97. Wanderlust
Jeropher watched the slowly roasting meat, while Kalzin and the nobleman basked in the soft silence of the moment. The fire crackled and spat like a homely hearth, creating a radius within which they felt saft. Protected, isolated from the dark forest surrounding them.
"I have spoken with your...reticent...companion, but I have yet to have at length discourse with you, Master Talontail."
The nobleman broke the silence, though his voice too was quiet.
"Haha," Kalzin chuckled good-naturedly. "I leave most of the small-talk to my brother, he is far better at it than me."
Jeropher spared a glance up from his work, signalling with his hands, and Kalzin laughed.
"He says that there are few worse than me so it is not much of a compliment."
"I wouldn't say such a thing, Master Talontail. I think it is wonderful how you two complement each other, like two peas in a pod."
"Peas?"
Kalzin questioned inquisitively and the nobleman chortled.
"A type of vegetable, it fits rather snugly alongside its fellow siblings within a casing. An absolutely delectable treat, if you ever do visit the mountains, I must entertain you with them."
"Vegetable...I have to say I am not that big of a fan. The, ah, lean-meats are more to my taste."
"Mine too, Master Talontail, much to the depreciation of most others of my peers. They do find my tastes rather too...exotic for their tame liking. Still I say, stuck in their little pockets of Eden, how can they truly judge when they have only seen a fraction of all that exists?"
The nobleman looked up at the vast array of the stars above with wanderlust in his eyes, and both Kalzin and Jeropher found themselves caught up in the moment too.
"Just imagine...they say now that each of those twinkling stars holds a world just like ours. The boundless universe, does that not excite you? To wonder about all the things that might exist? All the fantastic, amazing, wondrous miracles? Sometimes I like to imagine that out there, on some alien world, someone else is looking up at me thinking the same exact thoughts. A thousand-thousand worlds..."
The silence that followed was serene, all of them lost in that fantasy of infinity. Until it was broken, abruptly. The hairs on Kalzin's neck stood up as the voice, unfamiliar and strange, spoke in a voice of detached amusement.
"There are far more worlds than that out there."
It took a second for Kalzin to realise what was wrong, but the white-cloaked shadow behind the nobleman was not so limited. Turning into a blur, his figure dashed in front of his master, a sword extended in front of him. Its tip pointed squarely at the back of someone's neck.
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Huh? Someone? Was there someone else here with us?
Narrowing his eyes, Kalzin focused, that which was strangely blurry becoming gradually clearer in his vision. A figure sat upon one of the logs, leaning forwards, hands spread over the fire. Clad in a simple brown cloak, nothing about him stood out, apart from a single detail. A blindfold covering his eye, made of a similar brown cloth.
"Who are you."
The voice of the nobleman's usually silent guardian was cold, but it brimmed with killing intent. And yet, the figure sat there was unfazed. Exchanging a worried glance with Jeropher who signalled rapidly with his hands, Kalzin nodded subtly.
The figure leaned back slightly, turning away from the fire to face straight at the sword pointed at him. Its tip hovered steady in front of the blindfolded figure's face, who grinned amusedly, speaking out.
"Who am I? I should be asking you that question."
But before the situation could escalate, an unexpected person spoke up. The nobleman, his voice as aristocratic as ever, not overtly surprised at the intrusion.
"How many?"
Well, I'll have to give it to him. Either his mental resilience is just that strong...or maybe the fool's curiosity simply overpowers his fear.
Kalzin saw the spark of wanderlust still in the nobleman's eyes, and his unspoken question was answered. The blindfolded figure turned away from the sword, and addressed the nobleman who added on to his question in a hurry.
"How many more worlds are there? Out there, I mean?"
The blindfolded figure's grin only grew wider.
"More than you could possibly imagine."
The silent guardian interrupted, stepping forward, the tip of his blade threatening to pierce through the blindfold.
"My Lord, I suggest you refrain from interacting. Whatever this is...its intentions cannot be good for having crept up unannounced. Even to evade my senses..."
"No need, Aether. If he was to wish ill upon us, I would wager that even you would be naught but a flimsy shield."
The silent guardian, Aether, stood still for a few moments warring internally. Eventually, his obedience won and he lowered his sword. Noticeably, he still stood before his liege, his weapon unsheathed, resting at his side like a poised predator waiting to pounce upon unsuspecting prey.
"You flatter me, Plutarch Cavitus, but I fear that you overestimate my abilities. I am, nothing more or less, than a simple traveller."
His final phrase hung in the silence, daring any present to dispute. The nobleman muttered under his breath, for the first time in all the time Kalzin had known him, in a manner clearly shaken to his core.
"That name...how do you know that name?"
The blindfolded man merely grinned. It was Jeropher who broke the building tension, tearing off a piece of the now-perfectly roasted meat, the aroma drifting across on the light breeze. He handed it to the blindfolded man gingerly along with a set of gestures. Kalzin opened his mouth to translate, but the blindfolded man replied before he had a chance.
"How kind of you, Jeropher Talontail."
But he's wearing a blindfold, how could he know what Jero was saying? If he can see, what's the point of the blindfold anyways?
The blindfolded man took a small bite before speaking.
"The blindfold isn't for my sake," he turned his unseeing gaze onto Kalzin who felt the back of his neck bead with sweat. Kalzin swallowed, forcing the fear down with a monumental effort of will, and spoke in a voice that definitely was not trembling.
"You seem to know of us, but you have yet to introduce yourself? You are welcome to join us, that is no problem at all, please enjoy our hospitality as long as you wish."
"Well said, Kalzin Talontail. And you are right, how rude of me not to make myself known."
He paused to take another bite. The silence of that moment was heavy, a thick, suffocating blanket of tension that seemed to swallow even the light of the fire.
"I am called the Voyager. And you are all currently sat in the middle of my alcove. So instead let me formally welcome you all, to one of my humble abodes. What is it they call this place?"
Kalzin whispered the response almost instinctively, but it was still heard clearly.
"The Alcove of the Ancient Traveller..."