Alfonso did not get much farther when coming to the ferry docks. Instead, he found himself confronted by a squadron of three young men with slicked back hair and what their hair pulled back in what would have in Texas been called a rat tail. Each was dressed in the well woven but coarse linens that Alfie had seen among the majority of the people here in the Juren Wuting. They carried long daggers at their hips and outworlder or not, Alfie was not blind. They were gangsters, or at least wanna be gangsters.

“Yo! Brother Merchant! This Shui Shu is glad to see you!” spoke up the tall, slim, and sharp faced leader of the trio. His skin was lighter than the ferry folk and his clothes a little bit better than his followers. In his right ear there was a gold stud.

“This Alfonso Carter greets Shui Shu. How can I help you?” replied the Texan.

Despite flashing Shui Shu a friendly smile, Alfie was given a cocksure, almost mocking grin. Thumbing the side of his nose, Shui Shu tilted his head before speaking.

“Why by paying the toll, of course? Rich merchant like you? I bet you could do it without a problem. Six spirit foundation grade spirit coins or sixty gold should do it. Running these docks isn’t cheap, y’know.”

Alfie did know he’s seen plenty of gangster movies with Grandpa Charlie too, and if he gave money over now, he might lose it all later. Alfie wasn’t a fighter though, not really - and he didn’t want Odiseo fighting for him. Mama Alma would not be happy at all if Alfonso allowed her precious chihuahua to be dog-napped in a strange alternate world.

“No can do, friend.” Alfonso shot back, giving a gentle nod. “I’m on my way to collect the bounty for Ding Hui the Immortal and see the city. No way I’m paying that much in protection.”

They obviously didn’t believe him, as the trio bowled over with laughter at his words. They stayed that way for a full minute before Shui Shu righted himself.

“You? Beating Ding Hui? You and what army, fella? Get better tall tales if you’re trying to trick your way past a toll next time.”

“I’m not paying a toll. I’m just here to cook and sell my food.”

“Price just went up. Now it’s whatever you got on you.”

Then the gangster charged at him with that dagger drawn.

Before Shui Shu, or even Alfie, could realize it, the cook changed posture and demeanor. As the dagger slashed at him, Alfie leaned back at a nearly forty-five degree angle. In the same movement, Alfie hit Shui Shu’s knife arm in the wrist. As he brought himself back up milliseconds later, the young cultivating cook slammed an open palm into Shui Shu’s stomach and bowled him backwards into his fellows.

“No toll, your protection isn’t needed.” He said, breathing heavily at the action and the feeling of remorse part of him felt at using violence in such a way or so instinctively. He liked to cook, not to fight. He just sighed and kept pushing the cart and dirt bike towards the largest ferries.

It was there that he paid five silver coins and after some adjustments –for the ferry he was riding was made for wagons and horses, not motorcycles and wagons– they were off.

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Then Alfonso relaxed as best as he could, watching the ferry slowly being pushed down the river by poles and feeling Odiseo shiver. Mighty as he might be, chihuahuas were often afraid of water – and this was water that any dog short of a labrador retriever or Portuguese water dog might be afraid of testing their mettle in.

Not that his focus was on the river, or his dog necessarily. As they continued down the waterway, he saw a mountain dwarfing pyramid, and upon seeing it, he could not help but blurt out.

“What’s that? I was told the Town of Tuying Dieshui was built on a pyramid alongside the river… but that doesn’t look like a town.”

The ferry captain chuckled, all the while keeping up his poling. “That is Tuying Dieshui, though your friend may have been a little underselling in the word town. I think Tuying Dieshui may have a population comparable to cities outside of Juren Wuting, but I dunno. Pretty though, isn’t it?”

As they got closer, Alfonso noticed the rice paddies and small farms covering lower levels, with small clusters of buildings, villages, and what even looked like some small martial sects built on the stepped levels. Rivers and more washed down through canals and sluiceways, and the pyramid was so high the clouds obscured it.

On every level, little canal side districts of warehouses, docks, and manual powered cranes could be seen and if Alfonso had not already seen magic in play here, he might have been unable to look away.

“Tuying Dieshui, huh. A real big city, maybe bigger than any I’ve been back home.”

“Yep, it’s a nice place to live and work around, the Big Dumpling. Lord knows I’d never have made my living if it wasn’t for it.”

Alfonso flashed the man a smile.

“Are dumplings popular in the city?”

“Can’t go a tenth of a li in most parts without finding a dumpling stall.”

“I’ll have to try some then.”

“You should! But if you want to try the best in the city you’ve gotta go to Bao Xian.” The ferryman said before sniffing the air. “Though you’ll have to go to a bath house, definitely, first. They don’t tend to like people who spell like the road eating there. Even I have to clean up, and all I smell like is the river.”

***

So it continued for nearly an hour, with the ferry slowly inching forward, Alfonso and the Ferry’s captain conversing, and more details being visible. The fires of foundries, smithies, tanneries and more cottage industry could be seen on some of the outer step levels, and boats of all shapes and sizes could be seen going through canals in the steps themselves. And a series of waterfalls could be seen upon it all.

Alfonso was reminded of the kind of thing you’d see in a well made Wuxia film, mixed with Checen Itza and Machu Pichu all at once when looking at the sight of the pyramid, which he was increasingly not sure was built so much as carved and shaped. The waterfalls which flowed through the city and were mastered by canal locks and people pushing boats with poles made it also remind him of Venice.

So it would be an understatement to say that Alfonso was excited as he saw the city, and excited for the food he might try and ingredients he might find. As well as excited to introduce Chili Con Carne to the City of Tuying Dieshui.

***

Back in the village of Ferry Port Number Four, the place which Alfonso had just dealt with a bunch of gangsters, the likes of Shui Shu grimaced and reached for a slip of paper with specialized writing upon it. Closing his eyes, the gangster focused a bit of chi into the paper’s ritual spell and soon it was recording his voice.

“Boss, we’ve got another cultivator in town, a possible threat really. Some kind of strange cook. Paper should have a sketch of what he looks like, and I’ll head in to the Dumpling soon to report in. With respect, Shui Shu, out.”

Then the paper was folded into a paper crane and as soon as the last fold was placed it took off as if of its own accord, flying at a quick speed towards the City of Tuying Dieshui, and both the boss and the sworn brothers of Shui Shu, the River Rats Gang.