It didn't take all that long for Calla to find Azalea because her sister never left the castle. She was happily strolling in the halls and admiring the paintings and antiquities spread everywhere.
When Calla found her, she was admiring an exposed set of hunting trophies with Cyril and a few other older knights.
The room clearly had for only purpose to show off some of the Staedler house past achievements. Here the smooth grey stone had been covered up by polished pale wooden planks reflecting the the red light coming from the tall open windows and gave a bright and warm feeling to the room. Here the ceiling wasn't as high as in the few great halls she had seen earlier in the day but it was still elevated enough to present some really big skulls and stuffed monster head in a way that they would loom over all the observers menacingly. Despite the setting sun, the room was well lit by flame and reinforced the eerie presence of those hunting trophies and old war memorabilia.
Calla could hardly look at this sort of thing because the monsters were scary even when pinned to a wall or a shelve but Aza was fascinated. When they all got in, she was admiring the large head of some horrific scaled beast with six eyes and a horn protruding from its nose. It would surely come back to haunt Calla in some terrible nightmare.
She got closer to her sister while doing her best to not look at anything else while Aza turned to lean over some sort of big disjointed jawbone on a pedestal.
She shivered when she noticed the big fangs still lining the bone and turned her back to it with a gulp. Eda called out to Aza for her with wide waves of her arm. Calla worried because she was the one holding the candle for them but she didn't drop it in the end.
"Azalea!"
Her sister turned around and ran up to them with excitement.
"Hi girls! Are you all touring the castle too? This place is huge, I was just about to go find somewhere to look over the city. They said I was allowed to go up the watchtower, I've never been up one before, I wonder how tall that is and what the view's like. There's that place with a huge painting over there that you've all got to see if you're taking a look around, it's so wide it wouldn't even fit in our house Calla!"
Sarissa tried to calm her with a soothing hand as she replied for the group.
"Maybe we'll take a look later. We haven't really come here to look around, Calla was more worried about you than curious about the castle."
Aza groaned and slumped her shoulders in answer.
"Aw, Calla, come on. We're in a freaking castle, why would you be worried about me? I've seen a lot of amazing things already and I met quite a few interesting people. You know, I've met this guy who's an actor in the theater troupe we were told about in the hall close to the main gate earlier, he was super charming. Anyway, what I'm saying is that there's nothing to worry about, I've even got those big guys following me around to protect me for some reason."
"I've asked them to watch over you because I knew Calla would be worried of you walked around alone." Kaisla explained.
"She's a worrywart though. If you send out knights after everything she worries for you'll need an endless supply of them. The only thing she doesn't worry about is the safety of her husband."
That was absolutely true, she worried about everything but Emp. That didn't mean she was wrong to worry about her sister however. Emp could take care of himself while Aza was a bit too wild and curious and far from as strong as him.
"Dad wanted me to keep an eye on you." She told her sister on a tone she wanted to sound stern but ended up sounding more like a whine instead.
She wasn't good at being stern or menacing. She didn't like scolding people after all, she was not able to do it at all in fact.
"Dad is worrying too much too. I'm just going on a trip with my sister, nothing bad's going to happen to me. It's always the same with him. Do you remember that time with the armorrels?"
She did remember the armorrels. A bunch of them came to nest in the orchard and kept stealing the sweetest apples.
"The armorrels?" Galana asked.
"Yeah, they're like squirrels with a carapace that lets them ball up in defense. They're supper cute and really clever too."
"I know what armorrels are! I'm asking what's the link between those and the current situation!"
"There was one time when there was a whole bunch in the orchard and they kept stealing our apples."
"I thought they ate bugs?" Destiny asked.
"They do but they're so clever that they know bugs like sweet things too so they stole our apples to use them as bait. They would crush them open and turn the apple into some sort of juicy paste they smeared all around their nests. A bunch of ants would line up in front of them to take the paste and they'd all end up into snacks. Dad was really annoyed with them because they didn't just take one or two, they kept stealing more and more of our apples. He wanted to borrow the dog of old man Perry to chase them out of the orchard."
"Aw but those are so cute!" Complained Victory. "It's so cruel!"
"I know, right? Those little cuties are so friendly too, who would dislike them aside from our dad? All the girls in the village wanted to come and cuddle them."
Calla remembered it well, all her friends were crying "Cute!" and chasing the armorrels around the apple trees. They had a pretty fur around the rounded carapace and big adorable eyes but they were still wild animals. Calla had been too worried they might scratch her if she tried to touch one too so she only watched from a safe distance. Aza had caught one however.
"I managed to get one and after I rubbed its cheeks, I placed it on top of my head because Willow thought it would be funny. The little armorrel ran over my hair, jumped on my shoulder and then scaled down my arm to run away. Dad showed up at that moment and got furious because the armorrel left a bunch of tiny scratches over my skin as it ran off. He was so worried that I might have gotten hurt and he was angry I didn't listen to him about not touching them."
Bailey nodded at her father's reaction.
"I can understand his point though, there are a lot of sicknesses carried around by small animals like those even if they look so cute. They don't bathe at all after all."
"But he made such a big fuss about a tiny squirrel. He's exaggerating is what I'm saying. You don't need to always keep me right at your side Calla, I'm fine by myself, really. What's the point of coming all the way here if it's just to stick to you while you hide in a room? Just let me have my fun, I won't do anything crazy I promise. I don't even mind if you all tag along, I just don't want to waste my time in a bedroom when there's so much wild things to see and experience."
Lanavera laughed at her plea.
"This place isn't that extraordinary though, this is just the small castle of a count. You haven't seen anything yet, wait until we get to Highsteel. That place is ten times bigger and more impressive. It's the second largest fortress in Steelwood right after the imperial palace and the most defended spot of the empire. If there's a treasure that must absolutely be protected, the best place to keep it is there so we'll see a bunch."
"Even if that one isn't to your taste, you'll probably get to see the imperial court too along with lady Calla." Sarissa told her. "That place is just like a dreamland. It's all so grand and sparkling it makes you stop breathing in awe the first time you see it."
"Really? Even bigger than this one?"
"Of course bigger than this one. I'm not saying that this city isn't interesting but even though it's on the larger side it's not the best at all. It's just that it's sitting on a very used road."
"Also, about looking at the city from the watchtower. It's getting late already, it's going to be dark and you won't be able to see anything, we should rest for now and take a look tomorrow." Maria suggested.
Azalea pouted in disappointment but understood the argument.
"You're probably right. I feel like I can't wait but I'll hold back for now then."
The group followed Aza in her exploration for a short time after that and then everyone went back to get some sleep.
Calla reflected on what Azalea told her for the whole time.
It was Azalea's dream to explore a big city and see everything it had to offer so of course she wanted to go everywhere. This place was surrounded by really tall walls, two rows of them even, so it should be safe from monsters but it didn't mean it was without dangers. She was worried that something might happen to her if no one was around to help but maybe Aza was right and she was worrying over nothing.
Her father asked her to keep an eye on her because he didn't want Aza to loose herself in the city, not in a physical way but mentally instead. She was the sort to get enraptured into something and decide to keep at it on a whim. She might see the place where death seekers gathered and decide to try being one too just because of the ambiance there. She was that kind of person and a city was a place where all manners of things could be found.
Calla wasn't really worried that she might get fooled because Aza wasn't witless but she might very well decide that she liked the atmosphere here and that she'd rather stay. Maybe she'd fall in love with the sight of the town from watchtower or even the feast and then her heart would get stuck here forever!
Her father would be really angry if that happened because that was exactly what he tried to avoid.
On the other hand, her sister was also right. She was older than Calla and could take decisions on her own, she didn't need Calla or their dad looking over her shoulders all the time and spying on her. She didn't want to upset her sister by trapping her at her side.
They didn't need to be together all the time. Calla didn't really want to go on top of the watch tower to look because she would be afraid to fall off but this didn't mean she had the right to stop Aza from going.
Well, she might have the right considering her noble rank but that wouldn't be fair and it would be really unkind of her.
In the end, she decided that as long as a few knights grandfather Aminui trusted kept up with her, everything should be fine. She just had to not worry too much. That was both the hardest part and the only thing she had to do. She would do her best to follow her sister but if she wanted to go somewhere that was too much for her, she would do her best to just believe in her instead.
Back in their room, she told Aza what she intended to do the next day and her sister decided to join right away.
"Of course I'd like to see the play! I met one of the actors today and I want to know if he's any good. He had me promise I would come and watch so I would have gone eventually anyway."
Aza seemed to really want to meet this man again, Calla got very curious about him. Was he really interesting? What sort of person was he? Was Aza interested in him? She felt curious but was way too embarrassed to ask her sister about it. What if she misunderstood and she didn't care about him at all, it would be so awkward.
She decided to not talk about it and let it be for now. It still got her curious enough that she had trouble sleeping though. She couldn't help being curious. Between that and all the things she had to do the next day, it took her a really long time before her heartbeat slowed down enough to allow her to sleep.
Because of her night difficulties, she woke up late and had her breakfast alone in her room. All the others took their meal in the room dedicated to breakfast. Calla thought it was crazy to have a specific room for each meal but she was told that it wasn't all that abnormal in decent noble houses. They wanted to enjoy a well lit room for each meal and so the optimal place changed depending on the time of day. She heard there were a whole lot of other reasons for it but this was the only one she understood properly.
It raised the question of which of the three rooms was the most important in the end. The breakfast room because of how Breakfast was the most important meal of day? Maybe it was the supper room because it was the one most likely to receive visitors in? In that case it could also be the great hall that would be used for feasts like the one she would see that afternoon. Maybe she was thinking about all of this wrong though, maybe the most important was the kitchen because it fed all of the others.
She nodded at her own conclusion and ate her small breakfast feeling satisfied that the kitchen was the most important room after all.
Time passed quickly while she was thinking of such silly things and soon enough, her friends and her sister all left for the middle of the town to meet Palonia and Tiberius. Galana was leading the way since she knew exactly were to go and many of Aminui's knights tagged along to keep everyone safe.
"Do not ever loose sight of my granddaughter you hear?" Aminui told the knights.
"We swear on our name that we won't my lord!" All their deep voices boomed in answer.
Calla felt like hiding because of how much attention this escort brought on them but Aza and Eda felt rather impressed instead. Calla could understand how special it should feel to be escorted by strong knights just to take a walk around the city but she just felt out of place instead.
The other girls didn't feel much about it although Kaisla and Lanavera said it felt strange to be the ones escorted instead of the other way around. The two were talented fighters after all so being watched over by other knights was odd for them. If they were the only two to go out, there would probably not have been any knights following. Maybe even the twins could have just left alone without problems, they managed by themselves before too.
They made their way to the large shop but when they arrived, Calla felt too nervous to actually step inside.
She had never met them before after all. Wasn't it strange to just come and greet them like that so suddenly? She disliked meeting people so much too, coming here was a terrible mistake! She shouldn't have fallen for her curiosity towards the small twins!
"Hey you outside! Don't just stand there you're all blocking the doorway!" A shout came from inside.
Calla mumbled sorry under her breath and tried to turn around to flee but Eda caught her and stopped her from doing so.
"Come on Calla, you'll regret it if you don't meet them. you're the one who wanted to come here in the first place. Be brave, we'll all be with you too."
The others nodded in approval while Galana answered the woman inside.
"Sorry Palonia! Someone here is a bit nervous about meeting you."
"Galana?! It's been a while, are you doing well? I can't see because of the sun glaring at the door, what up with that big group? Who's nervous about meeting me? Am I really that scary? Should I come out to fetch you all?"
She sounded flustered to suddenly hear the voice of Galana out of the blue after a few years.
"Nah, don't bother, we're coming in, just give us a second."
Calla breathed in and out a few times over before the other girls dragged and pushed her through the door and into the shop.
The inside of the place was filled with strange weaponry she didn't recognize hung upon dozens of racks. She got rather scared of hurting herself with one of those weird blades and did her best to stay as far from the merchandise as possible. The shop was so hot that upon stepping through the open doorway she felt like she was getting into a furnace. It smelled of sweat and iron too, it all felt quite similar to Marcy's workshop in the end. The only clear difference was that the floors looked much more used here than they were in Marcy's place.
With more than twenty person stepping into the store at once, the space between the different weapon and armor display got really cramped really quickly but Calla was the only one worried about it.
She didn't want to disturb the real customers in their shopping but the rest didn't think it was a big deal at all. Her friends pushed her through the rows of weapons and customers up to the old looking counter and the clerk behind it.
"Seriously though, what up with that big group? Why are there a bunch of knights in the store?"
She was about to ask many more question but Galana interrupted her by raising her hand in the air to answer everything.
The woman known as Palonia looked mildly concerned about the large group that entered the store. Anyone would have been considering that almost half of them were knights. Anyone would feel intimidated about the purpose of so many armed people stepping into their property.
Palonia wasn't a weak girl like Calla however and she stood fearlessly in front of her counter to meet them all. She was confident that there was nothing bad going on and it showed on her face. The eyes of Calla didn't stay on her face for long though because they were pulled towards her belly instead. It was big! Her 'aunt' was pregnant again!
Calla felt so awed she missed most of the explanation from Galana about what was going on.
"... And so Calla here wanted to visit her aunt and uncle while she's in the city and meet her two cousins."
"So the girl hiding in the middle of you all is that guy's wife?"
"That guy's wife! Haha! Don't say it like that!" Galana almost fell over from how Palonia spoke.
"I mean, I understand he's something like my nephew but I'm still not okay being called aunty. It makes it sounds like I'm old."
"Aren't you much older than us for real though?" Maria asked bluntly.
Palonia twitched in anger but went back to normal after shaking herself.
"I'll let that slide this time because you're a noble lady and Galana brought you here."
Maria was about to say something else but Galana interrupted her.
"You porcupine, would you not antagonize Palonia right away. You'll make Calla cry again! Just be friendly for once."
"Who's not friendly! You're much more of a porcupine than me! You're almost a rabid dog!"
"No way, dogs are actually cuter." Bailey shook her head.
So mean! They sounded so mean towards Galana! Even though she knew they were all just teasing each other, she felt bad for it.
"Oh oh, shall we settle this with a game of trapper latter?"
"If you're willing to get your ass kicked then bring it on."
"A three-way of trapper?"
"No way! We need to see that."
"I'll bet my allowance that Galana will beat Maria and Bailey again."
Now the girls were just making a ruckus on their own and neither Calla nor Palonia knew what to do about this.
Eda and Aza pulled her arms and brought her in front of Palonia while the others were busy taunting each other and arguing nonsense.
"Nice to meet you miss Palonia." The two said before turning their eyes to her.
They wanted her to greet Palonia too but Calla wasn't ready! She felt pushed.
Putting so much pressure on her was unfair, she had to quickly raise her magic cuff in front of her face, close her eyes and greet her but what came out was just an inarticulate mumble.
"What?" she heard Palonia ask.
Calla felt her face turn red again.
That was so embarrassing! She gave all her best and achieved nothing!
Palonia started laughing heartily along with the other two.
"I get what Galana meant when she said someone was nervous. There's nothing to be worried about though I'm not gonna eat you."
"Sorry..." She answered weakly.
"Come here you. Emp's wife." Palonia reached towards Calla and pulled her against her big stomach. "I don't know you at all but I haven't seen Galana having this much fun since forever so I'll guess you're not bad. You're welcome here anytime. Although, I'd like you all to clear up the space a bit, you're disturbing my customers... Hur, I guess I should close shop for a bit instead that way we'll all be able to exchange some news."
Palonia used a voice like what Marcelia would and pushed everyone out of her store saying they'd have to come back at another time to get their equipment. Calla apologized many times about it but none of the customers dared complain about it all. All of them seemed scared of Palonia even though her pregnant belly limited her movement greatly and all the knights where a great incentive to convince everyone to leave.
Calla kept feeling overwhelmed and nervous for a while until she was presented to the two small twins and then calmed down a lot. It was so much easier for her to deal with the little ones. They weren't babies anymore but they were still very small and so Calla enjoyed their presence, their innocent liveliness soothed her greatly.
She met Tiberius too but he was just like Marcy. The fact he was a man she had never met before made it ten thousand times more scary and she didn't manage to look at him in the eyes for more than a split second.
Thankfully, she didn't come alone so the whole encounter wasn't too awkward. Everyone had a lively discussion with her listening from the sidelines with the twins on her knees. Everyone was able to talk peacefully while she kept them busy by playing small games with them.
She listened while her group relayed information about Emp and Marcy to them and the two Gladius spoke about their own stories. They talked about how well the store was going, what happened in town since Galana left, they said plenty about the twins and about when the next one was expected.
The young twins were called Cuivra and Platinius after the two metals. Tiberius was really proud of the names too so he must have been the one who came up with them.
"Don't you all worry, I had him promise I'd be the one to pick the names of the few next." Palonia assured them.
Calla laughed with the girls but didn't think that their names were that bad. They were unique and didn't sound that bad when said out loud. If they had been so terrible, Palonia would never had agreed to them to begin with.
On her side, the shopkeeper looked satisfied with how Galana was doing and happy that she was getting along with the other girls. She must have worried a lot about her since she had known her parents well and saw her grow up into the woman she was now. Letting her leave as a slave must have been stressful even though she somewhat trusted Emp because of the impression he first gave her and his ties with Marcy.
Calla was pretty sure that Palonia would have been really angry if Galana wasn't enjoying herself now.
This didn't save her from some embarrassing questions though. Palonia wasn't bothered to ask about how Galana's relationship with Emp progressed even though his actual wife was sitting right there.
Even Galana herself felt those question where really awkward and complained loudly about them. She refused to say anything about how she felt towards Emp which had Palonia tease her much more.
They spent some more time talking there before they had to move towards the theater. Calla felt really satisfied to have met the four of them even though she didn't say much.
She already felt out of strength from her first encounter of the day so she was really glad that there was a long play planned between then and the feast. She would be able to calm down and enjoy watching things from the sidelines before the next stressful event.
Her group paid the entrance fee to the play and got sat in a spot at the front because of her rank. Anywhere would have been fine for her but the owner of the theater insisted that the lady Muracier should get the best seat. Calla didn't know how he learned who she was and didn't argue about the seat.
They had to wait for some time in the theater as it filled before the play started. The whole building was a dedicated theater and so the main room were the play was held was very spacious. The room was two stories tall and long benches were lined in tight rows layered in a gradually ascending way so that everyone could get a good view. The first few rows were Calla ended up sitting had the benches replaced with actual seats covered with soft cushions, they were obviously the best places out of the whole theater.
Just in front of her, the wooden stage extended for around twenty meters wide and was elevated enough to form a clear demarcation between the seats and the play. When she got in the theater, there was nothing there on it but props were gradually brought in as the time for the play drew nearer.
The inside of the building was really dark because there were no windows but a few massive chandelier were hung over the heads of the spectators and above the stage. A row of candles were also placed along the edge of the stage and were lit just before the play started.
All the lights above the audience were doused and the actors walked onto the stage to bow once before the play. Aza pointed at the main actor and whispered in Calla's ears.
"That's the guy I met yesterday. Do you think he'll see me?"
She would have been surprised if he didn't since they were sat in the middle of the first row but it might have been possible considering how dark it became.
He was a man with a cleanly shaven face that might be around his thirties or forties. Calla didn't think that the guy stood out in any way but he did have a talent for acting and an impressive presence on the stage. From what she heard from everywhere behind her, many ladies came to watch the play just to see him.
The story they were shown that day was about a prince that went on a great hunt against a legendary creature to win the heart of a lady. The prince was played by the guy Aza had met while the lady was played by a very elegant and slim woman. The play had a lot of twists and turns and the hunt had only a minimal part in it. Most of the story was filled with how the antagonist was trying to seduce the lady for himself while the hero was away and how they fought each other for her.
Apparently this play was a retelling of something that really happened in the past but all the names were changed so Calla had no idea who this was about.
In the end, the prince got to marry his lady and the crowd cheered and clapped.
Calla too liked the play and clapped along with the rest. It wasn't that scary and there were no big fights, most of it was verbal debate and drama so it managed to relax her a lot and grab her interest. She was happy that she came to see it even if she spent hours sitting in the dark.
Destiny and victory hurriedly expressed their opinions on the play the moment the curtains were drawn over it. They thought that the play wasn't all that interesting because it didn't have enough flare even though the actors were good.
"Keep that talk for later at the feast." Lusine reminded them while the lights were quickly brought back and the audience was slowly moving out of the theater.
Before Calla and the rest could leave though, they were stopped by the man. He stepped off the stage to meet with her group and asked them if they liked the play. Calla didn't feel like interacting with a stranger since she wanted to keep her strength for later so she let the others speak. Aza seemed to fawn over him a lot which Calla thought was both funny and worrying.
She might feel attracted by the actor but he was way too old for her and she didn't know him at all. As long as she just admired his performance in the play it would be fine but her trying to get close to him wouldn't be good at all.
"I really liked the play, you were really good as the hero too! It was the first time I saw something like this!" Aza told him in a straightforward way.
Calla could feel an aura of lovely feelings drifting from her sister but felt nothing similar from him. He still answered elegantly to not hurt her feelings.
"Thank you for the praise. I'm glad you liked it so much. All of you lovely ladies can come back anytime. It would be my pleasure to perform a play for you all again."
She doubted they'd come back a second time while they were in Red-water but Aza looked really pleased by his answer. Calla didn't want to disappoint her and didn't say anything to dampen her mood. She shifted her thoughts towards the feast right away instead. Now she needed to prepare for the hurdle instead of thinking about some actor being polite with her sister.