Frostbitten Wayfarer

The first thing Zoe noticed as the white stone walls of Korna appeared on the horizon, beyond the sheer size, was the mana. There was just so much of it, the once delicate wisps of light that drifted through the world were a dazzling, blinding lighthouse that blanketed the land in warmth. She was thankful for whatever magic let her process her normal vision and mana vision separately as if she had to try and peer through the mana to see the world for what it was otherwise, she’d have felt like a deer caught in headlights.

Entrance was simple and straightforward, Rizick dropped the group off at a handful of buildings just outside Korna’s walls and then some Korna government officials took over. Rizick talked with them about the bandits that had attacked, and Zoe tried to drown out most of their conversation. It seemed they were happy the group was dealt with, and glad they decided to send Ed instead of a rookie.

Zoe and the rest were split up as different officials came to help them get settled in. They were each given a room in what was being called a thrown together inn but may as well have been a five star hotel to Zoe, along with a questionnaire to fill out and an offer for any other assistance they may need.

The questionnaire asked some simple questions about Zoe — what kind of work would she be interested in, what kind of work does she have experience with, information about her finances as well as a large section for detailing information about any friends or family that may be in Korna that they could help locate.

Zoe left the first three sections blank, and then describe everybody she knew in Korna. Eliza, Nora, Lila. Even Obai, if he managed to survive his reckless ascent of Moaning Point. The official helping Zoe — a young lady in a pretty blue dress by the name of Nomi, came back an hour later with a bowl of soup and took the sheet from Zoe.

She said there was no promises they could find everybody, but they would do their best and be back in a few hours. Zoe was free to leave if she wanted, and there were some resources available to her in the little cluster of buildings too. A gym with equipment for exercising and a pool, a small library and a kitchen stocked with an assortment of food.

Zoe chose to stay in her room, the peace and quiet was nice and gave her a chance to think about things at her own pace. She found she wasn’t as upset about it as she thought she should be, and that ate away at her. It was death, murder. But they were bad people, and from Zoe’s perspective may as well have been one dimensionally evil.

Sure, maybe from their point of view they had a reason for what they did. Maybe they were good people in a bad situation, maybe they were forced into it. But did that matter, to Zoe? She thought it should. Years of empathy for the less savoury folk hammered into her back in her previous life. But that wasn’t where she was anymore.

These were bandits, they thrived on violence and misery. What excuse could somebody have to turn to senseless violence like that in a world where you could just go clear Moaning Point and make more money than you’d ever need to survive?

It was hard to accept, and felt a little like she was throwing away a part of her that she needed to care about, but she found she just didn’t care as much as she hoped she would. As much as she felt she needed to. Her despair almost felt like an act, in hindsight.

Like the pressures of modern society bared down on her and pushed her to act a certain way. There was almost a feeling of needing to be traumatized by it or she’d be seen as a psychopath. That if she let people be killed around her and wasn’t upset by it, she’d be scorned and ridiculed. That people would fear her for welcoming death into her life so casually.

But that wasn’t how it worked here. Nobody else on the carriage was afraid of the bandits dying — they wanted them to die. Everybody else was afraid of themselves dying, that the bandits would win and they’d be killed. If it weren’t for the fear of it not being over yet, they might even have celebrated their death.

Zoe was shocked when Rizick first called for their deaths, that much was true at least. She expected to run into bandits at some point, and even read they tended to attack caravans more so than lone travellers when she was researching Gafoda so many years prior. She’d even seen them, or what she thought might have been them, on her trips to Gafoda several times.

Maybe it was her being naïve, or maybe it was just her not thinking about it much until she was stuck in the situation. But she wasn’t even sure what she expected. To subdue them and leave them be? To capture them and bring them to town for rehabilitation? Whatever her expectations were, they were subverted so absolutely when Rizick told Ed to kill them.

And that shook her more than she expected. It pulled at the last remnants of her previous life and brought her back to her innocent self, and she didn’t like who she was.

Zoe sighed and dug into her soup. It was a simple vegetable soup that tasted fresh and a little floral, and gave her a simple buff of increased health regeneration for an hour. When she was done, she stretched and laid on the comfortable bed to drift off to sleep.

A knock on the door brought her awake a while later. “Hello?” Nomi called out.

“Yeah, come in.” Zoe answered, watching Nomi open the door and walk in with another sheet of paper.

“Here you go,” Nomi handed Zoe the paper. A list of names and addresses of everybody Zoe listed on the questionnaire, along with a map showing where those addresses were. “Before I get your hopes up, this is just the addresses we have in our books for them. If they’ve moved or left for any reason since the last time we checked, then they might not be there. But feel free to come back and let us know, and we’ll do what we can to help you find wherever they might be.

“Is there anything else you need help with here in Korna? You’re sure you don’t need help finding work or with expenses or anything like that?" Nomi asked.

Zoe nodded. “Yeah, thank you. I wasn’t affected that much by the disaster anyway, if I’m being totally honest. I feel a little bad for taking advantage of you already.”

Nomi laughed. “Oh don’t worry about it. We’ve streamlined things a bit for you folk to make it easier on you, but these services are all available to citizens of the Injellar kingdom anyway. I know Flester was an independent city, but Korna is a right proper piece of the kingdom, with all the benefits that entails.”

“Right. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate all the help a lot.” Zoe said.

“No problem. It’s a shame what happened. You’re free to stick around a while longer if you’d like, but if you don’t have anything else you need us for then I hope you find Korna comfortable and welcoming.” Nomi said as she left.

The first thing Zoe noticed, walking through the entrance of Korna was the entrance itself. There was no gate that would close at night, no blockade ready to bar people’s entrance. Just a gaping but well decorated hole in the wall with two guards just over level one hundred stood at either side, along with who knows how many Zoe could hear chattering in the thick stone wall.

Next were the roads, they were made of a faded cobblestone with plenty of red and green bricks mixed in to form interesting patterns. The buildings lining the edge of the street were clean and well built with a mix of red brick and what looked like white concrete.

But perhaps what stood out to her the most was the fashion. Everybody she saw walking down the street had bright and colourful clothes in so many different styles. Flowing dresses full of frills and lace, t-shirts popping with colourful printed designs. Everybody seemed to have their own style and it made the city seem so bright and cheerful. It was incredible what a difference people just having nice clothes made to a city.

Zoe checked the map she was given and realized that Korna was massive. She saw the white stone walls surrounding it, and expected it to be a little bigger than Flester was. But seeing the map, and all the districts laid out on it, with various parks and sprawling mansions put it into perspective. The building she stood next to was little more than a speck on the map she had, and Zoe found herself being excited to explore it all.

Her first stop would be Eliza, she was with Lila not too far from the entrance Zoe entered through in an apartment building. Zoe walked in through the entrance and knocked on their door on the second floor.

Lila opened the door a few moments later and smiled when she saw Zoe. “Oh! Hello. Eliza!” Lila shouted back inside. “Zoe’s here!”

Eliza came walking up a few moments later and smiled. “Hey Zoe. I’m glad you’re doing well.”

“Hi, I’m glad you two are well too. I uh, I’m not really sure why I’m here exactly. I just showed up in town and you two were the closest on the map I was given.” Zoe chuckled and waved the map in front of her face.

“You need a place to stay? I can lend you my couch if you do.” Lila offered.

“No, no. That’s fine I won’t intrude on you like that. You know of any nice inns around here though?” Zoe asked.

“Hmm,” Eliza hummed. “Normally when I came to Korna, I stayed at Oaniga. They’re a bit pricey but so worth it, in my opinion. Food’s amazing, the beds are, oh,” Eliza hugged her shoulders. “So good. And it’s in a nice area. If you’re looking for something cheaper though, I don’t think there’s any bad inns in Korna, really. It’s a nice city.”

“How much is it to stay at Oaniga, was it?” Zoe asked.

“Last I was there I think I spent twenty silver per night.” Eliza shrugged.

“How much is a normal inn here?” Zoe asked.

“Thirty copper? Maybe forty?” Lila said.

“I think I’ll try this Oaniga place out for a bit then at least. Where is it?” Zoe asked.

Eliza gestured for the map, and Zoe gave it to her. Then she summoned a pencil and scribbled a circle on it near the center of the city. “Right down here, on Oani.”

“Oani?” Zoe rose an eyebrow.

“It’s a wealthy inn, they paid for the road.” Eliza laughed.

“Right, well thanks. I guess I’ll go check in there and get to exploring town. Any suggestions where to start?” Zoe asked.

“I particularly like the park not far from here,” Lila said. “Lots of greenery and some friendly animals that wander around it. They sell treats at some of the stalls and you can feed them. It’s good fun.”

Eliza nodded. “Yeah, and I would so recommend going clothes shopping. Stock up while you’re here, get some for your friends back home too. Korna’s clothes are unmatched.”

Lila nodded. “Definitely go clothes shopping. There’s Korna’s Botanical Gardens too, which is a pleasant walk.”

“Oh, right. Yeah, and it’s the right season for it too.” Eliza said. “I think there’s a bridge not far north from here down the road which is a lot of fun if you’re not afraid of heights. And I don’t think you are.”

“Alright, thanks for the help. I’ll be around for a while probably. Might move inns at some point though. I can afford it for a bit but not sure I wanna stick with it for more than a few weeks, really.” Zoe said.

“Mhm. Good jobs around Korna too, you can check out the odd job’s building. Might have something that interests you.” Eliza suggested.

“Where’s that?” Zoe asked.

Eliza took the map and scribbled another circle near the north-east of the city. “Around here, never been myself so not sure exactly. Ask around over there and somebody should help you though.”

“Alright, thanks for the help. Again. Seriously I’m gonna go check in at Oaniga now.” Zoe laughed. “But it was good to see you two again, I’m glad you’re doing well.”

“You too, Zoe.” Lila said.

“Yeah, see you around. Glad you made it.” Eliza said.

Zoe left and made her way down to Oaniga on Oani. The outside of the building was, in a word, opulent. White with thick gold engravings that shone in the setting sun, with a door far too large to be practical for any purposes Zoe could think of.

In the front was a reception area with an enormous amount of empty space. The copper plated — or perhaps solid copper, desk stood off to the side surrounded by vast, empty white stone. The floors glinted with not a smudge or scratch to be found.

Behind the desk was a man dressed in a bright blue suit with bits of lace stretched across his arms. And even further behind was a waterfall that dripped along the entire wall and created a pleasant background noise. The man smiled when Zoe walked in, but she felt an underlying scorn and disdain as he watched her marvel at the wealth on display.

“Hello, madam. May I help you today?” He asked her.

“Yeah, I’d like a room please.” Zoe said.

“Certainly. For how long will you be staying with us?” He asked.

“I dunno. Two weeks, I guess?”

“Certainly. We do require payment at check-in however, madam. For two weeks, that will be three and a half gold.” The man said, a hint of pleasure leaking through his disdain.

Zoe rolled her eyes and summoned a gold circle. “Actually, I’ll just stay for however long this gets me for now.”

The man took the gold coin and smiled. “Certainly, madam.” He fiddled with something behind the desk, and a moment later another man appeared next to him dressed in the same suit.

“Greetings, madam. I will take you to your room now, if you would follow me?” He smiled and started walking down towards a hallway on the other side of the room after Zoe nodded.