Rasmus was happy to carry her to Lindow and enjoyed himself playing a tour guide. Kasmaya was known for its trees and its rivers. From above, Violet could see four different rivers that converged at various points to create one massive river out to the sea. There were several smaller towns along each of the rivers that they flew over along the way.

Kasmayans have harnessed the use of the river to power their sawmills. According to Rasmus, they also had facilities for grinding wheat to make flour. One thing each city had in common was they all had a fence of some sort. The larger communities had stone walls, while the smaller ones had walls made from timber. The reason for this was twofold. First, it was to keep the beasts from the forest out, and second, it was for protection from other sapients.

Kasmaya and Astresh have been at war with each other on and off since they were formed. Rasmus did not know the original reason for the conflict. It had gone on for so many generations; it was a way of life for them now. Astresh was home to the shorter races, while Kasmaya was a nation of not so vertically challenged people. Both countries would accept all races, but there was distrust between them that caused hard feelings.

When they reached Lindow, Rasmus flew a large circle around the city to see it from above. Lindow was the third-largest city in Kasmaya, with a population of more than ten thousand people. The town was a large square separated by three inner walls. The river was diverted and used as a moat stretching twenty feet across, forcing people to use four bridges to enter the city. Each entrance had two guard towers ready to defend and repel invaders.

Rasmus let her off an hour’s walk from the entry bridge into the city. She would be spending the next week with her parents, and then she would meet him in the same place when it was time for her to return. He had chosen to drop her off in a clearing about ten minutes inside the treeline.

The city was broken into nine different sections. The outer four sections were broken down by each race with a Human, Centaur, Elven, and Beastkin quarter. The inner four squares were broken into the Crafting guilds, the University, the Church quarter, and the Magic Square. At the very center of the city were several large estates for the nobles and the duke.

Violet approached the city from the eastern wall to enter through the gate closest to the Human and Beastkin section of the city. She had never seen a Beastkin before and couldn’t keep herself from staring at the man with a bushy fox tail she had followed to enter the gate. When they stopped to wait their turn to get into the city, Violet noticed that he was entirely covered in fur and had the ears of a fox on his head. From afar, she would have mistaken him as human based on his form.

The guard at the gate didn’t give her any problems after presenting the papers her parents had provided. He was even kind enough to give her directions to the square where she would meet her parents. Each of the quarters had several meeting squares for vendors to sell their wares and for people to meet. In addition to vendors set up at tables, physical stores were around the edges of the square.

It was not hard for her to find her parents. They were standing in the very center of the square next to a large fountain. When they saw her, they immediately ran toward her. She was lifted into a massive hug with both of her parents on either side of her. Her mother was in tears when she started to speak. “When the messenger bird found us, we were so happy to hear you were still alive! Come, you must eat. There is a lovely restaurant right around the corner.”

Over lunch, she recited an edited story of what happened after her flight with the bird. They had decided to let her parents believe that her new mentor scared the kidnapping bird away with a show of magic. Her new mentor valued her privacy, so Violet could not even say her name. She did not mention the challenge at all to her parents. It was over, and she did not have to do it again, so she didn’t want to make them worry.

“This mentor is rather old, you say?” Her father asked.

“She never would tell me exactly how old she was. What is great is that she has knowledge of ancient magics, and she was able to confirm that is what I have.”

“We looked into finding you a magic tutor here in Lindow, but unfortunately, only nobles can afford a private tutor, and attending classes in the Magic Square requires a yearly tuition that is quite high and an aptitude test.” Her mother said.

Her parents were not completely lost when it came to using physical coins for goods and services. They were both well-read, and traders from other countries did come by to sell their goods in select cities in the Chromatic Dominion. The currency system had taken them a little bit to get used to, but they had been here long enough it was no longer an issue for them.

“When we arrived here, Agnes, the lady we are living with, was able to help us find employment. She found me a job with her grandson working in a carpentry shop, and she was able to pull some strings for your mother to find work in one of the University libraries.”

“I love having access to so many books! I need to help students find what they are looking for and put away any books after reading them. With so many trees, paper is an abundant commodity in Kasmaya.”

The lady, her parents, were staying with was the nosiest woman she had ever met. Agnes made a point to quiz Violet on every detail of her life the whole time she was staying with her parents. It had gotten to the point where Violet started to hide from the old lady just to find peace. Agnes did not like that she was unwilling to name her magic mentor nor where she was staying.

During the ten-day week that Violet was in Lindow, she shadowed both of her parents to work for two days each. For the other six days, she found herself wandering around the different squares listening to gossip while waiting for her parents to be off work.

The most common thing for people to gossip about was, of course, their neighbors and the romances they were involved in. Violet just rolled her eyes and continued to walk when she overheard such things. The next most common thing she heard about was Astresh and how war season was coming up.

Kasmaya and Astresh had agreed to only attack each other during the spring and summer months. There was still a token guard force throughout the fall and winter seasons, but they rarely saw any action. Asking a random person talking about it only earned her a frown and an order to go to the library and learn independently. Then she was asked what she was doing out of school.

Children in Kasmaya were all required to attend school from the age of five until they turned sixteen. They either found a profession with an apprenticeship or were enlisted in the military at age sixteen. The only way to avoid enlistment was to find an internship, attend the university, or attend the magic academy. Apprenticeships were highly sought after, and both the university and academy required a tuition fee.

Military enlistment was a confusing process. Instead of a set amount of years that you had to serve, you needed to either achieve a set amount of prestige or wait until enough people were joining to replace you. If losses from the war were high, it could take up to ten years to retire from the military without prestige points.

As happy as she was to see her parents, she was ready to leave once the week was over. Magic was not allowed within the walls except inside the magic quarter, so she was not even allowed to practice her magic while she was there.

It took quite a bit of arguing with her parents, but she could compromise with them. They wanted to walk with her the entire way to her meeting place with Rasmus. The compromise they came to was that they would walk with her until she reached the trees and cloaked herself the rest of the way to the clearing. They were worried about her safety.

Once she reached the clearing, Rasmus uncloaked himself long enough for her to climb on his back before taking off again. She knew these visits would become more difficult as time went on. It would not surprise her to hear Agnes was a person put in place to spy on the foreigners, and the next time she visited, someone may try to follow her into the trees.