Meera felt like a new woman in her new clothes. It was like she finally belonged to Rhione. Her clothes mainly consisted of a dark olive shirt and dark pants. Silas had given her, Cossus' leather armor, which he had somehow outfitted to her size. He had to shave off quite a bit, but it sold the look of an adventurer.

She appreciated how much it must have taken for him to give away the final memento of his brother. She planned on giving it back once they separated ways. Another thing she was not looking forward to. But she was looking forward to finally getting to Belacre and beginning her search.

They must've passed through the fifteenth farm. They all grew wheat or barley, or corn. Some had farmhouses on the land, while others did not. The way Meera saw it, if you've seen one farm, you've seen them all. Her family, or rather she and Neel, owned the deed of many farms back home. They had been in the family for generations.

She activated Eagle Eyes to get more details on Belacre. The houses were painted with various designs, some floral, some had men and women slaying monsters. Then there was a man in golden armor battling a white dragon. Their paint was brighter than the others, which meant they were recently painted.

She didn't need to ask Silas what that meant or who the golden warrior was. Seeing this wrenched her heart. How could his myth have spread so far that people painted it on their walls?

No matter how much time had passed for these folks but for her, not more than a week had passed since she had seen him.

"Meera, we're almost there," Silas said, drawing her attention. "Let's repeat our story."

"My name is Meera. I am a hunter, or at least trying to be one. I met you in the forest as I was practicing hunting Nightcrawler Monkeys. I joined you and your brother and helped you bring down the Alpha."

"Good. Let's hope they believe that, given your Reflector tag."

"What should I say if they ask its meaning?"

"Say it's because of your class which is geared towards reflecting images from a mirror onto real life, that you were forced to work for some sorceress. You ran from her because you couldn't take it, and for your safety, you will not reveal the sorceress' name."

Meera was impressed. "That's a good one."

"And I didn't even come up with that."

She frowned, confused for a moment. "Oh, interrogator, right."

"Oh, and one last thing, my name is Nestor from here on out. That's what I go by in this place."

Meera nodded, and they moved along. It wasn't long till they reached the village. The sun shone high in the sky, but the shadow of Mirithia was vast this day. The more she stayed here, the more she wanted to learn about the astronomy of the place.

They were about to walk in when an intense glare like a lens flare stopped her. She snapped her neck toward it and found a big oval mirror with a simple metal border in the road. She would have bet her money that this was an exact copy of the gateway mirror she had come through.

Meera pulled Silas' cloak. "Why is that mirror there?"

Silas frowned, looked around, and said, "Later."

The village was what Meera expected. Common country folk were the same, no matter which planet or culture they belonged to. They wore simple clothes, primarily shades of white or grey, and tied them at the waist with a rope belt and similar colored pants. For the women, they wore what Meera would best describe as old-school dresses somewhat. They were again of a similar color and material as the men, but women had the odd flower or roses sewn into theirs. The skirts went below their ankles, dusting the ground as they walked.

Meera had so many questions, but she kept her mouth shut and followed behind Silas and tried to imitate him as best as she could, despite wanting to run and hide on account of all the eyes on her.

The village wasn't huge by any account—barely three streets to it, if not less. Silas led them to the inn with a sign that read Inn at World's End. With a start, she realized she could read the language, even though the letters were not in any language she knew, and she knew three.

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They entered the primarily empty inn, but a handful of older people were sitting about enjoying an afternoon drink. Everyone seemed to be local. They all dropped their mugs to stare, more particularly at Meera. She got the urge to duck behind one of the tables.

Silas went straight to Innkeeper, an older man in his late forties or early fifties, who stood behind the bar and was missing most of his front teeth. He really should have flossed.

"Hey Nestor, you've been gone a long time," the Innkeeper said.

"Hey, Lanis." Silas shook his hand. "I've just been stuck in the Roth's Forest, cleaning up the monkeys."

"Those bastards needed culling. Hope you got them good." He frowned. "By the way, where's Dion?"

Silas' head fell. "He didn't make it."

Lanis' eyes widened. "May Mirithia guide him home. It's a dangerous business you boys are in, but by the gods, we are thankful for ye. We will raise a toast in his honor in the coming celebrations."

"Celebrations?"

"Don't ya know? You came back just in time. Tomorrow is the six-month anniversary of the Champion's coming. After all, this is the first place of civilization he deigned to visit, so we throw a feast in his coming every month."

"I see...No wonder the village was busier than usual. In that case, I'll need a room for the night," Silas said. "Two rooms, if possible."

"Why two?" Lanis finally noticed her. "Who's the lass?"

"She's Meera. We ran into her in the forest. She's trying her hand at being a hunter. Helped me bring down the big one after Dion fell."

Lanis beamed at her. "If you two brought down the big one, you stay free. Though, I only have one room. Folks from the other villages around our already stopping by for the celebrations."

Silas looked to Meera. "One room is fine. Please give it to her. I'll sleep under the stairs."

Lanis laughed. "Yes, sure you will. I'll find you another room. Even if I kick someone out."

After that, Lanis had one of his errand boys show them to Meera's room. The boy talked too much and kept throwing glances her way. That was another question she wanted to ask Silas. Why did these people stare so much? Had they not seen a woman Hunter before?

The boy finally left when Silas dropped two bronze coins in his hands. Silas shut the door, and Meera launched her barrage of questions.

"Okay, so first off, what was that mirror? It looks like the exact one I came through. Second, celebrations? For the arrival of the Champion? What's going on here? Third, where is the washroom? I really need to go. But not so much that I cannot wait for you to answer my questions."

Silas laughed for the first time since Cossus' passing. It was a good sound. She didn't think he would ever laugh again.

"Is that it?" he asked, calming down.

"For now."

"Let me answer your questions in order. The mirror that you saw is called a Gateway Mirror. They're all over the three worlds. It's how people get around. Wherever you want to go, you step in, and you're there. Provided you've touched the mirror of your destination."

Meera scratched her head. "Wait, what?"

"Okay, say you want to go to Gethys. As long as you've touched a mirror in Gethys, you can walk in Belacre's mirror and get out of that mirror in Gethys. It's a way of traveling faster and how we travel between the worlds."

"But I haven't touched any mirror in Gethys. How will I ever travel there?"

He smiled. "Smart. Then you will have to go to a World Mirror. You can find one in Stagford or another in Rockholde, and there are a few others. You can find them in any big city. You touch the mirror, think of where you want to go, and depending on the distance you want to travel, you will have to expend that much Mana. The longer the distance, the more Mana it will require."

Meera frowned. If I'm correct, it sounds like a fast-travel system, like in RPG games. She wasn't foreign to all the concepts in those games.

"So, for me to travel to another city, I will have to touch the mirror of that city."

"That's right."

"But why more, Mana? Shouldn't it be just a regular fee?"

"It's about the number of jumps you're making. All these mirrors are connected to one another. So, when you jump from one to the next, even though you won't see them, you're touching many more mirrors before coming out on the other end. Hence, more Mana cost."

"This is confusing."

Silas chuckled. "Yes, I can see that. I'll show you how it works on the village mirror. Also, one other thing, it's cheaper to travel off-world from a World mirror. You can still do it from this village's mirror, but it would be way more costly. It's easier to hop to one of the big cities and use the World Mirrors."

"Does the mirror tell me how much Mana I will use?"

"Yes, it will, and even which mirrors you will touch."

"O-Okay." Even though it was not mostly okay. A lot of this was confusing, but she felt like she had gotten the gist of it and hoped that it made more sense when Silas showed it to her.

"As for the celebrations, a bunch of villages around here come to Belacre and celebrate the coming of the Champion. It's nothing too fancy but still something to be enjoyed. You'll see. And lastly, there's not a washroom." He pointed to the cordoned-off section of the room where a divider separated it from the rest of the room. "Behind there, you'll find a bathtub, so you can finally get that bath you've been wanting, and you'll find a chamber pot, for you know, to do your business."

She wanted to ask about toilets but felt that would be too much to ask in this world. So, she nodded and thanked Silas for all his help.

"Now, you freshen up, and I'm going to go collect our pay from the village Headman."