Two days later more ships joined their little convoy. Wizards, it turns out, are a great pirate deterrent. Overall it made sense, who would want to go up against a person who could burn a ship down before it even got into boarding range.
So their makeshift fleet grew, and watching the horizon was quite the experience. Lia had become a bit of a bummer after rewatching a certain movie starring a world war two battleship and an alien invasion. And after a lengthy explanation of how such a vessel could float, she found the current ships quite boring. To Ana, it seemed the spirit just liked the big guns on a battleship, and she dreaded when thermonuclear bombs would become a topic.
But Ana enjoyed the close look into the naval history she was experiencing, and now that she had accepted the fact that this world will be her home for the foreseeable future, it put things in perspective.
Still, she was on the float, so there weren’t that many things to do and it was back to the classroom. Magic 101.
She switched with Nathaniel, he would teach her the metaphysical and abstract nature of magic, while she would teach the concrete and factual nature of science.
And they both sucked at it. While Ana couldn’t get her head around shapeshifting, Nathaniel couldn’t wrap his head around the germ theory of disease. It almost got to a point of him shaving all the hair on his body.
It was amusing just how much she got used to what to her was everyday knowledge. Back home if she felt homesick it was only a cheap plane ticket away, as crossing the Atlantic was that easy. And now it would take a week to travel a fraction of that distance.
On the other hand, she had no responsibilities, she didn’t have to worry about bills, work, or any other modern problem. For the first time in a long time, she felt alive, like she could do anything. Carve out her place in this new world. And yet looking at her reflection on a mirror made from bronze she couldn’t help but miss it.
It was hard getting a grip on not being human anymore. All her life all she knew was being human, and now she was different. The blow was lessened heavily by the fact that in this world she had met so many members of different races. Having a polar bear as your friend helped in that regard.
She continued her training with Borka, and to the surprise of the big bear, Ana had become an expert in both hand to hand combat and bo staff fighting. Of course, the good doctor was cheating as now she had Lia, and the cheeky spirit was quite experienced in kicking ass.
In an hour she had exhausted the big bear, but it sparked the sailors who had gathered to watch. A quick talk with a few of them coalesced in her having a fistfight. An old tradition on a ship was that all beefs and grudges were settled by an old-fashioned fistfight. A tradition that transitions more into a sport. Seeing her fight had sparked something, and now several sailors wanted a piece of her.
Trusting in Lia, she was happy to get more training. While she could let Lia fight or better said she could fight with Lia, it was a new feeling and they could only benefit from more practice.
And so within an hour, Ana found herself following Lias instructions, shortening a pair of pants to make shorts, wrapping a cloth around her ankles and wrists, and tying her braids so they would get in the way. With no shoes, and with her top shirt exposing her belly, which now had abs and was a thing Ana just couldn’t get used to, she was ready.
While it was all to maximize her movement potential, she couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. She was used to overdressing and wearing baggy clothes, and now she looked like a professional MMA fighter.
But after a ton of persuading from Lia, she agreed to go along with it. While it was not earned, it was still her body, and she felt excited to show off a bit.
So her first fight came, a burly looking dragonkin stepped up. One of the rowers, he had the strength to spare, but his moves proved to be too obvious. Strength was nothing without finesse.
Using graceful footwork, like that of a dancer, Lia sidestepped and delivered a gut punch of her own. As her foe bent forward she followed up with several knee kicks in the same area. Taking a step back she avoided a backhand swing and using the momentum of the swinging foe she closed in again, kicking with her right foot the knee pit brought her opponent down.
This being training and not real combat, the fight ended there. Several others tried, and all of them failed. Having Lia fight taught her a lot, because as much as it was letting someone else fight it was as much her as it was Lia. The best comparison would be that Lia was telling her what to do and she followed her lead. The speed of thought being what it was it meant the two could have a casual conversation while the world around them happened in slow motion.
But it was also more than just doing what someone else said, as her motion had form and grace that Ana never practiced for. As if somehow Lia’s muscle memory was transferred to Ana. Which was a topic of lengthy debate the following evening.
The practice bouts were a great idea except for the bruised egos, as getting beat up by a hot girl wasn’t good for one's self-esteem. But Ana and Lia’s fighting style revealed that they were quite skilled so that softened the blow. But for the rest of the trip, no one dared challenge her.
But the way they fought gave Ana an idea. Having Lia in her body, basically meant that she had two minds to work with. So using two spells at the same time piqued Ana’s interest. Alas, like a grumpy game developer nerfing a game, it was not possible.
Lia was never privy to magic in her life, but even after overcoming that hurdle, Lia couldn't control Ana’s body. But what she could do was send her thoughts.
So instead of casting two spells at the same time, they could cast back to back spells. Once Ana was done with hers, Lia could send her the next one. All that was left was to teach someone who couldn’t use magic, well, to use magic.
The next several days were spent mostly on that issue, and while it worked for something basic, it was extremely hard to transfer the groundwork for the spell and keep it in shape. With Nathaniel's help, they got over some massive hurdles. An example would be that they both settled on using the same system for measurement. But instead of rulers, they were dealing with the primordial forces of creation and destruction.
A week had quickly passed with them barely making any progress, but as Nathaniel had told them the key was in practice. They promised to continue later when land appeared on the horizon. Excitement blossomed on exploring a new land but was soon dwindled as they spent the rest of the day following the coast to the port.
Who knew that without GPS finding a precise spot on a wide coast was difficult. Perhaps the only person with a doctorate should have, and a doctorate in physics no less. Things being what they were Ana got too caught up with training to follow anything else.
While the last thing she wanted was an actual fight, being able to defend herself wasn’t a bad idea. Without Ana realizing it, Lia had somehow faded her memories of the incident that had started the whole mess. When reminded the memories would come back, but it was a rare occasion unless someone mentioned the exact moment, Ana enjoyed the blissful ignorance Lia provided.
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And so the duo arrived at their destination, exiting on a smaller of the two ports that Ana had seen so far. Their convoy of ships docked as well, resupplying for the journey ahead. On the relatively new looking docks, three figures welcomed them to the port city of Rhenia. Which was conveniently placed on an estuary, with hills dominating the left side, the port was located on the right bank.
Inconveniently the city was located on the left side, which meant that they had to cross the river to get to the main body of the city. From the stories, the city acted as a capital for its province and was an important defensive structure in an unstable region. So separating the port by a river, and hiding in a cluster of hills made sense.
One of the figures stepped forward, introducing himself as Rema and shaking hands with Nathaniel. An older looking man, his full white beard reminding Ana of Santa. Behind him was a mountain of a man, in the same weight class as Borka only with red skin and a face made for frowning. Which was odd as he was smiling, and his name was Desmond. A name that did not fit the mountain of muscles in front of her. The last person to introduce themselves was Haguna.
A woman that by all appearance didn’t look like one, or maybe just the name was odd. With a curly mop of brown hair, she barely reached up to Ana’s waist and yet looked older than her. But after seeing the capital this was no shock to her.
After a quick introduction and a few curious glances towards her, as she tried covering her head with a hood but as she imagined, her new accessories were quite hard to conceal, the trio led their party through the town.
It was quite small in her eyes, as she only visited low populated areas like this in her childhood, being tied up in cities for most of her life. Most of the buildings were either new or were in the process of being rebuilt.
No one of the newcomers bothered her and after a brisk walk, they found themselves on the oddest ship she had ever seen. It was more of a platform than a ship, as it was guided by a rope connecting the two river banks. It moved slowly across the river, and she couldn't see how exactly they did it as the rope went through a small shack in the middle of the platform. Doubting they had a diesel engine in there she focused on the landscape ahead.
After getting off the platform they were greeted by carriages. With large wheels and oxen-like animals pulling them. They weren't embroidered but had quite a beautiful white finish. She got in a carriage with Borka, one of the bodyguards, and Haguna.
Awkward silence broke out as no one spoke, Ana already knew that two of her companions in the carriage were spare on words on the best of days, but Haguna seemed curious about who Ana was and was now examining her with her eyes in silence. Covering her face with the hood, she looked outside the carriage. There was no glass but wooden flaps were raised as it was a nice day.
The cousin did not help the bumps her backside had received, and after a minute of sitting, she wanted to walk the rest of the way. And on top of that pain in the ass, another was about to enter the mix.
“Anastasia DeRose. Interesting name.” Haguna, or Ana’s soon to be given nickname for the woman, Hag, said her name with all the enthusiasm of a dead cat.
After some advice from Lia, Ana turned to face the Hag. “Every name is interesting.”
“But yours seems...foreign.” This woman wanted information, and Lia was snapping her metaphorical fingers in denial.
“As does yours when I hear it. But me not being from here, well, I guess it makes sense that it sounds foreign.” Her best efforts to be as annoying as she could didn’t even phase the woman. Taking a moment Ana tried to figure out why she felt such hostility against someone she just met, but couldn’t.
Lia denied any influence, which left the only possibility. Ana was being judgemental and petty on minor things. Not being usually like this she blamed it on the recent events and tried controlling herself.
“So I hear. But Mister Merry was not clear on details. Would you mind sharing some?”
“I would actually. No offense, but I am trying to avoid the topic as much as possible.”
“Certainly.” And that was that. Feeling a bit guilty Ana wanted to apologize but that feeling got expertly smothered by the co-op team in Ana’s body. Neither of them liked the woman. The rest of the agonizing ride was spent in silence.
Approaching the settlement, the first thing to notice was the rows of tents that were scattered outside the battlements. She could see what she imagined were soldiers walking around, with no uniformity or even banners around. It was an odd sight to see, her ideas of an army of this period came from television, and she kinda understood why it was changed the way it was. History was oftentimes more disappointing in reality.
The city itself looked like a scaled-down version of the previous one, with the only exception being that the human population was higher, or so it seemed to her. Somewhere she approximated, with the help of Lia, to be the center of town, the carriages stopped and everyone started slowly getting out.
It felt good to stand again, even better to walk. How the others got accustomed to vehicles with proper suspensions and tires. In front of her was a two-story house with a decent yard around it. Nathaniel’s group looked cheerful and it annoyed Ana to no ends, but with the trip over she could finally relax a little.
Moving from one opulent house to another was starting to make Ana feel entitled, and being conscious of that feeling just made it worse. Outside the house was a set of guards and servants, and it gave Ana a weird flashback to her first days in this world. This time however there was a weird situation, or better said just weirder as in both cases something was odd.
Last time Ana was new to seeing anything other than humans, and now most of their staff was human. The guards looked similar to each other like the four of them were related. The three servants were a husband and wife pair. Lastly, there was a woman who looked to be Ana’s age there as well. Except she wasn’t human, but with features similar to Ana.
Looking at them Ana had a hard time deciding who she should feel more familiar with.
We haven’t discussed it Lia, but I’m not human anymore right?
Sorry LS, with me being here you’ve changed. Be happy our differences weren’t that big or else the transition would have been worse. But officially yes, you’re now like that girl there. A somewhat involuntary member of the Terwehan race. A stupid name they use here, honestly, the taste they have here is severely lacking
Hearing her name brought Ana out of her daze. They were being led inside and Nathaniel was looking at her with a worried look. Blaming her tired mind she apologized and followed along as they were shown inside. The three who escorted them left with the carriages while Ana was contemplating with her roommate.
Same as last time the baths were made in advance and Ana was being led to one by the only other Terwehan race she had seen. Instead of having a private bath as Nathaniel did, this time it was a bathtub placed in her room as the girl explained. Before Ana could start poking questions at the girl, she excused herself and left.
Not wanting the hot water to go to waste Ana undressed and got in, and regretted it immediately. Her tail was wet now, and it would take forever to dry it. In her annoyed mind, a lightbulb came on. As the water was barely timid, which was quite annoying as hot baths were not a thing she was ready to give up on yet. Using a bit of magic she warmed up the water and relaxed in it.
Several minutes passed as Ana heated the water and made the room steamy. Her relaxation was cut by a squeal behind her. Looking back the girl she wanted to talk to was standing in the door with wide eyes with a bundle of cloth in her arms. The girl passed Ana and opened the windows fully, letting the steamy air clear out.
After a few awkward moments, Ana introduced herself.
“My name is Anastasia DeRose, but usually everyone calls me Ana.”
The girl bowed, which made Ana start catching flies with her mouth. “My name is Lilian, but to most I am Lili. I am at your service, Miss DeRose.”
Swatting away at the air Ana said. “Just Ana, please.”
“If that is your wish Ana. Is there anything you require?”
Not wanting to bother the girl Ana shook her head and sank back into the water. Lili probably had better things to do than to answer Ana’s annoying questions. Before the girl left Ana did ask for milk and oil, not really knowing what goes into a conditioner but just guessing.
After the girl left she released her braids and dumped her hair into the water, and started cleaning it with a bar of soap. With the help from Lili, she made a makeshift conditioner. It was better than nothing after the drying soap. That still left her with a lot of wet hair.
A little spell she worked on after the last time she had to wait for her hair to be dried was now finished. A small stream of warm air appeared a few centimeters from her palm. It was an easy thing to do, and she could also control the strength and heat of the spell.
Lia was jealously complaining how back in her days she had to either wrap her head in towels or just wait it out. And here Ana dried her hair in less time than it took them to get a bath.
Magic was amazing, and now finally she had settled somewhere and could spend the next days figuring out how to charge her phone.