"Why should I be the ferryman? We are both won" Tista grunted.
"Indeed, but I'm a delicate creature whereas you are a war machine." Rena countered. "Also, would you rather row the boat yourself or sit there and bring along a stranger who'll stare and listen to us the entire ti?"
"Point taken. Tista sighed and grabbed the oar. "Begrudgingly, but taken nonetheless."
A flick of the paddle brought the gondola off the dock and another out of the hotel and into the canal.
"What the fuck?" The valet was shocked. "Even with only one passenger, it takes strength and technique to fight the currents yet those guys maneuver their gondolas like toy boats floating on a fountain!"
The Verhens spent the day touring the lower side of the city, visiting the shops, and admiring the different pieces of art from different periods that decorated both sides of the canals.
They t up only to lunch together in a floating restaurant in the shopping district. Vinea's cuisine was rich of delicious fish- and seafood-based dishes that the Verhens explored and shared.
Alas, even though all hotels prided themselves on ensuring the privacy of their guests, the concierge's fainting left the register open to less discreet eyes, and the young valet had no qualms about running his mouth with anyone willing to listen to him.
Before lunchti, rumors of Lith's arrival spread like wildfire, reaching all kinds of ears.
***
"Gods, I must co back here with Raaz." Elina said, her eyes misted with emotion. "Admiring the sunset from the bay is a mystical experience. The light reflects on the water making it look on fire and the city behind us is simply majestic.
"This day couldn't end any better."
'It actually could.' Kamila inwardly grunted while keeping a smile on her face. This would be the perfect mont to share with my husband and maybe exchange a few tender words.
'I could also kiss Lith under this romantic light and show him how much I love him if not for my mother-in-law sitting right next to !
"I couldn't have said any better, Elina." She actually said.
"I'm glad you like it." Lith smiled with satisfaction. "I'm glad no one suffered from seasickness but I think we should spend the rest of the evening on the land not to get sea legs during the night."
"Excellent idea." Elina nodded. "Also, the chef was so kind to point us to his brother's
restaurant. If he's as good as his brother says, you should like dinner more than lunch, baby"
Vinea also had cultivated fields and animal farms, giving it a rich tradition of at- and wheat-based dishes as well. Its citizens loved the concept of two cities in one so they served seafood only in the canals and at only on land.
'Beaten to the punch again.' Kamila sighed. 'What the heck happened yesterday? Elina has always been loving and caring with Lith but today she's cranked it at eleven!"
As Lith gently rowed back to the rmaid Reef, moving through the waves as if it was the placid surface of a lake, his Tiamat eyes spotted a reflection coming from ashore. His pupils constricted to a vertical line, putting into focus a figure several hundreds of ters in the distance. It was a man standing above a bell tower who was following Lith's gondola with a spyglass.
The man was good at his job and if not for the setting sun's angle, Lith would have never noticed him. Lith made a couple of detours, claiming he wanted to buy souvenirs, and noticed it was no coincidence.
"The fucker is spying on ! The words of nadion and Baba Yaga churned in his mind, painting different potential threats. "They might be Awakened who want Ripha's Blade Weapons or ln's lackeys.
'Either way, I'll deal with them just the sa. Follow but don't kill him. That's my job.
Locrias took form underwater and the pocket dinsion released Trouble right beside him. Demons had a limited range but Golems had no such problem. Thanks to the Spirit Crystal embedded in Trouble's chest, the construct could fuel Locrias until it ran out of mana, no matter the distance.
'Yes, my Liege. Locrias possessed the tal body and shapeshifted it into the inconspicuous form of a fish, swimming to the nearest empty service canal. Warping under the sea would have carried the water as well, alerting the prey.
Warping above the water would have alerted Elina and ruined her vacation, instead. Lith kept one eye on the sentinel, providing Locrias with the dinsional coordinates he needed to reach his mark with a single Steps.
The dinsional passage opened behind the man's back and thanks to Gravity Magic, Trouble moved as light as the cat Locrias had transford it into.
"What's wrong, baby?" Elina asked. "You suddenly have a serious look."
"It's nothing, Mom." Lith replied with a smile. "I was just thinking that Vinea is truly a romantic city and I should go out on a date tonight."
***
'What the fuck?' Alinor of Vinca was very good at his job and from almost a kiloter away, being spotted was supposed to be impossible.
It was the reason when Verhen seed to look right into the spyglass Alinor had felt a
cold shiver running down his spine. He lowered the tube for a second, rubbing his eyes before resuming the surveillance.
'I knew it was all in my head.' He sighed in relief. Verhen may be a monster but there's no way he can notice . Even if he did, there are hundreds of boats in the lagoon. He has no reason to suspect soone is watching him.'
Verhen was now looking around like a tourist and talking with his mother and wife. Alinor took notes of everything he could understand by reading Lith's lips and left the bell tower only once his marks had gotten too close to the land to keep observing them.
He carefully ripped the pages of his notebook off and folded them into slips of paper the size of a coin. Alinor climbed down the stepladder and left the library from a secondary exit that opened on a small alley.
A chore magic air spell silenced the squeaky hinges of the door as well as his shoes. It was one of the most useful tricks in Alinor's line of work, allowing him to be noticeable only when he wanted.
Law enforcers and criminals alike lowered their guard the mont they heard his creaking steps and noticed how "clumsy" Alinor was. They assud it was impossible to miss his presence and stopped looking out for him, relying on the warning signs he could
stop at will.
Alinor erged in a busy road, blending with the crowd of honest workers going back to their hos. On the way, he bumped into several people. So were just normal accidents while in a few occasions it was a pretext to pass the slip of papers to his contacts unnoticed.
A man like Alinor of Vinea had no master and worked only for the highest bidder. In Verhen's case, bidders. The arrival of the Supre Magus traveling incognito had triggered more red flags than a Royal Parade and many powerful people feared to be the reason for Lith's presence.
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