Haaaa! Finally!
Here I was on a cosy bed. Adrian was so worried about me and I felt bad about it. I didn't know how else to convince him that I am, I was, okay. I'm not sick or in pain or anything like that. I'm just so fuckin' tired!
Anyway, it wasn't such a long journey to the town after I had eaten to my fill and Adrian had insisted on carrying some in case I got hungry before getting to the nearest town. It was also hilarious how these guys had turned a new leaf so suddenly and were now treating us as royalty. (Or do you think that it is true that we are royalty?)
They were awed when they saw me talking to animals. It wasn't hard really. When I spread my spiritual senses, it was easy to tell how many animals were within the area and what type they were.
I then talked to a wild boar and it was easy to catch it and the rest...Well, I ate to my fill and here we are. This bed is so fucking soft. Haaa!
After getting into town, they took us to the best hotel and they actually paid for us. It was funny having in mind how they treated us when we first met. Anyway, it was to my advantage since here I was, resting with Adrian beside me because he didn't want to leave me alone which pissed me off because I was a Griffin for heaven's sake! But I controlled my temper because it was his way of caring and I didn't want us to fight in a strange land. We needed each other. ( but my temper is everywhere)
We decided to rest tonight and the men promised to take us to one of Aida's temples tomorrow. For now, I needed all the rest I could get.
Aska. Aska was... Aska. I really don't know how to explain or describe it to you. I expected a world similar to ours but no. This was a Wuxia world of some kind. There were cultivators all over but the good thing is flying anyhowly wasn't allowed. It was like driving in our world. For you to be allowed to fly, you had to have a certificate.
The same way with portalling. I think they didn't allow people to just portal in the town because only the powerful had that power. Weird thought though it seemed true.
Now that it was morning, we had a chance to see the hotel where we slept as we took breakfast. Food wasn't bad because I guess, since almost everyone was a centaur here they knew how to cook for their kind but there wasn't a lot of meat.
The hotel had a traditional Chinese design and was being run by a Chinese old lady who was a kind soul (gods bless her). She served us well and she kept staring at us. It looked weird but it was creepy and it was getting in my skin until I couldn't take it anymore.
I decided to go ask but Adrian held me back. He let me go after I promised him that I will behave.
"Excuse me ma'am, I just noticed you keep staring at me. Is everything okay?" I asked sounding as kind as I could because I didn't want to seem rude and make things difficult for Adrian.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to," she said in the kindest voice I have ever heard. "It's just that your aura tells me you aren't from this world. "Also, you and your partner are so handsome. I didn't mean to stare but who doesn't stare at a good thing when they see one?" She said and smiled at me and I couldn't get angry at her even if I wanted to.
"It's okay," I said briefly because I didn't want to say a lot about us because we didn't who to trust or not to trust by now.
We talked for a while and we got to know each other and that was when Adrian brought up the issue of the meat he had saved the previous day. She showed us how to preserve it with some kind of leaves and they told us it could stay fresh even for a whole week.
Oh, and by the way, we had to change from our mode of dressing. Since everyone here had long hair and wore robes, we had to disguise ourselves too so as not to attract too much unwanted attention. I was wearing a white robe with green flowers and a white simple belt and Adrian was in a dark blue robe with a turquoise belt. The Chinese lady gave us straw hats because it was sunny but in reality it was to hide our short hair. Thank goodness we were both wearing boots and they weren't far from what people here wore though majority, those who could afford shoes, were in traditional sharp pointed boots with floral designs.
After breakfast, as we were rising to go to the temple with the same man who got a room for us, we saw three men walk into the hotel. One looked aristocratic though aged. He was wearing a purple robe adorned with a beautifully woven belt consisting of various adornments. He had a golden chain around his neck.
His wrists were adorned with golden and silver bracelets and he had a staff that looked like a cobra where he held the head which was also coated in gold. He screamed wealth.
The other two with him looked like his bodyguards because they had swords with them and they were wearing green robes that looked like their uniform.
"Hello Mrs Chao? I heard you got guests from out of town and I didn't know about it. Didn't you think it polite to introduce such important guests to me?" He asked with a smile that anybody could tell that it was fake.
"Good morning Chief. Yes. It's those boys over there. They have just taken their breakfast and they were on their way to see you as they visit the temple. Told me that's what they are here for," the lady, who I now know is Mrs Chao, said as she looked at me and we had an understanding.
"Hello sir? I said as both Adrian and I stood and bowed to him. "I am Gael and this is Adrian, we have come to this town to worship in the temple of Aida and we were on our way to your place before we go there. We have been told good things about the leader of this
place and we couldn't leave without saying hello," I finished with a forced smile because this man smelt trouble.
He didn't look like a good man and my animals were groaning and I tried to pacify them. The last thing we needed was me changing here. Our escort sneered and I gave him a look that told him to keep quiet because we didn't want trouble.
Hearing the praise, the old man smiled and said, "good that you know how to respect authority. Welcome to our town. You can go to the temple first and then come to my place later. Okay? Okay" He walked out even without waiting for our reply and after the three left, everyone in the hotel heaved a sigh of relief.
Adrian and I looked at each other and we kinda had a mutual understanding. These people didn't like this man and there had to be a reason. The warning bell was how he seemed to live in affluence but the rest of the population seemed to be poor. Very poor. We had to investigate this and do what we could or at least tell Aida who would know who to talk to to at least help them.
But we had to make it snappy. We didn't want to stay out of Zor for long.
Seems like we got ourselves something to do even without asking for it.