“Well, how do I look?” Diana asked and then spun in a circle to show off her entire form, the skirts of the gown lifting slightly with the force of the spin.
“Simply stunning, dear,” Madame Kelda replied, pleased with her selection.
Darien just stared at Diana, wide eyed, with his mouth hanging slightly open.
“You know, it’s not polite to stare,” Diana teased, hoping to dislodge him from his stupor.
Flushing a bit, Darien closed his mouth and grinned like the cat that caught the canary. “Your grace shines to rival even that of the lovely Udana herself, in all her silver-lit glory.”
“Oh come on.” Diana felt herself flush as the heat rushed to her cheeks. “I’m sure the Moon Keeper wouldn’t be pleased at being compared to someone like me.”
“Nonsense,” Darien replied assuredly. “I’ve told you this before, Diana—you don’t give your beauty the credit it deserves.” He gave a quick and commanding nod. “Madame Kelda, I believe we have found the lady’s Zen’Naphalia gown. We will take that and anything else Diana desires.”
“But it’s the first gown I’ve tried on,” Diana protested. “Shouldn’t I at least try on a few more?”
“No need,” Darien replied, shaking his head with confidence. “If you could look any more beautiful, every eye in Silvermoon Palace would be on you and that would be counterproductive to our cause.”
Diana’s heart leapt at his words and her entire body filled with warmth. “Whatever,” Diana said with a shrug, turning around to inspect the dress again—and to hide her obvious blushing. “I do love this gown.”
Kelda reached into a pocket of her dress and pulled out a small writing pad and a pencil. “Shall I settle with the Stoneheart account or your Watcher stipends, Endymion’kon?”
“The Stoneheart account will suffice, Madame,” Darien quickly replied and then he and Kelda went to her small desk at the front of the boutique to settle the cost of Diana’s new elven wardrobe.
Along with the emerald gown, Diana decided on a few other dresses for everyday-wear and less formal evening events—including a lime-green dress that she absolutely adored, with a corseted-bodice trimmed with black lace and matching black underskirts and petticoat. Quite frankly, it was the perfect Steampunk dress to suit Diana’s sense of style—a notion she had quietly kept to herself.
After Diana decided which dress she’d like to wear for the remainder of the day, Madame Kelda had the rest put in a carrying trunk and then called for a courier to take them on ahead to the ship. It’d been hard to decide which of her new dresses to wear, since Diana was fairly certain that each one was her new favorite piece of clothing. In the end, she chose the long-sleeved, ankle-length, gray dress with the black bodice. Kelda had said it was of a winter fashion and much more suited to the current climate.
When Diana stepped out from behind the curtain in her fabulous new elven dress, she felt like a new person—one she had always dreamed of being. However, that fantasy was quickly shattered by the white tennis shoes waiting for her on the reclining couch.
“I need shoes,” Diana declared, turning to Darien.
“Why do you need shoes?” he asked in reply, looking confused. “Your brown riding boots are back with the luggage.”
“I can’t wear brown boots with all these dresses—now that’s absurd,” Diana said, crossing her arms over her chest, astounded by his response. “I can’t very well go barefoot all the time, either. I need a pair of shoes to match each dress or I will look ridiculous.”
Darien turned to Madame Kelda for some clarification, but she simply smiled and nodded her agreement.
He addressed Diana with a sideways smirk. “Well, we can’t have you looking ridiculous, now can we?”
“I suggest my cousin Melida’s shoe boutique,” Gilda said from her desk as she finished writing up Darien’s receipt. “It’s one street over, on the right.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Diana said with a wide smile just before her tummy growled loudly. She cringed slightly in embarrassment as the two Naphalei turned to look at her. “Excuse me; I haven’t eaten much since early this morning. I think the tea and scones just made me hungrier.”
“We should get you something to hold you over before we depart,” Darien said. “Supper won’t be served for some time.”
“Oh that sounds nice,” Diana said with growing enthusiasm. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was. “I could go for a cheeseburger and fries right about now.”
By Kelda’s sardonic chuckle and the look of smug disapproval on Darien’s face, Diana knew that a cheeseburger was probably not an option.
“Thank you again, Madame,” Darien said to the kindly dressmaker. “It’s always a pleasure to see you.”
“It was nice to meet you, Madam Kelda,” Diana chimed in, taking Darien by the arm. “I hope to see you again in the near future; have a lovely afternoon.”
Kelda smiled kindly. “I was glad to have made your acquaintance as well, Miss Diana. Have a lovely journey and enjoy yourself during Zen’Naphalia.” Her mouth twisted into a playful smirk. “Don’t let those haw-haw toffs spoil your holiday, dear. As young Endymion-kon can surely tell, you’re quite the proper bit of frock, so you have no reason to burst your laces over them.”
“Thank you Kelda,” Diana replied through a chuckle. “I won’t. Take care.”
As they walked out of The Gilded Rose and into the warm light of the afternoon sun, Diana felt quite content and sighed with satisfaction.
“I like her,” she said happily to Darien as they were making their way to the shoe boutique. “Not only was she super nice, her English is filled old-timey gumption.”
“Kelda does have a certain amount of zest for a lady of five and fifteen, doesn’t she?”
“She’s five-hundred and fifteen years old?” Diana asked, astounded. “That means she was born during the Renaissance.” She shook her head at how crazy it sounded. “I still can’t believe how old you people can be.”
Darien playfully grinned at her wonder. “Then I probably shouldn’t tell you my father was only fifteen years younger than her, should I?”
“Nope,” Diana declared as The Toe & Heel—the boutique of Kelda’s cousin—came into view and all thoughts of ridiculously long ages fled from Diana’s mind. Shoes had always been a particular weakness of hers.
To Diana’s great relief, the shop was bereft of haughty elves turning their noses up and Melida turned out to be just as warm and friendly as her cousin had been. In the end, Diana picked out some lovely pairs of shoes to match her dresses, including some adorable brown flats with a silver buckle and gorgeous emerald slippers to match her Zen’Naphalia gown. For her current ensemble, she chose a charming pair of black, laced, ankle boots.
After they left the shoe parlor, Diana’s mind immediately wandered back to food.
“So that’s a no on cheeseburgers; what do you people eat for a quick bite?”
“Well, for one thing—we typically don’t eat red meat, so any sort of burger is out of the question.”
“What do you eat?” she asked, pondering their limited selection.
“For meat, we eat fish that aren’t bottom feeders, and fowl that aren’t scavengers.”
“Why?” Diana asked, feeling like a five-year-old continually asking too many questions.
“To make an extensively long story inadequately short, we don’t eat food that has a life essence—a soul. Nor do we eat meat from animals that could have potentially eaten another with a life essence. A foreign essence can potentially be very harmful to us.”
“Oh,” Diana said. “I sort of understand, I guess. What about the hot dog at the concert?”
“Yes well, consuming hazardous meats from time to time—in small quantities—isn’t a terrible thing. Your smile was worth the risk.”
“Hey now,” Diana protested. “I won’t have you potentially harming yourself just to make me happy. That’s not how real relationships work.”
&
nbsp; “It’s alright; I had no adverse after effects.”
Diana was not pleased with his actions and let her disapproving scowl inform him not to do such things in the future.
“So what can I eat?” she asked, growing ever hungrier. “You don’t have some beetroot-on-a-stick stand someplace, do you?”
“I’ll have you know, there are chefs that can do wonders with beetroot,” Darien said in all seriousness. “In fact, a delicious beetroot tea is brewed for cleansing rituals at the eastern shrines.”
“I was joking,” Diana said flatly. “I’m not eating beetroot, or drinking it in tea.”
“Hmm…” Darien said, appearing to think. “There’s a café down the way I think you might enjoy.”
When they reached the café, the smells drove Diana mad with hunger and made her tummy growl all the more ferociously—it smelled of soups and pastries. When they went inside, Diana was surprised to see neither the hot soups nor the delectable pastries she had envisioned. Instead, the glass case held small, flaky, squares that had the same consistency as a croissant.
“What are these?” she asked, curious. “They smell wonderful.”
“It’s a lemdra,” Darien replied. “The British call them pasties.”
He soon handed a gold coin to the man behind the counter and was then given two lemdras wrapped in cloth napkins. Darien handed one to Diana and she took it greedily. As it was quite hot, she blew on it before taking a bite.
It was pretty much the best thing Diana had ever tasted.
The savory flavors danced on her tongue, having a delicious party all the way down into her starving stomach.
“It is a pastry!” she exclaimed inaudibly with her mouth full. It tasted like she had taken a bite out of sweet croissant filled with delectable vegetable soup.
“Indeed it is,” Darien said. “My people originated the art of filling pastries with hearty innards. You are currently eating an Ashmola beetroot lemdra.” He smiled in triumph.
Diana stopped eating, stared a moment, then continued chewing away happily. “Whatever—it’s awesome.”
After they finished their quick bite, Diana and Darien began making their way to the quay where their ship was harbored. Passing a small bookstore, Diana abruptly stopped, gazed longingly through the window, and then promptly dragged Darien inside along with her.
Diana perused the books, happy as can be, even though she couldn’t read any of them; just seeing the elven tomes filled her with an intense fascination. With each one, she demanded that Darien tell her the title and what it was about. The fact that she couldn’t read any of the intriguing books greatly fueled Diana’s desire to learn the Naphalei language for herself, so she begged Darien to buy her a couple items to help her achieve that goal. First, a children’s book on learning to read—which turned out to be exceedingly less offensive than the grammar she’d been using—and second, a large tome of elven legends and epic poetry. Once the transactions were complete they continued on their way, Diana happily clutching her bag of new treasures.
When they reached the gateway leading to the quay, Diana was a bit confused not to find any sign of a dock. In fact, the small pillared building that Darien was leading them to was in the center of a tiny park nowhere near the edge of the landmass.
“Where’s the ship?” she asked Darien as they entered into the building.
“We have to descend to the lower levels to board the vessel,” Darien replied. “The dock is below us.”
“Well, I guess that makes sense. We don’t have to take a staircase all the way down to the water, do we?” The thought alone made her newly-heeled feet hurt.
“Not exactly,” Darien replied with a playful smirk.
After descending a flight of steps, that couldn’t have taken them anywhere near the lakeside, they emerged from a short corridor into a humongous cavern that could have very well been the equivalent size of the city above ground. Beyond the craggy rocks and hanging stalactites, Diana could see the blue of the afternoon sky in the distance. She immediately felt a rush of moist, hot air blow across her face as she realized the entire cave was filled with swirling wisps of steam, making it feel quite a bit like the inside of a factory’s boiler room.
Silhouetted by the blue sky, the vessel they would soon be embarking upon sat just at the edge of the enormous cave. Almost as long as the cavern mouth itself, the large wooden ship had a very sleek appearance, in spite of its massive size, with metal, fish-like, fins at its sides. Situated above the fins and attached to the upper decks of the ship, six pillared stone towers topped with red ceramic tiles stood high above the complex of structures that sat on the deck.
Diana’s eyes went wide when she noticed the large spinning propellers that capped each tower and realization quickly followed.
The ship was floating.
As they neared the vessel, Diana could only look on in astonishment and Darien smiled at her sense of wonder and excitement.
She was going to journey across the ocean on an airship. Best. Winter Break. Ever.
Chapter 15
Twisting serpent eyes the unwary mouse,
The lion’s sharp teeth bite at the careless hart.
Though I began this journey as hunter,
Have I become the unsuspecting prey?
As she leaned over the cold metal railing of the aft viewing garden, Diana watched on as the flock of white gulls passed just below the ship in a V, barely visible through the gray vapors of the clouds. The setting sun had almost finished bathing the sky with its beautiful shades of oranges, reds, and pinks and it was now growing dark—supper would begin very shortly.
Diana left the railing and sky-gazing behind to return to the bench where she had left her book. Emily would likely be coming to find her very soon, and Diana wanted to finish the rest of her drills before her new friend arrived to walk with her to the dining hall.
As much as Diana had quickly grown to enjoy Emily’s company, she’d rather be eating with Darien in the Grand Dining Room and the other “Haw-Haw Toffs.” At least she had a friend, though. This journey would be terribly lonely for Diana if not for Emily.
It had now been several days since they set out from Lay’Volas. At first, Diana had been mesmerized by the entire experience as Darien took her on a tour of the ship to show her all the amenities. On the upper decks one could find many places to spend leisure time, including viewing gardens, health spas, and a gymnasium for engaging in recreational activities of a more sporting nature. Diana had been more than delighted to find a magnificent library on board as well; it even had a small section of books written in human languages. The upper desks were beautifully decorated, using a wide array of colorful marbles to line the walls and corridors, and many of floors contained exquisite mosaics depicting scenes from Naphalei legend. The most magnificent mosaics decorated the floors within the six towers, each containing a shrine to one of the Fallen. The flying vessel was a veritable cruise ship, sailing across the clouds in the skies above, rather than the oceans below.
After the initial tour Diana had demanded to be shown how the ship actually worked, fully expecting some sort of complex magical engine full of arcane energy, or a circle of magi engaged in an elaborate ritual. In truth, the whole business was much less complicated. The ship was powered by simple steam—though generated by an engine drawing on intense fire magic. According to Darien, humans could produce comparative amounts of steam energy, but only with nuclear reactors. The notion made Diana glad her people went the way of fossil fuels to power their cars and airplanes. She had also resisted the strong urge to comment on the very Steampunk nature of Naphalei technology.
Diana shivered, feeling the bitter chill of the air, and wrapped her woolen shawl around her shoulders for warmth. The viewing gardens were heated by tall magical lamps, but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep Diana from getting a chill every so often. Taking the grammar book into her hand, Diana sighed heavily. I wonder what Lord Stoneheart is up to right now.
After that the first day, Diana hadn’t been able to spend as much time with Darien as she would have liked. After the business in the Sanctuary, Darien steadily grew concerned about Barakas Lightmourne and feared he may try to seek revenge on them for being reprimanded by the Council. Even though he lost his position as Overseer, the man was still very powerful and well connected, having a web of informants cast throughout human and Naphalei reams to spread whispers of treason and treachery. Darien suspected Barakas had eyes and ears on the ship, and for that reason, demanded that they play the part of lord and servant to the letter. As Lord Endymion’s dutiful new Tanar retainer, Diana was forced to keep to herself unless her “master” came to call on her—which didn’t happen very often.
Most of Diana’s journey thus far had been spent among fellow human servants and other lower class passengers, such as indentured elves and the Clanless. Even so, she’d been having a pleasant time. Evening meals in the lower dining hall were a cheerful affair, in spite of the economic hardships of her fellows, with good food, good music, and good company. In fact, Diana was enjoying the journey much more so than Lord Stoneheart was—he’d been complaining incessantly during their few precious hours together before bed. It made it easier for Diana to leave his spacious cabin to return to her small servant’s quarters.
Her concentration was broken by the sound of someone approaching from the side and she turned to see a Naphalei woman nearing the metal railing. Growing rather bored with practice drills, Diana thought she might be ready to attempt another conversation. On further reflection, however, she decided against it. Diana didn’t need another dose of that particular embarrassment. The other night, after she had grown overconfident, Diana tried to tell a woman that the moon looked pretty. The woman had stared at her, horrified, and then quickly walked away. When Diana told Darien what she had said, he burst with laughter and told Diana she had made a pass at the woman. It had been her last—and only—attempt at conversation.
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