The lands between Herria and Dara’s home started out as grassland and cleared forest between slowly rolling grass-covered hills. If Eli didn’t know better, he’d have assumed the land was once heavily forested based on the geography and thick forests they’d left behind. Dara wasn’t aware of any significant logging since most of the local trees lacked unique attributes, and there were much more valuable or magical resources to collect around here. It was strange, but he’d seen something like this in the pacific northwest near his birthplace after the Fall, as if an army bent on destruction had cleared anything taller than a few meters. Some lonely trees grew in a few spots, mainly along the top of the hills or in tiny protected folds on the slopes. Still, he wasn’t about to contradict his local guide, but he filed the minor irregularity away for later.

As the day progressed, they continued to walk along the road that bisected the hills until the cleared land gave way to trees again. They appeared scattered and lonely at first, then gave way to more and more trees, making him wonder if the forests were slowly reclaiming the land as animals and wind deposited seeds in the tall grass. Like a few of the trees he’d seen in the past days, they resembled the pines of Earth but with a slight bluish tint to their needles. The fragrance was achingly familiar, and he couldn’t help but think of his friends again, wondering how they were doing.

He missed those times camping among the pine trees in the local mountains when they’d squeeze a bit of free time between their accelerated semesters. They’d never traveled too far into the woods on their trips since they rarely had more than a few days to relax, yet enjoyed their bubbles of peace while they lasted.

All four had served in the military, though Eli had only met Jen while actively serving and met Aarav and Dennis later on campus. Unsurprisingly, he’d met Aarav in martial arts as he took on all challengers in the advanced class. Dennis was different, and they met in Philosophy of all places, yet Eli had hit it off with both of them from the start. It was like that inexplicable instant connection and bond that sometimes happens as if they’d already known each other for years.

After college, they’d all left to find their fortunes since, with Earth picking up the pieces after the Fall, there were plenty of jobs. Still, too many were soul-sucking opportunities only a step or two away from automated obsolescence, and the four had been lucky enough to find decent employment anyway. They’d managed to get together a few more times, but it was somehow a different experience with their new roles and responsibilities added into the mix.

Jen had moved on to private contracting, and given her solid military background, no one was surprised. She traipsed around the world, putting out fires for the government or whatever corporate power had the right political capital. The last he’d heard, she was in Europe helping subdue a few warlords holding onto their ill-gotten gains after The Fall and couldn’t help but think that she’d kick ass if she’d been the one tossed into this world.

Like Eli, Aarav had gone into accounting. After years of separately moving up the corporate ladder, he helped Aarav get a job at Sahara. His friend was crazy-qualified and a great asset, but it was too bad that they weren’t on the same team or even in the same city. That was corporate existence, though, as your life and career are often subject to the whims of the big bosses and the company's needs.

Dennis went in a completely different direction as he married, had kids, and opened a successful restaurant in San Diego. As one of the few cities to largely survive on the old North American West Coast, new food trends were always in demand. It didn’t hurt that his cooking was outstanding if a little different. His cola-fried chicken shouldn’t taste as amazing as it did, but then Dennis could make a tasty meal out of the weirdest ingredients. Eli smiled, remembering the party they’d had as they combined the birth of Dennis’ newest baby with the opening, and the four had a great time catching up as if no time had passed since college.

I hope they’re doing okay.

Pulling his thoughts back to reality, he studied the road under their feet. It was another mystery as it was surprisingly straight and well maintained, at least as far as he could tell. Someone had used a lot of stone in its construction, with the stonework fitting tightly together and only a few scattered tufts of grass or plants sprouted up through the roadway. The whole thing was wide enough for two-way wagon traffic as it stretched out in front of them, disappearing into the distance, and was a far cry from the earthen mountain trail they’d taken through the forest.

“This road is pretty nice. Do you know the history?” Eli asked, looking over to Dara. She’d given the blanket back when they’d stopped for lunch a few hours earlier after the day turned warm.

Her eyebrows popped up as she looked at the road under their feet before looking back up at him again. “I don’t,” she said and pursed her lips. “You ask the craziest questions. I hadn’t thought about how the road was built since it’s just always been there as it runs all the way to my home.”

“So it’s this well maintained the whole way there? Does it extend beyond?” He looked up the stone road, suitably impressed. He’d started to readjust his thinking about how advanced Dara’s people were, even out here in the frontier, and this road built to last centuries only confirmed it further.

“No, it ends at the river near the manor, but it extends all the way to the capital in the other direction.” Dara gestured back towards the southeast, and he couldn’t help but glance behind them as he thought about the logistics.

“Isn’t the capital weeks away? What was it called? Galidish or something?”

“Galdish,” she corrected. “It used to be Gealidesh centuries ago and means ‘white stone’ in our old language.”

“So, are there other roads as nice as this one?” He asked, the name tugging at a memory, but he couldn’t place where. It could have been an old word from Earth or just a coincidence, but he shrugged the thought away as there were already plenty of mysteries to go around.

“Oh yes, lots.” She smiled as she looked over at him. “Trade is the lifeblood of the Alliance. Here in Northmarch, there are fewer good roads, but you can find them leading to many of the bigger cities, and as you go south, you’ll find more.” Dara seemed to light up as she discussed trade, her hand gestures growing animated as her smile came easily. He couldn’t help smiling back as he asked for more details.

“Well, I’ll describe it like my instructor Eyonne did when I was learning about commerce. First, imagine you are looking down on the land from a great height up in the sky.” Dara formed a circle with her hands. “Now imagine a giant wheel with Galdish in the center, and the wheel’s spokes are the many roads heading in different directions, each ending in a 1st tier city. From these, more roads branch off to lower-tier cities, where the smaller towns gather local resources at the very end of the roads. In some areas, there might only be a minor city or town; in our case, that’s Herria. A set percentage of resources collected in Herria go directly to Bishal, the 2nd tier city, and from there move to Lusan, the highest tier on the way to the capital. Whatever doesn’t go to Bishal or Lusan can be sold to us locals or even shipped abroad.”

“Interesting,” he said almost to himself as he imagined her described structure. “So how strong are the trade agreements between cities? I can imagine how much the big cities must rely on the smaller towns, especially along the frontier. What’s to keep merchants from playing games with rare cargoes or driving up prices?”

“Oh, the quotas aren’t between the cities exactly but between the gods and their families that run the different cities.”

“Wait, what?” he stopped in the road as Dara turned to glance back. “Why would gods care about trade or resources? I must be missing something.”

Dara’s laugh was almost a giggle as her eyes danced with obvious amusement. “Oh, Eli, they’re not all-powerful or omnipotent ‘Gods’ like some would imagine. Instead, think of them as either matriarchs or patriarchs of their families where ‘God,’ or ‘Dia,’ is a title of respect and standing. Take my family, the Easone, with Dia Aaric as our patriarch. He’s led our family for over a century, much as his father and grandfather did before him. Still, don’t let the southerners hear you say that - they really seem to take their own gods’ divinity seriously. As far as I’m concerned, they’re a bunch of soft-brained fools,” she said with a hint of scorn.

As they continued down the road, she continued to explain how the families kept the resources flowing through an interesting mix of feudal and familial obligations. It turned out that the prominent families actually ran the day-to-day behind the scenes, with ties by vows and blood holding everything together. Each family was known for specific powers and abilities tied to their family, and those with the strongest power and bloodline led. The hereditary abilities made the family connections much more critical, with the traits usually passed on. However, the strength would often decrease in subsequent generations.

The focus on power and family also meant that nepotism was alive and well in Lurra, and often the powerful in any given region were all related. The whole structure seemed like a powder keg of competing groups, with each person, city, and region looking to maximize their own resources and opportunities while simultaneously depriving the same from others. All of these hundreds and thousands of connections were then kept together with binding contracts and family connections – a whole world based around eugenics and nepotism in support of growing strength.

Then there was the big giant elephant in the room with how the rest of the people fit into the bigger picture. The Bound, Commons, and Talents, or those without strong powers, were at the bottom of society, including some Gifted’s children who didn’t have a strong enough ability to be Gifted. Between these groups, they accounted for the vast majority of the population and had little, if any, say in how the cities were run.

Eli wanted to ask more about how the ordinary people fit into their society but was interrupted as Dara slowed down and gestured at the top of the two hills beside the road. He looked up, following her hand, and noticed a wooden structure on both crests, looking like squat towers. Each had a flag blowing in the breeze, and under it were tiny little figures made small with the distance.

“The manor’s watchtowers,” she said, her smile wide with excitement. “We’re almost there.” With a little chuckle, she picked up the pace to almost a jog, and he had to trot for a moment to catch up.

A few minutes later, the road started descending down a gradual slope towards where it ended at the foot of a small bridge spanning a dark blue river. On the other side, a village spread along the riverbanks with a few structures built into the sloping hills. Beyond the village was a winding stone path that led through numerous switchbacks until it reached the peak of the most prominent hill in sight. Based on her descriptions over the past few days, he could only guess that the walled fortress up there had to be her home.

The hill the two were standing on didn’t have quite the elevation as the fortress, but he could still see enough details to be impressed. The central building was shaped like a stone keep, looking like a giant cube, and there was little of the romantic stone castle aesthetic he had seen in the movies back home since this castle didn’t look ready for tourists. Only stone and tile were in sight, making him wonder if the materials were based on availability or defense. The tiny figures pacing the walls and top of the keep only gave scale to the structure, and he realized that hundreds could easily shelter within those walls.

A big stone gatehouse faced them with a large bright yellow flag flying overhead. The wind kept Eli from catching any details on the flag, but it seemed to mean something to Dara, and she was already pointing, even as he took in everything.

“My father is in residence! That’s his banner. Oh, and that’s the Blue River,” she gestured to the river running under the bridge. “It comes down from the mountains in the north, going south and eventually west to the sea. There are great big trout all year round, and in the spring, the banks will be full of people fishing for the spawning fiskur.” She turned to him with an excited smile, her teeth flashing under sparkling eyes. “There’s a big festival with so much food.”

He smiled, glad to see her coming more out of her shell. The day had been a long one as they walked along the road, but while she’d described the history of her people and the area, he’d noticed her tight shoulders and furrowed brows as if nervous about what she’d find at home. Now, though, she was all smiles.

I wonder what’s happening on Earth. I still know so little about how I got here. Will I ever get back?

He smothered the wave of homesickness before it could overwhelm him and instead focused on the lazy river as a distraction. In the light of the late afternoon sun, the water seemed like the wrong shade of blue, much too dark and more like what he associated with the deepest ocean. The river wasn’t too wide as far as he could see as it meandered through the hills and valley below. The deep channel made him wonder if there was a history of massive floods or ancient icebergs in the region, reminding him of similar geography on Earth. A small stone bridge at the foot of their hill spanned the river to the town beyond and looked like it might have been there a while with the softly rounded edges near the waterline.

With a relaxed air, the pair descended the gradual decline towards the bridge, with Dara adding a few other details along the way. “That village is a part of Wolf’s Manor,” she said, pointing beyond the bridge to the dozens of buildings peppering the far shore. “Eyonne runs the operations but answers to my father. I’ve missed the market and the green berry tarts that Beesa makes. Oh, it’s so good to be home!”

Eli slowed at the bridge, the road coming to an abrupt end where the span began. It was light grey like the fortress and walls in her home overhead and wasn’t quite as wide as the road but was still big enough for even the large wagons he’d seen in Herria. The stone parapet was only a meter tall but just as thick, so folks probably didn’t have to worry about running off into the water below unless something really unfortunate happened. Peeking over the side, his hand brushing against the almost smooth stone, he marveled at the sapphire blue waters churning against the stone piers below.

Putting the bridge behind them, they walked into the small village, and he glanced around with interest. Like Herria, the squat square buildings were a mix of wood and stone, with homes and businesses on both sides. The road under their feet had changed, and instead of the tight stones fitted expertly together, there were more of the same light grey stones from the bridge and fortress. There were also plenty of people, but nothing like Herria; only a few dozen walked along the road and between the various buildings. They seemed happy enough, and he observed plenty of smiles and greetings as they chatted and talked about their day. It reminded him of a few small towns he’d visited with Esme on one of their many road trips, where everyone knew everyone else, and chance meetings became an excuse to relax and catch up.

Near the town center, a small market had been set up with tables and stalls. There were all sorts of goods for sale, with one section clearly cooking some hot food, and Eli tugged on Dara’s arm to steer her towards the beautiful aroma. She turned to him in question, but then she must have caught the scent too, as her smile widened, and they walked toward the end of the market. On the way, they paused at an intersection where a large fruit stand took up an entire corner. He couldn’t help looking closer as he’d missed fresh food after far too long on the road and could swear that they were selling pineapples.

Dara suddenly grabbed his arm, squeezing hard enough to pull his attention away from the food as she pointed up towards her home. “Something is wrong,” she said. “My father’s guards are at the walls, not just the watch.”

Looking up towards the nearby fortress, he could see more details than earlier as the light reflected off a multitude of metal while dozens of people rushed about. A new red flag appeared next to the yellow one over the gatehouse just as a long low horn blared from above.

Shit, what now?