Like his client had said, there was a ticket waiting for Nero at the booth. His room was of a very comfortable class, which was completely unnecessary but unsurprising.
As he walked down from the observation deck, Nero thought about having been on this very boat before, only on the lower deck. He had no idea what the size of the rooms were on this floor. Glancing down at his ticket he noticed that the room was a double, odd-
He should have expected this, really. It was strange that he hadn’t caught on sooner. This was becoming a pattern, concerningly so. He let his guard down around Azui, despite having years of cemented trust issues.
To his credit, Azui had proven to be unlike any client he had previously.
Opening the door to his assigned room, his suspicion was confirmed. Azui lounged lazily on a chair in the corner, jumping up when Nero entered.
“I know you said not to-”
“But you did anyway.”
“Are you upset?” he asked with a childish glance.
“No, it was never about that.” Nero dropped his personal bag onto the floor and took off his coat. “I didn’t want you to not come for my benefit. It was a suggestion, merely to consider your own time and expectations.”
“Hm, you say so, but your eyes say otherwise. I promise not to get in your way. In fact, I implore you to let me help.” He strode over to his own suitcase on the farther bed, and pressed on, “And before you say you don’t need it, I think you should look at these other documents I remembered after reading up on Torelen.”
Nero walked over, curious, yet doubtful. While he believed Azui’s efforts proved fruitful, Nero had gone quite a ways down the rabbit hole by then. He had been able to narrow his search down extensively.
Without wasting a second, Azui began to lay out sheets of paper onto the surface of a nailed down dresser. There was an even amount of letters and text clippings, then a lithograph and a couple of notes scribbled on the back of sheet music.
He pointed first to the lithograph. “So there’s this monument in this neighborhood in Torelen that’s supposed to be a giant turtle, but if you ask me it’s a bit of an eyesore. The turtle was a gift from some Bofec official a long time ago so it has this inscription written on it: Te vedere, te chadare, te cantare kando ija campinitas sundi.”
Bofev was a neighboring nation.
“Now I don’t know how good your Bofec is, and the translation isn’t too important. Kando ija campinitas sundi is a very common saying in Bofev, used to say ‘see you later’ in a sense.” He pointed to the bottom of one of the letters, “In my mother’s later letters she began to end her letters with ‘Te vedere, te chadare, te cantare kando ija caminitas sundi.’ And for a while I was under the impression that she was residing in Bofev. I did always find it peculiar that she used the whole line instead of the part typically used in conversation. I wrongly assumed she had added that part herself because she was a singer and the whole line translates to: ‘I will see you, I will speak to you, I will sing to you when the bells ring.’
“In truth, she was actually quoting the line as she knew it from the inscription on the turtle. I think the whole thing is actually from some epic Bofec poem but the odds of her living in Bofev are far less likely than her living in Torelen somewhere near this turtle, especially after considering what you said about the post office.”
Nero was astounded and… there was another feeling there that he could not name.
“What?” Asked Azui, his brow twisting at the concerned look Nero had on his face.
“Nothing, it’s very good, Azui.”
The musician beamed delighted, differently than when spoke about his skills as a mandolin player. He was trying something new that perhaps did not have too much confidence in. And because of that, doing well was twice as rewarding.
“You’re a surprising client. People are usually not this involved,” explained Nero.
“How so?”
“Clients are one of two types. The first, wants me to find a secret that must remain a secret. Be that because it's embarrassing, scandalous, or a private matter. In this case, they avoid being involved completely. This sort makes up a majority of my clientele.” He held a second finger up. “The second, wants to be involved but recognizes they don’t have the resources to find whatever they’re looking for. They usually trust that I’ll find it quicker if they leave me to it.”
That was not intended as a jab towards Azui, and in all fairness he didn’t perceive it as a jab, he clapped his hands together and shrugged, “I try to be original in all areas of my life, now what’s next on the agenda?”
“I-erm, well there’s not a lot we can do till we arrive in Torelen. And I’m not usually on this level of the boat so I tend to stick to my room-”
“Nonsense! Allow me to give you a tour!”
Azui dragged Nero around the riverboat without purpose. They would arrive in a lounge then he’d remember there was a game lounge elsewhere. Then upon arriving he would remember a reading room or a dining area or show area. His hunger eventually circled them back to the game lounge, where they settled down and ordered lunch.
They had started a card game while awaiting their food, and it continued through their meal. When Azui won, two young women that had started watching them mid-game asked to join them for the second round.
Azui looked at Nero waitingly, “It’s alright with me if it’s alright with my friend.”
Nero nodded and shuffled the cards, redealing them out among the four of them.
“I’m Nydia , and this is my sister Rouge.” The more chatty of the two women said. She was pretty, but more strikingly, wealthy based on her high fashion attire. There was no doubt in Nero’s mind that she would not be talking to him if it were not for Azui’s presence.
At least that was his initial impression, over the course of the game he came to change his mind. She seemed empathetic towards Nero, and conversed casually with him. There was no ulterior motive to her conversation. She went through a variety of topics, and like Azui, did not censor or try to disguise her questions as anything else but what they were.
Must’ve been a generational thing within their class. That or they were similar spirits, despite having differing takes in certain topics.
Nero hadn’t caught what Azui said, but it pulled Nydia’s sister into the conversation as they shared stories of discrimination they had faced in their general lives.
“I don’t expect anyone like you to understand our suffrage, but perhaps you-” Nydia glanced away from Azui and towards Nero. “Might be sympathetic to our cause. I don’t mean to assume your heritage, but your bone structure is clearly Rudan. Your people have not been treated right.”
People, at times, would ask him about his heritage, and they were often very passive aggressive about it. In such situations, Nero made an effort to end the conversation quickly.
Nydia’s approach had not tried to be subtle or underhanded, and given her authenticity so far, he was honest with her.
“I do agree with you Miss. Although I can’t claim to be a victim of severe prejudices,” he explained. “Unfortunately, I am not too connected to the traditional practices of my people. I land awkwardly on the line drawn in the sand, neither fully Rudan nor fully Bevij. Too Bevij to be Rudan, too Rudan to be Bevij, if you’d believe it.”
She nodded, “I relate to this myself. Not in the practive of racial discrimination necessarily, I’m actually very fortunate I am aware. Women as a whole tend to be pitted against each other, and because of this I seem to be in weird place where the average woman does not consider descrimination against me or my sister as true discrimination. Seeing as we’re wealthy we clearly have not experienced it in the real world. A valid point, but does that mean I am seen as an equal among my own peers? Absolutely not.”
“Have you ever wondered how far you could take it?” asked Azui, “A woman of your wealth must have many resources when it comes to support. I can’t imagine you getting in trouble with your charisma.”
She grinned, amused, “Oh I mean look at me, lecturing two men, playing cards, going off about women’s suffrage. Anyone else would have already been dragged out of this lounge. ‘Go to the library where you belong, sewing or drafting a tune, yada yada.’”
This drew Azui in. “Wait- is there a piano on this riverboat?” Nero found it comical.
“Do you play?” She asked, returning her attention to the game. “ You must play for us later then. You cannot leave before I beat you in this game.”
“Now you’ve given me incentive to lose,” the young man teased.
Her sister, who had been silent outside the perimeters of the gameplay, spoke up, “Sister, what is the name of the Saën heiress, how much would you say she’s worth?”
The name was unfamiliar to Nero, so he wrote it off as someone who ran in their social circle.
Nydia answered in a mumble, her concentration focused on her cards, “I imagine not more than father sister, but their family is well connected to the crown. Why do you ask?”
“She gets away with a lot for a woman. Was she not on the crown’s guard as well? Do people take her seriously because she can fight?”
“I’d say it’s to the opposite effect.” Azui spoke up, apparently knowing who they were referring to. “People don’t take her seriously which is why she can get away with a lot. AND she’s friends with his highness Prince Valkom. Who I might add is probably taken less seriously than her. I know- hard to imagine.”
“Why? He’s not a woman,” asked Rouge.
“They’re both horrible alcoholics,” Nydia stated plainly.
Azui chuckled, “So you’ve met them.”
At this point Nero recognized who they were talking about. The lone heir to the throne of Bevij, his Highness Valkom Arte Mios. He who the scandals followed, a chronic adulterer, a drunk. The woman they spoke of had grown up as his right hand, the daughter of the Lieutenant Governor that Nero once served under. But that was a story for another day.
“Were they not meant to be married a long time ago?” he asked, finally on the same page as everyone.
Nydia looked doubtful. “He’s been married 5 times to 5 different women. If they were to be married they would be married by now.”
“None of those were real marriages though,” her sister pointed out, and she was right, they were all arranged.
Azui started to say what they were all thinking, “Is she not a…”
Rumors. There had always been rumors around the two. Speculation about her character, the broken persona she put out for the world, her friendship with the crown prince, and most concerningly, the gender of the people she took to her bed.
Nero had no problem with the last thing on that list. In Rudan tribes, it was quite common to lay with anyone regardless of gender. In this part of the world however, such behavior was not tolerated. And the audacity to imply that anyone so close to the royal family would partake in such an atrocity, well… not even Azui could finish the sentence he had started.
“Mr. I’m pretty sure that’s treason.” said Nydia with a disapproving frown.
“I do not mean it in a derogatory way.” He walked back his statement shortly, elaborating in a subdued tone, “I do not mean to speak ill of her. In a way I respect it. Things like your gender, or your race, those are things you cannot hide, and so you live with them. Whereas she could easily live like others, hiding that part of herself, pretending to be someone she is not. But she doesn’t and some would say that was brave.”
Nero watched him take a drink, maintaining eye contact with him. Waiting for Nero to say something, either in agreement or disagreement with the sentiment.
And almost unconsciously he obliged, “Right… obviously as the Ruda custom observes, I feel impartial about that. Who we are with should not be limited by gender.”
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