wizards and witches were common entertainment, and because they had no clue what magic even was they were prone to greatly distrust any magic users…
So… how could she market her skills best? It was the constant struggle for traveling mages like her. How could she ensure they took her seriously enough to be interested in her services, without them taking her too seriously and trying to throw her out of town based on superstition?
While her mind was occupied her. Her cat snuck into the place, lurking around the walls and sneaking under the bar until she was hidden under Rayne’s stool. Rayne suppressed a giggle. Her cat had done as she had expected. She’d sneak her cat bites of deer meat as she ate. Her cat had to eat too.
Just then, with a clatter of silverware on clay dishes, the cook began serving her food. At the same time the man who had seen her from his room in the laughing moon inn entered. He approached and sat next to her just as they sat her plate down in front of her. “I’ll get it” he said to the cook, glancing at the menu and her plate nonchalantly. Rayne blushed red, unused to being flirted with, and while he wasn’t being overt, how else was she to take someone she had never met just paying for her food? “H...hey… you don’t…” Rayne started as the man handed over a small silver coin. “I’ll have the same, keep the change” he said. That was somewhat generous, as a silver coin, small though it was, would have bought a third meal and a drink.
Rayne smiles slightly as she looks at her plate, mostly as an excuse to not look at the man. To delay the moment when it would be awkward to keep avoiding his gaze, she gave a slight sniff, feigning interest in the foods scent. It was then that she recognized something, and her eyebrows raised for a moment. He was a quitsun! She wouldn’t guess it to look at him, but she could tell by his scent. Every race has different scents when it came to how they smelled. “It smells so good.” She said, looking at the cook appreciatively. Finally, still blushing, she turned to the man. “Uh…. Thank you…. I’m Rayne…. You?”
She said, not quite looking at him straight on, still visibly blushing. Rayne wished she could do what he could. Kaetsu were shapeshifters too, sure. She could look human… But only ever mostly. But quitsun could totally take human form, while kaetsu always had one or two feline traits they couldn’t suppress. Currently her ears gave away her race, and her eyes. Though she supposed she could more easily have hidden a tail. “Daku” The disguised quitsun said, giving his name. Rayne nodded and gave him a genuine look, not avoiding his gaze quite so much, before the cook chimed in, dropping the mood a little in the process. “It’s a good thing Drace is on the king’s road eh? Sadly most towns aren’t quite so open to your kind.. Or any other kind really…”
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Rayne sighed, feeling kind of let down and irritated. Way to kill the mood…. She thought to herself. Was the cook not approving of what he viewed as interracial flirting? Or was he just oblivious to the romantic tension? Rayne shot a glance at Dali from the corner of her eye, and saw that he wasn’t thrilled by that interruption either. “Yeah... That's… Kinda why I’m not in my typical form...” She said, not looking at the cook.
But he plowed on, seeming indeed oblivious to the fact that he had killed the mood and they weren’t thrilled to go from flirting to talking about that of all things. “That's probably wise… Though it’s not exactly working well… but I guess that's not your fault… I’d love even the minor shape changing abilities kaetsu have though… sadly we’re a bit lacking in the special abilities side of things huh?” The cook said as he gave Daku a look that implied a sort of nudge. When it seemed clear the cook truly was oblivious, he relented.
“Yeah… but… Every race has it’s problems…” Daku said, irritatedly giving up his flirting, for now at least. “Yeah I guess that is true. I wouldn’t fancy being a kaetsu, quitsun, or anything else really… Not in these times. If it weren’t for the fact that this place is on such a well travelled road that sees a little more kaetsu than most… Otherwise you’d be receiving a lot more stares and a less… hospitable welcome, especially in Elista.”
Well now there were stares. And a few of them hard stares. An elderly couple looked alarmed at seeing a kaetsu being hit on by a human. However more were giving sympathetic looks, partially because they too could see the cook, while perhaps well meaning, was a bit dense, and oblivious to how uncomfortable this topic was. The cook seemed to be missing that as world wise as he tried to sound he was coming off as more a well meaning simpleton than anything else.
Rayne, who had been feeling good, if shy due to the flirting, was now feeling awkward and uncomfortable. She was looking at Dali and her food most, trying to avoid the cooks eye a little. She had taken to eating mostly as an excuse not to be talking, visibly (to those with half a wit) torn between eating slower to prolong the excuse and eating faster to be able to leave politely. She was also sneaking small bits of potato and venison to her cat, hiding between her stool and the counter.
“Yeah…. With Anduin the Red on the throne of New Elista… things aren’t so good.” A nearby patron had joined the conversation. “I’ve no clue what the king's got against your kind but he’s obviously mad about something…” The man said thoughtfully, chewing slowly as he spoke.
And now all of the admittedly small restaurant was listening. It only worked out at around a dozen people, but still… this conversation wasn’t going away anytime soon. Rayne tried to avoid making eye contact with people, a few of which were looking at her ears as if they had said something offensive about their mother.
“As far as I’ve heard it’s probably over that hunting fiasco. The one with the kaetsu ambassador. Anyone else remember that?” Why was Daku now furthering this conversation? What was he up to? Rayne wasn’t sure she knew what he was talking about… to distract herself, she snuck her cat another bit of venison from her plate.
“Huh? Oh that!” The cook said, letting out a hearty chuckle. A few people looked around confusedly before the other patron chimed in again. “Ohhhh, that's an old story, not far from 20 years ago right? I’m surprised you remember that, as young as you are.” The man said, chuckling at Daku, who looked to be in his low 20s. Not that that would matter, as quitsun could live practically forever unless someone or something killed them. But, they didn’t know what he was. “My family had just moved away from the capital back then, and so when my father heard the news from an old friend he wasted no time in telling us the story. It was his favorite story, still is.” Rayne pondered over this. Was this true? Possibly not, but they’d believe it once they heard the story she’d guess. How old was Daku? Then again, Rayne could be over 400 for all he knew. Age didn’t matter to kaetsu or quitsun.
“Yeah about 2 decades ago, give or take, when Anduin was roughly 20, give or take a couple, he had a mighty high opinion of himself as a hunter. The young prince was always staging extravagant hunting events with his friends.” A few of the older patrons nodded their heads as if this sounded familiar.
“Big events, he’d donate the meat to some charity, pompous affairs. Him and his friends get their fancy purebred horses and hunting dogs, blow their trumpets, you know how gaudy noble kids can be…”
And from there came silence from the rest of the people. The older patron launched into the story, and Rayne gave Daku a thank you. The manager of the eatery came out a bit, smiling. All tavern/bar/inn owners knew a good story meant good business. This might just be a small restaurant, but with a good story to laugh along to with food and drink, the manager knew what to do. Whenever the old guy’s throat seemed parched he’d give the guy a drink on the house. Being just a restaurant and not a bar they had nothing stronger than beer, but after a few glasses the guys cheeks were getting slightly red, and the story had gotten a tad more extravagant. But, stories being a major part of a person's entertainment, no one left till it was over, which meant they did steady business.
So, being a young, arrogant prince, he makes a big deal of how great a hunter he is. His quarters in the palace were supposedly full of his trophies. Along the lines he develops a dislike of one of the ambassadors from another kingdom, who just so happens to be a kaetsu. Now, knowing nothing of kaetsu or their culture, save what any half wit knows, he goes on a campaign to embarrass and humiliate the ambassador. Challenges him constantly to hunting contests, to which the man always refuses. But the prince, arrogant and sure he’d win, won’t let up, and so he keeps upping the stakes, calling him out for cowardice and slandering him for refusing the contests. So eventually, when it was more embarrassing and troublesome to refuse than it would be to just get it over with, the kaetsu accepts the prince's challenge. The man took a long drink, no doubt building up tension and eagerness. After a half minute of drinking his beer, he continued with renewed vigor.
So the prince arranged another extravagant hunt. He came with a few of his hunting dogs trained by him, and his hunting horses, with his big bow, fancy arrows, and the rest of it. So The prince sets the terms and the king, giving in to his son’s demands, hosts the event and picks a few judges.
So the terms are, whoever comes back with the most meat and pelts, with 1 rabbit, 1 fox, and 1 deer being required, wins, providing the judges judge the meat to be in good condition, etc. The match would end at dusk.
The prince mocks and insults the ambassador, who brought 2 donkeys, a durable and sturdy cart, a bow with a quiver of arrows, and a knife. Compared to the prince's equipment the ambassador’s is crude and humble, and prince Anduin mocks him and continues to insult him for how ridiculous a comparison it is. Finally, the trumpets are blown and the prince charges into the woods with his horses and dogs, and the ambassador strolls in with his donkeys and cart.
So dusk comes, the sun's setting over a mountain they used as a marker. And the prince strolls out on his horse, cart loaded with foxes, squirrels, rabbits, and a deer. He struts around as the judges examine his kills.
Not 10 minutes later the kaetsian ambassador comes out, walking with his donkeys. His cart has 2 deer, 2 foxes, 2 rabbits, and a beaver. Not loaded down so much as the prince's. So Anduin laughs and makes merry, until the judges announce the winner. While the prince had killed far more numbers wise, the pelts were bloody and torn, and the meat was compromised a bit. Meanwhile the ambassador’s pelts were.cleanly cut and laid out, no damage, the meat intact. So the judges, feeling the pressure I’m sure, were in a bind. If thethey declare the prince winner to please him and possibly the king, everyone with common sense will protest, and if they call it as it was, the prince will be furious. Finally, they call the victor to be the ambassadors. Supposedly the prince, humiliated, has held the grudge ever sense."
Rayne had only been partially listening. Kaetsu and quitsun having keener ears than most, they’d been having a whispered conversation between the two of them. She told him about her, and vice versa. It turns out that he was as young as he looked, only 21, and Rayne divulged her age, 24. Both were young for a race that matured slower. They talked about where they came from and what they did for a living. Daku flirted a bit more.
“Yeah nobles are always like that. Too much pride, too few wits.” The cook said, which was amusing given how this whole thing had started. “Kaetsu and quitsun culture value hunting highly. It’s a right of passage. You’re not considered an adult if you can’t hunt. You’d think the prince would have been educated by the best. Every kaetsu, and especially quitsun can hunt.” “Where’d you learn that?” The cook asked, curious. “I’ve made my way around occasionally as a caravan guard. Once or twice the caravan stopped at kaetsian settlements.” Another lie, but again, plausible. He looked like a young human, clearly fit, and troupes as well as caravans would pay for guards in more bandit-ridden areas.
“Well… Admittedly it doesn’t help that my kind tend to be very confused my monarchies and empires. Our culture is very much about small government by elected officials… So it tends to confuse us why anyone would submit to a government they have no say in… and because we don’t believe in any one man's “divine right” to rule over others…. It’s not surprising royalty tends to hate us.” Rayne says, looking somewhat away. I still don’t get why everyone doesn’t just revolt… That's one thing I may never understand. She thinks to herself.