"What in the world kind of case was he a part of?" Dad asked.
"Hmm. The visiting dignitary is up to some things with Solon. It's highly political." I said.
"Highly political, hm?" Dad asked.
"It was a moment I borrowed your power, honestly. Solon quickly found out about my part in Zeronis' victory and put some men after me, but I just stayed in your office for a week until they got sloppy. Once you sent me on a job, they went after me and they disappeared like an after thought."
"Sounds like it was rather foolish to pursue you in the first place." Dad said.
"Usually. But no one was ever entirely sure how much you'd do to protect me. If I was just a pet, or employee, or what." I shrugged. "Not that they'd say so near the Lucky Stone."
"So you took advantage of the ambiguity?" Snow asked.
I nodded. Then pointed out the bathhouse and the soap factory which had a storefront to buy soap in. Snow of course wanted to go check it out. She definitely liked the sweet scents, though she picked out a very interesting scent for Dad. It was the veviter scented soap, which was a warm scent. A cross between lemongrass on a warm day, and the smell you catch briefly while laying in a grassy field in the sun.
Dad looked at her with an amused expression. "Are you saying I need to take a bath?"
She flashed a grin and said, "Oh, I'd never insult you."
"Well, we both know that's just not true." Dad said.
She laughed. And I said, "Incidentally.. though it's experimental, it has been said that veviter can reduce stress, weariness and anxiety. As well as a few other beneficial properties. We've also been experimenting with it as a medicine enhancer."
"What medicines are you trying to enhance with it?" Dad asked.
"The ones that help with nerve damag, blood circulation and stomach pain." I answered.
"Depending on the type of stomach pain, your uncle may be interested in that." He said.
"I'm not certain. It's like from upset stomach, to heart burn and like food poisoning." I shrugged. "We could talk to the medical people."
"That's alright, just keep in mind that medicine is just a step away from poison and vice versa. Keep an eye on all who touch this new medication." Dad said.
I smiled slowly and said, "Oh, I know. I'm good with making medicines, but I'm better at making poisons now. I enforced a rule that experimental medicines will have tight control group, and a healer on stand by. If the medical staff themselves would not take the medicine they are not permitted to give it to anyone. I have people watching just in case they decide to ignore this unwritten law."
"As long as you're keeping tight control over it." Dad said.
"Technically, Breena and Ivan are in charge of the medical wing entirely. Ivan is scary to people, and Breena is knowledgeable. After she taught the citizens about farming and growing herbs she needed something to do. So that's her job. Ivan also manages the merchant area, though he would prefer not to. He's the one who established trade for the merchants, though. Well, aside from the special permissions from the Sultan to do business in his lands. I would say he has the better side of the deal." I rambled, while we left the soap area.
"Sounds like you have been blessed with some truly helpful people." Dad said.
I shrugged. "I just learned of them and used them to get what I wanted."
"Yes, that's called running a business." Dad said.
"It's a city, Dad." I grinned.
"Eh, potato, tomato. May not be the same, but close enough." Dad said.
"Dad, intelligence is knowing tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing it doesn't belong in a fruit salad. But you know, charisma is being able to sell a tomato based fruit salad." I grinned. "Which actually, I think you'd want to try it. It's called salsa. And goes with crisped potatoes, or tortillas."
"That is a very thought out way of putting that." Dad said.
"Crisped potatoes? What do you mean?" Snow asked.
"Well, one way it's made this by baking it until it's crispy, and the other way is to fry it in oil. Like seed oil, lard, or vegetable oil." I explained. "Actually, I like to eat them on sandwiches."
"And where did you learn that, precisely?" He asked.
"Well, I found out about fried foods in the other reality. As for the rest.. experimentation. I wanted to see what would happen, plus we had a bit extra that didn't need to be shipped. Oh, we're experimenting making the crisps from other vegetables, too." I said. "Peas smell bad through the process, but it's not terrible.... with the salsa."
"I think I would like to try this salsa." Dad said.
"Ok. We can head over to that building. They serve all kinds of goodies, and that's one of them. I like the spicy salsa. The owner came up with salsa herself." I told them.
"I'm curious about the crisps myself." Snow said.
We headed over to the store in question, and Evely greeted us, though she greeted me first as Bossy Baby. Since Sienna said it, many people started saying it. It was only minutely annoying. I told her we wanted a variety sample, and she got us a nice spot to sit near a false window. I say false. Because it shows us the fields in real time.
It took a few minutes, but she came back with the sample platter and waters, asking if there was a specific drink we'd like, and recommending juices, and offering Dad 'adult juice' made from potato. Snow was offered a smoothie list, which was fruit, veggies and or yogurt based.
Dad accepted the adult juice, it simply wasn't named yet, she'd explained. Snow selected a berry smoothy. And Evely went to take care of the other drinks. When she returned with them, she said, "Bossy Baby came up with the machine to blend the smoothies, so there should be no chunks. I'll warn you about the adult juice, it'll burn more than whisky."
"I did not invent that machine." I protested.
"Well, then who did invent it?" Dad asked.
"He did." Evely said. "It was his story that inspired it and when Smith and Andy heard it, they started talking about a blending machine, and he made suggestions about how they could make such a maching work."
"Then it was a collaborative effort." Snow commented.
"Even Smith and Andy agree it's his invention." Evely said. "He just doesn't agree for some reason."
"It was their idea to turn an act of amusing violence into a machine that blends foods, or auto finely dices them." I said.
"Yes, yes." Evely said, rolling her eyes and wandering towards the register. "I'll let you try another dip idea, too."
"What kind of dip idea are we thinking of here?" Dad asked.
Evely brought three new dips over and set them down on the table for us to try. "This one is cheese based, this one is bean based and this one is an elevated mayo."
"... Elevated mayo?" I asked.
"Mhm. It's gotten several picky kids to eat vegetable sticks. It's pretty simple, I added garlic, onion, chives, dill weed, parsley, salt, pepper and lemon juice to it. Try it." Evely said.
Jasper started fussing a bit, because he was hungry, so Snow began feeding him. She tried her smoothie and let Dad try it, too. Dad, not being overly fond of sweet things didn't like it. But Snow did. We munched the variety of snacks available to us. Evely was helping others who'd came in.
Dad took a small drink of the 'adult juice', and cleared his throat. "I feel this would be better mixed with something."
"I personally recommend downing it as a whole as to not taste it." I said, not really paying much attention.
"So it is a drink to get drunk. Not a drink to enjoy." Dad said.
"You recommend? Personally?" Snow repeated, looking at me.
I looked up at her and said, "I did try it put of curiosity. The rest I pieced together from observations and rumor. But, yes, Dad, I'd say it's better for making one drunk."
"There is potential for it to be more, though." Dad said.
"Likely it'll be stumbled across, but if you want to make it so yourself, that's up to you." I said. "I don't restrict much here."
"I may try a few things." Dad said.
"We have a brewery further back, opposite to the school. There are finer drinks, and ones like that. They are working on naming them." I replied.
"Maybe I'll stop back there some time." Dad commented.
I nodded a little as we finished up our snacks. I noticed that Snow ate most of them, but she was also a snacker, unlike Dad and I. And she was feeding Jasper, too. He was a baby with a big appetite. Evely came by to check on us. Snow had liked the dips, she preferred the white dip and cheese dip. She liked the salsa combined with the bean dip.
Dad liked the cheese dip, but not the bean or ranch dip. He favored the salsa more. His opinion didn't change, much like Snow's, when he tried the combination of the two types of chips with the dips. Ultimately, we moved on to a few more shops, checking them out.
Then we headed to the school, checking it out, while Jasper napped, before viewing the buildings and other interesting structures. After a few hours, we went to one of the restaurants, we tried a variety of popular foods that are widely uncommon outside of Hearthstone.
Which included a special import we were working on figuring out how to grow ourselves that was called rice. It was delicious, especially coupled with spicy soups and pickled vegetables. Or fried with soy sauce, vegetables and chicken. Which Snow seemed to agree with.
She enjoyed the food a lot. Though she was initially offended by the whiteness of the rice. She obviously got over that quickly. She ate a lot. Even by her own standards. Not that Dad or I cared. She did though. "I am gonna get fat." She said.
"I'm sure all that food was nutritional. You'll be fine." Dad told her.
"Jasper is growing really big, so I doubt an increase in food intake would be bad for.you anyways." I commented.
"I suppose." She said, checking on Jasper.
"Do Leonin naturally grow faster than kids?" I asked.
"Yep. We're meant to be mini giants. We once guarded gods until our ancestors Ajani chose to walk away from that life with his clan. Many of our kind followed the example he set." Snow told me.
"I fully expect Jasper to outgrow even your Uncle." Dad said.
"I'll refrain from commenting." I said. "But I believe Ajani is a Goldmane, isn't he?"
Snow nodded. "I shouldn't be surprised you heard of him."
"I heard of him from a Goldmane. But I think that's all I want to say about that for now until later." I said.
"Oh? An interesting choice." Snow commented.
Since we were done eating, we headed out and went to the training area. We met my Mom and Simon there. Simon immediately challenged me and said he was sure to beat me on the exercise course. His challenge was an excuse to avoid my Mom, though I smiled at her.
"Fine, Simon. I'll take on your challenge. The rule is no crying, as always." I said.
"You're gonna be the crier, Ari!" Simon declared.
We went to the beginning of the course, waiting for the guards to clear it. They were wearing weights per Haril's directive.. who I could see was heading this was now. Probably on break or to check on his guards' progress. I worked on clearing my mind, to focus on the course.
"Ready? Go!" Simon said, as soon as the guards were free of it.
I usually let him start it. He took off, and I followed. It didn't take me long before I got ahead of him. The monkey bar part O always reached first, though lagged a bit, because I wasn't very athletic. Still, it was because I was slower at the monkey bars that when Simon slipped next to me, he didn't fall the eight foot drop to the ground.
Because I had caught him, dislocating my arm in the process. Haril took his son, setting him on the ground and my Mom gently helped me down, having heard the pop of my arm dislocating. I turned my head to the right, away from the dislocated arm.
"I'm ready. It can be put back in place." I said.
Dad came over and held me still while Haril popped my arm back into place. My body seemed to have really hated that, because I fainted. I blinked open my eyes seconds later, seeing multiple concerned eyes on me.
"I'm fine. I think the bars were a little damp." I said, my mind processing what happened. "Probably sweat from the men. I think chalk would prevent slips like that in the future."
"Leave it to you to be more concerned about bar safety than your own arm dislocating." Dad said.
"It should be splinted for now, but if you want me to cry about it, I can." I said.
Dad poked my forehead and said, "Don't be witty. Haril, I expect your boys to learn from this and wipe down the equipment."
"I was being serious. I think I can probably make myself cry." I said.
"I believe I will remind them." Haril said.
It was his own son that was nearly injured after all. I didn't bother pointing out that we didn't leave them a moment to do so. Though I noticed Simon staring at me. I blinked at him, "What?"
"I'll say you won since I fell down." Simon said. "I think you said that dislocating is bad because it's not taken seriously, so we can't continue. But how'd you do that? You aren't very strong."
"I am not very strong, this is true. But I also have a really good grip, and a very strong will. Besides, you're not very heavy." I replied.
"Let's go to the healers station and get you splinted." Dad said.
"Ok. It will help with remembering to not use it." I said. "Personally, I prefer outright breaks to dislocating."
"Why would you prefer a break?" Mom asked.
"It heals stronger. Dislocations make the joint weak and eventually become arthritic." I answered.
"Well, yes, from the sound of it, a break would indeed be better." Mom said.
Dad took me to the healers. They double checked the strain my arm was under, applied an anti swelling cream, and wrapped my arm and shoulder in the splint. My shoulder was purple due to the injury.
"I should have told them to bind it to your body. That would be the only way to keep you from using it." Dad commented as we left.
"A bold assumption I wouldn't just undo it." I said.
"Hah. We'd have to find a way to seal it. Permanently if need be." Dad said.
"..I'll be mindful, Dad, and not use it unless necessary until it's properly healed." I said.
"That's all I can ask." Dad said.
We headed back to the training area. Where Snow seemed to be challenging Haril to the obstacle course. Which he accepted. Snow turned a little, smiling at us, and handed Jasper to Dad. And they took their starting places. Haril was agile for his size, I knew how fast he could be from my memories. He was showing it here.
Snow hadn't run the course before, but it didn't seem to hinder her. They were relatively equally matched, like watching me and Dean do the course. The second half of the course, Snow tired enough that Haril got the win. Then again, she had just had a baby a couple of months prior.
Haril congratulated her on having done so well. She said she'd challenge him again in the future, and praised him for being well rounded. I was surprised she wasn't upset with her loss, but I didn't comment on it. I was glad she was in such a good mood.
Haril, of course, said he welcomed the challenge. Any reason to train is a good one. She went and leaned against Dad, telling him, "I'm going to fight your brother."
"Maybe once you've fully recovered." Dad replied.
Haril had to get back to his job, because that's just his personality. His job was high on his priorities. Of course, he hugged his son before going. He'd decided the second day kids had free from school would be his off day. That meant he had an entire day to Simon.. and my mom. So he'd be off tomorrow.
"Do I still have to keep it secret, Ari?" Simon asked suddenly. "I don't like to."
"I know you don't. But you said you wouldn't tell." I replied, patiently.
Simon frowned a little. I guessed pretty easily what he was meaning. There were several secrets to this place that only certain people were privy to.
"What is Simon talking about, Isarial?" Dad asked.
I looked at him a moment and then said, "Well, that just isn't fair, is it?" He raised an eyebrow. "... Alright, alright. Fine. Follow me, all ye who be curious and welcomed.." I grouched, turning and walking towards Haril's home. Which my parents hadn't seen yet. Simon was immediately excited. "I'm gonna threaten your Dad, so you can tell him."
Simon stumbled a little and said, "But why?"
"Because I can, and so that he knows it's serious." I said.
"But you aren't threatening everyone else." Simon protested.
"Yeah, because I know they'll not reveal it." I sighed. "I didn't like your dad very much, I just know he's good at upholding his moral standings."
"Isarial, what have you hidden that Haril needs to be threatened for this secrets safety?" Mom asked.
"... Everyone who knows of it is under threat at the moment. There will be three exceptions shortly. Because Jasper won't remember." I said, walking past the entrance to Haril's private home area.
I walked past the house, and around the back of it, followed by my family and Simon. I went up to a specific wall, and took a key from a hair clip I kept under my hair. Slipping the key and my hand into a hole, the wall seemed to open up. Simon went inside, beckoning my family to come in, too.
I removed the key, following them inside. The wall closed behind us, surrounding us in darkness. I whistled lowly, and an answer whistle sounded. I pointed to the left, "That way leads to a puzzle door. Someone called 'the Shepherd' granted it to a city.. Unless you want to be a mindless brute, don't mess with it."
"Well, I could always take a look at it myself at some point." Dad said.
".. I mean I'm just by passing it." I shrugged. "Incidentally, the reality that was destroyed is what gave me the knowledge of that place. Though, there's also a door over there that leads to a-" I coughed, "Er, nevermind. We'll just go this way."
"Alright. I'll leave that alone for now." Dad said.
".. I'll tell you later." I said, heading to the right.
"Can you see where you're going?" Snow asked curiously.
"Nope. I just know it." I said, "There shouldn't be a height issue. But I can use a light stone if anyone's uncomfortable."
"I'm not afraid of the dark, but I do like being able to see." Mom said.
So I picked up a stone off the wall and activated it. It shined dimly, but provided enough light for humans to see by. "I don't like the dark, or deep water."
Amused, Snow said, "Are you sure you can't see in the dark?"
"I can't. But I was once a werewolf, so it feels off to be blind in the dark again." I said.
"How were you a werewolf?" Mom asked.
"When I was almost seventeen I was attacked by a loup garou. Can't recommend it. They kinda just bite and run. The hair cut was also terrible." I said, partly joking while I led them down a corridor.
"I'll try to keep that in mind in case I ever run across one." Dad commented.
To the right it opened to a small room that scantily had light in it. I paused looking inside. "I thought I told you that you need to have the big light on while you work on things."
The girl's head popped up and she immediately turned on a light that lit up the entire room. "I don't know what you're talking about." She said.
I gave her a disgusted look. "Learn to lie better."
"Don't be mean to her." Simon groused.
"Then she needs to listen and stop being air brained. She'll make her eyes go bad." I said.
"Oh." Simon said. "You should listen then."
"I do listen." She said.
"Are you going to introduce us?" Dad asked.
"Guess so. I'm done yelling at her." I said. "This is Eluvian. She doesn't look it, but she has a brilliant mind. Though we're the same age, this is her work shop. Eluvian, these are my parents, James, Snow Den and Adelaide, and the little one is Jasper."
"Oh." Eluvian said, "Good to meet you all."
She was a pretty girl with her auburn curls and emerald eyes. I'd had a crush on her a long time ago, but we never managed to click. She mother's me, and I couldn't be more aggressive with showing my interest in her, so we'd settled in as friends.
Dad looked at me, "Why do you have a child in the walls?"
"I tried to set her workshop up elsewhe-" I began to explain, but she cut me off.
"I like it here. I'm responsible for me and no one bothers me." Eluvian said.
"Fair enough." Dad said.
I sighed a little. "She's an orphan, and has decided to forgo manners."
"If you're going to reveal someone's situation like that, then you can not speak of manners." Dad said.
"I never said I had any manners. She's logic over anything and considers me to be emotional." I said.
"You're certainly not mature." Eluvian said, lifting a device up, "Lookie here."
I looked, then started walking towards her, she held the device before her face and clicked a button. A bright flash went off and a piece of paper was ejected from it. She took the paper and shook it, while I rubbed my eyes.
"Tsk. You blinked." She said, looking at the paper.
"What kind of device is this?" Dad asked curiously.
"A photrait." She said, coming around the desk and showing us the paper.
It was a... drawing? Of me looking curious and walking forward with my family and Simon behind me. We'd all blinked. I frowned a little, trying to understand what I was looking at. It was like a memory before my eyes from someone else's perspective.
"Well, isn't this interesting. An instant portrait." Dad said.
"Uh-huh. Exactly. I got the idea from listening to some women talk about Ari." Eluvian said, beaming brightly.
"Who was talking about him?" Mom asked.
"Who doesn't?" Eluvian replied. "He's so pretty for being a boy, he's always helping people or listening to complaints, plus he had that whole city built and invited nobodies to live there. He's famous." She shrugged. "The women folk are always saying that seeing how cute he is makes them want to have a baby to adore."
My face turned red as I grew embarassed and uncomfortable. "Ok, ok. They get it."
Mom smiled and said, "He is a cute boy."
"He's probably prettier than I am." Eluvian said, looking at me contemplatingly. "I should maybe make one without the flash. Perhaps that would be easier to capture you with."
"Ugh. Why don't you show them another of your creations?" I suggested.
"But this one has such potential for profit." She protested.
"Oh, indeed it does." Dad said.
"Did you get the bouncy thread working?" Simon asked.
"Oh, yes. But I still think it's a little dangerous." Eluvian said.
Simon looked at me immediately. I sighed, "I already have people working on it. They're slowly following the instructions to make a bounce toy. And to make it safer," I looked at Eluvian, "I am having a conditional zone of feather fall put in once it's complete."
"Is there a way to make that make sense for me?" Mom asked.
"It's an exercise thing, geared towards kids and fun with a spell that makes it safer. Like jumping on a furniture, only you won't be yelled at for it." I said. "It's got a lot of strings woven together to make a large flat surface. The strings are elastic, and the force of jumping on them would cause you to bounce like a rabbit."
"Actually, Ari had a scary idea about the bouncy string." Simon said, patting Mom's leg.
"Oh? And what did he come up with now?" Mom asked.
"Him and Dean talked about making a long bouncy string rope and tying it to something and then to themselves and jumping off cliffs." Simon said.
"And that is obviously just talking.. idle ideas, yes?" Dad asked pointedly while looking at me.
"I did something similar once, only without rope." I said. "And unwillingly."
"That sounds an awful lot like you were pushed off a cliff." Mom said.
"Oh, no. I didn't trust anyone enough to be in a situation like that. Rather, a Roc tried to take me to it's nest, so I kept escaping and falling back down, only for it to snag me back up. Until I landed on the mast, anyways." I explained.
"A rock has a nest?" Simon asked blankly.
".. A Roc is a giant meat eating bird. It lives over the ocean." I told him.
"How big is this bird that it could carry you off like that?" Mom asked.
I looked around Eluvian's workshop. "Almost three times this room. It's bigger than a sailing ship."
"Well, that's another reason for me to never go out on the ocean." Mom said.
"That's a shame, perhaps I will just not take over a kingdom over seas after all." I said.
"You can just set up a teleporter once your over there. I don't have to make the trip." She said.
I laughed. "Well, then, shall we continue downwards?"
"By all means, lead the way. Do you have any other wall children we should be aware of?" Dad said.
"Not currently." I said, before telling Eluvian bye and leading the way again.
There were spy holes occasionally, and we did see the few people I had secretly working on the place. I pointed out a tunnel that went to my mansion. I also pointed out another that lead to a small mineral spring. Then I took them down another tunnel, turning away from the main one. It led to a breathtakingly beautiful place where there was a below ground waterfall which was also the only lighting in the area.
Simon, Mom and I couldn't see it, but there was a quaint little house here. Still, I led them straight to it and opened the door, letting them in. Once I entered, the house lit up with light revealing all kinds of drawings and detailed artwork half hazardly strewn about the place. As well as a few half done tinkered things, and wood carvings.
"And whose house might this be?" Dad asked.
"No ones." I answered with a shrug, picking up a sketch of a young Leonin that resembled Dad and showing it to him.
He looked the drawing over, "If this place truly belongs to no one then it is very concerning that this is here." Dad commented.
"Hm. Looks like Isarial's style to me." Snow said looking at it for a moment. "I was wondering why he had stopped drawing. You hadn't, you simply stored it out of sight, hm?"
Dad felt the edges of the paper, and said, "This is indeed Isarial's style.. but this paper feels off in a couple of different ways."
"Yeah, I'm working on processing paper that way early. I liked the wood based paper better than leather or cloth. It has a nice feeling and is light." I said. "Though, technically I drew that sketch on the ship, trying to figure how my little sibling would look grown up. I just asked the doll to send my pictures and carvings to me or replicate them. Not sure which it did."
"So these are potentially drawings from the future..? You know what? I don't wanna know." Mom said.
"Some. Some of it's recovered from a timeliness that won't be, and some of it I've done since I became a Hearthry." I said. "Some of it is plans for inventions. Or designs for buildings that won't be made. Most of it was just to keep me from being bored. I hate being bored. It's when I'm most destructive. It's mostly the outside and the tunnels that are secret. I have an acute paranoia."
"With the description of how your life had gone, I don't blame you for being paranoid." Dad commented.
"If it wasn't for jealousy, I probably wouldn't have come back." I admitted.
"Well, if jealousy is what brought you back to us, we will take it." Dad said.