"I love it! It's the best place I've ever been, even counting Kar's island and that little town and your ship. It really needs the ability to control the weather, though, then I could stop worrying all the time."

"Oh, yeah, you haven't even seen a proper storm yet. Well, they're not fun, but if you're not in a ship they're not too dangerous."

"How soon should we expect one of those?"

"Four or five storms that really deserve the name per year, I think?"

"Probably no chance we can figure out weather control fast enough, then. Guess I'll get to see one firsthand soon. Well, you've lived through them, I guess I will too."

"Weather control is going to be a lot harder without a ready supply of mages. We don't have the stuff to affect that much air, really. Probably worth investing in weather-safety instead."

"I guess that makes sense. I read a little about that back on the ship but there's probably a lot more to it than I know yet."

"You've got time to learn. You're doing alright so far."

"There haven't been storms so far!"

They finish lunch, chatting.

...Nick is becoming friends with Valanda. He doesn't do friends, really, ever since the catastrophe that was him departing his old ship. Except, apparently, he does again now. Pretending turned so easily into not pretending.

Nick heads back to the workshop to set some more stuff up but wants to get away from these mushy feelings for a bit, and suggests that Valanda learn the city a bit more, relax, get used to freedom. As long as he doesn't do anything stupid or risky, that is.

Sounds like Nick wants to be rid of him for a little while. Well, that's reasonable, everyone wants some alone time sometimes. Valanda goes for a walk around the neighborhood to see what else there is nearby.

The restaurants and workshops and shops kind of blend in to each other a bit. As standout elements, there's a concert hall. There's a wide open aerial space lined with nets for some kind of flying sport. There's an art school.

A bit closer to the area where Nick has his workshop there's lots of places advertising 'great deals', low rates for services, and easy-to-get loans. The restaurants are street carts. There's a building advertising sex, alcohol, drugs, gambling, and 'any pleasure you could ask for, safe and legal'. People tend to walk around in groups here, not alone like in the more artsy places, and the fashion is different. It's an interesting contrast.

Well, he's not with a group, maybe he'll stand out less if he turns around and goes back. But making an abrupt about-face might make it clear he doesn't know where he's going and isn't expected anywhere.

He keeps moving forward, but looks for the next cross street to turn onto. Two rights will turn him around just as well but be less conspicuous.

One of the groups of people starts following him. All men, all armed. They're definitely paying too much attention to him. They follow both of his turns, getting steadily closer.

Then someone else sees this and crosses the street, hopping right over someone's food cart and eliciting a swear, comes up to him. She's dessed in the leathery, tough-looking clothes that are associated with sailors and the police, carrying at least one weapon on her belt.

"Hey, Ken! I was wondering where you'd got to!" She gets right up close to him in a quieter voice says, "Those guys are looking to kidnap and ransom you." Or worse but she doesn't mention the worse. "Act like you're my buddy and they'll fuck off. We'll walk to the police or to a nicer part of town, whatever you want, yeah? I have a reputation around here."

Or they could be working together to trick him into trusting this person, that's also a possibility.

"Hi there! Where've you been?"

"I've been taking a little vacation near the docks mostly."

She glances back towards the people following, makes eye contact, and waves while patting her belt knife. They hesitate.

"Police supervisor Mandez came to visit yesterday and we talked about recruiting more people and building another ship for the anti-pirate patrols."

The followers hesitate some more and start quietly arguing with each other.

"Well, that sounds like a lot of fun." If he heads back toward the restaurant will she follow? "If I didn't have the job I've got I'd want to be part of that."

"It's a pretty good job if you like the excitement. Of course, it also means there's a chance you'll get stabbed or shot down if you're not careful enough..."

She'll follow him. The other three will take the next time they turn as an excuse to stop following the pair.

"You'll clear the dangerous part of town if we just go up a few levels. You want me to show you to the police station? You might also wanna get a knife or something."

"...Oh, yeah, I don't look very lethal to people around here - I'm so used to everyone knowing I'd kill them if they gave me the slightest opening I completely forgot that no one here has any idea I'm... better in a fight than I look. I'll get a knife. Thanks so much!"

"Geez, where the hell did you grow up? I don't think they were gonna kill you no matter what happened. You're probably safe if you keep going from here without me, so I'll run off if you don't trust me either. And there's a police station two blocks ahead."

"Thanks! I'm not very worried about you if you feel like hanging around for a while, but don't let me keep you if you're busy!"

"I'm not busy at all. I am the opposite of busy. They're making me take a week off to 'rest up' and 'unwind'." Shrug. "Might as well use it to chat and make friends, yeah?"

"Yeah, friends are great. I met someone recently who thought friends were only worth their weight in gold, can you believe that?"

"I dunno, I can see how that much gold is pretty tempting... And some friends aren't very good at being friends..."

"...I'll just be glad none of my friends have the ability to turn me into a solid gold statue by magic, I guess. I wouldn't."