“While going wherever your feet take you is one way to travel, it does poorly when your intent is to gather information about the surrounding lands. A planned itinerary worked far better for those purposes instead, rather than random aimless wanderings.” - Gerold Fetterkin, retired former intelligence agent for the Clangeddin Empire.

“So you’re gonna make the full trip around the region then, huh?” asked the retired Markgraf as she sat and welcomed Aideen with a small feast together with her husband and one of her younger sons who happened to be visiting. “Up north to the Regency, no, Holy Kingdom now, then to Ezram, the western edge of Clangeddin, then to the far north?”

“That’s the plan I had in mind so far,” replied Aideen with a nod as to the old dwarven woman. Ginnie’s hospitality was a kind and genuine one and she saw no reason not to accept. She had met Ginnie’s husband on her last visit to Knallgant before, though it was the first time she had met the old dwarf’s son. “Any suggestions?”

“As it happens, me boy Roland here happened to be part of the diplomatic corps and had been around the vicinity,” said Ginnie with a wide grin that was partially hidden beneath her thick facial hair. “He could probably brief you a bit on their current states. Rollie?”

“Please don’t call me that, honored mother… I’m not a child who hasn’t grown his beard anymore…” said the younger dwarf with an exasperated sigh even as his parents guffawed at his reaction. Aideen’s best guess pegged the dwarf at maybe two hundred or so, and he had inherited his mother’s dark skin tone, if to a somewhat lighter extent. “What would you like to know, Miss deVreys?”

“Anything relevant you can think of, really. Demographics, politics, geography, anything,” said Aideen in reply.

“Can’t say too much about the Holy Kingdom, that is, the former Regency. They had been pretty isolated and never been friendly to non-humans since the Regency days, so we mostly heard hearsay and rumors from there,” said the younger dwarf as he rolled out a map of the nearby area and traced a path from Knallgant to the east of the Holy Kingdom with one thick finger. “I heard that the leader of the revolution had passed away of late, and that the high priest had anointed one of his children as the new leader, but not that much else. You would probably find the easiest time blending in there though, as those with pale skin are pretty common in the area.”

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“I expected as much,” replied Aideen as she nodded to the dwarf’s explanation. “What of the others?”

“Ezram further to its north also didn’t really welcome non-humans that much, though they still accepted trade and diplomatic delegations,” said Roland as he traced further north on the map with his finger. “Since you’re outwardly no different than other humans, you shouldn’t find it hard to go through there, though you might want to dye your skin if you wish to be less conspicuous. Having pale skin in those regions basically amounted to declaring that you’re from the former Regency to most.”

“Understandable, and further north from Ezram is Clangeddin territory, right?”

“Indeed. Like Knallzog, Clangeddin pretty much accepts all races, so it’ll be a mix of people from all sorts of places there. Their westernmost territory is rather neglected though compared to the central territories,” said Roland with a nod. “The region didn’t have that much of value since they exhausted the gold and silver mines there a few decades ago. Most of the region’s inhabitants just tried to make a living any which way they could now.”

“And further north is the plains where you said the tribal orcs roamed.”

“Correct. They had mostly isolated themselves in the plain and were hostile to interlopers. I think it’s partly because the first… ‘civilized’ people they met were some greedy prospectors and pioneers from Clangeddin which sparked a big conflict back then,” replied the young dwarf with a sad nod. “Do you plan to go that far north? They are not exactly friendly to humans, Miss deVreys.”

“Most orcs where I came from had pretty much integrated into our societies, so there is precedent for successfully attempting to make peace with them,” replied Aideen with a firm nod. “I’ve learned their tongues as well, though I’m only fluent in the most common one and could barely converse in some other dialects. I’m hoping it’d be enough to talk with the orcs you have here.”

“As far as we know the Empire had never sent a subjugation force to the plains. The most detailed reports I got suggested that they sent scouts and spies to determine the threat level of the locals there, and saw too much trouble to be worth the land,” chimed in Ginnie from behind her son, who was shorter than her by a bit. “The conflict Rollie mentioned was like, a century ago, and while there’s been several skirmishes and regular raids since, if you really could speak their tongue, you might well manage to talk to them peacefully.”

“That’s what I’m hedging my bets on, yeah,” said Aideen with a shrug of her shoulders. “Besides, worst case, they try to kill me and fail anyway. I have nothing to lose but time, and that’s something I have plenty of to spend.”

“One way to look at things when yer literally immortal, I guess,” said Ginnie with a nod. “Must be nice to not have to worry about growing weak just because yer body decided it was time to start falling apart as you get older and older.”

“It has some advantages, I’ll admit,” said Aideen with a slightly melancholic tone of voice. “But some bits people don’t think of as often made immortality less of a blessing than you’d expect. Without Grandpa there to ground me I don’t think I would have remained well after I outlived most of my direct family.”

“Aye… that is a rather depressing scenario to think about. Fair point, lass.”