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Chapter Fifteen: Matching Masks
🕑 Added 2025-05-10 20:11:24 +0000 UTCGoogle Docs: For Suggestions
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As Serena led her charge towards the centre of Kenhoro she was constantly bombarded with questions. Amelia was intrigued by every little sight or smell. Honestly, it was endearing to see somebody so fascinated by demon culture. On more than one occasion, Serena had to stop Amelia from walking into someone as she was so distracted by the next shiny thing.
She did her best to answer what she could, although she often failed to give further detail when the inevitable follow-up questions were thrown her way. The culture in Kenhoro and the surrounding area was familiar to her due to her military career, which caused her to spend a significant amount of time docked in the vicinity. However, she was not a native, and her homeland – The Three Sisters – was several hundred klicks to the southeast.
“This is the Kenhoro procession, the main thoroughfare in the city,” she said to Amelia as they stepped onto the enormous paved street. Frequent trams passed them, excess steam hissing out their tops as they trundled past in the tracks embedded in the ground. “Here, hold on.” She wrapped an arm around Amelia’s waist and hoisted both of them onto a passing tram.
An interesting noise came from the human, which she almost ignored.
“Sorry. Getting on and off a moving tram is an urban skill you’ll need to learn quickly.” Serena cast an apologetic look at the red-cheeked girl. “Never walk along the tracks. The trams have scoops installed on their fronts to push pedestrians out of the way, and the drivers are perfectly happy to use them.”
“Okay! There are so many people!” Amelia said. The tram was almost full, and outside, there was a constant river of people moving up and down the procession. “How many people do you think live in the city?”
“About a million, give or take. Probably another two hundred thousand in the surrounding area. You should see the Centralis Basin. The last census of that region came to eighty million people! It’s probably eighty-five now.” Serena shook her head. “Imagine the logistics to feed that many people! Kenhoro is a big place, but it has no underground. In Centralis, there are thousands of klicks of tunnels through the mountains and earth, connecting them all.”
Amelia looked at her with wide eyes. “Whoa!” she exclaimed. “Can we go there?”
“Eventually,” Serena said. They would inevitably, at some point. If she were going to receive a silver eagle for her work, they would typically invite her to the capital for the ceremony. “We can see the titan,” she said.
“Titan?”
“Tomes gave you a history lesson right? About how the Empress was victorious against the Titanlords?”
“I think so…? He mentioned gigantic monsters at some point.”
“The Titans were the generals of that ancient enemy. They led the legions of beasts and were felled one by one by the Empress. Other than the bones that were used in the construction of the Cathedral of Bone in the capital, there wasn’t much evidence of the rest of them,” Serena explained.
“That was until a century and a half ago when they began digging the underground railway in the Centralis Basin. They came across a gigantic skeleton of a creature slain long ago. Only the skull is accessible to the public, but they’ve turned it into somewhat of a tourist attraction.”
Amelia’s eyes grew even wider. “Have you ever seen it!?”
“No,” Serena said, shaking her head. “And yes, to the question you’re about to ask. We’ll try to find time to visit it, should we ever travel to Centralis.”
“Thank you!” Amelia beamed, flashing her a perfect smile. Serena let herself enjoy that smile for a few seconds. “You know, eighty million isn’t that much,” Amelia whispered, moving in closer. “The biggest nation from where I came from had three billion people.”
Serena narrowed her eyes and found Amelia wasn’t jesting. Three billion people. How could she even begin to imagine that? “All human?” she asked, and Amelia nodded back. Christ. That was a lot of… humans. “How would you even feed that many people?”
“Mmm…” Amelia’s eyes looked thoughtful. “You know how advances in metallurgy allow better armour and better engines to be made?” Serena nodded. “Well, I guess we’ve perfected growing crops. Better fertilisers. Centuries of breeding the best crops. It’s all automated also.”
“Automated?”
“Yeah, like…” Amelia raised her hands, seemingly struggling to find the words. “Imagine an advanced steam engine, but it’s smart enough to know how and when to perfectly plant, grow and harvest crops. It can work day and night, farming hundreds of kilometres of farmland year-round.”
“That’s interesting. My sister would be very interested in hearing about that.” What Amelia described sounded like a far more advanced version of the golems widely used in the southern desert.
Amelia opened her mouth to reply, but they were interrupted by the tram conductor.
“Tickets! Don’t think I missed you sneaking on back there!” the smartly dressed demon called out, pushing his way through the crowd and up to them. Serena adjusted her raincoat, pulling it so that her shoulder with the gold thread and military insignia could be seen. The conductor paused for a moment before motioning with his head towards Amelia.
“She’s with me,” Serena said. The conductor nodded and made his way back down the tram. Serena covered her uniform back up and saw Amelia looking at her with a questioning expression painted on her face. “All military personnel can ride transport in the city for free,” Serena explained. “It came into effect a couple of years ago. Speakers also have that privilege, although…” She bent down slightly, lowering her voice. “Don’t pull that trick when you’re alone, not until we can figure out where you stand legally. You’re not a citizen of this region or the Empire.”
“How do I become a citizen?” Amelia whispered back.
“I suspect an offer might be made to you sooner rather than later, once your lack of ties to…” Serena dropped her voice as much as she could. “...The enemy is confirmed.” Amelia nodded, and her blue eyes moved to an area above Serena's shoulder.
“Is that the lighthouse you talked about?”
Serena turned and saw the towering steel lighthouse reaching towards mid-sky. Even during midday, the enormous aetherlight still shone brightly. “Yes,” she said. “There are two more, but you can’t see them. Use them as a landmark to return to the docks if you need to.”
“Okay! Do you… Expect there’ll be trouble during our stay?”
Serena paused, thinking over how to answer the question. She couldn’t say no, but couldn’t guarantee a yes either. It depended on how aggressive Cascadian and Federation Intelligence would be. If there were heretical or Republican cells in Kenhoro, then an outright kidnapping or assassination attempt wasn’t out of the question.
“There’s a possibility. You’re keeping your wards up at all times?” Seeing Amelia nod quickly, she asked, “How are your aether reserves?” The cloaked ward Amelia had cast on Serena was still maintained. She could feel it, even now, strengthening her.
“It’s manageable. When we find time, I want to try some others, if that’s okay.”
“... Sure,” Serena said. “Let’s jump off here.” Serena could have let Amelia jump off by herself, but she was curious as to whether the human would make that cute noise again. She slipped an arm around Amelia's waist and, while pulling her tight, hopped off the tram.
Her efforts were not in vain.
“Let’s head this way, through the central market,” Serena said, leading the red-faced girl. The light rain had stopped, but she warned Amelia to keep her hat on so that her golden hair was hidden. They slipped in with the river of pedestrians, and soon a massive cascade of noise and smells assaulted them.
“Spices! Black spices from the desert!”
“Northern spirits! Whiskey from Kasimanda! Vodka from Skipifold!”
“Come get the best Vinay kebabs! Slow-cooked for twenty-four hours!”
“Masks! Get your festival masks here! Crystal jewellery for your horns!”
A city of market stalls called out to them. They were brightly coloured, with enticing signs and aggressive stall owners — anything to grab a potential customer's attention.
“Masks!” Amelia pulled Serena to one of the stalls.
“We have carnival masks in every colour you can dream of, young ladies!” The shopkeeper’s words flowed naturally from his mouth. “The festival is only around the corner! I would hate to see you unadorned with the very best accessories in Kenhoro! Look here”–the man gestured to his wares–“we have masks in patterned cloth for those after a simple look, or if you want to stand out, we have ones decorated in coloured quartz! And for the extra special customer who truly wants to impress a man…” The stallkeeper pointed to a row of masks behind a glass cabinet. “Masks lined with cut moon crystals from the four corners of Cascadia!”
“Not all the corners,” Serena pointed out. “You’re missing red crystal.”
“Right you are, dear customer! Unfortunately, due to the ongoing conflict, the red stuff is a little hard to get these days. I could put in an order for you, of course!” The stallkeeper rubbed his hands together.
“Can I try this on?” Amelia pointed towards one of the carnival masks adorned with blue moon crystal. The stallkeeper eagerly unlocked the cabinet and handed the mask to Amelia, who looked up at Serena. Amelia held the mask in position. “What do you think? Matches my eyes, right?”
Serena swallowed awkwardly. How did adding a small carnival mask add so much… enticement? The blue glow from the crystal only highlighted Amelia’s eyes more. “Take the hat off,” she told Amelia. “See if it fits properly.” Amelia obeyed, removing the hat and revealing her golden hair.
“A human…” the stallkeeper mumbled before quickly turning back into cheerful merchant mode. “What brilliant golden hair you have! It shines even more than my wares! If I may ask, dear customer, whence do you hail from?”
“She’s from Karligard,” Serena said before Amelia could respond. She hadn’t missed the brief drop in the stallkeeper's face when he had seen Amelia's lack of horns. Discrimination had been rising through the years, and the humans in Kenhoro had slowly been grouping closer to their districts on the outskirts. “It looks good,” she said as Amelia finished adjusting the mask. Good was an understatement. Amelia looked stunning.
“You like it? Okay then! I’ll buy it! How much?” Amelia grinned at the compliment.
“You don’t need to buy something just because I said so, you know,” Serena said, trying and failing to chastise the girl.
“I know, but I want to dress up for the festival. What about you?”
“What about me?”
Amelia turned to the stallkeeper. “How quickly can you get one just like this”–Amelia motioned towards the mask on her face–“but with red crystals?” Amelia turned to Serena, motioning towards her eyes. “For your red eyes. It should match, no?”
“Red is expensive these days. I don’t want to spend that much on a mask. I’ll get something like this…” Serena picked up one of the masks patterned in red cloth.
“No, no!” Amelia protested, shaking her head. “We have to match, or there’s no point! Mr Stallowner, can you get a red one like this in time for the festival?”
The stallkeeper's expression was puzzled as he listened to their back-and-forth and was a little slow to react. “Ah, of course,” he said. "Of course!” He clasped his hands together. "I can have it ready within two days. Is that acceptable for you?”
Serena began to protest, but Amelia cut her short. “I will pay for it! Don’t worry! How much is it, Mr Stallowner?”
“Thirty for the blue mask and fifty for the red one.”
“Okay!” Amelia turned to Serena. “You have the money on you, right? Take it out of my wages for this month!” Serena looked at Amelia for a moment. She would have to teach her the price of things. These two masks were half a year's salary for a common soldier.
“My dear customer, what a wonderful choice! Would you like me to gift-wrap them for you? Free of charge!”
“Yes, please!” Amelia removed the blue mask and handed it back to the stallkeeper, who busied himself wrapping and bagging it. Serena handed the man his money, and the purse Tomes had given her felt far lighter. The stallkeeper handed Amelia the bag and a receipt so she could pick up the remaining mask in the future.
“Here you go, valued customer. If I may ask, you spoke of wages. From what profession do you hail?”
Amelia flashed a grin and jabbed a thumb at her chest.
“I’m her maid!”
Serena sighed.
This idiot.
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