"Do you say that introduction to everyone?" Velakia sighed as they entered the city.
"It is protocol," the guard nodded, "Though you get used to it after a while."
"Do not mind her, my friend," Blanc waved her off, "She is in a foul mood."
"I see," the man muttered, looking at Velakia, who looked even more enraged because of Blanc's words.
But before she could start arguing, Blanc continued, "Now, what about that proof of payment?"
"Ah, yes," the guard gasped, "Give me a minute or two while I go and grab them."
With a nod from Blanc, the guard turned on his heel and walked away towards a building that appeared to take him inside the walls of the city itself.
"These days, you have tested my patience over and over," Velakia hissed, "It has gone on long enough, Blanc."
"Did I lie?" Blanc chuckled, not even sparing her a glance. "Every time I try to help, you bristle like I've insulted you. I offer food; you get defensive. I suggest we go buy something; you act like I've declared war on your entire family. I could list examples for an hour. To you, kindness is suspicious, and disagreement? Your worst enemy. May the Vita bless the soul of the man who is to marry you."
Although he chuckled, he was getting tired of her antics as well.
As cute and funny as it was at times, it could be just as annoying and insufferable to try to have a proper conversation with Velakia. He did not start cursing her out when she harshly judged his homeland, his culture, and his High Monarch, but Vita forbid, he had something to complain about what he knew about Iskahul.
She would start getting defensive, hateful, cursing him in that foreign language of theirs, which made Lendros and Tahreni laugh for a while, before even they started talking between themselves, totally giving up on trying to be part of or listen to Blanc and Velakia's conversations and arguments.
But perhaps, this time, he said something he shouldn't have so carelessly, as all the anger in Velakia's face vanished as if it never was, at Blanc's comment about marriage.
She opened her mouth to speak, but the guard saved Blanc from that conversation, and all that followed.
"Here," the guard said as he approached the four of them, "These are tokens of passing. With a drop of your blood, you bind it to you for a month. Binding it can prove your passage if any guards or soldiers try to stop you for questioning. And if your travels inside the Domain take longer than a month, or you decide to remain here for more than a year and aid our Domain, make sure to go to a city where this could be replaced."
"What if we forget?" Blanc wondered.
"It will blow up, sending shards of the artifact in all directions, including your body," the man explained casually, "So make sure you don't forget."
"And you mentioned aiding the Domain, did something happen, or?" Blanc muttered.
"No, all is well in these parts," the guard shook his head, "If you make a woman of our Domain pregnant, bringing a letter from that woman as proof, you will receive a token that allows you to remain here for a year. If you have over ten children, you will receive the honor of becoming a permanent citizen of the Doma-"
"I understand," Blanc interrupted, sighing at how casual the man spoke of such things, "As tempting as you make it sound, I am afraid we are in too big a rush to enjoy all this Domain has to offer."
"A pity," the guard shrugged, his armor clanking, "If that's the case, make sure you leave the Domain through a main road; this way, you can leave the token to the last city you pass on your way, and receive a silver coin back for each one of them."
"Thank you for your tips, my friend," Blanc smiled, taking a silver coin from his pouch, "For your troubles."
"Thanks," the guard replied in a whisper, taking the coin gratefully, "If you need help while in the city, you can find me here."
"Then, if you could be so kind as to point me to a good inn, I would be grateful," Blanc requested.
And so, the man took them to the best inn the city of Sarmi had to offer, and bid them farewell, returning to his post.
With another gold coin spent, this time for the best room the inn had to offer, paid from his own pocket, Blanc led Velakia, Tahreni, and Lendros up to the top floor. At the end of the hallway, a single door waited, the only room on that level.
Though room was hardly the word for it.
What greeted them beyond the door was more like a small house built atop the inn. It had a cozy common area that branched into four separate bedrooms, a private toilet in each room, and a shared bathing room complete with a proper tub.
As they began to unpack, each claiming a room without much debate, Blanc found himself still standing in the common space, looking around slowly.
The shape of it. The walls. The way the wood creaked. Even the way the light touched that same wood.
It was all too familiar, a quiet smile tugging at his lips.
This place reminded him far too much of the inn he'd been married in not that long ago.
As memories of that ceremony held by Lune, the food, the gifts, the night that followed with his wives passed through his brain, he rushed to the only room left, trying to occupy his mind with anything else.
As the weeks came and went, it became harder and harder for Blanc to calm his body and what it requested of him.
He was still able to do it with ease, as long as he did not linger too much on such thoughts, and occupied his mind with other things, such as annoying Velakia in his free time.
But he knew his body was getting more and more stressed, harder to calm down with ignorance.
For his body was filled with the Raw Vita of beasts, the emotions, instincts, and desires of beasts being one with him.
But, as always, with a minute or two of deep focus, he calmed his body down.
But when he did, the last words he spoke to Velakia came to mind, making him feel slightly bad about it.
"I should apologize," he said to himself in a whisper as he left the room and entered the common space they all shared.