The following morning was not easy for Samuel and Tobi. Both slept roughly, their rest interrupted by fits of lingering vertigo from the ship’s constant pitching and rolling, though thankfully Samuel’s dreams were normal, and not the variety introduced by Arcana for his enlightenment. To top it off, their rooms were situated above a busy tavern, and the patrons were noisy and excitable with their food and drink.

“Couldn’t sleep much, eh?” The tavern owner asked as a disheveled and red-eyed Samuel sat at his bar. “Looks like ya got a bad case of the land wobbles.”

Samuel blinked blearily at the grinning man as Tobi joined him, his shirt wrinkled. “What are land wobbles?”

“When you spend days or weeks on a ship, you get used to the ground under ya movin’” the man said, pouring two mugs of coffee for his guests. “Then when ya get back to solid ground, yer brain plays tricks on ye, makin ya think ur still on the ship.”

That was accurate, Samuel thought sourly as he grabbed the cup with desperation and took a long draft. Then he coughed and spluttered at the taste, barely avoiding spitting it out. He knew that coffee consisted of hot water filtered through ground-up beans, but the joking title of bean-water was generally a joke. Here, it was literal. Thankfully, the man had retreated back to his tiny kitchen, and did not notice the reaction.

“I hope his ale is stronger than this,” Samuel said in an aside to Tobi. “Or he may not be in business for long.”

Tobi, who had seen Samuel’s reaction to the beverage, and, knowing his interest in good coffee, decided that the cup before him was not it, and chose not to sample it. Samuel, with tired resignation, and a hope that it would be effective, forced down the rest of the cup, slamming it back down with a grimace. He’d finally found something weaker than his previous self, he thought with a wry smile.

The owner brought back two plates loaded with eggs and bacon for them, and they slowly ate their way through it. Thankfully, the breakfast was palatable, though, as Samuel reflected silently, this was because eggs and bacon were hard to fail. Still, it came at a cheap price, so he ate it without complaint, determined to find some better rations for his trip.

After finishing their plates and politely but firmly declining another cup of coffee, they returned to their rooms to collect their things, and departed. The man called after them to look him up on their way back out of Zaban, though Samuel thought he’d like to consider other options, even if they were a little more pricey. It was his first lesson in a while that cost reflected quality.

They strolled through the market district of the harbor town for about half an hour, purchasing food, tents, and those other items that were necessary for a trip. Stormbreak Harbor’s market was tiny compared to Milagre’s with just over a dozen rickety stalls that looked to have been constructed in a hurry. The more expensive items, they knew, had already been bought and sold, merely awaiting the ships to deliver the goods.

Prepared now for their trip, Samuel took some time to find a cartographer. His own maps, while of good detail, were not of this land, and he wanted as much information as possible. He was disappointed to find that Zaban locals all learned the landmarks from birth, and did not need charts. As such, the best he could find was a simple chart denoting Stormbreak Harbor, and the three lakes at the center of the continent.

“I might as well have not bought this,” Samuel said with a sigh as they left the mapmaker’s shop. “It has fewer details than a menu.”

Tobi who felt sure Samuel could manage navigation on his own, merely shrugged. He was too distracted by the new sights, sounds, and smells around him to pay much attention in any event. Having never been farther than a few miles outside of Milagre, he was experiencing the thrill of being surrounded by a foreign culture for the first time in his life.

Samuel was excited as well, and, once he’d gotten over the subpar map, devoted his attention to studying the environment that surrounded them. Here in Stormbreak Harbor, with so much representation of other nations, the common tongue was easily the most frequent, but he did catch traces of other languages being spoken around him.

There seemed to be very little in the way of an organized guard, Samuel noticed. There were a few armed men and women scattered about the small town, but they were so rare that he had trouble picking them out. Each one was dressed in the same fashion, wearing long chain shirts of golden metal, with ornate-looking plates of armor overlaid. They all had a long curved scimitar at their sides, and small kite shields strapped to their left arms.

“Do you think,” he said quietly to Tobi as they passed such a warrior. “That they’re understaffed, or merely that skilled, that they don’t need a large garrison?”

Tobi had been examining the armed figures as well, and was frowning thoughtfully. “They seem competent, but no amount of skill at arms can account for lack of numbers. I’d imagine that, as they’ve experienced a rather long period of peace, they’re ill-prepared and relaxed.”

His assessment of their readiness made a great deal of sense to the young mage. He had seen for himself the evidence of recruiting of armed men in Gorteau, which was a nation in the beginnings of war with another country. Milagre was always fully stocked with warriors, of course, being the seat of power. Such a large force was demanded to ensure the King’s safety.

“I hope they continue to enjoy this peace,” Tobi said with another frown, this time of displeasure. “So that they are not caught unaware by a surprise attack.”

They officially passed out of Stormbreak Harbor five minutes later, walking past two of those armed figures who watched them carefully until they were out of sight. There was no gate on either side of the city, Samuel thought reflectively. Perhaps they were so unused to conflict on an international scale that their defensive practices had yet to catch up. Then again, most druids shunned the use of worked metal, and this was a nation of druids. So perhaps this was the best they could expect for a fighting force.

The moderate signs of civilization quickly faded from the landscape as they traveled further inland, following the chart Samuel had acquired. They had to take small breaks frequently so that Samuel could reference the map, as there were many branching trails for them to take and the Archmage had to constantly check that they were heading in the right direction. At each possible divergence, Samuel chose the path that pointed closest to their intended destination, hoping that he wouldn’t get them both lost.

It was only once they’d traveled for several hours that Samuel began to notice the presence of others along their path. People of all ages and dress walked between the trees, pausing to notice the outsiders in their midst, before retreating further out of sight. These were clearly the druids of Zaban, making their homes among the trees rather than in clusters that would turn into cities throughout the years. He was sure they had shelters somewhere, but the likelihood of him seeing them was slim. He was tempted to make a detour to try and find one, but reminded himself that he was on a mission, and shouldn’t get sidetracked.

The forest, which was rumored to span the entire land of Zaban, was full to bursting with smaller creatures and other forms of life that squawked, squeaked, and made all manner of noises. Tobi, who had been trained to pay close attention to any foreign noise while on patrol, was a bundle of stretched nerves for the first few hours of the day, turning sharply to find the source of each new noise or sighting that presented itself. After a while, however, he began to filter out those less important noises, and his stress seemed to fade.

“If the country is used to peace,” Samuel asked quietly, doing his best not to startle the high-strung apprentice, “Is there really a need to keep such a close watch?”

“Wild animals exist,” Tobi said shortly, not looking at Samuel. “I want to be forewarned. “

“Oh, relax,” Samuel sighed. “If one does spot us and decides to attack, we can scare it off plenty easy.”

Now Tobi did turn to face him, his face lined with concentration. “How?”

“It’s something I picked up from Grimr and your father,” he explained. “If you look too dangerous, they won’t want to test their luck.”

In a demonstration, he forced his mana to expand, stretching his presence out as far as he could, as fast as he could. Tobi flinched at the surprise, and, a few feet away in the bushes, so did some small animals. They could hear the sound of creatures scurrying away in fear. He relaxed, allowing his mana to pull back in, and raised an expectant eyebrow at his apprentice.

“See?”

Tobi hesitated a moment, actually coming to a stop on the thin forest path, and took several deep breaths to steady himself. After a moment or two, he blinked, and his entire body relaxed. He was still alert, of course, but the remnants of his earlier tension were gone.

“Yes. Thank you for explaining that. I was getting tired, being so tense.”

“Then let that be your first lesson,” Samuel said with a grin. “Sometimes it’s important to conserve your energy, in case you need it later.”