This isn't where Raafi went to sleep. He'd set his bedroll up on a comfy patch of moss under a tree, and now - he still has the bedroll, at least, and his pack, but the tree and moss are nowhere to be seen, replaced by a strange metal room with still, stuffy air and an implausibly clear night sky out the window.
"Hello?" he calls, getting to his feet.
"Clerics are generally people who find it very satisfying to do whatever they're a cleric of. This is certainly much farther from where I started than I ever expected to get but I've spent my whole life exploring new places, and getting to see how things are different from one place to another is one of my favorite things in the world. And being a cleric means I'm much more able to do that - I don't have to worry about supporting myself, or explaining to people how important it is to me, or wandering into someplace dangerous and not being able to get back out, or any of that."
"I barely remember having to worry about supporting myself."
"I suppose not. For those of us who still need to eat and sleep it's a big deal."
"Oh, I know. Even we like eating and sleeping. We used to have such a time getting people to go in together on spending train space on reusable public goods and not chocolate and stuff but now everybody's stuffing themselves."
"Hasn't got much to do with traveling."
"Yes it does! Bringing new things and ideas and resources from one place to another is one of the most important things travel is for!"
"Oh, I thought you were just, like, into tourism."
"Oh, no, no. I mean, I am, certainly, but being a cleric of Fharlanghn doesn't end there by any means. Helping other people travel is also a huge part of it, in all sorts of circumstances, everything from offering advice and assistance to people we meet on the road and guarding trade caravans to negotiating for travel-friendly laws and helping people escape wars and things."
"And that's fun?"
"It turns out I'm not suited for high-pressure diplomacy, and I wouldn't describe anything to do with war as fun, but they're at very least satisfying, yes."
"Huh. Well, where will I find you when you're ready to take me to Mars?"
"Sure. When exactly?"
He gets out his phone and shows her its clock, currently reading 11:43 am. "Seven or eight tomorrow morning at the earliest; I don't mind waiting if you'd rather go later."
She figures out the conversion to Limbo time and agrees that eight his time will be fine.
"At the building where you met me."
"See you then, then. And thank you."
And now he has a Limbo city to wander around in and take pictures of for the rest of the day.
The Limbo city is made out of train cars and mud and the castoffs from relatively modern Things. Absolutely staggering numbers of languages and their creoles are spoken. There aren't that many children, but he can spot a couple. It's incredibly devoid of plants apart from a small handful of large healthy trees, mostly fruit and nut, scattered around the city, buildings placed around them rather than them placed between buildings; he can also spy a few potted plants on roofs but none on the street where passersby could damage them. Some of it is wired for electricity; people are working on getting more of it that way. Some people have bikes. There's lots of live performance art in dugout amphitheaters; there are, for a city of this size and density, a lot of big open gathering squares where people are trading or having social dances or throwing parties to celebrate all the food they have now.
He takes lots of pictures, and sits in on some performances, and joins in the dancing, and when it starts to get late he hits the demons up for a couple of dinners and teleports out to see his alt and catch him up on everything that's been going on.
The demons are not doing individual dinners but he can get a lunchbox! They're handing out lunchboxes in huge quantities; the boxes themselves are nice stackable resin drawers lined with compostable parchment paper you're supposed to drop in a specific bin when you're done eating and you can keep the box or donate it.
Well, he'll take two, anyway, and has a lovely evening with his local counterpart.
He's back right on schedule the next morning.
Jian meets him there, munching a breakfast box courtesy of the demons!
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