Catching a few more flakes in his hand, Vell lowered it and began walking.
He had no particular destination in mind. He simply wanted to see what he could find.
During the day, the streets would be busy with people, carts, and merchants, all occupied with their own affairs.
At night, there would be fewer distractions. He could see things more clearly and might be able to notice things that would otherwise go unseen.
He didn't expect to discover anything immediately, if at all.
The city was unfamiliar to him, and he knew very little about its people or its history.
There might be nothing wrong with it at all.
But he could look, and he could listen.
And he could see whether anything seemed strange or amiss beyond the weather itself.
Vell pulled his clothes a little closer around himself and continued down the street, the falling snow gathering quietly behind him.
For now, he was alone, which was perfect.
He was just another figure, another shadow or silhouette in the night.
Who would pay attention to him instead of going their own way and trying to avoid trouble?
And so he wandered through the city.
After only an hour, he could see that the snowfall had begun settling on rooftops and along the edges of the streets.
There were few people about, and those he did see were usually hurrying somewhere, eager to get out of the cold.
Every now and then, he passed a window with a light behind it or heard the muffled voices of people talking indoors.
Nothing alarming, just ordinary conversation.
Otherwise, Seroti had little nightlife.
He took his time looking at the buildings.
There was not much he could learn from a single night of walking, especially in a city he had never seen before, but he wanted to familiarize himself with the place.
He had no map with him, and he didn't particularly want to get lost, though he supposed that would hardly be a serious problem.
Eventually, he found himself in a part of the city where the streets grew wider. The buildings here were larger, and the roads were better maintained.
There were fewer shops, but more houses with enclosed gardens and high walls.
And then he saw a castle.
It stood on a rise overlooking the city.
Several towers rose above the surrounding buildings, and there were lights in a few of the windows. It was not the largest castle Vell had ever seen, nor was it particularly impressive by the standards of some of the places he had visited in his life. Still, it was clearly an important building.
He stopped to look at it.
A castle usually implied a king or someone of a similar sort. Perhaps a queen, a prince, a duke, or some other kind of ruler. There were many ways to arrange a government.
He had never been particularly fond of royalty.
It wasn't that he disliked every king or queen he had ever met. Some had been decent people, and a few had even been admirable.
But the idea that someone's blood alone entitled them to rule always left a bad taste in his mouth.
Being born into a particular family did not make someone wiser, kinder, or more capable. It merely meant that they had been born into that family.
And yet, the world had a habit of arranging itself around such people.
Then again, it wasn't just royalty he disliked. Vell had never been particularly fond of most forms of government.
Even systems built on good ideas had a way of becoming something else. Democracy had its appeal, of course. The idea of people having a say in how they were governed was better than leaving everything to those who assumed they knew best.
Then again, perhaps people could manage without a government at all. There was something appealing about that, too, though Vell doubted that removing authority would make people any wiser or kinder.
Every system had its flaws. It was easy enough to find fault with them; finding something better was another matter entirely.
Vell sighed.
It was easy enough to criticize the systems people had built. Coming up with something better was another matter entirely.
He wondered who ruled Seroti.
He wondered whether the ruler was any good and whether the people were content with their lot.
He also wondered about the history of the place.
How old was the castle? Had it always stood here, or had it been built after some war? Had the city grown around it, or had the castle been raised to overlook a city that already existed?
The fact that he knew nothing about it was both rather irritating and exciting.