As we left the main capital of Carmen, we decided to change things up by following the river all the way to the right hand capital. After stopping for a bit we were to go by wagon the rest of the way, ultimately making it to any city in Great Hiana that supported the ITA. Our goal this time wasn’t a capital, we were in a hurry to check in after all. Boarding the boat, Ed lost his balance a bit and gripped the ropes with all his strength. Looks like he’s not good with boats.

Weirdly enough, I was completely fine, so I used the situation to help Ed as much as I could. He helped me when I was sick in the wagon, after all. As I was holding him while he threw up, I got a bit nostalgic thinking about how we used to travel with Anna. This journey really isn’t the same without her. I’m starting to miss our jokes and jabs. Arthur’s probably finished up with the Ren branch and is already back with her in Springwood. Thinking about them made me lose focus, and I almost dropped Ed overboard.

“Dude! Don’t *brurp* d-don’t drop me!”

“…Sorry, I got lost in thought.”

“Well get your head out of the clouds! Otherwise I’ll be sleeping with the fishes-”

Before he could even finish his sentence, he threw up the last of our breakfast. He was almost completely green in the face, so I had him sit tight as I went to get the captain. Thankfully, the captain didn’t live in Carmen, so his attitude was extremely helpful. He gave me some food against sea sickness and some medicinal alcohol. The thing that surprised me was the way it was to be administered.

The food was normal, but the alcohol was to be poured on a napkin and applied to the nose. After being placed on the nose, the person in question needs to snort with all their might. Apparently this deals with runny noses, headaches and sea sickness.

After explaining this peculiar remedy to Ed, he was hesitant at first, but finally caved after almost throwing up for the nth time today. The sight was… interesting. Well, if seeing your childhood friend coughing his life out before tossing the medicine off the side of the ship in a fit of rage could be described as “interesting”, at least. The funniest part was the fact that he actually did feel a bit better a couple minutes later, leading to him regretting throwing the medicine out.

Just as his sea sickness was starting to loom over him again, we had made it to our destination, a small shore-side village by the name of Addams.

***

We were about half a days away from the border between The Kingdom of Carmen and Great Hiana if we were to travel by transport wagon that is. I’ve never seen Ed so happy about touching ground. As I was thanking the captain for taking us all the way here, out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of Ed actually kissing the ground beneath him.

One part of me felt bad for his future girlfriend, but the other side of me understood where he was coming from. In all honesty I contemplated doing the same when I got out of the wagon back in Carmen City.

Addams was a village of Hianics, but it was still located on Carmen borders, the locals were accustomed to getting people who wanted to pass through so they skipped the formalities and immediately welcomed us. We were taken to a little campsite where we were to spend the night. We didn’t really like the idea, since a tent didn’t really have any heat retaining properties, and we were nearing winter.

Soon our expectations were subverted yet again, because they had put on a campfire that was almost as big as us. The fire felt very nice, it served as both a stove for cooking hot stew to heat us up from the inside, while also being so warm that the heat was felt even in the tents.

We fell asleep with a warmth that rivaled a well-insulated house and made the weather feel like summer. Waking up was a different story, though, since the fire naturally died in the middle of the night and we went back to sleeping through the winter. Needless to say I got a cold.

Hoping to find another foreign remedy for colds, I asked the locals for anything of help. I was surprised when they offered me the same bottle of alcohol the captain did. They must really like their drinks here I thought. This time the alcohol was to be drunk directly, though, but it was very bitter. I’ve seen the locals drink it like we drink water, so I was surprised with the taste after taking a chug. How they drink such a beverage with such vigor is beyond me, in all honesty.

Connecting with the locals was a bit difficult, since they only knew some basic words in Entropic. Again, they’re all from Great Hiana, which mostly spoke the new Hianic language established less than half a century ago. We used the situation to learn a few new words from them.

Words like Friend and Food were the first things we learned to say due to necessity. For those interested, Friend was Ulgam, with the plural being Ulgami, and Food was Renki. The funny thing about them is how they name countries. Kingdom of Carmen is Malulgami Zemje, which literally means Bad Friend’s Land (guess no one really likes their attitude). I tried asking about Trivis Numerica, but the language barrier was simply too large for them to understand me.

Hianics are quite the superstitious bunch. They like to prophesize the future by various means, spanning from stargazing to palm reading. As a joke, Ed inquired about his love life, but was given a roundabout answer which basically translated to “it’s complicated”. Forced to participate too, I asked about what our best next course of action is.

“Ulgam, buy a Hiana wordiary and your life will be full of happiness.”

From what I gathered, wordiary was his best attempt at translating dictionary. I found the prospect interesting, and I thought we’ll be spending quite some time here, we should probably listen to his advice.

After I got over my cold we thanked them for everything and entered a transport wagon heading to Bilgam, the left capital of Great Hiana.