“Okay follow me, I will show you to the river.” Amelia says standing up.

“Can I at least get a new shirt?” I don’t want the rumor to spread even further.

“Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me.” She walks over to the contraption and pulls a piece of fabric off of it. “I made it last night before bed, here you go.”

The short sleeved shirt is a dull gray color, but is very well made. I raise it up and pull it over my head, but it gets caught up on my shoulders, pulling it all the way on it pressed firmly against my chest. “Um, I don’t think it fits.” I say. It feels like I’m wearing a shirt that's one size too small.

“What do you mean, it fits perfectly.” She says with a confused look.

“Okay, yeah you’re right.” I say with a sigh. This is obviously made in women's style, no man in their right mind would wear this. Women might want tightly fitted clothing, but men don't. Ugh I should just be happy though.

We left the tent shortly after, fortunately this time there wasn't a crowd of children outside. We make it through the camp at a brisk pace headed towards where I am cutting trees. On the way people whisper towards each other while we get the occasional glance. Damn it. Looks like the rumor is spreading like wildfire. This time through the camp however, no one seems to be scared of my presence. Most people are actually seeing us together and smiling.

We make it out of the camp and past the trees that were cut. After a few minutes of walking we arrived at a river. The river is about 10’ across, and the bank is very steep. It looks like there isn’t much shallow water. The trees scattered around provide good coverage from the sun, and look like willows.

“Alright, here it is. The water is deep, but the current isn’t strong at all so don’t worry about floating down. Just come back to my tent when you’re done.” She says as she turns around to leave.

“Um Amelia…” I say as she's walking away.

“Yes?” She replies turning back

“I don’t actually know how to swim.” I say with downcast eyes. Shit. This is embarrassing. When I was 8 in my past life my parents had brought me to the local pool for swimming lessons, but I was too afraid. I never once swam in my past life.

“Oh, I’m sorry I should have asked. Ummm…” She looks stumped trying to think of a solution.

“Is there a way I could just get water and use a tub?”

“Maybe if we were at my— No, sorry there isn’t a tub in camp.” She replies obviously hiding something

“At your what?” I try digging for information. I know you’re not a normal commoner. Just who are you, Amelia?

“Forget I said that, come on we will walk further down the river, I think there is a spot where the river isn’t as deep this way.” She replies walking down stream.

We walk a few more minutes down river, until finally reaching an area where a large pool of water has gathered on some large rocks. The current here is much stronger, but the pool of water is calm. I start pulling the shirt off, but the bandage covering my wound peels off and I can’t get the shirt off over my head.

“A little help.” I call out to Amelia and she helps me get the shirt off.

“Okay, just come back to the camp when you’re done.” Amelia leaves me alone, as I take off my shorts and slide down a slippery rock into the natural pool

The ice cold water makes me not want to spend much time in the pool, but after a few minutes of scrubbing the dried blood off, I get used to it. Ah, this is nice. Maybe life isn’t so bad. I lay in the natural pool, listening to the birds chirping in the distance. The wound on my stomach looks a lot better than before. It’s still tender to the touch, but the wound itself is healing way faster than it would on earth. After finishing the bath I make my way back to the camp.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Everyone is standing around Amelia’s tent when I arrive. It looks like there are roughly 85 people total. I walk up behind the group standing in the back.

“Alright everyone, thank you for coming! I have got the reports from the war. This is the list of the current state of The Drux Kingdom. The cities of Bhrum, Jhua, and Brux are total losses, The Elves burned them to the ground. The Villages Habu and Bvua are currently the battle front. Luckily none of us present here are from any of those places. The war seems to be slowing down though, with the supplies from Tri Kingdoms, The Elves are losing their edge as they move further from the forests. There are no casualties of anyone present reported. According to the report I received, the War seems to be coming to an end in only 4 to 5 months. That is it. Thank you again for coming!”

Amelia walks back into her tent swinging the flap shut. A few people are murmuring amongst themselves, but for the most part most of them leave to go about their business. Meanwhile I wait for the crowd to disperse before waiting outside the tent.

“I’m back!” I call out into the tent.

“Come in!” Amelia calls back.

I push open the flap and walk into the tent. Amelia is sitting at the table pushing something onto a piece of paper.

“I must say, a bath is definitely refreshing. Also I think I should be able to get to work tomorrow.” I say while sitting at the table across from her.

“Fantastic, we definitely need the firewood.” She says while rolling up the piece of paper and tying a ribbon around it. She then proceeded to place a wax seal on it and push an emblem onto it.

“So you are nobility.” I say while watching her.

“Oh, I uh— ugh, —Yes I am.” She says briefly pausing, with hesitation.

“Is there anything I can help you with, Your majesty?” I let out a small chuckle, while giving a half assed bow from the chair.

“Haha, and here I thought you would act differently if you found out.” She lets out a cute laugh. “Anyways no Kusk, I curr– actually, I do have something you can help me with. Can you go into my chest over there and grab a coin with the symbol of a hawk on it.” She says while pointing towards the back of the tent.

I walk over to the chest and open it, inside there is the armor she was wearing yesterday, her war pick, a few books, and a small pouch. I open the small pouch and take out one of the coins. Analyze

??? Coin- A ??? coin used to ???

I walk back over to Amelia and hand her a coin. She takes the wrapped letter and the coin and walks to the entrance of the tent, opening the flap. What is she doing? I watch as she takes the coin and the letter and places the coin onto the wax seal. A green magical light covers the letter and out of nowhere a hawk appears, grabbing the letter in its talons and flys off.

“What was that?” I call out to her completely stupefied.

“A messenger hawk coin.” She says simply, walking back over to me and sitting.

Simply amazing. Maybe magic is the way to go. “How does it work?”

“You think of a location and then press the coin onto an object that weighs less than 2lbs. Then the coin activates summoning whatever spirit is attached to the coin. The spirit then takes whatever it is given and brings it to the location. Pretty cool right?”

“Yeah super cool, um out of curiosity how much does one of those cost?”

“Around 15 gold for a hawk, lesser spirits cost less, but most are at least 1 platinum.”

“Wow, expensive.” I nearly choke at the price of one.

“Well they are only created by spirit mages, and those are pretty rare.”

“So what was on the letter?” I ask curiously

“I probably shouldn’t tell you, but there was a section about the situation that happened yesterday. Anyways luckily for you, I have figured out a sleeping arrangement for you”

“Oh? Where am I going to sleep?”

“You’re going to sleep in Abby’s tent.” She says while smiling.

“Uh, okay…and who’s Abby?”

“Abby is my guard, she's coming back today.”