The steady pitter-patter of rain against Reial’s barrier drilled into his mind for the third time that day. Great, instead of it being the birds’ singing, it was the scattered showers of the states’ dwelling moody skies that drove him mad. Why would anyone want to live in a place where it rained so much?
Charette hummed as she walked beside him. Aunesfern’s Embrace from the sound of it. A relatively upbeat song that contrasted the weather.
Although they had barely crossed into Recunda, the land had welcomed them with showers and strong gusts of wind that rivaled Aunesfern’s own. As with every political entity, Recunda—at one point in time—had been a part of the Aunesfernish Empire. Their independence a result of a successful revolutionary war with Uvandra’s and Carcetta’s backing. Despite the riches they had acquired from the war, the people turned to a simple life of farming. A fact which still confused Reial to this day. Could a person’s reasoning truly be that simple?
Fields of wheat had replaced the tall grass, though in this light they appeared more golden than brown. Reial had expected to catch a glimpse or two of farmers inspecting their crops but found that the fields were constantly desolate. Almost as if no one bothered to come and check on them.
Then again, there were so many to check on that it was probably more mentally exhausting than physically. People sure did purchase plenty of farmland. Probably a lot more than they needed. Those weren’t the kind of investments one made lightly.
Scorch splashed around in the shallow puddles, dirtying Charette’s leggings in the process. How do people keep themselves shaded from the elements? Reial wondered. That was the one upside about the massive trees in Aunesfern. They protected them from the turbulent climate. Because of that, their skin was light and refined. Unblemished, unlike the fairer Khaantanese, Thírian, and even dark Uvandran. How could a state so close to Aunesfern, not be like it? Rather, was there even a redwood forest here to begin with?
“What an odd thought, to be focused on such a thing as skin tone.” The voice noted.
Reial jumped. He hadn’t expected to hear back from it so soon. How long had it been now? “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?”
“Mm, yes, but I wanted to briefly check on things. You never know when you’re needed.”
“I’m not even sure what you can do.”
The voice chortled, though it sounded more like two blocks of stone grinding against one another. “That’s the greatest mystery of all.”
“What, you?”
“No, understanding how you can help someone.”
Reial wrapped his mind around what It said. It wasn’t technically wrong, though he had expected it to say something clever.
“I am not demeaning. To most, anyways. Rarely will one find my scorn, especially one such as yourself.”
“Thank you?”
It grunted. “I’m glad we cleared up that misunderstanding then. Now, off to sleep with me.”
Reial blinked as his mind become absent of its brilliant presence. Just when he was going to begin questioning it too… Well, whatever. There would be time for that later. Dwelling voice.
“Do you miss home?” Charette inquired abruptly.
Reial was immediately taken off guard. He thought this a sensitive subject, but it would be equally rude to ignore it, wouldn’t it? “I guess I do.”
“What do you miss most about it?”
“Watching Jadica stumble about the place when she was given a task.” He grinned.
Charette grinned back. “I miss Jadica too. I hope she isn’t too lonely.”
“Don’t worry, she has—” Reial paused, his mind suddenly blank as he desperately grasped for…a name? A place? “She has…”
Charette arched a curious brow. “What’s wrong?”
Reial shook his head. “Nothing. How about you? Do you miss anything in particular?”
She hummed. “Playing together. Our instruments, I mean.”
The memories came flooding back to him. When they had first struggled to play a string of notes. How talented she had been at playing the piano and him with wind instruments. A match Rei himself would’ve approved of dearly.
It was a time when he could simply be. Carelessly playing tunes for hours on end with Charette, sharing what they had learned about their respective instruments. Combining the melodies of their respective pieces. It was all so simple back then. How he yearned for those days.
“Maybe we can play together again, one day.” She continued.
Reial nodded. “Hopefully.”
Charette smiled at him, then returned to her rhythmic humming. By now he noticed that their pace was in tempo with the beat of the music. They had practiced this song thousands of times in their youth, it was bound to have an effect on them, and though he couldn’t play, he could hear it now. Perfectly crisp clarinet notes joined by the resoundingly deep yet optimistic steady piano keys. Yes, Aunesfern’s Embrace wasn’t technically classified as a waltz, but it was still a pretty popular pick at such events.
They could make a living off of performing music. What a life that would be. Traveling from town to town, blaring music for gathering crowds, perhaps even concerts… His skill with instruments surpassed that of his Striding capabilities. At least his mother had claimed so. Then again, she hated watching him in action. She never explained why, so he chalked it up to the motherly fear of children hurting themselves.
Maybe in another life, that would’ve been a possibility. In a kinder, more understanding world. Hyvas, why couldn’t this be that world?
Reial glanced up at the dreary sky. No, it wasn’t his turn to be miserable. The world made that evident enough. He could be happy right now, or at least something akin to that. After all, the Almagest had given them this world for a reason.
His thoughts drifted towards the Almagest. They were a touchy subject for him to ponder about. Not because he hated Them, but because he found it troubling to believe in Them. They were often referred to and praised for all They had, save for what the Empyreans had granted them. The Almagest had given them this world, but they didn’t govern whether the sun rose or fell, neither the crops that grew or the thoughts that belonged to them. Those were all independent of them.
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How could people claim that They loved them? The Almagest had never directly contacted any of the Empyreans, though there were several accounts of the Empyreans having communications with Solvaylius. That strange being that was beyond yet equal to their Gods. What would that make Yuson then? God, Empyrean, or man?
He turned to find Charette rolling a ball of light in her free hand, then bouncing it on the paved road. Solvaylius had granted them this gift, hadn’t It? The Empyreans had claimed as much anyway. So then why was their God afraid to commune with them?
“Charette,” Reial said. “what is it the Almagest do?”
She ceased her rhythmic humming. “They watch over us, of course.”
“But isn’t that all they do?”
She frowned in confusion. “Is there something wrong with that? They’ve given us all we ever needed, including Solvaylius.”
“Then what of aiding the sick and weak? Giving us everlasting peace?” Reial shook his head. “That’s what Rei would’ve wanted.”
Charette’s lips tugged further down. “Perhaps They want to see if we can overcome our challenges alone.”
There was that word again. Alone. Would you really become stronger if you went at it all by your lonesome? To struggle and suffer without a person to lighten the load for you? But why share your grief with another? Why pull them down with you and make them suffer as well for your inadequacies? That wouldn’t be fair to them, right? Were the Almagest being just in this cruel direction?
“I don’t understand how you can have infinite power but not use it for anything useful.” He muttered bitterly.
She shrugged. “Perhaps They just don’t want to help anymore.”
That bit unsettled him. They’d be no better than a man turning a blind eye to a gang of thugs. Perhaps They just don’t care. Reial thought. Like me. With his abilities, he could enter into a workforce very little people had the opportunity to join. Great pay, great benefits, but why bother? It was all predetermined from the moment he became a Veil Strider unwillingly. None of that interested him, it never had. He wanted to be something, but he didn’t know what.
Was that all because the Almagest wanted him to take this path? Shouldn’t they as humans live the lives they want? Not bend to the whim of an invisible being that supposedly loved them. How could a God ever claim to understand them?
Droplets of rain pelted his barrier as a powerful gust of wind blew in from the southwest. He groaned. “I wonder what the Almagest were thinking when they created Recunda.”
“‘More rain.’” Charette said.
Reial chuckled. “How can anything grow here when it rains so much?”
“The Solvaylian Arts.”
“True. I sometimes forget how applicable it can be.”
“Applicable, but fickle.”
Reial cocked a brow. “What do you mean?”
The ball of light in her hand fizzled out like static. “The Solvaylian Arts are fickle because they’re unreliable. Unreliable in the sense that it’s impossible to sustain one activity for more than a few seconds.”
“What about the fire you made yesterday when we were cooking??”
“I just lit the tinder; the wood did all the rest. There are ways of getting around this weakness, but I don’t really know most of them.” Charette shook her head. “Not that it matters. Tricks are meant to be used in short bursts.”
Reial tilted his head back. Veil Striders could use their abilities for prolonged periods, granted they aren’t carrying living beings. Fighting was a different matter altogether, but not as costly as one would think. After all, it was Their strength aiding him. What an unfair advantage.
“I’m sure La’Vina would be more than happy to teach you how to offset this weakness.” He spoke.
Charette perked up, not that she appeared upset by their previous conversations. “You think so?”
“I know so.”
She beamed at him, and for a brief moment, he could almost see the space distort around her.
“By the way, where do you even find most of your sources?” He asked.
“A good portion of them are from Exania herself.”
“And they aren’t dated?”
“No, I don’t even think she can be wrong.”
The downpour returned to a steady drizzle as if to punctuate her statement. Dwelling rain didn’t know when to make up its mind.
“What do people even do here to pass the time?” Charette asked, looking around the endless fields of wheat.
Reial shrugged. “Probably just read and sift through the Sygnal?”
“That’s kind of boring.”
“Charette, we did the same thing back home.”
“Exactly, which is why it’s so boring.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Well, you aren’t wrong. Who knows, maybe the people here will ‘regale us with stories of their past’.”
Charette snorted. “You make the entire state population sound like a bunch of old men.”
“With all of the farms here they might as well be.”
Now that wasn’t something Eston would’ve approved of. The man detested stereotypes and had taught Reial to be more open-minded when regarding other cultures, but that was difficult to do sometimes. Stereotypes existed because they were mostly true, didn’t they? That’s what his Aunesfernish teachers had taught him, and they had turned out to be accurate the few times he traveled into the city. Thrasmanish travelers were friendly and helpful, Uvandran’s were easy-going yet intelligent like the Aunesfernish, yet less refined, and the Recundian’s that lived in the city were often simple folk. So strange to think that at one point they had been a singular people. Singular yet so different.
“How much longer until we arrive in Ildona?” Charette inquired.
“Another hour or two.” He answered.
“Are we going to stop there for the night?”
Reial hesitated. They’d passed a handful of communities, though he wouldn’t call them towns. More like strips of houses occupying one long street. He didn’t understand why people would settle down in such isolated areas.
“We can if you’d like to.”
She shook her head. “No, let’s keep going.”
He nodded. Recunda was a little less than half the size of Aunesfern, though still larger than most of the shattered states. It wouldn’t take them all that long to reach Endona. That was the one upside about it.
Maybe there were exciting things to do here, but they just weren’t looking hard enough. Then again, who would prepare anything exciting when it pours this much? Hyvas, it was unnaturally wet here. How bad was it in the summer then? Reial shuddered to think of the unholy humidity that would seep through his clothes. Couldn’t the Almagest have done anything about that before they gave them this world?
“Oh!” Charette cried. “I heard they have really large fairs here! Even bigger than the ones back in Aunesfern!”
“Huh, I guess that makes sense. They have all of this open space after all.” Strange that there weren’t any trees in sight, save for sparse clumps of white and green star-streak oaks.
“Can we go if we happen by one?” She asked.
Reial folded his arms. “I’m not sure…”
“Please!” She begged.
It wouldn’t hurt to take some time out of their day to go to one, would it? Detours were common on journeys. Besides, they weren’t in a rush. Thírion could wait a day or two, but what if the Courser became suspicious of their facsimiles?
He was tempted by her offer though. Fairs were something he was equally as deprived of as she was. The laughter, the screaming of adults and children as they buckled on rides, the games, the smells. Why couldn’t they live ordinary lives like the others? Was it really that important being the children of the governor of Aunesfern? It was just an elected position.
But now, he finally had an opportunity to experience that joy for himself. To treat himself to the same greasy and delicious foods, rides, sights, and shows others spoke so highly of on the Sygnal. Why would he say no?
“All right, we can go to one, but only if we come across it.”
Charette grinned, pumping a fist against the rain. “All right! I’ll be on the lookout then!”
A pair of silver and white sparks danced off of her and struck him, though they melted off harmlessly against the invisible shards of Essence surrounding him. She didn’t notice this, and he didn’t care to point it out. He hadn’t seen anything like this before, perhaps she was just manifesting her Essence?
The rain stopped at last, and the clouds parted, revealing a massive rainbow that stretched across the sky. A welcoming sight after all of the gloomy darkness.
“So that’s what they look like.” Charette awed.
Red, green, yellow, blue, and other strange vibrating colors that didn’t have a label attached to them. He didn’t need his Veil Sight to see them, the Almagest had gifted them all with this ability.
“What do you think is on the other side?” She asked.
“Which side?”
“The really far one!”
It was a silly question to ask. There was probably nothing there in all likelihood, but why not entertain her idea? “Cosmocury, most likely.” He answered.
“Imagine being the lucky person who found that. You’d be rich in an instant.”
Scorch yipped in agreement. Perhaps Recunda had its ups and downs, but what state didn’t?