The Ignobian port city (Marinjei, I soon learned) was a truly bustling and multicultural place. There were humans and elves and… halflings? Gnomes? Some sort of small folks. All three covering as wide a range of skin tones as I’d ever seen in Toronto. Wider, in the case of the elves. There were dwarves as well, and I only now realised how covered they were, seemingly taking the hot tropical sun as a greater risk than all but the palest humans and elves did.

Beyond that, though, there were even more folks about. Gnolls, and snake folks. Rabbit looking people. Centaurs, both horse-like and zebra-like. Which did leave me wondering if a zebra-centaur was still a centaur or if there was another word for that. Also, if there wasn’t, were the snake folks technically snake-centaurs?

There were more types of folks beyond that, though they were rarer and the crowds were dense, so I rarely realised there were others in the crowd before they were gone. I think I saw some fish folks?

I had to admit that I felt like some sort of small town hick dropped down at Yonge and Dundas. I could only hope I wasn’t making anyone uncomfortable with my own disorientation.

Thankfully Aara was with me, and seemed to have a sense of the place quite well.

“You know, with you being a druid, I wouldn’t have thought you’d be so comfortable in a city,” I said, while trying my best to follow her.

“Oh… heheh… I am quite unsure as well, but the animals are guiding me,” she said, motioning upwards with her hand.

Above I saw a spread of birds and rodents sitting on clotheslines and the fabric coverings that helped shade the streets from the sun. The birds ranged from crow-like to colourful parrots, while the rodents looked somewhere between a squirrel and a rat.

In fact, there were a few monkeys up there as well, now that I looked a bit more.

“They have told me there is a tavern that is a good place to find information on the eastern end of the city,” Aara explained. “And that this is the best route to get there.”

“Useful.”

With that explained I followed her quietly through the bustling streets. It was a bit distracting how delicious the air began to smell as we travelled past spice merchants and food vendors. Not that I had any money to buy such food. Or needed it.

I could still want some, though.

The tavern we were looking for came into sight soon enough, at least. Cities built for those on foot really were compact. Maybe a bit too compact, with just how crowded it was, but definitely better than the endless suburbia of Oakville.

Stepping inside, however, I had to feel more than a little intimidated. The tavern was filled with fighters, folks in armour with swords at the ready. Scars and eyepatches abounded. Aara let out a brief nervous laugh herself, before covering her mouth to muffle it.

“You two look a bit out of place,” the dwarven bartender said, while polishing a tankard. “Looking for someone, I’ll guess?”

We both nodded nervously.

“There’s no need to be scared, we don’t bite,” a crocodilian looking man said, while flashing a sharp toothed grin.

Sure that he was teasing us, but not quite sure what the truth was, we both slid over to the bar. 

“We, um… heheh… we’re looking for someone specific. A swordsman, though we only have a name to go on,” Aara said.

“Mhm, not much, but someone here might be able to help,” the bartender replied. “What’s the name.”

“Chem,” I offered.

The man blinked, clearly recognising the name. “Chem? Really? I’ve got to say, you’ve got good taste, but if you’re looking to hire him you’re a good twenty years too late. He retired… ticked off the general he was working for when he handed in the pay for the rest of his contract and walked off the job.”

“A real shame,” another customer said, this man human. “He was one of the best swordsmen to ever live.”

“Mhm, but that’s probably why he quit,” the bartender replied. “Saw too much death… caused too much.”

I nodded. It was a concept I could understand, having heard about the mental health struggles of veterans. “We weren’t looking to hire him to fight.”

“Oh? Looking to train, are you?” the bartender replied. “I’ll give you points for guts, but then I’ll take ‘em away again for foolishness. Chem’s never had a student that I know of, and pretty well every blade in Ignobia passes through this town at some point.”

“That’s… convincing him is up to us,” Aara said. “But we need help finding him.”

“Hmm… I heard he retired up in the highlands. Couldn’t handle the heat of the coast so well. Or the bugs. Don’t blame him, really. Squito-fever ain’t fun,” the man muttered.

Information in hand, we then bought a small meal. The food was quite nice, a good mix of spices and vegetables I’d not had before. 

Then it was back into town to hunt for a cartographer. Aara had some idea about the world, but there were still limits to her knowledge. She was able to exchange several interesting looking insects from her own jungle home in lieu of regular money. Thankfully, exotic insects got decent attention, especially from the more academically minded merchant like a cartographer.

The map helped clarify where the ‘highlands’ were for us. That in mind, we set out the next morning after a night in a less than amazing inn.

Out of the city, I was glad to be able to have my wings untucked as we travelled along the country roads outside Marinjei. After getting far enough, we took to the skies, heading in the general direction the map indicated. 

The marshland near the city soon gave way to savannah or semi desert. From the height of where we were flying, we could make out a few solitary mountains out in the distance, only hills surrounding them. I had no idea what would lead to a cluster of mountains sitting on their own like that, but they showed us the way, regardless of their geology.

After several hours of flight we landed again, taking a break for food and for Aara to consult with local birds to see what they knew about this Chem fellow.

---

In the end it took us three days of searching to find our way to Chem’s home. Birds were, apparently, a far more reliable source of information than I had ever realised. Or, at least, less reluctant to share what they knew than the few humans and centaurs we encountered.

Crossing over the hilly shrublands, which reminded me a bit of the one time I had been to Alberta as a kid, we eventually came across a small valley with a stream running through it. Perhaps a kilometre away sat a small house that looked like it belonged somewhere like… Tuscany, maybe? One of those dry parts of Italy where they filmed the spaghetti westerns my dad had always loved.

Getting closer, I did feel the construction was… simple. Maybe a bit messy in places.

Though, Chem was a former mercenary, not an architect, so I couldn’t really be surprised. There was a small stone wall surrounding the house, which made me feel a bit like I was being rude walking up to the door. Still, it wasn’t like there was a doorbell to push or anything.

I just had to knock.

Then I waited. Aara stayed a few paces behind me, and seemed a bit uncertain. I tried to offer her a reassuring smile, but suspected I just came off as nervous myself. Thankfully, the sound of the door opening saved me from any further awkwardness.

Turning, I spotted a man with greying hair and dark olive skin. He definitely looked like he belonged in the house.

He was also eyeing me suspiciously.

“Hi,” I said, once more forcing a smile. “I’m here to be your new student.”

“I don’t take students,” he replied.

And closing the door.

I blinked. Then knocked again.

This time he opened the door but the tiniest crack. “If you want water for your trip back, I’ll give you that. Nothing else.”

“Uhh… Parazen sent me?” I offered.

Just to get a stare.

“Er, maybe someone else contacted you… I’m, apparently, Vazehr. I was told you’d train me,” I explained.

Chem gave me a once over. “I don’t take students.”

He then closed the door again.

So, once again, I knocked.

Only, I didn’t get a reply this time.

“Did no one tell you I was coming?” I asked at the door, getting only silence as a reply.

Well, silence from Chem’s side. Aara began to laugh nervously behind me. 

“We came all this way, and… and he shut the door in our face,” she mumbled, after calming down a little. “What do we do now?”

“I’m staying put,” I replied, sitting down on the doorstep of the home. 

“Pardon?”

I let out a sigh. “I was given one instruction by the gods. So I’m staying put until either he gives up or they give me new instructions… mostly because I have no idea what else to do.”

Aara nodded slowly. “I’ll go set up camp.”

---

It started to rain as the sun began to set. Aara had set up her canvas tarp and bed roll under a nearby tree, so I could see she was staying warm. I, meanwhile, was less bothered by the rain and the dropping temperature than I’d have expected. Though… it still wasn’t pleasant. 

After a few more hours of on and off showers and lowering temperatures I was beginning to genuinely shiver. 

The door behind me opened a crack, and I turned, hoping that Chem had changed his mind. Only it wasn’t Chem behind the door. It was a woman, maybe my age. Her hair was pulled back in complex roping braids, while her soft round features were illuminated by warm fire light from within the home.

“Father won’t let me let you in, but I can give you a cloak to stay warm,” she said, her voice rich and musical.

I took a moment to process her words, before nodding and thanking her as I took the cloak. 

She smiled and closed the door again. I wasn’t sure if it was the cloak or the kindness that helped me feel warmer at that point.

---

I’d nodded off. I knew I had because the memory of when I first met Lena was so fresh in my mind. How Kris had left me a flustered mess by calling me ‘cute’ and ‘adorable’ upon taking me home to meet her girlfriend. How Lena had decided to take me under her wing, to teach me tips and tricks of transness, even if she hadn’t been sure about dating me just yet.

The memories were both comforting and painful… but they did help redouble my determination. 

“Did you want some breakfast?” Aara asked, standing over by the stone fence.

“It wouldn’t fit the impression I’m trying to give,” I replied.

I needed a lot less food than I had before, anyhow. So it wasn’t fair to eat through Aara’s foraging efforts, not when she needed the food.

So I kept waiting.

And waiting.

Through another sunset. Another cool night. Another sunrise.

The next time the door opened the sun was once more high overhead, pushing closer to noon.

“You’re not going to leave, are you?” Chem asked, annoyance in his voice as he stared down at me.

“I don’t really have a choice,” I replied, letting out a sigh. “The only information the gods have given me was that I need to train under you. Well, that and that I need to eventually defeat Nemza… which I can’t do right now.”

There was a brief silence before Chem spoke again. “Look at me.”

“Hm?”

“Look me in the eyes,” he explained.

I did so. Seeing eyes that were tired staring back at me. Eyes that were sad and… hollow in a way. 

“No,” he said, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “I can’t do it.”

“Can’t do what?” I asked.

“Help to take away the innocence I see in those eyes,” he replied. “You don’t deserve that.”

“I… I appreciate your concern, but… I don’t think it matters… sir,” I said. “The gods have tasked me with dealing with Nemza. If you don’t train me they’ll find someone else. Somewhere else… I don’t know how many more weeks finding them will take…”

Thinking about that, I found myself overwhelmed. Tears started to well up in my eyes as the length of it hit me. The worry I might never get home… or that I might take so long that Kris and Lena would have moved on long ago before I returned.

Were they even still together now? How was my apparent death hurting them?

How had things gone with my parents?

And, how would I be changed when I returned. I realised, now, what the hollowness in Chem’s eyes was. One brought through killing and death on the battlefield. 

He let out a sigh, drawing me back to the present. “Fate has not been kind to you… I would have thought the gods would treat their own better than they do us.”

I blinked, not sure what to make of his words.

“Very well. If your fate is unavoidable, then I shall teach you the blade. But I will also try to teach you not to lose yourself,” he said.

“Th—thank you,” I replied, before some part of my brain thought about how this was a medieval-like world and so… bowing was surely the right thing to do?

Well, after I bowed I remembered that a curtsy was also a thing, but didn’t actually know how you did that. So I hoped a woman bowing wasn’t too weird here.

“Don’t bow to me,” he said in a flat voice. “I’m just an old man who once killed for gold.”

“S-sorry,” I replied, standing back up.

“Tell you friend to come in, then meet me around back. We’ll start your training.”