The Quantum Wanderer

“Lord, what is the line outside the inn?”

“They are waiting for a vacant table to open up.”

“Did you have you have to wait, lord? Other inns are not like this.”

“They let me in…” I giggle.

The bard, from the stage, notices Roberta and smiles. He keeps singing. After another 3 songs, he finishes. He puts the lute on the stage. He bows down for the public. He gives a particular bow to our table. The crowd gives him a standing ovation. Including Flora and Springtime. I clap as well. This is fun.

The bard gets down from the stage, and walks our way. He bows down in front of us.

“Lord Autumnstart, Lord Marcelo… Ladies.”  He stands up and shakes the kid’s hair. He has that smile that is way better than mine. It is funny, I never was an outgoing person.

“Good afternoon, “ Autumnstart say, “the song is catchy. It is a pity I hadn’t heard it before.”

“When you sing for the right group, the music almost play itself, my lord.”

I giggle.

“No need for all that.” I answer. “Where did you get the information for the song? Don’t get me wrong, a lot of it is just not correct, but I am curious.”

“Why, my lord, those are all public records. If you know where to look. If you just read the good book.”

I take a look at him, I have no idea what he is talking about.

“Sidhu’s good book, my lord. I have traveled the land, and I have met many  a people. Including centaurs. We exchanged letters.”

“That is a very long distance for letters!”

“Birds help a lot, my lord.” He laughs.

“What else did he tell?”

“Only things that are in Sidhu’s book. Non secret things. He refused to tell me about their encounter with you.”

I laugh.

“So only everything else.”

The bard tilts his head, with a very charismatic smile.

“Of course, if lord wishes to help fix this poor bard’s tale…”

I laugh. We hear the light laughter in the wind.

“Who is this jewel by your side, lord?”

Roberta blushes. She extends a hand, he grabs and kisses it.

“I am his head chef.” Roberta answers.

“Really? It must be a fascinating job!”

“Yes it is!”

“Is there any tale you can tell me?”

Roberta looks to both her side, and assumes a conspiratorial tone.

“Well… Can you keep a secret?”

The bard is now completely focused on Roberta. The rest of the world kind of disappeared to him. He doesn’t even pay attention to the fact that I am right there. He just nods frantically.

“So can I.”  She answers, and sits down. Muninn is laughing loudly, rolling on the table. I laugh as well. Her timing was perfect. I turn to him.

“Did you tell her about that?”

“Yup. It is funny.”

I laugh some more. The bard surrender, and laughs as well. I am pretty sure that he invests everything he has towards his charisma. We all laugh at the table. He points to an empty chair.

“May I sit, lords?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

He sits down.

“I must ask about your adventures.”

“According to what I heard, you guys are already aware of most of it. Not much to add. Things just… Happen. I don’t keep searching for crazy stuff. I am probably a crazy magnet.”

He laughs.

“Where are the wives?”

“They are doing some dress fitting. But, err, I have to set the record straight. You left Cecilia out of the tale. She is the one that pays attention to this kind of stuff.”

“The human?” He laughs. “Of course, I will add her later to the tale…”

Muninn laughs.

“You are very calm, bard… Very calm. If she faces the hero, I would put my money on her. Perhaps a wing too…” And he laughs some more.

The bard raises his brows. He looks at Autumnstart, that nods. He looks at Roberta. She looks at me questioning if she can answer, and then back at him. She nods. Several times. He looks at the table, one of the chairs that was empty now has a dryad sitting on it. The dryad also nods.

The bard then registers the new person around the table and gets a fright. But then he relaxes and looks at her. She nods.

“The weakest of them is a dragon… And soon will not be.” She laughs at the bard new found terror.

The bard fixes a strand of hair that wasn’t out of place. He stands up and bows.

“I am sorry, lord. I will fix it prontly!”

He goes away, we keep sipping our drinks. Muninn and the dryad are laughing their butts off. Knowing that the dryads share Muninn’s humor is scary. The waitress comes to the table, and I gesture Roberta to get something. She gets some tea. She looks at the dryad up close. She keeps her thoughts to herself, though.

We spend another half an hour, and say our goodbyes. Roberta and I jump through a portal that I opened in an alley to get back home.

The girls are in our room. The maids are helping them to get ready for Edward’s ball. There is a set of men’s clothes on the bed. I touch it to feel the texture. It is smooth and light.

“Hi, my villain! Did you have fun?” Cecilia asks.

“Always… Did you girls have fun? How are the dresses?”

“They are ready for the ball, my lord.” Opal answers.

“How was the elves?” Cecilia asks.

“It was fun. Roberta took an express seat into the herb house. There is now a bard that sings in the inn that we keep going to.”

“Express seat?”

“Yes. The house dryad asked me to provide her her food. I told her that I would do that after I took Roberta to the spice shop. So the dryad made sure Roberta went there. She created a couch from the ground, and the couch moved, Roberta included, all the way to the shop.”

Cecilia giggles.

“It must have been an experience.”

“It must have.”

“How were the songs played by the bard?” Aquamarine asks.

“They were nice. The first one was a fantasy loosely based on our story. A lot of wrong stuff, but fun nonetheless.”

The maids are helping with make up, though it is mostly unncessary. I open my bag of holding that contains dwarven treasures, and place several different necklaces on the bed. The maids bulge their eyes out, but each maid selects one, and puts on the girl they are helping prepare. The dragonesses opt for dresses with some of their color mixed in. Of course, it ends up matching their hair color.

The girls are absolutely stunning. I sort out my socks and pants from the male clothes on the bed, and I go to the bathroom to change. I dress the pants, I come back to the room. I slowly put on the several layers of clothing that was provided.

It fits surprisingly well. They didn’t really have my measurements, but somehow it worked out fine. I take a look at a mirror. It is a little too flamboyant for my taste, but this is the current fashion. Cecilia turns around and looks at me. She stands up and brings me a small vial. There is an oil inside, she puts some behind my ears.

”Now, you even smell good, my villain.”

”I don’t know, I prefer my lord’s normal smell… That one feels… Fake. Plant like.” Opal comments.

”For humans this is better.”

”Humpf.”

The dresses bring out their attributes. They are absolutely stunning. We go down the house. Roberta and Rudolph, ever prepared, have some food on the table for us. Edward would never be able to provide us kraken meat, and that way the eating habits of the girls will not be exposed.

We have a quick meal, very careful not to spill any food on the clothes. After we are done, it is time to go to Edward’s.

 I look at the pathway up to Edward’s house. I cast a fly spell, but I remain close to the ground, floating just a couple of inches up from it. The girls do the same. Even for Cecilia this is not a hard thing to do. We move forward slowly, as if we were walking.

We get to the gate in Edward’s house, we are allowed to go in. The guards throw us a couple of weird glances, when they notice that we are actually not stepping on the ground. We go to the house, and we land by the entrance.

We are taken inside, to the ball room. It is  a very large room, with a bright chandelier on top. There is a low stage, where a string quartet is playing some soft background music. There are several people there. Once we enter, a guy by the door slams a staff against the floor 3 times, and announces.

“Lord Marcelo and Wives!”

I had even forgotten about this level of protocol. I never really enjoy much about it. I turn to the girls. Cecilia excited, the dragonesses not so much. They feel a little… bored. Edward was talking to another noble that I haven’t met, and he comes over to greet us. The rest of the nobles are staring at our strange group. A man, several wives, two crows on his shoulders.

“Lord Marcelo! How nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too, your grace.”

I bow a little, Cecilia does a courtesy. The other girls show some intent of courtesy, as opposed to really doing it. Edward comes closer. He pretends he is whispering to me, but he actually talks to Muninn and Huginn.

“I am sorry about not being able to announce you, but it would make it harder to keep your father’s secrets.”

Muninn whispers back.

“We understand it. We are going to play the part.”

We take a look around the room. Addrianna has a lot of other ladies around her. They are talking excitedly about something, apparently. But Addrianna breaks the circle to approach us. That’s when I see that Caius and Sophia are with her.

Sophia has Rebirth on her shoulder. She runs in front of her mother, and does a courtesy, directed at Muninn and Huginn that are on my shoulders. It looks like the courtesy is directed at me, though. I bow a little to her. Caius does a bow as well. Rebirth jumps to the floor, and shows their kind of courtesy. Then stands up and goes back to her owner’s shoulder.

There is a noble with his hand up. I remember him, he is the viscount where the duel thing happened. I wave at him. I turn to the girls. I am amazed at how much difference the cloth of the dresses made. The girls’, Addrianna’s and Sophia’s dresses are now in another level. The cloth has a lightness that is just not present in the other women’s. Addrianna comments about this.

“You have made us the envy of the party. Specially in these parts. The elves are too far away from here. Their products just don’t get here.”

She twirls around. Some of the cloth flying around. Her dress is styled in a different way than the girls. Sophia sees her mother, and she does the same. My girls’ dresses are more straight cut. It feels like a someone that had a sketch tried to copy a style they are not used to. Cecilia is thinking about something deeply.

“Your grace, would you mind providing the designs of the fashionable dresses? We might want to try for those as well…”

“Of course, I will get some sent to your home.”

I intervene.

“Autumnstart also suggested that we can have the dresses done there.”

“Why would we do that, my villain?”

“He told me that they can make seamless dresses. As if the dress were always a single piece. And then, having the design, you could probably try that.”

Cecilia and Addrianna are staring at me, imagining it.

“You are such a romantic, my villain…”

I laugh. Opal sighs. She doesn’t really care about this kind of conversation.

At this point, we hear the announcer again hitting the staff against floor again.

“HIS MAJESTY, EMPEROR ANTHON AND THE HEIR!”

The whole room turns towards the door, and fall on their knees. I again was about to, but Edward holds my shoulder and shakes his head. I see Addrianna doing the same to Cecilia. The dragonesses, obviously, don’t even start the movement to kneel.

Anthon immediately sees us, and does a beeline straight to us.

“Good evening, lord Marcelo. Ladies.”

Anthon reaches out Cecilia’s hand and kisses it.

“Good evening, your highness.” I reply.

“Good evening, cousin. Lady Addrianna.”

Anthon does the same with Addrianna. Sophia offers her hand as well, he kisses her hand. Then he nudges Cesar, and the kid does the same to Sophia’s hand.

“Your… dresses seem different. Am I imagining things?”

“No, I had forgotten to tell you, cousin. We had some help to meet a merchant that had elven cloth available. It is absolutely exquisite.”

“Oh. What a pity I missed it. It looks comfortable as well.”

“I have a new favorite suit right now, your highness. And not only to the touch, but the thermal comfort is off the charts as well.”

“Oh well. I wish I could be present for the sale, but unfortunately I had matters…”

“Anything serious, your highness?”

“A bit. But this is not the place for sad news. Let’s enjoy this wonderful party! Excuse me, I have to some protocol to keep.”

He turns around, and very quickly there are several nobles around him, all of them trying to curry some favor.

The viscount from before join our group. He is looking at the dresses.

“Really, the cloth is just finest! Pray tell, where would I be able to find such merchant?”

Edward is the one answer.

“I am sorry, this was one of those very rare opportunities. I don’t know if I will be able to have the change again myself.”

“What a pity…” He turns to me. “So, lord Marcelo, sometimes I see you walking around using some leather armor. Would I be imposing if I asked why?”

“I think I told you that I am an adventurer.”

“And that allows you to keep your estate? That is some impressive work.”

“Well, I do hunt an occasional Fenrir.”

“Well, congratulations. I wish I was that strong. Perhaps it would even help me with lands… But pls enlighten us, what kind of news have you heard recently? Is the guild telling something that we should also know about?”

I try to think for a minute. Then I have an idea.

“I haven’t visited the guild in the past couple of weeks, but last time I was there, they had the escort banner thing. If we were to get an escort across long distances, we were supposed to use a banner that they would provide.”

“Hum… Do you know why?”

“Now I only have rumors to spread. Apparently, there is a hero or something in the war between Romuela and Elator. Surely you heard about this war, no?”

“Yes! But I have heard the craziest rumors you can imagine. Some people are even saying that their lead commander was a dragon! Can you even conceive the amount of imagination of those simpletons? A dragon?

“But whether he was a dragon or not, the information around is that Romuela did take control of Elator. And now the hero’s group is on their way! Talk about coincidences! If some of the rumors are true, the hero is reaching Elator’s capital, now a Romuela city, tomorrow!

“And if other rumors are true, Romuela’s commander is gone. The people with the dragon theory said that he just flew away… Others say that he fell to poison or murder, and was fed to piranhas in some river that gets to the Big River…”

“This is fun!” I say. “We can almost choose what truth we want!”

Edward laughs. Maids in uniform carry tray and serve drinks to all in the house. The viscount keeps asking about adventurer’s life. It looks like it is what he wanted to do, but when I tell him about sleeping in the forest, mosquitoes, dangers, he remembers why that would be a bad idea.

The quartet change the volume and the speed of sound, starting some music that is more danceable. People get in that waltz formation, the dance is all a theater. It looks like they all know what the next act in the dance is going to be. I am a little lost. Women walk with their right hand holding their skirts, around a single point, that is touched by their left hand. Men raise their elbows to their faces, and then bring them down as they walk. The viscount goes after some women, to try to find a partner to participate in the dance.

Sophia is staring at Huginn, on my shoulder. She tilts her head. Then she looks at Cecilia’s hand. Then the other girls’ hands.

“Mama, look how pretty!” She points to Cecilia’s nails.

“Pretty indeed! Where did you get that?”

Cecilia gets closer to Addrianna. “We had our nails done in Shoria. It was something we had done in the past, and we enjoyed.”

Ruby nods.

“If the sword is sharp enough, why not also be pretty?”

It feels like Addrianna did not understand the sentence, but Edward did. He sighs. Addrianna takes a look.

“I wish I could do like you do… Just ask and go there.”

“I can take you.” Cecilia mentions.

Edward turns his head immediately.

“Wait! I thought only lord Marcelo…”

“Muninn taught me. I must say, without my current levels, it would be impossible. I slept for days after.”

Edward laughs. Cecilia turns to him.

“What?”

“I am trying to figure out what Ambrose would be willing to pay to learn things that way.”

“No kidding! I ended up learning some crazy ideas on how things work. Particles, forces, fields, mechanics, gravity, time… I had to get a lot of Marcelo’s understanding to be able to walk on his footsteps and cast that thing.”

She turned back to Addrianna.

“Anyway, if you want, we can visit Shoria.”

Addrianna is staring at Cecilia’s nails.

“Of course, let’s set a date tomorrow!”

The rhythm is changed once again, and the dancing changes to a more normal waltz. I dance a song with each girl. I can’t help but whisper compliments to each of them while we are dancing.

The rest of the night goes over normally. I almost don’t believe that the gods that rule this reality allowed me to have a ball without any fuss, without anyone getting killed.

We go home, and have some fun in the bedroom, where we enjoy taking out the elaborate clothing.

Next morning, during breakfast, I remind the girls that I am going to be taking Rajesh and Dávrin’s groups to the elves. The girls tell me that they want to join us. I play with idea in my mind whether I should tell them about the bard in the ‘Soaked Leaf’ or not. I decide to let them have a surprise.

Shortly after breakfast, I open the portal to our house in the elven city.

“Girls, I am going to do the thing for the dryads. I will be back in less than half an hour. I am going to bring Rajesh’s and Dávrins groups at nine, like we set it up. Do you want to walk around the city some more?”

“Sure, it sounds fun, my lord.” Aquamarine says.

For Aquamarine, being around several people is helping her learn to control her new powers. She is learning to people out. For her, the empathy thing is like smelling, it is something hard to stop. Needless to say, something that she desperately wants to control.

We go out the house. As always, there is an elf close by that starts running towards Autumnstart’s house. I fly up, out the city, to the place of Ipê’s roots. I open the portal on the subterranean place, letting it all go.

Ipê appears to my side. She is making the same kind of faces that we do when we eat kraken meat cooked with elven spices by Roberta.

“Hi Ipê.”

“Good morning, big brother. This time big brother came early.”

“Yes. I am going to bring guests in a little bit, I wanted them to have some time to really enjoy the city. It is not a practical travel for them… How have you been?”

“Greener than ever, thanks to big brother. The amount of seeds I put out… Some of my sisters are calling me slutty…” She does her best slutty imitation. She falls short. Hilariously short.

I laugh. Time here is fun. Ipê sits by a root. Close to her, a daisy like flower pops up slowly from the ground. When the flower opens up, Ipê picks it up and starts playing with the petals.

“Big brother…”

“Yes, Ipê?”

“What can we make so that big brother stays more time here…? What pleases big brother?” She tries to make a sensual face, but I am not into lolis. Her index finger on her lips does nothing to me. It makes me laugh, actually.

“To be honest, I never thought much about those things. A lot of things just… Happened. I don’t have a house amongst the dwarves, for instance. But I visit often. Is this not enough?”

“That’s not what I mean, big brother… It is a lot better than not having big brother. We just wanted… More of big brother…”

“You are already getting all of me…” I look down, to show her what I am talking about.

“I know, big brother. I don’t mean that way. We appreciate that. A lot. We really do. But appreciate big brother as well. We haven’t had this much fun in ages!”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you… Perhaps you can also talk to the girls? They might have something…? I am not being hard, it’s just…”

“Big brother was never greedy.”

“That’s a way to put, though I don’t think I am that noble. I don’t consider myself a selfless hero, far from it.”

“Ipê will pretend this is the truth.” She shows me a very happy smile. I fly back to the front of my house.