Chapter 5-4

The outdoor cafe was trendy and energetic, young people chittering in pseudo-intellectual banter, mostly those who had just come from the University. Exotic multi-coloured flowers bloomed around the tables. A thousand fragrant scents wafted through the street. Milly felt strangely both out of place and in her element at the same time: the people here were the intellectuals, those she could discuss things with, but she still didn’t have the courage to greet any of them.

Across the table from her, Valgard leisurely read through the volume of [i]Shamich[/i], sipping his tea. Milly’s tea sat nearly untouhced. The one gulp she had taken had burned her tongue.

“Fascinating,” said Valgard, before closing the book with the care of a collector. “I must thank you for allowing me to read this small part.”

Milly blushed. “You don’t have to thank me... I mean, you paid for it. You can keep reading if you want.”

“Ah, I fear I have infringed upon too much of your time already,” he said, beginning to get up.

“Wait!” Milly said. “Um... stay and talk for a while. You’re not bothering me at all.”

Valgard checked his watch, a fancy mechanism dangling from an exquisite gold chain. “Well, I suppose I may be able to spare some time.” He sat back down, and Milly breathed a sigh of relief. “So what brings you to Nariev, besides books?”

She found herself telling the whole tale of finding Anjanette and Leonas, their journey so far, and all of her opinions on it. He coaxed the words out of her, never speaking of himself. Eventually she finished the story, trailing off into a mumbled question about what had brought him here.

“Well, it’s quite the story, but I really must be going,” he said, checking his golden watch again. “It was nice meeting you, Millicent.”

“Milly,” she said. “Only my grandma calls me Millicent.”

“Well then Milly, I really must be going, but I hope that our paths interesect again one day,” said Valgard, bowing to her before sweeping out of the room.

“What... just happened?” she wondered.

* * *

They met back at their inn room. Anjanette had carried a tower of clothes in her arms, mentioning that have the shops in the city were looking for her now. Milly and Leonas looked none the worse for wear physically, but emotionally was a different story.

“I didn’t find out much about the sword, but I did meet this amazing guy...” Milly trailed off.

“Funny enough, so did I,” muttered Leonas, before snapping back to his usual volume and posture.

Anjanette sat on her bed, laying on crossed arms while staring at them eagerly. “Oooh, details!”

“I’d really rather not talk about it,” both of them said, nearly in unison.

Anjanette pouted. “Fine. What about the books? I was too busy running from shopkeepers to dig up any decent info.”

Leonas produced a ruffled flier from his pockets, laying it out before the girls. It was an advertisement for an auction, to be held in two days time, with the prize piece being a classic origin-century painting.

“What are we looking at this for?” asked Anjanette.

“Three down,” said Leonas. There, advertised as simply a “mysterious ancient text” was a tome that matched exactly the one they had on them.

“You think this is it?” asked Anjanette.

“I think it’s a pretty good bet, “ said Leonas.

“Well then, it’s time for some more shopping,” said Anjanette.

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