Chương 85: Exhilarating mornings and nostalgic visits

Their first night at the Ashfast passed without any major disturbances, even if the whole place felt somewhat unfamiliar and overwhelming compared to the more relaxed atmosphere of Sablewatch Hollow. Vera left her room the next morning feeling surprisingly refreshed, rolling her shoulders with a light yawn as she made her way down the corridor toward Serel's room. She'd actually slept decently. Not a full night, but there'd been at least a few uninterrupted hours, which was more than she had hoped for.

Her night terrors hadn't been too recurrent in the past, but ever since she'd completed the Rite of Stillness, things had grown a tad more complicated. She would take what she could get. She let a thread of Resonance wash through her limbs to clear away what remained of the fatigue, then stopped in front of Serel's door, briefly confirming through the wood that she could sense her daughter's presence inside. She turned the handle and slipped into the darkened room, crossing toward the bed on her toes.

The small shape beneath the covers shifted. Vera paused a few steps away, eyes narrowing as a knowing smile settled across her lips. She stayed where she was. The seconds passed. The shape shifted again. Vera crossed her arms over her chest and began counting silently. Finally, the little gremlin's patience seemed to run out. The sheets were kicked aside in a flurry of limbs and indignation as a pair of accusatory eyes found Vera through the dim light.

"Mommy, you're supposed to wake me up!"

"Oh? Am I?" Vera's eyebrows rose.

"Sorry, I thought you just looked so peaceful there. Practically angelic. Because you were sleeping, weren't you?" Serel pouted deeply.

"I wanted to surprise you…"

"Did you now?" Vera chuckled as she crossed to the wall and touched the base of a sconce there, coaxing an ember flame to life. Warm light spilled across the room, catching the edges of the various dragon-related decorations scattered around.

"Is it too late for me to be surprised now?"

"Yes…" Serel grumbled as she started crawling on all fours toward the foot of the bed, leaning over the edge to dig through a small wooden chest positioned there. Vera watched with quiet amusement as the girl produced a pair of embroidered slippers worked to look like little dragons, complete with knitted scales and everything. She still seriously questioned what Elaria had been thinking with the theming of this place. Or what the woman's subordinates had been thinking when they went about preparing it.

Serel settled at the foot of the bed and wrestled the slippers onto her feet, kicking her legs idly over the edge for a moment while looking up at Vera.

"What is it?" Vera asked. Serel studied her with a searching look on her face.

"What?" Vera repeated.

"Mommy, are you and Mama fighting?" Vera blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"Are you fighting?"

"W—" She stopped, then shook her head.

"What makes you think that?" Nothing had happened between her and Elaria recently that should make Serel think they were in a bad way, right? Where had this suddenly come from? Serel cocked her head to one side.

"I dreamed about Mama. She called you 'Vera,' but Mama only calls you that when she's mad." Vera was silent for several seconds.

"You dreamed about her calling me by my name?"

"Mmm." Serel nodded.

"…You shouldn't put too much stock in what you see in dreams," Vera said.

"Your Mama and I are fine. And her calling me Vera wouldn't mean we're fighting anyway."

"But Mama never calls you that!"

"She does. Sometimes…" Vera looked at the kid for a moment, then stepped forward and ran her hand through Serel's hair.

"Your Mama's a bit unique, you know. It's true that she's a bit overly formal and calls me 'Mournvale' most of the time, but that doesn't mean she's angry when she doesn't." At least, she thought that was the case. On the rare occasions Elaria actually used her given name, it seemed to be the opposite. Almost like a slip. Though Vera hadn't entirely figured out what typically prompted it, other than certain serious conversations. The truly scary thing was if Elaria ever addressed her as 'Veralyth.'

She gave Serel's hair a light ruffle, which immediately earned her a squawk of protest that she resolved by smoothing it back into place.

"Like I said, don't go reading too much into dreams. Now. Let's go find that Mama of yours before your stomach starts making its opinion known, okay?" Serel brightened immediately. Together, they left the room and made their way through the eastern wing of the Ashfast, stopping first at the door to Elaria's sleeping quarters. Serel didn't waste a moment checking whether it was locked before pushing it open—only to find it empty.

Vera flagged down a passing servant and learned that Elaria had already been up for some time and was currently in the study they'd used the night before, working through reports. They headed over, Serel breaking ahead to greet Elaria with an enthusiastic good morning, but it became clear fairly quickly that Elaria didn't have much time to spare them at the moment. She'd set things aside the night before to help them settle in, but now she was in the thick of picking back up her duties as Keeper of the Pyric Oath.

She sent them off with instructions to find themselves a meal and explore the estate as they liked. The news seemed to land as a genuine surprise for Serel. The girl must have grown used, over the past week and a half, to having both Vera and Elaria at near-constant disposal. While she probably understood on some level that Elaria had responsibilities here in Caer Virell, it clearly hadn't fully sunk in that those responsibilities would claim most of her time now that she was back.

There was a part of Vera that was afraid Serel would sulk about it, or worse. But she wasn't surprised when that didn't happen. If anything, it was the opposite. The girl looked to swallow whatever excitement she'd been building up almost instantly, growing noticeably quieter and more composed. Like she understood perfectly well the weight of what Elaria carried in this place. Vera noticed. She'd seen Serel do this before, a handful of times. She just wasn't sure if Elaria picked up on it.

It wasn't entirely a bad thing, Vera told herself. That Serel, despite her age, had a side that was mature enough to recognize when Elaria couldn't give her everything she wanted. Given that Elaria had been absent for most of Serel's memories, it wasn't shocking that the girl had developed that particular muscle. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. But it still pinched a little, watching this girl who was now her daughter quietly fold a part of herself away.

Vera preferred when she got to smile without thinking about it. She did what she could to lift Serel's spirits for the rest of the morning—eating together and then circling back through the estate at a slower pace, taking in what they'd only briefly seen the night before.

She also encouraged Serel to introduce herself to the staff they encountered along the way, and got to watch her daughter go through the same ritual of being shy for the first few exchanges before inevitably charming every single servant they met into complete adoration. At least that's what it looked like to Vera's eyes. Maybe she was a bit biased.

There was one moment where the tables turned somewhat, when a woman among the staff turned out to be one of the people Elaria had mentioned—someone Vera had supposedly saved at some point in the past. The woman looked close to tears when, thanking Vera at slightly too much length and then turning to Serel to bow deeply and declare with full sincerity that she would serve 'the young miss' with body and mind. Vera stood there smiling awkwardly and wondering how quickly she could move them both along.

It was somewhere past noon by the time Serel had exhausted her curiosity about the estate's interior, and after they'd eaten again, there was a stir in the eastern wing. Apparently, Elaria was preparing to head out to Flamehold Virell. Vera had half-expected to be told to come along and be given orders about how she was now supposed to help out on the front lines, given that she had promised to lend her strength against the Silence.

But Elaria seemed to let her settle in a little longer before making any requests on that end. She did offer, however, to bring Serel with her to the Flamehold since Vera had asked her about taking care of the girl last night while she went out. Serel looked between them, immediately asking Vera where she was going and why she couldn't come too. She wanted to see the city.

Vera told her she had things to take care of and promised they could explore in the evening, not forgetting to point out that Flamehold Virell probably had no shortage of interesting things to see on its own, and that Serel might even get the chance to say hello to Vorthalor and watch Elaria work. She wasn't entirely sure whether sending Serel along while Elaria was in the middle of her duties was the brightest of ideas, but since Elaria had been the one to suggest it, she decided to trust her.

The woman's perspective could be a bit out of whack at times, but she was ultimately a far more responsible person than Vera had any claim to be. Serel's reluctance to be separated from Vera didn't last too long, and eventually, the prospect of joining Elaria won out as she agreed. Not long after, they were off in a carriage that rattled away from the Ashfast with Serel hanging halfway out the window to wave with both arms.

Vera smiled at the sight, then turned to her own carriage, which Elaria's people had arranged. The coachman was a weathered fellow with a carved wooden leg and the face of someone who'd probably seen his fair share of fights. He acknowledged her with a single nod, then gathered the reins of a pair of large, regal horses and set them moving. Vera settled back in the compartment as the carriage started climbing the precarious cliffside paths that wound down to the Ashfast.

Through the window, she caught glimpses of Serel and Elaria's carriage ahead. If possible, she wouldn't have minded bringing Serel along to the Last Hearth guild headquarters. But she didn't, for two reasons. The first was that there was just a tiny possibility the visit might turn mildly dangerous. The second—and more pressing—was that if any of the guild NPCs were present, she had questions she planned to ask them. Questions that would be easier to ask without her daughter around.

Still, it felt strange going alone. Especially after having spent almost a full week of traveling with Serel and Elaria at her side. It was curious how quickly she'd adjusted to moving through the world as that kind of family-sized unit. She didn't mind it, honestly. She'd always thought she was the type who preferred her own company, only occasionally surfacing to see friends while doing most of her living through one game or another.

But she had come to realize that time with Serel didn't drain her the way she'd always expected other people to. And the same went for Elaria. Kind of. Though that one was a bit more complicated. Her thoughts drifted back to the conversation from the night before, and the woman's request that Vera—of all people—teach her how to be a good mother. Elaria had told her once before that she thought Vera was good at it.

Vera had even been happy to hear it then, so it shouldn't have caught her so off guard to hear it a second time. But something about having the woman actually repeat it… actually sitting across from her and asking Vera to teach her … It made it stick in a way Vera couldn't really put words to. The first time, she'd taken it as a compliment. That was all. She hadn't processed it further than that.

This time, she was starting to wonder if she might actually be doing more things right than she'd ever given herself credit for. That said, the image of herself somehow passing her 'teachings' on to Elaria filled her with a deep and unreasonable embarrassment that she was still trying to get a handle on. There was just something inherently mortifying about it—being asked to teach someone something you'd never realized you were doing.

Especially given how fully aware she was of how childish she could be at times with Serel… She didn't mind being ridiculous in front of her daughter. She didn't even particularly mind other people seeing it. But the thought of turning to Elaria and saying 'do it like this' with a straight face was going to take some mental hardening. She also wasn't sure it would even work.

Vera lost track of time as the carriage rolled on, the semi-familiar rooftops and tiered stonework of Caer Virell's High Tiers drifting past outside the window. Eventually they pulled to a stop, and she blinked herself back to the present.

"My lady." The coachman appeared at the door, pulling it open with a smoky rasp in his voice.

"We're here." Vera took a moment to collect herself, then stepped outside. She let a thread of Resonance pass briefly through her hair, shifting it from its natural silver-gray to a darker raven-gloss black, just in case someone recognized her and made a scene. Then she looked around. They'd stopped at the edge of a broad cobblestone square where several large paved streets converged, each one lined with columned courtyards and heavy-fronted buildings.

Soldiers, merchants, robed officials, and the general noise of city life moved through it in every direction.

"Thank you," she said, turning back to the coachman.

"You can head back to the estate, by the way." He considered her for a moment.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Easily. I'll get back by myself later." He gave a nod and climbed back up to the front of the carriage, gathering the reins. It soon rolled off into the flow of the streets. Vera watched it go for a few seconds, then scanned the square. She spotted what she was looking for almost immediately.

It sat at the far end of the square behind a large, irregular fence of dark metal—one that looked less built and more like someone had taken a haphazard collection of fireplace pokers, half-melted them together, and then frozen the whole thing mid-drip, veins of dim cinder still threaded through the joins. Past the fence, a courtyard stretched toward a single building constructed around a massive slab of cooled molten rock, split through the middle as though something enormous had struck it from above.

The guild hall had been built up around it in dark stone and iron bracework, with every surface angled inward like the walls of a hearth. The effect was very deliberate. The whole structure looked like one giant fireplace that had decided to become a building. Vera crossed the square and stopped in front of the gates. She clicked her tongue. She had to be honest with herself. It looked so stupid. Not bad, exactly. Objectively speaking, the building was cool.

And in a player economy where guild bases tended toward the aggressively ostentatious, this wasn't even close to the worst she'd seen. But compared to the rest of the buildings in the immediate area, not one of them came close to this level of conspicuous thematic commitment. Which meant it stuck out. Which meant it looked stupid. It was practically like they were crying out for attention.

She was aware she wasn't in the strongest position to judge, given certain decisions she'd made when designing Sablewatch Hollow. But that was different. This was CinderCtrl's work. She was completely entitled to laugh at it. She glanced around, noticing that the foot traffic seemed to give the gates a natural berth. That confirmed at least a few of her suspicions. It also meant that when she approached the gates at an easy stroll, there were several pairs of eyes tracking her.

She tried not to think about it too much. She set her hand against the half-melted iron of the gates and pushed. They swung open ahead of her with a very exaggerated grinding that rang out across the square like a struck bell. Vera went still. She looked back over her shoulder. A much larger number of people were watching her now. She held their collective gaze for one long moment, then turned away and walked through the gates. Almost instantly, the ground shuddered beneath her feet.

The gates slammed shut behind her with a sound that echoed through her bones, and a wide circle of fire erupted from the courtyard floor ahead, roaring upward in a column before collapsing inward around a shape that hadn't been there a moment ago. Vera found herself standing before a golem the size of a small tower, assembled from fused dark stone and cooling slag, its proportions somewhere between vaguely humanoid and a battering ram.

She let out a slow breath through her nose as one of its massive arms swung downward toward her in what she assumed wasn't a greeting. She'd just known something like this was going to happen.