Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine - Oblivious

I woke up to something very soft and warm rubbing against the underside of my nose. Some blinking of grubby eyes (and a small application of cleaning magic to ungrub them) and I found myself staring at the soft brown stalk of a big bun ear.

Not one of mine, either. A glance to the side showed me Booksie sleeping across the bed, her limbs sprawled out every which way and her nightie exposing an amount of leg that would have been scandalous if the room had any boys in it.

As it was, we had rented a large room for the night and I convinced the others to push its two beds together into one big bed. It was a bit of a mistake.

Booksie took up enough room for three. Awen was cuddled up against my side, a leg over my tummy and one of my long ears in her mouth where she was nibbling cutely at it with little ‘aw aw aw,’ sounds.

A glance towards my feet revealed where all the blankets had gone. Amaryllis had appropriated them and made a sort of twisted nest which she was balled up within, head tucked under a wing.

I yawned, pulled a barely-responsive arm out from under Awen, and shifted a bit. I could have gotten up, but the effort involved was way too much. I did wiggle my ear until it slid out of Awen’s mouth and then I worked hard to ignore her sad ‘aww.’

The poor thing.

I shifted on the bed a little, then slid back to sleep.

When I woke up again it was to find the room bathed in blues and pinks. The floral-print curtains over the windows turned the soft morning light into a shifting gradient as a gentle breeze snuck past them.

Booksie was awake, but she was still flopped on her back, arms and legs spread out and eyes blinking up to the ceiling. A glance to my side showed Awen looking at me with a strange expression.

The shorter girl was sleeping high enough on the bed that it felt like she was a bit taller. She reached up a hand and carefully touched the tip of my nose. “It scrunches,” she said.

I think her brain might still have been half asleep.

I wiggled my nose under her finger, then grinned at the sleepy blinking she did. Things started to register in Awen’s head because her face started to glow a pretty red starting from her cheeks and racing all the way up to the tips of her ears.

Reaching up, I poked her nose. “Boop to you too,” I said.

“You’re all too loud,” Amaryllis said as she came out of her blanket nest like a chick looking for its mommy. Her head feathers were all pointing in different directions and she looked like a mess. “I’m taking a shower first,” she declared before stretching a long leg out and stepping off the bed.

I stretched too, until my arms and legs wiggled with tension, then flopped back down. “Time to get up!” I declared.

The next few moments were a flurry of activity as we got up, pushed the beds apart and started rooting around for clothes that had been flung to every corner of the room and over the backs of chairs and such.

Then there was a rush for the bathroom and some grumbling as we all had to wait our turn for the shower. Sure, I could have blasted everyone with Cleaning magic, but there was a shower right there.

An hour after waking up, we were gathering outside of the inn after saying good day to Julien the owner.

Emeric and his crew from the Exploration Guild were all there too, having rented out a couple of rooms for themselves. The only person missing was Rhawrexdee, who had flown off to go sleep at his mom’s place. He did say he would be back though.

“Ah, I guess this is goodbye again?” I wondered.

Emeric grinned and nodded. “I suppose so. I expect we’ll meet again, or perhaps we’ll just hear of your many exploits. I’ve no doubt zat zere will be stories told about you.”

“Yeah, stories about ze harbinger of doom,” Pierre said.

I huffed at the ranger and shook my head. “I hope not. I just want to live a nice, quiet life with many friends,” I said.

For some reason they thought that was funny.

I turned to Booksie who also looked ready to set out. She, being quite a clever Bun, had brought some changes of clothes that had been left behind in her home, a smart pencil skirt and a nice blouse. She looked like a young librarian. I wondered how much of that was to appeal to Rhawrexdee.

It didn’t matter, not really, and I wished her all the best. I extended my arms up towards her and waited for her to come into my hug. She didn’t disappoint, crashing into me with a giggle.

“I’m gonna miss you,” I said.

“And I’ll miss you,” Booksie said. “I have so many more things to teach you about being a bun, but I’m sure you’ll figure them out. You’re a natural bun.”

I grinned huge. “Thanks! I’ll do my best.”

We parted with a few more goodbyes and a bunch more hugs. Even Orange got some friendly goodbye pats on her noggin’.

We started to make our way down the main streets of Port Royal. “Ah, it’s just the three of us again,” I said.

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Amaryllis said. “As much as one of us is an idiot, the others are at least dependable and intelligent.”

I snorted and bumped my hip against Amaryllis. “Meanie,” I said. “We do make a pretty good team though. Plus we get to hang out some more, which is the best!”

“A-aw yes, yes it is,” Awen agreed. “I’m very happy that you kidnapped me, Broccoli.”

I nodded. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat!” I said. “We’re like the three musketeers, but without the muskets or the cool feathery hats.”

“I-I could maybe make a musket for you,” Awen said. “If you want.”

I imagined myself with a few pirate-y pistols and a tricorn. “I’ll think about it,” I said. I took in a deep breath and let myself idly follow Amaryllis’ lead as she guided us through the city. Our last little adventure had been quite the exciting thing. Fighting in a tournament, meeting a dragon, then meeting more dragons. Spending time making new friends from old acquaintances... it was a lot to take in, a lot of fighting and being afraid for my life and afraid for my friends.

In the end, though, we had survived all of our challenges and persevered through it all. And now... how close were our bonds of friendship?

Amaryllis was stomping ahead of us, looking serious and severe, but she had a little smile on and her eyes twinkled with mirth. She was happy.

Next to me, Awen was walking so close that our shoulders bumped every few steps. Looking down at her made her look up to me, and she smiled demurely, her cheeks rosey and plump, just demanding to be pinched.

Her life had been on track to become a miserable slog. Maybe she would have found some happiness along the way, but she was happy now. I think that I did the right thing.

And then there was my own happiness, a gushing well in my chest that felt like one of those veins of oil that bust out of the ground. I could hardly contain most of it. Fortunately, excess happiness just made me want to dance and hug people. No bad side-effects!

“Where’re we going now?” I asked a few minutes into our walk.

“The guild. You do recall that flower gathering mission of yours? You can hand that in while I go secure some transportation for the three of us over to the Nesting Kingdom.”

“We’re going to teleport after all?” I asked. That would be so cool!

“We’ll certainly try. If we can’t then we’ll need to find a flight over, which would take a few days. Fort Sylphrot is geographically close, but practically far.”

“Huh?”

Amaryllis pointed to the side of the mountain Port Royal was perched onto. “The fort is about as far from here as Deepmarsh is. That’s a day’s flight at most, winds willing. The problem is all the mountains. The weather around them is treacherous at best. Most airships can’t get the altitude to hover over the peaks, and the engines and crew freeze up if they get too high.”

“Ah, right, the air is thinner in the upper atmosphere, and a whole lot colder. I can see why that would be bad.”

She eyed me for a moment, then nodded. “That’s right. So a ship heading over to Fort Sylphrot needs to take a curving path through Deepmarsh airspace, or a meandering path through the various mountains. One’s slower than the other, but the risk is lesser.”

“So teleporting, then,” I said. “Why have airships if you can teleport anyway?”

“Do you know how many mages able to teleport there are in a place like the Nesting Kingdom?”

“Nope!”

“A hundred, maybe two. Most of those of a high enough rank and level that giving them the menial task of teleporting bulk goods would be plainly insulting. Some will work for guilds and teleport things for a fee. A large fee. Most mages that can do it are at a level where a few hours of their time and some mana replenishing potions is worth more than the average person’s monthly wage.”

“Yikes,” I said. “What about runes and such?” I gestured to a streetlamp that was glowing from within, a rune inscribed on a steel plate behind some glass providing the light.

“Incredibly tricky, with nowhere near the precision of a mage with a Skill. The Snowlands are supposed to have a large teleportation network in place for inorganic goods. If an iron ingot comes out a little bent at the other end, no one will cry over it. The same can’t be said about a person. The systems most banks use are quite similar, though smaller in scale, and a little more accurate. Though they have people with very particular skills working for them.”

“Very cool,” I said.

Awen nodded. “We don’t really have much of that in Mattergrove. Maybe in the capitol? But I only went there a few times, and always by carriage.”

“Wait, you travelled to the capitol?” I asked.

Awen nodded. “A few times,” she said. “With my family, to meet some important people. I never liked doing that. There are a lot of rules to remember, about bowing and addressing people the right way.”

Amaryllis hummed and slowed to a halt before the Mages Guild. “This is where I’ll leave you two.” She placed talons on hips and regarded me with narrowed eyes. “Though Awen does remind me. I’m going to need to give you a crash-course on proper harpy etiquette. I... don’t mind introducing you to my family and clan. You’re something of a friend, I suppose. But they might look down on you and your country bumpkin act.”

“I can behave,” I said.

“I doubt it.”

I crossed my arms. I could totally behave in polite company. “I did well enough with Awen’s family, and they’re nobles,” I said.

“You kidnapped their daughter.”

My cheeks warmed up a little. “I won’t kidnap you?” I tried.

Amaryllis seemed less than amused. “Idiot,” she said. “We’ll go over the very basics, like not talking while eating and not slouching so much. I don’t think there’s any chance that I’ll manage to teach you anything beyond that in however much time we have left here.”

“I’m not that bad. Right Awen?”

“Aw... Br-Broccoli is very enthusiastic and, ah, kind,” Awen said.

“Wait. Neither of those things have to do with etiquette,” I said.

Awen looked away. “She’s very nice. And, she’s polite?”

“Eh? I’m not that bad, right? I can be diplomatic!”

Amaryllis huffed. “Do you need a hug? The last thing I need is for you to make a scene.”

“I don’t make scenes,” I said.

“You orchestrated a date with a dragon in the middle of a small town the day after placing second in a combat tournament. Broccoli Bunch, you’re a walking scene-in-the-making.” She sighed. “I suppose it goes hand in hand with being a Riftwalker. We’ll handle it.”

I pouted and accepted the hug.

I wasn’t that bad, was I?