Downtown Druid

Dantes smiled and stood, meeting Vera for a big open armed hug. She smelled of roses and vanilla, her taste in perfume hadn’t changed. The scent immediately brought a flood of memories to the surface of him playing as Vera and his mother chatted, cooked, and played cards.

She released her embrace, still smiling as she looked him up and down, only a slight twitch of her eyebrow indicating some mild discomfort over his state of dress.“Ed, I wasn’t sure I’d see you again. Please, come with me to my office, we need to catch up.”

“I’d like that.”

“Decker, pick a bottle of wine to set aside, along with some cheese and some of those sweetmeats that Zilly thinks I don’t know are hidden in a corner of the bar.”

The Elf bartender, Zilly’s, ears twitched, but her expression remained passive. “Of course Madame Vera.”

Vera nodded, and gestured for Dantes to follow her up the stairs, which he did. The upper level was mostly single rooms, many of which had the typical sounds and smells of a brothel emanating from them, at the far end of the hall, was the only door with a lock. Vera opened it, and gestured Dantes inside.

Unlike the gaudy decoration throughout the rest of the brothel, Vera’s room had a simple elegance to it. There was a black carpet with blue fish patterns woven throughout, a wood desk with multiple sheets of paper and an abacus, a circle of lightly padded sitting chairs around a small table and tea set. There was a bed, concealed behind a mesh screen that showed only shadows, and behind the desk toward the center of the room was the bust of a woman, over which there had been placed a gray veil. In front of that were a few gold coins, some dried flowers, and a saucer filled with clear water.

“An altar to the goddess of hidden women?” asked Dantes.

Vera looked at it, as if just remembering it was there. “After your mother… It felt like something I needed to start doing.”

Dantes nodded. He wouldn’t have felt right, honoring his mother in that particular way, it wasn’t called the ‘goddess of hidden people’ after all. He was glad to see Vera had done so though.

Vera looked at him and as her eyes started to water she brought a knuckle to her eyes to wipe away a tear before it could smudge her makeup. “I never thought I’d see you again Dantes.”

He thought tears might well up in his own eyes, but they didn’t. “I never thought I’d see you again either, auntie.”

She gestured for him to sit in one of the padded chairs, while she began heating the teapot with a burnstick. “You’re lucky I remember that bastard's name for you.”

Dantes nodded. “I thought it might be smart not to use my real name. At least not until I knew where things stood.”

Vera nodded slowly. “Prison made you more cautious I see.”

Dantes shrugged. “Not enough to keep me out of trouble, but I’m a bit better at picking the kind of trouble now.”

She chuckled and took a breath to regain her composure. “How? How did you escape?”

“It's a bit unbelievable. There was a fight in the Maw, that’s where the supplies and prisoners are dropped, and a tree started growing. It sprouted all the way up and out of the maw. I started climbing, then running, before I knew it I was out. This was the only place I could think to go.”

“Did other people climb the tree as well?”

“Probably. I wasn’t exactly looking back as I climbed.”

“News of that probably wouldn’t have hit the docks until morning. The edge of the city will probably take a full day after that. Are you going to make for the walls? Maybe sign up to crew on a ship?”

Dantes shrugged. “I’m a fugitive, but it’s not as if they kept track of us down there. I’m not leaving.”

Vera bit her lip. “There may be… other reasons it’s not safe for you.”

“Mondego?”

Vera nodded. “If he knows you’re out… it will be dangerous for you.”

Dantes laughed. “No, no… it’s going to be dangerous for him in fact.”

Vera opened her mouth, but was interrupted by the whistle of the teapot. She poured it into each small porcelain cup, the leaves of the tea rising to the surface as the water slowly turned brown.

“Is there anything I can say or do to convince you to just get on a boat? The Vixen has come a long way since you were last here. We serve mostly ship’s officers now. I could get you work. You could have a good life outside of Rendhold.”

“No,” said Dantes with conviction that could shatter stone.

Vera sighed. “Okay. I just couldn’t call myself your mother’s friend if I hadn’t tried. Unfortunately for her, you’re her son, and vindictiveness is in your blood.”

Dantes lifted the tea and tasted it. It was the same horrifically bitter cheap blend she’d always drank. Which he found oddly comforting, and so followed it up with a second sip. As the warmth of it spread through him, he felt a profound weariness. Every muscle was sore, his will was exhausted from controlling plants and vermin, and he’d been awake for nearly a full day, maybe more.

“Auntie, I have questions, and I’m sure you have your own, but I don’t know that I can keep myself awake much longer.” He needed to stay sharp, and unfortunately, his powers hadn’t yet given him some way around needing sleep.

Vera nodded. “Of course. I’ll get you dinner and a room.”

“I can pay.”

She shook her head. “I’m sure you managed to pickpocket plenty to afford a night here, but don’t worry about it. I’ll have it covered.” She stood and walked to the door, gesturing for Dantes to follow.

When they arrived at the bottom of the steps, she snapped her fingers, and the young girl that had been watching the door sauntered over. “Sera, show my guest to Deborah’s old room, he’ll be staying there for the night. He’ll need a bath, some fresh sheets, and that bottle of wine and plate of food I asked for earlier.”

Dantes coughed. “Any chance that could be a deluxe bath.”

Vera laughed in a way that could make any man she hadn’t helped raise blush. “What happened to you being too tired?"

He shrugged. "Some things a man finds the energy for if it's been long enough."

"Ah, well you have been at... sea for five years.” She looked at Sera. “If you wouldn’t mind dear?"

Dantes shot her a subtle look.

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot that you’re one of those strange men that prefers women his own age. I’ll have Alessa come to run the bath.”

Sera looked a tad relieved, as if she’d believed he may have been planning to treat her as harshly as she’d treated him at the door, though she had nothing to worry about.

Dantes coughed again. “Any chance the deluxe bath could be an ultra deluxe bath?”

Vera let out a long sigh. “You are reaching the limits of my hospitality… but fine. I’ll have Alessa and Tieara sent up to help you with your bath.”

Dantes smiled, “Thank you.”

…

He found himself floating above a familiar scene. There was a long table with a scale in the center of it, and a number of coins on either side of it. The woman in green was in her same place, but now her chair was twice the height as the smirking man in blue’s, and had morphed from a chair into something more tree-like. She wore an even more predatory smile than before, with fearsome fangs showing and just the smallest trickle of saliva dribbling down her chin. The rat was now in her lap, gnawing on a silver coin while she roughly scratched his back with long claw like fingernails. As Dantes looked at her chair, he saw a number of roaches climbing around and into it.

The man in blue was leaning back in his chair, and looking up at the woman in green with the same slight smile he’d had since the beginning. Even though his head was now tilted up though, it was still impossible to see higher up on his face. It seemed that his side of the scale was starting to rise at the weight of coins the woman in green had placed on the side, but he showed no indication of concern.

The man in black and gold was leaning close to the man in blue, whispering in his ear. In his hand, he was holding a heavy pile of gold coins that he seemed to be offering to the man in blue, but he had the cruel smile of a usurer, and anything the man in blue took would clearly come at a price.

Dantes felt an unusual presence on his shoulder and looked to see Jacopo’s golden eyes staring back at him. They regarded one another silently for a moment, and Dantes tried to communicate with him, but found himself unable to. It didn’t really matter he supposed, and they shared a shrug and returned their attention to the table.

The green woman took the silver coin from the rat, and flipped it expertly toward the scale. While it was in the air, the man in blue feigned a yawn, and slipped a coin from the man in black’s pile, which he then pretended to pull from his cloak and place on the scale, leaving it tilted just ever so slightly in the green woman’s favor.

The man in blue turned subtly toward Dantes, and for a moment, the slight smile seemed to be directed at him.