"I heard gossip about this Witch they call Unity Mother. They say she bullied all the kings to fight the Neuroi instead of each other. That's pretty wow, kings fight each other all the time."

"That is very impressive. It's hard to get people even within a kingdom to work together."

"Yeah."

She finishes her food and doesn't seem to know what to do next.

"Do you want to hear some stories about this realm?"

"Oh, yes! This place sounds like fun."

"Well, I was born in little village that wouldn't appear on any maps. in the kingdom of Bajilda, on the continent-island Shras. My family tended to an orchard along the Asseri River, and in the distance on a clear day I could see the grand city of Khamar rising out of the desert plains. Khamar has many beautiful gardens and temples, and I always dreamed of visiting it. It's called the golden city, because when the sun rises and hits it just right, all the rooftops light up like golden light. There are many spires and sparkling domes, and there is a unique kind of bird that only lives near the city, and who has feathers like jewels and makes a sound like ta-ta-ta-ti-ta every morn."

"When I was about your age, a traveling teacher came to our village, and taught me all sorts of wonderful things. For the first time I heard about distant lands and far-off peoples. I learned as much as I could, then saved money until I could afford a ticket on a caravan to the city - and from there to Elgadzhi, the oldest city in the world, and a major port. I impressed the captain of a ship called the Nightingale, and got a job cleaning. I visited many places and met spirits and elves and dwarves and the Incusai, who are very little and have beautiful wings in all sorts of colors, which usually match their skin."

"Mom and dad were turnip farmers. I was going to end up one, too, until I got magic."

"What happened when you got magic?"

"Witches are rich and powerful! The Baron gave mom her own plot of land and signed a release of serfdom for me."

"...And then the Demon War started right after that."

"I'm sorry. That must have been tough."

"...Don't wanna talk about it anymore."

"Okay. Do you want to talk about something else? I can tell you more about this realm."

"What was Khav- Khamar like?"

"Wondrous. Many of the gardens are open to anyone, and they all have fruit trees from many islands, and you can pick fruit to eat. Some of the trees are magical - one had flowers that glowed in a silvery light like the moon and fruits that taste like your favorite spice. No one in Khamar goes hungry for long, because there's always places to find food being given away, at the gardens and temples. And the paving stones are small, in either black and white, and the colors form patterns in the ground. Let's see... The university's main building has one of the grandest domes on the continent, and the walls of the interior are decorated with calligraphy. The queen also has a winter palace on a hill just outside the city, though I've never been in. It's all white, and the gates are covered in intricate carvings of flowers. What else... The people are rather like people everywhere, but there's plenty of kindness to be found, and in the summer there's a great festival nearly every ten-day. Oh, the market! The great market is in a grand building. It's never closed, and there's a stall selling musical instruments, and one selling pet birds, and another selling fine silks, and yet another selling books from every part of the realm - you can find just about anything there."

"Wooooow. Sound so pretty. What kind of money?"

"Thank you! We mostly use different types of silver coins. I have some with me if you want to see." She pulls a handful out of a pouch in her bag. They're all different sizes with different designs, but a commonly is calligraphy in the middle surrounded by stars and floral designs.

"We used copper and iron. Yealts's forge can melt it and turn it into tools, so a bunch of copper coins is worth one axe or whatever. Silver and gold is weird nobles' money."

"I think we used to have some copper coins, but silver's now pretty common."

"I think it'll be nice to see that city. Even if I can't go home yet." Yaaawn.

"I think it's about bedtime."

"Yeah. Chores first?"

"We just have to tidy up a bit, then pick out rooms."

Grenadine is methodical about cleaning up.

She holds on to her stick throughout, and really seems to enjoy the view once they're done.

"You're really good at cleaning! What sort of room do you want?"

"I don't care. Warm, I guess."