Cultural Exchange Ch. 03

I was reading the records of a war between Elves and native Humans (I make this distinction to point out that they were humans from this world) sixty years ago when Ralya came down the stairs. We dined and chatted in harmony, having an enjoyable time punctuated by Merita's fun and long intermissions. In contrast with the night before, we vowed to talk about happy or funny memories from our pasts. Time flew by until we finally had to go back to our rooms to spend the night.

The next morning started more or less like the one before, but with a slightly different breakfast. The difference was that today, Ralya and I went to the training grounds arm in arm, her ears a bit lowered and a slight blush on her cheeks.

Today, they sent me a special teacher. Yalgir was teaching me the uses of the curved sword and the Offensive Stance, while Oner was helping me to practice combat. During the evenings it was Zirilla who taught me Magic, but up to now, I had nobody to teach me the use of the armguard. That was solved when Oner asked somebody else to come and help me. He took Yalgir aside to fight his impatience in a pretty literal way and I was left alone with Silna. It felt awkward having to be so close to her knowing she had volunteered to marry me and she had been dumped. It also made me feel guilty as if I had betrayed her, all of the previous mixed with some kind of longing towards her I couldn't resolve. What was happening with my feelings? At this rate I'd end up needing professional help.

Back to the sweet Sil, I noticed that she didn't look as bright and cheerful as the first time I saw her. In fact, her eyes looked red and swollen, like a mix of crying a lot and not getting enough rest. In a monotone way, she explained me the two basic skills of the armguard: the Guard Punch, an attack to stagger the opponent with a chance of stunning him and the Guard Haste, a skill to increase temporarily the speed of my left arm to have more chances of blocking with my armguard.

The awkwardness of the situation seemed to be escalating, so I tried to talk with her. "I didn't know you had mastered the armguard. If memory serves me right, you were fighting with just your spear against the Orcs the other day."

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "It was Honor Guard Duty. In those missions we have to wear a specific set of equipment, even if it goes out of our range of expertise. I had to leave my armguard, Bruen usually fights with pole weapons and my brother preferred rapier and throwing dagger instead of straight sword and shield. I still think it is idiocy to prioritize looks over battle power, but that's how old rules work."

I totally agreed to that, but I didn't dare to say anything for fear of offending their customs. A person can criticize his own country but will defend it when a stranger does the same, I have experienced it. After one more hour, we took a rest by the farthest fountain of the field. It was starting to pain me to see her in that unhappy condition, so I took her hand and told her, "I don't like to see you like this, so if there is anything I can do to help you, then tell me. I know it must have been hard to lose your brother, but no matter the kind of relationship you had with him, I don't think he would like to see you in this state."

She left out a broken laugh and looked at me with a crooked smile. "My brother is part of the problem, but most of it comes from you. I suppose nobody has taught you about the 'Impetus'. Am I right?"

Against my silence, Silna kept speaking. "That is what we call an ancient natural mechanism we had for natural selection during the first centuries of our race. It helped the first Elves to recognize the best possible mates, but it faded with time, although even nowadays it happens from time to time. You could say that it is something similar to love at first sight, but refined and powered by Magic. When the Impetus strikes you, it's like a giant hand enters your chest and pulls your soul towards the person you're looking at. There are documented cases of people who lost the capability to Bind to anyone but their desired mate."

Her voice had started to tremble and tears flowed down her cheeks while explaining this. "I offered myself to be your First Wife because that's what I felt as soon as I saw your picture. When we met, I tried my best for you to like me. But in the end, you are betrothed to Van'Ralya. I can understand that she approved you and her father made use of his authority to set everything for his benefit, but it pains me to imagine you both... together." The gestures she made with her hands left no doubt of what kind of "together" she was thinking about.

She took me completely by surprise. She was like that for me? I admit that at some point during our training that idea crossed my mind, but I had not dared hope it would come true. I tried to not be so conceited as to let it go to my head.

She covered her hands to not let me see her crying face with her ears completely lowered back, but even with that her tears fell from between her fingers and her shoulders convulsed with her sobbing. Examining my feelings, I made a decision that most likely would bring me nothing but trouble. I held Silna against my chest and started to stroke her back to calm her down. She tried to rebel at first, but in the end she left herself go. When she calmed down enough, I told her, "I don't mean to sound arrogant, but would you settle with being my Second? My wedding with Ralya is already arranged, but I want you to know that I felt drawn to you from the first time I saw you, greeting me with that broad, bright and sweet smile of yours."

That made her cry again, and I had to wait for her to settle down again before I could finish taking out what I had inside. "Ralya and I have made a pledge to not speak about Seconds at least until the day after our wedding, but if you agree with this I'll do what I can to convince her. But this is making me crazy. The feelings I had for Ralya are unchanged, but the more I look into my heart, the more I notice my feelings for you are similar." I rubbed my temples to ease the headache I was starting to feel.

Silna rubbed her nose against my cheek and said, "Maybe it is confusing for you because you come from another world, but here it is normal. We have a saying: 'The Heart of a House is a labyrinth with many exits'. It means that the Head of a Household can direct the same feelings to all of his partners, that's why multiple marriages work so well. There is no jealousy or betrayal because everyone's feelings are balanced. The only drawback is that I'm going to have to wait a full month to be yours. Marriage between species needs a different kind of magic and so, it can only be performed when the two moons join. Also, I don't think Van'Ralya will give you problems. You are the Head of your House, so in the end, she'll have to bow to your rule. I just hope it doesn't create a bad start for us. As for me, I don't mind being Second to Van'Ralya as long as I get my part of you." She pecked a kiss on my lips and stood up giggling to wash her face before everyone could notice our situation.

Just before going back to training, I whispered to her, "You have to keep this talk a secret between us, you can't even tell your family. I want to go and make a proper visit to your House to make the Proposal." By the way she had cheered up, I took notice that asking her to keep it a secret might be almost useless: this girl could be so transparent sometimes.

After the armguard training finished, it came the time to spar again with Oner. This time, I could defend myself slightly better thanks to the lessons I had received from Sil. It was during this fake battle that, when our swords were locked together Oner whispered, "Well, everything settled with the girl?"

That surprised me and I almost lost the focus, but I found the will to look at him in the eye and say with a grin, "You prepared this from the beginning. Right, big brother?"

Oner just grinned back and answered, "Prove it."

Given that I was still suffering from the bruises I had received during Yalgir's beating the day before, my performance was nothing out of the ordinary, but I think I did well enough until it was time to go back home. When Ralya and I arrived we took turns to go have a bath in the backyard, with Merita standing guard at the door with her training sword in her hand. We had lunch calmly and we went to the reception hall to sit at the tea table to resume my lessons. Today it was a lesson in local politics, where Ralya taught me about the main Households with power in the city. I had a very awkward moment during this session, because she took longer to describe Silna's Household to me. Their assets, their allies, their enemies... Silna's family was one of the three best positioned in terms of economy, politics and military force, including Errom's House. But the way she was describing everything so in-depth made me think of two possible choices: either she knew what had happened between Sil and I that morning and she was hinting she approved of my choice, or she didn't know but likewise she was hinting me that Silna was a good choice as a Second. Yes, I said that meaning that I could have more than one Second wife.

When I asked Ralya about the maximum number, she just answered, "If you had been born a Noble Mountain Elf, having four or more Seconds would be seen as an attempt to overcome my father."

Maybe she noticed my curiosity, because she answered on her own my unspoken question about the number of wives, "His First, who is Oner's mother, is obviously a Mountain Elf. She is one of the eleven High Masters in the Elven University of Magic. I don't know if she will come to our wedding because she is very focused on her investigations. It can be that she hasn't come because she hasn't noticed the date, or because we don't get along.

His first Second is Zirilla's mother, a Cave Elf that is actually living underground with her people. Next is Maiella, a Rabbit A'Jin. She was the link with the A'Jin Race that gave my sister Zirilla the chance to marry Yalgir, but she doesn't get out much because she has delicate health.

Next is... was my mother. You know what happened with her." She stopped there for a moment, but I remained silent because I wasn't sure if I could help her. I too had my own load of family matters that I didn't know how to resolve.

"The last one is Zazra, a So'Oren who forced my father into marriage because he saw her without her mask. It was that, or trying to kill each other. Casually, right now she doesn't leave her room because somebody broke her mask while she was having a bath. She got so furious that she was about to kill the terrified girl. My father settled things and the servant has been assigned to a guest house and the mask is under repairs, but she might be out before our wedding."

To my surprise, I found myself thinking that it must be hurtful to have your loved wives spread around the country. Even if he had two of them here, one of them was sickly in bed, and the other wasn't... available to make him company in official events. Only two of five close to him, one of them dead, and the other two away on their business. Maybe this world was starting to affect me in ways I couldn't notice because my father in law's situation made me sad. We focused on the lesson to keep bad thoughts away.

Zirilla came at the same time as the first day, and she came making two announcements. First, we wouldn't be doing training or theoretical lessons the next few days because of preparations: we had to prepare for the dinner with formal exchange of wedding gifts between Ralya and me, and we had to start preparing the wedding too. Her second announcement was that the Magic lesson today would take place in a specialized area of the training grounds. Like the day before, Ralya excused herself and went to her bedroom to work on her mysterious project, and Zirilla and I went to keep on my lessons.

We arrived at a place called the Greenhouse, because it was made of some kind of crystal with the quality to disperse Magic energy. Zirilla explained me that it was impossible for this material to block advanced magic, but it was a good choice in order to keep apprentices from wreaking havoc if they messed up. When we entered, my first task was to call Turak with my mind to have a look over the lessons of the first day. Taking over Turak's senses was still difficult for me, so we kept practicing that until Zirilla came up with the clue an hour after we started. I was trying too hard, the trick was to think about Turak's body as my own. Working from that advice, it took me no time to use my Familiar's five senses. I could even try to make him talk like I did at Ralya's window when I was half asleep the night before. Now that I controlled the basics, I was able to order Turak to use his electrical powers when I needed, but Zirilla wanted to level up and taught me the most important of the basic spells of the Summoning Magic: Heal Servant.

After several tries, while the golden glow of my sword faded, Zirilla told me, "It seems that you have the basics right, but it's not like we're going to start wounding your familiar to try out how well your spell works, and we don't have time today to show you a basic Calling Spell. So, instead of that, I'm going to teach you an offensive ability called Transfer. With it you can transfer one of your Familiar's main powers to your sword and feed it with your spirit to fortify it during one use."

The next two hours, Turak and I practiced the way he had to perch on my right shoulder and then, using the Silent Link, have him send his electrical powers through my arm to the sword. The next step was to feed that power my Spirit and then throw it to my target. The first tries were slow and my attacks always missed, but with practice I was able to perform all of the steps faster and get a better accuracy. Things went well and I was even starting to have fun throwing lightnings with my sword when I had to stop because I was getting dizzy.

My teacher came to have a look at me and then scolded me, "You are using too much Spirit too fast. Take care of yourself better, understood? You must learn to feel your Spirit reserves to manage them correctly. Training is over for today. As I said, the coming days all of us will be busy with the wedding arrangements, so you won't have time for lessons. These first three days have been just to let you get a first approach to our lifestyle. Tomorrow morning you will receive your rings and a tailor will come to get your measures for your wedding suit. My father has said that you must start wearing your Household ring the moment you receive it."

"Good, I'll do it. By the way, do you know if that thing of the measurement will take long? I have an appointment at the Western gate two hours before lunchtime."

Zirilla frowned and said, "An appointment? With who? And how did you get to do such a thing?"

I got surprised at her tone, so maybe I got a little defensive. "The other day at the party, one of the nobles told me he'd arrange a meeting with the leader of a group of Dwarven merchants so they could get my measures in case I wanted to ask for Dwarven armor as my Wedding Wish. By the way, I'll need a guide and maybe a carriage."

Zirilla thought about this for a moment and then answered, "I'll ask for the preparations to be done, but you will take Turak with you and the carriage will have an additional guard to escort you. This is not negotiable."

I felt suspicious; her attitude was far beyond from simple worry. She was acting paranoid, or she knew something she wasn't telling me. "Are you hiding something from me?" I asked directly.

She answered with a very good Poker Face, "Let's just say that not everyone who smiles at you wants to be your friend. Don't be naive, Brandon. There are many people who don't want you here, and others who want you dead in order to prevent you from getting in their way. In any case, you will be well guarded and in a public place tomorrow, so there's no reason to not enjoy your first visit to the Commercial District. My father asked me to give you this, but don't spend it in one go or let vendors swindle you."

Saying this, she gave me what seemed to be the archetypal bag of coins. I opened it to take a look at the content when she told me, "Notice that there are two kinds of coins. The reddish ones are Elven Crowns, internal money from this country. The golden ones are Sevenths, the unitary coin of this world. We have provided you with both currencies because non-Elven merchants don't accept local coin. Well, that's all for today. We'll resume your classes after the wedding."

We went to the carriage that took us from the Greenhouse of the training grounds to the door of my house and then parted again to take Zirilla back to her father's house. It wasn't until I entered my house that I noticed the time I had spent training. My dinner was cold and Ralya had already had hers and now she was at her room finishing her mysterious task.

Turak might have noticed something because he said, "Don't worry about her boss, if you two are about to mate, it's normal that she's spending her time preparing the nest. On the other side, I've worked my tail off today, so I expect a good reward. Copper Fruit, if possible."

When I was having my dinner, I asked Merita and it seems she had foreseen this possibility, because she had already gotten her hands on some healthy pieces of fruit. It had been no easy task, because it seems it had too strong a metallic taste for most people. The good part was that the wood of the Copper Fruit tree was used in making bows and also could be processed into some kind of resistant fabric used in Magic robes and light armors. Maybe it would not be a bad idea to have my own plantation of this material; it would be commercially profitable and it also assured that Turak would be well supplied of his favorite food.

Not having much else to do after dinner, I went to sleep directly. Not to mention that I was exhausted from the activity of a day longer than any I had ever lived in my world. Even with that, it took me some time to fall asleep. I had that unnerving sensation of having a presence by your side that vanishes when you look in its direction.

*******

In the darkest corner of the room, Sha'Zella stared at the Human laying on his bed, dressed in just his underwear and covering himself with the sheets from the abdomen to the knees. She had been following him for three days straight and she had seen him growing fast as a warrior. The first day he didn't even know what class of fighter he would be, and now he was a novice Beast Tamer, an Offensive warrior that used medium armor and curved sword. If the undercover mission the next day failed, she would have to confront him directly according to the orders of her second contractor. The Stormcrow was an important factor in the equation, as it was basically the only thing he could use to overcome her.

Taking a good look at him, Sha'Zella decided it was a shame she had to kill him. He was more or less as tall as her, but he had wide shoulders and a well built constitution. He wasn't bulky, rather he was a little thin, but it was a slimness with the well-defined muscles of a swift predator. As for his face... he didn't stand out, for better or for worse.

But she was intrigued by his scars. One on his forehead, cutting the line of his hair. What kind of fight did he have to get such an injury? The inner side of his left wrist was marked with a big and crossed scar. What kind of weapon could leave such a mark in the body?

The Deyima assassin used her stealthy step to approach the sleeping man and kneel by his bed to observe him closely. Be it by chance or in purpose, he had the habit of sleeping on his side, which meant that when lying on his left side he could reach his sword with the right hand, and if he was lying on his right side, he only needed to half turn to fall from bed away from her attacks. Not like any of those moves would serve him in front of her.