Ryl certainly didn’t hate Gridania, not after having spent so many years growing up beside the city. It was typically the destination for some escapade or other that ended in drunken kissing on the balcony of the Carline Canopy.
But today the gates into the city felt more like the bars of a prison slamming behind her.
Her governess I’lna worked with shocking efficiency when she felt it was warranted. Within a matter of three days of catching Rylaxha plotting to kill Loren, I’lna had contacted the conjuror’s guild on her behalf . Something about connecting with the land and respect for life.
“You’ve started to frighten me, Ryl,” I’lna had said when she announced that Ryl would be sent away, “Your father wouldn’t want you to be angry with Loren, and certainly not sinking to violence.”
“I wouldn’t need to if he respected my father’s wishes instead of usurping control of his business! My business!” Ryl had shouted back. There was a twinge of hypocrisy in her words—she’d shunned the responsibility for over a year now since her father died, and she was well past the acceptable grace for mourning. But still, the mercantile company was hers by right! Gods be damned she was going to fight for it!
So here she was, at the gates of New Gridania, radiating heat as she seethed. There was nothing to learn here. As soon as she could convince I’lna that E-Sumi Yan had set her straight, Ryl would hunt down Loren and choke him to death with her bare hands.
