Chapter 18

  It was not a ‘good night.’

  Things were cheerful in the beginning, but once the crowd settled in, the only topic on everyone’s mind was the two sightings of Val-jin envoys. One was reportedly seen entering and leaving both the Kingdom of Corundu and Stoneclaw. It was easy to tell who had already heard the news and who hadn’t; random gasps erupting throughout the crowd. The smiling and general jovialness that the people had entered with had turned a bit sour and sullen. If Kopius needed a second opinion as to the nature and overall attitude towards the Val-jin he need look no further than the collection of concerned faces throughout the whole tavern.

  The only thing that anyone knew was that two small groups of Val-jin delegates met with the leaders of the two largest kingdoms this side of the Torrent. That didn’t stop speculation from running amuck:

  “I heard they arrived by night and left before the sunrise.” One lady was talking to a group.

  “They drink the blood of their young, you know!” Another man addressed his drinking buddies.

  “Mind controllers they are,” an elderly man warned his table.

  “Friends with the shadows and deep dark,” someone remarked from the nervous crowd.

  The wild hearsay spoken with rock solid confidence was enough to drive Kopius up a wall. The array of opinions made these guys out to be the Boogeyman, Candyman, the Purple People Eater and all other childhood monsters rolled up into one.

  Kopius had pictured them to be vampire looking types with deformed ram horns; minus the blood sucking and their general aversion to the sun. At least, that’s how Oh-jin had made them sound. Listening to the people speak now made them out to be ten-foot tall, six-eyed, baby eating, hairless, albino lizard people.

  Every new and different description or hypothesis pressed its weight on Kopius’s stomach until he felt sick. Each person that came to inquire about the Tessel continued to ask Cici. Given his queasiness he didn’t care as long as it was getting done.

  Eventually he realized he probably had his new clothes to thank for being ignored. Besides the few individuals asking him when the place closed or where the bathrooms were located, he was left alone.

  Maybe they think I’m his private attendant, Kopius wondered as he watched the big guy soak up the attention. It wasn’t until Cici wandered over to the musician did people start to leave their empty mugs, goblets and napkin rags with Kopius on the table.

  Cici and the other musical guy did their best to lighten the mood, send people home with a smile. It worked for the most part. When they were done entertaining, the crowd thinned out and the two men had retired to their room.

  Now, Kopius lay in his cot staring at the ceiling. Had he slept; he thinks so. It felt more like a blink. The type where he would close his eyes and feel like he had immediately opened them to find the morning waiting for him. He had also gone into the blink-sleep dooming over the Val-jin and came out of the blink glooming about them. Are they looking for me? Had a nice, consistent drumbeat in his head all night long.

  “You think they’re looking for me?” Kopius asked when Cici exited the balcony/bathroom.

  “The two young missus from last night?” Cici inquired as he rummaged through his belongings.

  “What?!” Kopius sat up in a hurry. “What two… oh. No. They were letting me know their drinks had been made wrong. I meant the Val-jin.”

  “Oh, that. I have no clue. Maybe both our days are numbered, eh?” Cici answered with a laugh.

  “Maybe they are,” Kopius mumbled. He exited his cot and started the process of waking up.

  They separated the remaining mound of grafeen in their room but Kopius still held onto Cici’s bag. Breakfast was tastier than the previous morning and the big man was kind enough to supply Kopius with some Night Owl to help counter the blink-sleep haze. Once they had paid and left the streets were eerily quiet. Shops were open, people were out but it was nowhere near the hustle and bustle from yesterday. After a few questions Kopius guessed it was Metems'–or maybe just Cawbachu’s– version of a weekend.

  “Oh, look,” Cici almost shouted as they were making their way back to Mineo Allon. A medium procession of people were being led down Twelve Days March by a troupe playing a lovely melody. The crowd was throwing flower petals at a couple in the center as they walked. “A wedding!”

  The big man escorted Kopius out of the way and then yanked, basically a guitar from his groin and marched out to meet the troupe.

  I knew it was a storage bag! Kopius silently patted himself on the back.

  Cici picked up the tune right away and started to fall in line with their cadence. He sang along and cozied up to some guests trying to get everyone involved. At one point he even improvised a lengthy melodic rift to the joyful surprise of one bandmate and a chagrin from another.

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  Cory hadn’t been a big fan of the whole love thing; not that he had given it a fair shot. Showing too much emotion in general had long been a no-no. He’d never admit it but he was jealous and scared… mostly scared. Standing at the back of emotional events, shedding a tear for unknown reasons and hiding it in fear that people would think he was soft or weak. Real healthy stuff; real toxic masculinity at work. Cory had let too many other people define for him what a man was and wasn’t. Kopius didn't want any of that noise. He had done the whole bottle-it-up thing and that turned out poorly.

  He stood now and watched as his friend created joy. Kopius took in the song, clapped along and smiled until they had passed by; a brief moment of peace. As he waited for Cici to make his way back Kopius thought of the various weddings and engagements he had been to on Earth. They all kind of merged together in his mind, like a giant party where everyone was married at the same place and time. Playing that same fucking song, Kopius paused. “What was the name of that song?”

  Duh-duh duh duh–duh duh duh… Dammit.

  “I could sing it to him,” Kopius reasoned with himself.

  “Sing what now?” Cici said, catching his friend by surprise.

  “Goddamnit! You can’t sneak up on me like that,” Kopius scolded. “Especially when I’m talking to myself!” He added.

  “You’re always talking to yourself. Mumbling about one thing or another.”

  “Just–make some noise or something.”

  “Only if I have to,” the big guy said with a wink. “You were saying something about a song?”

  “Yeah. All that reminded me of one. A wedding song–or is it called the wedding song?” Kopius searched in the air as if the name might materialize. “I can’t remember right now cause I swear some called it something else; like a weapon. I’ll let you know when I know.”

  “The name or the tune lad?” Cici inquired as he slowly removed his guitar again. “I can’t do much with a title. Be a shame to have a title but no melody.”

  “The best I can do is hum it.”

  “Let’s have it.”

  “Here? Now?” Kopius looked around as if he was suddenly being watched and scrutinized.

  “On the way to Savil, lad. Busy day ahead. Pickup your new clothes, that cloak from Lydian and to the northern gates by sunfall.”

  “Okay. Alright, it starts like this… “

  By the time they had reached the doors of Mineo Allon, Cici was getting dangerously close to the beginning of that wedding song. Kopius was nowhere near remembering its actual name but he was sure it would come, eventually.

  “Savil,” Cici shouted over the mounds of clothes and was rewarded with the sound of shoes clicking against the wooden floor. The well-dressed, well manicured man strode into their path.

  “My Dude Kopius. My Dude Cici,” Savil greeted with his subtle accent, bowing to both men. Kopius couldn’t hold back his wide smile as Savil delivered the title to each of them. He felt ‘dude’ might have been a bit immature but it was the best he could come up with in the short time he had. All-in-all, it was a win.

  Kopius was led back to the mirrored platform in the center of Savil’s shop. The tailor wasted no time getting Kopius undressed, fitted, adjusted and tailored with three sets of pants, shirts and what looked like brown tighty-whitey’s. The pants felt like a mixture of wetsuit material and blue jeans. They were snug but flexible with several scattered pockets. For his upper body, the shirts wore like three-quarter length baseball undershirts with heavier material.

  It all fit perfectly. Savil added at the end that the gear would fit under any type of armor and that items could be repaired at any of the three Mineo Allon locations at no cost.

  When the subject matter of payment was brought up, Savil balked at the grafeen. He would take the offered payment but countered to barter in exchange. He needed a bag of goods brought to his brother's shop in Stoneclaw and if they could deliver the goods before winter–a long way off–he would consider our debt settled.

  Kopius lingered in the farmers market outside of Mineo Allon while the men caught up on personal stories. The fresh food was scarce with only two vendors open at the moment. Others were getting set up but you could tell most of them were on slow mode. He remained far back enough so that people wouldn’t address him but close enough to get a look at the offered goods.

  As his gaze meandered he noticed two particularly attractive women walking with what looked like morning bread and maybe other food items. They turned away when he looked but glanced back within seconds. The two talked in each other's ear in a way that made it much too obvious they were chatting about him. He brushed his hair to the side, looking down at his new and improved attire.

  The clothes do make the man, Kopius smirked.

  He waved at the two and one of them, the cute, short-haired brunette in a green dress, waved back. Her friend reacted in a way that was part embarrassment, part surprise. The short-haired girl brushed off her friend and started to walk straight at Kopius. She approached him with the kind of confidence that would make a weak man stutter.

  His initial reaction was the same one he felt as he stared down charging skinwalkers in Escher Pass: run. With his heart suddenly pounding and a mouth drying as if he had just smoked a joint, Kopius tried to avoid appearing like deer in headlights.

  “Hi,” she beamed. “I’m Masonex.”

  “Hey… gurrrl?” Is what came out of Kopius’s mouth and his ego was immediately devastated. She just smiled like nothing happened.

  “Hey–hi. Hello,” he attempted to recover. “I’m–Kopius.”

  “I knew it was you,” Masonex replied in what he could only take as flirting.

  “Did you now?” Kopius answered, trying to match her vibe. He attempted to run through all the faces he had seen the night before but it was useless.

  “You wanna tell me?” she smiled.

  “Tell you what?” he smiled back.

  “What happened to the Tessel?”

  “Wha?”

  “Why was it dirty?” she brushed her hand across his forearm.

  “It–uh,” he cleared his throat. “It was an Orb of Contamination. But enough about me–”

  “Thanks Kopius!” Masonex cheered, booped him on the nose and then sprinted off back to her friend.

  What the fuck was that? He wondered, confused.

  As he watched her disappear into the distance a playing card sized, red negative one(-1) floated in the air in front of him. It only stayed a moment before popping like a water balloon, vanishing.

  “What the fuck is that!?”