Serdia Starfall

"I see that you made it safely to the capital Lord Dhuran." Sigurt addressed him now in his scholarly tone "We welcome you in from such a long journey."
"My liege." Dhuran swiftly made his way to my side and kneeled.
Now that was weird.
I didn't really know what to do, so, I decided to just wait it out.
"You may rise Dhuran." Sigurt chuckled as he said those words.
"Thank you Lord Sigurt."
"So, what exactly does he do again?" I couldn't help but to ask again.
Sigurt smiled "Dhuran has been specially trained to be your personal guardian Artalien. He is here to ensure your protection outside the castle."
"That is correct liege. The fate of our world rests on you, and you could say that your fate rests on me."
"I... see." I guess that makes sense.
"Anyhow" Sigurt interjected "You are free to leave anytime. Dhuran here, of course, will follow you anywhere you go. And, as always, you are welcome here in the castle anytime you wish, that will not change. You're quarters will remain the same. In fact, we'll assume that you will be coming back to sleep every now and then." Sigurt laughed.
Finally.
Freedom.

"My liege, where are we going?" Dhuran asked again.
It was so loud out here. I had never seen so many people before. So many buildings, so many places to go.
"Everywhere Dhuran. Everywhere!" I couldn't help but to show a little bit of excitement in my voice.
Dhuran just shook his head and laughed "As you wish liege."
That was the first thing that had to stop though.
"And, while we're at it, could you stop calling me 'liege'?"
He shot a funny glance back at me and paused a second "Um, as you wish..." he bit his lip and looked away.
He didn't know my name! Me, the chosen, and, not only that, the chosen HE was trained to protect! I felt a little angry at that. Though, this was a good opportunity to make him squirm a bit.
A smile slowly began to cover my face as each second of silence passed.
"So, Dhuran..." my mind was buzzing with ways to make our little adventure more awkward for him "I was just thinking of a game we could play to get to know each other better. We'll take turns thinking of words taken from the letters of the other person's name to describe him. Here, I'll go first."
Oh, this was going to be good.
"Your name starts with D. Since you're here as basically my guardian, that means that you must be 'dedicated'. See? Now, it's your turn."
"Well, uhhh" Dhuran stammered "Hmmm.... I, I don't really know that much about you... sir...."
His head was now literally dancing back and forth to avoid direct eye contact.
"Oh, don't worry about that Dhuran. I don't know anymore about you either. The game is meant to try to get to know each other anyways. Might as well try to be friends since it looks like we're going to be spending a whole lot of time together."
I just can't help but to play with him a little longer.
"Here, I'll let you pass this round. You're next letter is H. And, from the sounds of it, I bet you're pretty "honest". Am I right?" I looked back at him.
He winced "Well, yes." he nodded his head.
"Okay, you're turn again. Just go for it, I'm sure it'll be good." I stopped walking and turned to face him.
"Let's see..." Dhuran just stood there, his eyes pointed to the sky.
A minute crawled by. Dhuran was sweating. I could tell he was nervous.
"You know sir, I'm not going to lie, I really have to go to the bathroom. Mind if we make a stop somewhere for a moment?"
I let out a snicker. "Well..."
"Lord Artalien!" a voice crackled "Lord Artalien!"
A man stepped out of a nearby building. I don't know how he knew me because I certainly didn't know him.
"Yes, it is you Lord Artalien!" the man came up to me like a bat out of hell. I took a few steps back as he approached.
"Artalien..." Dhuran whispered quietly.
I heard that.
"Chosen!" the man kneeled before me and rose promptly "I knew it was today! Chosen, you must shop at my store! We have everything you could want or need, and it's just right here! Please, you have no idea what it will do for..."
"Keep your distance sir" Dhuran cut him off "I'm sure, Artalien, is not in the mood to be solicited to right now. Where are your manners? This is the Chosen you're speaking to."
Yep, he emphasized my name. Without a doubt, he definitely didn't know it before now.
"F, forgive me Ilutii, Chosen." the man lowered his voice dramatically "I, I was only excited to see him. I meant no disre..."
"Regardless" Dhuran interrupted him again "Go advertise whatever it is you do elsewhere please." Dhuran waved his hand to shoo the man off.
"That's quite enough Dhuran." I said glaring at him "What's your name?"
"It's, it's Arek, Chosen." he bowed his head in respect.
"And, what sort of shop do you have here?"
Arek smiled widely "I deal in a little bit of everything. I buy what people want to sell, and sell what people want to buy."
"Sounds interesting enough. Let's check it out Dhuran."
"Artalien, I hate shopping." Dhuran blurted out.
"Okay, well, Arek, you have a bathroom in there, right?"
"Of course Chosen, and a very clean one."
"Perfect, Dhuran, you said you needed to go to the bathroom. Problem solved. You did need to go to the bathroom, right? I raised my eyebrow.
Got'cha.
"Y, yes, I did, thank you." he frowned and let out a huge sigh "After you, Chosen."

The inside of the shop was amazing. And a lot larger on the inside than it looked from the outside. It was decked with beautiful azure carpets, lined with what must've been over twenty stone counters several feet in length literally packed with trinkets and gizmos I'd never seen before. A few people were browsing around the counters, but it was by no means what I'd call "busy" considering the size of the place.
"Feel free to look as your please Chosen. And, if you have any questions, just ask." Arek said again bowing his head "In fact..." he clapped his hands "Klaus! Klaus!"
"Yes sir!" A young man appeared out of what seemed like nowhere. "You called?"
"Yes, do you know who this is" Arek said referring to me.
Klaus looked at me "I, I don't believe I...'
"He is the Chosen Klaus." Arek said, clearly flustered. "Chosen, forgive him, he's just an ignorant boy."
"Chosen!?" Klaus exclaimed "Forgive me, I didn't know sir."
"No matter now." he replied "Just answer any questions he has. And, he is allowed to take anything he might fancy... um, without, you know, charge."
Arek struggled to get that last part out.
"I'll just bill the king later!" he laughed.
"Very good sir!" Klaus agreed.
"Are we done yet?" Dhuran entered the conversation, just coming out of the bathroom.
"That was quick." I teased.
"What can I say?" he shrugged.
"Well, let's begin Chosen." Klaus started "On this counter here we have mechanical goods. See this, it's a watch." he picked it up "It tells time. The two counters next to this one, over by the wall here are where we keep our books, I'm sure you know all about those. And, over here..." he continued.
"Oh God..." Dhuran plunged his head into his hands.
This was fun.