Well, this woman clearly recognized Kuzari's host body and he had no idea whether or not that was a good thing or a bad thing. Probably a terrible thing. It was interesting that he was able to absorb the local language when at a stressing point with it. Seemed the two sets of memory integrated faster when in situations that demanded the knowledge the most much like when he reached for magic earlier. Which unfortunately it seemed he had yet to recover any mana whatsoever. He originally thought that the magic here worked on a simple 'fatigue' based system: Cast spell, spend energy, recover energy, cast more spells. Perhaps there was a bit more to it than that however. He really hoped it wasn't something crazy like it took years to stack that minuscule amount and he had just burned all of it at once. He doubted it or else the woman in front of him wouldn't have wasted such power to light a simple fire earlier.

She kept staring at him expecting an answer that he still hadn't figured out how to give. Tell the truth? Lie? Play dumb? Play dumb was probably for the best, at least to feel her out.

Still bound by rope Kuzari jerked his body up into a partial sitting position and looked back at his captor. He gave her a big grin with as much faux bravado as he could muster.

"I'm...afraid...I....don't...know....who...that...is." Kuzari stammered out. The foreign tongue was still awkward to speak. He grasped an understanding of the language but was far from practiced at using it.

She eyed Kuzari warily for a few seconds before responding.

"You have his face, his hair, the last clothes he was seen in, and you had his things. Yet your eyes are different, you speak differently, and you're covered in Jodah's blood. Ralin couldn't hurt a soul."

Well shit, she evidently knew his host quite well. Nice to know he kept his eye color at least. Evidently, the 'bandit' that had killed him wasn't just a random encounter, he was indeed affiliated with this 'Ratcatcher' group. 'Couldn't hurt a soul' was probably why he wounded up dead in the first place.

"In..my..defence...Jodah...started it. I...just ended it."

"Tell me who or what are you really. What are you doing with Ralin's body? What happened to him?" Anger crept into her voice.

"Names Kuzari.... good question..he wasn't using it...and seemed as good as any... other, and Jodah got a...little too stab happy. No idea what...their beef was." He answered each question in turn. "And what...is your name?"

She refused to answer at first, mulling his response over, constantly giving him a strange stare, like he was some unusual captive wild animal. He kinda was in a way. She laced her fingers together in front of her face, debating how to handle the situation.

"I am Adara. Jodah was one of our scouts. We were looking for you, for Ralin. He took some very important things from our master, and he was to pay the price of betrayal. Seems he paid far more than he bargained for." She finally responded.

"That's an understatement...I'm assuming...the books?" Kuzari asked.

"That and..." Adara pointed at Kuzari, "the core located inside that body. Apprentices owe their master mana tribute. Running off before the debt is paid is theft."

A memory of pain flashed through Kuzari's mind. Images of being chained to a table, energy leeched from his back and full of agonizing pain. Tribute was not a pleasant experience.

"Well, I don't suppose that means you'll...let me go then? You have the books, and whatever...debt Ralin had died...with him." He pleaded with Adara but in truth didn't hold much in the way of expectations. He gave her a hopeful smile.

Adara chuckled at his pleas.

"Oh heavens no. Ralin may have hoped to use master's research notes to earn enough cash to start a new life but the core is the most grievous theft of all. He will get it back. Whether your life is still attached to it or it's taken from your corpse is simply a matter of your cooperation."

Well, this whole 'core' business was a bigger deal than he thought. He didn't just steal someone's body, he stole someone's body that technically belonged to someone else as well. Awkward. At least there seemed a path that didn't end in him dying again.

"Then consider this me cooperating."

Adara smiled, "Of course. Besides, I'm sure Magni would much prefer to dissect a live body snatcher such as yourself rather than do an autopsy."

Kuzari gulped. Maybe he got his hopes up too soon?

They let him sleep in a wooden cage for the night. He wasn't fed anything at all and was given a wide berth by the camp's inhabitants. It probably had something to do with everyone thinking he was some dark monster inhabiting the corpse of the man they had been hunting for the better part of a few days. Well, that wouldn't be too far off from the truth depending on how you look at things.

It did frighten him a bit to see the disparity between how the normal camp members treated him and Adara did. The others seemed to fear him once they learned of his story, but the mage was utterly unafraid. That either spoke volumes about the common folk's superstition or volumes about Adara's confidence in handling a strange resurrecting monster. That possibility was disturbing in its own right.

Despite the cramped nature of his cage, Kuzari fell asleep soundly. He barely had time to consider any thoughts of escape before exhaustion took over. Besides the physical effort he had expended he was quite simply mentally exhausted. The past twenty-four hours had been a lot to mentally cope with.

By the time he woke up the day was already bright, the sun high in the sky. He wondered if the change to morning was as abrupt as the change to night. Judging that the sun seemed to be in the same position as he remembered it from the other day he wondered if they even moved. How the fuck does anybody even keep track of time around here? Hell, how long were days and nights around here?

The camp seemed mostly packed up already, the tents all seemingly gone. He was fairly certain at this point that there was magical fuckery going on with the supplies at this point. Adara had come to give him a small sip of water and ignored any of his attempts to strike up a conversation for more information. Then the group was off heading towards gods knows where. Kuzari wondered what they did with Jodah's body since they clearly knew the man had been killed earlier but he saw no sign of any corpses.

They had attached two poles to his cage and four men lifted and carried his whole cage. Apparently, they didn't trust him enough to walk along with the others. Still, it gave him more time to rest and more importantly he finally had time to take care of an important matter.

He closed his eyes and mentally reached inwards. He didn't really know what he was doing but he needed to figure out this magic business. This Ralin evidently had some knowledge in how it worked and he hoped to tease out more memories of how it all worked. He recalled the scene of casting his little fireball and reached for this 'core' that he had inside him. It was interesting how Adara spoke of it as if it was a physical object, independent of the body itself. He was surprised that it was easier to locate than he expected. It felt like a jagged star located just below his heart, a myriad of spikes jutting out and into the organs around it. Strangely the spikes didn't seem to cause him any pain and indeed if he hadn't been purposely trying to find this core he wouldn't have felt it at all. Whatever it was it seemed to have integrated with the rest of his flesh.

He pushed deeper into his core. The inside felt like a reservoir for energy and to his dismay, it felt bone dry. The dim part of his mind he recognized as being Ralin's memories told him that it should have been obvious it was empty as he hadn't yet done....something. Damnit! So close!

He pulled out of the core itself and mentally stayed there for a moment. This whole sensation of peering into his own body was strange. It was close to effortless and he wondered what the extent of this awareness truly was. He already figured that it had to be some skill imparted to him by his host as there was no way he had this kind of internal awareness on Earth. Curious his mind started following the veins and arteries leading away from the core. He found that it was easier to mentally follow his bloodstream than it was to delve into the sense of his own organs but not impossible. This ability seemed amazing to him. He didn't have to guess if something was wrong with his body, he could just look at it. He figured athletes would kill for such an ability as the power to actually see how his muscles and body moved and responded to actions was actually pretty powerful. It meant that somebody could effectively determine the most optimal means of training various muscle groups, just by judging how the body responded. Or eliminate wasted movements just by-

Kuzari's thoughts were cut short as his cage was bumped around. The group was headed up a hill and the change in motion had startled him. Kuzari kept his eyes open and tried to reach inside himself again, finding it significantly more challenging than earlier. This internal awareness he had was one thing while totally focused on it, but a completely separate matter when there was any sort of distraction at all. It was a surprisingly simple yet powerful tool even outside the consideration for magic. He had no idea if other people were abusing this power, he was certain he wasn't the only one that had it, but it was definitely on his plans to abuse in the future.

He spent most of the trip focusing on developing this awareness while trying to force Ralin's memories of how magic worked to reveal itself. He had little luck on that front and the hunger he felt proved to be a mighty distraction. No one had bothered to feed him yet. It seemed needlessly cruel to him but there wasn't anything he could do about it. When night approached he did get an idea where the Ratcatchers got all their supplies from.

At first he thought the uniforms everyone wore aside from Adara were the same but then he noticed several individuals that wore a silver star pinned to their shawls just under the left collar bone. These members would tap the stars and wave their hands in front of themselves, equipment and supplies seemingly materializing out of thin air. Kuzari doubted it was outright creation of raw matter, that was a prospect simply too insane to entertain, but those stars seemed to serve as some means of storage far more capable and magical than silly things like backpacks. It was impressive the number of supplies they could carry with so few people. Such a transportation device probably dominates how trade works in this world.

It wasn't until the end of the second day that they finally fed him. It was a meal consisting of a piece of hard tacky bread and a thin slice of unidentified meat. Adara gave him a disgusted look as he wolfed down the food in front of her. Hey you go two days without food and see how you like it

A part of Kuzari wished something dramatic would happen. Ambush or monster raid. Something to give him a chance to get away. Unfortunately about once an hour he would feel a familiar breeze wash over his core. Whatever magic or skill Adara had used to find him earlier was likely responsible for guiding the group away from any trouble. It made Kuzari wonder how Ralin managed to get this far away on his own. The task seemed impossible to him.

It was on the third day that he finally caught sight of their destination. They crested another blue dune and there in the near distance was a city.

And it was far grander than he imagined possible for lying in the middle of a desert. Tall spires of dark indigo stone rose into the air, each surrounded by an assortment of square buildings made from a similar material all of different sizes. Roofs seemed to have a reflective metal sheet or bronze domes covering the tops, no doubt as a means of reflecting some of the sun's powerful rays. The city at this distance seemed to have been grown haphazardly with no visible sign of any planned arrangement as it stretched for miles in all visible directions. The city didn't even have any walls. Above all the most shocking aspect was the colors.

Glass comprising the entire color spectrum littered the whole city. Windows of greens, reds, and yellows reflected light everywhere. Strings connected the tops of buildings together, decorated with ornamental shards of glass. The whole place dazzled in the gleam of the sun giving it a bright and festive cheer.

Adara slowed her pace until she found herself next to Kuzari's cage. She seemed amused at his gawking and spoke for the first time since their meeting.

"Welcome to Alastazia, the City of Glass."