"Sometimes I wonder why people have to turn to tall tales and fictional stories to stoke their sense of wonder. I have personally seen many things more wonderful and fantastic than what those stories depicted with my own eyes during my travels.

Sometimes all you really need is to travel around a little bit and pay attention to the world around you, with its many wonders and curiosities. Quite often, one might find that reality could indeed be stranger than fiction." - Celeysria Ambervale, the Blood Demon, Circa 684 FP.

Cal and her party stayed in Zwostadt for a week, as they waited for the departure date of the ship they planned to take, one headed south to the Kingdom Down Under. In the meantime, they enjoyed themselves in town.

In the daytime they enjoyed themselves at the pristine beaches that stretched further out from the river's mouth, which were a popular place to relax for tourists and locals both. The sandy beaches were clean and blessed with calm waters. It was so safe that some locals even brought their toddlers out to play in the shallows.

At night they enjoyed the many culinary delicacies of the city, some of which could hardly be found elsewhere. Things like braised, spicy dishes made with heart of palms and bamboo shoots were something she had never seen in the mainlands before, although they were quite common in her homeland.

Of course, the way they spiced their foods differed quite a bit. Back at Al-Shan fibrous vegetables like heart of palms and bamboo shoots were typically used to add texture to dishes, and their own cooking leaned more towards the rich and savory.

In contrast, the local cooking often used those same ingredients as the main feature of the dish, and the flavors involved were often far more spice-laden, yet without overwhelming the gentle natural flavor of the vegetables themselves.

Besides the beaches and the cuisine, Cal's group also happened to be in town right when a tribe of local merfolk and aquatic therians came to trade. The merfolk looked pretty normal, while the therians strongly resemble fish that had grown arms and legs instead of fins, with bright orange coloration on their scales interspersed with white stripes.

Those odd therians seemed like frequent visitors to the town, judging by how nobody was surprised to see them. Cal also recalled seeing others of their kind living in the rivers within Alfheim itself, mostly making a living as fishermen there.

She noticed that these therians seemed to have adopted simple clothes like what the merfolk wears when they went ashore. Most of the group that came to trade were males, while a few larger, bulkier females were overseeing the process and directly engaged into negotiations with the local merchants.

That in itself was not strange. Quite a few therian tribes were matriarchies, where the females were the dominant gender and served as the leaders. What she found unusual was that one of the larger males had also joined in the negotiations, and by the end of their stay, had changed the garments he wore into female ones.

Cal was curious and asked if it was a symbolic thing or something to one of the merchants that had traded their goods with the therians. The reply she received was one that was unexpected.

It turned out that these particular type of therians were all born as males. However, as they grew up, the strongest and most dominant of their kind would gradually transition into females. What Cal saw happened to be one such transition on its last phases.

She also learned that these therians would often "trade" eggs with other groups thst lived elsewhere, as there were several more enclaves of them, both in Alfheim itself, as well along the shorelines north and south.

The females would travel around and visit different enclaves and lay their eggs there, to be fertilized by the local males, while other females from other enclaves would also make the rounds and return the favor at their enclaves.

It was a practice meant to prevent excessive inbreeding and to keep their flock diverse, apparently, which they did every couple years or so.

Cal couldn't help but wonder just how nature found itself such solutions. The way these therians lived their lives felt completely foreign to her, yet she was not one to speak either, as she was sure they would in turn find the way people live on land just as foreign.

What surprised her more were the merchandise that those therians were selling. The merchants they traded with had proudly proclaimed their wears soon after the merfolk and therians left. Amphoras full of the finest, freshly harvested fish eggs from the oceans.

It felt a bit strange to see a bunch of what were basically fish-people selling fish and fish eggs to others, although Cal did know that therians did not consider themselves related to animals, even if those animals looked eerily similar to themselves.

Some of the fish eggs were sold as is, while others mixed them with a marinate. Cal nibbled on some samples one of the merchants offered, a smattering of tiny, black globules on a shard of hard unleavened bread.

They were quite briny and salty in flavor, with a hint of a fishy aftertaste. Although Cal enjoyed her seafood, she was not certain she liked these. Maybe they were an acquired taste for some. Either way she bought a small container for souvenir, in case others liked it.

Eventually, by seventhday that week, the ship they planned to take to the south prepared for departure. Cal's group boarded the ship rather early in the morning, which made them the first passengers to board. That gave them the privilege of choosing their own rooms.

Much like the trip Cal had on Arquivaldo's ship before, the rooms were simple bunks, two hammocks above each other on each side of room, with the door to one side and a small window on the other, as well as chests for the passengers to store their belongings.