Patra

"Where is the man you were speaking to?" Grandmother projects to me as the important people gather into a more comfortable chamber with less drunken soldiers about.

I look around at where I saw the man last and curse under my breath. "Do not be discouraged, you are still young and men you think caught will slither from your grasp until you gain enough experience." She projects again whilst simultaneously still holding her conversation with the few guests we've invited here with us.

I approach one of the other tribespeople, one I saw interact with my quarry earlier in the day and I introduce myself warmly. The woman looks at me up and down with obvious appraisal before nodding and passing me a drink, I seem to have passed some sort of evaluation I assume as I take the cup of ale and place it on my lips for a sip.

As I lower the cup to talk a hand is placed under it and I'm forced to gulp down several more mouthfuls to prevent myself from drowning. I empty the cup and an involuntary burp pops out of my mouth and I quickly place my hand to cover my the offending orifice. The Barbarian woman besides me is laughing uproaringly and the hairy dwarf beside us is grinning at me with amusement. Dear spirits I pray grandmother didn't notice that mishap in etiquette.

"Its good isn't it?" The dwarf says in a thick accented gruff voice.

"Yes, quite good thank you." I say looking at both of them and feeling like I'm being ganged up on for some reason.

"So what did you want to talk about?" The tall femininely muscular woman asks looking at me.

"Oh, I was just making conversation is all, I find your people and your ways fascinatin-"

"What about my people huh?" The dwarf asks with a scowl, but its not easy to tell with how hairy he is. Its mostly on the forehead and the set of the eyes that the scowl is visible.

"I mean Paradisians in general more than I mean the Tribespeople of the Tundra. Is that offensive, calling you 'Tribespeople'?"

"No, its just-" She stops herself form finishing the sentence then frowns, then a slow smile starts creeping up her face. "Oh you're good, sneakily changing the focus on the conversation from you to me like that. I nearly missed it but you see I've been dealing with people like you a while now."

"Really? And where might that have been, or are there a lot of people like me in Paradisum?" I feel like I'm finding my feet again in this conversation, that drinking thing was an intentional way to unbalance me I'm now certain. These tribesmen are much cleverer than they look, much cleverer than they make us believe.

‎ We talk abit more about nonsensical things before I hear grandmother mention the real reason the House of Alvalon and the Crown has deigned to lower themselves to accosting travelers. She doesn't speak loudly but she gets the attention of all present the way she does.

"What do you mean?" One of the older men tribesmen, Dross I think his name is asks.

"Don't get me wrong I don't mean war between our peoples could have been avoided, it was inevitable. What I mean is it shouldn't have gone on as long as it had and been as costly as it was on all our people." She says to a room that seems to be getting colder and colder as the tribesmen lose their mirth.

"And what pray tell was the cause of your dogged pursuit of our resources?" The woman, Divina I think asks.

The muscular redheaded beauty with the exotic sword on her back snorts bringing everyone's attention onto herself. "The Sandersonian Kingdom is controlled by greedy nobles that are all out to further their own goals." She says with a wave of her hand, seemingly tempted to spit on the floor but thinks better of it when she notices the rich carpet.

The room is silent as we all take that in and I and the people of the Ministry I know are present reassess her importance to the hierarchy these people follow which generally seems to be none existant or not following any disearnable pattern. I know the woman was a slave and presumed dead and a wasted investment for House Barathian that sponsored her Awakening.

And that's about all the information I could get on her on short notice and the source is suspect. She was said to have shredded her meridians valiantly defending against a swarm of Barbarians even before the real war started. But somehow she stands here today as healthy as I've ever seen a woman be.

"That may be true to a certain extent dear but that is not my current point." Grandmother says to her with a voice dripping with patience, and because it has so much patience it's also very patronising; taking the sting off of what she has just said.

"We have recently been made aware that a group of Sorcerers funded the invasion of the tundra lands when the Crown and the Houses considered it too costly for the meager gains. These same magicians compelled or persuaded some of our most prominent masters of magic to join the war effort."

"And where are these Sorcerers now?" Another tribesmen asks while two just snort and down their drinks faster. Cauwen, grandmother's personal servant is the only servant present and quickly refills their cups.

"Most of them we haven't been able to find, but some we have and we require your aid in apprehending them."

"Now its all starting to make sense to me. The magicians can't act openly because of your autonomy regulations and the Crown can't act unless a law has been broken. But that's not all is there? You mentioned missing children earlier Cynthia, is the a connection? Ahhh... you found them by following the proclivities of child abduction one of them is probe to."

"You seem to be very well read in the ways our laws work, Divina," Grandmother says with a pleasant smile. "Find that man you were talking to and get close to him; he is this creature's son, get him to talk about his mother if you can." Grandmother projects as she talks to the woman.

"Excuse me, I think I need some air." I say to the woman beside me.

"I'm Ava by the way, talk again soon yes?" She says with a suggestive smile if I've ever seen one.

"I hope so." I say and slip out the room. I nod at the guard at the door before heading straight for the House agent moonlighting as a House guard.

"The handsome one I was speaking to with the two swords." I say without preamble.

It takes a moment as he thinks through the evening before he speaks, "the wing with the children." Armed with that information I again pursue my quarry.

*

"Yes, a happy coincidence since I was just thinking about you." I say to him with all honesty.

"Did I mention I have three wives all here this evening?"

I'm surprised at that with the way he has been flirting and ogling the princess. "No you did not mention that. Will they be jealous if we spend time together?"

"We could always ask them, they aren't far off."

I shake my head at that, I've seen jealous spouses react before and its never a pretty sight. "No thank you, I would rather not put myself in potentially dangerous situations."

"Every situation everyday is potentially dangerous in some wag I assure you."

We remain silent a while as we walk through the corridors and eventually out of this wing into a foyer then outside. There are still active guards on duty even with the drunken rivalry going on in the mass hall and the dining hall. It's a bit chilly tonight but I don't really mind, its the kind of crisp with that wakes you up.

"Why did you slip away before the big meeting?" I ask directly trying out a different strategy.

"I was tired of sparring with you. Why aren't you honest with me?" Again with the surprising questions.

"I haven't once lied to you since we've met."

"But you've been dishonest and you know that. I find it tiresome yo have to sift through everything you say to ensure you've actually answered any of the questions I've asked. Even the most simple ones that I'm genuinely curious about you dodge and that makes talking to you very exhausting for me though you may seem interesting."

I digest that as he walks, I think back on our conversation as much as I can. I think back on a lot of my conversations since my training started when I was 13 years old. He may have a point, I was trained to be evasive and its become how I speak half the time yo anyone outside the House.

Is this why I've made no lasting attachments? Is this why no one really knows me?

"No I've never killed a man, nor a woman for that matter." I say avoiding eye contact.

He nods and we stop by one of the walls which he leans against with his back. The way he moves and carries himself is very beautiful, I'm not even sure what I'm seeing but he moves like he is dancing. There are no wasted movements or exaggerated gestures, he hardly raises his voice even in the hall with all the noise yet he had captivated my attention.

Even the way he just casually leaned on the wall was smooth. The man has a sword or spear almost as long as I am tall wrapped in clothe on his back but he didn't need to adjust it once this evening, nor the one on his waist. He either has really good harnesses or both his weapons are spirit-bound, a great display of wealth.

But surely if they were spirit bound grandmother would have felt it and set me next to the man from the start. Who knows how badly Queen botched the first impression, or maybe that was the intention from the start. Maybe it was a way to undermine the mages in his eyes whilst the two masters focused on the fae.

"How good of a warrior are you?" He asks and I think before giving the first evasive thought that comes to mind.

I eventually shrug. "I don't really know, I've been training since I was a little girl and I feel strong and competent. But my older sister who was better than me in combat never came home from the tundra so I really have no yardstick to judge what you considered a 'good' warrior."

He nods, "Did she enjoy fighting?"

I smile as I think of her, "Yes, very much so. She was very close to the princesses which is why her Highness doesn't like your people much."

"At least she died in battle then but I feel she died young, and I'm sorry for lose. What was her name?"

"Aaliyah, her name was Aaliyah."

"Its a beautiful name, is it common in this kingdom?"

"Not as far as I can tell, why do ask?"

"No reason, just a story one of my friends told me once has a beautiful warrior Aaliyah from a prominent family in it." He says whimsically then remains silent looking up at the sky.

I give him his moment of private thought as its clear that's what he's doing. "Let's go to this big meeting." He says pushing off the wall.

We walk in silence for a while but I just burn with curiosity in a way I haven't in a while. "Who is this friend of yours that spoke of an Aaliyah?" I finally ask though I'm sure there are millions of Aaliyahs in the world.

He has a little secret grin as he thinks of something, "Brand, his name is Brand."