NOVEL NEXT 22: Making Full Use Of Connections
Nudging the door open to the shop, Astrid watched as Valencia floated the plant to the counter as they stood in the doorway. With the two of them wanting to spend as much time in the city as possible while there was still light out, Astrid and Valencia decided to leave the plant on the first floor.
They’d put it in the right place when they returned for the evening after their little date.
Closing the door after Valencia gave her the signal, Astrid offered her hand and sang a “Cia~” as they began walking once more towards their next destination: the outermost semi-circle ring!
Astrid, in all honesty, still had no idea if the platforms over the ocean had an actual name. With Valencia never mentioning one, and being too lazy to figure it out, Astrid was content to settle with the random name she had come up with.
Considering she lived on one of the rings, one of the furthest ones in fact, Astrid felt she probably should dedicate the time to learning the actual terminology... but... those types of thoughts were better left to future Astrid.
“Any specific reason you wanted to show me around this outermost platform?” Astrid leaned against Valencia, resting her head against its familiar spot on Valencia’s shoulder.
“Well, it’s pretty close to our dinner place.” Valencia tapped her chin, wrapping her arm around Astrid’s side. “Plus, the place after dinner is on this ring. But, I thought you might appreciate just getting to see some of the organizations with their headquarters on this ring.”
Confessing her continual lack of knowledge to Valencia, Astrid gave a quick nod as Valencia patted her head and shrugged. “Just sit tight, I’ll explain more once we get there, it’s easier to explain with visual aids.”
With her position nestled against Valencia becoming ever-more unfeasible as their walking speed increased past ‘grandmother meander’ speeds, Astrid detached herself and grabbed Valencia’s hand as they continued along the side of the road.
Being a weekend afternoon, Astrid—even if walking in silence—was entertained! There were so many unique people walking along the street!
Various colors of hair, various heights, various outfits, and more!
In just one instance, while turning the corner and making their way across a bridge, Astrid flinched as she and Valencia came face to face with a group of people walking towards them in full priest ceremonial gear...
Smiling and giving them a cordial nod, Astrid dismissed her thoughts of confusion and bewilderment as the group nodded back—where were the churches anyway? Astrid hadn’t seen a single one!
Perhaps the city just had some unique groups...
After all, Aelius and Luna did seem to run a uh... suspiciously cult-like group after all...
Beyond the people in the church outfits, there were, of course, a fair few people dressed in normal clothes. Then, there were also business people (it wasn’t a workday, but maybe they had overtime?), there were military people (maybe they had work too?), among others.
Looking down at her own outfit, Astrid then looked at Valencia’s outfit. “We’re dressed like normal, right? We don’t stand out do we?”
Getting a raised eyebrow from Valencia as she was given a quick lookover, Astrid’s eyes swam with a touch of worry as Valencia reached up and tapped her nose. “I think you might stand out. You’re awfully cute in that dress after all.”
With a faint blush appearing on her cheeks as Valencia leaned forward to whisper another few teases in her ear, Astrid’s worry evaporated only to replace itself with a heart-gnawing amount of embarrassment.
Taking a moment to hug it out on the bridge, Astrid ignored the onlookers as she gained a sudden newfound appreciation for the faint wind blowing by.
It really did wonders to cool her warm cheeks.
Getting back on the move after spending a couple minutes on the bridge ‘appreciating the view’—in more ways than one—Astrid and Valencia began their stroll once more.
Valencia, content to just walk in a comfortable silence with Astrid, pulled her close as they walked around looking at the various sights.
Smiling as Astrid paused to look at a menu of the cafe they walked by, Valencia tried to think of what exactly she and Astrid were going to do next.
They had a dinner reservation at a restaurant owned by Estelle. Valencia, while making the reservation, had also made sure the candle-lit dinner was overlooking the park where some performances were going to take place.
Shehad also asked Solomon to clear out one of her old buildings to stargaze on with Astrid after the dinner.
It wasn’t the building’s purpose, but Valencia didn’t care. The building was a testing site for techniques, attacks, and other weapons. More importantly for Valencia’s purposes, though, each booth was facing the wide, vast ocean with a perfect view of the night sky.
Sure, she had given the building to Solomon to use for his and Joanna’s organization when she left Marcen’s Cliffs, but she could use the building for this one night. Solomon and Joanna had confirmed they didn’t have any important tests being done and cleared it out for her and Astrid.
Plus, Joanna, being the kind woman she was, even set up one of the testing areas to be a nice date spot!
What a kind woman.
Giving Joanna another mental ‘thank you’, Valencia made a mental oath to try and not traumatize any more of the Library of Truth’s operatives.
“Cia?” Astrid tapped her chin, looking around as she pulled Valencia out of her train of thought. “You know, I was just wondering, where are all the young people? We’ve seen so many people, but it’s quite... strangely consistent in terms of age.”
“Hmm? What do you mean?” Valencia asked as she looked around.
Sweeping her eyes around their surroundings, Astrid smiled at a passerby while formulating her thoughts. “There’s barely any old people and I haven’t seen anyone younger than the late teens. Everyone looks like they're in the prime of their life! Then again, we’ve just seen a slice of the city...”
“Oh, well, remember how I was going to show you around and point out some of the biggest organizations in a bit?” Valencia pointed forward to a few of the buildings now visible in the distance. “It’s related to why they’re in the city. Marcen’s Cliffs isn’t a very... peaceful place I’d say. So most old people don’t stay and parents don’t raise their children here.”
Squeezing Astrid’s hand, Valencia continued on after clearing her throat. “Oh yeah, and a lot of people are older than they look since aging slows down as we get powerful. Don’t think about it too much, you’re safe with me, love. I know my way around, but otherwise there’s a lot of undercurrents and power struggles. Murders, kidnappings... the like... they’re sadly still quite common.”
“Hmm...” Astrid’s eyes swept around the area, looking back towards the bakery run by an old couple she had just walked by. With her eyes hardening as her level of alertness rose, Astrid’s attitude sharpened as her previous nonchalance disappeared. “Really now... I guess there are a lot of signs I keep purposefully glossing over. But for you to confirm it outright, it really is surprising, especially with how polite our customers have been so far...”
Brushing back a stray strand of Astrid’s hair, Valencia shook her head as a twinge of pain plucked at her heartstrings. “Don’t worry so much dear, you aren’t in danger.”
“Hmm...kay.” Astrid’s face softened as she looked down and smiled. “I’ll try.”
Cupping Astrid’s cheek, Valencia leaned forward and gave Astrid a peck before letting out a secret sigh.
It really pained her to see Astrid now always had a faint guard up under her cheerful exterior...
