Chapter Six

Seriously, do they have on-staff tailors or something? There is no way they just had clothes lying around that could fit. When did they even get my measurements for this?

I stood in front of a full-length mirror, looking over myself as I combed my hair, taking in my appearance. The clothes given to me were the nicest I've seen, let alone worn. It wasn’t overly fancy, but it didn't need to be. The tunic was surprisingly light and stretchy, with a fine and tight weave with little spears patterned into the linen around the collar and dyed a rich forest green. It almost felt indecent to wear just because of how light it felt worn.

With it came the least coarse set of pants I've ever worn. They were less finely crafted but still leagues better than anything I knew could have made. I don’t know what it was made of, but whatever it was, it took to dye well. The pants were a deep blue, almost purple color that didn't stain no matter how much I rubbed or wet it. It almost made me want to wear pants more often.

Ignoring how it somehow had a better fit than my clothes that I stitched myself, the pants and tunic both were works of wonder. They had to take weeks to make each.

I wanted to stay and marvel at how they were made, but sadly, I can't. I don't wish to Lantos to get mad at me for taking so long.

Sighing, I get back to fixing my hair. I didn’t notice how tangled it got during our trip here, but it turned into a rat's nest.

I got most of the way done before a knock at the door came, startling me slightly.

"Sister, you ready?"

"Almost, give me a moment," I reply.

A couple of minutes later, I was as ready as I was going to be. Meeting up with Daniel and Lantos, who were waiting outside the room, we walked back to the meeting room. After more waiting, the same servant from before comes to collect us and leads us to the throne room.

Two guards stood in front of the large double doors. With a wave from the servant, the guards push against the door that slowly yawns open.

The first thing I noticed was how sparse the room was. It was a long hall with a tall vaulted ceiling and no decorations outside of the throne itself.

At the far end of the room sat the throne, made of wood and inlaid with gold and silver, forming a spider web pattern across its surface.

And sat upon the throne was a dark-brown-skinned woman in her late twenties. Deep purple eyes stared across the room, focusing on Lantos. She wore a conservative green-silk ball gown that flared out at the waist and plunging neckline lace with silver. The hem of the dress was that same three-spear symbol repeated. I didn’t know that Lady Hallon was a Vinna.

Golden bands decorated her arms and on her left arm was a clawed gauntlet with a red ovoid gem on the back. The gauntlet pulled at me in a way that made it hard to look away from it. Like a soft beckoning call from a faraway hill. Or a lighthouse in a storm.

Standing next to her was an athletic-looking man wearing just a loincloth. Why a loincloth? I know they have better clothes than that.

"Lantos, I thought I said you need an appointment to speak with me?" She spoke with a silky voice tinged with annoyance.

"A Beast was at your walls, yet you talked to me about needing an appointment. How about we speak on why you didn’t deal with the situation. I wonder what the Margravine was busy with as her civilians died."

"DO NOT-" she yelled, pushing forward on her throne, her face twisting into a scowl. The gauntlet flickered. Taking a deep breath, she continues, "The business of the margravine is mine and mine alone, and it would do well for you not to try and accuse me."

"Accuse you of what, exactly? I was merely curious. No need to work yourself up." He said mockingly.

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Lady Hallon leaned back in her throne, "What do you want, Lantos?"

" I want you to start doing your job or pretend to care about upholding your duty as Margravine. Barring that, passage upriver to San’kis."

"Trade to San’kis has been unreliable as of late. I could get you a boat, but finding someone to get you there would be difficult."

Lantos furrowed his brow, "Difficult how?"

"Beast attacks. What else. The cursed things have been more aggressive of late."

It flickered again.

He cursed quietly under his breath. "But you can get us a captain?"

"We’ll see."

They both seemed calmer as they started to hash out a rough plan for the upcoming days. We will have to bring our own protection. Luckily, there is a group of Outrider Knights in the city. Hopefully, they will be more valuable now than when they fought yesterday.

Meanwhile, Lady Hallon will be providing food, water, funding, and the boat itself. She says that finding a captain will still be difficult but not impossible.

The process will take at least a week to organize everything, possibly longer, if she can't find a captain willing to go.

One of them would slip in a snide remark every once in a while, and a moment later, the lady's gauntlet would flicker. Paying more attention, I could just almost see the barest lick of fire kissing her clawed fingertips.

---

"You're doing it wrong."

When he took me to a glassblower hours after meeting with the Margravine, I thought he would get me orbs like he has. Instead, I'm sitting cross-legged, sweating my soul away with all the furnaces in the room on and routinely refueled.

Lantos isn't even sweating. In my peripheral, he was sitting on top of one of the furnaces, absentmindedly playing with his wand.

“It’s like water. Heat flows from-”

“One thing to another, so you’ve said,” I interrupt. “I don’t see how it helps.” The room sways a little as I turn to more clearly face Lantos. Heat isn’t physical, at least not in the same way as water. You can’t just build a levee to stop it.

“Watch your tongue. Your place is not to interrupt. It is to listen. If you did that, to begin with, perhaps you wouldn’t be swimming in your sweat.” He stops playing with his wand and taps it against his chin in thought. “You clearly aren’t getting the simile. How to dumb this down for a farm girl.”

He was talking to himself but didn’t care if I heard him or not. I’m not stupid. I almost said as much, cutting myself off as the deep wave of nausea overcame me. The room swaying wildly.

Suddenly something was forced to my lips, and cool water slipped down my throat. Hastily grabbing at whatever was at my lips, I greedily drank as much I could before whatever it was, was pulled away from me.

When my vision cleared, Lantos was standing over me with a waterskin. A concerned look on his face. When had I fallen over?

Sitting up, I noticed that my tunic had been removed, leaving just my wraps to cover my chest. I probably should have done that an hour ago in hindsight. Or when I was told what we were doing. Definitely the latter.

I had been moved to the storefront of the building at some point. I must have been more out of it than I thought.

"Don't move so much. You need to stay still." Lantos sat next to me with an exasperated sigh. " Anna, I am not trying to hurt you," could have fooled me, "but you need to listen to me if you are to learn. I know you can be smart, think! Water and thermal energy flow from areas with a lot of it to areas with less. So how do you stop water from flowing?"

He waited for me to answer, "You build a levee-"

"You build a dam," He interrupted. "And that dam needs to be strong, or else it will break. So when I tell you to focus, you focus. If you don’t focus, this happens." He gestures at me lying down. "Speaking of, next time, if you're feeling woozy, tell me. Never tempt Zefra. She plays for keeps."

Getting up, he dusts himself off before pointing to a corner, "I managed to get a set of clothes for you. They're the shopkeepers’ daughter’s, so they might fit a bit tight or loose. Wash up and get changed. Make sure to wash your clothes tonight. We'll be doing this again tomorrow."

"What's this for?" I ask. "I thought I needed ash to use magic. It feels pointless."

Sighing, Lantos takes his wand out again, spinning it in his hand idly. "Primordial ash, being specific is important. You don't need it for inner body channeling, which is good for you since you don't know how to channel yet. This allows you to get a feel for it without using the expense and, more importantly, finite resource."

"For now, though, take the rest of the day off. You are no good to the Empire exhausted."

He’s rude and insulting even when he's being 'nice.' Better just praise Lo'on and count my blessings. I'm in a new place, and this is an opportunity to explore it.