It was 4 days after Jessie and Kairo had descended the dead peaks that they finally saw the stone based wooden walls of the village of whitewater. Compared to when Jessie had left the village, there were thousands of soldiers who were camped out outside the walls going about their day. As Jessie and Kairo walked down the road towards the east gate some of the soldiers gave them inquisitive looks but other than that they weren’t bothered until they arrived at the gate.

“Purpose for entry?” Asked one of the guards on duty.

“Returning from a quest.” Jessie replied.

The guard looked the two of them for a moment

“Entry is 5 coppers per person.”

What’s with all those men outside? Kairo asked after they had paid the entry fee and entered the village.

“Probably the replacements.” Jessie replied as he walked towards the town hall.

“How many guards does a village need?” Kairo exclaimed

“Oh, they aren’t for the village, those were from the imperial army so I think they are stopping by on their way to the pass, or returning.”

“Pass?”

“From what I heard it’s the only safe passage through the dead peaks.” Jessie paused as he looked to the sky. “It’s getting late and I’m hungry.”

“That was a quick change of topic. Are you sure you don’t want to keep talking about this

Place?”

“It’s not like I know shit about this region. I was only here a couple days before I embarked on the quest, of which I won’t tell you anything.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t particularly want to remember some of those incidents.”

“You’ve got my curiosity peaked now.”

“Deal with it.” Jessie said as he approached the inn. Pushing open the door Jessie was met by the same bubbling waitress as the last time he was there.

“Good evening.” She said in a cheerful voice. “Would you like a table?”

“Could I grab that one in the corner?” Jessie asked as he pointed to one of the only tables free.

“Sure, I’ll come over and take your orders soon.” The waitress said after she glanced at the table Jessie had indicated.

“So, what can I get you?” The waitress said after she deposited a tray of drinks to a nearby table.

“Meat.” Kairo said without hesitation

“Just meat?” She asked

“You serve other stuff alongside the meat?” Kairo asked in confusion

“I apologise for this idiot's ignorance.” Jessie said before the waitress could say anything more. “What is the kitchen serving tonight?”

“Hm? Oh, right, so, there’s a chicken stew which is served with bread and a roast lamb served with vegetables.”

“One of each and two ales please.” Jessie quickly said before kairo could open his mouth again. The waitress smiled and soon returned with two tankards of ale which she placed in front of each of them.

“What’s this?” Kairo asked as he watched Jessie take a sip of his drink.

“Ale. A human drink.” Jessie took another sip. “Dwarves could probably make a better one.”

Kairo lifted his tankard and took a tentative sip of the ale.

“Tastes weak.” He said as he put the tankard down

“Probably allows them to sell more.” Jessie muttered as he stared into his tankard.

The food was delivered a short while later leading to another round of questioning and arguing between Jessie and Kairo, about how the food was served and what the use of the implements were. Which Jessie abandoned after a while of not getting through to him leading to Kairo eating his lamb rather messily with his hands. After a while Jessie sighed and put his spoon down before heading through the rather crowded room towards the bar weaving through the other patrons who were conversing with a steadily increasing volume as they tried to be heard and the more alcohol they consumed.

Leaning against the bar Jessie flagged down the man who was standing behind the bar and ordered two ales, one of which he downed immediately before asking for a refill.

“It's not often you see someone your age down a whole tankard without care, though I suppose it's likely more common in the capital than out here .” a voice came from his left. Turning to the voice, Jessie saw a grizzled soldier wearing armour that seemed more intricate than the other soldiers who were in the inn.

“Yea, well, after the adventure I just had, I might need more.”

“Drowning yourself in alcohol does not get rid of worries or fears.” The man said. “Telling someone about your issues or weaving a troubling tale into a story can be good ways of getting those worries or fears off your chest.”

“Yea, maybe telling someone more attached to the mortal plane is a good idea.” Jessie replied before licking up the two tankards and walking back over to his table.

“What do you mean?” The soldier said as he sat down next to Kairo. “Actually, I should probably introduce myself. Ciaran Arundell, commander of the 3rd border army.”

“Ghost, it’s what I go by anyway.” Jessie said as he took a drink out of his tankard. Ciaran glanced at Kairo before turning back to Jessie when he noticed he wasn’t paying the conversation any mind and was intent on devouring his meal.

“Gods turn out to be great fonts of knowledge, but seem to severely lack the ability to understand the tribulations that come with being mortal.”

“Did you meet the gods of the world?” The intense curiosity in the commander stunned Jessie momentarily.

“No, I think the ones who I met were higher up the cosmic ladder than the planetary gods of the world.”

“How high up.”

“High enough to be able to reconstruct my body and reinstate my soul into it.”

“I feel the story here is a rather interesting one.” Ciaran said. “And a bit traumatising,”

“You know what?” Jessie said. “I’ll tell you of my adventure and in exchange I get to travel with you guys to the capital.”

The commander looked around the room briefly before replying. “We’ll leave the day after tomorrow, a lot of these idiots seem to be in for an unbearable day.”

“Sounds fair.”

And with that Jessie told Ciaran about the adventure that seemed to go both right and wrong, one after the other. He left out some parts, his blessing and the existence of two gods who would much rather be background noise. It took him about half an hour to get through his story, and the old commander was a great listener, barely interrupting his story except for two places, the first was to comment on how Jessie was able to watch his soul float out of his body and the second was about the tulips of death.

“So the tulips do exist and you were asked by an alchemist to obtain them?”

“Yes”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“And did she tell you what they would be used for?”

“She said she was going to use the essence of the flowers to create a device to detect abyssal mana.”

“Huh.” Ciaran thought for a bit while looking around the room. “We leave the day after tomorrow, these idiots need to recover for the march back. I do also want to meet this alchemist.”

“I was going to head over there after breakfast.” Jessie said. “So feel free to join.”

After taking another swig of ale, the commander got up and joined a group of his soldiers who seemed to be partaking in a drinking contest.

“Can you be any messier?” Jessie asked as he looked at Kairos plate. Most of the food wasn’t on in anymore, either having been eaten or strewn across half the table.

“Do you want me to?”

“Gods no, I want you to try keeping the food confined to the plate next time.”

“Why?” Kairo asked confused

“Because it’s less for the staff to clean up.”

Kairo looked over to the waitress who had served them, then back to the mess he had made.

“And no eating it off the table you damn lizard.” Jessie said as he grabbed Kairo's hand preventing him from reaching a piece of lamb that was lying on the table.

“Because in our society it’s rude.” Jessie continued at Kairo's confused look. “You need to learn table manners among many other things.” Jessie grabbed his tankard and downed the remaining half before standing up again.

“Just, stay here, I’ll go see if there is a room or two available.”

Standing up, Jessie walked back towards the bar, however instead of talking to the bar keep he went up to the middle aged woman behind the bar who had an air of authority around her.

“Excuse me,” he said. “Do you have a room or two available?”

The woman turned from the cabinet she was loading with wooden plates and regarded him for a moment.

“We only have one room available at the moment.”

“How much for two nights?”

“15 coppers a night, five ales, one lamb and one stew comes to 100 coppers.

Jessie reached into his pocket and took out one of the octagonal coppers he had found in his spatial ring and placed it on the counter. After the woman had checked the coin she handed over a key.

“Your room is on the second floor, due to some issues with people being unable to count floors. They are numbered. Your room is the sixth room on that floor, the door is also numbered.” After saying that she turned around and continued loading the plates into the cabinet. Jessie pocketed the key before returning to the table where Kairo was and found that the dragon had cleaned all the food off it, he groaned a bit when he saw Kairo pop the last bit of food that was on the table into his mouth.

“We’ve got a room.” Jessie said as he put the cups and plates into a pile. “And we are going to have a talk about table manners.”

It was at the end of this statement that Kairo's head hit the table, Jessie looked down at the dragon then back to the tankards on the table and noticed an extra one compared to when he had left to get a room. This new tankard had a much stronger smell to it than the others that had contained ale. With a sigh and a quick muttered prayer to an annoyingly over protective god, Jessie hauled Kairo over his shoulder and began to stumble his way up the stairs. At the first landing he noticed a sign on the wall that simply had the number 1 on it. With a sigh he continued up the next two flights and down the hall till he found his room. With awkward movements he withdrew the key he had put in his right pocket with his left hand and opened the door. Jessie dumped Kairo on the bed before heading back and closing the door and after a quick look around the room he grabbed a spare pillow and blanket before falling asleep on the floor.

Jessie was woken up rather rudely the next morning, not by the sunlight pouring through the window but by some clumsy oaf stepping on his shin, there was a quiet shriek of panic before a thud resounded throughout the room. Opening his eyes Jessie saw Kairo stumbling back to his feet slightly unsteadily while holding a hand to his head.

“You good?” he asked as he looked at Kairo

“My head hurts.” Kairo grumbled as he stood back up.

“I'm sure it does.” Jessie muttered. “Put the robe on, it's time to meet the commander.”

By the time Kairo had managed to get into the robe that had definitely not been taken from a god, Jessie was waiting for him by the door tapping his foot impatiently. The trip down three flights of stairs with a hungover dragon was not the best way to start ones morning and jessie had half a mind to just leave him be for the day, before he could finish thinking up a way to make kairos day any worse they stepped into the dining room of the inn. There was a bit of sunlight pouring in through the windows by the door, but the candles still provided most of the light to the room. Lying on some of the tables, still asleep were some soldiers who had drunk far too much and had yet to wake. Taking a seat near the bar, Jessie asked the woman who had given him his key if he could have two cups of coffee. A few minutes after they received their coffee, and Kairo had spit out his first sip complaining about how bitter it was, Commander Arundell walked into the inn and took a seat at their table.

“Not going to eat anything?” The commander asked as he noticed the lack of plates on the table.

“I was just going to grab something from a food stall on the way.” Jessie replied before downing what was left of his coffee.

The commander glanced at Kairo before saying. “To the apothecary then.”

Jessie got up and dragged Kairo to his feet. As he passed the bar Jessie tossed a couple copper hexagons onto the counter, which the woman quickly swept into the pocket at the front of her apron.

“You owe me one silver for the scotch your friend drank last night” she said before Jessie could walk away.

Jessie took one look at the woman, before turning to Kairo and just staring at him for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh and tossing the silver coin onto the counter and leaving the building.

They passed a couple food stands as they made their way to the apothecary but nothing really caught Jessie's fancy. When they finally arrived at the Apothecary, several coins lighter because Kairo had all but demanded food, they noticed a large number of soldiers lined up waiting for entry, there were a few grumbled complaints about people cutting in line which were silenced once they saw their commander following Jessie. As they entered the apothecary Jessie's nose was met with the smell of herbs, he noticed Emily behind the counter handing over bottles of a greenish looking liquid to the soldier at the counter while what looked to be her assistant was constantly filling the bottles from a cauldron. When Emily spotted Jessie waiting off to the side she immediately turned to her assistant, muttered something and hurried over to him.

“Did you get the items?” she asked the excitement clear in her voice

“I did.” Jessie replied. “But for the sake of people's sanity I think I should hand them over somewhere without an audience.”

“Oh, Yes, of course.” she said before turning around and leading them to a door behind the counter. Once in the back of the shop Emily couldn’t contain her excitement anymore and practically squealed out her next sentence.

“Show me Show me Show me.”

“Calm down.” Jessie said, noticing the soft smile on the commander's lips and the confused and slightly panicked expression on Kairo's face. “I got the materials.”

“Show me!” She exclaimed in excitement

With a small smile Jessie started to unload the flowers that he had been sent to collect. In the exact numbers that were on the contract.

“So. 25 moon flowers, 20 yellow water lilies, I assume you want the mana infused ones, 10 red dragon blood roses, 5 tulips of life and 5 tulips of death." As Jessie placed the tulips of life onto the table the amount of life attuned mana in the room skyrocketed until he placed the flowers of death on the table as well. The strange interaction between the life and earth attuned flowers seemed to cancel out the effects of each other. “Do note, I would avoid touching the tulips of death without some sort of protection.” Jessie added as he stepped away from the table. Emily snapped her hand back and hurried over to a cupboard where she took out a pair of thick leather gloves which she immediately slid on before picking up one of the tulips of death and studying it for a time, after carefully looking over the tulips she placed one into a strange machine and fed some mana into it and, after a short moment, holographic projection of the tulip appeared over the machine with a description and other writing appearing below it.

“The amount of death mana this thing contains.” Emily said in awe. “And undeath mana, but its residual, like there was a source of it in the area.”

“Aside from the large number of undead in the area, there were a few undead attuned flora there as well.”

“Did you get any?”

“No.” Jessie lied

“What are you going to use these for?” the commander asked

“Oh, uh.” Emily seemed nervous for a second. “I’m not the one who's going to use them.” she finally said which raised the eyebrows of the general. “Uh, well, you see.” Emily stammered out at the look the commander gave her. “The request for these components were sent from the capital and I was going to deliver them when I go there to try to get a spot at the academy this year.”

“Wouldn’t you joining the Academy leave this place empty?” Kairo asked before anyone could respond to Emily's minor trick

“No.” she said slightly hesitantly. “Grandma is out training a new hire to take over for me in the event I do get into the academy. If not, at least there will be another hand to help out around here.”

Jessie lust looked at her for a moment before shaking his head.

“Can I have my reward please?” he asked. “I feel like you might be here for a while talking about rules around potentially restricted goods.”

“Unfortunately.” The commander muttered. “And I thought today would be a day off.”

Emily hesitated for a bit before placing 3 silver octagons on the counter.

“I think I am severely over paying you, but going with the fact people only theorised about the existence of the tulips of death. I think it’s fair payment, the majority of the reward is for the tulips, if you hadn’t found them the price would only be a hexagon or so. Emily explained as she placed the coins on the counter, Jessie placed them in his pocket, subtly storing them in his special ring as he did so. He thanked Emily before turning and leaving the alchemist store, as he left he saw two women entering, one old and one young, but all the soldiers and citizens gave them the space they needed to move making Jessie think that the older woman was the owner of the alchemy shop and that the younger one was the new apprentice.

After leaving the alchemy store Jessie dragged Kairo towards the town hall where he handed over the items for the other request he had taken, receiving 8 copper octagons in exchange.

“I suppose we just spend the day exploring this village then.” Jessie said as both he and Kairo stepped into the town square.

“Can we get more food?” Kairo said with an expectant expression on his face

“Fine.” Jessie said after a pause. “As long as it’s no more than a silver or two.”