I give up, this is set sometime between the books, but I haven't decided which, probably after the third. I hope you all enjoy reading my new chapter.
The Stravagante
The prince led Luciano into the music room where Rodrigo was much accustomed to playing many of the instruments including the luth and the grand piano which really was a striking sight. Coated in black gloss and polished to shine like the silver that bordered the lid and the stool.
Rodrigo was a big fan of music although his family were not great friends with the city of Volana, now ruled by the di Chimici. It hadn't always been like that, the prince remembered a time when he was about six and his father had told him stories of dragons and flying horses, infact it wasn't that long ago that a flying horse was born to the Twelfth of the Ram leading it to victory.
The di Chimici had taken possession of most of the city states in Northern Talia and it was well known to the independent city states that they intended to extend their reign further south, to Romula. They hadn't bothered the Romulans in the past, mainly because they were too occupied in trying to take Bellezza under their reign.
There had of course been attempts to sway his father in their direction at first trying to get him to sign the Republic contract and then after he refused, to have him married to a certain Cterina di Chimici, a beautiful woman as all the di Chimici women were, but for the king that had been the last straw as he was not prepared to allow some di Chimici girl to take the place of the dead wife he still loved despite everything. He had passionately declared that day to his son that he would rather his son grew up with no mother than a women from the di Chimici family especially seeing as there was no love from either side of the proposal.
His father had never since trusted the di Chimici or even given them audience when they visited, but he was to much of a diplomat to outwardly show his discontent of the family. He had as all rulers do, a certain charm about and not just because of his highly unusual fair hair.
Rodrigo never thought that he was anywhere near as charming as his father had been, but Sagoro's predecessor, to whom the young man was apprenticed had told the prince many times that his father had not always been so charming, the man remembered when the king had been just like his son, or so he said anyway.
It was the sharp click of the door closing that brought Rodrigo back from his thoughts to the moment at hand. Tall arched windows let the little amount of light left into the room and just light enough to talk to a person without feeling somewhat left in the dark, in both senses of the room was darker than normal as the autumn months drew on casting less light for less time and of course less warmth.
It was painted Red with black furniture such as a coffee table and a few comfy Romulan was a stage of black wood with red silk curtains that would be used for plays or any other form of entertainment. It was a very Romulan room in the decor although it lacked the dazzling sculptures of the entrance hall.
"So what is it that you want to tell me?" asked Rodrigo.
"Your father was what we call a stravagante," explained the ellezzan waiting to see what effect his words had on the young prince.
All the while Rodrigo probed his mind for what that word meant, he had heard it, he was sure, many times even, mostly by his father, but he had no recollection of it's actual meaning.
"Sravagante are people who travel between worlds and time," continued Luciano, he seemed a bit disappointed at the lack of reaction and took it correctly to mean that the prince did not understand who the stravagante were and Luciano realised the full enormity of the task he was set to do.
"There are many stravagante and they travel between this world and another that is further in the future from this one," said Luciano. "They use a talisman from the other world to stravagate. They simply fell asleep with it touching them and they would end up in the place where the talisman had first come from. Journeys made by stravagante seem to be only between Talia and Anglia of the other world. Your dear father was one."
Rodrigo wasn't aware of his mouth hanging open nor of the events that followed as he passed out on the comfy chair and was aroused about ten minutes later by Luciano. It didn't take the prince long to remember what the Bellezzan had said.
"So what are you saying?" asked Rodrigo his voice wrought with suspicion.
"Your father was not just a stravagante, but a protector of the balance between the two worlds and a friend to any stravagante who turned up on his doorstep," Luciano went on.
"What are you saying," persisted the prince.
"Before he died, he did something important for the stravagante, he took a talisman from this world to the other and we stravagante suspect that you will have an unexpected visitor in the next few days. This new stravagante will carry a statue like this with them," concluded the Bellezan taking the statuette of a dragon out of his cloak and handing it to the prince.
The young prince was so unbelievably confused as the Lord left him in the music room still pondering over what the Bellezzan had told him and thinking how it all made sense, the welcome seemingly unexpected visitors received, the bracelet he wore some days, but not others and how he seemed to have a greater knowledge of science than many of the best scientists in the country.
Rodrigo wasn't quite sure what to do as he sat thinking, but he knew one thing for sure, he didn't have much time before the stravagante arrived there, in Romula.
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As Luciano left the music room and the somewhat puzzled boy he felt a stab of guilt. The boy had lost his parents, just like him and yet there was something he knew that could perhaps lighten the prince's mood.
Sitting in that typical Romulan room, it had been hard for the Bellezzan Lord to say what he knew about the stravagante, let alone what he knew about matters much closer to the heart.
Luciano shrugged it away as he made his way back to his party warning them of their immediate leave and by the time they got outside, their horses were waiting and they rode through the city to the visitors residence in the Piazza del Ouvo.
Luciano knew that he would have to stay there if he wanted to see the new stravagante, it was rather strange travelling by himself to find and await the next stravagante as he had never done it before without the help of another older stravagante. Then there was the Duchessa official visit to the city of Romula to attend the coronation that would take place shortly. He couldn't stop thinking of Arianna. Silvia, the old Duchessa would be there to with her husband, Rodolfo, under the disguise of being a rich widow from Padavia. Luciano had been sent ahead as always to make sure that there was no danger to the Duchessa's life.
They reached the residence as the last rays of sun disappeared beneath the horizon, turning the silver domes of churches, the palace and the cathedral a bright red. The party dismounted and their horses were led into the stables.
He decide he should get an early night and start searching the city for dangers the next day and he might even find the new stravagante, if he was lucky.
