Since the revelation of the party, Thea had gotten a firm scolding from both Alvaroz and Lillia for letting it slip the little surprise they had planned. Soon the whole castle knew what was coming up, and everyone was talking about it. But just because there was something to celebrate, didn’t mean that Thea let up on the training. Or at least at first, she didn’t let up, as the date got closer for them to leave, she started to give more free days for the kids to do what they want. Which, they used to play and spend more time with each other.
Luna, during this time, went through her body awakening with the help of Van. her body, already growing by leaps and bounds. Giving her an older look than her actual age, which was a month younger than Van. she already looked like she was fifteen years old, while Van already looked like he was sixteen despite only just turning fifteen.
Finally, the day came for them to leave, and everyone was excited and nervous at the same time, or at least for the kids, the adults didn’t think much about it. For Van and Anna, it would be the first time they had ever left the castle, they had never even seen the castle town that surrounded them except for when they were on the wall looking down. So for the both of them, it was something special and perhaps the only chance they may ever get to see the outside world.
Van was packing a few of his things when he turned around and watched the Annas help pack everything else. He was impressed by their coordination in even lifting and putting away even the heavy luggages, how several of them would work together to get big parcels on the carriage. Because of their number, Van and Anna will be taking separate carriages, with someone else assigned to them by his father. Van wished he could at least take one of the Annas with him, but his father said it probably wouldn’t work out with the person he had in mind to guard him. When Thea and Luna first came, there were three carriages, now that they are leaving, there seemed to be more than twice that number getting ready to leave.
Van saw his father waving him and Luna over with a guardswoman standing beside him. They went to him with one of the Annas tagging along in case something important was to be said. As Van got closer, he realized it just wasn’t any guardswoman but the closest thing to a knight they had.
The knight was a high ghoul, making her very strong and powerful. Supposedly she had served the family for over 60 years and was one of the few survivors of the attack on the castle. She was young-looking, early twenties, and had pale light bluish skin and light red eyes of a ghoul with black hair and a toned body from years of training while wearing black form-fitting armor.
Anna was a little nervous as she got closer since for some reason the knight glared at her and didn’t seem to like her and she was too afraid to get close or ask why.
“Van, I’m assigning Kella to you for your protection on the journey to Thea’s home, both you and Luna will be traveling together separately from us in a different carriage and we couldn’t think of anyone else who could protect you like she can. You both will be riding right behind us so there shouldn’t be anything to worry.” Alvaroz said.
“Is there anything we should be concerned about when we leave?” Van asked.
“Nothing that we couldn’t handle” Alvaroz replied back with a smile.
“Can I take one of the Annas with me?” Van asked, a little unsure because of Kella. He knew he was told that he should not bring one with him, but it felt wrong to go somewhere without her.
Alvaroz hesitated and Looked at Kella who was staring daggers at Anna. “Would that be fine with you?” Alvaroz asked Kella uncertainty.
“I live to serve, master, If it's your will that I watch over this Thing. Then so be it.” she said not even looking away from Anna to address her master directly.
Alvaroz looked worriedly between the two as Anna shrunk under the intense gaze of Kella. Van wondered if he made the wrong decision in asking and thought that it probably would have been better if he just kept his mouth shut and let Anna just travel with the rest of her.
Alvaroz looked worried, then looked back towards the group. “Why don’t you all get in the carriage, we’ll be leaving soon.” he then turned back to Kella “and please try to get along.” he whispered to her “she’s just a child and had nothing to do with what happened,” Kella grunted and finally looked away from Anna, her foot-stomping away leaving everyone behind. Anna let out a breath in relief.
Alvaroz turned to address the group once more “please forgive her, you know how she can get.”
“Why doesn't she like Anna?” Van asked his father, a little concerned.
Alvaroz hesitated, looking unsure “I’m not sure I should be the one saying this, perhaps it's best that you asked her directly? I’ll just say that her anger is, while justified, a little misplaced in this case. She lost much, and blamed herself for what happened all those years ago.” he finished a little sadly.
Van realized then what his father was probably talking about. “You mean, she was one of the few survivors from the attack?” he asked.
Alvaroz winced a little, looking around and hoping no one heard and sighing in relief when he found no one who did. Luna and Anna looked surprised as they too just realized what Van just said.
Alvaroz then looked at his son and sighed “yes… she is one of the survivors of the attack, but I won't say anything more than that. I'm sorry but you won't hear anything else from me.” he finished firmly, Alvaroz was never the kind of person to talk about others behind their back, and considering how personal this information was, he felt it wasn’t his place to talk about it doubly so.
Van nodded in understanding. “Sorry.” he said
“Nothing to apologize for,” Alvaroz replied. “Now why don’t you all get in,” he said pointing to the carriage nearby being pulled by shadow mares. “We'll be leaving soon.” then if just realizing something. “Also, don’t forget you have everything in order, it will be a while before we get back and the trip is long, so bring a few games or books with you for the journey.”
“Don’t worry dad. I already thought of that and packed a few things to take with me in the carriage. We're ready to go whenever you are.” Van replied.
“Good. just ah… make sure you went to the bathroom before we leave because it will be a while before we reach a safe place to stop at. Don’t forget to bring snacks as well, we already prepared some food for everyone but just in case you're hungry on the trip you should bring some. And-”
“Well be fine dad!” Van said, cutting his father off. “We'll see each other again in a few hours at the rest stop. It's not like we are going anywhere dangerous.”
“Right…” Alvaroz said. “Well, I’ll be taking care of a few things on my end. Be ready soon,” he said as he turned away to get back to work ordering a few of the workers around before getting in one of the carriages near the front.
Van turned to the girls beside him. “Anyone need to go to the bathroom? I already went before coming out.”
“I’m fine,” Luna said.
“Me too,” Anna added.
“Then let's get in and get ourselves comfortable. I brought a blanket, snacks, and a few good books with me.” Van said.
“Any board games?” Luna asked
“I had Anna put them in the back, I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to ask someone to reach out and get them for us as we ride, since I didn’t want too much stuff making us feel cramped inside the carriage on the way to your home.
“I wonder if we are missing anything else?” Luna asked out loud.
Van gave it some thought. “I think we're good... we probably should get in the carriage so as not to keep everyone else waiting.”
With that, the three of them got in the carriage. The carriage was big and wide and had a soft upholstery and carpeted floor, it was big enough for a grown adult to stand and take a few steps to reach the other side. They took in the art and everything else and chatted about the excitement of moving to someplace new, asking Luna a few questions as well about her first time traveling to their home and what they might get to see along the way to hers. A nervous excitement hung in the air as Van took the window seat and was already looking outside despite not having moved yet as the other two giggled and chatted about one thing or another.
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Then Kella entered and sat on the opposite side of the seating, staring hard at them. Slowly the excitement died out under her gaze as the kids started to feel a little uncomfortable, As if on cue the carriage began to move. Anna seemed the most uncomfortable as most of the gaze was directed at her, and Van was worried that the trip would not be as much fun as he first hoped it would.
For a time, silence reigned over the carriage, but as it moved on, Van couldn’t help but glance outside. Once he did, he couldn’t look away, the atmosphere of the carriage already being forgotten in his mind as he stared at the outside world. Luna and, with some difficulty, Anna also slowly had their attention taken away by the changing view and the promise of something new.
Van looked upon the outside world with great interest. The slightly gothic architecture, the people, vamps, ghouls, goblins, humans, and more busily moving about their day as the procession of carriages passed them by. Wearing black, or black and white, some wearing dark browns or greys, a few with blues and reds clothing. The sight of food vendors giving out free samples, merchants boasting about their wares trying to get someone to buy. The noise and even some of the smells that wormed its way into the carriage stole Van’s attention away.
As he watched, he noticed something strange. Most of the people outside were women, the few men he saw were also accompanied by women. Looking closer he noticed that there were a few more men than he originally thought but they were all wearing hoods to cover up their faces. But no matter where he looked, women severely outnumbered the men. More than that, the few men that were out, all wore clothing that covered most of their body, the women, on the other hand, wore practically nothing.
Some of them wore one-piece dresses that were see-through hiding nothing, others wore what he expected to be underwear with a large jacket, but walking around it as if it were everyday clothes, One didn’t even bother to cover her chest and simply wore a short skirt. Another odd thing was that most of the women seemed to be watching the precession with great interest. Soon, women crowded on either side of the street, as the carriages moved on by. One particularly astonishing thing to Van was when one of the women stripped her clothing and gave it to her friend to hold, then proceeded to jog alongside the carriages naked. The other women did not seem to think this as weird at all, and largely cheered her on.
“What is she doing?” Van wondered aloud, completely confused by the scene in front of him. It was Kella who answered.
“She is trying to get your father and mother’s attention,” she said, sounding a little bored as she turned and also looked at the naked jogging women.
“Why?” Van asked, hoping for an answer.
Kella rolled her eyes. “This is what happens when your father shelters you so.” she said, “you have no idea how the world works, do you?”
“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” Van said frowning and a little angry, feeling slightly insulted but still also wanting to know.
Kella sighed “sorry young master, I didn’t mean to say that, it was wrong of me. I should have phrased it better, it just… that your question shouldn’t even be a question, if not for your father's orders.” she replied genuinely.
Van was surprised by the sudden turn in tone, and so was Luna and Anna. they had first thought of Kella as a hardass, so it was surprising when she quickly apologized like that. “It's fine...” he said “can you please tell me what's going on with that woman?” he asked politely, not wanting to ruin things between the two of them.
“I’m sorry young master, as per your father's orders, I can only tell you the bare minimum. As for what she is doing… like I said, she is hoping to get your father’s and mother’s attention.”
“By running around naked?” Van asked flatly
“Yes,” Kella replied, matter of factly.
“And that's normal?” Van asked, questioningly.
“Yes,” Kella replied once more.
Van sat back, staring at Kella, trying to figure her out. “Why is she trying to get my parent's attention?”
“In the hopes that your father or mother might take a liking to her and let her in the carriage,” Kella said.
“Why?’ Van asked
“ The fact you have to ask shows how sheltered you are.” Kella sighed. “It can either be because she is hoping to call upon your father's duty, or that the woman hopes to be his concubine.”
“My father's duty? concubine?” Van asked confused
“Im sorry, but I can’t say much more than that,” Kella replied.
“Seriously!?” Van asked, exasperated.
“Yes,” Kella said.
Van angrily looked out the window once more, watching the naked woman as she ran. Finally, it seemed she got what she wanted because the door to his parents' carriage opened and the woman dashed inside and was helped up by Thea, the woman's face smiling all the while. A light cheer went up from the small crowd as she got in, which only confused Van even more. As he worriedly looked on he noticed that for the most part, most of the people walking about didn’t really care as they went about their day and only a few people did but only as something mildly amusing.
“How much is my father trying to keep from me?” Van asked, still looking out the window. He then turned to look at Luna and Anna “do you both know what going on?” Luna and Anna looked very uncomfortable at the question, making Van realize that they did in fact know what’s going on. “Am I the only one that doesn’t know?” he asked a little hurt at being kept out of the secret.
“Your father...” Kella began, “highly values your innocence…” she hesitated “but surely you already have an idea of what's going on? It should have become more obvious when Thea came over to stay.”
Van hesitated, he knew what she was getting at, but Van didn’t want to acknowledge it. Slowly though, he realized that he was looking at the world with some bias, no doubt thanks to his many past lives and stuff influencing him. “Am I letting my past lives influence me more than I realize? Am I not seeing the world for what it actually is?” He remembered back to when Thea first came over, how he had to go out of his way to avoid their section of the castle because of all the moans they made. “But what if all those moans weren’t just my father and Thea? Now that I think of it, after she came it didn’t just stop at their section of the castle, it slowly spread out, it wasn’t just them was it. It was more than just those two.”
Van looked outside once more in thought at the crowd of people outside. He wasn’t really looking at them, if anything they started to blur together as he went deeper in thought. “I need to look at the world with a more open mind, maybe there's a different cultural aspect between the genders that I am missing?”
“Does this happen everywhere?” Van asked.
“As far as I know, only in this region, the customs to get the attention of a noble can differ from place to place, and of course, from nation to nation. Though admittedly, this is one of the more archaic methods that is slowly going out of practice. In other areas, it could be dancing, or art, there are a number of different methods to gain the interest of a noble or a male in general. It doesn't always have to be a male either. They do it because working for a powerful family usually nets benefits and good pay. And if not that, at least it's an interesting experience. Sometimes it's also just done in good fun or because of drunkenness.” Kella answered.
Van wanted to ask more about that, but just then he noticed a woman on the streets, taking advantage of everyone's distraction, grabed a man and dragged him into an alleyway. She pinned him to a wall and a scuffle began as she tried to remove some of his clothing and tried to force-feed him some sort of pinkish liquid from a vial. The man seemed just as shocked as Van was by the suddenness of it all. But the day was saved when another woman came by and kicked the would-be assailant off and brought the man back with her to safety.
Van, now paying more attention, then noticed other things happening. Such as women trying to tease the hoods of a few males, or a woman smacking the ass of a nearby man. He also saw couples everywhere, doing it on a terrace, one in their home with the window open and a few others hidden away, sometimes with more than one woman.
“What in the world is going on!?” Van thought as he saw all this.
“If I may make a suggestion, young master,” Kella said, breaking Van out of his thoughts. “Before you come to any judgments, wait for your father to explain everything. Last I heard, he was planning to tell you about everything he has been keeping from you for when you mature a bit more. But considering everything you no doubt have seen, you should ask him when we make our next stop. And if he still refuses to tell you, I suggest you remember that your father has always done what was best for you, so please… believe in him.”
Van looked surprised at Kella. It was the most she has ever talked before, or so he believed. He gave what she said some thought and while still a little worried about everything he was seeing, he decided that she was right and that he should place his trust in his father.
“Your right...” Van said, calming himself down “I will ask my father a few questions once we stop for the night.” he said then looked worriedly at the man who was assaulted, far behind in the distance.
“Do not worry young master” Kella said “rape was almost nonexistent before the breaking happened. I’m sure once everyone has another year or two to forget and calm down, everything will be back to normal. Still, I have memorized that woman's face for when we return, she will be punished for her crimes, whether or not she was able to commit them.” she said reassuringly, trying to put Van at ease.
Van was somewhat thankful to hear that, but he couldn’t help exclaim in his heart “Rape!?” then tried to calm himself down, thinking he must have misheard thinking back to his previous thoughts. “There is a lot about this world I do not know, and that I can’t get just from books. My parents are hiding things from me, well maybe not so much Thea, I don’t think she really cares either way. But still, I need a few questions answered.” He continued to think deeply, even as they slowly made their way to the large gate that will let them out of the castle town and into the wider world.
Van watched as the door to his parent’s carriage opened once more, letting the women out. Her hair a mess, her body sweating, and a happy expression on her face as she practically skipped her way back home. Or at least tried to before waking slowly, wincing as she looked down at her crotch. A few moments more and she was gone from view as the walls of the town cut off his vision.
She was soon forgotten as the sight outside took his breath away in wonder and awe. Thought the heaviness and worry in his heart was not so easily dispelled.