The walk back was about as awkward as one would expect given what just transpired not to long ago. It was a good fifteen or so minutes from the holding cell where our discussion took place, we stood opposite the building where the rest of my group was located. The street between us and the building was busy with the hustle and bustle of any and all who wanted to visit something called the night market but didn’t have time to visit the market during the day for whatever reason. According to what I heard on the way here, turns out that night market is simply a market held at night in a different part of the giant tree city called Gai’Faitotoa. Anything and everything was sold there, much like in the standard market held through the day, the biggest difference being that every spot is first come first served unlike the regular market where everyone there has a specific spot which they paid the city for. Apparently, the night market changes almost on a day to day basis as a lot of the smaller businesses take advantage of the hour long break between the closing of the regular market and the opening of the night market, with no one being able to claim a spot prior to thirty minutes before opening, this gave the people who had less to move overall the advantage in placement. Meaning you’ll never see the same orientation twice, which is apparently part of the charm of visiting. Personally I think that it’d be tedious trying to find the same store every night, and sometimes the one store you would need wouldn’t even be there, but what do I know?
All of this to say the walk over here almost unnaturally quite. I literally had no idea about any of this prior to the walk over here. If not for the people talking about the markets for whatever reason, I would have simply thought that the night market was some form of illicit market or something/ I’m sure that if the people around us weren’t talking, I would have learned how to differentiate between the many types of birds flying around the city at this time or something. It wasn’t until we got to where we stood currently that Suamalie even bothered to acknowledge my existence since we left.
“Ok, I don’t like this situation and I don’t like you. I’m not your friend, I’m not your acquaintance, and I sure as hell am not your fiancé, as much as my mother wants me to be. You mention that particular little tidbit to anyone, and I don’t care which god you serve or where you’re from, I will happily bury you in the middle of the forest at a spot that no sane person would willingly go and claim a Feary got you while you were out and about, got it? Now, we’re going to go in there, you are going to introduce me as the guard for all of the Solites, not just for you, and we are going to do our best to completely avoid each other as much as possible.”
Underhanded threat aside, I completely understood her sentiment, though from a different angle. I would certainly not be happy if my mother told me to get to know someone from outside of the Conclave against my will all because she wanted to see a grandchild. I’m sure that there was more to it, and the more I thought about it, the flimsier that particular excuse became to me, and the more pity I felt for my unwilling guardian and guide. Might as well try to accommodate to her as much as I can and just stay out of her way.
Finding a moment in the silence between us to get a word in, it’s important at times like these to make sure that silence gets its share in the conversation as well, but I needed to cut in and make sure my voice was heard. “So… are we just going to stand here the rest of the night, or are we going to get the hard part out of the way?”
“I’m already half way across the street, can’t you tell?” Suamalie retorted sarcastically from her position next to me, not having moved a muscle since we took our initial positions.
“Believe me, I’m already in bed, and hoping that today’s events were all a dream.” I think that at this point in time her animosity towards me had subsided greatly, and resignation to her position had taken its place mellowing her out.
Sighing heavily, Suamalie continued. “I wish this was all a dream… time to let the nightmare continue I guess.” Taking her first steps across the busy street, I follow closely behind, matching her pace. We had to at least put on a show that these events were happening because we wanted them to rather than occurring due to the whims of someone wanting to be a grandma. By the gods the more I think about this situation the more absurd it sounds. Thinking about it step by step I can clearly see the logical line from how I got from where I was, being asked questions because I am an unannounced Saint, to where I am now, crossing a street with someone who clearly dislikes me. I can follow the steps. But taking a step back and looking at the path that led me here? It honestly looks like a path taken by someone who couldn’t pour water out of a shoe with the directions on the bottom of the heel, in other words a total joke.
Making our way to the other side, we stood in front of the door to a building who name I could not pronounce but whose metal sign beneath the name consisted of a chicken standing on top of a pig standing on top of a cow surrounded by what looked like wheat. “Before I open this door and we have to pretend to be not disappointed with our current lot in life,” I started, “what’s this place called?”
“I’m not going to bother telling you the name of this place in the Gaian tongue, but it roughly translates to ‘The Farm Porch’ in your language. Most everything served within is actually produced from the owner’s own land. If nothing else, the people that you are traveling with at least know how to pick a good place to stay. There’s a restaurant on the side of the building open for the middle and final meals of the day for the general public, I usually come here at the end of my workday for a filling meal if they have room to spare. Food is filling and not excessively priced for the portions of food you get.” From the angle of which I walked behind Suamalie, I saw a soft smile appear upon her face as she spoke, almost as if recalling happy memories. “Time to get this out of the way I guess.”
Flinging the door open by pulling harshly, during which I almost thought she broke it, but as she walked through the newly created opening, the door simply swung back, and when I thought it would stop it simply kept going past the threshold of where the door sat initially. It swung to the inside of the building, got to a stopping point, and swung back again. It proceeded to do this multiple times before coming to a stand still in its initial position. “Huh, cool door,” I thought out loud but quietly. Not wanting to repeat how she opened it, I simply pushed it and the door felt like it was simply being swept out of the way. I have no idea how it worked, but I was honestly tempted to just stand there and push the door to watch it swing back and forth. It’s been a rather long time since I had been quite so entertained by something both simple and stupid.
“ADAMAS! What are you doing by the entrance?” came the voice of Lily from somewhere behind me. Turning to see where she was, I saw my group in particular sitting at a round table near the far side of the building, residing underneath the area of the second floor in between some of the support beams. There at the table smiling brightly in my direction was a standing Lily, waving broadly and motioning for me to come over. Taking my first few steps, I saw the short dark hair of Suamalie ahead of me heading towards the table. When she got there ahead of me, there was visible confusion between everyone seated at the arrival of this new person. Not so much that they had no idea who this person was, but more along the lines of why is this person here?
And it was kind of understandable. The first and last time my companions saw this person currently trying to find a seat at the table, she all but held me a sword point surrounded by a bunch of guards. And now that I’m back with my group, I’m basically being led by that same person, confusion was to be expected.
“So,” Joshua started as I grabbed a chair from a nearby table and dragged it over to join the others, “mind explaining what all that was about Adamas? I have been to the Gaia region multiple times throughout my life, and never once have I seen anyone being restrained like you were being able to basically walk around mere hours after the fact. What gives?”
Suamalie looked taken aback at the question that was obviously asked to her as much as it was to me, and had no idea how she was supposed to respond. Myself on the other hand, I somehow already had an excuse prepared, especially when I found out that the Huntress was a Saint. “Captain Suamalie here received orders from her superior to look out for anyone from outside their church acting strange. The only problem was, she wasn’t exactly given orders on what to do next when she found them. We both came to find out that one of the Saints here, who goes by the name Huntress, received a revelation from Gaia about strangers in their land looking for knowledge, and she wanted to meet one of us to clarify what it was exactly we were looking for. The Huntress simply never specified how she wanted to meet us, so Captain Suamalie took a minor offense I accidentally performed at the gate when we showed up and blew it out of proportion, thus creating a reason for one of us to be detained, and therefore be interviewed.”
At this point everyone was looking at me, their faces saying that it was hard to believe, but they had to believe it as I was sitting there with them alongside one of the Captains of the guard. Suamalie was also looking at me, but her face told me that she couldn’t believe how quickly I had manifested that story. After taking a moment to catch my breath and look at everyone, I continued speaking. “The Huntress asked what we were here for as pilgrims from the Church of Sol, why we chose the Forests of Gaia for the first destination of our Pilgrimage, what we planned to do from here, and how exactly we ended up grouping together with a traveling band of Faithless. I answered how I could, and basically as truthfully as possible from my perspective of our ragtag group of every walk of life almost. She apparently liked the answer that I gave, because after everything was all said and done, the Huntress tasked Captain Suamalie with basically being our guide for the duration of out stay. With that covering just about everything, I’m finally going to let our new guest introduce themselves.”
Suamalie still wore an expression of disbelief, but paid enough attention to catch the ending of my lengthy excuse. Turning slowly to face the others, she spoke slowly. “… Right… I might have… put the cart on front of the cameldon a bit on my end… sorry about that all. I have been tasked… with making sure that you guys get around Gai’faitotoa quickly and… hopefully… without issue. And if there is any issue that you guys come into contact with… I am to do my best… to make alleviate the amount of trouble you deal with using my authority as if I was a Grace Felt… err, Saint… yeah.” The way she spoke definitely showed that when it came to speaking she didn’t think very quickly on her feet, but she spoke with enough truth to make it believable, though most of the eyes on her were still filled with skepticism.
“Ooo…... kay then. So we have a watchdog with us. Seriously, is this how the rest of your visits to other religions is going to be? If yes, please let me know now, I need to be able to prepare my heart for any other events that might happen in the future if you continue to travel with me Adamas. I mean, it is literally just you at the moment Adamas who has done anything to even remotely make us stand out. Even walking around with Lily and Eon in their dark red robes today brought no where near the attention you have in the same amount of time.” Joshua spoke his mind, and while his words sounded like he was complaining, he was doing his best not to break out laughing with the smile he had sprawled across his face. “Seriously kid, you keep this up and I’ll be anything but bored for the foreseeable future. My only request? Try and send a letter or something ahead of us, smoke signals, something. I’m always up for new experiences, I just like to try and make sure that my life isn’t on the line when I go through them,” he said, finally letting a laugh escape from between his smile.
Joshua’s jovial mood definitely pulled its weight and then some as, being the oldest person in the group initially, his words and reactions basically determined how everyone would react in turn. Thankfully his reaction helped a lot as both Lily and Eon noticeably relaxed with the tense expressions they wore being replaced with ones of excitement. Eon could barley hold back his excitement as he started to speak. “How much of Gai’Faitotoa have you seen Adamas? This place is absolutely ginormous compared to the Conclave! What it lacks in overall area spread out, it by far make up for it by going up!” he all but yelled and jumping out of his seat. “I mean, I felt like we never stopped actually going up when Joshua showed us around a bit near the trunk of the tree. And when you look up? You realize that there is still so much more to see and do. It definitely made me stop and think about how small I am in the grand scheme of things, but at the same time it made me thankful for the little impact I have had on those in my life to this point. If I hadn’t impacted the people in my life the way I did, I would never have realized how much larger the world really was.”
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Calming back down but still radiating excitement, Eon sat back down in his seat and looked around at the others within the building but at no one in particular. “This place… is so different from where we were raised. We had humans and farm animals in the Conclave basically. But here? They have people. Not just humans, but people. I was scared, terrified even, when I had to talk to someone different. They looked like nothing I had ever seen before, like a walking and talking tree. I didn’t know how to act or what to say, I actually don’t even remember that conversation, I just know that it happened.”
“Thankfully Eon didn’t embarrass us to much,” stated Lily. “His prior interactions with the Faithless actually came in handy once again. Turns out the markets here aren’t just a set price like the Conclave is, bargaining is the name of the game, and he really pulled through on getting us a few items. Just some knick-knacks to take back home with us. But it was enjoying to watch the process, if only because I could not do that myself. Not without practice anyway. I mean, my family consisted of mainly of Scripter’s and a few Judiciary’s. I’m great with paperwork and running circles around people with words. But when they have the capability of running circles back? I tend to fall over my own tongue.”
Looking down in front of her, she fiddled with her large wooden drink container. It looked like a seamless container, not one made up of multiple strips of wood sealed together by several metal bands, but rather like it was plucked from a tree branch looking just like that. Picking it up she took a quick drink of whatever it was that inside. “That’s actually why I decided to go on a pilgrimage. It wasn’t what I had initially intended to do with my life, I didn’t even know that going on a pilgrimage was a thing that I could do. But my life to this point had been spent around being accurate in all I say with actions that reflect those statements. In knowing the literal difference between ‘may I’ and ‘can I’ and any other variation there in, and using them to my advantage. In knowing how to write, what information to leave out, and how to word the information which needed to be left in in my favor if the original statement didn’t help me.”
Lily set her drink down and looked at me. “I don’t know the reason for you wanting to go on a pilgrimage, but for me? I wanted to see the world outside of the paper. Outside of having to be accurate, where statements made are meant to be seen with the intent behind them and not just what is literally being said. And the only way I could have done that was this pilgrimage, otherwise my life would have continued being surrounded by paper and accuracy of language.” Lily leaned back in her seat once more, this time all eyes of the table were on her. “What? I just finally felt like saying what was on my chest. You know, not once this entire trip have us,” she motioned to myself, Eon, and then herself, “three actually said why we chose the oath of the pilgrim. And I’m not sure if this drink has anything to do with it or the atmosphere in this building, but it just felt right for me to say what I just said. I’m not expecting either of you to respond in kind, but if you know my reason for leaving, I feel like you might understand me a bit better.”
A brief silence settled over the table, with everyone’s eyes darting from one person to the next, seeing who would dare to break the silence first. Eon decided enough time had passed when he forcefully put a hand on the table causing it to rattle, picking up his mug and downing whatever was left of his liquid of choice. “I hate going second, but I hate the fact that Lily made at least some sense to me with her statement. I mean, we never did say why we wanted to leave, both Lily and myself just kind of followed you around.” Eon motioned to me. “Not that that’s a bad thing mind you. If you hadn’t started moving when you did, I’m sure that, for myself at least, I would still be at that gate; wondering which direction I should move in and going nowhere in the end. I… I wanted to leave not for any real grandiose reason like trying to find the world like Lily said she wanted to do, but to not ride the coat tails of my folks. Given what my family does within the fields of crafting, we had a lot of interactions with the Faithless. And everything my parents did, they did for me and my siblings. I’m not even their oldest child.”
Eon looked up and smiled. “In fact, I’m child number four out of six kids. My parents are on the older ends of things, with my eldest sibling being a full ten cycles older than me, kids two and three are twins and five cycles older than myself. Then there’s me the same age as you guys. The last two are currently nine cycles and five cycles respectively. They’re basically done with kids now, but with such a full house there was never a dull moment. Part of the reason why my parents had so many kids was our business was growing, and my father wanted heirs to follow in footsteps and open a few shops within the Conclave. That’s what the eldest did, he opened his own crafts shop, but rather than simply being on the other side, he actually opened it around the Farming belt. And against my dad’s wishes, he called his store ‘the Lucky Duck’, his signboard was an upright horseshoe with a duck in the middle.”
“I know that place! My family went there often whenever something on our farm broke.” I interjected unintentionally. “Sorry… didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Really? Cool. Anyway, the twins followed more after mom then dad, and went in to needle work of various fashions. The youngest two don’t really know what they want yet. So that left me. I wanted something, I just had a problem. All of my older siblings got to where they are now with direct help from my parents, and a lot of it at that. And while I didn’t want that, I could understand why they had done that for their kids. But when his Luminous brought up the option for a pilgrimage, I only had one thought. ‘Take this opportunity, and rather than using the connection that your parents had made over their lifetimes, find a way to make your own’.”
Eon shrugged a bit as he said that. “It’s a bit of a childish reason for wanting to go and do outside of the Conclave, but I can proudly say that it is MY reason for doing so. My father was actually proud for me because I hadn’t done much standing up for myself or voicing my opinion while growing up, in a house full of eight mouths of various ages, no one has any time to listen to the minor complaints of one, so when I said that I wanted to do this, he gave me a big burley hug and told me to be safe. So that’s basically it for me. Whose next?”
“Well, we started at one of the table, might as well go around I guess,” Joshua said. “Now, my story ain’t much compared to y’all’s so far, but it’s somethin at least. I was born into this life, haven’t really known much else besides it. And as I mentioned to y’all earlier, it’s not that I personally don’t believe in the gods, it’s just that I don’t put my Faith into them. I mean, take the here captain for example, I have never seen any other place whose people have ears that take the statement ‘point taken’ literally about four inches outside of their head.” He stopped speaking for a moment and looked at the three of us. “Well, at least none of you are confused as to what an inch is...” and then took a drink from his tankard. “I travel place to place, religion to religion, trading stories for food and places to stay as necessary as well as and wares upon occasion, and trade one religions wares to another. Part of the reason why you religious types allow this is, at one point, you all were shut off from the outside world that each of you started to stagnate a bit. At least that’s how my Gran used to tell it anyway. The constant influx of new experiences and different perspectives gives your craftsman new ways of building, gives your warriors new tactics, and gives everyone something different to talk about. You never talk about the eight-hundredth time you have to make sure the scarecrow is still standing in the field, but you will talk about that one time a traveling group of weirdos brought something you had never seen before through. Sometimes it’s a big thing, sometimes it’s a small thing, but I do this to see the stories I can create for others.”
“Fascinating story you got there Joshua,” Lily said. “Is this supposed to be one of those stories too?”
“That, little missy, is up for you to decide.”
“Guess it’s my turn then,” I said. I wasn’t going to tell them everything, let alone anything related to the actual reason I was out here. But telling them part of the reason was better than not at all. “Turns out my dad thought that I had bigger and better things in store for my future. Not that he has any major complaints about it, he was the Peak Guardian in charge of the Outer Orbit, but something struck him a month or so prior to the Pilgrimage being announced. He started taking me on training excursions, and at points I think he brought me just so his subordinates would have semi regular training practice in which they could let off steam. At least that what I felt like when I would get the snot beaten out of me.”
“And then, a few days prior to the transition ceremony happening, he took me aside and said ‘Son, I haven’t taken you out to the Outer Orbit for you to think about joining the Guardians. Rather, I’ve been taking you there to prepare you for outside of the Conclave. I’m not sure why, but something tells me that no matter what I do, I won’t be able to hold you here. So rather than try and tie you down, I’m trying my best to make you prepare for whatever it is you encounter out there’. Now personally? I think my old man overreacted a bit. But I figured that I’d take this chance to actually try and find whatever it was that my dad said I was destined to find. I mean, I had no real reason to leave, but my dad lived his life by his instincts, and they usually weren’t wrong. I can tell you right now that I haven’t found it yet, but the journey’s just begun, can’t go calling it quits just yet, now can i?”
While all eyes on the table were on me, at least one set was looking at me with eyes that said ‘How can you lie so easily through your teeth like that?’ Once again, I didn’t lie, I just… didn’t tell them everything. Not like these guys are ganna stick with me through the whole thing… right?
“Looks like I’m the only one left now,” Suamalie said. “I’m not going to give you the reason why I became captain here,” she gave me a quick sharp glare after looking around at the table as to not make it stand out so much. “However, I can at least say the reason as to why I am here at this table. As was mentioned earlier, you pilgrims need a guide. And I’m sure the Faithless Joshua is a fine high spots guide, I have been tasked with making sure that nothing traumatic happens to you. I have pleaded my case for trying to someone more suitable for being an actual guide, but in terms of being a guard, you’ll find few better than myself. I look forward to traveling with you all during your stay, or until someone comes to replace me. My name is Suamalie, and I’ll be in your care for the time being.” As she finished speaking, she gave a quick, curt bow.
After we finished speaking, we ate, had small talk, and we all watched as time passed us by. When the candles that lit the table had noticeably gone down Joshua started to get up. “Now, I;m not going to tell you yungins what to do, but I will tell you to not stay up to late. As interesting as the Gaian nightlife is, most of the interesting stuff occurs during the day. So unless you want to miss it, I suggest you hit the hay here shortly. Lily, I think you have the two keys for you guys?”
Reaching into a small bag around her neck, she produced two keys.
“Good. I’m going to bed then. See y’all in the mornin’. G’night.” At that, Joshua walked away from the table.
“Well, I personally have had a long day and could really go for some sleep right now. And you guys?”
A quick glance between Lily and Eon and it was decided that now was as good a time as any for sleep. Stopping to think about it for a quick moment, I stop Lily before she walked away. “Hey Lily, I have a request. Given the time currently, can Suamalie board with you? I’d feel a bit awkward if our guard was out in the hall or something because she didn’t have a room.”
She stopped for a moment, and looked from me to Suamalie and back to me. “Sure Adamas, she can crash with me.”
“Well, that at least settles that. I bid you all a good night. Come on Eon, lets get to…” I started to speak as I saw him starting to slowly fall over. It was fascinating to see, a fall in slow motion was definitely odd to see. Stepping over to catch him before he hit the table, I hefted one of his arms over my shoulders and took on most of his weight. His legs still moved so he was still somewhat conscious, but he was on the verge of not being. “I’m going to carry this sack of almost becoming dead weight to our room. Good night ladies, and see you tomorrow. Rest well.”
Turning to leave, I paused a moment. Almost as if expecting me to do so, Lily reached past my head with a key in hand. “Forgetting something Adamas?”
Not bothering to turn around, I reached out and grabbed the key. “… thanks Lily… been a long day.” Taking a few more steps, Lily piped up again. “Forgetting something else?”
“Not so much forgetting as I figured that you’d tell me if I didn’t ask.”
“While you’re not wrong, asking wouldn’t hurt you would it?”
“Mind leading the way?”
With a chuckle, and I could almost guarantee wearing a grin that I couldn’t see. “Sure thing Adamas, follow me.”
The only thing I was thankful for at that point was this: at least the walk to our rooms was shorter than the walk from the interrogation room to here.