Three days later, after a distinctly uneventful trek across the southern plains of the Territory, there came a break in the uniform golden expanse and finally they saw buildings on the horizon, rising out of the sea of flaxen, windswept grass. The shimmer of the Alatonas glinted in the morning light where it wrapped around the city like a silken azure scarf set with dazzling gems. Wispy columns of smoke drifted from countless chimneys over the city, dissipating almost as quickly as they formed, carried away on the ever-present breeze that skimmed across the plains.
As they neared the city around midday, Aellyn was surprised to find there were no protective walls surrounding the city. Instead, the vast collection of clay, stone and timber buildings with tiled or thatched roofs seemed content to sprawl outward unhindered, unconcerned with the possibility of an outside threat. Eyeing the kainarin warriors that rode at her side, she recalled how easy it had been for them to surround even seasoned travelers like her companions, and she realized there was likely no need for Goldtide to have such fortifications if all the inhabitants of the Territory were like them.
Grexos slowed his mount, letting the others pass so he could fall into step beside Aellyn. She turned a curious glance in his direction.
“When we enter the city, I’m obliged to escort you to the Tribunal for an audience with the Elders,” he explained. “We’ve made arrangements at an inn near the central market called The Lucky Hunter. Your companions can settle in and await you there.”
“Is there a reason I must meet with these Elders?” she asked, wondering what reason there could be for such an audience.
“You’re a foreign noble. Is that not reason enough?” he asked gruffly as he eyed her sidelong.
“I suppose,” she replied thoughtfully. “I just didn’t think something so trivial would warrant the attentions of such important individuals.”
“The comings and goings of foreigners in our lands are not trivial to us,” the censure in his voice was clear and it took Aellyn by surprise. She stammered a hasty apology, but he cut her off. “If you wish to pass through the Territory and on to Mivaria and beyond, you will need the Tribunal’s approval.”
“Are they expecting me?” she asked, wondering how much she would need to explain during her meeting.
“They have been briefed on the situation. They are the ones that requested the audience.”
“Is there anything I should be aware of before meeting with them?” she wondered if there were any local customs that she would be expected to observe.
“Just be honest and respectful,” Grexos advised. “That is enough.” He kicked his mount into a gallop then, taking up the lead position once more, but he did not slow his pace when he reached the front as Aellyn might have expected, and the rest of them were forced to urge their mounts into a faster pace to keep up.
With her companions comfortably ensconced in the surprisingly well-appointed rooms reserved for them in The Lucky Hunter, Aellyn made her way through the bustling marketplace with Grexos acting as escort. She was dazzled by the sights around her as they picked their way carefully through the throng of market-goers. Looking around, she spied other species she’d never before encountered in abundance among the crowd, and she realized then that the Kainad Territory was an interesting place indeed. Humans, dwarves, elves and halflings all seemed to be minorities in this strange city, and instead the kainarin seemed to be the majority. However, she also spied two other strange species in abundance: tall, wiry creatures similar to the kainarin but with sleeker, more slender builds and feline features, which Grexos had named the grith, and a species of more sly, vulpine creatures similar in stature to halflings that he called vithinin. Both, like the kainarin, were native to the Territory, Grexos explained, and also like the kainarin, each had many tribes scattered across the land, their leaders elected to the Tribunal that oversaw the city of Goldtide, and by extension, the rest of the Territory.
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