After leaving the presidential residence, Foreign Minister Kiwa led the team back to the main square of Deadworld Trench, where the undersea-walkers were slowly gathering. Children were running around the streets, adults were hurrying about their business. The whole place was bustling like an anthill.
"I hope your usual accommodation will be suitable for you, Ambassador Llyr." Kiwa turned to the aforementioned with a smile.
"Perfect." The undersea-walker rolled his eyes.
"Go and settle in please. And leave your friends to me, I will accommodate them and make sure they lack for nothing." The Warm Sea Foreign Minister explained enthusiastically.
"Where will they be staying?" Llyr asked back with a suspicious look.
"In the Sea Pearl Palace, of course." Kiwa nodded his head forward, and the Cold Sea ex-foreign minister nodded in satisfaction.
"Okay. See you later." He waved to the team and hurried off into one of the small streets. As soon as the undersea-walker's figure disappeared between the houses, you could literally see the relief on the other foreign minister. As if someone had taken a huge stone off his back.
"Was it just me, or did you notice something wrong with him too?" Achilleus asked, pointing in the direction their undersea-walker friend had disappeared.
"Ambassador Llyr is a strange figure. He doesn't know how much power he has, but we all respect him for it." Kiwa explained, nodding.
"Power?" Benkó asked confused.
"That's not exactly what I meant, but it's interesting too." The Motumisz boy grinned.
"Yes, power." The Warm Sea Foreign Minister trembled. "He is the only undersea-walker who cannot die." He whispered the sentence as if he had revealed some great secret to the team.
"Oh, that is interesting." Kamu's eyes sparkled at the same moment. "Would you like to tell me more about this?" He asked with an evil smile on his lips.
"I don't know what else to say. The gifts of the water spirits are intangible. No one knows in what ways they are distributed." The undersea-walker shrugged.
"Do the water spirits distribute gifts?" Suk scratched his head.
"Oh, but how much. Although usually not big things. Some people are given very good manual dexterity, some people's hearing sharpens. There are those who easily control the waters, but there are also those who speak well thanks to it." Kiwa explained, making small circles with his hand, indicating that he could continue until the sun went down.
"This gift-giving thing seems to be a very good thing." Suk thought, holding his chin.
"Not always. The bigger the gift, the higher its price." The Warm Sea Foreign Minister sighed sadly. "I, for example, can't smell scents. I know a craftsman who can't hear. A healer who can't speak." Here the man looks up at the statue in the middle of the square. "And then there's President Mittar's father." He pointed to the statue.
"The blind blacksmith." Citar nodded understandingly. "His eyesight is the price of his knowledge." The boy grimaced. "You see, Zovárd, I don't think this gift-giving thing is that good after all." He put his hands on his hips.
"I don't know what's wrong with it." Shrugged Suk. "I think it's a pretty clean deal. Nothing comes for free." He added.
"As if you'd sacrifice any of your senses for your poison-mixing skills." Citar looked at his friend with a blazing gaze.
"Hey, I worked hard for that. I didn't get it in one snap of a finger." Suk straightened himself up.
"We have to learn our craft too. It's just easier than for others." Foreign Minister Kiwa shrugged, which made Citar look at Suk with a triumphant grin.
"Even if you look like that, Bolacsuk, I won't say it." The Athamana poison-mixer folded his arms in front of him.
"Worth a try." Citar waved. "So where is our accommodation? I wonder where the undersea-walkers sleep!" The boy turned enthusiastically to the Warm Sea Foreign Minister.
"Follow me please." The undersea-walker waved as it turned its back on the team and led them further through the streets of Deadworld Trench.
The Sea Pearl Palace, as its name indicated, was a huge, imposing building. Instead of the coral houses that doted the other streets of Deadworld Trench, the palace was a six-story building carved into the side of an undersea mountain. For the hegins, the stone structure was not surprising. However, none of the team had ever seen a building made of stone like this before.
The walls were covered with colorfully painted carvings. Fish, jellyfish, octopuses, snakes, sea plants, corals. All in a thousand colors, as if they were alive. However, when someone touched them, they immediately realized that they were just playing with their senses. The floor of the palace was polished to a shine. The furnishings were decorated with real pearls. The light came from the glowing lava just below the surface and the phosphorescent vegetation.
The Sea Pearl Pearl was the most famous and most luxurious hotel in the Deadworld Trench. It was a place where not just anyone could set foot. Only the great leaders and the distinguished guests of the Warm Sea Association could come here. You couldn't find a better place than this, even if it cost a fortune to stay here even for a night. Kiwa approached the hotel receptionist without any particular emotion and after a short conversation turned to the team with a smile.
"We can provide everyone with a separate room, if you like." He offered kindly, whereupon Physalis Alkekengi put her arm in the crook of Tele Tete's, who just rolled his eyes at this.
"We'll share, thank you." The hegin said, whereupon the undersea-walker gave him a key accompanied by a nod.
And when the others showed no sign of anyone wanting to share their room, he distributed the other nine keys as well. Only to then lead his guests upstairs. The team was accommodated on one floor. After everyone had been shown which door was theirs, Kiwa announced that he would let the guests rest after the tiring journey that had led them here and that he would return to take them to their dinner.
The undersea-walker had not told the team that he was sure that they would have dinner with the president today, but everything in his own time. Kiwa had a lot to do anyway. He had to rearrange a lot of things thanks to the arrival of the guests. That's why he didn't like it when guests suddenly showed up, everything always turned upside down.
He also needed to rearrange the president's visit to the volcanology center planned for tomorrow and instead figure out what the guests should do with the president for the whole day. Although, as Kiwa knew the president, Mittar would want to show his guests everything interesting. So it might be the best idea to arrange everything so that they could see as many things as possible for themselves. If everything goes well, he could even get a praise at the end, now that would be something.