"I had no idea what to expect when I first left the continent of my birth, and headed for Alcidea for the first time. There was always that hope to find a place where my kind could settle down and call home, a place that had prospects, yet still unclaimed by the powers of the land.

Ur-Teros has always been the more populous of the two continents to begin with, and other than the few thriving kingdoms and empires, much of Alcidea of those times were still wilderness, unclaimed no-man's-land up for grabs for enterprising pioneers.

It had not meant that there were no obstacles in my way however, although I was also glad to have made the journey there, for several of my lifelong friends, I found on the northern continent." - from the diary of Aideen deVreys, the Silver Maiden.

Three months after the chat she had with grandpa Aarin, Aideen embarked on her journey north. She had spent the months preparing for the trip, as she had gathered all the things she thought she might need in the journey. She even procured several dozen vials of improved Dragonfire brew from Colin just in case.

Since Ptolodecca was to the south of the continent, they had no ships that traveled from there to the northern continent. Instead, it proved to be more efficient to travel straight north through the desert and depart from the northern port city of Caracan.

Before she departed to the north, Aideen took the time to visit Istria, where she said her farewells to Eleifa and her family. She might be gone for decades this time, and they were not likely to be alive by the time she returned.

She had also sent a letter to Lucea about her imminent departure, but unlike Eleifa, the Elmaiyan Empress still had over a century and a half or so in her natural lifespan, so Aideen was not as worried about never seeing her again.

Her trek north through the desert went by relatively uneventfully. She had the luck of running across Adelheid's tribe in her journeys, and passed on the news that she was doing well in Elmaiya to her half-elven father, who was fortunately alive and well. Adelheid's mother, a half-goblin desert nomad, had passed away decades ago.

From there she reached the northern nations. A collection of small city-states that seemed to be in a constant conflict amongst themselves. She carefully passed through Assadun in the south, since the land happened to be at peace and thus allowed for easier passage.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Then she passed through the Hassid Caliphate, the dwarven city-state in the center of the region, also the largest and most powerful of them all. Despite the frequent conflict happening around them, the caliphate was at peace, as they were too strong for their neighbors to trifle with.

Aideen stood out a bit amongst the mostly dwarven populace of the Caliphate, but they were also used to travelers passing through, and she was unimpeded in her journey as she walked across the lands.

From there she had to skulk around a bit through the territory of two city-states at war, as she made her way, being careful not to be noticed. Her luck held until she reached the northern border of those city-states.

There a border guard who clearly had allowed power to go up to his head tried to get feisty with her and a few other women who were crossing the border. Aideen had little patience for such people and left the man wailing as she broke all three of his legs.

That naturally alerted the rest of the guards in the outpost, but ten poorly trained guards were no match for her, and she left all ten nursing various injuries - bad enough to temporarily incapacitate them but hopefully without permanent effects - before she went on her way.

Finally she reached her destination, the port city of Caracan, roughly two months after she left Ptolodecca. It was the height of summer by then, and Aideen had switched her clothing for ones more common in the region.

Those same clothes would likely make the Alcideans think of her as just another visitor from the south. It should not be too uncommon a thing, given the near-constant ship traffic between the two continents.

Instead of her usual cheap cotton tunic and trousers, she had worn loose, billowing pants that tightened around halfway down her shin. Soft cloth shoes with thickened soles covered her feet instead of her usual cheap leather boots.

She wrapped her modest chest with a long strip of cloth, and wore a loose sleeveless outfit over it. The outfit was a simple piece of cloth with holes for her arms, to be folded over and secured at the front with a belt. She secured it with a wide belt of fabric that had a bit of excess length, which billowed with the wind.

Her forearms and shins, she had similarly wrapped with strips of cloth, much like what other travelers did. Other than her pale skin and silver hair, - the locals tended towards brown, tanned skin and darker hair colors - she looked mostly the same as local travelers in the region.

Aideen deVreys, age 200

It was not hard to secure a passenger slot in a ship headed northwards. By chance the ship happened to be one from the dwarven kingdom of Knallzog, which was formed after the dwarves split into factions after the divine punishment of the last king under the mountain nearly a millennium ago.

That was probably for the best. Aideen was not very fluent in the local tongue after all, which would have made her stand out more in a Caracanese ship. Amongst sailors from Alcidea, she could just speak common instead, while slowly learning bits of their language

It would also give the impression that she was just an excited, if studious, tourist on her first trip to Alcidea. Grandpa Aarin did have contacts in the northern continent, but there were not many of them, and if possible Aideen would rather do things on her own than potentially drag them into whatever mess she got into.

After two days of waiting, the dwarven ship set sail, with Aideen on board.