The customs boat bobbed next to us. Since our run-in with the goblin island the trip had been fairly uninteresting. The wood we needed we could now repair and get back on course. I of course spent several weeks making wind while my fellows trained the cabin boy in magic as best they could, but by and by nothing major had happened.

Now we sat off the shore waiting, waiting for all of the paperwork to be done before we could land. This had started with a few shouted conversations and moved into the nearby boat now giving us the once over. They had cargo to check for contraband, and of course wanted to have a brief word with all of the casters on board. A lot was expedited because we had several people on board who could cast healing magic, and therefore the chances of any sicknesses having been brought over with us was as near zero as it could be.

The first person aboard our ship had still been a priest, who'd given us all a brief check over with some kind of sensing spell before we could continue. Once the youngish elven man had finished up the rest of the inspectors came aboard looking for narcotics, slaves, anything flagrantly illegal really.

Our cargo, which I hadn't paid much attention to till this point was mostly bulk fiber, wools and linens and the like. While the elven continent had a number of unique cloths that it could make things like flax didn't grow so well, nor did some of the more sensitive types of woolly creatures thrive. It seemed popular to make a run towards here to sell these goods, which would fetch a nice price, then pick up some of the ore exotic or slightly magical alcohols before returning. The large cost of these goods was the only real way to justify the expense of traveling across the ocean.

"And what is your business in Atali?" I heard one of the officials asking Olnr.

"We're here to examine a number of plants and animals. Many of our records on the flora and fauna of the region are sadly lacking and we're quite interested in what may be in the forests. We hope to find some things which might be of interest to our new emperor."

They nodded, going into the specifics here and there while I looked over the wonders that were laid before me. The first was the customs ship, it had no sails, nor did many of the smaller ships moving around the port. I suspected that the elves, with their high number of mages and minor talents could easily arrange for shorter ranged ships, or even military vessels to move by magic alone. This would be massive in times of war, and probably one of the reasons that nobody tried to invade the elven homeland. The other was surely a series of towers built into the water that looked like the perfect place for magical artillery.

Those of course paled in comparison to the capital city so close, but yet so far away. From here I could tell that it was built like some kind of idealized version of NYC, hundreds of shining white towers reaching probably twenty floors or more into the skyline, with arches and tunnels connecting many. It made the human cities look like quaint villages in comparison.

"Excuse me miss?" One of the officials had moved over to speak with me in a slightly broken version of the human tongue. "Are you caster? Or talent?"

"I'm a caster." I responded in Atali, his accent was thick and if he had other questions I didn't want to struggle.

"Apologies for asking, your aura doesn't look strong." He switched as well.

I flashed my aura out a bit briefly, not fully, but enough. "I was told that it was considered a bit rude to not repress it at all, is that not so?"

"It is polite to tamp it down a bit, yes. Most visitors don't know that though, or our language."

"Oh I see, the academy I attended started giving classes on the language though, so I think most of us speak at least a little."

"How wonderful! Is it a popular class?" He seemed genuinely interested.

"It's considered useful if one really wants to get into making magical items, as I'm sure you know that a lot of the runic sequences are influenced by Atali quite a bit. My advisor suggested it for me for that reason."

"Well, I'm quite glad that our culture is being shared with those less fortunate." It hurt a bit to hear that we were considered kind of third world to the elves, but wasn't surprising looking at their city.

After a few more questions I was handed a small form that looked not unlike a passport. I saw that while the elven crew didn't seem to need one of these all of the humans did. I also couldn't help but notice that we magic users were given golden, rather than white versions.

"What do the different colors mean?" I asked, I had a fairly good idea, but if there was any doubt...

"It differentiates you as magic users. We don't often let those humans without the gift of magic into our lands and so the crew is given a visa that will only allow them access to the docks and related areas, whereas you are far more welcome to stay." He answered without looking up from his paperwork.

"Your less concerned about foreign magic users?" That seemed backwards from what I would have expected.

"Well, of course you won't be permitted in some more sensitive areas, but if you wished to emigrate that would be quite welcome, particularly if you happened to marry one of our people. If you are looking I have a brother..." He must have noticed my blinking in surprise and stopped. "Family is considered of utmost importance to our people, and humans are well known to be more... productive in that department, so having a few in your family is considered by many to be a blessing."

"I see, so should I expect many offers..."

"From pretty much everyone except the council families, and perhaps even from some of their younger scions perhaps. The men in your group are likely to have slightly different propositions, but will get similar ones I think." He looked at the handful of gentlemen in our group with something approaching jealousy.

"Fun, anything else I should know?"

"Other than the admonition to stay out of trouble? Not really. I suppose the old palace is a wonderful place to go see, it's mostly a museum now, but it is lovely."

"That actually sounds wonderful, thank you."

Shortly thereafter the customs boat led us to our dock. The differences were still striking as we landed and I couldn't get over how much fancier the elves did everything. There were fewer ships, by a large margin, but those that were here were generally of much higher quality. Some of the elven designs were even approaching modern looks, fully enclosed tops with large glass windows, spacious yachts, it was weird.

We disembarked, our small group had an address to the home for the emissary to our homeland and directions to a place where we could rent the equivalent of a cab. As we did I couldn't help but notice we were joined by a certain cabin boy. He split from the rest of the crew as they unloaded, a small bag on his back his only possessions.

"Suppose you're leaving the ship then?" I asked as he walked down the pier with us.

"Yeah, normally I wouldn't get my pay till we were unloaded, but Captain Tom told me that it'd be fine."

"He's a good guy." I mused, looking back at the old man yelling at the crewmen.

"That he is. I've probably got enough in savings to pay my way though one of the lower cost magic schools, particularly if I sell some mana here and there. Who knows, maybe I'll even get into one of the state ones."

"Well good luck. Hopefully we'll meet again." I offered out my hand and he shook it before going to speak with Selene and Dras.

I headed over to the spot where a cab was pulling close to the street. We had luggage and people to move, and new places to go. I didn't know much about the emissary's place, other than that it was close by, and had people who could help us out. I didn't even know if that would entail us returning home, or if we'd continue as the much smaller group we now were.

As we passed through the streets it struck me how much many of the elves seemed to be absolute perfectionists. The streets were unnaturally clean and well ordered, the buildings clearly placed for aesthetic purposes as much as use and the area, even in the walled off dock region was unbelievably... designed.

It was also clear that not nearly as many people lived here as I might have suspected. That or they were hiding, but I doubted it. Only a few other carriages and riders were on the street, and pedestrians, while present were few. It felt like around a tenth of the people that could and should live in this city did, and was kinda creepy.

As our cart stopped to go out of the docks area and into the city proper our documents were checked. It was fairly quick and easy as all of us obviously had magic of some form. While that was going on I leaned up to the cab driver.

"Are the docks normally this quiet?"

"Whatever do you mean?" He asked after doing a double-take at my sudden question.

"There aren't many people around, is that normal?"

"Hmm? Looks about average to me." He seemed a bit confused at my questioning.

"Erm, perhaps a better question is, around how many people live here in the capital?"

That got me an eyebrow raise, but he answered all the same. "Around a hundred-thousand."

I leaned back and had to process. When I'd compared the skyline to that of a major US city I meant it. This city could, and in a human country probably would, house a million or so souls. It made my own home city of Lithere look like a quaint little village, but population-wise it was hardly bigger at all.

Seeing the driver continuing to give me a look I decided to just tell him. "By human standards this city is massive for the number of people living here."

"Is it really? How many do you think would be here if we were in a human settlement?" That seemed like an innocent enough question so I decided to answer.

"One-and-a-half million, perhaps two." The driver seemed stunned as I spoke.

"So do you just all pack in like fish in a barrel then? That's rather odd isn't it?" He asked.

"Honestly I don't know."

From that point forward our ride was fairly peaceful. The architecture was lovely and we didn't have too long to go before we reached our destination. I was expecting a house, or perhaps a manor of sorts to be our let-off point, but the fact of the matter was that it was neither, but one of the large towers I'd been admiring. There was a small garden out front lined with fruit trees native to the human lands, along with flowers and bushes all well arranged before a massive set of doors.

As we pulled in a servant opened the doors and a pleased looking woman stepped out. "Welcome, we've been waiting. Your things can be unloaded around back, as can the other carriages when they arrive."

"..." Our whole group cringed as we heard her speak.

"What?" She looked at us with a quirked brow.

"We're it," Olnir explained. "The others didn't make it."

"Oh."