NOVEL NEXT Chapter 145 – Souvenirs for a Visit
"All too often, people judge gifts given by others with their monetary values. In truth however, the sincerity of the giver and whether it was something the recipient liked or not tend to matter more, especially amongst family." - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.
After the feast, everyone retired for the night at the governor's mansion. The building was a more traditionally built one, similar in size to the one Artair's family lived in, set near a cliff that gave them a view of the ocean beyond.
Aideen woke up the next day when the first rays of the morning sun hit her eyes from a gap between the curtains, and she slowly, gently rose from the large bed she and Artair spent the night on, careful so as not to wake him. He still slept soundly besides her, his snores almost like a cat's purr in sound, a juxtaposition that she always found adorable.
Still naked as she was from the previous night's activities, Aideen just crudely wrapped a thin silken robe around her body, as she went to the window and viewed the rising sun far away at the horizon for a while.
Afterwards, she noticed that it was still early, and decided to just let Artair sleep, as she went to the attached bathroom and washed herself. Unlike the bathroom at her home in Ptolodecca, where the plumbing was setup to allow water to drizzle over her like a rain, or the pool-like baths in the imperial palace, the one in the governor's mansion was set up like a constantly flowing waterfall.
Enchantments were clearly at work, to keep the water circulated, and to re-purify the used water for later use. She found the temperature of the water somewhat cold, but it was a comfortable coolness, and walked under the flow of water as she washed herself clean.
By the time she returned to the bedroom with a towel wrapped around her, clean and refreshed, she found that Artair had woken up. He stretched his limbs and back almost like a cat as he yawned widely, his fangs on full display, then gave her a loving kiss as he walked by her and took his turn in the bathroom.
She was dressed in a fresh tunic and trousers by the time he returned from the bathroom, and was putting her boots on. He quickly dressed himself in something similarly simple, as they had planned to take a walk around the markets that morning.
They went out together, and met with Artair's fourth mother and Maria on their way out. The young half-therian girl seemed all too eager to show them around, so they ended up bringing her along as their guide, though her mother also came along to watch over her.
As they walked from the mansion towards the harbor district, Aideen traded stories with Helga, Artair's fourth mother, while he entertained his half-sister. Helga turned out to be the fourth daughter of Jarl Gulski, whose territory is near the southeastern corner of Ur-Teros.
The Jarldom had always favored trade with both its neighbors and further nations, and they had regularly traded their local specialties for Elmaiyan specialties for a tidy sum of profit for decades now. Helga had first visited Elmaiya during the days of the second empire, when she was maybe Maria's age, as her father visited together with his entire family shortly after his enthronement.
During his younger days, her father had built a friendship with the current governor-admiral of Quelos, as he had captained a trade ship himself in those days and frequently stopped at Quelos.
It was from his introduction that the family first met Artair's father, Illyvich. On a later visit when she was twenty, they happened to meet the then-Dux again because he happened to be in town as well, and from there, some attraction began to build up between them.
Helga was considered rather unattractive by normal standards, so when she found someone who actually considered her pretty - even if he had to add "for a human" to the end of the sentence, and even if he was from a different race with obviously different aesthetical preferences - she was naturally happy to hear it.
Even the fact that Illyvich already had three wives and a son nearly her age had not bothered her much - such things were common amongst nobles anyway, and even her own father had six wives - and before too long they were wed.
She was actually happy with her life in the Veros household, as unexpectedly, her husband's other wives accepted her quite easily, and blissful days just continued until her daughter Maria was born.
The plague and the civil war that followed had worried her, but fortunately neither her nor her then infant daughter were affected badly by the illness, even as it took Illyvich's third wife, Artair's mother.
Helga had originally wished to stay with her husband when he dispersed the family during the civil war, but finally was made to see the logic to his thoughts, and she had gone to her ancestral home in the Gulski Jarldom until the civil war petered out and the family reunited.
While they talked, they had inadvertently reached the harbor district. There, Maria led them towards the biggest marketplace. Immediately they were welcome with raucous noises, as well as the smell of fish that permeated the air.
Many merchants and local vendors hawked their wares from long-established stalls - those that sold fresh seafood seemed to be prevalent - while those from abroad had either used rented, simple stalls, or like in Rostem, simply laid a mat, sat on it, and spread their wares before them.
Aideen had just asked what Illyvich might prefer for a gift when, as one, Artair, Maria, and Helga turned and replied with "food". Aideen followed their lead as they headed towards a particularly large stall which sold a large variance of seafood of all sorts, aa she thought that it might not be a bad idea to get Mimia and Éirynn some local specialties as well.
In the end, they bought huge cuts from a large fish that had a long, pointy snout, the cuts taken from the fattiest section of the fish's belly, where the flesh was so fatty it was light pinkish in color. On top of that she also bought many kinds of shellfish, crabs, and large, reddish prawns for Mimia and Éirynn to try out.
