Chapter 190: Chapter 176 – Going where the Wind Blows

"My late great-grandfather, my grandfather, and even my late father all considered the undead to be the greatest threat to our Jarldom's existence. I do not blame them. Growing up first with the Junorans, then with the Lichdom as neighbors tends to color one's perspective of the matter.

 

I believe I know better than to let my preconceived old prejudices rule over me, however. In the decade since we openly allowed trade with the lichdom, they had been nothing but model neighbors.

 

I have to ask now, had my predecessor's fears and prejudices clouded their minds and kept them away from prosperity within easy reach all this time?" - Jarl Harald Svennson of the Jarldom of Istria to his court, circa 177 VA.

A Tavern in Flokisvet

Kriggaris Jarldom

North-eastern Ur-Teros

4th day of the 2nd week, 11th month of the year 178 VA.

 

Seventeen years had passed since Aideen had left the Elmaiya Empire behind her. After that melancholic moonlit night full of reminiscence on the boat, she had booked passage on an outgoing trade ship headed for the Gulski Jarldom in the far east of Ur-Teros.

 

That boat ride was rather eventful, as they happened to sail right into a battlefield by accident. Two tribes of merfolk were clashing in some dispute none of them understood well - none of those present on board spoke fluent merfolk - and their ship happened to be caught in between.

 

Thankfully the merfolk were civilized enough to leave them be and recognized that they had sailed to the battlefield by accident. It was still a rather unnerving moment for the passengers, however. Aideen herself just mostly watched with interest.

 

Gulski jarldom, at the far eastern tip of Ur-Teros, was a frigid land, one covered in snow and ice for most of the year. Their main port was actually situated at the westernmost tip of their territory, where the sea was not frozen half of the time.

 

From that port town, Aideen had travelled east towards the capital of the jarldom. She travelled by foot, through the often waist-deep snow and slippery ice sheets. A trip that would have taken a week by sled covered over a month.

 

A mortal would have died from the cold many times over, but she was not bothered by it much. If anything, she found that the cold solitude helped her relax and be at ease. She still continued her travels to the Jarldom's capital, but took her time as she covered the distance leisurely.

 

Aideen had only stayed in the Gulski jarldom for a few months, before her legs took her out on further travels. She had no destination in particular, no place to head to, and just wandered the frozen tundras in her lonesome.

 

During her travels, she stumbled upon a sight most beautiful in the mountains, a waterfall in the middle of the mountain range, which owed its existence to a quirk in the local geography. The way the sunlight refracted from the crystal-clear falling waters was mesmerizing to behold.

 

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Aideen had stayed there, living like a hermit in the mountains, for a period of time she had not bothered to count. She just lived there in quiet and solitude, pondered her existence thus far, and marveled at the wonder of nature before her.

 

When she finally left the mountains, and walked to the nearest city, she was not that surprised to discover that she had been in isolation for well over a decade. Time had just flown by when she was deep in her thoughts, and since the mountains happened to be quite dense with mana, her unliving body had not required sustenance either.

 

All those worked together to make her stay in the mountains feel like but a brief moment, despite the actual length of her stay. Regardless, she had found the stay quite beneficial to her mental state, as it helped her calm down and accept things as they were.

 

From the mountains, she had headed north, until she saw the northern shores of Ur-Teros. From there, her travels began to turn westwards, and she visited cities more often, posing as a wandering bard as usual.

 

She received plenty of news and rumors from abroad when she was in such cities. One such news was how the old emperor of the Third Elmaiya Empire, Khaer Ul Tessarii, passed away of late. It happened approximately eight years after her departure from Sabaya.

 

Other news she considered of note was how the Jarldom of Istria, one of the three jarldoms to the west that bordered Vitalica and Ptolodecca, had recently increased trade and bettered relations with Ptolodecca.

 

The three western Jarldoms of Istria, Beruslav, and Ulmar, had usually been the most antagonistic towards the undead nations they bordered. Ulmar, which now shared a border with the new nation that called itself Vitalica, had bad relations with their neighbors as well. Beruslav remained tightly guarded, as they bordered both Vitalica and Ptolodecca.

 

Istria to the south on the other hand recently had the Jarl's young heir replace his father, after a bad hunting accident had claimed the old Jarl's life. The new Jarl had opened trade with Ptolodecca, leading to increasing prosperity in his jarldom, despite early protests.

 

Their newfound prosperity had even made their neighbors envious, and word has it that conflict might be brewing around Istria because of it.

 

Aideen had heard of the news in a tavern at a small port city called Flokisvet in the north. She was rather intrigued by the mentioned news, since she recalled an infiltration to Istria to extract another unliving in the past.

 

The supposed change of the Jarldom interested her, and she mentally noted to head towards Istria when she next moved. It was a mere decision made on a whim, one done without much thought.

 

Yet to others in the world, that minor decision would lead to the beginning of tales that would spread for many ages to come. The beginning of the tales told by bards and storytellers all around the world, of the Maiden in Silver…

 

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