Despite it being cold enough to freeze a fire spirit, the city seemed incredibly lively. Shoppers haggled for better deals, children kicked around balls that bounced as if filled with wind, and it was as if the very air itself was vibrating. Ange, noticing her lagging behind, slowed his pace before a grin grew on his face.
"Ah, you probably don't know why all these people seem so happy. It's actually a holiday starting tonight. I think they call it "Owl Feast?" "Lighting Festival?" "New Dawn?" Not sure. But it does mean that the drinks are extra cheap and the dances are even easier to come by"
He let out a cackle, apparently quite proud of the fact he was the one sharing information this time instead of Andy. Elyon just gave a small, somewhat pained grin, being clearly out of her element in such a large city. Ange grimaced before slowing down even more to walk in step with her.
"Don't worry don't worry, we factored this into our travel time. All Andy has to do is deliver the mail, get paid, and then we can show you how city folk party. Speaking of pay, here's where we'll be staying, and your percentage. Up to you if you wanna turn in early for the night or explore, but this should be enough of a cut to keep you happy"
Ange tossed her a bag of coins, and it nearly hit the ground before Elyon ducked to grab the top. Then it did hit the ground. She looked up at Ange in bewilderment, wasn't this….way too much for just a day's worth of walking and nothing else? As if sensing her question, Ange just grinned, gave a thumbs up, and disappeared into the street. Fat lot of help they had been. Quickly stuffing the gold into her pocket, Elyon glanced around. This just left her with more questions than answers. What the hell WERE they transporting that was worth so much?
The more she thought about it, the more it made her head spin. So instead she just decided to try and focus on where she was now. The harsh walls contrasting with the vibrant center reminded her of her own town, although in the place of the walls of snows that came and went, and the city center would be her own parents bar. A small sense of home-sickness came over her, but she tried to shake off the feeling by walking directly towards the nearest merchant.
The merchant was face first in a book, apparently ignorant to the world around them as Elyon tapped on the front of their table. Bolting forward, he adjusted his hat before shooting her a smile.
"Ah! Sorry about that, not too many people actually bother to come to someone selling books in the at this time of year, much less outside. What can I do for you?"
Elyon looked at the display cases. Most of it was poorly titled romance novels, things like "That time I fell in love with a cute lady who turned out to be the queen's guard" or "trapped for a hundred days in the dubar planes with my childhood friend". She had to stop herself from cringing as it was now clear why no one bothered to check out these books.
"I'm…looking for a history book, of sorts. Something about the area. I live nearby, but our local library doesn't really have anything outside of school textbooks"
Jumping to his feet, the vendor nodded before disappearing under a pile of nearby crates. He quickly returned before slapping down a rather thick book. It seemed to nearly crumble as it bounced against the table. The grin on his face was clear as day as he slid it towards her. Glancing down, Elyon noted it didn't even have a cover before he started speaking again.
"Here's a book you'd never find in a library. "The Slumbering Red Whale". Now, I must warn you, this book is uh….well, like I said, you won't find it in a library. It's got some pretty insane ideas in there about some sort of cult and how they're trying to end the world. I'd explain more but every time I tried to get past the first few pages the thing would slip out of my hands"
Elyon, having met plenty of people during her days as a barmaid, could tell when someone was just trying to get rid of something. Not only that, but the poor seller seemed almost paranoid about the situation. Her expression was about as flat as the ice even further north as she stared down the man. He clasped his hands together, glancing from the book, to her, to the book, then back to her before nervously laughing.
"Well, you've convinced me! You can have it free of charge if you can win a coin flip. King or Queen?"
Elyon kept staring him down, not budging an inch. The entire situation felt weird, but she certainly wasn't going to turn down a free book, much less one with such an interesting story. Even if it was all made up, it'd be a fun read nonetheless.
"Queen"
The man flipped a coin where it spun heads over tails before landing on its side, where it rolled off the table onto the ground. Before it hit the ground, Elyon's finger twitched as she watched it hit the ground.
Leaning down, the man's eyes narrowed before he picked the coin up, another nervous smile to the side and he practically threw the book at her.
"There you go! It landed on the queen's side, e-enjoy the book, maybe you'll be at the celebration tonight? I…"
By the time he looked up from the now empty table, she had disappeared into the crowd. With a soft sigh, he collapsed back into the chair, wondering what on earth had just happened. Whatever it was, the book was gone, and so too would his bad luck be gone with it. Hopefully.
It was now Elyon's turn to be quite proud of herself, a small grin on her face as she headed towards the inn that they'd be staying the night at. She wasn't used to trading, but she had come out of the whole situation with a free book so it certainly hadn't gone that bad. Not that she needed to save her money of course, she had much more than enough thanks to the payment from Ange.
Glancing around the inn, it seemed quite a lot like where she had worked before. A small bar and restaurant down below, and clean but tight fitting rooms up above. It was rather strange that she had never heard about a festival, but then again, pretty much no one cared about the cities and towns of the northern frontier. Hell, even when her own town had celebrations, anyone visiting was just as confused as she was now. With a soft sigh she layed on the bed, staring up at the wooden roof above. Another stab of homesickness passed over her, forcing her to sit up and reach for the book. If she had one thing to count on to distract her from the strange city she now found herself in, it was doing as the vender had done, and burying herself head first in the book.
1/10/25
"An abridged history of the world: Chapter 1: The Sleeping Crimson Whale.
It's commonly thought that Iohr, the God of death, and Eaos, the God of life, are the only creators of the world. This view however mostly ignores a third deity, simply referred to as "Hastings" which is generally believed to have been the God of violence, conquest, and all other forms of existence. While not as strong as the other two, they're credited in their own religion with creating demihumans, and many of the creatures of the world. Instead of creating their own forms, they simply distorted those that were already there. If their religion is to be believed, this third God was struck down by the other two and buried under the ground, creating the Torath mountain range that is to this day still a very popular tourist spot.
As long as the world has been around then, there has been a splinter group of the two main churches which follows this third God. "Hasting's Feast" is the alleged name, however no one is quite sure of what they call themselves as their existence has been either removed, or simply not important enough to make it to the vast majority of books."