EG Book 7 Chapter 9

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Sorry about that! My page didn't refresh itself, so I accidentally posted chapter 8 twice. Here's chapter 9! 

Happy Friday!

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Almost everyone bowed out of furniture shopping, leaving me with only Vaya and Jamila. Lindsay pointed us to a few different places, though we’d need to walk pretty quickly to reach them. Just as we were leaving, Aleks arrived in the carriage. “Hi, Aiden, Vaya, Jamila,” she said, sounding tired.

“Are you okay?” I asked, stepping forward to help her down from the carriage.

She grinned at me. “Yes, just a long day,” she said. “What are you up to?”

“Furniture shopping,” I said.

“We have a six meter by six meter room to furnish before we leave,” Vaya added.

“Ooh, can I come?” Aleks asked.

“Of course, Aleksandra,” Jamila said quietly. “Can we use the carriage?”

“Herd on in,” Aleks said, taking Jamila’s arm.

The entire experience was strangely intimate. I could tell Aleks was confused about why we were furnishing a room, but she didn’t ask the burning question. The girls went all out in coordinating the decorations, and purchased a few paintings and tapestries to put on the walls. Vaya subtly got Aleks to buy a decoration for her room as well, though only one painting of the lighthouse overlooking the city.

After a bit of discussion, I decided to get one big u-shaped table for us to eat at, and then a bunch of lounge pillows for the other half of the main room. It took some finagaling, and a very expensive Core-level carpenter, but he was able to make the table come apart and pack flat, so that if we really wanted we could clear that space.

Vaya arranged the delivery, and we followed the wagon back to the inn. “Where do you want us to unload?” The head Ashkhas porter asked.

“Right here is fine,” I told him. “We’ll haul it into the right spot ourselves.”

“Sure thing,” he said, then the other four carefully handed us the pieces of the table.

Jamila had run into the inn when we first arrived, and came back with Jon, Ming, and Lea. “The others are coming once they put down what they were carrying,” she said.

“Thanks Jamila,” I said, hefting the three meter long center piece over my head. I carefully walked to the rear entrance to the courtyard, where a servant was holding the door open. I didn’t recognize the young man, but he gave me a big grin then bowed. I could see a couple of servants working on something in the rear of the courtyard occasionally glancing at the dome-shaped privacy field. Since I couldn’t see through it either, I held the board as high as I could.

This was a good thing, because Knight Kaminski was standing only a meter in front of where I entered with a face like a thundercloud, and I would have clocked her in the side of the head if I wasn’t careful. “Oh, sorry, Knight Kaminski,” I said hurriedly, stepping to the left to avoid running into her.

“Good, you are here,” she said. “Master Narwan said that you had changed our plans, but did not specify how, and only told me to bring Miss Samantha here and wait for you.”

“Sorry, ma’am,” I said. “Uh, the metal platform on the ground is a flying device that can hold all of us up and utilize everyone’s Aether to keep us moving. Librarian Narwan said his is faster but won’t hold enough people, but it will be much faster than taking a ship.”

“That is correct,” Knight Kaminski nodded, “though before we leave I will have to tell you the rules of flying over the ocean. What is that shack, and why can I not sense inside it at all?”

“Let me show you,” I said. I walked up and found Sam leaning against the side of the Portable Home. “Hey Sam, come on.”

“Is this yours?” She asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“This is by far the most intricate Inscriptions I’ve ever seen,” she said, pointing at wall. “I can’t even see the detail in parts of it.”

“You can see the Inscriptions?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah, uh,” she said, blushing and suddenly shy. “My, uh, Darkness gift is the ability to focus on an object and see it’s Inscriptions.”

“Neat, mine was language translation and the ability to see Aether,” I said. I held the table up with one hand, and opened the door with another. No one was exiting, so I moved in and set the piece down.

Knight Kaminski audibly gasped when she entered behind me. “What is this?” She asked, awe and a little fear in her voice.

“The Portable Home, one of my prizes from the Tower of Trials,” I said, “and the pinnacle achievement of a peak Soul Strengthening crafter. Through those doors,” I pointed to the front and right walls, “are bedrooms. Most have been selected already, but there are enough for everyone to have a separate room. Knight Kaminski, the wood door there is yours.”

She went over to the door, but couldn’t open it. She stepped aside so I could open the door, and when she saw inside asked, “Are the others of similar size?”

“No,” I shook my head, “All are much smaller.”

“You will take this room,” she said sternly. “It is yours, this building is yours, and you need to act like the noble you are.” I opened my mouth, but she held up her hand. “I know you want to be polite, but this is yours. You do not give up your own room, even if the king visits. Now, show me the other rooms.”

“Okay,” I told her, trying hard not to sound sullen.

“This is really nice,” Sam said, looking into the room, and dispelling my worsening mood.

“The other rooms are pretty nice too,” I said, “just a little smaller. The rooms still left are red two, light blue three, dark blue one and two, and purple one.”

“Purple,” Sam said, looking at the door, “it’s my favorite.”

I stepped over and opened the door, “Each of the other colors has a sitting room as well, gives you a bit more privacy if you just want to sit and read or something.” I opened room one’s door, “Each of the bedrooms are exactly the same, except the color of the bed spread.”

“I will take the light blue room then,” Knight Kaminski said.

“Then I’ll make it official,” I said, and went back into the master bedroom to give them both access to their rooms and everything else.

“Hey Aiden,” Vaya said, poking her head in. “Princess Aleksandra cannot get inside.”

“Light! I thought it’d let her in if I was inside,” I said, jumping to my feet and rushing out the door. “Sorry, Aleks.”

She was standing off to the side, holding a lounge pillow and looking perplexed, “What is this?” She asked.

“Come inside,” I said, and this time the doorway didn’t block her entrance.

“What, how!?” She exclaimed.

“Uh, Spirit made this just before they ascended,” I said. “You need to pick a room.”

“Is that room available?” She asked, pointing at the yellow door.

I laughed, “well, if you want to sleep in the kitchen.”

She smacked my arm lightly, then laughed. “Okay, fine, jerk,” she said, “which ones are the bedrooms?” I pointed at the other two walls. “Are any available? If there are only five.”

“Come on,” I said, taking her hand and pulling her to the dark blue door. I opened it and showed her the sitting room, then said, “One and two are open, as is room two in the red door.”

“So there are eighteen rooms? How big is this place?” She asked.

“Well, sixteen, the owner’s room is bigger,” I said sheepishly, “and then there is a kitchen, Alchemy room, Inscription room, and a Forge.” I opened door one and she followed me into the room.

“This is fine. Show me your room, please?” Aleks asked, leaning a bit into me.

“Of course,” I said, “I have to program the control core to let you in anyway.”

We exited the room and sitting area to find Jon, Ming, and Vaya setting up the table while Jamila and Lea were arranging the lounge pillows into three different circles. “Looks great, thank you,” I said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jon said, waving a leg of the table at me, “you schmooze while we work.”

I sent a tiny twister of Air Aether that jerked the table leg, bonking him on the head, then I had to duck under a small ball of Water Aether. Ducking was the wrong move, as it hit Aleks in the face and splashed down her pale yellow dress. “You,” she said, playfully and angry at the same time, then she sent a wave of Water and Ice Aether into me.

I didn’t try to break technique, but I did push against it so I didn’t fall down. The added Ice made me shiver, even though I barely felt any heat or cold from the weather anymore. She gave me a look, then broke out laughing. I shook my head, then carefully collected the water off me and her, then cooled it down even more before dropping it on Jon’s head.

He spluttered, and then Bridget walked in, frowned at me, and then made a snowball in her hand and threw it at me. Within seconds, all work was forgotten as a widespread water and snowball fight exploded among us. It lasted until Knight Kaminski came in with a frown on her face. Her power flared, snuffing all of our Aether out, and then we were all drenched in her summoned Ice and Water. “I win,” she said simply, and everyone lost it laughing.

“Okay,” I gasped, then grabbed Aleks’s hand, “we still need to get you registered.”

She followed me to the master bedroom. When she saw inside, she said, “Wow, that is a nice bed.” She let go of my hand and went to explore the room.

I sat down next to the control orb and accessed it, setting Aleks’s permissions to her room and the other spaces, then I heard her whisper, “Definitely want to use that tub.”

“Anytime you want to,” I said, then gave her, Vaya, and Jamila access to my room. “You can get in here without me opening the door.”

“Oh really?” She asked, then gave me a sultry look, “Aiden, we are not yet betrothed.”

I blushed, then shook my head and laughed. “Yet,” I said, a big grin on my face, “My life here seems much like a dream sometimes.”

She sashayed towards me, flaunting her figure for a second and drawing my eyes. When she reached me, she leaned down and gave me a soft kiss, then whispered, “Right reaction.”

Someone knocked on the door, and we both froze. Aleks looked at the door grumpily. After sighing, I reached out and opened it, grumbling under my breath. “Time for the lecture on flying,” Knight Kaminski said.

“Thank you, Knight Kaminski,” I said, standing from the chair. Aleks took my hand, and we walked into the main room. The lounge pillows had been rearranged into two half-circles, with two open in the center front. We walked over and sat, with Jamila next to me and Vaya next to Aleks. I reached over and grabbed Jamila’s hand, and she gave me a big smile, before Knight Kaminski cleared her throat.

“In general, flying devices do not have the Inscriptions needed to divert the attention of the Primordials of the deep,” Knight Kaminski started. “This puts a limit to how low you can fly over the ocean with minimal risk. Eighty meters in altitude is considered the start of the safe zone, and it is recommended that you maintain an altitude of ninety meters at all times. This is not zero risk, though, as Kraken and Tizheruk can both reach that high, and Leviathan’s storm is always above them. We will fly around every storm we see, or we will not make it to Craesti.”

“Ma’am,” Jon asked, “can we just fly higher? If ninety meters is not compeletly safe, then why not two hundred?”

“That is our other limitation, we cannot fly over one hundred meters in altitude. Somewhere above two hundred meters, the world distorts, and the Primordials of the sky rule.  The Beasts of the sky generally will not attack if we stay below one hundred, though that is not a guarantee. Nothing in life is safe, and the ocean is beyond our control.”

“Um, how will we maintain our altitude correctly?” I asked.

“Master Narwan has gone to procure …” Knight Kaminski said before suddenly her hands extended in front of her and two shining silver objects appeared in them. “Casmir,” she grumbled under her breath, and I vaguely heard laughter from outside. I wisely kept my face completely neutral, and the snort of laughter from Jon got a quick glare that promised retribution later.

She sighed, then held up her right hand, “This is an altimeter that measures the change in Aether densities from Water to Air, and is accurate within about five meters. The change isn’t always consistent, but it will attempt to adjust for slow changes. A quick change will scramble it, and I will reset the device once we are away from whatever is causing the issue. During those times, I will be assisting with maintaining our altitude, and everyone will be ready for defense. There are more Primordials and near-Primordials in the ocean than anywhere else, and we will need to convince them that we are not a worthwhile meal.”

“Does that work?” Milenna asked, horror in her voice.

“Usually,” Knight Kaminski answered. “The majority of level five and six fish are much easier to hunt than a flying device full of Condensation and Core gatherers. As long as we can weather the initial attack, they will generally leave us alone.”

“I cannot help but notice that you used a lot of qualifiers,” Aleks said.

“Flying over the ocean, any travel over the ocean, is never truly safe. Master Narwan and I believe you will be safer using the Skysurfer than taking a merchant ship, if for no other reason than that it will be a shorter trip. Make no mistake, though, I will require constant vigilance and we will do as much training as we can,” Knight Kaminski said. Immediately afterwards, she unleashed an attack ten times stronger than my best Pride of the Plasma Herald into the wall. She didn’t build up an area technique to do it, simply used her internal power. The spiraling putrid-green spear slammed into the wall, and then dissipated before it could touch anything else.

The wall was not scratched, but I could feel a pulse from the control core that it wanted more Aether. “We will do some sparring and training in here, as the walls and doors can handle anything you could possibly do.”

“Uh, we’ll have to recharge the Home’s Aether stores every time too,” I said. “I can kinda feel it.”

She frowned but nodded, “That will put a small limiter on our training. I do not want anyone going below half their total Aether capacity, just in case.”

“Knight Kaminski, what is the other item?” Jamila asked before she could dismiss us.

“This is a compass that will point unerringly towards Craesti City, where the Navigators Guild has a large Formation. Every ship that travels the ocean from Craesti has one, and often multiples from every nation they trade with. I will procure an additional one from every nation before we leave if I can, but this one is the most important. Now, finish getting ready to leave and make final purchases,” Knight Kaminski said. “I want us to depart either tomorrow or the next day’s morning.”

We all stood and bowed, before heading back out of the Portable Home.