The house that Dreamweaver led Daring to was a long two-story building somewhere between the residential and royal quarter. It was plain, so much so that it looked like it might have been a public services building, with a large colonnade similar to the Prince’s own quarters and rather elaborate stone carvings all along the side. It also appeared to be directly open to the public, with no gates or security blocking the entrance.
“You’re pretty confident that others won’t waltz right in,” Daring said, almost bemused.
“I am open,” Dreamweaver said matter-of-factly. “They know what to expect of me. Few enter unless they have business, though I am always open to – shall we say – interruptions.”
They entered into a lobby that was tiled with marble with well-worn paths, areas that Dreamweaver might have frequently travelled. They were immediately met by a tan unicorn stallion in a tuxedo, who looked at Dreamweaver expectantly.
“Shall we be having you for dinner this evening?” The pony asked.
“Yes, Beck-and-Call. I need you to arrange dinner for myself and the lady. Eggplant lasagna, though I will also have a side of chicken, and two green salads with vinaigrette. Can you have that ready in an hour?”
“Of course, sir! Anything else?”
“Have you received a pair of saddlebags from the Captain of the Guard yet?”
“They came in while you were out. I placed them in the guest room like you suggested.”
“Excellent. Thank you.”
The stallion bowed and headed off a door to the left, while Dreamweaver ascended the lobby steps and took a right, carrying Daring down a small hallway towards a door and opened it. Inside was a small room similar to the cell she had been in earlier that morning or afternoon. This one was much more luxurious, though, with a full bed with mattress, a proper bathroom with a small shower, a small closet containing more blankets, and a small table on which her saddlebags were sitting. There were also windows looking out at the quiet street below, though the irony of moving from one cell to another didn’t escape Daring’s notice.
“Here is where you shall be staying while you are here,” Dreamweaver said as Daring hopped off his back. “I would show you around more, but I expect you shall want to make sure everything is in order and wash up before dinner.”
Daring nodded. “Thank you very much for your hospitality,” she said with a veiled sarcasm.
If Dreamweaver noticed Daring’s biting tone, he didn’t show it. “Very well. I shall inform you when it’s ready. Otherwise, you may find me in my room, in the other wing.” He bowed gracefully, then left.
As soon as he was gone, Daring immediately went into her pack and began laying everything out on the bed, organizing by item. Once again, her hatchet was missing and so was her flint and steel. However, the stick had been returned. They must have thought it large enough for a walking stick and allowed her to keep it. She had no use of it right now, but she could whittle it into a spear if she wanted, Daring thought. A new item had gone missing in place of the stick, though: the drawing of the statue of Quetzalcoatl. That was no big deal to Daring, in part because she didn’t exactly need the drawing if she was in a place that revered the deity. But it set off a signal in her mind, of something not quite right. Like they didn’t want her to find it...
But, Daring pushed the thought out of her mind. Dreamweaver had been very accommodating and even conscripted his own archivist to help her search. Perhaps it would all be alright and she would be on her way shortly.
She decided to get in the shower. It was humid and, while cool inside the main town, she needed to get the grit and oil out of her coat and feathers. A cool shower would be nice, she thought. Towels and washcloths and soaps were already there waiting for her. Some looked barely used, while the mane soap looked almost new, as well as a brush to make washing easier. Daring adjusted the shower water, picked out a towel and washcloth, and hopped in with the brush.
Daring took her time, going over herself with both the washcloth and the brush. The water was cold and bracing but well worth it, and she wondered if there was a local river that filtered in. The water was also well-filtered, suggesting complicated or updated filtration systems, and Daring commended inwardly whoever was in charge of public works.
By the time she was done, Daring found herself mildly tired from the afternoon. It hadn’t felt busy, per se, but it seemed longer than usual. She attributed it to the insanity that she had been subjected to, having seen so much of a place likely few ponies knew existed until that afternoon. She ended up lying down on the bed, grateful for the soft, comfortable mattress and blankets, and dozed quietly.
She was woken up only a few minutes later by a knocking at the door of the guest bedroom. She got up, made sure her clothes and things were straightened out, and opened the door to find not Dreamweaver but his butler. Daring remembered his name as Beck-and-Call.
“Master Dreamweaver requests your presence in the dining room,” he said formally.
Not wanting to disappoint her host, Daring Do followed the butler down the hallway, down the steps, and off to one of the rooms adjacent to the lobby. Inside was a large table that could have seated twelve, but only had four chairs, covered in a fine white cloth and prepared for three with fine ceramic plates with green snake designs and silver goblets. Dreamweaver sat at the head of the table in front of one setting, looking like he combed his mane back a bit, and the remaining place setting was in the chair next to him. The other place setting was across from where Daring expected she was to sit.
“Ah, Daring!” Dreamweaver said genially as the pegasus approached. “I hope I haven’t disturbed you.”
“I am a guest in your home, Mister Dreamweaver,” Daring replied similarly. “You have done quite a bit for me; it would be impolite to disgrace your table.”
Dreamweaver smiled. “Well, I hope my table doesn’t disgrace your palette,” he said as Daring got into her spot. “And, I’m afraid we must have a visitor this evening. Prince Serpis is coming over, as he wishes to talk with the both of us.”
The butler-pony coughed. “Should I wait for Prince Serpis to arrive before serving?”
“No, go ahead and bring out the first course,” Dreamweaver said. “I expect him to arrive soon.”
The butler-pony bowed and headed off towards another entrance. He was not gone for long, however, and soon returned with two bowls of a fine green salad with lettuce, carrots, red cabbage, and cherry tomatoes tossed in a sweet balsamic vinaigrette. It tasted wonderful, and paired excellently with the smooth light, sweet wine that came out shortly afterwards.
“As good as many fine restaurants I’ve been to,” Daring said as a compliment to the salad.
“A fine compliment to both my chef and our local college,” Dreamweaver said proudly. “He is well-versed in many types of cuisine, and we are able to have ponies from all over display their talents to our students.”
“I should check it out,” Daring said. “See what the library is like, what the professors are like, that sort of thing.”
“Have you a college degree, Ms. Do?” Dreamweaver asked.
“I have a Masters in Archaeology and a Bachelor’s in Creative Writing from Canterlot University,” Daring said with almost equal pride. “It’s one of the most prestigious colleges in Equestria, located in the capital itself.”
“You have certainly traveled long and far to come here,” Dreamweaver said. “Tell me again, what brought you to Viboran?”
“The Statue of Quetzalcoatl,” Daring Do said. “The item your secretary is searching for, remember? A museum commissioned me to retrieve a copy from some ruins to the north. But I think you all captured me and brought me here before I could do so.”
“Ah, yes, must have been one of our scouting patrols. The whole city’s on edge due to our conflict with Tegucigallopan. But I believe you surmised that from Prince Serpis’ interrogation. I assure you he means well.”
At that moment there came a knock on the door. Dreamweaver patted his lips with his napkin. “Beck-and-Call!” he ordered. “Go see the door. If that’s Prince Serpis, escort him in here.”
“Yes, sir,” Daring heard the pony call back from somewhere within the house.
There was something in the butler-pony’s voice that Daring didn’t quite catch before, but it came out when Dreamweaver asked him to open the door. Unfortunately for Daring, it was also something she couldn’t quite make out what it was besides sounding, ultimately, different.
She didn’t have time to contemplate it, though. Prince Serpis was escorted into the dining room and took the appropriate position. The butler-unicorn filled his own glass of wine and he sipped it before even saying a word.
“Thank you for having me at such short notice, Dreamweaver,” Prince Serpis said smoothly. “And hello again, Ms. Do.”
Daring bowed politely.
“It is no trouble, my Prince,” Dreamweaver said. “It is nearly time for the main course.”
Prince Serpis brought his whole length in and coiled it up, though left a fair length of his tail available to twitch and move whenever he wanted it. He sipped at the wine and looked at the two of them. “So how was your tour of the city? Are you beginning to see the fine delights of Viboran?”
The last question was directed at Daring. She had her ears perked up towards him and heard every word, though occasionally her eyes would flick down towards the rainbow trails racing along his iridescent black scales. “I’m afraid I didn’t see anything specific this time. But Dreamweaver did take me through all the districts and showed me all the major landmarks.”
“I suppose it has been a long day,” Prince Serpis said. “Though I am surprised. I thought ponies like yourself would have had better stamina.”
“I have seen a lot and have much to process,” Daring fired back, not liking the hint of condescension in the Prince’s tone. “I’ll probably spend some time writing in a journal this evening after dinner.”
Prince Serpis nodded gracefully. “We shall see,” he said in a tone that Daring didn’t like.
But Daring Do quickly forgot about the Prince’s tone soon afterwards when the salad plates were cleared away and out was brought a fine and cheesy eggplant lasagna – with two sides of chicken for Dreamweaver and Prince Serpis. Ignoring the two lamias with their chicken, Daring found the lasagna quite to her liking, and after a while even found Prince Serpis enjoyable.
“I once had a guard named Valiant Heart,” Prince Serpis was saying at one point. “A mercenary in his former life, I believe. He was the easiest to train, already accustomed to orders. I enlisted him for a time, but when his time was up, he said it was the best service he’d ever had.”
“What happened to him?” Daring asked, interested.
“He stayed on as one of the guard, actually,” Prince Serpis replied. “Best Head of House I’ve ever had. Pays well, good living, listens to every command I give him and obeys without fail, and he’s happy about doing it. That’s how one ought to behave.”
“Well, it does seem like many of your citizens are very happy to be here,” Daring agreed. “I think I shall enjoy spending at least a few days here.”
“That is part of the good news I have for you,” Prince Serpis said, shifting and stretching his scales out luxuriously. “I have reviewed your case over with my close advisors, and my decision is you are free to walk out at any time. To be quick, you have been deemed no threat. However, we will sssstill help you with finding the ssssstatue of Quetzalcoatl if you sssso dessssire.”
Daring felt relieved at the notion of being able to walk freely out of the city and internally thanked Prince Serpis for doing so. But as soon as the Prince began talking about helping her find the statue of Quetzalcoatl – and she watched the fascinating rainbow trails shimmering on his scales again – she realized she couldn’t leave so soon. She still had a mission, and she made her decision immediately.
“I think I will stay.” There was a certain sense of finality to the statement she did not mean, so she quickly added “For the time being, anyways.”
“Excellent!” Prince Serpis clapped his hooves excitedly, smoothly moving his tail around just off to the side of Daring’s vision. “I am pleased with your decision. Conssssider thissss a momentary resssst from your travelssss, a vacation of sortssss.”
Daring followed the shimmering tail almost exactly despite being focused on listening to the iridescent lamia. “Of course,” she said, struggling to suppress a yawn. “I... I’d be delighted to.”
Prince Serpis nodded knowingly and stopped his shifting. “And Dreamweaver shall give his full hospitality.”
“Of course, my Prince,” Dreamweaver said, giving a gracious nod in the other lamia’s direction.
Daring nodded herself. “So,” she said, struggling to continue to pay attention. “What was the other piece of news? You said me being free to go was the first one.”
“Oh, just that you were welcomed in our city for as long as you please,” Prince Serpis said. He took the final bite of his chicken, chewing it slowly to savor it. “Go around, take notes, hear the testimonies of both lamia and pony. You’ll soon find that many in Viboran are quite happy here and that our rules are as fair and just as your own.”
“I shall enjoy that.” Despite her gradual coming back to awareness again, Daring found herself yawning. “Excuse me, sirs. It’s been quite the day. Dreamweaver, you said you would take me on a tour of the house?”
Dreamweaver gave an affirmative nod.
“Well, I think I would like that tour and then will spend a bit of time writing in my journal. If you don’t mind,” Daring added politely.
Dreamweaver nodded again, then turned to Prince Serpis. “I hope this doesn’t bother you, my Prince.”
“Not at all,” Prince Serpis said, kindly though with a hint of something sinister that Daring couldn’t put a hoof on. “Good night, Daring Do. Dreamweaver, once you are done, I would like to speak with you again.”
“Of course,” Dreamweaver said with a bow.
Dreamweaver showed Daring Do around the house, but it was a trip Daring only vaguely remembered. Besides the kitchen where they ate, Daring could later only recall a small personal library, a lounge and tea room, and Dreamweaver’s own room down the hall from hers.
“I’m afraid my conversation with the Prince will likely be private,” Dreamweaver said as he dropped her off at her guest bedroom. “But it shouldn’t take more than ten minutes. After that, I am available for the rest of the night should you need me.”
“Thank you, though I think I won’t need anything until tomorrow,” Daring replied. “At least, I don’t think I should.”
Dreamweaver shrugged. “No big deal; I just hope you are comfortable. Goodnight. Rest well.”
“Goodnight.”
Dreamweaver bowed politely and left with a smile.
The food felt heavy to Daring and she yawned, grateful to be alone. Being tired was one thing, but there was something about being in the presence of the two serpent-ponies that clouded her mind somewhat. She hoped that her stay wouldn’t last long, and that she could find the statue and be on her way.
Finally alone, Daring did a few stretches and quiet exercises. She felt stiff from spending most of the day on Dreamweaver’s back and was glad to finally have some free movement. She did some crunches and push-ups and wing push-ups and even tried to do a few pull-ups using the doorframe.
She managed to find small ways to work herself out for nearly fifteen minutes. By then the sleepiness had mostly worn off and she felt better than before. A quick wash of her face and she went to work on the journal, documenting as much as she could of the day’s events.
She managed a serviceable summary in eight pages and felt quite pleased with herself. She managed to get some of Viboran’s structure, layout, hierarchy, and history into the summary. At the bottom, she wrote a few questions she decided she would try and answer tomorrow.
First was to learn about the religion of Quetzalcoatl. Second was to look at pony-lamia relations from other ponies’ perspectives. Third was to see what lamia thoughts towards ponies as a whole were. And finally, Daring decided to see what was the general opinion of Prince Serpis. Something about him made it seem to Daring like there was more to him that met the eye.
Of course, it would not have been polite to mention this. Daring realized it was dangerous even to have the questions written down in the journal, the open journal that either of them could read if they wanted to while she was out. She quickly scribbled the questions on another sheet of paper, tore it out, and placed it in the jacket she continuously kept on her. The questions in the notebook were then scribbled out and hopefully not a trace of them remained in the journal.
When she was done, Daring decided she wanted nothing more to do with Dreamweaver until the morning. She turned down the lights and crawled into bed, hoping she could answer her questions tomorrow.
Daring Do could not figure out why she was awake.
It was strange. Daring went from a peaceful sleep to wide awake in seconds. The room was still dark and Daring could only see dark outlines of shapes in the nearly black space that told her that her eyes weren’t closed.
It was late. Daring didn’t need a clock to tell her that. The streets were quiet and only a small breeze blew through from inside the sheltered city. Far out and down the street, streetlights of oil lamps flickered gently but there was hardly even a guard wandering around. The room looked quite normal in the darkness and Daring was quite sure everything was okay.
But Daring never woke up without a reason. Her body was quite nearly trained to wake up at even the slightest hint of danger. And so she squinted and looked around the room.
And then, in one corner, she saw it. The lump of blackness had no distinct shape, but it definitely looked off and like it hadn’t been there before.
The lump soon came into a beam of moonlight and revealed itself to be a creature with ghostly white, slitted eyes. Daring’s entire body tensed, and she slowly rolled over to put herself in a position to pounce if necessary.
The eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, and soon there came a few colored rings from within the very center; blue, purple, and gold. There came a faint hissing noise, a sound that soothed Daring, that told her everything was okay, and told her to sleep.
But in her heightened state, Daring was having none of this. Despite the soothing tone, Daring reacted quickly and launched herself at the creature. The hissing was immediately cut off for something more primal and Daring found herself wrapped by something cold and squishy, trying to loop around her and restrain her.
But Daring was small and swift, and quickly slipped out of the wrappings. Daring leapt for the wall, only to ricochet off it and tackle the creature. Another almost primal scream and a yowl met Daring’s ear and she did it again. This time the Daring hit true and she and the intruder went flying across the room. The creature tried to wrap around her again, but couldn’t; the tumbling seemed to knock it off-center.
Now with a firm grasp of where the creature was located, Daring pulled back a hoof and punched. She felt a good, hardy smack under her hooves and a hiss. She pulled back again, but the creature had regained itself and put a limb under her. Before Daring could punch again, the creature threw her across the room.
Daring flapped her wings to try and slow down, but it wasn’t enough. She smacked her head into the wall and collapsed on the floor, dazed. There was a shuffling out of the room and by the time Daring had come to, the creature that assaulted her – well, really she assaulted it, but it intruded her space – was gone.
There came a frantic slithering down the hall a few moments later. The door opened and the light was turned on and Dreamweaver was suddenly standing in the door.
“What happened!?” he asked.
Daring shook her head. “Someone came in… tried to attack me. They’re gone now, though.”
Dreamweaver quickly slid over to her and helped her sit upright. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
“Threw me against the wall before I could really get them, but I think I’ll be fine.”
Dreamweaver nodded. “Well, I suppose. But if you feel any pain, you should come see me. It could be something bad.”
“I’ve… I’ve had worse.” Daring chuckled. “Life of an adventurer, you know? Dangerous stuff happens all the time; I’m used to it by now.”
The bright orange and purple lamia shrugged. “Well, if you’re sure, I guess I’ll let you go back to bed. Goodnight.”
Daring nodded, and climbed back into bed as Dreamweaver turned off the lights.
Daring slept fine for the rest of the night, but it took her a while to actually fall back asleep and she felt uneasy for a long time afterwards. Something about the situation last night bugged her, and it wasn’t the intruder coming into her room and attacking her at night.
Despite having not taken part in combat, Dreamweaver had a red ring around his eye.