“Did you make any friends when you were in Marsolin?” Cyanna asked.
Cobal almost choked on his tea when the question caught him off guard. The queen had invited her family as well as Mana to brunch. Although the king had to attend a meeting, Nazuren and Cyanna both attended alongside Mana and Cobal.
“A few, actually.” Cobal took another sip of tea to calm his throat. “We spent much of our time there in the library, where we met some wonderful scribes that helped us study. We became pretty good friends with Lysa, one of the senior librarians and Clara, the innkeeper of the Phantom Homestead. We even met an Irkan who became a good friend.”
“What’s an Irkan?” Cyanna asked between bites of a sweet pastry she’d been nibbling on.
“Irkans are a tribe of people that live to the east of Marsolin in their own city in the Feral Wildlands. They’re almost twice as large as most humans.”
“Weren’t you scared?”
Cobal smiled. “Not at all, Grac was a very kind man. We helped him save his wife from some evil people.”
Cyanna’s eyes went wide and she almost forgot about her pastry. “I thought only bad people lived in the Wildlands.”
Queen Marin corrected her. “All sorts of people live in the Wildlands, dear. Many of them are bad people, but some are good people like you and me.”
“Hmmm.” Cyanna returned her attention to the pastry which had fallen apart in her hands.
“So have you done anything interesting since you’ve returned to the capital?” The queen asked.
“Not too much, honestly. I had dinner with Selvia and Dorgan yesterday. It was quite pleasant. They wanted to thank us for helping Selvia. Besides that I’ve mostly been locked in meetings.”
“And you, Mana?”
“Well, I’ve been trying to figure out how to use a gift from a friend of mine. It’s a quill from a well known poet that can do little feats of magic, but I’m having a hard time getting it to do anything.
“Oh, what is this poet called?”
“Jerech Sez.”
“I’ve heard that name before,” the queen said, putting her fingers together and thinking for a moment. “Right, Otus.”
“Otus?” Cobal asked.
“Otus is a priest at a temple to Owlana in town and a friend of mine. He loves old poetry and Jerech Sez is among one of his favorites. If you want to learn more about this poet, perhaps it would be a good idea to go find him.”
Cobal looked at Mana who nodded. “That’s not a bad idea, thank you, your majesty.”
The queen smiled. “Please, call me Marin in private.”
“Very well, Marin.” The queen was a bit older than Mana, but not by that much. Perhaps ten or twelve years separated the two women. Yet the queen looked much more mature than Mana. She almost seemed like a young girl in comparison. That wasn’t strange though. Mana had gone through a lot lately while the queen’s responsibilities were very different from Mana’s.
After a bit of silence the queen spoke up again. “So you saw Sapher in Marsolin.” It wasn’t a question.
Cobal nodded.
“How,” she paused, searching for the right words, “how was he doing?”
“He seemed healthy. He was focused on what he was doing and we didn’t get to talk much. Eliana threw a dagger into his thigh so he might be struggling for a little while.”
“Oh goodness me, a dagger?”
“We were in the middle of having an important conversation when he and his cohorts decided to leave. We tried to stop them from doing so and the rest is history. Unfortunately he left with these strange cultists and we couldn’t convince him otherwise. It seems like he really believes in this new ideology of his.”
The queen looked at Mana. “And his new ideology is to get rid of you?”
Mana nodded, avoiding eye contact with the queen as much as possible.
The queen shook her head. “What has that kind boy gotten himself into? This isn’t like him at all.”
“If it makes you feel any better,” Mana said, “I do think there was doubt in his mind. I can’t speak for the prince, of course, but I believe someone might have slowly put these ideas in his head. Do you have any recollections of him spending time with strange people?”
“Not that I can think of. I noticed that he started spending more time in his private chambers the last year or so, but I figured he was just tired.”
“Well, I have good faith that he’s not beyond reason,” Mana offered.
The queen smiled. “Thank you for saying that, it means a lot.”
They finished the remainder of the food and drinks before Mana and Cobal eventually excused themselves. Throughout the entire dinner, Nazuren’s face stayed solemn, not adding to the conversation unless directly spoken to.
Cobal looked at Mana. “So I’m going to throw out a wild guess and say you want to visit this Otus?”
Mana nodded. “You know me so well.”
“No, you’re just incredibly predictable.” His laugh was cut short by an elbow to this side.
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry.” He chuckled. “Let’s go visit the temple then. It’s a beautiful place that I wanted to show you last time we came here anyway, but things didn’t line up.”
“Great.” she paused. “Let me go pick up some stuff, I’ll be right back.” Mana walked off, leaving Cobal alone in the central courtyard of the palace. He stared out at all the small trees and plants growing here. It was very well maintained and when Cobal saw one of the servants currently trimming a tree with great precision he decided to walk over. “How’s it going?” He asked.
The man – without looking away from his work – responded, “could be worse, this species of willow is hard to get to prosper in our climate so it takes a lot of care.” He looked down to see who he was talking to and almost did a double take. “Your highness, I didn’t realize you were here to inspect the garden.”
Cobal shook his head. “I’m not here to inspect anything, I’m just here to wait for a friend.” He smiled and stuck out his hand. “I’m Cobal, what’s your name?”
The middle aged man carefully shook Cobal’s hand, not quite sure what to think of the situation. “The name’s Domas. A pleasure to meet you.”
“How long have you been a gardener here at the palace, Domas?”
“Well, her highness hired me four years ago to train under Beliac, the previous head gardener. He was getting ready to retire, you see.”
“And do you have much experience before that?” Cobal asked.
“My father worked with medicinal plants so I had some basic knowledge of taking care of plants and greenery. It seemed like the jump from one to the other wasn’t too complex.”
Cobal nodded. “And how are you liking it?”
“It pays well enough and it’s not very stressful. It is sometimes difficult to get the balance on certain plants right, but it gives me a lot of pride too.”
“You know, I spent some time in the elven city of Milinia and the trees there are absolutely gorgeous.”
Domas chuckled. “We wouldn’t even dare try to compete with them.” He scratched his chin. “I did get to have a chat with that elven ambassador that came through last year, and he gave me some great tips.”
“That must have been Mirgia then,” Cobal replied.
“Yes, that was his name, do you know how he’s doing?”
Cobal’s smile faded. “He’s currently away, dealing with something.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” Domas paused for a bit. “If you see him again, could you let him know that the mixture he taught me how to make has made the deliciosa grow much more healthy.”
Cobal nodded. “I will let him know.” He stretched his arms in the air and let out a big yawn. “I won’t take up more of your time, but it pleases me to see how good of a job you’re doing.”
“Of course, your highness, I promise I’ll continue to work hard.” He bowed politely which looked rather clumsy although Cobal of course didn’t mind. Cobal then walked off in the direction where Mana should be coming from. She was taking quite a while. He found her further down the hallway, talking with his father. They both took note of him when he walked over.
“This is a strange duo, what were you two talking about?”
“I asked Mana for some advice on something,” King Navyr replied. “She’s quite insightful.” he winked at her.
Mana smiled. “I appreciate the compliment.”
“No really! You have such a nuanced and different perspective on things that others have their mind completely set in. It’s quite refreshing.” The king excused himself and walked off, leaving Mana and Cobal there in the hallway. Mana had brought her bag already. “Well then, shall we go visit the temple?”
“Yes, let’s go.”
As Cobal and Mana made it out through the front door and past the main guard, the sound of running footsteps stopped them and Cobal looked behind them. Coming up from inside the palace was someone familiar. “Cobal, Mana, hold up.” Dylon approached and took a moment to recover. “I’m not as quick as I once was,” he said.
The soldier had gone through quite a lot in his service to the royal family and it looked like he would have lasting damage for a while, but the palace physician convinced them he would make a full recovery, it would just be a slow one. Still, the first few days after they turned him back into a living breathing person were harrowing. At times he would slip in and out of consciousness and the lack of food – although normally killing a person considering how long it had been – had weakened his body to the brink. His muscles barely responded to him, but as they kept him fed and let him rest on the journey back to Saphestan, some life slowly returned to the palace guard. When they came home, Cobal insisted that his father give him paid leave for as long as Dylon needed it.
“Dylon, you look much better than last time we spoke,” Mana remarked.
The young guard smiled. “He wasn’t in his guard uniform so he looked quite different. Not only that, but his normally clean shaven face now had the beginnings of a thin beard. “Thank you, I am starting to feel a bit better too. I still can’t believe that so much happened in such a short time.” He looked at the two of them. Having gone through such life threatening adventures together had removed the barrier between them that made their conversations awkward in the past. “How are the two of you doing? You’ve arguably gone through more than I have.” He laughed. “Busy at the palace?”
Cobal nodded. “We’re about to head to Owlana’s temple actually.”
“Oh?” Dylon looked at Mana. “Have you been there before?” he asked.
Mana shook her head.
“Well, it’s a beautiful building, so I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. I’m actually on my way home to visit my family, they live downtown.”
“Walk with us then,” Cobal said, “Let’s catch up.”
“If you don’t mind, your highness.”
“Stop it,” Cobal shot back.
“Sorry, force of habit. You are still one of the royal family that I’m sworn to protect. If I spoke to your father the way I can speak to you I’d be out of a job before I finished my sentence.”
Mana chuckled. “I think you’re right.”
Dylon joined them on the walk through town. The green leaves of summer were already slowly turning red, orange and brown with some of the particularly excited leaves already falling down to leave a trail of beautiful colors along the cobblestone as wagons with people and wares hobbled along them. Cobal watched the wheels turn as the wagons moved past them, swooping up leaves here and there. The horses trotted along to the orders of their riders. He’d become accustomed to walking through town without being recognized during his time in Marsolin, so being here with people staring at him a lot more often felt strangely uncomfortable.
Pulling him out of his own thoughts was Dylon with a question. “Could I be so rude as to ask a favor?”
“Of course,” Cobal replied, glad to be distracted.
“My little sister really wants to see the hero – I mean Mana – because she thinks heroes are cool.”
Mana chuckled and Cobal smiled. “Well, the hero wouldn’t mind saying hello, we have time.”
“How about meeting a prince.”
“She wasn’t interested unless it was the princess.”
Mana burst into laughter and it was now Cobal’s turn to elbow her. “Let’s go say hello to this spoiled child then,” he said.
“I appreciate it so much.” Dylon stepped into a small street off to the side. “We’re close to my house already, follow me.”
They followed Dylon through the cozy streets of Saphestan as the rain slowly started to fall. Luckily they were close and a few moments later they stood in the hallway of a small home.
“Please follow me,” Dylon said as he led them into a living room. In this room they found two people. An older woman as well as a teenage girl. Dylon turned and gestured at Cobal and Mana. “Mom, Bella, this is prince Cobal and the hero Mana.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” Cobal said as Mana smiled and nodded.
The older woman stood up and clumsily bowed. “My goodness, your highness, I didn’t know you would be visiting.” She looked at Dylon. “He’s not in trouble, is he?”
Cobal smiled mischievously. “Well, he did abandon me in the middle of an important mission to take a long nap.” He saw the look of horror on the woman’s face and quickly added, “that was a joke, he’s not in any trouble.”
The old woman sat back down and breathed out deeply. “Don’t go scaring an old woman like that, your highness.”
“We’re here because your son wanted to introduce Mana to his sister.”
Mana looked at the girl, who hadn’t moved at all since they were introduced. “You’re Bella, right?”
The girl nodded. “You’re a hero.”
“I’m trying.”
“Can you use magic?
Mana nodded.
“Can I see?”
Mana thought for a moment before rummaging through her bag and taking out the quill of Jerech Sez. “Watch this closely now.”
She put the tip of the quill to the table that Bella was sitting next to and carefully wrote the letters of Bella’s name one by one. “Now here’s the important part,” Mana said, before tapping the script a couple of times. The letters then came loose from the table and started dancing through the air, similar to the trick she showed Cobal the other day. Bella’s eyes followed the letters closely and after spinning through the air one final time, the letters crashed into the table and disappeared.
“Woah,” was all the girl could muster.
Mana smiled. “It’s just a simple trick though.”
“It’s magic.”
“Could I offer you some tea, your highness?” Dylon’s mother asked.
Cobal shook his head. “I appreciate the offer, but we actually have some business to attend to. We only came by as a quick detour.” He looked at Dylon. “Make sure he gets enough rest and takes good care of himself. I know he feels all sorts of ways about how things went, but his health is important to me.”
“I’m fine, Cobal,” he replied sheepishly.
The old woman put her hand on Dylon’s arm. “I’ll make sure he rests up as much as he can. Thank you so much for bringing him back home safely to me after such a dangerous journey.”
Cobal smiled. “Have a nice day,” he said. Mana said her goodbye to Bella and the duo made their way towards the temple of Owlana.
Opal Kaharis 