After her prolonged bath, it came time for supper. With a bit of exploring through the house, she found herself in the dining room. Feeling smug with her dried hair she wanted to brag about it to Nathaniel, but the reality was that she had discovered hot water.

Her mentor had an even better spell than hers, but still, it felt good to discover that part on her own. Their conversation skipped Ana’s origin, as they had already agreed upon. It wasn’t a top-secret but the fewer people knew the less trouble might find them, especially with how they left the capital.

As the moon replaced the sun, Ana found herself outside on the trimmed grass looking up. It was odd to look at the moon as it was similar to the one back home. A small coincidence like that bringing peace to her mind. Lia on the other hand was weirded out as her world didn’t have a moon.

So instead of torturing her companion, she enlisted her help. Listening to Lia and letting her body follow its instincts served her well in the last fight, but there was still a slight delay before she acted. So the two did exercises, Ana following the condescending instructions of Lia.

Already knowing how they focused on learning the when. Ana’s insomniacs habit allowed them to work through the night, after a week on a rocky boat it felt good to stand on solid ground once again. Focusing on what Lia was teaching, Ana failed to notice that she had garnered several curious observers.

With morning light came a craving for breakfast. The cook was the older woman she had met earlier named Prilia. Learning that the woman made bread herself was a gift as she made a sandwich with it. With fresh vegetables, cheese cream, and smoked meat, it tasted better than the ones she got used to buying.

And then the problem came. Boredom. While training was fun to a degree, she didn’t have any other way to spend her time. The available books were dry and boring, with no science fiction section. After others had their breakfast, Nathaniel had to go and introduce himself to the martial who was in charge. The whole point of them being here was that, so Ana had the whole day ahead of her. Not wanting to rush charging her phone she changed her mind and had put that on the back dial.

Without even having to convince her, she got Borka to take her to town. Her companion was most likely as bored as she was. Figuring that her hood would most likely draw more attention than if she just dressed normally. Her old clothes were washed as were her undergarments.

Putting them on was flat on amazing. She felt like herself again. For the pants and shirt, she used the ones she got from Madeline. Socks and actual shoes did feel odd, however. Being used to the local footwear which was a mix between sandals and ballet slippers felt more freeing.

Instead of those two options, she chose Lia’s way. Wrapping the long cloth she used on the ship around her ankles to hold her pants and walking barefoot. She already tried and her soles weren’t as sensitive as before, but as Lia explained before she despised footwear and chose to walk without any.

And the odd-looking duo went to see the town. As much as Ana feared she would stick out like a sore thumb, the reality was quite reversed. The people here were used to weird individuals walking around and at best she got a few curious looks.

There wasn’t much to see in the city, the monuments and temples being the exception. But even then they weren’t up to the standards of what she had already seen, so barely an hour in their walk the duo found themselves in the local watering hole.

It was located in a walled-off space, with tables out in the open. She saw there was an interior part as well, but with the nice weather, it was empty inside. And the outside was somewhat crowded. Several instruments were playing, food and drink were abundant, and so was the cheer.

It looked like a celebration, and a few questions later she learned that indeed it was a celebration of some young lads martial success. For a moment she wanted to leave as in her mind interrupting a private party was rude.

But before she could squirm her way out, a dance started and she was dragged by several patrons. The tempo of the music and the dance reminded Ana of the holidays she celebrated before leaving to study abroad. Locking elbows in a line that looked like a serpent from a bird’s point of view, the line started. Two steps left and three right.

After a few stumbling steps it was quite easy to copy how the others moved and the line continued. For several minutes, laughs, cheers, songs, and whistles drowned the music, but the tempo didn’t change. The cheer in the air was catchy, and it was the most fun Ana had in a while.

After the routine was over, hugs and claps followed and she got introduced to several people. All of them were friendly and no one cared too much about how she looked. It was a celebration and everyone celebrated. The best part was that the alcohol and the food were free and abundant.

An hour later she found herself with one arm around a newly found friend while the second cradled a clay pot filled with liquor. Her new friend was tall, muscly, and covered with fur. With a slight feline resemblance and four horns on his head, he was quite the intimidating sight, were it not for the smile and laughter that he exuded.

His name was Silvanus and that was all she knew, in the peak of the party rarely anyone was sitting down and everyone was singing and dancing. Borka was around somewhere having fun as well, a smaller humanoid had climbed her back and was pouring beer from a keg into her mouth as she raised her snout and opened her mouth. Claps and the chorus of chug, chug, chug followed as she downed the whole keg.

At a party like this, it was hard to get drunk. A lot of dancing, jumping, and cheering drained the alcohol out of you and with it the time. Without a phone to tell her what time it was, a few hours flew by without notice. It was time for lunch, and the roasted meat was brought. Several what looked like either pigs or lambs were roasted somewhere and then brought to the tables, with vegetables, cheeses, and freshly cooked bread.

Speaking to a few people she found out that this was only one celebration of at least a dozen throughout the city, and even those people that worked stopped by after for a few drinks. How someone could afford something like this was a mystery to her.

During lunch, the music stopped as the musicians were eating too, and table conversations rose. She learned that Silv was a part of the legion that was tasked with mostly fighting monsters. This area had been a hot spot with their activity in the last few decades, and yet no one knew why but it only grew. It was to the point now where a full legion of thousands of soldiers was needed to patrol and beat back the incursions.

It was a surprise to learn that Silv held an honorable rank by leading his own war band. In his words, there were twenty of them that were a part of his band, which was called Ghost. Each group had a name like that, it was to foster pride and competition. Not a bad idea in such a deadly profession.

Silv was quite the tale-teller as he spoke about their last mission that claimed the life of one of the members. The bands had twenty-one members, not all of whom were there for combat. Some people took care of the mounts, who cooked, watched the camp, hunted, and did several other tasks. They also had a cart with them being pulled by Bessy, and it took Ana a few minutes of listening to realize that Bessy was a pact animal. But how Silv talked about her meant she was quite an important member.

Being drunk Ana shared her information after silencing Lia for a bit, the spirit was awe eyed at the idea of hunting monsters. And so was Silv when he learned she was a mage. Then the recruiting talk began, with Silv telling her of the benefits and Lia pestering her about how she wants to join. Ana was torn, as she didn’t have a purpose in this world and the boredom was getting harder to overcome.

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But she was never really much of an outdoorsman, she even camped with multiple modern luxuries. But this idea had a lot of merits, as she could make a name for herself, earn a living, get protection, and backing from the military.

Her options were slim in this world as academics weren’t a thing really and one needed money to devote time to such a frivolous hobby. Nathaniel had his start in the military, where later after rising in rank he invested the saved money from where he just kept reinvesting until he could comfortably support himself.

It would be a good idea if it weren’t for the part of mortal danger, dying friends, killing, and the other minor issues. But Lia kept insisting that she could keep them safe and that friends died no matter what you did, but the bonds you forged in battle lasted lifetimes.

It was a choice she wasn’t going to make while being drunk at a celebration, and Silv seeing that switched his tune. Instead of convincing her, he told stories of their exploits. Some were unbelievably awesome, some were sad, some were hilarious. But it served the purpose of intriguing Ana, as Lia was hooked from the moment she heard the words monster hunter.

After the divine food, more drinking dancing followed. It was a long day that ended quickly. When night arrived she got the hammered bear and they both went staggering home. The party-goers had switched from the day shift to the night shift, even a new band had come. The two companions were tired of everything during the day and decided it was best to sleep instead of continue.

They stumbled during the night, but they were not the only ones as there were multiple parties and some people went from one to the other. So the streets were full of stumbling drunks. At one point Ana was being carried, having gone all out in the last few hours before they left.

The big bear had a constitution that made her jealous, only a few stumbles giving away her inebriation. Swinging from the arms of her friend, with the ends of her braids touching the paved stoned street, Ana started singing a few of the sea shanties she translated and taught the crew of the ship she was briefly on.

Them being quite simple with no rhymes it was easy to translate, learn and sing along. A memory of the coworker who got her hooked on a few of them flashed through her mind, making her smile. Even Lia had taken a liking to the songs, helping Ana remember and translate them.

With the melody of sailing, anchors, cables, and voyages the duo reached the house, being greeted by an angry-looking Nathaniel and the house guards.

“I think we are in deep shit.” She loudly whispered to Borka who nodded.

“Leaving without a word to where or for how long. I was about to send a word that you were missing.” Seeing that the two were not really in the right state of mind to understand his fury, he instead smiled evilly.

What the two didn’t know was that there was a party inside the house as well, a sort of housewarming and an introduction between the officials.

Ana tried apologizing but Nathaniel just shook his head. “Doesn’t matter, you are here now. And you must stay to celebrate with us.” The idea was awesome, she was only tired a bit.

But the way he said it she knew that there was something she wasn’t seeing. After a quick change of clothes as hers were filthy from the day’s activities, she got back down wearing a simple tunic and pants. Seeing that it wasn’t some fancy dinner party that was fun only in name sobered her a bit. It was less rowdy than the previous party, but there was music, cheers, and dancing throughout the ground floor.

So she got to having mingling and getting to know the people that were there. Soon she turned into an attraction as everyone wanted to hear what she said, everyone wanted to share a drink and get to know her. Nathaniel just smiled as he skillfully avoided her.

She answered what she could in her state as fast as she could, getting new drinks before she finished the old ones. The rest of the night she remembered only in flashes.

The morning sun woke her as she found herself sprawled out like a ragdoll in the garden. The hungover had hit her hard, and she stumbled to the house for water. There were several people at the table talking with a few more sleeping with their heads resting on tables.

And there he was, smug and still smiling his evil smile.

“Good morning!” Nathaniel said with a bit too much volume.

“I fucked up, I really am sorry.” She said apologetically as she took a seat and poured herself water from the pitcher.

“Great idea for revenge. I’m ready to swear off alcohol for good.”

“I’m sure you are. Now I know for certain that next time you won’t leave me wondering, am I right?.”

“That's for sure.” She groaned which brought a round of chuckles from the table. Excusing himself he got the pitcher in one hand Ana in the other and led her outside.

Before she could complain about the sun Nathaniel spoke in a gruff and angry voice. “Will you please tell me what's this business with you going to hunt monsters with the Ghosts?!”

“Huh?”

“You have no idea of the dangers that those bands face, and you are not even close to ready to join them!”

“I didn’t join anyone. I met the guy leading them yesterday, I didn’t...” She trailed off, realizing what happened.

LIA! I blacked out yesterday, what the hell did you do?!

Nothing big! You told the quartermaster of the legion that Silv offered you a spot in his band, I just simply encouraged you to do so.

“Oh my. I fucked up doubly last night.”

“An understatement.” Running a hand through his hair he took a deep breath.

“I was going to introduce them to you slowly, but now the poachers are circling us. Those with a gift not bound to a circle already are a rare commodity, and now they are going to pressure you into joining, and offers will swamp you. I wanted you to get more information before deciding.”

“So wait, did I join or not?”

“No, it's not as simple of a process as that. But now they know of you and believe me, they want you.”

“I wish I could slap Lia a few times, but it's my fault as much as hers.”

“And mine. If I had known that you met Silvanus I wouldn’t have let you to the wolves.”

“What now?” She took a swig from the pitcher, the cold water bringing life slowly back into her.

“Nothing. It was always your choice. That was Lady Adrasteia's first request. Your freedom. We are here to protect and inform you, what you do is completely up to you.”

“What do you recommend then?”

They sat down in the shade of a tree in the garden, the rustling leaves the only presence there. “I was going to recommend the military, but not for years. While it is dangerous, those like us are cherished and protected with how rare we are. Still, you did get a handle on magic faster than I thought was possible, and with your mind, I doubt there would be anything you couldn't overcome.”

“But you are in the period where wizards act like spoiled children, thinking that they know best. You need training and a lot of it before I feel confident that you can survive by yourself.”

“Then let’s train. And when you tell me I’m ready I will choose the future. In the meantime, I can get more information about my options.”

He nodded with a smile. “That’s more like it. Thinking before acting.” Shaking his head he got up. “We will talk more later, go rest now. You look like a sea witch now.”

A sea witch?! That man has no manners, calling two ladies a sea witch!

You don’t get to speak. Not after stabbing me in the back like that. I realize it has to be your choice as well as we share a body but never do anything like that again.

Alright, I do admit I felt like shit after I did it. So any ideas on what you want to do?

Plenty, but no idea if that is possible here. The military might be a good choice if what Nathaniel said about how they treat wizards is true. If it was just me I never would even consider it, but you were quite vocal last night.

It’s just what I used to do in my old life, so the opportunity to head in the same direction was too tempting.

I get it. I feel the same way. Urgh. Can’t you do anything about this hungover?

There are a few things that help. Meditation is the best one.

I tried that before waking you, not my thing.

The key there being before. With me here it should be a breeze.

Alright. What do I do then?

And Lia slowly guided her roommate into finding peace and detaching herself from the body that suffered from alcohol abuse. As Lia had said, the process was quite easy. Ana found herself calm, in the same darkness where she first met Lia. So she listened to Lia’s stories from her life.

The excitement, the praise, and the thrill of it all. She couldn’t imagine her older self doing something like that, and now she was considering it. Lost in her discussion she didn't notice the morning slowly pass.