Naran’s Terrace had become something of a favourite meeting place for Aralim. The tea brewery overlooking the Ake’ma River waterfront served delicious beverages and baked goods, usually kept some tables free for the nobility—with whom Aralim was somehow included—and seemed blissfully empty of the Emperor’s Aura.
Today’s company at the Terrace was none other than Councillor Soot, the ambitious schemer whom Aralim had recently met following his near-death at the hands of the enigmatic bandit gang. With his ideas of inciting the masses delayed by the Emperor’s considerations, and his staff nearly complete pending the completion of its lantern, Aralim was had little of his “normal” tasks to do. His new undertaking was inspired by the words in Rattar’s secretive letter.
Soot arrived oblivious to that letter, of course. He sat down at Aralim’s table with an expression of delighted surprise. “I’ve met here many times. Good choice, Ambassador.”
“I assume you’ve met Wella here then; she introduced me,” Aralim said.
“Wella and many others,” Soot returned, with a wink. A servant approached, ready to fulfill their requests. “Oh, I will have a Magan reed tea, please.”
Aralim had not heard of it, despite his visit to the Eye of Maga, so he ordered one, too. Remembering how quickly they served the tea before, Aralim didn’t speak up until after their beverages arrived. Soot waited patiently, then sipped his tea as Aralim began, “I’ve asked you here because at times I need aid with things that I don’t want the Emperor to know about.”
The Councillor nearly choked on his tea, quickly lowering it from his mouth and wiping his mouth with a kerchief while his eyes watered. He smiled through it and said, “Well, I am intrigued. I only hope I don’t end up like the last spy master in whom you confided.”
“That was Ovoe’s own doing,” Aralim assured the darker-haired man. Then, to pre-empt his request, he explained, “I’m looking for someone right now—and sometimes it’s simply better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”
“By all means then: how can I help?”
Aralim sipped his tea. A mix of cinnamon and an herb he didn’t know filled his mouth. It wasn’t quite as stimulating as the Numa herbal tea that Aralim usually drank, but it was exquisite nonetheless. “What do you know about the prisoner of the Opal Valley?” the Walker asked.
Soot blinked. “There’s a prisoner…?” he asked, trailing off. He looked confused.
Grand Mage Rattar had instructed Aralim to seek out the prisoner of the Opal Valley if he needed to know more details about Rattar’s quest or the importance of the war in the east. Aralim didn’t know what to make of any of it, quite yet.
“Well, the Opal Valley is the birthplace of His Ascendance. A dozen shrines and temples dot the slopes, not that Tag’na has visited once in the last… recorded history.” Soot smirked. He turned his teacup on the table, remiss to drink while Aralim had caught his attention with such a strange question. “The place is crawling with his Aura. He could very well have a prisoner there, but it’d be as difficult as finding one in the Iron Palace, I would imagine…. How did you hear about this?”
“A letter from a friend,” Aralim said, simply. “Where is the Valley?”
Soot shrugged. “Just over a hundred miles to the west. On some maps, the village of Vagar is indicated, instead of the name of the Valley.”
Aralim suppressed a chuckle. He’d spent at least a year in Rema, during his two times in the city, and had never even heard of the Valley. Maybe he should have taken the religious side of Tag’na’s rule more seriously—surely the devout worshippers who attended the Iron Palace twice a week would have told him about their God’s birthplace.
But a hundred miles was easily walkable. Aralim guessed it would take around three to four days, based on his long history of trekking on various roads. It might end poorly, he thought. After all, Tag’na would know as soon as Aralim left the city. It might have even been possible for the Emperor to get word to the Valley in advance of Aralim and prohibit him entering. Nonetheless, Rattar had instructed him to try such a walk, if he saw fit. “Perhaps I’ll be going for a very long walk,” Aralim told Soot, with a smile.
“Do let me know what you find,” Soot interjected, before Aralim’s next question.
“How has the investigation of the bandit hideout gone?” Aralim glanced across the river as he spoke; supposedly the warehouse where General Vanra had found bed supplies and rations was over there. “The Emperor told me they found one, though I presume you have ears involved.”
Soot nodded sternly. “There was enough evidence of that warehouse being a base that Vanra has tasked his soldiers with scouring similar locations, both in the waterfront and across Rema. There haven’t been any attacks since the attempt on my life, but I trust our enemies still lie low and plan for similar goals.”
“No names, but enough of a kink to make them reorganize at least,” Aralim said, preferring the positive side of their progress to the lack of solid answers. “There should be enough time for my investigation into this Valley then.”
“I suspect so.” Soot paused after he spoke and sipped his tea contemplatively. “Would you be open to making a deal, of sorts?”
“As sure as the tide,” Aralim answered, quickly. His sailor roots tended to bubble up when he got excited.
Soot smiled. “It’s a tricky business—making deals with me. I tend not to keep secrets, so I can’t very well trade with them. Instead, I deal in favours. Does your Path allow room for trust in a matter such as this?”
Aralim paused and glanced around their table. The townspeople that frequented Naran’s were mostly of a higher class than some of the places Aralim liked to go, but at least they respected the privacy of others. Two merchants seemed to be going over ledgers at the nearest table and were equally as protective of their subject matter. “I came to the Emperor to learn from his power. If I were to help you, I would either learn from you or I would see him in action. Both are helpful to my progress on the Path.”
Soot laughed, though Aralim’s face remained stoic. “Like Ovoe,” he pointed out again. Then he raised a hand defensively. “I know, I know—you weren’t responsible.”
“I wasn’t helping Ovoe…” Aralim explained. “He asked me to kill a woman to prove my loyalty. I refused. That was the limit of our working together.”
The younger man blinked, suddenly serious. “Damn that man then. If there are dirty deeds to be done, there are dirty men to hire.”
“So, what favour would you ask of me?”
Soot smiled. He clearly already had an idea in mind. “Will you travel with guards? Or friends? Or alone?”
“I’m most likely to be allowed in alone, if the Aura is present in the Valley,” Aralim said. Instantly, his mind was filled with flashbacks of the Aura not allowing a man to enter. That attacker at the Palace—during his first year in Rema—had been surrounded by dozens of quiet orange-robed men and women. He had been pierced by spears a dozen times before he had finished flailing. No number of slain Aura had caused the force of their aggression to waiver.
“Wouldn’t your order supersede that of the Aura or one of the Emperor’s priests?” Soot asked, curious. He was still trying to gauge Aralim’s relationship with the Emperor.
“That’s not how the Aura works…” Aralim explained. “The Emperor sees everything they see, but he cannot change their orders from afar… if, for example, their orders are, ‘kill everyone on sight, except Aralim’…” He trailed off.
Soot rubbed his forehead impatiently. If he had learned something about the Aura just now, he did not act like it. “Fine. Then our deal can be a smaller one. Tell me what you learn of this ‘prisoner’, and I will owe you a small favour.”
Aralim smiled widely. “You wanted to come?”
“My absence would be obvious. I simply wanted to introduce you to a new friend, so to speak.”
“I wouldn’t advise it,” Aralim repeated. “Should I return in one piece, I will share what I find with you.”
“I won’t ask you for more,” Soot said, smiling politely. As the athletic man took another sip of his tea, Aralim could tell he very much did want to ask for more. So much for trust, Aralim thought, but he couldn’t blame Soot. Aralim had first arrived in Rema two years ago and already knew more than most did about His Ascendance.
Perhaps in the Opal Valley, he would learn even more. He packed a bag as soon as he got home from Naran’s.