Friedrich grins as the air ahead of him swirls. He looks back to where he thinks Jana is perched in a tree.

"Look!" he calls gesturing at the anomaly.

Jana looks up from tending to her rifle, and blinks at the swirling air.

Through falls a very startled human in somewhat old fashioned traveling clothes, desperately clutching a cloth bag. She almost lands on her feet, having fallen straight down, but stumbles and falls backwards.

Jana drops out of her tree, banishing her cloak, rifle not quite pointed at the girl. "What did you do?" she asks Friedrich.

"I have no idea!" Friedrich says brightly. "But isn't it fascinating!"

He takes a step forward. "Hello!"

(As friendly as he's being, he's not completely unguarded in his approach.)

"Ah!" she says. She doesn't recognize what they're saying - but it doesn't sound like gibberish, is that another language - maybe wizards have a secret language, did they do the portal and why -

"Where am I?" she asks

"Uh...Jana?" Friedrich glances over at her, a little lost. He's good at languages, but...

Jana rolls her eyes before closing them briefly, taking a deep breath, and noticeably sharpening her focus. She carefully runs the words she just heard over in her head, twisting sound around them, discerning their meaning. When she speaks again, she should be understandable.

"You are in Lord Kravitz's fief," she says, with almost frozen calm.

"I'm sorry, I don't recognize that name. I was on the road from Wulfshaven, along the Upland Route to Five Corners when the ground just - vanished."

Jana extends the sound to cover Friedrich as well - she would prefer not to have to carry this conversation alone. She repeats the places the girl just said.

"None of them are familiar to me," she says, tilting her head at Friedrich.

"Certainly not on any maps I've ever seen," Friedrich agrees, also now perfectly understandable. "I do appear to have accidentally kidnapped you. Apologies."

(The disturbance in the air has vanished.)

"...Kidnapped me how. And - the inhabited world isn't that big, Wulfshaven is on all the maps of the Inner Lands."

Friedrich frowns, and then holds up one finger. "Moment please."

He moves over to where two travelling bags are leant against the base of a tree and starts rummaging around in them.

Jana looks back at him. "Are you honestly-?"

Friedrich makes a triumphant sound as he pulls out a map, and spreads it out to scrutinise. "No, no Wulfshaven. And I've never heard any of this area be referred to as 'the Inner Lands'."

(Jana shakes her head in amazement.)

"As for the how...well. I mean. You did drop out of midair. And I was messing around with trying to get an element to do long distance transport so we don't have to walk all the way to Kravitzholm."

"I did suggest buying horses," Jana says smoothly. "You said it wasn't worth the cost."

"Are you wizards?" This could be the opportunity of a lifetime, or the death of her - wizards aren't exactly known for being nice.

"That's not a word I've heard used for it before," Friedrich comments, tilting his head.

Jana takes a step back, and both her shadow, and the shadows of the trees around them seem to shift and warp. "Doesn't necessarily mean it isn't...accurate. Depending on what it is being used to mean?"

She is mildly startled. "Wizards do magic." She scrambles to her feet. "If you're really wizards, will you teach me? I've already taught myself how to make charms, I'm a hard worker, I won't be any bother at all."

"...Charms? You don't need charms to do magic. Jana?"

Jana isn't visible any more, although the shadows seems maybe the tiniest bit out of shape if you're looking very closely.

She reappears on the other side of the girl. "You just need focus, and patience. And an understanding of your element."

"...Charms are needed for magic where I'm from. Some at least, there's other magic items. But you've never even heard of Wulfshaven - maybe traditions are different here? But if all it took was focus, patience and understanding the wizards wouldn't be able to keep magic from the Steerswomen."

Jana turns to Friedrich, and stalks towards him. "What did you do? Because the more I hear, the more this feels...off."

Friedrich easily fends off the finger jabbed at his chest. "What my dear companion means is who are these 'Steerswomen'? And also, wizards are in charge? That is. Not the way things are here."

"You don't have Steerswomen? They've been around since - since forever. They collect and disseminate knowledge. They can't lie, and you have to answer their questions truthfully. And wizards aren't really - in charge. Wizards mostly only control territory to keep it from other wizards, they don't tend to bother the common folk. The lords rule the land."

"Is it just me or does that sound like the kind of people who should have magic?" Friedrich asks. "And like. Why do the wizards want the territories if they don't rule it?"

"...You don't happen to have a map do you? Of your land?" Jana cuts in, looking a little concerned now, and like something has just happened that should be impossible.

"I don't know why the wizards care about territory. And no. But I can sketch a rough one."

"That would be useful," Jana says, taking her turn to rummage in the bags to pull out a leather bound notebook and a pencil. She tears one of the sheets of paper out of it, and moves over to hold it out to the girl. "It might help us figure out what's going on."

She slightly awkwardly sketches out a map, in the way of someone who saw one a few times a long while ago, and mostly knows the lay of the land in terms of how far you go on each road. She writes 'redgrass prairie' off to the right, under a label saying 'the outskirts', then an arrow pointing off the edge of the map with 'blackgrass prairie.' Her handwriting is extremely precise and careful.

"There. The known world."

They still compare it to their own, slightly more accurate map.

"Maybe a land across the sea?" Friedrich does not sound entirely convinced of that theory.

Jana gives him a Look. "What land? Not a single ship has managed to make it far enough to find another land regardless of the elements they pour into the endeavour. I mean. It doesn't mean it's impossible, but..."

She pauses, looking up at the girl. "You got a name?"

She's starting to get really concerned. "I'm Melissa."

She's not the only one. Jana's face is entirely blank, but she's worried. This feels... wrong.

She signs discreetly at Friedrich. 'Remember that guy who claimed to have been to a bar between worlds?'

"Friedrich," Friedrich introduces himself. "And this is Jana."

Meanwhile, he's responding: 'I thought we agreed he was completely drunk?'

'Do you have a better explanation?'

Jana sighs. "I have a horrible feeling we kidnapped you from somewhere far further than any of us thought. It would explain the completely unknown language, and very different cultures."

"What."

"We met this man once, who claimed he'd been to a bar between worlds," Friedrich explains, sounding like he's still not convinced by this. He jerks a thumb at Jana. "This one thinks I somehow managed to open a portal between our worlds and you, well...fell through."

She buries her face in her palms and tries to think. She needs to learn magic, but she needs to be able to get home even more. "Can you put me back?"

"Yeah, about that..."

Jana sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger. "He has no idea what he did."

"I know what I meant to do, and I can... maybe replicate that. But. Even if I can, there's no guarantee it'll be your world on the other end."

"Oh. ...If you teach me magic, will I be able to get myself back someday?"

They're both silent for a long moment, looking to each other.

Then Jana smirks. "If nothing else you'll know magic, and that aside, the elements are different for each person, you'll probably stand a better chance of getting yourself home than we will."

Relieved sigh. "Thank you. I really won't be any trouble at all. ...Can you teach me your language?"

The smirk widens into a grin. "Only if you return the favour," Jana agrees.

Friedrich throws an arm around Jana (and there's an impression that he only gets away with it because they know each other so well). "For all Jan here doesn't like to speak, she likes languages," he says lightly. "Are we starting lessons now?"

Jana looks up at the sky. "It's starting to get late. I think we ought to get moving. We can do language lessons and possibly elemental theory on the road, but I'd like to reach the next waystop before nightfall. I could do with a meal that isn't trail rations, and we've left it too late to hunt tonight. If that's alright with you, Melissa?"

"Yeah, that's good with me."

Jana and Friedrich go and grab their bags, settling them on their backs, and Jana settles her rifle over one shoulder, fingers staying wrapping around the strap.

She leads the way out of the clearing they're in, onto the road. Friedrich chatters some as Jana seems to need time to settle, seems unnerved somehow.

"She isn't often visible while we travel," Frierich says quietly to Melissa - Jana can hear them, but she's pretending not to. "It'll take her a moment to get used to it again, and figure out a way to teach you our language without doing it the really hard way of dropping what she's doing and pointing at things until you have enough words to actually talk."

Melissa follows.

"I can probably figure it out that way well enough. If she'd prefer it; I have a good memory."

"It's more about what's easiest. Better if you're at least reasonably capable of speaking the language sooner rather than later."

"Definitely," Jana agrees, tilting her head back at them, while the word is understandable, echoing underneath it, also perfectly understandable, is the word as Jana said it in their language. It continues as she carries on: "Better if you're able to talk to people without needing a translator, that can gain unwanted attention." She smiles slightly. "Let me know if the overlay is irritating and we can find another way of doing it."

"No, the overlay is cool! So is 'the irritating overlay' grammatically correct? 'The attention is unwanted?' 'Find another translator?' 'A translator and a overlay is able to talk?'" (She says the example sentences in the new language.)

"Last one sounds off," Friedrich says (and the overlay's extended to his words now). "'Although I'm not entirely sure how I'd make it better..."

"Do verbs change with who they're about?"

"You have singular and plural, but nothing indicating gender. I will, they will. I walk, they walk." Jana smiles as she demonstrates.

"'The translator walks? I talk, they talk?'"

"Perfect," Jana says, shooting a thumbs up over her shoulder. "We'll get you talking like a native in no time."

She pauses scanning the road ahead. "Contact coming," her tone has gone flat. "Going dark to scout. Effect should stay in place."

And then she vanishes.

"Well this isn't awkward," Friedrich comments, and the effect does indeed stay in place. "Would you like to hear a little about magic theory as we know it?"

"Absolutely!"

"Alright, so, first thing: we don't need any tools to do magic. I'm not as good at some things as Jan, but that's because there's two types of magic user. I'm what's known as a 'Learned' and I started learning far later than most. You'll fall into this category when we get to doing practical stuff. Jana's what's known as an 'Innate', she has an element that is...part of her, for lack of a better word. Means she has more raw strength, but at least half the reason she has a problem being visible is because her element wants to be used." He continues with a basic run down of what they know - how elements interact with each other, how much easier it is for a Learned to learn more elements than an Innate, and just how bendable the elements can in fact be.

Melissa listens raptly. "Can you make magic objects with it?"

"Depends on the element. Elements like shadow can't so much, air, not so much. I've heard of some people who've built...machines, and imbued them with the elements they used to help build them. But that's...not really mine and Jana's bag of tricks."

"Huh. Big thing magic does back home that you hear about is objects. Like chests that kill people who try to open them. What kind of machines?"

"Some industrial machines," Jana says as she reappears, "and some that seem more geared for war. It's a group of priests. If we do cross with them, nix the magic talk."

She's not quite looking at either of them, more focused on the potential problem.

"...Okay. Do priests not like magic?"

"They've accepted that people are going to learn it, whatever they say," Jana responds. "But no, they don't like it."

"Innates they are fairly sure are the 'spawn of demons'," Friedrich adds. "Though you do hear rumours. They might not do anything too bad, but if they hear us talking about it, they're sure as anything gonna preach."

"This place is weird. ...And are demons the same thing here as back home? Back home they're - monsters, no one's ever seen one and lived to tell about it, but an outskirter told me they sometimes wander into the outskirts, and you can hear them screaming when they're close. If you move they'll hear you and come kill you."

"We're not entirely sure we trust what the church says is true."

"What he means is that all we have are myths and legends from when the 'gods' supposedly walked the earth. There were supposedly demons then as well." She shrugs. "There's no evidence either one existed and humanity is capable enough of being evil without creating excuses for itself."

"Huh. I wonder why the spell's translating them the same. They're really not much alike at all, it sounds..."

Jana frowns. "Local deviation I anticipate. Using the same descriptive word to mean something different? Also the stories do indicate that our demons supposedly devoured people. They just also apparently slept with some as well."

"Maybe the spell just decided that they both mean 'horrible terrifying thing.'"

"That sounds like it might be accurate," Friedrich agrees with a grin. Then he looks down the road. "Ugh, we're going to have to go past them," he says. "Do I have to act like some pious follower?"

"I don't like them either," Jana says, "but don't insult them this time, just keep your head down and get us past them. Melissa, just...keep your head down. I'll let you know when it's safe to talk again."

"Okay." And she proceeds to keep her head down; she's had a lot of practice at looking unexceptional.

Apparently Jana and Friedrich have as well, for all Jana's comments about Friedrich insulting priests. They're both silent, heads down, only acknowledging the other party enough that they don't collide.

The priests are dressed in simple robes, which don't quite match with the haughty expressions on their faces.

It is apparently taking Friedrich a lot to not make a comment, and one of his hands is a tight fist.

Jana has fallen back to just behind Melissa and Friedrich.

She keeps them silent for quite a while. "I hate that," she mutters eventually.

"Priests shouldn't act like that..." she mutters. "Just - ugh."

"No," Friedrich agrees, "they shouldn't. But they're bolstered by the fact that the Lords and Barons defend the church's right to autonomy and function. 'Holy ground' is still respected by most so the churches are the safest place for a emissary to bed down in hostile territory."

"They aren't all like that," Jana adds, "some did honestly go into the priesthood to help, and they do."

"There's rumours about them holding Innates as well," Friedrich says darkly (dark enough to suggest that it isn't just rumours they've heard). "And that can't possibly be good."

"They would probably say 'sheltering'," Jana sneers.

"...They sound a lot like wizards, in some ways."

Jana tilts her head. "How so?"

"Arrogant, supposedly helpful but not really, favoritism by lords, holding people..."

"Well. It rather sounds like some kind of revolution is needed. In both locations. Do we have much further to go today?" The last is directed at Jana.

Jana scans ahead of them, straight towards the setting sun without needing to shade her eyes. "The waystop's about two miles further on," she says.

Melissa goes quiet at the 'some kind of revolution' comment. "That's why I want to learn magic," She says after a bit. "The wizard near my home is extra terrible. I want to stop him."

"A worthy goal," Friedrich inclines his head. "And if our estimation is correct, and we're working on completely different power sets, you stand a very good chance of having powers completely beyond what he's comprehends."

He taps his fingers against his leg, and his fingers make a small motion at Jana, who nods sharply back.

"So, while we're finishing today's walk, is there any particular element you feel...a kinship to? We know you won't be Innate, but a certain...connection to an element can help with learning."

"What're the elements?"

"There's no precise list. It's all a bit too...conceptual," he twirls a finger in the air near his head. "You've got the obvious ones, fire, air, water, earth. Then some that are a little more obscure, shadow's one of them, nature, light and dark, sound, mass, energy. And those are just the ones I'm thinking of off the top of my head."

"Hmm... Air? That sounds - me-ish."

"Ooh. Air is good. Air can get you flight! Or like, I know people who have flight from it."

Jana rolls her eyes at Friedrich. "I think people would be more curious as to what you were doing if air didn't give you flight. There is a level of visualisation here. You need to know what you want the element to do. And you need to feel how it's doing it."

Hmm... 

She concentrates, and imagines the air swirling around her, ruffling her hair.

There is no immediate effect-

Her hair ruffles very, very slightly, but that might just be the local weather.

"Oh, and don't be worried if it takes a while, took me days to learn anything."

"Time periods," Jana sing-songs. "You want 'weeks'." She looks over to Melissa. "It varies, and he wasn't exactly focusing on that fully. We had other things to worry about at the time."

"I can see how this would be hard to discover independently..." Melissa says, still concentrating some, trying for now detail this time.

"Fastest I've heard of was... five hours? And that was someone trying to escape jail."

"...You shot her, didn't you?"

"She had just killed five people. There was a reason she was in that cell. And I did what I was hired to do and kept her alive. I don't advise using brute force to escape from a cell by the way," she says off-handedly to Melissa. "Subterfuge is a better option," that sounds like she has experience on the matter.

"...I'll keep that in mind. Is needing to escape from cells a problem? ...For that matter what's likely to get me thrown in a cell, I don't know the local laws..."

"It isn't really. Jan here just had an...interesting childhood. As for laws... don't take things that aren't yours, don't harm anyone on holy ground, don't kill anyone unprovoked, and if you have to kill someone, make sure you have evidence for why you killed them. Don't break into someone's house. Basically anything a relatively decent moral compass would say was bad don't do? I'm sure there's a few nuances I'm missing, but there's specifics that vary from fief to fief and if you're not local, or can do a passable impression of someone not local, most guards will give you the benefit of the doubt and let you off with a warning."

"Okay."

"That's the waystop just up there," Jana points to a building to the left of the road.

It's a quaint building that appears to have been added to as need required - not all the extensions quite match. There's a second, blocky building that is probably a stable, and a wooden fence surrounding the entire place. There's a few people obviously in the middle of doing maintenance and chores moving between the two buildings.

"You're probably alright for talking to others," Jana says quietly. "But if they ask where you're from, just say 'the south', your accent is close enough that most people won't be able to tell you're not."

"Alright."

Friedrich leads the way into the main building, and taps the counter to attract the attention of the man behind it. Who looks less than impressed.

"What ya want?" he sounds bored.

Friedrich arches an eyebrow and immediately his easy-going nature's gone. "I was looking for a bed for the night for me and my companions."

Jana shifts, sliding her rifle off her shoulder and settling it into her arms. The man's eyes flash to it and widen.

"Don't think he wants to serve us, boss," she drawls, accent different now, thicker.

"Well that's just rude," Friedrich notes clinically.

"You're-" the man starts, and his eyes sweep to the rifle again. "How many rooms were you wanting, sir?"

"That's better. Two will do, thank you. A suite would be better if you have one, and dinner."

The rest of the transaction is relatively smooth, and while it's likely Melissa has no real concept of their money, there's probably enough indications that the price they are getting is far better than average.

Soon enough, they're ushered into a comfortable, if small, sitting room, with two doors off it. The innkeeper is being grossly obeisant now, and it's clearly grating on both Friedrich and Jana if the way Friedrich curtly dismisses him is anything to go by.

"...Were you threatening him?"

"Depends on your definition of 'threatened'," Friedrich responds. "We're just kinda leveraging the fact that that rifle of Jan's mark's her as a sniper from...let's just say a pretty prestigious cross-fief unit. They're pretty well known, and only they carry guns from this particular maker. And they're basically...the entire reason the desert border held before the fiefs down there managed to make peace with the tribes."

"It affords us a little more respect than two wandering vagabonds."

"Vagabonds? Jan, I think I'm offended!"

"So... Kind of like pointing out you're soldiers? ...I think I might have the wrong reference, the only soldiers we have work for the Wizards. Only position that really carries automatic respect and not just outright fear is being a Steerswoman."

"I mean, there's kind of a threat implicit, that unit has a whole host of respect from other people, and other soldiers to boot. Soldiers don't, on the whole, mind roughing it too much. And they will blacklist an inn if someone puts out the word that the proprietor has been being disrespectful. But we're close enough to the desert here that the innkeeps know that without Jan and her lot, they wouldn't still be here. The tribes were...not happy with what the fiefs attempted to impose."

"So... Border guards? I'm not from anywhere near the Outskirts, guards might carry that respect there. Those're mostly local forces, though, nothing overall organized."

Jan gives a wicked grin. "We all nearly got court-martialled for the cross-fief thing."

"It started local," Friedrich explains when Jana doesn't immediately continue. "But it pretty quickly became apparent that cooperation between the various border patrols would be more beneficial. The lords and barons were not best pleased until they realised that the unit was being far more effective than they had ever been individually."

"...I really don't think that'd be a problem where I'm from, there mostly aren't any lords near the Outskirts. That's more a city thing, and all the big cities are along the Inland Sea. We don't have good enough roads and communication, is the main reason I think the towns don't cooperate more, though I could be wrong..."

"Sounds like that's something you could do with fixing," Friedrich notes. "But I suppose there's a chance your wizards like it that way?"

"Probably do, yeah."

Before either of them can respond, there's a knock on the door. When answered, it reveals a serving girl carrying a tray with three steaming bowls on it.

Jana takes it with a slight inclination of her head, a quiet 'thank you' and a clink of coins changing hands. She closes the door with a deft tap of her foot, and carries the tray over to the low table between the sofas, scooping up one of the bowls and making her way back to the window.

"Mystery meat stew?" Friedrich asks as he pokes at his own bowl.

"Pork," Jana corrects through a mouthful.

The stew is thick, and filled with chunks of vegetables and meat.

"Probably shoulda asked if there was anything you didn't eat?"

"I'll eat just about anything edible. I think some of the Christers have food restrictions, but most people don't," she says, pulling her bowl towards her and digging in.

"Anyway, I'm getting more curious about these 'Steerswomen' of yours? You said they were responsible for collecting and sharing knowledge? And something about truthfulness?"

"They have to tell the truth, and answer any question someone asks them. In return, you have to answer any questions they ask truthfully, or they'll put you under the Steerswomen's Ban, meaning no other Steerswomen will answer your questions or even talk to you. Information is... Kinda vital to living, so it's bad for a lot of people's professions if the people with all the answers won't share with you. They travel all over, filling in maps and asking questions of the local people. I used to want to be one, but now that I'm learning magic I'd rather be a wizard's apprentice, and they don't get along with the Steerswomen."

"But nothing makes them or you be truthful?"

"Social custom, I guess? And if a Steerswoman went around lying - that'd, that'd be like, I don't know, a wizard going around hanging out candy. Non-nefariously. Except worse."

"Some people actually posses common sense, Fritz," Jana sounds amused. "You don't lie to the people who have the information, and if your standing in society counts on you being truthful, you don't lie."

"Sounds like something our Lords and Barons could do with being required by their social standing. Never mind the church..."

"Yes. But most the church don't think they're lying."

"What's the church's whole deal, anyways? We have Christers, but they don't really have *power* other than, like, over their own members. And - they're all about, like, taking being a charitable member of society to the extreme."

"The church has a lot of power as they're the most unified organisation around. And churches and holy ground are renowned for their neutrality. Church buildings in major cities often have rooms where diplomatic envoys can stay as no-one will dare to violate the 'sanctity' of holy ground. They're also bigoted pricks."

Jana makes an amused sound.

"They are. They think you're demon spawn! Just because you happened to be born with an innate element!"

"I know you've told me about it, but - I still don't get the 'demon spawn' thing."

"So. Myth, legend and religion goes: once upon a time, the gods walked among us, living embodiments of the elements, creating and reshaping the land and its creatues. But there were also demons, creatures of wanton destruction and violence who wished only to drive the gods out. They seduced humans, and bore children who would become the first Innates. These demons and Innates taught others to find elements. The gods found this...distasteful. But also, weakening. The more people who drew power from a god, the less powerful the became. Until they vanished, chased away to attempt survival away from the demons and their spawn."

"That - sounds pretty far fetched to me. But... This world's already pretty different from mine."

"Jana can use shadows to strangle someone. She used...something to translate between our languages. I know people who can summon water out of thin air. People who can make crops sprout and grow in a fraction of the time it takes to do it other ways. People who can fly. 'Far fetched' takes on a new meaning at thst point."

"There is also some evidence that those 'elemental embodiments' aren't quite as gone as everyone thinks they are," Jana adds.

"I'm starting to be glad the only magic things we have to deal with are wizards."

"But we have so much fun!" Friedrich grins.

"Depending on your definition," Jana smirks. "So far any embodiments have been content to quietly exist without turning anything on its head."

"That is one improvement over wizards."

"What do these wizards of yours even do? Just pointlessly menace the surrounding civilians?"

"Some of them do disaster relief and stuff," she concedes. "And the wizard of Donner keeps the dragons in check. I think the one where I lived was known for being exceptionally awful?"

"Okay, that perhaps makes more sense for them not somehow being overthrown."

"Plus, they have magic. We have, at best, swords. That most people don't know how to use."

"...what do you do if a bandit besets you?"

"...There aren't many, unless you're near the Outskirts? And then there's, like, guards and stuff in the towns. And for caravans. Traveling alone's pretty rare, I had to avoid the major roads when I was on my own."

"...That seems. Peculiar to me. I mean. There's not many around, but... It's just sensible to have some form of combat training. Quite aside from bandits just... Do you not have regular unsavoury peoples in your...towns and cities?"

"Yeah, we've got unsavory types. That's mostly what the guards are for? I know how to throw a punch, and the unsavory types aren't using swords, either. Everyone's mostly equally unarmed."

"So long as you're able to defend yourself," Jana says.

"We can teach you to do more than throw a punch if you like though. Us military types know all sorts of nasty tricks that people don't expect, armed or not."

"That'd be great. I'm hardly the strongest person in my village... And knowing how to use a proper weapon wouldn't hurt."

"Well, it's definitely something we can do!" Friedrich assures her.

"Knives," Jana muses cryptically. "Along with swords and hand-to-hand. But we should rest. I can't imagine you had a shorter day than us before Fritz accidentally dropped you on us?"

"Nah, I'd been walking all day."

"...Then we should probably let you sleep! I could do with some as well. Sharing, Jan?"

Jana nods.

"Alright, we'll take the room through there," he points behind him. "There should be a washstand in your room, the water'll be cold right now, but it'll do the job, we can get warm water in the morning. Or- Is there a bathhouse here, Jan?"

Jana stretches. "If there isn't, I will be ensuring more of our fee is returned to us."

"Thanks. Sleep sounds good, and I don't mind cold water."

"Sleep well," Friedrich says as he and Jana disappear into the room he indicated, taking their bags with them.

She does. This bed is a lot more comfortable than her old one.

The next morning, she wanders out into the main room, yawning sleepily.

Friedrich is busy eating breakfast - what looks like an assortment of cold meats and breads - with another plate still sat on the table.

"G'morning," he greets. "Jana's out doing...something, but she'll be back shortly. Breakfast," he indicates the plate.

"Mornin'," she mumbles, then dives into the offered breakfast. 

Yawn, then: "You mentioned warm water?"

He grins slightly. "If you're done eating I'll show you down to the bathhouse?" he offers.

"Oo, a bathhouse, fancy." She finishes, stretches, the says, "Lead the way."

"Not sure I'd call it fancy, but it's better than a tin tub in front of the fire, or a cold stream."

He leads the way down to a building that's clearly a later addition to the main building.

It's dim, with no windows, only lantern light, and warm.

"Afraid that privacy was not entirely on their minds when they built it, just practicality."

Jana appears out of the shadows. "It's empty for now," she points out. "Keep watch outside."

"We didn't have bathhouses in my hometown," she points out. "And I'm not too bothered by lack of privacy."

"Jan's a little more fussy," Friedrich says, and snags the jacket Jana's thrown at him out of the air. "I should just be thankful it wasn't one of her knives," he comments, with far more cheer than you'd think those words would allow.

And out he goes, and they can hear him whistling on the other side of the closed door.

Jana chuckles quietly. "We're not in a hurry," she tells Melissa. "Take as long as you want."

And sets about her own ablutions - as she moves shadows shift in and out around her, not quite concealing her body, but certainly obscuring parts of it, and she noticeably doesn't look in Melissa's direction.

Melissa enjoys herself, spending a while just relaxing in the warm water before getting to scrubbing. This definitely beats a cold stream.

Jana finishes her own ablutions, dresses herself and goes and leans against the doorframe, tucking her hands neatly behind her head.

Melissa is definitely not that fast, but she does finish eventually. She makes a face at her old clothes, but does get dressed.

Jana hums, scans Melissa's form now clearly trying to gauge her size. "We've got some spare clothes that will likely fit you," she offers.

"That'd be great. I hate wearing dirty clothes when I'm clean."

"I know that feeling," Jana says as she opens the door. "Trousers?" she asks without preamble.

"Left my bag upstairs," he says. "I can go get or we can head back up?" The last is aimed over Jana's shoulder to Melissa.

"Let's head back up."

And up they can go. Jana produces a plain shirt - either faded black or dark grey - and offers it to Melissa.

Friedrich rummages through his bag, taking a little longer to come up with a set of worn trousers made of a hard-wearing fabric. "Here you go, mmm. Might be a little loose on you. Jan, you-?"

Jana is already holding out a belt.

Melissa will accept. "Thanks, guys." She doesn't mind the worn condition; they're actually in better shape than her own clothes, after so long on the road. Plus, the shirt's pretty much her typical color scheme.

And off to change.

There's sounds of Friedrich moving around, and assumed Jana is as well, but no speaking.

When Melissa returns however, she will find them making hand gestures at each other - likely a form of sign language.

She watches with some interest, idly trying to pick out a pattern.

There is something of a pattern, but they don't continue for very long after Melissa returns.

"Ready to get back on the road?" Friedrich asks.

"Yeah," she says.

"Excellent. I suppose I should ask, in case we encounter a horse trader: can you ride?"

"I can technically stay on a horse without it attempting to murder me. If it's very even tempered."

"...Perhaps have you riding behind one of us. Depending on what we can find."

"Kind of moot right at this instant," Jana says, amused as she leads the way out.

"Though that'd probably work best, yeah, though some geldings and all don't mind me."

"We can cross that bridge as it comes. It might not!"

"He hopes it will," Jana says with a grin. "He always prefers a horse to his legs."

The shadows of early morning seems to cling to her as she moves.

"Luckily I don't mind walking too much. Would've made setting out a pain if I did..."

"To try and become a wizard's apprentice, right?"

"Yeah. This is pretty good, though."

"Speaking of this being pretty good, do you feel like trying some more magic?"

"Definitely! Magic's - exciting."

"That it is!" Friedrich agrees, and will set about teaching her some more while they walk.

Magic!!!

She is a very quick learner, especially for someone who's never been introduced to the system until recently.

Friedrich is truly delighted to have such a good student! And is more than willing to share tales of his own attempts to learn - apparently he doesn't see any point in being ashamed of his failures.

"Really," he says cheerfully, "Failures are just another thing to learn from."

"Can't even count the number of times I failed - sometimes explosively - developing my spells..."

"Explosions are underrated. Although not necessarily what you're looking for."

"Heh. Well, I do now have a lot of explosive spells... That even explode only when I want them to. Mostly."

"Ah, we have...well. One of our comrades from the desert skirmishes. They create fantastical devices. You would be amazed how many explode and he tries to claim that's exactly what he intended to happen."

"Knowing him, half the time he probably does mean them to explode. Just not right at the instant that they do."

"Explosions can be quite useful! I actually worked on a bunch for cracking rocks, to help with building and mining."

"That is definitely true. Although when you have elemental magic at your fingertips mining is...less perilous, and building is... Well, elemental."

She laughs. "Hopefully I'll still be able to find a niche."

"With how quickly you're picking up magic, I have no doubt that you'll be able to carve yourself a place."

"Maybe I can combine things well."

"Vastly underrated skill, that!"

"It'd be my best niche, probably."

"I think you're going to do just fine here," Jana says with a smile. "Although we should probably take a break and have some lunch. We've been on the road for a while, and there's no cloud cover. Walking through the peak of the sun is a bad idea."

"Heh, yeah. Sunburn: not fun. And lunch sounds good." She's also not super used to all this travel.

"Sunburn is less worriesome than heatstroke I find," Friedrich comments as Jana leads them to a copse of trees that cast plenty of shade - perhaps a little more than it should. "But some time off our feet is definitely welcome."

"Haven't had heatstroke before myself, but people sometimes get it working in the summer. It's usually cool though where I live..."

"It's warmer here than some places, and it's sometimes possible to get a version of heatstroke from being too long under the sun."

"One more reason our dear Jana prefers to travel as a shadow."

"Huh! And yeah, that sounds convenient."

"It is rather."

Jana drops her pack and stretches.

"We should see if you can pick up shadow as an element. This one," she points at Friedrich, "can't wrap his head around it."

"Oh, that'd be fun! What do I do first?"

"First, you eat," Jana says, pulling trail rations from her bag and handing them to Melissa, keeping some from herself. "We'll get back on to magic lessons after lunch."

"Alright, alright. Guess food helps memory."

Noms!

"Food also stops you accidentally exhausting yourself!"

"Voice of experience."

"Eh, long hours can be fun."

"You aren't wrong. But hitting unexpectedly at the end of your energy reserves while practicing an element is a little... Startling."

"Yeah, my spells aren't safe to work with tired, so I get that."

"Jana gets to cheat, because Innates don't really get...exhausted like most people when they're using their element."

"Cheating's always fun."

"Unfortunately this form of cheating isn't teachable." Pauses. "Whenever you're ready then."

"I think I am."

Jana smiles, holding her hands up so that it's obvious that there's shadows collecting in her palms. "Shadow's a little more...esoteric, than some of the other elements. It can be a lot harder for people to grasp a hold of. In more ways than one."

"Well, I'm usually good at esoterics."

"Well then. Let's do this the-"

-And the world shifts-

-and everything is shadowed, and different.

"-the interesting way."

"Oh, neat!" She spins around, staring in fascination.

"Welcome to my world," Jana says, gesturing around as she melts from the shadows. "Think you can try to change it?"

"Trying isn't something I'm bad at."

And she - imagines it changing, tries to visualize that as clearly as possible. That tree should shake its branches ominously...

Not a twitch, and it looks like Jana was expecting that.

"You can't grasp ahold of shadow, it'll slip through you fingers, like light or water."

Like light...

Can she imaging - something for it to react to, like little pinpricks of light...

That gets a response! Although small, and the shadows don't move the way shadow actually would - they move like a living creature escaping an unpleasant stimuli.

She'll stop that then.

Can she reshape the area, if it's like water? Make it flow differently?

Jana smiles as the shadows respond to that.

Awesome!

She'll keep playing with that.

The shadows respond favourably to it! Lengthening and twisting, mostly at her command, occasionally outside it - although based on the way Jana smirks when that happens, Jana might be responsible.

She sticks her tongue out at Jana over that.

Jana laughs. "You're good at this," she says, gesturing around.

"I've always enjoyed experimenting, so."

"That's definitely a good trait for people seeking to learn the elements. Fritz is much the same."

Playing with topography!

"I hope to learn everything, someday."

"An admirable goal. If somewhat far reaching."

"Clearly I need to become immortal, first."

"Apparently theoretically possible, but I've yet to meet someone who's succeeded in that."

"Well, that'll have to be the first major slice of 'everything' I learn."

Jana's quiet for a moment. "I guess we should find you someone who specialises in that elemental space then."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just wondering where we should start our search. Perhaps by talking to Fritz. He might have more ideas."

"Alright. Though I don't want to drop the stuff I've already started on, either..."

"Just keep practicing. There is an element that the more you practice with more elements the easier picking up others should be."

"Practicing is fun, so that'll be easy."

"It is rather, isn't it?"

And the world shifts as well, spilling them back into the a properly lit world. The shadows cling to them, shading their eyes, although the change is probably still a little startling.

She blinks a lot, startled.

"...Jana, you need to remember to warn people that you're dumping them out of the shadowed version of the world you inhabit," Friedrich chides. "Are you okay, Melissa?"

"-Oh, my apologies. I forget that sometimes."

"I'm fine, just a bit surprised."

"Jan also cheats horribly and just keeps a constant shadow over her eyes to avoid sun-in-the-eye problems."

"Sounds like something I should learn."

"I'll teach you the trick sometime...if you can't figure it out yourself." There's a hint of teasing challenge in Jana's voice.

"Oh, I'll get it."

"I have no doubt." Turns back to Friedrich. "We're looking for somewhere to go to try and discover immortality. Ideas?"

"Immortality? Quite the ambitious project!"

"I don't tend to start small."

"A truly admirable trait!" Friedrich hums thoughtfully for a moment. "Kravitzholm is probably as good a place to start as any. Lord Kravitz is openly for magic, and this makes it an easier place to ask around after people who've been making strides towards things like immortality. And there's at least one scholar there who tries to keep their finger to the pulse on that kind of thing."

"Is it somewhere you guys are going?"

"Handily yes! We're supposed to be meeting Valka there. A friend and colleague of ours. She'd gone to see her wife."

"Awesome! I like you guys. Don't wanna split up yet."

"Even more handily, Valka, or Valka's wife might know of someone who has an idea on immortality. For personal reasons they've got a good breadth of knowledge regarding healers."

"Oh, nice."

"And if we're all feeling full and rested, perhaps we should continue on the way?"

"I'm good with that."

Well then, packs can be grabbed, weapons can be checked, and they can continue on their way. Friedrich decides to pass the time by giving Melissa a potted history of the fief they're currently in - the current lord had risen to power in a surprisingly democratic manner, although with an amount of bloodshed to unseat the previous lord, and the support Lord Kravitz had from his people was in large part due to his open defiance of the church's declaration that magic was evil.

Huh. Sounds - interesting.

Her home doesn't tend to have much in the way of revolutions, democratic or otherwise...

Typically there isn't that much open revolution here either! Normally it's handled by hiring assassins to take out political rivals. And occasional annexation of nearby fiefs. There's enough call for combat capable people for Jana and Friedrich to make a good living.

Jana isn't sure if the lack of revolution (either way) sounds peaceful...or boring.

There's not a lot of distinct polities, and most of the wars are between the Wizards.

"And let me guess," Friedrich says with a slight grimace. "Those wars spill over and affect the people who don't have the power to protect themselves from it?"

"Yeah. And no one can really oppose the Wizards, except another Wizard."

"Well. That rather sounds like you need something that'll change the status quo."

Jana snorts. "You can offer our services after we figure out if we can send her back."

She laughs. "I think the situation can hold until then, yeah."