We spared no details regarding Meliss' progress, though we did keep the fact that she was a half-dwarf a secret, lest some unwanted ears still within the palace get a hold of that information. By nightfall, we had consumed a fanciful, yet small, feast Leona had prepared for us, drinking and telling more stories of our lives while we were away.
I could feel we had grown a lot closer, but there was always this gap between myself and Leona that I, for my brother's sake, decided to keep well maintained.
"So, how about it?" Leona's voice, I quickly realized, was directed at me. "How about what?" I asked, confused at her question. "Well, if I'm reading the situation correctly after what you've told me, it almost sounds like you would want to marry my former servant," she said coyly.
I nearly spat my ale, taken aback at her words.
Return to sender, my once inhibited thoughts now let loose with the infusion of alcohol in my system.
"Fine, but only if you marry Bernar," I said, sipping down the last bit of ale in my mug after I said it. "You little…" I could hear Bernar seethe, but he didn't continue after he noticed Leona seriously considering it. "Well, you have talked about it before, and now that things have calmed down quite a bit, I see no harm in taking him in as my official consort," she said, one extended finger rubbing the base of her chin.
As she pondered the ramifications, muttering to no one in particular, Bernar leaned in next to me. "How you get away with saying some of the shit you do will never cease to astound me, but thank you," he whispered.
"Heh, I wish I knew as well," I retorted, the grin I was trying to hide escaping and showing itself bare. Leona, finally snapping out of her thoughts, turned to face me. "So, when do you think this should be done? Should I have you and Fulco work together to arrange our marriage?" she asked.
"Your majesty, while I may be intelligent in certain aspects, wedding planning is not my field of expertise," I began. "Oh, please, at least give me a timeline to work with. How long do you think you'll be in Caegwen for?" she asked, inching closer to me until her face was mere centimeters away from my own.
"I uh… I'm not sure. A few months? Maybe a year, at most? However, I don't suspect Bernar will need to be present for my entire training. With that in mind, you could, theoretically, do it even before then," I said, lacking confidence in my own words. I would be lying if I said I could even focus with her being so close, as her hypnotizing eyes peered into my soul. "Well, I would rather you be present for that day. After all, you were an instrumental piece of the puzzle in getting us this far," she said coyly.
"I… what?" I asked, shocked at her words.
"Let's just keep it simple and say I was a little jealous of you and Meliss, but I digress," she said, leaning back into her chair, sipping her mug of ale. While I couldn't exactly read what was going on in Bernar's head, his face was an odd mixture of surprise and shock to hear her admit that. "I must say, it would be nice to have you and your brother stay with us here at the palace, don't you think?" she asked my brother who was obviously still in shock. "Y-yeah, of course," he answered almost automatically.
He has no idea what he just agreed to, does he? I thought, a wry grin showing on my face.
We spent the rest of the following two days discussing and planning loosely, allowing room for any discrepancies that might arise. When that was all said and done, we said our farewells, and continued on our way to Caegwen.
Riding towards the Rhydian Pass made me realize just how large the once-distant mountain range actually was. Towering well into the clouds, the peaks of the perpetually snow-capped mountains loomed so far above me that it hurt my neck just to find the peaks.
"Sometimes I forget how sheltered you were," Bernar said, watching me look straight up the steep face of the mountain before the path began. "It's just incredible to me that something so beautiful exists," I said, chuckling softly, still in awe of the grandiose mountain in front of me.
"Eh, just wait until we get to Caegwen," he said with a shrug. "What do you mean?" I asked, wondering what could possibly leave me more awestruck than the size of the mountains. "Just wait," he replied with a smirk.
Going over the well-worn pass, I could tell that there was a lot of untold history strewn about it. From broken carriage wheels, to carvings in the rocks that lined the path, I could tell that, over centuries, each generation had left some kind of mark.
"If you look closely, you might even find some scribbles left behind by synners from long ago," Bernar said, interrupting my thoughts. "Really? I thought it might be a possibility, but…" I trailed off, looking around at the carvings more closely.
"You do realize that the synners were once all very closely knit with each other, right?" Bernar asked. "I do," I lied. Until that point, I hadn't really put two and two together, but after that brief history reminder, I started to realize that the world was actually much smaller than I had anticipated.
Well, at least as far as cross-country societal interaction went, anyway.
"I know it's because of the long-standing tensions between the countries, but are there any other reasons we don't interact with other synner schools anymore?" I asked.
Bernar paused as if choosing his words carefully. "I can't exactly say for sure, but I do know that only Codrean and Caegwen still have good relations with each other. As for Harut and Hjalfar, their cultures are far too different for them to maintain peaceful contact with one another," he said, turning right at a fork in the path, following the direction of a signpost.
"But why do they have such difficulties with each others' cultures? As far as I understand it, elves and humans are vastly different from each other, but we still manage to maintain good relations with them," I said, rubbing my chin as I considered the possibilities. "I wish I knew," Bernar replied, leaving me to ruminate over the little knowledge I had of the Continent's socio-political situation.
We were nearing the top of the Pass, and I noticed it was becoming eerily quiet. "Something's off," I whispered to my brother. "I don't know what, exactly, but I can feel a change in the air," I continued. Bernar didn't verbally reply, but signaled for us to dismount, as if he already knew what I felt.
We moved forward slowly, hands on the hilts of our blades, when suddenly, we heard a rustling from a nearby bush. I drew my blade as swiftly as I could, and immediately pushed into the second stage. I could feel the mana leakage wisp from the corners of my eyes, licking at my temples like a warmed feather, as my senses became enhanced. Feeling every fiber of my muscles tensed around the hilt of my blade, I furrowed my brow in concentration.
But for whatever reason, my brother hadn't moved an inch.
"A-ta-ta-ta, calm down, now," a man's voice resounded from behind a nearby bush. He came out with his bare hands exposed and lifted near his head in an attempt to show us he meant no harm. "Who are you?" I asked, my voice rumbling due to the mana enhancement.
"Ooh, now that's a tone I haven't heard in a long time," the man said, raising his thin, dark eyebrows in surprise, widening his sky-blue eyes. I could see, just behind his hands, a faint movement of what appeared to be his ears raising in conjunction with his brows.
"You're an elf, I see," I said, my grip still taught around my hilt. "And I see your powers of observation are astute," the elf replied in jest, lowering his hands. His tunic was well kept for a bandit, with bits of leather armor and bracers offered succinct but sufficient protection for anything he might face along the Pass. They looked new, almost too new for someone who appeared to reside in the mountains.
But why the fuck isn't Bernar reacting? I thought momentarily, not taking my eyes off the bandit just in case.