The door sprang open and revealed a smiling woman. Uillia was of medium height, with brown hair and eyes. Her hair was straight and held back in a tail, though some of it hung at the sides of her round face.
“Solmi Pedramon, welcome to Hevvlar, and of course welcome back to our humble home!” she said as I pulled back his hood and she recognized me. “Come on in.” She stepped back from the doorway to allow me to enter. “We’re just getting our day started. What kind of a sleep schedule are you on? Where did you just come from?”
“From Grendhill,” I replied, “and for me it’s evening now. I’ll probably be ready to sleep around mid-morning. Would it be possible to use my old room?”
Uillia smiled again. “Of course! We’ve cleared it out for you since you sent word that you would be coming for a visit. What brings you out here? How long will you be in town?”
I paused for a short moment. It still wasn’t safe to talk openly about my true task. “Well, I thought I’d bring my musical inclinations out here and see what the scene is like. I could be here for a few days, or I could be here several months, granted I don’t wear out my welcome. Life was getting a little too monotonous. I wanted something different for a bit. I may hop from world to world for a week or two, but I think I’ll probably end up staying here for at least several weeks.”
Uillia nodded. “There’s some very interesting music these days. Some of the local musicians have started to play from rooftops with a hat on the ground down below them. Others insist only on playing next to a warm fire at night; they say it’s the best way to enjoy quiet, soothing music.” She moved a stray strand of hair from her face. “Oh, and how’s your friend Domido and his family?” She gave the last sentence slowly and in a clearly interested manner.
I slowly nodded as I spoke. “Domido and Mifalla are doing well. Grendhill is calm as always, and loves the Farellas, as always. Mifalla has been looking large lately.” I gestured with both hands in front of my belly. “Reedl agrees that she may be expecting more than twins.” I hated to withhold the complete information from a good friend like Uillia, but it was not time yet for everybody to know that the children had been born. One could never be sure who was watching or listening at the window. Once people stopped speculating about where the Arms might be, then I could talk freely about the little princes and princesses. Just not about the location of their special gifts.
“More than twins, eh?,” Uillia asked rhetorically. “Well, that would make up for the late start they got. That’s a good thing; the Farella house has always dealt justly, and it will do Grendhill good if they continue on forever. Well, I have chores to do, and you probably want to put down your load before everybody else attacks you with questions—if the kids are even interested enough with what’s going on outside of Hevvlar.”
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She led me down the hall. “Here’s your door, right where you were when you and Domido visited years ago. We’ll have breakfast ready soon. Will you be hungry?”
“Yes, thank you, but I may be late. I would like to get unpacked and situated in here first. Don’t wait for me.”
Uillia smiled. “Alright, but don’t take forever. Kascho will want to see you before he’s snagged in the business of the day.”
As I walked into the room, I closed the door behind myself. Who knew how long I would be here? It was not an issue about whether I would wear out my welcome. The Farella family had long kept this house open for their needs whenever they needed it, providing financial incentive for Uillia and her parents before her (and her grandparents before them) to keep it up and available. If I needed it, being such close friends with Domido, I could use it as long as I needed. Though the Farella reign did not extend outside of Grendhill, let alone to this world, Grendhill and Hevvlar were on friendly terms. The few people in Hevvlar aware of this house’s use had no objection to it.
The exact timing and course of my travels depended on how safe the Arms seemed. I could not fully hide them right now. I needed to be sure that his room would be undisturbed while I hid them properly. I would wait instead until I bedded down to sleep. Then I couldn’t stay on Harrval long. I had to travel more in case anybody was following me, to obscure the possible location where I would deposit the Royal Arms. I could travel for a couple of weeks, going to several different locations, always carrying the bag I had just set on the floor, keeping it filled to look as it did at this moment. I would travel with his hood up, as if I still needed to conceal my identity. Perhaps I still would need to.
As I planned my route I slid the bag under the bunk beds. I then re-made the bottom bunk “to my liking,” I would insist for a few days if anybody saw it, so that the covers hung over the edge of the bed to the floor, hiding the space underneath. I pulled my few changes of clothes out of my shoulder bag—few for the sake of traveling light—and placed them on the foot of the bed, neatly folded. I then pulled a smaller box out of my shoulder bag—a case about two hands long, one hand deep and one hand’s width thick. I set this on the table next to the beds and smiled to myself. The wood my instruments were made of would enjoy the slightly higher humidity in Hevvlar.
Before heading to the main room of the house for breakfast, I indulged an urge to take a reminding look at this room’s usefulness. I walked over to the stone wall at the back of the room. The room was partially below ground level, so as I stooped I looked for a particular stone low to the floor. I found it with my eyes, a stone with a groove and a bump on the top of the surface that jutted out from the wall. I lay my left index finger in the groove and tapped the bump five times, each time with a different finger of his right hand. The stone began to disform itself and melt onto the stones around it without giving any heat, followed in turn by the adjacent stones, silently opening a circular hole in the wall a few feet wide. The hole gave way to reveal a dirt tunnel leading down into the ground. This was the place to hide the Royal Arms.