Saintess Summons Skeletons

“And that’s it for my early childhood basically, I would say it stops there. As you can guess I managed to reunite with Saria later, that was only like three years ago though. Lots of stuff happened in between,” Sofia finished her story as she ate the last bit of her second plate of meat.

“You really just stabbed the guy like that? No hesitation, nothing?” Speed asked, surprised by the levity of Sofia’s description of what was essentially her first murder.

“Yeah, stabbed him in his face. I barely had the time to worry about it really, it was just a matter of doing what needs to be done to escape. Saw an opportunity and I grabbed it. That was probably when my obsession with bones started, actually. I had been holding onto that thing for days, waiting for a chance to do something with it. I just wanted to try to use it to break the lock of my chains, initially, but bone against steel doesn’t work that well. In the end this one bone’s the reason I’m still alive today.”

“That’s certainly a crazy story…”

“Oh that’s not even half of it, just look at me now, with all the shit I have been up to these last few years, you could probably write a book… Several books.”

“Why don’t you, then? You’re not bad at telling stories, I’m sure people would be interested in reading that.”

“No time. I’m not sure it’s that interesting anyway. And most of all… That would be a bit too dangerous. Because of uh… My extended family. They’re not very keen on being featured in literature.”

“You mean Sorrow and the other demons?” Speed asked.

“Uh… Not quite… Do you remember the name from my status?”

“Aphet-... Something? Sorry, I’m not very good with names…”

“That’s alright… That’s for the better, actually. I-... If we ever have a second date I’ll explain more about it,” Sofia finally said, deciding to keep this touchy subject for later.

“Sure. Should I-”

Speed stopped speaking as the Avian waiter walked up to their table.

“Honored guests, has the food been to your taste so far?”

“It was delicious,” Sofia happily answered, and Speed nodded in agreement.

“Good to hear,” the waiter said, “I stopped by to warn you that tonight’s musical performance will be starting in the theatre right below us in a bit, you may be relocated to a calmer place if you wish, or stay to enjoy the show from this vantage point.”

Sofia and Speed looked at each other, Sofia shrugged, so Speed answered, “We will stay here, thank you for asking.”

“Understood, please call me if you have any request,” the waiter told them before turning around.

“Wait!” Sofia called out.

“Yes?” the avian waiter asked, turning back.

“Is this place entirely run by avians?” Sofia asked.

“Indee. The lodge is a family business,” the waiter proudly answered, “we seven siblings have been managing hellsgate lodge for almost five hundred years since our parents’ regretful passing.”

“That’s…” Sofia was a bit lost for words, “My condolences?”

“It has been long, no need for any kind words, but thank you for your concern. Why the interest in our establishment, if I may ask?” the waiter questioned.

“An avian friend of mine has been searching for other survivors, mostly unsuccessfully, so I was curious…”

“Is that so?!” the waiter answered in surprise, his voice not as composed as it was prior, “Well, we are no survivors, our parents were. Nevertheless, please tell your friend to come visit us. We would be glad to meet them.”

“Oh right… Since you are second generation survivors, is that why you do not share the same language quirks? I certainly will tell her, she will be happy too, I’m sure.

The waiter cackled in the same eerie bird noises Sofia had gotten used to from hanging out with teacher Eternam in Brighthall. “Our kin is rare as it is, we would be glad to meet another survivor,” he said, “We actually hold semi-regular meetings here, there are about thirty of us, but being a race of natural hermits, we know many survivors must still be scattered about, much like your friend.”

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“That certainly doesn’t help. Speaking of which… I am surprised Eternam has not told her about this place… Does he not know…” Sofia mumbled.

The waiter clearly ticked when he heard the name, “Eternam? Are you referring to Professor Aoldun from Exidia? Are you acquainted with him?!” the waiter asked with insistence, and bulging eyes, drawing closer to the table.

Speed disappeared from his chair, standing next to the table he placed a hand in front of the waiter, “hey, hey, respect a lady’s space, will you?”

The waiter stopped with a jolt. Blinking several times, he took a step back and apologized, “My apologies for my reaction… It’s just, we’ve tried to contact him for so long.”

“No harm done,” Sofia said with a shrug, “Is there something wrong with Eternam?”

The waiter cleared his throat and explained, “The thing is, we have been aware of professor Aoldun’s existence for a few years… But he has never answered a single one of our letters! Despite several attempts to communicate, we have never heard back from him! Not a single time!”

“Really? That’s strange…” Sofia started, before remembering exactly what kind of a person Eternam was. He barely even gave the time of day to fellow professors if they had no shared interests like necromancy. Who knew what he might do to a letter from an unknown sender? They might end up directly into his chimney without even being opened. “Hmm… Maybe not so strange… Do you want me to send him a letter in your stead? I worked with him for a while.”

“You did?” Speed and the waiter both asked in unison.

“I was a replacement professor at Brighthall for a year,” Sofia casually answered, showing them her Exidian ID, then taking a letter-sized paper-thin bone slate from her storage. She scribbled a few lines on it with her nail guiding [Bone dominus], and stuffed that into an envelope, which she held out to Speed. “Sorry to give you work during our date, but can you deliver that after we’re done? I’ll pay you… Whenever I get another stone…”

Speed rolled his eyes, but took the envelope. He turned to the waiter to explain, “I deliver mail for a living, if that Eternam guy answers you will get it here in under a week. If not I’ll at least confirm that he did receive the letter.”

“Th- That would be…” The waiter started. It took him a while to properly sort his thoughts, and after confirming a few details with Sofia and Speed, and profusely apologized for disturbing their meal for so long, disappearing to take care of the other guests. He came back a while later with two of his siblings, who thanked Sofia and Speed them for their help, insisting that the meal was on the house, and that they could order as much dessert as they wanted until the lodge closed for the day.

As the three avians left them to their dessert, Speed leaned back in his chair. “I can’t believe you ended up paying for the meal anyway…”

“I didn’t, though?” Sofia argued.

“Yeah you did, you’re the one helping them reunite with another avian, not me.”

“You’re the one delivering the letter, though? I’d say it’s more on you, I just wrote a few words.”

“True, but… Ah, I guess we both paid, then. Fine… But I’m paying next time,” Speed decisively announced.

“Oh, so there will be a next time, you think?”

“Do you not want to?” Speed asked, looking immediately downcast.

Sofia giggled, “I don’t mind a second time. You still haven’t told me about your story with Water yet.”

“Oh… Oops. There was just so much to talk about with just your story, I got sidetracked… Well, there’s still time before we have to leave.”

“I think it’s better to keep it for next time,” Sofia said, “I’m sure I’ll be getting sidetracked asking you a lot of questions as well, no reason to rush it. How about we explore lighter subjects to end the night on a lighter note?”

Speed nodded, “No point ruining a sweet dessert with a sour story, we can talk about hobbies, then? And I don’t mean bone collecting. You have very beautiful handwriting, do you write a lot?”

“You barely got to see me write,” Sofia answered with a smirk, “my handwriting is quite mediocre, actually. My magic writing though, very clean, very refined. Since I can sculpt bone, I trained it for precision. I can carve beautiful words with ease now, much easier than carving convincing faces. That would be my other real hobby, probably, besides reading and collecting bones, just sculpting. Look, I’ve got quite a few of those,” Sofia said, taking out small bone figurines of monsters and people. “This one is Saria in her Brighthall student uniform. She was there as a student while I played teacher. Not bad, right?”

“Can I touch them?” Speed asked.

“Go ahead, just don’t break it.”

“Of course.”

Speed delicately picked up one of the sculptures representing a wolf, he turned it around, looking at the details.

“That’s impressive, honestly, you’re a really good sculptor.”

“Thanks. This is what I do to relax. It trains my magic too so it’s a perfect guilt-free hobby. What about you? Do you just run?”

“Running is hardly a hobby when your name is Speed. I appreciate slower activities, actually; it’s a good change of pace. I have been painting since I was around ten, mostly portraits. As a bunch of essence without a real form, I always found the idea of a face being yours truly fascinating. I don’t have any of my art with me but I could show you next time, if you want,” Speed suggested

“I would love to see that,” Sofia happily agreed, her attention turning back to the sweet cake on her plate.