After having made a little sweep of the immediate area in order to see if they could catch whatever had spied on them, Saga and Sasha made their way back into the city by lunchtime. At this point they were mostly motivated to move on by the need to eat something. Especially Saga, who found themselves to have a far greater appetite than before they came to this world. They wondered if it had to do with their new, powerful frame or simply just a result of moving about so much. For all their newfound powers it seemed they were still a slave to their basic biological functions such as eating. Luckily for them, Sasha knew more than a few places where they could sate their hunger.

One such place was a little hole-in-the-wall bakery and diner.

It was a literal hole in the wall. It was situated just by the Inner walls, not too far from the gate that led into the inner part of the city. Here a part of the wall had been repaired and remade, leaving a once large tower little more than a ruin as a new, better tower was erected next to it. Saga was delighted to see that someone had taken the tower ruin and restored part of it into a small, two-floor building where the lower part was a kitchen that served the same sausage wrapped in bread that they had eaten just that morning. The chef was a young, female hobgoblin who seemed to be an expert in making bread-based food judging by the smell of the place. It was therefore an absolute joy for Saga to realize this particular baker and chef also made pizzas.

“No way.” Saga almost salivated at the sight of the flattened bread. It seemed that whatever style the hobgoblin used for their version of the flat, delicious bread was similar to that pan pizza rather than the flat and thin ones that Saga was used to. But, pizza was pizza or in this case; Plate-Bread. It seemed that the locals have a very practical and pragmatic view on how to name new cuisine, and since they felt it looked like a plate made out of bread, they had simply named it as such.

Once Saga's grumbling stomach had been tended to, the two-headed back for Attrids estate again. Saga's mind continued to wonder, fueled by delicious food that reminded them of home. They knew there had been others from their world, as well as others. They regretted never talking to Karn about his wife back at Hemgård. She had apparently been from their world and Saga had so many questions to ask him. They resolved to make sure they at least go back north to talk to him, even though they much preferred the somewhat milder climate around Aleport. It did bring to mind something else, however.

“Sasha?“ They turned to the ax-dancer who was in her lost in her own thoughts, staring up into the sky while they walked down a busy road. Their voice seemed to have pulled her out of some rather intense pondering because she seemed almost confused for a second.

“Hm? What is it?” She asked, blinking. Saga wondered exactly what had occupied her thoughts to such a degree. Saga seemed to take things as they came and over the past month, it wasn't often Saga caught her so deeply occupied with her thoughts.

“Have you ever met another reincarnated? That's what I am right?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Aye. That’s what the Goddess of Death, as well as the Goddess of Life, calls it.” Sasha confirmed

“So? Have you?” They enquired again. Curious to know more. If there were others like them, they wanted to see if they could meet them. This world was great, it had such wonders. But it'd be nice to meet someone who may have been just as lost as they currently felt.

“Met one? Yes. Once. He was from a different world from yours, I think. At least he dressed a lot differently and had a pair of red goat horns. He was a merchant.”

“Oh. I think I heard of him, yeah. I think Vetra spoke of him.”

“ That is a different one. The one I am talking about is dead.”

“Dead?” Saga raised an eyebrow. Hearing that one of the few reincarnated Sasha had met was no longer with them wasn't exactly the news they had hoped for. As if she realized the implications of her words, Sasha was quick to explain. The picture she painted of the guy was anything but flattering.

“He was a swindler. A traveling merchant who used incomplete knowledge from his world to make medicine that didn’t work. One day his concoctions killed someone's kid. And the local Alchemist guild sent a warrant for him to be brought to justice over it.” Sasha explained as they passed by some haggling, sun-elves who were dressed in extremely expensive-looking fur clothes and a very frustrated looking merchant who was not having. Some things didn't change from world to world. There would always be rich people who refused to pay what the wares were worth despite having more money than they knew what to do with.

“So he sold someone bad medicine and got a kid killed. Did someone kill him for it?” Saga asked, eyes wide. They had an idea that justice was likely swifter and harsher here but it was still a bit of a culture shock, to say the least.

“Not exactly. He tried to make a run for it, stole a boat, and sailed out into the frothing seas right as a storm hit. We found his body at the beach not a day later, drowned.”

“Damn. Karma huh?”

“What is karma?”

“It’s something of spiritual concept? It’s originally part of some belief systems, but it kind of became something everyone said.” Saga tried to explain, seeing the slight confusion on Sasha's face. To some of those from a magic world, it seemed that spiritual concepts made no sense in a world void of magic. “Kind of like ‘What goes around, comes around?’”

“A sort of predetermined retribution?” Sasha pondered, tapping her chin in thought like she always did.

“Yeah.” Sasha nodded.

“Interesting. Then yes. Like karma. I quite like that idea.”

“Nothing like karma here?”

“In a way. I guess there is. In the north, blood is often paid with blood. Be it yours or someone else's. If you hurt too many, someone will come to collect eventually. ”

“That’s just people. Back home. My old home. The place I lived in used to be similar to here. But this was like a thousand years back. We had something called ‘Bloods reverence. That if you killed someone's family, they by law could kill you.”

“Similar events happen here. But it's a lot really in our laws. It sounds like a good way to start a feud.”

“It was, I am sure it cost an entire village's worth of people at one point,” Sasha said, remembering hearing about it in history class. About how blood vendettas in the old north could grow very intense and bloody.

“My mother used to say something in regards to vengeance.” Sasha tapped her chin as she often did when deep into her recollection of memories. “Mortal men often toil bloody ground, unable to understand the seeds are for their children to reap, not themselves.”

“Oh. That is very poignant.”

“She was full of those. Always looking ahead. Always looking to the future” Sasha said with a smile on her face.

“Unfortunately you got stuck with me as I can barely see past the next day.” Saga grinned at Sasha as they pulled her in closer. Sasha laughed and rolled her eyes, the two in good spirits as they headed back towards the Attrid estate.