We all picked up trays with a plate to get our breakfast. There were quite a number of foods I had never seen in the mix of familiar ones. I kind of wanted to try something new, but I wasn’t sure where to start. Some of the things looked more like dinner than breakfast. So many choices were a bit overwhelming.

  “If you can drink this much black coffee without messing up, I will lift your plain tea restrictions,” Lady Evelyn said as she placed a tiny glass dish on a tray. “But mess up, and I will have you smile with a lemon wedge in your mouth for twenty minutes.”

  I shuddered at the thought. I was tempted to ask if she was serious, but when did she ever joke? Looking at the glass, it was only like one mouthful. How bad could it be? My appetite dried a bit thinking about all the awful tea she had made me drink. Ugh, and I don’t know how much more she had for me!

  “Fine! Where is coffee?” I asked.

  She smiled and showed me. It smelled kind of nice, but I knew better than to trust that.

  “If you are looking for recommendations. I’d try the black pudding,” she said. “It is pretty common in the capital, and this is gonna be the best place to try it before then.”

  “Pudding? Like a desert?” I asked.

  “This,” she said, pointing. She put two on her plate. They looked like two burnt pieces of sausage that had been left in the sun too long. Or something the family dog, Roger, would make. She had eggs, toast, jam, and baked beans on her plate alongside the black pudding.

  “Thank you ever so much for the suggestion,” I lied.

  I knew that her suggestion was more like a warning. I am going to have to eat this eventually; better to eat a good-quality one, and I could agree with that. I wasn’t sure whether any of the items she had were meant to improve the taste, so I ended up copying her plate anyway. I had to summon my card again before I could eat. A receptionist noted how much food I had before letting me into the sitting area.

  Alyssa and William were already eating. From what I gathered, that wouldn’t be permitted in a more formal setting, but Lady Evelyn had given them permission since we missed dinner, and it would be better not to waste time.

  I could only think her smile was sadistic as she looked at the coffee, then back at me. Ugh. I didn’t know if it was better warm or cold. I guess I might as well get this over with. I took a deep breath and held my breath as I took a slight sip. I kept the glass near my mouth in case I needed to emergency spit. A trick she taught me. Oh god! It tasted worse than the worst tea. How could a drink get so bitter? Ugh. I set the dish down with about half of the contents gone.

  “What a biting flavor,” I said with a smile. “Do tell me, do you prefer it hot or cold?”

  “Hot,” she said. “Even I wouldn’t drink it cold.”

  “I can barely stand it hot, and drenched in milk and sugar,” Alyssa added. “I don’t know how you can handle it, black. I think my body would reject it. The captain made us learn for meetings with higher-ups. I envy people who actually like the stuff.”

  Lady Evelyn looked at my dish. “I don’t know, she hasn’t finished it. Maybe she doesn’t like it?”

  Oh my gosh! Bitch can you not! Ugh. Fine! I took the coffee and tried to drink it as quickly as I could, but in a way that would shut her up.

  “It's certainly a potent flavor,” I said with my head held high. I won!

  “Oh my, well, let me help you then,” she said, pouring her cup into an identical one until they both held half.

  “I… think I have had enough,” I said. This wasn’t our deal!

  “Good attempt, but you lost your composure at a slight change. But don’t worry, here. Half milk is what I prefer. In my opinion, only children need sugar in coffee,” she said, pouring milk into her glass before setting it next to me. She then took a sip. “I’m not joking. It is good.”

  I sighed and then poured the milk. It can’t be that bad, can it? The milk was room temperature, so the coffee at least remained warm. Taking a sip, I found it was okay. I’d say it's at the level of bad tea with sugar and milk. It has a more savory flavor, and I could see myself enjoying it on a cold morning.

  “Not bad,” I said. I noticed William was stretching and about to get a second plate. Alyssa was a bit slower on her plate, with only beans and ham left.

  “Taste better with some black pudding,” Lady Evelyn said as she sliced into hers with a knife.

  It looked small enough to use a fork, but I suppose if it has a strong flavor, smaller bites would make sense. Oh, a bit dry, but this was good! I took a sip of coffee, and they actually tasted even better together! Finally, something good! I almost wanted to cry! I suffered so much bad tea.

  Lady Evelyn smirked. “Told you.”

  I tried to straighten up my posture a bit. “Why, thank you. It is quite a good combination.”

  William’s second plate surprised me as I realized he had loaded up mainly eggs and meat. Alyssa also got a second plate, but it was more balanced. Lady Evelyn and I only had our first plate.

  “Decision time. The bath and letters can be done here. So the only place we really need to go is the West District for wine. I could go alone, but it seems a waste. On the other hand,” she said, pausing. “I’d rather not find myself finding a repeat of Stechen. Can you handle an adventure?”

  “Just buying a drink, right? I can’t imagine that being a problem,” I said. “Are we taking a bath first?”

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  I really wanted a good scrub.

  “Ideally, yes, but the western district is only slow in the morning. So we might as well go now,” she said.

  “Are we walking or taking the carriage?” I asked.

  “Carriage, obviously,” she added.

  That reminded me. I hadn’t seen the coachman eat anything. “Where is he actually?”

  “He got his meal while you were still talking about the origins of names,” William said.

  “You should really learn to be more perspicacious or, at the very least, learn to ask things more subtly,” Lady Evelyn added.

  “I personally think she is a lovely lady to serve,” Alyssa added, with a big smile.

  It took a minute for the coachman to pull around the carriage. It was a lot busier at this location, so it wasn’t as simple as just pulling out of a stable as it had been at other inns. It really put into context how large this area was. I thought in a carriage it wouldn’t take us very long to reach the western district, but it turned out to take over an hour.

  We stopped at the location; apparently, it was called a brewery. Alyssa was visibly excited, and I think William was too, but he hid it better. The receptionist noticed our clothes and raced over.

  “The Arizona Brewery is happy to be serving a new patron. And it is delightful to see you again, our Platinum Angel,” the gentleman said.

  I looked at Lady Evelyn. She knew what I wanted to know. She sighed. “I really do hate how every nickname of mine starts with Platinum. None of you likely heard this one. It was the one King gave me for helping with an armed conflict. It was over thirty years ago. While I value the badges of honor I have collected. You need not be so formal. The Lady I serve merely wishes to sample your best years.”

  I snickered a bit.

  I was rewarded with a pinch on my elbow.

  “Just you all wait, one day you will all get more nicknames than you want. Especially you, Lady Julia,” she added.

  Ugh, I realized she meant cuz of the Wind Maiden thing. Oh god! Was I gonna get wind nicknames forever! That sounds awful! Come on, I have to be able to do something about that, right?

  The gentleman was standing nearby. “So, may I be granted a chance to hear her full name?”

  “You may not,” she said, standing in front of me. “But, off the record, I will tell you this. You got the right idea. And you will be correct in knowing that if she likes your samples enough, your word may spread even as far as the eastern continent.”

  “Oh my,” he said. He bowed and excused himself.

  It really was frustrating to have the knights nearby. I really wished I could ask Lady Evelyn questions in moments like this. The man seemed to be taking a while, which made me curious as well.

  “How long do you think it will be?” I asked.

  “Not much longer. I suspect he is getting things from the vault,” she said.

  “The vault?” William asked. “I heard that was the kind of stuff they give the king for his birthday. You can’t-”

  Lady Evelyn just looked at him, and he froze mid-sentence before looking back my way, and then towards the door.

  “We are heading to the capital. Are we going to give such a bottle to the king?” Alyssa asked. “Surely you can’t-”

  Those eyes again. I have felt them, of course, but seeing how instantly she froze Alyssa in her tracks was unexpected.

  “It was you who wanted us to drink. Are you somehow against me getting us the very best? Plus, it has been a rough week. Some vegetables dipped in a buttermilk aioli with a good bottle of white wine in a bath. I think we could all use such a night.”

  I understood like every other word, at least.

  “What is aioli?” Alyssa asked. Oh, bless you, my knight!

  “Just sauce. You’ll see. It is quite delicious. I ordered some before we left for our bath. Oh, on that note, William. You shall guard us. Once the girls are done, you shall be permitted to bathe at your leisure, and I will provide you with one bottle for then.”

  He tapped his chest. “Thank you, my Lady.”

  The receptionist returned with a cart. It had six bottles on it. The labels were almost as colorful as the art at Malatise Manor, and the smile on Lady Evelyn was larger than I think I had seen before. She picked up the middle bottle.

  “An amber wine from the vault? Someone is buttering me up, and it's working,” she said as she dropped a coin bag on the counter.

  The man took a handful of coins before returning the bag. “We always look forward to your patronage.”

  “Likewise,” she added. The coachman wheeled the cart towards the carriage and loaded it between the benches. The box had hay to act as a cushion, and with that, we were off.

  “So, six bottles from the Traube winery vault. I don’t think I have seen that much value before,” Alyssa said.

  “Three,” Lady Evelyn said. “The other three are just top shelf. He is kind, but not that kind.”

  “Can I ask? How much are they worth?” Alyssa asked, looking. “I wasn’t expecting anything other than middleshelf stuff myself.”

  She just laughed. “You are serving Lady Julia, expect better. You should thank her as well. Even I couldn’t afford this without the discount he gave us because of her. But sure, why not? How much they are worth is printed on the bottle.” She exposed what looked like three wax imprints of Anlage coins, but each had seven pointed leaves.

  “Three platinums? Each?” Alyssa asked.

  She nodded. “Well, the amber one is four. The top shelf ones are each a single platinum. So thirteen platinum.”

  Platinum. I tried to remember. The core way to remember a coin's worth was the points of the leaf. A small copper had only one point. And it took ten of them to make a regular copper which had two pointed leaves. So, if the silver coins I used to send home were three-pointed, that means four more points. That would be… a thousand times greater. A thousand letters for one bottle, and thirteen platinum? Yikes!

  “Wait, how much was my discount?” I asked.

  “He accepted six platinum coins for it,” she said. “Quite the bargain for our Lady, isn’t it?"

  Alyssa just looked at me, eyes glazed as she was no doubt wondering who I was. I knew obviously, but to realize that my status as the maiden of wind was worth seven thousand letters home, more than I could ever imagine sending. It added a context to who I was. Or perhaps how overpriced this wine must be.

  “I have permitted some of your laxness due to this being a mostly private and secret journey, but you can’t be caught gawking so recklessly if you wish to remain by her side,” Lady Evelyn added.

  “Right!” Alyssa replied as she straightened up her posture.

  Moments like this, I really wish we had taken a bath first. We had over an hour to get back to the guild, and it was hotter in the city than it had been in the mountains. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been an issue, but the noble clothes were so thick. Even for the approaching winter, I wasn’t cold in these many layers.

  Back at the inn. We turned over my letters to send to Hatula. Or more accurately, we were sending them to Baron Malatise. He’d take it from there. That left only one thing on the agenda: our bath. Apparently, this bathhouse was even more impressive than the one at Malatise Manor—a crazy thought, one that I would put to the test.