As Serena led her charge towards the center of Kenhoro she was constantly bombarded with questions. Alia was intrigued by every little sight or sll. Honestly, it was endearing to see sobody so fascinated by demon culture. On more than one occasion, Serena had to stop Alia from walking into soone as she was so distracted by the next shiny thing.
She did her best to answer what she could, although she often failed to give further detail when the inevitable follow-up questions were thrown her way. The culture in Kenhoro and the surrounding area was familiar to her due to her military career, which caused her to spend a significant amount of ti docked. However, she was not a native, and her holand - The Three Sisters - was several hundred klicks to the southeast.
“This is the Kenhoro procession, the main thoroughfare in the city,” She said to Alia as they stepped onto the enormous paved street. Frequent trams passed them, excess steam hissing out the tops as they trundled past in the tracks embedded in the ground. “Here, hold on,” She wrapped an arm around Alia’s waist and hoisted the both of them onto a passing tram.
An interesting noise ca from the human, which she almost ignored.
“Sorry. Getting on and off a moving tram is an urban skill you’ll need to learn quickly,” Serena cast an apologetic look at the red-cheeked girl. “Never walk along the tracks. The trams have scoops installed on their fronts to push pedestrians out of the way, and the drivers are perfectly happy to use them.”
“Okay! There are so many people!” Alia said. The tram was almost full, and outside there was a constant river of people moving up and down the procession. “How many people do you think live in the city?”
“About a million, give or take. Probably another two hundred thousand in the surrounding area. You should see the Centralis Basin. The last census of that region ca to eighty million people! It’s probably eighty-five now,” Serena shook her head, “Imagine the logistics to feed that many people! Kenhoro is a big place, but it has no underground. In Centralis, there are thousands of klicks of tunnels through the mountains and earth, connecting them all.”
Alia looked at her with wide eyes. “Whoa!” She exclaid. “Can we go there?”
“Eventually,” Serena said. They would inevitably, at so point. If she were going to receive a silver eagle for her work, they would typically invite her to the capital for the ceremony. “We can see the titan,” she said.
“Titan?”
“To’s gave you a history lesson right? About how the empress was victorious against the Titans?”
“I think so…? He ntioned gigantic monsters at so point.”
“The Titans were the generals of that ancient enemy. They led the legions of beasts and were felled one by one by the empress. Other than the bones that were used in the construction of the Cathedral of Bone in the capital, there wasn’t much evidence of the rest of them.
“That was until a century and a half ago when they began digging the underground railway in the Centralis Basin. They ca across a gigantic skeleton of a creature slain long ago. Only the skull is accessible to the public, but they’ve turned it into sowhat of a tourist attraction.”
Alia’s eyes grew even wider. “Have you ever seen it!?”
“No,” Serena said, shaking her head. “And yes to the question you’re about to ask. We’ll try to find ti to visit it when we go central.”
“Thank you!” Alia bead, flashing her a perfect smile. Serena let herself enjoy that smile for a few seconds. “You know, eighty million isn’t that much,” Alia whispered, moving in closer. “The biggest nation from where I ca from had three billion people.”
Serena narrowed her eyes and found Alia wasn’t jesting. Three billion people. How could she even begin to imagine that? “All human?” She asked, and Alia nodded back. Christ. That was a lot of… humans. “How would you even feed that many people?”
“Mmm…” Alia’s eyes looked thoughtful, “You know how advances in tallurgy allow better armour and better engines to be made?” Serena nodded. “Well, I guess we’ve perfected growing crops. Better fertilizers. Centuries of breeding the best crops. It’s all automated also.”
“Automated?”
“Yeah, like…” Alia raised her hands, seemingly struggling to find the words. “Imagine an advanced steam engine, but it’s smart enough to know how and when to perfectly plant, grow and harvest crops. It can work day and night, farming hundreds of kilotres of farmland year-round.”
“That’s interesting. My sister would be very interested in hearing about that.” What Alia described sounded like a far more advanced version of the golems widely used in the southern desert.
Alia opened her mouth to reply, but they were interrupted by the tram conductor.
“Tickets! Don’t think I missed you sneaking on back there!” The smartly dressed demon called out, pushing his way through the crowd and up to them. Serena adjusted her raincoat, pulling it so that her shoulder with the gold thread and military insignia could be seen. The conductor paused for a mont before motioning his head towards Alia.
“She’s with ,” Serena said. The conductor nodded and made his way back down the tram. Serena covered her uniform back up and saw Alia looking at her with a questioning expression painted on her face. “All military can ride transport in the city for free,” Serena explained. “Ca into effect a couple of years ago. Speakers also have that privilege, although…” She bent down slightly, lowering her voice. “Don’t pull that trick when you’re alone, not until we can figure out where you stand legally. You’re not a citizen of this region or the empire.”
“How do I beco a citizen?” Alia whispered back.
“I suspect an offer might be made to you sooner rather than later, once your lack of ties to…” Serena dropped her voice as quietly as she could, “... the enemy is confird.” Alia nodded, and her blue eyes moved to an area above Serena's shoulder.
“Is that the lighthouse you talked about?”
Serena turned and saw the towering steel lighthouse. Even during midday, the enormous aetherlight still shone brightly. “Yes,” she said. “There are two more, but you can’t see them. Use them as a landmark to return to the docks if you need to.”
“Okay! Do you… expect there’ll be trouble during our stay?”
Serena paused, thinking over how to answer the question. She couldn’t say no, but couldn’t guarantee a yes either. It depended on how aggressive Cascadian and Federation intelligence would be. If there were heretical or republican cells in Kenhoro then an outright kidnapping or assassination attempt wasn’t out of the question.
“There’s a possibility. You’re keeping your wards up at all tis?” Seeing Alia nod quickly, she asked, “How are your aether reserves?” The cloaked ward Alia had cast on Serena was still maintained.
“It’s manageable. When we find ti, I want to try so others, if that’s okay.”
“... Sure,” Serena said. “Let’s jump off here.” Serena could have let Alia jump off by herself, but she was curious as to whether the human would make that cute noise again. She slipped an arm around Alia's waist and, while pulling her tight, hopped off the tram.
Her efforts were not in vain.
“Let’s head this way, through the central market,” Serena said, leading the red-faced girl. The light rain had stopped, but she warned Alia to keep her hat on so that her golden hair was hidden. They slipped in with the river of pedestrians, and soon a massive cascade of noise and slls assaulted them.
“Spices! Black spices all the way from the desert!”
“Northern spirits! Whiskey from Kasimanda! Vodka from Skipifold!”
“Co get the best Vinay kebabs! Slow-cooked for twenty-four hours!”
“Masks! Get your festival masks here! Crystal jewellery for your horns!”
A city of market stalls called out to them. They were brightly coloured, with enticing signs and aggressive stall owners — anything to grab a potential custor's attention.
“Masks!” Alia pulled Serena to one of the stalls.
“We have carnival masks in every colour you can dream of, young ladies!” The shopkeeper’s words flowed naturally from his mouth. “The festival is only around the corner! I would hate to see you unadorned with the very best accessories in Kenhoro! Look here,” the man gestured to his wares, “We have masks in patterned clothes for those after a simple look, or if you want to stand out, we have ones decorated in coloured quartz! And for the extra special custor who truly wants to impress a man…” The stallkeeper pointed to a row of masks behind a glass cabinet. “Masks lined with cut moon crystals from the four corners of Cascadia!”
“Not all the corners,” Serena pointed out, “You’re missing red crystal.”
“Right you are, dear custor! Unfortunately, due to the ongoing conflict, the red stuff is a little hard to get these days. I could put in an order for you, of course!” The stallkeeper rubbed his hands together.
“Can I try this on?” Alia pointed towards one of the carnival masks donned in blue moon crystal. The stallkeeper eagerly unlocked the cabinet and handed the mask to Alia, who looked up at Serena. Alia held the mask in position. “What do you think? Matches my eyes, right?”
Serena swallowed awkwardly. How did adding a small carnival mask add so much… enticent? The blue glow from the crystal only highlighted Alia’s eyes more. “Take the hat off,” She told Alia, “See if it fits properly.” Alia obeyed, removing the hat and revealing her golden hair.
“A human…” the stallkeeper mumbled before quickly turning back into cheerful rchant mode. “What brilliant golden hair you have! It shines even more than my wares! If I may ask, dear custor, whence do you hail from?”
“She’s from Karligard,” Serena said before Alia could respond. She hadn’t missed the brief drop in the stallkeeper's face when he had seen Alia's lack of horns. Discrimination had been rising through the years, and the humans in Kenhoro had slowly been grouping closer to their districts on the outskirts. “It looks good,” She said as Alia finished adjusting the mask. Good was an understatent. Alia looked stunning.
“You like it? Okay then! I’ll buy it! How much?” Alia grinned at the complint.
“You don’t need to buy sothing just because I said so, you know,” Serena said, trying and failing to chastise the girl.
“I know, but I want to dress up for the festival. What about you?”
“What about ?”
Alia turned to the stallkeeper. “How quickly can you get one just like this,” Alia motioned towards the mask on her face, “But with red crystals?” Alia turned to Serena, motioning towards her eyes. “For your red eyes. It should match, no?”
“Red is expensive these days. I don’t want to spend that much on a mask. I’ll get sothing like this…” Serena picked up one of the masks patterned in red cloth.
“No, no!” Alia protested, shaking her head. “We have to match, or there’s no point! Mr Stallowner, can you get a red one like this in ti for the festival?”
The stallkeeper's expression was puzzled as he listened to their back-and-forth and was a little slow to react. “Ah, of course,” he said, "Of course!” He clasped his hands together. "I can have it ready within two days. Is that acceptable for you?”
Serena began to protest, but Alia cut her short. “I will pay for it! Don’t worry! How much is it, Mr Stallowner?”
“Thirty for the blue mask and fifty for the red one.”
“Okay!” Alia turned to Serena. “You have the money on you, right? Take it out of my wages for this month!” Serena looked at Alia for a mont. She would have to teach her the price of things. These two masks were half a year of a soldier's salary.
“My dear custor, what a wonderful choice! Would you like to gift wrap them for you? Free of charge!”
“Yes, please!” Alia removed the blue mask and handed it back to the stallkeeper, who busied wrapping and bagging it. Serena handed the man his money, and the purse Tos had given her felt far lighter. The stallkeeper handed Alia the bag and a receipt so she could pick up the remaining mask in the future.
“Here you go, valued custor. If I may ask, you spoke of wages. From what profession do you hail from?”
Alia flashed a grin and jabbed a thumb at her chest.
“I’m her maid!”
Serena sighed.
Idiot.
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