The two mile walk was a miserable experience for David. His legs were longer than they used to be, so he kept stubbing his toe, or slamming his foot into the ground. His center of gravity was off, so he stumbled whenever the forest trail had a bump or dip. His clothes were now an ill fit: the top came uncomfortably close to tearing whenever he moved his arms about, and his formerly baggy sweatpants, which couldn’t even reach his ankles now, were in constant danger of slipping off his widened hips. 

Mercifully his shoes still fit, which meant that he at least might not get blisters from this nightmare of a trip.

“Relax. We’re almost there.” Lonna smiled as she spoke. With the moonlight reflected in her golden eyes, and that smile on her face, she looked quite beautiful. Enough that David, blushing, looked away.

He only knew two people in this entire world. He couldn’t afford to drive one of them away by flirting with her; he’d die if he was left on his own. Besides, he was fairly certain that Lonna wasn’t interested in him. 

It was the heroine she admired; David was just the fool who’d shown up in her place. 

It was only when his foot clipped the back of Lonna's and his thigh bumped against her back that he realized his guide had stilled. 

Talith, who’d been keeping a watch behind them, made a noise like grinding rock. David had already heard this enough to recognize it as the Laspi’s sigh.

“He’s like a newborn clayling,” Talith muttered, loud enough for everyone present to hear. “He doesn’t even know how to stop on command, and you want him to take on the queen?”

“Sorry for not knowing how to move a body I got an hour ago,” David grumbled back, his voice as low as his new vocal cords allowed. “Maybe if you all weren’t in such a hurry to get back to the city, I could have practiced walking.”

Lonna put a finger to her lips, gesturing for the two of them to be silent, and then waved Talith forward; the large clay man made his way around David to get a better view. 

“...Shit," Lonna murmured. "Didn’t realize we were so close.”

“How close are we?” David stood on tiptoes to try and get a better view, but Talith was too large an obstacle to see around.

“Too close, considering how loud you were,” Lonna whispered, gesturing for David to crouch down, as she pulled the branches aside.

They were on top of a hill. The city, of tall buildings sprawling across the land, started about fifty feet from the foot of the hill. Farmland stretched out behind it, covering a wide expanse of territory, and stretching right up to the back end of the wall itself. Despite it being late at night, David could see a few people walking about fields of maize, beans, barley and emmer wheat. The rest were probably sleeping, within the squat farmhouses that dotted the landscape.

As for the city wall itself, it towered even higher than the buildings, so high up as to be eye level with them on the hill. The wall was constructed of heavy stones, was spotted with crenelations, and had archers peeking down from atop it. It had exactly one opening, so far as David could see: a solid iron gate, illuminated by lanterns and guarded by two men. 

“Think they heard us?” Talith whispered, his voice lower and quieter than David knew it could go.

Lonna shook her head, though. “You weren’t that loud. Besides, they’re not going to get in our way today, of all days.”

“And why not?” Talith asked. The red flickers of light that filled his eye sockets were unchanging, but his gravelly voice sounded dubious to David’s ears.

Lonna hesitated. “...Because it’s my birthday,” she said. 

She calmly stepped out from the treeline and began to walk down the hill, in full sight of the guards at the gate.

There was a loud thud as Talith slapped his three fingered hand against his forehead with great force. Shaking his head, the clay man pushed his wide knuckles against the ground, and swung his lower body forward. 

David, suddenly alone, hesitated at the forest’s edge. If he wanted to find his own way, and his own way home, this was, probably, his last chance. If he turned and fled, he might make it some small distance before Lonna realized he was gone. 

He’d probably get lost and the forest and die soon after, though.

“W-Wait for me!” he called, running down the hill, straight past Talith, not stopping until he was side by side with Lonna. 

Right in front of the guards.

“Who’s this?” muttered the one on the right, while the one on the left cautiously lowered his spear, aiming the tip toward David’s neck.

Although the guard didn't move to kill, David still stepped back, heart pounding. It was the first time that anyone had ever pointed a weapon at him.

Lonna calmly stepped in front of the guard. 

Although she was so short that the one with the spear could have simply raised his shoulder to skewer David, the guard immediately lowered his weapon. 

“He’s with me,” Lonna declared, looking back at David. “Goes by-”

“Melissa,” the heroine interrupted, smiling brightly as the guard’s eyes narrowed. “My name is Melissa.”

The guard frowned, faintly, looking first at Lonna, and then at the newcomer.”Melissa,” for his part, starred right back, trying to memorize what sort of uniforms guards wore in this world,

The answer appeared to be “not much.” He was wearing a maille shirt, and pauldrons emblazoned with what looked to be a red sun, on a black field. Or, as she would have been told to call it in class: sable, a sun guiles. Melissa could only assume that it was the (supposedly) wicked queen’s symbol - on earth, a golden sun on black would make more sense and wouldn't break the rule of tincture; whoever bore this coat of arms had enough power enough to break the rules
in this ominous way.

The guard’s companion was dressed in much the same way - right down to the same sized chain shirt, which left his midriff covered only by a coarse brown fabric. The parts of his clothes that weren’t armor must have been the soldier’s responsibility: while both guards were wearing brown trousers, the one who had been speaking so far had thin, tan ones compared to the other’s tough, dark pants.

The guard on the right, who’d been speaking so far,  had short-cropped brown hair and hard green eyes. The one on the left who was too tall and lanky for his gear had dirty blond hair, brown eyes, and an adolescent face - complete with acne. He couldn't have been older than 18, and that was doubtful. 
Considering the other one looked to be in his early thirties, Melissa supposed they were partnered as mentor and student.

There was only one thing Melissa couldn’t figure out: the look of fear that filled both guards’ eyes whenever they looked at Lonna.

“A-Alright,” muttered the guard on the right, apparently having gotten his fill of staring at Melissa. “ So his name’s Melissa…” 

“Um… Her…. Her name is Melissa,” Melissa corrected, rubbing the back of her neck. “Lonna had a ...Slip of the tongue?”
She smiled, trying to appear as natural as possible. The whole reason she’d given a fake name was to try and blend in, so Melissa figured that using feminine pronouns would make her less conspicuous.

So why was the guard narrowing his eyes? 

“Lonna?” the guard asked, raising an eyebrow, and turned his gaze to the redhead. “I thought your name was Rigara.”

“Does it matter?” Lonna asked, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. “You’re going to let me through no matter what my name is, aren’t you? Because you know that if you don’t-”

“She’ll light your pants on fire,” Talith interrupted, slamming his lower body into position behind Melissa and Lonna. He’d taken his time coming down, but the effect of a huge clay creature on the guards was… 

Not very noticeable, honestly; they were still just trembling at the sight of Lonna.

Melissa turned to look at the small sorceress. “Tell me you haven’t actually lit anyone’s pants on fire?  Please?” she whispered. 

Lonna averted her eyes. “I didn’t know the guy was keeping oily rags in his pants… And I healed him afterwards, didn’t I?”

“The captain of the city guard has strict orders not to allow her arrest,” Talith explained, his voice pitched low enough that it would seem a whisper. The words were loud enough that the guards couldn’t help but hear, though. “Heard around town that someone higher up in the food chain wants to recruit her. Personally.”

“Those rumors can go fuck themselves.” Lonna’s voice was an actual whisper. But Melissa’s ears picked it up, all the same. 

By the time she’d shifted her focus to the little redhead, however, Lonna had already taken a step away from her companions - and toward the guards.
“Now. Are you going to open the gates? Because I’m telling you right now - I won't have Breath to waste on healing you.”

The guard's faces turned ashen at that. 

“O-Open the gate for the Lady!” stuttered the lanky one. The older one on the right was sullenly silent as the gate started to crank open, sliding upward until there was enough room for even Talith to walk under it without stooping.

Experiencing the city for the first time, with no walls between her and the streets, Melissa’s first thought was not directly about the people, or the buildings. 

“It stinks,” she thought out loud, wrinkling her nose.

So far, she had been treated to the smell of woods, and open fields, untouched by industry. Clear, wonderful, natural scents. But now she was confronted by the sheer stench of people - without a sewer system - cramped in close quarters and surrounded by a wall. 

A sheer wave of nausea overwhelmed her, and she couldn’t help reaching up to pinch at her nose.

“Come on,” Lonna muttered, pulling the hood of her green cloak over her head, hunching herself over, and walking in. It was obvious, to anyone looking, that she wanted to be neither bothered nor recognized.

Talith, who couldn’t hide this way, began to walk upright on two feet for the first time since Melissa had met him. Although he had no visible nose, and possibly no sense of smell, it was obvious that something about the city made him uncomfortable.

Melissa could relate. She didn't want to step into a stench so strong it
seemed nearly a solid barrier. But with Lonna and Talith already inside, the gate was closing and Melissa had no choice but to lower her head and duck within, scrambling to enter before the entrance closed.

“Glad to see you made it,” muttered Talith. His face was set into a scowl, however, as he looked about the city.

“Welcome to Ife,” Lonna proclaimed, striding forward now that Melissa had joined them. “It used to be the greatest city on the continent. Before Sorissa.”

“How can one person cause this kind of decay?” Melissa asked, taking it in. Though the stench made her eyes water, the brunette reasoned that it was normal for a walled city with gutters instead of a proper sewage system. The mouldering and pockmarked buildings, on the other hand, spoke of something more sinister.

The city was squalid. The buildings did seem a little more solidly built, as they moved toward the wealthier center of town - but only the architecture improved. No matter how far they traveled inward, nothing was cleaner, and there wasn’t a single sign of wealth or prosperity. The shops Melissa saw had dingy signs, with smudged symbols she couldn’t make out and faded pictures with peeling, washed-out paint. Melissa’s would suppose that at least some of them had to be open during daylight hours - but all of them had the windows boarded up.

Even more upsetting were the people - or the lack of them. It might have only been because of the lateness of the hour, but Melissa saw near no one on the streets, and these wore clothes saturated with sweat and dirt and reek and hasty patchwork. They kept their heads bowed, and moved straight toward their destinations. 

Melissa, Lonna, and Talith walked through street after street, but Melissa saw nothing but poverty. 

Eventually, they came to a stop in front of a large house, built of unpainted red stone. It had a red door - and no roof.

“The second floor was shattered when the last owner apparently pissed off a magi,” Lonna told Melissa. “But it hasn’t collapsed yet, and everyone here knows I’ve claimed this as my territory, so no one should bother us during the night.” 

Lonna then pulled two slender pieces of metal out of her cloak, no longer than her pinky and no wider than it's fingernail.  She inserted the metal into the lock mechanism, and began to fiddle.

“You’re..." Melissa could scarcely believe it. "...Picking the lock? Don’t you have a key?”

“I told you, I claimed this place after the last person and most of the second floor exploded. And the key with them, probably!” 

The lock clicked open as Lonna spoke, so she gave the doorknob a test turn before nodding and pulling it open. 

“Come on in, heroine. Talith, you okay with keeping a full watch?”

Talith crossed his arms.  “Fine. But tomorrow evening, the heroine’s taking her share of the watch.” He turned to face the outside world. 

From the conversation, Melissa could only hope that the clay creature didn’t need sleep - because it was clear that he wasn’t going to get any. 

Melissa needed sleep, though - God, she needed sleep. She was only human, after all, and it was late before she was summoned. Between the drama after, and the hike after that, and the final danger at the city threshold, she was exhausted.

“Come on, ‘Melissa,” Lonna called, from deep inside the house, her voice desiccating when it touched Melissa’s new name. “You can take the bed tonight.”

“The bed?” she called back. “What about you? You were out of breath, you should-”

“The heroine needs her strength.” Lonna decreed from deeper in the house. 

Walking in, Melissa found himself in front of a bare-boned bed frame. There was no mattress or box-spring, but several thick looking blankets had been piled on top of a single wooden slat. 

“Sleep,” Lonna imperiously demanded, unaware of how disappointed Melissa was with the bed.

Melissa nodded all the same, yawning, and climbed into the bed. The wood was hard beneath her knees, even through the blankets, but since the night was comfortably warm, she decided to lay on top of the heavy wool and linen, using them as cushions.

“What’s with the Melissa thing, anyway?” asked Lonna. “And the she pronouns? You trying to disguise yourself as a girl?”

“...Thought it would draw less attention…” Melissa cracked her mouth harder with this yawn, stretching her arms above her head before she curled up in as small a ball she could make of herself. “...Besides…” she added, drifting away into sleep. “It felt… Better. Being called that. In this form…” 

Cracking her eyes open, Melissa’s last thought before losing consciousness was Why does she look so confused? I just want to be seen as a girl, for a little bit… 

Perhaps if she’d stayed awake a bit longer, she would have analyzed that thought - but in that moment, sleep swallowed her up.