The rear door of the carriage didn’t fit quite as well, but Uncle Nathan had bent it mostly back into shape. The wood was ruined, but the sheet of metal within was enough for a couple of hours of travel.

“I’m sorry the bear guy got on top of you,” Toby said to Saul when the carriage had been bumping down the road for a while. “I fight best in open spaces where I can build up momentum.”

“Now you know something you need to practice,” Nathan added, “I wasn’t expecting someone only at maybe mid-mist to get up that quickly from a shattered jaw. How does that transformation work, Saul?”

“A Barbarian’s capstone is almost always a transformation like that,” Saul explained, “but the details vary depending on how specialized they are. The basic expectation for a fully combat specialized Barbarian is a visible, physical transformation that increases the effect of all of their abilities, boosts their strength, and reduces harm that is inflicted on them. It usually can’t be used more than twice a day at mist.”

“So the healing means he was a generalist like me?” Toby asked, “if having abilities in another area can add combat effects to the transformation like that, why wouldn’t they all do that?”

“I assume your capstone has an element of that as well,” Saul said, “but the lack of focus on one area means that the second effect comes at the cost of both being weaker than either alone. It’s the same thing here. He was easier to cut than he probably would have been otherwise.”

“You’re not wrong about mine, but it’s more complex than that.” Toby disagreed, “if the effects synergize with each other, it can make up the difference. In bear guy’s case, even if he had been tougher, Nathaniel would still have dropped him. The healing effect let him keep going after.”

“Perhaps. Ultimately, this is just a narrower version of the debate about the merits of generalism versus specialization.”

“Yeah, actually, why are you arguing for specialization? Aren’t you trying to be some kind of supreme generalist?”

“That’s a bit of an oversimplification,” Saul protested, “but I can see why you would think that. It’s more like I want to specialize, at least partially, in versatile powers. I’ll probably do a two-one split like you.”

“Oh, what would the second focus be?”

“I’ll have a simple icon, which isn’t good for much, but does have a defined role in operator training.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Toby said, “supplement yourself with artifacts you can use to full effect.”

They reached Tribridge late at night, politely declined waking the whole keep up for a meal, and spent the night much like the previous, though Nathan showed himself this time and took the nicest guest rooms.

They were welcomed with a morning banquet when they woke up, while the door of the carriage was repaired. Nathan did his best to spoil House Winnell’s reputation, waxing poetically about their poor moral character and explaining the two attacks. He even presented one of the confessions as proof.

They didn’t get going until almost noon, the rear door once again in full working order, though it didn’t exactly look like new. When they were on the road again, Uncle Nathan presented a map and a plan to Saul and Toby.

“We’re currently here, I’m thinking, we go even later tonight to get to this town,” he said, indicating a settlement near the edge of both the Ruxlyn Viscounty and the Enchre March itself.

“Ok, sure, but why?” Saul asked.

“There’s no particular reason to stop in Ruxlyn itself, and if we go past it, we can then pass through Royal Baron Oless’ land the next morning and reach Chelou in the early afternoon, with plenty of daylight for me to show you a few things before I have to leave.”

“That sounds good.”

“Now, that will mean a couple late nights in a row for the hard working woman driving the carriage, so you should probably stay at least two full days in Chelou to let her get some rest,” Nathan cautioned with a grin.

“Thank you, my lord,” Ziba said with a seated bow.

The next day, they reached the far edge of the Royal Barrony, and of the kingdom itself, and were stopped by surly guards. When Nathaniel Ficial popped out of the carriage with a gleaming smile, they were immediately waved through and the guards went back to menacing the next merchant trying to leave the country.

“What did you do to them?” Saul asked an amused Nathan.

“Nothing,” he replied from the floor, “I pass through just often enough that I took the time to get to know most of them. The guards aren’t so bad, it’s the Royal Baron you have to watch out for. There’s a reason I didn’t want to stay there.”

There was a long pause.

“Wait a minute!” Nathan exclaimed, springing up to a crouch so he wouldn’t hit his head, “why are you all still sitting in here? You’re in another territory! Come on everyone, up to the roof!”

He herded Saul and Toby up the ladder, Bart following right after. This was the first time Saul had tried to sit on the roof, and he found the challenges it presented to be something of an inverse of the sitting area inside. He had plenty of space for his head to stand and even wave his arms around, but the bench seating was very low. He ended up kneeling and putting his elbows on the railing to look around.

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The environment wasn’t significantly different from what he was used to, but he also didn’t leave the city much, so it still held some novelty. The region was a temperate coastal plain, though that would change as they moved further north. They were already much farther from the ocean, the air not having much saltiness to it. The path of the road was the biggest change; it was much curvier, going around wet swampy parts of the land. They had crossed at least a couple dozen bridges in the kingdom, keeping the route relatively straight. Now, they wove back and forth in arcs between water, hills, and small copses of pines.

The day was cool and overcast, the air still and relatively quiet. It was still too early in spring for most animals to be particularly active. Even the horse’s footfalls didn’t make that much noise as they thudded into packed earth and stone. Saul looked down at the horse, which seemed almost comically small in front of the large carriage it was pulling. Its coat had swirling shades of light and dark gray with splotches of black mostly around the neck.

“Aha! There it is!” Uncle Nathan proclaimed, gesturing ahead and to the right.

Saul followed the finger and saw buildings in the distance. As he squinted to get a better view, his first sight of an elven city was…underwhelming. It was a relatively large sprawl of buildings compared to the towns they had passed through, but smaller than the city of Enchre. It also didn’t look that different. Mostly one or two story buildings of stone and clay. Perhaps there were a few more wood buildings than usual, nearly all of the native pines in the March having been cut down long ago.

“It doesn’t look that different.” Toby said after standing to get a better look. Both he and Uncle Nathan had no difficulty balancing atop the moving carriage.

“Well, most of the inhabitants aren’t full elves.” Nathan replied, “you’d notice more of a difference at night, but even so they’re not that different from us.”

“I guess all of the mixed race people live on this side of the border because of the laws against them in Oriawell?”

“Eh, there were probably a couple quarter-elves in that last town we stayed in. The legal restrictions only really affect the rich and influential ones.”

“Really?” Toby said, “I didn’t notice them at all.”

“You’ll see.”

When they reached the outskirts of the small city, Saul and Toby paid attention to the people they could see. Saul had read that quarter-elves at least were difficult to tell apart from humans, and he was indeed having no luck identifying any differences.

After a short while, they reached a break in the small homes and shops where a large lot spread around the road, with a small stone tower to the left. They were almost stopped by three people in uniform, but they saw Uncle Nathan and started to wave them past.

“Dinah, pull off for the nice guards!” Nathan called down to her, then jumped off the roof and walked over to them.

When they had pulled off into the lot, Uncle Nathan was waving them over. Toby also jumped off the roof, at least having the decency to need a roll to break the fall. Saul and Bart climbed down into the carriage to use the door.

“We should practice using Buffer to slow fall,” Saul remarked to Bart. “If I’m close enough to you, it should work for both of us. Could be useful.”

They exited the carriage to join the others, Uncle Nathan grabbing Saul around the shoulders and pulling him forward.

“And this is my nephew, Saul!”

“Hello,” Saul said, looking at the guards awkwardly. He knew what the etiquette probably was here, but wasn’t comfortable initiating.

Uncle Nathan helpfully grabbed his right arm and proffered it, and the guard in the middle put out her own hand, clasping his and shaking it up and down with a slight smile. She was about the same height as Saul with a slight build, fair skin, blue eyes, light brown hair, and slightly tapered ears that didn’t poke very far out from her head.

“Ah, apologies,” Saul said, realizing he had been noticeably scrutinizing her appearance. “I haven’t seen anyone part elf before, to my knowledge. I’ve been trying to spot any differences as we’ve passed through the city.”

“That’s not uncommon,” she replied with a dismissive wave, “but this is where the city itself begins. The people you were passing before were pretty much all humans. Didn’t your Uncle tell you?”

“Oops.” Uncle Nathan said unconvincingly, “Saul, there’s a small human slum on the western outskirts of Chelou. Anyway, madame, would you be so kind as to give my nephew the full talking to?”

“The outer human suburb is not a slum,” the guard corrected, joining Saul in scowling slightly at Nathan. “But very well. Welcome to Chelou. Past this guard station, you will enter the city proper. This area is the human trading district with shops, taverns, and inns that are run by quarter-elves that do not mind your presence. You are welcome to stay for a month or so, but humans are not allowed to take up permanent residence in the city. That time limit is not strictly enforced, so if you can afford to stay in a series of inns in the trading district, you are welcome to.

“You are allowed to leave the human trading district, but outside of it, you may not stay overnight, and any business has the right to refuse you entry or to ask you to leave if the other patrons are not comfortable with your presence. On that note, I will warn you that even some of the more accepting places will probably refuse your bodyguard there entry.”

“Bart?” Saul asked, glancing back at the man, “Why?”

“To be frank, he is unpleasant even for a human.” She stated.

“Bart, take a step back.” Uncle Nathan told the man, who paused uncertainly for a moment before complying.

“Thank you,” she said, swallowing oddly. The guard then looked at Saul right in front of her with a slight frown. “Young man, Saul was it, will you please come over here for a moment.”

Uncle Nathan looked curious, but indicated for Saul to follow. Bart tried to follow as well, but was stopped. The woman and one of the other guards led Saul some distance from the group. They stopped near the stone tower that seemed to be the guard station.

“Andre?” the female guard asked the male guard.

“Yeah. Is this far enough?”

“Can your uncle hear us talking here?” she asked Saul quietly.

“Probably not?” he replied, slightly concerned. “What did he do?”

“What? Nothing.” She said, then thought for a moment, “actually, he’s broken a few rules over the years, but he's probably the most popular human in the city. No, this is about you. Are you in need of asylum or other assistance?”

“N—” Saul paused. “Why do you ask?” he asked carefully.

“We know that only ‘pure’ humans are allowed to be nobles,” Andre said kindly, “and you aren’t human. It doesn’t matter if you’re part elf or something else, we can help you.”

There was a very long pause.