“We can try again later,” Lyreen said. “I don’t get why I can’t do anything,” Anna said with a huff. “I have no idea. It must be your Fae blood. Maybe the archmage will know. We will ask him when we get back to the guild. Besides, there are other kinds of magic like enchanting or rituals. Maybe you can do one of those, but I just don’t know them myself,” Lyreen replied. Anna sighed. “I am getting tired. I think I’ll go to my room now,” she said. “I’m not sure what tired means, but it seems to make people leave you alone,” Anna thought. Lyreen nodded, and Anna got up and left the room as she headed to her own and flopped on the bed. “I wonder what’s going on? As far as I know this body is human, isn’t it?” she thought.

Thinking of what she learned that day, the process of casting a spell wasn’t all that hard. It turned out just to be mostly focusing power in the focus, hence the name, and pull it into your other hand while visualizing what you want to happen. She watched Lyreen do it a dozen times but she just couldn’t. The power just wouldn’t leave the focus for her. After pondering over the problem for some time, she finally gave up and fell asleep.

She woke up early the next morning. “Maybe I’ll wait on magic. It’s pretty, but I want to try more with my body right now,” she thought. She got dressed and slipped out of her room before walking over to Thokri’s. She knocked on the door and heard some shuffling sounds coming towards the door. The door opened with a creaking sound as the bleary-eyed dwarf looked at her. “Aye?” he asked, looking sleepy still. “Thokri, I want you to teach me how to fight. You’re stronger than Voekeer, and I think you could teach me better,” she said. “Aye,” he replied, looking at her.

“Let me get dressed, and I will go out and find you a weapon. I don’t think a sword will work,” he said, closing the door. She waited for a few minutes while he got ready. He opened the door again, and they left the inn for the market. This time, they headed directly to the weapons merchants. They arrived there just as the merchants were opening for the morning. Thokri started looking through the stacks of weapons. None of them were what you would call good, but they were all serviceable. He picked through axes, hammers, spears, and all manner of other things Anna couldn’t identify.

Finally, he picked up something that he seemed to find acceptable. “This is it lass. This is the one,” he said before showing her what he had found. It was a club as thick as her forearm and thinner at the grip with a rounded shape it the very bottom. It was about as long as her arm from elbow to fingertip. Taking it from the dwarf, she looked at it closer, noticing it had four strips of iron nailed to the sides and bent over the top making a sort of cap. The grip was wrapped in sturdy brown leather. “Go on. Swing it around.” She started to take the stance that Voekeer showed her. “No lass. That ain’t no sword. Like this,” Thokri said as he stood with his right leg slightly back, acting as if he held the club in his right hand while holding his left hand in front as if to grab his opponent.

Anna copied the stance and started to swing the club. “Step forward with your right foot and swing your hip into it. You got enough of that,” he said, correcting her stance. Anna nodded and copied him. She swung it a few times, enjoying the feel of it. “I like it,” she said before turning toward the vender. “How much?” she asked. The merchant replied, “Three coppers for you.” She pulled the coppers from her pouch and handed them over. “Thank you,” she said with a smile. Thokri looked at her and then the club. Then he looked at her belt. It was a new leather one she had bought. She had a few pouches on it to carry coins and other necessities like candy.

He tugged her arm. “This way,” he said. She followed him until he stopped in front of a smithy. “Give me the club and your belt,” he told her. She handed over the club and took off the belt before handing it to him. He walked to the smithy and began to talk and gesture wildly at the man near the forge. This went on for a few moments before the man put his hands up and stepped back in surrender. The dwarf then went to work. She tried to wait patiently for a while but was soon distracted and started to look around and chat with the people as they walked by. Thokri came back out half an hour or so later. He handed her the belt and club. “Here you go lass. All done,” he said. She looked at the belt, which now had an iron plate with what looked like two hooks coming out of it. She put the belt back on and adjusted the pouches before he handed her the club.

“Put it on the frog like this,” he said “Frog?” she thought, confused for a moment. “Oh! That must be the iron hooks,” she thought and smiled to herself at the funny name. She put the club on the frog, and it swiveled when she moved. “That’s so you can pull it out easier,” he said. From there, they headed about to the inn. “Lass, you have to go easy on me while I’m teaching you,” he said. “What do you mean?” she asked. “You’re as strong as they come. I can’t teach you anything if you keep flinging me around like an old rag,” he replied.

“Like a butterfly. They are so pretty and delicate,” she said. “Aye, but don’t call me a butterfly. I just can’t handle it,” he replied gruffly. “Sorry,” she replied, but he only grunted in response. They arrived at the inn and went straight out back. It was empty still as the other adventures hadn’t woken up yet, and the family was still doing their morning chores. “Alright lass. Take off your belt and your necklace. Tie up your hair if you can.” Anna took off her belt and necklace and pulled a piece of ribbon out of one of her pouches. The ribbon was from a candy box and she liked the color, so she kept it. She tied her hair into a ponytail and walked back over to Thokri.

“First, I’ll teach you how to grapple. Grappling is real fighting. You need to learn it before you start waving weapons around,” he said. She nodded. “Now, let me show the moves on you, and let me do it. I know you can stop me any time, but you need to learn this.” She nodded again. “Wait. You need to learn how to fall first,” he said. “Learn to fall?” she asked. “Aye,” he replied. Then he grabbed her by the arm and stepped behind her leg, pulling her arm and twisting his hip. She found herself off balance. “On the way down, land on your shoulders, and then roll your arm out to soften the blow.” She fell and landed as he said, but it didn’t feel any different than landing normally. She didn’t say anything to him.

“Good job lass. That’s how it’s done,” he said. After that, he showed her various ways to throw people and pin them on the ground. It was all very fun. She really enjoyed learning this. “Lass, does this hurt?” he asked. She had found herself facedown with her arm bent at an odd angle. She wasn’t really sure what he meant by hurt. She didn’t feel any different than normal. “What do you mean by hurt?” she asked. “You know, ‘ouch pain’, getting cut, blood, that kind of hurt,” he said. She thought back on the last few months. “I don’t think I’ve ever been hurt,” she replied. He let her go and she sat up. “Hold on,” he said before going over to his belt. He pulled out a small knife. “Hold out your hand,” he said as he approached her again. She did, and he took the knife and poked her lightly on the palm. When she didn’t react, he kept pressing until the knife flexed. He pulled it back and looked at it. The tip was bent slightly. “Lass, don’t tell anyone else about this,” he said. “That wasn’t supposed to happen,” she thought. “Can we keep training?” she asked. “Aye,” he said before finally taking his eyes off the knife.

They spent the rest of the day going over the basics, going back into the inn after the sun went down. Thokri stayed at the bar, and she went upstairs to her room to try magic again. “Maybe it will work this time,” she thought. After a few more hours attempting magic in her room, she still couldn’t get the hang of it. “I’ll just go to bed now,” she sighed. She was grasped by the tentacles and flung around. It reminded her of her practice with Thokri. The eyes watched it all as usual. Over the next few days, she learned more advanced grappling, as well as hand to hand which for some reason also involved kicking. “People are weird,” she thought. Weapons were the last thing she learned to use, and Thokri even made her a straw man to hit. Not too hard of course.

The day before they left, she met Beth in the common room. Beth grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into the storeroom where she had five dresses laid out on a table. Anna walked to the table and picked up one of the dresses and inspected it. The cut was similar to the first ones Beth had made with a few changes. First, there was a leather strap sewn just under the bust. The bust area itself was reenforced with a few extra layers of cloth. Beth noticed her looking at it. “The belt will help you keep your boobs from bouncing when you run. I know you don’t wear a wrap, and the extra layer will stop you from giving everyone a free show when the wind blows,” Beth said. Anna chuckled. Elizabeth had complained to her a few times about poking out, but they had a mind of their own, and she couldn’t complain about the extra tips she got on nights the door was open. Continuing her inspection, the material itself was thicker and stronger than her other dresses. The seams were stronger, and it was also reenforced around the hip area. She assumed it was so that her belt wouldn’t wear a hole in the cloth on the long walks. The skirt portion was slightly shorter than before, just above the knee with slits in the sides that went up to her mid-thigh. “That’s so your butt doesn’t pop out when you crouch down,” Beth said while smiling. “These are perfect,” Anna said before turning to hug the girl. “Wait. There’s one more,” Beth replied, taking her by the hand and leading her back into the common room.

Elizabeth sat at one of the tables, and there was a package on it in front of her. Beth pulled her all the way to the table, and Anna smiled at Elizabeth. “We made this as a going away present. I hope you like it,” Elizabeth said. Anna looked at the package; it was an oil cloth folded on itself with straps sown on. The straps were tied into a loose bow on the top. She untied the package, and upon opening it up, she found another dress. She picked it up to look at it closer. It was the color of sunflowers in the springtime, and it was made from a light and thin cloth. The sleeves were short enough that they would only go down to just above the middle of her bicep and was slightly ruffled at the shoulders. It had a keyhole neckline, and the bust was much more form fitting than her other dresses. It had two embroidered butterflies, one on each breast facing each other, with a ribbon stitched to the front and the back just below the bust. They were laced together at the sides going down to the top of the hip “It will keep the dress tight and show off your figure. Just tighten up the ribbons and tie them in bows on each side,” Elizabeth said. The skirt was even more form fitting and shorter with a slit that went two inches below her hip. “I know you don’t like to wear underthings, so make sure you cross your legs when you sit. If you don’t, no one will have to guess a thing,” Elizabeth said laughing.

Anna hugged them both, and then she set down the dress and started to unbuckle her belt. Beth and Elizabeth both grabbed her hands. “Oh no you don’t. Go change upstairs! I keep telling you that this is not that kind of place,” Elizabeth said. “Beth, go with her,” she added. They bounded up the stairs into Anna’s room. The dress wasn’t that hard to put on, though Beth did help get the ribbons right. Now it should be easy to do by herself. They left her room and went back downstairs. Elizabeth was at the bar now, cleaning the mugs. She never thought Ted got them clean enough, so she always went back to wipe them off again. Seeing them come down the stairs, she walked to them, and they met near the middle of the room. She grabbed Anna with both hands just behind the elbows and held her away before looking her over. “It looks wonderful on you,” she said.

“It fits great,” Anna replied. “Beth is getting good at sewing. I think she may start apprenticing with the seamstresses soon,” Elizabeth replied. Anna made a face and Elizabeth laughed. “They don’t talk like that around children. It will be fine,” she said, knowing what Anna was thinking. They both laughed at that. The three of them chatted about clothes, dress making, and Beth’s future with the seamstresses. Soon, the adventurers joined them. “You’re going to turn heads in that,” Barika said, and Anna nodded. “I think I’m going to go out today. I want to say goodbye to all of my friends,” Anna said. “Make sure to get your things packed. We will be leaving at sunrise tomorrow,” Voekeer said. “I will see you all this evening,” She replied, waving as she walked out the door. She headed towards the docks first, planning on stopping by the weaver’s shop on the way.

It was warm already, despite being early in the morning. There was a nice breeze coming off the river. She stopped for a moment, closed her eyes, and the breezed picked up temporarily. She took a deep breath before opening her eyes and continuing her walk. The reason she disliked underclothes was simple. She hated the way the bindings pushed her breasts against her chest. It felt better when they could bounce, and she loved the feeling of fresh air under her skirt. It was also the reason she turned down the travel pants the adventures had tried to get her to wear.

She made it to the weaver’s and found several women outside enjoying the weather before they got started for the day. The women waved her over and asked about her new dress. She told them that Beth had made it, and they all agreed that she was good and couldn’t wait to work with her when she started her apprenticeship there. After talking for a few minutes, she said her goodbyes and mentioned going to the docks. “You’d better be careful with those,” Loren said, poking her finger in between her breasts through the cutout below her neckline. “You’re bound to make some poor man fall in love, and then you leave the next day,” she said laughing.

Anna wasn’t sure what Loren meant by that, but she knew how to respond. “I’m sure you’ll be there to comfort him,” Anna replied, leering at the women like a sailor. She waved Anna off, trying vainly to stifle a laugh. She failed, and they all broke out into a fit of laughter. She hugged them all before saying her goodbyes and left. “I wonder what they mean by comfort,” she thought as she walked away.

She made her way to the docks, enjoying the breeze that had grown stronger now that she was closer to the water. Stepping onto the dock, she heard several good-natured whistles and even a cat call or two. She knew all the men who worked at the dock. The few she didn’t recognize were most likely sailors, although most of their kind was still dealing with the after-effects of last night’s revelries. She spotted the man she was looking for and headed in his direction. He turned and saw her as she walked up. “Anna, it’s good to see you,” the dockmaster said in greeting. “I’m glad I found you. I wanted to say goodbye before I left,” she replied.

“Good luck on your journey, and if your ever come back, we’ll have a drink,” he said. “I’d like that,” she agreed, shaking his hand and then walking away. She found herself at the treat merchant after wandering around for a while. “I should get some candies for the journey,” she thought, heading for the hard candy vender and buying several boxes of them. “That should do it,” she thought, also picking up some oilskin to wrap the boxes in so they didn’t get wet. “Now, the most important stop,” she thought.

She arrived at the bakery, only to find it closed. The bakers weren’t home either. Not sure where to find them, shrugging, she walked on. By then, it was late afternoon and the common room was starting to fill up. She spotted the adventurers and walked over to join them sitting at the table. Beth walked over carrying a tray. The girl put drinks and food in front of each of the adventurers. “Would you like some too?” Beth asked. “Yes, please,” Anna replied. She tossed a piece of candy on the tray like a coin, and the girl grabbed it and stuffed it into her mouth.

“You know the way to a woman’s heart,” Voekeer said, and the adventurers raised their mugs. “Here, here,” they chanted in unison. “Normally, I’d be telling a raw recruit like you not to drink and get enough rest, but I don’t think you have to worry about that. Instead, I’ll tell you to pack up and be ready in the morning,” he continued. Anna nodded. Beth returned with food and drink, refilling their mugs until they all finished their food before heading up to bed. Anna went to her room early and packed up. Looking at the pack that contained everything she owned, she laid down and wondered what tomorrow would bring. She woke up before dawn. The dream the night before was filled with the usual eyes and tentacles. Anna seemed excited, as she was quivering wildly at the thought of leaving.

She grabbed her pack and left her room for the last time. Heading down the stairs, she found Ted and his family already sitting at the table. She joined them and was given her usual bowl of overly sweet porridge. They idly chatted while eating, waiting for the adventurers to come down. They didn’t have to wait long. Soon the band came down the stairs. She had never seen them in their full kit before. They were a sight to behold. Voekeer was wearing a black cloak with the hood off and had a silvery shirt on that looked like little metal rings woven together along with a long slender sword on his hip.

Next was Lyreen. She had a similar cloak, but instead of the glove, she had a gauntlet on her left hand that had the largest focus Anna had ever seen attached to it. Both elves had similar packs, though they seemed to be made from oil cloth instead of leather, and were smaller than hers. Next was Barika. She had a brown cloak made of a thinner cloth than the elves, and she caried a long staff with strange symbols carved into it. She was wearing a necklace shaped like a woman with exaggerated hips and breasts. Her pack was nearly identical to Anna’s in both material and size.

Last and most impressive was Thokri. He was outfitted in metal armor head to toe. His helmet was round at the top with two plates over his cheeks and a large bar coming down over his nose. Despite that, he somehow had his beard flowing down his chest. “I wonder if it snags,” Anna thought as she looked at him. He carried a spear as long as Voekeer is tall, and his pack was huge. It had all manner of weapons strapped to it, along with what looked like a full set of pots and pans. She slung her pack over her shoulder and went to join them. “Wait!” Beth cried. Running over to hug Anna, she looked up with her eyes starting to wet.

“Will I see you again?” she asked. “I don’t know, but I hope so,” Anna replied. “I know. I’ll send you something from everywhere I go. Would you like that?” she continued. “Lass, you won’t be able to do that,” Thokri said sternly. Elizabeth walked over and peeled Beth off Anna. “Why don’t you draw pictures of the places you go? You could send them when you fill up a book,” Elizabeth suggested. “I could do that,” Anna said. They left the pub with the family crowding into the door to wave goodbye. She waved back, then turned around to catch up with the adventurers. They left the city a few minutes later, walking away from the only home she had ever known.