“Open the gates!” A guard calls from atop the walls.
With a heave, the wooden gates rumble open, sliding through a channel in the mud as Haven is unveiled before us. We’re tired, dirty, and it’s some time past dinner. We probably look terrible, and we’re accompanied by not one, but four strangers.
But the small welcoming party waiting for us, including Tiff, Vann, and even Anton, couldn’t be happier to see us.
“Mia!!” Tiff yells, running out to greet the Chief with a hug. “You’ve been gone so long, and you look terrible! Haven’t you taken a bath since you were gone? How did everything… go?”
Tiff, with her grassy green eyes and bright red hair, looks across at the hooded Arezza - with her emerald green eyes and bright red hair.
“Hi.” Tiff blinks, standing before Arezza.
“Hello…” Arezza says, looking up and down at the girl before her.
“That’s a beautifully made wooden mask. Did you carve it yourself?” Tiff asks, looking at the wooden mask carved in the shape of a wolf’s face, sitting sideways on Arezza’s head, propped out by her horn under her hood.
“This? I did, yes. Your dress is the finest piece of clothing I’ve seen in the Abyss. Is that your handiwork?” Arezza asks, admiring Tiff’s well-tailored clothes, especially her dark green dress.
“Yes, I did.” Tiff nods.
The two look at each other for a moment longer, before grinning in unison. They seem to have hit it off with each other. I fear what that may mean for the rest of us.
“Good to see the lot of you back home in one piece.” Vann smiles, leaning against the gate. “I see you’ve brought some guests over, too. Are these the diplomats sent from the fabled Wolf Pups?”
The Chief goes to speak, only to be cut off as Arezza steps forward and, to everyone’s shock, lowers her hood to reveal her pearly white, iridescent horns.
“I am Arezza Serenitas Apricitas Servikal, sixth daughter of the High Queen, Royal Princess of the Azorii Matarii, and Wolf Queen of the Abyss, honoured to be invited as a guest of the most gracious Chief of Haven, and humbly at your service.” She smiles, ending her performance with a well-rehearsed curtsey.
“Did mine own ears truly hear the words “Royal Princess” just now?” Anton moves to the front of the welcome party, in the first display of surprise I’ve ever seen from him.
“Indeed you did, fine sir. Though I apologise for the lack of forewarning, I thank you for welcoming us into your homes for our visit.” Arezza nods, giving another royal smile.
“I- well, after such a long trip you must be famished! I’ll rouse the kitchen staff, we’ll have a feast prepared in no time at all!” Anton says, hurrying back up the road towards the tavern.
I get the niggling worry that Arezza’s doing that thing with her voice again, but the Chief’s comment dispels this notion.
“You can take the chef out of the royal palace, but you can’t take the royal palace out of the chef…” She sighs.
“As long as it means we still get dinner… where are we taking these two?” Arshak asks with his sister beside him, the two of them still carrying Mole and Rabbit.
“Hmm…?” Rabbit stirs, peering over Arshiya’s shoulder.
Upon realising where she is, she pats Arshiya’s back to ask her to put her down, running through the gates and taking in the sights around her.
Haven. The most extraordinary place in the Abyss, in how extremely ordinary it is. A main street with buildings, homes, and shops run by the village craftsmen on either side, with the Last Drop tavern and town hall standing at the far end. Our little slice of normalcy in the abnormal world we were reborn in.
The rest of our tired party move inside Haven’s walls as the gate groans shut behind us. For those of us from Haven, we’re just glad to be home. For Arezza, Griffin, Rabbit, and Mole, however, this is a place beyond their wildest imaginations.
“I never, ever, in my strangest dreams, could have thought that…” Arezza glances around town in disbelief, looking back at us with astonished eyes. “You have houses! A barracks, a tavern, a butcher and baker, a blacksmith, a cobbler, even a tailor!”
“Two tailors, in an official capacity. Tiffany here is a fine seamstress herself, not to mention the children being tutored under said tailors.” The Chief clarifies.
“It’s an adventurer’s town! A real adventurer’s town, Your Majesty!!!” Rabbit beams, excitedly running around to take in every sight Haven’s main street has to offer.
“You’ll have to be more descriptive than that, Rabbit.” Mole says, hopping off Arshak’s back as he scans around to find Rabbit.
“Mole!! There’s a big barracks where the soldiers live and train, and a shop with a big shoe hanging in front of it, and a baker next to a butcher’s with big loaves of bread, and all the buildings have two stories!! They’re made with brown wood and white stuff on the walls and roofs made of shingles and at the end of the road there’s a really big tavern with tables and chairs and come on, I’ll tell you more!!” Rabbit grabs Mole’s hand, guiding him up the street as she points, well, helps get him to look at each of the buildings as she describes them in as much detail as she can.
“Come on, you lot. Dump these packs in your quarters and get to the Tavern. Maybe Anton will let us have the scraps of what he’s making for the visiting royal here.” Rann chuckles, patting Vann on the shoulder as he passes him. “Thanks for staying out for us, young’in.”
“I couldn’t call it a night before I made sure the old man was home and safe now, could I?” Vann retorts.
“Before that.” Tiff says, catching up to Mia to stand at the head of our group. “Where are our guests staying, and how long will they be here? I have to make sure we have adequate bedding available.”
“Your house has two spare rooms. I’m sure the kids will be as happy to meet Mole and Rabbit as they were eager to smuggle Crow.” The Chief shrugs lightly.
“And what about this one?” Vann asks, resting his hand on Griffin’s shoulder.
Griffin jumps, recoiling back from the tall man with the giant axe who just touched him. Since he got here, Griffin’s been lurking at the back of the group, his beaked mask looking all over the town, watching for any potential ambushes, the slightest hint that this was all a trap.
“Doin’ a terrible job of being inconspicuous, ain’t he.” Johnny quips.
“I’m merely doing my duty of ensuring Her Majesty’s safety in this… foreign land.” Griffin growls, trying to look imposing, but with the frantic turns of his head, coupled with that wooden beak… he just looks like an inquisitive magpie, not the proud predator he takes his name from.
“Griffin.” Arezza huffs, walking back to take the difficult Red Wolf by the hand. “Don’t be so rude to our hosts. They’ve invited us into their home, it’s the least we can do to be respectful and thankful of their kindness.”
“But, Your Majesty—” Griffin tries to retort, only to be dragged along the street by Arezza.
“No ‘buts’. Come on, we’re having dinner~” She hums as we make our way up the street.
No matter the time of day or night, it never takes long for word to spread that the Expeditionary team has returned. Haven was almost silent when we returned, but for the shadows gathered around windows, and the hushed murmurs that leaked through the cracks of almost-closed doors. The children, on the other hand, were doing a terrible job of hiding their eavesdropping as they crowded around the corner, barely out of sight as we reached the doors of the Last Drop tavern. Not only had Chief Lichtrufer left Haven for the first time since she was brought here over a decade ago, she had come back with guests. Some thought they were seeing double when they saw another bright red-haired girl walking alongside the Chief besides Tiff, but something else quickly caught their attention.
The pearly white horns of this red-haired stranger.
By now it’s impossible to ignore the crowd slowly forming behind us. The barmaids opened the doors as we stepped onto the porch, but the Chief decides it’s best that something be said before we go any further.
She turns on the spot, facing the crowd and stamping her staff on the ground once to command everyone’s attention. Johnny tries to go past her straight into the Tavern, before Rann grabs him and turns him to face the gathering as well, alongside the rest of us. Mole and Rabbit are standing beside Arezza, as an increasingly nervous Griffin frantically scans the crowd for any danger that may threaten his Queen.
“Well, since most of you are still up and about, even those that shouldn’t be…” The Chief gives the gathered children a knowing look, before sighing to herself and continuing. “I apologise for the late hour of our return. I will keep this brief, and there’ll be a proper town meeting tomorrow to cover the details. All that you need to know is that our visit to the Wolf Pups was successful, and we will be hosting several of their members as guests for the next week.”
She gestures across at the three Wolves in our presence, in case it wasn’t clear who our guests were. However, the questions about said guests are less who they are, and more what they are. What she, Arezza, is. Is she another strange, cursed woman with unnatural body parts like me, that some of them keep whispering no matter how much I glare at them?
“If you’ll allow me, Chief Lichtrufer.” Arezza asks with a smile. The Chief gives her nod of approval.
Arezza steps forward, pulling her cloak back to reveal her pearly white, shimmering royal blue wings to match her horns, lifting her new cloak in a curtsey as she nods her head.
“People of Haven. I am Arezza Serenitas Apricitas Servikal, sixth daughter of the High Queen, Royal Princess of the Azorii Matarii, and Wolf Queen of the Abyss, and I am honoured to be invited as a guest of the most gracious Chief of Haven. Your Chief proposed to me an alliance, one that would be most beneficial for both our peoples. I look forward to working with you all in the future, for the betterment of our children, and to one day be free of this harsh place once more.” She realises she forgot one thing mid-curtsey, so she adds; “Oh, and if you weren’t certain, I am an Azorii, one of the native peoples of Perga which you call the Underlands, hence the horns and the wings. It’s nice to meet you all.”
The inquisitive murmurs erupt into joy, hospitality, and excitement. Not only had the Chief’s trip been successful, but she brought back real royalty! She must truly be a royal with all the jewellery adorning her wings, after all! This does, of course, bring up the same question over and over, related to said wings.
How did a Royal Princess of whatever the name of the kingdom she said she’s from end up down here in the first place?”
“To answer that question.” The Chief clears her voice, as most people quiet down and listen. “How she ended up here is a story for her to tell, but what’s important to know now is that her wing is broken, and it’s left her unable to fly. She has, however, agreed to help teach our other winged friend here.”
The Chief pats me on the back, suddenly singling me out and drawing all the crowd’s attention to me.
“I have a name, you know.” I whisper annoyedly.
“I’m trying to speed through this so we can eat, Marina. Go along with it.” She whispers back, before raising her voice to speak to the crowd again. “Now, as has been said, our journey was long and arduous, and some of you are up past your bedtimes. Everything shall be discussed in detail tomorrow. Dismissed.”
The crowd doesn’t really move, though. They’re far too interested in just what happened and who the Chief has brought back to just disperse like that. The Chief, however, has made herself clear, as the clamour starts to grow as she turns to enter the tavern.
She stops, shooting a glare over the back of her shoulder at the villagers. “Must I repeat myself?”
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“Come on. We shouldn’t get between the Chief and her evening meal. You heard her.” Rann calls, and the crowd finally starts to make their way back to their homes.
“I didn’t ask for help.” The Chief grumbles to Rann, as our tired, hungry crew file into the tavern.
“They needed some help catching the hint, though.” Rann chuckles, in the pebbles-tumbling-about-in-a-metal-tray manner like he always does.
While our exhaustion has been somewhat relieved now that we’re home, we’re all absolutely starving. Rabbit is practically bouncing off the walls with how excited she is, regardless of her hunger. Mole has been looking all around in every direction since we got here, even when he’s seated at the table as we await our meal, with the tantalising smell of tomatoes and roast meat wafting out from the kitchen.
Drinks are readily served in tankards so big the kids have to hold them with both hands. There’s a particular juice made from the small, red berries that grow on the bushes in and around Haven; the berries themselves are poisonous, but their juice, when boiled and strained, is perfectly safe to drink. It’s almost unbearably tart to the taste, but when it’s served ice-cold after a long, tedious journey, there’s nothing more refreshing.
The true prize of Haven, if you ask the adults, lies within the Cellars. There’s a lot of strange plants and fungi down here, but miraculously, one particular type of fungus native to the caves that make up the Cellars functions identically to yeast. It’s how we have bread, but more importantly, it’s how we have alcohol. I’m technically not old enough to order it, and while I don’t think anyone would mind if I did, I’ve never been a fan of alcohol to begin with. At least, I’m certain none of the alcohol on offer here would be to my liking.
“Griffin.” Arezza says, glancing at the masked Griffin sitting next to her.
“Yes, Your Majesty?” He answers in the cordial manner he always does when speaking to her.
“You can’t convince me you’re not thirsty. You haven’t touched your drink at all.” She pouts playfully.
“I can drink later. What matters now is your safety, Your Majesty.” He answers.
“Is it now? Well. You seem to have forgotten to check my drink for poison.” She shrugs, taking a dainty sip from the giant wooden tankard placed before her.
“W-wait, Your Majesty!” He suddenly realises, but he’s far too late as Arezza puts her drink back down, smiling.
“We are waiting for dinner too, you know. Do you plan on eating dinner later as well, or are you going to eat through your mask?” Arezza grins teasingly.
“You needn’t worry about that, Your Majesty. I’ll be fine.” He tries to shrug her off, but Arezza can sense what’s going through his mind.
“C’mon, let’s get that mask off~ You’re just as hungry as the rest of us, and it’d be rude to turn down a meal from our hosts!” Arezza giggles, leaning over and grabbing his mask as she starts to tug it off him.
Griffin complains, and struggles against his Queen, just… half-heartedly. He can’t bring himself to do anything that’d even slightly harm her, but for whatever reason, he really doesn’t want his mask… off.
“Rann.” I ask, turning to face him beside me as I point to the unmasked Griffin.
“Hmm? What about him, Marina?” He responds, glancing across at Griffin as he takes another swig from his tankard.
“I thought Crow said the Red Wolves were all at least eighteen. Griffin looks younger than the twins.”
“I am! Nineteen!!” Griffin yells, slamming the table as his cute baby cheeks go red as he flusters. “I’m older than you, apparently, Miss Fifteen-Year-Old!”
“Ooohh, that’s why he wears the mask. Kid’s got a real baby face goin’ there.” Johnny nods, as no one’s particularly bothered by Griffin’s outburst.
“Baby face?! I’ll have your head for that- acck!!” Griffin looks like he’s about to leap across the table at Johnny, only for Arezza to grab him around the chest and pull him down into a hug.
“N’aww, there’s my Widdle Griffin~ My Widdle Griffin with the cutest face of all my widdle Wolf Pups~” Arezza giggles, coddling him like a child as he desperately tries to break free from her iron-clad hug.
The Chief raises an eyebrow, leaning over to sniff Arezza’s tankard as she’s preoccupied with pinning Griffin in a hug. The flare of her nostrils tells that Arezza ordered an alcoholic drink.
Fortunately for Griffin, the kitchen staff emerged with our long-awaited dinner in hand. Our royal guest has given Anton the perfect reason to use some of the choicest cuts of Bloodbeast that he’d been saving for such an unlikely occasion. Now, he has served us bloodbeast steak before, but it’s apparent even then he didn’t give us the best steaks he had on offer. He had saved the most tender, juiciest, and flavoursome meat he had carved, even if such attention to detail falls by the wayside in the face of our ravenous hunger. There wasn’t much conversation while we ate, as we were too preoccupied with stuffing food in our faces. Freshly baked bread rolls, steak, a thick, tomato-y sauce, roast vegetables, everything you need to glut yourself on before a good night’s sleep.
Despite our long day, we were in high spirits as we chatted, drank, and ate well into the night. The sky was unusually clear, and the oppressive nighttime darkness had abated for the first time in months. Everything had gone according to the Chief’s plan. We set out to make friends and allies, and here they were, eating, drinking, and laughing beside us. In spite of or perhaps because of her status as royalty, Arezza was no stranger to a night in the tavern. There were few things she loved more than travelling across the land with a couple of her older sisters, and she had many stories to tell. The kitchen staff had joined us in the dining area, Tiff, Vann, and some of the guards snuck in to partake in the merriment, and the barmaids kept the drinks coming until we could drink no more. Even Griffin had lightened up a bit, after he was teased a good while for his extremely youthful features.
Even the Chief, prideful, confident, and ever-aware of her own appearance and manners, was smiling and laughing. She’d loosened up, just a little. Not necessarily just because of the drinks and the company, but she took pride in how well her plan had gone. Sure, this was the very early stages, and nothing has been officially set up yet. Despite their rocky beginnings, Arezza and the Chief got along well. They had much in common, after all; both were of the upper crust of society, and they both had little tolerance or joy for the stuffy atmosphere that came with it. Arezza just wanted to explore the world, and the Chief just wanted to be left in peace to read her books.
Although, this made some of their differences more apparent. Arezza still loved her family, and it pained her greatly that despite there being clear evidence that she was still alive, no one had come to rescue her from the Abyss. The Chief had no such love for her own blood relatives, and she never had to deal with them again. Though they had differing reasons, they felt the same on the single most important thing to them: to escape the Abyss. Not on their own, but to help everyone escape here. For the Chief, this idea had always been a bit of a pipe dream. An ideal future that may never come to be. Not anymore, though. Through me, and through Arezza and the Wolf Pups, she has taken two great steps towards that dream, and she’s not going to sit idly by and let such opportunities go to waste.
It had gotten quite late when our tiredness began to creep back in. One by one, people said their goodbyes and wandered off to go crash in their bed for, ideally, the next twelve to eighteen hours. Vann and the guards returned to their duties, and Rann headed off to turn in for the night, until it was only the Chief, Tiff, our guests from the Capital, and myself in the quiet tavern.
“Now, about sleeping arrangements for the night. Tiffany has two spare bedrooms that she can lend you for the night, and we can find more suitable accommodations tomorrow. There is only one bed per room, though.” The Chief says, having finished off the last drops of what was left in her tankard.
“I’m sure these two wouldn’t mind sharing a bed with me.” Arezza smiles, wrapping her arms around Mole and Rabbit standing either side of her. “Griffin has repeatedly made it clear this evening that he is an adult, so I’m sure he’d prefer having a bed to himself.”
Griffin grunts in reluctant agreement, crossing his arms and huffing.
“We’re having a sleepover with Her Majesty?” Rabbit asks, looking up at Arezza with her big, happy eyes.
“We are, Rabbit~! And Mole’s joining us too~” She grins, giving both of them a gentle squeeze.
“Then it’s about time we got some sleep. You’ll show them to their rooms, won’t you Tiffany?” The Chief says, trying her hardest to prevent herself from yawning.
“I can, but I think there’s one thing we should show them first~” Tiff smiles.
“There is…?” The Chief sighs, wanting to crawl into her bed already.
“The Crystalfall, of course!” Tiff says, swinging open the tavern doors and stepping out into the moonlit night.
“The… very well. It’s rare we have a clear night like this. Come along, Marina. One last thing to do.” The Chief relents, heading out the door after Arezza and the Wolf Pups.
“Do I have to come too…?”
“You haven’t seen it on a night like tonight. Come on.” The Chief frowns. Alright, I’m coming.
We made our way down Crystal Road. It was a quiet, clear, and still night. A rare moment of calm and peace, as most slept through the night. Step by step, we moved closer to the Crystalfall, as the sound of rushing water began to fill the air, until the mighty waterfall lay before us.
I’ve seen the Crsytalfall plenty of times before. In this muddy-brown hellhole of a gaping wound in the earth, this is the only place in the Abyss you’ll find the colour blue. It’s the heart of Haven, something we’re thankful for every day, something that’s become normal to us.
But, the Chief stressed that I hadn’t seen it on a night like tonight, so I came along. I’m glad I heeded her words.
The tumbling water was so clear and even, you could see a perfect reflection of the white moon high above in its crystalline sheen. The mist that was kicked up in the air shone like stars in the night, nary a few feet away from us. Peering up, you could just barely make out the waterfall’s origin, high on the cliffs above as it came crashing down into the Abyss.
No. Rushing, tumbling, crashing… these aren’t the right words for it. The water had its own innate peacefulness that such energetic terms didn’t capture. It was loud like any waterfall was, yet it flowed so elegantly and steady, as if it were simply a vertical river, another leg in its peaceful journey down to the ponds and streams that wove around Haven and disappeared beneath the earth. Standing before it, it was calming. The cool mist on your face, the shimmering clean pools…
Yeah. I haven’t seen it on a night like tonight. Neither have our guests.
“It’s so pretty! There’s so much clean water!!” Rabbit beams, running up to the edge of a pool, kneeling down to feel the cool water on her hand.
“I never thought I’d see something like this again…” Griffin mutters, awestruck at the sight before him.
Mole says nothing as he walks forward, stopping by the edge of the pool. He looks up, holding his arms out by his sides as he stands in silence, letting the cool, crisp air flow over him. I don’t know what he can or can’t see in this situation, as a blind soulseer, but the Crystalfall offers more than just a sight to behold. You don’t need to see to hear the falling water, to feel the cool air, the sensation of standing before something much greater than yourself. As I walk up to stand beside him and take in the feelings myself, I catch a glimpse of his face. He’s smiling.
“I don’t…” Arezza says, her voice shaking.
Some of us turn to look at her, to clearly see her eyes wide in disbelief.
“Is… something the matter, Arezza?” The Chief asks, frowning a little.
“I know these waters… but it can’t be…” Arezza winces, trying to find the words to describe it, but the only ones she can come up with is: “Anisphia’s Sorrow…”
“Your Majesty…?” Griffin swoops in to hold his Queen’s arm, making sure she’s okay.
“Anisphia’s…” The Chief ponders, trying to think of where she’s read that name before coming to an answer. “Oh! That… no, you can’t mean that Anisphia’s Sorrow, the one sacred to your people, if I’m recalling correctly?”
“It can’t be, though… To drink from it, wash with it, even set foot in it, is to be overcome with the bitter sorrow of the First Servikal, but…” Arezza trails off, watching Rabbit help Mole step into an ankle-deep pool, as the two children joyfully splash around without a care in the world. She walks up to the shallow pool Rabbit and Mole are playing in, leaning down and, after a moment’s hesitation, dipping her hand in the cool water.
“But…” Tiff frowns, looking across at the waterfall. “The Crystalfall is our life. Our clean water. Without it, Haven wouldn’t be here.”
“What do you mean, Your Majesty…?” Griffin asks, trying to put things together to figure out what’s causing his Queen such distress.
“Anisphia’s Sorrow. It originates from a cave in the Azorii heartland, said to be the sacred resting place of Anisphia Servikal, the first Queen of the Azorii. Despite how pure the water looks, no Azorii touch it and for an outsider to do so is a grave violation, as it’s said that the water are the tears of Anisphia herself, weeping in sorrow over the death of her beloved child at the hands of the Mazorii… What I read said that no one knows where its waters end up, though. It goes from a river, to a stream, and heads east from the Azorii homeland, which is…” The Chief’s eyes widen as she realises just what this all means.
“West from here.” Arezza finishes, standing back up as she looks down at her wet hand. “I was brought up revering these waters. Their importance to our people is one of the very first things I learned, when I asked my mother about the small river that ran through the grounds of the summer palace. To think, I’d actually find where its final destination lay…”
“This is… you mean we’ve been drinking, washing, and bathing with sacred waters? With the most sacred water to a nation not far from here? If this… have all of us committed sacrilege of the highest degree?!” The Chief’s panic grows, running through worse and worse scenarios in her head as the ramifications of what this could mean to us if we ever got out of here. This water is sacred to Arezza’s people above all else, and we’ve been using it for, well, every bodily function that requires it.
A giggle, and then a long, happy laugh from Arezza only throws the Chief even more off.
“Mia. You said that more than a third of Haven’s people are children, yes?” Arezza asks, wiping away her tears.
“Yes.” She answers, clearing her throat and collecting herself. “Due to the nature of the Abyss, Haven has become centred on looking after and raising the children. They’ve become our own, in a sense. Everything we do, we do for them.”
“If Anisphia was as kind and loving as they say… Then nothing could bring her greater joy.” Arezza smiles warmly.
“So… We’re not committing a serious diplomatic faux pas by using the Crystalfall’s water…?” The Chief says, to make sure we’re in the clear.
“Well, that’s just my opinion. Others may differ. Some may even call for all your heads for such a transgression.” Arezza shrugs lightly, before laughing it off. “Not that they could do anything about it down here.”
“Gods…” The Chief sighs, releasing her tension. “If there’s nothing else that needs seeing to, I’m going to turn in for the night.”
“Poor Mia nearly had a fit, Arezza. You really know how to get under her skin.” Tiff grins at Arezza.
“I must admit, she’s a fun one to tease. And please, call me Arza~” Arezza grins back.
With that, we each make our way back to our rooms for the night. With how tired she looks, the Chief might let me get enough sleep for once… oh, Sovranan afternoon naps, how I miss you. The Drachenkoeniger work ethic just isn’t for me…
Not that she had much luck getting me up the next morning. That was the deepest sleep I’ve had in a long, long time.