Having somewhere to rest is so much better. The Movers started to show their gratitude. Besides the few we have mentioned, there are another 8 in the camp living the nomadic life. Bae is happy to be back to safety, while the children are back to their only friend, who is a human kid who was worried about the two girls.
We approach the fire in the middle of the camp. They have a few tents and a carriage for transport. Furs, tools, and others are placed around the camp, seemingly because they stop to do their work from time to time.
"Just the other day, those soldiers appeared and attacked us. They did not kill anyone, but they took Baelevi and the children, saying that we had a few days to pay with clothes, decorations, and weapons. If not, they were selling them as slaves." Lars says while handing some hot drinks to us.
I take it. He is serving in some wooden cups with some burnt drawings of a Broken Sword, a Broken Bow, and a Broken Spear. There is something about them that I cannot quite put together. Like a pattern I cannot tell or a symbol I know means something, but I cannot grasp it. It is gnawing in the back of my head like an annoying animal or insect.
"To think they would do such a thing! I thought the kingdom made slavery illegal!" Baelevi says. "And we have not done anything to them!"
"People are like that..." I answer while looking at the cup. "You cannot fully trust anyone."
"That is right... We need to be more careful." Lars explains.
He notices how much I am inspecting the cup, lost in the symbols.
"You like the design?" He asks me. "Bae does them; she is an expert woodworker."
"T-there's no need to sell me so high, Lars." Bae blushes. "I just enjoy making them."
"They are beautiful... But I'm not sure what the symbols mean." I answer, lowering the cup and now finally taking a sip. The liquid is warm and has a pinkish tone.
The flavor is sweet and charged, and I feel a relaxing sensation the moment it goes down my throat, warming my body on the way down. It tastes good, like I am finally able to relax somewhere safe.
"That is the Legend of the Fallen Heroes," Bae explains. "It is the story of Three Heroes that fought against the forces that came from the other side of the Gates but miserably failed it."
The Gates...
"The veil between worlds, right?" I ask her. Lucio looks at me. He was talking with Aurelia when I mentioned the veil. "The one that is said to protect this world from the beings from other realms."
"You seem to know about the old legends," Bae says, and then nods. "Yes, the tale says that three heroes in different times fought against these forces and failed. Dooming the world."
"What a story..." Aurelia chimes in. "I mean, the world has not been destroyed or anything, and yet there is a legend about them?"
"The stories are old, no one knows where they came from," Lars explains.
"Did these heroes have names?" I ask.
Bae shakes her head. "None that we know of. We just know that they could not contain the entities that came through the Gates, one that they thought they could defeat."
Maxwell mentioned the Gates...
"And where are these gates?" Lucio asks.
"No one knows exactly," bae says.
"They are in the Great Nothing, in the middle of the Chaos," I explain.
Silence fell when I mentioned the Great Nothing and the position of the Gates. Of course ,I know where that is. It is an important End Game area.
The Great Nothing is an area that is so inhospitable to every race that no one can settle there without risking dying from the environment or the monsters that lurk. Beasts from untold time that can tear apart complete towns in mere moments. It is in the middle of this continent, a large area where nothing grows, and it divides it into two.
The Federation is found right by it, and they usually control who can go in or not, and if they can stop you.
"How do you know that, Miss Amber?"
That is not something a mere mortal is meant to know.
"Studies..." I quickly invent. A lie to avoid revealing too much. "Some ancient mages claim that that is where the Gates are found because of how energy moves in there."
I know it because I have visited the place with other characters. Even Amber reached the spot, but I did not open them. I know for a fact they are there.
"It still worries me... That Maxwell mentioned the Gates." Bae says. "I hope they are not making that mistake. The tale is a warning not to try to open them."
If they are trying to do it, then it is bad. I am not nearly prepared to fight against the thing that appears in there, and one of the items to open it was stolen from me. If I had kept it safe, then maybe I could have prevented the opening by just keeping it hidden.
"Well! Let's change topics!" Adhuin interrupts. "We need to thank Amber and her group properly! Ask us for anything!"
"Anything?" Aurelia beams.
"N-no! I cannot just ask for anything!" I try to stop her, worried about what she might ask.
"Nonsense!" Adhuin continues! "Tell me if you need any dress or piece of clothing, Lass! I can make anything you want!"
He is a tailor.
I sigh and look down at my clothes. I hate how I look with the shirt, pants, and combat boots. I wanted to fix my clothes in Lakemar, but with all that happened there...
"Do you know how to make Kimonos?" I ask him.
"Hah! I learned some clothes from a Kitsune tailor a few years back! I bet I still remember how to make one! You will have to give me some time, though!"
"I would be thankful," I answer with a smile.
"What? You can ask, but not us?! I demand I am the leader now, and I put you on a leash!" Aurelia complains and finishes her sentence with a smirk.
"You are not touching me." I immediately try to shoot her down.