"Vedona," Alar said. "The capital."
Of course, he was from Vedona. Everything about him screamed metropolitan elite, from his perfectly tailored clothes to his cultured accent and rich vocabulary.
I had seen pictures of the sprawling city with its gleaming towers that stretched toward the sky, but I'd never visited, and probably never would. Few Elucians ventured beyond our mountains, unless they were dragon riders in pursuit of fleeing Shedun or on a mission to provide aid to Eluria by way of rescue operations that could only be performed from the air.
"Another round!" Codric called out, waving to the barmaid.
I shouldn't have any more ale when the first tankard was already making my head fuzzy, its warmth spreading through my limbs in a not entirely unpleasant way.
I pulled my watch out of my purse and checked the time. It was already half past eight, and I had promised to be home by nine.
When the fresh drinks arrived, I wrapped my fingers around the cool metal but only pretended to sip.
"I should probably head home," I said. "It's getting late."
Shovia shot me a look that clearly said I was ruining her fun. "I want to stay a little longer." She leaned closer to Codric,who wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I've never seen the guest rooms in the lodge. Are they nice?"
I stifled the urge to roll my eyes. I shouldn't be surprised that my best friend was intending to spend the night with a man she had just met. Codric was Shovia's type, and the fact that he was a foreigner who could never be considered husband material was considered a bonus in her book. She intended to party for as long as she could and to settle down only after she tired of all the partying.
Sometimes I wished I could be like her, carefree and adventurous, but that wasn't me. I was the fun-spoiler, the boring friend who wanted to be in bed by nine.
"I'll walk you home," Alar offered, rising from his chair.
"Thank you, but you don't need to."
"I want to. It's not safe for a young lady to walk alone at night."
I almost laughed. The streets of Skywatcher's Point were safer than most other places in Elucia, thanks to its proximity to the Citadel. The Shedun were a suicidal scourge who didn't care about their own lives, but they were not completely devoid of reason.
Besides, I could ask Morek to walk me home.
Nevertheless, I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Alar just yet, and since he insisted on accompanying me, I wasn't going to argue. "It's perfectly safe for me to walk home alone, but it would be nice to have company. Thank you."
As we stepped outside, the cool night air helped clear my head. With the auroras overhead it wasn't dark, but it was still significantly colder now than when I entered the bar, and my dress wasn't enough to keep the chill at bay.
When I crossed my arms over my chest to keep some warmth in, Alar shrugged off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders. I wanted to protest, but as warmth trapped inside the fabricenveloped me along with the scent of his cologne, it felt too good to say no.
"Thank you." I smiled at him. "That's very gallant, but aren't you cold? I'm more used to the mountain weather out here than you are."
To his credit, he didn't try to deny it. "It's much warmer in the province of Catonia, where I'm from, and even warmer in the city because the heat gets trapped between the tall buildings." He tucked his hands into his pockets, probably to keep them from freezing. "Do you learn Elurian geography and history in your schools?"
I chuckled. "As much as you learn in yours about ours. Only the basics."
"Do you know that most of the Elurian Federation is on flat land?"
I nodded. "I also know a little bit of its history. It used to be seventeen separate countries, with Catonia being the largest and strongest, which is why her king became the elected ruler of the newly formed federation and his descendants have been ruling over Eluria ever since." I scrunched my nose. "Let me see what else. The Council of Seventeen answers to the king or queen, who are always Catonian, and the ruler can't decide anything that affects the other provinces without getting the Council’s approval. He needs a majority vote." I looked up at him. "How am I doing so far?"
"You get an A, but I bet you have no idea about the shenanigans and bribery it takes to get anything passed."
He was right that I didn't have a clue. That sort of unethical conduct went against the Precepts of Truth. But what I wanted to know was how a member of a merchant class knew about those shenanigans.
"Is that what your newspapers report?" I asked.
"Some of them," he said without looking at me. "Most are controlled by the Council and are its mouthpieces. Rumors of shady dealings are only published in the underground papers."
I tilted my head to look at his handsome profile. "And how does a respectable merchant get his hands on underground papers?"
Alar chuckled. "Who says I'm respectable?"
