Chapter 17: Chesedonia
The sandy buildings and merchants reminded Raine so strongly of Triet that she almost felt like she was back at Sylvarant. Almost, though. The giant mansion in the center of town was too conspicuous to be confused with the poor oasis of Triet, or anywhere else in Sylvarant for that matter. If there was anywhere in Chesedonia that had fontech, it was definitely at Astor's mansion.
She followed the others up the steps to the front door where Raine's eyes walked the length of it to an amazing height, must've been over twenty feet tall, and they all walked in. What was the point of having doors that tall?
The smell of tobacco greeted her. The room was just as lavish as she expected, with decorative vases half the height of the doors, furniture with enough fluff to comfortably stuff every bed in the fanciest hotel in Sylvarant, and colored tiles and fabrics that in Sylvarant, no one could afford—but still no machines. Surely, someone of this caliber would have use of exspheres. It surprised her to see that nothing she saw had one or indeed looked like it needed one. Not even the hookah pipe on the table that explained the tobacco.
The attendant left to find Astor, so they gathered around the table on the couches. Raine tested the stitching on the couch's arm. Nothing this fine would ever appear in Sylvarant, she was sure of that. But where Tethe'alla prospered so long as Sylvarant declined, this sort of thing was expected. With the blue tile floors and the massive gold statue of a man against the far wall directly behind her, the whole scheme of the palace made sense.
Someone wanted everyone to know he was opulent and in charge. Next to her, Jade sat with his arms folded and Ion and Anise on his other side. Anise treated the room with the same excited fervor she wore when she perused Raine's notes, as if this were something she'd never see again.
Across from her, Tear sat with Mieu on her lap, absentmindedly stroking his ears while Luke slouched next to her looking bored. Raine supposed with Luke's status, this place wouldn't seem as interesting to him. Guy, meanwhile, kept his eyes up, but from the angle, Raine couldn't tell if he looked at the gold statue or at the ceiling.
Then a side door opened when the attendant returned.
A man in a posh pink suit and hat greeted them and they all stood up. He had a nose like a tomato, even just as red, and he was so highly decorated that she wasn't sure why he would let the likes of them walk in his front door. Just in case, she stepped back to stand closer to Jade.
"Fon Master Ion!" The man drawled, obviously happy to see him. "If I had known you were coming, I would've prepared a grand welcome for you."
"It's okay, Astor," Ion said, walking towards him. "We're trying to keep a low profile. We'd like to ask you a favor."
"Name it," Astor said without hesitation. "The Chesedonia Merchants Guild is always at your service, Fon Master. How may I assist you?" Well, this certainly wasn't what Raine expected. Was this what it's like to be equals in the lap of luxury?
"We have a fon disc we'd like to have scanned for its contents," Guy said and held it up. Astor immediately clapped his hands to summon the attendant. As the man approached Guy to take the disc, Astor told him, "Go scan that fon disc and give the results to him."
Curious, Raine watched the man leave into the other room, but she couldn't see the fon machine through the open door. In fact, it looked more like a hallway.
"Ion, you know this guy?" Luke asked.
But Astor took up answering his question. "It's because of the Fon Master that I can trade here in Chesedonia. He granted me the autonomy to trade with both Malkuth and Kimlasca." Ah, of course! Raine understood now, hence the reason for Astor's dominance here.
"Basically, you're a commercial intermediary," Raine said, feeling more confident now that he seemed friendly with them. Astor wouldn't do anything against her so long as she knew the Fon Master.
"Correct."
Tear turned to Luke and added, "The Merchants Guild contributes large amounts of money to Daath. In return, the Order enforces the recognition of Chesedonia as an autonomous state."
"It's no wonder that this system works, then," Raine said. "You've made quite a deal for yourself, Astor." He couldn't help but grin about it as he stroked his thin moustache.
"Well, it does help to keep the peace. War might make money for the country, but peace allows goods to cross borders, and that affords me everything. Not a bad deal for anyone, wouldn't you say?"
"Wow, Astor! You must be really rich," Anise gushed. "I wish I lived in a place like this."
It didn't take as long as Raine thought it would for the man to return with a small stack of portfolios written in neat writing too consistent to be written by hand. The man handed the papers to Guy who reached out a hand for them. The fon disc sat on top of the stack.
"If there is anything else I can do for you, don't hesitate to ask," Astor said. Then he laughed in a higher pitch that Raine associated with duplicity. From the look in his eyes, though, she knew he was genuine about his offer.
"Thank you," Ion said. "We really appreciate your help."
"We can review these results on the way to Baticul," Jade said. "For now, I think we have what we need."
"Wait a moment," Raine said and she turned to Astor. "Have you seen Sheena come through here? Or a boy who looks like he could be my younger brother?"
Astor shook his head. "I'm sorry. I haven't seen anyone who looks like you. You do have a unique appearance so I would think I'd remember."
She knew she stuck out as an oddly dressed person and wondered how many Tethe'allans noticed and just hadn't said anything. Suddenly, she felt a bit self-conscious. "We did make our clothes ourselves, now as for Genis, could you leave a message for him if anyone sees him?"
"Sure. What message shall I pass on to him?"
"I'm headed to the…," what had Elder McGovern called it? The one in Belkend? "Imperial Research Academy," she said. Astor tilted his head in confusion. Even the servant who printed the fondisc contents seemed a little lost. Suddenly feeling a rise in panic, Raine checked with her companions and nearly fled when she they wore the same expressions as Astor. Wait, no, that's what Sheena had called it. Raine pulled her journal out of her bag to check.
"You mean the Imperial Research Institute?" Jade asked.
"The king has projects out there," Raine said as she flipped through the pages. "I thought Sheena called it the Imperial Research Academy, but…." But she couldn't remember what Elder McGovern had called it. Both he and his son had been confused by the name she gave them, too.
"That's quite a friend, directing you to a place that doesn't exist," Jade said. Guy held his chin in his hands while Ion just looked distracted.
Doesn't exist? "What do you mean?" Raine asked, defensive. "Elder McGovern had a name for it, I'm sure."
"The facility in Sheridan is called the Kimlasca-Lanvaldear Royal Academy," Guy told her. "The Imperial Research Institute is in Grand Chokmah. But His Majesty doesn't run projects out there."
Raine glanced around at them all, confused. But Elder McGovern mentioned the facility in Belkend…? Besides, Sheena had said the king was investigating the exspheres. Why would the king of Kimlasca have a facility in the neighboring country? If the name Sheena gave her didn't exist, no wonder Glenn was so hostile. But why would Sheena have it wrong? She lived here in Tethe'alla, didn't she? "What about the facility in Belkend?"
"That's the fontech laboratory," Guy said. "It's run by Class I while the Royal Academy is run by Class M. They're the ones you stole the Rheaird from, right?" Astor's interest piqued and he watched Raine with a sly expression she didn't trust. He would peddle anything, she was sure. Information or goods. She clapped her notebook shut.
"Where are you really going, Raine?" Anise asked. "It sounds like you might be heading in the wrong direction."
"I-I-I don't know…." At that, she shut down. Was it Sheena who had gotten things confused? But that seemed so strange. Sheena worked with the king, specifically. "I thought Belkend, but…"
"In that case," Astor said, "I'll send him to all three facilities. If he goes to the wrong one, you can always send a carrier pigeon and let him know."
Raine barely nodded.
"We should be going," Jade said. "We still have our mission to worry about. That should give you enough time to figure out what you want to do." Raine followed them out of the mansion. She was only vaguely aware that Guy walked with her. He said something but then went quiet when she didn't answer.
"Imperial Research Academy, huh?" Anise finally managed to snap Raine out of her thoughts by invading the space just in front of her. "Sheena told you it was in Belkend?" The young lady spoke as if she was enjoying a new treat and danced from the excitement of it. Just like Jade, she had a sense of humor. And one Raine wasn't in the mood for right now.
Raine sighed, but didn't engage, stepping around her to move on. They walked the steps out of Astor's house and towards the streets of town. This time, the others crowded around her, except for Luke and Ion who led the way and Tear kept to the back. Only Ion looked back, obviously worried about her.
"Funny naming a king's research institution with 'imperial,'" Jade said.
"Yeah, that's really weird." Anise giggled. Raine balled up her fists. Wasn't it bad enough that it was a mistake? She almost would've rather had faced down Glenn's questions. His anger was a lot easier to handle and a lot less embarrassing.
"Come on," Guy said. "It's not her fault she was told wrong." But that only enhanced Anise's delight.
"Oooh, look Raine! Guy is your knight in armor!"
"I-I'm not—it's not that—"
"Be careful, Guy," Jade added. "You wouldn't want her to see you sputtering about like that, would you?"
Anise leaned over to Guy who jumped back. "Maybe she's the one who'll cure him after all."
"S-stop that," Guy pleaded.
Enough. Without a word, Raine ran, heading straight for the docks in Kimlasca's side. Nothing on this planet would make her happier than finding Genis, but the sooner they arrived in Baticul, the better.
Analyzing the Fon Disc
Astor is a merchant who managed to build Chesedonia up into an autonomous state all by himself. He had a machine for analyzing fon discs, too, so we had him analyze the disc we picked up in Choral Castle. The results were pretty long, though, so we decided to wait and read them on the ship. We were about to leave when Raine asked about Genis again. She said that they were headed for the Imperial Research Academy, but that place doesn't exist. I guess Sheena told her wrong or something. Whatever. All we have to do now is board that ship and we'll be headed for Baticul. They should know at the Kimlasca consulate whether it's ready or not.
Just as we left Astor's mansion, Sync of the Six God-Generals suddenly attacked us, apparently to get that fon disc back. He succeeded in that, but we managed to hold on to the analysis results. We escaped from Sync, ran to the port and jumped onboard the ship for Baticul. Guy got hurt a little, but once we were at sea, we were safe.
A/N: Hi, Peeps!
So, I wasn't very happy with the anime cutting Astor out, and I didn't want to do that, so here he is! Just because! :D You'll have to imagine his awesome laugh or look it up on some YouTube Let's Play. Either way, I purred.
Thank you for reading! I'm really enjoying the feedback and ideas from everyone. As it turns out, plucking Raine from Symphonia causes a huge mess, so I realized I have to do more scenes with Genis than I thought. Be prepared to see more of him because you won out and changed my mind. Woot, woot!
Just know that also makes this story longer, and now it's almost 400 pages in my Word file. I am now backing up the file every time I work on it instead of every couple of weeks... I knew there wouldn't be any complaints about that. :)
Have an AMAZING weekend, and if you're still following Tales, Tales of Arise is coming out Friday in the US, so enjoy it if you can. I won't play it yet (I have a milestone priority to reach before I can), but I do plan on getting it. See you soon! How soon? Well, you'll see...
~~Kat =^-^=