It took Koyl a good five minutes to recover from his shock. During the intervening time, he went back into the basement of the house, talked to himself in muffled words, then came back up with a leather bag and handed it to me wordlessly. I didn’t get a chance to look inside or ask him about it before he walked past me and pushed the door open.
“Get in here,” he instructed, beckoning the others back inside. Zhoyl shut the door behind her, then crossed her arms and scowled.
“So?” she asked.
“I’ll do it, but I don’t work for you,” Koyl replied. “You and I both know who’s actually in charge here, and it’s Vaozey. I’ll be working directly with her and Yuwniht, not for any of you. If I’m being frank, I’d advise any of you who haven’t been totally brainwashed by Mawyeyz to run as far away from this as you possibly can before you end up dead.”
“How dare you,” Zhoyl hissed. “We’re soldiers, this is a war.”
“You’re a bunch of easily manipulated idiots that are about to be used as meatshields in a suicide attack if the last time I got caught up in ihlzheyv nonsense was any indication,” Koyl replied angrily. “That’s all fine and good for the ones who are genuinely crazy, suicidal, or strong enough that they might live like Vaozey is, but the rest of you are disconnected from reality if you think a few rifles are going to keep you safe. Your type dies by the hundreds in every battle, and that’s with support in an even fight. Whatever you’re doing has far worse odds than that.”
“No need to hold back, daddy’s boy, tell us what you really think,” Vaozey laughed.
“Who’s he?” the gray-bearded man, Ahyaov, asked, pointing to me.
“Yunwiht Lihyveyz,” I replied, shocking the four people who still weren’t sure what was going on.
“You four are going to be working late tonight,” Koyl said. “Normally I wouldn’t do this, as you know, but the circumstances require it. Ahyaov, get the other group leaders and tell them to report to me so I can at least brief them. If anyone, and I mean anyone, leaks details about these two or what’s going on you can tell them I’m not going to be able to save them from what’ll happen. I’ve personally watched both of these two kill people stronger than any of you with their bare hands, and even though Yuwniht is fairly level-headed Vaozey more than makes up for it.”
“He’s really the ihlzheyv?” Ahyaov asked, still staring at me.
“I thought you were jokin’ about meetin’ him,” another man mumbled.
“As far as you’re concerned, he is,” Koyl said, gesturing for me not to do anything. He apparently knew I was about to make another magic display, but didn’t want any of his underlings to see it for some reason. “Tell the other group leaders to get over here tomorrow so I can make sure everyone knows what’s going on. The rest of you, go back to wherever these guys are staying and get the details of exactly what they need. I have a decent idea but I need to stay here and figure out how we’ll proceed. Got it?”
“Yes boss,” the other three men said all at once.
“You’ve got them pretty well trained,” Vaozey smirked.
“In that bag is some bleach for your hair,” Koyl said to me, ignoring her. “There’s also a bit of makeup. It’s not cheap. I can’t force you to use it, but it’ll make everything a lot easier on me if you start disguising yourself in public and make your presence more known.”
“I was looking for some of this in Towrkah, actually,” I replied, peeking inside. I wasn’t sure how much I would need, but it looked like there was at least a month’s supply if my estimates were accurate.
“Good,” Koyl nodded. “I don’t know what it’s like in your… homeland, but it’s not like we can just launch a ship from a dock over here without interacting with any officials. For that, it’s better to not be wearing a mask. The closer to legal we can get, the easier it’ll be for all of us.”
“We have a lot of guns we need to bring,” I said. Koyl raised an eyebrow, then remembered what the word “gun” meant.
“That’s what you’re paying me for,” he sighed. “Just try not to make this more difficult for me than you have to, okay? No mass slaughters, no assassinations, just contain yourself and try to keep the world from ending.” I found his exasperation amusing for a number of reasons.
“When did I ever do anything like that without being prompted to?” I asked. Koyl just looked at me for a moment, his mouth half open, trying to find words.
“Do you not understand proportionality at all?” he asked. “Gods and spirits, Yuwniht, just don’t kill anyone. Even if they try to kill you, escape and come to me. Don’t try to solve anything on your own while you’re here. Every time you’re faced with a problem and go about tackling it yourself it has a cost in human lives.”
“What about me?” Vaozey asked, grinning.
“You stay the seyt inside,” Koyl snapped. “The chances Yuwniht will be recognized are very low here, but you? I’d hazard a guess that half the city has lost a relative to Mawyeyz and half again of those probably lost one at your hand. Don’t even think about going out without a mask on.”
“You make it sound a lot worse than it is,” Vaozey grumbled.
“No, I really don’t,” Koyl replied coldly. “Go back to your inn, stay inside, let me handle this.”
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While it wasn’t the exact outcome we were hoping for, nor the reunion with Koyl I was expecting, I had to admit that things went a lot better than they could have if he was someone else. We barely even had to argue with him to convince him to work with us, and I was fairly sure Koyl wouldn’t betray us, for a number of reasons, one of which being because he was under an assumed name due to not being a Rehvite. As much as his statements about it seemed overly emotional, his choice to stay out of the fighting was also a good and welcome one. If he hadn’t spent the last twelve years training for combat he would barely be more useful than one of Shahpao’s soldiers. Avoiding fighting was just logical for him.
Whole Zhoyl and Shahpao discussed the details with the three other men who had followed us back to the inn, Vaozey came up to my room and let herself in, sitting down in a chair and tossing her helmet into a corner. I wasn’t exactly tired because I had taken a nap during the day, so I assumed she was the same.
“Show me what was in that bag,” she said, gesturing with her chin. After taking my own helmet and breastplate off, I removed the jars of makeup and chemicals Koyl had given me, passing one of each to Vaozey. She uncorked the one that was a liquid and smelled it, then grunted and cleared her throat. “Well that’ll do it alright,” she huffed.
“You know how to use this?” I asked. “I was going to ask Shahpao, just to be sure.”
“Nah, I’ve seen it used before,” Vaozey said. “My father used to use it on his hair when I was a girl. I get the black from him, but everyone probably thought he was red-haired except his close friends.”
“Not blonde?” I asked, and Vaozey laughed.
“No, I’ve heard of bleaches that are strong enough to make black hair blonde but most aren’t,” she explained. “We won’t know for sure until we try it on you, but I’m guessing you’ll have a hair color just a bit darker than Mawyeyz after the bleaching.”
“What about the skin makeup?” I asked, looking at the jar of putty. Whatever it was made of, it wasn’t familiar to me, and it had a strange scent to it. Is this actually a chemical that destroys melanin? I wondered, noting how my fingers were tingling after I touched it, No, well, maybe, but that’s probably not the main purpose. It’s the same tone as Uwrish skin, so it’s probably intended to be worn as well.
“Never seen anyone use that stuff, but I’ve heard it’s nasty,” Vaozey cringed. “I’m going to go get a bucket. We should get your hair done with this before you go to sleep so the smell will be worn off by morning.”
“I was planning to test it immediately anyway,” I shrugged. With a nod, she got up and left the room, then came back a minute later with water.
“Probably should’ve put my helmet back on,” she sighed. “Shahpao gave me quite the look, but at least the innkeeper wasn’t about. You should probably get your shirt off just to make sure we don’t ruin it.” At her suggestion, I removed the rest of my clothing on my torso and stashed it across the room where it wouldn’t be splashed while Vaozey began mixing the bleaching chemicals into the bucket of water.
“How do we apply this?” I asked.
“There’s two ways,” Vaozey smiled, looking amused. “We can do it the proper way, or we can do it the man’s way.” Uwrish didn’t have as many direct linguistic references to things being “manly” or “womanly” as languages from Earth, even if some were implied, but Vaozey’s words had literally meant “the way a man would do it”, which intrigued me.
“What’s the difference?” I asked.
“How good is your balance on your hands, and how long can you hold your breath?” Vaozey asked. “We could use the table but if it spills, the innkeeper will be pissed.” In response, I did a handstand and then balanced myself on one finger with magic. I had so rarely done the action outside of training that I nearly fell twice, but ultimately whatever the operator had done to transfer my muscle memory to my body worked out. “Show off,” Vaozey snorted.
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“So you want me to dunk my head into the bucket, then,” I assumed.
“Yeah,” Vaozey nodded. “Then you’re going to need to hold it there as long as you can before coming up for breath, and repeat until I tell you you’re done.”
“How long will that be?” I asked. “Can’t we just use a-” I realized as I was speaking that there was no Uwrish word for “straw”, “snorkel”, or any kind of breathing apparatus that I knew of. “-a tube?” I finished awkwardly. Vaozey seemed confused, then understood what I meant, and thought about it.
“Not a bad idea,” she mumbled. “Pass me my helmet, I’ll go see if there’s something like that in the inn.” After getting back to my feet, I did as she asked, and then waited for her to return. Again, it only took a minute or so. “Nothing, you’re going to have to hold your breath,” she shrugged. “What’s that look for?” I hadn’t realized it, but my thoughts had caused my face to move a little bit.
“Nothing,” I replied. “Back in Sou-er, back in my homeland, there were a number of very common items that would have worked for this, but I suppose all of them were manufactured artificially.” Before Vaozey could ask what I meant, I stood on my hands again and walked over to the bucket. “How painful is this going to be?” I asked.
“Don’t get it in your eyes, and try to keep it from going up your nose,” she replied. “Won’t kill you, but if you breathe it in, it’ll burn.” Yeah, I assumed, I thought, taking a deep breath. A moment later, I plunged my face into the liquid and made the error of not squeezing my eyes shut as tightly as possible. In between the nerves around my eyes screaming in pain and the sting of magic trying to fix the problem they were experiencing, I nearly inhaled out of shock.
Counting time with my heartbeat because my normal sense of it was disrupted by adrenaline, I waited for over a minute for Vaozey to tell me to re-emerge, but heard nothing. Wait a minute, I thought, I already have a solution to this problem, it just requires a bit of lateral thinking. Using force magic, I pooled the liquid around my hair, then withdrew my head and took a deep breath, which was a mistake. I got back to my feet, coughing and sputtering as I used most of my attention to keep the hair bleach in place.
“Oh, I didn’t even think of that,” Vaozey commented.
“Yeah, me either,” I croaked. “How long do I have to keep this here?”
“Do fifteen minutes, then we’ll change it out for fresh bleach,” Vaozey said. “I’ll go get another bucket for the waste.”
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By the next morning, my short hair was red. It looked strange to me. I had grown accustomed to my appearance over the time I had spent in Uwriy, more than I had realized, so the change gave my human side a bit of a mental shock. It also didn’t look very natural with my skin tone, so I quickly got to work applying the makeup. For once, my inability to grow facial hair was actually a boon to me for altering my appearance, and it only took half an hour to properly slather my face with the substance.
As it turned out, the stinging wasn’t because the makeup was designed to whiten my skin at all, but instead was because it was poisonous. I wasn’t entirely sure what the poisonous compound was, but I had a suspicion it was at least partially lead-based. Either way, the power draw on my reserves was quite low once my body stopped overreacting to it, and having my skin tone adjusted roughly two-thirds of the way toward a standard Uwrish color made my newly red hair match my appearance a lot better. I suppose I’ll just have to look a bit strange with my brown eyes, I thought, at least those occur naturally to the native population here.
“Who are-” The innkeeper, Yawloytey, blurted out almost as soon as I entered the hallway, pausing midway through her sentence. I was hoping to have Vaozey assess the makeup before showing it off, I winced, well, let’s hope it looks good.
“I was… in the armor,” I said, not wanting to decide on a fake name right away. I wasn’t sure exactly what ethnicity I would be perceived as, so I wanted to get some advice.
“Ah, well, I can see why you’d be cautious about showing your face,” she said. “Don’t worry, Tahroyl and I have no issue with people from mixed families.” With that, she was off, going on to do whatever it was she was going to before nearly running into me. A mixed ethnicity then, I thought, I suppose that makes sense. I made my way down to the common room to find a few groups of soldiers, including Shahpao and Zhoyl, sitting at the tables. The pair in question looked up at me when I approached, confused, then realizing who I was.
“That’s certainly something,” Shahpao commented.
“Your… acquaintance, Koylzmeyl, sent someone over earlier,” Zhoyl said. “He wants to meet up with you today to discuss some things. He stressed that he wanted you to come alone, and unarmed.”
“Suspicious,” Shahpao muttered.
“No, Koyl’s not stupid,” I replied. “Where did he say he wanted to meet?”
“There’s a restaurant near his home called Zaozaejh Zaayeyl,” Shahpao said. “Don’t go unarmed.” Reaching under the table, he slid the pair of pistols I had taken from the bar fight in Towrkah across the table to me. “Do you have a name to use with that appearance?”
“No, I wanted to know what you thought,” I replied, checking the weapons and finding both loaded with buckshot and a double stack of black powder. Is he trying to kill me? I sighed, removing one pouch of powder from each and stashing them in my pockets, then holstering the pistols behind my back in my pants.
“Lerey, maybe?” Zhoyl suggested. It was a name I hadn’t heard before, and it sounded strangely English.
“Is that really a name here?” I asked.
“Near Uwlsayniyah,” Zhoyl shrugged. “It’s a western name, but I think it fits.”
“Yeah, it fits,” Shahpao agreed.
“Lerey it is then,” I said. “I guess I’ll go over there right now then.”
“Come back as soon as you’re done,” Shahpao said. “Bring Koylzmeyl if you can. I really need to speak to him in person.”
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I had never been to a proper restaurant. On Earth, they didn’t exist by the time I did. The words for one remained in various languages but largely lost meaning, only being used sarcastically or in idioms. In Uwriy, the closest equivalent I had been to was an inn, which usually had a kitchen to feed people who came in but wasn’t exactly the same thing. I got some looks as I walked through the city, looking for the streets I had gone down the previous night to find my way to Koyl’s home. Most were curious, a few fearful, but none suspicious. Eventually, I found Koyl’s house, then the restaurant soon after.
Considering that the sign on the front of the building was shaped like an ornate fish, I assumed that it specialized in seafood, and I was greeted by a pleasant scent of that exact sort of food when I walked inside. If I had to describe the difference between the smell of the restaurant and an inn, it would be that the restaurant smelled “lighter”. An inn was usually a bit humid, and had the normal smells of human civilization concentrated inside a bit. The restaurant, on the other hand, seemed to be built to encourage airflow and make the dining experience relaxing.
Appearance-wise as well, it was fancier. Just like how Vaozey’s home looked simple but expensive, the restaurant was the same, with good and well-maintained materials being used for the walls, windows, and furniture. The clientele, what few of them there were in the place in the late morning, wore fancy clothing that made my comparatively scruffier appearance stick out.
“Hello, um, sir,” a waitress said, walking over to greet me. “Are you meeting someone here?”
“Yes, he might be going by Kaoreyv,” I replied. The waitress walked over to a book hanging from the wall nearby and flipped it open, then frowned.
“We don’t have anyone by that name in at the moment,” she said.
“Try Koylzmeyl,” I suggested, and she didn’t even need to check the book to recognize the name. Why have an assumed name if you’re not going to use it? I wondered.
“Ah, so you’re mister… it doesn’t say your name,” she said, looking in the book.
“Lerey,” I said. “Is Koyl here right now?”
“Oh, yes, he’s on the second floor. Let me lead you there right now,” the waitress smiled and let the book hang again, directing me to follow her and leading me through a door in the back of the restaurant into a stairwell. We emerged onto the very open second level to see that most of the tables had been cleared away, and Koyl was sitting in the rough center eating from a dish with some utensils. “Sir, your guest,” the waitress said, prompting him to look up.
“Thank you,” Koyl said. “If you could get him the same dish as me but with meat, along with some water, that would be great.”
“Will you be paying?” the waitress asked as I walked over.
“Of course,” Koyl nodded. “Thanks, Nahwao.” The waitress did a short bow, then rushed back down the stairs as I took a seat across from Koyl. Unlike the night before, he was cleaned up and looked more refined, wearing better clothing and having his ponytail tied with some kind of metal clasp. “I thought I said unarmed,” he muttered.
“Shahpao wouldn’t allow it,” I replied. “That’s the leader of the military group. He wants to speak to you directly, by the way.”
“Of course he does,” Koyl said quietly, looking down at his plate. He split one of the vegetables in half, pushed it around a bit, then set his utensils down and looked directly at me. “Look, Yuwniht, I want to apologize for how I reacted yesterday.”
“Okay,” I said.
“It’s more for me than you, but still,” Koyl continued. “I haven’t had the best time since you were, uh, gone. I know it’s not your fault, what happened to me, but people around you tend to have bad things happen to them. That, however, is no excuse for disrespect. So, I apologize, I should have been more professional.”
“Okay,” I repeated, and Koyl smiled.
“You haven’t changed much,” he said.
“It hasn’t been that long for me,” I replied. “You could say that I spent twelve years asleep if that makes sense.”
“I’m envious,” Koyl said, then he finally took a bite of his meal. “So, ihlzheyv, I can only assume that you’re back for a reason, right?”
“I have a new mission, yeah,” I agreed.
“From Roydlow?” Koyl asked. “We just sort of assumed, after you disappeared, that it was him that sent you. I was never very religious before that, but, well, once you see the actions of gods in person it becomes a lot easier to believe that they’re real.”
“Is it okay to speak about this so openly up here?” I asked, looking around. People in the streets around us certainly wouldn’t hear anything, but I was concerned about the waitress.
“I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out already,” Koyl laughed. “I own the place. Everyone who works here works for the legitimate side of my business. If everything goes well, this restaurant and a few other places around town will be my sole income after the war.” Oh, I guess that makes sense, I thought.
“What about the illegitimate side?” I asked, and Koyl sighed, looking tired.
“I’ve never liked it as much as my father,” he admitted. “I’m not ashamed to admit that I built my wealth here on smuggling, but I’m looking to get out of that line of work. It’s getting too dangerous these days and the money just isn’t worth it compared to legitimate ventures. Maybe if I wanted a mansion I’d stay involved, but after the last fifteen years of my life I’m perfectly comfortable in a normal home.” As he was finishing up his explanation, the waitress came up and put a similar vegetable dish to Koyl’s in front of me, the only difference being that mine had a large cooked fish on it.
“Anything else?” she asked as she put a mug of water down.
“That’ll be all for now, Nahwao, thank you,” Koyl said, and a moment later she was gone. My stomach growled, and I began to eat, too distracted to continue talking. I had eaten a wide variety of foods, but the meal was solidly in the upper fifth in terms of taste and seemed to use some spices that I hadn’t encountered before. “So is it good?” Koyl asked.
“Quite,” I replied, mouth half full.
“Maybe I’ll use that recommendation,” he joked back. “You know, once doing so wouldn’t get me lynched. It’s pretty lucky I got out of Awrehrehzha fast, or I’d have a famous face like Vaozey.”
“I was going to ask about that,” I mumbled.
“We can talk all about it,” Koyl said. “Half the reason I invited you here was to catch up and get a feel for what’s going on. What’s the new mihshahn you have?”
“Kill the leaders of the Rehvites,” I said, stuffing more fish into my mouth. “Help Uwriy win the war.”
“Nothing too hard then,” Koyl scoffed. “Here I thought you were going to say something totally unreasonable.” The humor in his tone wasn’t lost on me.