Aquaria: A City of Masks and Wraiths

Three

Aquaria was like a page inside one of Livia's illustrated fairy tale books. Books she still found wondrous at her age of eighteen. There were rich colours everywhere, predominantly the blues of the roofs. Royal blue domes and ocean blue gable roofs peaked above the city, with a swatch of peacock blue here and there. The buildings themselves were mostly bright white or a pale beige, contrasting against their blue crowns.

She leaned out of the carriage window, eyes wide, almost smiling. Ahead of them was another stretch of deep blue –the harbour.

Her father, Lord Flavius, had been to Aquaria a couple of times on business. Livia had always wanted to see it. Though it was more after reading about it herself than on hearing her father's scarce descriptions.

The opportunity finally came when her father's latest luxury inn was to be located in Aquaria. If all went well, her father planned to settle his family here. He was in talks with the two most accomplished businessmen of the city about co-owning the inn business: Lord Ignatus, also a nobleman like himself, and Mr Aquillus.

Her father was the sort that didn't give much away, but from what she could gather they were to expect some subtle attempts from the two businessmen to win over her father. Which probably meant she and her mother would also be wooed to attend the social events of the Aquarian upper crust.

In all honesty, Livia was wary of these potential occasions. It was probably something she inherited from her father, this trait of not being won over easily. It was also fuelled by certain tales of the city she'd heard, of how indulgent the rich folk were.

In Aquaria there were the working classes, then there were the decadently rich. Many of these people had acquired their wealth through business while other families were of noble heritage -owning country estates and land. There was not much distinction between these two groups as many of the noble families also had businesses. Consequently, Aquaria was reputed for throwing extravagant festivals and allowing leeway for all the usual misbehaviour that came with that.

Nevertheless, it was a beautiful city, she had to admit. The harbour-side city boasted weather that was fine for most of the year. As much as she loved the snow veiled mountains and the far-off forests back home in Vestia, Livia was looking forward to azure skies. She liked how the heat was not a prickly, uncomfortable one -as she expected from the bright sunlight- but rather a pleasant wash of warmth.

It wasn't just the cityscape that popped with colour. She drank in the shades that passed their carriage: a maroon dress and a navy blue doublet, a pesto green gown and a pomegranate red cape. She could understand why Lord Ignatus's fabrics business had allowed him to create so much wealth. Her father might have been wealthier than either of his potential partners but her and her parents' clothes were hardly that much more salient than those below them. More expensive, yes, but not much more showy.

The clattering of the horses' hooves slowed down against the cobblestoned road as their carriage turned a corner.

Voices called out to one another, giving and receiving commands. Soon, she could see the wide ribbon of water again, with it a fishy smell hit her nose every now and again, shifting with the breeze.

Up ahead her eyes met a quaint arch bridge, bowing over a stretch of water. Vestia had few bridges, the city built at the valley of the northern mountain range in Verdis. Aquaria had frequent arches spanning waterways that were offshoots from the main harbour, creating a cityscape of golden stonework against jewel-blue waters. Unlike Vestia, where the town was organised into practical squares and streets, Aquaria was an interlacing of narrow streets, often crammed with apartments and businesses and erupting into side streets that were not parallel to each other. The central, wide square was a contrast to this but an apt heart of the city.

The cityscape aside, there was one other thing that intrigued Livia about Aquaria. It was the city where the greatest wraith sightings in the country were recorded.

Perhaps it was the bustle of the place -the tendency of gossip- that led to this result. People back home have even commented that it might have been the revelling nature of Aquarians that had something to do with it. After all, most believed that the supernatural creatures were drawn to vice.

She was intimidated by the thought of wraiths, of course, as was a common response. But in truth no one really knew about the creatures. The spectres were supposedly seen where violent or illicit incidents took place. She also heard stories about people befriending them, the creatures granting humans a helping hand with their powers.

Aquaria didn't look like a place for the supernatural right now, with people out and about, conducting business. But somehow she could imagine things out of the ordinary wandering about when the light left the sky, in those water channels and in the narrow streets she glimpsed.

Soon their carriage entered the bridge, the vast expanse of water spreading below them. 'All the ports are just below us, at either end of the bridge,' Lord Flavius said to his wife and daughter sitting opposite him. Livia and her mother followed his line of sight and saw the boats and ships of varying sizes below, with wares being taken out of the vessels or loaded onto them. A separate port was dedicated just to the fisheries. Beyond the hub of vessels was the Titania Ocean, the vast stretch of water marking the horizon.

As they crossed the bridge the main city centre was behind them and they entered the residential neighbourhood. The street here was quiet, the clatter of wheels and the horses' hooves almost too loud with the occasional twitter of birds cutting in.

The buildings here were more grand than those in the town square. Livia spotted the turquoise domes of one mansion, like a louder shade of the sky, a gilt pattern circling the base of the domes. She was glad to see many of the properties had generous terraces or open rooftops, with a small set of chairs and a table placed on some of them. She didn't want to miss their large balconies back home.

Unlike the main business hub of the city, this residential area came alive with foliage. One flowering plant turned up often -wings of it spread against walls, creating a mosaic of green and bright magenta flowers against white.

After they left their luggage at a large rented house, Livia and her parents walked over to the Mayor's estate. Their servants would set up the house, with Mrs Romero supervising them. The middle aged woman was Livia's nurse for any occasion where she didn't have either of her parents to accompany her.

Mayor Morelli's house was something of a small palace, thought Livia, tilting her head back to take in the three storey alabaster-white building.

Livia's family followed the Mayor of Aquaria and his wife through an open, arched corridor. On either side of them were heavy wooden doors with gilt bracing, the entrances to the house which was split in two sections. The corridor took them to the back garden where lunch was served.

Livia admired the mosaic work inlaid into the winding path that led to the dining table. She stepped on a pair of diving dolphins, a dainty swallow, and a mermaid with sea green scales and splayed tresses. The rest of the garden was fittingly pretty, with hedges and plants symmetrical about a large stone fountain with a centrepiece of mythical characters. Smaller fountains and urns also adorned the garden as well as marble benches.

Mayor Morelli paused in his jovial words with Lord Flavius. They had reached the other guests.

The smile on Livia's face that came from admiring the garden started fading. Helming the group of guests were -she counted- three young men. One of them, standing with a drink in a crystal glass like the other guests, smiled at her directly.

Her father had made it clear that his only child was not to be married off before finishing her basic education. After Livia's private tutoring came to an end earlier that year, completing her education, Lord Flavius presented that he and her mother would now be on the lookout for a suitable husband for her.

She considered the man who had smiled at her. She found him good-looking but didn't approve of what she classed as a flirtatious smile before they were even introduced. At a quick glance, the man next to him was handsome too while the remaining young man seemed to avoid her eye and hung back, not allowing her to see him properly.

The line of young men made her unsettled to think that her parents' quest may have already begun.