Unlike Marsdenfel, which centers on a valley and cuts into the sides of the surrounding mountains, Breidentel centers around mountains, specifically one of the higher ones. The entire realm is higher than even Dwaline-Het to the southeast, which at least has a mountain pass. The physical way into Breidentel is rough and long, winding back and forth up the side of one steep mountain.
This means guests can be seen from afar, and identified well before they arrive. Dakadza is always fetched when something unexpected happens. There's no consistency in who gets him, and no one is ever here when he arrives, so he's not sure who keeps watch. He wonders, but it doesn't matter, so he doesn't push.
Today's unexpected guest is someone Dakadza actually knows: Aidan Jarvim, prince of Salles and consort of Grehafen, approaching with an unknown male. The horses are both Aidan's--he let Lallie borrow that one the male is using, back when he and Lallie were trading off helping Grehafen and Marsdenfel. Hard to believe it's been years.
Aidan is helping the male with him, who stays on his mount even when the prince sees fit to walk his.
The male is on the tall side of average, and filled in, but he's obviously not a fighter. And something about that male strikes Dakadza as fragile, though he can't identify what's giving him that impression.
Dakadza has water available for them when they finally reach the gate, tacitly welcoming them.
Aidan gives a thin, distracted smile with his thanks, and nudges the male's arm with the gourd. "Dakadza brought us water, Fer."
The male's taps to find it announce he cannot see. Dakadza winces, even though he knows that's not the death sentence here that it would have been among the montai, under his father.
The male sips, then returns it to Aidan and waits, silently, looking out as if over the mountain.
"I didn't realize how rough the path was," Aidan said, "else I would have asked Berthen if I could use his portals. I need your help moving something, back home."
Dakadza blinks.
Aidan grimaces. "I have to get this large, heavy rock from Grehafen castle to some caves in the far south of Saf. Suffice to say there's magic involved, and I can't stay far from it for long."
"I..." No, he doesn't understand, and he isn't going to say 'see' in the hearing of someone who can't. "Why me?"
"Honestly? You're the only montai in the area. Also helps that you can keep your mouth and magic to yourself--the south has a lot of isolationist and anti-magic sentiment."
Dakadza thinks he understands the subtext in that. "Which is why you need a montai and can't just use a group or one of your fancy carts."
"Carriages. They're called carriages."
"You'll have a third with you," the unknown male murmurs.
Aidan winces. "That really isn't—" He cuts himself off, giving the male a sharp look. "By the black fires."
"Aidan."
"I have the right to choose my own vocabulary, thank you very much."
These two so obviously know each other, and just as obviously have some unspoken tension between them.
Dakadza hesitates, but curiosity wins out. "What fires are black?"
The male sighs, takes Aidan's arm, and they start into Breidentel proper. "Some believe that the Creator punishes people after death by tossing them in black fires for eternity. Some think that applies to only Makish"—he taps his breastbone twice—"and his explicit, sworn servants, whatever they are. Some believe more people are added, like those who egregiously harm others, or everyone who fails to abide by the Creator's wishes, which can themselves be understood multiple ways... Altogether, the 'black fires' are a reference to eternal punishment."
Geddis has never mentioned this, and a lot of the words are new to Dakadza, but he thinks he follows the gist. "I don't understand. How can someone be punished after death?"
Aidan focuses on checking the horses in a blatant maneuver to avoid the male's scowl.
"You've never told him this?" the male snaps.
Aidan sighs. "Not everyone believes it necessary to go all religious on people, Fer, especially not ones who are already actively seeking to improve how they treat others. Dakadza's a good man, good for Geddis—and speaking of Geddis, are you going to respect that she is as free as you are to have her own beliefs and make her own choices?"
The male's lips thin. "She seduced a married man."
"Sure you don't have that backwards? Liathen was a terrible flirt with Lallie—and by that I do mean literally terrible, but it was sort of endearing, if you like having to be the teacher in your relationship... What?"
Dakadza glances at the male, who looks more annoyed than startled, and asks, "You...like males?"
Aidan blinks. "I don't dislike any particular... Oh." He snorts. "No, in the way you're asking, the only person I 'like' is my wife."
That fits with how he'd behaved in Marsdenfel...and his reactions when Waislen tried cornering them both into showing their 'true' selves, since she doubted their sincere disinterest in any of the locals. Dakadza had thought Aidan acting, when he'd been absentmindedly alerting Waislen to her wardrobe 'accidents', and he'd followed Aidan's lead. Waislen had backed off but still kept a leery eye on them both, though she'd relaxed about Dakadza after he demonstrated his preference for Geddis.
He'd asked her why, once. She'd said that a man hurting her wouldn't harm anyone she fell in love with, and Dakadza feels silly for only now figuring out that she was telling him she was only interested in other females. That explains why Berthen was so angry with Liathen about choosing her as a lover. (And was probably part of how Waislen and Berthen had ended up friends, for that matter.)
"So are you going to restrain your criticism, or am I dragging you back to Grehafen?"
"I need to be here!"
Aidan turns about and starts hauling the male out, leaning and leveraging his weight and the horses to help him pull. "Should've thought of that before deciding to be a sanctimonious—"
Dakadza catches the straps on one horse's head, stopping them before they get too aggressive with each other. "How can someone be punished after death? Do you mean revenants?"
Aidan sighs as the male speaks up. "The Creator judges all souls after their bodies' deaths."
"Possibly," Aidan cuts in. "It's a common belief—I personally believe a form of it—but not everyone does, and Ferrell tends to forget that." He raises his voice, speaking over the male's attempted response, "Ferrell also forgets that even his specific beliefs aren't the only possible interpretation of his sources."
Aidan's flat look is met by a frown.
"The plain reading of—"
"Wrong article and adjective. Believing the black fires to be a real thing is a—as in, one possible, not the only—literal reading, not a 'plain' reading—and even that's not entirely literal because people aren't voles!"
Dakadza has no idea what they're talking about. "Are you referring to a book?"
Aidan closes his eyes, while the male, Ferrell, scowls more heavily. "You've never read any holy texts?"
"Holy? I don't know this word." Rather, he's thought it was an invective, from how Geddis uses it sometimes.
Aidan physically steps between Dakadza and Ferrell. "Do you believe there's some kind of life we have after we die, or that there's some kind of being that's outside our reality and limitations?"
Judging from the tired expression on Aidan's face, he knows full well that Dakadza's answer is "No."
Ferrell splutters.
"Can you join me in Grehafen and the trip to Salles? It'll be dangerous, and we'll probably have to kill some people. I promise not to lecture you about it."
Dakadza considers. He doesn't exactly have plans, beyond lingering here, and Geddis doesn't actually need him, for that. He can leave a note, leave a sealed letter with the news about her son, and go do something useful, while traveling like he's always wanted. "I want to see Saf."
Aidan blinks at him. "That's a good idea."
He doesn't explain, but he's also busy holding Ferrell, who's protesting that he needs to be here, to see his sister—
Oh. "You're Geddis's brother."
"Yes. Who did you think I was?"
"I had no idea." Dakadza glances to Aidan. "I'll meet you in Grehafen."
Then Dakadza turns to Ferrell, eyes this man who is so insistent that others should know the same things he does. "I'm pretty sure Geddis doesn't want to see you, anyway."