“You’d tell me if you got us lost, wouldn’t you?” They had been walking for almost half an hour and hadn’t really gotten noticeably closer to any of the monolithic sandstone palaces. The city must have been huge. The palaces themselves must have been even larger than he’d thought. He wondered who could possibly live in them.

‘I would, but my memory makes it really easy to retrace our steps, even if we somehow did.’

Cael really didn’t want to do that. He was already unbearably sweaty and uncomfortable. Having to walk all that way again would be unfortunate, but he trusted Tar to give him directions.

“How are you even remembering all of this?”

‘I drew a map in the mud of your soulscape.’

“Huh.” He turned his head to regard the cat critically, “Isn’t that cheating?”

‘Do you want to be lost?’

“Good point.” Cael wasn’t sure if Tar was making a point or a threat. “So, according to this mud map, how close are we?”

‘Well, it’s that one, so I’d say pretty close.’ The elemental made a building flash in Cael’s vision.

“Please don't do that. It makes it really hard to take this seriously.” He wandered up to the door and looked for the doorbell. He didn’t think it was a business, but it would be embarrassing to just walk into a stranger’s house without getting permission first. Definitely rude too.

There wasn’t any noticeable doorbell or knocker, but that still didn’t rule out the possibility that this was a home.

Having walked through the city for a while, Cael felt quite confident in claiming that the multicolored flags denoted the purpose of a building.

Each of the buildings had its own pair of flags. Kind of.

In addition to their district's colors, each building was accessorized with a pair of flags.

Specifically flags of two colors. It was kind of weird and sometimes resulted in disgusting combinations, like a building in the red-and-orange district with black and green flags hanging on strings all over their sandstone walls. It might have looked fine if there weren’t hundreds of these flags for seemingly no reason.

The buildings of the shopping district they had passed through had all sported a white flag and then another more colorful flag beside it. There didn’t seem to be any definite pattern for the colorful flags. Cael thought the businesses with cool-colored flags might have had more customers, but he couldn’t confirm that without seeing more.

It definitely didn’t have anything to do with the purpose of the building. They’d passed through a cluster of restaurants and their flag colors were as diverse as the many species he saw wandering the city.

Cael was maybe a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of species being represented.

Tar had made a comment about it being a ‘changeling buffet’, and no, Cael hadn’t dignified that with a comment, but he was hungry after being reminded of food.

Tar advised him to ask the person they were meeting for recommendations for where to eat. Having seen some of the things being served, Cael had to agree. He was pretty sure he had seen a massive eyeball bisected on a plate at one point.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Right, back on topic.

Each of the businesses had a white flag. In addition, Cael was pretty sure the buildings marked with black flags were private properties, or at least he didn’t see many people entering them. Certainly, there were no bright banners to entice him toward their doors.

The (possible) home he was standing outside of at the moment had a single pair of flags. One black accompanied by a deep purple flag with a gold trim. The metallic borders seemed to be exclusive to the purple flags. For what reason, he had no idea.

“You’re sure this is the place?”

‘Yeah.’ It was a corner house on its block, so Cael figured Tar had this. Still, it didn’t hurt to check one last time. And this way, if it was wrong, he could blame the cat.

’I heard that.’

Cael knocked because there was no doorbell.

“Who are we expecting to open this door?” Cael had forgotten to ask while they were walking. He’d been more focused on looking around and trying not to run into any criminals. So far, his track record was pretty awful. He’d only made it to one place in a city without encountering criminal activity, and that had been when four over-leveled officers had been walking with him.

He was hesitant to count this as a successful trip quite yet. After all, he could still be grabbed before the door opened, and if Tar had brought him to the wrong place, then anything could still happen.

‘It should be either an Oscar or a Layla.’

Cael paused mid-sip, “Seriously?”

‘It’s what I have written down.’

“Right. Those are the names you scribbled in the mud.” Cael didn’t bother hiding the doubt in his voice. It wouldn’t have done him any good to try. Tar could still read his mind.

‘I’m not sure I like your tone.’

“I’m not sure I like your method of note-taking.”

The door swung inward to reveal a tall lady. Cael was suddenly reminded of just how sweaty he was. Surely there was something to be said for making good first impressions, but he couldn’t remember at the moment.

The woman—Layla, presumably—was a member of a tall species. Both of her faces were quite pretty. Yeah, she had two of them. They overlapped in the middle like a Venn diagram. The result was that she had three eyes and two noses. Her lips were joined at the corners, and he could only imagine what the teeth situation was.

“How do you chew? Whoops looks like the potion is still going. I didn’t mean to ask that.” Tar shut him up before he could further ruin this first impression.

“You’re not one of mine.” She said confidently after a long moment of staring at him. “You must be here for Oscar.”

‘Well, we’re technically here for Layla, but Mercy said Oscar was also good.’

“Then would you like to speak to both of us at once?” She offered.

‘You can hear me.’ Tar confirmed. Cael detected a slight hiss at the end. Almost like a real cat.

“Yes. You both project your thoughts very openly.” She stepped to the side and beckoned them inside, “Please, come inside.”

Cael could feel Tar’s unease through the bond as the elemental covered the soul window. A line of comforting coolness washed down his back.

‘What’s up?’ Cael didn’t like seeing Tar so tense.

‘She’s dangerous, and it’s a bit irrational, but I don’t like that she can hear me. It means I have to cut down on the sarcasm.’

‘You don’t have to.’ Cael pointed out.

‘It’s polite.’ Tar sat down regally in his customary place on Cael’s shoulder.

Cael waited for Tar to settle before following Layla into the house. It was nice of her to wait for them.

Congratulations, you have gained a [Skill].

[Heat Tolerance] has been added to your [General Skill List].

Huh. Well, that would have been nicer to have half an hour ago, but Cael supposed it was better late than never.