Frozen Memories: Heirs of Ethra

Preparing To Finally Get Somewhere

"Do we really have to dress in this garb?" Max muttered as she looked at the outfit that had been laid on the exquisitely large bed in the chambers that we were directed to.

After we had gotten Max out of that toxic jail cell, turned out that all she needed was time to heal in a more comfortable setting. It was barely three hours into us being at the healing quarters that she was nearly back to her old self again. Two hours more, and she was good enough for us to be directed to the room in which we'd be temporarily vacationing until she and I figured out a way to leave this place.

I picked up the flimsy clothing that lay on the bed. One thing was for certain; "They certainly have no troubles showing skin around here," I murmured. The fit that was laid out for me was beautiful in its whimsical sense. The bottoms were...sheer in form and looked to be cuffed at the ankle-though admittedly, I did not understand why, as there was a slit from the ankle well past the thigh. "Are...are there a name for these where we come from?" I asked Max.

"Bohemian harem pants...I think...yours are a little sexier than the norm, though," She sarcastically muttered.

Frustratedly, I rolled my eyes, continuing to eye them over. "Well, at least your crotch will be...covered?"

"Yes," Max returned. "Magnificently and very...eccentrically so."

Her choice of words was due to the way that the top of the pants, nearing my waist was made. It was like neatly intertwined silk that created an underwear-like lining. The top was similarly made with its sheer long sleeves, tipping to a point above the back of my hand, while the top itself closely resembled that of some sort of bustier. Trailing behind the top were these long flowing mesh-like trains that were split in half. What I did have to admit was impressive, however, was the color. It seemed to elegantly shimmer between a deep hue of green and ice blue when shifted a certain way.

"Well, at least you don't look like some cosplay s*x warrior," Max grumbled frustratedly.

I had no clue what she meant by that-cosplay being one of the things on the list of quite a few things that she had yet to teach me while on Earth. Her delivery was quite amusing, however. "Cosplay?" I could not resist asking what she meant by this.

She shook her head and proceeded to undress as she tossed the one-piece jumpsuit that resembled a bathing suit as it had no legs. The collar was high, and the sleeves were similar to my own revealing outfit.

"I'll teach you about it later." She simply replied as she continued to undress.

"Well, at least there is..." I picked up a wide cinched belt with thick and equally wide silk-like pieces of cloth hanging down it: two on the front of the belt, two on each side of the belt, and three in the back. "This?" I wasn't even close to sure on how to name the piece of clothing. "At least it covers...something?"

Max grimaced and snatched the belt away from me. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with. The quicker we find the others the better. I'm sure they have more comfortable clothes that we can borrow."

When we finished dressing, we immediately exited the large bedroom. "Now...I will say, that these little feet things...are pretty cool," Max commented.

The shoes that we were given to wear started out as soles made from some sort of soft metal. However, when we placed them on the bottoms of our feet, they immediately fitted and formed themselves into footwear. My footwear was not nearly as ideal as Max's was. They looked like snowflakes and vines had intricately woven themselves around my feet and up my ankle, but in a way that looked so natural that it was as if I hadn't been wearing any shoes at all.

"Speak for yourself," I muttered as we continued down the long corridor.

"Where are you going?" We heard from behind us. Whomever it was, had spoken the Ethrian language. It was a female's voice, something that I hadn't heard outside of Max's since we had been here. Honestly, as powerful as the females in my life are and or were, it should not have surprised me to see a female guard staring at Max and me, but it did.

Both of us stopped and noticed one of the prince's guards standing there in the distance. "Are you supposed to lead us to Adani?" I asked her.

The 'femlin' guard stared at me for a prolonged moment and then at Max. "So you...are the king's chosen?"

She seemed unimpressed by me. Admittedly, I found this both offensive and still refreshing. "What king?" I decided to ask. "As I understand it, Adanis is but a mere prince-"

"You will address him with respect!" The girl snapped at me. Ah, it was making sense to me now. The girl had an unrequited crush on the future king of...wherever this place was.

I started to counter-with what, I really didn't know. I'd assumed that it'd come to me when I parted my lips. However, Max had decided to intercede beyond this point. She stepped in front of me.

"And you will address her likewise," Max scowled. "Or have you forgotten that your king is smitten with the princess?"

"Max," I tried to cut in. "I would not go that far," the idea of Adanis being smitten with me, admittedly sent an odd feeling to the pit of my stomach that I did not know how to make sense of. It was neither bad nor good, but even if it was either-or, I was not prepared to admit one over the other. Regardless, at this point, I was done talking about smittings, and royalties. "Are you going to lead us to the prince, or will I have to find him myself?" I asked.

"You are not permitted to walk the castle alone," The femlin guard returned.

"Well-" I started, but realized that I did not have her name. "What is your name?" I asked.

Reluctantly, she said, "Ai,"

Odd name, I could not help but think, but I did not argue the matter. "Well, Ai," Max said before I could continue the conversation. "If you do your job then we won't have to be wandering aimlessly around the castle discovering your evil and deep, dark secrets...now will we?"

I simply shifted my head to the side, and nodded, agreeing with my best friend's very valid point. Max and I stood there and waited for the anxious and quite bitter guard's reply.

"Or I could just tell your prince how insubordinate you were being when I find him myself," I told her. "As I recall, the last guard that was disrespectful to me...well...he's no longer alive," I added. "And it was not me who killed him," I sighed. "It seems that your king does not appreciate insubordination."

"Ouch," Max shrugged at the girl. "So, what's it gonna be chickie?"

Ai had become anxious by this bit of news. "Follow me!" She said in a tone far more frenetic than I'm sure she had originally planned.

As we walked down the hall, Max chuckled. "You know...I'm all for women empowerment and all that jazz but I...sometimes I see why guarding is a male-dominated thing. Women get too attached."

"Not all of them," I reasoned.

"Yeah, I know, but this one-" Max rolled her eyes. "Shame you had to lie about Adanis killing a guard just to get her to do what she was supposed to do."

I looked at Max with slight confusion as I wondered why she thought I'd lie about something like that. "I did not lie, Max. That was true."

Her eyes widened slightly in what I could only assume was a subtle surprise before she looked ahead. "Oh," She muttered. "Wow, he really must be smitten."

When we finally arrived in the great hall of the castle, the guard opened the ceiling-high, platinum-colored doors and then moved to the side to allow us space to enter.

"My king!" The female elf guard announced. "Your guests."

"I am not your king yet, Ai. Address me correctly." Adanis said to the girl. I glanced at her and she humbly bowed.

"Yes, my k-my prince," The guard replied defeatedly.

"I trust the reason that you two are so late is of your own accord, and not insubordination."

I saw prince Adanis stare at the guard, and felt the full vibration of her terror from where I stood. "Well, we would have been here sooner, had we not been so...astonished by the...clothing that we were...pressed to wear." After my comment, I glanced at the guard who seemed slightly less tense but still anxious. "Your guard was only doing her job."

Max, smirked, glanced at the girl with a raised brow, and then returned her attention to prince Adanis. "Some loyal, broad you got there, though." With a dry chuckle, Max added. "Must have really been laying the pipe."

I doubled back at Max, wondering what on earth and ethra that could have meant but by the look on her face, I knew that if nothing else, whatever Max had said meant something quite inappropriate.

"Excuse me?" Adanis confusedly replied in his accented English. When Max haphazardly averted her gaze, the dark elf prince looked at me for an answer to her turn-of-phrase. "What does...a pipe being laid, have to do with...."

"I...do not know," I returned.

"Earth saying," Max simply replied. "You-you wouldn't understand," She said. "Now...can we go see our friends? Or are we going to stand here and go through earth slang? Cuz, we'll be here all day."

"Your guardian, princess Mina," Adanis stated..."Interesting...to say the least." He walked past us. "Come. We will head out, now."

As we followed, I grabbed Max's arm. "When we have a moment...I'd like to know what pipe laying means too."

Max laughed. "Sure, Frosty...when we have a moment. But for now, let's go find our friends."

This, I agreed with. "Could not have said it better myself."

It did not take us long to navigate the overwhelmingly large castle with prince Adanis and a few of his guards leading the way. The way that they were standing between Max and myself and the prince, it was easily caught that there was still very little trust thee. Maybe I should have been offended but I wasn't, because no matter what unresolved and newfound feelings I had for the prince, when it came down to choosing my friend's life or his, I would gut him from chin to waist if need be.

Eventually, we descended down an intricately winding staircase that led to a door that was only slightly larger than the towering dark prince and his guards.

"This is an odd front entrance," Max commented of the site, and she was right.

I had not long been cognizant of this world nor that of the earth that I had grown to recognize as home, but even in my short new life, I'd seen far more grandiose castle entrances than this.

"This is not the front entrance of our home," Adanis returned. "This is a short way entrance to one of the hamlets in which I assume you'd want to visit.

Whilst watching him unlock the latch, I asked. "Hamlet? You mean...a village?" I clarified for my sake alone.

"Yes," He returned. "if that is what you wish to call it, princess."

"Which...hamlet is it?" Max inquired.

No sooner she had asked this question, the big echoing sound of the latch unlocking and the door opening vibrated through the enclosed space. Adanis pushed open the heavy door, and through it, luminescent darkness had shown through. It was all that I could see before prince Adanis of the dark elves finally answered.

"It is the hamlet of Vast Covens," He answered. As the guards moved aside enough for me to see Adanis look back at Max and I. "Of vampires."