-22-
[https://i.imgur.com/LoYByv0.png]
Elvish had always tickled my ears when spoken. It had such a varied intonation when compared to the common language the denizens of Axio used. Some times you could hear the same odd inflections when Mei spoke.
It was pretty funny when she’d stumble on a word with sharply accented consonants.
From what I understood of the language there were two distinct variants: a written runic alphabet and a divergent colloquial form.
Spoken conversationally, it was fluid and pleasing to listen to. But when referencing a specific concept or thing, such as spell-casting, one would use the more formal proto-Elvish runes, in which the words can come off very harsh. This became more evident when written, as the Iọ-ton’ic runic alphabet used only sharp large-print letters.
The reason my thoughts are hyper-focused on elvish right now? Well that’s because, since the addition of Arden, our camp has been alive with the sound of elvish.
Viane and Aisling had been talking nonstop with Arden. As translated by my sister, it seemed like they were debriefing him.
The chance meeting of our party could have major political impact with the Aestori public. If Arden were to return to the Enclave and start telling everyone how he met the Empress and imperial military commanders, things could get really awkward for us later.
Or so I was told.
Apparently Arden had been sent out after a scrying team noticed a strange magicka signature through their magi-tools.
I tried my best to listen in on their conversation, but my elvish was abysmal.
The closest language I was to being fluent in was Natoran—the official language of the Renaultian Republic—but I was a long way from holding a meaningful conversation with anyone. I could read official documents, and that was about it.
A melodic chord sang through the forest. Delicate fingers strummed at a guitar. Mei had brought it with her from Tolin, and had fiddled around with it a few of the nights after we’d set camp.
Tonight felt different though. Instead of her usual playful expression and lively tune, her face was sour and the sounds being played were far from exuberance. She began to sing in elvish. Her voice was so full of emotion that I found it a little upsetting I couldn’t understand the meaning of the words.
“Egi’syn palpitae.
Illa pavidiae.
Plac-re s-reniae p-ace̵—”
Mei’s mouth continued moving as she was singing, but her voice sounded intermittently in my ears. A high-pitched ring built up until all sound was deafened—save for one: a soft tapping-like noise that echoed in my head.
A stream of messages raced in the center of my vision as a small window appeared.
» ADDRESSING LANGUAGE IMPROFICIENCY
» LOCAL CODEX DETECTED WITHIN RANGE
» SENDING REQUEST TO LOCAL CODEX ARCHIVAL FRAME
» RULER STATUS VERIFIED
» REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGED
» INITIALIZING DECRYPTION PROCESSES
» DECODING – STANDBY
» DECODING – STANDBY
» DECODING – STANDBY
» LANGUAGE CODEX DECRYPTED: IỌ-TON’IC
» COMMENCING TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION
» PROCESS SUCCESSFUL: AUTO-TRANSLATION ENABLED
» IỌ-TON’IC TO ALTAERIAN
» ALTAERIAN TO IỌ-TON’IC
The high pitched ringing pierced my ears once more, overtaking the tapping.
Mei’s silver voice returned but instead of the peculiar cadence of elvish that was completely incomprehensible to me, I understood each word—their meaning seamlessly translated in my mind.
“I thought I loved you, my only friend.
You ran away before I could say.
Now I tremble, In clear delay.
I truly wanted to be together.
How long must I hide my pains?
How long, how long?
We were meant to be, not play pretend.
What words would’ve made you stay?
The world has never felt so gray.
Lost beauty, blotted out its splendor.
How long must I hide my strains?
How long, how long?
I thought I lost you, my only friend.
Yet you’re here today.
Still I tremble, when next will you slip away?
My heart cries out to just surrender!
As she sang her final note, the sound of the guitar fading to silence, tears streaked down her cheeks.
Rias stretched her arms around Mei, reassuring her—in elvish, “That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing your feelings with us.”
The rest of our camp had a mix expressions on their faces.
Both Hailey and Julius seemed concerned for Mei. Julius had picked up a fair amount of elvish—either from working closely with Mei or because he was trying impress her I wasn’t sure. But Hailey had about as close a grasp on the language as I did, she wouldn’t have been able to interpret the lyrics of the song, and was probably worried since Mei broke down in tears afterwards.
Both of the elven envoys were glaring daggers at our guest, who seemed to have shrunk as small as he could in his seat.
Arden’s gaze was glued steadfast to a spot of empty forest.
You idiot.
I walked over to Mei and sat down near her on the other side, sliding down to the ground so that my back was touching the fallen timber turned makeshift seat. I rested my head against her knee and softly spoke to her.
“It really was beautiful, Mei. I’m glad you shared it with us too.”
“Wah?” “Huh?”
Both Mei and Rias craned their heads to me.
“What’s the deal? Am I not allowed to comfort my friend when she just sang her heart out?”
This time, a series of exclamations sounded through the rest of the camp and everyone else was staring at me.
“For real? I’m not some ice-hearted princess am I? Why are you all looking at me like that? Quit it!”
I crossed my arms and pursed my lips.
“Sis?”
“Y-yeah?”
“When did you get so good at speaking elvish?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“What am I…?—Airis. You’re speaking in elvish. Right now. Your words, are elven words.”
“You’ve got to be… It’s got to be this damnable Chaos Magick. Just doing whatever it wants, whenever it wants.”
“You used… magick? You used magick!? To learn elvish, you used magick?”
Rias continued to repeat the same question a few different ways while I tried to feel around my mind for an off-switch. If it was a Chaos related spell that did this then it should be like any other time when I connect to the link with Capricorn—there it is.
» PROCESS SUCCESSFUL: AUTO-TRANSLATION DISABLED
» ALTAERIAN TO IỌ-TON’IC
“There. All fixed. I’m back to regular, everyday, good-ole’ human speak… Right?”
Everyone nodded their heads slowly, except for Julius who was shaking his in disbelief.
----------------------------------------
“You’ve got to be messing with us. That’s some kind of illusion. It has to be.”
“Not an illusion. That’s the real thing.”
“I thought you said it was a village. A village! That? That is not a village.”
“Hmmm, I don’t think we ever called it a village. Hey, Aisling, did you ever call it a village?”
“I’m most certain I did not use the word village.”
“Well, Empress Vanixi. Welcome to Umbraedomis.
We had set out on the final leg of our journey at the first hints of sunlight. Arden took off a few hours before we had even woken up. Mei had been filling in for night-watch and according to her, he was close to exceeding his deadline for reporting back in.
He also said he’d inform any patrols of our arrival, which should make entering the Enclave less of a hassle.
A massive break in the treeline opened up and we found ourselves atop an enormous hill. Some hundred feet from a cliff edge.
It was on that edge I stood, overlooking miles of the red oak forest below, when I saw it. That the sea of crimson leaves was not perfect. Massive breaks in the red was replaced by trees of pale-bark and bright golden canopies. And rising up from those golden canopies were beautiful white-stone spires, capped with gold and red roofs.
Nestled within that gilded forest was an entire city.
Not a village. Not a town.
A proper city. And by my estimation, three times larger than Tolin.
The city was fortified by massive walls of the same bright white as the rest of the buildings sticking out of the trees.
“Uhm, I think maybe I was the one saying village…”
Not long after we had begun our descent into the valley a small voice admitted to being the cause of our earlier confusion.
The culprit?
None other than the party’s acting field monitor and Grand-Waystrider of the OSW—Mei.
“Why would you call this a village!?”
“I thought it meant, like, the same thing?”
My face was red with the impact of my palm.
“Mei, a village makes you think of a small, quaint, grouping of people. Not… a city that rivals Axio itself.”
“I didn’t mean to deceive you.”
“That isn’t what I was thinking, I just… Fwah! Ya’ know what, don’t worry about it.”
The red oak forest began to transition to the golden-leaved silver aspens of the Aestori. Forest floor gave way to a cobbled road, smooth gray-white stones winded through the forest leading us to a massive gateway. Twin tower spires rose into the sky, over two-hundred feet tall, flanking an elevated courtyard. Two flights of stairs led up to courtyard, split by a wide river which flowed out from under the center of the structure.
The gatehouse seemed to serve as a control for both port of entry for foot traffic and passage by the river.
Just as this overwhelming structure came into view the eerie feeling of a powerful spell being cast washed over me. Aethermist coalesced into a spherical cloud centered over the road ahead of us.
A man’s voice was projected from the ball of mist using sonic magick. He spoke sternly in elvish, an angry inflection on his words.
“Unidentified intruders, our weapons systems are armed and we will respond to any hostile actions immediately and without mercy.”
Confused, and concerned, I looked to Aisling and Viane—only to find them sharing looks of equal confusion.
“We have dispatched multiple units to your location. You are being detained, do not resist or you—Excuse me! Just what do you think you’re doing? Captain!? OW!”
The voice cut off abruptly following the sounds of an unseen commotion.
Moments later an interface window came into view out of the swirling mist and a familiar head of purple hair appeared on the display.
“My apologies, Matriarch and honored guests. It seems my notice didn’t quite make its way around the entire garrison as I’d hoped. Please continue through to main gate.”
The Aethermist faded, Arden’s face blinked away as the interface collapsed.
“Well, that was almost quite the ordeal.”
Aisling chuckled lightly and spurred her horse ahead of us.
Julius kicked on after her, “Are visitors usually treated so aggressively?”
“You five are our first visitors in decades. Well, real visitors anyway. Anything heading up this road is either a returning patrol or a demon with a death wish.”
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In the distance we could see people running around outside the gates in a manic fashion. Aisling pointed their direction.
“I can’t remember the last time I saw the garrison deploy outside the walls with a force that big. Trust me, your arrival is going to stir things up around here, for better or worse.”
We passed the lower level, leaving our horses and the bulk of our belongings with an attendant.
Viane assured us that the horses would be taken to a proper stable and our things would make their way to us once we’d decided on lodging.
After a tense exchange with a nervous guard about whether we could carry our weapons into the city, we climbed the stairs to the main courtyard where we were greeted by Arden—plus a raid-sized contingent of guards.
At his command, the unit saluted as Aisling passed by. It seemed her position in elven society was pretty high.
I’d caught on to a few things, and Mei helped fill in some of the gaps. She was co-leader of an elite order of knights, and she was the daughter of a prominent noble family.
After returning formalities Aisling approached Arden.
“Captain, has a Warder by the name Lira arrived?”
“If they have, I haven’t been told about it—but I’ve been running around the garrison since I got here. A Warder, huh? I don’t know any of the officers for their side, the Astral Knights generally keep to themselves here, ya’ know?”
“A tired proclivity born in a different age…”
Aisling swore under her breath, eliciting a chuckle from Arden.
“If you somehow stumble upon her, please inform the Warder I am looking for her.”
“Will do, Matriarch.”
Aisling motioned for us to follow after her and we continued towards the main gate.
Flanked by twin spires, the gateway into the elven city was the definition of masterwork that integrated both beauty and strength. Massive doors of metal reinforced timber were locked securely behind a pair of triangular lattice-woven portcullises. Each gate was positioned about ten feet from each other, with numerous machicolations spaced out above at regular intervals to provide almost perfect coverage to kill anything trapped within the gate space.
The walls were masoned out of enormous solid blocks of white stone, which shared a similar roughness with the pinkish Vyae of Tolin.
I had placed a hand over the stone and was feeling the texture when Viane sneaked up behind me.
“It’s the same material as your city. Our masonry guild imbues the stone with magick, fusing them together so that the entire section is one solid piece—it also has a neat side-effect of bleaching it white.”
“I get a sense that everything in this city has been imbued with magick. There is a sort of… tingle, in the air.”
“From the buildings themselves to the miscellaneous nick-knacks that fill them, the stuff of Aether is infused in our society.”
“The stuff of Aether?”
“It will make sense as you see more of the city.”
“Oh—uhm… okay.”
We passed through the gates and emerged onto the main street of a bustling market plaza.
The city was a cross between urban and forest environments. Unlike the straight roads of Axio and Tolin, hexagonal flat-stones sprawled though the city guided through the landscape by winding golden pavers.
Towering aspens rose up everywhere, their canopies created a natural ceiling between the city blocks.
Above the roadway where the overhang of the trees fell short, artificial canopy shaded the roads from the sun. Red and gold ornamental cloth swayed in the breeze.
Beautiful storefronts lined the street, their windows were filled with exotic wares.
Each building exterior had a flow to it. There was hardly a straight flat wall to be found, rather the walls curved and bent as naturally as the forest itself.
The city spires we had seen from atop the hill this morning rose from these buildings, disappearing into the golden leaves overhead.
“Whoa!”
“Amazing!”
Rias and Hailey were as awe-struck as me. Mei continued on ahead, no doubt wearing an enormous grin on her face after witnessing the reaction from Julius.
“By the Aether…” Rendered almost speechless, he stood there slack-jawed and wide-eyed.
“—triarch! Matriarch, over here!”
A woman ran towards us, yelling from across the way. She looked quite of out place in the serene plaza, filled with pristine white walls and golden roads. She was wearing an off-white tank-top that was stained with a wide arrangement of colors, blackened grease, dark patches of dirt, and splotches of red—which I hoped weren’t blood.
She had her hair pulled back and covered with a black patrol cap and along her waist was a bulky leather tool belt, a strange looking wrench flailed around by her side.
“Hooo! Wow, would ya’ look at that. Humans in Umbrae. I got your message, Matriarch. Sorry I’m a little late! I had to come straight here from sector eight’s fluxworks. It’s one heck of a jog, lemme tell ya’.”
“Lira.”
“Yes’m!”
“You’re covered in filth.”
“I’m covered in work!”
Aisling hung her head dejectedly. She pivoted on her heel back towards me.
“Empress Vanixi, this is Warder Lira. Please excuse my subordinate for her appearance. She is… more eccentric than most.”
“Sure, no worries. Uh, pleasure to meet you, Lira.”
Lira shuffled briskly to Aisling’s side and, failing in every sense to whisper, quite loudly expressed her confusion.
“I’m sorry, did you say empress? Is this some sort of twisted joke, ma’am?”
“Nope.” Aisling bowed her head towards me, “Now, if you’ll excuse myself and Lady Viane, we’ll be leaving you in Lira’s very capable hands. Lira, get them settled in somewhere with appropriate quarters and report back to me whenever you’re done showing them around.”
Both Viane and Aisling turned and zipped down the road, disappearing as they took an off-shoot from the main street.
Lira slowly spun around after they’d left our view. She scratched at the back of her neck nervously.
“Heh-heh. Guess you’re stuck with me. I know a great resort that should have some overnight lodging.”
----------------------------------------
Lira led us through the winding streets and pointed out her favorite shops.
A metalsmith who specialized in a sort of thin copper cable that she called filament, an artificer who sold made-to-order magickal devices, and clothier whose store was filled with beautiful dresses and gowns.
Hailey and I exchanged looks, eyeing Lira’s messy top and the pristine shop stock.
“The owner makes these work shirts for the Knights, since I go through so many of them a month I get a great discount! He’s a really wonderful guy.”
After translating for Hailey she let out a ‘oooooh’, and we both shook our heads.
Rias had made fast friends with our city guide. They both shared an interest in artificing and bonded once we’d hit the metalsmith’s store. Lira made her astonishment at Rias’ fluent elvish very obvious.
I wondered how she would take it if I flipped my auto-translate over and started speaking it as well.
We made our way in three pairs; Rias and Lira leading the way, Hailey and I ogling at all the stores, and lastly Julius was being dragged along into all manner of shops by Mei.
Lira took us down a tight alleyway while shouting back at us not to worry—which, of course, made me worry. But once we’d managed to squeeze through I was awestruck.
The cityscape had transformed from a flat plane of streets and buildings to having a new dimension; this district ran next to a wide river.
Staircases and walkways spanned the upper and lower sections. Down along the waterside were more shops and restaurants, bustling with activity.
“Oh wow.”
“Airis! Come look at these, they’re so cute!”
Rias called down the street from the front of a store window.
I hurried after her, and was surprised at the merchandise being shown in the window. Some of the items on display were way too revealing, they were worn by full-size mannequins and left little to the imagination.
“Are these… underwear?”
“No way! Look at the sign, silly!”
I panned my eyes around the storefront looking for the sign she was talking about, finally spotting a small handwritten placard near the bottom. It was colorfully decorated and had cutesy doodles of the outfits on each end.
[https://i.imgur.com/ortB5tN.png]
☆ STARCREST BATHING-WEAR ☆
Magickal enhanced wear at magickal prices!
[https://i.imgur.com/4vzGJes.png]
“Bath wear? They hardly cover anything… why would you even need any kind of clothing while bathing?”
“I don’t know, but they’re super pretty. Look at those ones!”
Rias pointed at a pair of shorts that were… very short.
“Those frilly ones look kind of cool.”
Hailey had sneaked up behind us, and directed my look to a set that was lined with a beautiful lace that was sewn to give it a loud embellished look.
“What’re you ladies looking at so intently over here—Oh by the Celestials, what is this place!?”
Julius found his way to us, and was taken slightly aback at the racks of revealing clothing on display.
Mei was following behind and immediately ditched him to come ogle the window with us.
“Oooo! Swim suits! That’s a great idea. You’ll probably need a pair if you’re gonna spend time in the city. Come on, let’s go in!”
The four of us went in to the bathing shop, leaving Julius outside with Lira—who declined to accompany us.
According to Mei, the Aestori practiced communal bathing, so the need for some clothing while bathing was necessary if you didn’t want to show yourself off to the world.
After we’d all found our desired bathing suits we continued our tour of the city.
“We’re here!”
Lira’s exuberant cry stopped our party in its tracks.
We entered a wide open glade with a single complex near the center. A thirty-foot tall rotunda with a large annex tower behind it, the whole place was double the size of the manor in Tolin
It was elegantly designed, the walls were covered by ornamental pillars that stretched to the building’s midpoint. A flared ring of arches sat atop the pillars, creating a band around the structure at the twenty-foot mark.
The upper floor opened out to that banded balcony, with metal railing that allowed for a full view around the building. Above the overlook was another ring of arches that supported a red-stone dome.
Three massive aspen trees flanked the sides and rear. They were taller and more dense than the other trees around the city.
Maybe another case of things being imbued with magick?
“This place is great. They have a natural hot spring and the staff is super friendly—buuut let me head inside first so we don’t confuse anyone. Uhm, Rias can you let the others know to hang out here for a bit, thanks!”
Lira headed inside, leaving Hailey to look at us with confusion when we didn’t follow after.
“She’ll be right back.”
“She’s just gonna be a minute.”
“She’ll be back.”
Rias, Mei, and I clamored at the same time.
“Hey, Airis. While we’ve got a minute. Can I borrow you?”
Julius called me over, and we walked to one of the big aspens away from our party.
“Somethings got you worried?”
“Our situation has changed is all. I wanted to get your feelings before I did anything too brash.”
“Changed how?”
Julius didn’t take a second to think about it, he just pressed on as if he’d been waiting for this exact question.
“I mean that like you, I thought we were going to a village. Maybe we’d find a hundred or so elves, and convince them to come with us back to Tolin. This…”
“Yeah. This wasn’t even a possibility in my mind either. But what’s your new concerns? Too many people?”
“I get they’ve reached out as allies, what with sending us envoys and all. I just can’t shake this feeling that something is off. The big show of force at the gate really set me down a spiral of overthinking.”
“Aisling seemed to think it was odd too. She mentioned something about not seeing the garrison outside in that size in a long time. It’s possible some string got crossed the wrong way when Arden reported in.”
“He concerns me too. It seemed too convenient that he happened upon us when he did. I don’t believe a one-man patrol would be dispatched to look into strange magicka.”
“You’re sure you just don’t like the guy because he seems close to Mei? Oh, that reminds me. Have you talked to her about him calling her Meiko yet? Maybe you should try calling her that, just to see what kind of reaction you’d get?”
“I—She—Airis! Come on. I’m being serious here.”
“Everything has been a little weird. But not so much so that I’m worried about any ulterior motives.”
“Okay. I won’t press it any further for now then.”
“Your concern is noted, Commander Adaemus.”
I gave him a disarming wink and nudged his side with my arm. We returned to the group just before Lira came out, motioning for us to head in after her.
“Welcome to Triple Monarch Springs!”
A dozen well dressed elves greeted us, bowing their heads. In the center was a man wearing a deep-necked six-button jacket. I assumed maybe he was the owner or at least a manager as his outfit was way fancier and intricate than the others.
“Please, follow me to your rooms.”
He led us up a flight of spiraling stairs to the second floor. The floor split into two halls, with rooms down each side. Each of us got our own room starting with Mei, then Julius, Rias, Hailey, and finally mine.
Hailey giggled to herself when we got to the last room, which was the most luxurious of the four we had seen.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh nothing, just thinking how we can use my room as a storage room or something. There’s no way I’m letting you have this palace all to yourself.”
Our host bowed, and faced Mei.
“Esteemed guests, If there is anything at all you need, please do not hesitate to ask. Someone will always be available at the desk below.”
I tapped the man on the shoulder before he could walk away.
“Excuse me, I have just one question. Would you happen to know how we might get in touch with the gate to let them know to bring our things here?”
He looked at me with a puzzled look, but turned back to Mei.
“I apologize, it has been quite some time since I’ve practiced the Empire’s language… Would it be possible for you to intermediate for me?”
» PROCESS SUCCESSFUL: AUTO-TRANSLATION ENABLED
» ALTAERIAN TO IỌ-TON’IC
“That won’t be necessary. My apologies, I shouldn’t have assumed you would have been fluent in a language you haven’t heard in decades.”
As I started to speak to him in his own tongue, he whipped around with a look of bewilderment twice that as before.
“Oh my! I must apologize again! I was not told any of the human party had spoke Iọ-Ton’ic.”
“Please, don’t worry about it. I had just one question. We left our things at the gate, is there a way for us to let them know to deliver them here?”
“Of course, Your Grace. I believe the woman in… contaminated, clothing has already contacted the provisional government to arrange your belongings.”
“Oh, perfect. Speaking of which… where did Lira disappear to?”
“I believe she retired to the Knight’s garrison. She said she would be returning here in a few hours. While you wait for her, might I suggest spending some time in our hot springs?”
----------------------------------------
“I could really get used to this… ahhh”
I let out a sigh of relief as a stretched my limbs in the warm spring water. I felt a little awkward after changing into my new swim suit, but it wasn’t too uncomfortable.
The pitter-patter of bare feet on wet tile followed by a splash announced the arrival of my sister as she dove in near me.
“Oh this feels fantastic!”
“Think we could convert the baths in Tolin? It can’t be too complicated—Rias, do you think you could make a hot water spring with magi-tools?”
“Hmmm. I think so. If I wired a conflagrator to an aqualation-faucet… I could maybe cycle the water through a—”
“We’re in the middle of a war, and you two are seriously discussing building a spa?”
Mei sat at the edge of the soaking pool, gently dipping one leg down into the water.
I smirked at her.
“It’s the little things, Mei. What are we fighting for, if not for the freedom to have our own hot springs in peace?”
“I’m ready!”
The side doors into the changing room swung open and out ran Hailey.
[https://i.imgur.com/qqiTeNt.png]
Her ruby hair cascaded wildly over her bare shoulders, tumbling down her back. She was wearing the newly bought bathing suit she’d been eyeing earlier, a rose-pink two-piece with frilly lace trim.
“Whoa, so pretty.”
I clapped a hand to my face as I let my thoughts spill out of my mouth.
Rias and Mei instantly started giggling at me.
“You’re looking pretty cute yourself, Airis.”
“Oh by the Celestials, I’m sorry for just spurting that out.”
Mei’s sly grin, eerily identical to Julius’, teased me. “Hey, you’re the Empress. You can say whatever you want, around whoever you want.”
“Speaking of saying what you want, what’re your thoughts about our trip so far, Mei?”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, you were just here not too long ago, right? Does anything seem off to you since our arrival?”
“I see Julius has gotten in your head as well.”
“Haha! I’ll take it that he’s expressed his concerns with you then.”
“He has. And I hate to admit it but I have some of the same feelings of unease he does. The scene at the gate was the first thing I thought was weird.”
“That was the first thing?”
“Mhmm. Wait, is there something before then that was weird to you?”
“Oh, uhm. No. Well… I dunno, the sudden appearance of Arden and his reason for being there seemed suspect.”
“I know I may have gone off at him and all, but he’s a good guy! We’ve known each other forever. I really don’t think there’s anything to worry about him—wait, did Julius mention something?”
“No, no.” I waved my hands frantically, “Nothing like that. I just thought it was strange for a one-person team to be dispatched out, ya’ know? We don’t send out a scouting party unless it’s a full seven people.”
“Oh.”
“Pretend I never mentioned it. You said the incident at the gate seemed weird, how come?”
“That’s because not only had Arden had gone ahead already, but they should have been notified of our arrival by the Tribunal. They wouldn’t have known exactly when we would arrive, but the senior ranking officers would have known to expect us eventually.”
A splash of water hit the back of my head. I turned around to find Hailey pouting behind me.
“You two workaholics are killing the mood. Just relax for a night.” Hailey wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tight. “Besides. I don’t get to see Airis look this cute very often! I wanna savor this while I can! Hehe.”