"The Aspects of the Divine Court are often worshipped in equal amounts throughout the year, their importance and therefore their warship waxing and waning depending on the family's needs but sometimes a person or a household would devote their entire lives to a singular Aspect. In recent years the priests of Havenfall started to elevate Citranus the Aspect of Light above all other Divines to a degree which threatens their standing as equals in the eyes of the Faithfull in response to the increasing threat to humanity from both outside and inside."

-Extract from a letter send from Havenfall to Anglas.

 

---

 

Iris opened a door to the room she and Kia slept in, when she opened the wooden door she saw a confused Kia sitting on the floor, her cloak laying on the bed beside her. Kia's immaculately black hair rested on her shoulders as a human child standing behind her hesitantly ran the tips of her fingers through Kia's hair.

Iris would never feel jealousy toward the human child which was able to stroke Kia's perfectly smooth hair which felt otherwordly each time she ran her fingers through them, that would be immature and she had to give a good example to Kia but yet her non-existent heart ached slightly at the sight.

 

"Hehe!" Sally giggled as she slowly petted the undead necromancer like one would a wild animal. "How can be your hair be so smooth?" She asked. "Nooo," Sally loudly lamented as the animal with onyx black hair quickly stood up and jogged to the elf. "Comeback." She tried to follow but the soft critter hid behind the tall elf.

 

"Hello~" The now grinning elf greeted Kia, smoothing out the slightly ruffled hair on her head. "What were you doing?"

 

"Don't know."

 

"Playing!" Sally said trying to explain herself. "But I got distracted."

 

"I think we are too old to play with you."

 

Sally's mouth opened but before any sound reached Iris's ears a muffled shout surprised the elf.

 

"Sally!" Lamia yelled across the house.

 

"Oh." The human girl said as she ran passed the two.

 

The masquerading undead was left alone for not long before Sally came back with a message from the lady of the house.

 

"Teacher asks you to meet her." Sally said.

 

The tall elf quickly grabbed Kia's cloak before following the blonde girl.

 

"Is that them?" An elderly man wearing a dark grey jacket pointed at Iris as she reached the front door.

 

"Yea, but I am telling you they are not from the Fallen." Lamia told the man standing outside.

 

"I understand that Lamia but good luck telling that to soldiers hungry for an excuse to loot and plunder," The old villager stated to Lamia. "They have to go."

 

"But-"

 

"I have to think about our village," The old human interrupted Lamia, a dangerous edge entering his voice. "They have to go. I don't care where they go."

 

The human alchemist turned toward Iris giving her a small apolitical smile.

 

"What's this all about?" Iris asked.

 

"Stahl thinks you are threatening the village," Lamia explained with

 

"I hope you understand but the actions of your colleagues-in-trade force me to take decisive actions." Stahl confronted the elven adventurer. "If you want I can arrange a free space on a barge heading towards Firmusa."

 

Iris thought over her situation, she glanced at her companion trying to discern her wishes but Kia looked unbothered by their sudden eviction.

 

"Whats a barge?" Kia gazed up meeting Iris's eyes as she spoke suddenly in Common.

 

"It's a type of ship." The risen answered Kia's question causing the girl's colourful eyes to gleam with interest.

 

"What's your answer?" Stahl asked, his body language told Iris he was very uneasy with the situation.

 

"We will take you on your offer." Iris answered. The old human let out a heavy sigh upon hearing her answer. "We just have to pack up." Iris told the man.

 

The elf motioned Kia to stay as she jogged back to their room. They did not have a lot of things left and Iris quickly grabbed their remaining items.

 

*Sniff*

 

Iris saw teary Sally clutching onto Kia, Lamia was trying to calm the blonde girl down.

 

"Don't go." The girl begged. "Others like you, I like you." She clutched onto Kia who was confused about the sudden emotional outburst.

 

"Sally." Lamia softly said.

 

Iris watched Kia stand there not knowing what to do. Her hand awkwardly patted the girl, who suddenly let go of the necromancer. Iris noticed that Sally's eyes were not focused on Kia but were blankly staring at the wall behind her.

 

"Farewell." The isolated alchemist waved her goodbye as the two left her house.

 

Iris and Kia followed Stahl to the humble port built on the banks of the Neur river. A line of men walked between the warehouse and a pier loading a barge tied down at the end with sacks. The village leader waved at a human standing on a wooden, who waved back.

 

"Old man Stahl taught you already kicked the bucket upon seeing the prices here." A tall man with a large round beard wearing a tall fur hat and heavy grey overcoat happily said as he hugged Stahl.

 

"And I taught you were not such a 'Gor." The bolding human elder jested. "I have a request for you if you don't mind, Hudor."

 

"If I mind depends on a request." The Hudor responded. He was a merchant most likely, Iris thought.

 

"I have two people that I assure you will not cause any trouble to be ferried to Firmusa."

 

Hudor glanced at Iris then his eyes shifted to Kia, his eyes judged the two before answering. "Transporting such elegant ladies will be a pleasure." He bowed slightly to the two adventurers. "You could make yourself comfortable on my humble vessel."

 

Kia silently followed Iris as she walked on the old wooden pier. The stationary barge swayed gently on the waves as it was tied to the land with large ropes.

 

The large flat raft lacked a mast relying on the river's current to carry it downstream, depending on Hudor's destination he could reach Havenfall without much problem.

 

"Strange."

 

"Strange?" Kia's voice reached the distracted elf.

 

"Sorry I was just wondering about how did he manage to construct this," Iris tapped her foot on the wooden floor. "I did not see a lumber mill around here."

 

"Oh, is this that difficult to build?" The undead mage doubted the difficulty of constructing a barge like the one she currently stood on.

 

"It depends Kia," Iris started to explain. "Technique? No, you just connect trunks of fallen trees together and that's basically it but building a barge of this size in here without any equipment would be challenging putting it mildly."

 

"Wow." The mage said staring at the elf with awe.

 

"T-thanks but I did live beside a river so that is somewhat basic knowledge." The elf explained feeling Kia's awe to be unfounded.

 

The two waited for the barge to be loaded with its cargo which took two hole bells. As they waited Kia sat down on the edge of the vessel and dipped her bare feet in the ice-cold water, enjoying the feeling of the running water.

The barge jerked as Hudor stepped on it and the ropes tieing the barge down were untied from the shore. He took off his fur hat and searched the heavens and upon finding the pale white sun shining weakly on them he kneeled accompanied by his small crew.

The elf watched as Hudor prayed to the sun and its light in all too similar fashion, she still flinched as a small fragment of her remembered the cure for her "curse" beaten into her by clerics of Citranus.

The tall fur hat returned to the top of Hudor's head as he stood up. A dull sound came from under the high black leather boots as they stomped their way towards Iris.

 

"I forgot to introduce myself properly, Hudor the Black merchant of Northen Trade league." He introduced himself again to Iris, taking her right hand and kissing it.

 

"Iris." She responded.

 

"Nice, short and to the point, I wish my clients were like that." Hudor said with a wide friendly smile.

 

"Could I ask, when would we arrive in Firmusa?"

 

"Tomorrow about the time of the third bell." The merchant answered. "We will be skipping the next village to save time, the previous stop we made delayed us significantly."

 

"Norten is not the last village upstream?" The elf asked confused.

 

"Oh! Miss elf must be quite old for lack of a nicer word. There are three new villages upstream, I believe the Aventa Free Company from southern Catalina settled them like forty years ago."

 

"Ahh."

 

"We humans must be quite strange to you," The Firmusian patted Iris on her shoulder. "I will be on the other side." He said before leaving the elf.