By the time they returned back to the temple, the sun was beginning to set. The town of Ardgla.s.s was sat on the western side of the hill which towered next to it, casting a cool shadow over the land a few hours before the sun would finally descend under the horizon.Noone braced himself as he stepped through the stone archway and his senses were immediately restricted. His sight shrunk down to one and a half meters, and his movement was only the tiniest bit slowed.
Noone"s mood had calmed quite a bit since leaving the tailors. He put thoughts of the agreement he reached with Mr. Rynt aside for the time being. He had a lot to do in the meantime.
"Ah. Raelith, Noone." Feylin"s voice called them from an open hallway. He was carrying a large crate full of cleaning supplies stacked well above his head. "Jakobson told everyone to meet in his office once you both returned. Raelith, do you remember where it is?"
"Yep!" Raelith nodded.
"Alright. I will meet you guys there in a minute. I just need to drop this off." Feylin continued walking, not slowing down as he talked. Finally, he disappeared down another hall.
Noone followed Raelith, taking his time as he absorbed the architecture of the building.
When Noone had entered the temple earlier in the day he did not have time to explore the inside of the building before Raelith pulled him away to do errands. Now though, he couldn"t help but be fascinated by the structure. Unlike the buildings in Tapestry which were carved directly from the earth, the temple was made of a mixture of stacked block and stone slabs. Sometimes the connections were so fine that Noone was almost unable to tell where one slab ended, and another began.
In his heart he admired the builders behind such detailed work.
Raelith slowed her pace, noticing Noone"s appreciation of the surroundings.
Noone followed her closely with his senses stretched to their limit, taking everything in. On the other side of the wall to Noone"s right he sensed another person pa.s.s by, completely unaware that Noone had seen them. It was a young girl maybe of ten or eleven Noone guessed.
After a few minutes Noone and Raelith ran in to Sarah, heading in the same direction as them.
"Oh! Hey Rae, Noone. How was your time in town?" Her voice was strong and made of pure tones. It seemed that all of the stress which had been building up inside of her had disappeared.
For the first time, Noone saw her with her hair unbraided, still slightly damp from a shower. She was in simple clothes, a white cloth shirt and brown skirt made of simple fabrics. These were nothing like the clothes she had worn over the past year.
While Raelith and her talked, Noone noticed another person. He looked behind Sarah curiously. Following Sarah was the young girl he had seen earlier. She walked with an excited step and seemed to cling to the older Sarah.
The young girl was Yisanet, a child raised in the temple. She met Noone"s eyes with her own. Immediately her pupils widened, and her jaw dropped. The man before her was huge, just as large as the paladin she had met before.
But more than his size, Yisanet found herself unable to look away from the white lines which glowed atop Noone"s skin. It wasn"t so bright to be terribly distracting, but in contrast to Noone"s dark gray stone skin, it couldn"t have stuck out more.
"What are those?" The girl"s excited voice took Sarah off guard, only now realizing that Yisanet was staring at Noone.
"Yisa! Don"t be rude!" She frowned and scolded the young girl. Sarah did not expect Noone would mind much, but still she couldn"t let Yisanet just gawk at every person or race she had never seen before. Raelith couldn"t help but chuckle, immediately noticing the young girls shocked expression. She looked at Noone, seeing what he would say.
Noone couldn"t help but smile awkwardly. How forward…
This wasn"t the first time Noone had thought about what he would say when asked about his race or his unique looks. He even considered finding some way to cover up the magic lines which snaked over his flesh.
He actually asked Mr. Rynt about that before. That is what was on the slip of paper he was given. A recipe of herb mixture that could create a dark paste which should cover up the lines.
Noone was conflicted about the whole exchange. On one hand these lines were a sign of his people, his home, where he came from and the heritage of his ancestors. But Noone was not so naïve anymore to think that they wouldn"t cause him trouble every now and again.
This was especially so at night, or in the dark. A problem that his family in Tapestry never worried about was needing to hide. Here though, in the dark of night, Noone would stick out quite a bit.
Noone couldn"t help but shake these thoughts out of his head.
"Yisa? Is that your name?" Noone asked, giving a gentle smile similar to Raelith"s. The girl nodded but continued to trace the lines on his skin with her eyes. Noone held out his arms, showing them off to her.
"These are a sign of my people. I guess you could consider them a type of magic." Finally, the girl looked up at his face. She was surprised by how normal Noone"s voice was. Compared to his size and ma.s.s, Noone"s voice was not particularly gruff or gravely. Not deep or high pitched either. Just like the voice of someone you might meet in the market.
"So all of your family has the same marks?" Innocence was a wonderful thing Noone couldn"t help but think.
"Mhmm." He gave a single nod.
"Oh. I see."
Rae and Sarah shared a look between them, they knew that Noone was alone. They had heard by now what was left of his home at the end of the world.
"So…" The girls voice dragged out in the otherwise silent halls. "What magic can you do?" Everyone froze. Noone paused, unsure of how to respond to that. This was the last thing he was expecting her to ask. After thinking for a moment, he finally smiled with a thought.
"Hmm. Well. I can do this one thing." He said, giving a slight chuckle at the young girl"s antics. "Put your hands behind your back. Good, now think of a number and show it on your fingers, but don"t show me!"
Raelith and Sarah were both watching on curiously to see where Noone was going with this. Yisanet held her small hands out of Noone"s vision behind her back. She held up three fingers on each hand.
"Six." Noone said, using his extended sight to easily see behind the young girl.
Yisa"s eyes widened, and she stared at Noone in shock. From her reaction everyone could tell that Noone had guessed right. Suddenly she closed one hand into a fist.
"Three." Noone said, not even missing a beat. The little girl"s eyes narrowed.
"Ten. Nine. Five. None. One." The girl quickly cycled through more numbers and Noone chuckled pointing out each, amused by the stubborn look in Yisa"s eyes.
"How do you do that!?" She asked, exasperated by Noone"s ability. Noone just smiled.
"Magic."
Realizing Noone wasn"t going to tell her anything more, the girl resigned herself to her fate and ran off down the hall.
"No running in the temple! Yisanet!" Sarah yelled after her, but the young girl had already turned the corner. Sarah sighed.
"That girl…" She shook her head. "So. Noone, how did you do that?" Sarah looked Noone in the eyes, unable to hold back from asking. She of course knew that there were various thousands of magics in the world, but this was her first time hearing of Noone knowing any apart from the strange abilities he had used while possessed.
"Oh. That"s just a little trick. Not magic really." Noone smiled. He didn"t mind showing off his ability really, for better or worse he found himself trusting this group of people. But he also wasn"t going to just freely explain how his sight worked either.
Sarah tilted her head, unsure how to respond to that. Eventually she just shrugged it off.
The three continued to Jakobson"s office.
"One." Noone said, smiling at Sarah.
Sarah immediately met his eyes, shocked. Behind her back she was indeed holding a hand with one finger pointed out. She even made sure to casually stand in a way he wouldn"t be able to notice or see. But somehow, he knew what she was doing.
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Sarah cleared her throat and didn"t press for details. In her heart though she was mildly impressed and more than a little on guard.
Raelith said nothing, smiling in her usual cheerful way.
Sarah stepped through the door to Jakobson"s office first, followed by Raelith. Noone could see Jakobson and Sally already sitting inside waiting and drinking tea.
Suddenly Raelith stopped in the doorway, turning around to face Noone. Noone stopped himself from running into her, surprised by the suddenness of it.
"Noone. How many fingers am I holding up?" There was a light laughter to her voice. Noone smiled and focused his sight.
He saw her arm behind her back and immediately focused his senses on her hand.
His eyes went wide. Noone stared at Raelith, unsure of what to say.
He couldn"t see her hand behind her back. No matter how much he focused on it, all he could see was a blurry s.p.a.ce where her hand would be like it was covered in fog. In the mist were slivers of energy which dove in and out of reality.
Seeing his reaction, Raelith couldn"t help but chuckle.
"Don"t forget Noone. The world is large, and you are young. You have a lot to learn still." Rae said before stepping through the doorway.
Noone said nothing, but the smile on his face had disappeared. He scratched his chin, revealing a wry smile. He was unsure what to think about what just happened.