System Lost: My Own Best Friend

It's a little crazy how quickly everything went from bone dry and stiflingly hot to almost jungle-like. The riverbank is covered in tall grasses, shrubbery, and unfamiliar trees taking advantage of the local moisture. The ground is also a lot softer, and while there are still rocks and twigs to contend with, it's a welcome break for my poor abused feet.

This place is teeming with life, too. The mountains were almost eerily silent, apart from the occasional bird or lizard, and the only plant life around was those crumbly bushes and a few hardy roots. The river, on the other hand, is surrounded by a constant cacophony of chirping, croaking, and buzzing from the various creatures that have made the oasis their home.

"Watch your step," Talla warns me, as we trudge through the grass. "The river's edge can sneak up on you—as can the snakes."

"Snakes?!" I yelp, suddenly on high alert for any biters hiding in the grass.

"Nothing too venomous around here," she attempts to reassure me. "Nothing I can't handle, if it comes to that. They should leave you alone anyway, as long as you don't step on one."

"That doesn't make me feel any better..." I mutter.

Talla chuckles and starts beating a path through the grass, stomping it flat as she goes to create a small clearing at the edge of the river. I help out too, and by the time we're finished, it's already gotten dark. Nights are a lot brighter here, though, thanks to the huge rings reflecting a lot more sunlight than the moon back home. Between that and Talla's skills, there's plenty of light to see by.

Even so, this river is huge. From where I'm standing, it's more like a lake. The water is moving slowly enough that I can't actually tell at a glance which way it flows, and I can't see the other side.

"Just how big is this river, anyway?" I ask curiously.

Talla peers down its length, as if searching for something, then shrugs. "Large? One of the biggest in the world. The river Sagaa spans nearly half the continent, bringing water from the blessed lands beneath the great wheel, all the way up to Stebaari on the coast."

Hmm. That sounds mighty familiar.

"Is Stebaari built on a river delta?" I ask. "Where the river meets the sea?"

"Good guess!" Talla answers. "Although I suppose I did sort of give that away just now."

"Yeah, and it's an old city, isn't it?" I continue. "Maybe even older than the empire itself?"

This time she blinks at me. "Now how in the world did you guess that?!"

"Well for one, you told us the cathedral there outdated the empire," I point out. "But also, it's just sort of a thing, you know?"

"No, I don't," she replies. "But you can explain more while we bathe."

Whatever I was about to say about cradles of civilization and the importance of fresh water and fertile land for agrarian society to flourish disappears from my mind as Talla pulls off her cloak and shirt without so much a second's hesitation. I avert my eyes and blush as she goes for her sash next.

"W-w-what are you doing?!" I stammer incredulously.

"Undressing?" she replies, as though I'm the weird one here. "Were you planning to bathe in your clothes? I suppose they could use the wash, but that's typically done separately where I come from."

"N-no! Same here, I just..." I trail off, realizing that the answer is simply that I hadn't thought about it at all. "I'm not used to bathing with other people, I guess," I finish lamely.

"Apart from your other selves?"

I raise a finger to argue, then swiftly lower it again. "Good point, actually."

"Why are you complaining anyway?" Maggie interjects. "Who wouldn't want to get naked with a hot goat lady?"

"I can still hear you, Maggie," Talla says, a hint of amusement in her voice. "And while I'm flattered, I don't think comparing me to a 'goat' is very polite, whatever that actually is. Some kind of farm animal? The spell's not very clear."

"Shit! Fuck! Oh my god, somebody please kill me right now," Maggie groans quietly before vanishing from my inner senses like a little candle going out.

It's just me and Violet now, for the moment.

"Sorry," I mutter bashfully. "Maggie doesn't have much of a filter."

"That's alright," she giggles. "But if you really are uncomfortable, I can give you some privacy. I'd love to hear more about that 'thing' you so vaguely alluded to. What's so special about river deltas?"

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"Oh right!" I exclaim. "No, it's fine."

I awkwardly begin to strip out of my own filthy clothing, a bit glad to be free of it if I'm being honest. I'm not usually shy, but Maggie's constant talk of seducing Talla—literally and figuratively—may have gotten to my head a little. Come on, Allie, it's like a locker room, pull yourself together! I fold my clothes into a neat pile and leave my glasses on top so I don't lose them.

Talla's already in the water, running some kind of brush through her fur by the time I catch up. I dip my feet in tentatively, then quickly submerge myself up to my neck in the cool water. It's a little bit bracing, but after a long day in the heat I'm glad the water's cold.

"So," Talla says absently. "River deltas?"

"Ah, yeah—well, they're really fertile," I explain.

She raises an eyebrow at me. "That's it? That's your grand otherworldly knowledge? Everyone knows that."

I blush a bit from embarrassment and splash water on my face, running my hands through my hair and frowning a bit when they come up short. Nope, still not used to that.

"Well, no," I say defensively. "It's more than that. The moving water allows for irrigation, the coastline is good for trade, and the land around a delta is often self-sustaining. It's not just easy to cultivate, it's the kind of place that early civilizations can learn to cultivate from scratch."

"Hm, interesting," Talla says, nodding along. "Have you switched to your [Teacher] class yet?"

I slap my forehead. "Dang it! Thanks for the reminder."

I quickly switch that over, now that I'm not likely to need [Pathfinder] for a while.

[Class Slot 2: Tier 0 Teacher]* - Level 0/10

"So you're suggesting that places like Stebaari tend to flourish because of their unique fertility?" Talla goes on.

"Yeah, and there are a lot of other factors too, but in my world many of the oldest civilizations were like that," I explain. "There were other kinds too, but most follow the same pattern. River valley, access to the coast, arable land and food crops—all the essential ingredients for agrarian society."

Talla hums thoughtfully and offers me the scrub-brush. "Where did you learn about all this?"

I accept the brush and start scrubbing off all the sweat, grime, blood, and dead skin. It's a bit rough, but gosh do I ever need the exfoliation.

"I was a student in my world," I explain. "My memory is all messed up, but I remember that much. I was attending university."

Talla's eyes widen. "Really? A scholar? I wouldn't have guessed."

"Not everyone who goes to college in my world is a scholar," I correct her. "But...I might have been? The problem is that I don't actually remember what exactly I was studying."

"A historian, perhaps?" she suggests. "You seem to know a lot about old societies."

"I know a lot about modern ones too," I say. "Or I did. I'm not sure what modern even means in this world."

"I'm sure you'll learn," Talla replies, gazing up at the rings. "Probably faster than you'd like. You remind me a bit of myself when I first joined the rangers. Eager, optimistic, and maybe just a tiny bit naive."

I frown, but don't argue. There's a lot about this world that I don't know, and assuming that all of my prior knowledge will carry over would be silly.

"Well, I'm glad I've got you to teach me," I admit. "I think we were lucky to meet you."

Talla turns to me and smiles. "Likewise! I think we can learn a great deal from each other."

* * *

After our bath, Talla and I dry off—though it's a much bigger ordeal for her—and return to camp. To my surprise, Talla only wraps her cloak around herself, explaining that she needs more time to let her fur dry before she can get fully dressed. Nudity is apparently not nearly as much of a thing in Fa'aun culture, and while she still covers up, she doesn't seem particularly concerned about Draga catching an eyeful if her cloak shifts the wrong way.

Draga himself leaves for his own turn washing up, giving Talla and I the freshly prepared camp to ourselves. One tent is set up, and there's already a pot of soup boiling over that crystal-powered portable stove of theirs.

"That'll be for you," Talla remarks, gesturing at the tent. "Draga and I will just use bedrolls, but I suppose he thought you'd need the extra shelter since your skin is so sensitive."

"Sorry about that..." I grumble. "Is it really okay to let Draga do all this setup himself?"

"It is generally a man's work," she says. "But in the absence of Saban, I suppose it would be kinder of us to help out. He's too professional to ask for it, but we'll help break camp tomorrow."

"Sounds good."

Now that I'm freshly clean, I take the opportunity to change into some of my new clothes. Despite my best efforts to find stuff that fits, most of Kiera's clothing is still too big on me and I have to tie it off in places to get everything to stay put.

I end up going with a loose shirt, a much nicer cloak than my old one with a hood to protect my face from the sun, and a skirt held up by a sash around my waist. Fa'aun clothing seems to be all about airflow, so the skirt doesn't do an amazing job at covering my legs, but as long as I'm not flailing around all the time I won't need to worry about sunburns there. It's definitely long enough, though—I had to roll the thing up quite a bit just to keep it from dragging through the dirt.

Talla nods appreciatively as I emerge from the tent. "Not bad! It suits you well."

"Thanks," I say, adjusting a few bits for comfort. "It was a pain in the butt getting everything to fit. Also, do you not have bras?"

That was the most frustrating part. I've still got my strapless bra, but it's not the most comfortable thing in the world, and it's more than a little grody from me living in it for the last few weeks.

"I'm afraid to say that the word doesn't even translate well," Talla replies apologetically. "You could try tying a sash around your chest."

"I'll save that for a last resort," I sigh. "I can still make do with what I've got for now."

Add that to the list of things that Fa'aun society isn't going to provide for me. No shoes, no underwear...would it be too optimistic to hope for toilets at this point?

Honestly, I don't care. It's a thought that keeps coming up over and over, but I'm just grateful to be worrying about underwear instead of whether or not I'll wake up next time I go to sleep, or if I'll ever see the sky again.

Talla offers me a cup of soup, and we eat together in quiet silence around the light of her skill.

"It's really real, isn't it?" I ask suddenly. "I'm out of that crappy cave and I'm never going back."

"Mhm," Talla replies gently. "I promise you're safe now. Things might get a little difficult when we return to the city, but right here and right now, you're safe. You made it."

"Yeah," I whisper, as much to myself as to her. "We made it."