Next day, on the 20th of September, the rain stopped at last, and the Sun returned to give us a reminder of the hot summer we had. Lora, after she looked out the window, immediately announced that she is taking out a free day, and promptly hauled me to a tailor.

“Your garments might cut it out in the wilderness, but this is a civilised land!” she announced.

“I will let you know that I have bought these in Trapper's Port, and my good friend Beldrak Trueanvil helped me to choose them!”

“Looking at your clothes, I am not certain that he is your friend. Anyways, stop fidgeting, and do as I say! It will be over faster this way!”

“You are extremely cute when you are this assertive.”

“I am always assertive!” She said that, but she blushed.

“Very well, then! I bow to the inevitable.”

“Finally, some common sense!”

The tailor took my measurements, and showed us the materials, so Lora could select the colours and the patterns. I tried to take part in the conversation, but my ideas were shot down contemptuously.

“I am a noble, you know!” I complained when I was ruled over for the third time. “Dressing well runs in the family!”

“Must be some family,” the tailor snorted.

Lora was a little more understanding.

“Fashion changes from land to land, you know this. Just trust me, alright?”

I kept my mouth shut, and soon all the details were cleared up. The tailor promised to deliver my new clothes to Lora's apartment in four days, I paid, and we left.

“How about we take a stroll on the walls you learnt so much about yesterday?”

“You are not reading my thoughts with one of your spells, are you?”

She snickered.

“As if I would need magic to do that!”

“If you know me so well, then where do you think I want to go first?”

“Obviously to the Otter Gate. I had seen how your eyes glowed when I was reading about the Lake Way.”

I was impressed if a little crestfallen.

“Here I was, thinking that my face would be unreadable like that of a statue, and you are guessing my thoughts as it was nothing.”

“You are not that bad, it is more of a case of me being pure awesomeness.”

“Oh. Should I continue to flatter you in the future, or will that be your job now?”

“Flatter away. I don't think even our combined adulation could do me justice.”

“In that case, you are extremely cute when you are pompous.”

“Are you implying that there are times when I am not cute in the extreme?” She said that, but she still blushed.

“Well, I cannot say for certain, as I have only known you for four days, but I imagine maintaining this level of cuteness would be impossible on the long run.”

“And how about my wits, beauty and good graces?”

“You really want me to compliment all your good qualities one by one? I was told by a certain someone that I was a bore. If I delivered a speech that long you would surely fall asleep.”

“Never you mind that, you know where I live. If I fall asleep, you can always carry me home.”

The Lake Way was truly a sight to behold.

“How many times do they open the floodgate a day?”

“They open it every second hour during the day, and once every six hours after nightfall. The wharf can have twenty-one of the average barges docked at the same time, less of the big ones.”

“Isn't it a little excessive to close and open the gate so many times? The captains would wait outside anyways if they cannot fit in.”

“That rule was made after the tyrant of Romlock tried to sneak his army in by the Lake Way in 561. He never had a chance, but it's better to be safe than sorry.”

From the top of the wall, I could see the giant lake, as it stretched between the hills like a formless silver animal. A narrow strip of water followed the line of the city as long as the curvature of the defences blocked it from my sight, but the actual lake only touched the walls on a short section, maybe two stadiums or less.

“That was the old harbour?” I pointed to the few dark lines somewhat west from the Otter Gate. “The one that was submerged by the wrath of the Goddess Aricia?”

“The very same. It is said that for a hundred years even the kelp avoided it, and you could see the white stones.”

Since then the curse or whatever was keeping the plants away, must have faded, because the former wharves were now green and brown.

“How long is this lake? It is hard to judge.”

“Fifty-two miles from west to east, and a good thirty at the widest point from north to south.”

For some reason, the usual logical arrangement of this world didn't cover the system of measurements, and a mile here was thousand and fifty-six paces instead of thousand. Which meant that the lake was around fifty-seven miles long in my miles.

“A good day of sailing, is it?”

“In good weather, yes. But most of the barges come from farther than that. There are only two other cities built on the lake, but more than that along the River Guram. Our two sister-cities are...”

“Don't tell me. That one with the big dome in the middle is Templetown, right? Beldrak told me about it. It is also a member of the League of the Seven. And the smaller one must Aerakane. That is a colony of Golden Grove, and it is still governed by a council sent from this city.”

“Should I be impressed by your knowledge, oh wise one?”

“By all means. I have only heard it once, after all.”

She pretended to fawn over me, I flipped her nose, then she tried to tickle me. That wasn't a good idea, as I had three siblings once, several cousins, and never once lost in a battle of tickles. After she admitted defeat (more precisely started begging for mercy), we sat down and ate the sandwiches we made. Despite the lack of garum, this world did hold some culinary advantages over Italia, the idea of putting meat, cheese and vegetables between slices of bread being one of them.

“I will miss paprika if I ever get home,” I admitted.

“Paprika does not grow in your country?”

“Neither paprika, nor tomato. Furthermore we have no potato, no corn and we lack that terrible tobacco too. I will not miss that one though.”

“And will you miss me?” she asked teasingly.

“Not if you come with me,” I said. Then I kissed her.

PubliusDeciusMus

WTF, there is a tag for author's notes. How did I not notice that before?

Anyways, this episode is also one that I have created from a few in-game sentences only. While the others were working on creating magical items from the remains of Calcryx, I wanted to make some money. So, I tried carousing. Alas, the dice decided that I should get a lover instead, name and profession to be chosen by me, subject to DM's approval.

I was wavering between writing this chapter or having a few sentence-long dialogue that would convey that Publius got a girlfriend off-page. In the end I went with the former option. I hope it was the right decision.

I also hope that you will find no typos, but if you do, please tell me about them. Original of the cover.