The road was quiet in the late evening as we walked, and none of us did much speaking either, though Tristus did make the occasional complaint about something he’d been forced to leave in his apartments or the fact that this time he didn’t get to ride in a cart. When we were a bit farther from the city, everyone started to relax a bit and some light conversation began. I found myself back at the rear with Tib, so I asked him a question I’d been meaning to for some time.

“So, those apartments were your’s and Tristus’ right?”

He nodded.

“Do your families live there with you? I had kind of expected to see some of them when we arrived.”

Tib grimaced. “The majority of our family is not allowed to live in the city.”

I frowned, I’d clearly hit a sore spot. “Can I ask why?”

“One of our ancestors, Typhus, killed the son of a consul in cold blood. While Typhus himself was boiled alive for his treason, the rest of the family was punished as well. No first sons or daughters may live within Heracleum and must instead serve at the edges of the empire. Second children and beyond may return to Heracleum, but they cannot own land within a certain distance from the capitol. That’s why we live in apartments rather than owning one.”

That explained why two cousins were living together rather than siblings or others, and why they were so close, as they were the only ones able to return to their home city. “Is this punishment indefinite? How do they even ensure it’s followed? It’s not like the guards would know if one of your parents or your older siblings came to the city.”

He shook his head. “Our honor prevents such actions.”

Tristus looked back at us, having overheard. “Our honor and the threat of death. I’m also fairly certain there’s some spellwork involved.”

Tib frowned. “Mostly, our honor though.”

Tristus smiled. “Sure Cos, mostly our honor.”

After that Tib and Tristus clamped up and I didn’t have any desire to join Millicent and Zevrack’s conversation on rune theory, and Patience and Nica’s hushed gossip seemed to be by invitation only. With nothing else to do I turned my head upward to look at the stars. I’d been a bit disappointed with them when I’d first exited the dwarven caves. I was raised in the city, and so had never gotten a good enough look at my own night sky to be able to compare it to the one that existed above me now. Sure the sky was beautiful, but not in a way distinct from the sky on Earth. There was even only one moon! I’d expected two, or even three. I had been really hoping that Tu’reyne may even have a ring like Saturn or Uranus. I imagine those would look incredible in the night sky. The only major difference though was that the moon above was a very light blue, rather than the glowing white I was familiar with in my home sky.

I sighed and turned my attention back to walking. Once we were certain we’d made it a fair enough distance from the city, we broke off the main path and made camp in a small clearing. We burned a low fire for warmth, and ate what rations and other foods we’d managed to pack during our swift exit from the city.

Just as we all settled in, a notification filled our vision.

A Choice has been granted through the efforts of champion Frankie

This Choice has been made

The god of Life has made all sapient species capable of cross-breeding

I paused what I was doing, a piece of bread halfway into my mouth, and started exchanging glances with the rest of the party. “I’m going to be honest.” I started. “I don’t think that’s what I expected the god of life to prioritize.”

Tristus looked sadder than I’d ever seen him before as he spoke. “I can’t believe the gods would be so cruel.”

Patience laughed. “I suppose you’ll need to take a bit more care in the future.”

He shook his head. “Either that or perhaps I’ll just stick with men. Much less of an issue that way. Gods, I don’t think I could keep away from women forever though.”

Tib sighed. “We both know you’d give up the moment a nice dwarven woman with a thick beard makes eyes at you.”

Tristus sighed. “True. Perhaps I should just prepare myself for bastards.”

Millicent was picking some leaves from her wide brimmed hat as we spoke and looked up as she finished. “I wonder what kind of effect this will have.”

“What do you mean?” asked Nica.

“Well, some races were already compatible. I mean, look at Cor.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” said Tristus.

Tib shook his head. “He’s the only half-elf I’ve ever heard of though.”

“Yes, well elves and humans are already relatively similar, so a combination of the two isn’t that strange to us, even if we’ve never seen it before. With this change though, who knows how varied things will become. Could you imagine if a gnome and an orc have a child?”

Patience smiled. “I think that would just give you a dwarf.”

Millicent laughed. “Well, what about something stranger. The message said ‘all sapient species’. Well, in Kingsland there are quite a few talking trees. If a woman and a tree have a child, what will that look like?”

“If a giant and a gnome have a child, would it just be a human?” asked Tib, seeming very concerned by his own question.

“That’s not to mention the different mechanics that are involved with some species and not others. How would that baby-making process even work across some of these species?”

I frowned. “Well, in my experience with all races I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty.”

“Yes?” asked Millicent.

“If we live long enough, we’ll see every combination we’ve thought up so far, and even more we couldn’t possibly imagine.”

Everyone nodded. They didn’t have access to the internet like I had when I was back on Earth. I knew with absolute certainty that things in Tu’reyne were about to get weird.

Zevrack decided to chime in. “I would be honored to help any of you with your eggs if you’d like. I imagine you would much prefer to have a child with scales and teeth now that it is an option for you.”

Millicent nodded sagely. “That’s very nice of you Zevrack. Thank you.”

He gave her a respectful nod then unpacked a massive blanket from his bag which he wrapped himself in and started snoring.

Patience moved to sit next to me and gave me a light tap to the ribs with her elbow. “Bet you’re glad that kicked in after you spent some time with Krush rather than before.”

I chuckled. “Definitely. Though I’m not entirely certain of what I did or didn’t do. That whole night is a bit of a blur. Either way though, I’m not certain that the world is ready for a half half-elf, half-orc.”

Patience shrugged. “I don’t know. Definitely would’ve been a tall strapping kid. Tusks and pointed ears may even be a winning combination.”

I chuckled. “Either way. I think she got what she wanted out of me. I probably won’t see her again for a while.”

“You poor thing. Being taken advantage of like that,” she said dramatically.

“I know,” I responded in a similar tone. “To have my virtue sullied like that. Woe is me.”

We shared a laugh. “You know, I know a few girls named Virtue back in Crofton.”

“Did they live up to their names?”

She shook her head. “Very rarely. Though perhaps the person least able to live up to his own name was Father Abstinence. As a matter of fact, I’m quite sure that he cost more than one of the Virtues, their namesake.”

“Crofton seems to be a lot like the rest of the human cities then.”

She nodded. “Crofton is the same in a lot of ways. We make ourselves unique by pretending to be better and turning ourselves into hypocrites.”

“Like a thief named Patience criticizing other girls for not living up to their own names?”

She smiled. “Exactly.”

After a bit more flirting I noticed Tristus and Millicent exchanging hushed conversations of their own, as were Nica and Tib, all while shooting glances our way. I felt embarrassed for a moment, but decided I was having too much fun to really worry about it. It had been a while since I’d gotten into a relationship with anyone, and I’d been drawn to Patience since we’d first met. Sure she was a tad selfish, had some rough edges, but I wasn’t exactly perfect myself. We stayed up talking as everyone else went to sleep, and spent a little private time in the woods before getting some rest ourselves.