Cobal stopped in front of Mana’s room. The door was closed and he hesitated. After having a heart to heart with his father he knew what he wanted to do, but he felt a bit awkward about it. Mana had decided to help Cassandra with such unwavering conviction that he felt bad about having to think it through before coming to the same answer. Why couldn’t he just decide to help his friend out without having to weigh the pros and cons first? He knew the answer of course. Their positions weren’t the same. Important as Mana had become to him, most of the nobility still saw her as a nuisance. He almost jumped when a hand grabbed his shoulder. “Don’t scare me like that,” he said to a laughing Cassandra.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you that much.”
“But you did mean to scare me.”
She grinned. “A little bit.”
“I was thinking about something and didn’t realize you approached.”
“I am known to be silent.”
“Now that is the biggest lie I’ve heard in a while.”
“Rude.” She stepped past him and opened the door to Mana’s room. “Are you coming in or do you need another moment?”
Cobal begrudgingly followed Cassandra into the room where Mana was still in bed, but now sitting upright. She had a blanket wrapped around her and a still steaming cup of tea was standing on her nightstand. Her eyes and nose looked red from all the coughing and sneezing, but otherwise she looked better than the previous day. “How are you feeling?”
“A little bit better. I think I’ll be fine if I get some more rest in the coming days.”
“You’re still feeling sick?”
Mana nodded. “I think it might be the flu, so another week of rest should do the trick. I wonder if my vaccination for that still works here in this world, it’s probably a completely different strain.” She chuckled followed by a coughing fit. “That’s a weird thing to think about.”
“Vaccination?” Cassandra asked.
“Oh, you wouldn’t believe this. A vaccine is where they take some of the disease and put it in a mixture of sorts before injecting it into your body. The way it works is that your body becomes familiar with the virus, so it can build something called antibodies. Those antibodies will then wake up when the actual virus enters your body and immediately attack it. Having those vaccinations before you get sick will help a lot with fighting it off and it’s a great way to either prevent getting sick or to prevent your sickness from getting very bad.”
“That sounds made up.” Cassandra said.
“It’s absolutely true. The craziest part about vaccines is that they have been proven to work yet there are still quite a few people in my old world who think it’s some sort of poison and refuse to take them. But that’s a topic that’s about as depressing as they come, so let’s not go there.” She looked at Cassandra. “Is it alright if we head for the Ravadier Peninsula once I’ve recovered a bit more?”
Cassandra nodded. “I would love to leave as quickly as possible, but if you’re sick you need to stay in bed, no way around it.”
“About that,” Cobal started, pausing a few seconds to try and find the right words. “I have decided to come along as well.”
Mana smiled. “Of course you have, I knew that already.”
“What do you mean?” The comment caught Cobal off guard.
“There is no way you would let the two of us deal with something that dangerous without you. You’re not that kind of person.”
Cobal blushed. He hadn’t expected her to think that highly of him. “I had a talk with my father, he’s the one that ended up convincing me to go. He thinks highly of you as well.”
Mana smiled. “I’m glad to hear that.” She looked at Cassandra. “We’ll leave in three days, if that works for Cobal too. Is that alright?”
“I think so,” Cobal said. “I might still have a few things to handle here before we leave, but it’s best that we not linger any longer than we have to.”
Cassandra also agreed.
“What if,” Cobal started, “we send a letter to Eliana to get her to help us. Strange occurrences in the ocean are kind of her specialty after all.”
“Is that the pirate lady you told me about?” Cassandra asked.
Cobal nodded. “Yes, and I think the two of you will get along just fine.”
Cassandra smiled. “You have to tell me more about what happened since we last talked, it seems like you’ve been far more busy than I have.”
Cobal and Mana spent the rest of the day talking with Cassandra, catching her up on everything that she’d missed out on. Cassandra asked a million questions and was interested in every single detail. She even said she’d love to meet Selvia and her father, and look at their wares to learn a bit more about jewelry. Cobal promised to send a servant with her to go find them as he himself would probably be too busy preparing for their departure. He wanted to make sure to clearly convey his opinion to the council before leaving. Despite having made up his mind, leaving things in someone else’s hands still worried him.
The days passed slowly as Cobal went from meeting to meeting, discussing things in detail with his father and Nazuren as well as trying to gain some favor with the council members that didn’t seem completely hostile against himself and Mana. Cobal was confident that even after he left with Mana, they would continue to bicker amongst each other without reaching a conclusion for quite a while. Towards the end of the final day, Cobal’s mind was already distracted by the upcoming journey. When his father finally called for the meeting to be adjourned, he quickly excused himself to head to his room and get his pack ready. There were a few things he wanted to bring. Not much of what was in his opulent bedroom was particularly valuable to him, but some of the things he’d collected over the past year were quite precious to him. He couldn’t help but smile when going through them. There was the wooden weapon that little Seb had given to him to protect Cassandra with while they were traveling. He also brought the gift he just got from Selvia and her father as well as the scarf that Salandra got him as a gift during their date in Marsolin. He also brought a couple of books that Dionil gave him back in Milinia. He wasn’t a big reader, but he trusted that the information in the books might be useful at some point. He also put the amulet that Kiiran gave him during their initial visit to Arana. It showed that they were friends of the city and would make their entry into town a lot more smooth than last time. Finally he made sure that his sword – which was made by the talented blacksmith in Milinia – was in good condition. He put everything he needed for his weapon’s maintenance in a little bundle into his pack as well. Satisfied that he got everything that he needed for the trip, he went to sit down and write a letter for Eliana.
Dear Eliana,
It feels strange writing you a letter. For some reason you don’t strike me as the sort of person that gets a lot of letters from nobility. Unless they’re arrest warrants. Unfortunately I don’t have the luxury to come find you in person, although I do hope this letter results in us meeting again soon. You see, we have run into a little bit of a problem. A close friend of ours, Cassandra, came visiting us from the Ravadier Peninsula. She told us about strange disappearances and people walking into the ocean and never coming back. Mana and myself are headed to the Ravadier Peninsula alongside Cassandra to try and figure out what is happening there. If you get this letter, I would ask you to come meet us in Ravadier and help us out. I figure anything to do with the ocean is something that you will be much more skilled at than we are. If you can’t make it, could you please send a letter back to us so we know not to wait for you? We will be staying at the local inn called the Luminescent Shell. If you send a letter there it should reach us and if you do find the opportunity to come there in person you can likely find us there.
I hope to see you again soon.
Best, Cobal.
After a moment of hesitation, Cobal stamped the letter with his personal seal. It felt strange, a prince sending a letter to a pirate captain through official means. Then again, no one would dare open a letter sent by a royal as the punishment for doing so would be quite severe. Yet one small part of him hesitated, wondering if it was a dumb decision. Then he shook it off, understanding that he trusted Eliana completely. He then called for a servant to deliver it to the post office. He paid for the delivery to be fast, which meant a trained bird would deliver it as opposed to the carriage used for less important mail. The postal system had been quite bare until somewhat recently. A group of young people who were all involved in delivery businesses decided to pool their resources together and create the Ildira Mailing Company. They handled different types of mail and due to having more widespread reach, they could afford to do bigger deliveries than others, causing efficiency to go up tremendously. Even regular people could now afford to send a letter to their family back home, although it wasn’t cheap. It would just take longer as the carriages would only depart if enough letters for the same direction piled up. But if you wanted an express delivery you could always pay the fee for it. With the letter sent, his bag packed and all his thoughts in order, Cobal finally went to bed. He’d have to get up early the next morning to be well out of sight before anyone he didn’t like could complain.
Opal Kaharis 