We left Balim with more questions than answers, though we did manage to reunite with Kona. We learnt that magic did exist, and in reality, it still does. I held it in my hand and saw it with my own eyes. Though the existence of Wrath, the abilities I have, surely that's the same thing? I always suspected, but this finally confirmed it for me: magic is real.
As these thoughts flooded my mind during our long walk north, more thoughts came to me, thoughts that were not entirely my own. Wrath knew something of magic and was only now letting me know. A magic item is nothing compared to a magic human. As that thought shot through my mind, I understood that magic was not just things that held power but people as well. Would I be considered a magic person?
'No'. Wrath's thoughts echoed in my mind. 'You are something far worse.'
I tried to prod Wrath for more information and an explanation, but as usual, he remained quiet.
Days crawled past during our long walk. Thankfully, Balim generously provided us with additional supplies of water and food. It was a quiet and long walk north with little said between us during the days. For the first few nights, my bed was lonely, though after a few, I asked Kona to sleep alongside me. She asked me if that was okay, and when I said it was, she hugged me. It was pleasant to lie next to her again; it gave me a sense of calm at night. Though I noticed whenever I would awake, if the first thing I saw was her, an inexplicable panic would wash over me and dissipate just as quickly. I didn't quite understand why.
I despised long travels like this, where every day was the same repetitive thing. The days blurred together, and I lost track of how long we had been walking. Weeks? Most likely. A month? I don't even know. But we kept walking, ever editing the seemingly endless march through the great bulwark that separated the two halves of the world.
After what felt like an eternity, we passed through a small town with a sign outside its wooden entry gate calling it 'The Rest'. It was small, still bigger than my hometown, but smaller than other towns like Glenumbra or Eastwatch. I assumed this was much like the small town of Emperors Rest, a town with plenty of inns with comfortable beds and good food.
After a much-needed sleep in a comfortable bed, the next morning came, and we found that we all wanted to stay an extra day here, so we could simply rest and recover from the long journey.
Over breakfast, Nigel said he wanted to ask around town to see if we could exchange our franks for the local currency somewhere and if there was a transport service to get a carriage or wagon to the imperial city. That left Kona and me free to do as we pleased.
I thought about suggesting things we could do, but we were tired and wanted to recover. Normally, we would exercise or spar with each other as we did during downtime at Red Beach. I sat there, thinking of something, anything to say.
"Wanna go on a picnic?" Kona said casually, her hand resting in her palm as she leaned with one elbow on the table.
"A what?"
"Picnic. Get some food, find a nice spot under a tree in some grass, and relax. Just… do nothing for a bit?"
I had never heard the word picnic before; I didn't even know that picnic was a word for such a specific activity. Of course, I agreed as we left the inn.
The two of us walked around a bit, looking at various stores that sold food that we could get. Settling on some fresh bread, fruits and cheeses. Kona told me about a small hill just outside of the town to the south with a large, thick tree perched atop it by itself and asked me to take the food there while she went to buy some drinks.
I left the south gate carrying the small basket of food and quickly spotted the hill she was talking about. It was rounded and smooth with a large tree sitting atop its peak. I trudged up the hill and sat in the shadow of the tree, looking southwards at the vast open land at my feet, stretching onto the horizon and vanishing beyond it; even Balim wasn't in sight, even as a faint dark speck.
I sat, looking out at the great plain before me, where we had travelled for a while before Kona appeared at the base of the hill with another basket in hand, waving as she walked up. She sat next to me, placing her backpack on the other side, out of my view, as she pulled out a wine bottle, handing it to me.
"Wine?"
"Mmhm! I also got water if you don't want wine. But I figured I would be good to celebrate just a little." She reached back and grabbed a full water bottle pouch from the basket and placed it on the grass between us.
"Celebrate?" I held the wine out to her for her to grab.
She took it as she tilted her head, looking at me intently. "Not a fan of wine?" I hadn't realised until after she said something, but I was scowling at the bottle.
"Oh, it's just… my mother drank this stuff all the time. After seeing how drunk she got, I didn't ever want to touch the stuff."
Kona grabbed the bottle and pulled open the cork, creating a loud pop. "You ever tried it?" She held the bottle to her lips and took a swig from it. She held the bottle out to me.
I let loose a small groan as I grabbed the bottle from her hand and pressed it against my lips. I had drunk alcohol before, but that was just mead, and wine was much, much stronger. As I tilted the bottle up, I was dreading the incoming taste as I felt the red liquid flow over my lips.
"Not every day's your birthday."
I lurched forward and piled the bottle aside as I sprayed out a light red mist from my mouth. I let my tongue hang out as I groaned from the strong taste. Kona laughed as she reached over and took the bottle back, taking another quick swig as I coughed.
"Did you forget? Or are you more surprised that I didn't?"
She put the bottle between her thighs, holding it in place as she reached back into her basket and pulled out a muffin. Holding it out to me.
"They didn't have any cakes, so… happy birthday."
I wiped the residual wine from my face as she presented the muffin. The travel here was all just one big blur to me, so I had no idea what day it was. But the fact that she remembered made me really happy. I reached out and grabbed the muffin, ripping it in half and giving half of it back to her.
She smiled and took it, and we both ate the tiny half muffin in one bite. It was very different from the cake that I had eaten in the past; it was unlike anything I've had before, actually. There were small dark spots that were surprisingly sweet-tasting and almost overpowering in their intense but pleasant flavour.
Kona read the directions on my face with ease. "It's called chocolate. A somewhat recent invention in the capital."
"It's good. Really good."
She held up the wine bottle again. "So what did you think about this? Don't like it."
I looked at the bottle again, trying to remember the taste of it that I had briefly had. "I'm not sure, it seemed okay, but I didn't actually drink any yet."
She leaned back slightly as she took another swig of wine from the bottle. Leaning over towards me, she pressed her lips against mine, her height forcing my head to tilt up slightly as she opened her mouth, allowing the wine to flow from her mouth to mine, with some escaping and running down my cheek.
I swallowed the wine and shuddered at the strong alcoholic taste of it as Kona moved back.
"Not a fan of wine?"
"I don't think so."
"Well, happy birthday anyway."
She smiled and opened the basket that we had between us that housed the food we had bought. The two of us sat atop the hill, gazing southward at the endless green before us as we indulged in warm bread, fresh grapes and fine cheese for the next few hours.
As the sun started to hang lower in the sky and Kona finished the bottle of wine, we decided it was best to return to the inn and find Nigel. As she stood, Kona had some trouble keeping her balance, so I helped to walk her down the hill and back into town.
As she leaned against me, with her arm over my shoulders, her hand started to rub my chest as her head nuzzled against mine. She pressed her body against mine more. I felt the heat radiating from her body like a small fire. As if her intentions weren't obvious enough, she even started to sniff at my hair.
As we walked towards the inn, Nigel was coming the other way. He spotted us and waved, walking over. I asked him to help carry Kona as she leaned more and more of her weight on me, and I felt as if I could topple over any second.
The two of us carried her inside the inn and upstairs to her room, placing her on the bed and leaving.
Nigel and I sat down at the bar of the tavern and talked over a drink. I figured since it was my sixteenth birthday, I could indulge in some mead for a change. Curious, Nigel also ordered one for himself.
"You're not one to drink regularly. And Kona looked super drunk."
"She drank a whole bottle of wine over lunch. We went on a… picnic?"
"Picnic? Sounds romantic."
I froze with the pint of mead against my lips, trying not to repeat the same mistake as I did with the wine. Was that romantic? Was she doing that intentionally, knowing it was romantic? Was her intention to take me on a date and then bed me afterwards? I lowered the pint and shook the thoughts from my head.
"Anything to report on your end?"
"Yes, actually. I found a guy who'll take us to the city for a fair sum of franks. Also, we can exchange our money here, since this is one of the few places that accepts both currencies."
"Shall we go do that now, then?"
Nigel nodded as he swallowed his mouthful of mead. "Our transport refused to take franks, only crowns. So, we'll exchange our money and then pay for his services before dinner."
"Sounds like a plan."
The two of us raised our half-empty pints and clanged them together, downing the rest of the liquid in one long go before slamming them on the counter in front of us. We waved to the bartender and left the inn.
We went into a store that apparently trades currencies and got our franks swapped out for crowns. We got around ten thousand crowns, which was much lighter and easier to carry than the two hundred thousand franks we had before.
We spoke with a married couple of merchants who were willing to give us a ride. They had two wagons, one full and the other half full. If we could all fit inside the rear of the wagon, we were welcome to tag along, after paying a handful of crowns, of course.
We returned to the tavern and had dinner. I debated whether I should go upstairs and wake Kona for dinner, but I figured it was best to let her sleep and just have a large breakfast come morning. Either way, we enjoyed the small rest we had here before continuing onward.