Mr. Recruiter, or Pali I guess was his real name, seemed happy. I couldn't imagine why, after what I had put him through anyone would be happy. Even I was happy now that it was over. I never wanted to do something like that again. At least not until I learned some wilderness survival skills.

"I am glad you two worked things out." The priest said with a chuckle. "I will never forget this day."

Pali chuckled weakly. "I know I will not forget this day either."

"You two wait here, I'll go summon a carriage for you." The priest turned to leave but added, "Stay out of trouble while I am gone. I would not want to miss it."

When the priest left, Pali and I looked at each other. He shrugged.

"So…" Pali said, breaking the silence. "Do you mind if I asked you a question?"

I nodded.

" I am really interested in Terra. I realize that your memories of it may not be the best, considering Terrans, but anything you could tell me would be wonderful."

At first, I had no intention of answering him, but something he said caught my attention.

"What do you mean that about my memories?”

"Oh, in most cases when Terrans are found they have lost most of their memories. Although I suspect that your case is not as severe considering what I saw you had made in Porra-Kel."

Strange, as far as I knew I remembered almost everything about my life before I came here, other than what I was doing before I arrived on Calorin. A normal person would have been relieved to find out they were one of the lucky ones that kept their memories, but my life on Earth was forgettable so I wouldn't have been missing much if I had forgotten. I guess keeping my knowledge was something to be happy about.

"I'm sitting down." My legs were still tired and they hurt so I saw no point in standing at the moment if I didn't have to. So I sat down.

Pali looked at me but said nothing about it. "Would you mind if I asked you how much you remember? I am particularly interested in what you were doing with that water wheel."

"I was making myself a new home."

"Why would you do that, and so close to winter? Was your family's home not enough?"

"I don't enjoy living with animals in the house. They're dirty."

Pali nodded at that. "I understand that. I would not enjoy living with animals in my house either, but I do not think it would be worth the risk of dying from cold. As far as I saw there was nothing inside to provide heat." He paused. "Unless you had some other means…"

So he wanted to know about what I was building inside the water wheel. It made sense because he probably saw I had put something in my bag. I imagine he might have also seen all the wires I had left behind.

"You don't need to know."

Pali sighed. "If you will not tell me I will not press, but I think you will not be so stubborn with my next question. Why do you talk the way you do? Combining words like that makes you somewhat hard to understand and a little crude."

Combining words? Could he mean that?

"Can't, won't, you're, shouldn't."

"Yes, those! Why do you do that?"

"They're called contractions."

"Contractions? Are they a habit from your native Latin?"

Latin? I guess I could understand why he would think I spoke Latin because as far as I had heard the height of Terrans was almost exactly when the Roman Empire was around.

"Nobody speaks Latin anymore."

"Nobody speaks it anymore? Why? Did something happen?"

"So when does this school start?" I asked him, ignoring his questions.

Pali's face momentarily looked frustrated but quickly went back to boring normal. "Your orientation and placement will take place tomorrow, with your lessons starting the next day."

Wait, the school was starting tomorrow? This was cutting it close.

As if reading my thoughts, Pali said, "We could have had more time to get you ready, but someone had to do something stupid." When he said that I almost could have sworn he was smiling.

***

The priest had come back. "Your carriage will be here shortly." He then saw me sitting on the floor. "Do you want a cushion while you wait?"

I nodded.

As if the cushion thing hadn't happened, he told Pali. "It will not be long so we should head out to the front."

"Thank you. Your help has been a blessing." Pali said looking grateful.

"And thank you for making my day." The priest smiled and motioned towards the door he had entered from. "This way."

I didn't move.

The priest saw this. "Is there something wrong?"

I said nothing.

Instead of saying anything, Pali leaned over and grabbed me by my collar and pulled me towards the door. This set the priest off laughing the whole way outside.

When we arrived at the spot where the carriage would come to, Pali let go of my collar and then stretched his arm.

"For a child your age you are heavy. I guess this proves what I read about Terrans being built heavier despite their short statures."

It was true, while I was shorter than all the other children my "age." I was built thicker as well as being stronger. My best guess was it was because of Calorin having less gravity so they didn't need as much muscle. All of that sawing I had been doing probably added to it.

Not long after Pali had set me down the carriage came. What got my attention was that it was one of the levitating carriages I had heard of but never seen. Now that I saw one right in front of me, the fact that this world had magic finally started to feel more real.

"Salis," Pali said to me when the carriage stopped in front of us. "Time to get up."

I didn't get up. With my legs as sore as they were, I didn't want to get up. I also figured that Pali or the priest would be nice enough to lift me inside.

Instead, Pali pulled untied a cord from around his waist, "Do you mind doing the tying?" He asked the priest.

The priest looked puzzled until he saw Pali pick me up and hold me to the side of the carriage. The priest laughed and tied me to the side.

"Are you sure this is safe?" The priest asked Pali.

"She is tough, she should be fine."

The priest laughed, "Have a safe trip." He waved at us as Pali got inside the carriage and we drove off.

Pali was getting his revenge.

***

The ride on the side of the carriage was horrible. I was hanging with the cord tied tightly under my armpits, which not only had taken the circulation from my arms, it had dug into my armpits and they hurt. Even with this I decided that I would not let Pali win, so I decided I would act as if nothing had happened.

The ride was almost worth the pain. While the carriage was going down the streets, many people had the chance to see me tied to the side. The looks I got from the people that saw me were amusing.

When we finally arrived at the inn, I let myself down from the side of the carriage. Now not only were my legs sore but my arms and armpits now hurt. I would have to make it a point to not put myself in any more situations that required me to use my muscles for the time being. Unfortunately, this meant I would probably have to be good more than I wanted.

Not long after I had freed myself, Pali came out of the carriage. With his first look at me, I saw disappointment appear on his face. Apparently he had looked forward to seeing me still tied to the side. He should probably have been more relieved to find that I had not fallen off on the way.

"I see you got yourself down," He looked from me to the inn. "Will you go in by your strength or will I be dragging you inside?"

I entered the inn in front of Pali, who looked relieved.

Inside the inn Pali spoke to the innkeeper before turning to me. "Your room is down the hall next to mine." He handed me a key. "Since you are filthy, I have also asked the innkeeper to prepare a bath for you. Wait in your room and he will come for you when it is ready."

Pali and I walked down a short hallway before showing me my room. Before I entered, he handed me a bag. It was the one he had showed me earlier that had clothes in it.

Upon entering my room it quickly sat on the small bed I found inside. The room wasn’t big, nor well furnished, but it was cleaner than anything I had slept in since coming to Calorin. The bed was also softer than what I was used to, but since my hammock didn't have much padding on it aside from a thin blanket, it wasn't hard to beat.

After relaxing on the bed for a few minutes, letting my sore muscles relax, I opened the bag Pali had given me. Inside the bag were five body length tunics, each a different size, five pairs of undergarments, two pairs of foot wraps, and a pair of boots. I guess I could understand why he had bought different sizes of clothing, but the boots just looked evil. Even if the boots fit, it would be a chore getting them on. I had also never used foot wrappings before, but many of the men in the mines used them so I had seen them get put on before.

When I tried the boots on I found that they were big for my feet. This also made it so they weren't as hard to get on as I thought they would be. The only problems I had were that they were a bit loose and would probably chafe my feet and that, while not a problem at the moment, my feet were wider than those of the people of Calorin so my feet would grow too wide for the shoes.

When a few more minutes had passed, I heard a knock on my door. When I opened it I saw the innkeeper who told me that my bath was ready. Following him, I went to the bathing chamber. It would be the first time I hadn't bathed in a river in years. It was also the first time I had had a warm bath since coming to Calorin.

Back in my room, I found myself the most refreshed I had felt in years. While I wasn't too thrilled about the fact that all of my clothes were white, I was just happy to have some clean, well-made clothes. The shoes I had been wearing had been frail too, so while the new shoes were too big, I was just happy to have new shoes.

After some time I heard another knock on my door. It was Pali.

"I brought you some books to read. Since you were helping keep records for the mine, I am sure you can read them. Just make sure you get them back to me in one piece."

I took the books from him after which he left.

In my hands I saw three leather-bound books. On the spines I saw that there was a book on Flaern history, a book about a man I had never heard of nor cared to know about, and a book about some country I wasn't familiar with. Even though I couldn't care less about the history on Calorin, I had nothing better to do, so I started reading.