Aureum and Hiems didn't run forever. They ran straight to the first inn they saw. They paid, they climbed to their room, they fell into the bath, and they slept.
In the bed, of course.
Aureum woke up, very groggily, some hours later. It was comfy. She was warm. The last thing she wanted to do was get up.
She looked at the outfit left on the floor. It wasn't worth wearing again. Utterly layered in dirt and torn by a countless dozen scrapes.
At least she still had something to wear. She turned her head from the floor to the other side of the bed.
Hiems had slept there, but he was gone now.
It was a misunderstanding from the innkeeper and their own spoken directions. The two had been very tired.
Nothing had happened. For a lot of reasons.
Gemmo was a little lump still curled up in the middle of the bed.
There hadn't even been an argument over it. Neither Hiems or Aureum could bring themselves to force the other onto the floor. A comfy bed had been something they had wanted for weeks.
We have to solve this problem too.
Both were a little too comfortable with each other for a man and a woman in the same room and being interested in each other.
For now… I don't want to take things that far.
She definitely didn't want anything happening because of happenstance anymore. That was for sure.
She slipped out of the bed.
It was time to get dressed and take a tally of everything.
———————————————————
"You're back," Aureum said.
It was right before midday, and the morning had been very slow. She'd been sitting at a little table with her notebook in front of her, quill in hand and ink in a bottle.
Hiems pulled out food. Steam rolled off the buns packed in a basket.
"Oh!"
Aureum gave a gasp of appreciation as she stood up. She grabbed one and bit into it.
"I made a list of things we needed," she said. She bit and swallowed again. "A real list. I also counted the money I have left."
"You're expecting to pay for everything yourself?" Hiems asked. "Are you?"
"Well, I can't really discuss funds with someone who isn't here," Aureum said, as she pulled him to the little table. "We can break it up however you want, but unless prices are wildly different from the other city-states, we should be fine."
"Prices can vary widely," Hiems said.
He was pulled to sit next to her. Gemmo was behind them, rolling his wooden bottles around.
"We should get Gemmo something too—
Hiems was cut off by Aureum hammering her finger onto the notebook.
"It's on the list! Read it!"
Hiems sort of leaned over her to get a clearer look at it.
Aureum waited as she scowled. She couldn't wait for long.
"Seriously," she grumbled, "if you had stayed, we could have talked about all this at the same time."
"You wanted me to stay?" Hiems said.
"Stop asking stupid questions!" Aureum commanded, but she halted when she looked up at him.
They were very close.
Those pale green eyes glimmered with amusement.
"You wanted me to stay in the same bed while you were still asleep?" Hiems asked. "I couldn't do that."
Aureum felt her breath stop.
Hiems moved back. The eyes became less in focus. The mess of his face came into view.
"I didn't want to wake you up either," he said. "So I left. I'm sorry?"
Aureum still didn't say anything.
"You want to talk about it now, right?"
Aureum shoved him away and stood up.
"Yes," she said, looking at the wall. "We need a tent, food, clothes, a toy for Gemmo, a place to stay, and a way to get protection from Ariolus."
"And letters," Hiems said. "At least I saw that one on the list. What are the letters for?"
"…I really need to tell my family I'm fine, or they'll kill me next time I see them."
"…You think they won't kill you with just a letter?" Hiems said.
They would be furious. It almost made him want to laugh, but reality for him set in. It almost made him sweat.
Her father would truly want to kill me.
Letters wouldn't solve it for him.
"Anyways! We should get going if we want to get this all done!" Aureum said.
"I can split some of the costs with you."
"Hewoo?"
"Whatever you want to do, but let's go," Aureum said.
Aureum picked Gemmo up almost as a shield, and then they left.
The easy chores were done quickly enough. Prices did vary, some greatly at times. But it wasn't just in one direction.
They ended up paying less than planned. Between splitting the costs, they still had a bit left over. Maybe enough to rent a place for a while.
Staying at the inn forever was pricey. If they were staying for long, it was better to rent. Aureum didn't know where or what to do next, but Ariolus seemed a good place to hide long-term.
As much as she might have wanted to visit home, it wouldn't work. Her family would be furious, Nix could not get their hands on Gemmo, and Hiems would be executed. So no.
Other than here, where would she go?
The funds from the engagement ring were being used up quickly by Aureum. Erratic travel was too expensive to do forever. It was better to hunker down in a safe place.
What was the tent for then? Well, after so many times on the run without a tent, Aureum wasn't going a day without one in her ring.
In essence, the shopping trip resolved none of the major problems. It did a lot to lift everyone's spirits.
Gemmo bobbed the little sack doll they got him. They got him better toys, like a little wooden horse and cart, but he liked the doll.
"How do we get protection from the city though?" Aureum said.
"Become citizens…?" Hiems guessed.
"Is that easy to do?" Aureum asked.
Hiems lifted his hands into the air.
Sure, Ariolus wouldn't be happy with Nix if Nix caught Aureum and Hiems in the city. That didn't mean it would be convenient for them to stop Nix. It would be best for Aureum and Hiems to give Ariolus as many reasons as they could to fight Nix on their behalf.
They were two rats biting the fat leg of Ariolus at this point.
But it's not like we have any other choice.
They weren't capable of taking on an entire city-state alone.
"Let's figure out where we would even go to ask about becoming a citizen," Aureum said.
Most city-states had lords, but in a major city-state like Ariolus, it was unlikely the lord would personally sit on such a small matter. So it had to be done a different way.
When they asked around, most people didn't immediately know. They were all citizens, of course. But for most small municipal things there was a building for that, and Aureum and Hiems found it.
At this point Aureum wasn't surprised it was unassuming. A little larger than the buildings around it, the simple carvings twined around the small pillars before it. It was things like foxes following squirrels running up as birds flew. Nothing mythic or majestic. But the warm color of the wood was comfortable.
They entered. A man sat behind a high desk as he scratched on parchment with a quill.
"Appointment?"
His face twisted in disgust when he saw Hiems'. He focused on Aureum.
"No?" Aureum said. "We'll have to make one. Is that not done here?"
"What do you want?" He said, looking down at them through his narrow nose.
"Citizenship," Aureum said.
The man bent his head before he replied. "And what do you have to give to the city of Ariolus that would make Lord Ariolus want to accept you?"
"We're… We can pull our own weight," Aureum said.
It wasn't convincing even to her own ears.
"Uh-huh. And you have a kid. How precious!" His sarcastic smile dropped as well as his energy as he continued. "But he—here he used his quill to point at Hiems—looks like he has some sort of disease. And what good are you? I guess being motivated to support the other two would make you get a job quick, but can't you do that in some kind of little hamlet somewhere else?"
A hamlet looked more inviting with every word out of his mouth. Aureum bit her tongue.
This jerk isn't worth it, Aureum thought. He's not worth it.
"It isn't a disease," Hiems said. "I can get a doctor to vouch for that. And I won't be depending on her."
"Tch," the man said. "Look, if you want to go through the hassle of it, you can. I'm warning you, it'll take months, and you have to revoke your loyalties to any other city-state. With proof of it."
Both Hiems and Aureum winced at that. That would be difficult to do.
"Isn't there a trial or something we can do instead?" Aureum said.
"A trial? We will be reviewing your case, but there shouldn't be any reason for you to take the stand. It's just tedious paperwork."
"Paperwork?" Aureum said. "I meant a way we could prove our worth."
"Oh! Your worth?" The man shook his head. "Hah! Do you think us barbarians? We may be on the doorstep of Nix, but we don't make prospective citizens prove themselves through right of combat. Just show yourselves as worthy citizens that won't drain or stain the city, and Ariolus will likely accept you. But you need the correct documents, so I'll save both our time and not schedule you for that yet."
"What documents?" Aureum demanded.
"Proof of birth, former proof of citizenship if you have it, and the proof it's revoked. All stamped with seals that prove its validity."
Aureum made a face as Hiems' eyebrows rose. Gemmo started fidgeting.
"You can check the seals we accept behind you, but please?"
There was someone else behind them. A woman. She was in a thick robe.
"Yes, you can go ahead and observe," the man snapped at her.
The woman nodded coolly and strode right by. She was tall, dwarfing both Aureum and Hiems. After her, there was another person to take the man's attention. Aureum and Hiems drifted over to the tapestry embroidered with the accepted seals.
"I heard that Fluentem's University was started by a man from Ariolus," Hiems said. "I didn't believe it until now."
"Well, paper can be made from wood," Aureum said. "And the university is best known for its library. So, what does this mean for us?"
"We're screwed," Hiems said.
"Yep," Aureum agreed.
Nix's seal was not upon the tapestry. Its authority wasn't recognized. Even if it was, they couldn't risk going back to Nix for a tawdry seal anyways. That would defeat the entire purpose of being here.
They left having gained nothing of substance.
"There has to be a way around it, right?" Aureum said, still not entirely letting it go.
"Of course there is," Hiems said, "but you'd need to know the right person. We know all the wrong ones."
Aureum sighed.
Maybe Spesavia's authority…
But Spesavia was out of reach. Aureum shook her head.
"Then it's the next thing on our list," she said. "Letters!"
"Shouldn't we change our room first?"
"We can still get the letters done before we do that."
In Ariolus, there were many kinds of paper on sale for writing. Colored paper, paper sprayed with perfumes, and paper with leaves pressed inside it. Aureum hadn't expected the little shop they found in an unswept corner of the city to be much, but it was a marvel.
"Hiems, look here!" Aureum said. "They have paper that flies to who you send it to. All on its own!"
Hiems came over and looked without comment. Gemmo looked at the different papers in his arms.
"It's slower than a communication stone," the shopkeeper said. "But it's cheaper than that, and one of the benefits is it doesn't leave a signature of the user's mana. Not that most people need that."
The owner was a slow-spoken old man with a short beard.
"It's amazing!" Aureum said. "But I think colored paper is all I need."
She bought her items, and they left.
After getting paper and an inkwell, Aureum hurried to a nearby bench. Pulling out an ink bottle and quill, she scribbled down a few lines on a couple of pages. Hiems sat across from her and shook his head.
"Don't judge me!" Aureum said. "Do you know how many times things have happened before I could write this? I have to do it now, or it won't happen!"
"I didn't say anything," Hiems said.
"I said don't judge me. That doesn't require speaking… Do you have anything to say to Lacuna and Sitis?" Aureum continued.
"Sitis?" It took Hiems a moment to remember. "Oh. I hope they're well. But are you sure you should be giving them my well wishes? Didn't you tell them how I left?"
"Right! Drat, dang, drat, drat it all!"
Aureum scribbled out the line she had just written.
"Do you not want to tell them everything?" Hiems said.
"I'll tell them everything in a real letter later! We still need to change our room after this!"
Aureum hurriedly wrote a few letters. Then she laid them out, crossed her arms, and sat, tapping her foot.
"…You still have to wait for the ink to dry, of course," Hiems said.
"Yes," Aureum admitted.
It was funny to the onlooker, but Aureum wasn't laughing. It truly had been one thing after another. She felt a need of urgency to get this letter out.
When the ink had dried, she rushed over to a messenger outpost.
"Where are they going?" The messenger on duty said.
The messenger was neither young or old. He was a bit of a looker, in fact.
"This one is Nix, and this one goes to Fluentem," Aureum said.
The man didn't immediately respond.
"If it's too much to do both," Aureum offered, "I can find somebody else to send one."
Messengers were people after all. Sometimes even a big outpost was swamped.
"It's not that," the man said. "We actually aren't sending any letters to Fluentem or Nix. It's because of the news."
"Ah, what happened?" Aureum said.
I had to send a letter when the messengers weren't running—
"You haven't heard? Those city-states are at war."
"War?" Aureum repeated, dumb.