"If you knew, you could have spared me the effort of a disguise." Laila chimed.
"I am always thorough in my investigations. I must admit I was quite intrigued about the Dahlia house. Especially how famous it is for raising 'flowers'."
"Famous only to those who know the true nature of the 'flowers' that are cultivated." Laila's tone turned into something melancholic, it did not go unnoticed by Tayoshi.
She sets down the payment on the table and walks towards the door to see herself out. Laila touches the door handle, pausing for a brief moment.
"Before I forget, I was asked to give you a message."
"A message?" he inquires.
"Some random gentleman gave me quite the sum just to pass this on to you; My mentee will be visiting you soon, I hope you welcome them well."
"A mentee? The person who gave you this message, what did he look like?" Tayoshi's voice took on a stark fascination, and overwhelming urge to confirm his suspicions.
"Hm, well...I thought he was quite old at first. Despite the colour of his hair I would say he looked quite sprightly. He looked tattered but very well-spoken, so I doubt he was a commoner. I remember finding his eyes to be quite unusual. I've heard most people use the term 'black eyes' but most of the time they're rather dark brown. His eyes actually looked black...almost like looking into the void." Laila gets a few goosebumps on account of her impression of how perturbing his eyes felt.
Tayoshi listens intently to the description, mentally putting the pieces together to form a conclusion that could support his suspicion.
'It's definitely the Sage...I never knew he had a mentee. Wait! Could the one who helped Rhetta and Khio be this mentee? Just what is he planning this time...?'
The area is desert-like, only small amounts of plants could survive the heat and desertification. The drought left the area barren, devoid of most life and only the occasional animal carcasses could be seen. As far as the eye could see, it only saw a cracked, arid landscape.
Basil sneezed, wiping his nose and chuckled to himself. "He must have gotten my message by now."
He stands from his makeshift seat, and looks at the monstrous corpse at his feet. A grotesque and vicious looking creature with evident mutation from its natural form. He rests his hand upon the corpse with eyes full of apology, he glances up towards the afternoon sun. His attention was pulled away by the sound of distant snarling. He draws the spear from the creature's body and swings it to flick off the blood. "Seem like they are going to make their move soon. I should head back."
Travelling from one village to another, the sights only further unsettled Rhetta and Khio. Both had predominately spent their lives at their family estates or within the confines of the capital. No major wars had been waged and neither could say they fully knew of the scourge of war. Having never witnessed grand-scale war, the degree of their knowledge of the battlefield pertained to suppressing insurrections, civil unrest and border skirmishes.
This line of thinking had been the empire's greatest poison, there had been no war, and yet the emperor prepared for one. At the expense of his people and their livelihoods. The villagers had lived in conditions of a war torn country, and praised the emperor for protecting them from the enemy without ever knowing it was all his doing to begin with.
Village after village were plagued by famine, disease, crime and disrepair. A corpse being a common sight for the masses, followed by the lifeless people who inhabited these villages and towns.
They are filled with people who had long lost the hope of a true life and were simply breathing, cowering in the shadow of death that closely lingered and loomed over them. Left in a manner of being dead, walking with downcast eyes in a catatonic and languish state.
While skulking through these villages and avoiding the eyes of the knights that roamed around, Rhetta and Khio grew increasingly disgusted and frustrated. Seeing the knights abusing their ability and status to further torment these already crushed souls.
The two hoped things would be better, a naïve hope held by them. Had the atrocity they witnessed been simply limited to a single village, should it be the worst case, then only a few villages, it would have been vastly better than the true reality. Their hopes were quickly betrayed and snuffed out.
One village, another, and the next caught in the same dire circumstances. As did the next trail of villages they travelled to. The awareness became great, knowing that the unusual occurrence was seeing a village like Pran and Hayle that functioned in a relatively normal manner.
In those cases, it was all appearances, the only reason they could function well is thanks to an attentive noble lord. One who cared about his own neck and reputation enough to look after those in his territory. Until when would the fickle dedication to a meaningless village last?
The journey's through these villages resulted in a deep sense of shame taking root in Rhetta and Khio. Towards themselves, and towards the empire. Being part of the imperial army was their dream, it was their pride. Having opened their eyes to the true state of the empire, the truth of what their efforts were used for...They wondered how they could have ever felt proud in the first place. Florian on the other hand showed no surprise, no shock nor discomfort towards any of the horrors witnessed. She is completely apathetic. Florian already knew, this is what their world is really like.
They trudge down the road with exhaustion to the bone. The kind of exhaustion that weighed on their minds and hearts. Approaching the entrance of Kilerth village, broken down remnants of signs point the way. The air held a foul mood identical to previous villages. The mood only got more smothering the closer they came with a matching anxiety.
Rhetta had plotted a course of the villages they should travel through to get to the Legacy guild safely. Avoiding the main routes and roads, considering those frequented by the merchants and traders with a strong knight presence. It's the safest way to avoid any suspicion towards them.
All the unfortunate things they had seen, the area leading into the village was picturesque. Green, lush and filled with trees and fields sprayed with the colours of wild flowers. It was such a serene scene.
The image gave way to a deep nostalgia for Florian, she hummed a soft melodic tune.
"Is that a temple song?" Rhetta asked, listening to the tune, the question had Florian stop for a moment.
"It's a song from where I used to live, I wouldn't be caught dead singing it at the temple." Florian murmured, the temple would never condone having folk songs sung within their walls.
"Where you used to live?"
"I don't remember the name of the village, so I can't find my way back. I remember it was more or less the same as all the villages we've gone through." Florian tried her hardest to remember beyond the scope of a near forgotten memory from the perspective of a child. The details most memorable were only the things deemed important through the eyes of a child such as a rock that resembled the shape of a frog.
Next to those memories resided the painful ones. "A lot of men in our village were taken away and forced to work in the mines of the ruling lord. Most of the men who worked would live in the shelters provided, we never saw our father again after he was taken. The only men left behind in the village were the unsavoury kind. Drunkards and the like..."
"Then how did you end up at the temple?" Khio asked, realizing a crumbling village with no men and the temple shared no connection.
"The Sage took me to the temple."
Rhetta and Khio held their questions back, especially those relating to the connection Florian and the Sage shared. Florian could see their expressions painted with frustration and questions.
"He saved me and couldn't leave me behind, but he couldn't take me with him either. So, he took me to the temple and had them take me in. For a kid like me, food was hard to come by, and a warm bed was an unimaginable luxury. I could never complain, everything was more than I ever had outside."
"I see..." Rhetta showed a complicated face not knowing how to react to the words or even how to provide comfort.
"Saved you from what?" Khio plainly asked, getting a nudge on the arm from Rhetta over the lack of tact.
It was a simple question, Khio thought she had only asked it in her mind, the outright nature of it coming across a tad heartless. Khio believed it to be a justifiable curiosity in view of everything they encountered on their short journey. The amount of things a child would have had to be saved from was far greater than they could imagine.
Florian mulls over answering the question, she holds a blank expression. Unintentionally she touches the ends of her hair. The distinction made between her natural hair and what appeared dyed, it was obvious that it's not a natural occurrence. "People in desperate situations do stupid things..." Florian murmured.
"I told you about my village... How things were without the men save for those we didn't really want around. Being a girl in a village like that wasn't exactly safe, nor did we have any real guardians. From when I was young I had to cut my hair, disguise myself as a boy and hope for the best."
"Is that why you dyed your hair?" Rhetta queries, finding the occurrence of a child in such circumstance to afford a highly expensive dye that most nobles couldn't waste too much money on to be odd.
"This...I wasn't aware that at the time it was a trend for noble ladies to have young blonde boys as attendants and servants. I didn't have blonde hair, though it wasn't an issue for the one who sold me. He dyed my hair and sold me. I escaped and the Sage found me...the rest is history."
"My sister had a few..." Rhetta replied solemnly, not in the typical boastful manner of normal nobles but rather one of discomfort.
"Sounds like you saved yourself, don't give him so much credit."