A stiff breeze blew through Yuriko’s hair, making it flutter back like a banner. The footbridge she was on swayed with the wind and nearly made her stumble. She easily regained her balance, however, without the need to grab onto the guide ropes as some pedestrian’s had done.

The marsh was nearly twenty paces below, while the canopy was another fifty above. The leaves rustled and it reminded her of the waves in the cove she had found herself in when she first came to Kogasi. Broad leaves fluttered towards the water from above, some already starting to brown.

‘I wonder if the great trees become bald in the Season of Water?’ Yuriko thought idly as she watched the leaf fall. Each of them was as big as her head, and there were some that were as broad as the length of her forearm. It came in varied shapes too, which was quite odd considering it all came from the same tree. Some were linear, others were oblate. But there was a significant number that were shaped like a lance.

The leaves were caught on a wide net spread out under the general living elevation, which also doubled as a safety net, though it only worked for those who fell near the trunk. Still, she wondered how safe it would be to fall in the water considering its murky depths. Even as she watched, a crocodile’s head moved towards the bottom of the tree. Oh, it was a Buwak clan member. He, or she, levered his body out of the water and climbed up using a series of hand and footholds carved into the living wood.

During last evening’s formal dinner, Yuriko had brought up the issue with the palace servants trying to prevent her from leaving the building. Otlaca and the others had looked surprised by that and there were promises to see it resolved. This morning, as she expected, the servants no longer tried to stop her from leaving but they did set a tail on her.

Rhox, who was roughly four inches taller than Yuriko, trailed behind her sheepishly. The snakekin woman’s green scales were of the same shade as the leaves and there were grey scales speckled across her face. A set of grey scales formed a small caricature of a spider at the centre of her throat and it would have normally been concealed by her armour but was now revealed by her dougi--what they called the upper body short robe they used for casual wear. It was paired with the hakama, the loose-fitting, pleated slacks that almost looked like a skirt. The snakekin was barefoot, while Yuriko wore a pair of sandals.

“Are you sure you’re fine following me around town?” Yuriko asked again.

Rhox nodded. “Yes, Elder. Well, I’m also supposed to be your guide, but I don’t really know the city that much myself.”

Yuriko arched an eyebrow. “So you’re more my watcher than anything else?”

“Ahahaha! Yeah…”

Yuriko just snorted and continued through the bridge when the breeze slackened. The one she was on would eventually lead towards the merchants’ district, after going through about a dozen platforms. She’d just gotten out of the Palace Quarter and was headed to the next platform when the wind interrupted her.

The bridge led to a wide branch, which had a path made from thick boards that led to the trunk. A couple of pedestrians walked past her, tipping their hats in greeting. Yuriko nodded back and smiled, half wishing she had a beret on her head. She’d brought none of her hats from back home. Even Rhox wore a stocking cap hat. Ah, maybe she could buy one. Hmm, how many coins did she have now?

She had fifty gold leaves worth a thousand Denari each from the Forgestride Enclave. Before she slept, she gave the remaining Ivory from her stash over to Otlaca, who paid her another fifty silver trees worth a hundred Denari a piece. She had a total of…er…fifty-five? Yup. Fifty-five thousand Denari. Still, forty-five gold leaves short for passage. She had the silver changed to gold for ease of storage.

“Rhox…” She asked.

“Yes?”

“How--where can I earn enough coins for passage?”

“I’m not sure, Elder. I earn a salary for my service in the armed forces.” Rhox scratched her chin.

“Hmmm, maybe I can negotiate passage instead…but I’d rather not put myself in that position.”

“Maybe you can hunt down more devilbeasts?”

“Isn’t the Tide finished?” Yuriko asked.

“Oh, yeah. Er, I meant those that managed to escape from the entrance. About half usually escape.”

“That’s something to think about.”

Yuriko sighed. She was in a rather difficult position here. She was being hosted by the leadership of the city, but she wasn’t doing anything to repay that hospitality. Again, she’d rather not get drawn into a war but what were her options? Get out of the way? She wasn’t quite ready to go back to living in the wilderness.

Why was passage so expensive? Given the weight of the coin, a Denari was worth about half a Sovereign. Even if she had her full savings, she’d only have a fifth of the passage price. Still twenty thousand short.

She supposed she’d have to go hunt more of them.

‘Haah, how long do I have?’

Maybe Otlaca and the palace would give her coins, but…that would make her beholden to them. For that matter, continuing to stay at the palace would create a debt that she’d have to pay one way or another. She’d better move out as soon as she could.

“... on three, fire! One, two, three!”

Twang! Thud!

On the third platform, Yuriko found herself looking at a group of crossbowmen shooting at a target across the marsh. The targets were nearly fifty paces away and were made of bundled straw in the rough humanoid shape. The majority of the bolts struck the torso, while a few struck limbs.

Plop, plop, plop!

And some bolts missed entirely.

“Go get your bolts, maggots!” the drill leader yelled.

A few of the recruits ran past Yuriko while some jumped directly over the edge and dove into the water. Maybe the water was deeper than she thought but the sight of the Lucentian’s dropping like stones made the bottom of her feet sweat. Just before the recruits hit the water, their Animus flared and took the shape of varied beasts, though most seem to be identical to the fiery hounds.

“Fresh recruits?” Yuriko asked idly.

“Hmm, oh, yes. Youths barely into adulthood,” Rhox explained.

The drill leader had a frustrated and angry expression on his face, though it slackened to neutrality as soon as the recruits were out of sight.

Yuriko could see more platforms beyond this one where a bunch of recruits were drilling in melee too. They kept to a square formation and wielded a teardrop-shaped kite shield and a pike. She could see that they had short swords on their hips too.

The drill leader was counting cadence then screamed some more words that were lost to the wind. But the recruits came to a ragged stop, lowered their stances then thrust with the pike. The weapon tips glowed with Animus for a moment dissipating. They lacked the control to keep an edge.

There was also a group of crossbowmen who imparted the glow of their Animus into their bolts.

Yuriko’s hands itched to take up a crossbow and learn the technique they used to empower their arrows. But then again, she wasn’t trained to use that type of weapon. She couldn’t dispute their effectiveness, though a year ago she would have disparaged their use compared to Plasma Casters and Lancets. Her hand brushed the handle of her Lancet. She hadn’t fired it in a long time, though she did make sure to keep it well maintained. The runescript on the outside as well as the interiors were sound, though she had to clean a bit of gunk.

While crossbows and plasma projectors were both ranged weapons, the Animus technique to empower them was completely different. Oh sure, accuracy techniques were essentially the same, but empowering the bolts to pierce a Wyldling’s Protective Field involved something else. Ah, maybe she should just give it a try!

Not now, though. She had another matter to consider.

The merchant’s quarter was located on tiered platforms around a close set of five great trees. The bridge she was on led to the middle tier of the westernmost tree. Wooden boards made a spiral around the trunks with the shops flush against it. Colourful signboards were set just above the doors. There was enough space on the platforms for around half a dozen people to walk abreast, and there were guard rails on the edge, of course. Er, the signs were written in the local language and Yuriko couldn’t understand it, but the symbols and images gave a good idea of what the shop sold.

For one thing, she was sure the sign with a pair of scissors was for a shop that sold cloth. She doubted that there were barbers or hairdressers here considering no Lucentian had any kind of hair at all. Unless they catered to members of the other city-states. A peek showed that it was a clothier.

The primary product seemed to be wool or cotton. Nothing like the shimmering silk she currently wore. Hmm, it might be a good idea to stock up on needles and cloth, now that she wasn’t wearing forceweave. A single fight would no doubt tear her clothing.

“Hello,” she greeted as she entered the shop.

The shopkeep, a diminutive L’tik woman, looked up at her from behind the display case. Strangely enough, the woman, clearly female from the lack of a crest, gave her a welcoming nod.

“Ah, a human. How rare. Most of your kind don’t buy cloth from here.” The woman’s words were clipped and heavily accented.

Yuriko shrugged and said, “I’m looking for a sewing set. Needles and thread?”

“Seamstress?”

“No, field repair kit.”

“Ah, sure sure. Have some here.”

She reached under the table and laid out a leather roll and unwrapped it to reveal an extensive set of needles from as small as Yuriko’s pinky to as long as her hand.

“No, no. Too much.” Yuriko said. She indicated a bunch of needles ranging in size from one as long as her index finger to one as long as her palm. “Just these three.”

“Alright, alright. What else?”

“Thread?” Yuriko pointed at a spool of white.

The woman reached up the shelf and plucked the spool. It was about as thick as her fist and about three inches tall. It should be good enough.

“You’ll ruin silk using this,” the woman remarked.

“Better than wearing something full of holes,” Yuriko shrugged.

“Good point. Three silver leaves for the needles and a bronze branch for the thread.”

“You have change?” Yuriko proffered a gold leaf.

“Chaos, no. Not for that much! It’s only thirty Denari and a tenth piece!”

Yuriko looked at Rhox.

“I don’t have change, Elder,” Rhox bowed.

“Elder!” the woman gasped. She pushed Yuriko’s hand away. “Please, I gift this to you.”

“Huh,” Yuriko grunted, “no need.” Yuriko took the woman’s hand and opened it palm up, then she placed the gold leaf on it. “You give me the needles, spool, and the case. Oh, and answer a few questions, too.”

The woman blinked at her strangely, “Hmm, expensive answers. I don’t know if I can afford that.”

“It’s simple, really. Tell me where I can find information of foreign, off-plane merchant caravans.”

Which was how she found herself on the southernmost tree, on the upper platform and in front of a decadent shop with a multilingual shop sign. Moonbridge Spirit Emporium, Fine Purveyor of Wines, Ales and Spirits.

“Excuse me,” Yuriko said as she pushed open the door.

An unseen bell rang as soon as she entered, though she saw the wire and pulley near the ceiling. The interior was luxuriously appointed, with a gorgeous patterned rug covering most of the floor. There was a long table with low backed chairs in the middle while the walls were filled with bottle shelves. A heady incense burned near a small altar with a golden figurine of a stag that was about six inches high.

“Welcome,” an attendant replied.

There were other customers inside the shop, of course. Mostly Ahas and L’tik. The attendant was an Ahas…person. She still wasn’t sure how to determine their gender.

“I’ll be with you in a moment.” the proprietor called out, though he returned his attention to the small group he was entertaining. Yuriko was content to look over the merchandise.

After half an hour, the proprietor walked up next to Yuriko and cleared his throat.

“Welcome to the Moonbridge. How may I help you?” he asked, smiling slightly, with a little of his fangs showing from the gap of his lips.

“Ah, yes. I was told that you import most of your finer wines and spirits,” Yuriko said.

“Of course, of course. Wine from Marshalle, berry liquor from Erand!”

“Erand? That’s from the Belrath Xylarchy?” Yuriko frowned.

“Indeed. And Marshalle, of course is from the Allied Confederacy.”

“Are those nearby planes?”

The man eyes her doubtfully, “Not quite.”

“Ah. Hmm, well, I’d like a bottle of sweet Marshalle.”

“Excellent choice. May I ask if you require a certain vintage?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know much about wine,” Yuriko admitted and she could swear that the man’s eyes turned to jade from greed. She stared at him straight in the eyes, letting a bit of her Anima escape her control. She saw the Ahas man’s pupils contract and he gulped. “I intend to present it as a gift to a friend, so please…”

“Indeed. Worry not, miss, I’ll give you a bottle with a good vintage and a reasonable price.” He gave a short bow and walked up to a wall, picked out a bottle at eye level and presented it to her. “A five-year vintage, five silver trees.”

Yuriko quietly handed over a gold leaf, receiving five silver coins, the biggest kind, back. Contrary to the name, and quite different from the smaller coins, these were actually circular with milled edges. The pattern on the sigil side was of a bare-branched tree.

“Thank you, now that that’s done, I’d like to talk about the possibility of finding passage to another plane?”

“Ah, so that’s what you’re after.” The proprietor gave a relieved smile, “Ah, you should talk to the Viterran Ambassador, and the Tiathan Ambassador. They would have a better idea. Well, the Honeydew Mercantile Consortium delivers my foreign stock, I think they're due to arrive in Tiath City in a few weeks."

"Do they take passengers?"

"Yes, I haven't availed of it myself, but I believe they do."

"Thank you," Yuriko said.

"Ask the ambassadors. You'll need a writ of passage to go to the other cities anyway." The proprietor offered.

"Ah, that's good to know. My thanks." Yuriko gave him a wider smile and he scratched the back of his head and chuckled.

"The wine?"

"Oh, yes! Of course, er, pardon me." He went to his counter and placed the bottle in a box, then placed it inside a gift bag, wrote a receipt and gave it to her with a deep bow. "Thank you for your patronage."

Yuriko took the bag and left. It looked like she had two more people to visit before she could solidify her plans.