In the Commission's room, a woman stood beside a purple dragon. She sipped her drink calmly, while the dragon stared sternly ahead. Upon closer inspection, though, the dragon's tail flicked back and forth, betraying his nervousness.
"Do you know where my sisters are?" asked Jagan with his usual directness.
"No," answered Raya. "Pranee broke into our room early this morning and forced Sisu out of bed. I didn't even have the time to ask a thing, that they were already gone". She couldn't help but giggle at the image of a barely-wake Sisu staggering behind her sister like a drunk puppy. It was a cute scene, and even a bit funny, she had to admit it. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you how unhappy Sisu was."
Jagan grimaced. "No, you needn't," he said. "Still, both agreed to be here for the opening ceremony. Sisu is the Savior of Kumandra, and Pranee is one of our family." His voice let pass his disappointment for the matter. "They must be here in time."
Raya nodded. "I'm sure they will be," she said, trying to reassure the dragon.
She got why he was so upset, after all, he organized everything for the opening ceremony and knowing him, it would be very big and maniacally well organized. The dragon had been going on about this day for a full year now, about the importance of such a day and so on and so forth. It was only natural for him to be worried that something could go wrong after he put so much dedication into it. Jagan was a very precise dragon and he would not tolerate complications from his family members.
She was mostly sure that the two dragonesses would be there in time. After all, Pranee was quite the practical dragoness and she surely knew she wouldn't hear the end of it if she was to step on her brother's tail on something as important as that for him.
Of course, thinking about it, this could be the exact reason she would miss the ceremony.
"The Chiefs are missing too," pointed out Jagan, shaking his head disappointedly. He looked to a gear clock in the palm of his paw, tied to his forepaw. The hands were halfway pointing to midday. He snorted. "I thought humans built these things to be precise. Thought I was wrong," he said.
Raya refrained from rolling her eyes at the dragon's antics. Instead, she reassured him again as the violet dragon was being eroded by apprehension and therefore more whiny than usual.
"We still have time, Jagan," she said, caressing the dragon on the shoulder. "I'm sure Naamari will be here in no time, she is a clock herself. Noi and Tan too"
The dragon murmured. "What about the Tail Chief?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
Raya paused. "Well, I guess-"
Voices behind the doors stopped her mid-sentence. Both the human and the dragon turned their attention as the two massive doors of the Commission's room were opened by two stern-looking guards, revealing a small woman and a young boy, both dressed in golden yellow. The woman, leaning on a stick, limped slowly through the room, ignoring everything and everyone in her path. Her golden, fiery eyes were fixed on the Queen of Heart, her gait punctuated by the rhythmic sound of the stick. Her hair were punctuated by white and her face showed the signs of a person who saw a lot in her years.
The woman stopped in front of her and looked at Raya, studying her with her eyes, saying nothing, her lips stretched in a line.
Then.
"You've grown old," she said.
No one in the room said anything. The servants slowly disappeared from the view. Even Jagan's tail stopped its flickering as he looked curiously between the two women. The tension could be sliced with a knife.
Raya looked back at the woman, scanning her features, before raising an eyebrow. The woman with the stick maintained the stare, stubbornly.
All of a sudden, though, her lips cracked into a smile, and then into a laugh that resonated in the room. Raya joined her immediately after and the two hugged each other friendly, washing away all the tension that had been tainting the room.
"Ari! How long has it been?" asked Raya, disentangling from the hug.
"It's been too long, damn you!" said the Chief of Tail, sounding disappointedly. "You could have shown up in the last few years"
"I was busy, you know," said Raya, chuckling. "What is your excuse?"
Chief Ariija raised an eyebrow at her and pointed to her limping leg. Raya didn't seem impressed, though.
"That never stopped you before," she noticed.
"No," confirmed the older woman. "And just for the record," she added, pointing the stick toward her, menacingly. "It won't stop me from kicking your pretty dragon-lover butt now"
Raya smiled. "I'd like to see you try," she challenged.
Ariija scoffed. "You're playing with fire, Savior," she said, highlighting the world she knew she despised. The Chief smiled. "Let's water it for you, what's you say?" She turned to the boy just a few steps behind her. "Boy, bring us something to drink," she barked. "Now!"
The boy hurried to do as he was asked.
"I don't think we have the tim-"Raya tried to protest, but the other woman waved away her concerns.
"Nonsense," Ariija said. "No one's hurrying us to do anything."
Raya side-eyed toward where Jagan, who left them as soon as the tension decreased, was still making sure everything was exactly as he had planned.
"I wouldn't be so sure," she said.
The Chief of Tail ignored her and opened the way for the two women to the nearest table so that the limping woman could sit for a moment. She sat down heavily on the chair, immediately reaching for her ill leg, massaging it with slow and circular movements.
She sighed. "This damn palace," she said, annoyed. "They couldn't build it with bigger rooms and longer corridors, right?" She huffed continuing her massaging. "At least they could have thought about some kind mechanical monstrosity to help people move from one side to the other."
"If you need help," said Raya with a mocking smile. "I will have someone carrying you around for the duration of your stay, Chief."
Ariija sent her a death glare. "And if you need a fuck, I will gladly have my squire help you, Savior," she retorted.
Raya smiled. Despite being so rigid and tempered by the sand, the Tail woman was as stinging as a rose bush.
"I'm sorry, but I'll have to decline your generous offer," she said, feigning politeness. "No offense, but he is not my type." She smirked. "Besides, I can assure you, I don't need it." And saying this, she winked at the other woman, who grimaced disgusted.
"Don't remind me," she said. "You two are disgusting. I've never seen a couple so sticky to each other. You clearly need help."
Raya laughed.
The boy came back with two cups. Raya thanked him, but Ariija snatched the cup from the boy, gulped down the content, and then as she cleaned her mouth with the back of her hand, she glared at the boy.
"When I told you to bring us something to drink, I meant more than one cup," she chastised the boy who looked embarrassed but remained still under the glaring eyes of his Chief.
"What are you waiting for?" she pressed. "Go find us some more!"
"R-Right aw-away, C-Ch-Chief," he babbled and turned to run away with his tail between his legs.
Ariija sighed. Raya took a sip from the cup, smiling in the cup at the familiar taste of Heart's liquor, before addressing the other woman.
"Which number?" she asked.
"What?"
"The boy," explained the Heart Queen. "Which number is he? The second, third-"
"Sixth," said the Tail Chief. "The sixth in just a year."
Raya hummed, thoughtful. "Don't you think you should be just a little less tough with the boy, then?" she proposed. "I'm sure you don't want to train another one all over again"
Ariija scoffed. "He's an idiot." She said. "They all are."
"Then you should try teaching him something," Raya continued.
"Am doing that," the woman protested.
Raya raised an eyebrow at the Tail woman who maintained the look persistently before giving up.
She sighed again. "All right, all right," she gave up. "You're right," she repeated, taking the cup and tilting her head back, trying to steal from it even the last drop. "That's why you're the Savior. That's why I sent her to you."
Raya's expression lit up at the mention of "her", the Chief's daughter.
"How's Arya?" she asked.
The Tail Chief sighed for the third time in a row.
"She's stubborn," she said. "Damn Stubborn," she added. "Thorny even, but you already know that, don't you? Oh, and always asking about you."
Raya smiled at this. She knew the Chief's daughter to be stubborn, she had tutored the girl for most of her childhood to her teenage years. She was determined, capable, and crafty, but with an intense aversion for rules and any type of authority altogether.
She liked the girl. She reminded her a lot of her mother.
"Guess who she's taken after," she said, sipping some more from her drink.
Ariija scoffed and glared at her, frowningly.
The boy came back and passed a bottle to the Chief, who snatched it harshly from his hands and filled her cup, then she gulped it all in one shot.
"Slow down with that," Raya advised. "We have an opening to attend to."
"I'll be fine," she said, filling another cup. "Besides, this is just a medicine for the sore leg, nothing more."
She drank another cup and went for another, but Raya stopped her taking the bottle from her very hand and positioning it away from the woman's reach.
"Yeah, I remember you like to say that," Raya said, her voice containing that edge that signaled she was serious about this. "But forgive me if I don't believe you." Her expression softened as she looked at the other woman right in the eyes. "Now spit it out. What happened?"
Ariiji's lips were stretched in a line and her grip on the cup made her knuckles white, but she didn't argue or try to reach for the bottle.
"Leave us, boy," she ordered instead, without looking at the young male who seemed all too happy to comply and silently took his leave.
The Tail Chief stayed silent for a time, taking small sips of what was left of her drink, and keeping her eyes down. "Arya," she finally said. "The stubborn brat. I ordered her to come here, with me, so that she could learn one thing or two about leading, politics, and stupid ceremonies she will have to attend when the time comes"
"But she refused," guessed Raya, moving to take a seat next to the other woman, her drink abandoned on the table, unimportant.
The Tail Chief sighed, nodding. "She did more than that," she said. "She started babbling about not wanting to be Chief, about fleeing in Heart and joining your staff and other stupid things" She grimaced. "I know she does that to anger me," she paused, throwing her head back and finishing the last remnants of her drink. "And she does that just damn right."
"Have you tried talking about it with her?" proposed the Heart Queen, already imagining the answer, though.
Ariija smashed the cup on the table, cleaning her mouth with the back of her hand.
"What is there to talk about?" she challenged. "She will be Chief, end of the story."
"Maybe she doesn't want to," said Raya, calmly. "Maybe-"but she couldn't finish that line of thought.
"There's no such option, Raya" snapped firmly the Tail Chief, challenging her to say otherwise with her eyes. "She's the last in line, the only remaining member of my family. I have no other children and no siblings' bloodline to count on," she winced. "Not anymore"
"If she refuses the position of Chief," she continued after a small pause. "Someone else will step up and take our place."
"And so, what?" shrugged Raya. "Don't you remember your predecessor? She had no siblings or parents too and you were able to take the mantle of Chief. Sounds like it turned up pretty fairly for you."
"I'll not be like her," interrupted Ariija.
"Besides," continued the Heart's Queen, ignoring the other woman's protests. "What should I say? I will have no direct, blood-related heir too. Is Heart destined to fall? Should I worry?" She shrugged. "I'll just name someone fit for the job" Her eyes shone at the thought. She didn't have someone in mind yet, but the idea of teaching someone about the Queen's duties and job was strangely entailing. "See the bright side of it: you'll be able to raise someone for it, granting continuity to your reign and prosperity to your people."
"I want blood continuity," said the other woman, stubbornly. "You know Tail's traditions and you know me. I won't let my nation to some sand-slurping idiot. I want my daughter on that chair," she emphasized the concept with her index on the table. "And I wish for you to guide her and stay by her side when I could not," she added, softening both her tone and her expression as she whispered. "Please."
Raya sighed. Her friend was stubborn and she knew she would take no advice of hers about that matter. Her mind was up already and nothing would change that. The best she could do, like always, was stay by her side and help where she could without forcing things.
"You should be the one guiding her," Raya proposed as a last stand. "I'm not-"
"We both know you're better than me at this…" she said, lying down on the chair. "…Parenting thing, even if you don't have kids yourself…or hatchlings, or whatever"
Raya rolled her eyes.
"And," Ariija continued. "We both know you will be in this world much longer than me."
Raya said nothing. After all, her friend was right, about anything. About the parenting thing she was proud of her capabilities despite the lack of children of her own, even though she didn't want her friend to beat herself up about this.
While for the living part…well, she just didn't want to think about that now.
"There's more," suddenly said Ariija, interrupting her stream of consciousness.
Raya looked at the Tail woman, waiting. Her friend looked insecure as if she didn't want to speak any further, but at the same time, she really needed to. She fidgeted with her fingers on the table, marking the passing time with her rhythm.
"Someone stole from me," she finally confessed. "They stole something I…care deeply about," she explained.
That hit the Heart woman. She knew her friend to be a very scary person both in her nation and outside, everyone would be very ware of her, and rightly so. Thus, it sounded weird to know that someone had dared to steal from the infamous Tail Chief.
"But I tracked them here, in the Capital," she said. "Somewhere down city."
Raya understood where this was going.
"And you need me to help you," guessed Raya, arching an eyebrow at the other woman.
She nodded. "Like good old times," she smiled.
Raya answered with a smile of her own. Her friend was in need and she would never turn down someone who needed her, especially her. She took the bottle she snatched from her before and poured her friend's cup one last time. Then, she took hers and clicked glasses.
"After the opening ceremony," she promised.
Ariija scoffed annoyedly. Raya chuckled.
A - A - A
"The docks," sneered Ariija, looking around at the big platforms where numerous ships were unloading their cargos. "Why does it always have to be the docks?"
The bustling dock was alive with activity. Platforms stretched out into the water, where ships of various sizes were moored, their sails billowing gently in the breeze. The market nearby was a hive of commerce, with vendors calling out to passersby, selling everything from fresh seafood to handmade trinkets. The streets were crowded with people, each absorbed in their own tasks, creating a vibrant tapestry of movement and sound. The air was filled with the scent of saltwater and the distant cries of seagulls, adding to the lively atmosphere of the dock.
"Well, you must admit it is quite suggestive," said Raya, fixing her hood back in place.
Her friend scoffed at her. "I knew you would like it," she said. "You've always had a nip for awkward things, and take awkward choices, don't you"
Raya giggled. "Awkward choices huh? Like befriending someone like you?" she teased.
Ariija shrugged. "That and sending that idiot of my squire questioning the girl," she said, glaring at the hooded woman. "It's more stupid than awkward if you ask me."
Raya looked at her friend's squire, distant over one of the platforms, speaking with a girl. He seemed calm and comfortable, even if his anxiety was evident. But the girl didn't look annoyed or frustrated in the slightest and this was a good sign, as it meant she made the right call when she proposed the boy for the job.
Ariija's trace brought them to the docks and Raya was quite familiar with these places: a lot of people, a lot of possibilities, both for merchants and thieves. Someone would know something, but they would not say a thing, unless they paid the right price.
So, when their lead stopped to this one girl at the dock, Raya knew that there was no other possibility: Ariija was too aggressive to face the girl, while she was too well known and recognizable to even walk down the streets, let alone speak with someone suspected of stealing.
The boy Hugh, on the other hand, was perfect. He was young, handsome, unknown, and with Raya's help, he was now able to pay for the information they needed.
Raya looked as the young boy waved the bag full of jades she gave to the girl and smiled.
"I beg to differ," Raya said. "You'll see."
The Tail Chief huffed. "Alright, then," she said, shrugging before adding. "Your money, your call."
They stood there watching as they both saw the two young people speak, clearly negotiating the price of the information. Seconds turned into minutes, and Raya could see that her friend was growing restless with each passing moment. It seemed that, in the last years, her patient had grown thinner, which was odd, since she was the one that taught her patience. She guessed that the situation with her daughter was worse than she initially thought.
She was thinking about something to say to soothe her friend when a voice interrupted her before she could.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the infamous Dragon Queen herself," said a familiar voice behind her.
The two women turned to find themselves facing a man and a woman. The man, dressed in golden yellow like all Tail people, was tall and large, with a black beard but a gentle expression. The woman, dressed in violet and white, was small and thin, with a foxy light in her eyes. Both were very well known to the two women.
"You were right, Noi," said the man, crossing his arms over his chest, smiling cockily to the two. "They are up to something, indeed."
The young woman sneered. "Of course, I'm right, you shrimp-head," she said, rolling her eyes. "But don't blow their cover making names, Boun," she glared at the man, disapprovingly to which the man blushed. "Not just yet," she continued, moving her eyes back on the two women.
Raya looked at the former thief baby and she saw that familiar light in her eyes, the one she saw twenty-five years ago when she couldn't speak just yet but judged with her eyes anyway. And now she was as clear as before.
"What are you doing here?"
Raya smiled. She should have guessed that Noi would notice her and Ariija speaking before the ceremony and that she would investigate the "strange" behavior of both. Knowing her, she should have checked her surroundings better.
The Tail Chief, though, didn't seem so keen to recognize their lack of attention. She knew the duo, especially the new Chief, and she didn't particularly like her.
"Not you again," she growled, pointing her stick to the young woman. "Why does everywhere we go you are always in the way? What are you? Some kind of parasite?"
Noi glared at the older woman. "Me a parasite?" she spat. "You're the one always attached to her. Maybe you are the parasite here"
Ariija smirked. "Jealous?" she teased.
"Concerned," corrected the Talon Chief. "Though for which of you I'm not sure. After all, wherever you two are together, some trouble is bound to happen," she said, raising an eyebrow at them, before focusing her attention on Raya.
"Is there any trouble?"
Ariija scoffed, annoyed with the other woman's attitude. "Send the baby on her way," she said to her. "We have our hands full as it is."
"Oh, come on," protested Boun, the innocence still present despite the age. "You can't leave us hanging like that. We found you out, now you have to tell us what you're doing."
Raya giggled at the image of the little boy she knew in the clothes of an adult man. Noi just looked at her, raising an eyebrow.
She smiled. Some things never change.
"All right, then," she conceded.
"What? No, we are just fine as we are," Ariija protested. "No one else needs to know."
Raya just looked at her.
Her friend huffed. "Oh, don't look at me that way," she said.
"What way?" she asked, feigning ignorance.
"The dragon puppy way"
"Is there a dragon puppy way of looking?" asked Boun. "I too want to- ouch," he lamented when Noi slapped him behind his head. "It hurts," he lamented.
In the meantime, Raya managed to convince her friend.
"Uh, fine," The Tail Chief sighed. "We just wait for Hugh's to be back and-"she stopped when her squire appeared right next to her.
She looked at the boy, raising an eyebrow, questioningly. The boy, though, was looking in front of him, his eyes lost in the wilderness of his thoughts, unfocused and dreamy.
Rapidly, Ariija's raised eyebrow arched down in a frown.
"What have you found, boy?" she demanded of him.
The boy sighed dreamily but said nothing.
Ariija slapped him on the head and awakened the boy like a flush of cold water on the face.
"Who-wha-whe?" he babbled, regaining the reigns of himself. "W-What was-"Then his eyes locked with the ones of her Chief. He tensed. "Chief," he said, standing at the station.
Ariija scoffed. "Look at this idiot," she said to Raya. "I told you he was incapable of finding any useful information."
Raya wasn't convinced and she intended to prove it as she addressed the boy with a gentle smile.
"What have you found, Hugh?" she asked, politely.
"What have I-"began repeating the boy, before shaking his head and regaining his composure. "I did what you told me, Savior. I spoke with the suspect and offered the money for information"
"And what did you gain?" pressed Ariija, taking a step ahead, looking interested.
The boy's expression turned into an anxious one and it deepened even more when the Tail Chief took another step ahead, menacingly. Raya looked at the boy, smiling reassuringly.
He breathed. "S-she d-di-didn't say much," he began, fearfully.
"Then what have you been doing all this time!" barked Ariija.
The boy made himself small and smiled halfway between dreamily and apologetically at the older woman. The connection was instant for everyone there.
"You idiot!" snapped Ariija. "I can't trust you with even the stupidest of missions for you are too busy picking up on girls and playing with your cucumber"
Hugh blushed a deep red; Boun burst out laughing; Noi shook her head, disapprovingly at their antics, and Raya glared at her friends making fun of a poor boy in front of everyone. He had a mission, all right, and he got distracted, but he was young and there was a beautiful woman there. And if there was something she understood from her experience was that everyone was allowed to dream of love, and better make things clear sooner rather than later.
"Stop it, Ariija," she stepped in, pushing away the Tail leader so that all the boy's attention would be on her and her reassuring expression. "You don't have to beat yourself, Hugh," she said to him, gently. "You are young and you still have much to learn, experience to make, people to love"
Ariija scoffed behind her. "Yeah, Savior, encourage him all right now," she mocked.
Raya ignored her and focused on the boy. "You were saying about what you discovered?" she encouraged him.
The boy's eyes grew wide. "Oh yes, of course, Savior," he said, with a small bow at which Raya had to refrain from grimacing. "Yah- I mean- the girl did not say anything of relevance. She swears she has nothing to do with it," he explained.
Ariija behind her scoffed, but Raya silenced her and asked. "Nothing more?"
Hugh frowned. "There is something," he began, looking confused. "Something weird she said about a shipwreck"
"A shipwreck?" repeated Raya.
"Yes," he nodded. "She said that if I wanted to know more, I had to look for the shipwreck"
Ariija scoffed. "She was just misleading you, you stupid boy," she spat. "There is no shipwreck for miles. The nearest is between Heart and Fang"
"And in Talon," added Boun looking to the Talon girl who was shaking her head.
"I don't think she was speaking about an actual shipwreck," Noi said, thoughtful. "There is a place, here in the Capital. A tavern," she added, looking right to Raya. "Called the Shipwreck."
"Why do I feel like this is not a place I would like?" said Ariija.
"Probably because it is one of the filthiest places in the Capital," said Boun. "Frequented mainly by thieves, thugs and the likes."
"Lovely," commented Hugh ironically, before closing his mouth shut after his Chief glared at him.
After a small pause, Ariija spoke.
"Maybe the child has a point," she said turning to face Raya with a knowing look. "Sounds like a place where such a scum could be hiding"
"What scum?" asked Boun, evidently letting his curiosity have the best of him.
The Tail Chief glared at him. "You'll never know, boy," she said, coldly.
"Oh, come on!" he lamented.
Raya rolled her eyes. "She's been stolen something," she explained.
"And I want it back!" highlighted the Tail woman.
"And she kindly asked my help," said Raya sarcastically.
"That was most definitely the kind way of asking," said the Tail Chief, raising her hard and weighty-looking stick. "This was the less kind."
Raya rolled up her eyes at her friend who simply shrugged and gestured to Noi to open the way. Noi raised an eyebrow at the older woman, who shrugged again and turned to move down the street.
"Well, you're here, aren't you?" she said. "You can at the very least be of some use."
Noi growled and made a threatening step forward, but Raya intercepted her. The two engaged in a stare competition which was quickly won by the Heart's Queen who pleaded the young Chief to try and not make everything worse. They have known Ariija for years and so they must know how she was, and how she wasn't going to change, not when she was getting older for sure.
Noi gave in and with an angry buff she moved past Raya and behind the Tail woman who was already turning right at the river. The Talon Chief took the Tail Chief from the wrist and without saying a word she changed her path and moved toward the left of the river, followed right behind by Raya and Boun.
Raya had a feeling she knew where they were going. Past that section of the docks, they would be entering the slums, a place that almost every big city has, no matter how much she and the Commission have tried to help it. Some people just didn't want to be helped, didn't want to be better, didn't care about being good.
The slums were a maze of narrow, winding alleys and makeshift shacks. The air was thick with the scent of saltwater and the stench of decay. The streets were crowded with people, each absorbed in their own struggles. Children played in the dirt, their laughter a stark contrast to the harshness of their surroundings. Despite the squalor, there was a sense of community and resilience among the residents, who faced their daily challenges with determination and hope.
Boun walked next to her in silence for a long time, but it was evident to her that he wanted to say something. She waited for him to choose the right moment.
"Soooo, how are you doing?" he suddenly asked.
Raya chuckled. "Boun, we have seen each other I don't know…less than two weeks ago? How could I be doing?"
The man shrugged. "Don't know," he said. "Two weeks is some time." He smiled at her. "Besides, I missed you, Sis," he said. "Even if it's just a day, I'd still be missing you"
Raya hit him on the arm. "You're shameless," she said, jokingly. She knew he was sincere. He had said so multiple times; more than that, he had demonstrated that multiple times. "And what your actual sister would be saying if she heard you now?" she asked.
Boun huffed. "She's a brat," he said. "A cold and heartless at that. She wouldn't care. You're definitely my favorite"
Raya raised an eyebrow at him. "You don't really believe that about your sister, do you?" she said.
"No," confirmed the man. "But it did work on you, didn't it?"
Raya played along and hummed. "You could have added a little more flattering, you know?" she said. "I would have appreciated."
"Like?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe something about my hair, or my eyes." She shrugged. "The usual, you know?"
"Ha!" laughed Boun. "As if," he said. "I know a certain blue dragoness who flatters you enough already. Maybe you know her too" He started mimicking. "You're beautiful, Raya," he said, replicating quite well Sisu's voice. "You're so smart, Raya," he continued, mimicking. "Oh, Raya, I love you so, so much."
Raya laughed at the verisimilar imitation of her mate and hit him harder to make him stop.
"Ok, stop that, you buffoon"
Boun chuckled. "Was I convincing?"
"Hardly."
"You don't really believe that, do you?" Boun mimicked her this time.
Raya turned to him, feigning anger. "I swear, I'm going to feed you to the shrimps," she threatened, jokingly.
Boun smiled. "Now that is quite threatening," he said. "If there is some living soul hating me is shrimps. I collect hundreds, maybe thousands, a day"
"Well, you're good at cooking them," said Raya. "Last time the soup was delicious" And thinking about the perfect soup of the Tail man she felt her stomach rumbling, asking not for simple food, but for that peculiar food. "Where is your ship by the way?" she asked.
"With my wife and my son," he said with a soft smile. "She is quite good collecting shrimps too, you know"
"Maybe she can even become better than you," joked Raya. "Who knows? Maybe take the lead of the Shrimporium?"
The young man laughed. "Oh, she definitely can," he said. "But she wouldn't," he added right after, passing one hand through his black tufts, puffing his chest out. "I'm just so good, she wouldn't risk it with me"
Raya rolled her eyes, ignoring the boy's antics. Sometimes he just couldn't help himself.
"What about your son?" she asked. "Will he be the future Captain of the Shrimporium?"
The man lost the smile and his expression visibly darkened. Raya frowned, worried. They never talked about this possibility; after all, the boy was just a baby and had still a long way to go before even considering what to do in life. Still, she didn't realize a simple question could cause such a reaction.
"Maybe," he said, feigning nonchalance. "If he wants"
Raya stopped and faced the man, one hand on his arm. "Hey, what's the matter?"
"It's nothing," he babbled, trying to give her a reassuring smile but soon he realized it wasn't working.
She looked at him for an answer, not forcing him, but waiting for him to decide whether to tell her and what to tell her.
Quick enough Boun sighed, his shoulders down, looking and sounding defeated.
"It's just-"he tried before he closed his mouth and silenced. He tried again. "It's just that, I don't know, I'm not sure that I want this kind of life for him," he finally confessed.
Raya frowned. "Don't you like your life?"
She has known him for years. He never seemed to hate his life. On the contrary, he always seemed so happy and free with his brothers and sister.
He looked taken aback, eyes wide with stupor. "No, no, I do like my life," he was quick to say. "I love my life, my family, my ship, the river, and everything connected to it. I love it a lot, trust me."
Now Raya was confused. "Then why don't you want this for him?" she asked.
Boun resumed his walking and Raya followed him. The young man remained silent for a time, looking at the decadent and dirty, fishy-smelling houses of the slums.
"My father worked with shrimps," he started saying. "My grandfather lived in a place like this, working with shrimps, and my grandfather's father too. They were poor but they loved life and they passed that on to me along with their profession." He breathed deeply. "I just want for my son to inherit my passion for living, but I just wish for him something else." He chuckled. "I didn't have much of a chance when I took over the Shrimporium, you know with the Druun and everything. But he can make a choice and I wish he will take another path, something that will take him on another journey, not necessarily the one my family have been passing on for generations"
Raya smiled at him. "You're a good father, Boun," she said. "And with parents like you and your wife, I'm sure little Boun Jr will make the choice."
Boun answered with a smile of his own, a grateful one. That turned into a mocking one the next moment.
"And don't forget the aunt," he said. "Not everyone in Kumandra can say they have as their aunt the Dragon Queen herself."
Raya huffed at the name, one of the many she had been given, at the very least, one that she hated the least.
Not Pranee, though. She didn't like people and dragons calling her that, which was exactly the reason why she hated it the least.
"We're here," said Noi.
They had stopped in front of a peculiar structure. The tavern was a sight to behold. It resembled a broken ship, with weathered wooden planks, some barely holding together, formed the walls, while tattered sails draped over the structure served as a makeshift roof. The entrance was marked by a large, creaking door that seemed to groan with every push. Lanterns hung haphazardly from the eaves, casting a dim, flickering light that barely pierced the surrounding darkness. The sign above the door, depicting a ship's wheel, swung gently in the breeze, its paint chipped and faded. Despite its dilapidated appearance, the tavern exuded a weird charm.
"Well, this place sucks," commented Ariiji, breaking through the silence. "It has to be it."
Without further ado, the Tail Chief marched inside the tavern, followed by Raya, Noi, and Boun.
Flickering lanterns dimly lit the interior, casting eerie shadows on the rough-hewn tables and benches. The air was thick with the scent of sweat and stale ale and judging by the faces of the few people inside and the conditions of the tables, this place needed urgent hygienic control.
"This place's really a wreck," Raya heard Boun whisper to Noi.
"Hush," she bit him shut.
Ariija went straight to the counter and the man behind it. He was a burly man, with a rugged appearance that matched the rough clientele of his tavern. His face was scarred, a testament to the many brawls and dangerous encounters, and his thick and unkempt beard screamed uncared for.
He seemed undisturbed by their sudden entrance and when Ariija arrived at his counter, he simply stated:
"What can I get ya?"
Sounded like something he was accustomed to saying, practically automatic now.
"A dragon spike," said Ariija. "Double strong."
Raya frowned. This wasn't good.
"I don't think that-"she tried to protest, but her friend waved her away.
Raya stood there, her lips forming a line, crossing her arms over her chest, watching as her friend was on the right path of getting drunk with the strongest spirit Kumandra had ever known.
The man complied without questions and in no time the Tail Chief was downing the drink down to the very last drop. She then slammed the glass on the counter, with a satisfied sigh.
"Good," she nodded. "Very strong. Now," she said, cleaning her mouth with a hand. "Let's get down to business, what's ya say? Do you happen to know any thief around here?"
"Ari!" Raya chastised.
"What?" she answered, innocently.
Of all the stupid things she could say to this kind of man, this was the stupidest. And she said stupid things to very dangerous-looking people in the past.
"Maybe I should-"tried to intervene Noi, but the man spoke next.
"I know no thieves," he hoarsely said, ignoring the scoff of skepticism from Ariija. He continued. "But I know someone who would like to speak with you"
That got all of their attention. Raya was expecting everything from such a place. After all, it wasn't the first one she and Ariija frequented and it always ended badly.
She was expecting everything, but that.
"Beg your pardon?" Raya said.
The man moved to the far left of the counter and raised the wooden part to get out of it. Then he moved to the far end of the tavern, where he opened a door and made a gesture for them to enter.
"Well, that was easy," commented Boun.
"Too easy," said Noi.
"Are you trying to get us into a trap, sir?" demanded Ariija, narrowing threateningly her eyes at him.
The man shrugged. "Of course not," he said, sounding nonchalant and completely disinterested.
"Then what is your game?" inquired the Tail Chief, suspiciously.
The man shrugged his large shoulders again. "No game, ma'am," he assured. "Not that I know, at least. A woman came here an hour ago," he explained. "And she paid a considerable amount to get the down room for herself. She gave precise order to invite down the grumpy old woman with the stick and her friend with the hood on as soon as they arrived."
The Tail Chief scoffed at the description, but Raya was much more interested in the precise description of her and her friend. Were they followed?
"And why should they enter?" challenged Noi, crossing her arms over her chest.
The man looked unusually uninterested. "Enter, don't enter, I don't care," he said. "I got the money. Still," he continued. "She said that you would accept because you were looking for something important to you, something of value…"
That got even Ariija silent. Not only did the robber know them so well, but it seemed that the same robber, whoever she was, created the perfect space for a final showdown. And that person was waiting for them down there.
"Very well," said the Tail Chief after a pause, moving to enter the door. "Let's go," she gestured to her. "This is not anything we haven't already faced before."
"Actually, it is," Raya corrected, as made to follow her friend inside. She didn't recall an antagonist waiting for them at the end of a dark corridor underground.
Noi was already behind her. "Do you need me?" she asked, her eyes telling her what she thought of the whole affair.
Before Raya could say anything, the barman gave her the answer as he stepped between Raya and Noi to stop the second from entering the room.
"I'm sorry," the bulky man said. "But she had been very clear. Only the grumpy woman with the stick and the hooded woman could get inside"
Ariija scoffed again, while Raya depicted inside her mind the image of Noi burning the old man to ashes with her eyes. She was on fire.
"It's ok, Noi," she said, before the former Talon thief could cut down the man. "We've got this. Stay here with Boun. Get a drink, if you like. We'll be right back"
"Would love that," she heard Boun sarcastically commenting in the background.
Noi didn't seem to like the request, but she did as she was asked anyway. The bartender gave Ariija and Raya a touch each and armed with those, the two women started getting down the stairs.
As soon as they took the first one or two steps, the door suddenly closed at their backs, leaving only their torches and a light at the bottom to lead the way. The place was bigger than it looked and Raya guessed it had to be some kind of rice liquor cellar since the temperature got colder as they proceeded further downstairs.
Her guess was confirmed when they reached the bottom, where a large opening in the ground welcomed them, filled with barrels of spirits stored at the sides and one over the other.
At the far end of the opening, behind the stairs, stood a single desk illuminated by a single candle, the source of the light down there. Behind the desk stood a figure with the boots resting on the surface of the table.
With the light of the candle and the hood on her head, it was impossible to see the woman's face, but when she spoke, the voice was recognizable enough to deter any doubts.
"Welcome, mother, aunt," the voice said.
For a long time, both adult women were left speechless. Of all the outcomes and all the people, they could have expected, never did they think about... this.
Of course, Ariija was the first to voice her shock.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" she practically yelled.
The young woman scoffed in the penumbra, then moved the candle aside so they could see her face. It was very resembling of her mother, just with a small touch here and there of her father. But her eyes and her frown were all Ariija.
"Always delicate I see, Mother," Arya said. "But you should know what I'm doing here, don't you?"
She reached out in the dark next to the wall and pulled out a sheathed sword with a dragon on its handle.
Ariija gasped. "Y-you!" she whispered. "It was you all along."
Arya laughed without humor. "It's quite clever of you to finally make the connection, Mother. I suppose it must have been unexpected for you. To realize that the one who deprived you of your most precious possession is your own daughter—that's not the first thought anyone would have, I can admit. She murmured as she looked thoughtfully at the sword. "Still," she continued. "I expected better from you."
Raya looked at her friend and she could see that the other woman looked wordless, probably for the first time in her life. She opened and closed her mouth like a fish, completely dumbfounded and unable to speak.
"Why?" said Raya then.
The young woman's eyes moved on her and it seemed to look back in time to when she and Ariiji first met that day in Tail more than twenty years ago. It was a current sensation when she interacted with the girl, but this time it felt even more real.
"Aunt Raya, it is nice to see you," she said, looking and sounding sincerely happy. "I knew my mother would come to you asking for help. She always does…"
"Ari, why did you take your mother's sword?" she asked, trying to calm the atmosphere before Ariija woke up and made a scene.
The girl sneered, looking at the piece of metal with a frown. "It is not my mother's. It is my aunt's sword," she said. "Artijiri's sword, the most important sword in my mother's collection." She looked at it, looking unimpressed. "She never uses it, but she always makes sure it is well looked after, polished and cleaned and whatever," She scoffed, disgusted. "Do you think if I were a sword, I would have gotten the same treatment?"
The last statement triggered something in Raya's mind, and she finally understood. How could she not? She was on the verge of saying or doing something to end this before it could escalate further when Ariija suddenly decided to wake up and unleash her sharp tongue at that very moment.
"You stupid girl," she practically spat. "You've had me travel all the way from Tail to the Capital looking for a thief when it was you all the time, it has always been you" She pointed with her finger to her position. "Get your dumbass, stupid-head butt right here, young girl, so I can beat the shit out of you for your idiocy."
"Ari, maybe we-"Raya tried but the Tail Chief wasn't in the mood to listen to her.
"Stay out of this, Raya," she answered, maintaining her attention and her eyes on her daughter.
Arya smirked, clearly unimpressed. "I bet you wouldn't risk doing it with Aunt's sword, wouldn't you?" she challenged. "After all, it is too precious for you to stain it with my blood, right?"
Ariija growled, taking a step ahead. "You're getting too far, daughter," she threatened. "This ends now," she ordered. "You're acting like a child"
The young woman grimaced and tilted her head at her mother. "Do you know how a child acts, mother?
The Tail Chief's growl only intensified and the tension deepened in the atmosphere. "Get. Over. Here. Now!" she instructed.
Arya sneered at her mother. "Make me," she challenged.
Ariiji was ready to attack, while Raya was ready to stop her. As for Arya, Raya wasn't quite sure what she intended to do. However, none of that mattered, for before anything could unfold, a loud creak interrupted them.
Suddenly, from a door that had gone unnoticed, a group of armed men appeared. The frontman was the bulky barman of before, who smiled at them viciously.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A family reunion? How touching," he laughed and the other thugs laughed with him.
Raya and Ariiji instinctively turned and teamed up, closing their position and protecting the girl behind them.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," the barman continued. "But I heard of a certain something precious I would really like for me and me boys"
Ariiji snarled back at her daughter. "You told a bunch of thugs in the filthiest tavern of the city you had something precious with you? You idiot! I thought I taught you better than this."
The girl behind them huffed. "If only you taught me something!"
"Ma'am, please," intervened the thug, raising his hands in a sign of peace. "Let's be reasonable here. You give me the treasure and all the values you possess, and I let you to your family business right away," he proposed. "I will also let you use this place for the time you've already paid if you like. After all, I'm a businessman myself."
"I have another idea," growled Ariiji. "You can either go away with your balls on or," she unsheathed her sword, pointing it at the lower part of the barman. "Or I can cut you from your balls up to your head to see how shit is made inside."
The owner of the tavern didn't seem amused. "You have a sharp tongue for a small, old, and limping woman," he snarled, menacingly.
"Wanna see how sharp my sword is?" The Tail Chief challenged.
"Gladly," accepted the man, unsheathing his own sword. "Get 'em!" he shouted.
With a battle cry the thugs charged. Raya parried the first blow, counterattacking with a series of swift strikes that forced her opponent on the defensive. At her side, Ariiji engaged the thug's leader using her stick and her sword to fight the man. Behind them, Arya had unsheathed her own sword, charging the men too.
The clash of swords filled the air. Despite being outnumbered, Raya and the others held their ground, repelling each attack with a precision and elegance that only someone accustomed to fighting could have.
Still, the familiar fighting between mother and daughter wasn't over despite the danger.
"You're a fool, girl," Ariiji said through the blows, referring to her daughter as she fought two men next to her. "You got us in a pretty, big, trouble"
"You're one to talk, Mother," retorted Arya, as she blocked a blow and used her sword to make her opponent unbalanced. She used the occasion to cut him on the leg. The man screamed and back away from her. "You'd always end up fighting, even now that you are old."
Ariiji grimaced as she fought. "I'm not old," she said, gritting her teeth for the effort. "Besides, I surely was better than you at your age"
"Clearly," Arya rolled her eyes as another thug engaged her.
"How touching," spat the chief of the thugs, growling as he used his sword and his weight to try and break through Ariiji's defense. "A family argument during a fight. I can say I've really seen everything now" His warm and smelly breath was just as next as it could be to the Tail Chief's mouth and her features showed it with all her disgust. "Can't say I like it, though," he growled. "I've always hated discussions. That's why I killed my last whore"
The Tail Chief was evidently finding it difficult to repel the big thug, and Raya was just about to get rid of hers and help her, when suddenly two figures rushed in from the stairs. Noi and Boun had arrived to aid them. Noi wielded a knife, while Boun brandished a rolling pin.
The chief thug looked at them, confused. "What the fuck are you do-"but he wasn't able to finish that.
Noi dived into the fray and Boun followed right behind with a battle cry. With a decisive strike, the Talon Chief took down one of the thugs, while Boun charged Raya's opponent, felling him with a devastating blow of the rolling pin on the head.
Raya watched as her opponent crumbled on the floor.
"Thanks, Boun," said Raya, smiling.
The young man skillfully twirled the rolling pin. "No kidding," he said, pumping his chest proudly.
"What?" cried the bartender, looking away from the Tail Chief to concentrate on the newcomers. "The boys had to get rid of you. What the fuck are you doing here?"
"HA! They didn't know who they were up against!" said Boun, pointing to Noi who was just felling the last thug.
Ariiji took advantage of the barman's distraction. She hit him on the leg with her stick, hard, breaking it. The man yelped in pain blackening away from her, so that she could move and point the sword right at the man's throat, victoriously.
The basement fell silent once more, interrupted only by the heavy breaths of the combatants. Raya, Noi, and Boun exchanged looks, while the Tail Chief stood fierce and proud over the thug's Chief.
"Looks like you lost to an old woman," she said and without waiting for the man to speak, she smashed the hilt of her sword on the man's forehead, sending him out cold.
"Idiot," she commented, sheathing her sword again. "And speaking about idiots…" she said, turning to face her daughter who was cleaning the little blood that had stained her sword on a fallen man's jacket. Or better say, Artijirii's sword.
"What's gotten into you!?" she all but shouted. "First you rob your aunt's sword, and then you tell a group of cutthroats you have something valuable on you. That's just too much, even for you," she said, looking at he daughter as if it was the first time she was seeing her. "Not at all what I've taught you."
"That's the problem," snapped Arya, untouched by her mother's critics. "You taught me nothing," she spat, highlighting the last word. "You sent me away to Aunt Raya and I've learned everything I know from her"
Ariiji scoffed. "It is not that. Raya couldn't have taught you anything but-"
Her eyes grew wide open with realization as she looked at her daughter with another set of eyes now.
"You…You did all this on purpose, didn't you?" she said, shocked. "You orchestrated all this, even the thug's attack"
The young woman's silence was as good as an answer, and the look Arya gave Raya was enough to confirm what she had been thinking from the beginning. The Tail Heir was anything but stupid, she would know. After all, she trained her for most of her life.
The realization didn't seem to please the Tail's Chief.
"Why, you little-"
"You still don't understand, mother?"
"What should I understand? That you put us all in danger like an idiot?" she barked, enraged.
"No, that you are an idiot!" Arya barked back, surprising everyone, even her mother. Never before has she yelled back at her mother, not with that venom in her voice. "All my life, I had to fight my way up to get your attention, as I was some stranger to you," she accused, fuming. "You've never hugged, encouraged, or said that you loved me. You asked me to do "my duty" and send me around first in the village, and then to Heart. You always found a way to get rid of me, never to be in your way"
"I never-"tried to protest the Tail Chief as she was brutally cut by the younger woman, snarling.
"Don't!" she warned between gritted teeth. "Don't say it…"
Silence enveloped the place as it seemed over, it seemed everything was cooling down. But it wasn't. On the contrary, the tension was rising, becoming almost tangible with bare hands.
Raya didn't know how things would go from here on. She only knew that it was a mother-daughter thing and no matter how she wished to intervene, to do something, to help them both. This was something they both needed to get out of their system and do it alone.
"I've always been a burden to you, mother," she spat the older woman's title like it was ash. "You never really loved me."
"It's not true," protested weakly Ariija, but her daughter ignored her.
"With this," she said, raising her aunt's sword and showing it to her mother. "I wanted to finally get your attention for once. I wanted you to really see me."
"I see you," said the old woman as weakly as before, a whisper, almost inaudible.
Once again, Arya ignored her mother or didn't hear her.
"See me now, Mother," she said, vehemently, her grip hard around the sheathed sword. "I'm your daughter, I'm here, I exist. What more should I do to have you recognize me? What do I have to steal? Who do I have to manipulate? Who I have to kill?"
As she asked these questions, the Tail Chief slowly closed the space between her and her daughter, saying nothing, only looking right in front of her at the younger woman.
"Tell me, Mother!" Arya demanded, her tone showing her barely contained rage or nervousness or maybe both. "Tell me what have I to do to gain your respect, to make you see me!"
Her mother's approach mixed with her lack of answer clearly made the young woman even more anxious, making her tremble visibly. "Tell me, Mother! Say something! I'm talking to you! I'm right in front of-"
Everything stopped. Her rage, her trembling, her yelling. All stopped when Ariija touched Arya on her left cheek, gently.
Eyes wide, Arya stopped, surprise and disbelief written all over her features.
"I see you," her mother whispered. "I've always seen you." She caressed her daughter's cheek, cleaning a fallen tear from her eyes. "I just wanted to protect you"
"From what?" asked Arya, her voice trembling as her whole body, but her tone needy. She needed to know why.
"From me," confessed Ariija. "I wanted to protect you from me"
The young woman gasped, confused and shocked, and so the older woman explained.
"I've made many mistakes throughout my all life," she started as she caressed her daughter. "And between all, my worst mistake, the one that keeps me awake at night, was how I treated your aunt. It is my fault how it went with her, as it was my fault what happened with the war and the end of the world. Damn, it is my fault even my fucking leg's situation..."
She breathed. "I've always been… controlling, dominating and that pushed people like your aunt from me. Worst yet, it endangered them." She sighed. "I just…didn't want to make the same mistake with you," she finally confessed. "I thought that sending you away, far away from me, and next to more balanced people, next to great people like Raya, then maybe…" she faded.
"Perhaps I was wrong," she said, weakly.
She let go of the stick and cupped her daughter's cheeks with both her hands now, smiling watery as Arya started tearing too.
"I-I-I'm s-sorry, Arya," she said. "You are the best thing that I have done in my life, the only good thing and I…" she gasped, probably lumped in her very throat by her very emotion.
Arya hugged her mother energetically and Ariija seemed stunned for a moment. Then, she slowly embraced her daughter, enveloping her completely as the younger woman cried in her chest.
Raya smiled despite all. She had always known of this situation and more than once she tried to talk Ariija into doing this important step. It seemed that it was up to Arya to take the first step and force the hand of her stubborn mother.
This was the first step to something better, to a better future. And they would both earn happiness by this.
But for now, they needed some space to vent off, so Raya turned to her two friends who remained respectfully silent and distant from the scene. Boun smiled brightly, while Noi smirked with her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes clearly speaking: "finally they got it, didn't they?"
Raya answered with a smile of her own, then she gestured for them to follow her upstairs with her head.
Those two needed time to heal and they…they could use a free drink.