Next Day.
Now that she had fully recovered, she made it her top priority to explore the entire estate. Ignoring the curious stares from the staff, most of whom were elves though she realized that wasn't strange considering Janai was married to the owner.
Sculptures, armor sets, and paintings lined the halls. Most of the paintings were of scenery that seemed like it was from Xadia, though this place seemed to contain an excessive number of chandeliers. "Just how many of these things do these people have?"
One of the halls contained an odd-looking worn-out armor set as the central piece, she assumed this used to belong to General Amaya.
Eventually, she managed to find her way to the garden, though calling it that was inaccurate as it looked more like a forest, with trees of all kinds, orchids, and other flora filling up every space. There was even a small waterfall that fed into a stream that seemed to cut across the garden.
It was all artificial obviously but that didn't detract from its beauty. The stream if you paid close attention was a channel made of permacrete that used stones, aquatic vegetation, and several species of fish to make it all look natural. The vegetation that grew around it made it more believable.
The light filtering through the canopy made everything appear majestic. She realized some of the scenic paintings were of this place. she felt like being in the meadow back home half expecting to find several adoraburrs sticking to her as she walked through.
"Whoever made this place knew what they were doing." she acknowledged, how could she not, this man-made forest made her feel like she was back in Xadia, knowing that she would never be able to go back. She distantly wondered if perhaps Janai had this place made because she misses her home too.
As she kept going she felt an all too familiar tingle in her lower jaw as her nostrils were filled with a light citrusy fragrance, she noticed it was coming from a strange group of fruiting trees nearby, she plucked one of the fruits and sniffed at it, the scent was similar to a lemon though sourer. She decided to take a bite to see if they tasted the same.
Callum was leaning against a tree sketching what he thought Xadia would look like. His aunt Janai, Vaeril, and the others had given him good descriptions and said his works were great yet he always felt like he fell short and that he needed to see Xadia in order to capture its beauty. But he tossed that thought away knowing that they would object to it.
He had arrived yesterday morning and spent his time in the garden or the library while he waited for their guest to recover.
He had hoped they could transport the Feynor birch to Avallon soon, he was glad they managed to find five so quickly, that was a far higher priority than dealing with the recent issue with Hasting. He honestly wished these trees weren't so troublesome.
"I wonder if I should poke around first before trying to get a reaction from Hasting" He wasn't sure how to do that since the Moonshadow elves were already dispatched so he didn't have anyone who could easily sneak into Hasting's mansion.
"Maybe I should ask Aunt Amaya to let me borrow Corvus or one of his subordinates."
His contemplation was interrupted by the sound of someone retching nearby. He had a pretty good idea of what exactly happened, he picked up his satchel and went to see who the unlucky person was.
Rayla was on her knees gasping while holding her stomach, the contents of her gut pooling in front of her.
she glared at the fruit she'd bitten into, "just what kind of fruit are you?"
"The kind that you really shouldn't put in your mouth." came a whimsical response, glancing to her side, noticing a human heading her way, he appeared to be around her age, judging by how plain his clothes were, she assumed he worked here.
He took out a bottle and offered it to her. "Drink this, its it'll help". She wiped the bile off her lips then took it. It tasted sweet and refreshing... that or she thought the fruit was so bad that anything tasted amazing after eating it.
"Thanks, I needed that," she said as she returned the now empty bottle to him "Just what kind of fruit is that." she asked
"It's not edible in any way, the smell is actually a warning to anything trying to eat it." He said as he looked at her with pity. "If you swallowed the fruit then chances are you'd be vomiting till your body loses an excessive amount of water, not a pleasant situation."
After some time she finally managed to recover. They were sitting under a tree some distance from the small waterfall "Thanks again, I owe you.. I'm Rayla by the way"
"Ah, so you're the one aunt Janai mentioned, I'm Callum," he introduced himself.
She panicked after learning she was being casual with someone from the royal family.
"My Prince I'm so sorry for being so rude I though because of your clothes, I mean because"
"My clothes? whats wrong with my clothes?" he wasn't sure where she was going with this.
"Nothing, their modest, I mean they look great, they truly bring out your lovely eyes," she said, internally cursing at how she kept bungling this. She heard stories that nobles didn't take kindly to not being shown due respect.
"ok, take a deep breath and calm down cause I have no idea what your even talking about," he said not sure what to make of this.
After a few minutes, she finally managed to regain her composure.
"I'd like to apologize for not showing you your due respect your highness and hope you can forgive my lack of decorum." She maintained a calm demeanor as she lowered her head yet internally she was still a nervous wreck. She hoped he'd overlook her blunder.
"pfft ahahahaha, thats it? gahahahaha that was what you were panicking about?" she looked at him confused, she was expecting some kind of warning.
"If I honestly cared for such nonsense don't you think I would've introduced myself self as the prince or said something about my status."
"But I" she wasn't sure what to make of his response
"If it makes you feel better then I hereby use my royal authority to grant you permission to talk to me casually forever with no regard to our statuses because I really don't want to do this often," he said, hoping she would finally calm down, "or would you prefer I dress according to my station and do a formal ceremony for this?."
"No, I mean thank you your high... I mean Callum." He raised an eyebrow before she managed to correct herself.
"Umm your clothes, they don't look like,"
He just shrugged indifferently, "Like a prince? I was adopted into the royal family and I hate being tended to every hour on the hour."
She was relieved to hear him say that, and being able to casually talk to a noble meant she didn't worry about accidentally offending him.
"I hope your stay here has been enjoyable" he quickly changed the subject to something else.
"Are you kidding me? it's like I've died and gone to some hedonistic paradise, the delicious food, the comfy bed and cloths, the hot showers," she kept detailing how wonderful they all were. He couldn't blame her considering this life style was out of reach for the vast majority.
"I'm glad you find human cuisine to your liking."
"Hey, you'd find cooked food of any kind to be delicious if you've had to cook cheap and bland food for three months" she retorted, "I wish they sold moonberries in the market."
"Well then I have good news for you." He said gesturing to the bushes nearby that were filled with moon berries. Rayla happily dived into it and started gobbling them up at a furious pace.
"hmmm Have you considered savoring the taste?" he asked almost rhetorically.
"I AM savoring them, the more berries I eat, the more of them I can savor," she said as she continued to devour them. After finishing them all she was lying on the grass purring in content.
"I take it it's been a while," he asked wondering how she'd compare to his brother's jelly tart addiction.
"yes it has... that reminds me, how long am I going to be here?" She enjoyed staying here but she knew it wouldn't last.
"Why? do you have somewhere you need to be?" he asked.
"Yea, I need to talk to my landlord about delaying payment and I need to look for work," she said, not looking forward to going back to her old life.
"Easily taken care of" He merely waved the issue dismissively "I'll have your rent canceled for three years and regarding work, the militia is looking for recruits so you can try there." He knew his father wouldn't have a problem with him doing this since the rent of a single person wouldn't even amount to a rounding error in the grand scheme of things.
Her jaw was hanging open as she stared in disbelief. She was wondering just how much influence the prince had to casually do something like that.
But she quickly began happily crunching the numbers in her head, "that means I'll end up saving 5,000 copper every month so I'll save around 180,000 copper or 180 silver or 1 gold and 80 silver over the next three years" If this was a dream then she swore she'd kill anyone who dared to wake her up.
Callum on the other hand groaned, he was looking at the ground as his shoulders slumped.
"hey whats wrong?" she asked
"I'm just despairing about just how troublesome this viscounty is," his voice was low, "Refugees have their rent reduced to 500 copper a month for an entire two years to help them build a new life... well don't worry about it, I'll deal with your landlord soon enough and you'll get you're money back. . . .Sometimes I just plain hate my life."
"Wait if my rents was a giant fraud then does that mean my security deposit is also?"
"and the good news just keeps coming!" he exclaimed in a depressed tone.
"Don't worry my sad Prince, I'll drag my landlord here for you" She saw no reason not to, considering her money problems would be solved.
"After we've finished dealing with the matter of the caravan you were with."
"Ok so what'd you want to know?" she asked
"We can discuss that inside." He said, getting up and heading back to the mansion with Rayla following him, she was curious as to what they might want to ask her.
They didn't notice that they were being watched from the rooftop by someone.
She and Callum entered a room and noticed a Tidebound elf sitting in an armchair reading some documents. His clothes were aesthetically resembled tight fitting clothes his people usually wore yet had a distinct Katolian feel to it. In front of him was a glass table with drinks and pastries.
"Ah Callum what can I.. oh you must be Rayla, its a pleasure to finally meet you, my name is Vaeril," he said
"The Reaper?!" she asked,
"The one and only, now have a drink and some pastries to calm your nerves then we can proceed to business," he said almost indifferently while she was astonished as to how one of the greatest heroes of Xadia was here. She glanced at Callum wondering just what kind of connection these two shared.
After a few minutes, she finally managed to calm down.
"Lets begin, when you took the job to escort the caravan, at any point did your group have any meeting with anyone that looked to be a wealthy merchant or noble or anyone unusual?" Vaeril asked, she felt her body grow cold under his gaze that she had forgotten to even breathe, it was like looking straight at death.
"No" she managed to answer
"and the cargo, did you join before or after they were already loaded?"
"After"
"Did they tell you what was in these?" He took out a metal can from under the table.
She shook her head and replied "They told me it was food, jewelry, and small sculptures"
"Was there anything odd about the people you were with?"
"Just that they were in a hurry to get back."
After several more questions he changed topics, "Where were you raised?"
She was stunned, she didn't understand why he was asking her that, "The Silvergrove" she managed.
"Tell me, was your training complete?"
To which she nodded, she suddenly felt scared. He glanced at Callum who seemed to consider then nodded to Vaeril.
"That'll be all for now," he said and went back to reading his documents, She felt relief washing over her now that she was no longer under his gaze.
"Callum, just what is going on?" she asked, fearing what his answer will be.
"We have a job for you if you are interested" was all he said.
Around midnight within the Erdus Dukedom, the city of Zrosa was woken up by the sudden blaring of sirens everywhere.
A pair of city guards who were about to end their shift came running, they stopped as they saw their friend,
"Hadrian, whats going on?" they asked.
"Those infernal terrorists have broken into a munitions depot and took hostages." Hadrian said and his face boiled with anger. He recently got promoted so he was now their superior.
"What?! the legion?!" they turned to look in the direction of the warehouse, it was almost half a kilometer away.
"We can't handle them on our own." the other said, Hadrian was repeatedly opening and closing his fist like he was trying to grab something in the air.
"You're right of course, this looks like a job for..." Hadrian said, his tone filled with anticipation.
"The central guard" one of them finished Hadrian's sentence then tried to call in backup.
"... ELECTRO! WEDGIE!"
"HUH?!" they said in shocked unison as they were suddenly overcome by an intense jolt of pain, all they managed to hear as they were losing consciousness was the sound of fabric tearing from being stretched.
Hadrian stood there laughing, the palms of his hand crackled with electricity.
"can't believe how easy its gotten" his tone changed to that of pure mischievous joy. He heard the sound of footsteps in the distance heading his way.
"Oh well, a professional trouble marker's work is never done" the corner of his lips moved upwards forming a toothy grin.
Two hours later,
A male Moonshadow elf appeared out of the darkness, "Seriously honey, don't you think this is going overboard?" These guards may be the enemy but as a fellow man he couldn't help but feel sympathy for their constant humiliation by her hands, as he looked around he saw many guards were lying unconscious, all of them had their underwear pulled over their heads.
"Hey, its either this or broken bones," Hadrian said as he shrugged, his body began to shimmer as the illusion was dispelled, revealing a female elf.
"So did you find what Vaeril asked for?" she asked, he nodded as he held up a book.
"Good, now lets get out of here," she said as the warehouse exploded. They quickly began to make their way back, he hoped no more guards would suffer tonight.