Born From A Divine Gamble

Bêtéclair was the second largest city in the empire and as such, one of the best defended. The first wall was just at the border of the woods. It was a four meters high palisade surrounded by watch towers on one side and a river-like moat on the other. Around each of its gates, ma.s.sive buildings housed the guards that were tasked on defending it.

Since Emp had forgot to remove his armor, the guards at the gate made a fuss but when he removed his helmet and gave them a smile, they let him through.

Behind that wall, there was a great amount of fields crisscrossed by small water channel feeding into the outside moat. Now that the forest was gone, Emp could see clearly the whole city. It was enormous, so much bigger than Red-water.

It was like someone had taken all the shapes and colors known to mankind and merged them together in one place. Artefine was the only place to enter the Steelwood empire reliably from and Bêtéclair being its capital, you could find people and ideas from all over the the surrounding nations in this place. Of course, even if Emp was about to see it all from up close, he would have no idea of what was from here and what came from somewhere else.

There were buildings of all size and towers sprouting everywhere from the city"s silhouette. From afar, it looked like some sort of weirdly shaped mountain though it wasn"t because it was built on a hill nor was it because there were more towers in the center of the town. It was just that there were so many of said towers that even if they were about equally spread everywhere, when you looked at the city from outside of it, it gave the illusion that they were all focused in the middle of it.

As he got closer to the city, he found out that it had no outside walls, or rather, that the city spilled out of its outside walls. All around the short stone wall, even shorter houses of both wood and stone had been built to cover as far as the entire width of Dark-Glint. Those houses were encroaching on the fields and pus.h.i.+ng them further from the city every time an new one was built.

The closer Emp got to the gate, the more lively it got. There were a ton of guards but they didn"t stop anyone from moving into and out of the city, they didn"t even look at the hunting cards of the people. It didn"t seem that strange since most people coming through lived just outside the gate.

On either side of the gate, a tall statue representing some sort of lean, furless creature with a grin of triangle teeth spanning its whole face and ram-like horns ending in a two meters high upward spike, was embedded in the wall. They both guarded the gate with their eyes but welcomed visitors with their open skeletal hands.

Emp thought they were really well sculpted, he wondered if all the other gates had the same statues as well. Of course, it was easy to tell they were statues and no one would believe them to be real even in the dead of night but, they were certainly not cheaply made either.

Emp pa.s.sed the gate and arrived right in the middle of a marketplace. For now, he had nothing to buy so he weaved himself through the crowd and moved into a real street.

The atmosphere here was different than what he had experienced in Red-water. Where in Red-water everyone walked and talked happily, here they ran and screamed in a whole range of emotions. There were busy people in a hurry to get somewhere and others standing by the roadside doing nothing but gazing at the pa.s.serby. It seemed chaotic to him.

Emp didn"t really like it, he felt smothered by the large amount of people present. The noise was obnoxious as well, he almost felt like back at the howling hill, the only difference being that there was less people there than in Bêtéclair.

Not only were they numerous and loud but they also wore all sorts of nonsensical things. Did Luck perhaps come here to give some of his clothes to everyone? There were clothes with all sorts of metal bits dangling from everywhere, clothes with only one sleeve and others that wrapped around the head of the wearer, long scarves and clothes with holes cut into them. There were even clothes made entirely out of leather straps.

The hairs and hats of everyone were just as extravagant, some in particular, he would have never believed possible if he had not seen it with his own eyes. After all, hairs were supposed to flow towards the ground, not toward the sky.

He felt regretful that he had not bought more clothes in Red-water. What kind of things would he end up wearing if he bought here? The good thing was that no one thought he looked strange with his armor on, they were all wearing much worse.

If they all wore those strange things though, maybe the clothes he thought were normal were the weird ones instead? Maybe normal changed depending on where you were?

In any case, he had more pressing matters to think about than figuring out the clothes everyone wore or why there were so many towers built in this city. The real problem was that just like when he entered Red-water, he had no idea where he was going and no one around seemed to talk the same language as him.

A had learnt a few words of their own language but he didn"t feel confident enough to try to match them into something coherent. Chinui hadn"t told him were the school would be so he couldn"t just walk there. Since he didn"t know where he was going he could only walk forward and follow the road until he found something like the merchant guild in Red-water.

But, just walking forward was much harder than it seemed. Why was everyone moving so slowly? Even though many were running and there was a lot of pus.h.i.+ng and shoving, everyone seemed to barely make any progress at all. They were all walking at a normal pace but somehow, the distance they traveled was far less than it should and this stopped Emp from moving through the streets as fast as he wanted. They all seemed to think it was perfectly normal as well.

Emp chose to give up on understanding why this was so for now and took the time to admire his surroundings instead. Later, he wanted to go around the city to see all it had to offer but since he really wanted to clear the school problem from his mind first, this was the best he could do. Houses and shops he pa.s.sed weren"t that extraordinary to look at but the towers looming over them were quite impressive.

There were all kinds of them, a tower with a waterfall, a tower with each of its layers being a different garden, a tower with a flaming top, dozens of bell towers, towers linked by bridges, short an stumpy towers, towers that got narrower the higher they went and more still. He wondered what their purpose were. Could they not just build their things closer to the ground? What was the point of having all those things so high up? In any case, they were quite interesting to look at while he was slowly moving through the stone-tiled streets of the city.

Eventually, after a lot of walking, he came across another gate. This one was many times more impressive than the last one he went through by its size and craftsmans.h.i.+p. Both of its sides were chiseled in order to look like giant thunderbolts and on them, many small streams of glowing golden water were giving it life.

In front of it, there was a long line of people waiting to get across. Here, the guards had to check every cart, carriage and pedestrians wanting to get to the other side. What was beyond the gate must have been important. Maybe the guards watching the place would be able to tell him where he needed to go.

He walked at the end of the line and waited his turn patiently. Because of the length of the line and the time it took for the guards to go through each of them, Emp started to feel like there probably was a better idea than this to find his way. But, since he had already waited all that time and since he was almost there, it would have been a waste to leave the line now.

When his turn came, one of the guard with an unfriendly look to him spoke in the common language.

"Is there anyone here that can speak the n.o.ble language? I do not speak the common." Emp answered.

The man seemed even more displeased than before. He snorted and called another guard from behind him.

"What"s going on here?" Asked the newcomer.

"Hi, my name is Emp and I am looking for the school. I do not know where it is and I would like it if you told me where I can find it please."

"By the school, you mean the place where all the small n.o.bles gather? What is your business there?"

"I am here to attend as a student."

"Really? You wouldn"t mind then if a couple of guards here were to accompany you to their gate right? I will a.s.sign a couple to escort you through the upper city to the school alright?" This was said like it was some sort of threat but Emp could only see good points to this proposition.

"That is great, that way there is no chance of me getting lost. If at least one of them spoke the n.o.ble tongue that would be even better."

"I"ll see what I can do, stay here." The man seemed taken aback by his answer but went through with it anyway. He came back right away with five men and told Emp that if he was wasting their time, he would get in trouble. Emp didn"t want to waste any time either, he wanted to get there quickly so he agreed with the man.

The five guards surrounding Emp led him through the streets of what was apparently Upper-Bêtéclair, even though it wasn"t any higher than the rest of it. Even if he didn"t understand the name, he could see the difference between the two parts of the city. Both halves were clearly the same city and they both felt the same but they also seemed completely different from each other.

First of all, none of the houses and shops here shared their walls with their neighbors. They all stood on their own in the middle of their own plot of land, all neatly separated by fences of iron and low walls of stone.

The sizes of both the houses and their lands varied greatly, some were just disproportionate. One of them was such a large construction that Emp felt there was probably enough rooms in it to accommodate the whole town of Starfall. Another one had so much s.p.a.ce around it that a small private forest was grown in it.

Then, there were the people themselves. Most of the pa.s.serby here wore the same kind of nonsensical clothes that he had seen before but the quality of their components were clearly greater. Their fabrics seemed smoother, their accessories s.h.i.+nier and their jewels more expensive.

The last difference he could easily see was that there were way less people crowding the streets on this side of the wall. This seemed more like what he had seen in Red-water, if of course he disregarded the strange clothes. Maybe it was because most of the people were stopped from entering by the guards?

Thinking of the guards, they didn"t say a single thing for the whole trip and just kept an eye on him. Maybe that was the reason they were so slow, they didn"t want to lose him by walking too fast.

He was eventually brought to one of the largest plots of land he had seen until now. From outside the iron entrance gate, he could not have guessed how ma.s.sive it was but luckily, they obviously had to pa.s.s it in order to get inside. Behind the mortared fieldstone wall was spread a huge field of sand and dirt on one side and a luxurious flower garden completed by fountains and benches on the other. Both of those halves of the school yard stretched to the sides of the building and went beyond it.

The building itself was akin to a castle or a palace, both in size and impressive pressure. It"s walls where of smooth light grey stones and rose into an array of buildings all connected to each other by either their proximity or bridges arching over the yard to form one large and mighty structure. All of it was crowned by a whole lot of towers, seemingly necessary to cram even more rooms into the s.p.a.ce available to this castle. Beside the towers, there were also tens of chimneys sprouting from everywhere in the roof. Many of them were smoking lazily.

A group of girls were talking in the sea of flowers and giggling under the protective shade of a tree but Emp and the guards ignored them and went straight to the main door of the school. Emp had a.s.sumed it was the school up until now since it was where the guards had led him and by the letters above the door, it was indeed the case. "Steelwood imperial school" could be read in large golden letters neatly nailed to a board held there.

One of the guards pushed the door open and their whole group entered the place.

The inside was s.p.a.cious and filled with portraits and statues placed there in order to entertain guests. At the end of the brightly lit hall stood a long desk behind which sat a woman. She was dressed in a green sleeveless dress revealing a lot of cleavage and her blond hair where tied with an hair pin in order to form an impressive wave around her head.

"Welcome to the Steelwood imperial school!" Said the woman with a lively smile. "What can I do for you gentlemen today?"

Since he was now into the school, Emp felt it was the time to use Chinui"s name. He just had to present himself and ask to see the ancient to deliver the letter.

"Good afternoon." Answered Emp as he opened up his hunting card to show her. "My name is Emp Muracier, I am here to study. I have the money on me and also, a letter for the ancient written by Chinui that I need to deliver."

Once he had said all this, he felt really happy. It had taken him a long time but finally, the task Chinui had given him was almost over. That feeling of accomplishment really was good. While he was saying all that, he heard a bunch of clanking sounds behind him. The armors of the guards were probably the reason.

"A Muracier in our school? Ho my, what an honor. And a blessing holder too at such a young age." She answered with a beaming smile. She did not doubt what he said at all since the card was proof enough. "Would you like me to bring the letter to him or would you like to meet him yourself?"

"I would like to give him the letter myself if possible."

Chinui had told him to not break the seal after all. If he gave the letter to someone else, he couldn"t make sure it would stay sealed.

"Certainly." She complied. "I will call for someone to bring you there, the registration will be done afterwards if you do not mind."

"Yes, thank you."

The woman picked up a bell on her desk and rang it twice. Almost immediately after, another girl wearing a different kind of green dress came from a small door at the side.

"You called?"

"Yes, you are to bring sir Muracier to the office of the princ.i.p.al, sir Duke Jasay. He brings a letter from the great general Chinui with him."

As she said this, she gave her a set of keys and a smile.

"No problem madam. Sir, if you would please allow me to guide you." She said with a bow.

Emp accepted and before he left with her, did not forget to thank the guards for their a.s.sistance. Without them, he would have probably lost himself twice before he reached the place. They were all standing stiffly by the reception desk, almost frozen in place. He wondered what had happened to those poor guys.

The girl led him through a series of corridors and ascending stairs until they reached a door that looked like any other door. The girl stopped in front of it and knocked.

"Who"s the what"s it?" Came a voice from the inside. Emp had no idea what that could possibly mean.

"Sir duke, a Muracier is here to see you." She called through the door.

"Muracier you say? Which one?"

She looked towards him and he told her his name.

"His name is Emp, my lord."

"I dun have no relocation of such a name."

"Did you perhaps mean recollection my lord?" The girl asked slightly confused and slightly disheartened.

"Aye, this be what I mean. Tell him I be busy and to come back in another moon."

"But sir, he is right here with me and he has a letter from the great general Muracier with him."

"An envoy from ma good friend? Why did you not spout it out sooner then? Have him in right this instant!"

The girl made a small sigh followed by a wry smile and opened the door for Emp.

"I"ll stay here for a while in case you need me to go back to the entrance."

"Thank you." Emp told her as he entered.

The gate closed behind him and left him in the room with the ancient. The room had its walls covered in mounted heads of all sorts of creatures. Short legged tables where sprawled about haphazardly with empty or half consumed bottles of expensive alcohol and a beautifully crafted curved desk ruled from the center of the room. Said room was lit by a window in the back, candles on the desk and a fireplace on one side. Many chairs with no lack of cus.h.i.+oning were placed throughout the room, around both the desk and the fireplace but none seemed half as comfortable as the one in which the duke sat.

The man himself was a bald old man who looked like he had shrunk under his clothes. In his hand, he held a gla.s.s filled with a liquid undoubtedly taken from one of the twenty bottles laying on his desk. It was the first time Emp saw gla.s.s used to make a cup, or a bottle for that mater. He had only seen gla.s.s in the windows of rich merchants and on the houses he had seen in the Upper-Bêtéclair before. he would have never thought that it could be used to make a thing as small as a cup.

Despite the evident quant.i.ty of those bottles he had drunk, he held the gla.s.s with a firm and steady hand and his eyes did not leave any traces of drunkenness to be seen. Marcellia had told Emp one could get used to alcohol but he had not believed it truly until this moment.

Aside from the bottles, on his desk, there were also a bunch of parchments and a quill that did not seem to have been used a lot. He was clearly more busy drinking and sleeping in the armchair than he was working.

In this occasion though, the old man did not waste any time.

"Gimme the letta lad." He said by extending his empty hand.

Emp removed the letter from his bag and walked through the liquor smelling room to reach his desk and place the letter in his eager hand. He seemed really impatient to see what Chinui was saying in that letter. Once in his grasp, he verified the seal and the stamp before he opened it with a laugh. (1)

"I haven"t spoken to him in a while. I wonder what shenanigans he"s been up ta. Why did he write it so smoll? I can hardly see aye. I be too old for fairy sized lettas."

It took him a while to read through everything and he laughed throughout it all. The only breaks he took were to drink some more from his gla.s.s. In the end, he folded back the letter, replaced it in the envelope and put it in a drawer in his desk. Then, he emptied his gla.s.s, filled it again and landed is gaze on Emp, examining him in details.

"So, ye be the general"s secret son. You do look like em a lot. That is great!"

A secret son? What did Chinui write in that letter? A thought floated through his mind that maybe Galana had been right and Chinui had some sort of plan he didn"t tell him about.

He was not bothered too long by that thought. He chose to believe that if Chinui had indeed some secret plans, they would not go against his own wishes or his well being.

The old man continued with a laugh.

"Hehehehe. This be real great! Maybe it"ll get meself sometin to do. Ye see, me sprouts said I was too old to roam battles so they made me ancient and placed me here."

He rose from his chair but seemed to get smaller instead and went to look through the window as he continued his story.

"At first, I believed it was a great honnor bestowed on me but then, I realized they juss wanted to get me away from their affairs since I be dyin not. Hehehe. Pus.h.i.+n me aside are they? I served under three different great generals, they be right believin this be a borin job compared to me old one. I be sure they never did expect me to find a fourth Muracier to serve, a second ta raise. Hehehe! I be makin you da best general yet! I have a whole school ta help. Now this be a good reason ta work!"

"So, this means I can join the school?"

"Aye, of course. Where should I start, ye have a lot ta know. He says in ta letta that ye be weak in social matters but with me great strategy this be not a problem."

Emp wondered what kind of strategy he meant. He understood he had a lot to learn but he hoped the process would not be too complicated.

"The cla.s.ses will start in a month, we have a lot of special guests this time round. Ta make it easy on everyone, I allowed them to hide their names if they so wished this time. A lot of girls and lads will hide theirs if they are too low or too high a n.o.ble ta evade attention. I will ask ye ta do the same."

"Why?" The only purpose of getting the name of Muracier was for that school, would it not be pointless if he hid it now?

"Ye know what happened right? How"s the younger brotha doin?"

"About why Chinui left? Chijou"s tree had grown tall over his resting place but it started losing some leaves recently." He wasn"t sure what he really wanted to know so this was the best he could come up with.

"Poor lad, at least I know the general his doin well with ye here. The others aren"t allowed ta know. Those that don know what happened then should not learn now and those that do know should not believe the general is back yet. By the way, when is he comin back?"

"He said he would not unless it was not Billow sitting on the throne."

"He said the same in the letta but ye see, ye shouldn"t say that aloud eva again. Ye"ll get in big trouble if someone hear that."

But he was the one who asked! Complained Emp in his head.

"So, don"talk about the general or yer relation ta him with anyone but yer own servants and everyone will live betta for now."

Emp still was unsure of what he meant with this whole thing but he understood he was asked to not talk about either Chinui or the Muraciers. He wasn"t even really asked to lie since the lie was instead that he was a Muracier. Even then, not saying something to someone who had no business knowing wasn"t a lie was it? Galana at least seemed to think so. Complying with his request was easy so he had no reason to refuse.

"Alright, I won"t talk about it anymore."

"Great, now then, did ye have yer first blood yet? Show me yer card."

Emp did and the old man got closer to look at his hunting table. He even hid the name of Muracier again to respect his previous request.

"Hehehe, as expected of his son, ye got a lot of success already, did ye have a grudge against blood-spitters or somethin? A gluttonek and even a woodland horror! Ye have a b.l.o.o.d.y blessin too. Even without yer name, ye be well worth recruitin in this school o"mine. Ye"ll be a legend across the school the moment someone sees your card. They be thinkin ye be a legendary warrior in the future, they be thinkin ye be a hunter lookin to be a knight. This be perfect, this be explainin yer bad social skills and weird way of speech."

Emp thought he really wasn"t the one with a weird speech here but did not say it aloud.

"As long as they be thinkin that, not one will see the truth. I be fixin it all fer ye, don"t worry a bit, I be the one fillin the papers of yer admission."

"What about the gold?"

"Ye can just leave it here." He said pointing at his desk before he called for the girl waiting outside.

"La.s.s, come here!"

Emp got the bag Chinui gave him when he left and placed it on the desk while the girl opened the door again.

"Do you require my help my lord?"

"Aye, forget the lad ever came here, forget his name and tell the la.s.s at the gate to do the same. Before ye do though, I have sometin else for ye to accompany."

"Did you perhaps mean accomplish my lord?" The girl asked slightly confused and slightly disheartened, again.

"Aye, this be what I mean. You bring the lad to one of the students rooms that is still free and have two slaves send there to serve him, sealed ones. The lad is now a student here."

Slaves? They would give him slaves? What did he mean by a sealed one?

"Certainly sir, it will be done as you wish. Do you have any other requests?"

"Na, this be all. Lad, I would"ve offered ye a drink but... I really be busy now." He said as he looked dejectedly at the piles of papers he had not attended to in a while.

Anyway, Emp doubted there was enough left in any of the bottles to give him some.

"I understand, I do not like drinks much anyway."

"Hehehe, just like him alright. See ye later lad."

Emp then took his leave with the girl and left the old man alone to his work.

"There must"ve been some good news in the letter you brought. I haven"t seen him this lively in years." Said the girl shortly after closing the door.

Since Emp had no idea of what was in that letter, he didn"t know what to tell her but she didn"t seem to mind.

"It"s all right, as long as the ancient is back. I do not really care what was said in there, anyway, I was just asked to forget it all. Come, I will lead you to what will be your room for the next couple of years."

Years seemed like a really long time for Emp who had not lived for an entire one yet. He had a hard time to picture such a long time in his head. Would he really stay there for so long? Learning things couldn"t be that long right? What was he supposed to do with all this time? As he followed her once more through the maze of corridors, stairs and doors, he decided to ask her about the school.

"I know almost nothing about the school. I know that I am here to learn things and that the ancient has some strange way of speaking but that is all."

"Really? Maybe I can help you a little then, what would you like to know first?"

"Since it came up just before, what did he mean when he said to bring me two slaves?"

"Yes of course. There are a lot of n.o.bles coming here to study. Some are much smaller than other and many don"t know how to wash clothes or cook by themselves. To be fair for everyone and stop some from bringing an army of servants in the school, we give out two slave to each students upon their arrival. Those slaves will serve them through their stay here and the students can keep them afterwards. They do not need to fear sharing any of their secrets to them either since all the slaves we provide are harboring a seal."

So the seal was some sort of guaranty? But what if one did not want anything to do with slaves? Emp himself didn"t really care since he had never really met one before but did everyone agree to such a thing this easily?

"What happens when someone does not want those slaves?"

"Well, you could sell them back in town, they are yours after all, they are included in the entry fee."

"I see." That made sense. "Then, how about the time? How long does it take to study? What are we even studying?"

"Aya, sir really doesn"t know much about the Steelwood imperial school. Every five years, the school opens its gates for new students. As long as they have potential, are young enough to enter and posses the money required to get in, they are admitted here.

Then, the specialized teachers will do their very best to develop the potential and talent of everyone who registered here, be it magic, science, fencing archery or anything, the staff will do its best. Some cla.s.ses are common to all, mostly the basics of every subjects and social behavior cla.s.ses to ensure the good development of the students and to explore in which area they have talents.

Then, Students are able to choose which cla.s.ses they want to attend to. The students are able to leave the moment they have learned all that we could teach them but if they struggle, they can stay for a maximum of ten years. Usually, everyone is gone by the time the doors open again for a new group."

That was a whole lot of information. Emp felt that his questions had been mostly answered by now. It was a good thing too because they reached the place she was leading him to.

"Here we are, this is your room. Esther must have known I would end up bringing you here because she gave me the keys before we left the entrance hall."

She pushed the key into the solid lock and opened the door for him.

"That is big! Are you sure this is not a mistake?"

"It is not, all the students room are the same. Then again, if you don"t like it, there is nothing stopping you from changing it however you please, you will live here for a long time after all. Would you like me to show you around before I go get you some servants?"

"Yes please." The room could hardly be called that, if she did not show him around once, it would take him forever to figure things out.

Emp understood now why the school was so enormous. If every students lived in one of those, he did not have a hard time guessing that most of the main building consisted of those rooms.

The thing was much bigger than Chinui"s house. Maybe he should stop using it as comparison since everywhere he went was larger than it. The room, wasn"t in fact a single room. It was instead a living room, a bedroom, a secondary room, the room for the two slaves and even a balcony. The floors of them all were made of cold stones covered in smooth wood. It had plaster walls and ceiling that gave it a smooth feeling.

The living room was the first from the door, It had a table, chairs, a large fireplace to hold a cauldron, an empty bookcase and many shelves. All the furniture in the room looked elegant by Emp"s idea of what elegant was and a good supply of firewood awaited near the fireplace, ready to be used at anytime.

From there, you could go to any of the three other rooms. The secondary room was just a six meters long empty room, ready to be used in any way Emp would desire and the slaves room was a small room with two ordinary beds, a window and some drawers.

The last room was what would be his bedroom and contained his worst nightmare. There was a bed the size of three other beds combined in this room. From just a single glance, Emp knew it would be the most comfortable thing he would ever touch. If he was to sleep in it, he feared he would never wake up again.

Aside from it, there was a second smaller fireplace, drawers and dressers, a bedside table, a small desk in a corner, the access to the balcony and a large tub that could be filled with water.

While she was showing him around, she explained how things worked in the school on the subject of daily necessities. Firewood would be brought every day to his door and an allowance for food and clothes would be distributed to all students or their servants by the lady in the entrance hall. The school would not provide for the two slave they gave out and their expenses would have to be taken from either the allowance or the personal money of the students. Finally, the water would have to be taken from the well outside and would not be brought over.

The rooms themselves could be furnished, dressed, used and filled however the student wished and everything in the rooms belonged to him as their cost were covered by the admission fee. The slaves would be part of his personal belongings as well and could be used or disposed of in any way he wished as long as it did not cause their deaths.

If he needed something from outside the school, he had the right to go get it himself, send one of his slaves or ask the lady in the entrance hall for what he requested. Be it an expert or a specific item, the school would look for it to ease his work and stay.

With all of this said and everything checked, the girl gave him the keys.

"Here, they are yours now. There is five of them, each are the same and each can open your door, do with them as you wish. The bedroom door can be barred from the inside as well as locked. Now, if you would please wait here for a moment, I will go get the slaves and the school servants head for the transfer ceremony. I will be back shortly."

Emp waved her goodbye and wandered in the room for a while. He still had a hard time believing this all belonged to him now. He ran his fingers along the surfaces of the furniture and finally sat down in an armed chair that felt impressively soft. He was so used to sitting on hard wood, the ground or any other hard surface that such a chair was quite the experience.

It must have been pleasant to just sit there by the fire on a cold evening. Although there weren"t many cold evening in the Steelwood empire, some nights became really cold in the winter. Even in winter, he had heard, the days never lost enough warmth to force those living here to wear furs, unless they lived in the mountains.

He relaxed in the chair while he waited for her return. He was glad to be finally there.

(1)I would call it a gremlin laugh but gremlins aren"t a thing here so it"s just a laugh.