Benedic rubbed his hands together.
"If this all goes as planned, heh!"
"If this all goes as planned what?"
"Don't fall for his trap. He's just acting mysterious to gain attention. Bet his only plan is to get drunk and ransack the town."
Benedic smiled.
"Exactly! Let's drink like there's no tomorrow!"
"Yeah!"
A group of lordings sat at Benedic's table. All the young men of standing frequented the Dragon's Burned Hoard. Of course, none of the men around Benedic held a candle to his bloodline.
This mattered to Benedic.
"I'm looking for Benedic Lapis!"
A woman in a burgundy coat shouted. She stood firm in the doorway of the inn.
"Another admirer of yours, Benedic?"
"Usually they aren't this bold, should we give her a reward?"
Benedic said nothing as he waited.
"Benedic Lapis? Is he here?"
Somebody pointed towards the table, realizing Benedic wasn't going to stand up.
She strode toward it and stopped with her hands crossed.
"I'm in a hurry, which one of you is Benedic?"
"That's me," he said.
The woman nodded. She took a moment.
"I'm Aureum, I met your sister back in Triviis. I wanted to ask how she was."
She made direct eye contact with him the entire time. This politeness irritated Benedic
"A likely story, asking about his sister so you came to this pub!"
One of the men sitting at the table said.
"What are you implying?"
The young man shut up as she shifted her gaze onto him.
Aureum tried to forgive the fool. After all, being in love with Benedic was the lie she told to find him. There was some fairness in her face being rubbed into it.
Still crass.
"My sister, Vitreum?" Benedic said. "You want to know about her?"
"I gave her the cat. We, get along great."
Aureum's expression and voice broke over the lie.
Please don't listen to your sister's complaints about me. Please don't listen to her.
Did I call her a brat or just think it repeatedly?
"The cat. Yes, I think I remember her talking about you. Bit odd to inquire about her, isn't it?"
"I found her in the street with only her bodyguards with supervision. Hearing you were here, I thought I'd inquire of her well-being."
Aureum smiled to punctuate her point.
She was implying that Benedic was being a neglectful lout. It wasn't that strange for her to be a busybody. It was strange to go looking for the young woman her husband from the future cheated on.
Aureum tried to cling to the appearance of normalcy.
Benedic frowned, his handsome face gaining a few raised veins from this minor slight.
"I see. Shall I just pass along your message to her then?"
He grabbed her wrist.
I've made him mad. But how?
To Aureum it made no sense. But to Benedic, it was equally ludicrous for someone of common descent to accost him over anything. Let alone family matters.
"Of course not," Aureum said, still searching for how things went wrong. "But I would appreciate it if you could arrange a meeting? In your busy schedule I would love to watch over her."
It looks like I won't get to see her through him. Nice start to the morning.
Benedic took a sharp look into her eye. She wasn't deferring in her gaze. Yet he let go all the same.
Aureum had stolen what she'd heard people from major bloodlines say. To use it to meet a child seemed a bit ridiculous, but oh well.
"I'll be looking forward to it," Benedic said, his tone implying anything but that.
Aureum gave a small bow. Surprising how such a fool inspired manners just from the threat of a tantrum.
Must be the years spent on a "decent" upbringing.
Whatever.
"I'm staying at the Pale Lady's," Aureum said.
Aureum had no time, she needed to be back at the inn in her bed now. She could feel Mendax moving as she spoke. She rushed out the door in much the same fashion she came.
———————————————————
She made it.
Then slept late into the afternoon.
Who cares if he has to wait? Let him rot.
The next few days were similar to the last. Aureum tried to go out more, doing more than just her chore at the University Library.
Spesavia still had not replied.
Typical. She's probably head-deep in some experiment of hers.
Aureum was dangerously close to acceptance towards that part of her business.
Traipsing the town for its shops and restaurants made the time go by fast. Especially without a guide for any hidden gems. It was all trial and error. But it wasn't like the stores weren't advertised. She found pretty much all she could want from a city.
Against Aureum's better judgment, she bought a dress she definitely didn't need. She'd passed over one like Lacuna's. Ultimately, Aureum lacked the confidence to pull off the delicate design.
Still nursing the desire to be pretty, she chose a different dress. It was a darker blue, shorter, but suited her far more.
She also promised herself she would not wear it on the road and ruin it. Which was the same as promising herself a day when she could use it without ruin.
She considered getting a better weapon. Her ability to throw, or lack of ability taught her better. A sword she didn't know how to use would just be used against her.
I don't have the time to learn in a week.
Being watched wasn't the best time to start learning either.
For now, she was able to familiarize herself with the streets she needed, which was the goal.
The time for the plan quickly approached. The last few days Aureum had felt almost bored, the nerves from its conception forgotten.
Only for them to come back as cold whispers the night before. They became mutterings within the heart of things to go wrong. By the time she neared the spot they had chosen the next day, the misgivings became like shouts in her mind.
She readjusted her cloak and ignored them. If it was this or wait for mercy she would choose this every time. Her experience gave her confidence things would get worse, not better, with inaction.
Aureum looked down upon the Vena, that river which had seen everything. Small personal vessels spotted across its surface. She stood upon a small bridge. Not over the Vena itself, but a small canal.
The weekly holiday was when they decided would be best.
Students were busy during the rest of the week, and the added crowds would help.
It would be soon for her to move. Aureum looked at the shadows and tried to gauge the time.
About another hour.
The invisible thread of mana began to move. As Aureum waited, Mendax came to the bridge's railing.
It took time. Mendax had kept his distance this past week and continued to keep his distance today. Aureum was on one side of the bridge, and Mendax was on the other.
He was difficult to see clearly. She glanced in his direction.
Ah, so he hides his face when he follows me.
It made sense. His features were too distinct not for her to recognize him. But the scarf and the cloak were a bit much for the weather.
Nice try, but a real traveler would put the scarf in a bag for today.
And for a while, everything was seemingly calm, with a thin thread of tension in the air.
There were the boats, the river, and the breeze.
After so much tension, Aureum felt something near to calmness.
If he came for her in violence, she would return it as much as she could.
That was all.
Her surroundings were peaceful. The view of light flickering atop the water, mesmerizing.
One of the boats came by, a tiny vessel with maybe four passengers. A girl played with a little cat in her arms. It reminded Aureum of Vitreum. She wondered if that brat had managed to take good care of her kitten.
I almost wish—
The cat climbed its way out of the girl's arms and twisted itself into falling into the river.
"Snuffles!"
The girl reached out to catch her cat. It's not like the waves were big, but they were enough to topple a girl who was already off balance and half over the edge.
Aureum had a half second where she sent all the wind she could manage to shove the girl into the boat.
But she failed. The girl had already fallen. The gust pushed against the other passengers, only stealing a hat.
Aureum didn't see that. She had already jumped over the bridge herself.
Everything be damned, she wasn't going to wait and let a tragedy occur.
The water hit her like a cold slap and then rushed past her ears.
It was like she was blind. In the breeze, she "heard" what was going on around her. In the river, she had nothing. Aureum opened her eyes. The girl was over there, her dress and dark hair like a cloud.
Aureum swam towards her. She grabbed one of the girl's arms, as a maligned hand grabbed the other. Aureum saw Mendax, without his cloak or scarf.
Aureum went to pull the girl up. Mendax had the same idea, and they all broke the surface of the water together.
"Ah, give her back to us!"
One of the passengers from the boat called.
The girl coughed as she spat water out.
"I don't know if I can lift her. Can you—
"M-my cat?"
Aureum looked at Mendax. He looked around, and took a dive back into the water.
"I'm gonna try and get her close to the shore, all right?" Aureum said.
"All right, we'll meet you there."
"B-but Snuffles!"
"First things first," Aureum said.
She was tiring fast. She hadn't bothered to take off her cloak, and with the girl as well, she was slower than a turtle on land. Mendax came back, a sodden furball getting sloshed under his arm.
With him, they managed to get her back to the shore by the bridge. A little crowd had collected by the commotion.
The girl was returned to her parents. The cat was miserable but suffered no real harm.
"Thank you for your sharp eyes, I would have felt awful if anything terrible had happened."
"It would have been harder not to notice."
Mendax stood beside her, also being congratulated.
Aureum felt uncomfortable. She should have taken her cloak off.
As Aureum pulled away from the crowd, he waved them off and went in a different direction. Only to collect his discarded things and run to catch up with her.
Everything is ruined now, isn't it? I'll be right next to him if he continues to follow me.
"What a coincidence," Aureum said, her voice cutting with rage.
Mendax had the decency not to smile at that.
"Coincidences happen."
"Yeah, sure they do," she replied.
All goodwill for his unexpected help vanished.
Fine. I'll do it even if I'm soaked. Malum be hung.
She no longer knew if it was early or late, but strode her sudden footsteps to the ambush spot. He followed her a bit in silence.
"Aren't you being a bit rude?" He said.
Aureum gave him one of her own sneers. It wasn't hideous, but it was haughty.
He stopped, realizing something was wrong, but it was too late.
Sitis came down from one direction, and his friend came down from the other.
Gaudium was his name. Sitis said somebody at the academy he'd knew would be willing to show up for somebody following a woman around.
His friend was a wiry man. Similar in height to Sitis, but a lot less bulky.
Mendax's face was a question to Aureum.
"I guess," she said, the words tasting like bile, "coincidences happen."
His eyes darted, his face twisted one way, only for him to be still. His body only, his mouth moved plenty.
They were in a slim alley.
"Do you know why they chose to ambush me?"
Mendax directed this to the one person he didn't know, Sitis' friend.
"I heard you liked shadowing women, and I thought I had to stop that," Gaudium said.
"Followin'—Me? Her? You're thinkin' a little highly of yourself."
"Mendax, I know you stay outside the Pale Lady's until about an hour after midnight."
Aureum words were succinct.
Mendax gave a slow blink.
"I know you come back about an hour before dawn."
He lowered his head.
"I want to know why."
He looked back up at her, his pale green eyes looking worn.
"I swear, it's nothing like you think."
"So he admits it."
This was Gaudium.
"Wait."
That was Sitis beside Aureum.
"I was hired by her father, Calces Zizan. I was to find her for him. I'm not some filth that would stalk a woman!"