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As they exited the grounds of the castle, Everin wasn’t sure what to yell at Veldrix about first.
It had been so difficult to keep his aura under control as soon as he laid eyes on the royals and was able to sense the bond between them and Veldrix. He had seen that kind of twisted bond before… in Tyrand. A land where the people were little more than slaves to their usurping regent.
No matter what Vel had said about their relationship being a partnership, he knew those royals saw Veldrix as nothing more than a tool to be leveraged. Watching someone as powerful as Vel kneel in supplication to someone who was basically extorting them made Everin’s blood boil. The worst part about it, though, was that Veldrix knew they were being used.
He wasn’t sure if he was more upset towards the royals or the knight at this point.
A gentle hand on his shoulder brought his focus back to his surroundings as Veldrix whispered, “I need to be touching you for us to pass through this particular gate.”
Everin looked up at the gate, draped in shimmery crimson silks. Above it, a sign read, “The Garnet District.” Next to the right of the gate, a smaller sign read, “By invitation only. Please contact the local guard if access is required.”
“What is this place?”
Veldrix just smirked and replied simply, “My home.”
As they walked through the entrance, Everin felt the odd sensation of powerful enchantments wash over them. It seemed like more of the same architecture the rest of the city had, but the people he saw walking along the streets were all garnet gemites. They looked much more like the type he was personally familiar with, with wiry or crystal hair, patches of metallic scales in various places, and actual gemstones for eyes and teeth.
The atmosphere here, however, was much different than what he was used to seeing gemites in. Here, they all seemed relaxed and happy.
“Vel’s back!” a young voice yelled from a nearby window, causing heads to turn towards them. Veldrix moved ahead of him to intercept the child-torpedo that slammed into them.
The knight laughed. “Maria, where is your papa? Shouldn’t you be busy helping him with the scouring?”
She lifted her hand to show a finger wrapped in a bandage. “He said I didn’t have to until I got my cut healed. One of the Radipuffs rolled around in a thorn bush, and a thorn cut me real good.”
“Then why are you here instead of at Mender Rodriguez’s clinic? You know she could fix that up in a second.”
The little girl smiled, showing polished garnet teeth. “But then I’d have to go back to scouring that stinky wool. I swear some of them roll around in poo just to make us feel bad for shearing them.”
Veldrix laughed again and spun the girl around. “Go see the mender, you naughty little thing.”
“We’re glad to see you back, Guardian,” another stranger said, this one an older man who eyed Everin up and down. “Who have you brought with you? It’s rare for you to bring outsiders here.”
Everin was a bit taken aback by the fond smile Veldrix gave him as they turned and took his hand to pull him forward. “This is Everin Starlark. He is an Avatar of the Scholar and Rebel and should be treated as a close friend of mine who will be staying at my place for now.”
“I’m Alehandro Farenz,” the stranger greeted and held out a hand.
Everin recognized the gesture as what Vel had originally greeted Phoenix with, so he took it and let the other man shake it. He was still a bit in shock at Vel’s admission and glanced around as though someone might have overheard them.
Veldrix’s smile became more amused as they said, “The enchantments around this district keep out anyone who isn’t a garnet gemite or who wasn’t invited in by one. It’s the only place in the city where I don’t need to fear being watched or overheard.”
“We would never let out so much as a peep about our Guardian,” Alehandro confirmed. “We all know we owe much to them, and keeping their life here private is the least we can do.” Then the man turned back to Veldrix and asked, “It’s fortunate that you arrived today. Will you be joining us for the Feast of Winter’s Break tonight? I’m sure the community would be thrilled to see your face and hear you speak.”
A pained smile crossed Veldrix’s face, but they politely replied, “I can probably join for the start, but I will likely have to leave not too long afterward. The queen has requested that I be on duty tonight.”
Everin was glad to see Alehandro’s face twist the way his own heart felt.
“But it’s Winter’s Break. You should be spending it with your family.”
“You already know that my spirit is always here even when my body is not. It will please me enough to know that everyone else is having a good time while I ensure they remain undisturbed.”
Alehandro glanced over at Everin, then down at their entwined hands before carefully saying, “I had hoped you would learn to be less of a martyr by the time you brought a… close friend home. Isn’t it a bit much to leave him alone in your home while you play night guard for the royals.”
“Thank you!” Everin said, gesturing toward the most rational gemite he had now met to date. “Finally, we meet someone with some sense around here.”
Veldrix gave a sigh. “I’d rather not give the queen even a hint of a reason to storm this home in search of the Rebel’s Avatar to have him beheaded by me for treason.”
“It’s a holiday!” Everin argued, not having even remembered it himself until Alehandro mentioned it. “That’s the best excuse you could possibly ask for!”
“We’re leaving again in a week, Ev. She won’t care that it’s a holiday.”
“Where are you running off to this time?” Alehandro asked. “Isidora is not going to be happy to hear you’re leaving again so soon.”
“Dora’s never happy when I’m here either,” Veldrix retorted with a roll of their eyes. “Where is she, though? I need to update her.”
“Preparing for the feast, of course,” Alehandro replied with a chuckle. “She wants it to be ‘perfect,’ as usual.”
“As usual,” Veldrix repeated with a grin and proceeded to drag Everin along.
The little district of gemites was busy, and Everin finally took the time to notice the additional decorations that had been placed everywhere. The sun was the most prominent symbol on display as the celebration was technically in honor of the sun beginning to renew its strength as the days would begin to grow longer again after this longest night of the year. This is when Winter’s claim on the land would break and bring in the light of Spring’s life.
Winter flowers were also on display in keeping with the entire city’s aesthetic. Bright red poinsettia, yellow jasmine and purple hellebore, and a healthy dose of blue frostroses were everywhere with holly to fill in the spaces.
Paper lanterns made from pressed petals also hung from awnings and windows, and Everin found himself excited to see them lit up later tonight once the sun set. That just reminded him that he would have to see it alone, though, and he felt his tails and ears droop at the thought. While he was left here to celebrate the holiday with strangers, his lover would be in the arms of the royals who didn’t deserve to touch them.
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“Dora!” Vel called over to a group of gemites who were busy arranging tables in a huge open courtyard. “I’m back for a week and will be at my place until the feast! Good job on the decor! It all looks absolutely perfect!”
Everin snorted a laugh as the gemite woman gave a rude hand gesture toward them without even looking at first. He couldn’t even blame her if that was how Veldrix normally greeted her. When she did turn to look at them with her mouth open as if ready to rant, her gaze focused in on Everin, and looked surprised. Instead of anger like he had expected, the stern-looking woman simply smirked and called over, “You better have a speech worthy of the divine ready then! You can update me on the morrow.”
“You’re a doll, Dora!” Vel called back with a grin as she shooed them away, and they pulled Everin off in another direction.
Tons of people stopped to talk to Veldrix or simply give their own well wishes as they passed. It was almost dizzying, and Everin had no idea how they were able to keep track of every face, even with a Ruby Caste Mind helping their memory. What was even more confusing to him, though, were the bonds he could sense between all of them and Veldrix.
They were family.
“Exactly how many gemites live here?” he ended up asking after what must have been the hundredth greeting.
“Five thousand seven hundred and three. Unless Raphael finally keeled over or Elisa gave birth while I was away,” they replied with a look that Everin was fairly certain was pride.
“And you know all of them personally?”
“Yes. Many I brought here, and many others I helped raise. I have guarded this community for centuries, helping build it up and watching it grow and thrive, though I admit my duties normally keep me at the castle.”
“They’re family to you.” It wasn’t a question, but it made Veldrix pause and turn to look at him.
Their gaze was more assessing at first but slowly became filled with that patient fondness he had come to love seeing from them. “Yes. They are all my grandchildren, in a way. You may have heard the stereotype that gemites love to love. That we are quick to bed and often have multiple lovers and spouses. That’s often true, but what many of those rumors forget to mention is that we are also extremely devoted to our families. We love every kind of love.”
Veldrix gestured back the way they had come from. “We celebrate together. We care about each other. We know that we are stronger when we are united.”
They drew Everin’s gaze back to them with a gentle hand on his cheek, and they surprised him by saying, “I wanted to thank you for what you did earlier. For kneeling before the queen. I know that wasn’t easy for you to do, but I want you to know that I’m grateful you did. You helped protect my people by doing so.”
“I didn’t do it for them,” Everin murmured, feeling his cheeks warm to their touch and focused gaze. “I’m not even sure how you figure it had anything to do with them instead of saving my own neck.”
Veldrix gave a soft chuckle before moving closer, their noses almost touching as Vel quietly admitted, “Because if you had upset the queen and she ordered your death, I may have made a very stupid mistake and killed her instead.”
Everin’s eyes went wide in surprise, but the meaning behind those words was enough to make him close those last few centimeters and kiss them.
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When the ferry finally arrived at the towering city, Phoenix departed with the rest of the crowd, and she was pleased that Zevan didn’t immediately abandon her. The signs were thankfully rather well placed, though the information on them shifted from time to time as they cycled through information with different destinations highlighted.
“I suggest finding a change of clothes first if you don’t want to draw too much attention to yourself,” Zevan pointed out as Phoenix stared at a large map lit up with numbers that matched a corresponding name off to the side. She almost missed what was said as her attention was fully riveted to the interactive map that she could touch to get more information about a location or change a floor. She wondered if there was some way to transfer all of it into her [Guide Book]...
When she finally registered what Zevan had said, she looked down at her long green dress which was still in fine condition from being in her collection before. Then she realized that almost everyone else around her was scantily clad in some of the least amount of clothing she had ever seen, or not seen in this case. They looked more like they should be on a tropical beach than a city in the Arctic.
“I’m not walking around the city in a bikini. I’ve never even owned a swimsuit before… Is that really what people wear everywhere around here?”
Zevan shrugged and pushed back her cloak to show off what looked like that dumb armor that all the female characters would wear in old video games that were entirely impractical for actual protection. Cleavage, midriff, arms, and thighs were all completely bare, and Phoenix glimpsed a few more patches of green scales.
“Why?!” she found herself exclaiming as she gestured towards the outrageous outfit. “What is even the point of it being made of metal?! Is that even armor? What are those jingly bits even for?”
Zevan shrugged again. “It’s enchanted to do its job. You can go around in that prudish getup if you’d like. People won’t question it much with a white torc, but you will draw more attention to yourself that way.”
Phoenix glanced around at all the people again. Taking in the frankly insane amount of skin showing but also how nobody else seemed bothered by it. They were chatting normally with one another, or hugging someone in a warm greeting, or kissing people on the cheek like she had seen French people do in movies. There was one couple that she could only assume was an actual couple as they practically ate each other’s faces while nobody paid it the slightest bit of attention.
She was grateful for the fact that —aside from her clothing— she didn’t stand out from the crowd nearly as much here, with the diversity itself acting as a mask of sorts. While the majority of inhabitants were elves, with their lithe frames and tapered ears, they had various shades of skin, from dark ebony to pale alabaster, that made her own cream-colored skin blend in better. Not to mention the shades of color that were less human than she was used to, with blue, purple, or green undertones. Tattoos were also extremely prevalent, and many of them softly lit up with magic to her perceptive eyes.
The hair was also more of the rainbow variety among them all, and Phoenix suspected that the bright shades were more of a result of magic than genetics. Her ruby locks only stood out due to the long curls, which were still not as prevalent among them, though there were many that had tighter coils that framed their features, so she wasn’t that much of a visual oddity anymore.
Zevan was right, though. The people who glanced her way noticed the heavy clothing she wore as their eyes trailed down her skirt before back up to her neck and the white ribbon that encircled it, either shaking their heads in disapproval or simply shrugging and going about their way.
“Feeling a bit of culture shock?” Zevan asked her, and she glanced over to the smirking gemite, whose humor turned slightly to pity. “It’s okay. Many outsiders do. It took me a while to adjust at first and not feel so self-conscious, but you’ll find that the people here are very body-positive and are more judgemental when it comes to wealth than they are about what shape or color your body is. To them, the body is just another form of art for a person to design and display. The Artist is also very adamant about the belief that all art has a beauty to be found within it.”
Phoenix glanced down at her dress and asked, “Wouldn’t that make my outfit its own sort of art? I thought this dress was pretty…”
“It is,” Zevan reassured her. “But the message people here will read from it is that you want to hide from them. That you don’t embrace their culture. That you are an outsider. Have you ever gone swimming at the beach before?”
She was taken aback by the sudden question that felt completely off-topic but answered, “No, but I’ve seen movies— I mean, pictures of people in swimsuits at the beach before. That’s what a lot of these outfits remind me of.”
“Well, imagine if we were there and some stranger nobody knew walked around in a heavy cloak, no face to be seen, unsure if they’re hiding a weapon or perhaps something worse underneath it. Even if they don’t intend harm, it makes the people around them wary. But like I said before, you can wear whatever makes you comfortable if you want. People aren’t going to attack you for it or anything, but they will be wary of you.”
Phoenix looked around again at what the other women in the area were wearing. She didn’t think she could handle the outfit that basically amounted to very strategically placed strings… but maybe that wispy silk dress? It was sleeveless and only went down to the knees, but at least it fully covered things.
“I’ll think about it,” she finally said to the malachite gemite. “I want to find my friends first, though. Do you know where I can go about finding missing people? Or at least be able to send off my letters?”
Zevan gave another pitying smile before saying, “The PPS isn’t far from here. I can take you there, but then I need to meet up with my own people.”
As she turned to lead the way, Phoenix felt an odd sensation on her wrist, and a small cracking sound reached her ears. When she lifted her bracelet to examine it, she was mortified to see the little onyx bead crumbling and falling from it.
“No. Not Uriel,” she whispered, feeling her heart begin to race.
“Calm down, Phoenix,” Tala replied in her mind. She had re-merged with her back on the ferry while Ren stayed nestled in her hair, remaining small and out of sight. “The warm one cannot be dead. Do not think of that. I told you not to ever think of that again.”
“But his bead—”
“No!” Tala practically shouted back at her. “We are not going to panic here in this city of strangers. We are going to assume everyone is safe and will meet us soon. We are not going to fear the what-ifs!”
Phoenix silently nodded, understanding that Tala was right, and tried to refocus on what she could actually control right now. With a steadying breath, they stepped forward to follow after Zevan and seek out her friends.