"I guess you don't want to get on the duchess' bad side, either, huh?" Jenn remarked as she left the room, leaving Emily only half dressed.
"Hey, don't leave just yet!" she called after Jenn.
While Jenn did it more to get her up than anything else, she couldn't say that she particularly enjoyed freaking Emily out like that. If anything, it made her feel bad that Emily was so freaked out at the thought that Jenn would show up without her. Jenn certainly couldn't help but wonder what the duchess might do if that was the case.
While Jenn had left the room before Emily was ready to leave herself, Jenn still waited outside the room. She hadn't really planned on going without Emily, it was more that she was suspecting that Emily had gotten too comfortable there and needed something to get her motivated to go.
Although that was in part with the assumption that Emily thought that the duchess would want her present when Jenn showed up to their appointment after the duchess' breakfast.
After all, there's no way that Jenn should otherwise know what time the duchess normally finished her breakfast anyway. The only exception would be if she used her magic and Jenn knew that she certainly hadn't revealed that fact to her. Maybe if she read the duchess' mind she'd rust her more, but at the moment, she felt that if she did and was caught, that it would make any further building of trust between them a little more difficult.
When Emily left the room a minute later, Jenn didn't say anything. She merely turned and started walking towards the entrance of the inn. She wasn't sure if she had time to eat herself, but being on time was more important. At least with this meeting.
_
Ralph yawned as he woke up. It had be an interesting few days helping Heanith with various tasks. Most of which Ralph was confident hat they weren't anything important.
Hannah had been making nails with her magic, and Heanith wouldn't listen to Hannah's protests that she could do more than just that. Amelia was helping keep the 'workshop' swept, which was surprisingly dirty all the time, no matter what they did. Tim was tasked with using his magic for various things like glassblowing, which he seemed to have a talent for. Wes was given the job of creating a safety rail for the switchback so it would be good for an escape route, but not be visible for anyone just looking. Ralph was given pieces of wood to either carve or sand down, some of which were put in a pile while other pieces seemed to disappear altogether.
When they'd gone to the summit a few days ago, they were surprised that they were able to see all the way to the ocean with how clear of a day it was, or what Heanith assured them was the ocean.
However, the biggest shock of all was that above the clouds, in the same direction was a mountain. However, it was just barely visible above them and was a nice purple color, much like the Rocky Mountains on Earth looked when viewed from a distance.
While Ralph wanted to believe that the base of the mountain was just outside their view, he had the unsettling suspicion that it was somehow floating in the air. Meaning they'd have a difficult time figuring out how to get up there to see if there was a griffin canyon to be found there.
They'd all agreed to assume that that was the case until they were able to confirm anything else about it or to rule that possibility out. As if they found a solution to getting to it if it was floating in the sky, then it would make it much easier to get there if it wasn't.
Heanith didn't say anything about the mountain in the sky, nor did she offer any information that she might have on it, but instead ignored any question thrown her way about it. Ralph had a suspicion that she knew something, but so far all his efforts hadn't gotten so much as a grunt out of her. Instead, she acted as if she didn't even hear any questions related to that mountain.
As it is, with how each of them had essentially been assigned various tasks to do in regards to their offers to 'help' Heanith, she still hadn't revealed to them what she was working on, but Ralph was confident that they'd eventually be able to wear her down. Or at least get her to trust them enough that she'd be willing to open up more with them.
Maybe then she'd even tell them what she knew about that mountain above the clouds. It was possible that she knew a lot about it or just a little. Either way, it would be more than they currently knew about it.
As it is, Ralph was more interested in learning about the mountain rather than anything this woman was working on. He couldn't imagine what it was, but he couldn't change what occupied his mind so easily and right now it was that mountain.
Ralph got up and took care of what had become his morning routine for this world. He couldn't exactly brush his teeth with a toothbrush, so he merely used his magic to do that instead. He wasn't sure how well it worked, just that it at least felt good to do something in regards to that, even if it didn't have any effect.
Breakfast was a kind of creamed wheat, or whatever passed for wheat on this world. Ralph wasn't sure if that's what it was called, but the name suited what it looked like at least.
"I'll be heading down the mountain a little to make a trade for the materials I need," Heanith said. "I'm sure you've all wondered about that pile of things I've had you make for the past few days and that's what I'll be offering in trade." Heanith paused as she took a deep breath and looked at each of them in turn. "Now, if you're not with those that I trade with, I can't let them know you're here. I'm not sure what they'd do, but I doubt they'd be happy about it. So, I'll need all of you to stay here. That way they won't have reason to think I've broken our agreement."
"What's the agreement you made?" Hannah blurted the moment Heanith mentioned it.
Heanith scowled at Hannah but didn't say anything about that. Instead, she sighed. "My agreement is that what I make I trade to them for materials and I'm not to trade with anyone else. Otherwise I'm sure they'll decide I'm not worth keeping around and they'll try to break into here and take all they can find."
"I'll go with you," Ralph said, not caring that Heanith didn't want any of them to accompany her. "I'll just make sure they're not aware of my presence. That way if they've already gotten tired of your agreement and decided to act on that, then you'll be able to have a better chance at getting out of there."
Heanith shook her head. "If they get tired of coming up here, they'll just send someone else," she assured Ralph. "For them, it's too profitable to end it now. They'd be ending what had been good for both of us."
"Doesn't matter," Ralph replied firmly. "I may be wasting my time here, but I'm sure that there's going to come a day when they're not going to be willing to keep doing this. Maybe they could be waiting for something else or maybe they're waiting for you to finish whatever it is that you're working on and won't tell us. All I can say is that I'm certain eventually they're going to come here with the intention of getting everything they can in this cabin."
Heanith shook her head again, though this time with a resigned expression. "Suit yourself. I doubt I'd be able to stop you. Though I don't know if what you're saying could be true or not, but I did set up traps to keep anyone from following me. As while I'm confident they'll keep the agreement that we made, that doesn't mean those they send won't try to get something more for themselves. Which is why I thought all of you were with them at first."
Ralph was surprised at that last sentence. It was the first time she'd brought up that subject since the first day they'd met. He hadn't thought much about it himself and had mostly dismissed it altogether. Especially since it didn't seem like it had mattered anyway. After all, they weren't with any group trying to get anything from Heanith, so it wasn't like it mattered to them what Heanith had thought of them at that time.
"So, you're saying that you trust us now?" Tim asked, sounding hopeful.
Ralph could only sigh in annoyance. The time to ask that would be if she decided to show them what she was working on that she was keeping so secret. Which she hadn't done just yet, if she ever would.
Besides, while Ralph would like to know what that secret was, he didn't care enough to really push the matter. If they never learned what it was, then he'd be just as fine with that. Especially since it wasn't like they had a right to know what that secret was or not. They weren't journalists who would trample on the privacy of others just to get a story to further their own careers.
"In a way, I guess I do," Heanith replied, sounding a little thoughtful. "Not once have any of you asked about anything I was doing here, so either all of you are better at holding in your curiosity and greed better than I would have thought or you really aren't here for my inventions."
"Well, I'll at least admit to holding in my curiosity," Amelia said, blushing a little. "I mean, I would like to know what it is, but it's not like I have any reason to demand you show it to us."
Heanith shook her head. "Yeah, anyway, I've given each of you the tasks that I'd like you to work on. If you should finish before I get back, then find something else to do. Just don't wander to far into the trees. I may have started to trust all of you, but that doesn't mean I'll tell you where the traps in there are."
"Not a problem," Tim said, nodding like he hadn't expected any different. Which, for all Ralph knew, could very well be the case.
Heanith looked like she wanted to say more, but she didn't. Ralph wondered if maybe she was going through her mind to see if there was anything that she'd missed in regards to what she'd wanted to say. After all, she did say a good amount.
"Alright, I'll be off then," she said, as she started to gather up the items that had been put in a pile. "I might be able to get more supplies than before, but we'll see. They are bandits, after all."
Ralph assumed the last sentence was Heanith talking to herself so didn't question it. He certainly knew the benefits of talking to himself sometimes. Though, usually when he did it around others it was generally assumed that it was part of some prank r another for some reason he couldn't quite figure out.
Ralph offered to help her, but she immediately refused. "If I don't carry them by myself, I'll have to explain how I got them there. While I appreciate the offer, It would only help complicate things a little more."
Ralph sighed, not sure what else to do. He felt rather protective of Heanith, even though the women in this world certainly didn't need to be coddled like the stereotypical girly girl on Earth. Instead, it was the boys who were like that on this world, which still boggled Ralph's mind when he thought about it.
Out of everything in this world, he still couldn't understand how things could have turned out this way. Especially since he couldn't make sense of it. He understood the reasons that Amelia had explained to them about how the hormones were slighting different in this world, but that still wasn't enough for Ralph. Nor did it explain how those differences had occurred in the first place.
It didn't take Heanith long before she had the items ready in her arms and was heading out the door. Which meant it was time for Ralph to leave as well. He waved to his friends in a brief farewell and started following Heanith.
Almost immediately he made himself invisible with his magic. He wasn't sure how far away the people that Heanith was going to meet with were, and so he figured it'd be safer to do this sooner rather than later.
_
When the duchess entered the room where Jenn and Emily had been directed to, she was accompanied by a younger girl. One that bore a very strong resemblance to the duchess and almost seemed to have an air about her that made her feel like the duchess was a better person to cross than this girl.
"Why'd you bring Fluerine with you?" Emily blurted almost immediately when the girl stepped out from behind the duchess.
The duchess scowled at the girl, but didn't seem upset or put out by the fact the girl was there. "I didn't mean to," she said. "I guess she followed me even when I told her to go see her tutors for her daily lessons."
"Maybe she just needs a little break from them," Jenn offered, regret for opening her mouth filling her immediately as the duchess glared at her.
"What makes you say that?" the duchess asked, her voice low and dangerous.
Jenn cleared her throat, hoping she wasn't making more of a mess for herself. "Uh, just that maybe if she takes a day off from them, that she'll be able to refresh her mind for it so she'll be able to learn more easily when she does go back to it after the small break is over."
The duchess didn't say anything, but her gaze told Jenn she needed to say more. Otherwise her own safety could be in jeopardy, regardless of what Star had assured her about what she did being something that would only help her.
"You know, like when you work out for so long that your muscles start getting sore, so you take a break from working them out for a day before you go back to it and find that you're able to do better then," Jenn continued, not sure what she was saying or if it was actually accurate. Just that she felt she needed to say more to keep the duchess from going off on her.
However, to Jenn's surprise, the duchess nodded. "Alright. She can stay," the duchess said, then turned to Fluerine. "After this, however, you'll go to your tutors, understood?"
The girl grinned and nodded, though Jenn couldn't help but wonder if she'd try to find another way out of having to learn whatever subject her tutors have in mind for her right then. However, that wasn't Jenn's problem, so she didn't say her thoughts on the matter. Especially since she didn't care to put herself in hot water again with the duchess right then.
"So, uh, what is it that you wanted to speak to me about?" Jenn asked, feeling sweat trickle down her back as she waited for the duchess to respond.
"I believe the centaurs came through what is known as a gate," the duchess said flatly, surprising Jenn a little. "I don't really understand everything that's involved with them, but I do understand that they connect to other worlds. It was through a gate that Emily came to this world as well as how I'll be able to make my domain more prosperous. So, have you encountered anything else like those gates before?"
Jenn felt like she was caught in a trap. On one hand, she didn't want to tell the duchess about the two gates that were going to be hidden in the towers or other structures that they were going to build around the towers near those gates. While on the other hand, if she didn't mention them to the duchess, she couldn't very well just go up to her and say, 'Oh by the way, you know these towers? Well we found a gate in these after we'd already built the towers.' Meaning she'd have to keep them secret from the duchess completely.
Which meant she had only really one option left at that moment. To tell her everything. Or at least everything about the gates in the Forest of the Lost. The gates that she had hoped to avoid telling the duchess about in the first place.
"Well, we know of two more gates," she said, hoping that the duchess wouldn't claim the land that she and her people had already started to settle. "One is where we started to make a home for ourselves, but had to abandon it when winter came, Jenn said before clearing her throat, hoping that the duchess' focus would be more on the second gate than the first. "The other is one where beast-kin live and I spoke to them, and they were going to send someone to be around us to learn our language while we sent someone to theirs to learn their languages."
"Hold on," the duchess said, her eyes narrowing. "What do you mean by 'languages?' How many of these beast-kin did you encounter?"
"Just two," Jenn replied, not seeing any reason to hide any of this. "The wolf-kin and pronghorn-kin."
Emily suddenly started giggling, startling Jenn and surprising the duchess and Fluerine. "What's so funny, Emily?" the duchess asked, her voice deceptively calm, considering the thunder visible in her eyes.