Cǽrvelle-The Journey

Day 76, 3rd day of the Month of Joy

It was two days later, and after much partying yesterday in pubs and taverns around the town yesterday, we had finally arrived back at the hotel at nearly 2 am, and fallen asleep instantaneously. I slowly opened my eyes later that morning, rubbing them to get rid of the sleep and keeping them half shut as I went over to close the blinds, the light far too bright for waking up first thing in the morning. Once the room had darkened, I looked around, seeing my outfit from yesterday sprawled across the room, scattered and dirty from too much partying. As I was going to pick it up, Alexandra knocked on the door, startling me a bit before she let herself in.

"Did you have a good sleep, Collin?" she asked, sitting down on the foot of my bed, wearing only a bathrobe, with her hair still soaking wet.

"I would say so." I replied, setting my pile of dirty clothes down on a chair. "What about you?"

"It was decent." She replied in turn, turning towards me. "Although I would've liked to have woken up a bit earlier."

"Really? Why?" I asked, moderately confused. "I would've slept in later, if I could."

"You don't remember?" she asked, a bit taken aback. "We're meeting Lady Arvell at noon today, and it's already past 10 o'clock!"

"Oh, crap." I cursed, standing up a bit straighter, suddenly rushed. "Have you already showered? I'll go do that and you can order breakfast."

"Yeah, I have." She said, getting up and pulling her bathrobe tighter. "What do you want for breakfast?"

"Just some hashbrowns and sausage." I replied, crossing to the door. "And you should get dressed while you're waiting for the food."

"Don't worry, I will." She called after me, as I sped to the bathroom, turning on the faucet in the already steam-filled room. Within seconds, I was in the shower, the water trickling down over me as I hurried to clean myself.

Fifteen minutes later, I stepped out of the bathroom, thoroughly clean and dried, with a bath towel wrapped around my waist, as I entered my bedroom, and quickly got dressed in my formal wear. I walked downstairs afterwards, finding Alexandra already sitting at the table, eating a plate of sausage, her hair unkempt but otherwise dressed quite nicely.

"That took you a while." She said, chuckling a bit at my lateness.

"I like long showers, okay?" I said, sitting down at the table and pulling my plate closer, before digging into it. "And you haven't even bothered to do your hair as well, so I wouldn't be talking."

"I was going to do that after breakfast." She said, her mouth half full of hashbrowns. "And I'm going to need help if it's to look any good anyways."

"Well then I recommend you finish your meal."

We quickly scarfed down the food, until all of our plates were cleaned and stacked, and Alexandra hurried up to her room, with me close behind.

Another ten minutes later, at 11:15, we exited the hotel, with me wearing my suit and Alexandra wearing her dress, her hair now done up in a decent-looking braid. I had strapped my sword and a pistol onto my belt before we left, ensuring at least some protection in the case that we might need it. We called a taxi, this time a carriage pulled by mechanical horses, and hopped inside, telling our avian driver to take us to Lady Arvell's house. As we rode down the cobblestone streets, clicking and clacking on the pavers, we tried to figure out what we were going to do afterwards.

"Maybe we should try and survey the Red Knight building again." I suggested, but was quickly shot down by Alexandra.

"Are you kidding?" she asked, exasperated. "Sir Xavier already told you, Holly's been taken back to the capital, along with everything else you guys had. "We should just finish with the festivities this week, then head on towards the capital."