Senith let Vivi into the shade of her carriage, offering her a piece of bread and another mug of water.

Vivi was allowed to sit on a cushioned seat with the smoothest fabric she remembered touching. It almost felt illegal for her, in her roughed raincoat, to stay in a carriage as nice as this. Senith didn't seem to care. The noblewoman was excited to have company.

I wonder what she'll think when she learns I'm a Zand escapee, Vivi thought. Or when she learns that practically the whole world is after me…

Senith probably wouldn't be so eager to smile if she knew how much trouble Vivi was in. But for now, Vivi thanked the woman with a deep bow. The carriage was comfortably cool, shaded from the scorching facets of the sky.

One of the guardsmen also stayed in the carriage, presumably to make sure that Vivi didn't try anything with their lady. Senith looked uncomfortable having him in the carriage, but she couldn't tell him off. The lady tried her best to ignore the guard and eagerly tried to talk to Vivi, asking her questions about humans and Vivi's origins.

Vivi answered honestly for the first few minutes, saying that she was from a village from the surface, until she was exiled and teleported underground. Senith didn't seem alarmed; she only had more questions.

By the fifth question about human nature, however, Vivi's eyes were closing on their own. She genuinely couldn't stay awake anymore. The nights of poor sleep in the blight, and her journey across the desert, were still aching at her head. Instead of answering, Vivi drifted to sleep.

She slept for most of the journey.

***

"Vivi!" Someone was shaking her awake. "Vivi, wake up. We're almost in the city."

Vivi squinted. Grandpa? Did I oversleep? "Sorry, I'll get to work…"

Vivi reached for what she thought was her anvil, only to touch soft fabric. A woman chuckled, and Vivi flinched awake. The person above her was not Grandpa at all. It was Senith, the noblewoman. Vivi blinked. Her unfortunate reality registered a few seconds later.

Grandpa was still dead.

Vivi lay sideways on the carriage seat. Her raincoat was hung next to the door, and her boots had been removed. Vivi had been wrapped in a blanket. The guardsman had disappeared, probably deeming that Vivi wasn't a threat.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep," Vivi said.

Senith chuckled again. She wasn't wearing her gown either, but a lighter night dress made of silk. "Don't be silly. If I understood your tale correctly, you've been wandering the desert for gods know how long. I'm the one who should apologize for trying to pester information out of you."

Vivi tightened the blanket around herself. It wasn't her blanket. She'd need to return it soon. But its fluffy fabric felt nice against her skin. Blankets in general were nice… Vivi used to have one back home, but she was only allowed to sleep with it if she took a bath before falling asleep in order to not ruin the blanket. The rule led to Vivi sleeping by her anvil far more often.

Senith handed Vivi a piece of bread and a mug of some weird purple liquid. Vivi eyed it suspiciously. It looked like poison, but Senith poured a cup for herself and drank it with a smile. Some sort of weird tube poked out of the cup.

"Grape juice," Senith said. "It makes the bread taste better."

"Juice?" Vivi asked in surprise.

"What, you've never tasted juice before?" Senith asked.

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"Only once," Vivi said. "Apple juice. It was good."

"Eh, apple juice is okay," Senith said. "I think apples taste far too sour. Grape juice, however, with the right amount of sugar, is perfect."

"What's this tube?" Vivi asked.

Senith laughed. "Vivi, it's a straw. You drink through it. Like this." She put the tube in her mouth and drank.

Oh, Vivi thought. She did the same with her straw. The sweet grape juice entered her mouth.

Senith watched her reaction with a grin. "What do you think? Better than apple juice?"

Vivi took a long breath. Her throat felt tight. Not from the juice—it was delicious. Of course it was. Vivi's eyes pointed down. "You shouldn't be so nice to me…"

"Oh, please," Senith said. "I've already scammed a thousand ether out of you. A ride and some juice can hardly be called a courtesy. Are you in need of some nicer clothes? I have some spares I could offer. You'll have an easier time in the city."

"No thanks." Vivi ate her bread, which was also one of the softest slices of bread she'd tasted, and drank the rest of her juice. She stayed cuddled in the blanket.

"Ydgar, our rider, said we'll be arriving in twenty minutes," Senith said. "We'll have another fifteen minutes to talk, I think. Unfortunately, we can't take you into the city in the carriage. I can't introduce you to my family, I'm afraid. You'll have to enter alone. Is that fine?"

"Of course," Vivi said. Senith is not a friend. She's nice. But not a friend.

"What are you looking for in Shivenar anyway?" Senith asked.

"It's the city of runesmithing," Vivi said.

"Oh, looking to purchase a new sword?" Senith asked.

"No," Vivi said. "I'm thinking I might start a smithy."

Senith's eyebrows rose. "Oh, are you a runesmith? You didn't mention that yesterday."

"Will you believe me if I said I was?" Vivi asked.

"I don't see why you'd lie," Senith said. Then she chuckled. "I think my brother is looking for runeswords and runesmiths right now. If you're good, maybe I can introduce you to him. He might be weirded out by a human runesmith, though."

"Is it hard to be a runesmith as a human?" Vivi asked.

"Humans don't really exist in Shivenar, or the fifth level," Senith said. "There's some on the seventh level. You're the first one I've seen. But so long as you have ether, and so long as you can fend off thieves, which you definitely can, you'll be fine. Shivenar is a safe and accepting city."

Humans on the seventh level?

The carriage came to a pause. After a quick knock, a guardsman stepped inside. "It's time. The city is near. Vivian has to come out."

"What, already?" Senith asked, surprised. "We just started talking!"

Vivi reached for her raincoat. She put on her boots and returned Senith's blanket. Vivi bowed one last time, both to Senith and the guardsman, then she slipped out.

"Good luck with your smithy!" Senith called. "Let's meet again, Vivi!"

Vivi smiled over her shoulder, then turned to face the mountains. The guardsmen quickly closed the carriage doors, and the camels continued on their way.

"That was nice," Lucius said, making his presence clear again. He'd been hiding inside Vivi, watching without interfering. "Although, you did pay her way too much ether."

A thousand ether is nothing. She saved me from dying of thirst, Vivi thought. She watched as the carriage passed over the mountaintop. Traffic here was far busier, and the road was wider. Camels were trotting in both directions. Vivi had been dropped off near the top of a gentle mountain. The ground was hard with only a surface level coating of sand. The sky was quite low, only a hundred feet above Vivi. Looking backwards, the mountainscape continued well into the distance. She was high up in the level.

Lucius was smirking. "You almost got emotional from that grape juice. I felt it. But you fought back. Does juice really taste that good?"

Shut up, Lucius, Vivi thought with a sigh. The scorching facets of the sky were even closer to her now, already burning her skin. Admittedly, Vivi would have liked to stay in Senith's carriage for longer. But Senith was a noble, and Vivi was a cursed human from the surface. They just weren't equals.

She began climbing the mountain with her head down. The city must have been close, considering the amount of traffic. Vivi walked next to the road to avoid getting in the way of carriages.

When she made it to the top of the mountain, the view below opened up. The vast city landscape of Shivenar lay ahead of Vivi.

The city behind its walls spanned from the ground all the way to the sky. Streets were inclined, built on the side of a vast but gentle mountain. Spike-like spires poked down from the sky, making the city feel slightly dungeon-like. Droplets of lava dripped from the tips of the spires.

Houses were mostly two-storied stone brick establishments, but larger mansions with open estates were common further near the wall. At the very back of the city, built into the mountain, was an enormous palace. A river of clean water flowed down from the palace's entrance through the middle of the city.

The wall reminded Vivi of Zand's outer wall, though this one wasn't as oppressive. A moat of spikes surrounded it. Archers and guardsmen were stationed on the battlements and in watch towers to protect the city from stray monsters.

Vivi watched in awe. She had made it. Shivenar, the city of runesmiths.

Grandpa's dream was right here in front of her eyes.

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