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Literature Text
The Guilds of Mistdale were a creation rivalling the University itself. They were established after an attempt by Cardena to reclaim the fortress that the university was built out of failed. Prior to that, Mistdale was seen as a rich rat’s eccentric attempt to spin off his own kingdom, but the defeat of the Cardenian army demanded respect. The fortress had been built long ago to protect Cardena from incursion from the lizards and snakes of the southern warmlands, but abandoned after an incident with owls. The valley was home of hundreds of families of horned and barn owls, and such creatures did not take kindly to foxes felling their woodlands. Whatever Mistdale had promised them, for the first time in a very long time timber was available in the civilised heartlands as the University campus and town were cleared and built.
Cardena wanted this trade, and it demanded the fortress and surrounding land returned. Mistdale refused, and Cardena invaded. By dawn, the army had vanished, eaten by the owls. Mistdale was a legend, quite literally, overnight. With the world listening, Mistdale announced its purpose: to create a place of learning and sharing, to provide a home for artists and scientists, and to ensure that knowledge and information were available to those willing to learn (and those able to pay). No nation took this claim seriously, but there was still wood to buy, and being in the University’s favour could mean the difference between a navy and an armada. Hundreds of representatives from every species arrived. Artists, musicians, philosophers and scientists, all to distract and entertain whilst their merchants secured trade. Each met with the same problem; Mistdale was perfect. Every artisan who left stayed, and very few ever returned home again.
The Merchant’s Guild was the first. It separated Mistdale’s academia from its business, and ensured fair trade by paying freelancers a commission to ensure bandits or corrupt officials kept their paws off of their merchandise. But what was truly innovate about it was the idea to loan Mistdale capital to business ventures it felt were profitable, and then to offer protection and storage of that business’s income, even paying that business to do so. ‘Banks’, as Mistdale called them, worked off the idea that no one person used all the money they own at any one time, and this fact could be exploited to creating floating funds; the ability to spend more money than they were meant to have. And should they lose it, Mistdale had the ability to recuperate their losses, and even provided interest. On paper, the University was worth a large kingdom, in practice it was worth a hundred more. Kings had their coffers to pull from, Mistdale had everyone else’s.
The Guild of Law was second. Officially, it was built to ensure the Merchant Guild played fairly, but more often than not it was used to chase down debtors. The Guild of Law worked directly with the courts of other nations, and most of its work was hiring bounty hunters or providing courts with access to information about their defendants and prosecutors - for the right price, of course.
Mistdale’s Guilds developed in the shadow of the University, but were equally, if not more, powerful as their older sister. There were dozens of subsidiaries, each ingraining the Guilds even deeper into the ecosystem of the world. Despite this, Mistdale’s control was fragile. All it would take to remove the Guilds’ influence completely would be to close the local bank. Fortunately for Mistdale, private agendas and generous interest rates kept this from happening. Technically, Mistdale only owned a single bank, that in Mistdale itself. The others were all privately owned by their host nation, and though operated under Mistdale’s rules, ultimately were out of their control.
Then there was the Explorer’s Guild. It was a recent addition to the Guilds, but despite this operated the most ‘guildhalls’ of any. Maps had been around for centuries, and the known world had been known for a long time, but that didn’t stop Mistdale from printing them. Its official purpose was to provide maps and navigational aid, from compasses to chartered ships to guides. It didn’t have the same influence as its sisters, and the seal of Mistdale on a map merely marked it as expensive, but what it was good at was treasure hunting. Mistdale University was a place of learning, and that demanded new things to learn about. It was said of the Explorer’s Guild that it’s biggest customer was itself, the University. It wasn’t in the business of trading, it was in the business of recovery. Shipwrecks, ruins, tombs, caves and beyond, the Explorer’s Guild wanted their contents, and paid well for them. Most would go to the University, some would be sold to collectors, and some would be turned away. Though some nobles, and most kings, could thank the Explorer’s Guild for their collections, it was the most hated of the Guilds. There were only a handful of guild halls that weren’t also beer halls or shipyards, the largest of which was in Mistdale, and even that was a backroom of the University, half of which was the office of the University’s least favourite professor: a mouse called Lucas Droppaw.
He was a deer mouse with jet black fur and a storm grey venter. He was tall for a mouse, but just as unusually lean. Rumours around the University were that he was half-rat, but he fervishly denied them. He wore a pair of round spectacles that were a size too big for him on his nose which he was constantly repositioning. Like all professors, he wore black academic dress, and a cyan stole draped over his shoulders marked him as a professor of the Commons: history, law, philosophy, theology and other cultural studies. He sat at his desk, which was held steady by a stack of outdated maps of the Felidaes, his nose stuck in a book of ermine poetry. Across the room, a line of rugged, loud and dangerously bored treasure hunters stood behind a counter, attended to by another mouse who checked membership and gave out maps. A door opened behind him, sending a stack of maps across the floor. Ari popped his head out from behind it.
“No!” the mouse squeaked, “Get out! If you want your maps, you have to wait in line like everyone else!”
“Uh, I just wanted to talk to Professor Droppaw.”
Lucas’s ears pricked at the mention of his name, and he looked up from his book.
“What do you want?” he asked, adjusting his glasses.
“I wanted to talk to you about something.” Ari said, eyeing the line of increasingly irate treasure hunters.
“Yes?” Lucas asked. The mouse screamed, grabbing Lucas by the sleeve and dragging him up.
“Get out! I’ve work to do!” He squeaked, pushing Lucas out of the room, “Go talk outside!”
“I’m sorry about Keyle, he always gets testy when the new maps come out. The war between Alberdaine and the Felidaes’s ending has meant everything needs reprinting.” Lucas apologised. He and Ari had moved to the courtyard. It was once the fortress’s parade ground, but now it served as a place to relax and enjoy the sunshine.
“That’s fine,” Ari said, looking back towards the building, “I know how demanding treasure hunters can be.”
“So, what did you want, mister...?” Lucas asked, crossing his arms within his habit.
“Ari; we met last year, remember?”
Lucas’s furrowed his brow for a moment, then his eyes widened in recognition. He took a step backwards from Ari.
“The tapestry people?” He turned to leave, “I’m not affiliated with the Explorer’s Guild: you won’t get any spoilers from me, I’m a professor, not a treasure hunter.”
“No, professor, wait,” Ari said, grabbing Lucas’s arm, “That’s not why I wanted to talk.”
Lucas glared at the fox. Ari let go of the mouse, apologising. Lucas sighed.
“What do you want then?”
“Well… You’re… Celen tells me you’re dating a squirrel?”
“I don’t have to answer that.” Lucas quipped, “My life is my own affair, and I’d thank you and miss Acorntail to keep your noses out of it. Now, if you are quite finished-”
“Professor, wait! Its… Sapphire, my wife. She’s pregnant.”
Lucas blinked. He cocked his head to one side, raising an eyebrow.
“Good for you…?”
“She’s a wildcat.”
“Oohh…” Lucas said, biting his lip. “I see… How’s that going for you?”
“She’s pregnant.” Ari repeated.
“Ah, yes. Well, congratulations and all, but I don’t see how I can help. You’re obviously more experienced than I am at interspecies relationships. If it’s about the pregnancy, Dean Barnabus of sciences and medicines might be able to help.”
“I tried to talk to Barnabus. He won’t speak to me.”
Lucas sighed. “No, he wouldn’t. He hates people like you and your wife.”
“People like us?” Ari asked, offended.
“‘Deviants’. Inter-species, rabble raisers, the irreligious… undesirables; you get the picture.” Lucas explained, “Don’t worry, he hates me too.”
“Oh,” Ari said, “So you are… uh, like me and Sapphire?”
“I still don’t have to answer that.” Lucas said, his tail flicking at the grass. “And beyond telling you that you know more than I do, I don’t see why you think I can help you.”
“Oh, well, it’s about… children, of people like me and Sapphire.”
“Hybrids?” Lucas asked. Ari nodded. Lucas put a hand to his chin. “Well, I’ve not heard of any real ones before, nor read about them. To be honest, I hadn’t put much thought to the idea myself. If you’re worried about the baby not surviving…”
“Oh, no,” Ari said, shaking his head, “I know it’s possible. We’ve already had a daughter together.”
“Oh. So what did you want to know then?”
“Just…” Ari scratched the back of his head, “Are they accepted? Marina’s not even three years old yet, and she’s been on the waters with us her whole life. She looks like a cat now, but will she always? Will the baby? And… Well, I just don’t think we can do this forever. We haven’t any savings or anything of any value except for the houseboat, ”
“This sounds like a conversation you should be having with your wife, not with me.”
Ari sighed. He looked towards the hospital wing.
“We’ve already had it. I said everything would be fine, but… I’m not sure anymore. I just need someone to talk to. From what Celen said, I thought you might understand...”
Lucas straightened his glasses, sighing. He put a hand on Ari’s shoulder.
“Look, I’ll be honest. The only hybrids I’ve heard about are monsters in fairy-tales, bastard children of a rat having his way with mice. I can’t say they’ll be accepted. Chances are, they won’t be at all. A lot of people are like Dean Barnabus, and not enough people are like us.”
Ari sighed, nodding sadly. He patted Lucas’s hand, fighting back tears.
“Yeah… Yeah, it was a long shot… Thank you, though.”
“Hey,” Lucas began, “Don’t worry. At least you’re both big, noble species. It could be worse.” He looked off in the distance. “Try being a mouse.”
The houseboat left Mistdale for Cardena at dawn. They had found Ferria waiting on the jetty for them clutching a basket, illuminated by a red lamppost. Ferria was taller than her sister, if Celen could stand, and had lighter fur and a pointier face. Otherwise, they were nearly identical, even sharing the same acorn-shaped tip on their tail that gave them their name.
“Ferria?” Ari yawned, emerging from the cabin. Ferria jumped, the contents of the basket falling onto the jetty and onto the deck of the houseboat.
“Ari! Oh, I forgot you actually slept in that thing: I’ve been standing out here for an hour waiting for you like an idiot!”
Ari yawned again, reaching to pick up one of the fallen objects: a small glass bottle.
“You should’ve knocked. What’s this?”
Ferria jumped neatly onto the houseboat, then set about retrieving the basket’s contents.
“Baby things. Bottles, blankets, clothes. I remembered you saying you didn’t have any of this when Marina was born. And I thought your baby would like to be in some proper clothes, not his sister’s hand me downs.”
Ari handed the bottle to Ferria, who put it into the basket.
“What makes you think it’s going to be a boy?”
Ferria winked, touching the side of her nose.
“I just know. When mama was pregnant with Celine, everyone thought she was going to be a boy. Not me. I knew I was going to have a little sister. Every mother I’ve helped in Mistdale, I’ve never sexed a baby wrong. It’s a boy.”
Ari laughed.
“I’d like a boy,” he said, taking the basket from Ferria, “I wouldn’t mind if it is a girl, of course. But it’d be nice to have a son. Marina takes so much after her mother, maybe he’d take after me.”
“Oh, I bet he will. He’ll look just like you, and be twice as tall.”
“Maybe. Thank you so much for the basket. I’m sorry I can’t stay, but we need to be out soon if we want to beat the fishing traffic.” Ari apologised, helping Ferria back onto the jetty. The squirrel nodded knowingly.
“No problem, it’s the least I can do for you for helping Celine.”
“Ferria... About Celen, er, Celine…” He began.
“Yes?” Ferria asked. Ari felt a lump form in his throat. He couldn’t say it, not to Ferria, not now. He coughed, clearing his throat.
“Uh… tell her we said goodbye for us, won’t you?”
Ferria smiled, nodding. “Of course.”
Ari nodded in return, and pushed away from the jetty with his pole. Ferria waved from it, slowly disappearing in the fog. Ari looked up at his own red lantern hanging from the bow, breathing out slowly.
They had made a promise, he thought to himself, a promise they couldn’t go back on. Celen couldn’t walk because of them, how could he tell her they couldn’t spare the money for her? Ferria had said Celen was slowly getting better, but just how long did she need? If it took another year for her to walk again, then maybe, but there was never much chance of that to begin with. Celen could spend the rest of her life in a bed for all he knew, and as much as it pained him to admit it, he knew that just wasn’t possible. Not on a treasure hunter’s pay.
Shouting from starboard brought Ari back to the present. He pushed to port, shouting an apology to the fishing boat he had almost collided with, ignoring the bloody curses hurled back at him. He rolled his eyes, and looked at his map, squinting under the dim red light of the lantern.
Abisnova.
The name seemed familiar. Reports from the Explorer’s Guild was that the war was over, and anyone who could bring back anything to do with the Felidaes would be handsomely rewarded. Ari had considered it, but it was the felidaes. Dangerous, cold, politically unstable and a constant warzone. Even with Alberdaine’s occupation of it, it was just too dangerous, for Marina and for Sapphire. Not to mention, all the other treasure hunters would be all over it. Ari put the map of Abisnova aside, taking a second from his pack.
Aryala.
Now that name he definitely knew. A big island in the Auriel Isles that sold chalk. It had a single, sleepy town called Leek. The Explorer’s Guild were building a new guildhall there, and needed help finding a location. Map making. Surveying. Legitimate work. Safe work. Worth a shot. And it was about as far away from Abisnova one could get, so there wouldn’t be any competition.
“To the hall on Aryala, then.” Ari said to himself, shoving the houseboat along.
Cardena wanted this trade, and it demanded the fortress and surrounding land returned. Mistdale refused, and Cardena invaded. By dawn, the army had vanished, eaten by the owls. Mistdale was a legend, quite literally, overnight. With the world listening, Mistdale announced its purpose: to create a place of learning and sharing, to provide a home for artists and scientists, and to ensure that knowledge and information were available to those willing to learn (and those able to pay). No nation took this claim seriously, but there was still wood to buy, and being in the University’s favour could mean the difference between a navy and an armada. Hundreds of representatives from every species arrived. Artists, musicians, philosophers and scientists, all to distract and entertain whilst their merchants secured trade. Each met with the same problem; Mistdale was perfect. Every artisan who left stayed, and very few ever returned home again.
The Merchant’s Guild was the first. It separated Mistdale’s academia from its business, and ensured fair trade by paying freelancers a commission to ensure bandits or corrupt officials kept their paws off of their merchandise. But what was truly innovate about it was the idea to loan Mistdale capital to business ventures it felt were profitable, and then to offer protection and storage of that business’s income, even paying that business to do so. ‘Banks’, as Mistdale called them, worked off the idea that no one person used all the money they own at any one time, and this fact could be exploited to creating floating funds; the ability to spend more money than they were meant to have. And should they lose it, Mistdale had the ability to recuperate their losses, and even provided interest. On paper, the University was worth a large kingdom, in practice it was worth a hundred more. Kings had their coffers to pull from, Mistdale had everyone else’s.
The Guild of Law was second. Officially, it was built to ensure the Merchant Guild played fairly, but more often than not it was used to chase down debtors. The Guild of Law worked directly with the courts of other nations, and most of its work was hiring bounty hunters or providing courts with access to information about their defendants and prosecutors - for the right price, of course.
Mistdale’s Guilds developed in the shadow of the University, but were equally, if not more, powerful as their older sister. There were dozens of subsidiaries, each ingraining the Guilds even deeper into the ecosystem of the world. Despite this, Mistdale’s control was fragile. All it would take to remove the Guilds’ influence completely would be to close the local bank. Fortunately for Mistdale, private agendas and generous interest rates kept this from happening. Technically, Mistdale only owned a single bank, that in Mistdale itself. The others were all privately owned by their host nation, and though operated under Mistdale’s rules, ultimately were out of their control.
Then there was the Explorer’s Guild. It was a recent addition to the Guilds, but despite this operated the most ‘guildhalls’ of any. Maps had been around for centuries, and the known world had been known for a long time, but that didn’t stop Mistdale from printing them. Its official purpose was to provide maps and navigational aid, from compasses to chartered ships to guides. It didn’t have the same influence as its sisters, and the seal of Mistdale on a map merely marked it as expensive, but what it was good at was treasure hunting. Mistdale University was a place of learning, and that demanded new things to learn about. It was said of the Explorer’s Guild that it’s biggest customer was itself, the University. It wasn’t in the business of trading, it was in the business of recovery. Shipwrecks, ruins, tombs, caves and beyond, the Explorer’s Guild wanted their contents, and paid well for them. Most would go to the University, some would be sold to collectors, and some would be turned away. Though some nobles, and most kings, could thank the Explorer’s Guild for their collections, it was the most hated of the Guilds. There were only a handful of guild halls that weren’t also beer halls or shipyards, the largest of which was in Mistdale, and even that was a backroom of the University, half of which was the office of the University’s least favourite professor: a mouse called Lucas Droppaw.
He was a deer mouse with jet black fur and a storm grey venter. He was tall for a mouse, but just as unusually lean. Rumours around the University were that he was half-rat, but he fervishly denied them. He wore a pair of round spectacles that were a size too big for him on his nose which he was constantly repositioning. Like all professors, he wore black academic dress, and a cyan stole draped over his shoulders marked him as a professor of the Commons: history, law, philosophy, theology and other cultural studies. He sat at his desk, which was held steady by a stack of outdated maps of the Felidaes, his nose stuck in a book of ermine poetry. Across the room, a line of rugged, loud and dangerously bored treasure hunters stood behind a counter, attended to by another mouse who checked membership and gave out maps. A door opened behind him, sending a stack of maps across the floor. Ari popped his head out from behind it.
“No!” the mouse squeaked, “Get out! If you want your maps, you have to wait in line like everyone else!”
“Uh, I just wanted to talk to Professor Droppaw.”
Lucas’s ears pricked at the mention of his name, and he looked up from his book.
“What do you want?” he asked, adjusting his glasses.
“I wanted to talk to you about something.” Ari said, eyeing the line of increasingly irate treasure hunters.
“Yes?” Lucas asked. The mouse screamed, grabbing Lucas by the sleeve and dragging him up.
“Get out! I’ve work to do!” He squeaked, pushing Lucas out of the room, “Go talk outside!”
“I’m sorry about Keyle, he always gets testy when the new maps come out. The war between Alberdaine and the Felidaes’s ending has meant everything needs reprinting.” Lucas apologised. He and Ari had moved to the courtyard. It was once the fortress’s parade ground, but now it served as a place to relax and enjoy the sunshine.
“That’s fine,” Ari said, looking back towards the building, “I know how demanding treasure hunters can be.”
“So, what did you want, mister...?” Lucas asked, crossing his arms within his habit.
“Ari; we met last year, remember?”
Lucas’s furrowed his brow for a moment, then his eyes widened in recognition. He took a step backwards from Ari.
“The tapestry people?” He turned to leave, “I’m not affiliated with the Explorer’s Guild: you won’t get any spoilers from me, I’m a professor, not a treasure hunter.”
“No, professor, wait,” Ari said, grabbing Lucas’s arm, “That’s not why I wanted to talk.”
Lucas glared at the fox. Ari let go of the mouse, apologising. Lucas sighed.
“What do you want then?”
“Well… You’re… Celen tells me you’re dating a squirrel?”
“I don’t have to answer that.” Lucas quipped, “My life is my own affair, and I’d thank you and miss Acorntail to keep your noses out of it. Now, if you are quite finished-”
“Professor, wait! Its… Sapphire, my wife. She’s pregnant.”
Lucas blinked. He cocked his head to one side, raising an eyebrow.
“Good for you…?”
“She’s a wildcat.”
“Oohh…” Lucas said, biting his lip. “I see… How’s that going for you?”
“She’s pregnant.” Ari repeated.
“Ah, yes. Well, congratulations and all, but I don’t see how I can help. You’re obviously more experienced than I am at interspecies relationships. If it’s about the pregnancy, Dean Barnabus of sciences and medicines might be able to help.”
“I tried to talk to Barnabus. He won’t speak to me.”
Lucas sighed. “No, he wouldn’t. He hates people like you and your wife.”
“People like us?” Ari asked, offended.
“‘Deviants’. Inter-species, rabble raisers, the irreligious… undesirables; you get the picture.” Lucas explained, “Don’t worry, he hates me too.”
“Oh,” Ari said, “So you are… uh, like me and Sapphire?”
“I still don’t have to answer that.” Lucas said, his tail flicking at the grass. “And beyond telling you that you know more than I do, I don’t see why you think I can help you.”
“Oh, well, it’s about… children, of people like me and Sapphire.”
“Hybrids?” Lucas asked. Ari nodded. Lucas put a hand to his chin. “Well, I’ve not heard of any real ones before, nor read about them. To be honest, I hadn’t put much thought to the idea myself. If you’re worried about the baby not surviving…”
“Oh, no,” Ari said, shaking his head, “I know it’s possible. We’ve already had a daughter together.”
“Oh. So what did you want to know then?”
“Just…” Ari scratched the back of his head, “Are they accepted? Marina’s not even three years old yet, and she’s been on the waters with us her whole life. She looks like a cat now, but will she always? Will the baby? And… Well, I just don’t think we can do this forever. We haven’t any savings or anything of any value except for the houseboat, ”
“This sounds like a conversation you should be having with your wife, not with me.”
Ari sighed. He looked towards the hospital wing.
“We’ve already had it. I said everything would be fine, but… I’m not sure anymore. I just need someone to talk to. From what Celen said, I thought you might understand...”
Lucas straightened his glasses, sighing. He put a hand on Ari’s shoulder.
“Look, I’ll be honest. The only hybrids I’ve heard about are monsters in fairy-tales, bastard children of a rat having his way with mice. I can’t say they’ll be accepted. Chances are, they won’t be at all. A lot of people are like Dean Barnabus, and not enough people are like us.”
Ari sighed, nodding sadly. He patted Lucas’s hand, fighting back tears.
“Yeah… Yeah, it was a long shot… Thank you, though.”
“Hey,” Lucas began, “Don’t worry. At least you’re both big, noble species. It could be worse.” He looked off in the distance. “Try being a mouse.”
The houseboat left Mistdale for Cardena at dawn. They had found Ferria waiting on the jetty for them clutching a basket, illuminated by a red lamppost. Ferria was taller than her sister, if Celen could stand, and had lighter fur and a pointier face. Otherwise, they were nearly identical, even sharing the same acorn-shaped tip on their tail that gave them their name.
“Ferria?” Ari yawned, emerging from the cabin. Ferria jumped, the contents of the basket falling onto the jetty and onto the deck of the houseboat.
“Ari! Oh, I forgot you actually slept in that thing: I’ve been standing out here for an hour waiting for you like an idiot!”
Ari yawned again, reaching to pick up one of the fallen objects: a small glass bottle.
“You should’ve knocked. What’s this?”
Ferria jumped neatly onto the houseboat, then set about retrieving the basket’s contents.
“Baby things. Bottles, blankets, clothes. I remembered you saying you didn’t have any of this when Marina was born. And I thought your baby would like to be in some proper clothes, not his sister’s hand me downs.”
Ari handed the bottle to Ferria, who put it into the basket.
“What makes you think it’s going to be a boy?”
Ferria winked, touching the side of her nose.
“I just know. When mama was pregnant with Celine, everyone thought she was going to be a boy. Not me. I knew I was going to have a little sister. Every mother I’ve helped in Mistdale, I’ve never sexed a baby wrong. It’s a boy.”
Ari laughed.
“I’d like a boy,” he said, taking the basket from Ferria, “I wouldn’t mind if it is a girl, of course. But it’d be nice to have a son. Marina takes so much after her mother, maybe he’d take after me.”
“Oh, I bet he will. He’ll look just like you, and be twice as tall.”
“Maybe. Thank you so much for the basket. I’m sorry I can’t stay, but we need to be out soon if we want to beat the fishing traffic.” Ari apologised, helping Ferria back onto the jetty. The squirrel nodded knowingly.
“No problem, it’s the least I can do for you for helping Celine.”
“Ferria... About Celen, er, Celine…” He began.
“Yes?” Ferria asked. Ari felt a lump form in his throat. He couldn’t say it, not to Ferria, not now. He coughed, clearing his throat.
“Uh… tell her we said goodbye for us, won’t you?”
Ferria smiled, nodding. “Of course.”
Ari nodded in return, and pushed away from the jetty with his pole. Ferria waved from it, slowly disappearing in the fog. Ari looked up at his own red lantern hanging from the bow, breathing out slowly.
They had made a promise, he thought to himself, a promise they couldn’t go back on. Celen couldn’t walk because of them, how could he tell her they couldn’t spare the money for her? Ferria had said Celen was slowly getting better, but just how long did she need? If it took another year for her to walk again, then maybe, but there was never much chance of that to begin with. Celen could spend the rest of her life in a bed for all he knew, and as much as it pained him to admit it, he knew that just wasn’t possible. Not on a treasure hunter’s pay.
Shouting from starboard brought Ari back to the present. He pushed to port, shouting an apology to the fishing boat he had almost collided with, ignoring the bloody curses hurled back at him. He rolled his eyes, and looked at his map, squinting under the dim red light of the lantern.
Abisnova.
The name seemed familiar. Reports from the Explorer’s Guild was that the war was over, and anyone who could bring back anything to do with the Felidaes would be handsomely rewarded. Ari had considered it, but it was the felidaes. Dangerous, cold, politically unstable and a constant warzone. Even with Alberdaine’s occupation of it, it was just too dangerous, for Marina and for Sapphire. Not to mention, all the other treasure hunters would be all over it. Ari put the map of Abisnova aside, taking a second from his pack.
Aryala.
Now that name he definitely knew. A big island in the Auriel Isles that sold chalk. It had a single, sleepy town called Leek. The Explorer’s Guild were building a new guildhall there, and needed help finding a location. Map making. Surveying. Legitimate work. Safe work. Worth a shot. And it was about as far away from Abisnova one could get, so there wouldn’t be any competition.
“To the hall on Aryala, then.” Ari said to himself, shoving the houseboat along.
"It has been nearly two years since Marina was born, and Sapphire and Ari are finally beginning to realise the difficulty in raising a child on the rivers when juggling dangerous and questionably legal treasure hunting. Meanwhile, a war is being waged in the far away north, and a forgotten family history will be discovered."
∭
Next chapter. Shorter than before, but lots of world building. We also have Lucas and Ferria making an appearance, and finally we hear something about Aryala. And yes, Ferria calls her sister Celine, despite everyone else calling her Celen. Also, sometimes Celly.
(Celen is pronounced Sell-en, Celine Sell-een and Celly Chell-ee, if you were wondering.)
Something I've found to be a lot of fun whilst writing this series has been managing the interconnectivity of all the character's stories. Though Sapphire, Ari and Fergal are the protagonists in this story, Lucas is the protagonist of Treasure Hunters of Aryala Halls, the first true Aryala story, and Celen is the protagonist of the first comic we'll be producing. Both their stories are alluded to here, though Lucas is more setup here than anything else.
∭
Aryala Halls and all characters, locations and storylines, unless otherwise noted, are (c) Acorntail
Sapphire, Ari and Marina are (c) Saphamia
© 2014 - 2024 Acorntail
Comments5
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Oooh yay, chapter three! 8D I'd say good things always come in threes but the story must of course go on!