The Quantum Wanderer

I open a portal, and we go to the Empire, to the room we always go.  The door is closed, and I open it.  There is a guard stationed outside.

“Hi.”

The guard goes down on a kowtow position.  I continue.

“It’s ok, please stand up.  Just treat me how you guys always have.”

“I don’t know if I can…  your…  Holiness?  I am sorry, I don’t know how to talk to…  you…?”

I crouch near him, and I push his arm up.

“It’s ok.  I like to talk to people looking in the eyes.  And I am not particularly worried about being addressed in any way.  I consider Rajesh, Sidhu, and you guys my friends, more equals than anything else.”

I never expected, the guard started crying.  I really don’t know how to deal with this.

“Anyway…  Oh!  You’re speaking common.  How come?”

“Some guards were given the opportunity to study it, your Holiness.  I am one of them.  That way we can understand your words when you visit.”

I make a mental note, I will have the girls teach me some [demon], so that I can communicate with them in their language.  I don’t want them to adopt [common] just because that’s the language I speak.  Sure, if you want to learn because there are a lot other species that speak it, fine, but I don’t want it to be a church mandate.  I will have to talk to Sidhu about this, perhaps he might help.  Reading and writing in their own language, math, physics, at least the concepts, is a lot more beneficial to them.

“Did I offend you, your Holiness?”

I realized that I may have done some face.

“Not at all.  It’s the opposite.  I don’t want to impose something on you guys.  It seems I have been lazy.” I giggled a bit.  “Anyway, where is Rajesh?”

“He is in the noble’s festival, my lord.”

“Noble’s?  Is there more than one?”

“Yes, my lord.  There is one for the nobles, close to the palace, and there is another one in the middle of the city, for the plebeians, in front of the church.”

“Can you show me to Rajesh or are you stationed here?”

“It will be my honor, your Holiness.”

We go through the several corridors in the palace.  I can hear the guard humming something.  He seems happy.  We get off the palace, and in the street has a lot of decorations.  There are dragon drawings everywhere.

There are wires, and on them there are kind of paper rectangles, glued on the wire by the thin part, so that the large base is hanging down.  These are cut and painted in a way to remind fire.  There is a big music group of chord, playing some animated waltz, and people are performing a waltz around this big bonfire.

In front of it all there is a stage, probably built with some earth magic, where Rajesh, Aisha and Rutra were on the front, and some other people behind him.  He gestures me to come up, and I see that there are some additional chairs, actually a foot ahead of his, to his left.  Seven chairs.  I see that they are not fixed on the ground, and move it back the foot, so that I can talk to him.  When I turn around, the music stopped playing, and everyone is kowtowing.

“Rajesh, can you please help me here?  I would prefer if the party would just continue.”

Rajesh stands up, and say some sentences in a grandiose style.  People stand up and clap.  The musicians get back to playing the music, and people go back to dancing.  I turn to Rajesh.

“Hi Rajesh, I wasn’t even able to talk to you.  How are you?”

“I am fine, friend.  How are you?”

“I am very well.  The girls enjoyed yesterday’s event, even if it was a little tiring.  It was 14 hours of flight.  We had to visit a lot of places before coming to Andrea.”

“Other places than Andrea?  Where?”

“This is not the only land mass in the planet.  There is at least another, where most of the dragons live.  The area that you call ‘dragon’s land’ is actually just a nursery.”

“Oh!  Makes sense.  I wouldn’t imagine that amount of dragons in such a small place.  The chain of mountains is huge, of course, but the amount of dragons you flew with…  Let’s say Sidhu is writing a book.”

“I hope the whole thing didn’t disrupt your festival too much.  I didn’t know you guys had a festival on the first week of the seventh month.”

“This is the first one.”  He giggled.

“Oh.  Where is Sidhu?  I thought he would be with you.”

“He is by his church, remember?  He is celebrating there with the people.”

I keep looking at the dance, and it looks fun, even if a little stiff.  Just your noble’s way, I guess.  Everything has to be rehearsed, and people care more about the way they look than just having genuine fun.

I chit chat with Rajesh a little bit, and then I decide to visit the other party.  I wonder how more energetic than this it is.  The girls and I go down the streets, getting out of the noble district.  Just outside it, we see Sidhu’s church, that now has some dragons motif on the pillars as well as the crows and me.

In front of it, there is this huge bonfire, actually bigger than the nobles.  By the corners, there are people passed out, probably drunk.  Just outside the gate to get there, there is a drunk, that looks at me, up and down, looks at a bottle of something, says something, extends the bottle in my direction, say something else, and gives a big gulp.  We continue our way down.

“Siratra, what did he say?”

“He was drunk, master.  He said ‘this booze is good…  First, some pink dragons, now our god in person!’ and then he said ‘cheers’.”

I giggle a little.  This was funny.  I give a couple more of steps towards the bonfire. Someone points at me, shouts something, and the same thing happens.  Everyone kowtows in front of me.  The drunk guy, from before, looks back at me, extends his arm, raising the bottle, and says ‘cheers again’, and falls back, kind of passing out from drinking.

I giggle again, and I see Sidhu in front of the church, with his family.  I go there, and ask him to stand up.

“Sidhu, help me here, please.  I came here to enjoy the party with you guys, not to be isolated in some pedestal.  Can you please ask people to just resume their party?”

“As you command!”

“I am asking, not commanding…”

I feel like he ignored my last sentence.  He shouted something, and people started looking up.  I started pulling some people up, so that they could see that I didn’t care for the kowtowing so much.

Some demoness is coming out of an inn, with several cups of ale.  She quickly distributes them.  Then she looks at us, and then looks at the passed out demon in front of us.  She turns to a person close by, another demoness.  She whispers something in her ear, then gives her ear to, apparently, hear the response.

The response is long.  And the more is said, the more her eyes are bulging, and a vein starts popping on her head.  She comes close to us, and kowtow.  Siratra says something, and she stands up, and keeps repeating the same sentence, again and again.  Siratra translates for me.

“She is apologizing for her husband, master.”

“Tell her to not worry about it, it was actually fun.”  And I giggle a little.

Siratra translates.

The demoness first gives a couple of kicks on the guys.  I pity him a little.  Then she tries to drag him somewhere, but with his belly, she is having a hard time.  I turn to Siratra.

“Tell her to show the way.”

I grab the guy’s jacket and shirt, and start dragging him like a light but big suitcase.  I follow her, and we go to the inn she came from.  Siratra is following us.

The woman gestures me to drop him on the floor, and say something, that Siratra translates.

“She says to just drop him on the floor, master.”

“But I can put him on the bed, I don’t mind.”

Siratra translates.  The lady responds, kind of angry.

“She said that the floor will be good enough for him for the next week, master.”

“Ok.”

I drop the guy gently on the floor, and we leave.  The party outside is back on the track.  The music here is way more agitated, and body oriented, than the nobles.  The dances are a lot more chaotic, people are just moving for the pleasure of moving, celebrating this big bonfire, and having fun with their loved ones.

I go to where Sidhu is, and I see the imperial family coming out of the noble’s district, followed by all the nobles, and some guards.  The party stops again, and the people in the party kneel down.  Rajesh says something, with the same grandiose style, and some people start rising.  Sidhu say something to the guys playing some sort of violin, and they get back at the music they were playing.  People start getting excited again, and go back to dancing.

The musicians that were playing for the nobles arrive at the place.  They get to the guys playing the violin, and start playing the same tune. 

The whole atmosphere ends up getting me excited.  I turn to the girls, and ask who wants to dance.  They all say yes, and we join the dancing.  This one, everyone dances with everyone.  It’s not organized at all.  This is fun.

I look around, and I can see Aisha’s foot tapping on the ground, by the rhythm of the music.  I step out a little, and I whisper on Rajesh’s ear.

“You might want to ask the lady to dance.  Since you’re here already…”

I was thinking that any chance of assassination that could happen could, mostly, be mitigated.  And it is not like the danger of dancing as opposed to just standing some dozen feet from the populace would be that much higher.  I don’t believe anyone could ever have planned for something like that.

Rajesh grabs Aisha hand, and brings her to the dancing circle.  She says.

“Oh my!  His highness dancing!  Another miracle by the god of knowledge!”

And they join the circle.

Some of the nobles end up joining the circle, while some others stand aside, doing faces that looks like they are smelling something awful.

I dance individually with each girl as well.  Since the whole thing is not so stiff, I don’t mind messing up a step or two.

The night moves on.  I spend my time dancing with the girls, chatting with Sidhu and Rajesh.  Sidhu shows me some changes that they are doing to the church, due to my relationship with dragons.  I feel some tangling when I enter the church.  But in a good way, a soothing energy.  Sidhu is excited describing what he plans to put here and there.

He is also telling me of expanding the church to other cities as well.  And the idea for that came from other people, he is not the one financing it, he is just being an incentive.  I talk to him about my plans to learn [demon], so that their people don’t have to learn [common], and the whole thing about not forcing anyone to know [common].  They are free to learn it, but for the right reasons, not because of me.  He is moved by that, way more than I thought he would be.  This church thing is important to him.

We also visit the orphanage, the kids are all watching the party from the window.  The same thing happens, the kowtow, I gesture Sidhu, and he says something and the kids get up.  I look back, and this time the girls are behind Sidhu and me.  I wonder what they are thinking.

Sidhu says something to the kids, and we leave.  I wave them goodbye, and they wave back.

Sidhu mentions to me that the education program is going along, and that some of the kids end up being hired by nobles to help administer their lands, or merchants to help with the management of their shops after they outgrow the place.  And then I tell him the secret, that some of them are going to be the ones to be the merchants or officials in the future; they are going to know the whole business.

After some time, the party start to dwindle a little bit.  The sober are going home, and the drunk just sleeping on the street.  I accompany Rajesh to the palace, so that the girls and I can go home without a portal showing.  He provides us some food, and then we go home.  This was another full day.

On the following day, during breakfast, Rudolph brings a message.

“Sir, while you were out yesterday, you received a message from the emperor and the duke.  They wanted to invite you to a party.”

“When is the party?”

Rudolph answered this with a very smug face.

“It was going to be yesterday, but since you could not be found, it is going to be today, sir.”

I am getting a little worried, I think that Rudolph might be enjoying this a little bit too much.  I want to avoid problems, if possible.

“Is the party related to the dragon’s flight?”

“Apparently so, sir.”

“Do you know what kind of party it is going to be?  Is it a ball?”

“Just a normal party, sir.  This time, hosted by the duke.”

“Girls, do you want to go to another party today?”

“Sure.”  Cecilia answers.

“Is the party in your honor, my lord?” Opal asks.

“Not this one.  I think that the parade is going to be the reason for it, but it is more as a discussion topic, most people don’t know…”  I look at Rudolph, that is pretending to look away, “ most people would realize that we had nothing to do with the parade.”

I don’t know why I even try anymore.  Specially with them around.  On second thought, I initially was worried about that because I thought that I could be squashed by someone, and I wanted a normal, calm life.  I am already having a somewhat eventful one anyway.  But I don’t have to flaunt it around.

“What time is the party?”

“Evening, sir, it starts at sunset.”

I look at the girls, they are nodding.

“Sure.  It looks like a yes to me.”

“Of course, sir.  I will let them know.”

“Thank you, Rudolph.  I think we probably should eat before going to the party, though.  Can we have supper a little early?”

“Yes, sir, I will let the kitchen know.”

Rudolph leaves with a smile on his face.  At least he is happy.  I sigh.

We chit chat during breakfast, talking about the party in the previous night.  Cecilia and Siratra are still laughing about the inn owner that was drunk.  I really enjoyed the whole thing.  I don’t believe today’s party is going to be any close to what that one was.

After breakfast we split up just a bit.  Siratra prefers to stay in her room, and I give her some math exercises, since she enjoys them so much.  The other girls and I leave to take a stroll around town.  The stores are closed, apparently it is holiday, everyone is on the streets, talking the events of two days ago.   There is a rumor around that it was Wrax’s second coming, and that he was riding the front dragon.

Some people said that those dragons were created by Wrax, and the reason for the front ones to not have spikes was so that they could be more comfortably ridden by Wrax and his knights.  I am amazed on these people’s creativity.

If I think about, it could be considered an evolutionary trait, for the females, that have to be mounted for reproduction, to not be spiky as the males.  Kind of cruel with the females, but nature sometimes is.

Once we leave the noble’s district, we start strolling around town.

There are some people, using low tables as platforms, shouting, sometimes circled by some people.  I go by the first one, to listen in.

“…you, that was Wrax!  The end is near!  Repent, I tell you, repent.  Bow to him and his messengers!  The knights and Death and Rebirth!  Listen well!  Listen well!...”

There are some people around him listening, and in the back some people with the church of Nergal’s insignia, are making a bad face.  Good thing there is no religion persecution here in the Empire.  We keep going, and we go to the other one.  This one is dressed as a priest of Nergal.

“Don’t listen to false prophets!  The guild had foreseen it all, this is just a reminder by Nergal that everything in this land belongs to him, and his holy church!  Trust in the church, it is our strength…”

Funny enough, the one from the church was having a lot smaller audience.  It’s understandable, since people already know their message.

I start moving forward, and then I see this kind of church boss, coming in from the noble’s district.  He has several guards around him.

Instead of going by the middle of the street, that is empty, he decides to go through the crowd with the preacher for Wrax.  The guards keep telling people to move, they are in the way of a Bishop.

People start moving along, intimidated by the church paladins, and they bump into the preacher, that falls to the ground, and stays there.  They then move along the street, probably in the direction of their church.

I help the Wrax preacher up.  I do a little healing, he only has a couple of scratches and bruises from the fall.  I set his platform straight, he goes up on it, and thanks me.  Muninn and Huginn decide to land on my shoulder at that moment.  I whisper to them.

“You guys are going to make my life harder…”

Muninn ‘laughs’, and Huginn touchs me with her beak.  They fly to where they were, at the top of a ceiling.

The guy jumps of the low platform, and kowtows.

“MY LORD!!!”

I look around, and everyone is looking at us.  My social battery goes to zero almost immediately.  I reach down to the guy, and raise him up.

“Shhh, it’s ok.  I am not Wrax; I am not even a noble.  The crows are just…  a coincidence.”

“Of course, I see what you mean, my lord.”

He winks at me.  I don’t think this the result I wanted, but it is going to have to suffice for now.  He goes back to his platform, and clears his throat.  He starts his preaching again.  We just move along, walking around the city.

We go to the guild, to enjoy some fun time, and also listen to what people are saying.  There are a ton of gossip going around.

“I am telling you, it was Wrax.  My cousin has a friend, whose’s sister’s husband knows a light mage, and he said that there were people riding the dragons in the front.  It has to be him!  Who else?  According to legends, the dragons only went back to their lands after Nergal defeated Wrax, so Wrax was their master!”

Some people around this guys are scratching their chins, while others are just rolling their eyes, this is received with several degrees of credibility.

Then I hear a shout.

“It’s Lionheart!  And the full pride!  Actually, he is missing one.”

One guy on the side decided to have fun.

“Apparently the smart one is too smart for him!”

People laughed, and I did as well.  Cecilia laughed.  The dragonesses, not so much.  I gestured them that it is all right.

We sit down in a table, and I get some ale, while the girls go for a fruity wine.  Not as good as the drinks offered in our home, Edward’s or, last but not least, Rajesh’s, but reasonable.  Richard start approaching, and raises his cup.

“Cheers!”

Cecilia and I raise our cups, the dragonesses just make some displeased faces.  Opal just raises an eyebrow, Aquamarine has her face behind her hair, as always, and the other two do a little displeased face.

“Hi Richard.”

“Hi, Lionheart.”

“Hum.  What’s new?  I kind of have been busy for the last couple of days.”

“What do you mean?  Everything!  Did you not see the dragons’ flight?”

“Of course, but other than that?”

“Well, that is the main topic.  Very few people are buying the guild’s tale.  Everyone has their own theories.”

“Like what?”

“Well, firstly, it is obvious that the emperor is in on it.  The flight here came from the back of his castle, and he did a parade, from that point.  Him doing the parade is inconsequential, but the flight coming from behind the castle support that theory.”

“People are saying that he is in with the dragons’ plans to take over, and enslave us.”

“Oh, really? Hum…  What else is there?”

“Well, you’ve seen the people preaching on the streets.  There is a Wrax church that is rising.  This is getting uncomfortable for the church, that is excommunicating everyone associated with them.  Even friends that donate to the church, or sometimes family members.”

“Excommunicating them is reasonable, in terms of being something that they have a right to do.  But has there been violence?”

“Only by Nergal’s group.  Some paladins have being rough on the Wraxians.”

“What about the guards?”

“Since stuff has being a little on the soft side, just imposing some force, the guards have not intervened.  If they can’t prove anything, they don’t really meddle.”

“But do the guards intervene if there is a bigger aggression?”

“They actually do.  Nobody here is forced to pray to any god.  There is word that this is an issue between the Empire and the Holy Kingdom.”

“Nice to hear that.  It is good to know that the guards are not there to help the bad guys.”

“The one thing the Wraxians have on their side are the crows. Just like you, they apparently tamed the crows.  Their church is filled with them, they are a holy creature in their books.”

Muninn cawed.

“Does he understand what we are talking about?”

I shrugged.

“Are they tame?”

“I don’t know tame, they are friendly to me.  I help them on occasion, they help me on occasion.”

Muninn and Huginn jump on the table.  Richard lays down his arm near them, it has a metal armor around it.  I look at Muninn.

“Hey, don’t be an asshole.”

Richard looked at me with a questioning face, and Muninn cawed.  Richard got his arm closer, and Muninn jumped on it.  Well, Richard is not screaming, so Muninn is behaving.  This is good.

Muninn jumps back on the table, and stands near Huginn, in front of me, on the table.

We keep on chit chatting a bit, until it is time to go back, to get ready for tonight’s party.  We say our goodbyes, and leave the guild.

On the way to the noble’s district, the wraxian is still there, preaching.  He sees me, winks.

“I tell you Wrax is already among us.  He is bringing heaven’s justice, and little ones will prevail.  He is going to destroy the old, so the new can rise from ashes.  All hail Wrax!”

I scratch the back of my neck, this is bad.  Even worse that there is a bigger group around him now.  The paladins are really making an ugly face.  I just turn around and follow my way.  I can already picture Edward’s jokes.

We get home, have our showers, and have dinner. 

It’s time for another party.