Frostbitten Wayfarer

The inn, if it could even be called that anymore with how opulent everything was, was an incredible sight to see. It put the wealthiest hotels she’d ever visited even back home on Earth to shame, the five star hotels shabby truck stop motels in comparison.

Whoever owned Oaniga was rich, and it was clear that showing off that vast wealth was important to them. Every room the chauffeur took her through was enormous, and obnoxiously empty. It almost began to annoy her, seeing restaurants with meters between each table or bathrooms where the toilet was a five second walk away from the sink.

What was the point of so much empty space? The only explanation Zoe could think of was that space was at a premium, here. Who could afford to buy so much land near the center of a major city, and then just let it waste away with no purpose other than to show off that you have it all?

“What brings you to our city, Madam?” The man leading her asked as they walked past another one of the inn’s restaurants. An intoxicating smell wafted out from the open double doors. Sweet and savoury, with a hint of acid that left a slight tingling sensation in Zoe’s nose.

“I’ve never been here, and thought it’d be fun to explore a little.” Zoe answered, looking around at the building in awe. Everything was made from the same almost sparkling white stone and covered in gold patterns.

“I see, well welcome to our lovely city then. You’ve made an excellent choice coming to Oaniga, then. What made you choose us as your home for exploration?" The man asked.

“Oh, I had a friend who stayed here. She said it was good but honestly I think she understated it.” Zoe answered.

“Might I ask who invited you, then?” The man asked.

“Uh, Eliza. Don’t know her last name, though.” Zoe answered.

The man smiled at her, but Zoe felt his emotions churn with distaste and annoyance. “I see, I’m afraid I’ve not heard of her before.”

They stopped outside a brown wooden door with a beautiful grain running across it almost ten minutes after they left the front desk, and the man summoned a metal key. He unlocked the door and pushed it open, then handed the key to Zoe. “This is your room, Madam. Enjoy your stay.” He bowed and then vanished a moment later.

Calling it a room was, not just an understatement but an outright falsehood. It was a full blown, lavish apartment. At the entrance was a foyer with a shoe and coat rack, as well as a walk in closet with gold plated coat hangers. Beyond was a kitchen, kitted out with anything Zoe could think of that would help her cook. Two ovens, two sinks. An island in the middle with bar stools and dozens of cupboards lining the walls.

The bathroom was beautiful, with a comfortable cushioned toilet seat that even had a bidet. Which raised the question of why a bidet would even be necessary in this world. Zoe hadn’t even needed toilet paper since she got her cleaning skill. Surely anybody wealthy enough to stay here would have a cleaning skill, or at least a servant with one?

Was there some weird loop around at a point when you were rich, where using skills for things was for poor people? Wealthy people simply had expensive enchantments to do everything for them?

Other than the confusing toilet, the bathroom also had a beautiful glossy marble sink with a golden faucet. And in the middle of the room, in the way of everything else for no good reason was a wide bathtub large enough to almost swim in.

And the last room in Zoe’s ‘room’ was her bedroom. One sprawling bed stretched the entire length of the far wall, long enough for two of her to sleep on it end to end and wide enough for her to sleep sideways without hanging off the edge. Many curtains were draped across the wall, with a hint of light poking through under the thick black fabric. There was a dresser, and another walk in closet with even more gold plated coat hangers.

Zoe hopped onto the bed and sank in to the soft cushions that wrapped around her. The several blankets spanning the length of the bed were supple and felt amazing on her skin as she pulled them around her and in moments, she drifted off to sleep.

She had a wonderful dream that jumped around from place to place without rhyme or reason. One moment she was helping Joe out at his inn, chatting with Peter and Lauren, and the next she was sitting at the top of Moaning Point staring out at the beautiful forests that surrounded it. The next she was John’s bookstore buying another book and talking with him about her home, and the next she was flying through the skies above the ocean.

And somehow, all of it was the natural, obvious path she was taking to find some kiwis to make a snack from. She woke up, covered in the warm blankets and stretched across the bed, the tips of her toes only just making it off the edge.

Zoe threw open the curtain next to her and stared out at the red sun setting below the horizon, just visible over the tops of the neighbouring buildings. She wasn’t sure how she managed to get so high off the ground, considering the chauffeur never took her up any stairs. As far as she was aware, she walked along one floor to get to her room, yet from her window it seemed she’d climbed up at least three stories, maybe even four.

On one of her days in the six star hotel as she’d come to think of it, she’d walk around and look at all the enchantments. Maybe there was some space enchantments she could piece apart, or who knows maybe some magic she’d never even thought of before.

But for now, Zoe was excited to relax and enjoy the luxury she’d afforded herself, and dinner sounded like a pleasant idea. She left her room and locked the door behind her, then headed down to the nearest restaurant she could remember.

The hostess at the front of the restaurant greeted Zoe as she walked in. Her bright blue dress matched the suits the men wore with blue lace down her arms and hanging from her elbows. “Hello, Madam. Table for one?”

Zoe nodded her head, and the hostess showed her to a table almost a minute’s walk away from the entrance. The sheer amount of empty space on display continued to baffle Zoe. What was the point of it all? Zoe was immortal, she’d live forever. Time was almost inconsequential to her, and yet even she was getting annoyed at how much of it she had to spend walking around for because some rich person decided that was what wealthy people did, for some reason.

Or, maybe that was the point, she realized. Maybe the point of everything being so large wasn’t just to show off how much space they had, but to show off how much time they had. They didn’t need to care about a few minutes wasted here or there because they had enough of it to spare. Maybe the place wasn’t even all that large in physical space — John had done some funky stuff with space in the past, why couldn’t Oaniga?

The building looked large from the outside, when she walked up to it. But large enough for how much she’d seen inside? Zoe wasn’t sure, it was hard to know how much she’d actually seen inside. And with whatever magic took her to the highest floor she had no idea how much of what she’d seen was on each floor, how much was maybe even underground.

Zoe sat in the chair as the hostess pulled it out for her. The red cushion was soft and the wooden back pressed into her back as she leaned against it in a relaxing, pleasant way that made her want to take the chair home with her.

“Somebody will be out with you in a few minutes to take your order.” The hostess said, placing the menu on the table in front of Zoe.

It was a glossy sheet of white, almost plasticky feeling paper with gold trim along the edges. There wasn’t much on it. A handful of appetizers Zoe didn’t recognize, a few entrees that may as well have been gibberish and some desserts Zoe hoped were all equally delicious.

She hummed and hawwed over the menu for a few minutes until the waiter appeared, dressed in the same bright blue suit. The uniform, she supposed. A strange one, but most of the clothes she’d seen in Korna were rather unique and interesting.

“Have you decided, Madam?” The waiter asked.

Zoe tossed the menu on the table in her best impression of a gaudy rich girl. “I’ll have whatever the chef recommends.”

“Certainly, Madam. And to drink?” He asked.

“What do you prefer?" Zoe asked.

“Well we have a beautiful loore wine, aged in aiba wood barrels. It is deliciously sweet, with a wonderful tartness. And the aiba wood imparts such a wonderful floral aroma to it. I find it divine.” He answered.

“Then I’ll have a glass of that, thank you.” Zoe said.

“Certainly, Madam.” The waiter picked up the menu from the table and walked back off to one of the distant doors. Presumably to the kitchen, Zoe thought.

It was fun, Zoe found. Pretending to be a kid from a wealthy family. She was bad at it, she knew. But what did that matter? She was bad at many things, and she didn’t care much if the people here thought less of her for it. So what if they saw through her poor acting, and so what if her Vampyric Empathy showed it clear as day as they smiled through their disgust.

When in rome, do as the romans do. Or she supposed, when in Oaniga, do as the… rich snobs do? It was fun, the bed was comfortable, the food was sure to be incredible and none of the people who would look down on her for not being as rich as them mattered to her anyway.

The first to come out was her wine, as Zoe watched the man walk across the room towards her carrying the bottle and a crystal glass. She almost shook her head at the sight of it. Surely this place was wealthy enough to cover their staff from head to toe in storage items, she thought. Why wouldn’t they just keep some wines and glasses in their storage items then serve them on demand, instead of wasting all this time and effort?

Everything at this place felt like such a spectacle. Like if the staff weren’t putting on a performance showing off their vast wealth and lack of care for the passage of time, they’d die immediately of shame. The very thought of things running efficiently an affront to Oaniga’s very purpose.

“Your wine, Madam.” The waiter placed the crystal wine glass on the table and opened the bottle of wine with an ornate, golden corkscrew. The wine was a dim yellow as it poured from the bottle, and turned to a clear brown as it settled into the glass. He placed the bottle down on the other side of the table and bowed.

“Your food will be ready shortly, Madam.” He said and turned back to the door on the other side of the room.

Zoe struggled not to laugh, it wasn’t his fault. Well, the disdain he felt so clearly for Zoe was. But the performance and the spectacle of the place probably wasn’t. It was all just so ridiculous, so far removed from her normal life. And if she was being honest, almost sad. Was this how the rich behaved back on Earth? Wasting time and money away just to show that they have enough of it to do so?

The wine was incredible, she had to admit. It might be a silly performance, but they were very good at what they did. The bed was amazing, the wine was just as the waiter had described. Deliciously sweet with a pleasant tartness and a floral fruity scent that flooded her nose as she rose the glass to her lips.

Her appetizer came next, on an off white ceramic plate with gold embossed along the sides. It looked like carpaccio, thin slices of deep red meat with streaks of white fat throughout were on the first layer. Above was a pile of vibrant green leaves and colourful flowers, and the whole dish had a drizzling of some golden shimmering oil over it.

“Your appetizer, Madam. Saike with yucco oil and greens.” He bowed and left.

Zoe dug in, the meat was tender and melted in her mouth, the oil had a somewhat spicy kick to it that punched through the fatty richness of the meat. And the greens were somewhat bittersweet which helped mellow out the intensity of everything else.

Not long after came her entrée, a white piece of fish with a bright red, crispy skin sat on top a splattering of green and purple purees. Two strips of the same red, crispy skin were leaning up against the fish, just touching the top of a bed of small green stems that rested on top of the fish.

The fish was flaky and moist, while the crispy skin provided some welcomed texture and even a mild heat. The sauces were acidic and slightly sweet, with the green sauce having an odd sourness to it that somehow worked.

And the final course was her dessert, an assortment of fresh sliced fruits and small pastries. She recognized a few of them, the soft pink slices of fruit were rawbi, and there was even the odd exploding fruit that grew outside of her cave that had somehow been sliced cleanly into pieces. The rest were new to her though, and the assortment altogether was beautiful.

It was almost a shame, pulling it apart to eat everything. But as soon as the first pastry hit her mouth, the feeling fell away to just how delicious it all was. The fruits were fresh and delightful, the pastries rich and moist with this amazing tart cream filling in the center.

*Ding* You have consumed the Oaniga Set. All regeneration increased for twenty-four hours.

The waiter arrived at her table not long after she finished her dessert and handed her another slip of paper. “Your bill, Madam.”

Zoe picked it up, and tried not to react at the price. It was the most delicious meal she’d ever had, but it was going to cost her an entire gold coin for just the single meal. The bottle of wine alone was seventy silver. She summoned a gold coin and handed it to the waiter who bowed and thanked her, and then she got up and started the long walk out of Oaniga. Korna was a massive city, and she looked forward to seeing everything it had to offer.