Hello, Everyone!
Last time, we had a special Interlude with a mysterious hunter who seemed to have something to do with Maheshvara's bells.
Meanwhile, our heroes are still in the ruins of the Dragon prison after Tesaya and Trax’rion flew off to bring ruin to Myth Adofhaer. Aurum used the Dyrum bell and spoke to Balaine Endoras’ disembodied head, and then suggested that the group teleported to Zerakas tol (‘Somewhere closer to the heart’, he said. Wonder what that means…)
Aurum took out a tiny box of white paste and drew a circle on the wall. He looked up, as if trying to recall something, and started filling it with line after line, forming the intricate weave of the teleportation spell. He finished with a set of coordinates Mary hadn’t seen before, and when he was done, he stood up and grinned at his work. The circle began glowing, and a moment later, a door of shimmering light opened in the middle.
“Go on,” the bard said. “It’s going to close soon.”
The rest of the group crossed through. With one last look towards the Unravelling, Mary also stepped over the doorway. There was a pull somewhere around her bellybutton. She closed her eyes and opened them only after her feet found a stable purchase on the other side. Her boots sank into thick red carpet. Around her, late daylight shone through many stained-glass windows and coloured the room like it was in a fairytale.
They were in a… library?
Curious--as always!--about the books, Mary scanned the ceiling-high shelves of dark mahogany, but then shook her head and lowered her eyes. They weren’t here for fun. In front of the shelves, a desk stood, and on it were scattered a pile of what she recognized as spell components.
(She tried identifying them at a single glance, and thought about all the things she could do with such a collection. Then, again, she reminded herself, this wasn’t something she had time--or the right--to check out.)
There was a piano across the room, and a four-poster bed covered with fine white canopy. A girl lay there, and the moment she saw her, Mary realized where they had travelled to.
Reina’s bedroom.
Of course. Where else would Aurum have seen a teleportation circle long enough--or as many times--to remember the coordinates by heart?
“Honey-boo!” the bard sang out.
The girl on the bed popped her head up from the diary she was scribbling in, and her face lit up. She was pretty, Mary thought, and suddenly felt her heart tighten. She knew Reina was going to be good-looking, but this was… something else.
The girl jumped and flounced towards Aurum. She had only an airy nightgown on, and through it, the silhouette of her figure left little to the imagination. She was taller and curvier than Mary, and her hair was long and shining, like a waterfall of molten gold.
“You came back to me!” Reina screamed in delight, whirling herself in Aurum’s arms.
She started kissing him feverishly, as if he was spring-water and she was dying of thirst. Above his head, her eyes made a quick sizing up of the others, but that didn’t stop her show of affection.
When her lips finally broke off from the bard’s, Reina prissily looked at her apparel.
“Oh! Excuse me!” she giggled. “Let me get into something more decent.”
She ran to a side door and opened it, revealing a wardrobe the size of a whole room. She sank into it and came back a few moments later, tightening the silk waistband of a dressing gown.
“I read the book! All of it!” she said, gesturing to ‘Mary Windfiddle’s Grand Adventure’ on the desk. It was half-covered with papers, so that only Aurum’s face would be visible.
“Oh, well, it’s not really an accurate representation,” the bard started, just as Mary opened her mouth to say something along the same lines.
“I know, I know!” Reina said. “She’s made it up so that she’d be the hero.”
Mary felt a sudden wave of bile, almost too strong for her to hold in. How dare that woman talk like that about her writing?! As if she’d wanted it published that way! Mary took a breath and felt the poison wanting to come out as words.
“I see that you’ve kept to your studies,” Aurum said before she could let it out. He was pointing at the table and the bookshelf.
“Oh, yes!” Reina gleamed. “I’ll show you some… veeery interesting things!” She made an expression so suggestive that Mary felt uncomfortable even being in the same room.
“Ewww!” Agatha yowled.
“Yes,” Aurum said, as if he’d just realized there were other people there, too. “We’ve come with a very bad news. Erathos is in danger.”
Reina shrugged. “Pappa would say that’s actually a good news,” she said.
“Well, we…” the bard started but got interrupted by the strumming of a chord coming from the open window.
“Oh, Reeeeinaaaa!” a melodic voice called out from there. “Come on, honey, let me entertain ya!”
Reina rolled her eyes. The voice continued.
“I’ve been enaaamoured ever since I’ve seen ya… Reeein-ya! For my own, I’d like to claaaim ya!”
“Who’s that?” Aurum said.
“It’s no one,” Reina said. “His name is Kendrick. He’s been doing that for a few days now. I tried to call the guards on him but he’s got some papers from the Crizean College that permit him to do serenades as part of his bardic studies. It’s so annoying!”
“Do you want me to get rid of him?” Aurum said.
“Yes, please!”
Aurum murmured something under his breath and made a circular motion in front of his face. His form morphed into that of Reina herself.
“Oh, Reeeina! I’d like to be able to obtaaain ya!” the voice of the other man was just singing. It stopped when Aurum appeared at the window. “Oh! Reina! Hello, my dove!”
“Hello, sweetheart!” Aurum said in Reina’s voice. “What would you say if we met after one hour and rented a gryphon for a special aerial rendezvous for two?”
“Oh! That’s sounds amazing!” the voice said. “Meet you at our fountain?”
“Yes! Of course! Goodbye now, my love! I’ll see you soon!”
The bard followed the other man’s recede and turned to Reina.
“Our fountain?”
“Ughh!” She rolled her eyes again. “We met there once! I mean, he met me there, and now he’s dubbed it ‘our place’. It’s so annoying!”
She bit her lower lip and approached Aurum, swaying her hips a bit too exaggeratedly.
“But this spell of yours, it looks really neat,” she purred. “How long does it last?”
“Eww!” This time it was Agatha and Mary in unison. “A Blue Dragon!” Mary added, reminding Aurum why they were there.
“Yes!” the bard said. “Mary is right! We need to meet with Edmund and Francesca, if she’s back.”
Reina’s face fell. The girl looked at the gathered group and her eyes darted to the door.
“I… see,” she said. “I’ll check with pappa what we can do about that.”
She went out of the room and came back a few minutes later with the news that Edmund was probably available for a meeting but she wasn’t sure about Francesca.
“I can take you there!” she said.
“Yeah, sure,” Aurum said. “Say, Reina, are any of my old clothes still at your place? I feel like we need to change.”
“Of course they are!” Reina exclaimed. “Come! Come!”
She grabbed his arm and dragged him in the closet room. Mary, Agatha and Bruno waited for a long time--much longer than someone would need to change their clothes--for them to come out.
When they finally did, Aurum was shining in a white-and-gold suit with fine embroidery on the hems, and Reina was in a stunning backless dress matching his apparel. She was wearing high-hееls and was even taller than she’d been before. She danced her way to Mary and gestured to the pearl necklace around her neck.
“Look! Isn’t it beautiful? Aurum gave it to me as a present!”
Mary, feeling very confused, gave the most artificial smile she was capable of and murmured some kind of a compliment. Why would that sparkling woman tell her this?
“Well,” Aurum said, clapping his hands, ”let’s have the others change as well, and get going.”
“Do they have to come?” Reina complained out of the corner of her mouth.
“Well, see, we all have some business with Edmund and Francesca,” Aurum said, making Reina give a long exasperated sigh.
Mary decided to swallow her pride in the name of being polite. She took a breath, put another false smile on, and addressed their hostess.
“We’d love it if you’d let us use your closet room to change. We won’t take too much time, we promise, and we have our own clothes so you wouldn’t have to worry about us borrowing anything.”
"They wouldn't fit you anyway," Reina said, looking her up and down.
“Woah, that bitch is something!” Agatha said when the three of them were alone among Reina’s rows and rows of clothes.
“Yes, it’s very funny,” Bruno said. “The way she and Mary are bickering.”
“Nobody is bickering,” Mary said. “At least not me.”
Agatha and Bruno snorted a laugh but Mary pretended she didn’t hear them. She was used to girls bullying her but this one didn’t have any reason to do so. Unless she thought that Mary might be a threat to her in some way, which was riddiculous.
She took out her clothes from the Bag of Holding and tossed Bruno his. Agatha went on to rummage in her own bags for more presentable apparel, and took out some red baggy pants and a white vest.
When they were ready, a few minutes later, Mary scowled at her reflection in one of the many mirrors. Her dress looked like peasant’s wear compared to Reina’s. She tightened the scarf around her neck and went out.
So, how do you like Reina? A delightfull young lady, no? Now, you must tell me in the comments – who is better for Aurum – her or Mary? :) I know it’s shallow but I need to know! XD
See you next time!
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide, the Glossaries (Part 1 and Part 2)
and the Map for the series. You're welcome!)
An important disclaimer: Mary Windfiddle's story is my notes from a D&D game turned into a narrative. All the worldbuilding and NPC encounters belong to our DM, and all the actions of the other main characters (Aurum, Bruno and Agatha) belong to my co-players. My contribution to the story is only everything Mary-related (actions, reactions, inner thoughts), as well as the writing itself.
Of course, it is Mary who would be more suitable for Aurum! Reina sounds like a character who would play a victim over a broken nail xD It would be a true tragedy!
Yes! Thank you!
Well, there might be something more than meets the eye with this woman... but naaah, why would there be?