Chapter 188: Chapter 174 – Aimless Wandering

"O, I'm but a lone wanderer, going where the wind blows~

Wherever my steps take me to, just going with the flow~

Perchance there might be a day where my legs ceased to roam~

Where, once again, I'd find myself a place to call home~" - "The Wanderer's tune", sung by an unknown bard, circa 159 VA.

Aideen stayed for another week under the Empress' hospitality. She stayed mostly to ensure that there were no complications or side effects from her treatment of Khaer Ul, mostly a professional courtesy as a healer.

 

Lucea had pretty much treated her as an honored guest, as did Tesruq, for more obvious reasons, since he was born and raised in Ptolodecca. Their four children had gotten a bit closer to her as well during that time, especially little Luina, Lucea's youngest, who was still a literal toddler in any race's measure.

 

Though Lucea did ask if she could stay longer, in the end Aideen left after her work was done. She was honestly a bit stumped when Lucea asked her where she would be headed next, but just gave a shrug of her shoulders in the end.

 

"Wherever my legs take me," she had told the Empress.

 

She did promise to visit again in the future, hopefully under better circumstances, but later that very evening, Aideen had donned her hood and walked out from the western gates of Sabaya.

 

There was no particular reason she had gone to the west, just that she felt like walking that way. In a sense, it was much like her wanderings in the past few years, one where she allowed her whims to take her at will, and just followed.

 

Aideen still grieved, she knew it all too well in her heart. Artair's death had struck her hard, harder than the loss of her own parents, or siblings had been. It was a wound that cut deep into her heart, and each time she glanced at her now silvery-gray hair she was reminded of it.

 

Apparently, she had cried herself to unconsciousness and had not emerged for two weeks after the funeral, which had made the Bone Lord worry that she might have given up living, even. Her hair turning gray on the other hand was something he had heard of before, something that apparently happened at times when one was subjected to extreme stress… or in her case, grief.

 

For the first couple of years after his death, she had thrown herself into training, and work. She took a few missions with the Death's Hand like the old days, though nowadays their efforts were more focused on Vitalica and Antemeia. When not on such missions, she often trained for entire days, at times, entire weeks.

 

It had not worked.

 

All she did, failed to take her mind off the lingering grief, and Aideen was at a loss on what to do, going forward. At least, until she consulted grandpa Aarin, and tried his advice. One she was glad she tried.

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Grandpa Aarin had suggested that maybe she should just… wander around. See and reconnect herself with the world around her, rather than stay cooped up in her grief. To her surprise, it had worked to an extent.

 

The past few years of her life, she had spent wandering aimlessly, towards wherever her whims and legs took her, with no planning nor intent. Her wandering of the last couple years had actually seen her walk through the western lands of the empire, on foot.

 

She had walked through the lands Artair was born and raised in, visited the three cities once again, and even met Maria, Artair's younger sister, who was still amongst the living.

 

Maria was a very old woman then, nearing the end of her days. Aideen had discreetly given her a treatment during their meeting, which with luck might afford her another year or two of life on top of what she had left. It was only a few months ago that her wanderings took her from the west back to the central region of the empire.

 

It was blind luck that she happened to reach Sabaya and was killing time there when Lucea found her. While Aideen brought a decent amount of money with her, she favored working for her living, and had mostly adopted the guise of a wandering bard through her travels.

 

All those lessons with Kestera many decades ago had made her a decent hand with the lyre, and people had always said that she had a nice voice, so it was quite easy for her to make her living in that way. In some ways, it lightened her heart, and took her mind away from the grief eating at her.

 

When the grief came to the fore, she channeled it into her songs and emotions, much like the sad ballad she played on the day Lucea found her. She found that it helped take her mind off the grief, and lightened her burdens somewhat.

 

As she walked out of the city gates, Aideen saw how the rays of the sunset played over the waters of Lake Sabays in the distance. The iridescent hues of the refracted light caused a play of colors to appear over the placid lakewater, a phenomenon that happened only a few days in a year, when the sunset was angled just right to cause it.

 

Somewhat enchanted, her steps led her towards the lake, specifically towards the port city built on the lake's south-eastern shore, which was considered part of the imperial capital.

 

Even from the distance, she could see the bustling activity by the lakefront, where ships docked and offloaded their cargo, trading it for new loads. Passenger ships disembarked their occupants and waited for new ones, while fishermen in small boats rowed and carefully lifted their day's catch in large baskets, to be evaluated and priced.

 

Aideen suddenly thought that maybe a trip over the waters might be a pretty nice thing, as she walked towards the port town with measured steps.

 

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