The Endless Solvent

Half of her face swelled up and she couldn’t open one of her eyes. It was painful to swallow, her neck feeling immensely sore and tender from having hands wrapped around it.

Pain didn’t bother her. Not anymore.

Instead, it was how Adlo wasn’t looking at her anymore and the obvious smug triumph in the auburn haired woman’s face. It was the way Midge looked at her the way people would look at urchin children they passed on the street: detachment tinged with disgust.

Maybe she deserved it. Adlo had given her a chance and she decided to go against his word, and because of what? She fucked it up over some made-up belief that she was being guided through obscure signs. Fate and destiny didn’t happen to people like her - people like her who could be bought and sold like cattle, people like her who should have died and would have been better off.

She flinched when she saw a hand approach her but it didn’t strike her. Instead it patted her shoulder, indicating she should follow. Lord Leton himself stood next to her, gesturing towards the exit out of the arena. Nilda couldn’t look up to where Adlo was anymore.

About four other men joined them at the exit, all of them with swords strapped to their hips; they were perhaps Lord Leton’s bodyguards. One of them glanced at her when she started shaking but none of them said anything.

“The carriage?” Lord Leton’s deep voice asked. Nilda flinched again when he settled a hand onto her shoulder again. She continued to shake.

“It’s right here, sir,” one of his bodyguards gestured to the street and a horse-drawn carriage pulled up. “But are you sure…”

Before anyone else could say anything, Lord Leton’s hands steered her to the carriage and the door opened. Nilda found herself inside the small, cramped space and the nobleman climbed in after her. The door shut. The carriage started moving.

Nilda had never been in a carriage before. The thought didn’t cross her mind as she pressed herself into the hard wooden seat and tried to force herself to stop shaking. It was another oppressively hot day in the Heart, yet she felt chilled to the bone.

“How old are you?” Lord Leton asked. He didn’t stare at her as he sat across from her, he simply looked out the window and watched the scenery go by as the carriage pulled them along the streets. Even then, it didn’t feel like he was ignoring her.

She shrugged as an answer.

He raised his eyebrows. They were thick but not unpleasantly thick and framed over dark brown eyes. His dark hair was tinged with gray and was cropped short and styled back. His tunic was a plain light brown and the buckle that held it together seemed modest, but upon closer inspection it was a fine dark wood trimmed with gold. Daylight filtered into the carriage and shone on the buckle. Gold rings adorned his index finger and pinkie. “An estimate?” he prodded.

Nilda sat in the swaying carriage, pondering the question for a long time. It helped with the shaking. Midge had kept a meticulous track of the days and weeks as he scheduled fights, so she knew she was there for three years. Before that, she had no idea how long she wandered the streets after the Being in Smoke… changed her. And even before that, it was rare for children on the streets to know how old they were. Some kids on the streets would say they were a certain age, but few knew how reliable that information was. Fewer still cared. She had a faint memory of her mother giving her a small piece of pastry she’d stolen. Was that for her birthday? How old was she when that happened?

Her head pounded and she closed her unswollen eye. “Fifteen, maybe sixteen. I don’t know exactly,” she said hoarsely.

“Hmm, younger than Taurin,” Lord Leton said thoughtfully.

Nilda stayed silent. Her shaking had gone down but now everything ached. She didn’t care about this well dressed man nor his daughter. She slumped down in her seat and let her body wallow deep in the soreness and aches. Pain didn’t bother her and often she welcomed it. It occupied her mind and she didn’t need to think back on Adlo’s chilled expression. Would she see him again?

She didn’t know how long they were in the carriage. When they stopped, Lord Leton left first and gestured again for her to follow. A blast of sea breeze hit her and she remembered she no longer had her cloak with her. She looked around, damp hair whipping at her tender face. They seemed to be further south from the Heart of Gaia since when she turned northward she could see the crowded clusters of brown and red buildings at a distance. They had stopped at what looked like the dead end street. On the left was a grassy knoll with a delicate looking gazebo surrounded by manicured bushes around it. On the right were tall pointed trees that swayed in the breeze right behind an intricate sandstone wall. All of this was situated on elevated land, almost a man’s height above them. She could just see the tip of a roof beyond all that, indicating a building stood there.

The crash of waves from the Blood Ocean greeted her as Lord Leton led her past the dead end street and down towards the water. Nilda had always seen the ocean, but she’d never been so close to it. She could nearly feel the sound of the waves hitting the jagged rocks. A dirt path led down to a rocky beach that was littered with rocks of all shapes and sizes. A sheer cliff face of rock held the house, the trees and the wall above them.

Just as she was getting suspicious of where he was leading her, she spotted a little cave at the bottom of the cliff face. It looked naturally formed, a rift that was taller than it was wide. Lord Leton stepped through it and beckoned for her to follow.

The cave held a door at the other end. It was a simple door but Nilda could tell it was made of fine wood. Small runes were etched around the brass handle. Lord Leton ran a finger over the runes and they glimmered at his touch, and a click sounded to indicate the door unlocked for him.

Bolstered by the salty scent of the ocean and strong crashing waves, Nilda found enough strength to care. “What is this place?” she rasped at him, not moving even as the nobleman held the door open for her.

“The Leton residence,” Lord Leton said, smiling slightly. “Your new home.”