Chapter 111 - Training on the Move

"So, what's the deal with crystal rods anyway?" I asked as I worked through some basic stretches.

"Oh, those? Yeah, I read about those in some publication. They put out some kind of mana thingy that drives a lot of monsters away, mostly the ones that are nocturnal. Or undead. Undead really hate the things. Now stop distracting me from training you!" Eira chided me. I playfully stuck my tongue out at her.

In response, she swatted my rear hard enough it stung a bit.

"Rude!" I protested.

"Tough. Now, we'll focus on basics. Show me your stance, not your sword stance, the one you take before you get in a bar brawl." She ordered me, crossing her arms.

"You know I stabbed the last person who touched my rear like that," I grumbled and rubbed the sore spot.

"Yeah, but they weren't as cute as me. Now stop grumbling and get into the stance, woman!" Eira snapped back at me.

I shifted my feet into what felt right, and held up my fists. Eira walked around me, looking at my legs and how I held myself.

"Well, it's not completely wrong, but it's not amazing either. You've got a lot of openings, and it wouldn't be too hard to get you off balance and knock you right on that lovely arse of yours." She sighed as she put her hands on her hips.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not moving. "I feel pretty steady."

"You are steady. If you had a sword. I'll show you, but promise you won't get mad at me."

"I promise. You could never make me mad at you." I reassured her.

"Alright then." She smiled at me.

The next thing I knew I was staring at the blue sky and a rather fluffy cloud.

"What, huh?" I said, sitting up. "How did I get on the ground?"

Eira reached her hand out and pulled me to my feet.

"Watch me carefully." She said, patting my shoulder.

The next thirty or so minutes involved me getting knocked on my rear repeatedly. I'd stand in my stance, she'd give me slight corrections, and then the next thing I knew, she'd knock me over. To my credit, it got less quick each time.

A signal bell sounded indicating that it was time to get ready to move out of the day, a fact my poor derriere was grateful for. Oh, this was going to make the ride today miserable.

"Don't worry about it, beloved. We'll work on it. You're not awful, but you need some work." Eira said, embracing me.

"Thrilled."

"Of course you are!" She said before planting a big wet kiss on my cheek, which knocked the irritation right out of my soul.

Damn, she was good.

I relaxed to the sound and sway of the carriage as it continued rolling on its path, lying on my stomach across my seat, as my posterior was still rather upset with me. I was half tempted to pull the ice crystal out of the water storage, but with my luck there'd be a fine or something.

I grumbled at the unfairness of life and the fact I hadn't had any decent coffee or tea today, and my mood was overall pretty sour.

Not exactly my ideal idea of a vacation.

I decided to distract myself. I turned to face her, and watched as she read through some kind of thin paper book. A magazine I think I heard it called? Whatever. Apparently the caravan company had a whole bunch of them available in the lead of the carriage train, and she grabbed a few to pass the time.

As much as it was nice to travel in relative comfort, there really wasn't all that much to do as a passenger. I didn't have to guard anything, I had to leave fighting to others, I didn't even have to cook anything. I was bored. And my arse hurt. Bored and arse-hurt. Not an ideal combination in the slightest.

So back to my original plan of distracting myself. Which entailed trying to get some more info out of my dearly beloved paramour.

"So where did you learn martial arts, anyway? The way you fight isn't really something I've seen before, and I know for sure they don't have classes on it at the school."

"Here and there. I wandered around for quite a while before I ended up at Dungeon School." She answered without even looking up from the magazine. I squinted to get a good look at the cover. Popular Crystallography? Now I kind of wanted to read it. I was very tired of being surprised by new crystal thingies all the time.

"And the spellsong stuff? Same thing?" I pressed.

"Pretty much. I learned a tiny bit of both on the- from my parents' business associates, but there was only so much they could teach me. When I left home, I just picked up lessons wherever I could before moving on." She sighed wistfully for a moment, staring off out the windows. "If only you could have seen or heard my teachers, Alta. It makes me seem like an awkward Ptarm chick with a cold."

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"Don't sell yourself short my beloved. You sing beautifully. And you can use it to do magic! That's super cool!" I groaned as another wave of pain hit my abdomen. The potion I took earlier was working, but it was taking its time. If I ever figured out how to travel back in time, I'd kick my own arse for forgetting. Or not. My arse hurt enough today.

"Still hurting? Do you need anything?" Eira asked, scooting over to my half of the carriage and letting me use her lap as a pillow. I had to figure out a position that spared both sides of me the discomfort. It didn't entirely work, but it was nice enough. Despite her muscular legs, they were soft in all the right ways.

"Don't suppose you have any chocolates or anything like that stashed away somewhere?" I looked at her with the best pleading eyes I could muster.

"Of course I do. I always pack some, just in case. I snuck them into the water storage compartment to keep them from melting under the summer heat." She smiled, gently scooched me off her lap, and retrieved the chocolate, which I then devoured like a stray animal.

I lay there, with the chocolate digesting, as Eira softly sang a little song that made her hand glow with warmth as she caressed my poor angry stomach. Stupid female anatomy. I just hoped the potion would get its work done before too long. I didn't relish the idea of spending any more of this trip like this than I had to.

At some point I fell asleep, and woke to the sensation of the carriage train stopping. I sat up, bleary-eyed and noticed that it was still day, and the sun was bright and high in the sky.

"Why are we stopping?" I grumbled, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

Eira opened the window and craned her head outside.

"Border crossing. We got all of our paperwork done in advance so they likely won't need to check each carriage out-" She suddenly stopped and I could sense her tensing up.

"What's going on? Eira?" I was suddenly concerned as I saw her hands clench and shake.

I looked out the window, saw a small wall stretching across the road, into the surrounding woods, and the Scarlet Aegis soldiers talking with what looked like typical border crossing guards.

But then I noticed a few people who stood out. Two individuals, clad in ornate breastplates over top of silver-trimmed blue robes. Their faces were hidden by hoods that seemed to cast deeper shadows than should be possible.

I looked at Eira, and beads of sweat formed on her brow, and she was ever so slightly shaking. She was holding her breath. I had never ever seen her like this.

I put my hand on her back.

"Eira, sweetie, I need you to talk to me," I said gently, pulling her back from the windows. I closed them and drew the privacy curtains. Eira gasped, finally letting herself breathe.

"Sorry. Sorry. I just...them. They scare me so much. I have nothing to be afraid of, but they still scare me shitless." The words poured from her mouth like a panicked flood.

"Take deep breaths, sweetie. Drink some water. Let me patch that." I said, taking her hand. She had clenched her hands so tightly her nails had drawn blood from her palms. A little staunching potion, and some bandages would see that taken care of.

She did as I said, and I handled bandaging her hands. I tried my best to stay calm, as I knew she didn't need me freaking out as well. But Eira never seemed really scared by much, especially not strange people in blue robes.

After she stopped shaking and was breathing normally.

"So, you wanna explain? You don't have to, but I want to know if they're something I need to watch out for." I asked quietly.

"Tide Inquisitors. They- they- where do I start? How much do you know about religions in Hastera and Tarkota?" She patted the seat next to her. As soon as I sat next to her, her head immediately rested on my lap. I knew what that meant, and I gently caressed her hair and massaged her ears. Massaging her ears helped her calm down.

To be fair, it worked on most elves, myself included, so it of course would work on a half-elf like her too.

"Assume I don't know anything about it at all." Which was the honest truth. Hells below and above, I didn't even know much about Burgotovan religion, as chapel days were a good excuse to catch up on a nap in the back. I'm pretty sure I'd only taken the most cursory peruse of the holy texts. I couldn't even name any of the gods offhand. Swearing to the gods above and below was just something one did. It had nothing to do with faith or any of that stuff.

"So, Tarkota and Hastera have a shared god in our pantheons. Peloras, the Divine of Sun and Waves. Tarkota maintains that the sun aspect is most important, whereas Hastera feels the waves part is more important. This sort of thing has led to a rather ridiculous amount of wars in our past." She explained.

"Ok, and the blue robe guys are related to that?" I said, trying to keep her on subject.

"Kind of? So the church of Peloras also funds and supports a knightly order called The Silver Tridents, which patrol the coastlines, protecting the coasts from monsters and the like. And amongst their number are the Tide Inquisitors." She continued.

"Of course, Knights are involved." I sighed. My life and those of all my friends seemed to be plagued by Knights.

"Well, the Silver Trident does an important job. Krakens, Shau-gan, and some of the merfolk do cause a lot of problems, and the Trident doesn't throw their weight around like the other knightly order." She quickly interjected, which surprised me.

"So, why are you so scared then? And who exactly are these Tide Inquisitors?" I asked increasingly concerned and confused. There was something my brain wasn't putting together, though I could blame that on my brain being a bit of a mess today anyway.

"They um- hunt criminals. On the sea." She looked away from me, clearly nervous about something.

"Again, why are you so scared then, Eira? Please, my sweet, tell me. I can't help if you don't tell me." I pleaded softly with her.

She lay there nervously and fidgeted, but I saw a wave of relief spread across her face as the carriage began to move again. Whatever these inquisitors wanted, it didn't involve us. All of the tension left her body nearly immediately.

"I-I-I don't know if I'm quite ready to explain, Alta. I'm scared you'll hate me, or leave me, or something like that. It's happened a lot in my past, and I couldn't handle that happening again." She sniffed, and I could see some tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

I took a breath, looked her directly in those wet, beautiful emerald eyes, and caressed her cheek softly.

"You know my past, my family scandals and evil, and you've stuck with me. I doubt there is anything you could possibly tell me that would make me hate or leave you, my beloved." I ran my finger along her ear, hoping it would settle her nerves.

Eira smiled, and gods above, I loved that smile, and sat up. She took a deep breath, and another. She nodded to herself, as if she had made a final decision.

"Ok, Alta. We've known each other long enough. I trust you, and I hope you know I'm telling you in the absolute strictest confidence. Do you swear this stays between you and me?" She looked at me, her eyes serious. Deadly serious.

"I swear it," I replied solemnly.

"Okay. Thank you." She took another deep breath and released it, before scooting close to me and leaning in to whisper, clearly not wanting to risk her words stretching beyond the two of us.

"My family...are pirates."