Finally! Out in the city and time to explore. Boren didn’t care where they went, as long as they could explore. It was just that Aarav, his companion, just kept talking and lapsing into short silences and stopped moving periodically. Boren had tried to nudge him along faster by answering his questions, but those questions were odd.

Who didn’t know to check someone’s aura when you saw them? It was rude to ask questions about specifics, but no one could help exude their aura, so no one blamed others for reading it. It was only the vaguest sense of a person, but it was enough to understand the people around you.

“Aarav, the market is only down this road now!” Boren called back at the still lagging Aarav. One day I will understand this strange but fascinating creature, he thought. Why did the creature act like a grandfather one minute and then a child the next? In reality, the Slime should still be a babbling baby, but it was hard to see when he could talk like Boren in Darfan. “Aarav, can I ask you something?” Boren piped up as they approached the market.

“Hmm?” Aarav said by way of response.

“Where did you learn, Darfan? You speak very well, but I can tell you only started a week or so ago? You must have known the language before, right?” Boren took Aarav through his logical argument.

“Hmm? I guess I have a gift for languages? I am not sure myself, you know. I promise you, I only started speaking Darfan a little before getting to the palace.” Aarav stated with a finality that concluded the topic. Boren searched for something more to talk to the Slime about, but then they had reached the market, and it was time to take in the sights, sounds and most importantly, the smells!

“Wow! Do you see all of this! There is so much. I feel like my brain might explode from everything there is to see!” Boren yelled over the growing hubbub of the crowd. If he had thought the main thoroughfare was active, this was like a kicked ant-hill by comparison. People were milling about everywhere, every hue of every colour imaginable and the people! You name it, short, tall, fat, skinny, and it was represented here. But not just humans. On the main thoroughfare, people were more controlled, being so close to the palace. Here was a lithe, willowy elf selling her wares, from what Boren could see various types of exotic plants. Most probably from the Great Forest. A dwarf in a darker corner was smashing away at an anvil and making what looked like farming implements. Everywhere Boren looked was a new sight to captivate him and show new delights. “I can’t believe how alive this place feels!”

Aarav could only nod dumbly in agreement. At least, Boren thought he was dumb-struck. Who knew with the Slime. He might be deep in thought about everything he was seeing. I really want to get a closer look at that hammer and forge. That dwarf looked like he meant serious business. “Boren, I told you to stick to me, don’t go wandering off!” When had he taken steps away from Aarav? He hadn’t noticed. This place was dangerous with its distractions.

“Yes, I understand!” They both had to yell to be heard, and the Slime’s hearing didn’t seem that great, to begin with. Boren backtracked, and they stood to one side as a massive beast on four great grey legs went past. It was the most enormous thing Boren had ever seen, and it could have squashed them without even noticing anything underfoot. “Woah! It’s huge!”

“Never thought it would see an elephant on steroids here.” Aarav said, just loud enough for Boren to hear.

“What’s an elifant?” Boren asked, never having heard the word before. “Is that what that creature is?”

“Not sure, but it looks like something I have seen before. I think that was the name attributed to it, not sure though.” This creature did use some funny words, but then that was the oddity of a talking monster, he supposed.

“Anyway, can we go exploring now, PLEASE!” Boren yelled again over the sound of the massive elifant stepping through the market's spaces. Boren had no idea how it could move through without crushing everything and everyone in its path, but they must have kept areas for it between the stalls. “Can we go to the dwarf over there? I have never met a regular dwarf, only the royal ones that come to the palace!”

“Keep your voice down, and don’t mention the palace!” Aarav hissed back, “Do you want us to get nabbed!?” Boren frowned at his toned but nodded. It was a reasonable request, and he needed to keep his identity a secret. At least until he had explored a bit more! “Fine, let’s go to the forge. Come on!”

Boren cheered, and they bumped and elbowed their way through as the ringing grew louder.

“Oi! What are you two-!”

“I’m walking here!”

“No need to use elbows!”

Shouts flowed up from the pack of bodies as people protested the treatment. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to! Excuse me!” Boren yelled back without stopping, Aarav in his wake until there were right in front of the dwarf. Luckily there was a space around his forge where people weren’t walking. Unfortunately, it was hotter than inside one of the palace kitchen’s ovens. Both shied back from the heat a little but were pushed towards it by the crowd behind them.

“Argh! It’s so hot!” Boren yelled, trying to stay as far back as possible without rebounding off the crowd again. There was no wonder there was this much space, and it was only bearable where the public started. He would be surprised if he didn’t get burned by proximity alone!

“What did you expect? It is a forge!” Aarav replied, also trying to shield his slowly melting body.

“Aarav! Are you okay? You’re melting!” Boren’s eyes widened when he saw the condition of the Slime’s carefully camouflaged clothes. His eyes, ears and everything else was slowly sliding to the ground as he became less solid by the second.

“Umm, I’m not sure! Hold on! Aarav sloshed behind Boren and used him as a small shield from the heat while Boren saw his slipping eyes close in concentration. Then the melting was reversing, slowly at first but accelerating until he was back to his fairy disguise. “Woah! That was close! I guess I can’t handle that kind of volcano heat level!”

“Volcano? This is hardly as hot as a volcano.”

“Have a lot of experience with volcanoes, do you?” Aarav asked testily. “I can’t handle this heat for long, so I will have to take regular pauses away from it.”

“Yes, no problem. I just wanted to see what the man was making!” Was Aarav looking a little smaller than before? No, that would just be in his head. There was no way a little heat exposure would cause him to disintegrate, right?

All through the exchange, the dwarf had not ceased his pounding. And the people behind them had not stopped their jostling. It was like nothing had happened, and the creature with Boren had not almost died. “I am okay, but a couple of minutes is my limit.”

“Hello!” Boren called. The dwarf didn’t stop his hammering. Maybe he couldn’t hear over the clamour? Boren tried again a little louder. “HELLO!”

The dwarf didn’t stop but gestured at him with the hammer on the next upstroke, indicating he had heard. Boren decided to wait patiently. He didn’t know the first thing about smithing. Maybe the short man was at a critical part, and he knew that it could damage the metal if the hammering stopped at the wrong time. Unfortunately, Aarav had no such compunction and took up Boren’s shouts.

“HEY, we are talking to you, you know!” Aarav hadn’t seen the gesture, and Boren quickly elbowed him. “Urgh, what was that for!?”

“He heard me the first time, and we just need to wait, don’t you know ever to interrupt a blacksmith mid-swing?” Aarav looked at Boren incredulous. His eyes seemed to say, ‘you interrupted him first!’ but he settled down.

“No, I grew up in a forest for the umpteenth time! How am I supposed to know something like that!?” Aarav said it loud enough for Boren to hear but not the rest of the crowd or the blacksmith.

Those last words rang out a little as the clanging stopped, and the dwarf put the tool into what looked like an oil barrel at his side. The flames licked up the metal. A few moments later, he transferred it to a water barrel next to it from the hissing sound before putting it down and putting the hammer aside.

“How can I help you?”