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“Standard coinage in the New Day era consists of the Talon. Coins are two sided, with a dragon talon on one side, and a wing and number representing the coin’s value on the other. Twenty talons equal one wingbeat, and Talons come in one, three, and five unit increments. The Wingbeat is the standard unit of currency, issued by High Mountain Bank and Trust, and linked to the value of land owned by the Trans-Draconic Federation.”
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Chapter 25:
A Single Step
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#25.1 – Saturday, the 2nd day of the 11th Month…
“Scarlet… do you know anything about a train load of penguins being released near your school yesterday?”
“Dad, I’m too tired to know anything at all right now*.”
Scarlet felt it funny how the beginning of a journey could spark an enormous change. Three days earlier, she felt like her life was over. Yet today, the simple act of loading her many bags into the car became a calming experience. She knew the moment the electric motor started, no matter what, her world would never be the same again.
And so, at precisely on the dot of just after twenty-three minutes past four, while Scarlet was distracted by a bird, the family car set off for the Citadel.
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* #25.2 (Saturday 2/11) *
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Growing up, Scarlet had been well traveled. She’d been off-world twice*, and gone on several family holidays across Aren and along the Sword Coast†. Once, the family even went to Water’s Grasp+, an ancient city that made little Scarlet cry tears of excitement.
Now she made her way to Sun’s BeaconP, a city with more museums per capita than anywhere else on Aren, save for Arindell. Her family went through Sun’s Beacon on nearly every trip, but they never actually went there. Now, Scarlet got to go on her own, but she’d still only be staying overnight.
Getting to travel such an enormous distance was, in itself, a massive adventure, and one she’d scarcely ever dreamed of. Her own hopes and ideas for her life were far less grandiose. Not that she ever thought too much about it, but her plans were simple: grow up, attend a university in Arindell, get a research grant… and literally spend her whole life in the Library.
Until she met Emmerich. He told her about his adventures traveling the world in search of knowledge, and that gave Scarlet a reason to think she could ever go anywhere else.
Now, she stared out the window as the sun set over the Brutish Sea and her airplane descended to Sun’s Beacon International Airport. In the twilight she could make out the massive arch and the hero’s row# that dominated the city, the light house, and the mage tower which had stood since the dawn of Antiquity**.
Sighing, Scarlet hugged herself and tried to bury the lump in her stomach. Excited but also terrified, she’d never been this far from home by herself. Never this far from her parents… or from her massive collection of books which she was entirely convinced would be sad without her.
Scarlet had written to Naomi a few times. Once as a school assignment when she was seven, and about every year since then—plus cards on the major holidays. The fact that Naomi never wrote back concerned her.
But the Jusenkyou Family had an open invitation, so Scarlet felt confident she would be well-received. In preparation for Scarlet’s trip, her father sent a certified letter informing Naomi of his daughter’s impending arrival; though, due to the timing, they wouldn’t receive confirmation of the letter’s delivery until Scarlet was well under way.
The only regular service to the Citadel†† came by a Porters++ trade caravan that made the trip every two weeks. The letter would arrive by one caravan, and confirmation sent back the following fortnight. Trouble was, the return caravan would be returning from dropping Scarlet off.
So, yeah.
After deplaning and a minor panic attack in an airport restroom, Scarlet proceeded out of the terminal to the reception area. Her parents had accompanied her to the airport in Boarder WatchPP, and the layover in Agralia## was only a few hours. At least for this leg of the trip, she would still be well looked-after.
Roy Jusenkyou was often called the Man of a Thousand Friends, as he seemed to know somebody pretty much everywhere. In this case, a best friend from childhood, a man named Hansel De-Laural, now lived with a wife and children right in Sun’s Beacon. Scarlet had allegedly met the man, once, when she was eight***. He had agreed to help Scarlet with the tumultuous task of getting from the airport to the train station which would take her right to the ferry terminal.
Scarlet was a tad fuzzy on all the details. Having been distracted, most likely by an old book, the record in her head told her that Hansel would meet her at the airport, then something mumble something, and then she’d be on the train to the ferry terminal at six AM! Adventure!
Scarlet was tired.
At the baggage terminal, Scarlet set about dragging her suitcases down. She’d already rented a handy luggage cart, and with just the right combination of observational physics and timing, she had little difficulty getting the large bags onto it.
Shoving the huge mound along, Scarlet began looking for someone whom she felt certain she would never recognize.
“Scarlet?”
“Maybe?”
The tall blond man looked down at Scarlet with a bemused grin.
“Well, are you Scarlet or aren’t you?” he asked, teasing.
“…I don’t know,” Since leaving her parents in at Border Watch, Scarlet had flown over three thousand miles. She’d changed planes(because while direct flights existed, her father was still an accountant) and endured a stuffy layover. Now it was after dark and she’d been awake for twenty hours. Certainty of petty details such as her first name were far too difficult to confirm.
“Definitely Scarlet,” Hansel laughed. He put a hand on top of Scarlet’s head and passed the palm across to his chest. “You’ve grown a tad. What’s it been, five, six years?”
“You’ll have to tell me, I’m still a little fuzzy on the whole Scarlet part,” Scarlet admitted meekly.
“That’s right, you’ve been traveling a while, haven’t you?” Hansel nodded. “Well, come along, we’ll get a hot meal into you and maybe you into a hot bath and then you’ll feel better. Rel, help the young lady with her bags!”
A dark-haired boy emerged from behind Hansel and looked at Scarlet. He seemed about her age, with blond roots showing on his black-dyed hair. At a glance, Scarlet though he looked like any other teen boy, torn jeans and a hooded sweatshirt loudly proclaiming his undying love for some band Scarlet had never heard of. When he moved to greet her, his eyes didn’t quite meet her own.
“Hi,” Scarlet said uncomfortably.
Instinctively, she moved away as he circled around behind the baggage cart, and Scarlet felt thankful when he started pushing it for her. Deciding to stick with the adult, she instead walked beside Hansel as they headed for the car.
“So, here’s the plan, lil’ lady,” Hansel explained. “It is a not exactly short trip from here to the boat launch. We’re going to take you out for a nice scrumptious dinner, then back to our place for a few hours. You can rest, stretch, whatever; and then we’ll be driving all night to the ferry terminal. Boat leaves at six AM, should have you there right around five.”
“I thought I was taking a train?” Scarlet blinked.
“Well, I don’t think your father realizes it, but the trains don’t run this late,” Hansel said. “His idea was that we’d take you to the station a short ways off, but you’d just be sitting there all night and miss your boat. So, we’ll drive ya the whole way! How’s that sound?”
Scarlet summoned up all her strength. And used it to nod. “That’ll work.”
Hansel waved a hand in front of her eyes. “Boy, you are a zombie. You sure we don’t need to chop off your head? What d’ya say, Rel?”
Relend made a comment Scarlet didn’t hear but that sounded like a joke about putting her in a headlock, and Hansel laughed.
“I guess you’re a little dead on your feet,” he apologized.
“I spent all yesterday morning on a train,” Scarlet mumbled. “Up at three-AM to catch it. Out the house by four-thirtyish. Plane. Some airports. It’s tired me Scarlet worn out time.” She glanced back at Relend, then looked up at Hansel. “And I have met actual zombies. It’s true that cutting off their head will stop them, but not for the reason you’d think.”
“Wait, what?” Hansel said.
Scarlet yawned and rubbed her eyes. “Necromancers re-animate the dead by instilling within them an artificial sense of self. It’s like… the part of your soul that binds your conscious mind to your body. Cutting off an arm is ok; the arm can’t move by itself because it’s only a part of a whole; and the self remains in the rest of the body. Contrary to popular belief, they don’t need a brain at all; but they do need a skull. Remove the skull and the body is no longer complete, the sense of self dies, and the re-animated becomes de-animated. You quite literally can’t ‘kill’ a zombie; but you can trick it into believing its head has been cut off.”
Scarlet realized that Hansel had stopped dead in his tracks, and Relend, while pushing Scarlet’s luggage cart a few paces behind them, stared at her in slack-jawed amazement.
“What?” Scarlet said. “I thought everyone knew that. I was just making conversation.”
They continued to Hansel’s car in silence, and the DeLaural’s took care of loading Scarlet’s considerable luggage pile into the back. They only made a few jokes about bricks.
The front passenger seat was taken up by a large car seat, so Scarlet had to sit in back with Relend. Scarlet felt very much not in the mood for conversation, and young Relend clearly had no idea what to say. Scarlet did note, very uncomfortably, that once in the darkness of the car he did not one take his eyes off of her under-developed-even-for-her-age chest. Scarlet, who’d brought her Lancer pack from the plane into the cab with her, pulled it up onto her lap and hunched over it.
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* #25.3 (Saturday 2/11) *
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They pulled up to a tacky theme restaurant for dinner. Scarlet grinned from ear to ear when she walked into the place. Crimson Blade iconography covered one side, but the paint crew must have given up after the detailed images and just started spray-painting cartoon starships on the walls in between “war satellites” and “missiles” made from old car parts
It didn’t matter to Scarlet. She loved these places, the tackier the better. Unfortunately, as the DeLaurals would soon discover, nobody else liked going to tacky theme restaurants with Scarlet.
“Ok, that’s clearly a car transmission bolted to the end of a telephone pole,” Scarlet pointed. “That’s labeled as a J-II, but J-II’s never entered service(also I think it’s papier-mâché), that mural over there labeled ‘interceptor’ does not conform to ANY known interceptor design and is also clearly a light frigate—”
“Did… you just say a pair of parenthesis?” Hansel asked.
Scarlet shrugged. “It’s a family trait.” She stuffed a large fork full of food into her mouth and stared up at the ceiling, laughing through her clenched teeth. “Dat ish da WORSHED Sharatoga mock-up I have EVER sheen!!!”
“Hey, beautiful, you gonna need a re-fill on that drink?” Relend offered.
Scarlet forced down her half-chewed mouthful and glanced at him. “Huh? Yeah, I guess.”
Relend took the cup and headed for the soda fountain. Scarlet’s head wheeled around while her fork hovered, disheartened, unable to find her mouth.
“Pfft! ‘Battle Wagon’?! That is CLEARLY a neon-painted fire truck. Who the hell rides something that garish into battle?! …thaaaaat’s a prop from Star Wars MMMCCXXXII. It’s really a gun-prop, but someone appears to have glued two of them together and are pretending it’s a starship.”
Hansel gave her a cordial smile. “Are you a film buff as well as a history aficionado?”
“Brought you your drink,” Relend announced, placing the glass before Scarlet. “I put a little extra sweet in it for ya, babe.”
“Not really a film ‘buff’ per say,” Scarlet admitted, completely ignoring Relend and talking around a mouthful of fries. “But, I mean, even totally fictionalized films tend to use a lot of real things as props.
“They’ve also got a funny way of surviving where other things don’t. For example, we’ve got movies from before the Long Night that somehow managed to be preserved down through the ages, and they show us people and places that really are a whole other world. Like a late Sixth Age Slayer Dragon might have a bit part in a random movie, and that’s literally the only image of him that survives. It’s uncanny.”
“So, what’s your interest, purely academic, or is there also art?” Hansel asked.
“People tell me I talk too much at the theater?” Scarlet said. “I dunno. Our TV at home is weird; honestly most of what I know I read in books…”
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End:
Chapter Twenty-Five
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and then Add to home screen.