Not long into the first day, Hector began to worry that the Jinn might abandon him on this primitive world. The ‘city’ he’d been led to was a sprawling mess of adobe buildings topped with wooden shingles. The dirt streets were littered with human and animal waste. A tannery’s stink made him gag every time the wind turned the wrong direction. Street vendors cooked using cow dung. Young children ran around barefoot and naked.

  These people most certainly were not aware of the germ theory of disease. Though Hector may be immune to their mundane sicknesses, he found the ck of sanitation revolting. Every person he passed had a distinctive odor. A woman who had locked a rat inside her house had a strong menstrual aroma. So did her house, he discovered when he entered to swat the rat with a cable of force. She tried to pay him for his service with a torn off piece of honey cake.

  A prominent man in the vilge smelled like armpits. He guided Hector into the granary, which took several hours to clear. It wasn’t hard to know when he was done. Monsters weren’t shy about attacking. He just had to walk through the packed room a couple of times to verify it was safe.

  The healer woman emanated foulness from her mouth, which had bleeding sores in pce of mors. Hector didn’t understand how she hadn’t died of sepsis already. She probably spread more sickness than she prevented. This vilge with delusions of grandeur had its very own Typhoid Mary.

  He didn’t finish that first day. His shadow, the Arahant named Barack, led Hector to an empty barn outside of town that had partially colpsed. “They don’t mind us staying in here. We don’t mind it, either.”

  “It certainly smells better,” he said.

  “Do they have in house water where you come from?”

  Hector almost revealed his background then. Some perverse impulse convinced him to py into the caricature instead. “Who would put a well inside their house?”

  Barack chortled to himself. “Don’t you ride around with the Jinn? How you think they get their water on a war barge? Ain’t no well in there, is there?”

  “Probably have rain barrels somewhere,” Hector shot back.

  “Rain barrels! Yeah, why not!”

  Teasing Barack become his only entertainment. Otherwise, his days were consumed by his rodent battles. They occasionally managed to get in a bite before he discovered their presence. Their teeth gave a good pinch but couldn’t break his skin. The uses of his domain added up, slowly lowering his energy reserves even though he cultivated intermittently throughout the day.

  Eventually he had to start eating the city’s food. Hector took it as a great insult that chicken cooked over cow dung didn’t taste as terrible as it rightfully should. He didn’t know if he was more upset at his taste buds or the primitive world.

  Further complicating his life, a local widow decided he would make a good husband. Her attempts at seduction would have been comedic if they weren’t so uncomfortable. Barack cked a functioning sense of propriety, so he found the disastrous romance attempt hirious.

  “Lena, put on a shirt,” Hector muttered.

  “I had to run out before I got dressed.”

  “The st three times you called me, there wasn’t a rat in your house.”

  “You haven’t been looking hard enough. Stay the night and you’ll catch him for sure.”

  He made a token search of her house, cimed he saw the rat climb out the window, and departed. Barack spped him on the back when they were out of earshot. “Lena sure is looking good today, ain’t she, Xian?”

  “You’re welcome to her if she appeals to your tastes, Barack.”

  “Can’t get in the way of true love like that.”

  Truthfully, though they mocked her, Lena wasn’t strictly unattractive. The reason he found her so unappealing had everything to do with her behavior. He’d never met an adult who would openly pick her nose during conversation. The casual crotch scratching certainly didn’t help her cause either. She was a nasty creature who vastly overestimated the draw of her figure.

  Four days passed in that ‘city’, the volume of rats steadily declining, before the sergeant appeared to retrieve him. “Sir, we’re leaving in another day. The decision came down to let the rat situation go if it hasn’t already resolved itself.”

  “The Xian wants to know if he can bring his dy love up to the war barge.”

  The sergeant was no fool. His eyes darted between the guffawing Arahant and Hector, then he turned without addressing the issue. “I’d like to leave now, if that’s acceptable, sir.”

  That evening he ate ration bars dropped by the shuttle, wiped himself clean with sanitary napkins, and slept on an inftable mattress in a tent. It was a major upgrade. No more bears emerged from the woods in the time he was there and the shuttle returned for them by noon of the following day.

  The bad news was that the Arahant were offered a ride on Kevin and accepted. The worse news was that berth assignments were shuffled around so that the Arahant and Hector were put together in a corner out of the way.

  “He thinks they use rain barrels for water on a war barge,” Barack said.

  Commander Duran ughed along with his men. “How do you think they get them rain barrels refilled when Kevin flies through space, Xian?”

  Hector looked at Duran as if confused. “All waste water on the barge is recycled through a series of filters and sterilized by UV radiation. The pumps that move it to the holding tank use electric motors. If you catch one of the Jinn in a good mood, you might be able to get a tour.”

  The whole Arahant group groaned Barack’s name like it was a running gag.

  “No, you guys, he really is dumb. I swear.”

  “I don’t think Barack paid me enough mind in their primitive little vilge to form an opinion. He was obsessed with this local woman who kept picking her nose.”

  “No! That was you she was after, Xian! Come on, guys!”

  After no one would believe his version of events, Barack angrily accused Hector of pying a trick on him. With a straight face, Hector went into full gaslight mode, ciming that the two of them barely spoke the entire mission. His dirty dealings with Barack at least got him what he wanted. The Arahant yokels left him alone.

  At least they did until Rodrick arrived to hang out. “Hey, Hector, they moved your bunk. Are you making new friends?”

  “Something like that,” Hector demurred.

  Commander Duran eyed Rodrick a moment and then stood up warily. “Hello there. I’m Duran, commander of the seventy-third patrol.”

  Rodrick nodded. “Hey there, Duran. I’m Rodrick Kline.”

  “A Kline?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Never thought one with your pedigree would be consorting with Xian.”

  A hard look came onto Rodrick’s face. “Do you not know who this man is?”

  Duran froze at the question. Then his beady eyes darted about. “Friend of the Jinn, I reckon. He knows some techie talk and their sergeant treated him well.”

  “The Jinn afford him courtesies because he is on friendly terms with three separate Sages.”

  Commander Duran shuffled backward as if trying to sneak out of the conversation. Unfortunately for him, Barack didn’t want things to end with any sembnce of grace. “No way are Sages consorting with savage Xian. Specially not a low level one like this.”

  “Confgration recently used Hector in a cross-species ritual.”

  “No way,” Barack said.

  “I would not dare mock the Sage of Confgration.”

  “Who else? Huh? You said three sages.”

  “Persuasion and Foresight.”

  Barack jumped out of his bunk. “Ha! I know you’re lying now! Foresight is long dead!”

  “A dreamer inherited her insight. Confgration and Persuasion are escorting her to Maya so that she can cim her position.”

  “Duran, you know he’s messing with us!”

  “Please be quiet, Barack. If a Kline wants to poke fun at you, just go with it.”

  “Ask the Jinn if you doubt my word.” Rodrick winked at Hector. “Want to eat in the officer’s mess? The cooks found a box of sour crystal in their storeroom.”

  Hector agreed, certain the mention of exotic food was a lie calcuted to irk Barack. It was not. The sour crystals were small edible gems of crystallized sugar that were eaten by licking the finger and dipping it into the paper pouch. They were all mixed together, but each gem had its specific fvor. There were lime, lemon, grape, cranberry, apple, and strawberry.

  Though it wasn’t what he would consider a culinary delight, the nostalgia factor made them magical for his friends. “So Rod, how famous is your family?”

  Vivian rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t call them famous. More like… fecund.”

  “There’s a lot of them,” Machi confirmed.

  “Most of them in the army,” Vivian finished.

  Rodrick frowned at their characterizations but didn’t say anything in disagreement. Feeling that he’d unintentionally brought down the mood, Hector turned to Zelda. “Did you learn a lot from the ritual?”

  “No,” she snapped. After a moment, she softened. “Sorry, you haven’t seen me in a while. I’m extremely tired of that question.”

  Machi kept his voice low. “She’s parting ways with Confgration.”

  “Because of the ritual?”

  “Not that. I talked to Foresight.” Zelda squeezed her eyes shut. “I don’t gain an insight into fire in any future she can see.”

  “There’s no shame in that,” Rodrick said. “Only one in a thousand ever do.”

  “My father will insist I work for his company when I return.” Zelda sighed. “I wanted a more meaningful life than leading bespoke rituals for people with more money than sense.”

  Hector bit his tongue before he could start rattling off career advice. He had no reason to believe his experience transted to the way things worked on a foreign world. Besides, her objections seemed about more than the type of rituals she was making. The woman had followed Confgration around for years because she wanted to be a mighty warrior, not an artisan or businesswoman.

  Conversation slowly picked up once more. They talked of inane things for a while.

  Then Vivian revealed something she’d overheard. “They say we’re only two worlds from Union Central. That’s where we part ways.”

  Seeing his confusion, Machi offered some context. “Union Central is positioned on the shortest path between Maya and Terra. There is a permanent gate we can walk through to Maya. Well, not you, Hector. The gate is free to use for Arahants but anyone else needs a diplomatic pass.”

  Rodrick spped Hector on the back. “What are you hoping to do after you leave the barge?”

  “I have no idea, Rod. I’ve heard that Tian is not welcoming to dreamers.”

  “Don’t go there,” Machi warned. “They are said to be very big on ‘purity’ these days.”

  “I guess I will see what’s happening on Union Central. Maybe they will welcome a rogue Xian.” His ck of optimism came across, causing a series of suggestions to be thrown at him.

  “Union Central is open to anyone with strength,” Rodrick said. “You just need to do ten delves of their dungeon to qualify for citizenship!”

  “You should sign up for a tour on Aes,” Vivian countered. “They are offer huge signing bonuses. The Reconquest isn’t going well but they have a lot of money behind it.”

  Machi smirked. “Forget all that nonsense. See if you can get passage to Eden. Imagine all the Alfar women you’d meet.”

  Disgusted noises came from both women while Rodrick and Machi ughed.

  “I don’t get it,” Hector admitted.

  “In the past, bad men went to Eden and subdued vilges. They made women join their harem.” Zelda’s scowl made it clear what she thought of the suggestion.

  “I’m just joking!”

  “About raping the indigenous popution. Very funny.”

  Machi gestured at Zelda as if to say ‘she can’t take a joke’.

  “My wife became an Alfar.”

  The pyful smirk on Machi’s face vanished. “Oh. Really? I didn’t know you had a wife.”

  Vivian’s face had gone white. “You could have told us! I wouldn’t have insisted on a kiss if I knew you were married!”

  “Trust me, that was not a concern. The two of us were separated long before I left my home world. We just never filed for divorce.”

  “Still, I’m the woman who made you cheat.”

  “There were a couple of women before you. I did more than a fake kiss, too.”

  “My man,” Machi cheered. “Traveling the multiverse and getting some strange!”

  Hector noticed both girls looked ready to erupt. “Anyway, what’s up with that dungeon?”