Valen stands upon the deck of the Wiseman, his arms resting on the railing, Lin and Diva stand beside him. His eyes are focused as he takes a long look at the city port.

“I was expecting more magic,” Valen says out loud, gazing at the vast amount of wooden ships docked at the port, their size easily dwarfed by the Wiseman.

“Then it's good your going to the academy at Gargantuan,” David interrupts from behind.

Turning around, Valen finds himself with the captain of his ship, David Shadowsail, a dwarf with a short beard, but a great mind for sailing.

“David, we were about to disembark, did you need me for something?” Valen asks the dwarf.

“Aye lad, you need to get yourself settled with the traders guild. This ship needs to be documented and our deal needs to be put into writing,” David remarks, a sour expression on his face.

“Ughhhhh,” Valen moans

“I know lad, I don't like filling out paperwork either, especially guild paperwork. I still remember the horrible cramps in my hands when I finished,” David answers as he massages the wrist on his arm.

“But…..I really wanted to explore. You have no idea how much I wanted to just look around this city.” Valen whines, his excitement dulled. ”Can't we do this later?” Valen hopes.

“Unfortunately, no. If we are to be able to export our current goods, then we are going to need the paperwork finished as soon as possible,” the dwarf answers knowingly.

“Plus, what's the point of going around the city without money,” the dwarf exclaims “you stand to make a mighty profit from the goods we can sell from our ship.”

“Fine,” Valen says, throwing up his arms in exasperation.

Turning to the others of his group “What will you two be do-.”

“Adventure!” Lin yells, pumping her fist in the air.

“I will…..um……. protect her from harm,” Diva says, her eyes distracted by the city, curiosity prevalent on her face.

Valen just looks at the Amazonian critically. The black leather bodysuit and puma shoes Valen gave her highlight her muscular figure adamantly, only the Katana on her hip and the two horns on her head would keep people away.

“Alright fine,” Valen says, reaching into his coat pocket. With a bit of will, he forms the bag of coins that he got from Garren in his hand. Taking it out, he hands the bag to Lin, her little hands grabbing the bag curiously.” Buy yourselves what interests you,” Valen exclaims.

Smiling, Lin grabs Diva’s hand and drags the Amazonian off the ship.

Valen and David just stare at the retreating forms of the two, an indiscernible expression permeates Valen's gaze.

“This is probably a horrible idea,” Valen answers, his eyes turning to David.

Grunting in acknowledgment, David turns to Valen.”I agree, Amazonians are dangerous, you probably should not leave her with Lin.”

“Oh no, Diva isn’t the problem,” Valen quickly interrupts,”She is actually a very simple girl. Very ignorant of the outside world, but extremely loyal and quite trustworthy. The time I spent with her on the ship helped alleviate my fears quite substantially of having her as a bodyguard,” Valen explains.”Its actually Lin causing a problem in the city that I am worried about.”

David lifts an eyebrow, thinking about how a little girl could cause any notable problem at all.

Valen just chuckles,”Come, let's go fill out whatever paperwork we need to do,” Valen starts walking towards the platform to exit the ship, ”In the meantime let me tell you a story of how Lin cajoled the children of an entire village to attack my mentor.”

Nodding with interest, David follows Valen as he walks down the plank of the ship.

_________________________________________________________________________

Diva and Lin, two girls of different ages, walk through their first city with interest, excitement, and ignorance. Their stride thoughtful and distracted as they leave the dock. Lin runs leisurely as she looks at the various stalls that dot the marketplace. Her frilly high-quality dress attracting a great deal of attention, while Diva’s leather bodysuit attracts a different kind of attention. Her curves and well-muscled body leave quite little to the imagination of the leering men, with only her Amazonian red skin and horns keeping all away from approaching…….mostly.

“Hellooooo,” An elder lady calls from her stall, waving at the two.

Looking to Lin, Diva just nods as they approach the elderly woman's stall.

“I have been a stall owner for over forty years and I have never seen such clothing as magnificent as both of yours. Why that dress of yours is just so adorable,” she coos, looking towards Lin.” and you Amazonian,” her attention quickly swerves,” have one of the most attractive leathers I have ever seen. You probably don't realize this, but you are attracting a great deal of attention from the opposite sex,” she exclaims, pointing behind Diva.

Turning around, Diva quickly notices all the men turn their heads from her, attempting to hide their leering gaze.

“Ahhhh, where are my manners,” the old Wood Elf says, her slightly darker skin standing out in the sunlight.” I am Carolina, a stall owner,” she answers adamantly, brandishing her goods,” and as you can see, I sell clothing.”

“Which comes to my next question. Where did you two get such amazing clothing from? I would very much love to stock some up,” Carolina asks with a smile.

“Valen!” Lin yells proudly, twirling around in her dress, a cute smile on her face as she shows off Valens clothing.

“My employer told me that one set of clothing for a woman is extremely abnormal. So he went and gave me this battledress to give me variety and protection,” she explains adamantly as her hand travels down the tight leather of her outfit.

“Catwoman,” Lin quips from the side, throwing her hand forward, an imaginary whip in her hand.

“Well, your battledress as you call it will most surely distract any men in a fight,” Carolina exclaims, staring at the quality of the black leather.

Nodding with a smile “Good, it seems that this clothing will be useful against half the population of Nostris,” Diva says, “I had my misgivings, but it seems my employer was correct in his assumption.”

“Ehrm….yes,” Carolina squeaks, attempting to cover up a laugh.

“Wahhhhhh.”

A sound, soft, but Lins’ ears start to flutter.

“I want my mommy back, wahhhhhh.”

Lin listens, pinpointing the location of the sound. With feline athletics, she starts into a sprint towards the sound, passing the busy street and running into an alley.

Diva, noticing Lin’s depart, quickly follows her, leather squeaking from the physical exertion of running after the tigress.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Poop?” David laughs out loud, the thought of a massive bear-kin covered in excrement adds a smile to his face.

“His wife, Belinda, told me the whole story after I awoke,” Valen answers, a proud smile on his face.

The human and dwarf had taken a quick stroll through the city, quickly arriving at a massive stone structure, its size dwarfing the buildings around it.

On the front of the building, a massive sign stands squarely in the center, reading ‘Karander Trading Guild’ with an insignia of two hands grabbing one another.

“Well, this is the trading guild, where they will torture you with enough paperwork to cause a homicide,” David answers with a glare directed at the building.”Come, let's get this over with,” he says, walking into the building, Valen following right behind.

The building of the Trading Guild is very clean and quite organized. Plush seats for waiting customers with tables for writing out documents. Magical lamps are sprung on the walls, illuminating the area while guards stand ready at the entrance.

At the far end of the room, two extremely attractive elves stand at the ready, waiting for any customers.

Smiling at the corporate play, Valen follows David as he heads towards the female employee.

“Good evening madam,” David starts, looking towards the fake smile of the light elf.” My employer here,” he points at Valen, “has loaned me a ship, but he does not have any paperwork at all.”

The light elf lifts her brow as she looks towards Valen, still smiling.” And sir dwarf, could I get some identification from you?” she asks as she turns to David.

Smiling back at the beautiful woman, David takes a small metal card from his pocket and hands it to her.

Taking the card, the elf places it on a stand and directs mana into it. Within a moment, the card lights up, identification blazing on the card.”Ahhh, I see, you were the captain of the Swiftsail,” she answers, noticing the dwarfs good marks as a trader.

“Yes…..the Swiftsail….was attacked by Orc raiders and did not survive,” David answers, his face becoming solemn, but quickly brightens up.” Luckily though, Valen here had a ship handy and needed a captain with a crew,” he explains to the elf.

“And that ship would be?”

“The Wiseman,” he answers confidently.

Realization strikes the elf as a blooming real smile spreads across her face, the idea that these two are here regarding that massive vessel may very well bring her a raise. “I understand, and this young gentlemen here,” she gestures to Valen, ”will need an identification card as well as a contract to be made between you two.”

David just nods at the elf, gesturing for Valen to step up.

“Alright Valen, let me first give you the usual spiel. The Trading guild operates throughout Nostris in both ports and inner cities. We are usually not located in towns unless they are of considerable size. Right now, we will issue you for a modest initial fee an identification card.”

Noticing Valen’s panicked look, David pats him on the side,” No worries, I will cover the fee since you gave all your money to Lin,” he says, smiling at the relieved Valen.

“Continuing on, a card replacement will cost 10 white nos, so do be sure not to lose them. The cards can also be used to hold currency that can be extracted from any Trading Guild. We always keep a file so even with a loss of a card, your funds are safe with us.”

Valen nods as he listens to the elf give her spiel, bending forward on the counter, her assets jiggling on display.

“The first thing I need from you Mr. Valen is your full name if you have it,” she asks, pulling out a paper, ink, and quill.

“My full name is Valen Vorstof,” he answers the elf as she quickly writes it down.

“Do you have any next of kin that can inherit your property upon death?” she asks, looking at Valen.

Thinking deeply, a smile blooms on Valens’ face as he looks at the elf “Yes, I have a tiger-kin daughter by the name Lin Vorstof,” he proclaims with a smile.

David just lifts his eyebrow at the apparent lie, only nodding and smiling right after as he hears Lins name.

Nodding quickly as she writes, only slightly pausing at the idea of a Tiger-kin child, she finished writing and pulls out a needle with a clear bronze card. ”Mr. Vorstof, I will need a bit of your blood to finish the bonding process,” she answers, handing the needle to him.

Nodding, Valen pricks his finger and a drop of blood falls on the card. A burst of light travels through the card, only to just as quickly leave.

“Perfect,” she exclaims, bending down under her stand. Immediately she throws a large pile of papers on her desk.”Please fill these out and bring them back to me,” she exclaims as she pushes the stack towards Valen, a tear forming in his eye.

Over an hour goes by until the Dwarf and Valen finish all of the paperwork. Their hands are cramped from the sheer number of questions required.

“Aye lad, this only happens once,” David answers as he scoops up all of the finished documents in his hand. ”I’ll bring these to the lady. You just sit here and recover your wits.”

Nodding slowly, Valen lays back into the comfy chairs, his head slowly easing up from the amount of writing required. Not easy when you just recently learned a new language.

“I figured I would find you here.”

Opening his eyes, Valen is met with the sight of Gang as he looks down towards Valen’s exhausted form.

“Didn’t see you leave the ship,” Valen says, slightly more alert.

Nodding thoughtfully Gang looks towards David, the dwarf blatantly flirting with the elf.

“It seems you two have been busy,” he comments smiling back at Valen.

Valen just nods, still tired from the writing ordeal.”Yea, I’m getting my guild identification card. Do you have one?” Valen asks, sleep almost overtaking him.

Nodding with a smile, Gang puts his hand into the robe of his pocket. Valens eyes quickly open wide as he feels the telltale sign of an extremely small portal open. Far simpler and smaller than the one at the crystal forest, but still clearly a portal. As the portal closes, Gang takes his hand out of his pocket, a silver card is held between his fingers.

“Yup, I actually came from the mercenary guild. Had to report that the individual I was employed to guard had perished. Luckily the type of death did not necessarily lower my score as a guard,” he smiles at the thought.

“Anyways, I wanted to talk to you, Valen. I heard that you are traveling towards Gargantuan to attend their academy.”

Valen just nods at Gang, his mind still fixed on that portal.

“Well…….I would like to join you on your trip there. Work at Gargantuan is always available for a high ranking fighter like myself,” he exclaims, pointing at his enchanted polearm strapped to his back.

Nodding slowly, “I would have to talk with Diva and Lin first,” Valen answers, thinking about how to hide his powers.

“Here you go lad,” David interrupts as he hands Valen the new card.” All is set and we can leave this blasted place.”

“BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM.”

A massive explosion is heard from the distance, the ground shaking with vibrations, David screaming with fright.

“What the fucking hell was that?” David yells, his hand covering his fast beating chest.

“Ugh….,” Valen moans as he gets off the very comfy chair. ”I have this feeling that Lin caused some trouble again,” he answers, walking towards the exit.

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