"Julien, could I have some more of these spinach-pastries?" I asked the old, bold-headed man, who had quickly become my favorite butler throughout the evening. Of all the staff scurrying around the Letho property, Bernard was with no doubt the most friendly, attentive and merry human, but Julien simply was fantastic. His eyes were hard to make out with bulky brows covering half of his face, and the gnarled nose hid well within all the wrinkles. The mouth was simply turned into a thin, hard line that never opened – Julien communicated only with 'hmmphs' and 'grrmls' – and his head merged into the rest of his body without the sight of something coming even close to a neck.
The best trait about him though was his obvious attitude towards him and his work: he simply hated everything and everyone. Without exceptions.
With a dark "hrrml" he turned around to face me, while the silver tray in his hands swayed dangerously, until he banged it at the table in front of me with such a force that some of the water inside the pitcher spilled over, slowly spreading across the expensive-looking piece of furniture. I gave him a grin and a sugar-sweet "Thanks, Julien" and grabbed some of the pastries before they would go up in flames due to Julien's anger, since he seemed to get even grimmer with my answer. Bernard, who had of course noticed the noise, hurried to take a plain white cloth out of his chest and dabbed the table dry, while he assured to me with a smile that he would immediately fill up the water again.
Julien, lifting the tray with similar force than before again, paraded to the other side of the room, where Aidan and Connor touched just another round of glasses – one of many. I gave one of the pastries to Alvenn, who was still trembling with silent laughter. She had been terribly bored during the last hours, and Julien gave the best opportunities for me to try and cheer her up. At least this was not only a favor for the girl, since I could use some good distraction as well. As guests of this house it was considered rude to leave the party early, and I didn't want to hurt Aidan. Besides, no one would take care of Alvenn once I left.
I sighed and examined the spinach pastry in my hands. It was simple, dough rolled thin and covered with cream cheese and spinach, and then rolled into small canapés. But they still tasted wonderful, and during the evening I had already emptied half a tray on my own – the other half had been taken care of by Alvenn and the twins, despite our host implying that these should only serve as incitement for the main course.
While I took a bite, I saw how the girl next to me straightened her back and shifted her weight. With slow and careful movements, she lifted the youngest member of the family, Rhode, up and placed him in the crook of her arm so that she would be able to hold this position for a while. It was fascinating to watch how such a young girl was able to take responsibility for another child, but it didn't seem to me that Alvenn was forced to do this.
It rather seemed to be the opposite, since Henna had offered multiple times to take the boy, but Alvenn had declined smiling every time. Now the mother of five sat in a cushioned chair next to her husband and Connor, listened to the discussion about beer and money investments and allowed in the meanwhile, that Alvenns younger sister Philomena braided wild braids into her snow-white hair.
I admired Henna for her calmness and patience when it came to the kids. The twins had destroyed more than one goblet during their wild play, but neither Henna nor Connor seemed to bother too much. It wasn't surprising considering the expensive furniture and all, since Connor obviously had more than enough money as not to worry about a handful of shattered goblets.
Like I had predicted before, I would probably never manage to grow fond of this man. When he laughed – which happened more often the more beer he drank – the more ugly and strange he seemed. That was only topped by the fact that he did not look at me a single time and acted as if I didn't even exist, while he played with the children at the same time and spoiled them as if they were his own. Even the children themselves showed no fear towards this man, as if he had been a part of their family for many years.
Shaking my head, I returned my attention to the girl next to me. Alvenn had her mother's hair, even though it was thinner and shorter. Some strangle strands of white framed her face, while the rest was held together by a multi-colored ribbon at the back.
Her head gently whipped from side to side as she stroked the chubby belly of the whining Rhode to calm him down. No matter how I looked at her, she definitely did not appear like thirteen to me. One of the reasons might be that she was as tall as I, but she had this sense of adultery on her – how she handled younger children, especially Rhode, and how she watched everything around her without participating in it herself. I realized that she shared much more traits with her mother than only the hair color and the muteness, since she was just as secretive and mysterious as Henna.
Alvenn lifted her head and locked eyes with me, then pointed a raised brow at the hall around us. I nodded and whispered "stupid snot" towards Connor, who of course didn't notice. But Alvenn was right; the room we had spent the last hour or so in was even more splendid and snottily decorated than the rest of the house. The walls were not white but covered in elaborate and gold-adorned historical scenes. The west-side had been replaced entirely with glass and gave free sight into the rose garden, where we had been able to watch the setting of the sun not long ago. Tiles covered the floor under our feet as well, and we sat on wide armchairs made of massive wood that had been covered in red velvet. I didn't know a thing about wood, but this one really looked rudely expensive, and did not show a single stain or scratch. Did Connor not bother about damaging these chairs as well? Trying it out made me curious, but the furniture looked too great for that.
Besides all that, the room was decorated with enormous chandeliers at the ceiling and dozens of candle holders at the walls, all of them covered in gold and mirroring the light of hundreds of small flames. No ordinary candles were used here of course, but something had been melted into the wax – a heavy, expensive seeming scent that I could not define, but it was spreading further and further across the room the longer we sat and talked. Could have been exotic herbs, but which?
Since this question honestly interested me, I was about to ask Bernard with raising my hand when the huge two-winged door opened and two more butlers brought in a huge serving cart. The men's eyes grew huge and began to glow at the sight of tons of fresh grilled meat that had been stacked at silver trays, reaching from huge joints to a massive turkey, where lone drips of fat rolled down its crispy skin, gathering in a pot at the bottom. A colorful collection of fried vegetables was not missing too, and within the varied clutter I could make out carrots, leek, paprika and celery together with many more. The spicy scent of all the dishes mixed together with the exotic scent of the candles, and surprisingly, it was actually a pleasing mixture.
As soon as the butlers handed out plates filled to the brim to all the guests, I realized how close the families had to be to each other. Bernard brought Aidan a plate filled with meat, while he chose only the finest vegetables for Henna, and even the children were given only their favorite dishes by Julien, as if such barbecues had taken place many times before.
I was the only one being politely asked by Bernard what he could get me, and I too ended up with a plate full of vegetables and turkey while sitting in my chair and enjoyed the meal together with a jug of hot mead.
It surprised me that the Lethos served something as mead, but just like the dinner, it tasted fabulous and actually saved the evening for me. I had so many reasons to feel out of place here; as the only Asura within humans and Norn, in a villa that belonged to a rich snot, while I was wearing nothing but dusty street clothes as a stranger amongst friends.
I threw a casual look towards my armor that I had placed down in a corner together with my backpack. My original purpose in Lion's Arch had been to train with Aidan, and now I sat here and had dinner with someone I could barely stand, and all of that because of Scarlet. Strange how things could change.
Together with the dinner, a couple of musicians had entered the room, so they could entertain us with merry melodies while we ate. One played the fiddle, one a drum, a woman played the flute while another served as a singer, praising glorious moments in human history with her deep and full voice, even though the meaning behind the lyrics was mostly not correct at all. But her voice was pleasant to listen to for quite a while, and I enjoyed the music a lot.
Barely a word was spoken while we ate, and everyone seemed to be busy with their own thoughts. I began to form a plan inside my head how I could reach Narru the fastest. She wanted to see me soon, and as soon as I settled with Elynnja that I'd need some days off – something she definitely wouldn't approve of – I would travel to her. The best would be to take the same path Zojja had shown me half a year ago – from Lion's Arch towards the Bloodtide Coast and then travelling by water to the lab of the United Arcanists. First of all things tomorrow I would visit Nahraija though, despite not being sure how I was supposed to find her in the tangled paths of the Grove.
Eventually, when our dinner was almost finished, the double doors opened and a man entered, and he definitely was not a butler. He was tall, his head almost touching the upper frame of the door, and he seemed to be just as wide. A single movement of his hand was enough to silence the musicians immediately. His edgy face was covered by a full beard and the upper half was decorated by wrinkles. Cold eyes stared dangerously and moved from person to person until they halted at Connor, who almost choked on his food and stared at the newcomer with disbelief, while the fork remained motionless in front of his mouth.
The man did not deem any kind of greeting necessary as he crossed his arms across his chest, while single metal parts of the armor he was wearing chimed with a blood-freezing sound, and when he talked, his voice made the temperature in this room sink a couple of degrees.
"In my office, son. Now. A message of Lord Bower."
Connor's face deformed at the news; it didn't seem to be exactly the message he would have wanted to hear. I stared at both the men in shock, not able to believe that this giant should be the father of ugly, tiny Connor.
Said man immediately handed his plate over to Julien and got up from his seat, straightening his back in front of his father as if he wanted to salute right away. Instead, he simply uttered a "Yes, Sir!" and followed the older man through the winged doors, which were shut close noisily behind them and left us guests in uncomfortable silence.
I was the first to speak after some moments of silence. "This… this was Connor's father!?" I almost whispered with a side-glance to Julien, who continued to stare at me grimly.
Aidan sighed, but unlike me he didn't care about the presence of the butlers in the room. "Yeah. The similarities are surprising, aren't they?" He grinned, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. Henna placed a hand onto his shoulder, and he covered it with his own. The twins had already returned to jumping around the room cheerily, ducking under the musicians while being chased by each other. But something about the atmosphere had changed.
"What's up? What's the meaning of this?" I, too, handed my empty plate to Bernard and rested my upper body on the armrest. Rhode began to whine again, and Alvenn tried to soothe him with soft movements and soundless hums.
"Nothing good." Aidan gently took Henna's hand off his shoulder and got up to pace the saloon up and down. Bernard shooed the musicians out of the hall and followed with the service tray, only Julien and one other servant stayed to be of help with the drinks.
"Lord Bower is one of the most important money-givers and supporters of the troops trying to keep Scarlet's alliances in control in the north. That he's messaging Lord Letho can only mean one thing: he has run out of money. And that means Scarlet and her minions are much stronger and cause more damage than any of us would have thought."
I took some time to process Aidan's words. Did Scarlet really cause that much trouble all over Tyria? For me, Scarlet's war had never been such a big topic, since I had missed that part of the game, but I knew there had been a group of heroes taking care to defeat this maniac! Where were those heroes now?
"Is there no one strong enough to get in Scarlet's way? I mean, what's with the Pact? They should be strong enough. Where are they? And is there no better option to help refugees other than making them camp on the streets of Lion's Arch?"
Too many thoughts overlapped each other in my head. The north had turned into chaos, and even Lion's Arch was not spared from the impact. Why had I not heard a single word about the refuge situation in Rata Sum? Did the Asura care so few about others, even more about other races, that they completely stayed out of this war as if it didn't impact them as well?
"The Pact has not completely recovered yet, but the remaining fighters are giving their best to recollect their strength in the north. But it's not easy to withstand such an alliance! Scarlet makes the Flame Legion built weapons together with the Dredge, weapons that no one has ever seen in Tyria before. Fire and Iron united, controlled by a new kind of genius. I'm afraid what we're going to face there will be even stronger than Zhaitan."
"A Sylvari will barely be stronger than an Elder Dragon!" I snorted and stared at Aidan with disbelief, while he continued to pace the room.
"What I'm talking about is that Zhaitan was only focused on making an end to his hunger. He destroyed our troops to form new minions, yes, but he did that without a deeper strategy. He did that to protect himself. Scarlet is different. She is intelligent, and she attacks with clear aims. Her trump is on top of that that no one knows what her real plan is."
Images appeared on my inner eye; vines, covered in energy, that crawled across the landscape and burrowed everything underneath. I ignored the pain in my head as good as possible and tried to dig further, to follow the vines to their source. What I saw was Scarlet, and her manic laughter filled every fiber of my body with icy cold. The vines separated behind her, as if they finally wanted to reveal the bigger picture, but instead of a clear image I only was hit by a searing beam, blinding me and burning the insides of my head. I hissed and hid my head within my hands, massaging my palm to calm down the pulsing pain. It made me angry that I could not access the knowledge inside of me, and I felt useless, weak.
"Szallejh? Are you alright?"
Aidan's voice brought me back out of my thoughts and my head jerked up. All people inside the room, except Julien, stared at me with a worried expression in their eyes. Only Henna rested her chin on the palm of her hand and a faint smile could be seen around her eyes. I have seen what you saw. I know who you are. Where you come from.
We lost eye contact when Aidan knelt down in front of me and placed a massive hand onto my shoulder. He smelled like beer and sweat, but his eyes were sober and full of worry. Henna's voice silenced the same moment her eyes lost connection to mine, and I sighed.
"Are you okay?" Aidan asked again, and I nodded.
"Everything's fine. It's just… the whole thing with Scarlet." I shook my head as I searched for the right words to describe what was going on inside of me. "Scarlet is destroying Tyria, but everyone in Maguuma is acting as if that's nothing. Not a single soul is talking about the refugees, about the alliances – but here, everything is so close I can almost touch it! And I simply don't understand the role I have to play in all of this. This noon, when I came to Lion's Arch and waited for you, I… I had a vision of the city burning. Everything was completely destroyed, and I'm sure there's a connection to Scarlet. I just can't grasp the exact details!"
I felt Alvenn's delicate hand on mine, while Aidan tried to process my words.
"Lion's Arch won't burn. The city is well secured and impregnable. Scarlet won't manage to come this far… not over the land, and not over water. I'm sure it was some kind of… panic reaction of yours. But about the role… You can't defeat Scarlet. The troops need skilled fighters, and you're not there yet. You're no use for the Pact if you allow the next best minion of the Molten Alliance to strike you down. All you can try is to help and keep the chaos here under control as best as possible."
"But… you said yourself that I'm a good trainee!"
"Exactly. You're a trainee. No master of art. You are good, but you're not yet ready for war." He almost stared me down. "I have taught you already to fight a bunch of wolves. But you'd be lost on the battlefield."
I swallowed heavily. "Why am I here, then?" I asked with coarse voice, "why am I here, when I can't even fight?"
In my mind, I still viewed myself as the commander. The person to found the Pact, to claim victory in the battle against Zhaitan, to lead the heroes of Tyria. And for a long time, I had been exactly that, together with thousands of others playing that game – and still playing it probably. But now I was someone else. Or better, I was a Nobody. Neither could I help Tyria with my knowledge about the future, nor could I fight side by side with the heroes to save this world. In these lands, I had no destiny. No greater being had foreseen that I would become the main hero of the continent, and no one had given me the power necessary to defeat the evil beings.
I had turned from a simple, meaningless human woman to an even more simple and meaningless Asura. With no way to choose, I had been forced to give up everything I knew and loved only to stand there and watch how the world I just got used to was destroyed bit after bit. Everyone had their place inside the Eternal Alchemy, except me. I was not part of the original plan; I shouldn't even exist.
Tears welled up in my eyes until they were about to flow over. The hope that my transition would come together with a deeper purpose had kept me from getting lost in desperation. But what reason was there to believe in this hope still? Again and again I relived the circle of euphoric excitement to be in Tyria to the desperate longing to return home, and still I was not moving forward the slightest.
"Szallejh, whi-" Aidan begun to say something, but he was interrupted by someone harshly throwing the door open. Connor entered, with a grim face, and slumped down in one of the free chairs.
Without a word needed, Julien filled his jar with beer, and Connor emptied almost all of it within a single gulp. Aidan got back on his feet to return to the seat next to Henna, and he too held out his jar to be refilled.
"What did Lord Bower want?" he asked without hesitation once Connor had taken down the jar. Said man exhaled a long sigh and wiped his hand over his sweaty face.
"Money. What else? The Alliance has burned down another village entirely. The few survivors have been taken captive, and no one knows where Scarlet's people brought them. Some guess that they will serve to test the new weapons of the Alliance – may the Six help us if that really is the truth."
Connor emptied his Jar and signed Julien to fill it again without even looking towards the servant. But Julien understood and did as expected with a grim murmur.
"We don't have enough men to secure the entire north. Scarlet is spreading more and more, and we're running out of fighters. Lion's Arch can't take much more refugees, but the Consortium has agreed to open Southsun Cove for people in need to take them in as guests until their home is safe again. That on the other side will come along with high costs, and someone has to pay them. There are not that many people left with enough wealth to help."
Connor's glance wandered through the room and for the first time of the day, his eyes locked with mine.
"If there's not enough space for the refugees, why don't you open your home to offer space for the people?" I asked with an unnecessary amount of cheekiness, and Aidan opened his eyes wide in surprise.
Connor on the other side stayed calm, even though his eyes narrowed visibly.
"Dear madam", he replied in a more than sarcastic tone implying the opposite, "Aidan and his family will be living with me until their home is safe again. I have just ordered to provide the summer residence and the guesthouse as shelter for those in need. Don't expect me to invite strangers into my own bedroom on top of that."
I snorted in surprise, but not because of his implied generosity. This snot was even worse than I had imagined! Three houses if not more, and far more money than a whole village together, and others were still driven out of their homes with nothing but the clothes they wore on their bodies.
"You rich people are nothing but despicable", I muttered with a shaking head, but Connor had returned to complete ignorance.
"Father has agreed to support the Consortium financially when it comes to supplying the refugees. On top of that, he has decided to travel north early next morning to join the Pact troops fighting at the front. You might remember that he faced plenty of centaur armies until he left Kryta. The front is in need of men like him. He has passed the property on to me while he is helping out in the war."
So many comments lay on my tongue ready to be spoken, but I forbid myself to allow a single one of them to be voiced. That' exactly what you like, having the whole estate for yourself, right? Is there no mother you can send to the front as well so she won't try to command you? How good that Aidan is with you. You don't seem to be someone able to keep such a big house in order.
"I will pray to the Spirits of the Wild to keep your father save." Aidan raised his glass for a toast, and Connor did the same.
"Thank you, my friend", he answered and leant back in his chair. "Tyria will need the protection of all ghosts and entities that have ever been worshipped in these lands."
In the meantime, the twins had become tired of playing and begun to show first signs of tiredness. Some of the candles had burned down as well and a glance towards the sky showed nothing but the pitch black night sky, only interrupted by some lone stars her and there. Some lanterns had been set up in the garden, but the flowers had closed their petals for the night.
Connor asked Julien to show the guests their rooms so they could rest, and Henna got up with a thankful nod, still holding the already sleeping Philomena in her arms, and signed Alvenn and the twins to follow her.
Alvenn hugged me with one hand so she could still keep Rhode save in the other and kept in that position for a moment. She was obviously tired too, since she swayed a bit when she attempted to follow her family, which wasn't surprising since she was still a child after all, and it was late.
The room emptied one by one, and I swallowed down the last bit of my mead to head home as well. Finally.
When I dropped the glass, I realized that the only other person inside this room was Connor – and the man stared at me without holding back.
"What is your problem?" he asked, surprisingly objective, and completely startled me with such an unexpected question.
"What do you mean? With you? With this place? With the whole situation?" I snorted and got up to shoulder my backpack and grab the armor. "I just can't stand snots like you. That's all."
For some moments I could feel his eyes piercing my back while we kept silent. Then he exhaled a deep and loud breath.
"One does not choose to be born rich."
While I opened the door, I gave Connor a last grim glance. "But you choose what to do with it. Thanks, I'll find the exit on my own." I signed the butler who had hurried to help me that I did not need his assistance and left Connor standing in the middle of the saloon without another word. With quick pace I hurried through the seamless hallways of the estate, until Bernard finally opened the main entrance for me with a friendly gesture, and I didn't slow down until I had crossed the bridge and arrived at the city's harbor.
In the end, it was hard to say what really bothered me this much with Connor. It was not only the arrogance; of course he was right that most of his life was not his own fault. And still… no matter how I tried to look at him, I couldn't stand this man. And I had not the slightest ambitions to change something about this attitude.
Without thinking too much about it, I climbed the small ladder at Macha's Landing, threw my backpack to the side and sat down on the still warm concrete. Resting my weight on my arms and dropping my head to the back, I stared at the starry sky that was not covered in a single cloud. The decreasing moon was still almost a full circle, and for the blink of an eye, the shadow of an owl crossed its cold light. Lion's Arch was still buzzing and hustling with life, most of all the market place was still brightly lit. This city never fully slept, even less within the current situation, since most of the newcomers hadn't found any shelter outside of the streets and were forced to camp in the corners. I could even hear some distance in the corners indicating at some kind of festivity that was still going on.
I enjoyed the quietness that hovered over this place despite the nightly bustle down there. The noise barely reached to me, and no one lifted their head high enough to face me. Only a grey-tabby cat found its way to me using some of the ropes that were secured into the concrete with metal hooks, and it was a pleasant silent company for a while.
At some point, the animal stretched and meowed once before it jumped into the darkness of the night with graceful movements, probably to hunt down a mouse or a bird. And as more time passed by, my eyes became heavy, but I did not have the urge to return to Rata Sum. Up here I felt light, free of all the worries that tried to squish me. I did not wish to get back to reality just now.
With a sigh, I spread my body across the concrete and stretched my limbs. The warm ground and the comfortably cool night breeze made a nice contrast, and I closed my eyes. No one expected me in Rata Sum, so why not spend the night here?
I must have fallen into a slumber for a while because my whole body twitched once when a feint, crunching sound reached my ears, just like a body usually does when being woken suddenly. I listened without opening my eyes, but the noise was gone.
The music had stopped and a group of drunk men had taken over to sing an old seafarer's chanty. Must have been the cat returning to the Landing.
But even if there was no rustling or a similar sound, there seemed to be something else. I had the feeling of not being alone any longer, and to make sure of it, I opened my eyes.
And screamed out when I stared straight into a pair of purple glowing eyes hovering directly over my face.
I rolled to the side In shock, struggled to get on my knees and held my hands on front of me in an attempt to protect myself from the stranger while I tried to make out more details in the darkness. A familiar laughter sounded next to me, and the panic left at once, being replaced by a wide grin
"Heh, calm down, little rat! Is' just me."
Arrhakesh wiped a black strand of hair out of her face and sat down next to me with her legs crossed. Her teeth almost glowed when she returned my grin, but I couldn't make out much more of her figure.
"You really are a master when it comes to stealth", I said while shaking my head and waited for my heartbeat to calm down again.
"Only when it comes to sleeping rats", she gave back laughing, "but what are you doing here? Waited for you in the Crow's Nest, but neither you nor Baersson came."
Oh, crap. I had completely forgotten about Kesh. "I'm sorry. There was no training today, because…" Did Kesh know about Aidan being forced to leave his home? "Well, Aidan has been impacted now as well. You know, Scarlet's destruction fever. He and his family are allowed to seek shelter at a friend's place until the situation in the north has calmed down. And said friend invited us for dinner. Are you familiar with the name of Connor Letho?"
Kesh's glowing eyes simply stared at me for a while before she hummed. "Well, well. So that maniac has not been taken out yet. But no, don't remember that name. Someone important?"
"He would prefer to be. Stupid snot."
Kesh laughed her rough, scary laughter. "Guess it's good then that I don't know this man! Sounds like a stinky human."
I nodded and suppressed a yawn. "Exactly what he is. But Aidan's kids love him, and he allows them to live in his house… So I don't even want him to suffer some nasty disease. Not yet. But let's ask something different... how did you find me up here?"
With a paw, Kesh pointed to my back at the Craw's Nest, where the last lanterns were just being put out. "Waited there for you. And ate three whole bowls of shrimps in the meantime! At some point I saw you crawling around at the Landing. You're really tiny, you know that?"
"Oh really, thanks. Haven't noticed that before!" We both laughed, and this time the yawn could not be held back.
"Don't you want to go home? You seem tired."
I rubbed my eyes and shook my head. "I am, yes. But I think I'll stay here for the night. This place doesn't seem as uncomfortable as one might think, and I like it here much better than in Rata Sum tonight." I stretched once again on the concrete and crossed my arms behind my head, and Kesh did the same.
"Mind if I stay here as well? Have nothing to do as well in the Citadel."
I answered with a hum, and suddenly I had an idea. "Hey, Kesh… I plan to travel to a friend of mine tomorrow, to the Grove. Would you like to accompany me? I am sure that Nahraija would be thrilled to meet you!"
"Oh? Don't hear that too often. But sure, I'll come. Those plants are funny little creatures."
Silence fell over us and the sounds of the night lulled me to sleep. I could hear Kesh's tail slap the round rhythmically while her breathing went over into gentle snoring. The lights went out around us, allowing the stars to shine more brightly. We were too close to the center to enjoy the sky in complete darkness, but it was enough to suppress the worries in my head for a while. And I was thankful to fall into a comfortable slumber after such a day.