Chapter 105: Chapter 104
Ron was glad that when he got back to the castle tower, Derek wasn't waiting for him. He quickly went to his without making any noise. He expected Isanna to be in there but she wasn't, so he changed and got into bed and went to sleep. Isanna was in Fiona's room who had gradually started training with her more and more over the days.
"You need as much training as you can get, if you want to catch up to the others," Isanna had said. Fiona was a little upset about the way she had acted with Dean and James and wanted to distract her mind and energy somewhere else.
"I have to say, I thought you were exerting yourself a bit too much training all day, but now I kind of like it too," said Fiona.
"I know what you mean, I think you are like me in that aspect, it's pretty common in us women to get worked up after an intense and thrilling battle, you get better with it as you get stronger, but it had been a while since I had been in that kind of battle so I have been full of tension lately too, and I can see it in you too, we need to relive that tension somehow, and training and sweating is the best way, otherwise you can end up doing something you regret later, it is like a drug in that aspect," Isanna explained to Fiona what she had been suspecting all along.
Vanessa had a lot in her mind, she felt trapped and was desperate for answers, she badly wanted to go to the capital, but Rin had stopped her, she had only agreed on the condition that Rin would go to the capital and talk to her father and mother. Rin had said suspiciously that it wasn't safe for her to go anywhere, that if she left, it would be best if she stayed near the humans. The humans? she had asked, why not her people, but Rin hadn't answered. She was barely holding herself from exploding, the people around her were feeling the same emotions and she was slowly and slowly being disliked by more and more of them. She couldn't blame them, she was the princess after all, she was practically the face of the capital for them. Then there were the humans, they had indeed saved the city, had helped her people and friends, they seemed all right, the only reason she was still sane was because of the words one of them had said to her, she had felt bolder and braver after those words, just like with the experience with the barbarians. So, she had promised Ron that she would help him find a way out of the city, which she was sure if the time came they would use to escape, but that wouldn't be bad, they just wanted to go back to their home, they had helped them before, they won't be going to other cities and attack people surely.
"What are you thinking about so seriously?" Emily entered her room.
"What do you think?" said Vanessa.
"Yeah, yeah, I tried talking to Dad, but he just keeps getting more and more angry day by day, honestly I have stopped thinking about it all, I can't deal with politics and try to predict what another person might be thinking, it's a fool's game, I just want to live my life, never follow anyone's orders ever again," said Emily.
"You sound like a rebel," said Vanessa. She had just said it without thinking much.
"Or more like a free spirit," said Emily.
"What about the humans?" asked Vanessa.
"They came to help, they did, now they will go back the first chance they get, they didn't ask for anything in return, some of them are perfectly fine to talk to, I can't tell any difference in the way they think, Ron is rather nice actually," said Emily.
"So, you are fine if they leave the city?" asked Vanessa.
"Yeah, I guess so, why?" asked Emily.
"Then tell me a way to leave the city other than the gates, a secret passage," said Vanessa.
"For the humans? You have been talking to them? Ron never said anything about it to me," said Emily.
"He doesn't give the orders in their group, he is like you in that way, wants to be free now," said Vanessa.
"You have gotten good at this, you know, manipulation, now even on women," said Emily.
"And you are still as clever, and good at reading people," said Vanessa.
"If I let the humans escape, I won't be in a good situation with my father," said Emily.
"But you just said you wanted to be a free person, then what about your human friend?" asked Vanessa.
Emily didn't reply she stayed silent and then left the room. Vanessa turned back to the window and looked out the starry night. She wondered what tomorrow's morning was going to bring.
Cara ran back to her house, the crowd had started separating, the elders and their guests had started going to the middle levels, and the general crowd had stayed at the bottom level, enjoying the food and the other shows and stalls set up and out of anybody's notice, dwarves from certain age group, eighteen and twenty-one-ish had started sneaking off to the upper few levels. Cara changed quickly, she put on a long shirt over her dress and stepped out of her house, her heart was beating slightly, she had never worn anything like that out in the open. She locked her house and went a couple of levels up to a spot where she had agreed to meet, Vivian, Morris, and Flint. The two boys were already there, they didn't have to put on special clothes after all, and they were both pretty excited to see the girls. Vivian arrived first, she was also wearing a coat over her dress, too afraid that all the elders hadn't left yet. Then Cara arrived too.
"Well, shall we leave then?" asked Flint.
"Yeah let's go," said Vivian. She looked at Cara and the two girls then slowly revealed their dresses. Flint and Morris were both shaken to the core. Cara felt really embarrassed, she had never thought Flint and Morris would be the first ones to see her like this. Flint had always been a good friend, she had always thought of him together with Vivian, Morris was a complete mystery but now he had the image of a trustworthy friend in her head.
Morris couldn't stop stealing glances at Cara as they made their way to the party, when she walked her long legs were visible through the long slits and he felt a heartbeat skip with every step. He tried to play it cool, but it was too much.
They reached the first level of the party and it felt like they had entered a different world, the upper levels were much smaller but someone had decorated the whole level, which was a very difficult task indeed, there were red and pink lights everywhere, she kind of felt like it was the opposite of the hall of dreams, everything so bright and loud. She had expected to feel even more embarrassed here but she suddenly felt fine wearing her dress, because of what every other girl was wearing. It was skin all around, every other girl was wearing fewer and fewer clothes, the older girls were the more confident and wilder ones, there were some younger ones who looked as surprised and unsure as them. It was more embarrassing whenever they came across someone they knew from their class, another copper like them. Then there were the dwarves from other clans, and for the first time in her life, it wasn't as easy to distinguish them, they were intermixing with the rest pretty well. The booze and music had somehow lowered their inhibitions enough that they were fine laughing and dancing with dwarves from other clans.
It made the whole scene even more taboo for Cara, she felt even more like committing some sort of crime. Flint got them their drinks, it wasn't the first time she was drinking but she had only ever had a taste of alcohol, this was the first time, she could drink as much as she wanted.
"Let's go up then," announced Flint and they went up the stairs. She was surprised to see some guards standing before the next level, they were young like them, so they were not official guards, but rather appointed by someone from the party, they weren't letting everyone go up, although it looked like it was just because to keep the numbers on the level balanced, they didn't have trouble getting up, Morris was from the same clan as them, and Vivian's older sister's name would have worked too. The next level was pretty much the same as the bottom one. They stayed around for a while, meeting the people here and sipping on their drinks, until it was time to go to the next one. This time the guards weren't letting many people go up, they were much stricter, and most of the youngest coppers were being sent back. But they had a lot of connections so they got past them and when they reached the level, they saw why it was restricted.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone