Chapter 10
The sound of the train’s whistle is what woke me up. It meant we were approaching the stop in the middle of the valley, which was our destination. I was groggy, but not nearly as groggy as I’d felt when I’d woken up in the inn earlier that day. Rasha woke up too, and he for the most part looked about as well rested as I felt. Once we got to Koreo’s I really, really hoped to get a full night’s sleep.
I had coffee and Rasha had some tea as the train approached the station. The sun was setting, and the valley had that not quite dark look to it, everything kind of bathed in shades of progressively darkening blues. There were little pinpoints of light dotting the landscape in every direction, spread out all through the valley and closer together with increasing frequency in two clusters. One of those clusters was our destination.
Milin was a very interesting and unique town, to say the least. Obviously trains can’t go up hills, so sending the train down through the valley was out of the question. The solution had been to carve the tracks out of the side of the mountains and send them around the valley instead. There wasn’t enough space at the entrances to the valley for a station to be built, so instead there were two stations in Milin Valley - Sprog station in the west and Gour station in the east. They were named for the two mountains that bordered the valley, of course. The town of Milin itself was down in the valley, and you get down to Milin itself with the use of some very unique architecture. I could confidently say that nowhere else in the world had I ever encountered an Elevator Machine on such a large scale as the ones they used here in Milin. It was a sight to behold, huge platforms of stone slowly rising and falling up and down the sides of the mountains, transporting people and carts and carriages alike, all powered by steam and wheels and pulleys. Rasha looked suitably impressed, as well he should.
“Keep watching the Elevators,” I instructed. “I’m going to change.”
“Oh, right,” Rasha said, without so much as pulling his eyes away from the sight of the huge Elevator on the Sprog side of the valley, visible even from the distance we were away from it. I considered the red and orange outfit I’d bought earlier, but ultimately decided against it. One of us wearing reds and oranges was fine, but both would definitely seem out of place. Way too matchey-matchey for my tastes. I dug around in the Infinity Bag and eventually came up with a cute, warm outfit that matched the red boots I’d gotten earlier. I ended up wearing the orange sweater from earlier too, but paired it with a brown skirt, white leggings and a brown cap. I used one of the necklaces to turn my hair blonde and put it into two long braids instead of one. I traded places with Rasha and handed him his red and orange outfit from earlier and the brown hair changing necklace.
Everyone exiting the train was directed onto a walkway that led to the huge platform of the Elevator Machine. There were two of them, actually — one was always up while the other was down. As predicted, the Trio were among the group of exiting passengers, and the Astorian was not far behind them. Neither the Trio nor the Astorian tailing them noticed us, but they did notice each other from the looks of it. The woman turned to her two companions and whispered something, and the three of them approached the Astorian on the Elevator platform, hackles up. Rasha and I watched from the sidelines, just far enough away to not draw attention to ourselves but close enough to hear their conversation.
“Alright, who the hell are you and why are you following us?” the woman demanded, walking straight up to the Astorian spy. If you couldn’t say anything else about this woman, you could at least say that she was bold. The Astorian spy held up both of his hands and masterfully feigned ignorance.
“I’m afraid I’ve no idea what you mean,” he said. His accent was south Astorian. It sounded like he was from Kyrens, if Rasha’s slight accent was anything to go by. Interesting.
“Can it! You were at the tavern back at Valley Pass and you’ve followed us here. What do you want?” she asked. Again, the spy feigned ignorance.
“I’m merely here to see the sights in this beautiful town,” he said. “It must be sheer coincidence that I was in the same tavern that you were earlier, miss.” The woman got visibly angry, reaching for the whip dangling from her belt, but fortunately both of her companions stepped in, each of them grabbing her by her upper arms. She glared at both of them but sighed and nodded.
“I guess I have no choice but to believe you, but you better not follow us around once we’re down in Milin, got it?” she growled at him before stalking away. Her two companions apologized to the Astorian for her and followed her to where she’d stormed away. I watched the Astorian for a few minutes after that and, to his credit, he didn’t break character once. Between him and the Trio he was absolutely the bigger threat to us, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I could really do about him.
Eventually I got bored of watching the Astorian and the Trio and nudged Rasha to get his attention, and we walked over to the edge of the platform. There was a railing in place, naturally, to make sure that nobody could fall off the edge or be pushed, but it didn’t obstruct the view of the Milin valley at all. The sun had fully set by now, so the entire valley was cast in darkness — but that only let us get a better view of all of the lights. And there were so many lights. The view during daylight was great, but the view at night was really what brought tourists out this far into the mountains. Being in a valley with mountains to the east and west blocking sunlight for a lot of the day, you would think that Milin wouldn’t be a huge tourist destination, however the intrepid settlers of Milin had long since turned what would normally be a huge disadvantage into a spectacle.
Every inch of the main central city of Milin was decked out in lights of varying colors and shapes and sizes. Every tree had lamp pods in the branches, every building had lights dangling from the roofs, every corner had a lightpost. It was truly a sight to behold. And the source for all the energy used to power all of these lights was far underneath the city: an enormous deposit of Agar crystal, which is what almost all magic batteries are made with. That was, naturally, the main export out of Milin. There wasn’t much room for farmland in a valley like this, after all, and even if there was it wasn’t like much could grow in a place that got so little direct sunlight.
We were on the platform for about twenty minutes as passengers from the train and cargo were loaded on with us. Eventually the attendants told everyone to gather near the center of the platform for safety. With a hiss of steam and a rumble the platform slowly descended down away from the now departing train and toward the floor of the valley. We watched as the other platform rose from the ground and passed us. Some of the people on the platform were waving, but most were just minding their own business. I waved back as the other platform ascended toward the now empty train station. Within only a few minutes our descent stopped and we were on the valley floor. I kept an eye on the Astorian as we exited the platform along with the droves of people. He was keeping his distance but still obviously following the trio. As for the trio, they predictably turned and headed straight for where I knew Koreo’s bar to be. I also knew a shortcut that would get us there much quicker than them.
“C’mon,” I said to Rasha, and set off for the faster route through the town. I had to grab him by the elbow and encourage him to walk faster; I could definitely tell that he wanted to dawdle and look at the lights. Unfortunately we just didn’t have the time — we needed to beat the trio and the Astorian there and at least give Koreo something of a heads up about them.
It had been some time since I’d been to Milin, but I still remembered the way to Koreo’s bar. I got us there quickly, crossing streets and weaving through back yards. In no time at all we were in the alley behind Healing Spirits, the tavern Koreo owned and operated. I approached the back door and motioned for Rasha to stay a few feet away. I took off the necklace and my hat and reached up, knocking several times in a pattern that I knew would at least get someone to check the door. I was correct, and not even a minute had gone by before the door swung open and I was greeted by a tall, tan-skinned man with neatly trimmed hair and a black beard. He frowned down at me.
“If you’re a customer, you need to use the… hold on, what,” he said. I nodded and waved.
“Long time no see, Sarien. Digging the beard, that’s new,” I greeted. “Is Koreo busy?”
“Spikora Mori,” he said, with a chuckle. “Koreo’s at the bar as usual. Come on in.” He glanced over to Rasha. “Your friend is welcome too, of course.”
“Thanks,” I said, motioning for Rasha to follow. Sarien held the back door open for us, and we stepped inside the brightly lit interior of the kitchen of Healing Spirits. I made sure Sarien was paying attention and slipped the necklace and hat back on. He lifted an eyebrow.
“Someone looking for you?” he asked, pitching his voice low so that he wouldn’t be overheard.
“Yeah, I’ll explain later,” I replied. “In fact, they should be getting here any time now. It’s three thugs and an Astorian spy.”
“How much trouble are you in?” he asked. I shrugged.
“Honestly? I don’t know anymore,” I said. He nodded.
“Stay back here for now, I’ll go tell Koreo,” Sarien said. “Got a description of the people who are looking for you?”
“A big guy, a little guy and a bitchy looking woman,” I described. “They’ll be together, and you will not be able to miss them. The woman will probably come straight to you and ask about me. The Astorian might be a little harder to spot; he’ll be wearing a gray coat, and he’ll be following them.”
“Okay. Sit tight, and help yourself to anything. Talk to Rina, she’ll be happy to get you something to eat and drink,” Sarien instructed. I nodded. I looked around and, sure enough, spotted Rina’s red hair right away. She’d grown it long. She’d also gotten taller since the last time I’d seen her. She was bent over the griddle at the moment, tending to some sizzling meat patties and some toasting bread. I waited until she didn’t look busy and made my way over, stopping at a respectable distance and clearing my throat to get her attention.
“Oh, hello,” she said, looking alarmed and suspicious. “Miss, I don’t think you should be back here…”
“Long time no see, Rina,” I said with a big grin. “I’m in disguise right now, but you remember your ol’ pal Spikora, right?”
“Spikora?” she asked, gaping at me with her mouth open as recognition flashed in her eyes. “Oh my goodness, it is you! Did you dye your hair? Oh my gosh!”
“And you got taller. And your hair! It’s so long now!” I replied. She tossed down the spatula in her hand and all but threw herself at me. I managed to brace myself so I didn’t get knocked down by her hug.
“How have you been? You haven’t visited in ages!” she chastised, squeezing me tight. I just patted her back.
“Sorry, I got busy, it’s complicated,” I said. She released me and stepped back, and seemed to notice Rasha for the first time.
“Oh! I’m sorry, hello, you must be a friend of Spikora’s,” she said to him, looking sheepish. “I’m Rina, I’m the head cook here. Spikora and I go way back.”
“Rasha, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he replied, with a nod at her.
“Likewise. So what are you doing here, anyway?” Rina asked.
“I wish I could say we’re here just for a normal visit, but, well…” I said. “I’ll tell you later.”
“You aren’t in trouble, are you?” Rina asked.
“Sort of. Yes, but not really?” I tried to explain.
“Hey Rina,” someone called, and we all turned to see one of the front of house staff waving at her from the door to the bar. “Got an order for four specials with the works.”
“I’m on it,” Rina said. She turned to us and winked. “Should I make that six specials?”
“Please,” I said. She nodded and headed back over to the griddle. There were a few chairs scattered around in the less-used corner of the kitchen, so we went and sat down. The chair I picked gave me the occasional glimpse of what was happening out the door and beyond the kitchen. Koreo, Sarien and a couple of staff members I didn’t think I knew were busy at the bar and tending tables. One of the tables I could see was occupied by the trio. I could only see part of the woman’s face, but she was definitely frowning. I couldn’t see much else of the restaurant, so I had no way of knowing if the Astorian had followed them inside or not.
“What is the special?” Rasha eventually asked. I noticed that he was watching the door as well. I grinned.
“Oh, you’ll love it. It’s a saringer, but they cook the beef in this great marinade that really enriches the flavor, and then they put this really good sauce on it too,” I explained. “And they serve it with fried potato sticks.”
“Hmm, that does sound good…” Rasha said.
It only took Rina about ten minutes to prepare all of the specials. She brought ours to us on wooden trays.
“Want a drink to go with? We’ve got a bigger selection of alcohol than we did the last time you were here, you know. We’re famous for it now, actually!” Rina asked.
“Just water for now, or milk if you can spare any,” I said.
“Same for me,” Rasha agreed. Rina nodded, and returned a few moments later with two mugs filled with milk for us. Rina plopped down into the chair next to mine.
“So the three people from Kiiren are definitely looking for you,” she informed me, almost at a whisper. I leaned toward her so I could hear over my chewing as I dug into the saringer. I hadn’t realized it, but I was very hungry. “Koreo asked them why they were looking for you all the way out here, and the woman told her it wasn’t her business.”
“Sounds about right,” I replied. Rina giggled.
“Koreo convinced them to get the specials and some beers. I swear, she could sell water to a fish. The Astorian, too,” she said.
“Did she get anything out of him?” I asked.
“No, but he’s definitely keeping tabs on those three, and they haven’t noticed at all,” Rina continued. I nodded.
“Okay. Not a lot of information, but more than we had before,” I said. “By the way, I don’t know how you did it but this saringer is even more delicious now. Did you change the sauce?”
“I’m glad you noticed! I’ve been experimenting with the sauce lately, seeing what I can add to improve the flavor profile. I actually added some ground barberry leaf, since that’s in season right now.”
“Barberry, huh?” I asked. I took another bite, chewing slowly and really trying to take in the flavor. I swallowed. “I can taste it. Interesting, not something I’d think to add to a saringer sauce, but it really works. Good job.” Rina grinned, and I could tell that she was thrilled with the compliment.
“I’ve eaten a lot of saringers, and this is definitely the best one I’ve had,” Rasha commented.
“Oh, where are you from?” Rina asked.
“Kyrens. They make some interesting varieties of saringers there, but this one puts them all to shame,” he said. He turned to me. “Please tell me we’re staying here for at least a little while? I’d love to eat more of these.”
“That’s the plan,” I said. “It really depends on what that Astorian does.”
“Not the three Kiirenese folks?” Rina asked, blinking. I nodded.
“So long story very short, the Astorian government is after me… well, after him, really,” I explained, gesturing in Rasha’s direction. “The thugs are after us too, but if they don’t report back to their boss it’s not a big deal. If he doesn’t report back, that’s as good as letting the government know exactly where we are. He’s gotta go back on his own, empty-handed.”
“Well, when he doesn’t find you here surely he’ll go away?” Rina asked. I shook my head.
“He’s following the three thugs because he thinks they have information about us that the Astorian government doesn’t,” I explained. “He’ll stick around as long as they do, and there’s no telling how long their boss told them to stay here and look for us.”
“Why are they looking for you, anyway?” Rina asked. I laughed.
“Rina, do you remember how Koreo and I met?” I asked. Rina stared at me for a moment, confused, and then I could almost see it in her eyes when she figured it out.
“Hold on, Spikora, did you buy another person?” she asked. I nodded. “Did you buy him?!” I nodded again, and Rasha nodded. “That’s...wow.” I nodded a third time. She looked Rasha up and down. “I guess I won’t pry, but I’ve gotta say I’m very curious.”
“Do you still live upstairs?” I asked. She nodded. “Okay. I’ll tell you all about it later, when I tell Koreo and Sarien. I’m sure they’re dying to know too.”
A few more orders trickled in from the bar and Rina cooked all of them up flawlessly. When business slowed down a bit, I noticed Koreo had sat down with the trio and was talking to them about something, no doubt trying to get more information out of them. Shortly after, one of the waiters entered the kitchen with a pile of orders for Rina and a message for us.
“Koreo wants you to know that the trio and the Astorian have both left for the evening, and you’re welcome to go upstairs if you want. You can go to the guest room,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said. He nodded and turned to leave, but then it hit me who he actually was. “Wait, hold on a second. You’re Makkin, aren’t you?”
“Yes?” the waiter asked, turning back to me and looking confused. “But I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met?”
“You were a lot shorter last time I saw you,” I said. I gestured to my hip. “Like, this much shorter. I’m not surprised you don’t remember me. You sure grew up tall!”
“Wait, did you… perhaps, did you used to have purple hair?” he asked. I grinned.
“Bingo! You do remember me!” I replied.
“You’re Auntie— uh, you’re miss Spikora, right?” he asked, and I nodded in confirmation. “Wow. You haven’t been by in, what, five, six years?”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, with a sigh. “I got busy. Sorry, kiddo.” The door to the front swung open and one of the other waiters stuck his head into the kitchen.
“Maki, what’s the hold up?” he asked. Now that I’d made the connection between the eleven year old Makkin of my memory and the present day sixteen year old Makkin, I recognized him too. I waved.
“Heya Souta,” I called. The newcomer, Souta, blinked at me. I could see Makkin looking between us with a huge smirk.
“Dude, you’ll never guess who this is,” Makkin said, rushing over to Souta’s side and throwing an arm around his shoulders. “I’ll give you a hint. I guess she dyed her hair or something, but it used to be purple~”
“Wait, what?” Souta asked, eyes wide. He looked from Makkin to me and his jaw dropped. “Wait, are you seriously Spikora?”
“In the flesh,” I said. I turned to Rasha.
“Rasha, these two are Makkin and Soutan,” I said. I saw Souta blush and put a hand over his face.
“Oh no, please don’t call me that, it’s so embarrassing,” he grumbled. Makkin laughed.
“I’ve known these two since they were little kids,” I explained. I turned to them. “I never thought you’d become waiters here, though. Makkin, aren’t you too young to drink?”
“Just because I’m too young to drink the alcohol doesn’t mean I can’t serve the alcohol,” Makkin protested. “And it’s Maki now, but I guess you can keep calling me that…”
“Maki and Souta, this is Rasha, he’s a new, uh, friend of mine,” I said. Maki grinned, and to my surprise Souta glowered over at Rasha. Huh. That was an interesting response. “Anyway, don’t you two have some orders to take?”
“Oh, crap, yes we do,” Souta said, turning pale. He grabbed Maki by the arm and dragged him out through the door, and Maki protested the whole way. I turned to Rasha.
“They’re good kids,” I said. “Anyway, I guess we should head upstairs? This place is open all night, but once they close the kitchen it should slow down a bit.” Rasha nodded and followed me as I made my way over to the winding staircase that took us up to the second story of the bar. This was where Koreo, Sarien and Rina all lived. There was a large common area at the top of the stairs with five doors leading away from it. I’d helped them build this place, so I knew exactly which one was the guest room. I led Rasha over to it. It was a fairly good-sized room with a big bed and some other furniture. I immediately dropped off the Infinity Bag.
“You can wait in here or out in the common area, whichever would make you more comfortable,” I said. “I’m gonna go take a bath, Koreo has a huge bathtub.”
“Okay,” Rasha said. He was glancing around, looking unsure of the situation.
“Hey, listen, you can trust Koreo and Sarien, and everyone else that works here. It’ll be fine, and I promise you’re welcome here. You’re here with me, after all,” I said. He nodded. “If you get bored, Sarien has an addiction to books so I’m sure you won’t be able to go five feet without tripping over one.”
“Thanks,” he said, letting out a sigh of relief. I reached into the Infinity bag and pulled out a fresh set of pajamas. I’d need to do laundry eventually, but for now it was fine. I also pulled that newspaper from earlier out of the bag along with the remaining snacks from the noodle shop in Kiiren.
“Oh, we left the pastries downstairs,” I realized. “Hm. Well, they should be fine. I can go get them after my bath, probably.” I handed the newspaper and snacks to Rasha. “These are for you.”
“Thanks,” Rasha said. He followed me out into the common area and awkwardly shuffled over to the wall of books. That’s not hyperbole, one of the walls of the room was literally built to be a bookshelf, and it was crammed full of books of all kinds of colors and thicknesses. I continued on my way to the large, lavish bathing room that we’d built into the corner of the upstairs area. Sarien had done all the plumbing, I remembered, because nobody else knew anything about it. I’d at least helped install the mechanism that heated the water for the bath. I couldn’t cast back then and I still couldn’t now, but that hadn’t erased any of my knowledge of magic.
I poked around the cabinets while the tub filled, discovering to my delight that not only did Koreo still keep bath powder, but she’d expanded her collection. One cabinet was dedicated solely to glass jars containing multicolored powders, arranged neatly in chromatic order. You could tell which ones were her favorites because many of the jars matched, but a couple were in a different style and contained substantially less powder than the others. The one she seemed to favor the most was a bright, vibrant green labeled “mint and barberry, good for fatigue.” Another favorite was a nice soft lilac color, close to my hair color actually, labeled “lilac and lavender, good for relaxing.” Both of those were tempting, but I decided to do her a favor and pick one of her apparently less favored powders. Judging from the levels of powders, her least favorite seemed to be a bright red powder, labeled “crimsonroot and vanil, good for sunburns. Note: stains tub, don’t use too much!” I wisely decided to skip that one and go for the blue one instead. “Aquar and searoot, doesn’t do anything but smells like the ocean.” None of the labels were in Koreo’s own handwriting. It was possible it was Sarien or Rita, but my bet was that whoever sold these to Koreo had written them. I’d have to remember to ask where she got them.
I put my hair up in a bun on the top of my head and had a nice, long, relaxing bath. The label had been exactly correct, it really did smell like the ocean. It was a nice, soothing smell. Kiiren was surrounded by water on all sides and did have a few very nice beaches. I didn’t go to the beach as often as I would have liked. Maybe I needed to change that?
I spent a little while daydreaming about buying a seaside farm and having cows and chickens and fresh fruit and vegetables year-around. I’d obviously have to move out of Kiiren for that, but maybe that’s exactly what I needed to do, once this whole situation with Rasha blew over? It’d certainly be more difficult for me to buy people if I didn’t live within a reasonable distance of the auction house. Kariya had been right, once was a fluke, twice was weird, but three or more times and it would become a habit, I thought…
Maybe Rasha could live on the farm with me and help me take care of the cows and chickens and the garden. Wait — What? No, that was stupid. I had just met him.
I sighed and slid further into the water, nearly submerging my head entirely. Where had that though come from?
I spent the rest of the bath reminiscing about the time when we’d been building this place. We’d all learned so much back then, and not just about construction or interior design or plumbing or magic circuitry. We’d learned a lot about how to start a business. I’d learned first-hand that it definitely wasn’t for me, but that Koreo was a natural at it. I’d also learned that Koreo had the biggest heart out of anyone I’d ever met. She’d taken in a bunch of orphaned kids and had become a mother, teacher and boss to them all at once, teaching them what they needed to know to help us build this place and putting them to work where she could. She’d really lucked out finding Rina, who had been so young at the time but an actual prodigy in the kitchen. She’d evidently lucked out with the brothers, too, as they appeared to be hard-working waiters now.
She’d really lucked out with Sarien. At first I had been opposed to hiring someone to do the plumbing and magic circuitry for the bar, saying we could figure it out ourselves if we just took the time to. But she’d disagreed and hired a professional, which just happened to be Sarien. Now she had a fantastically huge tub, an insanely successful bar, and also a loving husband to boot. Sometimes I was jealous, honestly. Jealous of Koreo for having such a nice, loving, supportive husband, and jealous that Sarien got more time with Koreo than I did, and jealous that they were so happy together. But it was a fleeting, wistful sort of jealousy that didn’t stick. I was perfectly content with my apartment and my houseplants and my life in Kiiren. And all I had to do was travel for nearly a full day by train to go see my best friend and her husband, so it wasn’t like I never saw her, but… Well, she’d nearly convinced me, and I’d nearly convinced myself, to move out here quite a number of times. I probably would have if it wasn’t for the fact that I needed to be somewhere like Kiiren to have any hope of finding a way to break my curse and get back my ability to cast.
My hands got all wrinkly and I decided I’d soaked for long enough. I dried off and put on a pair of comfortable pajamas, and remembered that I didn’t have any for Rasha to wear. Whoops. I’d meant to try to find him some at the shop earlier in Valley Pass and I’d just...forgotten. Maybe Sarien had some spare clothes he didn’t need? They’d probably be too big for Rasha, but it was better than nothing, right?
Rasha was deep in a book when I finally emerged. Nobody else was around, and judging by the sounds seeping up through the floorboards the bar was still lively.
“Hey, I don’t know if you’re a bath kinda guy but the tub’s free, and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind you getting in a soak,” I said. Rasha blinked and looked up from the book.
“Oh, sure,” he said, and then frowned. “Wait, what kind of a question was that? Of course I bathe.”
“Well, I don’t know, some places have showering booths instead of bathtubs,” I said.
“Is that a common thing in Kiiren?” Rasha asked. He closed the book with a muted thump and carefully set it down on a wooden endtable.
“Yeah, especially in apartment buildings, it’s apparently a big space saver,” I informed him. “And they’re all over the place in Curian. Not so much in Astor?”
“Not really,” Rasha replied. He stood, stretching his back. I heard a few audible pops. He made his way across the room to me and I pointed him to the bathing room. He stopped in the doorway and turned back to me. “Um… what should I do about clothing? I can put this back on if necessary, or wear some of the other clothing, but…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you something. Sarien probably at least has some old clothes lying around that might fit you,” I assured him. He nodded and entered the bathing room. I headed back downstairs, intent on retrieving the box of pastries and asking about borrowing something for Rasha to sleep in. Sure, he could always sleep in his clothes, but why do that when he could be comfortable?
Rina was on the stairs when I started to head down them.
“Oh, hi Spikora,” she greeted. “Just finished shutting down the kitchen. Koreo and Sarien will be out in the bar for a while. You know how it is.”
“Yeah,” I said. I retreated back up the stairs and waited for her to join me in the common area.
“So, what’s going on? Why were you heading downstairs?” she asked.
“Rasha’s in the bath, and he doesn’t have any sleeping clothes. I was gonna see about borrowing some from Sarien,” I explained. Rina laughed.
“Sarien’s clothes will fit him like a tent,” she said. “Souta and Maki are overnight guests often enough here that they have some spare clothes. Some of Souta’s should fit him well enough, and I don’t think he’ll mind doing a favor for you,” she said. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “Though I’ve gotta say I’m surprised, you buy clothes like Sarien buys books.”
“Oh, I’ve already bought him three separate outfits,” I said. “I just literally kept forgetting to get him sleeping clothes. We can do that tomorrow when the shops open.” Rina laughed. She went into the guest room and I followed her, watching as she pulled open a drawer and took a plain looking black shirt and black pants out of the drawer. I took them from her with a nod and walked them over to the closed door of the bathing room. I knocked.
“Hey, Rasha, I’m leaving some sleeping clothes here outside the door for you,” I announced. I heard a muffled “thanks!” from inside the room and did just what I said, putting the clothes down in a neat pile. Rina was sitting in one of the large, plush reading chairs scattered throughout the common area.
“So how is it downstairs?” I asked, sitting on one of the nearby couches.
“Business as usual now. The people looking for you probably got a room at the inn down the street,” she said. “I’m sure they’ll be back to ask more questions tomorrow.”
“I’m not sure they actually expect us to be here,” I said. “And that goes double for the Astorian.”
“I know I asked this earlier, but Spikora, are you in trouble?” Rina asked.
“Not at the moment, no, but in general, well…” I trailed off. I wasn’t nearly caffeinated enough to explain things, so I stood and made my way over to the guest room, telling her I’d be right back. I came back with the Flavorful Jar and five cups.
“I’m going to have some coffee, are you thirsty?” I asked. Rina raised an eyebrow.
“You know I can go downstairs and make something for myself?” she pointed out. I grinned.
“You could, or you could let me show you this cool enchanted knickknack I got from Gilliam yesterday,” I said.
Explaining and demonstrating the jar took long enough that Rasha eventually emerged from the bathing room. He looked understandably more relaxed than I’d ever seen him in the day or so that I’d known him. I gestured to the seat he’d previously been occupying and the book he’d been reading. He looked a little apprehensive about it but went back to the chair and picked up the book. I made him a cup of tea, which he took gratefully.
While we waited for the bar to close, Rina and I spent a while catching up with each-other. She told me about all of the things that had happened here in Milin since the last time I visited. I told her about how things had been going in Kiiren. Life really hadn’t been at all chaotic for me before the auction, I’d just been busy with research and small jobs and odds and ends.
Meanwhile, things had been a little crazy in Milin, apparently. The people mining the Agar crystal below the city had found a deposit of denser, more potent Agar a couple of years ago. That had caused a glut of new people to move to the town, all looking to capitalize off of the more potent Agar. New houses were still being built even now. Naturally, the influx of new people had caused a few other bars to pop up in town. Only one or two had stuck around, and Healing Spirits had outlasted all of them. It had been around that time, when the bars were popping up left and right, that Koreo, Sarien and Rina had all agreed it was time to change things up. Rina had experimented with new flavors and cooking techniques, improving old dishes and serving up new ones. Koreo and Sarien had started experimenting too, using new and unique ingredients and flavors in their brewing. It had been an astonishing success, bringing in established Milinians and tourists alike. The bar was now a legendary fixture in the town.
I was so proud.
“Man, and all I’ve done in the past few years is spend a lot of money, solve some minor issues, and acquire some houseplants,” I said. “And you guys are out here inventing new food and drinks and crushing your opposition.”
“You should move out here, Spikora,” Rina said. “New houses are going up all the time, so you’d probably be able to find a place easily. Leave Kiiren behind and come live with us!”
“I can’t,” I said, with a sigh. “If I want to get my magic back, staying in Kiiren is the best chance I have.”
“So you still haven’t made any progress on that?” Rina asked. I shook my head.
“I know a heck of a lot about magical pacts and curses now,” I replied. “In any case, I’m not giving up on it. This is just a minor setback. And I’ve got some leads, anyway.”
“Oh, so is that why you bought Mr. Handsome over there?” Rina asked, leaning in conspiratorially and whispering. I rolled my eyes.
“Yes, as a matter of fact it is. I don’t make a habit of buying people, you know,” I said. She giggled.
“Could’ve fooled me,” she said.
“Yes, I know it’s weird that it’s happened twice now,” I complained. “Believe me, I’m just as dumbfounded as you are.”