Ashen Metalworks
“It is snowing all of the time,” I said in admiration.
I had never been this far south before, so it was a first for me. I have seen snow, but not like this. One would think that some sort of magic was at work here, constantly forcing the skies to snow.
The boy in my hands looked to be both astonished and terrified of the snow. He played with it as it fell and ate it, and then he suffered from a slight stinging and started crying lightly before being distracted by the snow once again.
“Make up your damn mind. You can’t be both at once.” I said. He kept at this for nearly half an hour, infuriating me to no avail as I tried to advise him.
“Children will always be like that, Master Ashen. They never really listen to you but only pretend to do so. Just like us, right, Aaron?” Said Lander, laughing. He then turned around and winked at his brother, Aaron, who just ignored him.
“Okay, I just got our ticket. We will be getting inspected soon, so get ready.” Said Claire, as she came up to us and sat beside her husband. We were already ready, the wagon was clean, and our belongings were packed neatly. All that was left was to enter the border of Dains and start this shitty mission.
“Inspections are a routine part of entering the kingdom. No one place can be too safe during these times.” Said, Strey. I just nodded, but I didn’t really agree.
The world has always been like this. The only thing that really changes is how people interact with the world. It’s sort of like knowing your fate. If you know it, the only things left for you to do are to either put up some futile resistance to prevent it or to go along with it and hope for some miracle along the way.
“No. 67. Please stand.” Said the guards, who interrupted our conversation, as they approached us.
“Oh, it’s you assholes.” Said the guard in the front. He was smiling broadly. Lander stood up and started laughing.
“It’s good to see you too, Larry. How have my parents been?” Said, Lander.
“A little worried I guess. In fact, I believe the two of them are in the capital today. It is nearly the Winter Solstice festival, so everyone needs to start preparing in their own way.” Said Larry, conversationally. His subordinates ran some sort of device that looked like a broom across nearly everything. He inspected us one by one as he continued his conversation with Lander.
Within 5 minutes we were cleared to enter. Needless to say, I learned nothing from him except that he is bad at keeping secrets.
Once we entered the walls and then the capital, I wasn’t impressed at all. It didn’t have the noble presence of Stricks, nor did it have the liveliness of Skeltos. If I had to use one word to describe it, I would say, ‘comfortable’.
Everything was white thanks to the snow, but that was it. I didn’t see, sense, or feel anything out of the ordinary. The people were much the same. They looked both satisfied with life and hardened by its trials as if they got accustomed to the rough weather and are now just enjoying it.
I kept surveying the area and people as we walked.
No one really noticed my inquisitive glances, since the Tipsy Penguin crew decided to hit up the nearest pub before going home, and Aaron’s family was surveying every familiar thing. I wanted to immediately make for the castle, but Aaron and Claire offered me free housing until I get my bearings in town, so I couldn’t say no immediately.
Their children, excited at my response, practically ran through the streets as they pointed out specific restaurants or shops, sometimes they even pointed out specific friends’ or families’ areas.
I didn’t stop them, mostly cause some of the places they showed me looked to be decent. Plus, it was good to actually see the things Boulden mentioned.
The entire tour lasted an hour and we eventually reached a small mansion. Although it was small to me, it was one of the largest in this kingdom.
It had ample space around it and the moment we entered, the servants were practically jumping at us.
The male servants immediately took the luggage from us and hurried us inside. The maids, however, were swarming around the three ladies, and crying alongside them. Why the baby girl was crying is beyond me, but I felt it would be best if I didn’t interrupt their moment I guess.
It got a little awkward as this continued on for about 5 more minutes before the male servants finally announced that they were going to lock the doors.
The maids finally rushed the females inside, each of them promising other things like hot food, showers, and stories. Aaron simply wore a jacket, took a few servants with him, motioned for them to serve me at my beck and call after showing me to the ‘best’ guest room they have, and then he told us he was going to bring his parents home for dinner. He wants them to meet his benefactor.
I didn’t mind, so I just went with the flow of things, and received a rather plain room. It was mostly blue and white, like the colors of this kingdom. It had a single large bed, desk, and sofa. It was on the second floor of their four-story mansion and had a pretty good view of the capital. It would suffice for now.
I placed the child down, cleaned him up completely, and then fed him. An hour had gone by before he finally went to sleep, so I took this as my chance and went to clean myself up. The servants showed me everything so I no longer needed them.
They looked a little disappointed but they didn’t really relent when I sent them back to their normal duties.
It was past noon, and nearly everyone had gone to sleep while Aaron was out, so I ended up having lunch by myself.
I didn’t want to waste any more of my time, so I picked the child and my satchel up, and then I went to the castle.
The servants gave me a map, but it was rather useless since the castle was easily the largest building in the kingdom and you could see it if you just climbed a building or the walls.
Even getting there took me just five minutes on foot, so all I had to do was give the guards Gabe’s insignia and letter. One of them took it inside while the other one motioned for me to sit down.
I expected to spend a few hours waiting, but it only took fifteen minutes. I don’t know what the hell Gabe wrote on that small piece of paper, but it sure did the job.
I was escorted inside with utmost care as if I would break at any moment. They took me to what I assume is a guest room, if the adequate accommodations were anything to base assumptions off of.
The room was coated in a very light shade of silver, appealing to the eyes. It had several couches and chairs. It had a very unique glow to it as if it was more of a sun-lit balcony than a room lit by candles and torches.
I entered and waited there before six people walked in.
The first to enter was the King, Carten Blud, who was a blonde, bear-like man. He is the very picture of the hard-working, young ruler Gabriel said he was. His wife, Claire Blud, has dark blue hair and complements him in every way. Whereas he was boisterous and quite huge, she was collected and slender, and to my surprise, they were both recently awakened mages.
They have one son, Cain Blud, who is two years older than Tris. He resembles his father to an uncanny degree that you could easily mistake them for one another had they been the same age. They also have one more child who appears to be a newborn. Her name is Elizabeth Blud, and her only defining features were her large blue eyes.
A maid was carrying the younger princess, while a butler was holding the hands of the young prince.
I expected our conversation to be long-winded, full of many, many gratitudes and whatnot for Gabe and maybe even some information to help me with my mission, but I was wrong. The atmosphere was mildly tense, and I even thought that this was due to my presence. It did make me feel a little bad, to the point where I even tried to crack a light joke or two about Gabe with them, but it didn’t work at all.
What I believed would be a lengthy exchange of information turned into a 10-minute discussion.
Short story short, I was given the full rights of any citizen of Dains. They even promised to send me an official ID to my place of residence as soon as possible. I asked them about specific housing, as in I gave them the specifications and they immediately sent guards to make it. Then, they told me everything else I wanted to know and we thanked each other and went our separate ways without exchanging another word. It was brief and to the point.
I managed to deduce one extremely important thing: they don’t have any idea what I’m doing in Dains. Gabriel told them something, but it clearly wasn’t even related to my mission! I was beyond frustrated, to say the least.
I mean, how does Gabriel expect me to finish the mission successfully if he doesn’t tell me what he wants? I can’t raise a goddamn child by myself!
Goodness fucking gracious.
I nearly stormed out of the castle, and into some random and empty clearing facing it.
It was still snowing outside, mirroring my shitty mood.
I put the child down and pulled out a smoke. I’ve been running through all of my packs for the past couple of days. I didn’t realize it, but the closer we got to Dains, the more stressed out I became.
I lit it and took one good, long puff. It certainly helped me calm down. Well, enough to be able to think properly.
I was about to take another one, but something caught my eye.
I watched the child next to me, staring at me like he was judging me. No, let me correct myself, it was as if he was waiting for me to do something.
I just watched him, and I don’t know how much time passed before the fire went out. I was about to relight it, but I looked at him one more time and then I sighed.
“I’m sorry. Sometimes, we adults feel troubled. We can’t really express our emotions like we used to as kids, so we have different…mediums, or methods of just bottling them up and releasing them…” I said. I looked at him and his little ruby eyes remained unchanged as he watched me.
“I get it, I get it… I promise I won’t do it ever again…” I said as I sighed. I stuck it back in my last box and then threw the whole thing upward. I made a little ball of fire and shot it at the box, burning it completely before it hit the ground.
The child started screaming happily as he moved his hands and little body about, trying to touch the falling embers.
I took a deep breath as I watched him and then I lay down beside him.
"I'm sorry, Tristan. I will try my best to raise you splendidly from now on." I said. Naturally, he didn't reply, but I took his silence as a firm acknowledgment of my resolve.
After some time, the sky began to darken and we decided to head home.
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