"You will be surprised just how much of our modern convenience were rooted from Paradise. The heat-plate you probably cooked your breakfast on? Paradise. The perpetually self-filling water tanks that basically every large community have? Paradise. Even I, your teacher, am technically a Paradise product too." -Sven Bronzmeier, Enchantment lecturer at the Levain Institute of Higher Learning.

When she woke up the next day, Cal decided she loved Paradise.

Oh, she still has every intention to see the rest of the world, but she would definitely stay there for a month first, or a year, and make frequent visits in the future too, something made simpler by the teleportation network connected to the city.

Cal stretched her muscles as she yawned from the too-comfortable bed, and blearily rubbed her eyes as she drove away the last remnants of drowsiness. She had stayed the night at a guest chamber in Aideen's personal tower, located right in the cluster of towers in the very center of the city.

The morning sun had just risen, and she woke to its first rays as she was used to. She sluggishly got out from under the silken blanket and walked to the nearby small table, where she then poured herself a glass of ice-cold water - the pitcher she poured from was enchanted, so that fluids inside were kept at whatever temperature it was poured at - and used the cold water to help wake herself up.

Only then had she extracted a light green set of clothing from her pendant - she did have a preference to sleep naked when in a private room - and put it on. Her shoes, she left in the pendant, for it's just rude to have worn them in the spotlessly clean tower.

After she got out from her room she found Aideen at the dining room, as the woman stood by the window while she munched on a sandwich filled with vegetables, meats, and cheese. The Unliving woman noticed her, and waved in welcome before she gestured for Cal to help herself out of the platter set on the table.

"You rise early." Aideen said after she swallowed her current mouthful of food. "I hope the accommodations are to your liking?"

"Oh, that was the Vitalis-damned most comfortable bed I have ever laid on." Cal answered while she assembled herself a sandwich out of a baton-shaped loaf of bread, some fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, a generous helping of cold cuts of meat, and a fat slice of soft cheese. "Where can I buy one?" She asked before taking a bite from her creation and chewed contentedly.

"It's a pretty new creation, unveiled at this spring's festival." Answered Aideen. "Not too many have ordered one yet, so if you put in an order at the store today, they likely can get one ready for you within a week or so at most. Want me to show you the store later?"

"If it's not troubling, I would appreciate it, yes." Replied Cal. "I had thought someone of your caliber would be more… occupied. Not that I'm complaining, mind you."

Aideen laughed melodiously at that. " Hah, no! Not a chance. I delegated basically every important decision to those specialized in their fields. There's benefits to being at the top, you see?" Then she added on after she finished the last mouthful of her food. "Technically I still hold the tiebreaker vote on any proposal the council is tied on, and veto rights to any proposal period, but I think the last time I used either was… Two centuries ago? Thereabouts."

"Considering how thriving the city is, I'm guessing that worked out just fine for everyone."

"I know my limits, and I know I'm just about useless for managing a city. Or an economy. Or an academy for that matter. So I left each of them in far more capable hands, who enjoyed the work at that! Hans has the political savvy so he's our mayor, while Creusens used to be a merchant, so he got to regulate the trade, and Martha just liked teaching so she gets to be Dean. And I get to live in peace doing what I felt like doing, everyone happy that way!"

"Makes sense. I wouldn't know much on how to do any of those either. All my life the most I've been good for was the battlefield." Cal replied, as she also finished her food.

"Everyone just has their calling in life. Now that you've eaten, want to warm up a bit with a spar? I'm a fleshweaver, so feel free to go all out."

"Sure, why not?"

-------------------------------------------------------

"So you left behind the easy life, straight road up the nobility ladder and all, to see the world?" Aideen asked, the black Adamant staff in her hand met Cal's halberd just below the axeblade and deflected it to the side.

"Yeah, it just wasn't me, you know?" Cal said, her left hand grabbed four throwing darts in between her fingers and hurled them at the other woman's face. "Besides, if they made me a noble it would just be a matter of time before some ass of a visiting noble pissed me off and made me cause a diplomatic incident."

"So might as well leave before it turns into a mess, huh?" Aideen chuckled while she nonchalantly deflected all four darts with a simple spin of her staff. The Silver Maiden's fighting style was very heavily focused on defense and deflection. And despite her physical superiority in every regard with her magic at full bore, Cal could not even land a single hit against the far more experienced woman.

"That's not the worst of it." Cal said, as she brought her halberd and swept back at Aideen's waist from the side with full force. "The worst part is that I know everyone would stand behind my back and be on my side."

"How is that a bad thing?" Asked Aideen as she simply jumped over the blow - and landed with both feet on the halberd's head, as she easily kept her balance. "It seems to me you're loved there."

"Old Halmout - he's a stickler for protocol that served as the prime minister since Xain's grandfather's days - would have a declaration of war drafted within the hour should a foreign noble cause enough offense to me to make me beat them up." Cal explained while she bodily flung Aideen towards the wall the moment she landed on her halberd's head. "And Xain would have it signed and sealed the very same night. I do not want that kind of mess on my conscience."

"Understandable." Aideen flipped in the air and landed on the wall feet first, then flexed her legs to launch herself off the wall and back to the floor with an acrobatic roll. "Sometimes too much love can be a burden."

"That it is indeed." Cal gave a few quick jabs with the spearhead at the other woman. "I do miss them sometimes, they're the closest people I had since dad passed away."

"Oh." Aideen sounded somewhat saddened, though her hands moved deftly as always, and easily deflected the jabs aimed at her. "I had expected it given his age and how much time has passed, but it saddens me nonetheless to hear the affirmation that Calais is no longer among us."

"For what it's worth, dad passed peacefully in his sleep." Consoled Cal while she made an upward cleave with her weapon. "It's been over half a century now since he died, but I do still miss him, and mom too. Sadly neither rose after their deaths, but I guess they were content with the lives they lived."

"That is often the case, yes." Aideen said as she evaded the attack with a quick step to the side. "People who are simply content to have lived their life have not been known to rise as an Unliving. All of us had some passion, attachment, or unfinished work keeping us tied to this mortal coil even after death claimed us."

"Your defenses are insanely solid." Cal said, as she moved on from the slightly uncomfortable topic, and brought her weapon back down towards the other woman. "I assume you have means to attack that you don't feel like using in a spar?"

"Why, of course. It would be silly for me to use a Volcano Cocktail while sparring inside my own tower, would it not?" Aideen said as she pushed the halberd off-course with a swing of her own staff. Cal has heard of Volcano Cocktails, the name of a certain brand of alchemical bomb, said to cause a conflagration no weaker than a fireball thrown by an archmage. "For one, it would be a pain to clean the aftermath."

"That certainly explains the defensive focus." Cal said, while she tried to use the lower blade of the axehead of her halberd to hook Aideen's leg.

"Oh, I do have less… destructive options" Aideen answered while she casually stepped over the attempt, and took a short leap back. "Rarely used it these days since it's usually not very effective against monsters, but then again I haven't fought other people much this past century. Wanna see?"

"Sure. Go ahead." Cal replied, as she also took a step back and now held her Halberd in a diagonal defensive position.

"Hope I haven't gotten rusty." Said Aideen, as she held her staff around thirds of the way with each hand and gave it a twist. The staff separated into three equal sections, linked to one another by short chains of the same metal it was made from. "Ready? I'm coming."

"Do your worst."

*********

When they were done with the spar half an hour later, every surface on Cal's body sported a bruise.

If the Silver Maiden on defense could be equated to a willow tree; that flowed with the wind, always bent but never broken, when she went on the attack the woman was a whirlwind, her attacks came from every angle, and the absurd flexibility afforded by her three-sectioned staff put into full display.

Cal was understandably humbled, especially when Aideen offered to do away with the bruises after the spar, an offer she accepted to show no hard feelings were had. To her surprise, after she felt a pulse of magic flow through her body, not only was all the bruises gone, but so did all the scars that had not faded yet, even the most recent ones, which left only skin as smooth as a baby's where they used to be.

"You have such nice skin." Aideen teased, as she playfully pinched Cal's cheeks. "It'd be a shame to leave them marred, even if temporary."

"Well… thanks. Got so used to just letting them fade away on their own it never crossed my mind to remove them sooner." Cal said and accepted the other woman's offered hand and got up from where she was sprawled on the floor. "And thanks, for the lesson."

"The feeling is mutual, no worry. Your father taught you how to use a staff, did he not? I can see a shadow of him in how you fight."

"He did indeed. I'm surprised you noticed."

"Oh, lass. I was the one who taught him how to fight with a staff in the first place!" Aideen said with another melodious laugh.

*************

After both women refreshed themselves - every room in Aideen's tower had a personal bath, something Cal was quick to take advantage of - they left the tower, where Aideen gave Cal a short tour of the notable places they passed on their way to the bed store.

The bed store turned out to be owned by another unliving archmage, the old dwarf Cal saw in the square yesterday, who Aideen introduced as Fibuela. It turned out the store was just one of several businesses under her name, and she only happened to come to the store that day due to the new product she invented last spring. She was there as she supervised her workers during its creation. The old dwarf matriarch also welcomed them to have a little sightseeing tour of the production process.

The true form of the bed turned out to be a very large rectangular leather waterbag, with enchantments to both further waterproof the leather and to either heat or cool the liquid contained. On one corner of the bed was a valve enchanted with the controls over the rest of the enchantments, as well as further enchantments that allowed the bed to be drained or filled rapidly.

Despite the rather expensive price - mostly necessitated by the enchantments - Cal happily paid the deposit for two of the "water beds" and was informed that her order will be ready within approximately one week after the festival.

"Festival?" Cal asked when she had left the store along with Aideen.

"The common folks around here called it the Festival of Wonders. Simply put, every season the archmages gather, and those willing put up a recent invention of theirs for show. Some have been refining and perfecting the same invention over decades, others often coming up with new, useful, or just convenient things either by accident or as a byproduct. Back then it was just a meeting for a club of us research maniacs, but it grew way out of proportions with time." Aideen explained. "The Water Bed was a byproduct from Fibuela researching a new spell and suddenly getting the idea when she felt her bed was uncomfortable, I heard."

"That… sounds fascinating."

"If you're interested, come watch the summer festival in two days. Entry is open to everyone, for it's the exchange of new ideas we were interested in when we first did it."

"I do think I will attend, thanks."