“Sometimes, the places change more than the people do, in a given amount of time.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

“Please continue on your way, milady,” said an elvish necromancer who happened to be on duty when Aideen and Celia reached the eastern gate of Fort Bharat – formerly known as Fort Asconix – and stated their purpose of heading to the Elmaiya empire. They had been cleared very quickly by both the guard on duty and the necromancer in charge.

That was partly because both of those happened to be elves who were old enough to have seen Aideen before. While younger people from Ptolodecca – especially those born in the past century or so – might not be as familiar with Aideen, the elves were known for their good memory. Thanks to Aideen’s help with the plague centuries ago, any elf old enough to have met her generally remembered her in their mind.

And naturally, they also knew her status as the Bone Lord’s favorite “granddaughter” which meant that they did everything she asked immediately with reverence.

The elven necromancer on duty ordered the clerk working in the fort to arrange for some papers – or at least that was what Celia heard – and returned with them not ten minutes later, reverently handing several neatly folded documents to Aideen, who thanked him with a nod. It was only when they reached the other side of the fort, the ones manned by people from Elmaiya, that Celia saw what those papers were for.

Aideen had just nonchalantly handed one of them to the officer in charge on the Elmaiya side who quickly waved them through after a brief read of the document, though not before he added a few more documents to Aideen’s pile. The border guard officer explained that the documents were the counterparts of the ones she received from the Lichdom.

They basically declared her as an honored guest to Elmaiya, the documents valid for allowing her passage through most places and areas throughout the entire Empire. As she was traveling alongside Aideen, Celia naturally shared the conveniences those permits allowed, which was a rather stark difference to their usual low-profile traveling.

“Why the look? Surprised?” asked Aideen after left through the western gate of the fort and continued to walk through the main road that led further into the Empire.

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“I know I shouldn’t be surprised by most anything you pull off anymore, but somewhat, yeah,” admitted Celia with a nod. “How did the border guards from a different country let us pass so easily?”

“Well, Elmaiya and Ptolodecca are nominally allies, but although they’re much bigger, Ptolodecca is the senior partner in that alliance. In some ways, I guess I could be seen as the equivalent of a noble from Ptolodecca, so that’s one reason,” Aideen explained even while she lightly chuckled. “Another is likely because I know the current Empress of Elmaiya by name and call her a friend, I guess?”

“Figures,” noted Celia with a shake of her head, no longer being too surprised to see Aideen calling a foreign Empress as a ‘friend’ by that point. “Wait, wait, if you call her a friend that means that you must have met her before you went to Alcidea, no? How long ago was that? How old would she be if she’s still around today?”

“I first met Lucea around a couple centuries ago when she was still an infant,” replied Aideen. “I think I’ve told you before that my late husband was born in Elmaiya, so during that time I frequently traveled to the Empire to visit his family and whatnot. His family was of high nobility in the Empire, so as a result I also often met with the Imperial Family.”

“As for Lucea, her kind lives up to three hundred, three hundred fifty or so. She’s still around two hundred and change now, so she has another century ahead of her, thereabouts,” Aideen continued. “Of course, I also checked before we departed, Lucea’s still the Empress these days, though there were rumors of her planning to abdicate in favor of one of her kids, since they would have matured by now as well.”

“I see,” said Celia with a nod. “So the trip’s just for visiting old friends then, eh?”

“Part of it. I’d also be paying the distant descendants of Artair’s family to see how they were doing, and take my time to relax and enjoy life,” said Aideen. “The Empire has plenty to offer, and it’s not like we’re in any hurry anyway. We can afford to take our time and enjoy this trip for all it’s worth, besides, you’d also get to take a look at this place, which would be a new experience for you.”

“That sounds like a pleasant trip ahead of us, then,” noted Celia with a smile. It was at times a bit hard to expect what would happen when one traveled along with Aideen, as some of their trips where they intended to simply enjoy the journey had at times been taken sideways. Sometimes the detour would take longer, while other times it placed the two in situations where they couldn’t help but make use of violence to fight their way out.

Given that the Elmaiya Empire was at peace and seems to be prospering though, Celia thought that there were rather low odds of the latter issue happening in this trip. Instead, she looked forward to the possibilities ahead of her, the various new experiences and sights that the Empire would offer to a visitor like her. It certainly helped having someone who knew their way around leading the way as well.

The two women let their feet take them deeper towards the interior regions of the Empire. The first stop of their trip was a lot closer than Celia expected, as not an hour’s distance away from the border fort was a rather large town – supposedly built after several villages in the region combined together according to Aideen – that was quite busy and well-populated.