For the 2nd time this year, River was undertaking a long journey alone. At least this time he had a decent amount of gold. With the Cloud house as his unofficial sponsor he would rarely need to sleep outside. Getting a good night's sleep increased his efficiency traveling. On a few rare occasions he even took a carriage for a day but it wasn't something he could afford to do too often.

When traveling by foot he was much more liberal with his use of wind magic to quicken his pace than he was when traveling to Zero Province Academy. The certainty of not being in the open at night where he may possible need to fight bandits or run away gave him the freedom to tire himself out during the day. Due to all of these reasons he was going over twice the pace he was when going deep into the heart of province zero.

It was a good thing too. He would need to keep this up if he wanted to make it back in time. The continent was shaped mostly like a giant circle with the usual irregularities one would expect from nature. If you were to look at the size and shape of it on a map from another world; one might say it reminded them a lot of Australia except a bit more round and larger.

Each of the 10 provinces was shaped nearly the same. They almost looked like each was a slice taken out of the circle but not all provinces were the same size. Province 9 was the largest by far. A spoil from years long since past. Province 4 was the mirror province across from 9 but was in fact the smallest province. It was argued if province 9 should still be considered the largest with it and province 8 being behind the barrier. Those in charge could never reach a conclusion.

Zero Province Academy was close to the heart of province zero. Lee lived further inward and so was closer to the center of the entire continent. This means his distance to province 6 was now closer than it would have been at his school. It was a long way to go but not impossible. The Center of the continent was a demilitarized zone that was capital of the entire continent. It was busy and crowded and would no doubt slow him down if he tried to pass directly through it.

He went around the capital as quickly he could. He did get stopped by a few guards who were stationed around outskirts of the capital He just told a quick lie about being in a hurry to see his sick mother. Considering his age they were eager to let him go and get back to more important business without looking any deeper.

There weren't enough guards to secure the boarders of each province. There was also no true need to have so many. The provinces didn't have much in the way of immigration as each section of people tended to hold loyalty to their province of birth. As far as having guards in case another war with a province broke out; that was not being done much these days as there was no signs of conflict brewing.

The sustained peace for 30 years had made each province conclude paying a large number of guards to protect their boarder would be far too expensive a task and serve little reason. If citizens saw an outsider they would simply report him if they felt he was a threat and guards would pick up and questions such rift raft on a case by case basis. This made it easy for River to enter province 6.

He took out the picture of the black rose and looked at it again. He then took out the map and estimated where he was. He still hard a long way to go to get to the circled spot on the map where the old man believed the black rose was likely to be. It would be close to the heart of province 6 but he wasn't about to let a few extra miles in his journey stop him.

That night he went into a large town to hunt for an inn. In the very liberal province 6 town he saw things he had never seen before. Couples in the streets kissing each other with public displays of affection. Women in this warmer province were wearing outfits that showed off their legs, arms and chest. The outfits were literally half the size and made with thinner fabric of those worn by women in his town.

“Hey cutie, looking for a good time?” A slightly older but slender and cute women said behind him.

“Actually, I’m really just looking for a bed to crawl into.” She gave him a intrigued smile. She ran her hand over her neck and leaned back against the inn behind her.

“Aren't we all? If you want, I'll show you a room right up here and I'll see to it you get a chance to really relax tonight.”

“That sounds great! How much is it here?”

“1/2 a gold coin. Worth every bit. That's guaranteed by the house.” River had been given 10 gold coins and had only spent 2. It was a lot to spend on a single nights sleep but frankly he was tired from his long day and it wasn't like he was going to run out if he over spent just tonight.

“Okay, it's a little more expensive then I'm use to but you got yourself a deal.” The women in her early 20s smiled a seductive smile that Lee took as friendly.

“Then follow me up. You're pretty big for your age. Are you big everywhere else I wonder?”

Lee laughed looking at his hands and feet. “I guess so.” He followed her up the stairs. A man by the counter gave her a nod. She gave him a hand signal of some kind back. He wrote something down on the large ledger in front of him.

She showed Lee into his room and sat on the bed. “So, everything to your liking? We take care of everything here. It's all top notch. We like to keep our customers coming back you know.” Lee didn't find the room to be all that impressive but didn't want to say so.

She used her finger to signal him closer. She leaned back and opened her legs. Her skirt was short and her top was tight and low cut. The smile and look on her face was what Lee found the most curious. It seemed very nice in an odd sort of way he couldn't place. “You know, we don't often get to have big, strong, fit men like you here. I guess tonight’s my lucky night. I almost gave you a discount.

Lee stood in front of her. “Well, your boss would get mad if you just gave discounts cause you liked the customers right? But thanks anyway.” She laughed at his comment.

“You're a sweet one. I always find many of the sweet ones have a secret rough side to them. Shall we find out?”

“I'm not sure what you mean exact-” She grabbed his hand and placed it on her top. He was now cupping something round and soft. He froze at the new sensation. He had heard about this being done before with married couples. But this was only something a husband and wife would ever do. No women who was not married to a man would ever allow him to do this to her.

She put her hands on his hips and pulled him close to her face. She cupped his butt from behind. “We have a policy here. Before we really start the money needs to go on the dresser. Be a good guy and do that for me. Then we can continue and I'll let you know why we're worth ½ gold coin. Just cause your cute, I'll throw in a little extra surprise that usually cost you another half.” She gave him a wink.

Lee felt a stirring in his pants. She bit her lips and looked into his eyes. His hand still rested on her breast. He let go quickly as if he was holding a snake in his hand and backed up.

“Ummm, I'm sorry. I just... There was some misunderstanding. I didn't... I've never.... That did feel really good though. Um, Thanks? I need to go. But you are were really great!” He turned around too fast and tripped over his feet. He quickly got up and walked quickly towards the door.

“Come on, don't be like that. We can make it 3/8ths a gold coin!” He closed the door and quickly walked down the stairs and out of the house in a cold sweat. There was no way that just happened. Things like that don't just happen do they? He was always taught to even think of a women like that who wasn't your wife or at least your finance was fairly insulting. He tried his best to push such thoughts aside.

He was told women too do not think about such things with men who aren't there husband. At least they shouldn't. He honestly didn't know what to think at this point except that sensation in his hand was nice. The way she held his hips felt pretty good too. And the way she bit her lip. He could still turn back...

What was he thinking? Absolutely not! What would his mother or father think if they knew he did that kind of thing? Particularly with a women who did it for money. He had heard stories about them but this was his first time actually seeing one. Women like them were not in province zero. They were told if they wanted to make money that way then to leave and go to any of the other provinces that welcomed such depravity.

Still, if it felt that good could it really be all that bad? He needed a drink. Lee wasn't a big drinker but he knew he needed one tonight. He walked into a near by tavern. It was a busy and rowdy night by Lee's standards. For province 6 it was a fairly tamed mid week night.

“What will you be having?” the young cute bartender asked as she cleaned a cup with a rag.

“Whatever cheap red wine you have.” She got a pouch that hung off the wall and poured it into a glass. She set it lightly in front of Lee.

“Someone looks like he is having quite a night. If I didn't know any better I'd say you just saw a ghost.”

“Not exactly.” He quickly downed half the glass and leaned back closing his eyes. He took a few breaths and tried to slow down his heart.

“Well, something bad obviously happened? Perhaps you found out you're girl is screwing around behind your back or did you get turned down by a fine young lass? I've heard it all before, if you want to get it off your chest.”

Lee took another larger gulp. “Well, it wasn't anything bad actually. More just shocking I’d say”

“Well, are you going to keep it to yourself or spill it?”

“I went to a brothel tonight for the first time in my life.” He finished his wine and signaled for a refill.

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, victory stories are fun sometimes but it doesn't mean much when you paid the girl you know.”

“I didn't know it was a brothel. I thought she was just trying to help me get a room.” She gave him an odd look and refilled his glass.

“How could you not know she was a working girl? They way they dress and act certainly doesn't lead people to mistakes that often.” This bar maid had heard a lot of stories before, but this was the first time she ever heard a customer of hers say he accidentally ended up going to a brothel.

“I guess the fact I've never seen one is a big reason. I'm from an area where that thing just isn't thought about much.” He started to drink again. Feeling a bit more warm, relaxed and open.

“So what? Are you one of those prudes from province zero or something?”

“We're not prudes! We're just traditional is all.”

“You are!” She was proud her guess was right “So it was a bit too much for you huh? What happened exactly?”

“Well, to be frank; she put my hand on her... chest. Then she grabbed my waist area and said I should pay before we started. After that I realized what was going on and I left.”

“Well, a free breast grab isn't bad I suppose. Be careful now. Some of them will try to track you down and make you pay for that.” She gave him a quick look over a bit curious now. Could a good looking kid like this really be so inexperience that he would be so panicked about a little grab?

“That can't be the first time you felt a girl's chest right?” She looked at him in a way that demanded his gaze. He looked back and gave a small shrug that signaled a yes.

“Well you must have at least made out with a few girls right? I mean, really now. You must have a few that like you?” Her smiled vanished slowly as she looked at his blank face that stared at his now half empty wine glass.

“I told you, we're traditional. Kissing a girl isn't something you do just with any women after all. Only one that you've been in a seriously relationship with for a while. I was told you should wait till you're older to form such relationships in any case.”

She leaned forward, put her hand behind his head and kissed him. He froze being to shocked to return it. She pulled back and smiled at him as she started to clean a glass again. He touched his mouth then dropped his hand. She laughed at his expression.

“Well this ain't province zero young man. That one was on the house just because it was long past due. Let me give you some advice. No one really thinks that way. Whoever taught you that almost certainly didn't act all proper when they were younger. I'm not saying go crazy without restraint like some people around here, but you need to live life.”

He looked at her and then laughed. “You just stole my first kiss.”

“Well, you should have given it out sooner, I’m not giving it back.” River found himself giving her a look over. Maybe it was the wine. Maybe it was the night so far. Maybe it was she was the first women he ever kissed. But he started to look at her in a way he never looked at any women before.

“Hey now, don't get any bright ideas. The wine is the only thing I’m selling tonight and the kiss is all you're getting from me.” She said this as she was given him a good look over too. Turn around was fair play after all.

“Sorry, that was rude of me. I meant no disrespect to you as a lady.”

“There you go, getting all traditional again. Well, I’m not giving you another lesson. But another drink is an option.”

“No thanks, I think I'm done for the night. Two is my limit before I start to make a real ass out of myself. Think you can point me in the direction of an inn, just a bed with no girl in it this time?”

She gave a laugh at his joke. “There's a nice one 3 businesses down. They'll charge you a fair rate if you given them my name. Good luck in the future. Maybe in a few years you could come back and if you've learned some moves you can ask me out on a date; if I’m not too old for you by then.”

He paid his tab and pushed in his chair. “Too old? What you really mean if is some better looking fellow hasn't stolen my chance with you right?”

“You need work but you're a pretty smooth talker. Sure, if that hasn't happened come back in a few years.”

He left the bar and found the inn just where she said it be. He gave her name and it became the cheapest and best inn he has slept in so far.

When you woke up he continued on his journey across province 6. It seemed he would come to find the unexpected and new here. He had better be prepared if the next surprises were not so pleasant.