A brown tinted tunic dried on a sun washed windowsill.
The room's window was positioned in a way that, once the sun rose and set over the horizon, the sunlight would pour right into the room.
Morning dew licked the edges of the glass, and dropped onto the wet, damp wood of the window. The air was sharp and clear, reminiscent of cold, frigid mornings. One could tell that winter was coming since, after every passing day, the air got colder and colder.
Today was rather cloudy, the cross-shaped sun's rays seeping through the gaps.
The gravel underneath Quies' feet crunched and turned as he walked along the stone path. Hot vapor rose from the placid surface of a bowl of mushroom bisque . This time, he had bought it with the remaining money Valerie had given him from a while back. He waved the store owner goodbye as he walked up stone steps.
'I should pay him a visit.'
He walked into the tunnel that led into the temple. It was a shortcut for passing through the wide mountainside. The path around the mountainside was unkept and took longer; he didn't want his soup running cold, after all.
He paused near the door to the training room before resuming on his walk.
***
Under the filtered light piercing through leaves, Quies walked with the same bowl of mushroom bisque, which he still hadn't tried yet.
'Ah, last time I was walking here I thought I was a king—the richest man alive, at that! Now, here I am, with just a measly few notes to last me until tomorrow… Speaking of which, I should ask how much I'm being paid to do Evengarde's dirty work.'
Quies slept… well enough. The dark circles around his eyes had shrunk, and he could feel his ether reserves had been fully replenished. He believed that blood enhancement had done most of the work while he slept. He didn't dream though.
People rarely dreamed.
Soon enough, he came across the familiar structure at the end of the dirt pathway.
A clearing in the thin forests of Vigil, overlooking the cliff face—towards the ocean. Within the dusty clearing, two dummies and a tattered wooden rod stood proudly. At the base of the tattered rod, a mess of hay laid unfurled. Oh, and one of the dummies seemed to have gotten an… interesting looking haircut.
'Just three days… what has he been up to?'
Quies walked into the medium sized pagoda quietly. It was just like he remembered.
The bookshelves lined the wall, some books seemingly out of place. This time, however, there was a neat little wooden chair near the edge of the room with sparse clumps of hair surrounding the floor.
'Seems like he listened to my ad-'
"Whoever's down there, I'm not open till' like, an hour later!"
He heard the rapid rush of footsteps descending to his left. Tucked away in the corner of the room, a wooden staircase ascended upwards—towards the second floor of the house.
"Geez, who knew people would be coming so early to get a 'premium' haircut. I might label it 'premium', but that's just a-"
Wally stopped near the bottom of the staircase.
"Who… Ah- ah! Quies, was it?"
"Yeah, Quies."
"What's got you coming back so soon?"
His steps slowed as he made his way over to the 'hair cutting zone'. There, Wally prepared scissors and other appliances, chatting as he did.
"Well, the thing is, I'm kind of stuck here for a day without anything to do… So I thought I should pay a visit."
"Bummer… Well, I mean, good for me, since I get someone to talk to, but a bummer for you, I assume. It's only been, what, a day?"
"Three."
"Three… Work really messes up your sense of time, huh?"
He scratched his head at the realization at how fast time was moving. Quies couldn't help but notice his immaculate haircut.
"So… yeah, what's got you staying here at Vigil? Definitely not for the night life, I'm sure, but I gotta say, those guys down near the dock cook up some damn good food!"
As he said that, Quies took a sip of the mushroom bisque prepared by 'those guys down near the dock'.
He didn't really want to tell Wally what he's been up to for the past few days, to be honest. The whole 'interrogation' thing and Valerie's encounter with the Lord Regent wasn't exactly a tidbit of information you'd share with someone as small-talk. He would rather keep what happened at Etris between himself, Valerie, and Evengarde.
"I went to Etris for a bit with a friend of mine and visited a couple of… nostalgic places. Left after a day because we were attacked by some blindfolded guy with white hair. He wasn't a local, though."
Wally gave Quies a confused look, closing the blades of his scissors and putting it down on the table.
"No wonder you left after a day."
'There's no way this guy actually believes me.'
He turned back towards the work surface, reorganizing his tools again.
"Stuff gets crazy in Etris. Sure, it might be a small town by Lumen standards, but it's genuinely one of the largest settlements in the Etrean… no, Eastern Luminant. The current ruler of-"
He gave Quies a furtive look.
"Um… yeah, a lot of people come to Vigil from Etris for trade or whatnot. I've seen a lot of large merchant schooners coming into port to deliver imports of steel and rare minerals, for some reason."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really! Don't know why."
Quies took another sip of his mushroom bisque, which was a quarter of the way finished, now. As he did, he caught Wally eyeing the bowl of soup.
"You… want some?"
"Um- yeah, actually. That'd be nice. It's been getting colder recently… let me get another chair."