Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty-Eight - Taking a Friendtrip

The final summit thing was going to happen in one week, which was a very long time. Still, we’d spent half of our first day in Goldenalden already, which left us with closer to six and a half days to have fun and also stop a war.

“I think we should put off any sort of preparations for the summit,” Amaryllis said. “We don’t know what the local fashions are like, and we don’t want to accidentally imply something with the way we dress and prepare for it.”

We stepped out into the full light of day, and I had to squint to protect my eyes. I didn’t notice just how dark it was inside the Exploration Guild, at least not once my eyes had gotten used to the relative lack of light. “So, if we can’t go shopping, should we play tourist? I bet there’s all sorts of things to see. Didn’t Jared mention a parade ground?”

“Broccoli.” I turned towards Awen, then followed her gaze. She was looking to the side where a sylph was walking towards us. He was the tallest sylph I’d seen so far, coming right up to my eyes in height, and he wore the same sort of dark armour as Bastion.

The paladin came to a smart stop a pace away from us and bowed at the waist. “Greetings, ladies,” he said with a gruff, formal voice. “Are you Broccoli Bunch, Awen Bristlecone, and Amaryllis Albatross?” he asked.

“And if we are?” Amaryllis asked.

“Please just confirm your identities,” he said.

“We are,” I said. It would be rude to lie, and besides, there weren’t exactly a wealth of bun-human-harpy threesomes on the street.

The paladin nodded and tugged a small scroll out from his belt. It had a wax seal on the front, with pretty yellow tassels sticking out from beneath. “This is for you,” he said.

Amaryllis took the scroll gingerly, as if it might explode at any moment. “And who exactly is it from? For that matter, what is it?”

The paladin obviously hesitated, but not for very long. “It’s from her royal highness, Princess Caprica. As for the contents, that isn’t something I’m aware of.”

Amaryllis quirked an eyebrow. “Very well. Is it your professional opinion that this should be opened in private?”

“The princess isn’t known for sending ultimatums, threats, or matters of intrigue in this fashion,” the paladin replied.

“I wanna see what it says,” I said as I crowded over Amaryllis' shoulder. Awen got onto her tippy toes to peek over Amaryllis’s other side.

Amaryllis sighed, but she edged a talon under the seal all the same and popped it open with a practiced flick. The scroll unrolled itself to reveal a letter written with very pretty calligraphy.

Dear Ladies Albatross and Bristlecone, and Captain Bunch,

I wish to cordially invite you for tea sometime this early evening or, if such isn’t convenient to you, sometime tomorrow morning.

Please don’t fret, this isn’t a grave matter, I merely heard some very interesting stories and wished to speak with those responsible for them, we have at least one mutual friend already, and I consider it a wonderful idea if we could become friends ourselves.

If you’re unable to attend, then please write back, I’m certain we can arrange something.

Sincerely,

Caprica.

“Aww,” I said.

“It could be a trap,” Amaryllis said.

I scoffed. “It’s an invitation for tea and to make friends!”

“Yes, which sounds like exactly the sort of bait I would use if I intended to lay a trap for you,” Amaryllis said. “I would be attracted by the political machinations and Awen... well, honestly I think she’d just come along because we’re going.”

“I like tea too,” Awen said with just a hint of a pout.

Amaryllis nodded. “Yes, but bait specifically designed for you would involve the kind of machinery that wouldn’t be present near a princess, or my sister.”

“If it helps, the princess also isn’t known for trapping people,” the paladin said.

Amaryllis waved the comment off. “You could be on her side. For all we know, you’re not even an actual paladin.”

The sylph blinked. “Impersonating a paladin is illegal.”

“Well, at least you have the right amount of stick up your--”

“I think we should go,” I cut in before Amaryllis could say anything too rude. “This Princess Caprica sounds nice, and the friend she’s mentioned sounds like Bastion. He wouldn’t lead us into a trap.”

Amaryllis gave me a look.

I retaliated with a pout.

“Very well,” Amaryllis said. “Sir paladin, would it be possible for you to lead us over to the princess? The time given in the letter suggests that we should arrive this evening, but we have little else to do at the moment and we aren’t familiar with the quarters where the princess resides.”

“Of course, Lady Albatross,” the paladin said with another short bow. “Would you like to stop by your inn on the way? It isn’t too far from our destination, and it would give you the opportunity to freshen up.”

I let out a quick burst of Cleaning magic, then combed my fingers through my hair and straightened my ears. “I’m freshened,” I said.

Awen giggled and nodded. “I’m ready too. I don’t really have the kind of dress that would be appropriate for tea with me. Ah, unless I wear the same outfit I wore at the ball?”

“Oh, that would be cute,” I said. My own outfit was pretty cute too. It wouldn’t hurt to get niced up for tea.

Amaryllis shrugged. “If you insist. I’m more comfortable in my current outfit. A dress would get in the way if fighting broke out.”

The paladin cleared his throat. “I doubt that there would be any fighting at the palace.”

I nodded. “Better to stay in armour then, just in case.”

I don’t think he expected me to interpret his words that way, but I knew from experience that when someone said not to expect trouble, that was the ideal time to start expecting trouble.

Taunting fate to have more fun adventures was one of my favourite pastimes, after all. “Too bad we can’t bring all of our gear with us,” I said.

“I don’t think I can bring a repeating crossbow into a palace,” Awen said. “It might be seen as an insult, or as a threat.”

I nodded, that sounded wise. “So, mister paladin, could you guide us over to the princess? Oh, should we tell her that we might be a bit early?”

“I’ll dispatch a runner as soon as we arrive near the castle,” the paladin said. “Follow me, we’ll take the quieter route.”

“That’s fine by me,” I said. A nice walk would be refreshing after the rather heavy conversation we had with Reginald. I had a bit of stuff to think about, I had a bit of stuff to think about, mostly Rainnewt and his involvement in ... in ... Amaryllis' kidnapping, and... I couldn’t help but remember Amaryllis, bound up by those cervid, disappearing into the swamps. I tried to put it out of my mind and think, but then all I could remember was crying on that bridge.

Rainnewt had caused that, hadn't he? Then the ball, with the explosion. There had been so many nice people screaming, so many innocents hurt.

How could someone just... be that way?

No, that wasn’t a fair question to ask. Sometimes I wanted to do mean things too, to be rude and to put others down because--even though I knew better--it felt good to do that. Not good-good, but still... a squicky yucky kind of good. Did Rainnewt feel that when he blew up the Ball?

I was probably not the best when it came to philosophy, I knew.

Usually, I only dealt with little problems of morality. How to be careful not to tease someone too hard, how to help a friend while still taking care of yourself. Little problems that a bun like me could handle just fine. What Rainnewt was doing was a whole order of magnitude more complicated than what I was used to thinking about.

Actually killing people, and not during some morally grey-ish thing, like self-defence. He was harming people because... I didn’t know why and I really wanted to. Maybe there was some excuse out there for what he’d done. I didn’t know if I’d accept it, but it would be nice to know that the violence and hurting wasn’t just senseless.

I did have an inkling of what it might be, but it made me nervous to think about it.

The Evil Roots.

Rainnewt’s trick with his false name.

Was it possible that he really was a riftwalker, like me?

If so, I didn’t know why the World picked him of all people.

I felt a bump against my shoulder, and when I looked up I found Awen looking at me. She had a small smile on, but there was no mistaking the concern in her eyes. “Are you okay, Broc?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” I said.

“Okay,” she said. “It’s just you’re not looking around as much as you usually do, and your ears are all, you know.” She brought her hands over her head and loosened her wrists so that they wiggled before her.

I tilted my head, ears twitching up. “What did my ears do?”

“They were droopy,” she said before she giggled. “They looked sad.”

I sniffed. I loved my bun ears, but sometimes they came with quite the disadvantages, like bonking on doorframes and giving away how I was feeling when I didn’t mean to worry my friends.

Reaching up, I tugged my ears up by the little tufts on their ends. “There, is that better?” I asked. When I let go, then both flopped right back down like a pair of wet rags.

Awen laughed, and I joined her a moment later. It was kind of funny. The look from the paladin ahead of us only made me laugh harder. After that, my ears actually did perk up a bit.

We were getting a few looks, mostly because we were in a part of the city that had fewer tall homes. Most of the buildings around the walls of what I guessed were the palace were a fair bit smaller and wider. Homes that looked more like small mini-mansions than they did family homes, with gates and fences and small well-tended gardens out front.

I didn’t know enough about sylph fashion to say anything definitive, but I had the impression that the people we were crossing were dressed a lot better than the average citizen. Nobles? Or just the upper crust of sylph society out and about.

“If you don’t mind,” the paladin said. “We can use one of the more discreet side-gates to enter the palace.”

“Certainly,” Amaryllis said after I glanced her way. She knew this kind of thing better than I did, so of course I deferred to her.

We were technically still in the Yellow District, but there weren’t any more shops or businesses around. I guessed that the area was too small to be worthy of having its own colour name so it was folded into the Yellow District, even though it was mostly residential.

We reached a small road that led right up to a wall. Unlike the much larger city walls, this one was only maybe a floor and a bit high. I could probably leap right over it if I spent a bit of stamina and had a running start.

A gatehouse sat in the wall, flanked by two soldiers in all-black uniforms. They had very strange hats on, part helmet, part fluff, with long crests of purple feathers sticking out the top. A third soldier stood above, protected by a small roof over the gate, and I imagined there were a few more around.

The paladin stepped up to the gate and spoke a few words to the guard next to it who then turned smartly, stepped to the side, and pulled a cord.

The gate--a big wooden thing with iron bands across it--thunked before opening up from within.

The paladin saluted the guard who saluted right back, then he turned towards us. “Welcome to the Purple Palace,” he said.

***