“So, what sort of place is Fisross?” I ask from the opposite side of the railway wagon to Gerben. Being able to speak to someone again feels great. I find myself continually trying to find new things to talk about, to keep the conversation from going quiet. Barrett got annoyed at me rather quickly, telling me to shut up, but I don’t want to. It is a good way for me to get a bit of retribution on him for pouring water in my mouth. I am still pissed at him for that and having been around the ursu for a while now, my fear has calmed to the point I am comfortable to give him his deserved punishment.
Well, as long as Gerben is around at least.
Gerben has been accommodating to my questions, patiently answering everything I ask. It feels a bit like I am back with Uncle and as sad as that comparison makes me, I am happy Gerben responds so sincerely.
“Fisross is a rather unique city in New Vetus. It’s part of a long-term national project to convert the arid area bordering the wasteland to fertile farmland. The city runs almost entirely on imports from other parts of the country, while the mages slowly make the land arable. It’s rather small compared to most other cities, but no less important.” Gerben says.
“Are the other cities bigger than Raetamen?” The town we just passed was huge. There can’t be too many places with hundreds of giant ursu living together, right?
Gerben lets out a chuckle at my question.
“Of course, even Fisross is far larger than that small mining town. A city is on a different scale compared to Raetamen. Imagine that town, but a hundred times larger.”
“Whoa! How do you feed that many people?”
“Of course, that’s what the farmland is for. Many of my brethren dedicate their lives to growing crops and raising livestock to fill the bellies of the ursu, and as I’m sure you’ve noticed, we eat a lot.” He says, chuckling at the end.
“What about coal? Do you eat that too?” I have been wondering since I never saw them bring an out during the feast last night. They mined a lot of it, what else could they want it for?
“No, we can’t. I didn’t even know you áed could eat it until you had your little bonfire in the middle of town.” Gerben smiles, but his gaze burns a little too harshly into me.
Averting my gaze, I pretend like I don't notice.
“We can eat anything as long as our flames are hot enough to burn them,” I proudly proclaim, before deflating a bit. “Although I’m still not strong enough to burn through much more than coal. But if ursu don’t eat coal, then why do you mine so much of it?”
“Mainly for our ovens, but with the increasing number of trains in service, much more coal is going towards powering them.”
Oh right, that underground fire-pit I found must be an oven.
“Talking about ovens, my wife’s friend runs one in Fisross. I might see if she can spare some for you if you’d prefer that to the food at the Bratchina. Well, first I will need to ask at the Continae what we are going to do with you, but I’m sure there won’t be any issues.”
That sounds great! Maybe I’ll be able to regrow my leg quickly too. Wait, I shouldn’t be too greedy. I’m already imposing on these people's lives. I should make sure to pay them back for everything they do for me.
“Ah. There we go, look ahead. That’s Fisross.” Gerben says.
Looking forward over the train's ledge, I see the many rectangular shapes silhouetted against the horizon. Even at this distance, it is clear that the place is much, much larger than Raetamen. A city is what he called it. Yeah, something like this definitely needs its own name.
I can’t see many details from this distance, but I am very much looking forward to seeing the city up close.
❖❖❖
I gape up at the towers as we pass through the main road into the city. These are many times higher than the biggest building from Raetamen. On the outskirts of the city, the enormous stone structures are far more tightly compressed and randomly placed than the ones I can see in the heart of the city. As I walk closer to the centre of Fisross, the buildings grow taller and far more organised.
The entire city looks like it is cut from stone. From the ground underfoot to the large rectangular walls of each building, almost everything is made of a tan brown stone. unique metals and fabrics decorate the fronts of the main road’s buildings. I even recognise the silvery-blue cobalt framing a large wooden door. Square openings litter the buildings' stone walls, each identically fitted with wooden sash windows.
As we head into the central part of the city, we come into a large open area. The place looks like it could fit the entirety of Raetamen within its confines. At the far end of the circular area is a building with a similar open front to the saloon back in the mining town. The open front is the only similarity it shares with the saloon. The building in front of me is far larger than any other I’ve seen. It shares a similar square stone shape to the surrounding buildings until about halfway up the structure. Higher than that, the building curves almost into a sphere, the top half of the sphere curving into a sharp point far in the sky.
The spherical section of the building is made entirely of unique metals. The bright green colour glistens under the direct shine of the sun, making the tower stand out even more amongst its tall but simple surroundings.
As if expecting my wonder, Gerben begins talking about the building. “That is what we call a Continae. All of our cities have at least one, as it is an important place for hosting our Bratchina, our feasts. It is both a place of appreciation towards the elder spirits Deivos and Rod, and a place of governance.”
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"It’s big.” Is all I can say. The more of the world I see, the smaller it makes me feel
The bulky ursu chuckles. “That it is.” He looks up at the tall structure for a moment.
“How about I introduce you to my daughter? I’m sure you two would get along wonderfully. I can hold off giving my report until afterwards,” he says as he walks down a street to the right of the continae.
“You have a daughter?” I’m surprised he hasn’t mentioned her in the weeks since he found me.
“Yeah, she’s a very smart girl. She even made it into the mage academy. Leal’s a bit older than you, but I’m sure you’ll get along great.”
A few minutes later, we finally approach one of the many buildings in the street. It looks identical to many of the other buildings we passed on the way here. The only differences I can spot are the decorations on the front door and wall, this door containing inlays of some sort of silver metal. I don’t know how Gerben can differentiate the buildings. If I have to make my way back to the central courtyard on my own, I’ll probably struggle.
Gerben grasps the handle and pushes the door open with ease. It is dark inside, the only light coming down from the steps leading upwards at the end of the hallway. Passing up the stairs and through another hallway above the last one, Gerben stops at the second door on the right. He raps his knuckles against the large wooden door a few times, then steps back to wait.
The dim hallway brightens as an ursu appears in place of the door.
“Gerben!” the feminine voice exclaims, embracing him.
I suddenly feel rather awkward as I’m still on his shoulders as these two ursu smooch and clutch each other. Even when they finally separate, it seems the woman hasn’t noticed me, and Gerben has forgotten about me.
I don’t want to jump down myself, so I tap him on the side of the head trying to get his attention. He doesn’t even notice it, but luckily the lady does.
“Oh? Who is this?” she drags his attention to me.
He picks me from his shoulders and lowers me to the ground as he answers for me.
“This is Solvei, we found her alone in the middle of nowhere. She’s an áed.”
“An áed? Not an albanic? Oh, my!” she exclaims. “Wow, your hair flickers like candle-flame, how pretty. Oh, where are my manners? I am Calysta. It is nice to meet you, Solvei,” she greets.
“Hello,” I say, untying my walking stick from my back. Hopefully I don’t have to rely on being carried much now that we stopped travelling.
“Gosh, what happened to your leg? How horrible,” Calysta says.
“I cut it off,” I state. As inconvenient as only having one leg has been, I don’t regret doing so. After all, being alive with one leg is better than being dead.
Calysta gapes at me. I think she’s tearing up a bit as she turns back to Gerben.
“Later,” he says suddenly, before continuing. “She says it’ll grow back in time.”
“Oh, that’s good then,” Calysta says, somewhat subdued.
We are interrupted by the sudden call of “Daddy!” from somewhere on the other side of the doorway. Another ursu appears and throws themselves at Gerben. He catches them and laughs as he hugs them tightly. This new ursu is the smallest I have seen. Well, I say the smallest, but they are still almost twice my height.
This must be the daughter he talked about. She is far more slender than the other ursu I’ve seen, even considering her height difference. Her arms and neck are closer in proportion to that of an áed rather than ursu. Not that you could ever mistake her for anything else, the thick coat of fur and still rather large proportions are impossible to deny.
It is rather uncomfortable to watch the sight of this joyous family reunion. Not only do I feel like I am intruding, but it also brings a pang to my chest, reminding me of what I can never have again.
I scoot away a bit to give them some space, but it seems that Calysta has become more aware of her surroundings after her initial reunion with her husband. Trying to move away turns her attention to me.
“Solvei, why don’t you come inside sweety, we can get you something to drink. Would you like some juice?” she holds her hand out to me, inviting me to take her arm.
“Juice?” I ask, unfamiliar with the word.
“Honey, remember, she’s an áed,” Gerben interrupts, not looking away from his daughter.
“Oh right, how silly of me. How about some cookies then? They should be all right for you.”
Unsure of this other new word, I look to Gerben for confirmation.
“Yeah, that should be fine,” he says as he sets his daughter down.
I go to hop into the house with my stick, when not even a step through the doorway Calysta has me picked up in her arms.
Stop! Please, let me walk on my own. I can do it.
I don’t complain aloud because I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but I can’t wait for my leg to heal. This is so frustrating.
The room we enter is not unlike the interior of the ger I’m used to. A small fireplace and the walls to separate the sleeping areas are the only differences from the home I grew up in. The floor is lined with rugs, a table is surrounded by chairs and a couch is set against the wall for comfort.
Calysta sits me on the couch and walks to the other side of the room. The size difference between our races is once again readily apparent. Laying back on the cushion, my leg doesn’t even reach the edge of the couch.
“Hello.” A voice comes from my right. The daughter takes a seat next to me and introduces herself. “You’re Solvei, right? I’m Leal. Nice to meet you.”
“You too.” Is all I can manage, not knowing what else to say.
“Daddy mentioned you were an áed, I read about them at school. Is it true you are made of fire?” she asks excitedly.
I nod to her. It's not that strange, is it? Then again, I also found it strange when I first met the ursu. Thinking people who aren’t formed by fire were strange, even if I already knew áed are the odd ones out rather than the norm. I’ve always found it weird. Mum told me that almost every other sentient race is made of meat and blood like the animals we hunt, but having never met one before, it was hard to believe.
Leal doesn’t consider my nod a good enough answer. “Well? Can you show me?” she asks expectantly, with a glint in her eye. I can’t tell if she is curious or if she is eyeing me hungrily.
Making sure to keep my hand away from anything flammable, I raise it between us. I engulf my hand in flame, but she asked if I am made of fire, right? I might as well take the extra step. Limiting it to only my hand, I let my form relax into visible flames. I can't change its form to anything other than the shape of a hand, but the solid look it had before is gone.
“Whoa, that’s amazing! How hot can you make it? Do things pass through you like a normal fire? How well can you control fire compared to fire mages?” she babbles, her excitement palpable on her face and in the way she jumps on her knees on the couch beside me.
Wary of accidentally burning something while I’m their guest, I regain my form and snuff out the remaining flames. It would be a crime to damage such a comfortable couch.
After she’s finished asking her questions, I try to answer as much as I can, “I can’t make it too much hotter, I’m still weak. Uh, my form is a bit different to normal fire, so things can’t pass easily.”
The last question I remember her asking, I don’t understand. “What’s a mage?” I ask. I remember Gerben mentioning the term, but I forgot to ask him.
She looks shocked, and maybe a bit insulted by my question. Just as I think she’s about to yell at me or something, Calysta interferes.
“Here you are girls, take as many as you want.” She places a plate of what I assume are the ‘cookies’ on a small table in front of the couch.
“Thanks, Mum,” Leal says before taking one.
Copying her, I say “thank you,” as well. I am about to get off the couch to reach for one, but before I can, Leal grabs one for me. Handing me one, she says, “How about I tell you all about mages then?”