“Even losers have their pride to uphold.” - Saying attributed to Xaliburnus the Conqueror, First Emperor of the Elmaiya Empire.
“Keep your hood up, just in case,” advised Aideen to Kino as they approached the city of Boroes, their next destination after Alfheim. The therian-dominated city – the only one in the northern continent – founded by refugees that fled a war in Ur-Teros in the distant past might not necessarily hold bad blood with therians from the south anymore, but better safe than sorry.
Therians were rare in Alcidea to begin with, though there were some here and there, as people have moved away from Boroes from time to time and settled down elsewhere. The topside regions of the Kingdom Down Under in particular was another haven for therians in Alcidea, while Alfheim also possessed a sizable therian population due to its vicinity to Boroes.
There was likely some truth to the legends that the founders of Boroes escaped to Alcidea after losing a war, since the breeds of therians that could be found in Alcidea differed greatly to the ones that populated Ur-Teros, barring a few similar exceptions and the avians. The avian breeds likely migrated to the north on their own, a very feasible feat given their flight capability.
Kino was descended from therians that resembled foxes, though the vulpine features were mostly visible only on her ears, tail, toes, and claws due to the greatly diluted heritage. Even so, it was noticeable since therians of that breed were not found in Alcidea, or at least, not naturally. It was safe to expect any fox-like therians on Alcidea to be visitors from the south.
While the therians they encountered in the dwarven kingdom’s lands were friendly and welcoming to Kino, Aideen could not guarantee the same with the therians in Boroes, as the tale of their exile was still widely circulated and retold to the younger generation when she last visited there. Nationalistic sentiments could often lead to irrational hatred and unwanted incidents, so she thought that they might as well play it safe since they had other purposes in Alcidea rather than just taking a stroll this time around.
As it turned out, though, Kino keeping her hood on was an exercise in pointlessness in the first place.
“Smells like a fox, from the south, are you, Miss?” asked the hound-like therian on guard at the gate politely with some curiosity after he took a couple sniffs at the group. Since her identity was already outed anyway, Kino just shrugged and lowered her hood before she nodded back to the guard in affirmation. “Thought so, we didn’t get many of your kind around here so the smell’s really easy to notice. Welcome to Boroes!”
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“Thanks,” said Kino with some confusion at the guard’s enthusiastic greeting. “I take it visitors from the south isn’t that common an occurrence here?”
“Well, we’re pretty far north here in Alcidea itself, so it’s a pretty long trek for anyone to visit here from the south,” admitted the guard with a sheepish smile and an amused chuckle at Kino’s question. “That said, we do get some fellows from the south every now and then. Used to be rarer, but there’s been more this past decade or so, trade deals or something.”
“Ah, right. I did hear that Elmaiya renewed and increased their trade deal with Knallzog before we left. Must’ve been a side effect of that,” noted Celia as she nodded in understanding.
“Yes, that! Been getting more visitors thanks to that, more merchants, more business. More business, more money for everyone, so we’re pretty happy about it!” said the guard enthusiastically. “Granted, there’s still some stubborn people who don't like the idea of trading with the south, but they’re being left in the dust as everyone else gets richer instead.”
“I’d recommend avoiding the old district to the north of the city, though, Miss. That’s where most of those stubborn types and bad eggs hang out, and they’ve been giving a bad name to our fine city,” scoffed the guard in evident disgust as he continued. “I swear, those sons of bitches couldn’t just let others be happy and want to sabotage things for everyone.”
“Seen it happen elsewhere, for similarly dumb reasons,” commented Áine with a sympathetic nod. “It’s just how things go sometimes. Thanks for the warning regardless, though. We’ll keep that in mind.”
“Same to you, and hope you have a good time in Boroes!” replied the guard cheerfully once more as he stepped to the side and made way for the group to pass more easily.
Boroes itself had developed over the century since Aideen’s last visit. The city was somewhat larger, and there were signs of expansion visible in some areas, while there were also more cultivated fields and ranches outside the city walls. The last century being relatively peaceful likely helped their rise to prosperity, as the city’s location made it an ideal trade hub that connected the Clangeddin Empire to its west, Alfheim to its east, and the Kingdom Down Under to the south all at the same time.
There were merchant caravans aplenty amongst the line of people waiting their turn to enter the city-state, with elven caravans from Alfheim being the most common since Aideen’s group entered through the east gate. The city itself had gates on three of the four cardinal directions – the north being the exception – to accommodate for the traffic.
Similarly, many inns and other establishments catering to merchants and travelers were prominently visible on the outskirts of the city, where it was convenient for visiting merchants to stop and rest as soon as they entered the city. Aideen had not recalled seeing most of those buildings on her previous visit, which meant they were likely built in between her two visits to the city.
It was always a reminder to her about how time always kept flowing, and that if she did not keep up, she might be left behind. A cautionary reminder and a warning all at once, for to someone with all the time in the world, it was far too easy to find themselves lost in their own musings only to find out that the world had marched away without them.