Chapter 81 — Another Outing With Hulle

Somehow, with an alchemical assist, Ria attended all of the day’s classes and was now sitting across from Hulle in the carriage his family provided him, Ranger curled up at her side, his head in her lap so she could absently scratch behind his ears. As on their prior outing, Verenzio was sitting with them as Hulle’s chaperone.

The day had been a sleep-deprived blur but was still productive. Lestina readily met with her before classes started and gave approval to resume efforts to improve her attunements. The Soulkeeper girl wasn’t thrilled to hear about the astral body damage but advised that alternating between the isolation chamber meditation and working on improving attunements would hopefully, over time, reknit the tatters of her astral body and re-anchor the damaged parts of her spirit back to her physical body.

Being freed from the attunement restriction was a relief. Ria had reserved time at the Elemental Garden’s popular lightning tree for this week’s attunement practical and hadn’t wanted to miss out. As Hulle had warned when they’d last met, she needed to improve her air attunement before her orichalcum and other opposed attunements became too strong, and missing out on both the session and Elder Genwald’s assistance would only increase the difficulty.

The time and effort weren't wasted, either. Ria was close to achieving the lightning energy transformation without the aid of a lightning-aspected focus tool. It was a huge milestone. Another week of effort at most and she would be there—assuming no further setbacks.

Ria tried to complain to Zena about her etiquette all-nighter, but the girl only laughed, having no sympathy for something all noble girls were forced to endure at some point in their lives.

The group of outcast girls in her abjuration class had increased in number again, and at this point, Leriah might be the only one of the bully girls from her class that hadn’t been targeted for retribution by Desi. It was a bit worrying. The sight pushed sending Desi a letter calling off the retaliation mission to the top of her lunch to-do list, even before the encounter that happened after class:

Ophesia approached and asked to speak with her alone.

That in itself was odd—made more so by a glaring Nielle clearly having been excluded from participating.

A simple privacy magic on Ophesia’s part kept their discussion from being heard by Ria’s friends and the other students lingering around, curious about what might be going on. To Ria’s great surprise, rather than bullying or snide demands, the Vesali girl seemed to be… requesting a truce?

‘At the rate this is going, none of the noble girls will be socially acceptable for me or Nielle to be associated with—some who I have known since I was first allowed friends,’ was what the girl calmly said. ‘While their family’s bad behavior and corruption should not be condoned or overlooked, surely you can see how it reflects poorly on House Vesali if all of Nielle’s and my friends and those we are supporting have families involved in such?’

Already needing to call a stop to Desi’s efforts for her own reasons, Ria readily agreed to pass along Ophesia’s concern to someone that might be able to help—assuring Ophesia that she had no ill-will toward House Vesali.

And it was true. On the tiny chance that she won the competition to be Phaelys’ marriage partner or otherwise joined their House, worsening House Vesali’s position and creating enemies within the House would be colossally stupid. Of course, she didn’t tell Ophesia that. The two cousins’ opinion of her was bad enough already, and Ophesia had previously warned her not to have such expectations.

Zena’s smirk afterward suggested the hero’s daughter had a fair idea what had actually happened, but that didn’t stop her from starting the teasing and proffering absurdly wild guesses as to what the matter could be. Not blurting out the details just to correct the record was difficult, but Ria eventually asserted that it was a sensitive House matter and she would honor Ophesia’s desire to keep it private.

The choice of words caused eyebrows to raise all around, and Ria mentally cursed her political clumsiness. Thankfully, Faris wasn’t a troublemaker like Arthur or Orlisi and mostly rolled his eyes at Zena’s suggestions. He did caution that she check with his mother to make sure the request wouldn’t cause any problems for House Novidus or House Vorshan since his mother and his grandfather were both sponsoring her.

Even though Ria was worried about meeting Phoebe at her math class, further alchemical assistance and her friends promising to wake her helped her sleep well enough for most of the lunch hour, enough that her current outing with Hulle hopefully wouldn’t be as much of a disaster as the last… Ria firmly put out of mind thoughts of the impossibly beautiful blond boy leaning close to stare into her eyes and her stupidly yearning for his lips to touch hers.

Ugh. Don’t think about it!

Dammit.

Ria huffed and turned her gaze to the passing shops as she felt her cheeks warm with old embarrassments, directing her thoughts back to the day’s events.

Her math class had been stressful in a different way than expected. As it turned out, the research on her spiritbinding was still ongoing. Phoebe reported that they had some guesses about the binding’s design and intent but were waiting for City Administrator Asara to leverage connections and arrange access to restricted information—a revelation that certainly didn’t help Ria’s worries about the nature of her binding and possible tampering of her memories or personality.

A slowing of the carriage brought Ria back to the present, and her heart seized upon realizing the destination. A flower shop!

A Novidus liveried page was already waiting outside the fancy glass-windowed shop with a bundle of flowers and a small, ribbon-tied box. Ria’s narrowed eyes met Hulle’s, and he had a slight smile—a villain’s smile of vague amusement. Was he teasing her again?!

“I sent a page ahead to do some minor shopping in preparation,” Hulle explained as Verenzio took possession of the gifts, and the driver, Booke, shortly encouraged the horses to resume pulling the carriage.

The flowers were pretty, yellows and peach tones wrapped in leaves a shade of green only seen in spring, but they were not particularly magical. Ria was confused. Why would Hulle bother to buy her mundane flowers? Verenzio’s somber expression as his gaze tracked their surroundings seemed odd as well, and no move was made to give her the box or flowers. What was going on?

Hulle seemed content to leave her wondering.

Or rather, did Hulle seem a bit tense and distracted by his own thoughts?

He caught her unconscious head tilt and addressed her, “How’s your recovery progressing? Do you think you’ll be ready in time for the next Games practice?”

It took Ria an extended moment to realize that he had plenty of opportunities to inquire about that during the etiquette lesson but hadn’t, and she hadn’t volunteered the details of her recovery, either. “I found time to use Tallien’s medicinal tisane during lunch. If I get enough rest tonight and tomorrow, I think I’ll be fine.”

“Tomorrow, huh?” Hulle echoed, amusement again playing across his expression and voice. “Maybe getting an early rest on Fireday might be a better plan?”

Ria groaned and defeatedly sank back against the carriages’ cushions, drawing a chuckle from the noble boy. He wasn’t wrong. The outing with Phaelys to collect their debut-wear was tomorrow and the sedative effect of the tisane was probably the only way she was going to get any sleep the night before her debut.

“Woof?” Ranger asked.

“Nah, it’s nothing to worry about, Ranger.” She closed her eyes for a few breaths. “Just that things will probably be hectic and nerve-wracking leading up to the debut and an event honoring the Spring Moon Festival will probably go well into the night.”

While Ria was talking to Ranger, Hulle’s gaze drifted, and the amused façade slipped to what she suspected was a deep-seated melancholy.

“Is something wrong?” she couldn’t stop herself from asking.

When Hulle’s gaze stayed on the houses and shops, she glanced at Verenzio who was also gazing off to the side, not really focused on anything in particular. Their youngish driver was pretending to ignore the conversation as was proper and gave even less hints about what was going on.

“To say it is wrong… or just the way things are,” Hulle eventually half-answered, and Ria felt her heart catch in a different way from earlier. Though not looking physically more than a boy of similar age to her, Hulle suddenly seemed much older—as if he carried an emotional weight that had made him jaded about life.

Something was going on here. Ria was now sure of it, and she was beginning to worry what this trip was about. That Hulle hadn’t given her the gift or the flowers meant they either weren’t for her… or, if they were, he wasn’t planning to give them to her until later. Afterward… as an apology?

That thought wasn’t particularly comforting.

The carriage clattered along out of the wealthier part of the city, and Ria thought back to what exactly they had been discussing when Hulle decided on the outing.

About her needing to skip the next practice? No, that wasn’t it. There was something else-

Murder.

Her blood went cold. Hulle had brought up Vanessa Sorrel and Ria had asked him about the attempted murder. That was what had prompted the outing.

Something else odd. No one in the carriage was wearing the colors or symbols of House Novidus. Neither was the carriage so marked. Nor the horses.

Hulle had suggested she wear casual clothing.

Hulle’s shirt and breeches were good quality but a quality that wouldn’t be out of place on a merchant’s son. Similarly, Verenzio’s attire matched that of the well-paid guards Ria had seen at some of the nicer shops.

Wherever they were headed, they didn’t want to be identified as nobles or, at least, wanted to hide the House affiliation.

There wasn’t a sense that they were headed into danger though. Verenzio didn’t seem on guard at all. And rather than the slums of their previous trip, Booke’s deft maneuvering soon had the carriage rolling calmly along a side street lined with well-tended row houses.

When the carriage stopped in front of one of the row houses near the end of the row, Ria could only think that Hulle intended for her to meet someone.

They were soon gathered before the three-story house’s front door, and it promptly opened without Hulle needing to rap the doorknocker.

“Young master, it’s great that you could visit again so soon. Please come in,” a chiseled man in tailored but not ostentatious clothing greeted them, amiably ushering Hulle inside the house and leaving the door open for the rest of them.

Ria followed them inside, Ranger a step behind her. A chill feeling like passing through a film of water prompted her to observe the doorway with both magesight and Sensing Sphere, revealing a protective abjuration inscribed into the threshold and extending into the walls of the house itself, an abjuration that she oddly hadn’t noticed from the outside. Ria passed her observations to Ranger when he projected a question through the bond and shook his coat to rid himself of the uncomfortable feeling’s memory.

“Think nothing of it, Onathio. Today simply worked out better this week, that is all,” Hulle was saying and greeted a middle-aged woman, clothed in similar quality to Onathio, waiting a bit deeper in the foyer, “Ellane, I hope you’ll forgive me for coming by unannounced.”

“I’ll do no such thing, young master!” the woman, Ellane, denied with a chuckle. “You are always welcome whenever you want to visit. You’ve already done so much for our family.”

Hulle smiled and shook his head in amusement at the refusal. “Even so, I wouldn’t want to impose. You know my opinion that your loyal service to House Novidus deserved better than the regard it received.”

“It’s kind of you to say so, young master,” Ellane told him with a seriousness that spoke of the history between the couple and Hulle.

Mr. Onathio clasped Hulle briefly on the shoulder, and Hulle nodded to the couple, prompting, “Any news?”

“The healer you arranged did come by… but, well, we can discuss that afterward,” Mr. Onathio said and turned his attention to Ria. “Welcome to our home, Young Lady…”

Healer? That Hulle arranged? The middle-aged couple didn’t look poor enough to not afford a temple healer. Was someone gravely ill?

Ah-! The man was waiting expectantly for her to introduce herself. And both he and the wife were glancing dubiously at Ranger who was sniffing at the doorway.

“Hi! I’m Ria,” she quickly greeted, giving them a cheerful smile, and motioned toward Ranger. “This is Ranger, my familiar.”

“Woof!” Ranger gamely followed up, having turned back in time to properly greet the couple.

Mr. Onathio smiled and nodded. “Nice to meet you, Young Lady Ria, Ranger. I should have assumed that a young lady’s companion would be anything but ordinary, and now that I look more closely, I can see the gleam of fire in his beautiful coat—as if flames were captured inside dark crystal.”

Ranger posed proudly at the compliment.

“Why don’t you head on up, young master?” Mrs. Ellane suggested, gesturing toward the stairs. “I’m sure Cassi is eager to see you.”

“I will then,” Hulle accepted and proceeded to the stairs, flower bundle and gift in hand, motioning Ria to follow.

“Sir Verenzio, Ellane found an invigorating spicewood tea in the market the other day. If you would like some while you wait…?”

Ria’s thoughts whirled wildly, and she barely noted Verenzio’s agreeable reply as she joined Hulle in ascending the steps to the next floor.

Cassi? That sounded like a girl’s name. As friendly and familiar with Hulle as the couple were, did Hulle have a hidden commoner fiancée? A fait accompli with a commoner girl? Keira did say that he had a bad reputation… and if Verenzio was such a frequent guest in this house, House Novidus clearly knew about whatever was going on here.

Ria couldn’t help feeling that something was off. Even if such was the case, none of that explained why Hulle felt it important to bring her along!

It wasn’t just the situation that was off, either. Something about Hulle’s behavior was odd as well. For all the seeming cheerfulness that he was showing, his usual grace was missing, and there was a growing dark undercurrent to his mood that scared her.