Book 5: Chapter 16

Book 5: Chapter 16

Kay leaned against the railing near the front of the ship, his arms folded on top of the rail and his chin on his arms, staring out at the gorgeous sunset. The sea and the sky were both dyed a dazzling array of colors, including reds, oranges, and purples, that turned the entire scene into something out of a world famous painting. Kay yearned for a camera to capture a portion of this moment forever. He quietly debated with himself if it was worth it to try and find a high tier Painter of some kind in the Isles to bring back with him on the return trip. It wouldn’t be this sunset, but there would be other glorious scenes like this one and he wanted to have a painting of one of them. Surely a high tier painting Class would have Skills to speed up how fast someone could finish a painting. The extreme distance to the horizon was still a little nerve wracking, but it meant that the sunrise and sunset lasted much longer.

Eleniah slipped past the semi circle of guards a few feet behind Kay and leaned next to him turned the other direction, with her elbows against the rail. She tilted her head back and let her short hair twist in the salty breeze.

Kay glanced at her from the corner of his eye without getting up. “Not going to watch the sunset?”

“I’ve seen a lot of them at this point, so I won’t feel left out if I don’t look at this particular one. And I’ve got an hour or so to turn around if I feel like it.”

He quietly grunted in reply and kept watching the colors stretch and blend into each other as the sun gradually sunk lower and lower. They sat there quietly for some time, just enjoying the moment and each other’s company without saying anything. The light slowly dwindled and shadows stretched out, cast from the receding rays of the sun as it continued it’s regular journey.

“We’re getting close.” Eleniah said into the quiet air. “Only a week or so left until we arrive.”

Kay turned his head to look at her, but she was still staring up into the dimming sky so her turned back to stare forward as he replied, “You’d know better than I would, but that sounds right. You think Carlile is already there?”

“No, his ship is faster than ours, but not that fast. Tomorrow or the day after is the earliest he could pull in. Then everyone will be scrambling to get ready to receive us.” She let out an exasperated breath, “If Alahna didn’t assume we’d accept and already has everything prepared.”

“... How’re you feeling about seeing her again?”

Eleniah kept staring up, and it was some time before she finally answered. “My life didn’t end up being anything like I thought it would when I was young?”

“Are we competing?” Asked the man from another world with a laugh in his voice.

She gave one silent laugh, the exhale of mild amusement, “No, we aren’t. I was a teacher,” She continued, letting the attempt at levity pass, “All I wanted to be was a teacher, and when I finally got to the tier three Teacher Class I was so happy.”

“You still are a teacher.”

“I am,” She acknowledged, “I didn’t lose that. But I’m a lot more and a lot different than I ever planned on being. All I wanted was to teach. I wasn’t interested in fighting or adventuring or sailing around exploring the other isles. I loved my little classroom and I loved my students from the families of our clan and I was happy. And then my younger cousin turns out to be an absolute genius, ends up heir to the leader of our clan, and begs me to go adventuring with her because I’m her favorite teacher.”

“Could you have said no?”

“Not... realistically. I don’t think I’ve really talked about how our clan is organized but I’m from one of the main families, but not the head family. The head families and the main family are all directly descended from our founding ancestor, but the head family has the most power. Everyone who’s not part of the main or head families is from a branch family or a vassal family. My family is the weakest of the main families, which puts us in an interesting space politically. I could have told Alahna that I wouldn’t go with her but she’s from the head family and it had been declared that she was going to be the next leader of the clan. Turning her down would have been a bad move.”

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A spindly looking elven man with bronze hair stared down into the royal port from his manor on the island of Sel. A ship flying the flag of the royal family had pulled into the port hours ago and unloading continued into the night as boxes and crates were pulled off one after another. Prince Carlile had debarked many hours before and headed to the royal palace to meet with his mother.

There was a knock on the door to the man’s study. “Enter.” He called out without looking away from the ship.

“My lord, I’ve heard back from our agent that went with Prince Carlile. The foreign king agreed with the queen’s request. His ship will arrive in a week or two at most.”

“And her cousin?”

“Eleniah Selthoran is confirmed to be one of the king’s advisers and will be arriving with him.”

“Dammit!” The lord slammed his fist into the windowsill. “How can she know? We’ve been so dammed careful!”

“She might not know anything my lord, no one knows what supposed problem she called him to help with.”

“What else could it be? We’re just around the corner from the date we chose and now she’s suddenly calling for help from some king of a backwood country no one has heard of before this? And her favorite cousin, the dammed Indomitable Fist herself just happens to be with him? What else is there?”

“I... don’t know, my lord.”

“Check with everyone. Make sure nothing leaks. We can’t afford for anything to go wrong at this juncture. The... event a few months ago has finally put us in position to realize our plans after so long.” The lord whirled about to stare at the other person, “We cannot fail. For how things should be.”

“For how things should be,” The other person replied while bowing. “I’ll see to it at once.”

“Good.” The lord paused, his eyes narrowing, “And triple check our native,” He spat, the word almost a curse, “agents. They’re the most likely to let anything slip. If any of them have... take care of it.”

“Of course, my lord.”

The lord turned to stare pensively down at the ship, ignoring the sound of the door closing. “For the way things should be.” He whispered fiercely to himself, “How they must be.”