"By the earth between my toes, what the fuck are you doing walking around with that? Better yet, how are you walking around with that?" Balgrim asked with visible astonishment. "So, you don't know what they are," I said, raising an eyebrow at him. "N-No, lad. Well, at least, not really," he stammered after blinking a handful of times. Ed moved beside me after noticing Balgrim's reaction to the head I presented to him, and I could tell he was just as stumped as the grouchy dwarf.
"D-Did you kill that thing?" he asked, darting his eyes between me and the head. "Not this one, but there are likely hundreds, if not thousands, more on the way. We found a scouting party on our way here, but we suspect that wasn't the only one," I said, shifting my gaze from Ed to Balgrim to see if he knew more than he was letting on.
Mom must have seen what I was trying to do and stepped forward to get his attention again. "Balgrim, we need to know if you've seen anything strange happening here on the Isles. It could help us save your people," she said, using a much more pleading tone than before. "You said that last time, Siraye," he scoffed. "I promise, this time will be different," she continued in a similar tone as before. "You said that last time, too," he sighed and shook his head.
There was a silence between us as he paused to consider her offer. He ran his thick fingers through his beard in an upward direction to scruff it up, then patted it back down quickly before turning to look at the rest of us. "You swear on Taegin's life?" he asked, making me blanche at his casual use of the name. Ed looked at me with visible confusion, almost as if he suspected I already knew who that was.
"I do, and you know I wouldn't do that if I didn't mean it," she nodded gravely, prompting him to sigh and scratch the back of his head. "I know, and that's what worries me. Fine. Get some rest; you've done enough in killing that scouting party, but I still need to think about how I'm going to present this to the king. Ed, take them to the guest rooms. We'll discuss this later," he said with a dismissive wave.
"Oh, and leave those bags, will you? I don't need you terrorizing the place with them. Your presence alone would be enough to do that," he called out as we turned to leave. Athar and I brought the bags over to him as requested, but I noticed something was different about him than it had been just a few moments ago.
"Here you are," I said with a warm smile, doing my best not to wear my thoughts on my face. "Thank ye, lad," he said in a much more casual tone as he snatched the bags out of our hands.
As we turned to walk away, I felt a cold chill go down my spine that I couldn't explain, but I knew I wasn't the only one who felt that. "Something's off," Athar's alternate whispered while he gave me a serious glance. I gave him a nod to let him know that I'd noticed it, too, but I knew that it wasn't the right time to talk about it.
"Come on, Thoma. I'll lead you guys to where you'll be staying," Ed said, gesturing for us to follow him again. We went down the same halls as before, but instead of going to the main hall again, we turned right and then took another turn, and went up a wide set of stairs.
Just beyond the handrails, I could see countless paintings of both dwarves and strange mechanisms that I couldn't identify. I slowed my ascent just enough to look at one of the paintings, thinking the face was somewhat similar to Meliss.
"Ah, there's a pretty good story about that," Ed patted me on the shoulder, gesturing to the painting shortly after. "Yeah, I bet there is," I scoffed in disbelief, trying to figure it out on my own. You know she's been staring at you this whole time, right? Ysevel sent with a loose chuckle. She can stare all she wants, I sent back with a mental chuckle and a careless tone.
I know, but just remember: you're going to have to talk to her at some point about what happened. If not for your sake, then for hers, Ysevel said. I was grateful she could read every emotion in my core, and that I could read hers, because I knew that we were both confident enough in our relationship to allow that conversation to happen.
She didn't think about my sake when she sent that letter, did she? I sent half-jokingly, causing her to chuckle. No, I guess she didn't, she sent with a hint of bitterness. It was the first time I'd ever actually felt her feel any sort of resentment toward Meliss, but I kept it to myself.
I still want that zuresh to pay for what she did to you, Kalia jumped into the conversation, getting a sense of agreement from my mother. She wouldn't last the time it took me to blink if you were the one to do it. Besides, Ed seems happy with her, I sent back, doing my best not to show the grin trying to creep onto my face.
As we continued down the hall at the top of the stairway, Ed showed Mom and the others to their rooms, though he gave Irun a distrustful look when he passed. Irun didn't seem to pay it much mind, but I could tell that would be an interesting conversation to have.
Finally, Ed and Meliss led Ysevel and I to our room, which had a large bed big enough for the two of us, and a vast window that overlooked the glowing city below. The bed was furnished with a fine set of dark, turquoise covers and sheets that complemented the light from the large mana stone in the ceiling.
"You have to turn this little thing to turn it off," he said, twisting a small, circular device on the wall that immediately dimmed the light. "It's like an oversized lantern," I chuckled, staring up at the ceiling as the room darkened.
There was a pause between us, and I knew Ed had a lot of questions to ask me, but then again, so did I. "So, uh, I guess we'll see you tomorrow?" Ed asked awkwardly. "Sit down, Ed. If I know you, you're not going to rest until you get rid of that question that's been dragging your tongue out of your mouth," I smiled, gesturing to a long sofa near the foot of the bed.
"H-How did you know?" he asked nervously, scratching the back of his head. "It was a lucky guess," I shrugged, gesturing for him to sit. "You too, Meliss," Ysevel added warmly, though I could tell Meliss was nervous about being in her presence. Seeing the two of them sitting side by side made me realize just how much more beautiful Ysevel was, but, obviously, I wasn't about to say that aloud.
"So, h-how was Caegwen?" Ed asked awkwardly, rubbing his hands together. "It was interesting, to say the least, but why are you acting all weird?" I asked, punching him in the shoulder with a chuckle. "Well, it's just. Ah, I can't explain it. You seem different, somehow," he said with a furrowed brow. "I mean, we did go through quite a bit," I shrugged, nodding toward Ysevel.
"S-Sorry, I've just realized I never introduced myself. I'm Edryd Baelis, Thoma's former roommate in Codrean," he said, performing a proper elven greeting he must have learned from Thorn and Ren, since Nenvalur wasn't one for formalities. "Ysevel Phrys, Thoma's current roommate," she chuckled, prompting both him and Meliss to widen their eyes.
"P-Phrys? Like, Elven King Elhael Phrys?" Ed asked as the blood drained from his face. "Mh-hmm!" she replied with a cheerful nod. Ed slumped in his seat, scoffed, and shook his head. "What, and I cannot stress this enough, the fuck?" he said between chuckles. "I apologize for my demeanor, Your Highness, but it's just not every day I have to interact with royalty," Ed said dejectedly.
"Oh, it's alright. I've had to deal with Athar and Irun for a long time now, so I'm used to it. Besides, I don't like formalities either," she said, giving him a warm smile. "I was going to ask about that, actually. Why the fuck is Irun with you?" he asked, turning to face me.