Chapter 22: Into the city

And they headed off together out of the palace and down some elegantly twisting paths, through the garden leading towards the main entrance to the compound. Along the way, Aura produced a small bag, tied shut, which clinked as it moved and she pocketed it as they grew closer to the exit. "Lady Meera gave me some money to spend," she explained as they stopped in a small queue of people waiting by the gate. When it was their turn to exit a guard, wearing the same falcon insignia as everyone associated with the palace did, came over to check that their slave's mark was in place and told them that the day's password, to re-enter the compound, was mountain brook.

Noting that Aura didn't seem particularly eager to be leaving the compound with him as she was in no rush to get past the guards, Kira wondered if she had been forced into taking him around Ostermark as a sort of formality. Talking loudly to make himself heard above the crowds that filled the road and walking quickly to stay beside her, he shouted, "So, did Lady Meera make you come out here with me?"

"Do I really look that disappointed to be around you?" she returned, "Actually, don't answer that, I was asked to show you around Ostermark, but I don't hate you." Kira didn't know how to respond and he didn't think that, if he had responded, he would have been heard above the crowd anyway so he kept quiet. Seeing this, Aura continued, "Don't worry about the crowds and the noise. We'll head off the main street soon, it's just the fastest way around."

Keeping his head down and following her as closely as he could, Kira felt overwhelmed by the crowd that seemed to be full of people who made no effort to stay out of his way and instead were entirely too willing to walk straight into him, knocking him about the place. He could have sworn that some of them did this on purpose, but this may have been a bit too undeserved of an attitude to take with the crowd because everyone else was getting pushed around too, as it really was that packed. Some young children had to ride upon their parents' shoulders to avoid being trampled underfoot, and Kira had to wonder if there really was anything for him to do in Ostermark, given that he had no money to his name and couldn't partake in the trading that the city was famous for.

But, it didn't take him long to leave the crowds behind, even if his fears about the city remained intact, as Aura sharply turned off the main road and down a winding side street. Along it, the crowds thinned out and he could feel a degree of relief at leaving the countless cries of the merchants behind. Walking along this particular street, Kira noticed as they passed a large building, set apart from the rest, which reminded him of the house he had been kept in before being sold.

However, on closer inspection, this building was completely different. It seemed to be the local law enforcement headquarters as it had several stern-looking men standing outside its entrance with swords hanging from belts at their sides. Not just this, but strung up and attached to a long wire arching over its entrance were lots of small, rotting things that looked like they could have been sausages. Unfortunately, what they really were was not as appetising as they were the strung up fingers of thieves left on public display to warn any other potential law-breakers to keep their hands firmly to themselves.

Krinestadt really liked its laws, thought Kira, wondering how much it must vex them that Ostermark had such a problem with drug abuse as, as they walked down various side-streets, they would pass the occasional person spasming in the gutter at the side of the road having the time of their life whilst munching on mushrooms collected from just outside of the city. The whole city stank of them, and the side streets were the worst of all places, with a constant musty layer of stench hanging over them. At times it could be so bad that Kira wondered how it was possible that he wasn't being affected either, or perhaps he was because he was coming to quite enjoy just marching through Ostermark and seeing how all of these different people lived as opposed to staying cooped up in the palace.

Coming to a crossroads, Aura stopped and turned to him, "There are several places we could go from here," she explained, "We could turn left to go to the colosseum, it's a pretty small one, or to the right, there're some shops and other stuff, I think that there's also a small circus thingy for wild animals."

From how she had phrased this, it struck Kira as though she was actually asking if he would be ok with the potential bloodshed at the colosseum and that that was where she wanted to go. Given that going to watch occasional fights at the arenas in Illyria had been one of his favourite pastimes growing up, he asked, "Left?" and she nodded, so they turned left to continue down towards the arena.

They came up to the colosseum quite quickly, and Kira saw that, despite its grander name, the structure itself was nothing compared to what was found in Illyria. At first, he hardly registered that they had arrived outside because it was shorter than the surrounding houses and only distinguished itself from them by being rounded. Walking around it, they approached the entrance and went straight past it, with Aura telling him, "It doesn't cost a lot to get in on days like this when there aren't professional fights going on, they make most of their money on off days through betting, but I know a way in that's free."

With his apprehension growing as to just where she was leading him, they made their way over to the opposite side of the building and into a much smaller passageway, past a man that nodded at Aura as she passed, that led down and under the colosseum. This seemed to be how fighters would enter because the dark and claustrophobic route led past several different rooms filled with lockers, benches and racks of weapons ranging from maces to three-stride-long pikes. They then took a right turn and went up some tightly winding stairs before emerging into blinding sunlight on the bottom row of the stands.

From there, it looked like the colosseum was much bigger than he had previously thought, and he guessed that the ground had been excavated to make the pit lower than the surrounding area and provide more room for the rows upon rows of seating. However, it was still not impressive in comparison with the arenas of Illyria, and there was only seating for less than a thousand people. "Come on," Aura insisted, and they hurried to take some seats that were the lowest and thus the closest to the pit where the contestants would be fighting. This was not particularly difficult as the arena was far from full, and Kira only spotted around ten other people sat watching.

"So, anyone can fight on days like today?" he asked Aura.

"Yes, you just can't be a slave or in certain businesses like being a soldier or law-enforcer because they can be expensive for Krinestadt to replace. People do it because they and their friends can bet money on the outcome and so, if they discover some hidden talent for this, they can earn themselves some money."

"Sounds risky," Kira murmured, wondering about how high the skill level really would be and thinking that it didn't matter much to him because he wouldn't be able to enter himself so long as he was still a slave.

The first contestants to come out were two demi-humans who looked to both be around Kira's age, and he noted that neither of them carried sharpened weapons but instead had brought out two spears that were missing their points. "They're probably just two friends who have made some stupid bet," explained Aura and, despite not expecting much, Kira was still disappointed by what followed.

The two boys spent about thirty long seconds circling each other with their tails flicking out behind them like a wolf's might as it stalked its prey. They then both chose the same time to attack and caught each other on their leading hands, which almost caused them to drop the spears before letting loose some colourful language and retreating, together, back underground. Once they had disappeared from view, several of the few audience members stood and left.

"I could probably do better than that," commented Kira, and the rest of the fights that he had to sit through were all of the same woefully low level. Luckily, he was able to make some conversation with Aura, which helped him pass the time. She seemed to think that the fights were unsatisfactory as well because she suggested leaving the colosseum before the morning had ended. Kira earnestly agreed and following her out of the building the same way that they had entered. Apologizing on behalf of the colosseum and explaining that that had been a particularly bad day, they headed towards a shopping district searching for lunch.

Rounding one particular corner, they saw that they had arrived at their destination because they found themselves in a long street with a long row of open-front shops running along either side. It was also packed with hungry workers looking for a quick lunch before returning to their jobs. This didn't seem to be of any concern to Aura, who led him to stand at the back of one queue that had appeared in front of a bakery saying, "I can pay."

After leaving the colosseum, Kira had been very conscious of how they had hardly talked, and he felt that, as Aura had practically been forced into taking him out today, he ought to at least try and be good company. With a while left to wait and out of ideas for what to try and say, he attempted something, as a complete last resort, that he was certain that he would regret: a joke. "Hey," he said, turning to Aura and bracing himself to be embarrassed, "What do you call an average factory?"

"No idea."

"Satisfactory…" and he trailed off, realizing as he said it that it was probably even worse than how he had imagined it in his head.

However, it seemed to have worked. Perhaps Aura simply hadn't been expecting him to try something like this, or maybe she was just trying to react positively to him making some sort of effort to be good company for her because she did manage a slight smile in response! After that episode, the conversation was able to pick up again, and they moved on to talk about the latest scandals of the palace, which Aura was privy to being a maid for Lady Meera herself. Fortunately, the people running the bakery were efficient in their serving, and the queue soon disappeared. This gave Kira and Aura their own opportunity to stand at its head and hand over several small coins in return for a pair of sandwiches filled with thinly sliced meat.

While eating these, they continued their walk through Ostermark as part of Kira's personal tour of the city, passing by many interesting buildings. One of the most prominent of these was a low, stone church that Kira hadn't seen when approaching the city because it featured no spire. Despite this, it was still a well-crafted building with its front doors set deep into its wall under a stone arch and with several stairs leading up to them.

The church had also retained its original stained-glass windows that ran down its length despite being in one of the city's rougher and more densely packed areas. This wasn't surprising as it seemed that everyone here knew about how particular Krinestadt was about religion and that if the windows were broken, then this whole district of the city, being comprised mainly of slums, could have faced the torch.

They also passed a large gated park with a low wall, topped with metal spikes, running the whole way around it. This was the one area within the city, aside from within the palace, which was not crowded with people despite how pretty everything was. Pushing open the gate revealed a stone path gently rising and falling over a private landscape of small hills and beautiful beech trees whose leaves had turned brilliant shades of orange and red in the late autumn.

A small river ran through the park, which followed an unnatural route obviously chosen by the park's designer and with vertical banks of a sandy coloured stone. Occasionally, along the path that meandered along this river, there stood proud trees, grown tall over generations, which provided the cover for benches where people could sit and enjoy the peace of the scenery away from the bustle of the city centre.

Strangely enough, these benches were unoccupied more often than not, and Kira and Aura hardly had to alter their paths at all to dodge or move past other people experiencing the park. This was so unusual in Ostermark that Kira wondered if the park was actually private and whether only palace residents could use it.

But, the other occupants of the park did not have the same falcon symbol as he and Aura did on their necks and he thought he saw a poor family, blessed with many young children, playing on an open grassy area with happiness far exceeding what their status in life ought to allow. There was no way they could have come from the palace, making the sparsely populated park even more of a mystery.

Aura, herself, was no help in explaining why the park was so empty and instead, she insisted that he wait and that the reason would show itself to them soon enough. As they rounded a bend in the path, Kira noticed that they were the only people in this area as well as a small building ahead of him.

It was nestled in between two rises, and a gnarled oak tree was growing out its roof twisting around itself and rising far above the structure betraying its age as, if such a large tree could have grown in the time since it was built, it must have been ancient indeed. The way that it had been built was reminiscent of the other remaining Marxan structures that dotted Anadora. Its tightly packed stone walls had stood the test of time and, despite them being in a state of terrible disrepair, the skill that had gone into carving the statues and inscriptions that lined it was also obvious for all to see.

Kira could still read several of them, and he squinted, trying to make out the words that must have once been a part of his language but now had been phased out of use by the passage of time. The one thing that Kira knew for certain, just from looking at it, was that it was a mausoleum; a place to store the dead.

"It's the mausoleum of the first queen of Arkadia." Aura explained, "The local people don't like going near it; they say that she was a devil."

"Is that why the imperial palace was built here?" asked Kira, gesturing at the tomb.

"Maybe, I have heard that the palace was built later into Arkadia's history and way after the first Queen died."

Knowing that his ancestor lay in this overgrown monument overcame Kira with a sense of reverence. He approached it over a small bridge that crossed the river, kneeling before it to pay his respects to this hallowed ground. Aura watched him without commentary.

When he returned over the bridge, to break the tension that had descended over them, he told her, "That was just so that I don't get haunted – ghosts are very dangerous." whilst putting emphasis on his own words to ensure that she knew he was joking. He knew that ghosts were not real but he mused silently that he was probably the closest thing to a ghost that there was with him being the last remnant of Arkadia. He was the last left-over and tired piece of what the person to which the body lying behind him had belonged had started.

It seemed that his words had reminded Aura of something because she laughed a high-pitched laugh to herself that strangely didn't irritate him at all but instead dissipated the dark cloud that had been hanging over him after he had seen his ancestor's grave and scolded him, "Ghosts aren't real."

"I know, but I guess that plenty of people think that they are, given that not many people seem to come here."

"Hmmm, people like to hate and fear something and who better than the now-dead founder of Arkadia who can't argue against their claims anymore."

She then took his hand in her own and pulled him away from his ancestor's tomb and up the path towards the sun that was sinking lower into the sky. Kira didn't fight against her leading him like this and hurried to keep pace with her, wondering what had put her into such a rush, before slowing, as she did, once again at the top of a rise to walk out of the park. Perhaps she too had harboured her own beliefs about this place – even if she hadn't consciously believed them – as, as they left, Kira thought that he heard her murmur, "Arkadia was better that Krinestadt is now." and he felt that this was probably true.

Letting go of her hand as they left the enclosed area and reentered the bustling streets, heading for the palace, Kira had to admit that he had enjoyed his day. He thought about asking her if they could spend their next day off together as well. However, Aura got to this first, saving him from the worry of possibly being denied, turning to him to ask, "Want to go out together next week – there're a load of other places to go too."

"Sure."

And with that short but definite reply, Kira followed her back into the compound, through the small wooden door enclosed within the gates, and past the suspicious guards who allowed them to pass by, seeing their falcon marks and hearing the day's password: mountain brook.

After reluctant goodbyes, they went their separate ways to find their respective groups to sit with and wait for the evening meal. The time passed quickly for Kira as he played, or rather learnt to play, a number of different card games whilst being teased for spending the whole day with Aura. This didn't bother him too much because it helped him feel like he was being accepted into their friendship group to a greater extent than before.

Having spent almost the whole day walking, when the meal arrived, just a simple soup with chicken stock, he wolfed it down ravenously and, unlike the other days, stayed sitting with his newfound friends playing late into the night. That day he almost entirely forgot about his resolution to keep practising manipulations, and when he went up to bed, he made sure to do a little bit of limited training to try and make up for this.

Taking turns to get changed in their shared room, Kira and Aura got ready for the night before settling down into their own beds. And, before sleep came, to confirm what had been said earlier in the day, he whispered, hoping for his words to be true, "So, we will be looking around Ostermark together again next week, right?"

"Yeah, I said that we would, didn't I?"

And with all fears resolved, he slept dreamlessly, waking surprisingly early the next day, meaning that he was not late for breakfast as he so often had been. This allowed him to report to the scribes' office before most of the others had arrived and, almost as soon as he had got there, he was asked to leave. The request did not come in a mean way, but rather in light of their ink supplies running low and so, as a result of Kira's newfound expertise in finding his way around Ostermark, he was tasked with getting them some more.