Aresan Clan pt 76

By the time dusk had ended and the city of Lamosa was fully wrapped in darkness, Dylan-Nantes started to think that, for a man who’d spent his entire life exploring the world of mountains and forest, he’d gotten a handle on the city. He’d only just arrived early that morning, had paid a visit to Premier Anders and had spent the rest of the day exploring. Though, perhaps wandering would be the more appropriate term, since he’d explored entirely without method, frequently coming upon forks and picking his path entirely at random. He’d spent the day carving out a meandering and irregular circle through the heart of the city, and now found himself in Darma’s neighborhood, wherein, for the first time that day, he’d decided to loiter.

He was supposed to return to his tribe immediately and he wouldn’t normally hesitate to escape into the fresh air of the wilderness, but he wanted to take advantage of a final chance to amuse himself before he left. The city didn’t have the virtues of the forest: the streets stank of too many humans pushed together, and it was almost impossible to find a place to escape from the eyes of the omnipresent persons and be entirely alone with oneself. Like Erek-Monte he thought to himself that someday, if he could, he would bring this whole city crashing down and let the forests reclaim it, as they had reclaimed the ruins of the ancient cities long ago destroyed and left behind.

The neighborhood that he’d ended up within, he could clearly tell, was one of the wealthier in the city. It contrasted sharply from some of the poorer one’s he’d passed through. For one, the sidewalks were paved with stone instead of dirt and were cleaner. The tenants here also usually had servants in attendance and they glittered and shone in the daylight with nice clothing and jewelry. Most noticeably, the houses were larger, made of more durable materials such as stone and brick, and usually had walls around them, with enclosed well-tended gardens.

It was into one of these walled gardens that Dylan-Nantes decided to venture into. Compared to infiltrating the compound of the Premier’s Private House this would be rather easy to accomplish. He waited as the only person in sight, a lantern-bearing pedestrian, disappeared, and then leapt up to grab the top of this wall. It was barbed in the form of jagged rocks poking out of the top of the wall, but Dylan-Nantes was able to resist the pain and pull himself on top. There in front of him stood the magisterial abode of Dorin and his wife Darma, a sprawling multi-story home with a columned portico, many shuttered windows and a flower-lined garden around it.

Once he dropped into the garden, he began to walk around the exterior of the house, in search of a way to break inside. As he saw it more closely, he realized, with increasing certainty, that it would the perfect type of house to enter uninvited: the house veritably flaunted the wealth and luxury of its occupants.

But disappointment soon overwhelmed him when he circled around to the back side and noticed a light glowing from within. It was on the first floor, and he could see it through the cracks of a window that had been shuttered from the inside. Light betokened still-awake occupants, and still-awake occupants betokened danger to himself if he were to enter without permission.

He waited impatiently, hoping that perhaps the occupants were mere moments from departing for bed, opening the way for his undisturbed entrance, but the light persisted. Finally, he gave up, heaving himself painfully over the wall and walking to the nearest neighbor, an equally stately house with a similar wall and garden. This house, he discovered as he circled around it, was completely dark and probably entirely asleep. Not the faintest trace of light leaked through any of its many windows. Though part of him felt that he was settling by choosing this house and that the last house would be significantly more amusing, he advanced forward anyways.

Dylan-Nantes stepped up to one of the windows, currently secured by a pair of ornately inscribed wood shutters, that he moved towards and examined closely. He was not unfamiliar with shutters like these and pulled a knife from one of his sheaths and inserted it into a gap in the center of the shutters, feeling around. When the knife caught some sort of impediment (which he figured was the hook that held the shutter closed), he pushed at it and moved the knife around until the impediment was cleared. Dylan-Nantes was then able to pull the shutters towards him and open the window.

<-- Go to Part 75         Go to Part 77 -->

You can see what's been written so far collected here.

By the time dusk had ended and the city of Lamosa was fully wrapped in darkness, Dylan-Nantes started to think that, for a man who’d spent his entire life exploring the world of mountains and forest, he’d gotten a handle on the city. He’d only just arrived early that morning, had paid a visit to Premier Anders and had spent the rest of the day exploring. Though, perhaps wandering would be the more appropriate term, since he’d explored entirely without method, frequently coming upon forks and picking his path entirely at random. He’d spent the day carving out a meandering and irregular circle through the heart of the city, and now found himself in Darma’s neighborhood, wherein, for the first time that day, he’d decided to loiter.

He was supposed to return to his tribe immediately and he wouldn’t normally hesitate to escape into the fresh air of the wilderness, but he wanted to take advantage of a final chance to amuse himself before he left. The city didn’t have the virtues of the forest: the streets stank of too many humans pushed together, and it was almost impossible to find a place to escape from the eyes of the omnipresent persons and be entirely alone with oneself. Like Erek-Monte he thought to himself that someday, if he could, he would bring this whole city crashing down and let the forests reclaim it, as they had reclaimed the ruins of the ancient cities long ago destroyed and left behind.

The neighborhood that he’d ended up within, he could clearly tell, was one of the wealthier in the city. It contrasted sharply from some of the poorer one’s he’d passed through. For one, the sidewalks were paved with stone instead of dirt and were cleaner. The tenants here also usually had servants in attendance and they glittered and shone in the daylight with nice clothing and jewelry. Most noticeably, the houses were larger, made of more durable materials such as stone and brick, and usually had walls around them, with enclosed well-tended gardens.

It was into one of these walled gardens that Dylan-Nantes decided to venture into. Compared to infiltrating the compound of the Premier’s Private House this would be rather easy to accomplish. He waited as the only person in sight, a lantern-bearing pedestrian, disappeared, and then leapt up to grab the top of this wall. It was barbed in the form of jagged rocks poking out of the top of the wall, but Dylan-Nantes was able to resist the pain and pull himself on top. There in front of him stood the magisterial abode of Dorin and his wife Darma, a sprawling multi-story home with a columned portico, many shuttered windows and a flower-lined garden around it.

Once he dropped into the garden, he began to walk around the exterior of the house, in search of a way to break inside. As he saw it more closely, he realized, with increasing certainty, that it would the perfect type of house to enter uninvited: the house veritably flaunted the wealth and luxury of its occupants.

But disappointment soon overwhelmed him when he circled around to the back side and noticed a light glowing from within. It was on the first floor, and he could see it through the cracks of a window that had been shuttered from the inside. Light betokened still-awake occupants, and still-awake occupants betokened danger to himself if he were to enter without permission.

He waited impatiently, hoping that perhaps the occupants were mere moments from departing for bed, opening the way for his undisturbed entrance, but the light persisted. Finally, he gave up, heaving himself painfully over the wall and walking to the nearest neighbor, an equally stately house with a similar wall and garden. This house, he discovered as he circled around it, was completely dark and probably entirely asleep. Not the faintest trace of light leaked through any of its many windows. Though part of him felt that he was settling by choosing this house and that the last house would be significantly more amusing, he advanced forward anyways.

Dylan-Nantes stepped up to one of the windows, currently secured by a pair of ornately inscribed wood shutters, that he moved towards and examined closely. He was not unfamiliar with shutters like these and pulled a knife from one of his sheaths and inserted it into a gap in the center of the shutters, feeling around. When the knife caught some sort of impediment (which he figured was the hook that held the shutter closed), he pushed at it and moved the knife around until the impediment was cleared. Dylan-Nantes was then able to pull the shutters towards him and open the window.

<-- Go to Part 75         Go to Part 77 -->

You can see what's been written so far collected here.

Aresan Clan pt 76