The train was scheduled to depart in under half an hour, and would run almost continuously throughout the three-and-a-half days until their arrival in the City of Aemonsford. Avakian was currently reading a printed brochure outlining the many attractions and peculiarities of their destination, including a history of the city.
Apparently it was named after the man who first settled the 74th Fold, Aemon Lucius, a noble of the Higher Folds who left high society to form a new civilisation with a more progressive outlook. From humble beginnings the city grew to become particularly wealthy, due to their willingness to trade with the Inner Folds - which were largely embargoed by the Outer and Higher Folds.
---
The days rolled by leisurely and intrepidly, the landscape visible from Avakian's window changing as they went; hills and forests giving way to pastures and denser, more populated towns. It appeared the locomotive was more of a novelty than Avakian had anticipated, the passengers aboard the train were scant compared to the number of farmers and tradesmen travelling by road.
Eventually he spotted what looked like the outer edge of their destination; buildings of biblical proportions that looked to be each crafted from a singular smoothed stone. As they journeyed through the city Avakian took note of their surroundings; most of the buildings appeared to be designed by one person, and all had a minimalist yet aesthetic feel to them.
"What you see there is the work of Aemon's third-born grandson; Carnelian Lucius." Explained Andy, "Carnelian designed the buildings, the infrastructure and the public services for Aemonsford. He then hired geomancers from the Inner Folds to build and consolidate it for him. You won't find any other city in the Outer or Higher Folds like it here."
Andy and Avakian disembarked the train and left the station into the city proper, their destination being the registrar's office. Aemonsford was far from any actual conflict, the process of entering the city was very straightforward, but Avakian required a citizenship in order to study, work or hold assets in the city.
The centre of the city was awash with many different flavours of people; the young, the old, the crippled, and the vigor. Avakian even noted those with features that visibly departed from the human genome, a shirtless man with bright-red skin, and another woman with what looked like a prehensile tail.
As they wandered, Avakian begun to query Andy about the many outlets and shops they passed, doing his best to memorise the information in the case he may need it. Most of the stores in the centre seemed to be leisure facilities; bars and restaurants, but as they neared the registrar's things got more utilitarian. He noticed shops selling everything from firearms and clothes, to books and food; there was even one shop called "Mike's Mystical Implements".
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"Don't go in there Avakian." Andy sighed. "It's a tourist trap designed to syphon money from rich High Folders. Any real 'Mystical Implements' you find in there will be mass-produced crap made in a hithwanese slum by indentured orphans."
"Are they allowed to do that? Indenture children I mean."
"Not strictly no." He winced and made a wavering gesture with his hand. "But as you descend closer to the centre of the World, laws and morals start to have less hold over people. Those old bastards are more concerned with what they can do, than what they should."
---
He ruminated on this as they walked into the office as they walked into the office and started explaining his circumstances to the receptionist, a younger woman with curly hair and a pair of crystal earrings.
There were a few different forms he had to sign explaining how he arrived in the 74th Fold; and to his immense surprise his arrival in a "mysterious pod" was not given much scrutiny. Apparently spatial and temporal anomalies have a tendency to spit people out near the 74th Fold, so his situation had some precedent.
Afterwards he was subject to a litany of tests and exams, some of which he questioned the purpose of; why the city of Aemonsford needed to know his exact number of teeth was beyond his ken. He also took the sapience test Andy mentioned in Burford, which he was pretty sure he scored perfectly on.
For the last test he was taken into a sterile looking room filled with medical apparati, where various tissue samples were taken.
Making his way back over to the waiting room he saw Andy, complaining about a drink he appeared to have brought from a vending machine to the exceptionally uninterested receptionist.
"-nd just look at the sugar content in this thing! Not sure how you young folk stomach this, Ah! Avakian, finished already?"
"Indeed! All my teeth have been accounted for and I have hopefully not been deemed a threat to society as a whole." He said cheerfully, as the two waited for his results, Andy continuing his tirade against drinks manufacturers and something about 'E-numbers'.
---
Eventually his results did come through, cutting Andy's monologuing short, he was handed an envelope containing his citizenship papers, and an identification card, which read as follows:
NAME: Avakian Gray
DOB: 12/08/7022 SE
SPECIES: Undetermined
GENDER: Male
SOMATIC VOID ETCHINGS: Few to none
"Somatic void etchings?" He asked the receptionist upon opening his package and seeing it on his ID.
"Don't worry about that too much; just something that has to be declared if present."
"But what exactly are they?"
The receptionist was unable to give him a satisfactory answer in the end, but recommended a few books that could help. Avakian decided to look into them whenever he was next in a library or archive.